Rec post~

[askerian]

I was vaguely toying with the idea of doing a random recs! post and being all lazy about it, but since Sunfreak/suzukiblu has done one with surprise!teamwork pimping, I have no more excuse.

white_knuckle is her fic writing community. I'd rec her back but I have no specific fic to rec! They're all incredibly awesome. They're also mostly all one shots and drabbles and whoa hell stop packing a multipart's impact into ten lines damn it, you make the rest of us look lazy or something. XD ♥ Her ideas are super original, her angst is evil in sometimes really subtle ways, and her porn is one of the VERY rare sex scenes I still bother to actually read instead of glancing my way through and yawning. She was into Naruto, now she's into Avatar the last Airbender and I'm not sure there's any pairing she hasn't written yet. Dude. ♥

OH WAIT. For recent ficcage: "Okay, We're In Trouble."
It's Sokka/Jet/Zuko hatesex "forced to have sex!" porn. Which is actually, entirely, gloriously IC. Which actually makes complete sense. Which has just as much character interaction (character clashes, more like, and delicate balancing acts) as sexysexy hotness, with a lot of funny lines to balance the angrrrrry!!OMGFIREBENDER >E Jet and the Zuko pissiness. And some worldbuilding sneaking in! It's very much pre!Ba Sing Se, so yeah. X3



Other authors I read anything by:

¤ Vathara : Crossover goddess. Her ability to mix and mesh 'verse you think should never meet is on par with her ability to come up with fascinating high-action plots. Her action scenes are like machinegun fire. Also she tends to post stuff that's already complete, so there's no angsty waiting. X3 My favorites of her stories are : Project Tatterdemalion and Project Asclepius (Bleach scifi AU, Captains-centric. Survival horror in space. Also contains pack bonding. PACK BONDING OH MY GOD YES TAKE ME NOW.), Shadows in Starlight (Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up on a little-known planet that is an AU version of Rurouni Kenshin's 'verse, except much more strange and shiny and oh god the worldbuilding AND PACK BONDING SORTOF THERE TOO EEEEEEEE), Thorns (FF7 what-if escape from Nibelheim, Zack and Cloud centric, with a SUPER INTERESTING cast of OCs tracking them down), Blades of Blood and Witchy Woman (Rurouni Kenshin urban fantasy-horror AU... also with sort-of pack bonding, nghghhhhYES), Upon A Fiery Steed (Daniel. Duo. Two trouble magnets, one very unlucky System Lord... Stargate/GW fusion oh god the worldbuilding OH GOD THE WORLDBUILDING), and... shit, everything else, especially Urban Legends which is like a mass of interconnected plot threads and so many series, but the stories with Sentient Airwolf make me squee the most. She's SOCUTE.

¤ Sleeps with Coyotes AKA ciceqi : She writes SUPER pretty. She has original ideas. Her stories are insightful and her writing superpretty. And she has this "faithfulness kink" that just... d'aw. T^T (... along with the tentacle and xeno and poly kinks, I mean. XD)

So I started reading her stuff for the FF7 Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud/Aeris pre-game series of oneshots she's got going. (zaaaaack. T^T) Then I started reading everything else she has -- mostly sub-pairings from those four. Then I started reading her fics for other series that I didn't know as well, or at all. Then I started reading her fics for series I knew and disliked.

So now I'm in the middle of playing Vagrant Story because she writes the bestest Ashley/Sydney ever, and I've caught up on Kuroshitsuji, which used to make me twitch, and I'm even starting to eye Loveless. She's a gateway drug.

She's sold me KH!Sephiroth/Riku. Made me ship people whose game I never played. I would attempt to rec my favorites, like I did for Vathara, but I honestly can't. I think I'd have a much shorter time listing the fics I didn't like much, and I don't think there's anything amongst what I read that I truly disliked.



NARUTO

¤ Embracing Dreams by Arigatomina: Yaoi AU KyuuNaruSasu KakaIru. Iruka and Naruto offer up their home as a safe haven for mutants with nowhere to go. Kakashi offers to help out, dragging Sasuke along for the ride. WIP.
I already recced this one before, but it continues to be amazing, therefore reccing it again. I love: The way Naruto and Kyuubi are linked. Kyuubi's characterization and constant presence. The clumsy, well-meaning way Naruto goes after Sasuke. Everyone's histories, which echo canon pretty nicely while still managing to be original and fit the Xmen-like AU. The kakairu doesn't make me claw out my eyes either! gasp. XD Also it's fun to play spot the cameos.

¤ Connections by Sophie3 : It was the kind of stupid crazy thing that would happen in one of ero-sensei’s novels. But this Potter kid was Sasuke’s family, which made him Team 7 family and there was no way in hell they were going to let any murdering brother take that away. WIP.
A Harry Potter crossover where Harry turns out to be Sasuke's cousin. I found the explanation sufficiently well-done to suspend disbelief. The pace isn't always WOW, but I'm enjoying it very much. Sasuke and especially Kakashi are SO IC. Also I wibble just thinking about Sasuke realizing he still has family. N'awwwww. T^T Harry is n'aww too, very understandably confused, and not liking being kidnapped to Konoha for what a bunch of strangers tell him is his own good. Interesting story.

¤ Confusion Is Putting It Nicely by Feylin : It's usually customary to inform a person that you're dating them before acting as if you are. But when is anything that happens to Sasuke considered usual? Particularly when it involves Naruto or Sakura, neither of whom he is attracted to. At all. OT3
I laughed. I squeed. It's a very cute one-shot with funny one-liners in it. THEY'RE SUCH DORKS. X333

¤ Genderbending Epidemic AU by sarolynne : series of drabbles and short fics, very varied cast to explore all the issues coming from sudden, unexpected genderswitching. Not just for pr0ns! Smart, and insightful, and yay for exploration of gender dynamics. Kind of WIP?


FINAL FANTASY 7

¤ Green Dreams by Filthy_Mushi : Post-game Cloud goes back in time to when he was still a cadet in Shinra's army to try to change the future. It's a very common storyline, and one that I either love or hate, but this one version is well-written, the divergeances are interesting, etcetera etcetera. My current favorite. WIP.

¤ Eir's Tomorrow by hadesphoenix : Post-game Cloud goes back in time, first as a ghost of sorts to watch over kid!Sephiroth... and then ends up to when he was still a cadet in Shinra's army. ... hey, I told you this storyline was common. But this one actually takes its time to get there. The Planet is an active participant in this, making Cloud's life difficult. Also, Cloud develops an interesting relationship with Elena. WIP.

¤ I was also reading Once More With Feeling by Illusor Meaneld in the same genre, but while I liked the rest well enough (especially how Cloud made Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis REALLY suspicious with all that strange knowledge he shouldn't have) it started to bug me how bouncy!puppy!hahaha i'm kind of dumb but you love me right! :DD Zack was. If you don't mind Zack being depicted as naive and just not very smart, you'll probably like it. But, well. I'm still reccing it, but with a caveat. WIP too!

¤ Making It Work + Mad World by etrix (scroll down) : The Nibelheim mission isn’t going well until Cmdr Fair decides to take Cpl Cloud Strife to dig the General out of the underground lab. He knows Sephiroth too well to dismiss the young blond's effect on the General. / Sephiroth returned from the Lifestream to a changed world determined to find the two who saved him at Nibelheim. Hojo and a group called ‘Deepground’ control half the planet and ShinRa is in shambles, but that’s not going to stop him. Cloud/Sephiroth, some Zack sprinkled on. Etrix's writing is... Hm. I want to say... Yaoi-minded. Sometimes a little full of yaoi tropes, borderline cliches. But she has fun with them, and it shows. Her writing and plotting abilities also get visibly better as you read the stories, which is yays. Also her smut isn't half bad, hur hur hur. Second one is WIP.


KINGDOM HEARTS

¤ Holding Up The River by sadieko : On the shores of Destiny Islands, Sora ends his quest and finally comes home. But even as he struggles with being a normal kid again and certain budding feelings for his friends, Sora may find another journey has already begun. Future Riku/Sora/Kairi WIP.
I usually enjoy the idea of "end of the magical adventure, let's now start to get used to mundane life once again", but this one is particularly well-done. Realistic, well-written, shiny details, and I enjoy Sora's parents very much. But what I enjoy even more is the promised, upcoming new adventure, hohohohoh. >3 Really, it's still in the beginning stages, the big plot hasn't appeared yet, but it's still very enjoyable. Mm, growing pains.

¤ A Covenant with a Star by DigitalTart : Ansem wasn't the only wizard to have dabbled in the magic of the heart. Sora x Riku x Kairi COMPLETE.
... It's a Howl's Moving Castle movie crossover. It's awesome. The two worlds are very smoothly integrated. So many ups and downs, and the plot never got boring, and I really appreciate how Riku, Sora and Kairi all traded off fighting and doing other important things. No princess in a tower there. It starts with established SoRiKai because it's a sequel to a previous oneshot, but even then it doesn't mean they don't have a couple of relationship snags in there.


AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER

¤ A Matter of Honor by Adridere : Almost 4 years after the war. Aang is engaged to Katara and is up to Zuko to teach him the facts of life. Yep, the bees and the birds. Crazy kings, bananas and the ultimate contest for the hand of a reluctant maiden. Zutara/Taang COMPLETE.

So before that I liked Zutara and... well, I used to ship Toph/Aang when she appeared but then they stopped having much chemistry. ... But then this gal wrote that fic and I am TOTALLY SOLD. At first the fic was supposed to be zutara-centric but then Toph, being Toph, went and completely stole the show.

But mostly I rec it because it made me laugh so hard I cried at least once per chapter. The writer isn't a native speaker, you can tell that, especially at the beginning -- but she's so friggin hilarious it doesn't matter at all. There's also SO MUCH cultural extrapolation of the Water Tribe and world-building that even without the funny I would have loved it anyway. There are hilarious OCs and mythologies and a Momo romance! How can anyone not love that.

There's a sequel in progress, but I'm waiting for it to be done before reading it.


HARRY POTTER:

¤ The Wendell That Wasn't by opalish : The true story of how Harry and Ginny's kids got their names. Really, it's all Snape's fault. Crackfic oneshot.
It's my new personal headcanon. Yes.

¤ Scorpius Malfoy and the Improbable Plot by opalish : Scorpius really should have listened to his father's numerous and dire warnings about the Potter clan. Harry feels his pain. Gen crackfic WIP, yo.
Laughed. So. Hard. SO HARD. There's traveling to another dimension and other sorts of awesome cracky fun. I love the characterization of the kids. They KILL me.

Hell, read anything by that author. She's awesome with the LMAOs.


OFIC

¤ maldoror_gw's Out. Stern, controlled, secretly gay!Japanese Salaryman crosses dimensions with a hot barbarian warrior and ends up dragged through an Assyria/Rome mishmash of countries. It's like Fushigi Yugi for slash fans, with tons of worldbuilding squee and Mal's characteristic No Cliche Ukes Here My Good Sir. X3 The first arc is complete. I hope the second will come soon, I'm already in withdrawal. T___T