st_aurafina | Hello, 2014. See you later, Yuletide 2013!

2013 was a strange year, supposed to be a recovery year after all of the health shenanigans we'd been through but it was actually a bit of a mess. And for Christmas, I got asthma and family shunning, so thank goodness for Yuletide.

I am older and wiser, heading into 2014, and I have only two resolutions:

1. Write more (and as consequence, post more.)
2. Eat with order, and to make myself happy.

I haven't finished going through the Yuletide archive - I'm less than halfway through at this point, but I wanted to slip some recs in before reveal.

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First up, out of alphabetical order, my two fics:

Dance Academy
new romantics (240 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dance Academy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lucy Raine
Additional Tags: Backstory
Summary:

It's 1981, and Lucy wishes her best friend would stop using the dressing room as her own personal piercing parlour.

A surprise Madness fic! Dance Academy, with Lucy Raine in the eighties, being besties with Grace's mother. Super cute and a little bit heart-breaking. (I have such a crush on Miss Raine!)

I didn't get a notification for this, so I'm just posting a reminder for people to check the gift section on their AO3 dashboard. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

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Zodiac Cycle - Julie Dillon

Zodiac: Your Guide to Fighting the Demon Invasion in Twelve Easy Steps (3477 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Zodiac Cycle - Julie Dillon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius - Character, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer - Character, Leo, Virgo, Libra - Character, Scorpio - Character
Summary:

There's more than one way to win a war.

My gift fic, and I'm linking it again because I love it to pieces, and because you don't need to know the fandom to read what is basically original fic with amazing world building.

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Bletchley Circle
All the Bletchley Circle fic was great, but these two stood out for me in particular, because I love case fic. (Weren't there a lot of awesome case fics this year? I'm still working my way through Elementary, for that reason. Long case fics, yay!)

Mrs. Gray, in Scotland Yard, with a Map (1762 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Bletchley Circle
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Millie (Bletchley Circle), Susan Gray, Lucy (Bletchley Circle), Jean (Bletchley Circle), Deputy Commissioner Wainwright
Additional Tags: Bechdel Test Pass, Stealth Crossover, Bank Robbery, Mystery, Female Friendship, Case Fic
Summary:

Susan Gray, in Scotland Yard, with a map. The bank robbers didn't stand a chance.

Pattern and Repetition (1308 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Bletchley Circle
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Susan Gray, Millie (Bletchley Circle), Lucy (Bletchley Circle), Jean (Bletchley Circle)
Additional Tags: Friendship, Teamwork, Implied/Referenced Murder, Past Domestic Violence, Post-Canon
Summary:

There is no Official Secrets Act to suggest they ought to part ways this time, so they stay in touch and find themselves solving slightly less demanding mysteries in much the same manner.

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Candle Cove
I am writing this from aboard a pirate ship. (3471 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Candle Cove
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Janice (Candle Cove), Pirate Percy, The Skin-Taker, Horace Horrible
Summary:

Please send help.

This was the fandom I received last year, and I'm really glad that there seems to be a developing tradition of creepypasta fic for Yuletide.

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Captive Prince

All the fic for Captive Prince is wonderful, but there's two AUs built around a throwaway line where Damen wishes he had the chance to take back the events at Marlas, and had the chance to court Laurent in peace time. The AUs are totally different, but equally fascinating, and both have the chance to build on less developed female characters in the original novels:

Now Again a Beloved Son (27428 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Captive Prince - S. U. Pacat
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince), Damen/Jokaste
Characters: Damen (Captive Prince), Auguste (Captive Prince), Laurent (Captive Prince), Jokaste, Original Characters, Regent (Captive Prince), Hypermenestra, Theomedes
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Minor Character Death, Past Abuse, Politics, Swordplay, Emotional Baggage
Summary:

"He imagined himself nineteen again, knowing then what he knew now, and he wondered if he would have let that long-ago battle fall to the Rabatians--let Auguste live. If he would have ignored his father's call to arms altogether, and instead found his way to the Rabatian tents, and sought out Auguste to find some common ground. Laurent would have been thirteen but in Damen's mind's eye he would have found him a little older, sixteen or seventeen, old enough that Damen's nineteen-year-old self could have begun, with all the exuberance of youth, to court him." - Captive Prince, vol. 2

Exceptional, exceptional female characters.

Lines on Palms (13639 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captive Prince - S. U. Pacat
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

"Ah," says Damianos. "The game is not to be seen."

Laurent of Vere attends a wedding, plays several games at once, and finds himself in a place that he did not expect.

I love this! I put it on my iPad and read it secretly in the doctor's waiting room, ha ha. I may not be able to breathe, but I can certainly inhale me some slightly porny political intrigue.

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Death By Silver
The Cursed Bowl (3005 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Death By Silver - Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Cordelia Frost
Summary:

Miss Frost investigates a cursed bowl.

Miss Frost gets to be awesome! Because she is. And I love this look at how life is for the single working woman in magical Victorian England.
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Emily of New Moon

That Inconstant Orb (1926 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Emily of New Moon - L. M. Montgomery
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Elizabeth Murray, Laura Murray, Oliver Murray, Wallace Murray, Jimmy Murray, Emily Byrd Starr, Ruth Dutton
Additional Tags: Backstory
Summary:

The childhood of Elizabeth Murray was not a lay, a hymn, a ballad, or any such nonsense.

This is young Elizabeth Murray, and her Murray pride, and it is perfect.

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Eternal Law

the fuse will have to run out sometime (3080 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Eternal Law
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Zak Gist/Richard Pembroke
Characters: Zak Gist, Richard Pembroke
Summary:

There's not one of the seven deadly sins he isn't personally familiar with, and Richard is responsible for triggering at least half, if not all of them.

Remember this cracktastic show with angels as lawyers, holding back the apocalypse with each case fought? This is a love scene between Zak and the fallen angel, Richard, as the end of the world looms. Extremely satisfying, and left me sad that we never got another season.

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The Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
Victory Won (1831 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Silky/Moon-Face, Mister Watsizname/Saucepan Man
Characters: Silky, Moon-Face, Mister Watsizname, the Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot
Additional Tags: Missing Scene
Summary:

After the goblin invasion, peace reigns in the Faraway Tree.

This is sweet! And sweetly grown-up in a way that feels quite oddly natural. I was a bit hesitant to read something Silky/Moonface, because my childhood, but this is quite lovely.

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The Fox - Ylvis (Music Video)

A Place in the Choir (6337 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Fox - Ylvis (Music Video)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Vegard Ylvisåker, Bård Ylvisåker, The Fox
Additional Tags: darkity dark dark, Dystopia, My brain is a bad place
Summary:

Every being has a True Song. That's the key to Binding them.

M/M implied; nothing explicit.

This thing is creepy as all get-out, and does amazing, atmospheric things with a song that has no right to be so spooky and sad.

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Hark! A Vagrant

An Analysis of the Implicit Rules of Expletive Infixation (Or, Where the Fuck do You Put the Fucking Fuck?) (7943 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hark! A Vagrant
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Vanessa, Mystery Solving Teens
Additional Tags: Explicit Language, humorous references to suicide, Bad Puns
Summary:

In which Vanessa and the Mystery Solving Teens Uncover a Dastardly Plot, Participate in Civic Life, Stake Out a Villain's Headquarters, Lie to a Small Child, and Ramble through Nature Au Naturel.

Or, How Vanessa Dragged the Mystery Solving Teens Toward Graduation while Committing Aggravated Assault on the Rules of English Grammar.

Mystery Solving Teens can be kind of gross, but this one brings in the enigmatic girlfriend, Vanessa, and she is kick-ass.

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Middleman

the reflective refractive blues (10091 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Middleman (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Wendy Watson, Lacey Thornfield
Additional Tags: Parallel Universes, Mirror Universe, Doppelganger, Female Friendship, Female Character of Color, Case Fic
Summary:

The Mirror universe isn't done with Wendy yet.

I love me some Mirrorverse. So funny, and so many awesome references.

Baby, You're Much Too Fast (3411 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Middleman (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Roxy Wasserman, Ida (The Middleman), The Middleman, Wendy Watson
Summary:

Roxy Wasserman has a problem. Ida (reluctantly) helps.

Roxy and Ida on a mission. BEST IDEA EVER, Y/MFY!

Epiphany (1360 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Middleman (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tyler Ford/Wendy Watson
Characters: Wendy Watson, Lacey Thornfield, Tyler Ford, Noser (The Middleman), The Middleman
Additional Tags: Christmas, Epiphany, Zombies
Summary:

"Hey, what do I get my boss for Christmas-Epiphany-general-festival-of-expressing-love-through-capitalism-whatever?"

Sweet and funny Middle-Christmas fic.

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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Phryne Fisher and the Lost City (2732 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Historical RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Phryne Fisher, Elizabeth MacMillan, Jack Robinson, Original Characters, Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Colonialism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racist Language, Closeted Character
Summary:

A broken leg does not prevent Phryne Fisher from solving crimes, even those years ago and on the other side of the world.

Awesome epistolary casefic.

I was going to go to bed, but I think I'm going to make it to midnight after all. Happy New Year, people! See you in 2014!