Yuletide 2020: Stargirl Times Three!

New record this year, I believe: I got three, count them three stories for Yuletide, all for the CW series Stargirl. And they are all no-holds-barred excellent!

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Non-Routine Maintenance by Anonymous
Fandoms: Stargirl (TV 2020), Batman (1966)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: ~1200
Characters: Pat Dugan, Barbara Gordon
Additional Tags: Crossover, Identity Reveal, Motorcycles, Touches of Comics Barbara as well, Yuletide Treat, Identity Porn

The motorcycle was a beauty, kept in great condition, the blue and yellow paint job still glossy, minus the unavoidable insect splatter. "This is a great bike. How long have you had this?"

"Thanks," she said, though her voice was muffled through the helmet she hadn't removed yet, "it's been in the, uh, family, for a while now."

This is a pitch-perfect fusion of the old Technicolor Adam West Batverse with both Stargirl and what I suppose we have to call the expanded or descended version of the Silver Age JSA, with maybe just a touch of Timmverse animated canon thrown in. The voices are crisp, the blending of sources is deft, and the color palette is right on the mark. I totally did not expect anyone to pick up this prompt from my signup; the author wins all the Extremely Optional Bonus Points accumulated in my points vault over the years.

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Owl You Need by Anonymous
Fandom: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: ~4300
Characters: Beth Chapel, Hootie the Owl (DCU), Courtney Whitmore, Yolanda Montez, Rick Tyler
Additional Tags: Light Angst, Discovery, Developing Friendships, Post-Season/Series 01

"Those are—I mean, were, Chuck's. Dr. McNider's," Beth told the owl. "Yes, I know about him. Do you miss him?" She sure did. A pang of loss hit her again, as it often did at times. "I'm sorry, they don't work anymore."

It blinked at her. Then it slowly rotated its head, this time to the right.

And then it took to the air again, heading back toward the still-open window, the goggles grasped in its beak. One, two, three wingstrokes, and it was gone, flying into the night.

The focus here is on Beth - aka the new Dr. Mid-Nite - as she meets her predecessor's companion owl, who's shown up in search of a certain pair of broken goggles. The character work is excellent, the treatment of Hootie is dead flat fascinating, and the resolution is thoughtfully staged. (Also, I agree with Beth: flying via Cosmic Staff Airlines is not a safe or particularly sane mode of transportation for a non-powered superhero.)

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One Piece at a Time by Anonymous
Fandom: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: ~1500
Characters: Pat Dugan, Barbara Whitmore, Courtney Whitmore, Yolanda Montez, Rick Tyler, Beth Chapel, Michael "Mike" Dugan (DCU)

Pat Dugan's family is bigger than he thought. Set between the climactic battle in Stars & STRIPE Part 2 and the Christmas party.

I can absolutely see the live-action CW version of this, character voices and all; one could very easily film the story pretty much exactly as written. There's something for everyone at JSA headquarters as our heroes begin to bring it back to life. It's a really well-executed ensemble piece in which all the young people get a moment to shine - or not, in one entirely appropriate case - with Pat Dugan as mentor and tourguide.

 

Yuletide 2020: Recs - 9 Fandoms, No Waiting

Herewith the highlights of a day wandering through Yuletide:

ETA: I've given up trying to figure out why everything goes bold beyond the Gargoyles cut tag in this entry (*except* when you view it on a page by itself, when everything looks normal). Whatever's going on there, it's not an HTML thing, I promise.

( Aladdin (1992) )

( The Cremation of Sam McGee - Robert Service )

( Enola Holmes - Nancy Springer )

( Gargoyles )

( Judge Dee mysteries - Robert van Gulik )

( The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) • Dracula movies (Hammer) )

( Night World - L. J. Smith )

( Uhura's Song - Janet Kagan )

( Valdemar - Mercedes Lackey )