Femslashex Post

[netgirl_y2k]

So the femslashex stories went live.

I wrote:

Don't Ask Questions, Don't Ask Directions
Game of Thrones; Shae/Sansa Stark; PG-13; 2187 words

You could take Lady Sansa with you. You could take her away from this terrible place. Somebody should.

I genuinely think the changes to Shae's character, and especially her friendship with Sansa, are the best adaptation the show has made from the books; and this is The One Where Shae Accepts Varys's Bribe, Takes Sansa, and they Both Get the Hell Out of King's Landing. likeadeuce very kindly helped me with the wobbly bits, and any residual wobbliness is entirely down to me.

I received:

Bell, Book and Candle by killalla (Felix Castor; Juliet/Susan)

And not only am I delighted, but I no longer slightly regret not signing up for yuletide, because this is the tiny, in fact non-existent fandom and pairing of my heart. And this is one of those small but perfectly formed fics, with pitch perfect voices.

Other fics I have especially enjoyed:

Stone and Snow by justwolf (A Song of Ice and Fire; Arya/Daenerys)

This is the story of future assassin!Arya being sent to kill Dany and, um, very much not not killing her. But it's also everything I could want Arya and Dany's arcs to be. It's so compelling about the sort of queen Dany might be, with the people of King's Landing resenting her and her dragons, and Arya's journey from being no-one back to being Arya Stark, and how they might come together.

The Kusheline Reel by kmo (Kushiel's Legacy; Melisande/Ysandre)

A missing scene from the first Kushiel book where Melisande dances with Ysandre at her coming-of-age ball. This not only makes a slightly unusual pairing seem self-evident, and makes me fascinated with a version of events where Melisande's schemes involved Ysandre more directly, but it's perfectly in character and hits the tone of the Kushiel books spot-on.

Blessings Brighten by Thursday_Next (Downton Abbey; Sybil/Gwen)

In which Gwen and Sybil run away together at the end of the first series. I always have time for fics about female characters running away from narratives which will only end up treating them poorly, and this was lovely and sweet and gave me so many flashbacks to happier days.

Comments

[kmo]

oh wow, thanks so much for the rec! and really it means a lot...not to talk out of school, but my beta felt it was somehow off that Ysandre was so exposed. but i'm happy i stuck to my guns, because that's very much how i see her. it was still difficult to imagine her at that age.

and you rec'd my gift fic, which was also so wonderful! yay grownup Arya and Stark family reunions. i think i have something in my eye...

the downton one was fab, too.

[netgirl_y2k]

Admittedly I've only read the books once, and the first trilogy a while ago at that, so it's possible that a lot of my Ysandre headcanon has been plucked out of thin air, but it was spot-on as to how I imagined her being at that age. I've always thought that she developed this tough brittle shell as a reaction to having been so exposed and vulnerable in her youth, and because she believed that she wouldn't have been betrayed if she hadn't seemed like such a soft target. And that's why she and Drustan are so good together, because he's more of a still waters run deep kind of guy.

And that Arya/Dany fic was terrific, you certainly did well out of femslashex, you lucky thing.

[cordialcount]

I genuinely think the changes to Shae's character, and especially her friendship with Sansa, are the best adaptation the show has made from the books

Yes! It seems so self-evident to me that I'm boggled people exist who would disagree.

[netgirl_y2k]

I think it's mostly people who think that the show fails as an adaption on every front. And, yeah, there are a lot iffy bits; too many unnecessary sex scenes for one, and whoever came up with the Podrick Payne sex god subplot should be whipped through the streets. But there are a lot of good things too; the casting is generally excellent, and just everything to do with Shae is a massive improvement on the books.