Unfit for Society Recs

Avengers

Backup by MollyC
Clint POV on meeting Bucky when Natasha sends him to back up Steve. Aw heart.

~*~

Little Women

strange familiars by arbitrarily
Jo and Laurie reunite in New York. OTP OF OTPS. *happy sigh*

~*~

Little Women

Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful by Snacky
Little Women in SPAAAAAAAAAAACE! No, really, and not as a parody. Works amazingly well to translate the March family story to a futuristic setting, with a perfect Beth voice.

On Tops of Mountains by Maidenjedi
Jo considered her captor. "If I wrote this scene, the heroine would be forced to kiss the villian in order to escape."

Laurie shrugged. "If you wrote this scene, the heroine would kiss the villian only to discover he was, in the end, her hero."

"Not likely, if I were true to the tale playing out here."

Laurie feigned hurt. "You wouldn't know your hero if he was right in front of you, milady?"

She shook her head again, another pin flying loose. "I have no hero, for I am in need of none."

Laurie had to kiss her then. Her muffled surprise faded, and her hands went slack in his.

He broke the kiss first, and Jo's eyes remained closed. "Um...Teddy....we...."

Her face was soft, and he was surprised at himself, at her. It hadn't come of anything, he thought firmly, determined not to fall into romanticizing something Jo would likely rather forget. Teddy, we must not, was surely what came next. Oh, this is what I've always wanted for Jo and Laurie. Really lovely story of their romance. *sniffle*

~*~

L'Engleverse

A Good Many Sparrows by sundancekid
For as long as Poly could remember, Uncle Charles Wallace has been a mystery. He appeared occasionally, staying for a few weeks, and then disappearing again, maybe for years. Her parents wouldn't tell her where he went when he was gone, or when he'd be back, or where he lived, or what he did for a living. He wouldn't tell her any of those things either; he never told her how long he'd visit, he never promised he'd see her soon. This is a beautiful story I never realized I needed. Charles Wallace visits his family after Joshua dies, and Poly (and I) take solace in his presence. Oh my heart.

~*~

Earthsea

Calling to the wind by leaflitter
Really lovely look at Tenar and her daughters and granddaughter.

The Morning Wind Upon the Sea by elle_dritch
'Was I always that something else?' Irian says with an urgency she did not anticipate within herself. 'Could it have ended differently? Do things ever change?'

Ged blinks. 'Some things,' he says slowly, 'are unchanging, I thought: the sea, the sun, the wind that moves the grass around us. And yet, the sea moved and Soléa was lost, the dry land is green once more, and the doors of Roke are open. And that, I am told, was your doing. Yes, Irian, I think things change, but we must husband that change along. Little use if we plant the seed and fail to tend to it.'

'And must I be the seed and the farmer too then?'

'Orm Irian, I am an old man on a farm that yields nothing but hard work and rebellious goats. It is not for me to tell you what you should do: a Dragon Lord is one whom dragons will speak with, not someone who can command dragons, eh? A pretty fix we'd be in if some fool tried to leash dragons.' Absolutely gorgeous story of Tehanu and Orm Irian coming back to Gont after some time on the other wind.

~*~

To Kill a Mockingbird

Goes Marching by whetherwoman
Scout is all grown up, with children of her own, and her son wants to join the march in Selma. Even though I knew where this was going, it still hit me like a freight train, and I cried through the whole latter part of it. Beautifully true to Scout and what Atticus taught her. *sniffle*

*

Dr. Seuss

Out of the Dark by technosage
A very clever and creepy extrapolation from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - the whole thing is brilliant.

*

Earthsea

Unspoken, the Name for Home by allie
He had returned to the house over and over again, to be healed and to be taught, and perhaps he and his held as much claim over it as did Ogion. Perhaps it had merely stayed in the family. Beautiful look at the routine quietness of ordinary life after the events of Tehanu, a lovely respite between extraordinary events for Ged, Tenar, and Tehanu.

*

Little Women

Comfort and Joy by Essie
Laurie and Beth have a secret conversation. Could fit perfectly into canon while still making Beth feel like a real girl with very real hopes and fears. Very sweet and absolutely heartbreaking. *sniffle* You might need to put this story in the freezer. Have tissues handy, at any rate.

*

The Sound and the Fury

Clean by Helarctos
This is awesome. I really like the echoes of Faulkner's language, but somewhat removed, as Shreve is not a Southerner, or a Compson, and doesn't think in Quentin's circumlocutions, though they carry him away when he tells Quentin's stories. I also like young Quentin's repudiation of her alleged father, and the way she reacts negatively to having her mother left out of the story. Wonderful. Shreve’s image of his Quentin (surely false), noble and lovely and doomed, leaping off a bridge in the name of forbidden love; her own image of Quentin-who-was, trumpeting his defiance to the world in a final act of repudiation. All of it was wrong and Mother was nowhere in it, which was the most wrong thing about it. In the world the girl knew, her mother was everywhere, unseen and seldom to be invoked but a constant presence in the minds of all the family, like God or like death.

*

Little Women
Set Thine Heart Toward the Highway by elynross
Laurie has doubts about his marriage, Amy knows eavesdroppers never hear well of themselves, and Jo and her Professor prove to be exceptionally well-matched after all. I admit to being a diehard Jo/Laurie shipper, but this story just *completely* captures the tone of the books and the characters' voices, and could so easily be a missing chapter that I'm stunned. Just amazing.

The Prickling of Snow by pearl_o
Oh, poor Laurie, doomed to have his hopes dashed. This is a lovely evocation of Laurie as he grows and falls in love with Jo.

On Growing Up by elynrae
Jo can't leave things the way they are with Laurie before he leaves. Oh, this one hurts, and it feels as though it should totally be part of the book, because it still bothers me that she did leave it that way.

A Different Road by loligo
An alternate (and far better, imo) ending for Little Women. Jo is dying inside after Beth's death and upon his return from Europe, Laurie has the perfect solution. A story that made the Jo/Laurie shipper in me so very happy.