#i haven't checked but do we have farm au fics?

[hood-ex]

For anyone who's ever wanted to see Dick riding a horse:

Batman #705

[daily-hanamura]

Hi! Do you have any souyo fics you would like to recommend?

HELLO @littlebalsam OH BOY DO I

as a caveat I consider myself to still be relatively new to souyo, so I haven't read too many fics? but these were some of my favourites and I hope you enjoy them too!

some of these fics may have mature themes (p4 is a mature game after all) so please check the rating/tags!

a doorway back into the life he wants by chash

Rated T; a stardew valley-esque AU that somewhat follows the beats of their original story, but sees the characters as grown-ups dealing with Life (TM), with Yosuke as the manager of Junes and Souji taking over his grandfather's farm in Inaba. There's a kind of mature calmness to the atmosphere here that is both gentle and delicate, and the result is something so very gorgeous.

(and honestly, anything written by Chash has been 11/10)

mr perfect by unsungillumination

Rated G; where Yu has to work on his social stats in order to confess to yosuke - the writing here is SO beautiful and there's something so wonderfully emotional about Yu's pining here (I adore any fic that makes use of game mechanics as a plot point lol)

sharing is caring by hydrocarbon (dontrollthedice)

Rated T; where Souji learns to share (and learns what jealousy feels like when he doesn't want to) - any fic with possessive/jealous Souji is a good fic and this one was so spectacularly well done that I still think about it for days

the boy who leapt through time by MrRee

Rated T; time-travel AU where Yosuke has the ability to jump through time and struggles to create a happy ending for everyone. Yosuke's characterization here is so perfect and beautiful, and the fic is very poignant and emotional during the entire ride, but I promise the payoff is absolutely worth it.

summer lessons by thenotwriter

Rated T; "kissing practice", where Yosuke is perhaps a little oblivious, but he learns something along the way. Yu is so very patient and Yosuke is a very very lucky boy. This fic is sweet, fluffy overload and I am not complaining one bit.

just like the classics by kiwoa (Rinoa)

Rated G; Yosuke finally coming to terms about his feelings. I really love fics where Yosuke struggles a little but also when there's a contradiction between what he says and what he does, and this fic was just so cute about it!

for now (or; how to teach your boyfriend to cut an onion in five easy steps) by tattedmariposa

Rated T; Yu teaches Yosuke how to cook. If you've spent any amount of time on this blog/with me you would know how much of a sucker I am for fics that feature food as a metaphor for love - the playful, knowing banter between them juxtaposes beautifully with the bittersweet tone, and it made me so very very soft.

under cover by chromsama

Rated G; another adorable fic where Yu and Yosuke share umbrellas. I don't recall if I've posted about the umbrella scene before but I've adored it since day 1 and this fic made it something so much more. Yosuke needs a little help arriving at certain realisations, but when he does it's absolutely brilliant. I also really love the way Yosuke plays off with Kanji here, and I love how some thing can be so simple yet so impactful!

gravity's how we got here by ashley-amelie (kitana)

Rated M; same theme of first kisses in the guise of "kissing practice", a theme that I am so weak for and could read a hundred million times. I adore the careful, tentative atmosphere in fics like these, and again, YOSUKE IS A VERY VERY LUCKY BOY.

your loving is all i think about by nedrika

Rated M; yu somehow manages to read minds, and reading yosuke's teaches him something interesting. it's kind of a naughty fic so I won't go into too much detail, but it's great and that's all i'm gonna say on the subject.

and finally, absolutely feel free to reblog with your own additions!!

[fountainpenguin]

"You're on your own- So what? Have you gone blind? Have you forgotten what you have and what is yours?" (x)

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For Sale: Bird Wings (Never Worn)

❤️ Read on AO3

💛 Complete! - 7/7 chapters - 37k words

💚 More Neighborhood Watch AU

I just finished a chill, T-rated found family 'fic from my "Life Series but it's a single timeline" AU project. Check it out!

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Synopsis: When Grian Ties’g was 16, the last Totem of Undying in the known world swapped his soul with the Grian one universe to the left… sparing him a perma-death, but at what cost?

An overwhelmed Grian Xelqua - who did not sign up for this, thank you very much - jolts awake in a world where Red Names are no joke and stealing someone’s life is fair play.

And a very Red Tango now has a sword at his throat. ❤️

(First 1,300 words under the cut)

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For Sale: Bird Wings (Never Worn)

Those Who Came Before

🖤  🖤  ❤️

The first Totem of Undying in the Four Lands passed through the wrinkled hands of many wealthy folks in Crimson City before falling into possession of a princess who went Red young and fled her home. She kept it all her life, but when the time came to breathe her last, she unwound it from its place at her bosom and clasped it around the neck of her only son.

"I've lived enough," she simply said. "I've led so long and you've been faithful. Go now and do as you see fit with your given lives."

Steve Wandering watched his mother die as he had watched his father, burying the memories of both with shovel and silence. He'd always been a silent man. He took up his sword and from then on traveled decade after decade, sharing food with the needy and braving the hissing creatures of the night. He invented many things, discovered many treasures, and died glorious in a fight against the Dragon That Ends All.

And lived.

And lost those memories like the wind.

The second Totem of Undying in the Four Lands belonged to Alex Wolftamer in the east, who claimed to care not for the treasure passed down through her ancestral line of Wolf Kings and Queens. They had no palace, but called themselves such titles in their stand against Kingdom Crimson. Rather than flaunt that totem around her own neck, she wrapped it like a collar at the throat of her dog. Across the years, far too many people of sinister desire fought sword and pick to win her hand or win the hunting hound. It's with a shout and diamond axe that she lunged at the cloaked stranger who ventured through the valley forest. With cheery, bellyaching laugh, Herobrine caught her hand and spun her dangerously near the mountain drop.

"Why should I take from your beloved she-wolf?" he asked, and dangled a totem from his own wrist where she could see. "I've already got one. I did not come to take what loved ones gave unto you, but to inquire of your wisdom… for I have no one I love as much as you care for your dear wolf. I am but a cowardly man who's worn the totem for himself for security and peace. I cannot imagine surrendering it. Tell me, warrior… How did you find such inner peace?"

"Who says I have?"

"What ails you, then?"

"I fear the encroach of the Red Army. Their farms extend ever nearer to our forests. Their high-ranking officers, bearing the Hand mark upon their chests, come demanding tribute and insist we raise their banner. So many from our village have sought the safety of their walls. I wish for nothing but food for my dogs, repairs for my roof, and safe passage through the land."

"Ah… What have you done to incite their displeasure?"

"I haven't raised hand against them unless they've come directly in conflict with me."

"How frequent are their conflicts?"

"They've claimed our cows. They flood the roads to market with lava and have taken two lives- nearly three. They harass the trades I make with my own neighbors of my own free will."

"Let us go secretly, then, and burn the walls that have reached your valley's edge."

They married two years later, and it was four after that that Alex fell from a great height, one arm wrapped around her canine companion and the other reaching for a husband who lunged and missed her hand vanishing from the cliff. Alex hit the ground a block away from the rushing river that saved her dog.

And lived.

And lost those memories like rain. Not even the dog recognized her then, growling and nipping when Alex rose to her feet, and Snowflake followed Herobrine when they parted ways. They say he never took Snowflake's totem from her collar, but that Snowflake wriggled out of it the day after Alex died, took the chain in her teeth, and presented it to him with grief in her dark eyes. It may be just a story - a personification of a ragged beast - but it's a prettier tale than the alternative way this tale could end.

That third Totem of Undying, the one that Herobrine Mapcrafter wore on his wrist for much of his life, originated from the North. It tumbled through the hands of wizards and they say Herobrine was gifted it for his proven mastery in breaching the Nether dimension- the secrets of which had only been held by the Westlands until now.

Prior his apprenticeship beneath the wizards' eyes, he'd been raised a cartographer. Following the death of Alex, he took up mapmaking again with Snowflake by his side. He entered the Nether dimension for what he knew would be his final time. They never came out again and no record survives depicting full details. People speak often that he perhaps saved a community of Netherborn folks from a hissing, snarling Wither Boss that clawed its way out of the ground. Others whisper he released that Wither himself out of grief and wished for death. Witnesses claim he leapt before the beast, taking the hit on Snowflake's behalf.

And lived.

And lost those memories like they'd been scorched alive. They say he went mad, never the same again. Some claim they've seen Snowflake's white fur dashing through the Nether even now, her howl weeping for her masters and the moon and the feel of grass beneath her paws.

The last Totem of Undying in the Four Lands (rumor claimed) lay hidden in the Southlands. For three decades since the rise of the Dragon That Ends All, the unremarkable little thing drifted and tumbled and snagged or… something of the sort. Details unknown. It passed into the sewers at some undefinable point, where it floated until it didn't. It caught and clung to the sewer's edge year after year after year.

There it stayed until a ragtag tangle of friends - a trio - sought shelter in the tunnels after their brotherhood of Bad Boys split and turned against each other. They trekked without hesitation into the grime, for they were Red of name and disgust could graze them not. The youngest, with his gray and yellow wings, sat down near the entrance to clean an open wound. The eldest began to organize their meager food supply. The middle child, aged only 16, waded deeper through the passageway, wandering with little purpose but to scout for things to have; things to take. Red Lives, as a rule, are very, very greedy.

The totem lasted exactly 4 minutes and 36 seconds in Grian Ties'g's possession. He found it tangled among the filth and wasted no time taking it for himself. To prevent his fellow Bad Boys from sniping it away, he scrambled up a dirty shaft to the surface like an eel gifted flight. His wings were soaked from sewage water, so he did not fly. He bolted across the open field, laughing like a madman.

"Yes! YESSSS!"

His foot crossed a boundary line he never could have seen. Grian charged straight into a shrieker trap laced with TNT. Set them all off. He died to the gasping cheers of a Red who'd only just finished all the set-up. The last thing he ever heard was the "OH-hoh-hoh-ohhh!" of a shrieking onlooker. He blew up instantly, scarlet feathers and blobs of purple soul energy scattered in all directions. The central core melted free from flesh and dribbled to the ground in a gooey heap.

In a word? Perma-killed. The totem vaporized before anyone ever confirmed he had it, so people seek it in the Southlands even now (It might be right here; it's been hiding right here).

This story is not about that Grian. Not anymore. It's about the one who lived… whose memories do not match this world at all.

[ Full 'fic up on AO3 ]

[innytoes]

From the subconscious that brought you the Quiet AU, it's time for Inny's Brain Comes Up With Another 100k fic she's never going to write while she's dreaming.

Okay so it's the Post Apocalypse. The apocalypse happened a few years ago, there was a horrible plague that makes you bleed from your eyes and maybe some other things, a lot of humanity was wiped out, chaos, destruction, blabla.

We start with Our Heroes travelling on foot. Luke is telling them this area seems familiar, and Alex and Reggie realise they're near where Bobby's family had a cabin. They decide to veer off because Alex remembers where Bobby hid the emergency key. Not that they haven't done their fare share of breaking and entering, but it would be nice to, you know, not have to.

Also maybe they want to see if Bobby is there. Because even though they split with a lot of bad blood between them over some stolen songs, the apocalypse makes you miss old friends.

Julie and Willie are like: um excuse me that is not a cabin that is a Log Mansion. It's three fucking stories. (It also had the exact layout as my grandmother's old house, because this is my brain, which is funny because my grandmother's house was very much not a log cabin).

And then SHOCK AND GASP Bobby comes out. He has the Trevor Wilson Beard and Man Bun and is just... staring like he's seen three ghosts... and two random people he doesn't know, I guess.

There is a big sappy reunion and a big talk and apology and blabla of course they can stay. There's more cabins around the place and they've made themselves a little farming community. They trade with the other little the towns in the area, but they haven't heard much from the bigger city in the while.

"Um yeah, maybe... maybe don't go to the city," Luke says. Reggie is very pale. Willie mutters about how there was plenty of stuff that could still be looted (as long as you don't mind all the dead bodies is left unsaid).

They settle in at Bobby's house and become part of the community, finding jobs. Willie does indeed go with some of the more brave individuals to the city to search for supplies. The whole community has like one working truck because gas is hard to find these days.

Some traveling trader comes by and he's basically on a giant sled on wheels pulled by huskies and predictably Reggie loses his mind and gets to play with the doggies.

There comes a night when Reggie can't sleep, so he's the only one awake to hear the car. Two cars. A group of four with two cars is bound to mean trouble, so he wakes everyone up because there's a high chance there's raiders.

The people are breaking in and Reggie goes downstairs to greet/distract them, playing the clueless guy, welcoming them and being like 'oh hey are you lost do you need help? We're looking for a bartender if you need a job' and basically being in the way and these four people are just so confused because they broke into his house and he's so cheerful about it.

One of them was injured and Reggie more seriously offers the first aid kit and just when they were about to be like 'fuck it let's just murder him and raid the place', where comes Julie and Luke with the shot guns. Meanwhile Alex, Willie, and Bobby were checking out their cars and alerting the neighbours about trouble and OH SHIT ONE OF THEM IS BLEEDING FROM THE EYES HE'S INFECTED.

Cue fuzzy chaotic time jump because I woke up with a dry mouth lol.

For some reason Bobby disappeared from the dream after this so maybe poor Bobbers got shot in the show down with the raiders. Or got hit by the car of the other three fleeing, leaving behind their infected friend.

The gang stays in Bobby's house, though, and slowly, Juke and Willex drift together. When they were travelling, they usually all slept together, but now...

Reggie, who is still grieving Bobby, and maybe blaming himself because he wasn't good enough at distracting the raiders, sees the other two couples drift together and decides to stay out of their way. He can't sleep anyway, since he was the only one awake to catch the raiders in the first place.

So he starts sleeping less, and less, spending less time with his friends because he wanted them to have time together... Pining because he's secretly a little in love with all of them, but they clearly don't want him.

Until he was suuuper stoked because he found a puppy. It was so cute, and he wants to show his friends, and they're so freaked out because Reggie, there is no puppy...

Turns out Reggie was hallucinating from lack of sleep, and he's so confused because he's CLEARLY HOLDING A PUPPY WHAT DO YOU MEAN and then the whole thing kind of comes out and not only is Reggie heartbroken when the hallucination shatters and vanishes, but he also confesses how he's in love them with but they clearly chose their partners and not him.

And both Juke and Willex are like: we've missed you, doofus, we love you, we didn't want to make you chose between us, we were scared you were mad at us for both flirting with you.

And they all live as happily ever after as you can in the post-apocalypse.

[admirableadmiranda]

Do you have any fic recs where WWX's characterisation in particular really shines? Preferably longer ones, but shorter ones are fine too.

Thank you!

I do have some recs! I'm usually a bit more picky on LWJ's characterization than WWX's, so more of my fics are once where LWJ is standout, but I am sure some of them will delight.

First I would recommend glitteringmoonlight and Rynne for being incredibly consistent across many stories, both short and long.

As for individual fics, here are some of my favorites where WWX is super stand out.

WWX's Birthday Oneshots

A bunch of little prompts all celebrating Wei Wuxian in some way, so it's a glory of different points in his life.

A Glimpse of Past Glory

Wei Wuxian gets challenged to a duel by a ghost.

fish & wild geese

More LWJ centric, but WWX is fantastic in it, this is a farming au I still like.

make this chaos count

More CQL WWX than MDZS, but he still retains his depth of character. Is smutty, but not the whole fic, so easy to enjoy even if you're not the smut type.

CSI: Gusu Edition

Same goes here; he's a little more CQL than MDZS, but oh is he fantastic in these stories, brilliant and kind and funny.

Four Parts Honey and One Part Vinegar

Back on more MDZS styles, here he is post canon being fantastic and confusing the juniors.

shadows in the sun rise

Lan Wangji is cursed and Wei Wuxian takes care of him, definitely a more introspective look, but as we all know, LWJ can get in deeper than anyone else.

The Guests of Cloud Recesses

Wei Wuxian solves a little mystery in the Cloud Recesses, features him being fantastic both in the flirting and the guidao sides.

feel better love

Incomplete, but lovely! Features both MDZS and CQL WWX and that rare balance of an author who can write both rather than an arrangement of the two.

Letterless

Foxxian and Dragonji, where it captures a lot more of that young-twenties level flirting that most authors seem to struggle with. Also has a smut scene near the end, but a lot of story around it.

And not to toot my own horn too much, but I would recommend checking out some of my own fics if you haven't already, over at Admiranda. Wei Wuxian is one of my favorite characters to write and I haven't had a single complaint yet!

I hope this gives you some good reading material!

[holeynightsky]

overthinking albums: midnights 3am expansion pack

hello friends, and welcome to part three of me making the entire midnights album about RWBY characters and ships! today, we'll address the songs from midnights (3am edition) by taylor swift. this is part three of this series, so be sure to check out parts 1 and 2!

with that said, let's jump right in!

14. the great war - once again, we begin with a bumbleby song. what can i say, i'm weak and this is *perfect* for their gradual trust building in vol 6/7/8. you drew up some good faith treaties / i drew curtains closed could go in either direction, depending on which part of their arc you're in. and maybe it's the past that's talking / screaming from the crypt is adam haunting them through vol 6. and the repetition of hand-holding imagery? my hand was the one you reached for, but every time the line occurs, we cut to a different scene where that matters: lying on the ground post-adam vol3, standing in the classroom during the trauma dump vol2, dancing in the atlas dorms getting ready for a night out. and don't get me started on the whole somewhere in the haze / got the sense i'd been betrayed verse--if that doesn't scream their fractured dynamic through vol5 and 6, i don't know what does. we've burned for better / i vowed i would always be yours.

15. bigger than the whole sky - okay this is gonna sound a bit out there because we know so little about her, but stick with me: a song for summer rose, dying in battle somewhere in remnant, thinking about never getting to see her little girls grow up. i'm never gonna meet / what could've been, would've been / what should've been you. for bonus points, and to align with i've got a lot to live about, this can be for both summer and raven--leaving in different ways, with different degrees of choice, but leaving nonetheless, thinking about how they will never see what becomes of their children. every single thing to come / has turned into ashes.

16. paris - another bumbleby song, because i'm shameless and obsessed. specifically, this is yang/blake from @thirteenyasmin 's rockstar/hollywood au fic, let you see my wilder side, which has been one of my all-time favorites for years now so if you haven't read it please go do that immediately. i'm so in love that i might stop breathing is that exact dynamic, and they are absolutely so wrapped up in each other that they pay no attention to the outside world. ksdjfhaslkj i have to move on or i'll start crying because they deserve. so. much.

17. high infidelity - this one's for team STRQ as a whole, because i am absolutely certain that every non-sibiling member of that team has had a romantic/sexual relationship at some point. so this song, at various points, could be any member singing about any member--put on your records / and regret meeting me / ... / put on your headphones / and burn my city. i don't even have to go into i didn't know you were keeping count, that's so obvious from literally everything qrow does and says and implies about his old team. or tai and summer and raven, all tangled up, and you know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love / the slowest way is never loving them enough. and the slow-dawning horror of storm coming / good husband / bad omen / dragged my feet right down the aisle, over shots of summer fighting on a desolate farm road, raven turning away, tai and yang in the kitchen at night. ugh, absolute chills.

.18. glitch - i actually think this is a salem/ozma song! i mean, come on--a romance that was never meant to be, fast-growing love, the breathless wonder at it all? i was supposed to sweat you out / in search of glorious happenings of happenstance on someone else's playground? that's so salem, i cannot even believe it. and i'm not even sorry / nights are so starry, blood moonlit. beautiful romance and ominous foreshadowing. 10/10 fits with their whole messy situation.

.19. would've could've should've - winter schnee. i'll say it again, louder: *winter schnee*. oh my god is this winter at the end of vol8 singing to ironwood. i'm having trouble isolating lines because that's how much of this fits. if you'd never looked my way / i would've stayed / on my knees / and i damn sure never would've danced with the devil / at nineteen, and the god's honest truth is that the pain was heaven is her breaking out of that toxic mansion, joining the atlas military, finally existing out of that space. but then you hit the second-guessing as ironwood spirals into paranoia: and now that i'm grown / i'm scared of ghosts / memories feel like weapons. or, or, or! you're a crisis of my faith, watching her turn her back on everything she's dedicated her life to for years? the tomb won't close / stained-glass windows in my mind, looking at the trauma her siblings have? asdfksjdhfkla please put me out of my misery, i'm so emotional thinking about this.

.20. dear reader - i've thought about this one a lot, and i keep circling back to ozma/oz/oscar (oz, for the sake of this post). watching his slow progression through time, trying to escape his past: desert all your past lives / and if you don't recognize yourself / that means you did it right. his eons-long fight against salem: the greatest of luxuries is your secrets / dear reader / when you aim at the devil / make sure you don't miss. the lives he spent hiding away from that fight, crushed by the weight of it all: i prefer hiding in plain sight / my fourth drink in hand / these desperate prayers of a cursed man. and throughout it all, the plea at the root of it, the why-is-this-my-problem, the please-let-it-end: never take advice from someone who's falling apart.

and that, at last, concludes overthinking albums: midnights! thank you if you read that absolute insane amount of text. and even if you didn't, hey, i hope you're having a great time regardless. really, i just hope everyone is hanging in there in this roller-coaster world