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Top 5 Countdown

Honorable Mention - Second Chances

As I reminisced about old fics, I realized just how much I miss having epic battle scenes in my fics. So, this one is granted a runner up placement for the very Jason-esk battle sequence with this freakishly poetic scene:

He let his aura sink into the thread that connected the Builder’s puppets. He would become the puppeteer if that’s what it took. Slipping in and yanking, the puppets lurched. Some stumbled and fell. Others teetered in place. The battlefield grew eerily still, sound falling to a hush.

“What the hell?” Sophie’s soft, strong voice carried on the wind.

Then the puppets began to dance.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: He Who Fights With Monsters - Shirtaloon | Travis Deverell Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Jason Asano/Humphrey Geller Characters: Jason Asano, Humphrey Geller, Sophie Wexler, Clive Standish, Belinda Callahan, Farrah Hurin, Stash (He Who Fights With Monsters), Shade (He Who Fights With Monsters) Additional Tags: Smut, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Get Together, Boy Love, Sexy Times, Canon-Typical Violence, Oral Sex, Hand Jobs, Boys in Love, Gay Sex, First Kiss, One Shot, Getting Together, Humphrey & Sophie Friendship, Battle, Sex, HWFWM, Frottage, book 7, Spoilers, Boys Kissing, BAMF Jason Asano, Emotions, Angst, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Feels, Porn, Porn with Feelings, Porn with Plot, Angst and Porn, Softcore Porn Summary:

After pining for the better part of two years, Humphrey gets a second chance at the man he loves. Or will circumstances take Jason from him again?

In this reality, Dawn never visited Pallimustus. Jason’s sword, Dread Salvation, lies a twisted mess in his inventory. Jason and Farrah land near Vitesse; their arrival brings on the Builder Invasion and the greatest monster surge Pallimustus has ever seen. The loss of Jason has hung heavy over both Humphrey and Sophie for the same reason, they both had feelings for him. How will they react to meeting this new version of Jason?

Top 5 Countdown

#1 - The Succubus Encounter

Ironically, also my first ever HWFWM Fanfic, this idea cracked open the can of smut in the HWFWM fandom. It gave a plausible reason to pair Jason up with someone who wasn’t a canonical love interest. And what better way to do that than with a good old F*ck or Die Scenario?

(Do you know how hard it is to come up with plausible ways to get past Jason’s Poison/Toxin Resistances?! >_> *looks at Totem of Affection* ok, so there’s a few ways 😅 But it’s still obnoxious to get past!)

This is also the fic I’ve reread the most on AO3 since posting it. I still to this day find a word or two out of place and update it once in a while. This one is my forever fic. 💖

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: He Who Fights With Monsters - Shirtaloon | Travis Deverell Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Jason Asano/Clive Standish Characters: Jason Asano, Clive Standish, Humphrey Geller, Neil Davone, Belinda Callahan, Gordon, Shade (He Who Fights With Monsters), Stash (He Who Fights With Monsters), Sophie Wexler Additional Tags: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Succubus, Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Magic Made Them Do It, Sex, Gay Sex, Smut, Fuck or Die, Banter, Getting Together, Boys in Love, Falling In Love, 80’s rock ballads, Gordon’s a good friend, Aura Suppression, Fluff, Demons Made Them Do It, Something Made Them Do It, First Kiss, Song Lyrics, song: total eclipse of the heart, Song fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, One Shot, HWFWM, Hand Jobs, Frottage, Kissing, Boys Kissing, Get Together, Love, Fluff and Smut, Shameless Smut, Comedy, Pining, Mutual Pining, Canon-Typical Violence Series: Part 3 of Once Upon A Rock Ballad Summary:

Before reaching Yaresh, Jason finds himself in a precarious predicament when he’s jumped by a gold rank monster and his aura is suppressed.

‘Oh no. Is this one of those fuck or die scenarios?’ Jason groaned. ‘That is so cliche.’

Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel by Martha Wells

Book “5” but read it as book 6. The full length novel of the Murderbot series.

I loved this. Start to finish, everything about it was excellent. We went from Murderbot does a murder mystery to Murderbot does a horror movie.

Book 2 set up ART as such a larger than life figure - so capable of doing … well, anything really. And has reinforced that image with how often Murderbot has referenced missing ART and its assistance. Introducing an antagonist that could take down ART was an effective way of setting the horror mood.

The introduction of Three also feels well timed, and like a necessary step to keep the story fresh. Very excited to see where that goes from here.

ART and Murderbot might be one of the best examples of a QPR that I’ve seen in media ever. Or, at least they seem to be heading in that direction. It’s lovely. And definitely doesn’t have me feeling any emotions about it. Not at all.

This book was about as close to perfect as I could imagine. 10/10 loved the entire thing. I could go on for ages about how many things this book does well. Highly recommend the entire series, but especially this book.

Last thoughts:

Ratthi is lovely

Reddit was correct in recommending Fugitive Telemetry first

Amena is one of my favorite examples writing of a teenager/very young adult (I don’t remember how old she was exactly)

Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt

rotate your ankles in each direction ten times in each direction or until satisfied,

A 1/4 dragonborn who just looks human. All of his dragonborn abilities, people keep attributing to spells instead. He's always having to defend his dragon-ness.

QPR BEST BUDDIES MURDERBOT AND RYLAND GRACE.

what if they've just been continually reproducing these cell lines for hundreds of years, to the point where everyone but perhaps a few key scientists know the origin of their SecUnits' human tissue? and if each company had its own "proprietary" cell line? (i.e. each of them used a different rover program participant to start manufacturing SecUnits)

and what if the descendants of those in the rover program never learned what happened to their relative's remaining body after the rovers were decommissioned? it's been kept from them to prevent them from trying to get their relatives' remains back?

*game show host voice* Who’s ready to HUG! THAT! ALIEN!

Imagine being 12, and you have the cool teacher for science, the one that throws hacky sacks and hangs a homemade replica of the solar system from the ceiling, and he talks to you about the scary things, because while he doesn't really want to you deserve to know why the world might end in your lifetime

Then one day you show up to school and he's not there. He's been recruited to help stop the sun from dying, and you probably won't see him for the rest of the school year, but he'll be back after the launch

And then he's not. Years go by and your middle school science teacher is still somewhere out in the stars, and he's never coming back. It was a one-way trip, and one that might not even save you.