terajk | 3WFDW: The People with Disabilities Being Awesome Commentfic Fest

Welcome to the People with Disabilities (PWD) Being Awesome Commentfic Fest!

I love people with disabilities doing awesome things. In the spirit of Festibility at

access_fandom I thought: "What better time to celebrate people with disabilities being awesome than

three_weeks_for_dw ?" (In the shower this morning, because I am the best planner ever.)

How it works:

This is a multi-fandom fest celebrating characters with disabilities doing awesome things! Prompts can be from any fandom, and can feature canonically, non-canonically or supernaturally disabled characters. (Are Remus Lupin and Sookie Stackhouse awesome PWD? You betcha!) You can interpret an undiagnosed character as a PWD, or reimagine someone as one.

ETA 4/28: No restrictions on rating. Sorry that was unclear!

But what do you mean by "being awesome?"

I mean a lot of things: Saving the world, going on adventures, facing off against ableism, hanging out with friends, struggling with changes in identity. A prompt/story doesn't have to be happy to be awesome.

Prompting:

Prompts should have the following format:

Fandom, character/paring, prompt.

For crossovers: Fandom 1/Fandom 2, character/pairing, prompt.

You can leave as many prompts as you like. Also, please use respectful language in your prompt.

Filling Prompts:

If you fill a prompt, either post your story as a reply to the prompt-comment, or post a link to your story as a reply to the prompt if it's hosted elsewhere (say, your journal). Also, prompts may be filled more than once.

ETA: You may also fill your own prompts, if you wish.

Warnings:

You may use "Choose Not to Warn" or "No Warnings Apply," or use warnings/content notes for any triggering material.

Questions?:

Feel free to ask me questions! I've never, ever run a fest before (I'll plan this better next year, I swear), so I probably left stuff out.

Current Mood: ecstatic

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Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

heartequals

This is better than I anything could have imagined. I love it.

Just as Audrey is about to tell him she doesn’t want to run his stupid hotel, she doesn’t even want to stay in Twin Peaks at all, Johnny says, “Respectfully! Respectfully!”

Aghhh so good. I love how this plays out and what it implies. The relationship you create between them is so perfect.

Audrey can’t bring herself to say they like the snow, that they lose themselves in it for hours when Daddy isn’t home.

<3 <3 <3 <3

From:

terajk

Eileen Hayward/Ben Horne, affair (any rating welcome ;-))

From:

terajk

This is better than I anything could have imagined. I love it.

\o/

I'm so glad! It's a truly awesome prompt, and I hoped the story was worthy of it. And...it's also the first Twin Peaks fic I've ever written, so I'm less nervous about writing TP fic now! (Yay!) I took a walk with Audrey this morning, and she told me many interesting things for your friendship fic prompt...which I have now started writing, even though I have no clue where it's going. Now, if only I can get Denise over here... (IOW, it's coming, I promise).

The relationship you create between them is so perfect.

Thank you so much! I always wanted to see more of Johnny, even though I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HIM FOR THIS FEST OMGWTF? I blame David Lynch, since Johnny doesn't actually, you know, appear. (Lynch's treatment of disability can be...ugh) I had a lot of fun writing this, and now I want more of autistic!Audrey and Johnny being siblings, making mischief, etc. <3 <3

From:

ladyjane

Oh, MAAAN, that sucks.
*swipes 'broken' tape when Dad's not looking*
Disabled or not -- and no matter how old you are -- it's the pits when the people closest to you don't 'get it' when you're interested in something.
*hides tape under Audrey's mattress*

From:

terajk

Disabled or not -- and no matter how old you are -- it's the pits when the people closest to you don't 'get it' when you're interested in something.

It totally does.

*hides tape under Audrey's mattress*

*Audrey flutters her fingers happily but doesn't squeal, so Dad won't hear*

From:

sholio

Thank you! :)

I'm kinda on the fence about that one myself. I was going off what happened to Xavier St. Cloud, but there really wasn't much elapsed time between when he lost his hand and when we saw him again (less than a year, I think?). But they'd almost have to be able to have some sort of regenerating ability; it's impossible to believe that someone could live as long as the older Immortals, in a world as rough and dangerous as the past used to be, PLUS having regular duels with sharp-edged objects, and not lose body parts. And clearly they can heal so cleanly they don't leave scars, and presumably regenerate internal organs, so it's not out of the question that they can regenerate missing parts as well, given time.

It is possible that they just don't know if it'll grow back or not, and in 20 or 50 years, Duncan will be completely surprised by having two functional hands again. *muses thoughtfully*

From:

sholio

Thank you! :)

... how sad is it that now I want to do a whole series of these? Because Duncan's was the first one that popped into my head, but I also think it would be very interesting to explore Methos's reaction to the same situation -- having to adapt to fighting one-handed. Because he'd have a whole host of issues of his own, but his issues would be different from Duncan's ...

From:

trobadora

Amanda would also be interesting ... :D

From:

ladyjane

*grin* Sneaky Audrey. *giggles & offers hugs w/o approaching*

From:

heartequals

Excellent fic for a first TP fic! So good!

This is horrible to say possibly but Twin Peaks is so off-the-wall that I kinda miss the part where there are even people with disabilities just because. . .everything is so off the wall. Like, the One-Armed Man? Nadine? Didn't cross my mind until

st_aurafina brought them up.

I saved both your prompts for that far-off, glorious day when school is not longer plaguing me and I have time to write again! I am really into the idea! Like I was into their relationship(/the entire Horne family) before but I think this is a really interesting interpretation that I kind of want all of the fanfictions about.

From:

terajk

This is horrible to say possibly but Twin Peaks is so off-the-wall that I kinda miss the part where there are even people with disabilities just because. . .everything is so off the wall.

I think Lynch...means for them to add to the off-the-wallness, if that makes sense. Like, he's interested in places that hold dark secrets/are weirder than they appear on the surface, and various Weird People add to the mood he's trying to create. (I'm thinking also of Eraserhead and the Spencer's baby, who is supposed to look scary and weird and add to the whole nightmare aesthetic).

It's a skeevy thing that bothers me, but in Twin Peaks's case, I'm interested in the characters enough to...want to engage with them in such a way as to fix the skeevyness? Like, Gordon Cole doesn't appear a whole lot and when he does, there's a lot of "Haha, look at the hard-of-hearing guy mangle everything anyone says" (or maybe since it's David Lynch, it's "Look at the hard-of-hearing guy mangle everything anyone says because it Means Something"), but he's also Cooper's boss and he's done awesome case-solvin' and I still like him, so I want him to do more awesome case-solvin' or mentoring or whatever.

I saved both your prompts for that far-off, glorious day when school is not longer plaguing me and I have time to write again! I am really into the idea!

*Eee!* No hurry--the PWD Being Awesome commentfic fest is forever. But...*EEE!*

From:

terajk

Gordon/Shelley, date

From:

sophia_sol

...huh. This would be my problem with theorising without having seen all the episodes of the show! I was not familiar with Xavier St Cloud. I've now read up on him, and yeah, I'd say that that would make sense, that it would take quite a while for regeneration to occur, but that it would happen eventually. Because seriously. Not even any missing fingers among all of these old people who spend so much of their lives fighting?

I presume a finger wouldn't take as long to grow back, relatively speaking, but losing an entire arm as Xavier did would take quite a while, and it makes sense for one year to not have been anywhere near long enough.

Perhaps regeneration of this sort is absolutely possible, but not many immortals know it because too often when they lose a body part, it hampers their fighting enough that they get killed before it grows back. So Methos is absolutely aware that it's possible, but Duncan doesn't, maybe? Or maybe he knows that a finger or something would grow back, but doesn't know whether the ability would extend to larger parts of the body? Something like that.

Trying to figure out all the mechanics of Highlander style Immortality is always fascinating!

From:

iadorespike

Ack! This is just amazing! I had to get past my "OMG, Duncan lost a HAND?!", but then...so did he. Heh. And, yeah, it's about confidence. And Joe and Amanda and Methos are awesome and helping and there. I loved this. Loved.

*hugs*

From:

sholio

Or maybe he knows that a finger or something would grow back, but doesn't know whether the ability would extend to larger parts of the body?

That actually makes a lot of sense to me. In fact, if they can do that, it makes sense that not many Immortals would know about it. That kind of large-scale regeneration might be a really rare situation for any of them to encounter, partly because the adjustment period after losing a body part would make them more vulnerable in the Game, and partly just because of the law of averages catching up with them -- staying alive long enough to regenerate completely is probably rare even if a missing hand or foot doesn't actually change the playing field all that much in the long run, because most of them simply don't live that long.

And even for those who've done so, it might not be the sort of information that Immortals would be likely to share among themselves -- it seems to me that even the segment of the Immortal community who aren't obsessed with the Game (the Duncans and Fitzes and Roberts and Ginas of the world) would probably be somewhat paranoid when talking to their friends about fighting techniques and healing and such. You might trust someone with your life and still not exactly want to come out and say "So I got my leg cut off back in 1612 and it had grown back by the French Revolution; anything like that ever happen to you? :D?"

I'm still on the fence about it myself, especially in terms of actual canonicity -- it makes logical sense based on what we've seen (the near-total absence of canonically disabled Immortals, when you'd think there would be lots), but based on St. Cloud and possibly Kalas as well (the neck injury), I do get the impression that certain kinds of injuries don't heal. And I wrote the story from the point of view that it's permanent (or, at the very least, that the characters think it's permanent, though that's kind of an after-the-fact bit of retcon *g*). However, there are enough inconsistencies in canon, especially when it comes to the physical properties of Immortals, that you could probably make just about ANYTHING fit depending on circumstances. *g*

From:

sholio

Thank you! :) Yes, what I wanted to get across here is that it's a change, but it's just another change in a long series of changes in his life, and just like he's adapted to many other changes in the past and come out on top, he'll come out on top this time too. And it helps to have supportive friends along the way ... :)

From:

jadelennox

Just a bear. And here he'd thought it was something to worry about.

This is wonderful. And this finish encapsulates everything that is so inherently awesome about Michael Carpenter. I do love his recognition that he and his family aren't invulnerable, and that maybe, just maybe, Harry Dresden is sometimes right about needing to protect himself.

From:

jadelennox

Diana Wynne Jones's The Merlin Conspiracy, Grundo, learning to read without Roddy's help

From:

jadelennox

this is really lovely. Toph is so intolerant of others, and her realizing that there are blind people who do not have what are effectively superpowers -- but who nevertheless are independent -- is really nice.

From:

stultiloquentia

So much love!

From:

pleonasm

Thank you ♥ I thought it was interesting to think about.

From:

raven

So, I re-read Memory and I wrote it myself.

deep as I have been done

"What's the first thing you remember?" Alys asks from across the pillow.

Deadpan: "It was bright. Someone slapped me."

"Simon, please."

He thinks about it, properly. It's easier to talk about this in the dark, in bed, curled around sheets and human warmth, above the sounds of the city. "I was very young. It was during the war – and it was dark, there were a lot of power cuts, back then. I remember standing in the doorway, watching the lights come back on house by house across the valley. I must have been four, maybe five."

"More than fifty years ago," she says, thoughtfully.

He nods, wondering what she means by it.

*

A couple of men swing by on the other side of the street. They're happy, they're laughing, maybe they've had a couple of beers with their lunch. One of them stops and calls out, "Simon Ilyan, as I live!"

He freezes. But the world around keeps moving, the traffic keeps shifting along the street, Alys is looking at him and looking across at them and then the first of the men reaches them. Close-to, he's wearing the green of the service, today's scuffs not enough to hide the hard layers of polish on his boots. "Simon," he says, delightedly, and Simon has no idea who he is. "Long time no see! How have you been?"

"I don't," he begins, hurried and helpless, and then stops. Breathes, remembers what it felt like to handle crises. "I don't remember you," he says, calmly, and the explanation follows. It's not the truth. What happened wasn't classified, exactly, but ImpSec doesn't enjoy its own fallibility. It's like the truth, though, because it ends with him here, standing, not knowing what made him who he is.

"Oh," says the man. His name is Feiner. His friend's name is Terminello.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Feiner, Captain Terminello," Alys says, speaking for the first time, taking in stance, taking in tabs. "Perhaps you'd tell me a little about yourselves?"

Feiner blinks, and then he can't resist her. "I'm a twice-twenty-years man," he says. "I served on the General Vorkraft, back in the day, and Simon was working for ImpSec but we were from the same District, growing up, so we got to talking, and he would make these ironic comments with such a deadpan face. We drank together off-duty. It was a good time."

Simon remembers the General Vorkraft. Alys asks questions about it, laughs when Feiner talks about the awful food. For a minute they're any group of friends, met unexpectedly on the corner of a city street.

When they move on again Feiner calls, "Simon!" - and he turns, because in the last minute the voice has become familiar. "Hey, Simon," he says, with the sort of brotherly affection beneath it that makes him understand his former self, he thinks, and why he chose to spend time around this man, "I'll remember for the both of us, eh? I'll send you some holos."

Simon laughs, suddenly, and acquiesces, and keeps on going.

*

"What do you remember about the chip?" Alys asks. "When it was put in?"

"Not very much," he answers honestly. "I never did – it took time to start functioning properly, and the time just after I went to Ilyrica was always a little fuzzy."

"Did you want to go?"

He thinks, tries to remember. "I knew then that I had a high chance of coming back with schizophrenia. I suppose... I didn't want to."

"But you went, regardless."

He finds himself shrugging, as he always does when asked to think about it, even though he's in bed without anyone to see. "I was liege-sworn to Ezar. He wanted me to go. He wanted the technology. I was," he shrugs again, it's almost automatic, "I was his toy, I suppose. His plaything." A long pause. "That sounds almost... sexual, doesn't it? It wasn't – but it had that lack of agency, I suppose. I did what I did. He held my life in the palm of his hand."

Alys sniffs, and he can clearly picture her expression even in the dark. "Liege-sworn or not, if Gregor tried to perpetrate such an atrocity now...."

He chuckles. "Progress."

*

Vorkosigan House glistens and gleams. The Viceroy and Vicereine are home from Sergyar, Miles is revelling in his new appointment as Lord Auditor. People are dancing in circles. He twirls to avoid them; things shift around his vision like a merry-go-round.

The world spins. It's a flashback, which they said he would have, or a personality change, which they said he could have, or it's something else that they said that he can't remember now: it's waking up, over and over, not knowing where or when; it's being twenty-seven and waking up into a dream; it's how he ended up tied to that bed. It's standing up in the middle of the room of strangers acutely aware that he cannot run a search inside himself any more. He's fucked and it's over.

He leans against the wall, arms folded. Alys notices him standing there and says, "Simon, you look like you need a drink."

She goes to get it for him, and it's all right. The cool of the glass in his hand is grounding. Ground glass, he thinks, used to wash up on the shores of the lake at Vorkosigan Surleau. He remembers that. It's all right.

*

"Tell me more about when the lights came back on," Alys asks, sharply.

"This isn't like maps and dictionaries," Simon says, tiredly into the dark. "It's my own life, Alys. You can't bring it back for me."

She's insistent. "Tell me."

He says, slowly, "I wasn't supposed to be outside. There was the sound of horses coming from the valley – I went because I wanted to see them, I think. My grandfather was calling from inside, Simeon. He called me that, rather than Simon; he came from old Earth Jewish stock, he said it was the right name for a child who listened. It smelt like woodsmoke and gas in the house."

"Memory," she says, so quietly he almost doesn't hear. "You remember what you heard, what you could smell."

He sighs. "Yes."

"Even before you had the chip, you had memories."

"Yes," he says.

*

It happens again. He thinks that must be strange, and then reasons that he has no experience; he lived mostly in ImpSec's headquarters for nearly all his adult life, he doesn't know much about the real world. He's ordering a cup of coffee from a tiny street vendor when a voice says, "Simon?" and he turns around.

She's a woman of around his own age, around his own height. She has dark red hair with grey in it, piled handsomely on her shoulders. "Simon," she says again, warmly. "I thought it was you. Oh, it's been a long, long time."

"I don't," he says, and stops. Thinks about the timbre of her voice, the way she moves. She steps towards him, pushes her hair away from her face, and there's the faintest scent of perfume. He thinks of her as a whole, without propositional content. "Hello," he says, softly, a little inanely.

She grins and takes his hand, pulls him into the little public park off the street. A gift from some Count or other to the city of Vorbarr Sultana, something in the back of his head provides. "It's so good to see you, Simon," she says. "I've thought about you often, over the years."

He's honest. He says, "After I left..."

"A long, long time ago," she says. "Oh, you were dedicated. Liege-sworn to your Emperor. Going halfway across the galaxy to get" – she frowns – "a chip in your head? Was that it? You weren't supposed to tell me much about it, even then."

He smiles. "I don't have it any more."

"Good," she says firmly. "I never thought it would be good for you."

"I had no choice," he says, with a distinct feeling he's said that before.

"Of course not. Still, I tell my girls, never get involved with a soldier. ImpSec, forget about it." She waves her hands around as she talks, warmly, intimately, and he remembers it. "I don't even know to start with asking you about yourself, now. Are you married, Simon?"

"Not... exactly," he allows.

She laughs. "Not exactly?" she parrots, reading him instantly. "There's someone, whom you're not exactly married to. How very modern. How unlike how you were."

He allows her that, too. "That was... a long time ago."

"Yes," she says, with nothing but affection, and looks at her chrono. "I have to go, Simon. I'm glad I saw you. Don't forget me, will you?"

He watches her go, and thinks: I'll try. On the way home a bunch of red tulips on a flower-stall remind him of Alys. He buys them, he goes on.

From:

sentientcitizen

aaaaaaaaaaaah!

^ The incoherent sound of my joy at the existence of this fic.

From:

sinesofinsanity

Squee!!!! I <3 Michael and co. and you captured them wonderfully. I like that Daniel and Alicia got a bit of say in here too, it showed the kids' unwavering faith in their father even post-sword. Thanks!!

From:

sinesofinsanity

Prompt:

Any fandom, any character: General anxiety disorder or depression, getting up and getting started.

I had Tamora Pierce in mind when I first thought of the prompt: Sandry from the Circle books; Gower or Lalasa from the Tortall books. But I'm open to other fandoms that people are more familiar with. I'm looking for a mind-over-self type story.