brightknightie: Duncan and Tessa embrace on the sidewalk. (Other Fandom Highlander)
[community profile] hlh_shortcuts began releasing on the Winter Solstice, Duncan's Birthday, as is traditional, and will continue releasing a few stories per day until they're all shared. Many thanks to our new moderator team for all their efforts! Thanks to them, and to everyone who wrote and beta'd! Time to read:
The story written for my '24 fest match released on Sunday: "Behind the Story" (~2K words, gen). The anonymous creator chose not to use archive warnings and not to supply a rating; with no disrespect to those choices, I'd rate it "G" and No Archive Warnings Apply. If you're an HL fan, you're unlikely to find anything triggering here; this is what the show is about, I've always thought.

"Behind the Story" follows Randi McFarland in the days after Tessa's murder, how and where it touches her work and her conscience and her heart, culminating in a Randi & Richie scene I never knew I needed. There is so much Tessa here, through their eyes, and I love it. The story briskly opened long-shuttered second-season rooms in my imagination, and, in passing, dropped at least two bonus story ideas on the side.

I shared a longer comment on the story itself. You can read that for more on what in it caught my attention. Or ask! And of course there are many other stories to choose from, if this isn't your personal flavor of HL.

brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
The gift-story written for my request slate in this year's [community profile] hlh_shortcuts revealed last night. It's amazing. I recommend it to all lovers of early HL canon, anyone who has ever wanted more Randi in particular, and those who dote on the network of friendships Duncan gathers around himself.

"The Jaded Journalist" by [Hafital (name added after reveals)] (~10K words, G, gen)

The story is something I believe to be wholly new in the fandom even after three decades: a chronicle of Randi McFarland's career from "Band of Brothers" to the present. It's insightful and canon-compliant. She was there all along, every step of the way, but out of distance, out of the frame, this story posits. She was living her own rich life, not waiting for canon to keep up with her, yet though we didn't see her, our favorite characters did, from time to time. I don't want to spoil any more of it -- you can see the other characters with lines in the tags, including Amanda, the de Valicourts, and Methos, as well as Tessa and Duncan -- but it's thoroughly imagined and carefully built and touches on friendships, grief, remembering, second chances, striving for the right, and all kinds of things I like.

I'm on the way to adopting this premise as head-canon.

brightknightie: Grace smiling, wearing coloful collared blouse over white knit top (Grace)
I'm playing [community profile] halfamoon '22 as a recommendations challenge...

For the sixth theme, "Sickness and Health," I'm torn between two favorites. So: bonus! One rec for health, another for sickness.

First, a rich take on Forever Knight's Grace Balthazar. This Grace is both the pathology professional we know and also a Gullah Herb Doctor with a supernatural role -- akin to Doctor Chung, Marian Blackwing, and Denise Fort. In letters from Grace to her mom, the story recaps much of canon from this fascinating perspective while quietly building a new subplot. It then diverges firmly with a burst of... wingfic! (Yes, wingfic.)

"Full of Grace" by [archiveofourown.org profile] LastScorpion
~7K words
T


Second, an unforgettable Highlander divergence in which Tessa lived through "The Darkness." The bullet entered just a little to the side, and everything was different. Tessa, Duncan, and Richie got decades more of life and love together. Now, Tessa, ill, sees her own death coming unstoppably this time and she worries, fears what it will do to Duncan. I have teared up every time I've read and re-read this story over the years.

"All That Glitters" by [archiveofourown.org profile] killabeez
~3K words
M


brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
I'm playing [community profile] halfamoon '22 as a recommendations challenge...

For the third theme, "Time and Space," I recommend this Highlander: The Series story. It winds up to its pitch through a patter of light, amusing, passing encounters between Tessa and assorted immortal characters we know and love, long before we meet them in the present day. It then bursts out into a tale -- as rich as it is tiny -- of young and aged, energized and tired, hopeful and jaded. It is not a torch passing from the other character to Tessa. Much, much better, she re-lights his flame.

(When the story was new, I didn't pick up on who the other character is. I hadn't yet learned the fanon vocabulary. I do know now.)

"Paris, 1978" by [archiveofourown.org profile] lferion
~2K words
G


brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
All 20 works in this year's [community profile] hlh_shortcuts are now revealed! All are still anonymous, pending this fest's traditional author guessing game. (I haven't yet read 6, including the 25K-words one. Sorry!)

May I commend to you the story written for my prompt/match?
"Paris, 1978" (gen, G, 2K words)

The story begins with a pleasantly cheeky little preface in which young Tessa crosses paths with several immortals we know, in various ways, without effect. The story then moves into an encounter with effect: between young Tessa, bursting with inspiration, determination, and energy, and an original character who is weary, without inspiration, perhaps without purpose. Each gives the other something needed from her or his plenty.

I like it very well! And if it's not just happy coincidence, the author put some generous thought into carefully including story elements I enjoy, not just the character and tone, but things like reasons to live and things to learn.

brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
It amuses me to imagine that Lisette Beaufort (character profile), the French anatomist illustrator in the second season of Mercy Street (official PBS site), is an ancestor of Highlander's Tessa Noel. :-)
brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
The story written for me in the [community profile] hlh_shortcuts exchange has revealed. I think that many of you may enjoy it! Take a look? It's a first-season HL/FK crossover starring Tessa and Natalie. The plot depends on each acting with professional passion and authority. A clever conceit amusingly finesses the crossover.
"Bag of Bolts" by [currently Anonymous]
G, gen, 7K words
Natalie, Tessa, Duncan, OCs
Summary: Natalie attends an ME convention at a hotel where Tessa is installing a sculpture. Danger. Bonding. Pie.

More like Yuletide than FKFicFest, the HLH_Shortcuts prompt slates seem to be pretty loose suggestions. I didn't specifically request (or imagine) this scenario. All credit to the author for the happy surprise.

Of both series, I do dearly love their first seasons, when motivations were clear and rich, and triumphant possibilities endless. Their first seasons, I rewatch just for fun, just for joy.
brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)
[livejournal.com profile] rarewomen, a ficathon for rare women characters in large fandoms (like HL) and all women characters in small fandoms (like FK), has opened nominations (01/07-01/21) for its upcoming game.  Only nominated fandoms and characters will be available for sign-ups (01/25-02/08), so if you're planning to play (stories due 04/30), please pitch in.  (Each player may nominate up to five fandoms, one of which must be "large," and up to five characters per fandom.)

I'm not positive that I'll play, but I'm leaning toward it.  How about you?  In "large" fandoms, a woman character is eligible if she appears in under 20% of the fanfiction.  (Tessa Noel, btw, is tagged in under 2% — yep, two; that's not a typo — of the HL fanfic on AO3. I feel that Tessa epitomizes the "rare" woman character.)

my likely nominations )

At this time, [livejournal.com profile] gehayi has nominated FK, and [livejournal.com profile] karrenia_rune has nominated HL.  None of the other fandoms in which I write are yet nominated, but it is awfully reassuring to see both FK and HL in the mix this early.

Addendum: See the masterlist for the ongoing compilation of nominated fandoms and characters.
brightknightie: Tessa working with a chisel tool at her desk in the barge (Other Fandom HL Tessa)

I wrote "When Everything was New" for [livejournal.com profile] hl_flashfic's "Second Banana" event, to the prompt: "Alexa meets Tessa at an art show."  I'd written HL in multi-fandom games before, and just because, but this was my first attempt in an HL-specific venue.

Thanks to [personal profile] sholio and [livejournal.com profile] skieswideopen for beta-reading!

Available: The Ficathon | My Fansite | The AO3
Length: ~4,800 words
Date: HL_FlashFic 08/12/11
Rating: PG
Characters:   Tessa, Duncan, Alexa, Martin Sorrel, uncredited cameos
Summary: Tessa exhibits in the juried division of the 1986 Seacouver Art & Wine festival.
Quotation: "Tessa hesitated. Pressing for public reaction was rarely wise; and, usually, she was content with her own assessment and Duncan’s, other critics be hanged. But she remained unsure where her efforts fit at this festival, if they fit at all."

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brightknightie: At dawn, a white knight raises her lance (Default)
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