thisbluespirit | Yuletide Recs (Part 1?)

Not being away, I recovered enough to start rifling through the collection a couple of days ago and have been having fun, so here are the resulting recs of my first glance through its delights:

you ought to not bet (2797 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Avengers (TV 1961)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: John Steed, Emma Peel, Cathy Gale
Additional Tags: Implied Relationships, First Meetings
Summary:

“Doddering old academic?” Emma guesses, unpinning her hat and joining him at the sideboard. She revises at a shake of Steed’s head. “Overly invested matron?”

“Neither,” Steed turns and passes her a tumbler. “To the contrary, it’s the formidable Mrs. Gale.”

Emma and Cathy get to meet - this is great fun, very true to the show, and Cathy's acerbic voice and self is spot on; a real treat.

The Family You Choose (2652 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Robin Humphries, Josephine Bettany Maynard, Daisy Venables
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Canonical Character Death, (Ted Humphries and Margot Venables), Family
Summary:

Joey won’t let her adopted sister feel alone in the world after she loses her father - and neither will Robin let Daisy feel alone after Margot dies.

Beautifully done fic that gives us the chance to explore Robin & Daisy's losses and grief after Exile.

And dig for us as we have done (3318 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Detectorists (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lance Stater & Andy Stone
Characters: Andy Stone (Detectorists), Lance Stater
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Metal detecting, History, Nature, Friendship, the southern English countryside
Summary:

“Imagine you did find a Saxon hoard, though,” Lance said. “Or a ship burial. Roman villa, even.”

Andy snorted. “Yeah, right. A Roman villa, right here in Danebury.”

Amazing coda for the series, with perfect Andy and Lance conversations, and, as ever, the importance of the little things all across time, plus it even ends with a scene that echoes the series's beautiful magpie sequence.

come back to me (2130 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (TV Movie 1996), Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eighth Doctor/Grace Holloway (Doctor Who)
Characters: Grace Holloway (Doctor Who), Eighth Doctor (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Reunions, Light Angst
Summary:

The Doctor takes Grace up on her offer to stay.

Sweet and fun fic for the TVM, in which the Doctor comes back to stay with Grace, although the way that it's clearly been much longer and more painful for the Doctor gives it a bittersweet edge. Plus, ginger kitten Turlough!

The View from the Aventine (3097 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Falco Series - Lindsey Davis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Marcus Didius Falco/Helena Justina
Characters: Marcus Didius Falco, Helena Justina
Additional Tags: historical fiction - Freeform, Flavian History
Summary:

From all the way up here, you might almost think you could escape Rome. Falco and Helena at two turning-points, at either end of a decade.

Captures both Helena and Falco's POV impressively well, and also their Rome, their relationship, and is lovely.

and he'll awake and find him there (on the cold hill's side) (3166 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Laurel Leroy, Thomas Lynn, Original Characters, Morton Leroy
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, But just barely, Divorce, mentions of canonically implied adultery, Literary References & Allusions, Mythology References
Summary:

In which Laurel navigates several dimensions at once, gets a divorce, and gives the perfect gift.

Who says she can't have it all?

This is a gorgeous, haunting and sinister look at Laurel and her relationship with Tom, and the author cleverly switches between the Now Here and Nowhere versions of events so well.

The Real Actual Human Life of Michael Realman (1726 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Guitar Teacher/Michael (The Good Place), Jason the Dog & Michael (The Good Place)
Characters: Michael (The Good Place), Guitar Teacher (The Good Place), Jason the Dog (The Good Place)
Additional Tags: Human Michael (The Good Place), Episode: s04e13-14 Whenever You're Ready, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Sex
Summary:

The first thing that Michael noticed was his skin, and the way it fit his body. Suddenly, he didn’t feel like a six thousand foot tall fire squid stuffed inside a human suit; he felt like a six foot tall human stuffed inside a human suit. And for that matter, he couldn’t feel the dull warmth of smouldering on the inside anymore. Only bone, and muscle, and other assorted viscera.

Well, then. Judge Gen had done her job, and however she and Janet had managed it, she’d done it very well indeed.

Michael was a living, breathing, blood-pumping, organ-having human.

Goodbye fire squid, hello silver fox.

A lovely, exactly-right look at Michael enjoying his real, human life in the most Michael way possible. ♥

Things Janet Knows (1208 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Janet (The Good Place)
Summary:

Nothing.

Everything and nothing.

Heightened awareness of everything and nothing.

Twenty-three additional layers of increased capacity to process everything and nothing.

Exploration of Janet with great use of their POV to show how this not-a-girl, not-a-robot has evolved over the course of the series.

In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank (2785 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye & Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza
Characters: Chidi Anagonye, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Michael (The Good Place), Real Eleanor Shellstrop | Vicky, Janet (The Good Place)
Additional Tags: not enough Janet, and cameos from Eleanor and Tahani, Good Place Reboot, Ethical Dilemmas, Logical Fallacies, Improbable situations, Bank Robbery, Absurd, Not Beta Read, I already finished this late
Summary:

Neighborhood Experiment Reboot #573: Day 9
I’ve decided to use “Jianyu’s” latest unmasking to my advantage. Chidi will be absolutely tormented if he has to indulge Jason’s criminal tendencies for the greater good...

Chidi ponders the greater goods and lesser evils and may even come to (*gasp*) a decision about them.

What is says, basically, and then lives up to it. This must be the Bad Place...

Street lights (1148 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: New Tricks
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sandra Pullman, Jack Halford, Brian Lane, Gerry Standing
Summary:

It was 3pm on the 24th of December and all through the asbestos-filled Unsolved Crimes and Open Cases Squad's office there was the sound of gentle snoring. All was peaceful and calm.

Fun, gentle, well-done look at UCOS back in the day, haunted by the ghosts of Christmas cases past. The voices are spot on.

027.4 GOU — Gouldsville Libraries: A History and an Investigation (4755 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Our Town's Libraries - Tom Gauld (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Librarian Character(s), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Libraries, Worldbuilding, the intricacies of library consortia, vaguely night vale-ian vibes, the things you learn when you start a new job
Summary:

Some towns are lucky enough to have a public library. Gouldsville has an abundance, each different from the next.

Whether the citizens of the town—and even more so, the librarians—would consider that lucky is up for debate.

A five minute fandom (five seconds? Original cartoon here) and a wonderful fic (clearly written by someone who's known libraries from the inside) exploring what sort of town not only has 12 libraries, but these very strange 12 libraries with a great mix of wry humour and small town off-kilter weirdness. (Sorry. 11 strange libraries, I mean. 1 of them is weirdly... normal.)

The March (1803 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Silver (S&S)
Additional Tags: Reminiscing, Post-War, Sad and Happy, Mission Fic, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Time was winning; Silver had to do something, but what exactly? How to stop it?

Beautiful and eerily done missing assignment for Silver, dealing with things a technician shouldn't have to.

one evening may hide another (1008 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Shadow of the Tower
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elizabeth of York Queen of England/Henry VII of England
Characters: Henry VII of England, Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond and Derby, Elizabeth of York Queen of England
Additional Tags: Trust Issues, Angst, References to Canonical Illness, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:

The queen shares a bed with her king, and she is cold.

Subtle and haunting and lovely exploration of Elizabeth and Henry and their relationship.

I didn't get to read much last year when I was away and much more ill, but all the results of We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse to Be A Setting For Your Rom-Com (from this entertaining article) were great. I've only read two of this year's haul for the same fandom, but since they were both very enjoyable, I have high hopes of the rest, so I can also recommend clicking on the fandom works tag for a good time:

ask not what your country can do for you (1069 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your RomCom - Rachel McKenny
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Chet Anderson (Picturesque Small Town), Original Female Character
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

The ad goes out in the local paper. Town Attorney: Help Wanted. And Chet Anderson? Well, he’s always been one for civic duty.

Excellent and with a very sly humour threaded through it.

I Am A Picaresque Character And I Refuse To Play A Part In Your RomCom (1888 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your RomCom - Rachel McKenny
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chet Anderson (Picturesque Small Town)/Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Chet Anderson (Picturesque Small Town), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Small Towns, Worldbuilding, Family, Secrets, Nature, Romance, Childhood Friends, Tropes
Summary:

Anya Smith was here to work, not take a trip down memory lane—however quaint and picturesque that lane of memory might be. She had a job to do, and she meant business.

Maggie Miller, however, was a stalwart—and far sharper—adversary than she looked. At eighty-two years young, a veteran of over forty years of marriage, the widowed octogenarian knew better than to give up easily.

Lovely descriptions of the picture-postcard town, more fun with the cliches, and loved the reveal of Anya's business in the town.

Yes, Lord President (4826 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Yes Minister
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jim Hacker, Humphrey Appleby, Bernard Woolley
Additional Tags: Period Typical Attitudes, very loosely based on a true story

Amazing, pitch-perfect YM episode in fic form basically, with a situation so arcane and ridiculous it could only be based on an actual news story.

Flaming Lies and Explosive Secrets (1317 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Yes Minister
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jim Hacker, Humphrey Appleby, Bernard Woolley
Additional Tags: Humor, fantastical elements, but not a crossover - Freeform
Summary:

There's something Bernard and Sir Humphrey aren't telling the Minister. Well, more so than usual.

Wonderful fun, as it turns out that the Civil Service have been hiding even more than usual from the Minister, and everybody else.

Yuletide Recs (Part 1?)

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