Previously GabWhacked on
03.09.03!

What Do You Do? by Imagine (Short Story, Classic, Alt, Finished)
http://forevaxena.com/fanfictiondelights/fanfic/imagine/whatdoyoudo.html

Part PWP, part first-time story, Imagine’s What Do You Do is a thrilling example of engaging storytelling.

Xena, already leading a band of warlords, is only 15- a girl who has just embarked on her bid to capture the world. However, she retains a youthful shyness, as well as her innocence, when she accompanies her men on an evening at an Athenian brothel.

Tersa, the whore who has seen and done it all, finds that this Warrior Princess is something that she simply cannot let pass her by, drawn to her by a force that Xena isn’t even aware that she has. She sets out to make the girl into a woman.

Of Xena, Tersa thinks:

It’s romantic, edgy, filthy, and sweet, and while I usually can’t get enough of Gab first-time stories, Xena’s first time works just as well.

Zeen

The Muses Retreat by Kamouraskan and Lariel (X&G, Short story, Finished)
http://www.geocities.com/lariel_a/xena/retreat.htm

This spoof of fan fiction mailing lists and the bards and ego strokers that frequent them, is right on the money. A lurker on many lists, I’ve seen this sort of thing first hand, and the treatment given by Kamouraskan and Lariel was enough to have me spitting coke at my monitor, not in jeering, but in laughter.

Gabrielle has been invited to join the Muses Retreat, and fresh from the Athens Academy of Bards, she is eager to immerse herself in a bardic environment. Only she quickly discovers, with Xena along for the ride, that things aren’t exactly what they seem and that these bards aren’t looking for anything but boundless enthusiasm about their works, and not any of Gab’s helpful pointers.

With a wacky, larger than life cast of characters (who couldn’t possibly be based on one person, could they?!), Xena and Gabrielle’s stay at the Muses Retreat, as well as their bet to see who could get kicked out first, is told with fine comedic skill. I mean, Xena reciting poetry is not something to be missed.

Pasadeen Zeen

The Woman I Love by G.S. Binkley (Uber/Finished)
http://merwolf.com/academy/fanfic/g/gsbinkley_womanilove.html

When I originally encountered this story, I declined reading it because I thought the title was kind of, well, cheesy. Coming back to it a few days later, I read the summary, and damn! Am I glad I gave it a go. That’s the last time I ever judge a story by its title! Shallow Zeen....

This first installment of a new series(Hooray!) follows television star Lacy Levine and her two children, as they vacation at a cabin on the lake where Lacy spent a good deal of her childhood. Her producer husband has declined to come along, saying he’ll come out after he takes care of some business first. Quicker than you can say, 'Hey, where’s the blonde?' Enter Gage, a writer using some time alone at her cabin to work on her screenplay. Throw in some wasps, villains of all sorts, and children who add to the story instead of taking away from it (Don’t you hate when the kids are just there to annoy?!), and you have quite an entertaining read. The interaction between the two leads is outstanding, and while the tension stands thick, the author isn’t in a rush to bring the characters together in romance any faster than they have to. A friendship develops first, and Lacy and her children get a chance to relax and have a bit of fun, which is exactly what I did when I read this story.

Zeen

Heaven Down Here by Rebecca Hall (Finished)
http://ausxip.com/fanfiction/h/heaven1.html

Taking a look back to 1996, when FF was still a newborn, Rebecca Hall penned 'Heaven Down Here,' with a pining Gabrielle, and a reluctant to comply Xena. After coming across a girl who has been raped, Gabrielle is forced to take a look into her own life, into her own sexuality and her state as a virgin, realizing that more than ever she wants Xena to be The One. Xena, being all noble and proud, won’t give in, though she is well aware of the desire in her young friend.

Xena watched her young friend swim off, wondering at the changes these last days had wrought. Wondered when it was that Gabrielle had stopped watching her with the misplaced hero worship of a young girl, and when she had started watching her with the passion of a woman grown.

Out of the 1001 First Times out there, this one really stood out. The story is beautifully written, capturing the innocence and budding awareness of a young Gabrielle’s sexuality in a way that, though now cliché, in ‘96 was fresh, and exciting, and my stomach clenched, along with Gabrielle’s, when she finally got what she had been waiting for.

Zeen

Coffee by Jenna Dixon(Finished, Uber)
http://merwolf.com/academy/fanfic/j/jennadixon_coffee1.html

Girl sees Girl in a Coffee shop, Girls stare at one another longingly, until one day they decide to through all caution out of the window and talk to one another. Hearts beat wildly, painful pasts are revealed, and declarations of adorations follow. This happens in the second paragraph. Coffee is stale, and the author seemed to be in a hurry to get the story told. It’s all well and good to have two people meet and feel something for one another, but these two were just too willing to share themselves with one another (No! Not like that, dirty minds!). I was waiting for the U-Haul to pull up at the Coffee shop and take these two off to La La Land. What is the harm of taking things slowly, talking in the shop before moving it to a different setting where they both are made to seem too needy? Slow it down, let us get a feel for the characters as individuals before they jump in each others laps. My advice to you: Skip Coffee and have the tea instead.

Zeen