Merlin: Worst. Rescue. Ever.

Title: Worst. Rescue. Ever.
Author: netgirl_y2k
Reader: kalakirya and jelazakazone
Fandom: Merlin
Pairings: none
Rating: G/general
Summary: It was more of a kidnapping than a rescue
Warnings: none
Length: 2 minutes 46 seconds
text at AO3


download as an mp3 (3MB)( streaming under the cut )

cover by kalakirya!




crossposted to amplificathon on DW, amplificathon on LJ, AO3

In His Image, read by kdheart

Fandom: Supernatural
Characters/Pairing: Sam/Gabriel, Dean/Castiel
Rating: explicit/nc-17
Content Notes: canon-typical violence
Length: 18:21:08 (yes, that does say eighteen hours)
Performer Links: kdheart | KDHeart 
Author: whit_merule 
Summary: Kali can breathe life back into a corpse, but what exactly is Gabriel now? Gabriel flits around various centuries trying to work that out, Dean has another powered-down angel and a little brother to look out for, Castiel has forgotten how to trust, and someone keeps sending Sam annoying little notes on his laptop. Oh, and Bobby would like to remind you all that there’s an Apocalypse still going on. Covers season 5 from Gabriel’s death to the finale.

Reccer Notes: ok, full disclosure: I was the beta for this, and recorded the footnotes. Also, this hits every single one of my buttons (Gabriel! history! Middle English! hurt/comfort!). But I have no shame, and love this thing to pieces, so.
So the first thing you have to know is that I came thiiiiiiiiiiiis close to putting "listener/history" as a pairing, and I think kdheart would agree that that would have been entirely justified. The amount of historical detail the author packs into the story (without it being an infodump!) is amazing and fascinating and just SO COOL and gives the whole thing this incredible depth that I just want to bask in geeked-out glee over it. But if history isn't your thing, don't let that stop you! There are handy footnotes that explain stuff in a non-intrusive way and they serve a purpose. That might be one of my favorite things, actually: the fact that every single one of the historical side trips has a plot-or-characterization-relevant purpose. Or both. And are often just plain funny. Don't get me wrong, I love characters-X-and-Y-in-historical-period-epsilon to death, but it's really lovely to watch each little side-trip add on to Gabriel journey of self-discovery. And, when he's no bouncing around Medieval Europe an having heart-to-hearts with Casanova, he's texting Sam and making him crazy, which is always fun.
Right, so this story is the bee's knees, you may be thinking, but why should I listen rather than read it? Because the podfic adds an amazing amount of texture and complexity and simplification and feeling and love for these characters and historical periods, that's why. Because kdheart does a really great job of reading the French and Italian and Old English and Middle English and whatnot in such a way that it sounds like dialogue - which, believe you me, is a lot harder than it sounds. The thing about a bunch of those languages is that they either a) aren't pronounced the way you think they should be according to modern pronunciation rules or b) sound not too far off from modern English but the spelling is entirely whack-a-doodle. And kdheart pronounces it right, which makes a lot of the dialogue make more sense if you haven't spent years learning how to read Old English. And if you still don't get it, there are footnotes with translations :D On that note, having the translations and explanatory footnotes near the line they reference and yet separate from it (different reader!) made things SO MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIBLE. The written fic has the footnotes at the end of the page or of the chapter, which was incredibly annoying and disruptive to read (hovertext footnotes ftw!), but the audiofootnotes come in where they're useful, but because it's a different voice it's easier for the brain to not lose track of the story. Cognitive linguistics and parrallel processing ftw <3 That's also where the complexity comes in - there are a number of language jokes that depend on similar pronounciations or sounds, and those are a LOT easier to get when read to you by someone who knows what they're doing, rather than you trying to decipher the spelling :D
But also! There's just so much love in this podfic. Love for the story and for four complete goobers with severe cases of emotional constipation who take for fucking ever to work through their issues but you don't give a damn because the ride is so much FUN! And also heart-wrenching, sometimes. But that's ok, because kdheart just keeps reading, and you get swept along, and the goobers work it out, and then celebrate, and you kinda want to celebrate with them <3

Fanwork Link(s): on AO3 | at amplificathon