#personally i do not really like kidfic just as a general rule

[theriverbeyond]

I don't know about Harrow, but I can imagine Gideon wanting kids because in the tlt universe having children is almost completely divorced from physical pregnancy, to the point that it is treated as a novelty that both Gideon and Harrow were physically born. Ianthe would also want to babytrap someone and then forget the child existed.

have i got the fic rec for you!! and rising in the dead of night by a_big_apple, where Ianthe gets a vat womb and then Kiriona gets a kid

[captain-aralias]

randomised trope/tag grading game

clearly today is a day of doing memes (i posted a list of 9 favourite books earlier today). i know it's a tuesday and normal people are at work, but i'm writing some posts, hello!

Rules: Generate your own personal list of 10 AO3 tags to rate. How much do these tags affect your decision to click on a fic? -10 -> very dissuaded 0 - don’t care either way +10 -> very enticed nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

i was tagged in a very similar post by @bookish-bogwitch a few weeks ago. at the time i read her post, i felt like our opinions were so aligned that there wasn't a good reason for me to write my own post. (well done, great opinions!) the only exception really is that if a snowbaz fic was tagged age gap i might choose to read it - less because the trope is for me, and more because that's kind of weird for snowbaz. so, maybe it would be interesting! and i guess i feel pretty meh about H/C, sorry folks.

anyway - i decided to tweak the meme into the form that you see in this post. here's my 10 random things and what i think about them👇

Amusement Parks: -2

harsh judgement right out of the gate. i've read some good ones but i feel like generally a fic about an amusement park is likely to be some quite gentle fluff, maybe a modern AU, and that's not my favourite.

Unconventional Families: 0

maybe all slash fics that are kidfics are unconventional families? if so - i actually quite like kidfic, a not that secret shame, but i sort of like it less if the fact that they're gay parents is now worth flagging because it makes life difficult - since i am a gay parent. and i dont want to read about how it will be hard. so it averages out to a 0. if the family is more unconventional.... who knows? i would neither click nor not click.

Rough Sex: 8

how sad for me that this is my first clear yes and highest rated. i probably would click unless other tags or the summary put me off.

Public Transportation: 3

i went with a yes here, as i'm intrigued. it's oddly specific and suggests an interest in the specifics, and i am a fan of public transport. i've read some nice fics where snowbaz meet on trains (yes, often modern AU, but i dont dislike them all), like the classic 15-across by @ninemagicks and the equally classic remix 2-Down (A 15-Across remix) by @carryonvisinata (who also wrote a theme park story i like, so the -2 is definitely feeling mean. ah well, press on.) Bickering: 7

i mean - i prefer banter, but i assume if someone has written bickering they kind of mean banter. unless it's like sibling bickering and then maybe not.

Phone Calls & Telephones: 0

this is almost text fic (which i like less than most people like it) but not. i often write in a phonecall, it's part of what i think of as the friendship to lovers arc...... idk. i'm also going to add here that i keep thinking about plots that rely on people not being able to call each other, which is kind of the opposite. or you have to get to a pay phone - i dont know that i would want to read a fic like that, but there are some fun movies and books that you'd have to rework now. most recently i was watching madonna in 'desperately seeking susan'.

Redeemed (character): 7

this really depends on who they are, obviously. i can imagine it being really annoying if they never show any redeemability, but i've given it a strong 7 because i come from a world of redeeming the master from doctor who over and over again, so it would feel silly not to have it as a yes. and i kind of want to redeem the mage....... but it would be weird if he just was redeemed in a fic, and so too the master. it would have to be kind of about it.

Quests: 7

yes. not a 10/10 insta-click , because i can imagine it going on a bit too long if it was a fic about a quest rather than, say, two people realising they loved each other, but i would like it to be in the background. snowbaz has some good quest fics. Song of Sirens (rated E) by @scone-lover is such a fic or A Gift From the Propheseals (rated M) by @skeedelvee and @letraspal another.

Cats: 3

this feels mean, i have 3 cats myself - i like cats to be in a fic because cats are nice, but i also dont have many feelings about animal transformation and if snowbaz adopt a cat in the future... that's fine by me, i hope they do, but i probably don't want to read about it for more than a few lines.

Sociopathy: 2

probably not if it's a serious examination of this, but plenty of my villainous favs could be described as sociopaths, so... i give it a 2!

--

anyone who wants to do the meme in this form - please do!

i tag everyone already tagged in this post, the people i tagged last post, and a few others: @giishu @orange-peony @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @carryonvisinata @alleycat0306 @fight-surrender @cows4247 @messofthejess @mysterioussheep @ivelovedhimthroughworse @nightimedreamersworld @cutestkilla @fatalfangirl @artsyunderstudy @larkral @forabeatofadrum @ileadacharmedlife @facewithoutheart happy tuesday.

[mannatea]

This is about the post you made asking to send you questions about fanfic tropes! I'm excited, fanfic tropes are so interesting to me!

How do you feel about kidfics/pregnancy fics? I feel like that's a controversial one. Personally, it's a squick for me, but I'm always interested in hearing differing opinions!

Angst/torture is also a controversial one despite its popularity. I really like angst a lot but I will admit that there are some fics that drew out torture scenes a little too much for my taste.

What about fix-it fics? I'm fine with this one, I think it's completely subjective and depends on the fic. I've seen fix-it fics where I've loved the source material's ending, and other times, it can save a fandom from a terrible ending.

Finally, how about miscommunication? This is another controversial trope and most people will agree that it's a result of lazy writing. How about you? Do you think that miscommunication can be utilized well or do you think it's always a cop-out?

I apologize if I ended up asking too many questions! I'm really interested in your opinions when it comes to fic writing!

Send me a fanfiction trope and/or fanfic AU and I'll talk about my opinion(s) on it!

These are some great ones, thank you for sending them! 🙏 Even though some of these are sort of listed together I've broken them up into separate tropes because I feel like the nuance of their differences can and does sometimes matter to readers!

Kidfics: I have so many opinions about kidfic. I don't even know where to start. I feel like I could record a one hour long essay on this alone because there are so many subcategories of this trope and I feel a little bit differently about each one. I guess if you want me to expand on anything, feel free to ask. 🤣

I hate fankids. I just...do not like them as a general rule. No offense toward people who have fankids for their favorite blorbos, or even love the concept of fankids, but that specific subgenre just ain't for me.

I'm ambivalent toward stories that are like "the characters are married with kids and this story is about them as a family." These can be really fun stories but it depends a lot to me on the canon, the characters, and their kids—the "family dynamic" if you will. Sometimes this hits right and sometimes it's a huge miss. I feel like if the children are canon children this has a higher chance of hittig the mark, though.

I'm excessively picky about characters and characterization with kidfics because there are some characters I can't stand seeing written as a parent (usually because I find the portrayal chosen for them in that role as OOC). Have I written these characters as parents anyway? Yes, and I regretti spaghetti that choice.

Related to the above: I tend to not read many kidsfics because I just hate how the kids are written or how the parents are written in relation to their own children. (See: Single Parent AUs where the kids are LITERALLY NOTHING MORE THAN A PLOT DEVICE FOR ROMANCE! 🤮)

I'm obsessed with adoption storylines. It's a personal fave. Am I coping with something? Um...maybe. I was literally planning some bullshit about this yesterday wrt Regal.

I also like "oops there's a baby now" stories, but only as a writer (I don't trust others to write my blorbos in these situations).

Generally speaking I like to write child characters, but they HAVE to have a real place in the story and they have to have a believable and reasonable impact on the characters. Like, they're children but they're still characters and should be treated as such. This can be difficult as a writer because you're more or less creating a whole new character, but it's imperative that this be done properly or you end up with characters who feel more like table decorations than people...and nobody wants to read about that.

Lastly, I also very much believe in talking/discussing/exploring the negative (and neutral!) components of parenthood. I like including things like PPD, regrets, characters feeling overwhelmed in their role as parent, parents who need to get to know their kids as people to form a close bond to them, the stresses of work/home balance, and so on. I feel like this is just a very safe environment to talk about those things.

Pregnancy fics: I love writing them but I don't love reading them. I feel like too many authors have obviously never been pregnant or have never been around a pregnant person, and I tend to find those stories hard to read. They also tend to just skip talking about topics that are difficult, and lean into how cutesy pregnancy is (+ morning sickness weeee), which makes me want to shrivel up and die.

There's nothing wrong with liking that, and certainly nothing wrong with writing it, but it's not for me. I tend to lean into more complicated feelings about pregnancy and birth, and I think this might also be related to the fact that I tend to lean into characters who would also by default have complicated feelings about these things.

I think I'm mostly here to just explore how such a big life-changing event might impact a character/characters, not so much for the miracle of birth.

Angst: Used to really love writing angst, and I still do like using it in longer-form stories. That like sad heavy introspection thing is definitely right up my alley, though these days I tend to not write a lot of angst for its own sake. I like it to be mixed in with hurt/comfort and happy endings lmao.

Torture: Very much not up my alley if we're talking literal torture of a character. If we're talking about a more broad "blorbo torture" (i.e., putting guys in Situations That Suck), then sign me up. My stupid ass loves putting guys in situations. I do think this can be taken too far though, and then it becomes unfun to read (and I am not here for what is essentially torture-porn).

Fix-it fics: People who write fix-it fics are braver than any US Marine. I'm generally too lazy to write them myself but I will spew 3,000-word-long essays on how to fix a terrible tv show plot at my poor unsuspecting and innocent friends on Discord.

Miscommunication: Real life is full of dumbass miscommunication on the daily. I don't think it's unreasonable to use it in a fic, but it does have a tendency to feel quite dull sometimes, and I personally won't use it as a writer unless the miscommunication makes a lot of particular sense (and usually has some component of intention to it).

To explain that last point a bit better, I feel like the best "miscommunication" in a story relates to intentionally poor communication, rather than a misinterpretation of something someone said, or a misunderstanding regarding a situation.

The reason I feel this way is because miscommunication is used too often for great dramatic effect, when I think it serves its role best as a quieter sort of drama. People can and do misinterpret one another all the time, and they do leap to conclusions and suffer a misunderstanding, but if these things are done even a little wrong they just feel like cheap drama. Miscommunication that feels more subtle tends to not fall to pieces in the event that the author fails to present it perfectly.

As an example, the RP I'm doing now has my blorbos in a pretty bad situation. Tethe'alla has turned on them in the wake of a tragic event and they've been forced to flee under very poor circumstances and go into hiding. They've chosen to pass this time (that they both know could be years and years) posing as a married couple in a small town in Sylvarant, because it's pretty much the only way they can live in society without looking suspicious...and they very much need to be in society to stay up on what's happening in the world. They're both hiding a lot from the other but it's very intentionally done. They haven't had the time or space to process ANYTHING they've been through, yet. Naturally this lack of communication will cause problems later, but when it does it should feel like a natural progression of their lives and lived experiences—not something done for easy and cheap drama.

<3

[aquilathefighter]

Trope Game

Hiii i finally have spoons for this!! thanks for the tags @seiya-starsniper @immacaria @altair214 <3

Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 - don't care either way

+10 -> very enticed

nope -> if it's a hard no and you'd never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you'd insta click out of the fic if it wasn't tagged

Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it's conditional.

Age gap: +3

its a sometimes food for me, i just have to be in the mood for it or it has to be well done, whether it's clear we're playing in the space of sexy fantasy or something a bit more unethical

Codependency: -5

brings up some yucky feelings for me. if it's done by an author i trust i might still click though!

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: +4

it can be sexy and i like when characters talk through it

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): +8

*gestures at most of my favorite ships*

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: 0

eh just not really my thing!

Friends with benefits: +4

its a fun thing and i love a pwp where they're just buds. but i do really prefer more romantic pairings personally

Sex to feelings: +7

love the exploration of what happens when it becomes not 'just sex'. also smut yummy

Fake dating/relationship: +10

oh my god this is my favorite trope e v e r. the number of spirk fics where they have to pretend to be bfs/husbands bc of the aliens i've read..

Friends to lovers: +9

CLASSIC. i love a beautiful foundation of two people who really know each other well realizing their affection for each other have evolved into something different!! only knocked off a point bc sometimes its really amatonormative in that the romantic relationship is seen as more/better than the platonic relationship and i do not vibe with that.

Found Family: +1

i could take it or leave it for the most part but if it's done well its certainly appreciated!

Hurt/Comfort: +10

afjdskaf;jsda i dont even have an explanation other than i like to hit characters with hammers and then nurse them back to health

Love Triangle: -8

i just think its kind of played out and very rarely do the dynamics catch my interest

Poly, open relationships: 0

i tend to get really fixated on one pairing so its kinda hard for me to get really excited about them?? all the power to poly ships but i just have very few of them (e.g. mcspirk)

Mistaken/hidden identity: +3

it can be fun! love some drama but if its simply misunderstanding i get a bit frustrated. more phantom type hidden identity pls

Pregnancy: -1

kidfic is generally a squick for me on account of me never wanting to get pregnant in my entire life ever and some personal stuff, but if its more about the relationship between the pregnant person and their partner(s) i'm down! and breeding kink ofc, thats a whole other thing

Second Chance: +7

people who have history between them giving it another try? trying to move past the ways they hurt each other??? yesssss

Slowburn: -2

this is more about the fact that i simply do not have the brain power to read 100K+ fics a lot of the time!! when i do have the capacity i love reading a slowburn but unfortunately i expend a lot of reading spoons on work on account of being an academic at all

Soulmates: -4

man im such a pessimist but i personally find the idea of predestined people you're gonna fall in love with kind of depressing? much more a fan of love being a thing you create between people

i am probably the last one to do this XD take this as an open invitation if you would like to do this game and haven't been tagged!

[nowoyas]

FAQ and Rules

General rules:

I will likely never write kidfic, pregnancy fic, breeding kink, or anything related. Please do not suggest or tag me in posts surrounding these topics.

I will probably never write a dom!reader. Switch!readers will be considered under duress. I'm a full sub and, fundamentally, writing things that I personally want to read, so dominant readers do absolutely nothing for me.

I do not accept requests, but I DO accept suggestions. The key difference being, suggestions are just that: throw an idea at me and I'll see whether I can work with it or not. I may not be able to make anything out of it, but I'll definitely give it a shot and see if it's something I have any ideas for. This is bc forcing myself to do requests I'm not inspired for just turns out like... less-good stuff, lmao.

Generally, I am not opposed to darkfic if the right mood strikes and the premise seems interesting. I'm not as confident in treating darker topics, but I welcome the practice!

I will probably never write an explicitly unhappy ending or pure angst without any sort of following comfort. I'm just not really into them.

I block liberally. If you approach in bad faith, I will block you. There is no reason we cannot have a civil conversation on whatever you're mad about. You can cry "tone policing" all you want, but I don't have the time to deal with people who are approaching a disagreement to argue and get mad. Approach with the intent to come to a more complete understanding, or don't bother. (This includes assumptions of malice when it comes to ignorance. I have zero tolerance for assuming anyone's lack of knowledge is a moral failing and not simply an opportunity to learn.)

Why are you opposed to DNIs/why don't you have a DNI?

Put simply, they don't do anything. The only people I particularly am against interacting with entirely are people who are going to be rude, aggressive, violate my clearly stated boundaries, or who interact in bad faith, and these people... aren't going to give a shit if I have a paragraph somewhere on my blog telling them I don't wanna talk to them. The other category of DNIs would be having something somewhere about minors not interacting, which, like, if they're mature enough to abide by the 18+ warnings they're probably fine anyway. I do not have the energy to set these types of boundaries and enforce them--I am disabled, I am mentally ill, and I am fucking tired. I use tumblr for fun. What's left of these two groups after the DNI are people who don't care about my boundaries and people who are lying, and in many cases, if both parties approach a thing in good faith, we CAN have a conversation about whatever it is we're disagreeing on and one (or both) of us can reach a more informed opinion. If we can't, if they're approaching in bad faith or it turns out they were pretending to be of legal age in order to talk to me about age-inappropriate topics, that's what blocking is for.

So you're okay with minors reading your smutfics?

Minors are going to read them anyways. Lying about your age on the internet is a rite of passage, and I am not under the illusion that sixteen year olds haven't heard of sex before coming across a fic I wrote. What I am not okay with is minors interacting directly with me in conversation about 18+ topics, because I am an adult. This will be enforced first by a "hey your bio says you're like 15 I'm not comfortable talking about smut with you" and then by a block. Choosing not to use a DNI isn't because I think kids should do whatever, it's a recognition that a DNI is the equivalent to a "no girls allowed" sign on the bedroom door and won't prevent anything except the people who are probably mature enough to be an exception anyway.

Did you know you follow someone who ships x/writes RPF/likes this fandom?

You and I have fundamentally incompatible approaches to the concept of free time. One day, we are all going to die. We're going to die messy and broken and marked with all the things we've done, good and bad. Do you realize how little time there is in a day? I sleep seven and a half hours, on average, a night, and work shifts that are usually about seven hours without any breaks. I spend half an hour on the road. Every day, I have three meals to prepare, eat, and clean up after, and I have a million hygiene tasks to take care of to keep my body clean and functioning. If I slack on cleaning my apartment for even a second, the roaches invade. I host or take part in 3-4 writing events a week and am working on writing an original novel in between prolific fic writing and all my other hobbies. I'm not going to waste the few minutes I have left in the day worrying about the guy writing incest shipfic about the Zoboomafoo brothers, or debating you about why I should. I have to use the time I have left to fulfill my soul before my body completely falls apart.

Okay but what if you follow someone that's racist/pedophilic/transphobic/etc.?

Sure, let me know, but I do need proof instead of an anon ask that just claims a random tumblr user hates minorities or is into kids. And no, liking a character from some piece of media, shipping characters who are 17, or aging up characters for smut (or even NOT aging them up) is not pedophilia. Show me proof that they are actually attracted to real children and not sets of lines that do not have ages and cannot experience harm, and I will take you seriously. If the subject you are telling me about is a minority in some way, you need twice the proof, and if they're queer, you need quadruple the proof and also to go read up on the history of the queer community, including the parts where queers are repeatedly accused of pedophilia or marked as dangerous to children as an excuse to legislate against and oppress us.

So are you proship?

I'm actually just tired. If you're asking whether or not I think certain topics should be disallowed from being the subject of art and whether or not those topics should be censored, the answer is that I'm not fucking Plato, so no, I don't think art needs to only portray that which is morally good and advances the goals of the state, nor do I trust any entity on the internet, especially on websites with a profit motive such as tumblr, to decide what constitutes morally good art.

[insert hot button queer discourse here]

Look, man, discourse has historically been used to divide the community. Save it for when we're not at risk of our sexualities being illegalized, and maybe then we can entertain the granularities of the situation. Everyone is queer, unless they aren't. No, I will not censor the word queer. I also won't censor "faggot" or "tranny". I didn't get my life threatened in a Zaxby's for you to tell me what words I can call myself or that I'm not really oppressed or whatever new discourse the feds have successfully implemented this year.

You're a bi lesbian and also a man? How does that work?

Back in the day, any woman who liked women was a lesbian, including bi women. I call myself a bi lesbian because my primary sexual attraction is focused on women. I am multiple genders in a way that is too complicated to explain. You're just going to have to meditate under a waterfall for a thousand years and achieve true mental transcendence, but if you're going under for dental surgery anytime soon, it can have the same effect.

I saw you talking about being Buddhist/Jewish/Shinto...

Yeah, cus I am! Maternal line Jewish, but raised Evangelical Christian (which I have since thoroughly disavowed because, like, come on man). I'm considering conversion someday, but don't currently live in an area with much of a Jewish community at all, so this isn't feasible for me and so I haven't yet put much thought into it. Most sects of Judaism do consider me Jewish as I have an unbroken maternal line, so conversion is for my own sake. I arrived, independently, at an explanation of my own beliefs that ended up being very similar to Shinto, so it's simpler for me to just say I'm Shinto than to list off a bunch of things that just so happen to be true of Shinto, and I practice Zen Buddhism as it's often intertwined with Shinto practices.

Ok but did you know about [whatever atrocity/zionism/state Shinto]

This is not an appropriate response to learning someone's religious beliefs, and in the vast majority of cases, I do, in fact, know more than you on the subject. For some reason, historically non-white religions tend to invite a lot of people who don't practice or have any firsthand knowledge of the religion to demand that every practitioner they meet come prepared with a Master's thesis denouncing atrocities committed under their religion's name. In the future, don't approach strangers to demand their stance on these things.

[kritischetheologie]

☕ i see 👀 some risky tropes (interesting), do you have any hard squicks?

I don't have many hard squicks, or even many squicks at all. I also promise never to shame you if you show up in my inbox with something I'm not into! anyway some discussion of my dislikes below the cut

One of the few things I basically won't read ever is A/B/O with Pack Dynamics. It's the only part of the A/B/O memeplex that makes me go NOPE and it really does make me go NOPE.

I said last night that I wouldn't write kidfic, but I also don't read much of it and am not a huge fan in general. the same goes for anything where people get de-aged to childhood. basically if kids have more than a line or two of dialogue I'm probably out. (to be clear since I know I have beloved mutuals who love to write this stuff and also have gotten hate for it this is not an ethics thing and I don't think you're bad I literally just find children kind of uncanny valley)

I've never actually encountered scat in fic but I don't think I would like it very much.

I'll read feminization occasionally but I really have no interest in writing it and am not very into it, period, especially compared to its popularity.

This one is stupid and makes no sense given my love of all things arranged marriage and history but I have never liked Regency. It's not a squick but I will read literally any other historical premise before clicking on Regency and even then probably won't.

I won't do first or second person POV and I am never fucking with an OC as the main love interest period.

I generally prefer minimal negotiation of safewords etc prior to kink, it's not a hard or fast rule but it's something that can pull me out of a story, especially if done in a way that doesn't build heat, establish dynamics, or accomplish anything else inherent to the story (I do not like feeling like I am being given a lecture on how to have safe sex).

If I think of any others I can add them :)

[recurring-polynya]

This is probably a terrible idea, but since when has that ever stopped me?

I always like to do stuff for Renji’s birthday (Aug 31) and I haven’t taken any requests in a while, so here it is:

Requests are open from now until... I dunno, Aug 28 or so. Here are the rules!

I will fulfill 3-5 requests, more if I have time/energy, less if I don’t:

You can request fanfic, fanart, or meta.

I will do the ones that speak to me the most. It’s not first-come, first-served! If you have a good idea, send it in!

I will delete requests that I don’t accept! It’s nothing personal, but I burned myself out really bad last year, so I gotta set this as a boundary.

Must feature Renji

The only romantic Renji ship I will accept is Renruki. Friendships are fine!

Otherwise, no restrictions! You can request AUs, missing scenes from canon, missing scenes from other fics I’ve written, or whatever you like!

Everything will get posted on Aug 31!

Here are some tips:

Usually my short fiction comes out between 1k and 2k, so we’re usually talking just a scene or two. 

You can see all my previous short fiction here, which includes the 2020 Renji’s Birthday Requests. Try not to request things that I’ve done before, unless it’s explicitly a continuation.

The best requests are specific enough to be inspirational, but not so overconstrained that the request gives away the whole thing. Just specifying a set of characters is too generic, try adding a setting or a scenario or a mood. Think about what the description would be if you had to post it to ao3 yourself.

This goes double for kidfic. Kidfic is not my favorite thing to write and people always request it, so if you must, try to make it compelling.

If you read my blog and/or my fanfic, you will probably get a good idea of which characters I love and the kinds of things that delight me and the things that do not. I primarily do these requests for the benefit of my regular readers, so it works out if this process is biased towards them.

You can request romantic sideships to appear, but please know that I will not write: captain/lt, Karakura kids/shinigami, Toushirou/anyone (because I think he’s ace and also his age thing makes it weird for me), or Sternritter/anyone. The only romantic Rukia ship I will write is Renruki and the only romantic Byakuya ship I will write is ByaHisa. Once again, friendships and other kinds of non-romantic relationships are very, very welcome!

I am not explicitly ruling out NSFW, but you gotta give me a good hook, I’m only good at writing smut if it’s weird. Also, my smut is always super consensual, no exceptions.

[bthump]

your favorite fics for all time (which you regularly reread)? any fandoms

so i figured today was a good day to queue this up for, some people probably need a distraction and rec lists are good for that. these are mostly fairly long, bc short fics tend to slip from my memory lol, and all are complete.

2 fics immediately spring to mind:

Unwilling Sleep and Sadie Sadie, both Pet Shop of Horrors D/Leon fics

Something about the author’s writing is just like, the absolute ideal of what I want fanfic to be, and like every time I've mentioned one to someone I accidentally read like the first paragraph and end up sucked back in and reading the whole thing again.

But in general there aren’t a lot of fics I can say I regularly re-read, partly bc when I move on from a fandom I only go back to read old fic when I’m feeling nostalgic, but there are still a few other great fics I’ve enjoyed enough to read at least twice

Cafestrovalva - Doctor/Master, fluffy, with a good twist, I think this is my fave Doctor/Master fic in general.

Chasing the Paradox - was my fave of the post-season 3 Ten/Simm fics, re-read it last year while feeling nostalgic and felt like it held up v well

Drop Dead Gorgeous - Harry/Draco classic that I read back in the day as it was written and re-read a lot more recently and still really enjoyed. I’m sure part of it is nostalgia lol, but I do think it holds up if you’re on board with the sense of humour.

A Better Man might be my fave Due South fic but oh man it’s so low key devastating. I don’t think you can fully appreciate it without both knowing the canon and having the same strong opinions about it that I do lol but I’m still reccing it bc it’s so good.

Heart and Mouth - not the type of hannigram fic I’d usually be into but it’s just like, stupidly good? this is one of the rare fics I read mainly for the actual writing

The Simplest Way Forward - I hate how much I loved this fic lol, I usually avoid full on kidfic and mildly dislike mundane AUs but wangxian breaks all my rules somehow

Aaaaand I’m going to add a few more fics that I've only read once but that were good enough to really stick in my mind, and recent enough that I feel like I can mostly trust my judgement lol, hopefully there’s not some random terrible thing i completely forgot in any of these:

How the mouth changes its shape - I think this is technically a BBC Sherlock fic but it works just fine as an AU f/f Sherlock Holmes fic in general.

Unaccomodated Man - Black Sails Flint/Thomas fic, absolutely fantastic writing

Something of Vengeance - Sherlock Holmes and Jeeves and Wooster crossover

We Want Haddock - I feel like this is a perfect Jeeves and Wooster fic despite not being Jeeves/Wooster lol

Ravenous - hannigram but mostly gen, this sticks out in my mind as the kind of fic I’d recommend to someone who’d never read fic before

Bitter Glass - Kirk/Spock, good enough to justify the first person perspective, which says it all really

The Charioteer in the City of Har - just a solid fun plotty very gay xena/gab fic

Storms of War - another gr8 xena fic, more plot and character study than romance but it’s still there, v long

Truth and Measure - same author who wrote the D/Leon fics, it’s Devil Wears Prada which isn’t a fandom I ever really got into but the fic is still so good

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma - just a really good outsider pov good omens fic

[multsicorn]

this may or may not be a pimping post

Before I got into The Untamed, what I knew was: yeah, it’s gay.  It’s a tv show from China, so there’s censorship, but the two main guys really are in love.  They get married, they have a child together.  All of which is true!  And none of which is enough to make me watch something, guys.  So what’s the story?  Well:

In fantasy ancient China, against a background of intrigue and strife between powerful clans of magic-users (aka ‘cultivators’)… two young men meet at school, flirt, and become friends.  As the aforementioned strife explodes into all-out war, the free-spirited Wei Wuxian starts using dark (aka ‘demonic’) magic, and eventually finds himself in opposition to the rest of the clans.  Caught between the rogue necromancer he loves and the rules of the world he believes in, what will the virtuous Lan Wangji do?

(and after a time-skip, sixteen years later, after Wei Wuxian has died and come back to life - that’s not a spoiler, it’s the start of the show - when the demonic magic that Wei Wuxian developed and the power struggle among the clans that killed him are still around, and again making trouble, how will Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian overcome these dangers, and finally get their shit together?)

THAT’S the story.  Doesn’t that sound more interesting?

And I love so many many things about it, I just had to try to make a list.

~~~~~~

First off, The Untamed is DELICIOUSLY TROPETASTIC.  IDDY AS FUCK.  etc.  Let me count some of the AO3 tags:

There is so much hurt/comfort.  Wei Wuxian, especially, gets hurt, threatened, tied or locked up, etc., so many times throughout this show, and we get to dwell on his suffering so much.  Lan Wangji’s frequently there to protect him and/or help him recover!  And it goes the other way round, too: Lan Wangji gets hurt or threatened, and Wei Wuxian heals or protects him.

There is… not quite huddling for warmth?  But Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get trapped together in a cave, not just once, but twice!  The second scene goes so far as to include some undressing on the premise of ‘let me get out of these wet clothes,’ and sleeping sitting up next to each other.

For that matter, there’s multiple instances of undressing for ‘important plot reasons.’  Multiple instances of carrying or attempting to carry each other, for ‘important plot reasons.’  And Wei Wuxian putting Lan Wangji to bed (so tenderly!) for ‘important plot reasons.’

SO MANY people get tied up SO MUCH I’m just saying.  I kept noticing it ^__^.

There’s a pair of older (not-explicitly-canon) male cultivators who are wandering the world together, basically doing exactly what Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji want to do, showing them that it’s possible.

Speaking of ‘after the time-skip’ - like I said, Wei Wuxian dies and is resurrected.  Lan Wangji not only mourns him for sixteen years, but also takes in and raises a young boy who Wei Wuxian had introduced as his own son.  (That’s the ‘have a child together’ part, and also canon kidfic, and I don’t even go there but it’s so adorable.)

Again, speaking of ‘they’re just this canon’ - they go through several key of traditional Chinese courtship and wedding rituals together, WITHOUT EVER TALKING ABOUT IT, cause it’s just, apparently, something they silently agree to do.  (And Wei Wuxian touches Lan Wangji’s ‘only for parent, children, and spouses’ ~sacred forehead ribbon~ several times, starting in episode six.)

~~~~~~

Some more of my FAVORITE THINGS EVER that aren’t quite so smush-em-together:

Lan Wangji HUMS A SONG for Wei Wuxian when they’re trapped in mortal peril in a cave - BY WHICH HE THEN RECOGNIZES Wei Wuxian when Wei Wuxian plays it almost twenty years later.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are so drift compatible.  Whether they’re investigating or fighting or playing duets or doing magic, they trust each other implicitly, and grow to understand each other so well that they can eventually communicate with simply a look.

There are multiple times when Lan Wangji holds Wei Wuxian back from ~going too far,~ when Wei Wuxian’s being influenced by the demonic magic.  Lan Wangji knows Wei Wuxian just that well; Lan Wangji’s grip on Wei Wuxian’s wrist is enough to stop him.  And sometimes it isn’t!  Multiple times, also, Lan Wangji attacks Wei Wuxian with his sword, not even in spite of but because of the fact that he cares (so very much!) about him.  And there’s multiple times when Wei Wuxian (almost, or actually) invites Lan Wangji to kill him - only, specifically, Lan Wangji - if that’s what needs doing.

(That whole paragraph above is literally MY FAVORITE THING EVER, I could go a far way towards obsession just from that alone.  Being honest about myself here.)

And then there’s Wei Wuxian as a character: his endless questioning of rules and accepted ways of doing things.  The restlessness, both physical and intellectual, that makes him so much fun to watch, all the time, cause he’ll never sit still, or stop running his mouth.  The way he’s constantly delighted by every little thing, food and wine and his own cleverness.  Whenever everything else has paused for a bit, he is still A DELIGHT.

And THEN, there’s Wei Wuxian building a whole new home (and ~found family~, but, like, literally, they’re compared directly to his family-of-origin which he’s been forced by plot reasons to leave behind) for himself from the ground up in the Burial Mounds.  At the height of the conflict!  He’s figuring out how to grow lotus roots, and trying to make enough money for other food by selling (the subtitles say turnips, but it looks like daikon), hiding away and building houses and inventing on a cursed mountainside.

~~~~~

And it’s not all about the main characters!  The most important of the general themes above: suffering, comfort and protection, restraining or fighting with people you love - recur among many secondary characters.  I couldn’t list how many relationships of loyalty and obligation, conflicted or not, there are in this show - along with some very devasating betryals!

There’s a complicated sibling relationship (between the main character and his foster brother) which honestly rivals the central romantic pairing for me… which I could write a whole other post about, but that’s not this post.  There are, actually, quite a few interesting, intense, and variably fucked-up sibling relationships in this show!

There’s a couple of characters who are very good at manipulation, although who and how doesn’t become clear until the end of the show.

And then there’s the whole wonderfully fucked up tragedy which is the Yi city arc: a psycho mass murder is rescued by and lives domestically with a ~too good for this world~ Taoist monk, whom he both tricks into murdering people and also genuinely falls for.  And screws up irrevocably.

And the shallowest stuff: scenery porn!  costume porn!  swooshy hair and swooshy robes and swords and arrows and magic talismans (some of which are written in one’s own blood) and flutes and stringed instruments (guqins) and cute bunnies and a ‘wonder’ dog that the lead is scared of even though it’s adorable!

There’s so very much that I love.  These are the main things, I think.

~~~

There are some things I don’t like, too.

The pacing is just a mess.  The first two episodes make no sense as they’re placed, they introduce a bunch of characters that you’ll never see again and some more you won’t see until two-thirds through the show, and they’re in complete medias res re: the plot.  Everyone seems to say ‘just don’t worry,’ but if you don’t like watching things you don’t get (like me? is this such a rare preference?), I would say to actually start with episode three, and then in the middle of or after episode 33 (you’ll know when, it’ll be obvious), go back to episodes 1 and 2 to watch the start of the post-resurrection story.  Even skipping past the first two episodes, the plot takes a while to get going: if you like the lighthearted school shenanigans, you won’t have much of those for long, and if you prefer Conflict and Drama like me, you’ve still got to wait a little while.

(Lan Wangji starts having expressions, eventually, and Wei Wuxian becomes (somewhat) less of a brat.)

It’s cheesy fantasy show with not-great production values, the fight scenes and so on look ridiculous.  I love the costumes and the acting but… I’m not picky re: those sorts of things.  The reaction shots go on way too long (until you’re obsessed with every character and are glad for them), and subsequent shots sometimes have a way of overlapping with each other so that when the angle changes it looks like you’ve rewound a split second.

Lots of stuff about how the magic works never makes any sense.  Don’t worry, just go with it.

Lots and lots AND LOTS of people die.  I think the gore level is pretty mild/moderate, compared to the body count?  The show’s a sausage fest (about ~80% or more male, maybe closer to ~90% by screentime!) and although there are several interesting female characters, all but one minor one die by the story’s end.  (Also, although there’s no rape on-screen of women or of significant characters - there is of one minor villainous male character, and explicitly one and very arguably two backstories of rape between characters’ parents.)

~~~

If you wanna take a look at the show before diving right in, here are a few of my favorite vids:

The Archer by lolachrome, a character study of the main character (Wei Wuxian)

Daylight by helcinda, about the main relationship (Wangxian)

Sharp-Dressed Men by alpheratz, for the ooh shiny factor

Devil from Heaven by gamachanlive, focused on all the suffering and conflict and all four of my personal favorite relationships

[findhannibalfics]

Hello! I was thinking, seeing as we have a lovely new mod - you could do a little list of your own personal favourites? Or maybe rec some new fanic writers that you’ve come across that you like? Kind of a get to know you and the fics you like thing?❤️

This is perhaps the easiest rec ask I’ve ever tried to answer (I wrote/discussed at some length about the difficulty I have with certain kinds of rec requests here, if you’re interested), so thanks for that.  :)

As a general but not-at-all hard rule I tend to prefer things that are canon-compliant or canon-adjacent (which is what I call AUs where much of the canon is still in play, or more drastic AUs that still hold a very similar interpersonal Hannigram dynamic), and while I do read plenty of smut, I tend to prefer the sort that comes at least moderately wrapped in plot and/or character study.  

Some of my personal favorites!  Okay!  (Putting it under a cut because this got a little long.)

The De Profundis series by TiggyMalvern is my go-to, post-fall canon compliant Murder Husbands happy place, and while she’s a long-time veteran of the fandom, it’s never gotten as much attention as a lot of other post-fall fics written in a similar timeframe did.  Everything else she’s written in the fandom is also up there on my list of favorites.

The When the Devil Smiles Back series by GoldenUsagi starts with a Clarice Starling-perspective, show canon-compliant sendup of Silence of the Lambs, and proceeds from there.  (I originally read it only having seen the show; while I later watched SotL, no foreknowledge of it is needed to understand the fic.)  The author stands out in general in her propensity for outsider-perspective Hannigram, though she’s also written some with more typical Will/Hannibal POV, and I love it all.

this might turn up and wind up just the way we’d dreamed by softhan is a “minivan AU” fic that is very Soft Hannigram, but not in a fluffy way or lacking in nuance, and I also enjoy his other works (which are short-to-medium-length vignettes).

Pattern Break by ThisBeautifulDrowning is a season 2 AU with darker!Will, where Will doesn’t go back to the BAU after being released from the BSHCI.  I’m also fond of their Page Six, which is a reporter!Will/chef!Hannibal (and FBI agent!Freddie xD) AU.

through a glass by amare was something I initially read on a big fic binge and enjoyed but didn’t bookmark, and then gave myself fits months later trying to find it again because it had wormed itself into my brain after the fact as Really Interesting.  Will goes to bed in the BSHCI and wakes up in Hannibal’s bed in a timeline where Hannibal is not a serial killer.  I’m low-key a sucker for “character finds themself in a seemingly-impossible scenario and has to scramble to catch up.”

With A Crown of Stars by thehoyden is a magical realism (”wish babies” which is apparently a trope, but not one I’d encountered before?) kidfic that I’ve come back to a few times because it’s just so beautifully-rendered.

In terms of newer authors, I’ve enjoyed a substantial amount of work by tei, who has been super prolific since she’s been in the fandom.  She writes a lot for the kinkmeme and is, um, much more adventurous than I am in terms of concepts she’s willing to explore in fic, so I don’t read everything she writes (and some of it I read against my better judgment), but she tags thoroughly, so it’s easy to go through her work while staying away from one’s squicks.

And in the vein of “getting to know you,” if you’re interested in the kinds of things I write, then, well, I do that too.  (Some canon-compliant vignettes/missing scenes, one crack thing that was too funny an idea to pass up, and my post-fall longfic WIP.)

[ewansumfuk]

what’re your fanfic preferences?

i want to get to know the other writers i’m finding a little better (so i can go on anon and give them dirty headcanons) so why don’t we have a bit of a tag game? i’ll propose some questions (and answer them) and we can all have a bit of fun!

tag someone whose writing you like or whose preferences you’d like to know more about! For me, I’m tagging: @himboskywalker​ @padfootagain​ @kenobee​ @labyrinth-runner​ @aty-cgca7​ @obibabykenobi​ @karasong @xmidnightwritingsx​ @corrupt-fvcker​ @rebelscoundrel​ @killerqueenofalderaan​ @hellotherekenobi​ @hellothereobi​ @theclones

(you don’t need to tag that many people!! i’m just trying to get to know peoples’ writing preferences so i can send them frustratingly evocative or button-pushing anons)

1. NSFW or no? Personally I am always up for NSFW but I’m insecure about my ability to write it because I’ve never published something truly explicit before!

2. Drama and angst or fluff’n’stuff? I like both, but drama/angst that I don’t write will make me cry buckets. I write fluff quicker, drama/angst always needs backstory for me.

3. Do you prefer pre-established relationships, pre-relationship fic, or confessions? *slams hands on table* Give. Me. Confessions. The drama, the intrigue, the satisfaction. My one true weakness.

4. Friends to lovers? Enemies to lovers? Enemies to friends to lovers? My fave is friends to lovers but I’ll take all three!

5. How do you take your pining? Long, mutual, and agonizing.

6. Kidfic or no? Usually not but sometimes I like to subscribe to the Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies AU and imagine the far-flung future.

7. Do you prefer short or long fills/stories? Hhhhhh, I like everything. It’s super hard for me to do short fills myself because my mind demands logical backstory!

8. Canon-compliant or AU? Depends on the fandom, but I usually go from mildly to WILDLY AU.

9. Of your current hyperfixation, how many AUs do you have? Too many, next question.

10. No, really, count them. Just going based on my personal stuff and nothing I’ve picked up from my short stint here, like. Ssssix? Ish?

11. If NSFW is your thing, what’s on your no-no list? Feet, bodily waste, humiliation and degradation (including ‘dirty talk’ that involves calling people names), anything that would require actual medical attention later.

12. What’s on your yes-please list? Possessiveness, beards, glasses, gentle biting and scratching, just gentleness in general (I’m a vanilla bean, so what), p r a i s e k i n k, lots of kissing

13. What do you think you don’t see enough of in your corner of ficland? I haven’t been here long enough yet to make any kind of ruling, but for me there’s a loooot of pre-established relationship for my liking. More confessions pls.

14. What’s your be-all, end-all, will always make me happy favorite trope combination? Friends to lovers with mutual pining and doubting of one another’s feelings, with hurt-comfort and massive confessions thrown in.  😍

Add your own questions if you want to know more. I hope people can find the time to participate, I want to know what everyone likes!

[our-smooty]

Flowerbeds and Fertile Soil: Chapter 3

Fandom: Good Omens

Rating: Explicit

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens, )Anathema Device/Newton Pulsifer

Tags:  Kidfic, Mpreg kind of, they can choose to present however so idk, Crowley Has A Vulva (Good Omens), Crowley Has A Penis (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has A Penis (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has A Vulva (Good Omens), OCs Galor, parenting, using your snake form to avoid confrontation, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pregnancy, if I missed a tag lemme know

Summary: They could do anything, go anywhere, all without the worry of Above or Bellow making a fuss. Even so, they mostly kept to their little patch of Eden, their cottage and garden and the simple life they’d carved out among the locals. Aziraphale opened a book shop in town, where he only occasionally sold any books (and the ones he did sell, were all modern and stocked specifically for that purpose). Crowley focused his attentions on the garden, and if he occasionally helped their elderly neighbour with her disobedient willow tree, then that was a secret no one needed to know. Lately, however, they had both been feeling rather restless, unbeknownst to each other. Aziraphale tried reorganizing his store, changing the way he tied his bowtie and even ate pizza –something he considered to be far too messy for him personally. Crowley had branched out into birdwatching, and then car maintenance (the human way), and even reading. Nothing scratched the itch for either of them.

Ao3 Link

My Ko-Fi

Crowley spent the two days drinking, thinking, and wallowing, in that order. First, he got rip-roaring drunk, then kept going past that into a maudlin type of drunkenness. That led to the thinking, which had been much harder than normal, but also much more honest.

The sun was just coming up over the horizon and he watched as all of London was bathed in warm light. He was scared. He could admit that to himself easily, especially when he was so drunk. What he was scared of was a little more complicated, and Crowley had been thinking on it for the better part of three hours. Because on the one hand, he was worried about Heaven and Hell and the safety of any hypothetical little ones. He really was. But on the other hand, he’d said something during their fight that he hadn’t realized he’d been worried about.

Demon spawn were A Thing, and they were generally terrible. Sometimes a demon decided to have some fun on the mortal level and demons weren’t known for being the most careful of beings. Best case scenario was something that was essentially a demon, but mortal. Worst case whatever came out was some sort of writhing mass of demonic energy and hatred. Would that happen to any of his offspring too? Or would the angelic influences cancel it out? But the Nephilim had been somewhat monstrous too, so was it a lost cause from both ends?

And that was where the thinking transitioned into wallowing. Because he was also drunk enough to admit that he really, really wanted to give in to Aziraphale’s badgering, hang the consequences. They’d at least have some time before having to face what they’d done. Who knew how long demon-angel hybrid babies took to form, or gestate or whatever (Crowley only knew as much as he did from his time working on a London pediatrics ward. He was supposed to have been sowing the seeds of evil in the new generation, but he ended up delivering and caring for more newborns than anything else). 

But the guilt would be too much. He couldn’t bring a child into this world knowing it was doomed to be some sort of horror that never fit in. He’d love them, of course, whatever they were or would become but to imagine the difficulty of growing up in a world that would detest them... Well, at least Crowley had been fully formed and matured when it had happened to him. 

He ran out of scotch on the balcony by noon of the first day. But he wasn’t done sulking so he moved back inside and on to the brandy. Brandy was the perfect spirit to drink while tormenting his plants, though there were only a few left in the flat. They were his favourite, and he kept them here to avoid the angel over-indulging and spoiling them. 

“Yooooou lot,” he slurred, brandishing his spray bottle in one hand and the brandy in the other. “You don’t argue with me! Y-y-you’re all jus’ plants!”

A hydrangea, who had long exceeded it’s expected lifespan by several years and was one of the most verdant plants in Crowley’s collection, leaned towards him sympathetically. Most of these plants had been with him for years and had grown a kind of fondness for their tyrannical, but caring master. Crowley spared the hydrangea a glance over, inspecting it for blemishes. He found none. 

“Yoooou’re not compli--complicated, you’re not good or-or-or-or evil. You’re jus’ plants!” The while lily near the door shuddered, knowing things were really bad if the demon was repeating himself. Crowley never liked to repeat himself. 

“If you wanna have b-b-babies you can jus’ drop seeds!” His voice cracked at the end so he wet his parched mouth with some more brandy. “I like sssseeds, such ma-marv-maver--nice little thingss.” Four letter words, good Lord he was sloshed. Dropping the spray bottle and picking up the watering can Crowley deftly overwatered a nearby ivy. Luckily the ivy knew better than to wilt. 

“Like little things, like babiesss, an’ kids. Not sooooo much t-teenagerss but they’ve got ssspirit!” All the plants were leaning in now. Some of them opened up a few extra blooms, offering comfort in the way only plants knew how. “Alwaysss thought I’d make a shit p-parent though, an’ look how Warlock turned out…”

“Could be different, though, raisin’ one and not t-trying to make it, you know, not the Antichrissst.” Indeed he hadn’t been so much raising Warlock as he had been coaching him. And if he and Aziraphale were to do it together properly this time who knows what could happen? “Still can’t though. Angel n’a demon, probably be smited for even trying. Smote? Sssmitten?”

He pondered that for a while, letting the last few glugs of water drip out of his watering can and onto the floor. It was a lost cause though because all he could think about was tiny angel babies with their soft, fluffy hair and little grabby hands. “D’you think they’d look like him? I hope they do.” Crowley was idly swaying back and forth, lost in his daydream. “Hope they have his nose an’ eyess at least, mine are terrible. But m’wings are nicer so…” 

“I don’t wanna be sscared,” he said quietly to his favourite rose bush. “I want to--I want to give Azirahale what he wants. I want what he wantsss, and if I gave in we could both have it but I’m ssscared!”

The argument last night had left Crowley unable to sleep, but he was getting tired now. Maybe he should use his last day and a half--he checked his fancy watch; day and a quarter--to sleep this off. Tossing the spray bottle somewhere towards the wall--it would be back in its place the next time he went to use it--and heading towards his bedroom, Crowley realized he hadn’t yet texted Aziraphale like he’d promised. No matter, his phone was on the bedside table anyway. He could let the angel know he’d be back tomorrow, and they could make up. Nevermind how that was going to happen, since they both still had opposing views on the matter.

The first time he had come to stay at the flat after he and Aziraphale had a tiff, the angel had blown up his phone with calls and texts. Crowley had done the same the first time Aziraphale locked himself away in his study and refused to come out. They had since come to an understanding and formed a system of brief check-ins and hard time limits to ease each other's anxiety. They stuck to the rules, and it seemed to be a good way of letting off some steam and ending arguments, as long as they talked about it afterward. 

This time, Crowley had been a little lax in his following of their rules. It had already been nearly an entire day of no-contact and Aziraphale had been sending worried messages for at least six hours. To his credit there were only a few voicemails, which Crowley would listen to later, and not the deluge there had been that first time. They were all standard fare, Aziraphale calling in the morning after Crowley left, then calling back around lunch. The angel was doing a good job of keeping the worry out of his voice, but Crowley could tell it was there. 

Immediately Crowley sent off a text assuring Aziraphale he was fine and had lost track of time, complete with heart emojis, then fell into bed. As drunk as he was it didn’t take very long for him to drift off, even though he forgot to change into anything comfortable or get under the covers. 

Crowley walked into their cottage in time for tea the next day carrying a selection of cake slices. He didn’t really have anything to apologize for, but coming back empty-handed felt wrong. Plus the cakes might distract from the hangover Crowley had. He’d meant to fix himself up before bed, but hadn’t and now his head ached too bad to focus on any demonic miracles.

“I’m home!” he called out into the foyer, toeing off his shoes and kicking them haphazardly out of the doorway. The house smelled like old books and tea, which was better than burning food. The second time Crowley had taken some time to himself Aziraphale had decided to take up baking to soothe his nerves. It hadn’t gone well. “I brought cake!”

Aziraphale came around from his study and stood in the doorway, hovering. “Welcome home dear. Did I hear you say cake?”

This was the routine when Crowley returned. Whether in the right or wrong he’d come back bearing treats and Aziraphale would flitter about like he didn’t know if he should stay or go. Eventually, they’d both sit down and talk about what happened, which had twice led to Crowley storming back out and more often led to lovely make-up sex. He wasn’t sure what to expect this time, given the thing they were arguing about. There wasn’t much to talk about, either Aziraphale dropped it, or he didn’t. Crowley didn’t want to think about what would happen if Aziraphale didn’t drop it.

“Yeah, picked some up on my way over from that little bakery where they mill their own flour. Figured it was pretentious enough that you’d like it,” Crowley teased, none too eager to get to the heart of their issues. What if he and Aziraphale couldn’t move past this? What if this was the thing that ended them, not their former sides, or the Apocolypse, or their opposing natures? Crowley wasn’t sure he could survive without the angel in his life, but he also wasn’t sure he could concede on this particular issue. He also wasn’t sure if he could stick to his guns for too much longer, given what he’d realized last night. 

“Oh hush you. Take it into the kitchen I’ll be there in just a tick.” Crowley nodded and went through, surreptitiously glancing around their home. Aziraphale was prone to fussing with the layout of things when he was left to his own devices, just like he had at the bookshop. There he’d been able to justify it as a tactic to confuse customers and discourage book purchases. In the cottage, however, it was obvious he did it from anxiety. Everything looked to be in order though, so Crowley continued on and set the cakes down on the table. With a snap of his fingers, the slices were laid out on plates and the kettle was boiling for tea. 

“Early Grey or Twinings?” he called over his shoulder towards where Aziraphale’s office was. He could hear the angel moving about back there and assumed he was cleaning up whatever he had been using to preoccupy himself with while Crowley was away. 

“Twinings please, dearest,” Aziraphale answered, his voice muffled. Must be messing with his book storage, Crowley thought, pouring each of them a cup with shakey hands. He really wished he’d spent less time drinking and sleeping yesterday, and more time actually thinking about what he was going to say to Aziraphale. All he’d figured out was that they had to worry about a lot more than just Heaven and Hell’s reaction and that if Aziraphale kept asking, he might not be strong enough to refuse. 

“Tea’s ready,” he mumbled, taking his own and perching on the edge of a dining chair. Of course, Aziraphale still heard him and walked quickly into the room looking more than a little flustered. With an excited wiggle he took a seat and began to fawn over the cakes. “Take whichever you want, I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure dear? That dark chocolate mouse cake looks right up your ally,” Aziraphale pointed out, digging into his strawberry shortcake. He was right, Crowley had bought that slice of cake specifically for himself. It would have been not too sweet and everything he liked in a desert, but the worry about what needed to be said had ruined his appetite. 

“Yeah, go ahead.” Aziraphale glanced down to his slice, then set his silverware down regretfully. “I said go ahead angel, I don’t mind.”

Aziraphale leaned forward a little, his hands disappearing under the table. Crowley knew from experience they would find their way under his thighs, crushed tight against the chair’s wood in an effort to keep them from flitting all over. Another habit from Aziraphale’s time with Heaven, where any stimming had been harshly discouraged. “No, I think we have a lot to talk about. And I want to apologize. Again.”

Crowley remained silent, knowing that Aziraphale had probably prepared what he wanted to say. As usual he was correct. 

“I was wrong to keep asking you about… it when you told me not to. I was being selfish, and not thinking about how you felt and terribly rude. And then you came back after I was so horrible and you came back with cake!” Aziraphale’s voice was getting louder and more high pitched as he went. It was obvious he was getting upset with himself but Crowley knew that interrupting him right now would only make things worse. “I got excited, and then I was pushy and I hurt you, dearest. I’m so sorry. I-I know I can be a little, well, tone-deaf but you said I was making you upset so explicitly and I just ignored you! How could I do that to you? Oh Crowley I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

Aziraphale had begun rocking back and forth a tiny amount, quick little movements that he probably didn’t even notice he was making. “You’re right, of course. It’s so very dangerous, and I wasn’t thinking about it when you obviously had. I want to make it up to you, Crowley, if I even can.”

It hadn’t been what Crowley was expecting, given how persistent Aziraphale could be, and it was honestly a little disappointing. He may have been secretly hoping that the angel would be able to convince him, or had maybe thought of something Crowley had missed that would give them the go-ahead. But this was OK too, this meant they wouldn’t have to fight anymore and he wouldn’t have to keep thinking about it and they could move on. 

���Oh uh, yeah. Apology accepted angel. I’m sorry I stormed out.” Crowley was always quick to forgive Aziraphale, it was like it was impossible for him to stay angry at the angel. Though the way Aziraphale’s disrespect of his boundaries still stung, Crowley didn’t want to hold a grudge and make things worse, so he wouldn’t. 

“Thank you, dear.” Aziraphale stopped rocking but kept his hands firmly under his legs. Usually, this was the point where they hugged and made up, but his angel was still sitting, slightly tense. “Was your time away helpful?”

Crowley shrugged noncommittally. Aziraphale didn’t ask what he did when he was he spent time away after a fight, and he was immediately suspicious. “Sure, checked on the plants, slept for a while. The usual.” He left out the drinking. Over the last 5 years or so Aziraphale had grown concerned with the amount Crowley drank, even if he was an immortal being incapable of experiencing withdrawal. He had cut back, but times like the other night were another story. 

“Good, good.” The silence was back, and heavier. “And I assume that, from this point on, you do not wish to discuss that issue again?” The tentative nature of Aziraphale’s vice made it hard to hear if he was disappointed, or just being himself. Crowley cleared his throat. 

“That's probably for the best yeah.” But oh he wanted, wanted, wanted. It was killing him to deny them this thing that any old human could have easily. They could have anything else in the world, with their powers, but not this. 

“Alright, you won’t hear me speak another word about it. If you ever want to--well I’ll follow you lead dearest.” And Now Aziraphale was leaning over, one of his hands taking Crowley’s and squeezing. It was extremely warm from being tucked under his legs, but the demon still felt cold. “Now, if you’d like, I think you should try that ca--”

They were interrupted by an insistent knock on the front door. It was very rare for them to have guests and even rarer that they should drop by unexpectedly. The only other time anyone arrived was for deliveries, and even those were few and far between. 

“Oh, I wonder who that could be!” Aziraphale seemed all too eager to have something else to focus on, and to be honest Crowley was as well. He rose from the table, cakes and tea forgotten, and bustled to the door. Crowley stayed in the kitchen, trying to collect the unspooled pieces of himself. It was over, they had Talked, and now they could move on and everything would be just fine! Crowley repeated that over and over in his head, trying to drown out the wanting; just fine. He was so focused on not wanting that he almost missed Aziraphale’s sharp “oh dear!”. Almost, but not quite.

“Everything alright angel?” He was on his feet and sauntering into the foyer. Sometimes a particularly brave canvasser for some local church or scam organization would show up and Crowley had to scare them off. Often Aziraphale was too polite to do so himself, especially if they didn’t take to his subtle hints. Only once had the angel gotten stern with someone, and that had been when they tried to good old ‘foot in the door’ technique. In that instance, Crowley had had to save the canvasser form Aziraphale. 

That wasn’t what he found when he waltzed through the doorway. Standing there was Gabriel and Beezelbub in all their Heavenly and Hellish glory. They wore the same expression, of annoyance mixed with a large dash of disgust. “Oh shit.”

[howlingmoonrise]

Dear Yuletide Author

hello and thank you for signing up for yuletide, i hope you have fun during the challenge!

i ramble a lot so my letter is under a readmore (i put everything in one post so you don’t have to juggle links around). obviously you don’t have to follow any of the things i put in here, but hopefully this will help you out!

general things i like

PINING. I’M SUCH A SLUT FOR PINING ALL THE PINING ULTRA PINING SUPER PINING. i have SO MUCH FUN reading about idiots in love who aren’t together yet and i far prefer it to fics with already established relationships. this is also applicable to when they know the other is in love with them but they can’t act on it for some reason.

i’m down for either gen or romantic!! what really does it for me is the developing relationship, platonic or otherwise, and the character dynamics and interactions and all the little moments in between. stuff like developing trust and finding kinship and growing respect for the other and subconsciously learning to lean on the other over anyone else is far more important for me than any kissing will ever be (though kissing is also nice if you wanna go down that route lmao)

i love love LOVE enemies/rivals-?to-friends?-to-lovers and bickering pairs in general, as you can probably tell by my choice in character! it’s so much fun and it gives us so many opportunities for character and relationship developments :D

continuing from the above points, nothing kills me as much as characters that bicker all the time but in the end they rely on the other and go to each other before they go to anyone else, whether they realize it or not

i REALLY like the canon and characters for all the fandoms i picked, so sticking at least to their characterizations and the overall “tone” of canon is a huge plus!! “missing scenes” and “what if” canon-divergent situations are excellent, as are continuations from where canon left us! that being said, i also enjoy more conceptual AUs and i’ve put more details about those a little further below. rule of thumb is that i enjoy AUs where the focus remains more on the relationship itself and how it works on such a setting than on the worldbuilding for it.

fun tropes i enjoy (sorry, these are a bit romance-leaning but if you’re not into that they can probably be adapted somehow): fake dating, accidentally got roped into x and shenanigans of all sorts keep happening, misunderstood confessions, groundhog day au, one or both the characters having stupid levels of denial while technically in a relationship and just not realizing it like What Do You Mean We’re Dating??, that sorta thing.

TROPE SUBVERSION ALL THE WAY!

general things i dislike

kidfics. babyfics. next gen fics. pregnancy fics, or even pregnancy discussed in the fic is a major squick of mine. the one exception i make for kidfics is for petshop of horrors when it comes to chris and the pets, as they already belong in canon, but no babies or children otherwise please.

future fics in general, actually. what i enjoy is the relationship development, so huge time skips make me feel like we missed way too much. one exception to this is post-canon petshop of horrors, for obvious reasons.

i usually don’t like most angst stuff since it feels a bit gratuitous to me when it comes to most fandoms and characters. the one exception for this is psoh (see below if you’re picking this fandom - and wow psoh seems to be the exception to everything huh) or when it’s a more introspective sort of fic. as a result of this, i’d pass on most content with major character death, sexual abuse, self-harm, the like, though of course there are always exceptions to the rule and you’re free to write as you wish!

hard AUs are a bit ugh to me. by this i mean AUs that rely heavily on setting, such as high school AUs, harry potter AUs, that sort of thing. i DO however enjoy stuff like siren AUs and soulmate AUs, depending on the concept and on the fandom. more details in their own sections if you enjoy writing those!

i heavily dislike things involving cheating/infidelity, sickfics, and genderbending of any kind is a bit ehhhh for me, as are concepts such as ABO. hard pass on stuff like dysphoria and deep diving into most mental illnesses, too (with a possible exception for depression when it comes to psoh). 

script-based or roleplay fic is not really my preferred format, i really enjoy prose instead of nearly all dialogue!

if you’re going for nsfw

kinks

moderate sadomasochism, uncommon forms of bondage (plants, stuck with strange substance or in awkward position, the shadows from p&tf as restraints, etc), choking/breathplay, xenophilia and tentacles/alien genitals (shadowplay in p&tf, non-human genitals for the staryk lord, etc), moderate degradation, edging/desperation play, ladies topping and calling the shots, bloodplay/knifeplay, long hair/hair pulling (staryk lord, leon orcot), sharp nails/claws (staryk lord, charlotte la bouff, count d; miryem mandelstam having them is actually preferable to the staryk lord now that i think of it), lowkey cannibalism imagery (count d re:leon orcot)

squicks

scat, vomit, praise kink, daddy or baby kink, vore, forced feminization, pet play, gore, abuse, abo, anything involving pregnancy at all

--

PETSHOP OF HORRORS

i’m usually not very partial to angst but GODS does psoh throw that out of the window, so feel more than free to run with it if you wanna go down that route.  psoh is RIPE for angst. we got two people with abandonment and inadequacy issues: leon who decided to leave his whole life behind to chase someone who gave him life and then left and initially didn’t even bother to do it with any sort of goodbyes, and d who is supremely fucked up by his upbringing and had to push leon off the ark to continue his family’s mission and let drop one (1) single tear that he was not supposed to cry over a human. those fuckers. those idiots. i love them so much.

THAT BEING SAID, i also!!!! love slice of life shit for them!!!!!!!! GODS i love how much they bicker but then they turn around and the other is the person they rely on the most and who they trust implicitly above all others and how they keep roping each other into ridiculous shenanigans. neither of them are particularly communicative with a few rare exceptions, so there’s also a lot of room there for introspection and unspoken affection on both sides, which i LOVE. my son leon in particular is also super underestimated when it comes to his intelligence and tolerance for gay shit both in canon and fandom, and he performs ridiculous leaps of logic and instinct that somehow turn out to be right but that are super ???? for everyone else involved, and that’s always fun to see. hell, just another missing scene where leon brings d some cake and they banter fondly over tea is A++++ to me!!

nsfw???? bring it!!! this is the one fandom where you’re more than free to go super dark and kinky if you wanna, or if you wanna write tender loving reunion sex where d cries a little while leon is loving and disbelieving and so very careful that’s also excellent! i don’t have a particular preference on who tops either, it’s fun either way, but i tend to see leon more as a sub/masochist >u> i can also see it going a bit dark with those two, especially considering d and his kind (implied to eat human flesh and being predators more than once) so bloodplay and cannibalistic thoughts could be fun. re: d’s genitals (as are hotly debated in the fandom), i usually prefer either a dick or triple threat d, though some fun plant-man shenanigans also have their place here.

all in all, psoh is the most excellent genre triangle where i’d be super happy to receive anything on the slice-of-life/angst/smut corners! (also, slash is 3249823% acceptable if you couldn’t tell by my ranting, as is a hint of crack)

if you’re thinking going AU on this one, my suggestions are of slight universe alterations instead of major world AUs. examples could be soulmate AUs (trope subversion would be GREAT here, aka foreign script they didn’t initially recognize, or only Ds having soulmates while humans do not, or the same scenario as the last but leon DOES have it on his skin and just keeps it hidden because Normal Humans Don’t Have Birth Tattoos, or d never expected to have one because his kind is dead and yet when he pushes leon from the ark the soulmate bond is forged, etc), a different first meeting, or even missed connections when they did not know each other yet; something like papa being alive and brady bunch-ing it up with them and chris would also be both excellent and hilarious. epistolary form for those two is also fun! if you wanna go full universe AU, something like a vampire hunter leon could be very interesting >u>

--

SPINNING SILVER

WHERE DO I EVEN START. miryem and the staryk lord were my favourite part of the book; if the book was only their story i would have already been more than satisfied. the rest of the book is also excellent, but those two???? that story was far too great. enemies to allies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and this is one of the examples that just keeps proving me right. the slowly growing respect, the wariness when they both know what the other is capable of, the staryk lord getting hit with the hots for his wife when she manages the impossible and then miryem being unable to just let it go when he’s imprisoned and defeated. ACTUALLY lemme just grab that line of thought and bring up that moment when he was sorrowful and resigned when miryem didn’t argue further for the three rooms full of gold and he thought she would not succeed and that she would have to die for it. that, right there? those moments of renewed respect, those moments sudden longing for something they did not know they wanted? those are the things that kill me.

tonally, i love the sort of writing in canon too much to ask for anything different, though you’re by no means obliged to keep to it or to 1st person pov (i have a love-hate relationship with 1st person pov, ngl). missing moments from the novel or moments from the period of time they spent either courting or apart would be GREAT. for those two i actually don’t mind it too much if they’re already established, if it’s early on in the relationship when they’re still learning how to step around one another. the staryk lord flabbergasted or in awe of miryem is always Excellent(TM). bits of worldbuilding and staryk culture would be fun as applied to their relationship (such as the names thing, or courting habits, etc) as are AUs such as soulmates or alternate meetings and the like. if you’re wanting to go full universe AU, keeping some fairytale elements would be great!

if you’re going for nsfw? the name kink, holy shit that would be so goooood. the staryk lord being a bit of a masochist under miryem’s hands would also be great, and inhuman staryk genitals and erogenous zones/acts would be great to play with such as human body heat affecting them in different ways from normal, etc. bringing in his long hair would be a major plus. the build-up for the actual act is the best, so miryem and the staryk lord being super hot for each other while either denying it internally pre-relationship or being unable to go through with it post-relationship due to several factors (busy dealing with their people, no privacy, etc) would be EXCELLENT. so much fun can be had here!

--

PRINCESS AND THE FROG

i am 100% aware this is a weird-ass pairing but gods, the possibilities. it has so much potential. there are few things i like quite as much as a villain and a good person developing a strange sort of kinship with each other. this doesn’t have to mean in a romantic way, obviously! as i said, for me it’s the building understanding and reluctant respect that i really love, far more than the actual romance. 

ideas, ideas, ideas. i’m aware this is a rare relationship to either portray or ask for, so i’m gonna try to give some more concrete-ish ones for you to build up on if you have no clue as to how to approach this. we could have canonverse with charlotte dealing with the shadowman in some other matter while the main plot is occurring, making him feel somewhat guilty about the whole marriage plot with laurence-turned-naveen; cue introspection or an entirely different outcome. or a post-canon sort of hades&persephone plot, with charlotte curious despite herself and tempted to listen to a shadow/dead/whatever!dr facilier when she’s the only one that can hear him, or her being dragged Beneath as well in a freak accident and then charming him into helping her back to the surface/living world (very, veeeeery reluctantly on his part, at least at the start, he might have even be thinking of tricking her but then change his mind when the time comes to do it). i think dr facilier wouldn’t be sure how to deal with charlotte’s particular brand of personality and good humour, and it’d throw him off his rhythm a lot - that sort of thing is always super fun to write. 

soulmate au in canon would work pretty well, but with this pairing? FULL WORLD AU IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING. keeping to the shadowman sort of thing to her normal bougie self would be a major plus; it’s one of her charms. also, charlotte thinking that she wants one thing (her prince, for example) while keeping getting drawn to him time and time again could work on pretty much any era or setting. vice-versa for him, thinking he wants to be rid of her but coming to realize he’d actually miss her if she were to be gone. OR, charlotte deciding she wants this sullen manipulative bastard and manipulating HIM into taking her out and hanging out with her would be hilarious.

if you wanna do nsfw, i have only one major request: charlotte calling the shots/topping. i think this arrangement would be entirely in character for both of them (dr facilier would prob also enjoy having someone else do all the work lol) considering her go-getter attitude, but keeping in mind his manipulative personality i’d be more comfortable if she had some control over what was happening. ASIDE FROM THAT, dyou know what would be fun? a little darkness, and by that i mean consider dr facilier’s shadow joining in on the fun. shadows would also be an interesting sort of constraint. also i know i said charlotte calling the shots, but she can be constrained by the shadows while being amused by it or being used for it to happen (the latter case implying it’s not the first time that they’ve used it in bed play), or charlotte could team up with Shadow to do it to facilier instead. charlotte using her nails and facilier being a bit of a sub/masochist would also be pretty good!

(actually in general it’d be really fun if there was some complicity between charlotte and facilier’s shadow in general, regardless of nsfw or not. the shadow being wrapped around her little finger is an excellent concept, especially if facilier isn’t too fond of her just yet lmfao.) 

thank you for reading all my rambling, and i hope you have fun!

[zepuckinghockey]

Hockey Holidays Dear Author Letter

Hello author!

Thank you for reading this. I'm really excited to see what you come up with. If you want clarification on something here or to check if I like something specific, you can message me on anon or message @ice-ice-lizzie. She knows my tastes really well 😂

I’ll share some specific ideas for the pairings, but here is also a list of some tropes that I really like in general, and if one of theses speaks to you more than whatever I put in the actual pairing prompt, please go for it!

General Likes:

Established relationship

A/B/O

Secret relationships

Sugar Baby AUs (bonus points if they’re both somehow still in the NHL)

Enemies to Lovers

All Star Game / international game shenanigans

Light miscommunication

Body swap

Hockey curses

Werewolf AUs

Media fic (Twitter, Instagram, news articles, text messages, etc)

Goalie nesting

Identity porn

Falling in love over technology (texting/dating app/online forum)

Two person love triangle (I love my teammate but also this mysterious online person, and they’re the same person)

Christmas!

If you’re writing something smutty, I like genuine affection, laughs during sex, daddy kink, kink negotiation, Winner’s Room, consensual somnophilia, trying out new kinks in an established relationship, and size difference.

I’m not a fan of humiliation, an entire scene of rimming (sorry Nate), actual injuries caused by the scene (but if someone is injured and then goes into winner’s room, we’re good), boundary pushing during sex, straight up rape (don’t mind dubcon due to being drunk or winner’s room or similar).

General Dislikes:

Non-linear timelines

Kidfic (de-aging is totally fine! Just don’t want like wishbabies or other kids)

Name Soulmate AUs (where the name is written on the wrist or something)

AUs where neither person is a hockey player (AUs where one person is in the NHL and the other is not are still good)

Genderswap / Rule 63 / Always a Girl AU

Sad Endings

Existing real life partner bashing (just pretend they don’t exist if needed)

Death – major characters, minor characters, pets, don’t want none of it

Pairing Specific Info - this is all the same as the prompts on AO3:

Joey Daccord/Chris Driedger/Philipp Grubauer: This is such a fun trio for me. Some ideas for them: preseason ’22 shenanigans being soft with injured Chris, Grubi trying to get them to do German Christmas celebrations, goalie nesting (with one, two, or three of them at the same time), Joey as their joint sugar baby, online dating without realizing who they’re talking to

Sidney Crosby/Nathan MacKinnon: Strongly prefer Nate to be 20+ for any relationship. Some ideas for them: A/B/O courting chaos, Sid giving gifts, long distance communication (texting/calling through the season or playoffs), their families celebrating Christmas together, drunk hook-up at Nate’s Cup Day

Sidney Crosby/Claude Giroux: Enemies to lovers, my beloved. Some ideas for them: outsider POV on their established relationship, summer wedding date, hook-up at an international tournament/ASG, winner’s room during their peak anger years or as cheerfully familiar vets.

Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid: Secret relationship (how good they are at it up to you), hanging out in Connor's hot tub (and/or skinny dipping), rewards for milestones/good hockey, bio dom/sub AU, Grindr hook-up not knowing who they're talking to

Andre Burakovsky/Philipp Grubauer: Burky following Grubi from team to team makes my heart melt. Would love to see him as Grubi's preferred nesting partner, A/B/O dynamics, secret relationship, comfort during injuries, or soft away-from-families Christmas fic.

Thank you!

[hello-delicious-tea]

Dear Yuletide Author

Dear Yuletide Author,

I am so excited about participating this year! It's been a while for me, and I hope that one of these prompts leaves you full of glee about writing a story! Generally speaking, I enjoy reading things that are happy. I love kidfic and domesticity, I love get-together fic, I love first times, I love meetcutes - if it's sappy, I love it. I also enjoy thoughtful character arcs, hijinks-filled plot, and ridiculous romance-novel tropes. I'm down with E-rated fic! I also like terribly tragic stories where one character decides to do the right thing even though no one will ever know and it will destroy them. I also love pining, people who think they are suave and are not, and stories that fill in the holes in other stories.

I do not like: torture, noncon, dubcon, incest, pedophilia, ABO, watersports, humiliation - you get the picture. It's not that I don't like kink - I do! - but I don't like the ones that mess with major societal taboos. Or involve someone being degraded. Bondage? Hell to the yes. Dirty talk? Maaaaaybe, if it's character-driven. Teasing? Oh very much yes.

EOS10

I've just gotten into EOS10, and I am REALLY enjoying it. This is a very specific prompt: Akmazian, Alliance spy, is at the Academy while preparing for his next mission. He runs across Academy!Ryan, overworked, and dangerously self-destructive (I think that Ryan's self-destructiveness probably began long before his accident - his accident just gave him a specific way to express it)... and a competitive swimmer. Akmazian, of course, tries to hit on that, and falls flat on his face (metaphorically). Because he is not suave. He is cute, and that is usually enough for people to sleep with him, but Ryan is Not Having It. And soon, it becomes a game...

The Queen's Thief

More Irene. This one, I'd kind of like a character study for, or a scene from her perspective, or a challenge she has to face that we don't see or don't really see in the books. This one might be good as kidfic! Or maybe not. Very open here - Irene at any age, at any stage in her career, with or without Eugenides, with or without Helen. My ship for this fandom IS Irene/Eugenides, but I love seeing her friendship with Helen as well.

Spinning Silver

I love me some of Naomi Novik's lovely fairytale novels. However, I just... can't help but feel like all of her women would be better off with women. So, I'd either love to see a story that looks at just how complicated it would be to be in a relationship with either the Tsar (that boy is SCREWED UP) OR the Starek Lord, after all they've been through, OR a story where Miryem and the Starek Lord rule platonically, and Miryem and Irina fall in love, and the Tsar gets the time he needs to be the person he's never had a chance to become. Or Miryem and Wanda fall in love and Miryem lives with her wife and rules the Starek kingdom by day!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Sincerely,

Colourofsaying

[fansplaining]

A Rec List: Exceptions to the “No”

So, about ten million years ago, we posted our tropes survey. In it, people shared with us what tropes they liked most and least. But we knew that that’s not the whole story—there are exceptions. Fics that are so good they transcend the trope you don’t like. Ones where you start your recommendation “I don’t normally like X, but...”

So we put out a call for people to share their exceptions, and a few of you answered, and then the American political landscape caught on fire and we let it go for months. But we’re back in the saddle now! We’re not sharing who recced what because we didn’t say that we’d be doing that and we don’t want to violate anyone’s privacy. If you want to take credit, please feel free to do so by reblogging this or leaving a note in the comments...! And if you have an exception fic that should be here—send it along!

So with no further ado, the fics that people recommend as exceptions to the nos so far...

“To The Sky Without Wings,” Leupagus. 81k words, rated Mature. Fandom: Star Wars Ship: Poe Dameron/Luke Skywalker The reccer sez: As an educator, I'm really put off by student/teacher relationships and unequal power dynamics, but Gus handles these delicate situations both beautifully and realistically (to clarify: the student/teacher bit is unrequited but the relationship becomes more romantic later in life). Warnings: Author chose not to warn (but you get some idea from the rec).

“Angel Slayer,” emwebb17. 13.8k words, rated Explicit. Fandom: Supernatural RPF Ship: Jensen Ackles/Misha Collins The reccer sez: I am a Supernatural fan and always refused to read ANY kind of Supernatural RPF fanfiction. I was even thrown off by any reference to real-life anything in SPN fic. Well, that was until last week. [Emwebb17] kept the characters from Supernatural but had more freedom with them (the two brothers are not brothers anymore and are getting to know each other, which is awesome so read). I usually think that serial killer plotty fics are annoying and never surprising, but this one... wow. Warnings: Mild breathplay; graphic depictions of violence.

“A hole in the world,” AnnelieseMichel. 302kwords, rated Explicit. Fandom: Supernatural Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester; Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester The reccer sez:  I am very not into A/B/O but "A hole in the world" was absolutely amazing, it focuses on the civil rights movement of A/B/O dynamics in a way that reminds discrimination against women and LGBT, and everything is very smart. This fic goes beyond the sexual aspects of A/B/O and makes it only about the societal power dynamics, it's fascinating. Well, until the Mpreg at the end, which I don't love. Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence; rape/noncon.

“Don’t You Shake Alone,” Dira Sudis. 62k words, rated Explicit. Fandom: Generation Kill Ship: Brad Colbert/Nate Fick The reccer sez: I HAAAAAAATE kidfic. I make no apologies for this—I'm not a "kid" person and I don't ever want kids of my own, so why would I want to read about my favorite characters having kids? But my ironclad exception to this rule is Dira Sudis's Don't You Shake Alone, the Brad/Nate relationship of my dreams, plus a baby so adorable even I am helplessly forced to adore him.  I have read it many many times. Warnings: No AO3 warnings apply.

“Last Outpost Of All That Is” by gekizetsu. 62k words, rated NC-17. Fandom: Supernatural Ship: Wincest The reccer sez: Despite not liking the incest trope at all, this fic is BRILLIANT and I can't rec it enough. It's well-written, deals with heavy themes and packs incredible emotional punches. Warnings: Incest, obviously.

And last but not least, a rec for an author’s entire body of work...

The reccer sez: @writelikeitsgoingoutofstyle (tumblr/A03). Hamilton fandom, writes a lot of kink fic that I'm usually Not About That, but Holy Jesus. Kris writes THE BEST kink fic—no the BEST SMUT I have ever read in my 10+yrs in multiple fandoms. It is always filthy but yet so loving and legit (consent! aftercare!) that I can finish a fisting fic feeling like I just read pure fluff. 1000% will read anything Kris does, any pairing/kink!

If this list brings you joy—SEND US MORE! We’d love to have a more complete list, so message us and we’ll keep adding to it as long as anyone has any exception fic recs to share. :D