LINKDING

Summary: Cang Qiong Mountain Sect AU - no Binghe and no Shen Yuan, just the original sect siblings being fundamentally dysfunctional without any outside help. “Shidi.” Yue Qingyuan breathed. He would burn cities for him. Only he never did. Yue Qingyuan makes the mistake of inviting Shen Jiu back to his house for tea. Tea and emotional torture. Nothing is said. Nothing will ever be said. ➤ hello I am murdered by how on point this fic is, it's perfect and I adore it ➤ svsss au qijiu fic from og!sqq's pov ➤ (trans sqq, for those to whom that's enticement!) ➤ no lbh or transmigration, so the complex relationships between the various peak lords keep marinating over decades ➤ I love how the vibes are so much older, more grounded and more ground down at the same time. and still sqq and yqy are full of all their Problems ➤ I loved the evolving beliefs sqq had about what must have happened to fill yqy with endless guilt towards him! ➤ and the ways sqq treats yqy, before and after the reveals...how things do & don't change ➤ and the beautiful physicality the narrative has in details like the tea, and the hair, and how both yqy & sqq use clothing to hide things about their bodies they don't want noticed ➤ and of course the sharply perceived characterisation! ➤ LOVED IT ➤ 23k words

no summary ➤ huh, in the end I'm not entirely convinced I LIKE this novella but it's odd and compelling and interesting for sure ➤ about the academic study of history in a context where a very specific subset of people have access to a very specific subset of historical figures to ask them directly about what they remember ➤ asking questions about who's an insider vs an outsider in academic study, about the values of different approaches to history ➤ ultimately I think it turned too much into a story about the fantastical elements in the narrative and didn't engage as deeply with the themes as I thought it would at the beginning ➤ but it's still a very interesting and well done story and I'm glad I read it! ➤ 22k words in length

summary: <blockquote>It wasn’t gay for Shen Qingqiu to dream about being fucked by a man. Anyone—even the straightest of men, which Shen Qingqiu was—would have dreamt the same thing after seeing Binghe again after all those years of separation. It was only natural! Binghe was taller now, with wider shoulders and a chiseled jaw and a deeper voice that had gone straight to Shen Qingqiu’s gut when he’d heard it. Was it so surprising that all this new sensory knowledge would combine with Shen Qingqiu’s extensive knowledge of BL tropes—courtesy of his sister’s novel collection—and cause his subconscious mind to produce a naked, horny Binghe? And what was more natural for a naked, horny Binghe to do than to start having sex with whatever person was closest? In this case, the closest person had been Shen Qingqiu. Dreams were funny like that, sometimes.</blockquote> ➤ another fic about the jinlan city encounter going differently, this time because lbh has visited sqq's dreams ➤ and sqq has a Totally Very Straight Of Himself tendency to have sexy dreams about lbh ➤ hard for lbh to believe that sqq wants nothing to do with him after that! (he's still very confused tho) ➤ love this for them ➤ 26k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Yue Qingyuan has one giant blindspot as a sect leader, and that's Shen Qingqiu. But now a curse has made him forget Shen Qingqiu, and that changes some things.</blockquote> ➤ I enjoyed a lot of this fic but I feel like the ending was too simple, that everything would just be perfectly fine again even after he gets his memories back. still overall worth reading though.

Summary: <blockquote>“Be normal,” said Luo Binghe. “No liking SVSSS.” A Fifth Element fusion (among other things).</blockquote> ➤ focus is on bingqiu, the fic starts very silly but goes interesting places with it

Summary: <blockquote>Convinced Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian will never reconcile of their own accord, Jin Ling takes matters into his own hands by trapping both of his uncles alone, together, without their cultivation.</blockquote> ➤ yunmeng shuangjie - first fic is them talking post-canon and resolving nothing, but it ends with wwx knowing that there is something that potentially COULD be solved so the door is now open for more. and then in the sequel, from jc's pov, they fight a dog demon together and manage the beginnings of a reconciliation ➤ series consists of: murky waters many envies

Summary: <blockquote>Despite, well, all the bad parts, Mo Ran's new apartment's got some perks: the size of it—enough to fit a whole family; the proximity to his job—no more getting home from work way past 1 AM; and his neighbor—65, bitchy, surprisingly kind, slim waist hidden under all those hideous clothes, insanely flexible-- Yeah, Mo Ran likes his new place just fine.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“Wow,” he says. “Well, in that case.” He leans against the counter and looks at his quiet apartment. The thing is: he was always going to say yes. He has no impulse control and he’s always good for a laugh and he’s kind of lonely. And since he knows Lan Zhan would never want to actually date him, he might as well take what he can get. “In that case,” he says a little more firmly, “I’m in.” So that’s how it starts. The worst, best thing to ever happen to Wei Ying.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>A post-canon Quanyin series, because I really needed a happy ending for these two and then we just kept going.</blockquote> ➤ series consists of: Then It All Goes Away Plain to See (Harder to Say) I'd Write Your Name in a Heart with the Hemorrhage Go I But For the Grace of You ➤ about difficulties in communicating even after you decide you're gonna try to have a better relationship

Summary: <blockquote>Things go wrong at Maigu Ridge. Shen Qingqiu wakes up back at the beginning, in a body that is still shaking off Shen Jiu's fatal qi deviation. Luo Binghe wakes up in the woodshed with a disembodied voice chiming in his ear. It calls itself the System.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>When Lan Zhan indicates a willingness to be Wei Ying's (platonic) dom, Wei Ying jumps at the chance. But then Wei Ying catches feelings. Really inappropriate feelings for someone who's supposed to be his esteemed platonic colleague. Surely the detestably respectful thing to do is to break it off rather than violate this clear boundary, right? But before Wei Ying can work up the fortitude to take that final, terrible step, he and Lan Zhan get caught up in a surprise case. One where talking to each other becomes significantly harder.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“And I said something like, ‘If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try?’” Quan Yizhen stood up so quickly that his chair clattered over. “Yes!” he cried, hands slammed flat on the table in his excitement. “Yes, Shixiong, that’s what you said! Did you remember?!” “…No, it just…” Yin Yu stammered, unprepared for that reaction. “Isn’t that a normal way to respond?” He doesn’t think that way, Xie Lian had told him. He scrambled for a better answer, gesturing for Quan Yizhen to sit back down. How did one explain sarcasm to someone like this? / When Yin Yu returns to the world as a ghost, he’s forgotten everything about his former life. Has he been given a chance to start over again, or will the pain of the past just catch up with him?</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>If you had asked Lan Qiren ten years ago, he would have confidently asserted that Lao Nie was one of his dearest friends. And yet – it had been Lan Qiren, who was short on friends, and not Lao Nie, who had many, that had cut off their relationship. Lan Qiren hadn’t truly spoken to Lao Nie in seven years, limiting their conversations to the subject of sect business and keeping their meetings as short as could be allowed by etiquette, ignoring the way Lao Nie looked at him with sadness and regret in his eyes. Even when Lan Qiren’s anger had finally died down from a raging flame to a simmering anger he suspected would never leave him entirely, he had thought to himself that it was too late, that the fire had burnt everything out, that there were only ashes left behind. And yet – on the seventh year, apparently apropos of nothing, Lao Nie wrote to him, requesting his presence. As a friend, he wrote. Come as a friend, or not at all. I have no use for a sect leader.</blockquote> ➤ in which lan qiren saves nie dad from his fate

Summary: <blockquote>“Mona, I think they’re … they’re all lesbians!” This was not precisely the conversation Pearl wanted to be a part of while standing in the sun, shooing flies from her face, waiting for a horse so they could start their scheduled trail ride. Truth be told, she hadn’t want to be part of most conversations that had transpired since the long weekend had started, not about lipstick or Richard Nixon or Elton John or the mimeograph machine their office manager kept threatening to buy. And yet, this conversation had, in only a few words, jumped right to the top of that least-wanted list. Mona turned to Tammy and rolled her eyes. “They’re just working girls,” Mona said, with the authoritative queen-bee air that had gotten them all out here in the first place. “Not every working girl is a lesbian.” “I think ‘working girl’ means something else,” Sheryl noted.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>The funny part is - and it is a little funny, even if Wei Wuxian has no one left to share the joke with - they never have. Not anything. He has never kissed any part of Lan Zhan besides his slim hands; never been even partially undressed with him anywhere besides a miserable, xuanwu-infested cave. It’s always been like this between them, this simmering need, this desperate understanding: a knowledge so deep that it lives somewhere in his bones, that if he wanted to have Lan Zhan he could have him, and if Lan Zhan wanted Wei Wuxian he could have that too. But they never have.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Cody was growing up, he thought his parents’ decision to move to the middle of nowhere to raise him was a good one. They sidestepped all the problems of a nosy school system by homeschooling him. They avoided crowded places because there was nowhere they went that ever got crowded. There weren’t any kids his age, or even close to his age, nearby, so they didn’t have to worry about friends finding out. They had phones, and tv, and internet, and had family over, or neighbors who were older, and Cody was friends with them. He never felt especially lonely. Kids who lived in the city didn’t get to explore wilderness, or help with farms, or go places with no trace that other kids had been there before.</blockquote> ➤ the one about the rural homeschooled adopted-kid incubus who goes to college for the first time and meets the magical community and learns more about himself ➤ I feel like overall it didn't do quite enough with the power imbalance stuff it brought up, but overall cute and fun. and the power dynamics weren't actually a problem for me, it's just that once the narrative brings it up, you kind of have to do something with it.

<blockquote>“Your Highness,” Feng Xin says carefully, “what do you…how much do you remember?” “Clearly, he remembers enough,” Mu Qing snaps. He waves an emphatic hand. “He’s happy to see us, isn’t he?” “Ah, it’s really alright, I remember most things,” Xie Lian says, placating. “I just don’t…” His eyes skitter nervously towards Hua Cheng and then away again; the tension in Hua Cheng’s shoulders, in his entire body, stretches closer to snapping. It feels like every muscle is straining under the weight of this, like every cell in his body is rebelling against this…this horror. Still, he manages to say what Xie Lian apparently cannot: “He just doesn’t remember me.”</blockquote> ➤ yessss

<blockquote>狐假虎威: the fox assumes the tiger's power When the Sacrifice Summon ritual goes wrong, Mo Xuanyu assumes his chance at revenge and freedom is gone. However, he still has bound Wei Wuxian's ghost to him, and together they make a plan: Mo Xuanyu will pretend to be fully possessed by the Yiling Laozu, they'll get rid of the Mo family, and then Mo Xuanyu will be miraculously "cured" and excused of all wrongdoing when a cultivator tries to exorcise him. What could go wrong? Steps one and two go fine. Step three gets tricky when the cultivator who shows up is Hanguang-jun, who seems very uninterested in any exorcisms and very interested in "Wei Wuxian." It becomes even more complicated when Mo Xuanyu realizes he's stumbled into the middle of a star-crossed romance: and worst of all, that he's falling too.</blockquote> ➤ the declarations of love/attraction felt awkward to me, but other than that I really enjoyed this fic, and loved that mxy got to stay alive and have something good too

<blockquote>“When did you arrive?” Lan Zhan asks, but he’s looking at the child in Wei Wuxian's arms, and the question is clearly, whose baby is this, and maybe, should I be concerned? or Accidental (haunted) baby acquisition</blockquote>

<blockquote>Thirty-five years ago, two rogue cultivators vanished, leaving their son to fend for himself on the streets. Five minutes ago, Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze tumbled out of a time distortion array with only one thought: What happened to Wei Ying?</blockquote> ➤ from wwx's parents' pov

<blockquote>Fifteen years ago, definitely cishet man Shen Yuan transmigrated into Shen Qingqiu, the female villain of reverse harem novel Proud Immortal Demon Way, and never looked back. Now happily lesbian-married, Shen Qingqiu gets caught in a PIDW plot that makes her actually confront what she wants from her gender and her relationship.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Old Ben Kenobi dies and the Force throws him back in time to his younger body, just after the events at Naboo. Problem is, Obi-Wan is already there.</blockquote> ➤ an interesting variation on the time travel fix it, where they share the same body and same brain

<blockquote>Raylie did not ask for the burden of her particular gifts and talents. Nor did she ask for the unwavering vigilance of her bodyguard. They just are, like rocks and trees and starlight, and she has learned to abide with them both. But if she were ever compelled to choose between them, she knows which one she'd keep.</blockquote> ➤ bodyguard/heiress, something that feels somewhere in between amtdi and marriage of convenience while being neither, fascinating world building

<blockquote>"You've never had an orgasm?!" Both Wen Qing and Mianmian are watching Wei Ying with huge eyes, straws slipping out of their mouths. Wei Ying squirms in place, biting on her own straw. "It's not that big a deal, is it?"</blockquote>

<blockquote>Loosely based off of 'I Became the Wife of the Male Lead'. The main ship is Bingqiu!</blockquote> ➤ the one where sqq transmigrates into the nephew of qiu jianluo (son of qiu haitang and og!sqq)

<blockquote>“Of course, you should never pop the cork. If you do it right, the sound should be” –and there it was, that gentle exhale– “as soft as a lover’s sigh.” Two tables over, Avery was trying not to shred his cocktail napkin into too many small pieces. It wasn’t even the first time he’d heard Baldwin do this, or the tenth, or even likely the hundredth. It was his same song-and-dance every time patrons ordered a bottle of champagne: come over to the table, introduce himself as the proprietor of the establishment, chat with them about what special occasion had inspired such a purchase, and open it for them with gentle southern charm so thick it hung in the air long after he’d walked away again.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I scowled at them like I could shoot lasers from my eyes — which I didn’t have the mods for, but they didn’t know that. “Both of you, shut the fuck up.” To their credit, they did. He kept glaring daggers at me, like he was promising that the second I untied his hands, they’d be around my throat. She had on her biggest, saddest brown eyes, complete with perfect little tears trickling from the corners of her eyes, like she was just a helpless little thing who could be let go with no consequences. Both of them were goddamn liars. When I do a job, I do my research. He wasn’t vicious and she wasn’t harmless, and both of them were staying tied to those chairs.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Do you—” Quan Yizhen started, and then on the other side of the room Pei Ming started up his jackhammer, so he waited, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and then said all in a rush, “doyouknowHuaCheng?” Xie Lian blinked. “You know—him?” she asked, in case 'San Lang' was some kind of private name, a secret code just for her. She liked the thought of that. Quan Yizhen shook his head vigorously, his curls bouncing. “No!” he said. “But Yin-ge said you were with him at Home Depot and you left together!” Xie Lian stared at him. One of the employees that had helped her a few weeks ago had been called Yin something, she was pretty sure, but that’s about as far as she could follow what was happening here. “Yizhen, if you don’t know Hua Cheng, why is this… notable?” “He’s famous. Or like. The bad one. Infamous. I thought—” His eyes gleamed. “I thought maybe you fought him.” / Retired (read: disgraced) famous boxer Xie Lian meets a helpful stranger while at Home Depot attempting to fix her collapsing roof.</blockquote> ➤ the mafia element is very minor

<blockquote>Three months ago, Lan Xichen introduced Wei Wuxian by bringing him to Lan Wangji’s office and saying, “Wangji, this is our new teen librarian. I’m sure you’ll be happy to show him around since you’ll be working closely together.” Lan Wangji did not and does not feel that this was in any way an adequate introduction to Wei Wuxian. / Featuring: critical librarianship, rabbit-themed office supplies, and an elderly cat named Bunny.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Madame Meiyin casts a sex curse (blessing?) at the state wedding of Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. When Shen Qingqiu used to complain about how stultifying and unoriginal, how vapid and formulaic, and most especially how shallow and empty of true feeling Airplane's wife plots were in PIDW... well, fate was listening. Bodyswap's not so simple when the sex hasn't been so easy.</blockquote>