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fullupwithfire) wrote2019-05-03 03:53 pm
Fanfic Friday! + general update
brightandravenous let me rant and helped me calm down. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have them lately? Because I am so glad Bast is willing to listen to me go in circles until I wear myself out.- When I did calm down, I ended up starting a new steam game, Last Word, that I've wanted to play for ages, and I am so into it. I could zone out for hours playing it. (I kind of did zone out for like two hours playing it.) Really glad I managed to get it while it was cheap enough to convince myself to buy it.
- The other thing I am doing is obsessively rereading rpg sourcebooks because I want gaaaaaames. But I may get games! So I am not frustrated, just super excited. (If you're interested in gaming with me, I still haven't emailed people, so you can take a look here if you'd like. I will probably not re-link this again, but just this one. XD)
- Hey, it's Fanfic Friday! I haven't been reading really, so I haven't posted to it for a while, but I went on a Good Place fic spree last week. Didn't want to cut down my rec list enough for a comment, so: 11 Good Place fics (and one bonus vid) under the cut! (Some S3 ending spoilers in the last fic if you're still not caught up.)
In word count order from least to most, besides the last one, which has S3 ending spoilers, just in case anyone's not quite caught up. I tried to limit myself to one per author, but some of these writers have written multiple TGP fics, all of which I recommend just as much.
1. After-Life in the Big Tent (840 words) by AceQueenKing
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil/Chidi Anagonye
Characters: Tahani Al-Jamil, Chidi Anagonye
Additional Tags: Clowns, Clown Decor, In Which Chidi Has a Small Crisis, And Tahani namedrops, Fluff, Neighborhood Reboot: Chidi/Tahani pairing, I like to think this takes place during the one with the spinning clown head
Summary:
Chidi's soulmate asks him a simple question about decor.
Chidi isn't sure how to answer.
This is possibly the first time ever I have been into a fandom with a pretty decent OT3 contingent, and been standing in the corner going "But why is nobody writing this leg of the OT3 for me?" -- but here I am. I fell into Tahani/Chidi sometime in season 1 and the fact that it is such a small ship saddens me. Don't get me wrong, I am also super here for the OT3, but any bit of this ship makes me smile, and this is just great.
*
2. Mourning Becomes Eleanor (1023 words) by Raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil/Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil, Janet (The Good Place)
Summary:
Eleanor really should have realised she was bisexual when she was alive.
... I am also here for all the bi Eleanor. I have little to say on this one, but it's sweet and kind of sad, and it works in the character department for me really well.
*
3. everything is good (1025 words) by ElasticElla
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil/Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Chidi Anagonye, Tahani Al-Jamil, Eleanor Shellstrop
Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e03 Dance Dance Resolution, Roleplay, Kinktober, Mild Sexual Content, this is like a v soft mature or a hard teen for rating
Summary:
In attempt #219, Michael makes Chidi, Eleanor, and Tahani all soulmates, hoping that Chidi’s indecision will tear them apart.
("I held the door open for Eleanor but I gave Tahani her coffee first, can I truly call both actions equal? Or through reflection am I inherently undercutting any such equality between the three of us? Is it patriarchal society that places the weight of my relationships with Tahani and Eleanor as needing more examination than theirs, or my own limited viewpoint? I'm vexed my loves, vexed!")
I really love a good Chidi-POV fic. (Is this because I overly relate to a character who literally went to hell because of being paralyzed by indecision and anxiety? ...Maybe.) And a good threesome fic. And this is adorable, and the voices are great, and just... look at that summary, okay. That summary says it all.
*
4. Gator-Proof Fence (2047 words) by burglebezzlement
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil & Chidi Anagonye & Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza & Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Janet (The Good Place), Tahani Al-Jamil, Chidi Anagonye, Eleanor Shellstrop, Pillboi (The Good Place), Original Male Gator
Additional Tags: Spoilers through the end of S2, post-s2, Alligators & Crocodiles, Memory Weirdness, Florida, Treat, Podfic Available
Summary:
Michael has his way of tipping the scales. Janet chooses another.
Or: Jason remembers 803 versions of the Bad Place, but this one is definitely the weirdest.
I have to be honest: I love fic-Jason more than I love canon-Jason. Not because I don't love canon Jason, but because I get all the great things about him, but fic doesn't go to the embarrassment-humor place as often, so it doesn't hit my squicks nearly as hard. (I also feel this way about Eleanor. Especially for both of their pre-death lives.) This is smack-on Jason without getting me in the same squirmy place canon often does, and I love it.
*
5. done too much of some things (not enough of others) (2516 words) by 40millionyears
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Chidi Anagonye & Eleanor Shellstrop
Additional Tags: Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Season/Series 02, in this house we don't recognise Season 3, Dialogue Heavy
Summary:
"Jianyu's a straight-up hottie, he's got those hunger-cheekbones, you know, and he doesn't talk so he's never gonna correct your pronunciation or tell you not to send your super annoying co-worker a virus-infested email. Why wouldn't you be into him?"
or, there were 802 versions of michael's neighborhood, and chidi and jason were definitely thrown together as soulmates in one of them.
Okay I also want more of this ship. (Fuck it, I want all of the ships, okay?) I love everything this person has written for this show, so it was hard to choose one, but this is just. So great.
*
6. Life, Death, and Breakfast (3364 words) by LovelyPoet
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Chidi Anagonye
Additional Tags: Developing Friendships, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Humor, Slice of Life, Lighthearted conversations about death
Summary:
The first Wednesday that Jason showed up (It was a sheer coincidence, Chidi thinks.) Chidi was so absorbed in his reading that he didn't even notice it happening until Jason was sitting across the table from him, chewing with his mouth open and already deep into the kind of story that Eleanor calls Florida Man: The Greatest Hits Collection.
Or
On Wednesdays we wear pink hang with our boy.
Or
During the year in Australia Chidi and Jason fall into a routine and a friendship.
Other things I love from TGP, both canon and fanon: Florida jokes. Sometimes I'm easy, okay. But in general, this is a really sweet look at a developing friendship we don't see much of in canon, and it makes me smile.
*
7. The Bed (4330 words) by SophiaCatherine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil/Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil/Chidi Anagonye, Tahani Al-Jamil/Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Chidi Anagonye, Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Janet (The Good Place)
Additional Tags: Soulmates, Domestic Fluff, Sharing a Bed, chidi anagonye's anxiety
Summary:
Chidi's really very upset about the mix-up that has left him with two soulmates and one bed in a tiny house full of clown decor. And he didn't expect his soulmates to be anything like this.
I... am running out of things to say. But developing threesome! I love it!
*
8. This Time I'm Coming Down (3585 words) by telm_393
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza
Additional Tags: Character Study, Season/Series 03, Backstory, Angst, Drug Abuse, Near Death Experiences, Intoxication, Dancing, Original Character Death(s)
Summary:
Jason makes a lot of decisions he might regret.
That thing I said about liking Jason more in fic, because it gets around the worst of the embarrasment squick? This author really does it for me. They get around some of the laughter to the heart of how fucked up Jason's life really probably was, and I love it. Everything they've written for this show is great, but when Jason takes the spotlight, it's amazing.
*
9. A Better Version of Yourself (6539 words) by Steve
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza & Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Eleanor Shellstrop, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza
Additional Tags: Male-Female Friendship, Recreational Drug Use, POV Alternating, Character Study
Summary:
Maybe there was meant to be a love story here, one between a fearless lawyer and a selfless monk, two single-minded, do-gooder leader types. Instead this sad little clown house got them, two mistakes, two con artists from opposite ends of the country.
Welcome to the bottom of the barrel.
(Or: The reboot wherein Eleanor and Jason are matched as soul mates, and it isn't perfect but things go surprisingly sort of okay.)
More showing of relationships we don't really get focused on in canon! This is very sweet, and it works so well; I can absolutely see this being canon in one reboot along the way.
*
10. You Could Be the King, but Watch the Queen Conquer (11161 words) by phoenixyfriend
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tahani Al-Jamil/Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil & Michael (The Good Place), Tahani Al-Jamil/Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil & Kamilah Al-Jamil, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza/Janet (The Good Place)
Characters: Tahani Al-Jamil, Eleanor Shellstrop, Michael (The Good Place), Chidi Anagonye, Kamilah Al-Jamil, Janet (The Good Place), Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza
Additional Tags: Marriage of Convenience, Polyamory, Threesome - F/F/M, mentions of abuse, Mutual Pining, Event Planning, Weddings, Bisexuality, everyone is bi, Except Michael, Asexual Michael (The Good Place), Fake Dating, You don't see much of it in-text but I spent hours researching Pakistan for like two scenes total, Everyone Is Alive, Alternate Universe - Human
Summary:
When Tahani hears that her little sister is getting married, from what seems like every news site on the planet, she knows what's coming. She knows the media's focus on her will start to shift to why she isn't married yet, and her reputation can't afford another hit after Cleveland.
So she hatches a plan. Platonically marrying a man over twice your age is a good plan, right?
(Funnily enough, it works out perfectly.)
The only full-out AU on this list, but I really enjoyed this story! The camaraderie between Tahani and Michael is adorable, the threesome is lovely, and the relationship between Tahani and Kamilah, whether her sister's actually there at the moment or not, is absolutely wonderful.
*
11. Season 3 ending spoilers in the summary! Beware if you're behind:
oh, you don't even know me at all (but i was made for loving you) (1451 words) by ellalopez
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye & Eleanor Shellstrop
Characters: Chidi Anagonye, Eleanor Shellstrop
Additional Tags: cheleanor
Summary:
chidi anagonye forgets. (but does he really? why does the architect seem so familiar to him? and why does he have a stomachache in the honest to god good place?)
eleanor shellstrop remembers. (it hurts to, but she holds on. for them. and for the ghost of a smile that graces her face whenever chidi has a stomachache.)
-
set after the season three finale.
I cannot wait to see where next season go. Until then, fic will get me through, and this one is lovely.
*
+ a bonus fanvid rec, because I've been going back and rewatching this every couple of days; it's so well-done, and captures so much of the mood I love from this show:
[Vid] Tilted (23 words) by dar_vidder
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye & Eleanor Shellstrop, Tahani Al-Jamil & Eleanor Shellstrop, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza & Eleanor Shellstrop, Michael (The Good Place) & Eleanor Shellstrop, Janet & Michael (The Good Place), Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza/Janet (The Good Place), Team Cockroach - Relationship
Characters: Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye, Tahani Al-Jamil, Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza, Michael (The Good Place), Janet (The Good Place)
Additional Tags: Fanvids, Vividcon, Embedded Video
Summary:
I am actually good, can't help it if we're tilted.