downton abbey

[kaydeefalls]

So I just mainlined the entirety of Downton Abbey over the course of three nights. It is entirely as awesome as everyone kept telling me it was, and I am completely devastated that I've already finished all there currently is of it (and simultaneously quite proud that I managed to decide to watch it RIGHT BEFORE the new series is due to start). SO GOOD, guys. I love everyone in this show, even the assholes. Except for Carlisle and Mrs. Bates. And I started off hating Edith and O'Brien and Thomas, but they've been steadily growing on me due to well-written character development. But EVERYONE ELSE. And all of my ships are canon! I love when that happens -- I ship canon!ships when they're actually well-written and logical pairings to ship. But especially Matthew/Mary, dear god, the way they kept circling each other and fucking up and growing up and pushing apart and then pulling back together was not healthy for my tender heart, but I do love how they finally came together as adults at the end of all that, I cannot handle how perfect the end of the Christmas special was. (I did not like the fridging of Lavinia. Totally called it like three episodes beforehand, but hated it all the same. She was an awesome character in her own right, she'd CHOSEN to walk away, I had so freaking much respect for her -- and then, fridge. BAH.)

But I am not ready to emerge from my bleary-eyed ecstasy honeymoon period for this fandom, so I have to ask, where on earth is the fic? There's a small amount on AO3, but maybe I just haven't been patient enough yet, because so far every fic I try is so mediocre-to-awfully written that I wind up giving up within a paragraph or two. I don't get it -- usually when canon is this intelligently written, the fic tends to trend toward much higher quality, but I can't seem to find it yet. Any hidden gems I'm missing? I'll take just about anything at this point, though I prefer Matthew/Mary or Sybil/Branson(/Gwen) or anything in which Thomas takes his lumps and grows the fuck up, because his character both fascinates and repulses me in fairly equal measure.

WHERE IS THE FANDOM HIDING?

Comments

[secondsilk]

I have not seen Downton Abbey. The only fic I've read is

The Ballot by sheafrotherdon

[kaydeefalls]

That one's fun! And you should watch the show, seriously. It's...highly addictive.

[alces]

I really liked the first season of Downton. The second really didn't grab me... until the Christmas special. That just brought the whole mess together perfectly. *happy sigh* I'm so looking forward to the next season. Sadly, I have not seen any good fics.

[kaydeefalls]

I really enjoyed the WWI storyline, though some aspects of it did irritate me. But the CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, ugh, I loved it to itty bitty bits. ♥_♥

[rabid_bookwyrm]

I like "The Ballot," linked above, and these two:

Lavinia fix-it AU: "I Tell My Love to Wreck It All" - Very soft Mary/Matthew/Lavinia and all sub-ships.

"There is Thunder in Our Hearts" - Lavinia/Mary, G

[kaydeefalls]

I really enjoyed the threesome-ish fic, because all love triangles ought to be resolved in threesomes. *nods firmly*

[lutamira]

I too have tried and failed to find the fic for this show toooooooo. (Most of it seems to be Sybil/Branson, for some inexplicable reason [they are pretty much my anti-ship - the only one of the canon ships I really don't like at all, but which somehow caught ficcer imaginations? IDEK.]) I really wanted to find good Matthew/Mary, but honestly haven't, although I stopped looking a few months ago. The only place I can point you is dollsome's journal where there are some short and sweet Mary/Lavinia stories. I started reading a promising Mary/Richard Carlisle story on AO3 called A Girl in Black that had some really solid AU plotting and character development going on, but I stopped reading it when there was an overly traditional First Time scene. Still, it was better quality than most of the other stuff I'd read. If you find anything good, I'd love to hear about it!!

[kaydeefalls]

I've found some...okay Matthew/Mary on AO3 (basically, search the pairing, sort by hit count, look for the ones with the most kudos). But nothing spectacular, dammit. I don't understand it!

I do like Sybil/Branson as a pairing, but I can't find anything GOOD for that one, either. This is ridiculous. I know how absurdly popular the show is, why does no one seem to write fic?

[newredshoes]

I got four Downton ghost stories for Yuletide last year! P.S. ALL THE FEELINGS ABOUT EVERYONE ON THAT SHOW.

[kaydeefalls]

SO MANY FEELINGS.