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anactoria.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crack_van2010-03-04 10:38 pm
anactoria.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2010-03-04 10:38 pm
It Might Have Been by akisawana (Unrated; probably R)
Fandom: WATCHMEN
Pairing: 63!Rorschach/Dan, Bill/Byron
Length: ~2000
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akisawana
Author Website: Author's fic on LJ
Why this must be read: Watchmen is a pretty fertile fandom for Rule 63!fic, and this is just stunning. It takes the '...things that never happened' format, and gives us a few vivid, sometimes-hopeful, often-painful glimpses of how Rorschach's life might have turned out had he been born female. The stark, simple style in which it's written suits the subject matter perfectly, and the fic itself made me feel for a character to whom I'm usually indifferent. Which is always a good thing.
"Wanda grows up in the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children, and when she is sixteen they find her a job as a seamstress in the city, an affordable apartment, and invite her back for Christmas dinner. She even goes, once. Then a woman is killed, alone in the crowd of New York, and that’s when Wanda puts on a costume (dressing as a man, so safe from discovery!) and resolves that will never happen again.
She meets a boy from Harvard whose hero is Nite Owl. They partner, and make actual progress in the darker side of New York. She lets him think she is a man, which makes him question his sexuality after a while, but he is a good man, too good for her.
A midget is arrested. A girl is kidnapped. Two dogs die. The Keene Act is passed. A comedian dies. Rorschach is arrested. There is an awkward flight to Antarctica. Ozymandias saves the world by killing it. Wanda dies in the snow, not as alone and unmourned as she wanted.
Except that’s not what happened."
It Might Have Been
Pairing: 63!Rorschach/Dan, Bill/Byron
Length: ~2000
Author on LJ:
akisawanaAuthor Website: Author's fic on LJ
Why this must be read: Watchmen is a pretty fertile fandom for Rule 63!fic, and this is just stunning. It takes the '...things that never happened' format, and gives us a few vivid, sometimes-hopeful, often-painful glimpses of how Rorschach's life might have turned out had he been born female. The stark, simple style in which it's written suits the subject matter perfectly, and the fic itself made me feel for a character to whom I'm usually indifferent. Which is always a good thing.
"Wanda grows up in the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children, and when she is sixteen they find her a job as a seamstress in the city, an affordable apartment, and invite her back for Christmas dinner. She even goes, once. Then a woman is killed, alone in the crowd of New York, and that’s when Wanda puts on a costume (dressing as a man, so safe from discovery!) and resolves that will never happen again.
She meets a boy from Harvard whose hero is Nite Owl. They partner, and make actual progress in the darker side of New York. She lets him think she is a man, which makes him question his sexuality after a while, but he is a good man, too good for her.
A midget is arrested. A girl is kidnapped. Two dogs die. The Keene Act is passed. A comedian dies. Rorschach is arrested. There is an awkward flight to Antarctica. Ozymandias saves the world by killing it. Wanda dies in the snow, not as alone and unmourned as she wanted.
Except that’s not what happened."
It Might Have Been