LINKDING

<blockquote>For Lady Alys, it's a way to get rid of unwanted suitors. For Captain Illyan, it's a way to reduce the likelihood of usurpation plots. If there's anything more to it, neither of them have any intention of saying so.</blockquote>

<blockquote>A prompt from meri47-- what careers would each Bennet sibling have, if there were five Bennet brothers instead of sisters?</blockquote> ➤ all of this is fun but oh dang the Eli/Charlotte bit is INCREDIBLE I love it

<blockquote>“Funny you should say that,” I said. “I’m interested in paint.” “Painting.” “Paint,” I said. “I dabble a bit in alchemy, and I reckon it might be possible to make synthetic blue. Instead of having to grind up ruinously expensive lapis lazulae in a pestle and mortar.” She didn’t say anything, so I went on: “There’s definitely a demand for it. A genuine deep royal blue at a fraction of the price. A man could make a nice little bit of money that way.” “I’ve never used blue.” “Too expensive?” She nodded. “That’s why I started doing portraits, you don’t have to have any sky.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>No one will sleep until the Princess learns the Stranger’s name. Liù the slave girl, who has loved the Stranger since before his exile, when he was a Prince, when he smiled at her—Liù alone knows who he really is. So it is Liù who is dragged to the Princess’s garden by night, bound, ankles twisting as she stumbles through the peonies.</blockquote> ➤ Not sure I quite follow the ending but it works anyway

<blockquote>A young food taster to the Traitor King must make a difficult choice in this story of pastries, magic, and revenge.</blockquote>

<blockquote>No-fault divorce comes to Barrayar -- not without a few legislative snags.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Can dreams come true? They can if you win the lottery, which promises to provide what your heart desires. For a humble shopkeeper in Yiwu, it’s a living, selling lottery tickets. Until a winning ticket opens up mysteries he’d never imagined.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Marry me instead,” Jaime said.</blockquote> ➤ a commenter said "I love so much that Jaime frames it to himself, the whole story, as him wanting to rescue Brienne, and in the end it's devastatingly clear that deep down he wanted her to rescue him, and she did." and like...yeah

<blockquote>It is exam week, and Donny is 14 years 10 months 15 days 10 hours 16 minutes old. He is bored and hungry and his scalp itches and he hates school more than he’s ever hated anything before in his life. He hates exams in particular, and he hates his math exam most of all.</blockquote> ➤ cyborg teenager

<blockquote>For the first couple of months, Nyle would get up every day before sunrise and run the spinal corridor. It’s recommended for all observation personnel to get plenty of exercise. Helps with the linkup, apparently. After a while, though, it was every other day, then only the ones that start with T. Now it’s just Sundays, and he has to stop three times to catch his breath. Nyle’s never had a problem with linkup anyway. Back at the academy, they told him his brain has a certain pliability. It doesn’t push back. Neither did Nyle, either. Not when it mattered.</blockquote> ➤ not a happy ending

<blockquote>After Vordarian, it takes time to rebuild, both buildings and trust.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Nyota agreed to let Gaila set her up on a blind date, she never imagined it would be with Dr. McCoy -- and she definitely never imagined that she would end up liking him.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The next time Jasmine sneaks out of the palace, she leaves her tiara. (Or: Jafar never existed and Jasmine never gets caught by the guard on her first meeting with Aladdin. Instead she keeps meeting up with him without telling him she's the princess. Along the way she learns more about what goes on in Agrabah and the laws that are set against so many people in the city, as well as how she could change them.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Strange things happened around Sarah Williams. A lot of it (she would argue as she was forcibly escorted from the room) could be chalked up to coincidence. After all, you couldn't really argue whose fault it was that the girls who spray-painted SLUT on her locker door senior year all came down with the same, really gross eye disease two days later. It wasn't like she had petrie dishes of virulent bacteria stashed in there, and the guy from the CDC had backed her up on that one.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Sky and Sarah navigate some of the differences in their marriage.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Extracts from the correspondence of Capt. Frederick Wentworth of the Royal Navy, written during the autumn and winter of 1814-15.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jupiter discovers that the one thing Caine Wise wants most in life is to be a pretty pretty bride on his wedding day. And she sets out to make that happen. Look, I'll be frank: this is over 7000 words of pure self-indulgence. My only hope is that it scratches an itch for my recipient as well.</blockquote> ➤ I almost didn't read this but I'm so glad I did because I am SUPER CHARMED

<blockquote>When Jupiter woke up, there was a small metal sphere on the pillow beside her. She blinked at it, because it certainly had not been there when she had gone to bed the night before. Then Aunt Nino began to stir and grumble as she too woke up and Jupiter snatched up the sphere, lobbing it hastily into her half-packed suitcase on her way to go and make the coffee.   In which Jupiter is propositioned by a space travel agency (but fancier!) and introduces Caine to her family.</blockquote>

<blockquote>AU from the beginning of Queen of Attolia. Attolia decides to take what she wants.</blockquote>

<blockquote>(Time goes by so slowly / and time can do so much) Daystar must always destroy the barrier, enter the castle and find his father. He must always be at least sixteen years old when he did so in order to wield the sword. But what if — what if he had been sixteen years old already when the wizards cast their spells? What if Cimorene could fix it so no one had to wait very long at all? In that case, what she and Daystar would one day do need not be changed; it was only a matter of when. In which Cimorene ignores thaumaturgical convention and decides to get those sixteen years back.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Mel's tattoo is changing. Sunshine wants to understand why.</blockquote>

<blockquote>And now, knotted among all his familiar desires, here he found a new one, woven partly out of obligation and partly out of curiosity. And partly out of loneliness, of course. Yes, Diaval thought. I am needed.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Christopher and Millie work wonderfully together. When they're on the same page. Meanwhile, while said pages are being turned, Christopher is being whisked to and fro across the universe as part of a bug-testing charm process.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Millie considers her position at Chrestomanci Castle and assists in an investigation.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Millie struggles with control.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Vivian’s late grandmother was a witch—which is just a way of saying she was a woman of unusual insight. Vivian, in contrast, had a mind like a hi-tech blender. She was sharp and purposeful, but she did not understand magic. This used to be a problem. Magic ran in the family. Even her mother’s second cousin, who was adopted, did small spells on the side. She sold these from a stall in Kota Bharu. Her main wares were various types of fruit fried in batter, but if you bought five pisang or cempedak goreng, she threw in a jampi for free. These embarrassing relatives became less of a problem after Vivian left Malaysia. In the modern Western country where she lived, the public toilets were clean, the newspapers were allowed to be as rude to the government as they liked, and nobody believed in magic except people in whom nobody believed. Even with a cooking appliance mind, Vivian understood that magic requires belief to thrive.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Marquis of A— reluctantly acquired a fiancée in the spring after an exchange of brief but formal letters. Miss B— had come highly recommended by his awful uncle, who described her as a charming woman on the brink of spinster-dom. She was rich due to her merchant father but without title due, again, to her merchant father. The Marquis had a title worth only its connections and prominence but little else due to the debt attached to it. He suspected Miss B— would like to be a marquise. He, himself, could happily continue to go into further debt for the room his mistress, Arla, kept in town overlooking the White Hill Beast.</blockquote> ➤ this did not go how I expected it to go and it's great

<blockquote>Aravis has renounced all else, but she cannot renounce the blood running in her veins. She is born out of the line of Tisrocs and Tarkaans, blood of Calormene rulers who have laid siege to Archenland by means both foul and fair through the ages, and she may not lay claim to Archenland’s heir.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Sarge paces, her tight black braid swinging every time she rotates. She returns to her speech, and Tone wonders just how many times she’s given it, how many generations have passed on Earth while she’s flitted back and forth trading with alien worlds. “The time dilation means that more than a century has already passed. Another and change by the time your tour is up and we drop you back home. Those of you who survive the next year of ship-time will be returned to a new world, a world devoid of everything familiar. Many will turn right around and sign up for another jaunt. When you do, I will shake your hand and welcome you aboard. Hell, I’ll pour you a drink.” Sarge stops and faces them. “Until then, you are mine. The Earth you know is gone. Everyone you loved is dead. I am your mother, your father. The people to your left and right are your siblings. This is your family from now on. Let that sink in.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>When the carriage drives away without her, Ella doesn't cry. This Cinderella may not have a fairy godmother, but there are other ways to get to the balls.</blockquote> ➤ I kiiiiind of feel like the prince is only into her because he's not used to people saying no to him and it's novel, but otherwise I quite like this retelling