Richonne Fanfiction Rec #4: blueprintofyourpast
It was my goal to spread these rec posts out so folks could explore or revisit these wonderful writers and their stories at a leisurely paceâbut now I feel pressed for time, with my days off winding down and the work emails already beginning to trickle in (received notice of my instructional schedule today).
This next author is not one Iâve seen much buzz about in my excavation of the Richonne Internet annals, but they absolutely merit a shoutâout of San Diego Comic Con junket proportions.
Before I continue, I need to lay out a bit of background:
1. I first learned of this author while digging elbowâdeep through the Richonne Just Desserts Tumblr page.
2. This author states multiple times throughout their notes that English is not their native tongueâbut I call bullshit, because their writing is far superior to many a native English speaker Iâve known. And I say that with the utmost authority both as an educator and as someone whose first language was NOT English, despite having been born and raised on the mainland United States.
3. The links to this authorâs stories on FF.NET no longer exist. Look, I respect that an author has the right to remove their works from the internet at their discretion. Iâve learned some authors have removed stories for a variety of reasons: plots reâworked for legit publications (more on that in another post); mental health; entire story reâhauls; loss of interest in the fandom, etc.
But if I may indulge in a tiny petulant FOMO tantrum: clears throat âThatâs so fucking unfair! Iâm only JUST finding these stories, and I feel like Iâm being punished or cheated because my ass had other shit going on in 2014, 15, 16âŚâ
Stomps, then clears throat while straightening my worn Bucâeeâs hoodie.
Yâall donât know what a neurodivergent puertorriqueĂąa with a singleâminded purpose can unearth. Government agencies ainât got shit on my resourcefulness and determination.
Basically⌠I used the FICHUB workaround. If that hadnât worked, I wouldâve gone straight to the Deleted Fic subreddit.
Sheepish grin. Apologies for the minor tangent.
I was able to find an author profile with the same handle on AO3 under the German phrase âbefehlvonganzunten (blueprintofyourpast)". I canât confirm theyâre one and the same author, but I suspect they may be â even though none of the Richonne stories are posted under that profile and I have no way of contacting them directly to ask.
Well, now that Iâve laid all that groundwork, the author whose praises I will sing in this post is the one who goes/went by âblueprintofyourpast.â
I only found a handful of stories by this author on RJD and believe me when I say Iâve been combing through the internet like one of Lord Helmetâs Spaceballs and still came up emptyâhanded. So, Iâll highlight what I was able to procure.
Oh yes â as per usual: mild spoilers, HUGE feels, meandering thoughts, and all that jazz.
Iâll start off with the Wonder Twin pairâTremor and Tourniquet.
This fic? This fic is a panic attack in prose. This fic is jagged, breathless, claustrophobicâand thatâs exactly why it works. The entire story is built around Rickâs unraveling grief and blueprintofyourpast writes that grief with a kind of raw, unfiltered immediacy that feels almost intrusive. Like youâre reading something you shouldnât be reading, like youâve cracked open Rick Grimesâ skull and are just sitting there in the dark with his panic. Heâs grieving Michonne so hard heâs practically vibrating at a frequency only dogs can hear.
Her Rick POV is feral, obsessive, and heartbreakingly human. She writes him true to canon but stripped of the showâs restraintâno sheriff stoicism, no quiet brooding. This Rick is volcanic. His guilt over losing Michonne is molten. His fixation on her is tender, desperate, and so intimate it feels like youâre eavesdropping on his soul.
Thereâs a line early on that punched me in the chest:
âHe needs something else. He needs to stop feeling like his skin is about to cave in.â
Itâs giving grief as a bodily event, not just a feeling. She illustrates longing as a physical force. Rickâs grief isnât sadnessâitâs a fullâbody experience. His panic attacks, his hallucinations, his obsessive memories⌠theyâre written with feverish clarity. You feel trapped inside his head, pacing the same emotional corridors heâs pacing, breathing the same thin air.
Itâs sweaty, itâs feral, itâs emotionally unhingedâand itâs beautiful.
The kiss scene is devastating. Not romantic fluffâno soft lighting, no swelling music. Itâs grief, guilt, and need colliding in a moment of delusion. Cos, yâallâRick kisses the memory of Michonne, knowing sheâs gone, knowing he failed her.
Itâs brutal and beautiful in that way blueprint excels at: intimacy sharpened into a blade.
The writing is atmospheric and musical. She uses rhythm like a weapon. Repetition, short sentences, sensory overloadâit creates a tremorâlike effect (ahhh see it now?). You feel the instability. You feel the shaking. You feel Rickâs world vibrating at the edge of collapse.
The writing is jagged and breathless, like blueprint handed you a live wire and said âhold this.â
The ending is cathartic. It doesnât feel cheap. It doesnât feel like a twist. It feels earnedâlike the world finally stops shaking, like the tremor (there it is again) finally settles.
All this and claiming English isnât her first language.
This is Pulitzerâlevel emotional architecture or the literary equivalent of clutching your chest and whispering âay bendito.â
Tourniquet (To Michonneâs Yang)
This sequel is quieter, more psychological, more internalâand honestly, even stronger in some ways. If Tremor is Rickâs breakdown, Tourniquet is Michonneâs.
And baby⌠Michonneâs trauma is LOUD. The fic literally opens with: âHer dreams are so fucking loud.â
Thatâs the thesis of the entire fic.
Michonneâs trauma is noiseâintrusive, overwhelming, impossible to silenceâand blueprint writes them with such lyrical brutality that you feel every echo.
Look. Her Rick stream of consciousness is uncanny. Her Michonne POVâextraordinary.
Itâs fragile, haunted, hyperâsensory, and deeply introspective. She writes trauma with a kind of lyrical brutalityânot melodramatic, not exaggerated, but felt.
This is Michonne trying to relearn safety, relearn sleep, relearn touch. Itâs domestic Richonne but with the volume cranked up to 11. Rick is a needy octopus at night (which we can all agree is canon behavior), Michonne is dissociating in the kitchen, and Alexandria is written like a haunted house with HOA fees (sucks teeth, donât even get me started).
The trauma depiction is startling good. Michonneâs dissociation, her intrusive memories, her guilt over AndrĂŠ, her fear of sleepâall written with nuance and emotional intelligence.
Tender in that âwe survived hell and now weâre trying to remember how to be humanâ way. Not flashy. Not performative. Just two people clinging to each other because the world is too loud. Rickâs âneedy octopusâ predilection again.
Their relationship is mature. Theyâre not just lovers. Theyâre two damaged people learning how to exist in safety again.
Itâs unfinished, but what exists is gorgeous and still a story worth recommending.
This is the fluff piece, yâall. The palate cleanser. The âRick Grimes is down bad in the morningâ fic.
Rick sees Michonne come down the stairs in her lavender robe and immediately forgets how to speak English. The man is shortâcircuiting like a busted iPhone charger.
Itâs domestic, itâs sweet, itâs horny in a softâfocus way, and it has that blueprint signature: Rick being so in love heâs practically apologizing to the air for existing.
Daryl and Carl are clowning him at breakfast.
Judith is eating cornflakes like a tiny queen.
Itâs the Richonne sitcom episode we deserved.
Now THIS⌠this is where blueprint said âwhat if I wrote a sciâfi AU with political worldâbuilding, extraterrestrial arrivals, climate catastrophe, and soulmate energy?â and then just DID IT.
This story feels like reading a fever dream wrapped in velvet. Itâs giving Hades and Persephone but make it Richonne. Itâs giving Blade Runner meets Greek tragedy. Itâs giving Rick Grimes wandering through the underworld with a torch and a prayer.
Itâs Arrival meets District 9 meets Richonne slow burn.
Itâs also fucking unfinished (Hiatus is what the status said). Hisses.
The world is freezing over, aliens are dropping out of the sky like confused Sims, and Rick Grimes is a government supervisor who hates his job but cannot stop thinking about the newcomer namedâyesâ Michonne.
The prose is lushâlike, âI need to read this out loud in a dimly lit room with incense burningâ lush. Itâs the kind of writing that makes you pause midâsentence and whisper âdaaaaaayuuuuuumnâ like youâre reacting to a plot twist on House of the Dragon.
Rick in this fic? Heâs not just down badâheâs down mythological. Heâs down âI would fight a pantheon for this woman.â Heâs down âI saw her once and now Iâm rearranging my entire worldview.â
(Apologies for all the mythological metaphors. Iâve had season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on in the background as Iâve been working on this post. Oh shit. Iâve been writing for three hours.)
The prologue? Rick is bruised, stitched, halfâdead, and Michonne casually says:
âThey tried to kill you and I stopped them.â
Excusez moi? Madamoiselle Michonne. What do you MEAN you stopped them?
Itâs bold. Itâs dramatic. Itâs instantly gripping. She writes the scene like a cold open in a prestige sciâfi series. And she does it with humor, tooâthe conspiracy theorists, the absurd regulations, the GM food jokes.
Itâs textured. The world building is legitimately good. The writing is atmospheric and melancholy, like every scene is lit by cold blue neon. The soulmate energy is subtle but undeniableâthey orbit each other like two planets that havenât realized theyâre on a collision course.
Her Michonne is just mesmerizing in this AU. Sheâs alien but not alienated. Sheâs powerful, but not monstrous. Sheâs curious, observant, emotionally layered. Sheâs written like a deity who accidentally wandered into the mortal realm and is trying to pretend sheâs not making the air vibrate. Thereâs a quiet, eerie dignity to herâsomething ancient, something wounded, something luminous.
And Rick feels it immediately.
And the tension between them? Itâs not romantic tension, itâs cosmic tension. Itâs âthe universe is holding its breath because these two are in the same room.â
This fic reads like blueprintofyourpast cracked open a bottle of literary ambrosia (yâall, theyâre killing it with the music in Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and said, âLet me just drizzle this over every paragraph.â
Itâs haunting, itâs gorgeous, itâs the kind of story that makes you want to go outside and stare dramatically into the middle distance like youâre in a Terrence Malick film.
Itâs unfinishedâyes. But what exists? Chefâs kiss. Peak Richonne mythmaking. The kind of writing that makes you want to grab people by the shoulders and say, âREAD THIS, I BEG.â
Ay, que dolor that weâll never see the ending.
Where Men Canât Live, Gods Fare No Better
And now, mi gente⌠her pièce de rĂŠsistance. The crown jewel. The âI had to put the laptop down and stare at the wall like I was in an A24 movieââŚ
This one is actually finished!
A literary entrĂŠe with no missing chapters.
Runs around the church pews.
Look. I feel itâs pertinent to share that I come by my humor honestly. After some truly unstable years in my youth, my mother had a spiritual encounter (but thatâs her story to tell, not mine), and I was then raised in the Church. Our family was one of two Hispanic families attending an allâBlack Pentecostal congregationâmost of whom were Jamaican.
Oh, yes. I have stories. And damn did I eat good on Sundays.
This story is blueprintofyourpastâs take on Cormac McCarthyâs The Roadâand when I tell you she nailed that tone? I mean she nailed it like she was submitting this to a graduate seminar on American postâapocalyptic literature.
And againâAGAINâthis woman repeatedly said English is not her first language. Iâm sorry, but ÂżcĂłmo carajo? How is she out here writing McCarthyâlevel bleakness with the precision of someone who has a Pulitzer tucked in their back pocket?
Iâve taught English AND Spanish. Iâve graded essays. Iâve seen native speakers commit war crimes against syntax. Meanwhile this expletive is out here writing:
landscapes so desolate you can taste the ash
âŚin a language she claims isnât even her mother tongue?
AGAINâGurl, be serious.
Youâre writing like the ghost of Cormac McCarthy whispered in your ear and handed you his typewriter.
This fic is harsh. Itâs unforgiving. Itâs quiet in that way that hurts.
Rick and Michonne arenât mythic hereâtheyâre human in the most devastating way. Two people walking through a world that has already ended, clinging to each other not because love will save them, but because love is the only thing left that still feels real.
Itâs the closest thing Iâve ever read to a Richonne version of The Roadânot derivative, not imitative, but in conversation with McCarthyâs style. Blueprint understood the homework assignment and then turned it into a dissertation.
And againâEnglish is not her first language.
Iâm sorry, but thatâs witchcraft. Thatâs El Gran Combo level brujerĂa. Thatâs talent so raw it makes you want to throw your own laptop out the window.
And unlike Tourniquet or The Warmest Colour, (which remain heartbreakingly unfinished), GROWLS, this one is completeâa full, devastating, beautifully crafted journey from beginning to end.
A masterclass. A study in tone. A reminder that fanfiction can be literature. A reminder that some writers disappear from the internet but leave behind work that still punches you in the chest years later.
Mujer. BluePrintOfYourPast, wherever you are nowâall I can think to say isâgracias.
The Warmest Colour @ FF.NET
Where Men Can't Live, Gods Fare No Better @ FF.NET
Note: Psst... FICHUB work around