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[gayvecchio]

Are you Benton? Tragic F/V AU: Ray Vecchio has suffered a serious brain injury in the line of duty which, among other things, has affected his ability to remember and recognize faces. When he sees on the news that there has been an incident at the Canadian Consulate, he rushes to the scene. Unfortunately, he struggles to discern any familiar faces amongst the strangers in the crowd. The only thing he knows for sure is that his husband's name is Benton.

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[gayvecchio]

"Make it look like a freak lighting accident"

It’s been years since I’ve revisited Due South, but the @ds30below event sparked my interest again, and I decided to watch a few episodes with my bud @flownwrong  to celebrate. We watched three episodes that stuck in my mind the most over the years after being absent from the show for so long: Bird in the Hand, Eclipse, and The Ladies’ Man, and I found all three to be a very rewarding rewatch, even though my memory of the rest of the series is a bit hazy.

Bird in the Hand: 

When we started our mini marathon, I didn’t realize that this was the only ep of the three where Fraser’s dad plays a role, and I forgot how solid Pinsent was at pulling comic relief duty. The scene where he popped up demanding that Fraser murder Gerard immediately after Gerard was droning on about how Robert’s dogged nobility was his ultimate downfall had me rolling, as did the bit where he—probably correctly— asserted that Ray would shoot Gerard for him if Fraser really asked him to (aww). If Ray had actually done it (aww). One thing in particular about his character  that struck me while watching this episode were the moments where he actually interacted with the environment around him in a way that impacted people other than Fraser by implanting the idea to retreat in McFadden’s mind and having Gerard attempt to grab his hand while dangling in the air. In my memory, it was a lot more ambiguous whether Robert was actually a spirit or a figment of Fraser’s imagination, so that ended up being kind of a fun twist for me. 

Since the other two episodes we watched were very Ray K centric, I’m glad we did one that had a focus on Fraser’s emotional state. The scene where he confronted Robert about stubbornly refusing help in life and  said “I never loved anyone as much as I love you” while Robert was still trying to find ways to derail the conversation is a fan favorite for a reason; it’s a rare, intensely vulnerable moment for Fraser and I really enjoyed the way that Paul Gross pulled back from it a little. In another show with another character, it’s easy to imagine a scene like this being a more blatant, emotional showstopper, with the neglected son saying this in a fit of tearful anger that’s meant to make his father rear back in surprise. Instead, Paul Gross delivers the line in an understated way that’s almost more like puzzled frustration, as if Fraser is trying to piece something together about himself instead, which I thought was a really nice touch to the scene that made it feel very Fraser. I also love the cunning way that Fraser brought it back around just a few minutes later by weaponizing male emotional repression in order to freak out everyone else in the room and gain the upper hand (as well as have an opportunity to annoy Ghost Dad by calling him short) while also delivering some genuine truths: Gerard really did break his heart. 

Last but certainly not least, I adore how Ray kept trying to take care of Fraser throughout the episode in his own grumpy, special way. Sure, trying to orchestrate some Fraser-on-Gerard police brutality didn’t end up being the most well received suggestion, but it’s sweet that he acted extra vengeful to make up for Fraser’s dutiful restraint. I also forgot that the “Mentally Deficient” sticker gag and the tape recorder conversation were both in this episode. The Bickering Married Couple vibes between them were always such a classic part of the show, so it was nice to see that on display. 

Bird in the Hand really held up strongly against my fond memories of it, and I was a little surprised at how easy it was to slide back into this world and be immersed in it after being away for so long. Sometimes I guess you actually can go back home again.  

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sneaking in to the very end of @ds30below with: Fraser + RayK + RayV + text posts

bonus Welsh:

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Ray Kowalski never would've survived Ian MacDonald

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ride_4ever's meta recs

Crossposted from Dreamwidth with permission

A fun list of meta/resource recs below the cut. Some of them have been shared before, all of them bear citing again. Personally, I am deep into backreading ds_workshop, which is extremely fun and helpful when it comes to writing.

"For Canon Appreciation Week of the due South 30th Anniversary "30 Below Fest," one of the suggestions was to rec some meta of canon.

Earlier this month, shade_nightwalker wrote a sweet bit of meta called "You Must Remember This". Read it at DW's due South Virtual Bar.

fox did a time-and-labor-intensive gift of love to due South fandom by creating an annotated transcript of every episode of the show. See fox's "Return to due South: index of annotated transcripts" at fox's DW.

dS meta by truepenny was originally on LJ. That account has been deleted and now appears on DW as truepenny: entries tagged with due south. It covers the pilot episode through the second episode of the last season. (Do note that truepenny stopped short of going to the end of the final season. And perhaps new comments on those posts might inspire her to complete the meta for that season?)

For a meta-specific dS comm on LJ, there's ds_meta.

Additionally, somewhere you'll have to hunt around a bit because they contain meta but also contain other dS topics, are these two LJ comms: ds_discourse and ds_workshop."

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fic lists & links by viciouscats

So! Recs. We love them. @ds30below saw some wonderful lists, old and new. Here's another gem of a resource i wanted to share:

LJ user viciouscats used to keep vast and detailed masterlists of dsc6d fic, sorted by themes/tropes/characters.

masterlists: wordpress (archived) // LJ ds masterlists tag (older versions) // lists of dS authors // LJ index post (check out lists by other people at the bottom)

recs: due South // wilby wonderful

if you look at the tag index on the right of the wordpress blog, you'll find more fun stuff at the bottom, under "Links"

A lot of this stuff is no longer up, but some of it is available via Wayback Machine (prepare for a rabbithole though). Some of the fic mentioned may very well have been archived on AO3 later, so work search by title+fandom is your friend. Have fun!

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[gayvecchio]

Tagged by @pigtailedgirl. Thank you kindly!

10 first lines. I already did this on my main blog, but figured I could do it here too with due South only fic. Since I have exactly 10 dS fic posted so far, it works out nicely :)

Ray could hardly believe that it had been thirty years since the Mountie wandered into that holding cell looking for detective Armani, blundering up Ray’s operation and upending his entire life with just a few words.  30 Years (f/v)

Fraser gave the door to the Vecchio home three succinct raps. Tea and Tiaras (gen, f&v)

A smile spread across Ray’s face as he woke up. Morning Warm-Up (f/v)

Ray's eyes blinked open. Reaching Out (f/k)

Ray woke up with a splitting pain in his head that he recognized as being the result of too much drinking. What Were You Doing New Year's Eve? (f/k)

Ray weaved his way through the bowling alley on the way to his office. Memories of Mistletoe: A Ray Vecchio Christmas Carol (f/v)

“A bowling alley, Benny?” Ray looked at Fraser sideways, a sardonic twist to his lips. let's have a ball (f/v)

Fraser took a deep breath as he stepped out of the consulate. In the Midnight Hour (f/k)

Ray’s shoulders tensed at the sound of stifled laughter and whispers rolling through the bullpen. Inside Ray Kowalski (k/v)

Of all the ways Ray Vecchio imagined his life ending, freezing to death with an animal carcass draped over his shoulders, wasn’t one of them. Warm (f/v)

Tagging anyone who's interested!

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@ds30below

gleaned from Twitter

, the first broadcast of Due South dates from April 23, 1993 on CBS

Thanks for sharing RetroNewsNow

Note : Other sources give April 26, 1994 as the date...

Tvguide.com

Themoviedb

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Happy 30th Anniversary to Pilot Dief

Some screenshots (of poor quality because 90s television) of the first wonderful Dief, Frankie. He was such a great actor and cutie pie, and the one Dief I could believe would be half wolf <3

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  That man, I think I've seen him before.

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: due South Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio Characters: Ray Vecchio, Benton Fraser Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Fluff, Ficlet, Anniversary, due South: 30 fics for 30 years, Not Beta Read Series: Part 4 of due South: 30 fics for 30 years Summary:

Ray could hardly believe that it had been thirty years since the Mountie wandered into that holding cell...

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30 Below: Go Wild! (April 22-∞)

And finally we arrive at the actual anniversary date!

This week's only goal is to do whatever your heart desires. There are no prompts. 

Think of it as amnesty period, if you'd like. Only there's still no deadline and no pressure! The whole year is anniversary year. You're never too late. The AO3 collection is open indefinitely and I will be sharing everything tagged #ds30below or mentioning @ds30below.

Your mod herself is going to catch up on participation after fest proper ends, feel free to follow her example :)

❗Note that if you're reblogging something as a contribution (e.g. responding to meta), you'll need to mention @ds30below in your reblog, since it won't show up in the tag search.

Happy anniversary, my friends!

🐢fest info

🐢all themes & prompts

🐢helpful resources

🐢navigation

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