#also i saw your bookmark note bc I stalk the public bookmarks on my fics obsessively

[roomwithanopenfire]

Ahhh thank you so much!! This is so nice.

I'd be lying if I said all of this was explicitly planned or even purposefully written, but I am proud of the themes that ended up coming through! Plus this was my first long-fic ever and I just had so much fun with it!! Thank you for all your nice words 🧡🧡🧡

Unhinged Fic Rec Wednesday

This weekend I had the pleasure of inhaling Do As You're Told (50k, T) by @roomwithanopenfire. I somehow missed it when it came out a year and a half ago, and I decided to binge-listen with TTS while finishing a quilt. Bad call, because I spent half the time gaping unseeing at the sewing machine, completely enthralled.

This fic disguises itself as a fun little Watford-era magickal mishap. Simon accidentally casts a compulsion spell that makes Baz obey everything he's told. While maintaining a light tone, the story takes the implications of that seriously.

You know how in some fics, the real antagonist isn't a character, but trauma, or lack of communication? Well, here the antagonist is the human capacity for cruelty. It's not torture porn or anything; there's no violence, no gore. But the fic reminds us again and again of how everyone--good people--can be selfish, even sadistic.

It's uncomfortable, and challenging. There's this devastating moment near the end that felt like the author holding up a mirror to the reader who's telling themselves "but I would never..."

And it's a sweet, cute get-together. @roomwithanopenfire is some kind of magician for pulling this off. It's a lot more fun than I'm making it sound.

Do As You're Told (50k, T)