The Turtle Jourtle

K is for Keeps Raining All the Time, Q is for A Quiet Night at the Library

It's time for my final MFU fic bingo post of the year (and possibly of all time, since I have a different game planned for next year). I've read several MFU fics over the past couple of weeks, but haven't felt up to posting about them. Here I am, then, ready to finish my bingo card in one blow.

The Old Masters Affair by AconitumNapellus (aconitumn) is a fic I'd been meaning to read for a long time, but had somehow never gotten around to. It's a long casefic with a multipart plot in which Illya and Napoleon, aided by an OC, discover and foil a Thrush scheme. I don't know whether the fault was in the material or in me as an audience—it has been a bumpy few weeks—but this story never quite pulled me in. Still, I enjoyed watching its twists and turns from a slight remove, and I admired the interactions between Illya and Napoleon, which struck a good balance between caring and banter. Established relationship fics, of which this is one, are always a nice change, too. 49,159 words. NS/IK slash.

Keeps Raining All the Time by eponymous_rose is a beautifully written, fascinating fic in which Napoleon serves as Illya's contact while the later is undercover. It is short, but still packs in a lot of plot. 4,645 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.

A Quiet Night at the Library by threecee is a farcical little story, apparently inspired by true events. It's implausible and a touch risque, but good for a few smiles. (Besides which, it has the great virtue of starting with Q.) 1,612 words. Gen.

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My favorite of the two Halloween Pros vids I've encountered is ghostbusters by Perruffus / María Magdalena Fernández del Río Ossandón. Happy Halloween, all.

Today's rec is Holding Out for a Hero, another of the vids by Katharine Scarritt recently posted to Internet Archive. It has more damage than Allies, which I recced last month, but I hope people will be able see past that, as it is an excellent vid. Katharine Scarritt had a real feel for fitting the movement within her clips to the music she used.

This is a Bodie vid (sorry, byslantedlight). If anyone needs a corresponding Doyle vid to maintain the balance in their diet, angelfish45 has made one using the same song, though I don't enjoy it as much.

(I hope that I may be able to recut Katharine Scarritt's version of Holding Out for a Hero at some point. My recut of her Land of Confusion, authorized by the fans now responsible for her works, is finished and should be released any day. My next effort, by request, will be Nearly in Love.)

V is for Vincit, U is for Uxorilocal

I've had limited concentration lately, so I've been reading some short fics. I found these particular ones using an AO3 search for the names of authors who have written fics that are in my Beloved Collection.

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Today's vid rec is Sweet About Me by jaicen5.

This is a vid about the Lads' sharp edges. To its credit, Pros fanfic does not entirely omit those, but I'd say that it does sand them down somewhat when considered as a whole. That makes this vid a useful watch after reading a lot of fic, as well as an enjoyable one.

Last week, I read What a Day for a Daydream by LilyK (sc_fossil), one of this year's Big Bang offerings. The plot of this fic is based on a movie, so its fundamentals were set before LilyK started writing. I think she did well in light of that. The characters were sympathetic and the prose was good. I'm afraid I found the events of the story pretty implausible, though, and not really in a fun way. 12,757 words. B/D slash.

Your Eyes are like Limpid Pools by Corvidology (draycevixen) is a fun and fluffy Christmas fic. The dialog was excellent, and I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of what Ray thinks and what he says. 1,206 words. B/D slash. Particularly recommended.

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G is for The Growing Up Affair, V is for The Vodka Affair

Late last week, I finished Nor Heed the Rumble by utopiantrunks, which elmey brought up when I was seeking recs of long MFU fics back in February. This story begins with Napoleon plagued by recurring dreams and unfolds from there. It is excellent. The plot is suspenseful and based on solid insights into the characters of our two heroes. The action writing is outstandingly vivid, but the emotional scenes are also memorable. Basically, everything about it is good. I'll be checking out more fics by utopiantrunks as soon as I've gotten all my bingo cards finished. 39,187 words. NS/IK slash. Particularly recommended.

I was not feeling well this weekend, so I comforted myself with two familiar fics that I knew I liked, The Growing Up Affair by joolz and The Vodka Affair by paulaH.

I particularly enjoyed The Growing Up Affair this time around. This fic has an original POV character through whose eyes we see the events of the story as well as Napoleon and Illya. Both her observations of them and her own character beats are enjoyable. The story has a lot of heart and just enough action to season it. 9,364 words. NS/IK slash. Particularly recommended.

The Vodka Affair is just fun. Napoleon appears only at the end, so we do miss the interactions between him and Illya, but the story is a wonderful showcase for Illya's character. I love the way it highlights both his pragmatism and his flair for the dramatic. (I'm not certain the events described are actually physically possible, but that never stopped the show's script writers.) 13,178 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.

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C is for A Case of Discovery, Q is for Queer Kissing from The Bible to Harry Potter, W is for What I Deserve of You

Even though the Professionals Big Bang is on this month, I've still been reading quite a bit of other fic, and I find that I already have enough for another multifandom post. I'm not feeling very well today, so parts of this write-up might be a little sketchy. It will make me feel good to get the post done, though.

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R is for Reification, I is for If You Left, H is for Hares and Hounds, X is for Xena Studies

I have a lot of fics to write up today. Including two T fics in my last batch left me with 16 free spaces even though I have been posting the fics by fives. I planned to include six fics in this post to get things synced up again, but then I accidentally read two fics for the letter D, meaning that there are seven for me to talk about here.

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Echo by Ellis Ward is a sci-fi AU that was mentioned more than once during the Bistocon rec panels. I liked this fic fairly well. The sci-fi setting was imaginative and the plot, while slow in places, was interesting overall. The issue I had was with the the romance between Bodie and Doyle; I felt as if I had to take the author's word about their feelings for each other rather than seeing those feelings develop organically over the course of the story. I found that frustrating. 50,368 words. B/D slash.

I actually read Out on the Streets by jat_sapphire a couple of months ago and I have been waffling since about whether I want to put it on my bingo card. Recently, I've started to worry about finishing all of my open cards by the end of the year, however, so I'm including it now.

Although jat_sapphire may be my favorite currently active Pros author, I didn't like this fic. Its historical setting was intriguing, but I didn't feel as if the readers saw enough of it to make it really come alive. Nor did we get very much information about how it related to Ray's past. There were also a couple of parts in this fic that I found confusing. Overall, it didn't connect. 10,011 words. B/D slash.

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