>VERBOSE

That Supreme Charm by thestarsapart
Fandom: Princess Bride (1987)
Pairing/Characters: Fezzik, Inigo Montoya, Westley/Buttercup
Rating: General Audiences
Words: 2912

Author's summary: Fezzik's lifelong journey to understand his love of rhymes.
Author's notes: The title is from a quote by Victor Hugo: "Rhyme, that enslaved queen, that supreme charm of our poetry, that creator of our meter."
Author's warnings: None
Additional tags: Missing Scene, Rhyming, Found Family, Character Study

My comment: "gah *flail* this is marvelous!"

Quote:
If only he could figure out how to explain it in a way that other people could understand… but Fezzik didn’t really understand it either; he just felt it. When he found a thyme and said it aloud, it just… fit. Like his father sliding two hand-carved planks together in a dovetailed joint. A smooth slide, then a gentle “clunk” in his ear. Just right.

-----

Graduate Student-Snake Alliance: Fall Schedule of Events by ipreferaviators
Fandom: FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense - Luke Burns
Rating: General Audiences
Words: 447

Author's summary: The Graduate Student-Snake Alliance is committed to providing high-quality training and practical education to facilitate successful thesis defenses for the greater university community.
Author's warnings: Chose Not To Use, but none

My comment: "This is deranged 😆I love it."

Quote:
Clobbering a Colossus: Techniques for Big Snakes
Maybe research hasn't gone as planned, or you can't find the sources you need. Maybe you're just not sure how your results will be taken. Regardless of why you think you might be up against a huge snake, the GSSA is here to help you prepare!

-----

"God Damned Them All"? Documenting the Loss of the Privateer Antelope by machiavellijr
Fandom: Barrett's Privateers (Song)
Pairing/Characters: Elcid Barrett, Narrator
Rating: General Audiences
Words: 1674

Author's summary: A grim narrative of fraud, deception, false advertising, murders, robberies, puttings in fear and operating without a Board of Trade Certificate.
Author's notes: All errors of history, chronology and musicology are my own.
Author's warnings: None

My comment: "Love a good epistolary format. The bit about it being insurance fraud was funny 😆"

Quote:
Note from Naval Storekeeper Richard Williams to Master Attendant David Hooper
Davey - Antelope is to be condemned, we’ll have her towed round to Sherbrooke ‘for breaking up’, and if the buyer sails her away from there, not our problem is it?

The Three Adventurers: Sea of Adventurers by CaptMickey
Fandom: Monkey Island, Sea of Thieves, King's Quest, The Legend of Zelda
Pairing/Characters: Link, Graham, Guybrush, Kate Capsize, Ramsey Singh | Pirate Lord, LeChuck, Voodoo Lady, Elaine
Rating: General
Words: 110,305

Author's summary: When Guybrush is trapped in an illusion of his glory days and the Sea of Thieves in danger, it's up to Link and Graham to save him and the Sea of Thieves.
Author's notes: This is a fanfic based on my fancomic, The Three Adventurers, that can be found on Tumblr.
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Friendship, au heavy (so many aus fam....), Like the au of a fancomic I made which is an au of the games based on a au(?) of a dlc, Action/Adventure, goofs galore

Quote:
“Melee Island…!” The archer gasped. He looked over his shoulder, there was a twinkle of stars in his eyes as the grin on his face grew more and more. “Oh zounds, do I get to shout the thing?”
Link’s ears drooped just slightly. “What thing?”
“Y’know, the pirate-y sailor thing!” Graham nearly hopped in his place. “Please let me shout it!”
“Considering I have no idea what that thing is, yeah sure.”
“Hee!” Graham jumped and dramatically pointed a finger at the island ahead, with all of its lights glittering against the starry sky and large full moon. A tall mountain with its own light at the top acted as a beacon for the two the closer they got. For an added bonus, and one that Link couldn’t help but wonder if it was in welcoming or mockery, a star shot across the sky.
“Land ho!”

Poker Night by MinMinGood
Fandom: Monkey Island
Characters: LeChuck, Iron Rose, Putra, Gullet, Apple Bob, Yancy, Mad Flora, Cutthroat Kelly, Flambé; a little bit of Flambé/Mad Flora
Rating: Teen
Words: 5090

Author's summary: Every so often, the crew of LeShip has a poker night. It never ends well.
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply (but there's some grossout imagery around Gullet which some might consider body horror)
Additional tags: Pre-Return to Monkey Island, Sometimes Flambé does things other than eating and sleeping, Scroll to the bottom for art

Quote:
“Do you want a haggis dumpling, sir?” Putra pointed at the last few on the table.
LeChuck took one and rolled it in his hand, eyeing it carefully. “Ye’ve made ‘em better than this before. I do hope ye ain’t losin’ yer touch.”
“No, sir,” Putra said, annoyed, although she didn’t let it show in her tone. He ate it and didn’t say anything else, so Putra concluded he couldn’t have actually disliked it. When he didn’t like something, everyone heard about it and suffered for it.

Radio Killed the Semaphore Star by SweetPollyOliver
Fandom: Discworld
Characters: Mustrum Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, Original Male Character(s), Boddony, William de Worde, Sacharissa Cripslock, Otto von Chriek, Gytha "Nanny" Ogg, Agnes Nitt, Polly "Ozzer" Perks, Maladict, Moist von Lipwig, Anoia, Samuel Vimes
Rating: Teen [although tbh I don't understand why; seems quite tame to me. certainly it's not higher-rated than the canon.]
Words: 3657

Author's summary: In 1895 on Roundworld, the inventor Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraph, which used radio waves—a form of electromagnetic radiation that is outside the visible spectrum—to transmit messages from a sending operator to a radio receiver. But, like the invention of bread*, few truly good wheezes are only thought of once, and so in the early 2000s UC on Discworld, Liam Macaroni invented a similar device that used a different form of electromagnetic radiation: octarine. And, due to the preponderance of narrativium on Discworld, radio got around to audio transmission, rather than being confined to the old dots and dashes routine, quite a bit more promptly than it did on Roundworld.
Author's notes: This fic was written as part of Pod Together 2023 in collaboration with semperfiona, who recorded the audio version of the fic which you can listen to here. Pod Together is an annual challenge where fic writers and podficcers work together to create new works in parallel with each other, i.e. authors write new fics (or other text-based fanworks) with the intention that their podfic partners will record them.
Thank you to trinityofone and bookhobbit for betaing this for me and to my Pod Together partner semperfiona for the wonderful idea of writing a story about radio on Discworld and for helping me brainstorming ideas around this premise. This was a real blast to write and I hope you enjoy reading (and listening!) to it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
There is a homeopathic amount of references to ham radio etiquette and culture in this, but all you need to know to understand that section that may otherwise be confusing is that QSO means radio contact. Also, I am not an expert on the history of radio or how radio technology works, nor did I do as much research as our beloved and behatted Pterry would have if he had gotten around to having radio on Discworld, so please excuse any inexactitude in my explanations and chalk it up to octarine radiation working differently to radio waves.

Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Podfic Available, Pod Together 2023, TechnologyRadio, original characters based on historical figures, Mostly Gen, multiple connected vignettes, Ensemble Cast, Humor, Puns & Word Play, Footnotes, Cats, Octarine, Collaboration

Quote:
“If you aren’t involved then I like this whole thing even less!” Ridcully said. “Someone who we don’t know anything about is making magical talking boxes? Whole damn thing smacks of sourcery. Next thing you know there’ll be creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions all over the place and we’ll be up to our eyeballs in unmentionables. And up to our unmentionables in eyeballs, come to that! Whatever’s going on, you figure it out immediately and put a stop to it!”

Mister Vimes'd Go Spare! by Lunik
Fandom: Discworld
Characters: Samuel Vimes, Constable Dorfl, Anoia, Original Characters
Rating: General
Words: 4836

Author's summary: In the wake of the death of his Grace Sir Samuel Vimes, the various city watches across the disc are brought together in a way seldom observed among coppers.
Author's warnings: Major Character Death
Additional tags: Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Future Fic, Gods

Quote:
“But in remembrance of the Commander,” Sergeant Oakes continued, “we’d best do it properly. All right, men, I want the city quiet tonight, and if you can’t make it quiet, at least make it short. Not one civilian gets hurt, you hear? Not even the little buggers who’s rioting! Remember, Sam Vimes’ll be watching us!”

By his side, young Corporal Triti piped up. “You think he’ll be protecting us, Sarge?”

Oakes hefted his helmet in his hands. “Not to protect us, Triti, not Mister Vimes. He’ll be watching to make sure we do it right!”

Half-Blood Heir by polkadotsingray
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing/Characters: Severus/Sirius, Salazar Slytherin
Rating: Teen
Words: 6119

Author's summary: Severus ends up being swallowed up by Hogwarts in the process of escaping Sirius Black and discovers within the depths of the castle something hard to believe.
Author's notes: I finished reading Lily's Boy and my life was consumed by the genius idea of having the Salazar Slytherin painting in the Chamber of Secrets and that Hogwarts would choose its heirs. The rest is just my mind conjuring ways to make Sirius and Severus co-dependent on each other.
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Not Canon Compliant, Young Severus Snape, Young Sirius Black, Good Slytherins, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Good Salazar Slytherin, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Good Severus Snape, severus and sirius are not dating or anything but they are really co depedent, like they think they hate each other but can only care that much about each other, Teenage Drama, Angst, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Not Beta Read, The Author Regrets Nothing, no bullying, they bicker a lot but sirius doesnt bully sev like canon

My comment: "I like the pacing of the narrative. It's hard to skim: I have to actually read all the words. That probably sounds weird to put it that way, lol. But what I mean is each sentence builds on the previous and unfolds something. If I skip ahead then I've missed something. I have to let myself be led by your prose."

Quote:
Usually Severus wouldn't hesitate at the chance to take all his frustrations out on Sirius, but that day— that day wasn't about being frustrated, or about feeling too much anger, or about being jealous of people with better lives, with more friends, with parents who love and care for their children, it wasn't about being wronged all the time— it was about that empty sadness, that growing hollow inside Severus, the despair of being alone everywhere in the world, even the places with more people than an eye can see, it was that— that little thing inside him that was hungry and wanted to be wanted, that silly little thing that he didn't think would bother him again after he found a little attention at Hogwarts.

The Next Doctor's Face by sunflowerz0219
Fandom: Takin' Over the Asylum, Doctor Who (2005)
Pairing/Characters: Ninth Doctor, Campbell Bain, Rose Tyler
Rating: General
Words: 5298

Author's summary: When the Doctor regenerates, his new faces tend to come from somewhere. Maybe to send a message, like the twelfth. Maybe because the Doctor just liked it. But what about his tenth face? Well, that one came from a little psychiatric hospital in Glasgow, from a rather enthusiastic patient there named Campbell Bain.
Author's notes: This does take place in the hospital and there is discussion of mental illness, often a bit bluntly, as Campbell tends to speak about it. Just a warning if that makes you uncomfortable! And feel free to interpret anything as romantic or platonic, your choice! :) Enjoy!
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Aliens at the hospital, The Doctor and Rose become friends with Campbell, mostly good vibes, Only a little bit of sad, Psychiatric Hospitals, Rose is initially frightened, but she gets better

Quote:
“Rosalie’s gonna have a meltdown,” Campbell commented in awe. That was one of the patient’s they’d seen earlier, currently unconscious. Germaphobic.
In all the chaos, something very important was missing: the alien. Perhaps they could blend in, or manipulate the light like they did with the window. The Doctor could feel that they were probably in that room. He focused, slowly looking around…
“Are you the alien?” asked Campbell, directing the question under the desk in a surprisingly friendly tone. “Why are you hiding under there?”

Return to Monkey Island Part VI: The Return of the Pirate by SchrodingersKat
Fandom: Monkey Island
Pairing/Characters: Guybrush, Elaine, LeChuck, Murray, Voodoo Lady, Captain Madison, Captain Lila, Captain Trent, Apple Bob
Rating: Teen
Words: 23,411

Author's summary: Deep in the Caribbean, Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate(TM), embarked on an adventure to - finally - discover a long-rumored Secret. After the credits of his return to Monkey Island... everything went a little bit different. (A fan-written "secret ending" for Return to Monkey Island)
Author's notes: This story contains major spoilers of Monkey Island 6 (Return to Monkey Island), and minor references to the remainder of the games. Please consider this an alternate ending, or part VI, of Return to Monkey Island. It starts right after the end credits, POV Guybrush. It assumes hard mode / writer’s cut and certain achievements and optional inventory items. There are only two changes to past (Return) game events: Guybrush did not wantonly massacre the Melee Island mop tree (thus the forest animals are still gleefully frolicking about offscreen), and did actually try to free Herman Toothrot (unsuccessfully, as the password turned out to work for only one person at a time).
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Major Return to Monkey Island (Game 6) spoilers, Alternate Ending, Puzzles, Adventure, Humor, Free Wally

My comment: I left several comments on this in the 11 chapters. Sample: "It's always fun turning game mechanic into narrative. I forget whether it was fic or meta but I saw someone cast "Use X with Y" as a way Guybrush would think out loud, running through all his possibilities, not unlike most players probably do when they don't immediately know what action to take.
LeLoser, LeAttitude lol. They really started something with "LeShip", didn't they? I don't know why we weren't all doing this before."

Quote:
Madison pulled back just as viciously, once more gaining the upper hand. “Like I said, I don’t know! Once Gorey stole this veil for me and distracted the ex-governor, they both served their purpose.” She paused. “Well, besides Gorey composing that modern arrangement for us at our Scumm Bar table. But that was just for marketing, and compensated by exposure.”

“I did notice that,” I admitted. “The guitar riffs were catchy.”

The Brain Thief by hollimichele
Fandom: Discworld
Pairing/Characters: Young Sam Vimes, Esmerelda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre, Sam Vimes, Sybil Ramkin, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua von Uberwald, Igor (Discworld), Death (Discworld), Moist von Lipwig, Original Characters, Havelock Vetinari
Rating: General
Words: 31,591

Author's summary: Young Sam grows up, meets a girl, cracks a case, and tells a lie. Not necessarily in that order.
Author's notes: Thanks so much to Petra and Anne for beta. This story has been taking up significant amounts of brainspace for absolute *ages*. I finally got it written down. I hope Young Sam &co are as much fun in your head as they are in mine.

Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: (none)

My comment: "Wow, what a concept! I like Sam's voice and his disdain of his noble title even to the point that he thinks of it as a separate person. Meg seems like a good match for him."

Quote:
Sam, much to his chagrin, had a title. As the son of a duke he was a Lord anyway, which was bad enough, but the firstborn son of the Duke of Ankh had a courtesy title, which meant that Sam had to be introduced at posh parties as the Viscount of Oxbury. There was no such place as Oxbury, at least not in the last nine hundred years, and being the Viscount of it was complete nonsense, but that didn't mean a thing to the people who announced you at posh parties. They went right on doing it regardless.

-----

The Mêlée Island Solution by johnsonthedinosaur
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death x Monkey Island
Pairing/Characters: Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Oluwande Boodhari/Jim Jimenez, Black Pete/Lucius Spriggs, Elaine Marley/Guybrush Threepwood; Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death), Murray (Monkey Island)
Rating: Teen
Words: 48,438

Author's summary: Stede's journey to win back his life and love introduces him to new friends and hidden strengths. Meanwhile, Ed discovers unexpected allies as he attempts to recover from Stede's betrayal, and the crew tries to keep it together long enough to get back together. What will it take to reunite the co-captains of the Revenge and repair their wounded family?
Author's notes: Thank you so much if you made it this far! As soon as I fell in love with OFMD I knew I had to throw in some of that Monkey Island charm, so I came out of fic retirement and somehow this beast popped out. I promise you don't need to know anything about Monkey Island to get this - there are a few in jokes, but I mainly just REALLY liked the mental image of Stede learning how to insult sword fight. Thank you so much to both my brilliant betas, who know who they are (and I will properly credit once I learn their ao3 handles lolz). Thank you for catching me on my bullshit and not making me just scream into the void. Come screech about gay pirates with me on Instagram ofmderby!
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: References to Monkey Island, Crossover, you don't need to know anything about monkey island I promise, POV Multiple, Attempt at Humor, Humor, insult sword fighting, cursed voodoo skulls, stede accidentally becomes good at something, pirate welfare

My comment: "I Don't Even Go Here, as they say, for OFMD (though I have seen it), but really interesting ideas about the Monkey Island side of things here. Guybrush totally stole the show for me every time he was on the page. Kinda makes me think I should go back to the drawing board on all my Monkey Island fics ;)"

Quote:
Guybrush shrugged, his shoulders undulating in a well-practiced wave. Stede was beginning to think that the shrug was an integral part to Guybrush’s philosophy on life. “I just am. I’ve always sort of felt like there was something bigger than me, guiding me along. I may not always know where I’m going, but I know I’ll get there. And if I get stuck, I just keep throwing everything I’ve got at the puzzle until my options open up. What’s life if not trying every crazy idea you have until something sticks? Life.” He huffed out a small laugh and directed another beaming smile at Stede. “I don’t really think you can lose this game, buddy.”

“One could die,” Stede pointed out helpfully.

“Not in my experience!” Guybrush bounced to his feet like a coiled spring let go, the surprise knocking Stede back in his chair. “So I have a proposition for you.”

Stars pray for hands by sandcities
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing/Characters: Severus/Lily
Rating: Mature
Words: 4063

Author's summary: ( Is kind of a lengthy excerpt from the fic itself )
Author's notes: This was written as part of the prologue to a Severitus fic which I haven't got around to writing. Posting it here as a standalone chapter because it's its own story, really. Also because I love these characters. Full disclosure (in case you missed the tag): Lily is married to James and has a one-night stand with Severus. If you think you will find this upsetting, please don't read.
Author's warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional tags: Infidelity, Music, Cokeworth is in the north damn you, Kissing, implied sex, Smoking, Social Class

Some things I've been meaning to get around to reccing since, oh, early January, as you can probably tell from the fact that they're from Yuletide and Hoggywarty... ( Read more... )