Rec the Thing

I'm aiming to make at least fifty rec posts in my journal this year, and here's a roundup of my four from January.



Untitled Drag Scene by Polyhymnia | thence-we-came-forth
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Relationship: Wee John Feeney & Izzy Hands & Jim Jimenez
Medium: Art
Length: 1 piece
Rating: General/SFW
My Bookmark Tags: character study, slice of life, happy ending, izzy lives, queer community, clothing, bonding, mentorship, friendship, gender, trust, parties
Artist's Summary: Posting my second gift for this year's fandomtrumpshate this time for at_delphi! I gotta say I loved working on this since Izzy is a character I held close to my heart (and drawing Jim and Wee John is always a bonus, too) Anyway, enjoy!

Description:

A full-colour digital painting of Wee John and Jim helping Izzy prepare for another drag performance. Wee John and Jim are sporting looks similar to those they wore at Calypso's Birthday as Wee John applies paint to Izzy's lips and Jim holds Izzy's head still for him. For his part, Izzy is going for a similar makeup style to his "La Vie en Rose" performance, but with an updated costume, including a red and black corset. The trio are below deck, and the candlelight and lamplight cast them in a warm golden glow.

This is a scene I dearly wanted to see, executed beautifully. The character and set designs seem to have drifted dreamily right off the show, and the details on the trio's costumes, tattoos, and hair are just remarkable. Izzy's look in particular is such a wonderful combination of elements that are classically him with ones that reflect him stepping further into the world he started exploring in his drag debut. The light seems to capture that internal glow of putting on something glamorous to perform in, while the cozy shadows make this feel like an intimate and almost sacred moment between the three.



XXXhibitionist by carbonshrimp
Fandom: Interview with the Vampire (TV)
Characters: Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt, Armand, Daniel Molloy (scenes of Louis/Lestat, Armand/Louis, Armand/Lestat, Daniel/Louis, and Armand/Daniel)
Medium: Vid
Length: 3:57
Rating: NSFW (explicit language, some sex, some blood)
My Bookmark Tags: character study, drama, dark/horror, ambiguous ending, established relationship, unrequited/ust, former relationship, exhibitionism/exposure, identity, parallels, fight/breakup, clothing, kissing, theatre, altered state, flirtation
Song: “XXXhibitionist” by DeathbyRomy

Excerpt:

I want the life of the rich and famous / Lights on, superstar, feel me getting dangerous
I wanna die when the camera's flashing / I'll do anything, just call action

This is a gorgeous vid that explores Louis, Lestat, Armand, and Daniel’s relationships to performance and being seen. The lyrics and editing work brilliantly together to show the complex web of desire, fear, hunger, compulsion, marginalization and power underlying their interactions with each other and with the public eye. I wasn’t familiar with this song before watching this, but its thrumming beat that swings between building grandiosity, sensual ecstasy, and heart-pounding breakdown is perfect and employed to full effect. I’ve watched this a ridiculous number of times over the last few days.



rollercoaster by Elektra
Fandom: Sense8
Ship: Wolfgang Bogdanow/Kala Dandekar/Rajan Rasal (+ Kala/Wolfgang and Kala/Rajan)
Medium: Vid
Length: 2:44
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: romance, happy ending, getting together, dancing, first time (ship), first time (gender), kissing, love triangles, parties, sacrifice, secret relationship
Song: "Rollercoaster" by Bleachers

Excerpt:

We took the bones out from the road / Those endless nights that we traveled, we stole
You let your clothes fall to the floor / And lit a fire while I waited for more

This vid was made for the prompt "If you hesitate between me and another person, don't choose me," and it turns that quotation on its head in such a satisfying as it follows the trio from the days of Kala and Rajan's engagement/marriage conflicting with her attraction to Wolfgang, through the deepening of both relationships, to the culmination of that love triangle transforming into a throuple. The song choice really accentuates the energy and colour of the clips, as well as that streak of forward drive and rough edges that run through the overall warmth and joyous abandon of the ship.



A Body in Heaven and a Mind Full of Dirt by DisasterShipBlonde (archive-locked)
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Ship: Benjamin Hornigold/Izzy Hands
Medium: Fic
Length: 3172 words
Rating: Explicit (Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings)
My Bookmark Tags: pwp, character study, ambiguous ending, unrequited/ust, backstory, fantasies, ogling, power dynamics, sexuality, bdsm, coming in pants, consent play, objectification, size difference, underage
Summary: Young Izzy watches his captain being measured for a suit, and quickly tumbles into a detailed size difference daydream.

Excerpt:

As Izzy folds the coat and returns to his chair, Captain stands before the tailor’s screen of mirrors and allows the little man to work his magic. It’s odd to see someone touch the captain, Izzy realises. He doesn’t take lovers, at least not in public, and anyone stupid enough to lunge at him during a raid quickly learned the immensity of their mistake. Hornigold is the first captain Izzy has served who hasn’t patted his bottom in passing, and he’s grateful for the reprieve – it’s fucking exhausting to run a ship by day and please a ravenous captain by night. Still, watching a stranger run a tape measure over the impressive topography of Hornigold’s body is... unnerving.

Shoulders, waist, inseam, throat. The tailor charts each hill and valley of muscle and sinew, keeping his findings inside a discreet pocketbook Izzy feels an odd compulsion to peek into. The soft sounds of the tape measure slipping through the tailor’s deft fingers is working strange magic on Izzy’s idling brain. Now that he's not running around, obeying orders and barking his own, he's free to sit and stare at Hornigold's tall, durable figure for the first time, and it's a strange feeling... like floating outside of himself. One mustn’t stare on deck, of course, but now, in the silence of the tailor’s shop, Izzy feels something akin to permission.

Sometimes a character thinking about a filthy situation is even hotter than the character being in a filthy situation, and this story is one of those times. Young Izzy goes on a deliciously salacious and revealing mental journey as he imagines being fully used by his big cruel captain—knowing that he shouldn't be doing so while in the same room as the man, but unable to help himself. There's some really tasty stuff going on here about freedom, subjugation, and the places they converge and reverse in consent-related fantasies, and it's also just plain hot.