Uffish Thought

May recs

2024-06-29T02:32:09Z

So May turned into my biennial swing through Naruto fandom (have I ever seen a single episode? nope), during which I managed to fall down the Madara/Tobirama rabbit hole - which is a very fun time if you enjoy extreme competency and enemies-to-lovers! Also I've got some Kakashi/Iruka fic, and a couple of Guardian fics for Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan. More recs at Pinboard as well!

NARUTO - FOUNDERS ERA

As Is the Sea Marvelous by blackkat

Tobirama is willing to give absolutely anything for Hashirama and his dream.

AKA the fic that started me down this rabbit hole. Blackkat is so dangerous with the gateway drug fics like that - this is a great canon AU aimed directly at my id where Tobirama surrenders to the Uchiha in hopes of stopping an escalation of the war after he wounds Izuna.

and all the fire's at your fingertips by pandaflower

Tobirama is elbow deep in a stealth mission in Wind Country when he runs into a shinobi squad toting a stolen Uchiha child. Tobirama disapproves.

Charming gen competence porn/kidfic adventure.

With Enemies Like These by sarkasticfics

After a serious and devastating attack, the Uchiha are in desperate need of a sealmaster. Unfortunately for them, the best candidate happens to be from the Senju clan. Fortunately for them, he doesn't seem all that inclined to act like an enemy.
Which is lucky because, as it turns out, there are plenty of other adversaries making moves in Fire Country - both the clans will need to make new friends to survive.
Madara would have been content if his new husband tolerated him and helped his clan stay safe. He doesn't quite know what to do with the fact that his husband doesn't stop there.

Jam-packed with competence and tropes, just the way I like it - and there's some incredibly lovely moments as they reconcile with their clans' bloody pasts.

Count Your Blessings by madmothmadame

The war is over. Tobirama ended it when he put his sword through Izuna's center mass. But where war had united the Senju behind their leader, peace threatened to tear them apart. And who better for the warmongers to look to as a leader than the greatest killer of Uchiha they had ever seen?
There were only two problems with that plan. One, Tobirama would never, ever, betray his elder brother.
Two, he may or may not have a surprisingly not dead Uchiha Izuna in a coma in his guest room, hiding the secret of resurrection that Tobirama needs with everything he is.
Now if only he would wake.

Deliciously epic. The inciting incident is very hand-wavey (having been inspired by another fic), but the follow-through in worldbuilding around Konoha's founding, the metric truckload of feels, and the twisty political intrigue makes for a great read. Be warned, there's like 250K of hurt before it gets to any sort of comfort, so maybe save it for a long rainy day if you don't want to suffer (like me). Also, the ship is pretty background, so don't expect much romance - but the gen relationships are fantastic and crunchy.

NARUTO - CANON ERA

for the record by ohwickedsoul

Asuma looks from Anko, who is laser-focused in a way rarely seen outside missions, and Iruka’s bewildered face.
“Holy shit,” he says. “You’ve seen Kakashi’s face.”

The ending is TRUE ROMANCE, OKAY. And hilarious!

It's Amazing Who You Stumble Into (along the road of life) by vulcanhighblood

Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka have been part of each other's lives for a long time. A lot longer than Iruka realizes, anyway. Kakashi recognizes this is something of a problem, but only once it's too late to do anything about it.
OR How To Make Your Secret Identity Friend Your Real-Life Boyfriend: A Shinobi's Guide To How Not To Romance

In which they keep running into each other over the years, complicated by Kakashi being ANBU for the first half of it. I loved the varied assortment of meetings, and the way they kept trading off on helping each other (physically, medically, emotionally).

GUARDIAN

Breaking Point by musicalluna & nightwalker

Zhao Yunlan is having a really terrible week, and it just gets worse when he starts to think Shen Wei has gotten tired of his bullshit.

Fantastic post-canon piece where the boys really need to communicate, and the universe/work is not helping. Excellent characterization and some brutally good relationship fights - but they figure it out in the end.

However deep the Lake by elenothar

Zhao Yunlan finds out a lot earlier that the Envoy isn't as invulnerable as he seems.

Classic h/c story where they're taken captive together in Episode 4.

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December recs

2021-01-30T01:45:30Z

Sliding in not-quite-late with these! The Untamed recs are first since I think that’s what most of ya’ll are around for, then Yuletide & related small fandoms and some random anime fandoms under the cut.

THE UNTAMED

With Absolute Splendor by Lise / @veliseraptor - I’ve seen this recced all over the place, and for good reason! Absolutely my favorite Jiang Cheng POV, as he insists that Wangxian get married at Lotus Pier then repeatedly fails to get out of his own way as he rebuilds a relationship with Wei Wuxian. His complicated layers of trauma and grief and anger are so well-written, and he’s trying so hard <3

make this chaos count by devotedbones - Wei Wuxian returns to Cloud Recesses after his travels and immediately gets in a fight with some assholes talking shit about Lan Zhan. Sounds a bit cracky, but it’s not, and Wei Wuxian’s voice is so compelling - mischievous and longing and righteous, with his belief in LWJ just enough to counterbalance his belief that he’s unwanted.

Keep the Customer Satisfied by @whenas-in-silks/WhenasInSilks - modern AU where Meng Yao deploys his Customer Service Smile and sneakiness in an actual customer service job, and Lan Xichen just keeps breaking his computer for some reason. (+ excellent comic relief from frenemy/coworker Xue Yang, and The Hat)

combat baby by dustyloves/@theo-decker - Buffy fusion, in which Lan Zhan is called as Slayer after Wei Ying’s death - but Wei Ying comes back. I was surprised by how much I liked this, since normally I am reflexively cranky when the Slayer gets AU’d to being male, but something about Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan’s trauma and anger and the weight of expectations really worked for me. And also the kinky sex. :D

The One-Body Problem by metiskit - in which Jingyi accidentally gets possessed by the Yiling Patriarch - who turns out to be a really nice guy? Hilarious, but with Wei Wuxian’s deep well of Issues as a compassionate counterpoint. Starts stronger than it finishes, imo, but absolutely worth reading.

YULETIDE & ADJACENT

I had a very quiet Yuletide this year, because I did my semi-annual fandom thing where I read all the YT fic for a fandom and then went and caught up on the last six months of fic that I'd missed. So I basically just binge-read Queen's Thief, The Goblin Emperor, and Nirvana in Fire, with side trips in anime fandoms that I've never even seen the canon for, because why not end 2020 on the appropriate 'fuck it' note.

( Queen's Thief, NIF, Goblin Emperor, Naruto, BNHA )

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Recs backlog

2019-07-23T18:17:36Z

( May recs )

( June recs )

( AO3 Bingo for 5 million works )

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January recs

2019-02-27T01:03:36Z

Fables of the Reconstruction by Mugatu (Walking Dead, Daryl/Jesus)

It’s more than two years after the end of the world and six months after the war with the Saviors when Daryl Dixon returns to Alexandria.

AU from juuust after I stopped watching in S6, thus avoiding Certain Bullshit. This author has an A+ Daryl POV, and uses her non-linear structure well to shift between the past slow burn character stuff and the tension of the current-time search & rescue.

Missing Pieces by flailinginlove (Naruto, Kakashi/Iruka)

Shinobi Enforcement Agency is the only bounty station (un)officially recognized by all of the Five Great Nations. It’d be the best place to bring in targets, if only there wasn’t so much paperwork involved.
When they don’t seem interested in taking out the new missing-nin in town, Kakashi wants to know why.
(Or, the one where both Kakashi and Iruka are missing-nin bounty hunters who go after the same target.)

Cheerfully fun AU heavy on the humor and competence porn.

No Reservations: Narnia by Edonohana (Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations RPF, gen)

I’m crammed into a burrow so small that my knees are up around my ears and the boom mike keeps slamming into my head, inhaling the potent scent of toffee-apple brandy and trying to drink a talking mouse under the table. But is it really the boom mike that’s making my head pound? I know for sure that my camera man doesn’t usually have two heads. I have to face facts. The mouse is winning.

I finally read this after seeing it recced approximately everywhere, and holy shit did it deserve all of those recs. If the prospect of Anthony Bourdain getting into a drinking contest with Reepicheep doesn’t immediately snag you…idk, I can’t help you. A vivid, funny love letter to both Narnia and food, accessible even without knowing Bourdain’s work.

My Love Should Be Heard and Not Seen by lurknomoar (Welcome to Night Vale, Cecil/Carlos)

Cecil Palmer is the best phone sex operator in the small company called Night Vale. One night, a slightly tipsy and very lonely scientist dials his number, and gets far more than he bargained for - a late night conversation about advanced biochemistry, a brand new fetish for surreal horror, a surprisingly reasonable internship program, some newts, and slowly, strangely, the love of his life.

Yes, I am also amused that I read two separate awesome phone sex AUs in one month. This one is sublimely weird and funny and sweetly romantic, as is right and proper for WTNV.

Tall Grass by aeli_kindara (Supernatural, Dean/Cas)

“I think we should have a garden,” Cas says.
Dean looks up from his beer. He hasn’t had that much to drink, but Cas still has a vague look of unreality about him, a splash of living color that doesn’t fit in the bunker’s echoing stillness. Dean didn’t hear him coming. A lot of the time, Cas is so unobtrusive it feels like Dean has the bunker to himself, with Sam away.
Dean shakes his head to clear it. “A — garden?” he repeats.

Man, this was such a great read but I’m not sure how to synopsize it? There’s a lush, warm, slow burn romance, domesticity a la Winchesters, road trip casefiles featuring various awesome ladies from the show, and a haunted plant! Highly recommended.

Follow the Heartlines by fakexpearls (Captive Prince, Damen/Laurent)

“Apologies, Exalted. What I meant – ”
“What you meant is that you don’t know why I can’t remember anything since His Majesty flayed my back and had me dressed in gold paint and slave’s garb to serve him. But he was a prince then. And a king now.”
Laurent tried to hide his flinch at the words, at his own memories. He looked away to the marble floor.
Damianos continued: “You say that was four years ago. In that time, I seem to have aligned myself with him in country and in marriage. And no one tried to stop me.”

Look, the author had me at their note “An amnesia AU (with political intrigue)” and the story is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from that trope set (pining for someone you’re technically married to! trust issues! politics and competence porn!) but very well executed. I loved her character work for Laurent and how you can read a lot of how their marriage has been by how he keeps stumbling what isn’t there anymore. Right in the feels.

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