Just saw the hashtag #FicRecFebruary and you know what, it’s only the third, I can catch up! I kind of made things too complicated for myself with #DecRecs, so I’m going to try to keep this one very simple. 😅 @Forestofglory you might also be interested in this!
You know Hua Cheng's silver butterflies? They don't just appear out of nowhere. Xie Lian offers to help him out.
Yes, this is porn, but I love this fic's elaboration of Hua Cheng's powers: it's fascinating and feels very continuous with canon. Great monster-form for Hua Cheng too!
Reflections on Baoshan Sanren's life and those of her students, through the histories of their swords and how they were named. The lyricism of this fic veils the vicious regret of Baoshan Sanren's experiences with the world, and the resignation with which she lives with it. Beautiful, sharp, and absolute catnip for me.
I'm going to try not to post the same fandom twice in a row, but that might not work out, since Mo Dao Zu Shi ate my life and has only let a couple of bone-crumbs fall from its maw ever since I first read it. :)
Edit: Forest reminded me that I wanted to keep this simple! So, no arbitrary extra restrictions. 😅
Wei Wuxian tries to find something he can still offer to Jiang Cheng and the new Lotus Pier. Even if he's not needed, and not "wanted" exactly, could there still be a space for him there?
sugar_shoal fits so much detail and conjures so much life and longing in under 1700 words, it's wonderful. 💜
Tianlang-jun, ex-Demon Emperor, hires the spiky Head Disciple of Qing Jing Peak to educate his son. Over seven years, Shen Jiu's payment transforms them both.
This fic is sublime: gory, erotic, metaphysical, laced with every kind of pain and damn funny to boot. There's a consensual blood eagle! 😍 Do read the tags: if they sound up your alley, you will love this.
Jiang Cheng's class is having a bake sale. His jiejie's too busy to help him make something 'normal', like brownies - but his mom offers to bake niangao with him.
This is a tender slice-of-life about family and being Chinese-American. It's full of warmth and tiny details drawn from life, and it's lodged in my heart since it was posted last CNY.
This piece is so emotionally resonant and deeply coloured in my mind, I can't quite believe it's just 275 words long. Three lovers in the dark, with their bodies and the trauma they hold and each other.
Jin Zixuan comforts both Jiang siblings after Wei Wuxian's death. A beautiful short piece about making it through grief together, whatever shape that 'together' takes.
I am super picky about vampire AUs, so please believe me when I say this is a great one. The secrets and identity issues inherent in vampirism mesh great with songxuexiao, and there are a couple of really fun twists here (including my niche favourite vampire characteristic!).
This week I had the joy of telling my friend that yexie is a ship, and that she should start off by reading everything orange_crushed has written for them. 😄 The golden robe imagines that Xie Wang really does become emperor at the end of SHL—it’s emotionally deep and very plotty, and might be my favourite fic of 2022. 🧡
I’m not sure why TGCF is getting my fuckiest recs this month! I read this whole 17k fic in one go when it was published, standing up half naked in a hotel bathroom at 2am. It’s bloody and psychologically bruising, like Book 4 fic ought to be, and I love it. He Xuan is also terrific here! And Wuming has a one-eyed cat. :)
Nie Huaisang puts his considerable, if hidden, research skills to work finding a way to prevent his da-ge’s qi deviations. It turns out he’s only too happy to pay the price.
Owl has written such a great NHS voice here! Like him, this fic is relentless, sensual and troublingly gorgeous
This is a high-school reunion AU, but more than that, it’s a case fic: why is everyone treating Wei Ying’s old friend Lan Zhan like dirt? Wei Ying is going to fix this! By faking that they’re in love!
The tension here is masterful, and the adaptation of canon events is hands down one of my favourites.
Qin Su survives, and finds out who she might be if not Jin-furen, and finds friendship and love and a future for herself. The relationships in this fic develop beautifully and believably, not just the romantic ones. It’s a balm to the soul!
Wei Ying has gone missing from his student flat, leaving his phone, some books, and a mysterious note. It’s down to his friends to find out what’s going on.
Every chapter of this fic has an actual cipher for readers to solve! It’s complete and will be posting one chapter weekly—but I got to Brit-pick it, so I can assure you that this is good story and a fun mystery. 🕵️🎶👨🏻❤️💋👨🏻
#FicRecFebruary no.15: A Pavlovian Approach to Honesty, by Stratisphyre
#mdzs, #3zun, modern AU with cultivation, getting together
Meng Yao feels really surprisingly good about being under this truth spell!
This is a great fic with the web of background relationships I love to see in AUs, featuring Meng Yao whose secrets have walled him off from his morally-upright sworn brothers, Nie Mingjue learning some harsh truths fast, and Lan Xichen handling two crises at once.
A rollicking post-canon series, featuring all the ships above but also a lot of friendship time and character development. Possibly my favourite post-canon beefleaf!
#FicRecFebruary no.17: reclaim the rising (series) by curiositykilled
#TGCF, canon-compliant, #hualian and others, character studies
A gorgeously-written look at various parts of canon—the first fic looks at Xie Lian's relationship with death, the second is about Hua Cheng making his way through the world after Mount Tonglu, and the rest is just as captivating.
#TGCF, modern AU, genderbend + lots of gender in general
Retired boxer Xie Lian meets clearly-a-mafiosa Hua Cheng, amongst a bright ensemble cast. There's a very good beefleaf here, and a good Quan Yizhen, too. (I often don’t like fics with lots of gender, but this one worked really well for me.)
Hi, hello, did you know I love rarepairs? Zhuzhi lang is so bright and cheerful and just a little bit odd, here, and Liu Qingge comes to realise* just how lucky he is there was a heavenly snake demon around when he needed one. A delightful little piece!
An imagining of how Yu Ziyuan and Wen Zhuliu might have known one another that is so specific and somehow almost dream-logical, while capturing the essence of these two distinctive characters, that it feels all the more true for being so surprising. Beautifully written, with a stinging last line.
Sisi and Nie Huaisang watch a broom star (彗星 huixing) from the roof of the Unclean Realm. The quietest of romance: love as infodumping and love as asking somebody to infodump at you. Plus: the FOOTNOTES, oh my gosh, the footnotes! ☄️
Wen-era Xue Yang looks at Wen Zhuliu and sees someone who could really fuck him up. Wen Zhuliu has no interest in that, until it turns out he does.
(Yes it's porn but) I love fic that delves into WZL's core-melting abilities in a new context, and this is a technicolor exploration of just what they might be like, on both sides.
Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, and the canoe they built together as juniors. Lyrical, boisterous, melancholy and hopeful; plus, you will totally learn how to build a boat!
This is one of my all-time favourite MDZS fics—please give yourself the treat of reading it.
Wei Wuxian, fine art restorer, has a new client. Lan Wangji, musician, has an heirloom portrait with a mysterious history. The restoration process is a satisfyingly detailed backbone to this fic, but never feels forced; wangxian's emotional connection builds to a perfect conclusion. A beautiful fic!
The one where Vegas wants to give Pete a piercing, and ends up getting an apprenticeship and, with Pete and Macau, rebuilding their whole lives together. I don't even know how to describe how much more this fic is than it sounds! I had to take breaks reading it to breathe and recover. (I also got new piercings partly because of it.)
#FicRecFebruary no.27: fuori dal mondo, by bladedweaponsandswishycoats
#QiYe, #xiyuan and some JBY/ZZS, canon divergence, also the sable is here
Look, this is Qi Ye except that Jing Beiyuan sometimes turns into an indescribable eldritch horror, and I think we can all agree on how magnificent and visionary this is, right? I know my audience. Go read it! <3
Sidenote: yesterday I realised that, now I've read Qi Ye and am halfway-ish through Tian Ya Ke, bladedweapons' AO3 back catalogue is now mostly accessible to me, and—if this isn't nice, what is? 🥰
#FicRecFebruary no.28: building a fantastic set of wings, by lickrish
#MDZS, #YiCity, modern AU with cultivation, demonic cultivation, blood and sex rituals
Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen are researching the near-legendary Hanguang Jun. Xue Yang is studying the Yiling Laozu. Things are going to go inevitably, painfully, bloodily wrong.
The emotional tension, chill of foreboding and slow, ambiguous reveal of this fic are as masterful as it's sensorily detailed. Marvellous!
Look at that, I managed a whole month (and mostly within the month, too). Thanks to @clachnaben for making #FicRecFebruary happen! This was really fun. :ablobcatheart:
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