Reccing from the SOUL, I tell you.

[ceebee_eebee]

Holy fucking shit. I was just going back through a bunch of calufrax recs that I'd missed and I came across a story that has blown my mind. Blown my friggin' MIND. The original rec can be found here but I feel the need to rec it again because I love it more than I have loved any story in a long, long time. And considering how much fic I read and how incredibly awesome so much of it is, that is REALLLLLLY saying something. I'm not even sure what it is about this story that has killed my brain, but holy crap.

It's about Ian and Barbara after they make it home and it's nothing like what canon and fanon say their post-TARDIS life was like. It's a million times better and a million times worse in ways that are so utterly, UTTERLY in line with who I believe they were and who they had become that I was actually in tears reading it. It was like discovering a truth I hadn't even known I was looking for.

Am I being super dramatic? Yeah, I know I am. And who knows if anyone else will even enjoy the story. All I know is that I feel crazily moved from having read it and it has made me fall more in love with Ian and Barbara than I'd ever thought possible.

So, go read The Nooks of Soho by VMG. Even if you're just curious about what could make me go all swoony like this. ;-)

Comments

[livii.livejournal.com]

Aw, see, here's where I reveal my RIDICULOUS SHIPPINESS, and say that I tried to read that story when it was first posted, lo some several years ago, I couldn't finish it, cos I just couldn't buy Ian and Barbara not together.

...and I just tried again now and got even more upset trying to read it. I love the spirit of it, living in cafes, smoking, and being; but it's not even them not being together, it's Ian reduced to dirty bathroom stalls with old men, and Barbara betraying her profession by kissing her students...it just makes me really, incredibly sad. :(

I am really happy that it made you happy though; I like when fic manages to do that, for people.

[runtling.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I'll definitely read that. :D It sounds fantastic!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

I totally see where you are coming from. I think that's one of the reasons that this never would have even OCCURRED to me as a post-TARDIS possibility. I mean of COURSE they got married and had a lovely life and all that, right? But with this story they really ARE together. In such a deeper way than just a romantic relationship. The ending, when he says to her that he can't imagine a life without her in it...they are partners in the most profound sense. Keeping each other from forgetting, giving each other the space to be new people, different people. Oh, I wish you had kept going. The ending is just so full of love and joy and HOPE in the midst of the realization that they can never really go back to the tiny lives they had but that they could also never live without the other.

[livii.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did read the end, but I had to quick-skim to get there. And I do love that part of the ending - that they are together - but there's so much unloveliness before that that it really, really turned me off. Alas. :(

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Oh well. It happens. But at least we can agree that Benton getting the girl is the height of awesomeness. ;-)

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I'm just making my way through the first Doctor adventures for the first time, so I'm not going to read it yet, but I will tuck it away for future reading!

I'm discovering that I think I like every Doctor except Four, Five, and Ten - the popular ones run from dislike to outright despise, but so far One, Two, and Nine rock, Three and Eight I quite like, I haven't seen Seven yet, and I remember being okay with Six, so obviously I'm not a "real" Who fan.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

If not being a big fan of Four and Ten is a crime, then lock me up and throw away the key. ;-)

As for this story, DEFINITELY save it. Don't forget about it. I have no idea if you will love it or not, but either way it is most certainly not one to be missed.

[livii.livejournal.com]

It certainly is!

And I was thinking, too - I mean, most fics I don't like are cos they're boring, or badly-written, or what not. To have a strong reaction to a fic like I did with this one really says something good about the author. :)