ashkitty | Entries tagged with advent calendar

Day 12! We made it!

We end where we began, with Star Trek. This is the first K/S Advent fic I wrote, and the most enduring. I loved being able to make a world that is completely strange, completely alien, and to give the Enterprise a mission where while there is danger, there’s nothing trying to attack or harm them. Space is dangerous, but also wondrous, and the crew should get to enjoy that sometimes.

Snowflakes (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock, G)

‘Spock was already pulling out his tricorder. "It appears to be...life, Jim. Plant life," he said slowly. Spock had a lot of ways of speaking slowly. There was the way that meant he was thinking, and the way that meant he was thinking Jim was an idiot. There was a way that meant he was absolutely determined not to laugh, and a way that meant he was still processing something shocking. This was a new one, though, Jim thought. It was almost wonder.’

Song: O Holy Night

Rec: Wizards in Winter by Vibishan (Calvin & Hobbes/Young Wizards, G)

The one where Calvin becomes a wizard. I don't know what else to say about it beyond that - but look, you know (if you know Young Wizards) that the younger the wizard, the more raw power. And that wizards are offered the Oath when they're needed. Anyway, I knew from the beginning this was the rec I wanted to end on.

Merry Christmas.🎄🎁❄️

Back to Day 11.

Almost to the end! So the thing with the Arthurian legend is that you can write almost anything, but it still ends badly. This story stops before that happens, but it’s still hovering in the background, casting its shadow. Still, I very much enjoyed writing it (hey, sometimes you’re a PhD student working on Arthurian literature and just happen to draw ‘Arthurian legend’ in Yuletide).

I don’t have a lot of OT3s – my affection for codependent couples doesn’t really lend itself to polyamory – but this one has always been formative. I think I read T. H. White in high school and thought, Aha! So that’s what’s going on! and ended up years later doing queer stuff with medieval knights for an actual job. Anyway it’s not a long read – I want to keep it short because I’m sure the holiday season is really getting busy by now – but I hope you enjoy it.

The Art of Courtly Love (Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere, Arthurian Legend)
Rated M

‘It was Christmas night, so the king and queen held a feast. The hall was trimmed with holly and mistletoe above the doors, and a poet from the North had sung of heroes and lovers. Arthur sat in the centre of the high table with Guinevere and Lancelot on his left and his right. The stewards had brought in the second subtlety, the Blessed Virgin standing atop a map of the world with a gilded model of Camelot in her cupped hands.’

Song: Personent Hodie (Mediæval Bæbes version). Attested in a 16th-century Finnish hymbook, it seems to come from a 14th-century song and who knows prior to that. Not the oldest medieval Christmas hymn I have, but one that catches the feeling of the fic better than some others.

Rec: So Pleasing a Thing by Raja815.(Star Trek TOS, Kirk/Spock)
Rated T

This follows Kirk and Spock after they've sorted themselves out post-Gol and post-V'ger and got married, but both being devoted to their careers as well as each other, they have some rough patches. What I love is how the author shows the difficulties they're facing, without being melodramatic--just the very real tensions of two overworked people who are devoted to their vocations as well as to each other; there are cultural differences and errors of ignorance, but the depth of their love is never actually in question.

Back to Day 10 | On to Day 12

A tricky one. This was written for Yuletide, but is not, technically, a Christmas fic. But a large and important section of it does happen over the Christmas holidays, so I have decided it’s close enough, especially since it means I made it to 12 without having to dig out old Gundam fic from the back of a closet. Also, I’m pretty proud of it. This is the only time I have written Dead Poets Society, and probably the only time I will, because I threw absolutely everything I had to say about it into this one story. (It was also the most popular thing I had on AO3 by a long shot, until I started writing in MDZS/Untamed fandom which is a lot more active.) There were actually two things I wanted to write – one about Todd and Neil, and one about Todd in the aftermath of what happens – and then some part of my brain was like JUST DO BOTH AT ONCE and the structure ended up working out pretty well.

(CW for suicidal thoughts in this one, outside the canonical)

Apo Koinou (Dead Poets Society, Neil/Todd)
Rated T

‘They've all retired for the night, or at least scattered. Jeffrey's gone to phone his girlfriend in Boston, his parents have gone to their room to read. Todd sits alone on the living room floor in his pyjamas and bathrobe, knees pulled up to his chest, watching the twinkling coloured lights on the Christmas tree. He lets his eyes unfocus slowly, and the lights become blurry, dancing flickers of colour, shifting at the edges of his vision.’

Song: River, Joni Mitchell

Fic rec: Renovation by EdosianOrchids901 (Good Omens, G)

This is a tiny wee drabble, but so sweet: Aziraphale presents Crowley with a Christmas tree. Crowley pretends (tries?) to hate it.

Back to Day 9 | On to Day 11

It is now Will Stanton’s birthday, which means I had to save a Dark is Rising offering for it. Gonna be up front here – I love this story. I loved the experience of writing it (which started on a delayed train home, staring out the window), and my own connection to it. It is a long, rambling love-letter to my adopted home and perennial OTP.

There was actually meant to be at least one sequel, but I’ve still not finished it, so now I have the entire future of this version of these characters in my head. (Will ends up getting a job in Aberystwyth, so he can live with Bran – part of the difficulty there is the awkwardness about what RL people to include and how to get around that, but oh well. The next part was less complicated; it was Bran visiting Will in Oxford for Valentine’s day. There was rugby.) Anyway, enjoy.

In the Bleak Midwinter (TDIR, Bran/Will)
Rated M

‘He set aside the pile of undergraduate essays he'd been marking, leaning against the window to stare out of it for a while, watching Wales unfold welcoming before him. At least, he mused, that was how it felt – like the prodigal son returning to his father's fold. It was different from going home, where he could feel the fields of Buckinghamshire folding around him whenever he went back to see his parents, but it was similar, too. I know you, the land seemed to say. I remember you. You belong here.’

Song: In the Bleak Midwinter, a Carols from King's version for our choir boy (though Let It Snow might work too, of course!)

Fic rec:forever can never be long enough for me by isshun (modern wangxian)
Rated T

A Dongzhi fic for solstice. WWX takes LWJ along to his family celebrations, where LWJ and JYL bond over making him food. It's a bit soppy and very sweet, which is just what the longest night of the year needs.

Back to Day 8 | On to Day 10

One more Trek fic for the road? (There’s one more still to come, but I’ve tried to put a little more space between them now!) This one takes place after Into Darkness, which was a pretty awful movie with one single redeeming feature: it basically only makes sense if Kirk and Spock are desperately in love.

Anyway, after the events of that film, Spock wants to check on Kirk’s recovery process and ends up getting a bit more explanation than he expected.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

‘Jim's face was as warm as his hands, and his pulse beat solidly beneath Spock's fingertips. He blinked slowly, and Spock's vision blurred as he was pulled into the depths of Jim Kirk's memory. He could tell that Jim, despite having no expertise in mind-melds, was trying desperately to keep the chaos of his mind in order, and push to the forefront the things that had to with the other Spock. But there was a sense as well, beneath the solidness of memory, that he was offering so much more.’

A song to go with it: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan)
About a million years ago, Barenaked Ladies were (one of?) the first band(s) I ever saw live in concert, mostly because they were opening for the Violent Femmes. Teenage!me queued up for a free show at a Seattle festival for hours and it was so worth it.

A fic rec: The Maine Thing (Is That You Send a Card) (wangxian modern au) by Comfect
Look, I binged a lot of Christmas fics last year, and this is one I remember enjoying. It's a Hallmark-inspired wangxian fic. but unlike actual Hallmark movies, the characterisation is top-notch. And wangxian, so the pining is of course delicious.

Back to Day 7 | On to Day 9

So I got on a plane this morning and saw my parents and then took my mom to the hospital AGAIN because the dialysis catheter keeps jiggling itself loose or whatever, so it's been a long day. But you know what's not long? Today's fic!

Even shorter than some of the others, this treat is TINY! Also not technically Christmas, because the Dragon Age universe doesn’t have Christmas. They do have Satinalia, which also involves giving presents and some medieval-Christmas-ish traditions, so I have decided that’s close enough.

Dragon Age Calendar 2023: An Appreciative Audience. Varric tells stories. It’s too short to say more.

‘Varric coughs pointedly. “If none of you want to hear this….” A chorus of apologies, as if anyone could stop Varric telling a story once he’s started. There’s a bite in the crisp Satinalia air, beneath the bonfire-scent of autumn, and lazy sparks float from the crackling fire like tiny stars. There are toasts and gifts and ghost stories, and laughter echoing across the hazy hillside.’

A song:I did actually manage to find a Christmas song about a dragon, but it was incredibly cheesy, so you're getting Six White Boomers instead.

And a rec for the road! hurry down my chimney tonight by gusuvibes. (Untamed AU, wangxian)
Rated T

NHS convinces JC and WWX to work as Santa's Elves for the local mall's Christmas grotto. LWJ brings his adorable child A-Yuan to see Santa. You see where things are going.

Back to Day 6 | On to Day 8

We are halfway through! And we’re going back to Oxford. This is maybe cheating a little – the story itself was written for Yuletide, and is dated the 6th of December, but there isn’t anything especially Christmassy in it.

In 2075, OUP publishes a festschrift (this is, for non-academic types, a book of essays honouring a particular distinguished scholar) celebrating the world of James Dunworthy. It is edited by Colin, now a fellow of Balliol himself, who writes the introduction to the volume and the various things in it. It’s one of my favourite Yuletide experiences – something about the connections of people through history, and the value of good teaching, really hit people (including me, unexpectedly, while writing it). So here is:

Paradox (Oxford Time Travel, gen)
Rated G

‘It is traditional to begin this sort of project with a biography of the person to whom it is being presented, and following that, to list the contributed articles and how the author and outcome of each was started on its path by the eminent scholar being celebrated within the pages. In this case, it seems both unnecessary and redundant, as the essays themselves have become more retrospective than tribute.’

Song: Stop the Cavalry (there IS in fact a Christmas song for time travellers!), version by the Cory Band and the Gwalia Singers

Fic rec: Once and Future by phoenixflight (The Dark is Rising, Will/Bran)
Rated T

Christmas is still a good Dark is RIsing time, and this little treat is full of great lines (Bran's reaction to Will getting a bit melancholy about eventually losing him is brilliant) and, like all the best TDIR fics, evokes a strong sense of place and atmosphere.

Back to Day 5 | On to Day 7

Back to Kirk and Spock again! Told you they’re almost half the list. Advent 2012. The Enterprise crew carry out their mission to investigate weird shit wherever they find it. Guided by a Christmas star (kind of) they stumble on an unexpected birth (kind of). One of my favourite things about writing Trek fic is how weird and unexplainable you can make things (this will come up again later).

Nativus (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock)
Rated G

‘By the time they reach the surface, it is no longer the barren wasteland the initial scans had indicated. They stand surrounded by vegetation, lush and thick and a shade of green so bright it's almost gold; by the sound of trickling streams and the growing thrum of insect life. The tricorders vibrate with each new discovery as lifesigns appear around them with increasing rapidity, and above them coloured clouds rush through the sky like a gymnastic rainbow.…’

Song: Silent Night (There are of course many versions; this is the absolutely haunting one by Sinead O'Connor.)

Fic rec: Feast of the Unwise Men by Drayton (Oxford Time Travel)
Rated G

Technically this is an Epiphany fic, but since I'm doing pre-Christmas days and not post-Christmas days, here we are. It's about those few days after Dunworthy and Colin retrieve Kivrin from the Black Death, and the fallout - while knowledge of the canon will definitely help here, it's also a fic for anyone who has had to deal with university administrations.

Back to Day 4 | On to Day 6

On to Day 4!

It wouldn’t be Christmas season without The Dark is Rising! What surprised me the most is how few I’ve apparently written that are actually Christmas-centric, when it’s such an important part of the series! (It might also be that I just don’t have them anymore, or didn’t post them to AO3, because I’ve been writing for this fandom a long time.)

This one was, as the author notes indicate, scribbled out quickly during Christmas Eve church, and fixed for posting afterward. I did go back more recently and do some edits. I didn’t live in Wales yet in 2002, so got a few little things wrong – mostly younger!Ash didn’t quite get the church/chapel divide, and had them all heading into Tywyn to the local Anglican church even though Owen is explicitly noted as going to chapel. The further problem is that by the time this takes place, the chapel in Tywyn was already turned into flats, though I think the one in Abergynolwyn (closer to Clwyd farm anyway) was still going. I realise these details are really not that important to most readers, and especially have no real bearing on the direction of a very short fic about accidentally coming out to your parents, but well, I live here.

It is very short – barely over 1k words – so I don’t want the intro to end up longer than the fic.

While Shepherds Watched (TDIR, Will/Bran)
Rated G

‘It was the first Christmas Eve of his lifetime that he had not spent with his family, noisy and bustling in the bright din of a two-storey farmhouse full of children and spouses and nieces and nephews and neighbours dropping by just to say hello, the smell of cinnamon and apples and pudding, the warmth of the fire interrupted by bursts of cold air when the door opened, the sound of six or seven Christmas carols all jangling together at once.’

Song: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
(I wanted the Welsh version but couldn't find a good one, so we went with Carols from Kings for choirboy Will.)

Fic rec: We Wish You a Logical Christmas by little_ogre (MDZS Star Trek AU, wangxian)
Rated M

What caught my attention first about this fic is that it's the JIang, not the Lan, who are Vulcans. Half-Vulcan WWX brings LWJ home during Christmas shore leave, and pon farr happens. It's excellent.

Back to Day 3 | Onward to Day 5

So the many times I wrote for the K/S Advent Calendar mean there are more Star Trek fics on this list than anything else. This was 2010’s offering, in which Spock convinces Jim to go home to Iowa and see his family for Christmas. We do spend a bit of time grappling with nu!Trek Jim’s troubled childhood, but it’s still ultimately a happy story about growing up, and coming home.

Delusions of our Childhood Days (Star Trek, Kirk/Spock)

‘He glanced over at Spock. “Sick of hearing this shit yet? Ready to tell me it’s illogical?”

“Jim,” Spock answered patiently, “I agreed to accompany you on this outing. I am aware I influenced you in choosing to pursue it in the first place for the sole purpose of confronting the emotional upheaval of your past. Since then I have partaken of an intoxicating substance and am sitting with you, in subzero temperatures, on the roof. No part of this scenario is the least bit logical.”

Jim reached for Spock’s hand, holding it between his own, still gazing off toward the trees. “But you’re here.”’

A song to go with it: Thunder Road (not a Christmas song, but relevant to the story)

And a fic rec:The Cold Days of Winter (Eight Days of Luke, David/Luke) by Daegaer
Rated G

So it's probably important to know the canon for this one (and the more about Norse mythology the better) but if you do it's exquisite. There are moments - David's hesitation to light a match, not because he's afraid Luke will appear but because he's afraid he won't, and he'll have to let go of the idea that it was ever more than his imagination. Luke's fierce protectiveness is lovely, but there's a very definite shudder of dark things to come at the end. A good fic for a cold night!

Back to Day 2 | On to Day 4

I've been awake for just over 23 hours so going to dive right in here.

This 2015 Yuletide fic features THREE SEPARATE Christmases, so it’s like a free gift with purchase! Or something. Connie Willis’ Oxford Time Travel Series always makes me think of Christmas, partly because the first one I read was Doomsday Book (which happens over Christmas in several time periods) and second because I wrote Yuletide fics for it three years in a row.

If you don’t know it, you should check it out – it’s not always an easy read, and there are some weird little linguistic catches that can grate (the English people in these books talk like an American imagines English people in the 1920s might have spoken). I found Blackout/All Clear a frustrating slog until suddenly I didn’t, because somehow the experience of going through all that repeatedly with the characters made sense.

Anyway, if you do know it, then this fic follows Colin through the years between Doomsday Book and post-All Clear, but is much shorter than any of those and will not take so much dedication to read.

A Carol of Dreaming Spires (Oxford Time Travel, Colin Templar/Polly Churchill)

‘It was tradition, by now: Dunworthy in his armchair, Badri folded onto one end of the faded sofa and Kivrin curled against him. Colin stretched out on the floor in front of the blocked-off fireplace. The only new addition this year was Polly, perched on the floor with a tartan blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Colin snuck looks at her while pretending to read the book Kivrin had given him.’

A song to go with it: The Atheist Christmas Carol

And a fic rec: Yippee Ki Yay, Father Christmas (Everwood, Bright & Ephram) by Cyren2132

Have you seen Everwood? One of the best shows the CW decided not to keep; the premise is so cheesy but the characters were so, so good. (And Bright is Chris Pratt at his young, pre-being-a-super-Republican-for-some-reason best.) Anyway this is the one where Bright and Ephram get stranded in a roadside motel on Christmas Eve.

Back to Day 1 | On to Day 3

The thing about being in fandom for a long time, or at least one of the things, is that I have written a lot of holiday fics over the years. And I thought it might be fun to do a sort of Advent Calendar and revisit them!

It's a good excuse to give some old fics some air time, and also to spread the love and post some recs for other holiday fics I have loved.

Day 1:

We kick things off with some light-hearted fun! This was written for the Kirk/Spock Advent Calendar in 2011. I’d written a couple more serious fics for the same event in previous years, so wanted to change it up a bit and go full-on ENTERPRISE SAVES CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for this one.

Operation Sugarplum (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock)
Rated Gen
‘The transporter room was full of them, most in dress uniforms from their cadet days, some in Operations red, and most with a fluffy red Santa hat perched jauntily on their heads. Spock was uncertain where all those had come from. One belonging to a young officer from Medical looked suspiciously as if it had spent a previous incarnation as a sock, but Spock did not consider himself an experienced judge of Santa Claus paraphernalia, so neglected to mention it.’

A song to go with it: Santa Claus is Comin to Town, of course!

And a rec: merry christmas ya filthy animal by belovedmuerto
(The Untamed, wangxian but it's Jin Zixuan POV, modern AU)
Rated Teen

Picked this one because I'm headed to L.A. tomorrow and because I wanted to get an MDZS fic in - none of mine are going to be, as I haven't written any AUs and there is an understandable lack of Christmas in Ancient Fantasy China. It's the final one of a series, but I read them out of order and it was fine - they're pretty standalone, as long as you grasp the uncomplicated premise that WWX ran off to California where LWJ lived. I love the whole series because I love L.A. and it's so full of place, and this is just one of those warm fuzzy things where people basically get along and have a cosy time together and it's all very sweet.

On to Day 2

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Entries tagged with advent calendar

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