island_of_reil | Entries tagged with the eagle

wildestranger, author of the Yuletide Shakespeare/Marlowe fic "All the Pleasures Prove" and also of a short, hot Eagle fic titled "Conciliation," put up an entertaining post after having watched the movie for the second time in April 2011, titled "and then they lived happily together with freedom and buttsex."

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/11879.html

The Point of the Blade (5209 words) by Island_of_Reil
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Eagle
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Dubious Consent
Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac Cunoval
Characters: Esca Mac Cunoval, Marcus Flavius Aquila, Old Woman (Màthair)
Additional Tags: Knifeplay, Cutting Clothes Off, Dominance, Submission, Verbal Humiliation, Subspace, Hurt/Comfort, Slavery
Summary: This fic was inspired by Wagnetic/

fandreamer's "Once," in which Marcus and Esca stay much longer with the Seal People than they did in canon, and Marcus descends into an unhealthy sort of subspace. In this fic, Esca remains loyal to Marcus... but is not gentle with him.

Inspired by

fandreamer's "Once."

Read The Point of the Blade at An Archive of Our Own.

Cross-posted to ninth-eagle and sutcliff_fics.

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/11659.html

Name and Blood by

island_of_reil
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Frontier Wolf, Rosemary Sutcliff (as well as Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch)
Rating: T
Word count: 2071
Relationships: Alexios Flavius Aquila/Hilarion
Characters: Alexios Flavius Aquila, Hilarion
Summary: In a quiet, private moment, Hilarion asks his lover for the story behind the dolphin ring he wears. Alexios obliges.

Written for

sineala.

Read Name and Blood at An Archive of Our Own.

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/11275.html

The authors mentioned in this post are as follows:

"Most Fervently," the cracky yet gorgeous Lost Prince story, was written by

halotolerant.

"Wherever You Go," the fic for The Eagle that segues from beautifully rendered h/c and pining into fiery porn, was written by

alby_mangroves.

"All The Pleasures Prove," the witty and hot Marlowe/Shakespeare fic, was written by

wildestranger.

The brilliant " \Hello Operator, Please Give Me Number Nine," in which Susie Derkins from Calvin & Hobbes challenges Death with a game of Calvinball, was written by

starlingthefool.

"The Queen of Rokovoko," Melville pastiche featuring an orgy to which Ahab isn't invited and the mating habits of cetaceans, was written by

the_alchemist.

And "The Velvetskynn™ Rabbit," a hilarious adult version of the Margery Williams book, was written by

gnomad.

I still have a lot of YT stories I want to read but haven't yet. Here are four more:

"Delete Selected Email?" by storiesfortravellers. This is based on Mallory Ortberg's post "The Rage of Jonathan Franzen" and is a screamingly funny piss-take of one of litfic's most grossly overrated and most unpleasant figures.

"The Red Hot Brawling Sun" by Nokomis. It's the story of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons (which I had no idea was an actual 1895 murder), played out night after night at a roadhouse stuck in the mists of time. So you ignore the railspike and hammer lying carelessly next the broad-shouldered man whose chair threatens to break under his massive musculature, and the haunting strains of the blues coming from the guitar of a man with hellfire in his eyes. Chills.

"The Not Entirely Accurate Chronicle of John Polidori, Genius Physician and Brilliant Writer, and His Rather Less Distinguished Companions" by

lady_ganesh. A cracky recounting of Polidori's, Byron's, and the Shelleys' Not-So-Excellent Vacation, influenced by Kate Beaton, as well as by The Awl. Includes the tag "Lord Byron's Penis."

"Back on the Horse" by

novembersmith. I know absolutely nothing about Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, but I clicked through anyway upon seeing a rec for this fic somewhere. The sex scene between the two main characters is absolutely incendiary, full of love and new sensations and trembling and saying each other's names, and the teasing that leads up to it makes it even hotter.

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/11067.html

First, it seemed much less homoerotic than it did on my first viewing. Probably it's because I've read so much slash about it since then. No matter how much subtext there is in canon, it's just not going to compare with fanon or fanworks.

Also, the movie's pacing seemed choppier to me. I think this has multiple factors. First, I knew what to expect from the plot, so I could pay more attention to other things. Second, the book's pacing is much slower. They didn't just cut out entire elements such as Cottia or Cub or the one-sided bromance with Cradoc, but also much of the relationship-building between Marcus and Esca. Some of it wouldn't have fit into Kevin MacDonald's vision of a much more hostile (and, admittedly, more realistic) master/slave relationship. Third, though, the fic in this fandom overall is quite good, and its exploration of that relationship is much more in depth than that of the movie. And, dare I say it, of the book.

That's not to say that the second viewing was disappointing. I found that the American accents didn't bother me as much this time, and my WTF reaction to the Seal People has diminished with exposure. (I still wish that MacDonald hadn't tried to bend the story into a parable about American imperialism.)

I liked Marcus much better this time around. He's a good, decent person, as the line "The men have to eat, too" makes clear (Channing Tatum's delivery notwithstanding). Nor is he stupid. He's just limited by the Roman mores and chauvinism he was brought up with. If his eventual enlightenment is a little pat, well, that's Hollywood for you. The speech he gave at the pyre toward the end worked for me. (I still snorted at Guern's "I ran from myeslf" line, though.)

Also, I paid closer attention to Jamie Bell trying to convey Esca as thinking on his feet between the first encounter with the Seal People and the "I thought I'd lost you" scene. While I'm happy to read and write fic that eroticizes the kneeling scene, in the movie (both viewings) I found it repellently brutal — which, of course, it had to be in order to be convincing. Esca's expression of guilt and strain when Marcus threatens to kill him is perfect. Obviously the situation isn't taking as much of a toll on him as it is on Marcus, but you can tell he's counting the days and hours until he can drop the pretense and they can grab the Eagle and GTFO.

Oh, and yeah. Half-naked, well-built men, rowr. That should go without saying. Also I think I need to find the soundtrack eventually, as it's very nice.

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/10563.html

Over here at

yuletide_recs.

( But I'm copypasting anyway. )

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/9139.html

This person's .sig line:

"The greatest impediment of all is the square-jawed, flat-talking Tatum, who is so wooden he presents a fire hazard." - The Toronto Star on Channing Tatum in "The Eagle".

Crossposts: http://island-of-reil.livejournal.com/7873.html

Brian Prisco:

Again, if Marcus and Esca started to fall for each other -- a fiery hate turns into a passionate love -- the motivations of the film would have made total sense and would have been a much braver and more intelligent movie. Instead, it grunts and heaves like a chain of fraternity brothers elephant walking, whispering into the shoulder of the naked man whose penis he's grasping that it's totally not gay, it's about brotherhood and honor and tradition. The Spartans buttfucked each other and weren't nearly as bromosexual as these two fellas.

Prisco is a little harsh on the acting. But only a little. Channing Tatum had more than three faces in that movie: "sad face, angry face, and empty face." He also had wanna-get-into-Esca's-braccae face. Because he'll be your little slut any day.
—

Physician (10,430 words) by

island_of_reil
Chapters: 1/1
Fandoms: The Eagle (2011); The Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw
Rating: T
Fanwork type: Gen
Word count: 10,430
Characters: Charis/Chariton of Ephesus, Esca mac Cunoval, Marcus Flavius Aquila, Quintus of Rome, original male characters
Genres: Canon Era, Crossover, First Person POV
Content Notes: Broken bones, graphic surgery, snakes, obscene Latin poetry
Summary: Inspired by

bunn's fic "Splendid Things Gleam in the Dust," this fic begins after hers ends. En route from Antinoöpolis, Marcus and Esca stop in Alexandria to board a ship back to Britain. But Esca is injured in a street accident, and they are taken to the clinic of a well-known physician. That physician is Chariton of Ephesus — in truth, Charis, a woman who has been practicing medicine in the guise of a eunuch for many years. This story is told through her eyes.

Read "Physician" at An Archive of Our Own.

X-posted to

ninth_eagle.

The Stakes (6358 words) by Island_of_Reil

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth (2011)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac Cunoval

Characters: Esca Mac Cunoval, Marcus Flavius Aquila

Additional Tags: Rope Bondage, Bondage, Begging, Biting, Scratching, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Military, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Canon Era

Summary: Man, I hate doing this summary thing, because I keep coming up with cringeworthy blurbs that would shame an airport paperback. The tags will tell you most of what you need to know. Other than that: Esca tops. Before it happens, Marcus has to think it over for a while. That's about it.

Cross-posted to

ninth_eagle.

Upper Hand (4841 words) by Island_of_Reil
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac Cunoval
Characters: Esca Mac Cunoval, Marcus Flavius Aquila, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Flogging, Alternate Universe - Military, alternative universe, Canon Era, Shame, Corporal Punishment
Summary: A remix of the flogging scene from

sineala's "Chosen Man" told from Esca's POV, plus what happens to him immediately afterward.

(You are very welcome, Sineala! Thank you for drawing me into this fandom with that lovely longfic!)

X-posted to LJ and ninth_eagle.