Two Gargoyles recommendations (Elisa Maza/Goliath, Demona/Goliath)

[kaylle.livejournal.com]

I think this is another fandom that has never been recommended here before. I hope that doesn't mean no one will be interested! Gargoyles was an animated drama in the mid-90s; Disney animation's one foray into serious television storytelling. It is to this day my favorite show of all time, and it kills me how little-known it is.

I have a couple of other recommendations planned for this fandom, but this is all I had time to write up tonight; I'll be back in a day or two with a few more.

Fandom Category: Gargoyles
Pairing: Elisa Maza/Goliath
Fic Title: Falling (spoilers for Hunter's Moon)
Author: Jack Hawksmoor
Link: Fanfiction.net (abridged, PG-13) / adultfanfiction.net (full length, R/NC-17)
Rating/Warning(s): PG-13 on FFnet, R/NC-17 on Gargoyles-fans
Genre: Drama
WIP?: No
Special Rec: 10/20

Why This Must Be Read: Elisa reflects, as she falls from a skyscraper for probably the hundredth time, on all those past falls and the growing toll they take on Goliath. "She wasn't entirely sure when it happened, but Goliath had definitely developed a large, Elisa sized crack running right through him. Across his sanity and out the back. It worried the hell out of her sometimes."

There's just a really lovely quality to the writing. The imagery is so vivid. And the author does a really nice job portraying Elisa's inner conflict between her feelings and her fear of them. Goliath does his best to meet her partway, and Elisa lets herself respond for once.

There is a shortened PG-13 version of this story at FFNet (linked above), but in my opinion it doesn't have nearly the impact of the longer NC-17 version; too much of the last conversation gets cut off in the shorter version. Edited to add: I have updated the link to a site that doesn't require registration, so you should be able to read it now!



Fandom Category: Gargoyles
Pairing: Elisa Maza/Goliath, Demona/Goliath
Fic Title: Whispers of a Dream
Author: Diabla
Link: Gargoyles-fans.org
Rating/Warning(s): PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
WIP?: No
Special Rec: 11/20

Why This Must Be Read: "But I forget what it was like, to have someone love you back. I forget so easily, these days, these eternal days... No rest. I'd say it was killing me, but that would be just another whisper of a dream. I don't dream anymore, you know. Oh, yes, the occasional nightmare every now and again, but when we were together, I had the most beautiful dreams..." Demona spies on Goliath and Elisa and reflects on the past.

Demona is such an unreliable narrator, and her worldview is so warped and inaccurate. She believes herself to be the wronged party when she has been the cause of all of her suffering. But no matter what she has done, I can still find some small amount of sympathy for her when it comes to Goliath and Elisa. Her worldview is warped, but through that lens, it certainly looks and feels like a betrayal. Diabla does a good job of showing both sides of that-- how unrealistic that lens is, but also how painful things are when viewed through it.

Mods, I need tags for this fandom too, if you don't mind!