Pretty much what the title here says. I preface a few things: one; I haven’t been reading very many new things as when I do want to read something I, cough, tend to read my own works, and two; I state again I haven’t been reading very much since it needs said again and three; sorry this is later than my nap by far, got busy xD
And with that out of the way here are a few fic recs for you guys. If you read them please do be sure to leave a comment; authors work very hard and they’d love to hear from you ♥
To Hold On by cgf_kat @cgf-kat
Chapters: 4/?
Summary: Keith comes closer to the bars and lowers his voice, even though his eyes still won't quite meet Lance's. "We're gonna be all right, Lance. We just have to hold on until we figure a way out of here ourselves, or until the others find us. And they will."
"I know that. But where ARE we?" Lance whispers urgently.
"I'm sorry, Lance, it's...if I'm right, I think it’s...kind of like a brothel. But not for sex.” Keith shifts on his feet, uncomfortable. “Just for people who want to hurt people."
My notes: Lance AND Keith whump and then emotional comfort and delicious platonic Klance? I hear angels.
flicker by discordiansamba @discordiansamba
Chapters: 3/?
Summary: Keith Kogane has always known that his luck was bad. He didn't need anyone to tell him that. But getting mixed up in an alien invasion? Yeah, that was a little worse than he'd anticipated.(or, Keith never becomes a paladin and is around for Sendak's invasion of Earth)
My notes: This is part two of a series. Lots of Adam in this one (and nice to see him explored as a character ♥) and of course Keef. Incredibly intriguing AU and love all of the Galra!Keith nods even though he has no idea that he is one. Very excited to see where this goes.
Amygdala by bittiface @bittiface
Chapters: 10/10
Summary: After months of feeling like he's just trying too hard, Lance takes a step back and tries to see who comes looking for him for a change. All he wants is to fit in, to feel like he's wanted, to feel like a true social equal. So he waits...Slowly his hearts starts to break...
My notes: A dive into some emotional angst and self-worth and done very, very well (as I dislike over the top “woe is me” Lance) and some great Shiro moments to boot. The ending gives me all the warm fuzzies ♥
Goodnight, Gentlemen by silenceisgolden15 @arwenride
Chapters: 1/1
Summary: The Galra think an adviser will be easy to break. They're very, very wrong.
My notes: It’s BAMF Coran, what more needs said? I will add though this author has a number of other fics I’ve marked to read later; they all are pretty much Keith centric so if that’s your cup of tea do check them out. For reference the ones I’m planning to read are (and this author has yet to let me down): Primal Fear, ‘Tis the Season and Black and Blue
Takes One To Know One by R3noraDrake
Chapters: 1/1
Summary: “If you hadn’t tackled me before that grenade went off,” Lance barrels on, lifting his head up to meet her eyes. “I probably wouldn’t even have legs to begin with. You saved my life, Pidgey. Thank you.” His face hardens. “But never do that again.”
Pidge swallows, cracking a toothy-red grin. “T-takes one t-to know one, huh?”“Pidge, seriously?”
----
Pidge decides to take a page out of Lance's book and protects him. But that turns out not working so well, because apparently size does matter, and now they're both injured. The most they can do is comfort each other and keep themselves awake until rescue arrives.
My notes: This is marked as a romantic paring but can be read as platonic. I always love Lance doing his self-sacrifice thing and seeing someone else take a literal leaf out of his book and then facing the consequences after is so good. Great dialogue here ♥
Rising from the Ashes by wingedflower
Chapters: 1/1
Summary: A sequel to IcyPanther's one-shot "Please, can anyone hear me?" following Lance's recovery.
My notes; This is literally a sequel I made for a commission fic, the canon divergence of the Red Lion crashing following the battle on Earth and Lance being very badly burned. Some great team moments in here with a special nod to some Allurance and Red and Blue Lions ♥
For the fluff prompts, what about 32 with Plance? 😉
@rueitae said:
24. “Lets just stay in bed.” with Plance if you please.
32. “This is gonna sound cheesy but….I love when you’re half asleep and talking nonsense.” Because pillow talk. (Consider this an alternate or prompt to combine my earlier one)
i’m going to be Like That and combine prompts...hope you don’t mind!! but anyway, it’s all of ~1700 words but still took me way too long and was supposed to be post-canon but ended up being a weird long-distance AU which...um. dunno if it’s good but cheesy it is. mind the implied nudity and sexual content (nothing’s explicit), and enjoy!! <3
(24) “Let’s just stay in bed.” / (32) “This is gonna sound cheesy but...I love when you’re half-asleep and talking nonsense.”
Pidge wakes to sunlight streaming in through the gaps between dark blue curtains. The light warms the air, and despite the noisy hum of the air conditioning unit over the door her skin is still sticky with sweat.
She groans and tugs the star-studded bedsheets over her head - she’s not ready to get out of bed and it’s marginally cooler burrowed underneath - before rolling onto her side.
Her nose brushes against something firmer than a pillow.
“How long have you been awake?” she mumbles into Lance’s arm.
The bed shifts as Lance joins her under the covers, his warm breath against her face indicating that he’s facing her since she refuses to open her eyes. A part of her is too hot and wants to kick him and his body heat out of bed, but the other part prefers to latch onto him and snuggle closer.
The latter wins out.
Lance wraps an arm around her waist while he reaches up with his other hand to brush sweaty hair off her face. “How did you know I was already awake?” he wonders in a low voice.
“You’re always awake before me,” Pidge reminds him. She sighs, tightening her own hold around his abdomen and cracking her eyelids to meet his eyes. “I think next time I’m going to make you sleep somewhere else.”
“What? Why?” Lance frowns. “This is my room!”
“It’s too hot and you’re too warm and I know I say embarrassing things in my sleep.” Pidge rests her forehead against his chin, putting the lie in her words - she relishes their time together too much to actually follow through on her threat - and hoping he won’t see the flush that must fill her cheeks.
“Well…”
Suspicion creeps into her when he trails off, and she’s wider awake. She pulls away just enough to tilt her head to look him in the eye again - right when he’s avoiding hers. “Well what?” she asks, an eyebrow raised.
Lance smiles sheepishly and says, “This is gonna sound cheesy but…I love when you’re half-asleep and talking nonsense.”
Pidge reaches up and grabs a pillow.
It smacks Lance in the face.
“Ow!” He recoils and covers his nose when she takes it back and tosses it aside. He glares at her over his hands and says, “What was that for?”
“Stop eavesdropping on my sleep-talking!” Pidge says, scowling. “Like I said, it’s embarrassing!”
“That’s why you’re blushing, is it?”
The heat rushing to her face is not a welcome distraction from the sun’s heat. “No!” she lies. “I’m not blushing!”
“Oh, really?” Lance bops her nose with a fingertip, making her scowl deeper, and says, “I haven’t seen you that red since the first time you told me you love me.”
Pidge rolled onto her back and covered her face with an arm, then decided her best tactic would be to simply change the subject. “Anyway, since when do you care about sounding cheesy?” She peeked at him from under her arm. “You say cheesy stuff all the time.”
Lance sits up, the bedsheets falling from his shoulders, and crosses his arms. “I…do not!”
“Do too,” Pidge retorts childishly with a smirk. “Wasn’t it just last night you quoted Spanish poetry at me? Neruda, was it?”
Lance’s face reddens, and she feels her own warm anew at the memory. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” Pidge admits, shrugging. She sits up too, the better to look Lance in the eye, and after a split second of consideration she doesn’t bother covering her breasts. “I’m still ignorant of some of your cultural quirks but the poetry surprised me and even if I couldn’t understand it it sounded very…romantic.” She coughs, glancing away and toying with the edge of the blanket.
A smile finds its way onto her lips, a flutter low in her chest when Lance cups her face and tilts it towards him, his other hand rubbing her arm. “I’m not good at the translating thing so I can find one later for you,” he promises with a smile of his own.
“Right now I’d settle for a repeat,” Pidge tells him, fluttering her eyelashes.
Lance swallows. “Um.”
Pidge giggles. “Aw, Lance, you’re blushing!”
“Pidge,” he grumbles, his brow furrowed.
“Lance,” she sings, pressing her thumb to his forehead until it smooths.
She rests her hands on his shoulders and leans closer to whisper, “Do we have to be in the middle of an obscene act for it?”
She enjoys Lance squirming a bit too much as he nods and mutters, “It’s a…heat of the moment thing.”
“Fine.” Pidge rolls her eyes, but she grabs Lance’s chin and turns him slightly away from her. “Just don’t look at me then.”
To her surprise, he resists and puts his forehead against hers. “No, we’ll do this the right way.”
“I’m getting a whole wheel of cheese from you here then?”
(The warmth in Pidge’s chest is much better than the heat and humidity that sits in the room.)
Lance holds her face between his hands again, his thumbs soft on her cheeks. He inhales bracingly and soberly recites:
“Te amo sin saber como, ni cuándo, ni de donde,Te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:Asi te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera.”
Pidge shudders when he pauses and can’t help grinning against his lips when he leans in to kiss her. When he pulls away but doesn’t continue she blinks and wonders, “Is that it?”
“It’s the only stanza I have memorized,” Lance admits with a shy smile, “but maybe if I knew you’d like love poetry—”
“I’m surprised you know any at all,” Pidge confesses. As he frowns, she hurriedly explains, “When I met you, you were all pickup lines and didn’t have any real romantic substance.” Her eyebrow quirks and she teases, “I can’t believe I was fooled into thinking you had any experience!”
“H-hey!”
Pidge laughs, then when he continues to scoff indignantly she wraps her arms around his neck. “I actually like that I was your first,” she reassures him.
Lance’s hands go to her waist, and he pulls her onto his lap. “I want you to be my last too.”
Pidge kisses him, and they don’t part so easily this time.
This physical part of their relationship is still something new, but they fit together like two adjacent pieces in a puzzle. And Pidge doesn’t mind the heat so much when she’s sharing it with Lance.
That feeling doesn’t quite last.
“Get off me,” Pidge says the instant the human furnace lying on top of her feels more smothering than soothing.
“I don’t want to move,” Lance whines, nuzzling into her neck.
His lips tickle against her skin but Pidge presses hers together to fight back a giggle. “But it’s hot and I’m gross and sweaty,” she complains even as she runs her fingers through his hair.
“You didn’t care about that five minutes ago,” Lance points out.
Pidge rolls her eyes at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the popcorn ceiling. “Right, because it’s thanks to five minutes ago that I’m grosser and sweatier than I was when I woke up.”
Lance sighs but finally rolls off her to lie beside her instead. “There,” he says. “Happy?”
Pidge sits up and pushes her mussed hair away from her face. “I’d be happier if your air conditioning worked properly.”
Lance buries his face in his hands. “Even when she’s awake…”
Which reminds Pidge.
“Lance,” she says, touching his elbow to get his attention, “what did I say in my sleep?”
He drops his arms and looks up at her with a slight frown. “We’re back to that now? I thought you didn’t like”—he forms air quotes with his fingers—”eavesdropping.”
“Well, now I’m curious so you have to tell me how I incriminated myself this time.” Pidge smiles sweetly at him. “Come on, you recited poetry for me. It’s only fair you say something to embarrass me now.”
“When you put it like that…” Lance laughs. He takes one of her hands and intertwines their fingers. “All you said was that it was the twenty-first century and that my house should really have central air conditioning.” His eyes narrow. “I take you into my home and you insult it, Pidge?”
She ignores his accusation - despite its validity - in favor of the odd disappointment that sits in her gut. “That’s it?”
“I think you said something about hating mosquitoes too.”
Pidge snorts. “So nothing of substance?”
“Well…” Lance’s eyes drift past her.
She follows his gaze towards the closed bedroom door, and hers drifts around, catching on yesterday’s clothes strewn over the floor before landing on her duffel bag lying open at the foot of the bed.
For the first time, the air inside the room actually feels stifling, and for a long second Pidge can’t breathe.
“Well what?” she says, returning her attention to Lance.
He doesn’t look at her as he says, “You said you wish you could stay here anyway.”
Pidge’s heart sinks at the reminder of the clock ticking towards the morning she has to leave again. Begging a few days off from work isn’t something she can afford to do often.
“It’s my turn next time,” Lance points out with a slight smile as he reaches up to poke her cheek. “And at least at your end we won’t have random relatives opening the door without knocking.”
Pidge flushes at the reminder, clearing her throat and saying, “It only happened once.”
“Yeah, because Marco and the kids were only visiting,” he says with a fond smile.
Pidge likes the way he talks about his family and the love even simple statements exude, but sometimes the embarrassment wins out. She asks, “Your parents aren’t back yet?”
“They won’t be home till later,” Lance says as his thumb runs across the palm of her hand.
“Then let’s just stay in bed,” Pidge says. She lies down, tucking herself under his arm.
“What happened to being gross and sweaty?” Lance wonders even as he obliges her.
Pidge squeezes his fingers tangled with hers. “I decided the pros to staying outweigh the cons,” she says.
Lance’s lips brush her forehead, and she closes her eyes. “Don’t they always?” he mutters.
Pidge’s chest seizes, for that’s a question she still doesn’t know how to answer.
“I never thought I’d see the rebirth of the banned books movement about...”
Exploring dark themes: good Literal pedoporn for the sake of porn: bad
people want the pedo porn and rape for the sake of rape porn on a03 to be taken down.
So I feel like this is where there is going to be a lot of disagreement because there isn’t an answer that everyone is gonna like.
But here’s the thing. By us laws child porn only counts as child porn when its about an actual living child. So you can personally object to the existence of porn involving fictional minors, but there is nothing illegal about it.
And I’m gonna tag @cgf-kat because you asked what was going on and I’m gonna cover that here.
So essentially A03 was created in response to the purges of explicit content on fanfiction.net and of fan content on livejournal. These were two big turning points in proving that even sites catering to fandom really had no idea what they were doing, and that the only real answer was to find a place where fans could ensure that other fans had a place where they could go and share their works. Thus, Archive of Our Own was founded, and it had the strict policy that any and all content was allowed. As long as it wasn’t targeting or harassing a real person or people, and that it was tagged properly, anything was allowed.
And that’s because they understand that when we suddenly decide to police fan content, or any content, we very quickly slide down a very slippery slope. Censorship is always a touchy topic, and that’s kind of why things like Banned Book Week exist, to show us that no one should be able to dictate what we are allowed to read. I doesn’t matter the content, it should be there for us to engage with and talk about. Because when we give someone the power to censor things, we end up losing everything. As blogs wiser than me have said, when you give someone the power to censor things, eventually they are going to start censoring you. No one deserves that power.
The real issue here is that censorship doesn’t really work, especially when it comes to fandom issues.
So say we decide first to ban sexual content, what is the definition of sexual? Is it strictly sex? Or do things like sensual making out and cuddling count? Those things can be sexual. So then, should we ban all relationship based content entirely, as most relationships lead to sex? And if so, who gets to decide what counts as sexual and what doesn’t? What are their biases? Are they going to say that all lgbtqa+ relationships are wrong but straight ones are good? Must all romantic content be strictly vanilla and fluff to avoid offending anyone?
What about so-called abusive ships? What do we do when one person says its abusive and another says it isn’t? Who gets to decide? What if cannon isn’t so clear, do we ban it all just to be safe? Do we refuse any content regarding villains? Are all Villain/Protag ships always problematic? Can people write redemption stories or AUs? Or do those romanticize violence? Must all villains be written as such, and do all stories involving them have to explicitly state that said characters are bad? Can we trust people to understand that? Or must we point it out?
Can we write angst? Can we write about violence and death? Must it only be canon typical violence? Or can we expand on it? Can we write about characters dying? Which characters are we allowed to kill? Just adults? What about minorities? Can we only write stories about violence happening to cis straight white men? Or should we just get rid of all violent content entirely? What about arguments? Disagreements? Can we only write about everyone getting along and having fun? Is anything else problematic?
And then of course there are people who write about violence and rape to cope. Are they not allowed either? And if we allow them how do we find out who is writing to heal and who just enjoys dark things? Should everyone have to share intimate personal details so they can post their works without judgement? What about teens writing about fictional teens being sexual? Is that allowed? Can adults write about teens or is that wrong? And how to we confirm that the writers are teens? Is that even possible?
In the end, the question is, how can we be objective in a fandom space where things are constantly subjective?
And since fandom is so subjective, do we only allow works that are based entirely on cannon? That kinda defeats the purpose of fan works entirely. Once we start censoring things, its only a matter of time until we are down to such strict guidelines that the whole purpose of fandom is stripped away and no one can have any fun so they leave. Censorship does not work.
So instead of dealing with all that, A03 has its extensive tagging system. Instead of putting it in the hands of a few random people to decide what is allowed, we put it in the hands of the people engaging in the fiction to decide what they want to see. You can exclude almost any tag in your searches on their site. Explicit content is marked as such, it even gives you an extra warning just to make sure that you know what you are getting into. Rape fics, abuse fics, incest fics, they are all tagged. If you find them and you read them then any emotional distress you feel is YOUR FAULT. You were warned. You read it anyway. Your reaction is your responsibility.
And who are we censoring this for anyway? Kids? A03 the rest of the goddamn internet are NOT safe spaces for children. So for the adults? Why do we care if adults see adult content? Adults are expected to have a healthy relationship with fiction. They are supposed to know the difference between fiction and reality. And if you can’t? Well, you shouldn't be engaging with fiction at all, let alone adult fiction.
And listen. You aren’t protecting children by removing said content. The internet is FULL of porn, kids are gonna find it. In fact, fan-fiction offers a rather safe environment for teens to explore their sexuality. I know it did for me. Teens should be allowed to explore that side of themselves. To stand against that basically just plays into the anti-sex ed side where we cannot ever tell teens and pre-teen about sex because oh no what if they do the sex!! And that’s a tired ass argument that only ends up harming children in the end.
And hey, explicit content is flagged as such. If kids find it and read it it isn’t the author’s fault, it the fault of the kid for lying and their parent for not monitoring their child’s online activity.
So you can find said content disturbing and not want to read it or engage with people who read and write it, but you don’t get to say it isn’t allowed. These authors aren’t breaking any laws, they aren’t hurting anyone and if you engage with things you know will upset you that is your fault. And if kids find it, that the the parent’s fault.
That’s why A03 exists. That why we celebrate banned books. Because you don’t get to decide what people are allowed to think and feel and do. As long as its legal and they aren’t hurting anyone, which they aren’t, then you have no fucking say in what they do.
(And I mean, how can we decide how we feel about things and have meaningful discussions regarding them if we don’t know they exist?)
that would be evening mostly, when i’m the only one awake and unlikely to be interrupted, or else the routine of the day is out of the way and i can peck away at my keyboard in peace...
(11) Do you listen to music when writing?
nah i can’t; it’s too distracting, even if i eventually tune it out. i only really listen to music while i’m driving, because i need to sing along to something to keep from getting mind-numbingly bored (or if the news is too infuriating/depressing)
(26) Story you’re most proud of
hmm...tough question, but i’m going to say Fatalistic Daydream. I wrote it for my very first Bang (which i also joined very last minute after messaging a mod and saying hey i have a fic i’m already working on can i please join??) and, well...it was kind of a wild time last April because not only did i have this fic due, but i also had two fics due for an Exchange (don’t be a pinch hitter for an event or you will Die), and it was right after i finished my fic for the zine, so i might’ve been a bit...burned out. but Fatalistic Daydream is funny because i’d started it at least a few months before and then my interest in it fizzled out and i left it until the opportunity the Bang presented gave me the chance to at least attempt to reignite my interest in it. and it took a bit of effort and a lot of focus, especially when i ended up with plot inconsistencies that i had to smooth out because that’s just what happens when you don’t touch a project for a while. but i finished it!! a fic that, in a sense, took me months!! and that’s never happened before (and tbh hasn’t happened since...oof)!!
plus it’s always a little...awkward to include OCs in fan fiction, but this fic helped give me some practice in that respect (even if using OCs is never my first choice in fic...unless they’re villains. i’m okay with writing villain OCs lol)
and...ha, this was also one of the first fics i had to seriously rewrite a scene for because the whole thing was a mess thanks to an outline lacking in details and coherency and the inconsistencies, man. and i will always be grateful to @hailqiqi for making this fic fit for posting (and for pushing me to finish it too tbh) <3
@cgf-kat replied to your post:Literally just got played by Moffat using the...
I am confused, whaaaat? What book? How…..?
The novelisation of The Day of the Doctor.
There’s a page where it says it’s going to explain plot holes (like why a Time Lord’s granddaughter had the name ‘Susan’ and about the rumors of if the Doctor is half human or not and why the TARDIS exploded during the Pandorica incident) and says the chapter is being overseen by the Priests of Silence.
