#miss kenton x mr. stevens

[emiline-northeto]

As part of fan fiction writer appreciation day, I am taking a leaf out of @cassiopeiasara ‘s book and I have made a post of some of my favorite fics. To narrow things down a bit I’ve gone with either smaller fandoms, less-common pairings, or genfic that I particularly liked.

There are no Worst Witch recs here I’m afraid - the process of trying to whittle down the list to a small list was too daunting for trying to get this post finished for today.

Recs beneath the cut.

With the exception of the rec for The Remains of the Day (which I explain in more detail below) all of these recs are in the K-T range, going by the AO3 rating system.

Doctor Who – Genfic

Horton, the Elephant Who Waited by wshaffer; 11th Doctor

wshaffer wrote a 1200 word fic completely in Dr. Seuss-style rhyme about Horton meeting the 11th Doctor and it’s utterly delightful.

Bus to Strathclyde by The_Plaid_Slytherin; 9th Doctor

A ficlet about Nine meeting six-year-old Donna that time that she took the bus to Strathclyde. Short, sweet, and entertaining.

Murder She Wrote – half gen, half unrequited Michael Hagarty/Jessica Fletcher because let’s be honest he’s been in love with her since the moment he saw her in season 2

Tidings of Comfort and Joy by Lucy Gillam 

Years after the end of the show, Michael Haggarty shows up in Jessica’s life again. Supposedly by chance. Supposedly doesn’t want anything in particular. Jessica thinks he’s lying. (She’s right).

Rosemary and Thyme – Laura Thyme/Rosemary Boxer

Just Two Florists at a Wedding by Wine Through Water 

This is established relationship and Laura’s daughter finding out about Laura and Rosemary being together. It’s sweet and funny and includes Laura’s daughter demanding to know what Rosemary’s intentions are.

Of All The Trees That Are In The Wood by Cerberusia. 

Rosemary invites Laura to spend Christmas with her. Rosemary has some awesome lesbian friends (extremely well-written and charming OCs) who end up helping Laura see that she really is in love with Rosemary. Slow burn, because Laura is so clueless.

Planting Seeds by phantom listener 

This is a lovely bit of pre-ship Laura/Rosemary in which they manage to get into even more trouble without a murder case than with one. It’s charming, cozy, quite funny and in the best spirit of the show.

Rosemary and Thyme – Laura Thyme/Richard Oakley

Dandelions and Pimpernels  by by_no_one_more_than_me (Lady_Cleo) 

Laura/Rosemary is my OTP for this show with one exception, and this fic is it. In the episode The Invisible Worm there is a professor at a school who falls head over heels for Laura and without spoilers there is something that happens between the two of them at the end of the episode that I always wished someone would write a follow-up fic about, and then Lady_Cleo did, and did a magnificent job at it.

Sense and Sensibility – Elinor Dashwood/Colonel Brandon

Christopher and Elinor by Mercy

Part 1

Part 2 

Part 3 

This is an epistolary re-write of the entirety of Sense and Sensibility, in which Elinor and Colonel Brandon end up together. It’s one of my favorite Elinor/Brandon fics, because I love epistolary stories, because it tweaks the other characters in ways that don’t feel like a huge departure from the novel, and because it takes place over such a long period of time there’s plenty of time to develop the Elinor/Brandon relationship.

Thor Ragnorak: Bruce Banner & Valkyrie brotp

I brought a knife to a gunfight by paperclipbitch 

Set between the end of the movie and the first post-credits scene, it’s Bruce and Valkyrie brotp, and I don’t think I can summarize it better than the author, who put it thus:

“I have questions,” Valkyrie says.

“I don’t want to answer them,” Bruce replies.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Iroh/Ursa

Thy Brother’s Wife by AzarDarkstar

I read this on fanfiction.net originally and was delighted to discover while putting this list together that it’s now on the AO3. This is a quiet, but evocative piece in which we glimpse into the life of Ursa, and that of Zuko, through the eyes of Iroh. This is mostly a very lovely unrequited/possibly mutual pining piece – we never see things from Ursa’s perspective. There’s no infidelity, and it’s surprisingly canon-compliant.

The Remains of the Day - Miss Kenton/Mr. Stevens

I love this book, and the Merchant-Ivory film version, and as much as I love the way the story originally goes I also desperately ship Miss Kenton and Mr. Stevens.

thisiszircon, who used to be on LiveJournal but is now on Dreamwidth (the name links to the stevens/kenton tag on their dreamwidth) has written the best Miss Kenton/Mr. Stevens fanfic I’ve found anywhere and I can recommend all of their stories. Thisiszircon really understands the characters and does slow burn like nobody’s business. And a bunch of the fics are really quite long, which is a delight.

A number of the fics are in first person but I don’t actually find this to be a problem because a) they’re very well done, and b) the book itself is of course in first person. Some of these stories are R/M rated but all the ones I have read have taken a long time to get to R/M, are quite obvious about when they’re going to head into that territory, and you can either stop there if you want or scroll quite a bit past and then just carefully scroll your way back up until you’re at a point that makes sense, if like me you avoid sex scenes.

Common Ground (Part one can be found here) is one of my favorites - it takes the book scene (from the movie), alters it a little to open up the possibility for more dialogue, and settles you in for a long, slow burn. Common Ground is rated R but it takes quite a long time before it gets to R territory, if I recall correctly. 

#fan fiction writer appreciation day #fanfiction writer appreciation day #doctor who #rosemary & thyme #sense & sensibility #the remains of the day #murder she wrote #thor ragnorak #avatar the last airbender #laura thyme x rosemary boxer #elinor dashwood x colonel brandon #laura thyme x richard oakley #bruce banner & valkyrie brotp #jessica fletcher x michael hagarty #iroh x ursa #miss kenton x mr. stevens #fanfic recs #thanks for alerting me to the existence of this day cassiopeiasara!

[sloshed-cinema]

The Remains of the Day (1993)

We all have shitty bosses, but what about when your employer is a literal Nazi sympathizer?

Movies can serve as an escape from the general dumpster fire that is existence right now.  Who knows if I’ll be looking back at this from a trench somewhere.  But Remains is one of those films that feels prescient in the current political climate, if not taking it to the next apparently logical illogical step.  If, as Christopher Reeve’s character says, real politicians lead to amateur politicians, well, amateur politicians lead to imbecile politicians.  Politics are class warfare, with the upper crust viewing their opinions as gospel truth and watching those they’ve trod upon on their way up through thinly veiled disdain (if they veil their disdain at all).  Lord Darlington gathers a Trumpian cabal of fascist-appeasers around him as he’s manipulated by those more savvy than him.  Fucking traitor.  Even those who could stand to oppose him are too concerned with their feet to pay much attention to politics.  Meanwhile those under them have been conditioned and trained to accept their lot in life as right and proper.  Or at least some of them.  Miss Kenton questions the proceedings at Darlington even as Stevens refuses to comment.  Though she doesn’t really follow through and make good on her threats.  Dissent takes many guises, and isn’t always perfect, whether it takes the form of work protests or uncomfortable toasts at self-congratulatory dinners.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘butler’.

A house staff title is mentioned.

Someone names a country.

E C O N O M I C   A N X I E T Y

A bell or series of bells ring.

BIG DRINK

Someone starts to narrate a letter.

Someone goes through a concealed door.

Foot problems.

LIVER TRANSPLANT WAITLIST MODE *Only for those who want to drop a tea tray on the patio.*

Sip every time someone says ‘Mr Stevens’.

#drinking games #the remains of the day #anthony hopkins #emma thompson #james ivory #kazuo ishiguro #drama #romance #historical drama