#ruinconstellation recs

[ruinconstellation]

Fic recs for The Hands of the Emperor

@rattyjol @wingedscribe @savrenim @far-sector @ariaste, and if you know an author’s tumblr handle and I haven’t yet tagged them, please do pass this along!

SPOIILERS AHEAD. Most of these contain spoilers for Artorin Damara's secret name, and some have other spoilers.

Trial by Fire by astrocryptographer. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 4,040 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: Kip/HR.

Cliopher sayo Mdang trials as the Sun-on-Earth’s personal secretary. Incidentally, they learn that the taboo against eye contact has lifted, and that the one against touch has not.

Refraction by astrocryptographer. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 9,249 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: Kip/HR. 

“If each of my two natures, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable.” -The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In a lonely tower, a young man without a name mixes a potion out of an old alchemy book, and in the mirror Fitzroy Angursell looks back.

Hold on Forever by SunInGlory. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 16,959 words, 2/2 chapters. Relationship: Kip/HR.

Kip hated the sense of desolation in the man's voice, the despair, the resignation at the foundering of the ship that was his ke'ea. No one should have to give up— “You could always stay here,” he offered. “No one would ever know.” The man’s head popped up in astonishment—and, for the first time since coming in through Saya Dorn's pantry, he looked right at Kip, directly into Kip's eyes. (in which the newly crowned Emperor keeps tumbling through to Saya Dorn’s house.)

In the Office of Friendship by astrocryptographer. Rating: General Audiences. No warnings. 3,079 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: The Imperial Household. 

First Commander Omo suggested that his Radiancy retire, and that was bad enough, but then he just. Kept talking. Imperial Guardsman Elish was going to need a second vacation. If he survived this conversation.

Protocol One by astrocryptographer. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. Warning: Major Character Death. 18,836 words, 4/4 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR.

Protocol One: The Unexpected Death of the Lord Magus of Zunidh (the Last Emperor, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Sun-on-Earth, all ten thousand of his titles, his Radiancy, Cliopher’s dear friend)—how it is followed, and how it is not, and how the world somehow continues to turn.

Bloodstained Threnodies by astrocryptographer. Rating: Mature. Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings. 2,113 words, 1/1 chapters. Character: HR.

The Emperor of Astandalas died so that the Empire could live. The Empire in return sustained the Emperor with blood: a perfect, vicious symmetry which stabilized the magic of five worlds. We were never certain when precisely in our reign it could be said that we died. (The Emperor is a vampire.)

Arrest by astrocryptographer, complete series, 72,212 words, 2 works. The Arrest of Cliopher Mdang, rating: Teen and Up Audiences, no warnings, 69,381 words, 13/13 chapters. Acquittal, rating: General Audiences, 2,831 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR, the Imperial Household.

When the Last Emperor and Lord Magus of Zunidh declares Cliopher an enemy of the world, a threat to peace and prosperity, a Terror to rival those of the fallen Empire, what else can he do but live up to the legends? (or: the Moon Lady sets a curse on His Radiancy, causing him to hate Cliopher in an inverse of the love he bears. How can Cliopher break the curse?)

with a winged heart by celebros. Rating: Explicit. No warnings. 33,064 words, 6/6 chapters. Relationship: Kip/HR.

"Cliopher. Cliopher. Cliopher." I blink. It's Conju, standing with his hands on my shoulders, and I go to answer him and realize that I am already speaking, babbling, and Franzel is behind him, wringing his hands and looking near tears. I try to focus on what I'm saying, but it's like a stream, light and splashing past me, too quick to hold, not enough to catch, somehow, somehow –  (A few weeks before the start of the viceroyship ceremonies, Kip finds himself the unwitting recipient of a truth serum.)

Inner Guard by rattyjol. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 903 words, 1/1 chapters. Character: Ludvic Omo.

His grandfather had liked to say that every piece of wood had something beautiful inside it, calm and quiescent like a wingfinger on a cold morning. It took a sharp knife and steady hands to bring it forth, but it took a carver’s eyes to show it the sun and let it fly.

Friday Keeps Coming Next by rattyjol, complete series, 44,495 words, 2 works. Friday Keeps Coming Next, rating: Teen and Up Audiences, no major warnings (temporary character death), 38,198 words, 10/10 chapters. Thursday Won't Ever End, rating: Teen and Up Audiences, no major warnings (again, temporary character death), 6,297 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR. 

On Cliopher's first day as imperial secretary, breaking the taboo of eye contact causes a perpetual time loop for Cliopher and His Radiancy. What could go wrong? 

The Virtue of Being True by electropeach. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 15,685 words, 3/3 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR, the Imperial Household.

"You're under an enchantment, Cliopher. The good news is that the protections his Radiancy has placed on you have shielded you; the bad news is that the protections that block the spell are also reflecting it, meaning that instead of you it affects everyone who comes near you. You may have noticed an unusual propensity for candor in your vicinity today?" (A reverse truth serum plot leads to Cliopher having a very strange day.)

The Ones We Call by Name by ketchupblood. Rating: General Audiences. No warnings. 7,222 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: the Imperial Household. 

He was the Emperor, the Sun-on-Earth, and the Lord of Ten Thousand Titles. For just a moment, he let himself hope that someone might dare to call him by name. Or: his Radiancy realizes that his personal secretary and the groom of his chamber are... friends.

Dispatches from the Junior Secretariat by wingedScribe. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 62,321 words, 8/14 chapters (no cliffhangers). Relationship: the junior secretaries (Gaudy, Tully, Zaoul, Eldo, Iro, Iri), Kip & HR. 

Gaudy Vawen is leaving home to follow his uncle. Eldo Vardes is doing the same to defy his father. Zaoul wants to find the answers to questions only he is asking, and Tully wants to find problems only she can sort out. They collide in Solaara, where they find the Imperial Bureaucratic Service poised to aid the greatest transition in government since the Fall. And also, where they find themselves the somewhat-captive but very intrigued peanut gallery to the lives of both Cliopher Mdang and His Radiancy the Emperor. A retelling of parts of Hands of the Emperor through the the sometimes-comprehending, often-bemused, always-intrigued eyes of Gaudy, Tully, Zaoul, and Eldo as they grow and advance in the Service.

Epithalamion by oliviacirce. Rating: Explicit. No Warnings. 10,611 words, 1/1 chapters. Relationship: Kip/HR.

"Right," Zemius said. "So—when Dora asked His Serene and Radiant Holiness the Last Emperor if the regency ceremony was a wedding, it reminded me of something, and well, Kip, I don't think you're going to want to hear this, but the thing is—it was a wedding." (in which the Viceroyship ceremony was accidentally a wedding)

a buried and a burning flame by savrenim. Rating: Mature. No warnings. 16,538 words, 1/15 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR.

Cliopher Mdang's hands were stained gold years before he came into the Emperor's service. (Or: the one where Kip went home after the Fall accompanied by Tor, a ghostly man, and returned to Solaara with golden soulmate marks on his arms.)

flies far, far home by nsmorig. Rating: General Audiences. No warnings. 5,576 words, 2/13 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR. 

In Astandalas in the years before the Fall, far from home and desperately lonely, Kip makes a friend. If the Emperor can be a man without a soul then, logically, Kip can be friends with a soul without its associated man. (daemon au, albatross style)

Not a fic. A Fancy-Man and Foreign: A Case Study of Cliopher Mdang by Ariaste. Nonfiction meta, an analysis of the cultural byplay in The Hands of the Emperor. 9,909 words.

soon, they said, if not today by Ariaste. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No warnings. 44,417 words, 4/4 chapters. Relationship: Kip & HR.

Cliopher passes the Imperial exams on the first try. It changes everything. (In which Cliopher Mdang meets the Emperor two years after his reign begins.)

one for sorrow, two for joy by Ariaste. Rating: Teen and Up Audiences. No major warnings (warning: imprisonment). 35,528 words, 4/4 chapters.

The Emperors of Astandalas did not have daemons. Cliopher knew this could not, technically, be true. Thinking this thought, even in the quietest whisper in his deepest heart of hearts, was undeniably treason, but…. facts were facts: The Emperors of Astandalas, though worshipped as gods on earth, were each of them born a human being before they were apotheosized by the crown and by law and custom. Every human being had a soul; therefore, every human being had a daemon. So the Emperors of Astandalas must have had daemons. But by tradition and ritual and magic and taboo: The Emperors of Astandalas did not have daemons. (daemon au, manatura style)

hélouzithe, hélouzanth by nsmorig. Rating: Explicit. No warnings. 7,546 words, 1/1 chapters. 

In court’s long sleeves, the Astandalan greeting, gripping the forearms, might not involve any actual contact of skin, and Cliopher’s hands are holding his sleeves, but Cliopher is not in court’s long sleeves, and his fingertips spread across the curve of skin before the elbow.

Works containing At the Feet of the Sun spoilers that I haven't read yet but these authors are definitely skilled: 

dream only of stars and songs by electropeach, 70k words, 3 works, rating: T.

when every no turns into maybe by Ariaste, 30k words, 5/5 chapters, rating: T. 

Lastly: if you have any fic recs for HOTE, please add them to this post!

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Avamorphs by suzukiblu (@suzukiblu). 90k. It’s the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender as Animorphs, with Zuko as a yeerk in the human boy Lee.

Parting the Clouds by Derin (@derinthescarletpescatarian). 885k, Cassie POV, very heavy on the themes. An incredible read.

Wikipedia: Guidelines for Covering Extraterrestrial Topics by primeideal. 1.5k. What it says on the tin.

Alterhuman by acaciapines. 29k. Summary: After Rachel's death, Tobias meets a Yeerk nothlit, and doesn't know where to go from there.

Portraits from the Revolution by Callmesalticidae. A set of short stories about Yeerks, after the war is done.

The Persistence of Memory by SoloMoon (@thejakeformerlyknownasprince​). 11k. A set of short stories, very heart-wrenching. 

Eleutherophobia by SoloMoon. My #1 favourite, well-crafted, masterfully executed writing. 322k. Tom and Eva survived the war.

What's your favourite animorphs fanfiction?

Tptigger's “The Tocsin” is my personal #1 favorite!

However, a few other Animorphs fics that stand out for me:

Animorphs: Facebook News Feed Edition by Ember Nickel.  This is hilarious and whacky and has some great commentary on Animorphs’ imperfect continuity.

The Hork-Bajir Job and Teach Me How to Say Goodbye by Poetry (@featherquillpen on Tumblr).  Both of these crossovers are extremely different in tone, format, content, and plot.  However, both accomplish exactly what I always want from a crossover, by providing awesome characterization for the canon team and brilliant commentary on the ways they’d function in a situation very different from canon.

Take Me Out by neinlives.  This one is just high-quality good fun.  It’s set in a postwar world where the characters get to be happy, which I always love.

Elfangor’s Folly by KimHoppy.  Probably my favorite long read in the Animorphs fandom, this is a full-series retelling of Elfangor sticking around to train the Animorphs that makes excellent use of subtly biased narration.

Please other people add your own!  I feel bad that I’ve racked up so many dead links as things have been taken down, and this is a super-informal list off the top of my head that’s probably missing a lot of good ones.  Self-promotion is 100% encouraged.

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Fic rec: "Dispatches from the Junior Secretariat" by @wingedscribe

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Fandoms: The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard, Nine Worlds - Victoria Goddard Relationships: Gaudy Vawen & Tully nai Vasiaan, Gaudy Vawen & Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, Gaudy Vawen & Tully nai Vasiaan & Zaoul of the Tkinele, Gaudy Vawen & Lord Eldo Vardes Characters: Gaudy Vawen, Tulliantha nai Vasiaan, Zaoul of the Tkinele, Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, Artorin Damara, Lord Eldo Vardes, Kiri Kalikiri, Aioru (The Hands of the Emperor) Additional Tags: Bureaucracy, Leaving Home, Family Feels, Cliopher Mdang's Relentless Competence, POV Outsider, closer to POV Newcomer actually, but that's not a tag, Canon-Typical Court Racism, Fabricated Thunder Lizard Facts Sorry Tully, Familial Rejection, Fitzroy Angursell Poetry Readings, One-Sided Rivalry, Misunderstandings, Gratuitous Use of Metaphor, Canon-Typical Gazing, The Mortifying Ordeal Of Knowing Your Boss Is Human When He's Supposed To Be An Emperor, Canon-Typical Speculation about Cliopher/His Radiancy, sibling dynamics

Summary:

Gaudy Vawen is leaving home to follow his uncle. Eldo Vardes is doing the same to defy his father. Zaoul wants to find the answers to questions only he is asking, and Tully wants to find problems only she can sort out. They collide in Solaara, where they find the Imperial Bureaucratic Service poised to aid the greatest transition in government since the Fall. And also, where they find themselves the somewhat-captive but very intrigued peanut gallery to the lives of both Cliopher Mdang and His Radiancy the Emperor. A retelling of parts of Hands of the Emperor through the the sometimes-comprehending, often-bemused, always-intrigued eyes of Gaudy, Tully, Zaoul, and Eldo as they grow and advance in the Service.

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Chapters: 13/13 Fandom: Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard, The Lays of the Hearth-Fire Series - Victoria Goddard Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Artorin Damara | Fitzroy Angursell & Cliopher "Kip" Mdang Characters: Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, Artorin Damara | Fitzroy Angursell, Rhodin an Gaiange, Conju an Vilius, Ludvic Omo Additional Tags: Adventure, Heartbreak, Canon-Typical Treason, Canon-Atypical Treason, it's a process and Cliopher is going through it, me-typical emotional turmoil, Crimes & Criminals, (literal and figurative), unhealthy relationship vibes, (not really the intent but just as a content warning), so much lore i just made up, don't think about time

Summary:

When the Last Emperor and Lord Magus of Zunidh declares Cliopher an enemy of the world, a threat to peace and prosperity, a Terror to rival those of the fallen Empire, what else can he do but live up to the legends?

Rec reasons:

episodic, non-chronological format

beautiful prose

some of the most hilarious moments I’ve ever read

gorgeous narrative and themes

have I mentioned the prose yet?

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Chapters: 11/23 Fandom: Naruto Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara, Senju Tobirama & Senju Touka, Senju Kawarama & Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna & Uchiha Madara Characters: Uchiha Madara, Senju Tobirama, Senju Touka, Senju Kawarama, Uzumaki Mito, Uchiha Izuna Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soul Bond, Necromancer Senju Tobirama, Demon Uchiha Madara, Past Child Abuse, Past Child Death, Senju Butsuma's A+ Parenting, Uchiha Tajima's A+ Parenting, Trauma, Trauma Recovery, Happy Ending, (I don't write unhappy endings I promise), Kid Fic, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, empathic abilities Summary:

Ever since getting kicked out of Hell, Madara’s been trying his best to make sure Konoha doesn’t go off the deep end, magic-wise. He likes humans, after all. What he doesn’t like are arrogant necromancers who come along and undo all of his hard work.

A series of decade-old murders once tore Tobirama’s family apart. After years of study and countless false leads, Tobirama finally has a successful resurrection to his name, but one soul remains out of his reach, somewhere in the depths of Hell. He knows better than to deal with demons, but he’s starting to run low on options—and he would do anything to to bring all of his brothers home again.

They meet at a crossroads. As tends to happen at junctions of fate… things change.

Rec of @miniongrin’s fic!

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MDZS / The Untamed / CQL fanfic recs

(I have read around 600,000 words of mdzs/the untamed fanfic in the last *checks notes* 3 days. These are listed in the order I read them in. I’m pretty sure they all have happy endings, and for most, no archive warnings apply.)

What Could Have Been by tucuxi @tux-kate (part 1 of Working Title: Everyone Lives (With Knives)). T, 27k, series total 50k. Jin Guangyao-centric in an AU. 

Crumpled at the base of Koi Tower’s long stairs for the second time, Jin Guangyao presses his face into the stone, takes a deep breath despite re-broken ribs, and arranges his features as carefully as he knows how. Then he stands, moving carefully around the pain, and bows deep, arms held straight and true. The walk back up the steps to his father's side is painful enough to wipe the smile from his face; it is not painful enough to prevent him re-taking his place as seneschal, bowing again at the top of the steps. As he straightens, he prioritizes his plans for his father’s demise over all else.

places under the sky by narie (narie on Dreamwidth). T, 18k. During his wanderings, Wei Wuxian happens across the village where his father, Wei Changze, was born. 

Wei Wuxian braces himself for what might come next, the story of how this man died by the Yiling Patriarch's hand—at Nightless City, at the Burial Mounds, as the rest of the sects tried to bring that great villain to account. "What was his name?"

Uncle Gan sits back, twiddles his thumbs as he thinks. "Well, it'd be Wei something, of course."

"Wei Changze, wasn't it?" chimes in a new person, and if anyone agrees or disagrees, Wei Wuxian does not hear them. His wine bowl slips from his grip and the sudden clatter of it barely registers over the unexpected sounds of his father's name. Wei Changze, slipping so careless from a stranger's mouth here in small Taozi, here of all places under the open sky.

Wei Changze.

Wei Wuxian meets his grandmother. No, not the immortal one. The other one.

abstract concepts, applicable by narie. T, 13k. Modern academia AU. 

Lan Wangji meets Wei Wuxian in Foundations of Machine Learning, which Lan Wangji is taking as an elective because he expects he'll get asked to teach something like this as soon as he lands his own tenure track job. He doesn't expect to enjoy it, and he doesn't.

Science AU time! In which Lan Zhan and Wei Ying meet in grad school in the USA at a fancy Ivy League university, and things progress from there (actual science content is light, never fear).

Dragon's Gall by ritualist @jelenedra. M, 5k, epistolary as a future analysis of messages hidden within Madam Lan’s weaving.

Recovered from the excavation of the Cloud Recesses in 34 Chongjian, the tapestries of Shui Jiuzai are one of the only surviving examples of the fibrecrafts of the Yangyan era.

(Or, the marriage of Madam Lan, in her own words.)

Restoration by ritualist. M, 85k, Yiling Wei sect AU. 

They say he was thrown into Luanzang Gang by the man who killed his parents; they say that he is an immortal cultivator who had been in a deep trance until the Wen sect disturbed his rest and incurred his wrath; they say that he is the fierce corpse of a cultivator who had somehow regained his mind and his spiritual powers. When Lan Wangji sees him for the first time, he understands why people talk.

Meng Yao wants safety. Xue Yang wants vengeance. The Sunshot Campaign wants victory. Yiling Laozu provides, for a price.

The Life Cycle of the Frog and the Fish by Aerlalaith @aerlalaith​. T, 53k, modern reincarnation AU with Wei Wuxian raised partially by Baoshan Sanren.

“Huh,” Wei Wuxian said finally. He was staring at the guy’s face, lips parted. “He’s kind of…” he tilted his head. “Hot?”

“Don’t you dare,” said Jiang Cheng, “try and sleep with the random hobo we found sleeping in a haunted fucking cave.”

(Reincarnation has its pitfalls.)

somehow, someway, we all get to someday by Stratisphyre. T, 76k, role reversal AU with Cangse Sanren x Wei Changze x Lan Qiren.

“That’s not why they called us,” Wei Changze said, brow creased in utter disbelief. “They want us to step in and take over leadership of YunmengJiang.”

When Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan die while on a night hunt, the leadership of the Jiang sect unexpectedly falls to a former servant and a rogue cultivator.

A role reversal AU.

a convergence of lightning by Stratisphyre. T, 33k, modern AU centering around Lan Qiren, and also again featuring CSSR and WCZ.

In the end, the decision was easy.

"I've come to tell you I have accepted a position at Yiling University."

Qingheng-jun's attention drifted back to his phone. "Not very prestigious is it?”

"I am taking the professorship. I am also taking the boys."

After the death of their mother, Lan Qiren removes his nephews from Cloud Recesses to Yiling.

there is no limited dimensions by Stratisphyre. M, 84k (WIP with one chapter remaining), Star Trek AU. 

Wei Wuxian whistled. "Wow, Captain, you’re probably glad you managed to deal with that before the new stuffed shirts from Starfleet arrived."

Nie Mingjue heaved a sigh which practically shook the station. Whoever said the only emotion Klingons knew how to emote was anger clearly had never seen one of them irritated. Wei Wuxian had a lot of firsthand experience with it.

Nie Mingjue straightened and turned to the Vulcans standing alongside Wei Wuxian. "Commander Lan, Lieutenant Commander Lan. Welcome to Baxia Station."

Oh.

"Are you Lieutenant Commander Lan or Commander Lan?" Wei Wuxian asked the painfully beautiful and definitely annoyed Vulcan beside him.

The question earned him a cutting glare. "Lieutenant Commander Lan Wangji."

Well, that had to count for something, right?

Lieutenant Commander Lan Wangji joins Baxia Station as Head Science Officer. Of all the things he anticipates upon accepting the commission, Wei Wuxian is not among them.

i’ll take a secondhand monster by Stratisphyre. T, 25k, young Mo Xuanyu meets Wei Wuxian

“You must not stray to the lower levels, A-Yu,” Yao-ge told him with his scary, empty smile. “Or else I shall tell the beast down there to eat you.”

There is a monster in Koi Tower.

the cow says moo, the chicken says squawk, and the demon beast of yiling says by Dragonskye. T, 58k, Beauty and the Beast AU. 

If Lan Wangji had been asking for reasons of fame or money or power (not that he was suffering a shortage of any of those attributes) that would have been one thing. But siblings were a different story entirely. If Jiang Cheng and Yanli were sick, then Wei Wuxian probably would have done just about anything to get those flowers.

"Huh," Wei Wuxian said. "Alright, you can have them."

Lan Wangji's eyes went wide, and Wei Wuxian choked. "I mean-! You can have them if you become my prisoner forever!"

In which Lan Wangji, famed Second Jade of Lan, is not actually taken captive by the fearsome Demon Beast of Yiling. But for some reason, he stays anyways.

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Animorphs fic recs

All of these fics have a rating of M at the most. Please read the works’ warnings first, though.

Avamorphs by suzukiblu (@suzukiblu). 90k. It’s the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender as Animorphs, with Zuko as a yeerk in the human boy Lee.

Parting the Clouds by Derin (@derinthescarletpescatarian). 885k, Cassie POV, very heavy on the themes. An incredible read.

Wikipedia: Guidelines for Covering Extraterrestrial Topics by primeideal. 1.5k. What it says on the tin.

Alterhuman by acaciapines. 29k. Summary: After Rachel's death, Tobias meets a Yeerk nothlit, and doesn't know where to go from there.

Portraits from the Revolution by Callmesalticidae. A set of short stories about Yeerks, after the war is done.

The Persistence of Memory by SoloMoon (@thejakeformerlyknownasprince​). 11k. A set of short stories, very heart-wrenching.

Eleutherophobia by SoloMoon. My #1 favourite, well-crafted, masterfully executed writing. 322k. Tom and Eva survived the war.

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Fic rec: "Tall Tales" by kay_cricketed (@columbinepurples).

Fandom: The Magnificent 7 (movie 2016). Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Warnings: graphic depictions of violence, temporary character deaths Relationships: Vasquez/Joshua Faraday, Billy Rocks/Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux, Sam Chisolm & Emma Cullen, Red Harvest & Jack Horne, Emma Cullen/Matthew Cullen Characters: Sam Chisolm, Vasquez, Joshua Faraday, Billy Rocks, Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux, Emma Cullen, Red Harvest, Jack Horne, Teddy Q, Bartholomew Bogue, Denali Summary: When Rose Creek falls to the blight that is Bartholomew Bogue and his Blackstones, Emma Cullen rides out in search of men who are more than blood and bone and tooth. In the golden age of tall tales, she finds some of the tallest to lead her ragtag army, each of them with their own reason for being there. While Sam Chisolm searches for some form of justice and Goodnight Robicheaux struggles to keep his death toll in check, the silver-tongued whirlwind that is Joshua Faraday finds himself drawn to a good-natured vaquero with his own share of secrets. wordcount: 46,549.

Why I'm recommending this fic:

it is a beautiful work with amazing prose

I read the story in about three hours flat and I want you to be sucked into it too

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Tortall - Tamora Pierce Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau/Delia of Eldorne, Delia of Eldorne/Jonathan of Conté Characters: Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, Delia of Eldorne, Jonathan of Conté, Roxanne of Haryse, Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, Gareth I of Naxen, Myles of Olau, Gary of Naxen Additional Tags: Courtly Love, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Canon-Typical Sexism, and other stuff, Duelling, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Disguise, Unrequited Love, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Audio Format: Streaming Summary:

A podfic of "ourselves we do not owe" by rain_sleet_snow / @rain-sleet-snow

Alanna doesn't like Delia of Eldorne.

At least, not at first.

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Ru (or Ruth), she/her

ao3: RuinConstellation

dreamwidth: ruthchinn

email: ruthbschinn@gmail.com

mutual or not, tag me on posts of: pretty landscapes, dessert recipes, fluffy animals, fic recs.

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KinnPorsche fic recs

between the sheets by DasWarSchonKaputt / @daswarschonkaputt -- E, 50k with one chapter remaining, KinnPorsche fake dating AU

talk shit, get hit by snickerdoodlles / @thecookiemonster77 -- T, 13k, might become a series, KimChay + Tankhun mid-series (season 1)

the dark by @moerusai and @luckydragon10 -- M, fanvid, song: Glitter & Gold, focus KinnPorsche (ao3 external bookmark here)

checkmate by @majestictortoise -- 27k series wip, post-series (season 1) politics and relationships

     Machine Gun Kick, T, 14k, KinnPorsche and KimChay

     Counterpunch, M, 12k, VegasPete

like a trigger (get me ready to shoot) by Lise / @veliseraptor -- M/E, 7k, sadist Vegas

The King's Tree by LuckyDragon / @luckydragon10​ -- E, 59k wip, soulmate KinnPorsche and KimChay

none of us will ever know by themastersbeard -- M, 2.5k series, soft KimChay

gone fishing by snickerdoodlles / @thecookiemonster77 -- T, 1.6k, KimChay

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Kinnporsche recs pt 2

My first rec list post for KP, mainly fanfic.

practice resurrection by Lirelyn -- T, 1k, end of series (season 1), VegasPete

mine by heart -- T, fanvid, VegasPete

toxic by yory -- E, fanvid, VegasPete

whose fight by yory -- T, fanvid, Kim

he's a gentleman by @daltoneering -- M, fanvid, VegasPete

worth it by mourningsun -- T, fanvid, KimChay

rumour has it by MedicineForNormality -- T, fanvid, Kim

now you know by seikarin -- M, fanvid, VegasPete

find it in your eyes by seikarin -- T, fanvid, VegasPete and KinnPorsche

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Assembled recent fic recs

KinnPorsche: The Series

reignite by lusn. 2.3k oneshot, post-canon Nampheung POV. Rating: T, no warnings.

Namphueng has been endlessly dreaming. She can only tell because for the first time in years, she might finally be awake.

on the rocks by DasWarSchonKaputt. 16k wip (currently 1/7 chapters), KinnPorscheTay starting pre-canon. Rating: E, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

Tay finds the bar because he’s pissed, heart-broken, and sick of people recognising him when he’s trying to forget who he is.

checkmate by majestictortoise. 73k series wip (currently 5/8 planned works), romance and gen including three main canon pairings, set post-canon. Rating: M, no archive warnings apply.

"And I think," Pete said, "both you and Vegas think that your fathers succeeded with each other." He rolled his head to the side and smiled at Kinn. "But you're both wrong. And that's a good thing."

The Sandman (TV 2022)

and in the waking world we wait and want by qqueenofhades. 125k wip (currently 11/? chapters), pre-canon Dream/Hob, very historically focused. Rating: M, warning: graphic depictions of violence.

“Did I hear you say,” the pale stranger asks, “that you have no intention of ever dying?”

Hob Gadling shrugs. No point in denying it.

“Yeah.”

Original Work

The Beldam & the Baronet (Or, The Magician Debutante's Trials & Tribulations) by dwellingondreams. 77k wip (currently 18/? chapters), gen-focused with romance also, Victorian setting, magic and sorcery. Rating: G, no archive warnings apply.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a prodigious magical talent, must be in want of a husband.

Fox’s Tongue and Kirin’s Bone by MuffinLance. Long wip (currently 69/? chapters) not hosted on ao3, very gen-focused, dragons and doppelgangers. Rating: G or T, no archive warnings apply.

Humanity is dying, hunted to extinction by creatures of legend. One boy was born to save them all.

That boy just got knifed in the back. He looked a bit too much like Aaron, you see.

Now it’s Aaron’s job to step up, lest his Death correct that little mix-up. But Aaron’s skills as a street rat run more towards stealing and stabbing than towards saving. And the more he learns of what brought dear dead Markus to that fatal alleyway, the more he has to wonder just what the world’s savior was really up to the night the wrong boy died.

MDZS / The Untamed (TV)

Courage was my companion by Erisette. 127k, aro-ace JC/MianMian relationship in the middle years. 

Mianmian almost thought she’d gotten away with it with her dignity completely intact, until she found herself on the floor of her small room in tears because she didn’t have any outer robes that weren’t yellow.

cast your bitterness into the sea by Kilerkki. 62k wip (currently 9/12 chapters), Jiang Cheng x OC Wen sect leader. Rating: M, no archive warnings apply.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman who has just overthrown her megalomaniac brother and taken control of his sect, must be in want of a husband.

Keep Track of Losing Days by giraffeter. 75k, modern wangxian, mystery. Rating: T, no archive warnings apply.

Lan Wangji is a police detective who's rapidly falling in love with his antifa activist neighbor, Wei Ying — until Wei Ying disappears, and Lan Wangji and his hotheaded partner, Nie Mingjue, are assigned the Missing Persons case. Now Lan Wangji is in a race against time to find a man who seems to have disappeared without a trace, while trying to keep his feelings a secret from everyone around him (and maybe, if he has time, convince his brother to break up with his creepy boyfriend and date Wangji's partner instead).

Wei Ying is mixed up in something dangerous. Lan Wangji is going to find him.

Naruto

ANBU Legacy by Kilerkki, Nezuko, saunterleftside, others. Fic-focused blog, main fic website for full access, as it is not yet all posted to ao3. Present ao3 wordcount is 500k, but total of entire story is at least twice or thrice that. Very gen-focused, also with romance. Main characters are Hatake Kakashi, Namiashi Raidou, Shiranui Genma, and OCs Tousaki Ryouma and Ueno Katsuko, and other canon and original characters later gaining prominence. Rating: E, graphic descriptions of violence.

Approximately four years after the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi, watch the young men and women of ANBU, who take the vow to defend their Hokage and the village at all costs.

James Bond

Echoes from the Crossed Wires by TriffidsandCuckoos. 2.6k oneshot, various relationships, time-seeing Q. Rating: T, no archive warnings apply.

If he needs a label – and really, why should he, when he hardly intends to inform anybody of the fact – then a more appropriate one would be a time-viewer (or, as it can feel, a time-voyeur).

Good Omens

my words are growin' stronger, and my legs keep gettin' longer by weekend_conspiracy_theorist. 35k, post-canon trans Warlock Dowling, gen. Rating: T, no archive warnings apply.

Warlock Dowling is disillusioned with the magic of her childhood, uncomfortable in social situations, and skeptical of the existence of ghosts. 

Or: what's it like, to be the Chosen One but not to BE the Chosen One? (Especially when one is also eighteen, trans, a lesbian, and a witch.)

Harry Potter

Heal Thyself by astolat. 47k, post-canon healer Draco, drarry. Rating: T, no archive warnings apply.

"Are you going for the course?" Lovegood asked. "You have the NEWTs.”

“What course?” Draco said, then, “No, don’t be ridiculous,” when he realized she meant the notice pinned up on the board he’d been staring at: Applicants To The Introductory Mediwizard Course For The Coming Term Shall Present Themselves In The Chief Mediwizard’s Office By August 24th.

“Oh, I thought you might,” she said. “Well, goodbye.” And off she wandered again in her addled way.

BNHA

not all heroes wear capes by JoWithTheFlow. 38k series (main work complete), gen-focused with prior canon divergence. Rating: T, no archive warnings apply.

“I bullied another kid so much he jumped off the roof of our middle school,” Bakugou said, so suddenly that Shouto actually paused to look at him.

Shouto considered. There wasn’t really a good way to respond to a statement like that. That’s pretty horrible of you. Maybe you shouldn’t have done that. Why the hell would you care enough about another person to actually actively bully them? He decided on, “That’s pretty fucked up.”

Beyond the Broken Horizon by JoWithTheFlow. 239k wip (currently 44/? chapters), mainly gen-focused, Izuku as a Shiketsu student. Rating: T, warning: graphic depictions of violence.

About a week after that, All Might asked Izuku if he was aiming for the hero course at UA. The question was so sudden that Izuku nearly dropped a microwave on his toes.

The truth was, if All Might had asked him that a week ago, there would have only been one possible answer to that question. All Might had gone to UA, UA was the best, so Izuku was going to go there too, if he could. But things were a little different, now that he was going to receive All Might’s Quirk.

[ruinconstellation]

Recent fic recs

Includes a variety of ratings and themes.

Star Wars

edge of providence by @adiduck and whimsicalimages (@keensers) - 242k wip

Journey to the Center of the Galaxy by @phoenixyfriend - 75k

through hardships to the stars by KivaEmber - 134k wip

Put Color in Your Cheeks by @dharmaavocado - 51k

BNHA

Subject to Change by BonesofBirdWings - 91k

Yesterday Upon The Stair by PitViperOfDoom - 424k

KinnPorsche (TV Series)

between the sheets by @daswarschonkaputt - 29k wip

DC

These Small Hours by Hinn_Raven - 56k

The Untamed / MDZS

mianmian saves the cultivation world and is also gay af by likeshipsonthesea - 34k

The One-Body Problem by metisket - 29k

Merlin (TV)

Dragons Soar the Skies With Plentiful Fields Below by Batsutousai

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Cheating at Pai Sho by @muffinlance - 35k wip

Towards the Sun by muffinlance - 98k wip

Little Zuko v the World by muffinlance - 110k wip

Salvage by muffinlance - 127k

While Mighty Oaks Do Fall by WitchofEndor - 150k wip

Harry Potter

Had we but world enough and time by seekeronthepath - 47k wip

Severus Snape and the Boy Who Lived by seekeronthepath - 106k wip

Ex Scientia Vera by missgoalie75 - 114k

the stars look very different today by minkhollow - 25k wip

Swung by Serafim by @deadcatwithaflamethrower - 352k

Into the Arena by LullabyKnell - 124k

Shadow and Bone / Grisha ‘verse

why draw me to that promised land by @qqueenofhades - 168k

Crossover

what a bunch of assholes (or: theon + starks as guardians of the galaxy) by QueenWithABeeThrone - 64k

city of the future (or: the hamdevil au) by QueenWithABeeThrone - 62k

[ruinconstellation]

Recent fic recs

These works contain a variety of ratings and warnings, please check those first.

BNHA

yesterday i died, tomorrow's bleeding by Child_OTKW - 25k wip

todofam AU by cyan96 - 35k wip

AllMightAllTheTime said at 12:13pm: by Reavv - 71k wip

Twin Swap by miniongrin - 56k, series, currently on hiatus

and the universe said you are not alone by petrichor (findingkairos) - 124k wip

Harry Potter

i think i've seen this film before by magneticwave - 25k

KinnPorsche

talk shit, get hit by snickerdoodles - 13k, might become a series

MDZS / The Untamed

Covered By Frost and Snow by Siamesa - 44k, almost complete save for epilogue

Three Gates by nirejseki - 39k

Discordant Rhapsody by nirejseki - 49k

Tedious Joys by nirejseki - 27k

Rugrats by nirejseki - 15k

Relentless by nirejseki - 69k

never love an anchor by tardisgradeschool - 31k

Cinderella

Cindy by NiteWrighter / @nitewrighter​ - 45k

Naruto

Clean Up the Dead You Leave Behind by miniongrin - 77k wip

[ruinconstellation]

Hi!

I’m Ru, also going by ruinconstellation on ao3. My photography (’ruinconstellation photography’) and my fic recs are tagged -- ‘fic rec’ for individual fics, and ‘fic recs’ for lists -- but can also be found here. This blog is whatever looks cool tossed into the queue, mainly art and photography. My pronouns are she/her. Feel free to say hello!