Cornerstone Characterisation
A collection of fics that get a character so right that I would recommend them to somebody who has never encountered the source material as a guide to understanding that character. Frequently these works have given me new headcanons simply because their characterisation is good enough that it not only follows canon, but enhances it.
(Open, Moderated)
Random works
-
daddy said shoot first by This_world_of_beautiful_monsters
Fandoms: Avatar (Cameron Movies)
27 Apr 2023
Tags
Summary
The Sully kids all have their own opinion regarding the meaning of the word "father."
-
walk through fire for what's important by This_world_of_beautiful_monsters
Fandoms: Avatar (Cameron Movies)
07 Mar 2023
Tags
Summary
She wonders if she has ever existed outside of this moment: this boy heaving for air in her grip, the knife bright like a fallen star, the bloody deck humming under her feet. Maybe everything before was just a story she's told herself; maybe this is all that really matters.
____Flames, steel, and a ship hurtling toward a watery grave. Neytiri just wants to save whatever she has left.
-
Tags
Summary
Emboldened by the television program, The Sopranos, Lestat spends thirty years in therapy becoming a vampire worthy of Louis’ love. Louis spends his second marriage refusing to address his eating disorder so as to better mourn his alive husband and dead daughter. One century later, they give New Orleans another try.
Series
- Part 1 of Renaissance Verse
-
Tags
Summary
One day, Matt Murdock saves an old man. The old man does not completely succeed in saving Matt Murdock.
-
Tags
Summary
Imagine a boot. Imagine the leather and laces, the stink of mud clinging to its sole. Imagine pressing it against their faces. You know who. You don’t have to imagine them. They always exist. Imagine the softness of their cheeks against your heel. Imagine the mud rubbed in their eyes. Imagine how they whimper. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
Imagine showing them how sorry they are.
In the void between worlds, there's not much to do besides fall and think. Loki does plenty of both.
Random bookmarks
-
Tags
Summary
In the week following the death of Mr. de Pointe du Lac, Louis reflects on his father's legacy and what it means for a young man still figuring out who he's allowed to be in this world.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,299
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 25
- Kudos:
- 65
- Bookmarks:
- 11
- Hits:
- 481
Bookmarked by mayfriend
26 Jul 2024
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
“What you gonna do now, Louis?” Paul whispered against the pillow.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Louis replied, yawning. He had been up all night again pouring over the accounts, trying to find any source of income that could salvage their situation. If nothing came up, he supposed he would offer himself up for employment to anyone who would have him, personal secretary or otherwise.
“I mean, how are you gonna take care of everyone and me? Who’s gonna look after you?”
“I don’t need no looking after.”
Paul turned his head to look up at the ceiling or was he looking past the roof of the house to wherever he believed God to be.
“Yeah, you do.”
-
Tags
Summary
Recoms were born into the world for a purpose. Ressurected to fight endlessly, to kill indiscriminately, to win Pandora for humanity by any means necessary.
They did not succeed.
This is what happens after.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 12,778
- Chapters:
- 1/5
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 34
- Kudos:
- 107
- Bookmarks:
- 29
- Hits:
- 1,400
Bookmarked by mayfriend
26 Feb 2023
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
It shouldn’t have been hard, going from village to village. It shouldn’t have been hard hearing people spit curses at him. He was a Marine. He’d dealt with all kinds of shit. A little anger shouldn’t be enough to undo him.
It shouldn’t have been hard watching people live their lives. It shouldn’t have been hard watching them gossip, and cook, and argue. It shouldn’t have been hard watching their children play on the beach. It shouldn’t have been hard when they talked to him, showed him scraps of kindness.
But it was.
-
Tags
Summary
Lucifer stalks the angel through the grasses, down the lawn, across the strobe lights.
Lucifer loves mouth-first.
Oliver hunts Felix through the house party.
Bookmarked by mayfriend
03 Feb 2024
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
Lucifer knocks on the gates of His Lovely And Only and, Becomes Lonely, and then he goes angel-hunting and well, that’s that, isn’t it.
-
Tags
Summary
One day, Matt Murdock saves an old man. The old man does not completely succeed in saving Matt Murdock.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 6,409
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 60
- Kudos:
- 1,175
- Bookmarks:
- 261
- Hits:
- 7,996
Bookmarked by mayfriend
05 Dec 2018
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
When they walk, Matt's nostrils keep flaring. He twists his face like he smells something unpleasant.
But if he does, Brennan can't smell it. At one point, apropos of nothing, Matt asks, “Have you been keeping up with your medical appointments, Brennan?”
“I'm old,” he shrugs. “It doesn't matter so much.”
“No,” Matt says. “I suppose not.”
-
Tags
Summary
Nimona is a baby. An actual baby.
Ambrosius paces back and forth, rocking her in an attempt to soothe her cries, while Ballister collapses on the sofa, rubbing his temple, trying to figure out what the hell they should do.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 16,309
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Comments:
- 188
- Kudos:
- 2,665
- Bookmarks:
- 377
- Hits:
- 23,122
Bookmarked by mayfriend
04 Nov 2023
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
“—and white hands, feet, and faces, which turn black after birth—” Nimona cuts off with a frustrated sound. “You’re not listening again!”
“I am! I am!” Ballister insists. “I’m just—” He types a quick answer and presses Send. “There, sorry. I’m listening.”
Nimona arches an eyebrow, cocks her hips. “Then what’s the last thing I said?”
Shit.
“Um.” He shifts in his seat. “Something about faces?”
It’s the wrong answer. Nimona’s body starts shaking, as she rips off her glasses and points at the screen. “No, that’s not what I said. I was saying that when the silvered leaf monkey is born, its fur is orange, and then when it grows up, it becomes black. You weren’t listening!”
“Hey, hey,” Ballister says, lifting his hands, growing serious. “I’m sorry. No need to get angry. I had something work-related, but it’s done now.”
“Well, you’ve been working all day!” Nimona explodes. “All I needed was thirty minutes for you to listen to my very important presentation, and you couldn’t even do that!”
“I said I’m sorry,” Ballister repeats, his head spinning in the face of her wrath. “I didn’t realize it was so important.”
“Well, it is! It’s very VERY important!”
“Nimona—”
“Everybody needs to know about these animals, because what if one of these babies gets lost, huh? How will we know who its parents are? What if nobody believes them when they say they’re family? They look NOTHING alike.” She smacks her hand into her palm. “This is why we NEED—TO—LEARN!”
She breaks off with a heavy pant, and clenches her jaw like she’s said too much.
Ballister freezes, feeling like a stone has lodged in his throat. He swallows thickly and looks at the screen: the bright orange monkey in the arms of its black-furred mother. Then, his gaze travels to Nimona, who’s wearing his reading glasses. Who’s dyed her hair black, like him. Who’s dressed in black, like him.
It all clicks into place.
“Nimona, is this because you don’t look like us?” croaks Ballister.
For a moment, she doesn’t say anything. Her gaze drops, and she flushes, embarrassed. “Well, I don’t. I don’t look like neither of you.”
That’s when the realization hits him: the presentation is for him. She thinks he’s the one who needs convincing. Ballister clenches his fists, as thousands of words surge in his throat, jockeying to come out. He takes a steadying breath and scoots to the edge of the sofa.
“Nims,” he says, choosing his words carefully, “just because you don’t look like us, doesn’t mean we’re not family. You don’t need to convince me of anything.” His mind scrambles for an example. “Ambrosius doesn’t look like me. Does that make him any less of a family?”
She shakes her head. “It’s different.”
“It’s not different at all,” explains Ballister. “You’re our family, no matter what. Whether you look like a tadpole, a silvered leaf monkey, a boy or a girl. You’re our Nimona.”
She purses her lips, shifts on her feet again. She’s not looking at him, but Ballister spies the rise of tears in her eyes.
“But what if somebody says different?” she asks, her voice breaking. “People can tell just by looking at us—”
“People can say whatever they want,” Ballister says firmly. “It doesn’t matter. It won’t change the way we feel about you.”
Nimona bites her lip. She looks like she has trouble accepting that, and in that moment, a gentle epiphany washes over Ballister like a wave lapping on a shore. This is a recurrent theme: Nimona thinking that she’s unwanted, that she doesn’t belong. Is that why she’s stuck in this form, unable to shift back? Why she’s recreating her worst nightmares, looking for catharsis? The thought unsettles him and only drives in what he’s already understood: it’s his job to release her from her prison.
Ballister extends his palm, flicks his fingers. “Come here.”
She hesitates, before walking over. Ballister tugs her into his lap, until she’s sitting there with hunched shoulders. She’s bigger now, a solid weight on his thighs, and Ballister can’t believe that three days ago, she was just a tiny baby, cradled in the crook of his elbow. He tucks her hair behind her ear, and thinks.
“We will always love you no matter what,” he says. “We don’t care what anybody else says. Nobody will ever take you away from us.” Then, in a stronger voice: “We won’t let them.”
“But what if...”
“Nimona, I promise.”
It’s the right thing to say. All the tension drains from her body, and she buries her face in his chest, practically melting into him.
“Okay,” she whispers.
Ballister rubs her spine, as a notch in his chest loosens. He realizes this is probably the last time she’ll ever sit on his lap. So, he hangs on and soaks in the moment for as long as he can.