chelseagirl

So this was the year I ended up defaulting on Yuletide -- between my father's health issues and some other things going on at home, I just couldn't sit down and rewatch the canon or focus on anything much outside a very narrow comfort zone-- and I think it will be my last year making the attempt, at least for awhile. (At least I defaulted weeks before the deadline, when I knew that it just wasn't happening -- though my obsessive mentioning of that fact shows how guilty I feel.)

Ironically, I got a gift and TWO treats, all of them amazing beyond anything. What a great way to leave the arena!

One is a long, lovely Deadwood story, which takes the same idea I wrote as a treat last year (an Al Swearengen/Alma Garret Ellsworth pairing) and moves it far beyond my fluff to serious David-Milch-could-have-written-this territory. There just are no words for how good this story is. All the kudos, plaudits, and etc. for "Never Call Retreat" https://archiveofourown.org/works/17070464/chapters/40140215

The other two are Defenders universe stories centering on Jessica Jones and Luke Cage in particular. In both they are tentatively rekindling something, in "i found it hard, it was hard to find" it's a friendship, after everything they've been through https://archiveofourown.org/works/17049947
while in "Second Time Around" they're going to give themselves another chance, with bonus Matt Murdock h/c. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148056
Both are beautifully written and so true to the Marvel Netflix shows. (I was going to say true to canon, but of course then they should be married and have a daughter named Dani . . . ;-) ) Both stories are utterly in character and perfectly satisfying in the way they handle things.