daemonluna

It's that time of year again--the time of seasonal fic-giving is upon us. Knowing my own procrastination quite well, I didn't sign up for any fic exchanges this year, but I do get to read everyone else's presents!

This list is mostly Yuletide fic, but with some random others as well. (Yay for Yuletide's rarefic!)

Buffy, Widening Gyres Giles/Ethan "When lighting the candles for spells, Ethan always circles the lit match first. Three times widdershins, once clockwise. Only then, finally, does he touch the flame to the wick." Warnings at the top of the fic.

Calvin and Hobbes, Transmogrification "The doctor tells them he's got something called Eighty H-D, and gives him some pills to take for it. He wonders how many HD's a kid is supposed to have, and what it means that he has 80 of them. He doesn't feel sick, but maybe he is, and if he's lucky he'll get to stay home from school. If he's even luckier, they'll raise money for him on TV and he can get parts for that new tele-porter he and Hobbes started to build." Calvin at six, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen.

A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer, Four Yules for Jane Brailsford "Faris looked up when she saw Jane and sang out: 'With a knight of ghosts and shadows, I summoned am to tourney,' before breaking off in giggles. Faris's aim was superb; Jane soon had snow in her hair and down her gown."

Dead Like Me, And Never Lose Affection "So, what Rube has figured out in his long and illustrious (un)life is this: It's all about give and take. What is given may not be given freely, and what is taken may not be what's offered, may seem cruel or capricious, but there is an exchange." Also, there's tapioca pudding.

Dead Like Me, Some People Ride the Wave "It is not immediate, nor is it sudden. It is insidious; it creeps in and appears when George least expects it, like an unpleasant foot fungus. Except it is not unpleasant (in fact, by its very definition it is the opposite), and it is not a foot fungus." George takes up yoga.

Dead Like Me, Bedtime Story (with Strawberries and Cream) "Shut up, Daisy," snapped Roxy. "What you broke, is the law. And it don't matter if this guy's the biggest jerk in the state, you don't go around throwing rotten eggs at his car."

due South, Gift Exchange Three days before Christmas, Fraser’s mother arrived for a visit. To say that he hadn’t been expecting her was an understatement.

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Story of Thomas Piper (As Told by Thomas Lynn) Polly said, "All right, then. Tell me the story of how you were never Laurel's, and maybe the next young thing she has her eye on will get away." (Yay! DWJ fic makes me happy!)

The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff, The First Moving Picture Show "Dear Cousin Kesin," Darvish said, and "Nine bugger him. But not via me." He supposed this mess was to be expected. Kesin remained heir to Chandra and Chandra's father, Lord Balin, until she produced children of her own. And with all of Kesin's own offspring around to remind him of what he had to lose if Darvish did what prince-consorts do- "If Kesin's spawn weren't all such brats, this wouldn't be a problem."

Firefly, Just Desserts Zoe turned her attention back to Wash. "Husband, you haven’t denied me too many things since we’ve been married, ain’t that so?" Wash nodded, eyes going wide, as if that might be the wrong answer. "And I want you two to play nice. I want to see you two boys kiss and make up. I want to see you really feeling comfortable with each other. I want this and like I said," her wide mouth flashed a smile like a beacon in a dark sky; "You owe me one."

Harry Potter, Arctic Fires "John Lyon, keeper of the Ellesmere Fire, held both hands out to the glow of the much smaller indoor fire that lit the room. Behind him, the Hersheban beetle clock struck twelve." A lovely Potterverse take on a certain Christmas personage.

Tipping the Velvet, The Beggar's Wish "If Florence was busy from January to November, then she tripled her efforts at the year's end. She wrote enough letters, it seemed, to keep half of London's postmen hard at work, and for the whole month of December I never saw her sit down to a meal, or stay in the house for more than half an hour when she wasn't asleep. By Christmas I was threatening to tie her to the bedposts; when I said that she looked at me over the spectacles she wore for book-work, and her arch smile made me quiver." (Loves) I cannot tell you how thrilled I am by Tipping the Velvet fanfic in general, and this one in particular!

Utena, Brief Unveilings Anthy/Kozue. " 'Nothing you don’t want done,' she replied, and she was suddenly wearing a red dress, wet and heavy with water turning to blood, and her eyes swallowed her whole and brought her to a place where she could never see the light again, and she laughed while the water swirled around her and suffocated her and her body shook as she tried to get free." A lot of the fic dones't really touch on the darkness at the centre of this series, let alone how truly creepy Anthy can be. This does, very well. Mmmm.

More later!