#but using it just in case

[gayvecchio]

I had the idea earlier this year to write 30 fics for 30 years of due South, unfortunately, I didn't quite get there. Still, it was a very prolific year for me, having posted 20 fics in total to ao3, 17 of them being dS fics. I'm pretty proud of that number, especially given that 2024 was a very tough year. Writing for these characters was a bright spot for me, and I loved being able to contribute something to this wonderful show/fandom that has been going strong for 30 years.

So, here is my due South fic round up for 2024! I hope to keep writing even more of these characters in the new year!

(*) indicates the fic is a personal fave

What Were You Doing New Year's Eve? *

Ray wakes up on New Year's day to find a man in his bed; how he got there is a mystery. (F/K)(T) word count: 2743

Reaching Out 

Just a quiet morning during the quest. (F/K)(G) word count: 100

Morning Warm-Up 

“When I first opened the door and saw you standing there, I thought I must've fallen asleep; I was afraid I had dreamt you.”

“I’m definitely no dream, Benny” (F/V)(E) word count: 1102

Tea and Tiaras 

Ray, Fraser, and Dief have a tea party with Ray's niece. (Gen)(G) word count: 1054

30 years 

Ray could hardly believe that it had been thirty years since the Mountie wandered into that holding cell… (F/V)(G) word count: 488

Three of a Kind

“Hey, Benny, they're playing our song.”

Fraser tilted his head, eyes lighting with recognition, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “Ah, the gymnasium at the St. Fortunata School.”

“Where we had our first dance.”  (F/V/K, pre-ot3)(G) word count: 491

Worthy of Worship *

To Fraser a cross was just a cross. Except for the one that dangled from a certain neck. (F/V) (M) word count: 300

A Mountie Under the Influence *

"Listen, you are not in your right mind right now. You don't know what you're doing. I'm pretty sure if you had any idea what you were doing you wouldn't even think about doing it. So, under the circumstances, I cannot in good conscience allow you to keep licking me." (F/V) (T) word count: 1965

High Adventure 

Ray wasn’t the adventurous type. Not in the Great Outdoors sense anyway. (F/K) (G) word count: 139

Never Leaving Las Vegas *

It’s starting to feel like this gilded strip of desert is all he’s ever known (Ray Vecchio, gen/character study) word count: 139

give me something good

Ray Vecchio gets a surprise Trick or Treater at his door. (F/V) (G) word count: 466

Watch Your Neck *

“This is exactly what I was talking about, Benny. There’s no way I’d be out hunting vampires before you came into my life.”  (F/V) (T) word count: 2613

Riveted *

As soon as he laid eyes on the car in person, Ray could see his future with Ange, all the plans they’d made, crumbling away. Handing over the cash, he imagined the disappointment in her eyes, heard the hurt and anger in her voice beneath the thrum of the engine as he pulled out of the lot. It should have been enough to make him turn back. (Ray Vecchio, gen/character study) word count: 2148

Thanks for Nothing 

Apparently, even mobsters took the holidays off to spend with their loved ones. Armando Langoustini, however, didn’t have any of those. No real friends or family to speak of—unless you counted The Family, but none of them seemed to have room for him at their tables. (F/V) word count: 1382

Thankful

Ray couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat down for Thanksgiving with an actual family. His parents hadn’t been back to Chicago in years. Stella’s family had been big on the holidays, sure, but those dinners were...complicated. Formal in the worst way. Stuffy. He didn’t think it would be like that at the Vecchio’s, but he still wanted to make a good impression. (Gen) (G) word count: 2082

Home for Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a Vecchio was stirring, not even the wolf. (F/V) (G) word count: 2159

Blame it on the Eggnog

As soon as Kowalski kicked the door shut behind them, a flurry of hands descended, fingers tangling in their haste to get Fraser’s tunic undone. Vecchio swatted Fraser’s hands away with a smirk. “Let us, Benny,” Vecchio murmured, his lips brushing the shell of Fraser’s ear. “Yeah,” Kowalski added, grinning as he pressed a hard, eager kiss to Fraser’s lips. “You’re the present—we get to do the unwrapping.” (F/V/K) (E) word count: 6091

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[neo--queen--serenity]

someone call our man an ambulance

[wanderingibon]

anya deserved so much better

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The Wizard Cowboy War (Wizboys VS Cowards) continues on.

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"

[brutusinthewoods]

i just think walker would be devastated

[sophiebaybey]

Not to preach to the choir but I wonder if people generally realize that AI models like ChatGPT aren't, like, sifting through documented information when you ask it particular questions. If you ask it a question, it's not sifting through relevant documentation to find your answer, it is using an intensely inefficient method of guesswork that has just gone through so many repeated cycles that it usually, sometimes, can say the right thing when prompted. It is effectively a program that simulates monkeys on a typewriter at a mass scale until it finds sets of words that the user says "yes, that's right" to enough times. I feel like if it was explained in this less flattering way to investors it wouldn't be nearly as funded as it is lmao. It is objectively an extremely impressive technology given what it has managed to accomplish with such a roundabout and brain-dead method of getting there, but it's also a roundabout, brain-dead method of getting there. It is inefficient, pure and simple.

[babykittenteach]

No but fr having an indigenous family broken up for its own good by the state and one of them leave her homeland to go get a Real Education is not just counter to the original story's characterization, it's not just erasing the colonialism commentary for the sake of failed feminism presumably based on the girlboss objection to portraying women as caretakers and the classist objection to blue collar jobs, it is an act of colonialism.

It is in fact so ridiculously an act of colonialism that it should come off as such to anybody able to think about media critically for a few moments, but to anybody familiar with what the US did to many indigenous peoples via the faux benevolence of boarding schools, including to native hawaiians, it's fucking revolting.

Like, shoutout to removing Pleakley's gender exploration, to removing the cop villain in lieu of just having the mad scientist remain one, to removing some of Cobra Bubbles's nuance, to removing commentary on race and colonialism, etc etc, but mainly: this did a colonialism.

[orion-my-rion]

i cannot keep quiet about this anymore.

if you're seeing this, check the reblogs or my "languages" tag for an addition!!

if you're in the US or Canada and interested in learning a language using a free app please get a library card and download MANGO. it's very good and extremely free with a library card (there are many public libraries and universities using the service, so make an account and use the search feature here to find out if there's one near you).

mango currently has 72 available languages and dialects (that's right! different courses for french or canadian french! spanish or latam spanish!). it's set up basically like an audiobook with text. the idea is that the narrator explains the words while you read, and you repeat after them or say the translation out loud when prompted. there's a daily review where you go through flashcards. you can also use the flashcards at your leisure and create your own. at the end of each chapter there's a listening comprehension quiz and a reading comprehension quiz. i cannot emphasize how effective this all is. and it's free with a card.

if you're not in the US or Canada and/or looking for something more like duolingo (don't use duolingo btw tldr they fired translators and replaced them with "ai"), then try BUSUU! it only has 14 languages atm but the lessons are really descriptive and effective. it also has a feature where you can correct other people's open-ended speaking/typing exercises. you set your fluent languages, and exercises by people learning those languages will appear in your feed for you to correct. you can even add others as friends! and, much like duolingo, it has a streak and leaderboard system for you to strive for, minus the guilt-tripping owl.

busuu is free (you watch ads to unlock lessons and they're all skippable after like five seconds), although it also has paid premium/plus versions (i don't use the paid version—the language courses are available for free, and the ad system is Really unobtrusive).

so that's my wisdom for the day. mango and busuu. please check them out :)

[indigo6f00ff]

need to share an experience i had 30 minutes ago

(edit: thanks to @walks-the-ages for providing and reminding me to put alt text, sorry it slips my mind alot lol)

[gunstellations]

rival battle ⚔️

[bacchuschucklefuck]

typical tavern scene

[rooniearts]

Okay, but imagine Sir Galahad asking his father (Lancelot) for advice on dealing with his annoying companion who simply refuses to cooperate.

I can only imagine the "advice" he would give his son.

Lancelot is a warrior, not a tour guide.

Y'know, maybe his one-size-fits-all solutions aren't always helpful

[dazzelmethat]

Cricket Cat concept. Do you see it? Do you see my vision? I don't think they'd purr or meow, just chirp with their wings.

[iamanartichoke]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but as a creator -

I am fine with "the audience" -

downloading my fics

printing my fics

copy/pasting or screenshotting my fics

sharing your saved copy of my fics with anyone else who might want them in the unlikely but never impossible case that my fics are no longer available on ao3

making a book of my fic(s) and running your fingers across the pages while lovingly whispering my precioussss

doing these things with anything I create for fandom, such as meta, headcanons, au nonsense like 'texts from the brodinsons,' etc

I am not fine with "the audience"

doing any of the above with the purpose/intent of plagiarizing my work or passing it off as their own in any capacity

feeding my work into ai for any reason whatsoever

Save the fandom things. Preserve the fandom things. Respect the fandom things.

Enjoy the fandom things.