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mania-sama · 22 days ago

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january fic recs!

organization:

➼ fandom

✎ [Fic Name] by [Author] ❧ rating, word count (in progress tagged if work is not completed) ❧ relationship tags ❧ my description/notes ❧ Quotation

➼ voltron: legendary defender

✎ A Raven on the Path Home by artimess_chimes ❧ not rated, 31k ❧ keith/lance ❧ lance following the aftermath of the intergalactic war. the author does an amazing job of portraying depression from the depressed person's perspective. while lance does have a level of self-awareness that many people with mental illness do, the depression and ptsd override most of his common sense and relationality anyway. misery breeds misery; he does a very good job of behaving poorly and increasing his loneliness. and then he slowly owns up to his mistakes and rebuilds his support system that he had destroyed, but not without help. it's a really good personal growth journey with klance as a lovely addition to lance's behemoth of emotions ❧ Lynn looked at him unimpressed. “An insistence on independence is just using your own pride to deny yourself love.”

✎ Asterism by idas_library ❧ mature, 92.0k (in progress) ❧ team voltron, keith/lance, allura/lotor, adam/shiro ❧ i REFUSE to believe that this is the author's first fanfiction, because this is ASTOUNDINGLY well done and indicative of years of writing. they must be an author outside of fanfiction. they must. anyway, the story follows the end of s1 when the wormhole gets screwed up, and instead of being in his lion and getting thrown into an ocean planet with hunk, lance is outside of his lion and gets tossed somewhere random. after almost dying in his suit in the middle of nowhere-space, he gets picked up by a galra outer ring outpost. cue a long, spiraling adventure to escape, and then the adventure beyond. not a single scene or OC is wasted (i would commit genocide for you, 697). of course, my whump-loving heart was cheering at the torture and whatnot, but none of it for nothing. everything has a purpose. the truly amazing part of this fic though is the very natural progression and growth of lance's character (much better than whatever the show had going on). he consistently uses his unique strengths to separate himself from the rest, and even though he is growing into a leadership role, he is just that: growing. there are chinks in his armor and a lot of path yet to travel, but the author is handling it phenomenally. it's impossible to tell where the story will go as of yet, but i have my theories. i am thoroughly impressed by the author's skill and the quality of this fic. ❧ That was the last good day, in Lance’s opinion. It was the last time his lungs ached from laughter, and the last time the tears in his eyes didn’t sting and the chill in the air didn’t quite reach his bones. It was the last good day for a long time.

➼ jujutsu kaisen

✎ adolescent dreams & adult screams by twinprimes ❧ teen and up, 15.2k ❧ fushiguro megumi & gojo satoru, getou suguru/gojo satoru ❧ grief and trauma take many forms, and when you're trying to raise a kid you have no blood relation to that is ALSO the child of the man you killed (and give you a boat-load of trauma), it's kind of hard to deal with them. it also shows how it was never really about protecting megumi from harmful information; it's how gojo struggles to reconcile with what happened to him, what he did, and how to talk about it. it's hard to answer questions when you don't know how to give an answer without hurting yourself in the process. absolutely amazing. ❧ “I know he was a bad person,” Megumi continues. He doesn’t sound particularly upset. “And I know he did bad things that I don’t know about, too. So you don’t have to lie about it to me because you don’t want to ruin my opinion of him, or something stupid like that.”

✎ chronicles of a man trying his best by angryjane ❧ general audiences, 35.2k (in progress) ❧ fushiguro megumi & fushiguro tsumiki & gojo satoru & nanami kento, gojo satoru/nanami kento ❧ on the opposite of end of the spectrum, we have a menace-to-society!megumi being raised by reformed-menace-to-society!gojo. this is a series of 5 fics that i don't think is ever going to get updated again, but doesn't feel incomplete in any capacity. each is relatively a stand alone and is more a basic slice of life than it is anything else. it's very funny, especially if you don't take it seriously (which you shouldn't; allow the series to guide you in your emotions). hints of past satosugu, but mostly nanago. tsumiki is a menace in her own right, and nanami is only slightly better at hiding his down badness than gojo is. again, very much a crack series but is also powerful in the little moments where the cracks seal and a bit of angst and genuineness appears. my favorite fic of the series is definitely the room is filled with people who love you. ❧ Grumbling, Megumi relents, sacrificing his dessert to Nanami’s waiting hand before scrambling off the floor and scurrying towards the kitchen table. Hesitantly, Nanami trails after him, setting the tub, followed by the bouquet of roses, down on the table and picking up a paperback he finds there, wincing at the title. Taking up residence beneath the screaming smoke detector, he begins to fan Training Pets to Kill- A Beginner’s Ultimate Guide: Tips, Tricks, Legalities and more! above his head like an offering.

➼ haikyuu

✎ and back to you again, step by step by step by eurydicees ❧ teen and up, 8.1k ❧ daishou suguru/kuroo tetsurou ❧ this is honestly a really interesting fic due to its perspective. no relationship is perfect, nor always 100% healthy. however, for the way the fic is written, we truly only get one side/interpretation of how the relationship works until little bits and pieces are revealed through dialogue provided to kuroo from daishou. more than it is a fic on relationships, it is a wonderful piece on manipulating perspective; the author has kuroo written sort of as a victim until daishou explains that he also felt hurt and victimized in the relationship. it shows just how important communication is, and how no one but the two people involved can provide the most reliable communication. it's really interesting and very well done, especially from a technique view. ❧ “He apologized,” Kuroo says. “You know how rare that is? I think he’s apologized for something, like, twice ever in his life, and one of those times was this. The other was because he broke my nose with a volleyball when we were seven.”

✎ Yaobikuni by PlumTea ❧ mature, 7.1k ❧ iwaizumi hajime/oikawa tooru ❧ on the topic of unhealthy relationships... very hesitantly am i recommending this not because i do not believe that the fic is good, but because i think this exposes more about me than i care to admit. yet here i am. anyway, if you want some insane power dynamics, toxic relationships, and a splash of horror, then this is the fic for you. oikawa is a merman and iwaizumi catches him because he wants to live forever. is it really cannibalism if one isn't even technically the same species? a question for the ages. it also ponders the unanswerable, undefinable paradox of immortality without actually making the main character live for a thousand years to find a suitable, relative answer. i adore this author's horror haikyuu works, i highly recommend everyone to read more from them. ❧ “So you want to live forever? You could end up feeling terrible forever, too.”

✎ The SakuAtsu Documentary by the MSBY Black Jackals by lettersinpetals ❧ teen and up, 6.7k ❧ miya atsumu/sakusa kiyoomi ❧ very hilarious and very, very cute. i am always 100% down for some team shenanigans, and this one takes the cake. it's one large prank, and while the intended result was to simply amend the tense relationship between atsumu and sakusa while documenting their progress via vlogs, they got much more than they bargained for. the prank sakuatsu plays back is very funny as well and i did laugh out loud. ❧ “Something’s gotta give and we’re afraid we’ll find Atsumu’s corpse lying in a ditch,” Adriah said. “He’s a cocky prick, but he is also one of the country’s best setters, as much as I hate to admit it. We’d prefer not to lose him.”

➼ harry potter

✎ disguised as something else by aloneintherain ❧ teen and up, 3.1k ❧ harry potter & remus lupin & sirius black, harry potter & friends ❧ THE CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS. the one glaring vice that the harry potter series has, storywise, is that harry's prospective childhood trauma from the dursleys is almost never discussed. look me in the eyes and tell me he does not have an everlasting scar from their blatant neglect and abuse. that's right. you CAN"T. anyway, this story explores just a bit of that abuse, while also tackling the fact that he hasn't ever talked about it. he hasn't healed from that experience, and just because he's in a safe environment now with a loving family doesn't mean that scar has faded. in fact, it's a scab that's now picked open. wonderfully explores the process of talking about your feelings instead of bottling it up and pretending it doesn't exist. ❧ A part of him aches to crawl into that dark, cramped space and curl up next to Sirius. It’s safe in there, his hind-brain reminds him. Adult hands only ever reached in to drag him out.

➼ avatar: the last airbender

✎ the hands that feed by aloneintherain ❧ teen and up, 1.9k ❧ the gaang & zuko ❧ classic zuko scar reveal. no, these never get old. every author tackles it in a different way. i especially like the way this author approaches it in this fic (as evident as it is that i appreciate the way they write trauma and trauma recovery. see harry potter for reference). one of the important things about traumatic events is that it is incredibly important for a person to reveal their trauma by their own violation. ripping it out of someone or learning about their past via other conventions is a surefire way to dismantle trust and a certain amount of the healing process. in this, zuko involuntarily reveals how he got his scar, but he also, vitally, doesn't remember doing so. the gaang know that they aren't supposed to know. so, they are willing to give him time. time for him to come to them, step by miserable step, with his past burning the soles of his feet. they are all very kind to him even in this moment of stress and desperation. love love love it. ❧ Sokka felt like screaming. He couldn’t, not with Zuko so close and so confused. He wouldn’t stir up old memories. Wouldn’t hurt Zuko more than he’d already been hurt.

➼ undertale

✎ lest ye be judged by nilchance ❧ teen and up, 35.4k (in progress) ❧ papyrus & sans, asgor dreemurr & papyrus & sans ❧ man where do i even start with this. essentially, an au where everything is the same except that sans and papyrus were once homeless kids on the street who were eventually taken in by a merciful, guilt-ridden asgor, post the first six human deaths but pre gaster death. they don't stay for long, and everyone is memory wiped of their time with asgor anyway, but sans remembers. their time together is impactful in a way that can only be felt in the white spaces between every word and sentence. i am always for adding extra trauma to... any given character, so that was simply a bonus for me. the author also has a very well-defined interpretation of every major character, which really makes the series feel as near to canon as a fic could ever be in some aspects. every bond, word, and relationship shared and formed is important in some aspect, and it has consequences. the only sad thing about this series is that it very clearly had a build-up to sans revealing the complete truth and his personal feelings to his "family" in the post-true pacifist route, but. well. the series hasn't been updated since 2018. but it's okay because i still think it's all very much worth the read. every single one of the fics. my favorite is definitely the first fic (traumatized kids. yep that's the life), but runs in the family is a very close second. ❧ It had taken months before Chara stopped probing at the limits of his patience like a sore tooth. Seeing what it would take for Asgore to hit them. It's a hard lesson for a child to learn, harder to unlearn. Asgore keeps his hands open and voice easy. "Thank you."

✎ disenchanted lullaby by nilchance ❧ general audiences, 1.6k ❧ papyrus & sans ❧ ah yes, the inevitable nihilism and mental collapse after a time loop. what i find the most interesting about post-true pacifism is that for a character like sans, it is much harder to reconcile a happy ending with what he'd experienced because he has absolutely no control over it. for other time loops, they have to deal with the conflict of wondering if they will accidentally reset it themselves. they are the main character. but for sans, who is not a main character, who is merely a bystander and victim to the never-ending resets, he has no control. no bearing over whether or not his journey restarts. and to start all over again - that is a terrifying prospect. of course he's got depression. who wouldn't? the way that it's approached in careful prose and the bonding of the two brothers is very precious to me. delicious fic. ❧ "Don't," he says, unexpectedly fierce. "I heard you crying like you were falling down, brother. I heard you say that you've given up. It's a little late to tell me you're happy."

✎ Revenant by Solena2 ❧ general audiences, 2.1k ❧ no defined relationships ❧ this fic au is horrifying if you think about it for more than 2 seconds. all of the characters who appear as "undead" (the ghosts and the skeletons) were, at one point, living humans that had all fallen down to the ruins and thus been slain by asgore. the items that they wore had been lost and scattered until, eventually, the seventh human child falls down and collects their other fallen humans' things as you do in the game. when you put it into the perspectives of the characters' jobs, especially for sans and papyrus who work for the very man that mercilessly killed them, it really drives in the entire hopelessness of the underground, that they really have no place else to go. it's also simply beautifully written. i love a one shot that makes you feel a host of complex, unforgiving emotions. ❧ Like those before them - they come, they leave, they die.

✎ Hairline Fractures by kaliawai512 ❧ teen and up, 31.3k ❧ papyrus & sans ❧ yes more discussion on the devastating, horrifying, everlasting effects of inescapable time loops, as i've mentioned under the description of the disenchanted lullaby. however, this fic takes at multiple steps further. they are 6 months into living in the human world, and it is pretty terrible for monsters. in the perspective of sans, he battles with daily racism(?), balancing multiple jobs, the guilt of watching his brother suffer, and wondering, wondering when the world will reset and it will all end. because, well, they had made it that far before, hadn't they? there is a scene though where sans gets drunk for the first time and it makes me ill because i was crudely reminded of my first time, which was a far more unpleasant experience than sans'. but its okay i powered through and it, in fact, one of the best scenes in the fic. the BEST part of this fic though is that the author somehow coded the actual papyrus and comic sans into the fic for the dialogue and i am now determined (hahahhaha) to figure out how to do that for myself. ❧ He should get up. He should really get up. Papyrus was worried, and every minute Sans lay there, he got more worried. Even if he couldn’t get up, he could at least respond. But every time Papyrus came to the door, he couldn’t make a sound come out. He tried, he tried over and over again, but his voice refused to respond.

➼ marvel cinematic universe

✎ out there, living in the sun by Hailfire_73 ❧ teen and up, 30.1k ❧ peter parker & richard parker, peter parker & tony stark, peter parker & avengers, pepper potts/tony stark ❧ peter parker's dad, richard, is an evil hydra agent that essentially has kept peter from the civilization. he runs experiments on kidnapped people, kills them, and discards of them. and peter, well, peter doesn't really know a life outside of this. and then he gets kidnapped by iron man and captain america. suddenly, the world is a lot larger than the haunted mansion he grew up in. it's a very interesting fic that not only handles the affects of abuse, but takes a very different route on peter's relationship with the avengers. because he never becomes "spider-man" in our sense and understanding of spider-man, he ends up developing his relationships differently. it's also interesting to see how the author approaches his character. they rip peter parker from the environment that made who he was, prevent him from ever getting in the suit and from saving a single person, yet they still manage to keep the core of his character alive. pretty awesome. also, there is a plant named spike. that's pretty cool. ❧ “Captain America? Get me out of here?” asked Peter, squinting his eyes and tilting his head. Iron Man hoisted him out of bed, and the covers went with him, hitting the floor by Peter’s feet. “Oh cool, I’m being kidnapped.”

✎ for peter by Hailfire_73 ❧ general audiences, 19.0k ❧ peter parker & tony stark + family, pepper potts/tony stark ❧ peter parker gets turned into a dog instead of dusting away when thanos snapped. I KNOW BUT HEAR ME OUT. the fic is (mostly) set in tony's perspective, and he doesn't really know that peter is a dog now. he just knows that its now his responsibility to take care of this stray dog that peter had picked up before the snap. it follows the 5 years of tony and his blooming family, his grieving, his attempts to keep peter's memory alive, while peter does everything he can to somehow communicate to tony that he's still here. it's a really good fic; tony very clearly projects his mourning onto "buddy the dog", and it, in turn, makes him a better father to his daughter. fair warning though: do NOT feed your dog cheeseburgers instead of dog food on a regular basis! that will kill your dog!!! do not do as tony does!!!!! ❧ “Wanna come home with me?” asked Tony. “Look, I’m not Peter, I’m nowhere near as good and kind, hell I don’t even really like dogs, but… I have a house with a big yard and plenty of squirrels and rats to chase and… if you’re lucky, I might even feed you.”

#vld #voltron legendary defender #klance #fic recs #fanfic recommendation #fanfic recommendations #ao3 recs #i realize that there are probably some unexpected fandoms in this list #i honestly don't think i've ever talked about harry potter on here #i dont read the fics often but when i do they are ALWAYS bangers #mainly because there's about 5 quadrillion hp fanfics so it's pretty easy to find things specifically catered to my interests #and then for marvel idk i guess i just don't bring it up much #ive seen most of the movies and most of the disney marvel shows #still need to watch x men and the other ones like daredevil luke cage and whatnot #i read mcu fics even less than i read harry potter #but they are ALWAYS peter parker centric lmfao #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #haikyuu #hq #harry potter #hp #avatar the last airbender #atla #undertale #sans and papyrus #gojo and megumi #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #spider man

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mulders-too-large-shirt · 9 months ago

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s1 episode 19 thoughts

my evening scully and mulder time has arrived!!! i read the synopsis of the episode- that they investigate a shapeshifting Indigenous creature- and (correctly) made the guess that things would be. well. appropriation-y.

the first thing i wrote was "roarrrrr a bear", this is because we see a taxidermy bear. hope that clears up any confusion.

the old man looks like mark twain. which is a normal thing to notice about a guy.

the son of mark twain guy- who shot a creature that turned out to be a man- pulls our duo aside and mentions how he knows their story doesn't make sense. i admired this self-aware move. most of the people who give mulder and scully their evidence are less willing to admit that it's kinda unlikely they really got abducted by aliens or saw bigfoot or whatever. so he won me over in this way.

scully's annoyed because she thinks it's just a homicide and says there's NOTHING unusual about this... and at that very moment mulder rolls up with a big piece of skin like "nope. nothing weird at all". count on him to find that. seems just like the thing he'd do. spooky mulder and all.

they go to a bar on the reservation to try and find the sheriff and learn more, but are met with a chilly reception due to the fact that they are working for the US government. but we see the dead guy's sister and she is very pretty as well as an old man that mulder talks to about shapeshifting.

"i want to believe" <- HE SAID THE LINE!!!!!

when they go to check the guy's body, mulder gets on the ground and opens the deceased's mouth to reveal: he has fangs!!!!!!!! which is probably the first time mulder looking in a dead guy's mouth has found anything useful! but certainly not the last.

at this point scully is weirded tf out because like. he knew to look for the skin AND jumped straight to the dead guy's teeth and she says mulder, you had best tell me what is going on right NOW. and we get a lore reveal!!! he knows all this because a similar case was the... drumroll please...

VERY! FIRST! X-FILE!!!!!

everyone cheered and clapped and pointed at the screen.

everyone EXCEPT scully, that is. because she is pissed that he would propose people can turn into animals. she got so mad that she got out of the car and left. this reaction is likely why mulder did not tell her about his hunch in the first place, but really can you blame her? she is a doctor. that profession is too busy to deal with werewolves.

they had giant umbrellas in almost every scene of this episode. oh, to be tromping around the pacific northwest adjacent era, hunting for clues in the rain... how atmospheric!

scully says she's very sorry to the murdered man's sister. not much to note here beyond that it was a kind thing to do.

there's a scene where someone turns into a wolf creature and pummels mark twain man and it looked remarkably similar to the attack my werewolf character in skyrim performs, which made me laugh. the "lunge and rip the person apart" technique must be universal to werewolf media across the land.

scully finds mark twain guy's son hurt in a field and takes him to the hospital! that was very kind of her but: i don't like it when our duo splits up. i enjoy their codependency.

but oh no!! things are not looking good for our murdered man's sister, who has since gone missing. did she do it....? (spoilers: nah she's innocent)

i felt very bad for the scraggly guy scully found in the middle of a field, who seem to thought that he somehow triggered his father's death. scully says she knows how it feels because she just lost her dad and holds his hand as he cries. scully :(((((((((

so then mulder and the sheriff visit an elder who explains the myth of the shapeshifter to them as one who is attacked and then attacks others, and cannot remember the trance they fall into. they refer to this as an Algonquin legend, and at first i was confused because the Algonquin live on the opposite side of north america, but the term can also refer to the entire language family that stretches across the continent. the more you know!

(regardless, the appropriation of Indigenous imagery as a form of horror entertainment by white folks is always gonna be Problematic and i do not excuse them of this crime)

but this is a sad kind of monster, in the x-files universe at least- one who doesn't know they are attacking others, which is a very compelling trope imo...

and we learn the kid had his father's blood in him, which can only happen if he ate his dad... which means...

OH NO! HE'S GONNA EAT SCULLY!

(actually i will copy my notes verbatim here, which i wrote while she drove him home, then continued writing as she tried to help him out while he was acting weird and locked himself in the bathroom)

"NOOO THE KID IS THE EVIL FELLOW AND SCULLY IS DRIVING HIM HOME this is what being a doctor gets you ohhh poor kid and poor scully she just wants to do her doctor duties and she'll pick the damn lock if she needs to that's doctorly dedication NOOOO HE'S GONNA EAT HER NOOOO NOT IN SEASON ONE WE HAVE SO MANY MORE TO GET TO"

wow, i think that says a lot. feel free to unpack that at a later time.

anyway, mulder realizes what is going on and he shows up with the sheriff guns blazing. like seriously, he SHOOTS the taxidermied bear i had earlier said "roaaaaar" to. the head is blown clean off. he was NOT going to let scully get eaten.

finally during his search of the ranch, he opens a door and she's hiding in there. they fall on top of each other and she says "it's okay, it's me, it's okay" and. man. the whispering. the need to be at each other's side in the face of imminent danger. the relief of those hushed words. it's okay. it's me. they're together again and they can face this Thing as a united front. ohhhhhhh hold me tight.

the sheriff shoots the mysterious creature and surprise! it turns into the guy who had been previously found naked in a field and accused of eating his father.

scully is deeply perplexed by all of this. she does not know what to think, for a mere 24-ish hours ago she was talking about how a human cannot become an animal! another instance of her central beliefs being shaken to the core.

before they leave, the old man yells to mulder "see you in about 8 years" referring to the cyclical nature of the attacks. and he says "i hope not"... how very ominous... i will certainly keep this in mind for future seasons

i thought the suspense in this episode was really good and i knew deep down she wasn't really going to be eaten, but i was still scared, so it certainly did its job in that regard. overall, not my fave episode though for cultural appropriation reasons- hint to those reading: Don't profit off of bastardizing Indigenous belief systems.

they did serve with those goth black umbrellas, though, i'll give them that.

#as always scully in doctor mode is a great treat to witness and i don't think i'll get over it. his need to Protect and her need to Heal.#so complimentary #but like again. i understand that this ep engages in exploitation of indigenous belief systems and i Do Not Excuse That #i merely take serious my duty of updating the world on every single episode i watch and speaking honestly of their contents #i saw the same sort of monster was used in hannibal which is something i never got into but still. the conversation is relevant.#would love to read some academic studies on how indigenous folklore has been used in media and its ramifications if anyone has reading recs #juni's x files liveblog #1x19 #txf #the x files

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