planning the revolution

Fic recs, as promised. They're all primarily gen, and they tend to be character-driven pieces because (a) that's what the fandom produces and (b) that's what I enjoy. By the by, if anyone has recs for me based on what I'm posting, please let me know.

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tangleofthorns (3)
tell summer no (tyra)

Summer is spiteful. Summer laughs at Dillon and bears right down with its 105-degree temperature, its touch so dry that even sweating hurts. Tyra's learning to treasure her hours at Applebee's, all the free ice-cold conditioned air that she can inhale. It's hell to leave at the end of the shift, walking out into the dead heat, her hair a sticky, heavy rope against her throat.

therealjae/jae gecko. (3)

But there's one thing Mrs. Taylor's email doesn't mention. And that's the feeling she got when she first set foot on campus—the one that felt like stepping out of some bitterly cold darkness into the warmest, brightest light she'd ever seen. It never goes away, that feeling. It's there when she catches her first glimpse of the Tower against the blue sky of an Austin morning. It's there when she stays up late hovering over a calculus problem, frustration stinging her eyes, only to discover in class the next day that she got it right. It's there when she slides into a booth next to Zach and Jessica with a slice of Mr. Gatti's pizza and finds that they have a dozen things to talk about besides football.

oxoniensis (5)

First time Tami's been to church in a while. Eric's made Grace his excuse to stay home, and her arms feel light. Light arms, light mind, and she smiles as she prays.

them0rgue

Landry likes weekends without games the best because there’s a lull in the buzz around Dillon where everyone breaks out of the fog of Slammin’ Sammy’s voice and looks in amazement upon the changed faces of their families and neighbors. Barbeques are hosted, brunches are had, and the entire town congregates at Applebee’s on Friday night to finally catch up and talk about topics that aren’t blue and gold.

picfor1000

Watched a couple of episodes of Lost last night, then watched TV-movie Carolina Moon which featured Claire Forlani and Oliver Hudson. It was quite obviously a mystery/romance adaptation and even though the dialogue was GOD AWFUL (no, really, it was horrendous - I don't know how they got Forlani and Hudson to sign on) the performances were oddly remarkable. Forlani had that southern accent nailed. I don't recommend it (read: HORRENDOUS) but I enjoyed it, and there were a couple of moments that genuinely made me jump. I sort of want to write fanfic for it? UGH, I KNOW. But. !!! UGH.

On the Day of Your Resurrection: Number Five (BtVS/AtS) by viciouswishes

"I died again?" Dawn asks. She asks this about a thousand times when she comes back to life. She always comes back as a 13-year-old just as she was when the monks created her.

Post-series, Dawn and Gunn. A short ficlet which takes an interesting idea that and plays out wonderfully. The prose is affecting, and says a lot in a short space. I kept going back to it today because I'm trying to work out how it's so effortless. I can't really pinpoint why I like it, or why it's so good. I guess mostly because it's an excellent example of show, don't tell. Definitely a satisfying read, though.

We'll See What Gets Left Behind (Friday Night Lights) by tangleofthorns

Months had passed, a whole season, and Tim still woke up confused some days with his head full of Jason. They're down at the lake, on a Tuesday morning when they should be in geometry but can't stand the idea, Jason skipping stones across the green water with a practiced jerk of the wrist. He runs out of stones and dashes down into the lake, wadding up his shirt and flinging it backward without looking to see if it clears the water's edge, because he knows. Tim wades in after him, and Jay drops and rolls to float on his back, kicking up a splash aimed right into Tim's eyes—

Tim, Jason at the periphery. Tim is trying to adjust to the absence of his best friend in this touching, nostalgic piece where memories flick past your eyes, and by the end of it, you hurt in sympathy for this messed-up kid who basically just wants to play football and be unfettered by whatever else life has to hand him. The author is a favourite of mine from The West Wing fandom and her writing is so good that you don't notice that it's a piece that's been constructed by someone. It feels like it just exists.

wliberation! I feel like this xkcd comic accurately represents our lives for a great portion of time!

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Blew through my dissertation meeting yesterday (i.e. sped through it), got my Ex.Writ. assignment back, then came home, did some reading, and caught up on some fandom. Life this week was excellent, both times over (will have more to say on that at a later time), and I enjoyed Private Practice. I also watched the final three episodes of Friday Night Lights, season 1. I loved it, the whole thing, especially ( spoiler for finale )

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Today will be spent taking notes from criticism for the 19thC. poetry essay that I have to write this weekend. I wrote my dissertation plan yesterday, so I'm good to go with writing that (also, supervisor was all, well, you know, it doesn't have to be 4k, which made me feel better). The plan is to write one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Or maybe I'll split the word count and do half of each on each day.

Sometime this weekend I need to do the reading for Monday's 19thC. class, but I think I'm going to have to do it between the lecture and the seminar, otherwise I'm not really going to have the time.

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I've lost my library login information. You'd think it would be the same as the university web access log-in, but it's not. It's something else that I apparently haven't used since first year. So, need to email someone about that, and then I can get an interlibrary loan and get the reading materials for the second half of my dissertation. Yayarms.

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It's Friday. Next week is the last week of term. MY LAST CHRISTMAS IN SOTON. Aie. That said, I think we're doing the gift-exchange in New Year, although we're having a Christmas night before we leave. I was going to go to Newbury before I went home, but I think I'm going to Surrey now. Hmmm. Thinky.

I have no shame. Fics I wish people would write:

1. Numb3rs - Amita. AMITA. I wish I could find a fic where Amita is happy, balancing her Asian side with her American side, and totally rocking her field of academic expertise. Charlie doesn't need to be there, but fuck, I'd just like more Amita fic that is about her. (As an addendum: I wish I could finish my Amita fic but I fucked that up. So.)
   
2. Criminal Minds - Hotch/Prentiss, superfuturefic, wherein Emily has long since left the BAU, and Hotch doesn't really know what to make of her. It would be delightful to begin with, Emily would be unfortunately less dorky, but it would start of pleasantly and sophisticated, and end up angsty-messy. Alternatively: JJ/Emily femslash, but I do actually spend a lot of time hypothesising this relationship so that's not so much of a need.
   
3. NCIS - more Ziva fic. GEN fic. Not femslash, of which there is an abundance, or het, though I don't think I've seen any of that around. I want Ziva fic. The kind of fic that deals with her and Ari, or her and America, or her in the future, maybe having to go back to Mossad, or maybe past!fic from when she was an assassin.
   
4. NCIS/Spooks - Ziva and Ros, the former when she was still an assassin, the latter being generally fabulous. Alternatively: Ziva and Zaf, because Zaf would charm the hell out of her, and she'd push his buttons.
   
5. Friday Night Lights - in which Coach and Mrs Coach meet, and possibly Coach is an asshole, but Mrs Coach is Horrifically Awesome.
   
6. Numb3rs - future!fic, in which Megan has her own team, and no more demons. And possibly Colby comes to visit her and they talk about how Larry got married to some linguist, and this makes them all very happy. And Colby is also married, but Megan isn't, and it's not a problem. And maybe Don is dead because he got things wrong, but that's what makes them all so strong.
   
7. Saving Grace - Ham and Butch both love Grace, but she eventually finds God, sends Ham back to his wife (which is messy and sad), sends Ham to someone else, and eventually gets together with a ranch hand named Billy who's old and tired, just like Grace. She's still all fire, of course, but she's finding it easier to breathe now, and she's not repeating her old mistakes. Ham doesn't talk to her anymore, but Butch calls every now and then, and the four of them (Butch, Grace, Billy and Butch's Woman) eat dinner together. Butch still looks at her sometimes like he remembers her, but mostly they let one another be.
   
8. Little Miss Sunshine - Olive is a teenager now, and she resents a lot of things about those fucking beauty contests (they remind me of her grandfather, and he was fucked up, wasn't he? But she misses him, too). Dwayne is an adult, and he's still not flying planes, but he's come to accept the life he has, and he helps Olive when she has a crisis of faith.
   

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Dear Ripway, wtf is going on?

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KENDALL PAYNE. YOU ARE SO AWESOME.