Obscure & British Commentfest 2018

[thisbluespirit]

Welcome to the Obscure & British comment fest V! Last year didn't happen for various reasons, but it is now back. And it would be wearing a hat if it could. \o/

This is a comment fest for any tiny/small(ish)/medium(ish) British fandom and open to all fanworks.



If you've ever loved any British fandoms, find yourself too obscure for most fests, or you're busy wondering why there's still no Emma Peel in all this Avengers stuff, you're in the right place. Come on in and help yourself to a cup of tea and a crumpet. Also you should make prompts and fill them.


Rules & Guidelines
This commentfest works in the same way as most comment ficathons, although all kinds of fanworks are welcome. (Fanart, icons, fanmixes, vids, or whatever your creative mind can come up with or prompt for.) Just leave your prompt and/or browse through other people's prompts to see what you can fill.

1. Be polite - no bashing or shaming of anyone, or any prompts, characters, ships or fandoms! Thank you.

2. One prompt per post, please use format: Fandom(/Fandom), Character(s)/Pairing(s), prompt (i.e "Spooks, Tom/Ruth, apocalypse AU"). You may repost prompts from previous years (or even from elsewhere, as long as that's okay with the other fest/comm/whatever).

3. Post fills as replies (or links in replies) to the comment containing the prompt. Please format the subject line as follows: Fandom - Character(s)/Pairing(s) - Ratings/Warnings (if included). There's a fills thread at the start of the post. Please also link your fill here, if you can. (I will also start up a masterlist post as soon as we have some fills.)

4. You may fill your own prompts if you wish, and multiple fills are more than welcome. (No prompt claiming, please.)

5. For crossovers any fandom is allowed as long as the first fandom qualifies. (If it's a cracky multi-fandom crossover prompt, that's fine, too, though try and make sure there are always equal or more eligible fandoms in proportion to those that are non-eligible.)

6. Any other questions - there's a questions thread at the start of the post if there's anything else you want to ask.

7. Prompt, fill, away!


Eligible Fandoms
Basically, any rare to small/medium British fandom, no matter how odd, old, obscure, non-existent, random or how shiny and new or in what medium - anything that's not on the below list is fine. (Definitions of British are also fairly wide and hand-wavy - check on the questions thread if you're not sure.)


Non-eligible fandoms
ALL non-British fandoms are ineligible and the following fandoms are British but too large and therefore ineligible for this fest (although don't forget that you can prompt for any fandom as a crossover with an eligible fandom):

Chronicles of Narnia (all), Doctor Who (2005+), Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, The Hobbit (all), James Bond (Craig!Bond films), The Kingsman films, Lord of the Rings (all), Merlin, The Musketeers (BBC), One Direction, Primeval, Sherlock (BBC), The Silmarillion, Torchwood.

(RPF is welcome. Please use specific categories when prompting (e.g. history by century, and all actor/bandom RPF by individual series/film/band or whatever grouping seems most appropriate. In the spirit of the fest, please try and avoid RPF for non-eligible shows/v. popular actors like Tom Hiddleston & Benedict Cumberbatch, but as they turn up in less popular film/TV RPF, that's a guideline, not a rule.)


There's no closing date for prompts or fills - the fest will stay open until next year's post goes up. Once you've created a fill, you're welcome to crosspost it anywhere you like. (If you're posting to AO3, there's no collection for the fest, but there is an "Obscure & British Commentfest" tag you can use if you want.)


If you want to promote the fest, then thank you! Please do. You can find a selection of banners ready made with code here and rebloggable tumblr posts here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

You can find the previous fest (2016) here. Also: O&B 2015, O&B 2014 and O&B 2013. If you want to fill or repost a previous prompt, you may, although please also post to the fills thread on the current post.

ETA: The fills post is here

For those who don't have an Dreamwidth account or prefer to remain anonymous, anon commenting is on.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Y Gwyll | Hinterland, Tom & Mared, there's a murder in the National Library.

You can probably tell I haven't watched the English version...

[angelofthenorth]

The cry of a small child split the air, and Tom continued running along the cliff top, trying not to think, trying to get out of his head the screams of Mari, as she had fallen off the cliff-top into the Quarry below. He didn't stop as he came into town, running across the Ystwyth and down to the Rheidol, crossing the bridge and running along the front.

He ignored the phone going off for at least a minute, before stopping outside police headquarters. He had been seen, and that was enough for the phone to start again. He abandoned all hope of "cicio'r bar" as the students had it, and wearily headed across the street, sweat dripping down his nose.

A group of young people laughed their way past him in the dark. He finally answered the phone,

"Mathias"

"Marêd. You're wanted at The Library. DS Owen is there already. Oh, and get a shower before you come back. The new Super wants to see you."

Sighing inwardly he wearily trudged to his car and lent against it before pulling off his running top, stuffing it in the back and grabbing something more appropriate. It was only then that he noticed the woman in the office overlooking the street.

[convenientalias]

Harlots (TV), Charlotte/Caroline, aftermath of Sir Howard's death.

[thisbluespirit]

Dracula (TV 1968), John Seward/Mina Harker/Lucy Weston, any (relatively) happy au

[smallhobbit]

The Hour, Bel Rowley & Lix Storm, editorial meeting

[thisbluespirit]

The Shadow of the Tower/HIst RPF, Henry VII/Elizabeth of York, missing years.

[romanajo123]

Doctor Who, Zoe Heriot & Isobel Watkins, reunion turns disastrous

[el_staplador]

'Don't say, you haven't changed,' Isobel said. 'I know I have. You can't disguise fifteen years.'

But she had to admit to herself that Zoe looked like she'd stepped out of one of the fifteen-year-old photographs that lay on the café table between them.

Zoe shook her head, and the corner of her mouth lifted in something that was either amusement or distress. 'If you want the truth, Ms Watkins, I honestly don't remember.'

'Isobel. Please.' She looked more closely at Zoe, and saw that her first assessment had been too hasty. Zoe was not much older than she had been when Isobel had last seen her, but she had changed. There was a certain worried vagueness that had not been there in the swinging sixties.

'If I were to say that I've forgotten a lot of things, and many other things were what people from your period might call odd, what would you say? How much do I have to explain to you? How much do you know?'

Isobel laughed. 'I probably know enough. I heard all sorts of strange things from my uncle, and I believed a lot of them.'

Zoe brightened. 'Your uncle - yes, I remember about your uncle. Better than -'

'Me?'

'No. I remember you quite well. You used to write things on the wall.'

'I still do, sometimes,' Isobel confessed.

'But what I don't remember is why I know you and where your uncle came into it, and why I was here at all. And clearly I was.' She picked up a print and studied it closely, tilting it this way and that as if expecting the picture to move.

'You came with the Doctor,' Isobel said, watching Zoe's face carefully for any signs of recognition. 'And Jamie.'

Zoe nodded. 'That's what other people have told me. I don't remember either of them. Do you have pictures?'

'A couple. Not as many as I have of you.'

'Could you -' Suddenly, Zoe stiffened, then scrambled to her feet. 'Quick. Run!'

A flash of white fire, sweeping just over Zoe's shoulder and igniting a bag of coffee beans, emphasised her point.

It had been fifteen years. And her shoes had not been made with running in mind. Nevertheless, what Isobel lacked in speed compared to Zoe she made up for in local knowledge. There wasn't a street in this area she hadn't scouted for photograph locations. 'This way!' she gasped.

Seven corners, two bridges, and goodness knew how much alleyway further on, they stopped to get their breath back. 'I think we've lost them, for the moment,' Isobel said.

'I'm very sorry about this,' Zoe said.

'They're after you?'

Zoe shrugged her shoulders. 'Somebody seems very keen that I don't remember anything about the Doctor. Which makes me very keen to find out who they are, and what they don't want me to know, and why.'

'If I knew,' Isobel said, 'I'd tell you.'

From somewhere not far enough away, there came the sound of running footsteps, and the smell of burning.

'And since I don't,' she added, 'I'm going to help you find out.' She looked left and right. This road looked like a dead end, but if they could only get over the top of that wall then she was pretty sure, they could drop down to the canal.

'Really?' Zoe looked relieved.

'Really. It'll be just like old times, won't it?'

Zoe grinned ruefully. 'I'm just going to have to take your word on that.'

[romanajo123]

Campion/ Doctor Who, Albert Campion + Fifth Doctor & Nyssa, The Doctor gets mistaken for Campion.

[umbralpilot]

Sapphire and Steel, titular characters either / or &, heist at the British museum

[spikesgirl58]

Hmm, I'll give this one a go.

[romanajo123]

Discworld, Vimes / Sybil + the Watch crew, a mundane AU.

[moetushie]

Maurice - E.M. Forster, Alec/Maurice, many years later.

[rusty_armour]

I'd be willing to take a shot at this prompt. How many years later were you thinking of? I had an idea for a fic set at the outbreak of WWII. I also had an idea for a fic set around the time of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, but that would be over 50 years later. Would either of these prompts work for you?

[moetushie]

Tam Lin, Janet/The Queen of Faery, Janet fails in her quest and the Queen gets a new chip to barter with.

[brideoffrankenstein]

I think I can give this a go - I take it dark is okay?

[moetushie]

The Demon Lover (traditional ballad), the Woman/The Devil, there's tricks to escape your fate that even the devil doesn't know

[moetushie]

Gormenghast, any, in the ruins, something grows

[swordznsorcery]

I had to try this one. Not sure it entirely worked, but hopefully it's not too bad!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15341319

:)

[moetushie]

The Casting of the Runes - MR James, Harrington /&Dunning, another adventure awaits

[tablesaw]

The Mighty Boosh/any crossover, Saboo/any, "The Crunch"

[romanajo123]

Doctor Who, Seventh Doctor & Ace, The Doctor finally gets Mel’s postcard

[dariaw]

Bletchley Circle, Susan/Millie, holiday together

[dariaw]

Tennis RPF, Andy Murray/Kyle Edmund, mentor

[dariaw]

Historical RPF, Shakespeare/Marlowe, entranced

[executrix]

Enemy at the Door/Wish Me Luck: post-war reunion of survivors of rivals for the title of Most Useless Resistance Organization, although there *weren't* a lot of survivors.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha! And, yeah, Wish Me Luck had, what, 2 survivors, plus Julian Glover who'd run off somewhere, probably to be villainous at someone.

[thisbluespirit]

Castle of Otranto, any, modern (or other) AU setting.


(Or anything, frankly. It was so cracky and I want there to be something!)

[thisbluespirit]

Spooks, Zaf/Jo, bad day

mini-fill (angst warning?)

[nagi_schwarz]

On Jo's bad days (and there were a lot of them), when she was too tired to run (and she didn't have the emotional energy to call Adam to help her with her abused feet), she went walking instead, wrapped in one of Zaf's old hoodies. She walked to the kebab take-out place he'd introduced her to, that he insisted had the best kebab, better than his mum's (but please, please, please don't tell her that). She went to the park where they'd throw bread crumbs for the pigeons, and to the pub where they'd school everyone else around them at darts. Sometimes she'd go to the library where they'd sit and read side-by-side and pretend to be ordinary uni students or a couple of yuppies.

On the worst days, when she woke with the sounds of Zaf's tortured screams in her head, she'd curl up in a ball on the corner of her mattress, headphones on, and listen to Zaf's favorite songs, hum tunelessly along and pretend he was beside her, singing under his breath the way he did when he was in a good mood.

When her feet finally got better, she picked up running again, and sometimes she could pretend Zaf was running alongside her, egging her on and teasing her and encouraging her.

After a while, she could listen to Zaf's favorite songs and eat at his favorite kebab place and read at the library without it being a bad day.

On her very worst day, when she knew the only way to do her job was to give up her own life, she nodded at Ros and hoped there was an afterlife and she'd get to see Zaf in it.

[thisbluespirit]

Ripper Street, Rose, coming back

[thisbluespirit]

Manhunt (TV 1969), Nina/Jimmy/Vincent, there's always three in this relationship even when one of them is a ghost

[(Anonymous)]

Father Brown- Mallory/Goodfellow. They are not really sure what they are doing, but they would not call it an affair.