Uffish Thought

Fandoms are all over the place this month since I finished my Yuletide trawl, so lots of small fandoms + Star Trek + Star Wars, sorted into thematic clusters for your reading pleasure.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE ADVENTURES

Another Life by @LullabyKnell (Star Trek AOS, gen)

In one moment, James T. Kirk is the acting captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, on his way home to Earth after stopping the Narada. In the next moment, without explanation, James T. Kirk is an Academy cadet on academic probation again, barely a day before Nero will destroy Vulcan.

He dares himself to do better. And with a planet on the line and no proof but his own memories, he knows that "better" means he'll need some help.

Classic time-travel fix-it elevated by a mid-story TOS-flavored twist! A wonderful adventure.

Commander Fox's Ultimate Bucket List by blackkat/ @blackkatmagic​ (Star Wars, Fox/Mace)

Fox has a second chance, a to-do list, a stolen lightsaber, and a complete willingness to give everyone around him grey hairs. Plus a Jedi Master to seduce. It's going to be a ride.

*cackles* Fox deserved this SO MUCH! Hilarious and satisfying.

Magic Casements by @edwardianspinsteraunt​ (A Little Princess, gen)

Becky is the one who rescues Mr Carrisford's monkey, and so the one whom the Magic happens to instead.

Captures the sweet magic and friendship of the original while making some sharp points about its class issues.

INVESTIGATIONS

The Striped Leg by wildwestwind (A Study in Emerald, gen)

The Adventure of The Speckled Band, set in the world of A Study In Emerald.

This author really knows their Lovecraft, which brings a rich and creepy new dimension to this very classic case. Mmm, pastiche perfection.

A Country Mile by @bropunzeling​ (Think of England, Fen/Pat)

“You want us to go to a house party? Really?”

“I hate to ask it of you,” Daniel said, voice muffled in that queer way one got with the telephone. "But I need someone I can trust to look after things there until then. Would you?”

Fen and Pat attend a house party and encounter: poison (pen letters); poison (literal); perilous dinner conversation; potential friendship; and physics.

Danger, espionage, female friendship, a lady scientist, general competence in the face of misogyny, Fen's self-esteem issues vs Pat's unswerving support, and a damn good read: what more could you want?

What It All Comes Down To by phnelt/ @phneltwrites​ (Think of England, canon pairings)

“Those blighters—” strong language from Fen there. Pat has been working on her in regards to fruity language but Fen hasn’t much taken to it. “ —won’t let women shoot at these newfangled Olympics games, despite England boasting some of the best women shooters in the world. Present company very much included.” Fen gets so heated when she advocates. It brings up a healthy colour to her cheeks. Pat smiles at her, helplessly. “So we simply must show them how good women can be by having Pat train you up from nothing so you can trounce them in the name of her club and in front of the eyes of God and the Olympic Committee.” If this wasn’t obviously one of Fen’s schemes it would be clear after her speech.

Charming friendship-centric story, with some light intrigue on the civilian side of things for once.

UNEXPECTED MEETINGS

Poiesis (Making) by ama (Queen's Thief, gen + Costis/Kamet)

Kamet is bewildered by a summons he receives to meet with the King of Sounis. After all, what could they possibly have to discuss?

Post-canon interlude where Kamet and Sophos bond over poetry, with great character writing.

Scene on a Balcony by Mary_West (Lord Peter, gen + Sylvia/Eiluned)

8th October 1935 and it's the wedding of the year - Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss Harriet Vane have finally tied the knot. But the wedding breakfast (served at the Dowager Duchess' London house) is getting a little heated. So the balcony is an excellent place to which to escape.

If anyone ever needed a sensible lesbian auntie, it's Jerry - but also this is sweet and funny and well-observed, from the wedding details to the practicalities of being queer at the time.

The Nuclear Option by Tangerine/ @atangeriner​ (From Eroica with Love, Klaus/Dorian)

When Klaus needs help with a family affair, Dorian is more than happy to offer his services.

Superb, satisfying, full of banter and yearning, and I love the slow reveal of wtf is going on with Klaus.

Time Enough by fresne/ @fresne999​ (Ethan of Athos, Ethan/Terrence)

Terrence Cee had spent most of his life feeling like a jumpship caught in the gravity well of a blackhole. Engines on full bore. Only able to keep out of the crushing center, but never able to escape. Now in his new life on Athos, he found himself unsure of how to find a new pace.

Ethan wondered if there was a way to get his love life gestating again. Not frozen like zygotes stored in a bio-freezer against some eventual future.

Sweet get-together for the boys that addresses Terrence's trauma and socially deficient upbringing, plus meet-the-family shenanigans and rich worldbuilding for Athos in all its problematic glory. I am retroactively very pleased with myself for nominating this fandom for Yuletide (even if it took me a few months to get around to this one)!

and remains quiet by marycrawford/ @mcvices​ (Nirvana in Fire, gen)

She picks up her cup and sips delicately of the chrysanthemum tea she brought. It is cooling and calming. She doesn’t need calming, but Mei Changsu might. She is about to administer a medicine that the patient will find disagreeable.

The patient looks fevered, at the moment. “What is wrong with Jingyan?”

The AU divergence point is a little oblique - if I'm reading correctly, the Emperor dies early during the war and Consort Jing takes advantage of her Dowager status to go north to see MCS - but honestly who cares about the premise, because holy SHIT this author writes Consort Jing to perfection, in all her ruthlessly compassionate (or compassionately ruthless?) complexity.

PORN WITH FEELINGS

No Pity, But a Little Love by beautifulduckweed (Will Darling Adventures, Will/Kim)

The author's summary is a mess so I'm leaving it out, but this is a great post-series look at their relationship that captures their banter and mutual delight, plus Will getting exposed to more queer spaces, all structured around Will attempting anal sex again under less fraught circumstances.

Privacy by Resonant (Due South, Fraser/RayK)

“Guess it’s a while since you had a door with a lock on it?”

“I’ve never had a door with a lock on it."

I don't know how long it's been since Resonant wrote new DS fic, but she always nails (heh) their weird and weird-about-each-other charm and this is no exception!

through the desert, repenting by beautifulduckweed (Think of England, Archie/Daniel)

Daniel da Silva comes face-to-face with the deadly consequences of making a mistake and turns to a bad childhood habit to cope—but it's not enough, and Archie Curtis doesn't know how to help.

AKA the one where Archie counters Daniel's self-harm with sex, or as the author's tags put it "In the absence of therapy banging it out will have to do".

Booting this out the door before Yuletide hits! Quite a hodgepodge of fandoms from November: three fics from Nirvana in Fire out of the annual NIF fic exchange, plus fic from The Mandalorian, The Witcher (no S2 spoilers), DCU, Supernatural, The Untamed, and an original superheroes fic.

NIRVANA IN FIRE

with honor by tciddaemina (Lie Zhanying/Jingyan)

For seven months, Zhanying watched his mother grow more thin and gaunt, watched his brothers grow more brittle, the bags beneath their eyes deepening with every long night spent in the workshop. For seven months, Zhanying watched his youngest siblings smile and laugh and try to pretend their stomachs weren't still rumbling when they went to bed, growing thinner every day, and in the eighth month Zhanying said no more and joined the army.

Not my usual pairing, but this slow burn backstory romance was fantastic, following Zhanying through his service in Prince Jing’s army and their changing relationship over the years. Fealty and pining and wordless chemistry, oh my!

Blackbirds by sandalwoodbox (vid, gen)

Cai Quan and Shen Zhui have been waiting for this moment.

This is a great vid for anyone who has feelings about our favorite ministers finding someone worthy to follow, and their friendship.

Lilies That Bloom by circumference (gen)

Liyang, after the trial.

Sweet short piece about Liyang getting some answers re: MCS, and starting to spread her wings again.

OTHER

Crash and Burn by Aureutr_Accoredge (The Mandalorian, Din/Luke)

There had been no Seeing Stone on Tython that Grogu could use to call for a Jedi. They had survived Gideon's light cruiser mostly by luck. And now Din Djarin is trapped between trying to resume his old life with Grogu in tow or facing what wielding the Darksaber truly means for him and his people. Mostly he just wants a nap.

Luke Skywalker is looking for Jedi artifacts he can use to help build a curriculum for the school he seeks to create. Not that he knows where it will be. Or how to find pupils. But then he runs into a shiny stranger whose beskar armor makes him a null space in the Force. And he doesn't know who Luke is.

Intrigued (and in need of parts to repair his ship), he Skywalkers his way into tagging along on the latest bounty.

I LOVED this: it’s very long and plotty dealing with Din becoming Manda’lor, with a great meet-cute to slow burn romance, but mostly this author gets Luke Skywalker in all his dorky-epic glory. Really interesting treatment of Luke’s trauma from his fight with the Emperor and the war generally, and the rare Din/Luke fic that really showcases Leia.

Silver and Copper by Heronfem (Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier)

Geralt is just supposed to pass through the quiet Lettenhove area. He's not anticipating being begged by its people to help save their viscount from a curse that keeps him from daylight. Lord Jaskier, they call him, and he's likely dying.

As Geralt struggles to untangle the ugly web of history that has lead to the increasingly complicated curse, he finds himself spending more and more time with the strange young viscount and wondering just what he might have been before the curse, and who he might be after. But things are not always as they seem, and as the curse tightens its grip on Jaskier, Geralt is forced to face the fear of failing yet another person whose choices were stolen from them.

Very AU, but a gorgeous dark fairytale with a strong backbone of hope and community. Mind the warnings - Jaskier’s father is a definite monster in this.

Exit Strategy by smilebackwards (DCU/Batfamily, gen)

Batman needs a Robin and Batman has a Robin. Tim is just extraneous now, vestigial. He’s a bandage over a healed wound. He doesn’t know what he’s hanging on to.

Or: Tim didn’t expect his exit strategy from the Batfamily to involve quite so much bonding time with Damian over Wayne Enterprises bureaucracy.

*rolls around in the Tim feels* *and the Tim-Damien brotherly feels* Mmm, delicious.

and you can use my skin by unicornpoe (Supernatural, Dean/Cas)

Cas comes back. Dean can’t stop touching him.

This doesn’t break any new ground plotwise for a S15 fixit, but it’s beautifully written: immensely tender and healing and romantic.

Revenge is a Side Dish Best Served With Tea by merakily (The Untamed, Wangxian)

Despite popular opinion, Lan Wangji is actually:
   1. Terrible at diplomacy
   2. Surprisingly vengeful
   3. A master of holding grudges

Five times Lan Wangji gets his petty revenge + one time Wei Wuxian calls him out.

Very fun! Like the summary says, it’s tea-based petty bitch LWJ revenge fluff, with a nice underlying thread of affectionate-and-protective Wangxian.

His Greatest Adversary Yet by architeuthis (original superheroes, slash)

Doctor Nowhere doesn't do the nemesis thing. But the Blue Beacon hasn't been seen in a while, and the more he learns about why, the more it haunts him.

Wonderful mad scientist/superhero piece - Max is such a distinctive and hilarious narrator right from the start, the older-person-figuring-out-they’re-queer feelings are strong, and there’s a lot of deft worldbuilding in the background. [For a little bonus fic-of-fic porn, please enjoy All Along The Watchtower (Or At Least Against The Men's Room Door) by PersianPenName as well, which is very hot and funny.]

Bit of a sparse set this month (but full of longfic!), as I went down a nostalgia and fandoms-I-don’t-bother-with-canon-for and re-reading binge. 3 for The Untamed, 2 Boku no Hero Academia, 1 Nirvana in Fire, 1 Chronicles of Narnia, and 1 DCU/Batfamily fic.

THE UNTAMED

Stay With Me by Toshokanin

Lan Zhan has been working at the public library for three years the first time he meets the most beautiful man he has ever seen.

Wonderfully romantic and tropey - librarian AU! homeless WWX! fandom-related identity porn! and they were roommates! - but grounded in a realistic portrayal of modern libraries and their initial friendship. A really lovely read.

Half Agony, Half Hope by @queenklu​

Wei Wuxian examined his jittering nerves and admonished himself to feel less. Five years, five years had passed since all had been given up: engagement, relationship, friendship, acquaintance, all severed, all carved away and discarded. How absurd to be once more wracked with emotions which should never have been nurtured in the first place!

A Persuasion/Jane Austen AU - five years after their broken engagement, now widowed with a child, Wei Wuxian must navigate the re-entry of Captain Lan Wangji into his life.

I'm sure no one is surprised that I would be into a regency AU with strong pining and a side of espionage, but I would like you all to enjoy it with me! Who doesn't love a good Persuasion AU? The fic doesn’t quite reach the pining heights of the original, but it makes up for it with plot.

a series of firsts by Pip (Moirail)

It should be said that Nie Huaisang really shouldn't be trusted to do anything, but it can't be denied that he really gets results where they count.

An extremely pure and well-executed dose of fluff in series form, starting with a Wangxian blind date and proceeding through their relationship landmarks. I really cannot overstate how cute they are in this, oh my god.

BNHA

How to Win the Sports Festival: A Step by Step Guide by mhwright (gen)

Short re-imagining of the Sports Festival Arc if Shinso had planned a little better and worked a little harder to win the Sports Festival and if the match-ups had been slightly different. Self-indulgent fic of watching him succeed.

Mmmm, competence porn and BAMF Shinsou. I'm also super enjoying the sequel where Shinsou interns with Aizawa, which is a WIP but has cool worldbuilding around hero work & Shinsou's quirk and more great action writing.

Razzmatazz by xylophones / @xyloophones​​ (gen)

Izuku has plans for everything.

He plans out what to say to the cashier when ordering coffee, he plans out his homework before even opening his textbook. He has a whole ten-year plan for how he’s going to get into UA’s hero course and get his hero license fully quirkless. He plans for every wild, unlikely scenario he can think of because his anxiety gets so bad if he doesn’t go through every possible outcome, every way his life could landslide into disaster–– but Izuku never planned for this.

Izuku doesn’t think. He just moves.

(Or: Izuku saves the number one hero, gets a hero license way earlier than anyone wanted, realizes that maybe hero society isn’t as great as he thought it was, and everything just kind of falls apart from there.)

Fantastically original revisioning of canon, where Izuku meets Yagi and starts on his path earlier. I loved how the author hit a lot of the big setpieces and emotional arcs but shuffled and reimagined them into completely new things, AND jam-packed them with friendship and banter and frank discussion of the flaws of heroes/media/society and cool worldbuilding for how the hero business works. Very long and very satisfying.

OTHER

Venenum ex machina by @nemainofthewater (NIF, gen)

The Poison of the Bitter Flame is the most mysterious poison in the world.

Or five times that Mei Changsu got poisoned (and one time he didn't).

Come for Mei Changsu trolling people with his poison resistance, stay for the angst and historical poison nerdery.

Carpetbaggers by cofax (Narnia, gen)

The day after Aslan left, taking the magic with him, just about everyone else left, too.

After the coronation festivities, the real work begins.

Holy shit, this fic is so epic and good: following the Pevensies as they roll from one crisis to the next in the early weeks of their reign, confronting the realities of Narnia and the Winter they ended and their role as leaders, while still holding onto their family and the magic of their story. I've literally had this in my TBR pile for a decade, I'm kicking myself for taking so long, but it is still amazing.

Reconciliation by @envysparkler​ (Batman, gen)

You cannot restore what was never there.

OOF. Emotionally brutal fic where Tim doesn't (can't) forgive Jason for attacking him, and Jason has to face and live with that.

Top five recs above the cut, with lots more Word of Honor after, plus one rec each for The Untamed, Nirvana in Fire, and The Old Guard.

The Window of Heaven captures the Ghost Valley's master. Zhou Zishu is put in charge of interrogating him.

But Wen Kexing has a plan of his own…

Full disclosure, I finished the series and then immediately beta’d this for @this-is-neery, and it was an absolutely amazing experience, A+++ would read five more times again! Both of them are trapped in their roles and meeting in the worst way, yet there’s still that bright spark of connection and understanding, and a hopeful ending.

you're the trouble that i always find by sundiscus (WOH, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu)

“Do you know him?” Jin Wang asks.

The ringing in Zhou Zishu's ears gets louder. “No, Wangye,” he says.

At Zhou Zishu’s voice, the prisoner freezes.

Or: Jin Wang tries another way to get Zhou Zishu back.

Yesssss, magical dreamsharing with serious feels. (Or more precisely, how to fall in love with your zhiji all over again while killing him repeatedly in your involuntarily drugged dreams.)

A More Dangerous Unknown by ivyspinners (WOH, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu)

Zhou Zishu hid on rooftops like someone with a great deal of practice. Wen Kexing sympathized. He also had experience in this, for what were probably equally murderous reasons.

Four things that are best done on rooftops, with beautiful company. (And one that isn't.)

Lush and sharply perceptive series of moments set during the early part of their courtship.

替我踏遍天涯; walk the edge of the sky for me by yiqie (WOH, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu)

“We’re going home,” Zhou Zishu huffs when he pulls Wen Kexing’s arms over his shoulders, then hitches his legs around his waist. He hops in place to get a good grip under the bends of his knees, then makes sure his robe is covering as much of Wen Kexing as it can. “If you die before we get there, the first thing Shixiong will do when we see each other on Naihe Bridge is hit you.”

Gorgeous post-canon story.

Oh No!!! by findmeinthealps (Nirvana in Fire, fanvid, gen)

Old man trouble back again / Fuckin’ up my plans, like oh no, oh no
I’m back to the black again / Gettin' fucked up again, oh no, oh no

Fantastic Prince Yu character study vid, featuring Mei Changsu fucking up his plans repeatedly. I just really admire how this vid takes on his perspective on the events of canon, and that way he’s allllmost sympathetic, except in all the ways he’s a terrible person. Great editing.
 

con_txt posted: CON.TXT 2020 Vid Show Playlist

Mostly Nirvana in Fire this month, with a dash of Captive Prince (which is actually how I got sucked into watching NIF this time around - when presented with a story about court intrigue and princes rising to power, there’s a limited number of places that my mind goes).

NIRVANA IN FIRE

Arranged in roughly canon-chronological order, because why not.

Days in the Sun by circumference/@circumference-pie (gen)

Several days in the life of Prince Qi, the most perfect prince.

You know how something can be really lovely and sweet and that just makes it even more heartbreaking to know what comes next? Yeah, that’s this fic in a nutshell. A beautiful and bittersweet portrait of Jingyu and his extended friends-and-family, several years before the conspiracy case, with disaster just starting to whisper under the surface.

Come Back to Haunt Me by ZairaA (Lin Shu/Jingyan)

In the aftermath of the Chiyan massacre, Prince Jing is locked up at the Xuanjing Bureau, and no one dares to speak out against the Emperor in fear of being executed on the spot. When mysterious fires start to spring up throughout the city, rumours spread about a ghost who has come to seek vengeance, and the Ministry of Rites has to find a way to get rid of it.

Eerie and gutwrenching AU, with some great use of an obscure bit of Chinese culture that I can’t remember how I knew but was very delighted to encounter.

the mist that cloaks the river, the clouds that hide the stars by Sovin (gen)

Yan Yujin has mostly evaded the worst consequences of the Chiyan case, despite her standing betrothal to Lin Shu. So warned, she precariously balances freedom and evading attention, and stays quite far away from politics for a number of reasons. Politics don't seem quite so keen to stay away from her.

Long and subtle Yujin genderswap AU, taking off from that line from Prince Ji about how as a girl!Yujin would have been engaged to someone heavily implied to be Lin Shu. Everyone who recced this at me back on my last swing through the fandom was SO RIGHT. It’s a bit slow to start, sticking very tightly to canon until after Jingrui’s birthday, when the small changes start to spill over into major differences. Also, just chock full of amazing ladies (even MORE than the show has!) and Yan Clan feels.

If I have been untrue by @convenientalias (gen)

It's been weeks since Jingyan and Mei Changsu last talked when Jingyan shows up with two ministers in tow. Still, it's obvious that Jingyan wants to talk to Mei Changsu in private.Yes, Mei Changsu and Jingyan haven't spoken to each other since rescuing Wei Zheng. And Mei Changsu is feeling just a little nervous.

Wherein Jingyan makes a much-needed apology, and MCS would probably prefer to eat anoth Wujin pill than have to deal with any of his feelings. *sigh* A very satisfying missing scene that still retains MCS’s vast damage.

Return of the Cicada by ZairaA (Jingyan/MCS)

For thirteen years, Jingyan has locked his emotions deep in his heart and carried them with him like shards of a life broken beyond repair. But when Mei Changsu arrived in Liang, slowly but mercilessly, hope clawed its way back into his soul. Maybe Jingyan's crazy, but after the battle at Mount Jiu An is won, he's more certain than ever that his suspicions are true, and he realizes there's only one way to look behind Mei Changsu's mask: to rip it off.

Set between episodes 44 and 45.

SUCH a good Jingyan, SUCH a satisfying way to blow up MCS’s bullshit tower of lies, and SUCH a good sequel from MCS’s POV with devastating dream sequences. The author may add a third story, which I sincerely hope for, but each story so far is complete in itself.

CAPTIVE PRINCE

Sugar Cubes and Rubies by aldiara (Ancel/Berenger)

Horses are smelly and alarming and Ancel definitely doesn’t understand or like his, nor is he missing Berenger at all, what are you talking about.

In which Ancel welcomes Berenger home from a trip with some crazy hot kinky sex, and they don’t talk about their feelings but they definitely have a lot of them. Contains some D/s dynamics, symbolic gifts, and Ancel absolutely not making any romantic gestures, what are you talking about.

The Great Escape by @barbitone (Ancel/Berenger)

Everything was mostly going to plan, right up until the Regent ordered his pet to be executed and his severed head to be sent to Prince Laurent.

It happened at noon. The castle was so abuzz with the shocking news that even Berenger, who usually didn’t hear such gossip until late in the evening when Ancel helped him dress for dinner, had heard of the horrific event within the hour.

His heart sank as he thought of that poor boy, just a child-

And then his heart sank further, because he knew he and Ancel would be next.

HELL YES THIS IS SOME GOOD COMPETENCE PORN, in which Ancel and Berenger go on the run from the Regent. Mmm, loyalty and leveling power dynamics, mutual rescuing, and hurt/comfort, so many of my favorite things.