maybe you'll get what you wanted maybe you'll stumble upon it

[raven]

This is going to be a fannish post - really, it is - but before that, I want to blather a bit. It's a beautiful day, or at least it was. I actually wish the weather could be like this all year round: bright and sunny and bitterly cold. I walked about five or six miles today, and enjoyed every minute of the weather. And it was even nice in work, because we had the door open and the light spilling in but one of those blissful portable radiators behind the counter. I was sitting on it unashamedly. And that's where I was when the World's Rudest Customer^TM came in.

Okay, let's be fair. He wasn't the world's rudest - that honour goes to the woman who called me a stupid bitch on Christmas Eve - but he gets into the top five. We were all clustered around the counter - Tony, going off to do a cash drop, Deb waiting her chance to chew him out about something, and me, lurking on my radiator - when an old man and his wife came in. They tried to catch Tony and Deb running off into the back, who pointed them at me. "She can help."

He gave me a look. "She won't be able to help."

Deb called back, at her most acerbic: "I think you'll find she can, as she WORKS HERE."

The old man stood there for a minute. His wife said something about how insufferably rude we'd all been and how she'd never been spoken to like that before, and finished off with: "I don't think we'll be coming here again. There's other bookshops."

(Not in the village there aren't.)

The old man agreed vociferously. And then they came up to the counter, looked me in the eye, put a book down in front of me and asked for a refund. I was furious. But, god help me, I gave it to them, and even gave them their penny extra so they wouldn't have to carry £9.99 in change, and they left, presumably never to darken our doorstep again. After a suitable amount of time had elapsed, I called plaintively into the silence, "Do I give off vibes of total incompetence?"

From the back, they paused in their time-honoured shared pastime - to whit, having a flaming row - to call back, "No, dear."

So I was, and am, baffled. I was sitting there in ripped jeans and a black t-shirt, no different from any other bookshop employee in the universe. Is it because I look young? Because I look incompetent? Because I'm Asian? Because I'm a woman? Something else entirely? I don't know.

Anyway, enough about them. I'm here mainly to talk about various fannish things. Firstly, some recs. I've been reading mostly Harry Potter lately, so there's a bit of that, with one or two other things.

Fifty Dollars for the Powder Room by musesfool.
I read this back when it was originally posted, but never got around to reccing it. It's meant to be a sort of retelling of Breakfast at Tiffany's (the film version, not the Capote version) with Sirius and Remus, which is the sort of weirdly crack-fisted idea that shouldn't work but does. It's got the pair of them at their dysfunctional, teenage-boy best, and I really enjoyed the re-reading.

(Also: Remus plays the Holly role, by the way. Sort of. And you can't tell me that isn't hotness.)

(I kind of wish it had been called "Moon River", though. Raven, shut up.)

With Hindsight, by kabeyk.
Ahhhh. I love this. I love it. I wish I'd written it. It's set in my absolute favourite time period for MWPP fic, which is the short period between their leaving school and Hallowe'en 1981, and it's about Remus, but mostly, it's about James. I've never read anything with the pairing before, never wanted to, but this makes me want it to happen, but not, sort of. In fact, it makes me conflicted. That, I think, is the mark of good writing. And it's full of brilliantly ridiculous details - Remus eats fruitcake in the bath, and he and Sirius only have one towel between them - and a wry but angsty James, a soft, sleepy characterisation of Remus which I adore throughout, and beautiful writing.

Gypsy Soul by ignipes
ignipes once wrote a fic consisting of nothing but Remus delivering an extended monologue to a penguin. This fact has endeared her to me forever. All of her fic is marvellous, and this one really especially so. It's Sirius/Remus through time, in seven perfect vignettes, of which the last is the one that's making me rec it now. Reading the last section, which builds on all the rest, is like watching an artist at work. I don't have words of my own to do justice to it.

Moving fandoms:

Untitled girl!Doctor fic by forthwritten.
This is a beautiful piece of writing, which as far as I know has garnered no attention at all, which is shameful, I tell you. It's a short story about what happens to companions when they stop being companions, and why no one can travel with the Doctor forever. It's just lovely, with some delicious turns of phrase, and it's Rose/Ace femmeslash. In other words, perfection.

Cherish by nuit_belle
This is a simple fic about Jackie when Rose is gone. And I don't know why, but it's stayed with me. I think it's probably just that - the simplicity of it - that makes it powerful. It's sweet, and sad, and very much worth reading.

No more for the time being, as I haven't been reading much fic lately. I'm on the lookout for Tonks gen or femmeslash - not het, because much as I adore Remus, it seems like most of the stories about the two of them are similar, and I've read the good ones already - and not having much luck. Actually, I'm not having luck with Remus/Tonks generally. The fic, which I am still writing - much to my shame - is actually going fairly well, thanks to a lot of considered opinion from amchau, who is very good at dealing with me when I launch myself headlong at a new fannish sandbox. And given that it is going quite well, and should be finished within a week or so, I started poking around LJ for where one might post such a fic.

The thing is, I don't really know HP-fandom-on-LJ very well. When I was in the fandom the first time round, I hung out at FAP and never poked about on LJ at all. Still, better late than never, and I think - I think! - the biggest Remus/Tonks LJ comm is wolfandlady. So far so hoopy, but I was reading the comm info page, and under the heading "Posts regarding the following are NOT accepted" came across this item:

Fan fiction or art posted to or linked from wolfandlady that contains, explores, or asserts a past or present Remus/Sirius relationship. [...] Other past or present het relationships are allowed...." (bolding mine)

Huh. Well, I'm screwed then. But even if I wasn't an old-school Sirius/Remus fangirl, I still think I'd be the tiniest bit wtf at that. The fic I'm trying to write, without giving too much away, is about Tonks growing up, with Remus and Sirius intersecting with her life, arriving and departing and having their own story going on behind the scenes. When we get to the Remus/Tonks bit, Sirius is dead, but something of a source of tension. He is, after all, the first thing Remus and Tonks have in common, and possibly the last. In the canon, the relationship between the two is complex and shaded, and clouded by grief at all turns, and I don't, honestly, believe you can write a realistic story about them without trying to include this. And Sirius is all a part of it, all tangled up and casting a shadow even after his death. In short, I Do Not Approve. In my little fic, Sirius brings them together and in the end they're together because they're happy, not because they're lost-weekending. Past het relationships being allowed but not past slash strikes me as... weird, to tell the truth. Would they allow, for example, Tonks having been with Ginny offscreen? (Need fic for that kthxbai.) Or Hermione, maybe, or girl!Doctor? (latter is on the boil.) Or, I don't know, Remus/Umbridge, as long as he remained unambiguously heterosexual? I wonder.

Anyway. Any suggestions as to where to post a Sirius/Remus and Remus/Tonks story will be gratefully received.

Enough. I'm going to bed, as I'm off out tomorrow to Liverpool with a shopping list and a very hungover hathy_col, whom I have not seen in literally months and missed. There will be fannishness and squee. Goodnight, all.

Comments

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

YOU EXUDE SATAN IONA! SATAN IS ON YOUR BREATH!

I felt this was best said in all caps.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you dear, I'm always pleased to hear about my failings. *g*

Also, though you'd like to know: the first item on the above mentioned shopping list is Meds. :)

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Meds is going to be so fabulous. Mine hasn't arrived yet, I have no idea what the hell is going on with the post! Make a big post when you get it. :D

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

I'm on the lookout for Tonks gen or femmeslash - not het, because much as I adore Remus, it seems like most of the stories about the two of them are similar, and I've read the good ones already - and not having much luck.

I know what you mean. Once you read about a dozen R/T stories, you've pretty much seen it all.

In short, I Do Not Approve.

You're not alone. That's one of the issues I have with wolfandlady (one of quite a few actually, but that's neither here nor there). As for your question, there is trs_love, but it's not really an active community.

girl!Doctor? (latter is on the boil.)

You have a lovely brain. Lovely. :D

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

So glad someone else agrees! I may be wrong, but it might even be the canonicity of it that does that. The more canon something is, I find, the less room you have to play. Maybe we lucked out with Sirius/Remus after all. *g*

Now that's a good idea for a comm. Wish it was active.

You have a lovely brain. Lovely. :D>

Gleeeee! *g* I'm workin' on it. It will materialise.

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

The more canon something is, I find, the less room you have to play.

Unfortunately. I always thought it would work the other way around, but it seems like the final R/T scenes in HBP have really stuck and constrained the 'ship a bit. I'd love to see someone really break out of the established patterns and give it a new spin.

Now that's a good idea for a comm. Wish it was active.

I know! Those three characters could have a really interesting, twisted dynamic, but alas, most people seem to prefer the duos over a possible trio. PWP doesn't count for me; I want relationships. *sigh*

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

You could try trs_love. It's sort of dead right now, but I think it's a neat idea for a comm and could do with some reviving.

To give some context for the wolfandlady rule, it's basically there to stop people from posting "Tonks morphs into Sirius" scenarios and other fics that are nominally R/T but really a thinly veiled excuse for pairing-bashing.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

... And I see someone else has beaten me to it. Ah well.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ah, no, you've made me more determined to remember the place when I finally get around to posting.

Regarding what you've said above - fair enough. It rubs my fur the wrong way, though; it sounds too much like "remus is straight omg!11!", although I'm fully aware I'm reading a lot into it.

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

it's basically there to stop people from posting "Tonks morphs into Sirius" scenarios

Talk about a scenario that shows absolutely no respect for the characters involved. *shudder*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*looks shifty*

*mimimises Word docs to desktop*

*runs away*

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

Hee. Don't run away. It's more the "Tonks morphs into Sirius" with no emotional consequences thing that pisses me off. I loved Sleeping With Ghosts (I'll Have What He's Having Remix), because it actually dealt with fallout. A situation like that is definitely going to have an emotional fallout for those involved.

*prods*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I still can't believe someone wrote a fic called "Sleeping With Ghosts" and it wasn't me. *g* But yes, of course! Fallout. Fallout is always good, and something canon never gives us enough of. If Tonks morphs into Sirius, Remus is going to react in one, and probably all, of several ways: he's going to be shocked, and horrified, and grieving again because he can see so clearly what he's lost, and angry, that he's gone and that Tonks presumes to replace him (even if that's not why she's done it, and I don't think she would do it for that reason), and wanting to believe it's not just Tonks changing, but somehow real, and maybe, possibly, after all of that, attracted. *exhales*

*is duly prodded* Fallout. Yes. Is good.

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

*nodsnodsnods*

Now, I really can't wait to see what you do.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Well, I thought about calling it "Moon River" and also "Such a Lot of World to See" and "My Huckleberry Friend" but they all seemed too on the nose. Not that "Fifty Dollars for the Powder Room" is less so, but it amused me more. *g*

Thanks for the rec.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heee, you're welcome. It's a lovely fic, and it makes me want to watch the movie again.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Do you know about katemonkey's Girl's Dormitory (http://www.girlsdormitory.slashcity.net/) archive? I can't rec anything because I never tend to keep lists of what I've read (although I recommend absolutely bloody everything katemonkey herself has written), but there's definitely Tonks/Ginny slash in there. The quality control isn't brilliant, and there are Americanisms and plain old apostrophe abuses that make you want to tear your eyes out, but there are also some great stories there.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

BAH! Abuses of the apostrophe, she says, and "Girl's Dormitory", she says! Girls' Dormitory, obviously. Woe, woe and thrice woe.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! A brief poke about has yielded some very nice pieces. Wonderfull stuff!

(You know, just yesterday I was re-reading a drabble I wrote in 2003, noticed I'd put "twin's" rather than "twins'", and I cringed. It's been sitting there unedited for three years! What must people think of me? *g*)

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

Hee! I just finished reading a Tongs/Ginny! Though it is post Hogwarts and probably not what you are looking for, but it really is very good! Chaptered, completed and not too long. Electra Envious (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=phaballa&keyword=Electra+Envious&filter=all) by phaballa. It focuses on Ginny and her returning home after 9 years in America, it really is beautiful.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I shall go and give it a try.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I hate people sometimes - particularly customers - and whoever invented the phrase "the customer is always right" should be tarred and feathered.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Amen to that! It's horrendous. People who work in retail are still people and deserving of basic courtesy.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[nuit-belle.livejournal.com]

Found this post through ljseek and wanted to say thank you for the rec. You've brightened my day.