the fandom librarian

so I guess the idea is to just post the first sentence of the last twenty-one fics I've written? anyway that's what I'm going to do.

1. Everyone told Leo two things afterward: he'd been stupid, and he'd been lucky.

2. "Babe? Sara, are you home?"

3. "Come up, hang out a while," Juan said with an easy smile.

4. "We had a good run," he said, almost abstractly.

5. Xavi was already on the phone in the hotel lobby when David stumbled downstairs for breakfast, despite the disgustingly early hour.

6. "Jesus Christ, Mario," Roberto spat.

7. "Hey hotshot, I hear you're off to Barcelona again," Theo said, laughing.

8. Mario was looking forward to a quiet week or two of vacation before he had to show up for preseason.

9. Victor was already sitting on the bench when the coach finally pulled Andres off in the sixty-somethingth minute, and despite all the players squashed into the technical area there was plenty of space to either side of him.

10. Andres followed Xavi to his room and then, when Xavi didn't say anything or even pause at the door, trailed inside after him.

11. "I missed you," Rafa announced, apropos of nothing.

12. David could tell that Messi -- Leo, he might as well call him Leo if he was going to be poking around in David's head -- was still a little upset as soon as he laid eyes on him, and that threw him, because he didn't know how he knew.

13. It took longer for Andres to notice than it should have, but he had the excuse of a new family of his own.

14. Kelly fell asleep on the plane to Germany.

15. "You're going to Madrid?" Andres asked, his lower lip visibly quivering.

16. Rafa heard the news on deadline day, the same as all the fans; he was at lunch with Andy and David and they all looked up from their phones at the same instant.

17. There were two types of people in Bluebell, Alabama: the kind who left, and the kind who stayed.

18. "Look after your sister," were the last words Dis said to Kili before he and Fili left their home in the mountains for the lowlands, traveling to join their uncle at his forge in one of the towns of Men.

19. In 2007 they went down to Nacional, and Berta quit football for good.

20. Novak was taking a water break from practice - serve, serve, always the serve, but if he was going to double fault worse than Fernando Verdasco god knew he needed it - when he noticed his phone was buzzing on the bench.

21. Word in the break room was that the new part-timer, who was notable mainly for his ability to bring shy children out of their shells and his extensive collection of hideous cardigans, had been picked up after closing last night by a tattooed skinhead on a motorcycle.

cue the frantic scramble to finish up at least a drabble. I posted most of this as part of the WIP meme over on tumblr, but here, have a self-contained story about Andres Iniesta the children's librarian and his delinquent motorcycle-riding boyfriend.

( radical reference )

drive-by update because I have ~plans for Sunday brunch like a motherfucking grown-up! I found this snippet buried in my WIPs while I was hunting for things to post for a meme on tumblr, and I'm not sure anyone besides aramley ever saw it, so what the hell!

( remember when the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano exploded and nobody could fly anywhere and a bunch of tennis players had to take a bus from Monte Carlo to Barcelona? ahahahahah good times good times )

people should ask me for tennis WIPs because I am flat out of football ones and it's depressing.

also if you have opinions about whether or not there should be a second incarnation of santjordi let me know? I am trying to decide, and obviously I can't do it on my own!

I just watched the BBC adaptation of North & South and am currently being consumed with emotions. if you have not seen it yet, it's a delightful period drama which one might describe as "Pride and Prejudice set during the Industrial Revolution". the heroine is fantastic, the hero is a borderline-abusive jackass who puts Darcy to shame (seriously, at least Darcy just insulted Elizabeth's family before asking her to marry him; Thornton tells Margaret that her friends deserve to starve and be beaten by the police, and then goes ahead with the proposal like it's no big deal) but manages to have a convincing redemption arc, and the cinematography is gorgeous. the last scene. I just. ALL MY FEELINGS.

anyway, I then went looking for fic! and was severely disappointed because there was almost none! come be disappointed with me, guys. and write me all of the post-reconciliation fic ever.

Sick of Shadows by lettered is an abandoned WIP, but if I have to cry myself to sleep over how THERE'S NO FUCKING MORE OF IT WHYYYYYYY you guys do too! it's an AU where Margaret is persuaded to marry Thornton to save her reputation after she rescues him from the rioting mill workers, and slow burn does not even begin to describe the chemistry the author builds between John and Margaret. read it. also definitely read the final porn outtake, it almost makes up for the THERE'S NO FUCKING MORE OF IT WHYYYYYYY at the end.

Age of Evolution by SummerRed is the best of the pickings on the AO3 (WHERE IS ALL THE YULETIDE FIC? WHERE ARE THE FESTIVIDS VIDS? THIS IS NOT NEW SOURCE MATERIAL, FANDOM, I AM DISAPPOINT), and it's a really charming story about the Thorntons getting married and going on their honeymoon. and also talking about ethical business practice and Charles Darwin, of course.

and since I finally solved the mystery of WHERE THE HELL IS THE REST OF THE FIC, I thought I would share my discovery with you! North & South appears to have evolved as some sort of offshoot from Austen fandom, which has its own special corner of the internet. long story short, there's almost no fic on the AO3, but there is quite a bit on the forums at C19. you have to get an account before you can read anything, which is a bit awkward, but I'm burning my way through completed fics as fast as I can find them and if anything exceptionally delightful turns up I will certainly let you all know!

I will now return to crying about how I have homework and don't have time for a new fandom, goddamn it. like that has ever actually worked.

consider this my belated YULETIIIIIIDE post! I really do mean to put together a proper list of recs, but I'm slow. in the meantime, I got two WONDERFUL fics for yuletide this year, both for Bend It Like Beckham: 5 Games Jess Played In, which is a HOGWARTS AU THAT'S RIGHT, and The Girls of Summer, which is a fabulous and perfectly in-character fic written entirely in the form of commentary on the semifinal of the 2011 Women's World Cup. if you haven't read them yet, what are you waiting for?

I only wrote one fic this year, which I regard as something of a personal failure, but I'm going to try and get a NYR or two done at some point. the timing just wasn't very good for me, which is unfortunate but the way things go sometimes. (the combination of all my sleep-debt from finals week hitting me juuuuust as I surrendered to my feelings about The Hobbit was a killer, let's not pretend any of this was something other than my own damn fault.) but I didn't default! and hopefully I didn't ruin my recipient's yuletide or anything, haha.

title: You Should Come Around More, Alabama
fandom: Hart of Dixie
pairing: Lemon Breeland/George Tucker, Lemon Breeland/Wade Kinsella if you squint
rating: PG
word count: 1493
summary: While George is in New York City, Lemon finds companionship in an unlikely place.
notes: I know none of you watch Hart of Dixie, but you really should! It's a super-charming show. I have a different ship for every day of the week and two on Sundays, but I love the weird relationship between Lemon, George and Wade, especially when they're not really thinking about Zoe.

it might just be the right time for you and me (but to be honest it's probably not)

lest ye fear that I had abandoned stickmarionette's and my mutual brainchild, the royalty AU lives! previous installations:

Xavi says good-bye to Andres (by me), Pep talks with/pervs on Raul (by stickmarionette), Xavi has a dramatic exchange with Hierro (by me), the Beckhams are introduced and Iker finally shows up (by me), a wild Leo appears, bearing political intrigue (by stickmarionette), Iker and Xavi's meeting before the wedding, now with bonus Raul/Mori (by me), and now ( sibling bonding in Catalunya always takes the form of political scheming )

post about yuletide will be coming when I don't have Christmas dinner still to attend to!

someone who is not me should write the Συμποσιον AU where Pep is Socrates and Zlatan is Alcibiades and Pep meant well but he never cared about Zlatan as a person just as a vessel for his philosophy and Zlatan is super super bitter because fuck philosophy what about love and crashes Pep's buddies' party to tell him so and oh wait that all really happened. only with less facial hair.

I was talking with flickings about doing mini-primers for canonical ladyballer pairings and it seems like a semi-legit use of my internet stalking skills (I use "legit" in a broad variety of meanings, including "not actually legitimate at all") but picking up on who is actually dating in the current media environment tends to be the job of people who are already stalking a team, so -- tell me which ladies are actually lesbian couples and I will investigate them! Current list:

-Kelly Smith and Alex Scott (already done, aww yeah)
-Lianne Sanderson and Joanna Lohman
-Laura Del Rio and Nikki Baker
-Fara Williams and Amy Kane
-Marta and Johanna Frisk
-Abby Wambach and Sarah Huffman (?)
-Megan Rapinoe and Sarah Walsh (?)
-Christine Sinclair and Tiffeny Milbrett
-Diana Matheson and Rhian Wilkinson
-Amy Lepeilbet and Liz Bogus
-Melissa Tancredi and Erin McLeod
-Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris (?)

I know Abby Wambach is dating a lady and Megan Rapinoe and Sarah Walsh are together, obviously, but I kind of feel like everybody knows that already and they don't need a primer? But feel free to correct me, idk. And also feel free to tell me this is all a terrible idea! I have sort of weird squishy moral compunctions about using my internet stalking skills for evil, and while I tend to think that promoting attention for ladies' football is a win for the side of light, I can also see the argument for not speculating about the sexuality of people who are not officially out to the world at large. Anyway. These are my thoughts! Tell me yours!



man I really need an icon for when I'm talking about ladies, this is sad

the wicked temptress stickmarionette softly whispered "Iker/Xavi royalty AU" in my ear: results continue to be unsurprising, but usually I'm the one enabling other people, dammit. hoist on my own petard! for those following along at home:

Xavi says good-bye to Andres (by me), Pep talks with/pervs on Raul (by stickmarionette), Xavi has a dramatic exchange with Hierro (by me), the Beckhams are introduced and Iker finally shows up (by me), a wild Leo appears, bearing political intrigue (by stickmarionette), and...

( Iker and Xavi's meeting before the wedding, with bonus Raul/Mori! )