It's that time again Folx. I am proud of myself I did read this week. This is not even close to everything I read but these were a few favorites. Thanks @tarasmom for the game baby 😘😘😘
A Single Thread of Gold by @morganaofcamelot
Freaking OBSESSED. Yall know I love a lot of things but THIS. Cullen as a Tav? Smooshing my love for BG3 Isekai and tormenting Cullen? Pleaseeee and the writing is so good. My whole dash needs to read this
Battle Plans by @jenn2d2
Riley x Gladius my beloved. Just need these two to kiss already but they won't because they are idiots
The Dragon and the Crow Ch8 by @vorchagirl
I'm all caught up! Freaking Ashur and Lucanis can't get it together over Rook man. Also we got a revelation and I hope everything goes alright...
A Good Life by @summergreen009
Look I read several of Summer's amazing works but this had to be my favorite. Fiona introspective Solo basically character study? Yes please
Fault Lines by @babblingrook
Emmrich x Lucanis x Rook modern bar au inspired by my Thursday Bangers? Fuck yes and it's written so well. Plus the lowkey Neve x Davrin sent me out the door
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@tarasmom started this and I love today's reminder: This is not a fandom specific game - you can play with any fandom you're reading from or original works!
Rules: Choose 1 or More fics you read this week and give a recommendation on why others should read them! All fandoms welcome!
I read so many really good (painful) Fucked Up Ships pieces this week -- you all do a really good job of putting OCs in blenders.
Today isn't by random pick -- here are two things I have been gushing over all morning.
Waxing Poetic + Albedo by @hedwigoprah
Evil Veryl + Turvi. Do I need to say more? There is so much beautiful imagery in this piece for Fucked Up Ships week. It's absolutely delightful!
Five Easy Targets: Española by @jenn2d2
5 out of 6 chapters posted.
Jenn's summary is:
Illario is given a contract to track down an Antivan ally of the Venatori who has been causing trouble in Minrathous after fleeing Treviso one step ahead of House Cantori.
My summary is: A glorious lore-filled story that brings Illario back to Minrathous (and Neve) and proves his talent of a truly public and beautiful assassination. Then something happens that I won't spoil. The last chapter left me speechless with joy, and I still haven't fully recovered.
So the most common New Year's Resolution (fandom and general) I've seen this year was to read more.
I want to help create some accountability and motivation for that. So welcome to the first-ever Sharing Saturday.
Rules: Choose 1-3 fics you read and include the comment you wrote - as a way of recommending the fic. If you know the author's name, feel free to tag them, but not every AO3/Tumblr username is the same, and it shouldn't be a barrier to play
Fics should be written by other people, not yourself. Can also play with real books if you'd prefer.
like a fire that did not burn by @monsterthalia & @demarogue
Oh my god they're soulmates intertwined. Developed and built for each other. I love this. I love the shifting povs (especially Zaras holy shit)
And the art tiesit together so beautifully
Me and Mami by @kindlyfeline (NSFW)
AHHHHHH
I think you shared a snippet with me via discord awhile back but oh my god this is so much more of everything in every way.
The crying pathetic man, her panties in his mouth, the gentle dominance she has over him???? Maya is my idol I love her and this was so hot
A plea, a mercy by @handsignals
Pls give me more of this (especially who we talked about chantry Giovanna and how it would play out)
All of antiva being agnostic or Christmas/Easter andrastians made me wanna scream. These should be the most insane chantry goers and the pain of seeing their cathedral taken by blight and venatori should be rage inducing
I'm obsessed tysm
I don't have an official tag list (I need to make one) so for this week I will be tagging anyone and everyone who I can think of.
If you want to join my tag list to be included in this game each week please list yourself here: Tag List Post
Started by @tarasmom 💕 Hope folks who were in the path of the storm are doing well and digging out and staying warm.
Rules: Choose 1-3 fics you read and include the comment you wrote - as a way of recommending the fic. If you know the author's name, feel free to tag them, but not every AO3/Tumblr username is the same, and it shouldn't be a barrier to playFics should be written by other people, not yourself. Can also play with real books if you'd prefer.
Intertwined by @hedwigoprah and @sandcastlekings AU Rook/Rook with the delightful Veryl and Jericho <3 The first chronological story in this timeline.
I love the contrast at the beginning, of how Veryl and Jericho navigate the dream. They both know they are dreaming, but Veryl has her handful of (violent!) methods for waking up where as Jericho is a little more controlled and practiced, trying to figure out not only how to escape by how and why he is caught in this particular dream. It tells us so much about who they are and how they approach things <3 The voice/apparition asking Jer to help Veryl - The very essence of the Necropolis? I like that it talks like Vorgoth (which raises other questions lol) Jer's whole 'of course its a demon and we have to fight them. 😂 He is so resigned and well - yeah, that's what usually happens to him here, poor guy! You can see the seeds of how well they'll eventually work together here - facing down Fear was tense and the end, with Veryl determined to find out what happened and learn everything she can and the two of them literally bumping into each other - love it all. Great beginning to the saga! 💕
What You Strive For by @kogarashi-art A retelling of DA:O - beautifully framed and Castelin is a delightful HoF. Comment on Chapter 3:
I appreciate how *gross* everything is when they are collecting the blood for their ritual - like, battle is dirty and hard and bloody and battle with darkspawn should be even more so. Castelin reflecting on the likely holes in her knowledge, that she knows how to fight but otherwise a noble's education was probably missing some survival skills is great. The HoF has such a huge learning curve when they get recruited! I also loved the moment when they were discussing why they were there, when Jory realized who he was having dinner with - and that Alistair didn't ask. One of the best things about the wardens the sense of second chance/new life - that the past doesn't matter (or doesn't have to matter) - just a lovely moment.
Morrigan! <3 Gosh I love her - I love your description of her here too - the little details that Castelin would notice and how she would frame things (how her mother would describe Morrigan's clothing 😂) Diplomatic training also saving the day lol. And then on to Flemeth, our herald of Fate with her spindle - love it.
(also a side note - it has been such a long time since I played Origins, its kind of fun having those moments of 'oh right! we *do* meet Morrigan here lol. Time and distance and your lovely writing keeping the familiar fresh <3)
Halfway to Whole by @slothquisitor Rookanis modern AU in which Rook is a high school teacher and Lucanis a new hire for the business side of the district. My favorite flavor of Rookanis (they're both struggling and awkward and it's great) plus an education setting from someone else who lives the life <3
So I have caught (and read out of order 😂) bits of this on tumblr and have been so delighted and intrigued but what I saw that I had to come check it out here. As a fellow educator, I love seeing this setting from someone who knows how this all works (the repurposed building that was supposed to be temporary? Graded papers in the recycling bin from last year? The board meeting inevitably going long and the teachers in the trenches not knowing what exactly the business folks do at central office? All so spot on.) Camina is delightful and relatable and I love the idea of Neve teaching journalism and Bellara the super enthusiastic and anxious new teacher <3 And of course the meet cute with spilled coffee for Camina and Lucanis - delightfully awkward start to things! I look forward to reading more!
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This Place of Love by @tarasmom and @woundedsoul12 a bunch of letters fired like a sniper for my heart
Nug e Cheese AU by @davrinsleftpectoral, ... not cry but it did make me scream a lot.
Ficlet Series by @necromanticsoul i did cry a lot
Letters to an Empty Hand by @tarasmom 😐 why tho
Things that didn't make me cry
Concentration (arcane bow) Schematics & Laser Cannon Schematics by @tarasmom FINALLY YAY
Night Out in Treviso by @iamsuperconfused, Teia x Bellara cucking Viago because they're making brave and correct decisions
Resonance Randomized Pattern Optimization: A study of the Vi'Revas ability to overcome pair-matching limitations of standard Eluvians Paper by @tarasmom because i love her fake academia papers
Ancients had Fun Too by @iamsuperconfused, Bellara and Irelin talks about.. um. devices. I love Irelin.
... for real tho everything was amazing these are just things where i cried a lot or were some random nerd shit
all of you were great and i loved all of it i'm totally not going to go cry again byyye 🧡🧡
I was tagged by @gingervitus recently and @wolfmoonwildflowers a while ago and I think someone else at some point? I go in and out of remembering how to read (ie, when I'm in hardcore writing mode I basically can't read fic) but I've actually been starting to look at my TBR again instead of chucking things onto it and then running screaming the other way.
Rules: Choose 1-3 4 fics you read and include the comment you wrote - as a way of recommending the fic. If you know the author's name, feel free to tag them, but not every AO3/Tumblr username is the same, and it shouldn't be a barrier to playFics should be written by other people, not yourself. Can also play with real books if you'd prefer.
All of these are very recommended. I've removed spoilers where applicable, and included summaries!
The Herald of the Titans by @kiastirling-fanfic
In the years since Corypheus' defeat, Inquisitor Dascha Cadash has become used to many things. Her empty bed, with her lover Thom away with the Gray Wardens. Her duty dictated to her by her advisors, unable to trust her judgment. Even the Nightmares that plague her each night in defiance of her status as a dwarf, and the accompanying pain as the Anchor grows increasingly unstable.
When she is sent to the Deep Roads to investigate suspicious earthquakes on behalf of Orzammar, Dascha expected to find little more than close-minded dwarves and some old rocks. Instead, she finds a friend in Shaper Valta and a mystery more ancient than known dwarven history. A story exploring The Descent with a dwarf who dreams, and takes that aftermath with her to the Exalted Council.
Oh this was a fascinating fic, with a concept I've never seen before but now that I've read it I'm like damn. Damn! Yes!! A Cadash's Descent absolutely has to be fundamentally different than anyone else's, and the way that she and Valta grow together and away from their respective teams as they go, and change, and the isatunoll—
I hollered when [spoiler]. The unreliable narrator of it all as it unrolled was so delicious.
There is so much love in my heart for in-over-their-heads miserable isolated depersonalized Inquisitors, and how that very thing drives Dascha even further into the warm, horrifying embrace of the Titan is just awful (complimentary). She drifts away from her dearest friends and toward other dwarves, who she only really connects with as part of her forward-thinking toward the isotunoll they will (will) share…. ugh. Great work.
Castled Queenside (ch 17) by @ratbagjasper
Dawes's failure to protect Treviso shines a glaring light on the holes in his team. Coaxed by Solas, he seeks out a Fade expert and a dragon hunter. With new additions to the team come new complications and more work, and Dawes finds himself with no outlet for the burden of his duties beyond fighting and drinking. It would be all the more bearable if only Lace could touch him.
Dawes wasn’t exactly sure of the emotion in his chest. Something warm and prickling that his ribs were trying to clamp down on. He attributed it to fear, but it felt too light.
I'm going to hunt Dawes for fucking sport. This!!! Man!!!!!! Seeing himself in Bellara, seeing himself as lesser because she's demonstrably functioning so much better after her loss even though it was so much more recent, feeling affection and safety in her kindness and going basically "is this indigestion" I'm going to kill him in real life. Bellara is an S-tier sweetie. I'm going to be ill.
Anyway, I'm going to soothe myself with the image of Davrin punting him into the stratosphere, emotionally, with, "A deathwish can be sharpened to a blade, if you know how to wield it." (But also maybe sexually. That would be fine, too.) It's so funny to watch him intellectually go 'I would have begged this man to wreck me' while being down so catastrophic we get this one-two:
It didn’t feel like an insult to Davrin to call Lace the only sunflower left in a field of barren stalks. / But now, Lace was a part of that equation, and he had never been good with numbers.
And Lace, from the top with the killshot, because having discovered something about herself she is an absolute monster: Kissing her was completely off the table, yet she insisted on cornering him whenever she had the chance just to whisper her hands through his hair or along his clothes.
At the Heart of the Tower by @rosemary-andtime
Boromir was holding the Ring on its chain in his hand. Gold shone red under the weak sunlight, and his thumb swept over it with an odd tenderness. There was a strange light in his eyes.
“What are you going to do?” Pippin heard himself ask.
There was silence for a moment. Then Boromir laughed, sudden and loud and defiant in the still air. He turned and knelt down, and Pippin fought the urge to step back from the wild, angry joy in his face. He kept very still and did not flinch when Boromir took him by the shoulders.
“My friend,” Boromir said, the light red on his face and his eyes gleaming fey. “We are going to bring back the sun.”
Boromir takes the Ring.
Chapter 1:
I'm HERE I'm IN PAIN oh god oh god oh god how am I going to bear this? I forgot how utterly, devastatingly flawless your character voice is and how unbelievably keen your eye for emotional beats is and now you're using it for the most heartbreaking unreliable narrator possible and, basically, tl;dr: oh no.
Chapter 2:
Ohhhhhh god. God. Frodo's madness through Pippin's eyes is so much—not worse, because it was awful, absolutely horrific in the first chapter, but here it's all wrapped up in Pippin's poor head with everything, absolutely everything, being wrong and bad. And the careful stacking of blocks against the tide: He chose to be here; Boromir is good; everything is alright. God. Already taking responsibility for so much of Boromir's mood and actions. Oh, Pippin, oh.
my fate, my sweet by @gingervitus
"You've mentioned that once or twice." Nearly every other day since they've been reunited. He ducks his head down to meet Dorian's gaze head on. When he is met by an abruptly sucked in breath, he feels as victorious as a young man not yet dubbed the leader of a movement only half formed when his usually fruitless flirting was returned eagerly. "Surely that can't be the only thing you like about me."
Dorian cocks a brow. Their gaze is held between them steadily for a moment. There have been days where this is the only sure thing that existed. A real and solid foundation built on surprising trust and mutual adoration. Certainty is a precious resource, and to hold onto such a thing for so many years is a gift. "You are a raunchy and wretched little thing, Inquisitor," he clucks as he pats his hand against Theon's cheek.
A glimpse into what ending might await Dorian and the Inquisitor many years later, AKA a self-indulgent side project so I won't work on my WIPs.
I'm sending you my dentist bill because this has rotted out every single one of my teeth.
The early morning curls into the air like a solid living being, twisting up and over pinnacles and gutters. Gorgeous. Fuck you.
"You… are incredibly lucky to be as pretty as a portrait, you know" Wheezing at the 'at least you're pretty' at the fucking Inquisitor
Certainty is a precious resource, and to hold onto such a thing for so many years is a gift. Gorgeous! Fuck you!!
Dorian meets Theon's gaze, even and sure in the shoes of a man who once wanted nothing more than to be turned away. GORGEOUS. FUCK YOU.
And then I wheeze-laughed at [spoiler? idk you should read this line yourself] so hard that my kid came to ask if I was okay.
Ugh man this is just so lovely. They both deserve the world.
Bonus: It is my fucking honor and privilege to be betaing the frankly unbelievable birdwatching by @adejareve, and while I haven't been commenting on ao3 (whoops) here's one of my non-editing notes from the next chapter. No context, no spoilers, just me with my head in my hands for how alive Nim's characters are.
I love LOVE love how you've established their dynamic and relationship so richly that I can feel the whole other half of the conversation she's not wasting breath on here, but that he's answering anyway. This is an argument they've had before, over and over, sometimes on the page, but he feels so—tired, and earnest, and trusting, and frustrated all at once, and even with barely any tags for her so far I fully have her in the scene.
I owe so many more people so much reading and commenting—pals on here, recs from friends, sequels, 'jesus christ this person is amazing I must read their entire catalogue,' etc—but in an effort not to entirely freeze I'm mostly just picking things at random and keeping current with what I can. Love you all, please never stop writing. I will I will read every single one of your words eventually <3
Soft tags to @adejareve @sorrygoldfish @dags-over-caravans @rookamell @brainwyrmz @ratbagjasper @skogrr @rookanisstuff @rosieofcorona @slothquisitor @gloaminghagette @blightwashed @gingervitus @sunlight-shunlight @serensama @cravingcoconutredbull @rooks-dagger @master-of-the-elements @khayr @dudewheresmynug @thegeminisage @jadesabre301 @rosemary-andtime @loquaciousquark @cimmanombagel @wolfmoonwildflowers @in-the-drowning-deep @excited-hiss
If you want on or off my tag list, see this post!
Rules: Choose 1 or More fics you read this week and give a recommendation on why others should read them! All fandoms welcome!
Tysm for the tag @redaresss , I always appreciate finding new fics to read!
Yeehaw Peepaw! by @mushrooms-x-moss and @sunny374940
Fandom: Dragon Age
Cannot recommend this one enough. It has murder, mysteries, explosions, and most importantly, it’s a Western AU! Go give it a read if you want to snort laugh at least once every chapter 😂
Seared Memories by Scintillating_Void
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
I like to go back to this one and reread it a lot because 1) I love Greed so very much. He is my number one blorbo of all time. 2) The dynamic of the two chimera, Ed and Greedling in this fic is perfect and I love the way they take care of each other.
reverse by blackkat
Fandom: Naruto
I just started my annual reread of this one, actually! It is so so good. I’d honestly even recommend it to people who’ve never watched/read Naruto in their life.
