Rec [fic]: the art of hot chocolate by phantomlistener

[paranoidangel]

Title: the art of hot chocolate
Creator: phantomlistener
Rating: General
Word Count/Length/Size: 1132 words
Creator's Summary: It's hard to keep in touch when you're never in the same time or place from one day to the other, but Ace is trying. (Or, Ace and Rachel go for coffee.)
Characters/Pairings: Ace McShane, Rachel Jensen
Warnings/Notes: Archive locked

Reasons for reccing: For the minor characters square on my bingo card. This is a short fic that really shows the relationship between these two characters and the friendship they totally would have after Remembrance of the Daleks.


Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35213464

Rec [fic]: The Keeper of Darkness by Heimeldat

[lurking_latinist]

Title: The Keeper of Darkness
Creator: heimeldat
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Word Count/Length/Size: 27k words
Creator's Summary: An enslaved town built in perpetual darkness. A clever scheme that (as usual) the Doctor hasn't bothered explaining to Ace. And a vampire queen who wants the Doctor to join her clan. What could go wrong?
Characters/Pairings: Seventh Doctor, Ace McShane, briefly Narvin, OCs
Warnings/Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence; vampirism and associated unpleasantness; hypnotism/mind control

Reasons for reccing:
(It’s me! I’m still here!)

This has been a favorite WIP of mine and (evidently put in the mood by the Goth Opera audio) the author has just wrapped it up, so I ran directly over here to rec it. As per Heimeldat’s tags, “I don’t think I’m capable of writing Seven and Ace without making both of their lives miserable.” They certainly have a rough time—the Doctor gets vampirized (in service of a grand plan, of course) and Ace has to protect him in the middle of a nest of vampires, while worrying about whether he’s really still himself. Blood gets drunk and minds get whammied. But it’s neither depressing nor grim: the author really loves her characters and loves showing off the hard-earned, often-imperiled trust between them. Heimeldat’s Seven and Ace are an unbreakable team, as the Doctor counts on Ace for things he can’t ask of her and she trusts him (mostly) in spite of everything.

Link: The Keeper of Darkness

(I’ve added the “fandom: books/comics/other” tag because a major plot point draws on Goth Opera, but since it’s an audio now should it be “fandom: big finish”?)