The most wonderful time of the year has once more come and gone, and that means it's time for a quick summary of this past Yuletide!
how far you feel (The Half of It; G; 1,054 words) by SoVeryAverageMe: A truly delightful look at how Ellie Chu and Paul Munsky's friendship might have developed post-canon, as Ellie went off to college and Paul became a sausage entrepreneur. I really do love stories about excellent friendships, and this one absolutely hit the spot in terms of exploring Ellie and Paul's continuing support of each other's dreams, families, ambitions, and identities.
Pale, Pale Moon (Sinners; M; 1,947 words) by Trifoliate-Undergrowth (Trefoil_9): A fabulous and thoughtful story about Sammie and Pearline encountering each other post-canon—both now accomplished singers, only one of whom is fully human. I got surprisingly choked up at the end of this story, given that this wasn't even a ship that really grabbed me by the throat in canon, but that just goes to show what a good fic can do to give you a million feels about any given character! I also really, really loved the clever little bit of narrative via ephemera that appears at the beginning of this fic. (CW: major character death)
Villa Cavaradossi: Visitor’s Map and Guide [EN] [FREE brochure at the ticket office] (Tosca; G; 201 words) by BloodyMary5667: It turns out that BloodyMary, my dear Opera AO3 friend and ongoing Tosca fandom co-conspirator and occasional co-author, is not only an astounding writer but also an incredible visual artist!!! Riffing on a quirky little meta fic that I wrote in October that described the history and layout of the Villa Cavaradossi in a museum brochure, she actually *created* said brochure using watercolors and hand-drawn maps and written panels, in ways that expanded brilliantly upon my worldbuilding and really brought my odd little project to life. I can't stop looking at it and grinning from ear to ear over how delightful and beautiful it is, and over how honored I am that she went through such trouble to bring my little idea to life so vividly and thoughtfully. <3
da miei tormenti impara (Don Giovanni; M; 4,590 words) for jonphaedrus (@jonphaedrus): Donna Elvira has been one of my favorite operatic characters since forever, with Leporello as another character about whom I've had a million thoughts and feels for literal decades now, so I was THRILLED to receive a prompt about how their prickly relationship might have continued to develop after the Don's demise. This fic features expected bickering, frustrated moments of emotional vulnerability, excessive love for the architecture of Burgos, much Elvira backstory, begrudging inroads into mutual understanding and forgiveness, and the possibility of an eventual happy ending for both of these glorious, over-the-top, hilarious, damaged characters.
Counterpoint (Amadeus; T; 1,620 words) for saturnina: What can I say, sometimes a prompt on the pinch-hit list is too good for me to pass up, even if I don't snag the actual assignment in time. This one asked whether Salieri might have missed Mozart after his death, and of course I couldn't resist tapping out some thoughts about Salieri's ongoing obsession with a now-absent rival whose music—as it dips into momentary obscurity—Salieri misses desperately, even as he grapples with his ongoing envy and guilt. (CWs: suicidal thoughts, canon suicide attempt)
wie unreife Feigen vom Feigenbaum (Salome; M; 2,890 words) for BloodyMary5667: Over a year ago, when BloodyMary first watched this opera, she mentioned being fascinated by Herodias as a character with too little onstage dimensionality, and I of course was extremely intrigued by this characterization shortcoming. Back in May, at BloodyMary's urging, I finally watched my first Salome, namely, the production that Claus Guth directed for the Metropolitan Opera. And when BloodyMary requested something for Yuletide about Herodias, with the Guth production in mind, I couldn't resist writing a VERY dark fic inspired by Guth's chilling reinterpretation of the Dance of the Seven Veils. So this is a story about Herodias, a woman who leaves a miserable marriage and chooses to overlook the evidence of any collateral damage in a desperate attempt to preserve her own happiness, until it is far too late. (CW: implied child sexual abuse)
between the years of water (Sinners; T; 5,380 words) for inlovewithnight: When I was browsing Yuletide prompts for this fandom, I jumped about a foot in the air at one that proposed that Lisa Chow might have become a vampire hunter post-canon, in revenge for what happened to her parents. I obviously couldn't stay away from that idea, and thus was born this fic, which is partially about Lisa and Sammie becoming a little found family and propping each other up through their mutual grief and trauma after everything that's happened... but also about the Choctaw hunters arriving to gather information from Sammie, and ending up with Lisa as a trainee. I didn't have quite as much time as I'd have liked to dig into historical research for this fic, but I really enjoyed what research I was able to do, and I loved having the chance to explore some of the themes of this film through the eyes and specific perspectives of some of its minor characters.
