not in kansas anymore

Mythbusters

The Pinnochio Fallacy by toft. Adam/Jamie. 35,624 words.
Sci-fi AU. Adam is a sexbot on the lam with a developing personality. Grant and Tory dreamed of changing the world, but sold out to the man. Kari works in robot rights activism in her off-hours. Jamie specializes in making things do what they weren't supposed to.

Fantastic. Both heartbreaking and hilarious at times. Adam is the sweetest sexbot, and I love the way that Toft writes Jamie's particular sort of aloofness. But thefourthvine has already recced this* better than I ever could!

In Search Of by toft. Adam/Jamie. 40,968 words.
Adam and Jamie face down the end of the human race, with a baby. "Your first line of defense against the apocalypse is that we learn how to pickle?"

Okay, so, my taste in apocalypse fic is maybe a little idiosyncratic. I don't wanna read about, like, people dying off one by one or scary zombie fights or basically anything with guns. I want to read about the pickling. I want to read, in meticulous detail, the crazy and unexpected ways that people with modern sensibilities and modern stuff would re-create a pre-modern lifestyle. So Adam and Jamie are the perfect apocalypse protagonists, for me. And this fic does deliver on the "how would you really survive, day-to-day?" question, but it also delivers incredible pathos. Adam in particular gets an unusually deep characterization that answers my second-most-important question, "how would you really feel about the apocalypse, day-to-day?" Very satisfying, and highly recommended.

Robots Need Love Too by toft. Adam & Jamie friendship. 3,260 words.
"Everybody, this is Adam," says Educator Kari. She's standing next to a skinny kid with red hair, who's still wearing the white and blue jumpsuit they give new people. He's also wearing a cape.

Okay, this is secretly my favourite Adam & Jamie fic from my Toft Mythbusters RPF binge. Adam and Jamie are little kids in a space station, and Adam is the weird new kid who won't stop talking and Jamie is the weird kid who won't talk at all and of course they become friends and they play with logic blocks together and Adam gives Jamie a navy blue digi-pen and later Jamie remembers to smile so he smiles and if I tell you all the adorable little moments that make me happy inside, I will tell you the whole fic.

The fic is tagged with "neurodiversity" which is a great way to describe what's so lovely about the story. Early on Adam says to Jamie, "I guess we can be friends as long as you don't mind my behaviour abnormalities," which I think encapsulates a lot of the dynamic - these are both kids who aren't "normal", but are finding ways to be happy without changing who they are.

Vorkosigan Saga

Your College English Classes, Except With Hot Guys Banging by lannamichaels. Ivan Vorpatril/Duv Galeni. 1,244 words.
What it says on the tin.

I feel like this was perfectly tailored just for me, to make me feel better about the world while I write the neverending thesis. Containing references both to my current field of study (English Romanticism) and the poem I read for my valedictorian speech (This Is Just To Say)! And somehow, in character the whole time.

Sherlock (BBC)

Would You Like To Back Up Your Files? by rotaryphones. Art.

A Sherlock infographic, sweet and well-executed. Worth a look.

Harry Potter

Being Liquid by rotaryphones. Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley. ~7500 words.
When Teddy discovers a new way to be liquid, Victoire helps him to find stability.

A beautiful exploration of a genderqueer identity. This is probably my third time reading this fic, actually; every time I'm reminded of it, I have to re-read it again. Teddy is so perfectly-realized, I sink right into him and then can't get him out of my head for days. Victoire is also compelling as his companion. Next-gen HP fic is hard to pull off; it's easy for the familiar faces to steal the show, but the balance here is just right. One of my favourite scenes really highlights the generational differences -- a harmless prank in Teddy's eyes elicits a strong reaction from Harry et. al., who are, after all, war veterans -- but the overall effect is mostly one of making you relieved that you're not reading about child soldiers but about a quietly magical coming of age.


*Funny story: I went to thefourthvine's dw to find the post where they recced The Pinnochio Fallacy, and I did a ctrl-F for "sexbot" to find the relevant post... and The Pinnochio Fallacy was the second of three results just on the page. I think we have all learned something valuable about thefourthvine today.