LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>The far stall in the ladies room in the Land of the Dead was backed up again. The day had already started terribly, with an email that hit my phone as I walked the 387 steps from my staff cabin to the front desk, an email from Lana saying Vera, I wanted you to find out directly from me that I’ve started seeing somebody. Call if you want to talk.</blockquote> ➤ about queer intergenerational friendship and mentorship, about being a young adult trying to find your place, about death and what it means to you, about living through the death of all your peers and coming out the other side, about hope and love and making connections. ➤ holy shit this gave me so many emotions. READ IT READ IT READ IT. ➤ also I adore the title. pinsker writes great titles. ➤ 6k words in length

<blockquote>He Xuan is Shi Qingxuan's dream, his nightmare, and whatever else can be found in the in-between.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The second time he dies, it’s almost funny. He laughs—or well, he tries to. It catches on his broken ribs, comes out a rasping gasp instead. It’s funny. Really. The Flower Crowned Martial God, dying of a broken neck amidst the wildflowers.</blockquote> ➤ xl's many experiences of death over his hundreds of years

<blockquote>Wu Yanzi barks out a laugh. "I used to have another student," he tells Shen Jiu as he takes a swig of his wine. “I picked him up when the Cang Qiong brats rejected him.” “I don’t care,” Shen Jiu says coolly. He doesn’t. What does it matter that Wu Yanzi had a student before him? That has no effect on him. "He was far less obedient than you, though,” Wu Yanzi continues, not bothered by Shen Jiu’s lack of reaction. “He kept trying to escape. He had some kid he wanted to see, this Xiao-something he promised to return to." His grin is made of black teeth and nastiness when he says, "Make sure I won't have to bury you next to him." (Or, there is a very good reason why Yue Qi never returned for Shen Jiu.)</blockquote> ➤ the one where yue qi really did die instead of being able to rescue shen jiu - but sj reanimates him in the end

<blockquote>"Perhaps most tragic of all is the absence of Andy Burgess outside of Scranton history. We know that she was brave and determined based on her actions during the Scranton Flood. We know that she loved and was loved in return, that her final thoughts on the day of her death were about Nile. But who she was outside of that has been lost to the pages of history. Though many people have shown up over the years claiming to be her family, there has been no actual proven familial link to this day. In many ways, Andy Burgess exists because of Nile's letters, her words doing more to immortalize the Hero of Scranton's human existence than any biographical text to date...And perhaps, at the end of the day, this was the greatest demonstration of Nile's love for Andy Burgess: to keep her alive long after she was gone." - Smith, A. (2079). The missing link: A study of the absence of women in early twenty-first century queer studies. Queer Studies, 2(22).</blockquote> ➤ the one where andy died

<blockquote>OH. IT'S YOU AGAIN. </blockquote>

<blockquote>Geralt makes two promises that he doesn't want to keep.</blockquote> ➤ Jaskier is connected to his land and can come back to life after dying

<blockquote>On her layover in Munich, she stops in the ladies’. She’s washing her hands when someone pulls up at the next sink, and says, “Corporal Freeman?” Forcing herself to breathe slow, raise her head slow, she looks. The sight of desert camo takes her right out of the bathroom, back to the heat and the buzz of flies swarming to her own blood.</blockquote> ➤ note: andy dies permanently in this one, as a warning

<blockquote>After Merrick, Nicky can't stand seeing any of them die. It takes Joe a while to put it together.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Whatever your own rituals of grieving You cannot have them now, no shared hotdish No ten convened to pray, no flower nor wish At bed or graveside, no songs while they're leaving.</blockquote>

<blockquote>She stood before the judges in the dim light, Justine just to her left. Lyra pulled a sheaf of paper from her pockets. Their marriage certificate. Proof of cohabitation. Sheet music for the nocturne. “I’ve come to ask safe passage for myself and my wife to the realm of the living,” Lyra said. Her voice was loud in the chamber and she did not let it shake.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Roberta and Wilhelmina Buckley Year 1. They called us the space twins. We died without ever seeing the planet. We lived nineteen years on Earth Studying, training, hoping, dreaming, And three years in space, preparing. Bobby was a plant biologist And Billy was a pilot and engineer. We fell asleep, planning to wake up here But never did. </blockquote> ➤ the story of a space colony as told through the people who die. I loved this!

<blockquote>When Vivian and her daughter witness the family matriarch die without leaving a corpse, Vivian can no longer ignore the family “gift” or the choice that lies before her.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The girl does not come to Mebuyen, so Mebuyen goes to the girl. She is standing ankle-deep in the river, looking down, her mouth open. Mebuyen notices, as she draws closer, that the child’s calves are skinny, her cheeks chubby, and her SpongeBob Squarepants sando has a bullet-sized hole above her ribs. Mebuyen frowns as she steps into the river, waiting for the girl to speak.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Logan is buried alive. Very alive.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Temeraire is dead. The entire country knows his name after the Battle of Dover, and now Temeraire is dead. “Well,” says Admiral Croft, “At least you can join the navy again, eh, Captain?”</blockquote> ➤ gaaaaah this is so heartbreaking but also I am really mad that the author killed Tharkay off too

<blockquote>The witch had a favorite saying: where there’s life, there’s magic. There was a second part — where there’s magic, there’s death — but she usually kept that to herself.</blockquote> ➤ strange and creepy-sad and compelling

<blockquote>Strychnine is bitter, but the most pleasant to work with.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Death paused.  Death really didn’t have time to pause because there was so much work to do: but Death had discovered long ago that it could make its own time.  Souls didn’t particularly suffer if it was slow to collect them.  But sometimes they wandered off and then there were ghosts and it hated to chase down ghosts if they were happy and weren’t causing any problems— Anyway.  Death paused.  This particular soul was curled up like a cat while it waited, and blinked and stretched and demurred when Death caught up to it.  “But I’m waiting for my friend.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Loki turns up demanding Thor's help on a quest to retrieve the All-Mother from Valhalla, Thor isn't about to say no. But that doesn't mean he's forgotten anything, and what better time than a road trip through the backwaters of the universe for trying to talk things out?</blockquote>

<blockquote>Tybalt has a secret.</blockquote> ➤ in which Tybalt keeps waking up after deaths

<blockquote>In his prison cell, a dozen years after his crime, Luigi Lucheni has an unexpected visitor.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Enjolras is denied heaven. Grantaire is not. But Grantaire will always follow Enjolras, and purgatory is not such a dark place, when it has Enjolras's smile to light it.</blockquote>

<blockquote>City Council announces a new secret law. The Night Vale Astronomy Club has officially denounced the existence of stars. The Night Vale Historical Society is throwing a barbecue for a tragedy that no one is allowed to talk about. It's the usual week's news in Night Vale except for one tiny detail-Cecil isn't the one reporting it. And as Head Intern Jessica ignores her normal inclination to not do any work ever (you don't become head intern by being a go-getter) to fill in for him while Carlos conducts his desperate search, she's beginning to think that maybe Cecil isn't the only one who'll disappear.</blockquote> ➤warning: head intern Jessica does end up dying and I became rather attached to her over the course of the fic! Phooey. Well, it is all very effectively done.

<blockquote>Raleigh’s never told anyone, but he’s pretty sure he died in his escape pod after nuking the Breach.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Esca has always been able to see Death.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"When he finally registered the presence of a tail, Montparnasse knew with a sickening finality that it was too late." Or, Montparnasse screws something up beyond repair.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Ragnar and Athelstan meet again, a decade since Athelstan was stolen from him.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Javert isn't singing in Barricade Heaven, but it's not because he committed suicide.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"She'd had the most beautiful imaginable face..."</blockquote>