LINKDING

<blockquote>Every morning he wakes up, and forgets.</blockquote> ➤ this is soooooo good ➤ SPOILER: the premise of the fic is: "What would Xie Lian have done in the name of atoning for his regrets, and how might that have been taken advantage of."

<blockquote>“Don’t think of it as marriage,” Benny tells her. “Think of it as castling.” Beth raises an eyebrow. “Am I the king or the rook in this analogy?”</blockquote> ➤ I love how well balanced this is between all the different aspects of things going on: the feelings between Beth and Benny, the working out how to make a life together (separate from the feelings), the chess, the simmering sexual attraction, the other people in Beth's life who are important to her, and Beth's understanding of herself. Really good!

<blockquote>“It is a truth universally acknowledged that an ice skater in possession of a Grand Prix medal— of whatever metal—must be in want of another.” Jamie and Lizzy Bennet, a brother-sister ice dancing duo from Ann Arbor, Michigan, are no exception, and are determined to win gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Newfoundlander Charles Bingley, the Canadian champion for men’s singles skating, believes they can make it. His coach, Québécois two-time Olympic gold medalist, Fitzwilliam Darcy... does not.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Through the spite of the spirits or plain rotten chance, a door that would have been better left untouched has opened. On the other hand, with Fire and Earth as one's allies, sometimes escaping is the easy part. Even the Dragon-King's temple floods.</blockquote> ➤ great worldbuilding work, a well-handled crossover, a compelling threat, fun characterizations and character interactions. I also appreciated the way the language barrier was handled. Thoroughly engaging story, well done. Could do without the stealth crossovers in the minor background characters though, and I was baffled by how everyone called Daniel "Danny"

<blockquote>Steve Rogers isn't a self-made man. Or, how a tough little Brooklyn fairy got turned into Captain America, and then turned back.</blockquote> ➤ GOSH. thoroughly researched and with a lot of heart. I had feelings.

<blockquote>In the chaos of conflict as a Republic crumbles into an Empire, two babies are smuggled to safety to keep them safe from a Sith Emperor's attention. It will not be enough. Their lives take very different paths, one raised as the Alliance's New Hope, the other as the Empire's Son.</blockquote> ➤ ft. Luke as raised by Palpatine and Leia as raised by Obi-Wan. Mostly Han pov. This fic is complete. ➤ The sequel, Empire's Son II, is found here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11540131/1/Empire-s-Son-II ➤ Read sequel through ch 10. (Since completed & I need to reread & finish.) ➤ The first fic was a lot about Luke but the character with the growth/change arc that actually reached a conclusion was Han. ➤ The sequel is clearly setting itself up to be about Luke having his own character arc now because it has done a thing that is going to make Luke have to finally, like, make a decision. Eventually. At some point. I hope. LUKE YOU CAN LEAVE PALPATINE IT'S OKAY.

<blockquote>"How much do you know about legends?" the man asked abruptly. Brian shrugged. "There's lots. They involve magic." "No, they involve fear."</blockquote> ➤ In which Sarah's university classmate is taken by the Goblin King so she goes back to the Labyrinth to save him. ➤ I felt like this was a fic that properly understood the appeal of the movie, and captured the right feel. Which is tragically rare for Labyrinth fic as I'm finding! ➤ I'm not super convinced by the ending, but I'm not sure that there's an ending that would have felt totally right to me so it's good enough.

<blockquote>"The colloquial name is bloodstone," says the man from StrexCorp's Acquisitions division. "Heard of them?" Carlos shakes his head. "No, but I'm not a minerologist. Are you certain this wasn't intended for the geology department?" / Carlos is a loyal company employee, who has never been to any place called Night Vale and never met anyone named Cecil…which doesn’t explain the mysterious woman appearing in his lab, or these dreams he’s started having…</blockquote> ➤ My god, it's finally finished! I've been following this WIP from the beginning and it's been a great experience. What a good fic!

<blockquote>First Officer Spock of the USS Enterprise is part of the away team that discovers the survivors of Tarsus IV. Captain Pike assigns him to the curious case of James Tiberius Kirk, who steals one of Spock's sweaters. There were no sufficient Vulcan poetics to describe the emptiness of the colony as it was found on the morning of stardate 2249.43. The fully-completed residential sector was neither ugly nor beautiful but simply remote; a hollow landscape of metal alloys and sensible architecture, with determined vegetation growing alongside the support beams. They did not flower.</blockquote> ➤ This is the problem with bookmarking fics waaaaay after I read them: I no longer remember my opinions! And this is entirely too long to reread to remind myself. I'm pretty sure I thought it was awesome, iirc?

<blockquote>Prince S'chn T'gai Spock of Vulcan, engaged to Prince James Tiberius Kirk of Earth through an arrangement made by their parents many years ago, writes to his intended on the day of his birth in the interest of diplomacy. Jim is not interested in diplomacy. Though there is no precedent set for the commencement of a written correspondence begun due to these specific parameters, I will strive to maintain, to the best of my abilities and with ample preparatory research previously conducted, the appropriate level of formality between us, based on a number of factors, primarily examples of a similar nature.</blockquote> ➤ particularly good characterization-wise. ➤ I liked the first part that was all epistolary the best.

<blockquote>"You want to recruit me for what? You want me to go where?" Sgt. Brad Colbert has been on a lot of strange missions, but this promises to be his most out there yet: Atlantis This is not a story about falling in love. This is a story about falling in team.</blockquote> ➤ most of this fic is absobloodylutely wonderful. The ending doesn't quite live up to the everything else but it's still totally worth a read.

<blockquote>Screw the bet. Rodney was going to prove the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Oh, and incidentally, he might just catch the United States Air Force with their pants around their ankles.</blockquote> ➤ series still wip but the stories stand alone. Probably abandoned at this point - last updated in 2010. (I first bookmarked in July 2009, Whizzy's google docs version, which no longer seems to work. Thankfully it is on ao3!) ➤ series consists of: Black Helicopters at Dawn Big Dish Guy Wrong End of the Rescue Tensile Strength Black Mountainside Blown Away

<blockquote>The son of the man who lost the Eagle of the Ninth would never be allowed a first command of his very own fort, would he? Marcus is posted not to Isca Dumnoniorum, but to a wretched and run-down garrison north of the Wall. There he finds that he is the new centurion of a group of scouts and spies, all of them British. He has few supplies and no experience. His men distrust him. His superiors despise him. His second-in-command is an incompetent drunkard. And the local tribes are determined to kill all of them. But the worst thing of all is one of Marcus' soldiers. He is an enigmatic, dangerous, and insubordinate man by the name of Esca, who makes Marcus yearn for terrifying things he has never before wanted and can never, ever let himself have...</blockquote> ➤ or: the Roman Army AU

<blockquote>After the coronation festivities, the real work begins.</blockquote>