rec: THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE CRACKING MOSH TOAD (fragor beelzebufo), by A.C.E. Jenkins

[nonelvis]

Hello! I'll be reccing mostly New Who this week, with an occasional dose of Classic Who characters, and a couple of crossovers.

Story: THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE CRACKING MOSH TOAD (fragor beelzebufo), by A.C.E. Jenkins
Author: Kalima
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 4,983
Author's Summary: Anya has a business plan. The Doctor executes a hostile takeover. DoctorWho/BtVS crossover.
Characters/Pairings: Ten, Anya
Warnings: Swearing

Recced because: A really well-written crossover that's true to both fandoms is a wonderful thing – and this story, which pretends to be crack, but sneaks in more than a little bit of angst – is very, very wonderful. The Tenth Doctor encounters vengeance demon Anya in a bar and tries to talk her out of an ecologically disastrous money-making scheme. The character voices are utterly perfect, and the more Ten and Anya bickered, the more I felt like I was reading a brilliant, lost scene from Buffy, season 6:

"I happen to know that Time Lords don't exist, okay? Gone the way of the dodo and the cracking mosh toad. It was all the talk in Arashmahaar a few years back. Rifts in the continuum suddenly appearing. Gateways to dimensions thrown open all over the place, worlds without shrimp — a freaking dirigible crashed into the executive abattoir! Everyone was buzzing about opportunities for advancement and conquest. Because no more Time Lords lording it over the rest of the universe, or the many dimensions of hell, or the circles, levels, and transcendent states of being therein. Blew themselves clean out of temporal continuity. Ding Dong the witch is dead. Except we replaced the word 'witch' with 'arrogant assholes who think they're better than us.' There were lots of theme parties as I recall."

His face, a mask of reserve for most of her speech, perked right up at the mention of parties.

"Really? Did people dress up like me? Because I know it should be flattering, but I find it all a bit – wait, there wasn't any sort of … scritching going on, was there?"

"Could you be any more self-involved?"

"Well, I am the last of my kind."

"Only if you pulled the cosmic trigger," she said. "So, either you don't exist, or you're a lying murderer."

"No reason I can't be both," he said.

Even if you've never seen a single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you should be able to follow along with this story, and for Buffy fans, it's an absolute must.

Comments

[eve11]

oh, seconded heartily!

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

This is one of those fics that I have bookmarked, so I can go over it again and again. Thanks for reccing it, because I think more people should read it!

"Could you be any more self-involved?"

"Well, I am the last of my kind."

Perfect!