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 three from February.



Symbiosis by inimitablereel
Fandom: Scavengers Reign
Characters: The Planet Vesta + Ensemble Human Cast
Medium: Vid
Length: 2:07
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: worldbuilding, character study, ambiguous ending, nature, survival, animals, competence, death (major)
Song: "Pencil Stick" by Clogs

Description:

An instrumental journey following the marooned crew's growing understanding of and integration into the complex ecosystem that is the planet Vesta.

The "character study" tag I put on this was in reference to the planet, and that right there is what I love about this video. It builds beautifully on the horror, wonder, and inarguable processes of nature in the show through its editing, and through the use of this song, which is a really cool arrangement where the same essential "material" (strings in this case) is taking these contrasting but complementary roles as percussion and melody in a way that's both mathematical and organic.



Untitled Archie/Jim Art by Rysiooozaur
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Relationship: Archie/Jim Jimenez
Medium: Art/Comic
Length: 1 page / 2 panels
Rating: Mildly NSFW (some swearing)
My Bookmark Tags: romance, happy ending, established relationship, kissing, flirtation, physical affection
Artist's Summary: Archie and Jim being lovely and cute and silly!!

Description:

Two pieces in which Archie displays her physical strength with Jim. In the first, she is holding Jim up, with Jim's legs wrapped around her waist. The two of them are kissing, Jim's hand curled around the side of Archie's neck. In the second, Archie is holding Jim upside down and declaring them her little fish, to which Jim—face flushing and attempting to retaliate by pulling on Archie's ear/earring—is protesting.

I really love this artist's style. I am always blown away when someone making fanart for live action media can capture the actors' looks without going for photo-realism. Here, Jim and Archie have been rendered perfectly into a comic style, with so much loving detail on their clothing, tattoos and other styling. The kiss is just scorching hot, and Archie showing off by lifting Jim up builds really charmingly off those behind-the-scenes moments of Vico Ortiz and Madeleine Sami working out together or doing some jock-y bonding.



Your favourite perk by TwelveLeagues (archive-locked)
Fandom: Severance
Ship: Irving Bailiff/Dylan George
Medium: Fic
Length: 4478 words
Rating: Mature (Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings)
My Bookmark Tags: drama, ambiguous ending, getting together, developing relationship, colleagues with benefits, competence, first kiss (character), first kiss (ship), first time (character), first time (ship), flirtation, identity, jealousy, kissing, loss, secret relationship, touch, praise
Summary: First rule of finger traps: Don’t freak out. Don’t try to yank yourself free. They can be fun if you know how to use them safely.

Excerpt:

On the third day of running his multinational topical salve empire, Kier Eagan brought the smackdown on office romance. And Dylan knows exactly why. Fuck the handbook bullshit about pouring your love into your work, and fuck the inter-departmental conspiracy theories too. The fact is, secret assignations at the vending machine are a serious waste of company time. It’s advanced-level goofing off and it annoys your hard-working co-workers, who have to pretend they can’t see you fraternising. Dylan’s been that co-worker and he knows for a fact that it’s awkward as hell.

But it turns out, Dylan’s okay with it when he’s the one being fraternised.

I'm still living in the scene where Dylan tells Irving he's someone who loves him, and where Irving calls himself Dylan's favourite perk, and this fic runs straight from there into the intense, weird, romantic, and intensely weirdly romantic office hook-ups of my dreams. Here, Dylan and Irving are exploring new territory (with the complicated Severance layer of walking in the imagined paths of their outies) while united by grief for other people out of reach and their attempts to find greater meaning on the inside. The Dylan voice in this fic is spot on, and Irving...Irving is just a gift.