rec: cafestrovalva by x_los

[choco-chick.livejournal.com]

And now for something lighter:

Story: Cafestrovalva
Author: x_los
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 13390
Author's Summary: “You could very easily be poisoning these people. You might be attempting to weaken this time line by feeding it a steady diet of anachronisms—softening it up in preparation for a larger plan. You might, Master, be capable of anything. Or at least of anything but running a tea shop.”
Characters/Pairings: Eight/Jacobi!Master
Warnings: 

Recced because: This is the kind of Master I often love. When he acts more like Shalka!Master and is not as insane as Simm!Master. This is the Master who wanted to split the Universe with the Doctor. But instead of offering him the Universe he is now offering him tea ;) Eight is wonderful and flighty and petty and very very confuzzled. The Master has the patience of a saint ;)

Although I assume most D/M fans have already read this fic I felt I had to rec it especially since I was unsure of it at first and almost didn't read it. I'm so glad I did! And so should you! :D

Comments

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the rec, it's very kind of you.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Oh, this fic <3

I can't believe you wrote a ...sort of good!Master and made me love it. I read every line waiting for the other shoe to drop, and while I knew it wasn't going to be the sort of shoe the Doctor was expecting, it was the right shoe for the story and you made it all work. This is awesome.

(small nitpick: I spotted two typos. The second instance of the word bailiwick is "balliwick" (unless that's intentionally phonetic? I wasn't sure on second reading, but I noticed it so I'm pointing it out because I'm irritating like that.)

A few lines after that you have "digestive tracks" for tracts.)

thank you <3

[x-losfic.livejournal.com]

Man, typos! *shakes fist* That's what sort of sucks about archives: while I'm ON my lj and can casually see these and correct them/my beta can sneak into my account and do it for me if she spots them, I just never remember to do the small corrections on Teaspoon, because a) I'm not over there and b) the process is somewhat more unwieldy. I'm sure the Teaspoon editions are thus comparatively typo!balls. Digestive 'tracks' indeed. Either this suggests some mad fat beats by a struggling DJ who desperately seeks both fame and a stomach transplant or an athletic team comprised entirely of intestines (the feel-good sports movie of the summer, I am sure). I'll have a look, thanks for the note.

It's so nice to hear you say that, because this is a fic I'm never terribly sure about re: the Woobie Barrier. I think the actions make /sense/ for him given the conditions of the story, but it sort of got the initial reception of Alpha Centauri entering the Miss Teen USA pageant (oh he/she/it /so/ would), and I went 'er, perhaps that... did not come across well. :/' Then a few more people said they'd like it, but I'd already termed it a hot mess in my mind, and all I could see were some pacing!structural issues/how the POV I'd gone with prevented a perhaps necessary dialogue between the reader and the Master's thoughts, which would have sacrificed suspense there for more believability? It's really weird how the dynamics of reception condition how you think about your work, its aims, and how it succeeded or failed in terms of them. It's interesting to hear ways it worked!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It's close to the woobie barrier; close enough that I kept eyeing it suspiciously, but it came down the right side of it. His essential nature isn't changed, he was just so tired. That resonated with me very hard.

I'm watching your brain chase its tail up the "digestive tracks" alley and giggling like an idiot. Makes me want to throw it a ball or scatter catnip.