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The Turning Universe by Jae Gecko

Fandom: The West Wing
Pairings/Characters: Sam Seaborn/Josh Lyman-focus; also includes Sam/OMC, Josh/Amy and Josh/Donna
Rating: E
Length: 347,597 overall
Creator Links:

jaegecko
Theme: Amnesty, Ambiguous Relationships, Backstory, Character Development, Epic Works, Fandom Classics, Getting Back Together, Missing Scenes, Mutual Pining, Politics, Research, Series

Summary: The Turningverse is a series of stories that interweave with both canon "West Wing" episodes and each other. Each one is self-contained, so feel free to begin anywhere you feel moved to do so.

Reccer's Notes: THE big Sam/Josh fic, and it earns all of its accolades! The author is incredibly knowledgeable about the day-to-day realities of political campaigners and White House staffers, flawlessly interspersing their own original scenes with canon. And the central relationship is so perfectly, tragically flawed: two men who are intrinsically drawn to one another, struggling to overcome the lack of privacy inherent to their position, burgeoning resentment, and some of the most heart-breakingly realistic internalised homophobia I've read in a long time. And that's not to mention the fic's version of Lisa, Sam's initial fiance, who becomes a very important character just as flawed and with just as complicated a relationship with Sam and Josh as they have with another. I devoured these fics and never wanted to stop!

However, be aware that the final fic of the series (the intended second-last part) was never fully completed. As a result, the series never reached the point where the couple gets back together for good. I recommend ending with 'Interlude for two voices' if you can't bear that; I sure stayed there for a while until I could bring myself to go on! :')

Fanwork Links: The Turning universe

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Welcome to gamechangerhr!

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Current Mood: anxious

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Anime Check-in: Cardfight!! Vanguard ep. 6-9

Episode 6: Morikawa takes Aichi along to another card shop called PSY that only shows itself for certain people and encourages him to join a tournament. A girl gets in his face and stares at him. 😅

Then a really tall woman with a funky hairdo challenges him to a duel. ...I kinda want to try that hairstyle just for fun.

A card shop run by all-women is cool. And while Aichi lost, he got a new card and learned a lot!

Episode 7: Morikawa vs Kamui, the latter of course won. Aichi gets pressured to follow Kai by Kamui along with Miwa who want to see where he lives. He catches them and is naturally unhappy, Aichi took the wrap and asked Kai to tell him his situation if he wins, but Kai says he isn't ready and to stay out of his business. "If I want you to know then I'll tell you."

Kai vs Kamui, Kai wins though Kamui lasted a while. Before Kai leaves, Aichi promises to faces him someday.

Episode 8: Did Emi have to be so mean? I mean maybe she didn't want him to get hurt? But it's good for beginners to participate and get experience!

Aichi tries to sign up last minute but a guy Kishida throws in his application too and there was only one spot left. Kishida is voiced by Konishi Katsuyuki. Ironic to hear him call out "Alfred?!

Aichi did so good!! He's just going to continue getting better even if he can't beat Kai yet.

Episode 9: Oh, Misaki's in the tournament!

Poor Aichi is so nervous and beating himself up for it, but it's just because he cares so much.

Morikawa may not be bullying Aichi anymore but he's still hopeless. He'll only improve if he starts taking the actual game seriously and not just what he wants out of it. And he gets a big thumbs down for looking down on Misaki!

Misaki and Aichi won, hah. =P

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rec,
yuletide

Yuletide 2025 recs

I feel like I'm so out of practice doing this, but I've got a nice collection of fics from a first pass run through Yuletide :)

Firstly, my two awesome gifts:

late night conversation (IVE - Off the Record MV)
This is one of my favourite IVE MVs, it's got so much beautiful and intriguing visual imagery to think about. This fic does a lovely job of following the individual paths the girls take and wonder - why are they apart (and often, sad) when they were so happy together? - then draws them all back into the same house and back into each other's hearts. It's going to linger in my head for a while!

Two Coffees, One Tea (Mitsuda Takuzo/Satomura Shinpei/Yanoguchi Mia; 三人夫婦 | Two Husbands One Wife)
This is exactly what I wanted for the three of them, just a sense of how they navigate life in the physical spaces of home, of travelling, in bed, and how they balance each other out in the best ways. Takuzo knowing where things are and being forthright about the things they need; Shinpei looking out for them and reminding them about the little relational things; Mia making their place a home and being bossy when they need her to be.

( and a grab bag of great reads after the cut: Bend It Like Beckham, Billy Elliot, Blackadder, NMIXX, Revenged Love, Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild, Set It Up )

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Rangers vs Canes on tv

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memes

this is an odd-man rush against

The first lines of each month meme, 2025 edition:

( 2025 first lines from each month )
***

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needy trees!

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High Altitude Cooking Instructions

https://xkcd.com/3187/

1,300,000-1,400,000 ft: Ask a crew member to show you how to use the ISS food warmer.

https://xkcd.com/3187/

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location: rhode island

Snow birding

We did receive a minor 3 inch snow storm Friday night into Saturday.

The result was a bonanza of birds at the feeders both Saturday and Sunday - A large flock of Sparrows and Dark eyed Juncos, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Downy and Red bellied Woodpeckers and a Robin.

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Yuletide recs, part II

So many delicious goodies. :') I hope to make at least one more recs post before writer reveals.

Two, Seven, Eight, Possibly in Michigan, 1.8k. The Beachwood Place Mall is not a great work environment. The canon is a bizarre 1983 short film about weird men in masks following women in shopping malls, possibly with the intention of eating them, which you can watch here; this fic is a series of incident reports and answering machine messages to and from a concerned perfume counter employee. IDK if it's possible to fully capture the fever dream quality of the film, but this takes a good stab.

an island made from fate, The Secret History, Camilla & Charles, 1.6k. Early on at Hampden, Camilla escapes a tedious house party and finds Charles. This is a great, elegantly written little character study of Camilla, who never got quite enough time in the book IMO, and really shows the fault lines of her relationship with Charles. Great stuff.

k2, p2, yo, k2tog, The Raven Tower, The Strength and Patience of the Hill and The Myriad, 1.2k. The Strength and Patience tells a story about a sheep, and The Myriad has quibbles. The story about the sheep is fun and feels very in keeping with the universe of the novel, and the reveal about why the Strength and Patience has chosen to tell this particular story is delightful.

la femme comme il (en) faut, Impromptu (1991), George Sand, 3.2k. George gets invited to a salon and attends despite her better instincts. I'm not familiar with the movie and found this via the historical RPF tag, but I really enjoyed this vivid portrait of the Parisian artistic community at this time period, and the last scene really elevates it, IMO, and ties the whole thing together. I love the subtle emotional arc of this, and now I kind of want to go find the George Sand biography the author mentionds in the notes.

More A Comment Than A Question, The Dispossessed, Laia Asieo Odo & Sadik, 2.3k. Every so often, Laia goes a little mad and hears a voice claiming to be from the future. It's been a long time since I read about these characters, but I enjoyed this so much. The device of visiting Laia at these various points in her life was very cool, and there's something so peaceful about this whole fic, too, the same sense of peace and simplicity I got from reading the novel years ago.

There's No Discharge in the War, The Long Walk - Stephen King, Stebbins, 12k. Stebbins walks, dies, walks again. Stebbins has always been a sneaky favorite of mine, and I love seeing him get a fic all his own here that fleshes him out and gives him his own unique horrific trauma! The author uses the time loop device to fantastic and creative effect, and it all adds up to a conclusion that I like more and more the longer I think about it. Absolutely spectacular work. One of my favorites this year.

Hyacinth Girl, Waking the Moon, Oliver Crawford, 7.6k. Oliver, before the Divine. The author tags this as "Tragic Backstory" and they are correct!! I read this book last year and yet feel as though I'm missing things in this fic; I can't quite tell how many of these elements were present in the novel and which the author invents here, but the result is gorgeous and heartbreaking. You've got fairy tale stuff, dysfunctional family, the Benandanti always menacing in the background, more literay quotes than you can shake a stick at, absolutely gorgeous imagery.

Knife, Rope (1948), Brandon/Phillip, 4.9k. Brandon and Phillip's class go on a camping trip, and Brandon discovers that Phillip is not just more wallpaper. This is obviously backstory to the movie but feels like a beautiful, self-contained little psychopathic romance on its own. Two weirdos falling in love via discussing murder scenarios!! I was compelled from start to finish.

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Min Heejin, Hybe, and New Jeans: The Dumpster Before the Fire

Annnnnnnd we're back with more corporate scandal posting.

This is a copy & paste of a doc I wrote intended for non-kpop fans (read: my D&D group) and as such has some explanations that will feel "dumbed down" for those in the know. You'll survive. Also, this is very specifically the origin of the fight, written on April 28th, 2024 so it does not include any information after that date.

I'm posting it because some jpop friends saw the news about Danielle's contract being canceled today, and the suit against her parents, and were very confused by how this all broke down the way it did.

I'll do my best to get my thoughts together for a part 2 summarizing what has happened since April of 2024.

( The real TL;DR of this all is worst person you know makes a good point but both parties are the worst people. )

And that's how all this mess started. A lot has happened since April 2024, but it's good to ground yourself in the facts, especially since there was a massive PR campaign against MHJ/Newjeans that was very explicitly funded by Hybe which was revealed only weeks ago, well after they lost all their court cases.

Why on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology

Why on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology, created by Rosiee Thor and Vania Stoyanova and written by 10 more authors, was a lot of fun. Teen aliens on a rescue mission crash-land on Earth.

This book is called an "anthology" but it's more of a collaboration (like my beloved Grimoire of Grave Fates). Rosiee Thor and Vania Stoyanova wrote the prologue presenting the aliens, then the other authors wrote stories about them encountering human teens, or sometimes just about humans dealing with the existence of the UFO. It's labelled as YA, but the writing feels MG to me.

The aliens choose their own genders, and don't necessarily stick with it. There are several enbies (among both the aliens and the humans), a trans boy, as well as some m/m, f/f and f/nb.