Scales and Tales

Happy Yuletide, everyone. The collection is open, and I hope everyone's browsing their way through it!

I went through the whole thing yesterday, mostly marking things I wanted to read and occasionally dipping into something; I think my Marked For Later list has doubled in length! :D


On that note, have a Nirvana in Fire rec:

and remains quiet by Anonymous: gen, Consort Jing & Mei Changsu have a conversation, immediately post-canon, that changes the course of a war and a death. Although it's a short fic, it's full of beautiful little details that ring true to canon and make it feel bigger, because it's so connected to the source and the emotions of the characters are so interwoven.

The nirvana_in_fire community held a zero comment challenge last week, encouraging fans to find and comment on works with no comments yet. I'm a week late, but I went browsing and found some small gems to share:


Some fantastic 'metaphorical' art of Jingyan and a dragon: Imperial Law by Bacca.

A short little character piece on Mei Changsu's untruths: deceive, delude, mislead by Xuer.

A great Qin Banruo/Jun Niang ficlet set, dealing with trust, betrayal, and the legacy of Xuanji: heaven made me by Anahita.

Silm rec time!

Blood and Fire by Clodia is a really beautifully done fic about the second destruction of Menegroth and the death of Dior. Or, perhaps, about Oropher at the second destruction of Menegroth and the death of Dior.

There's an incredible taut, claustrophobic feel to the final days of Menegroth, a blend of desolation and disaster. It combines the invasion of the physical tunnels of the city and the betrayal of emotional ties of its people to great effect.

LOTR recs, take two! These are mostly Aragorn-centric, gen and various pairings.

( Gen recs below the cut. )

( Slash and het recs below the cut. )

I was surprised to find no Aragorn/Arwen recs in my collection; past me apparently didn't find anything worth saving, but there must be lots of good fic out there. Please share if you have any!

Written by the marvelous icarusancalion, this is a "HP/SS gen" drabble. (I suppose I'll double-file it.) It's a wonderful take on the old "X and Y are locked up together" plot, and their answer is priceless. :D

Ack! My list of recs to post has grown ridiculously long whilst real life pummeled me into the ground these past weeks.

In celebration of The Paper being completed, I give you Monsters, by Gloria Mundi. Gen Pirates fic, with a marvelous view into Jack Sparrow's skull as he duels with Barbossa in the cavern. (Ha ha, yes, "skull" = pun intended. I = dork.) Gloria puts into words all the things I was thinking and noting during that scene; Jack's brilliant grasp of exactly where to prod people, the look upon the dying Barbossa's face, the questions of immortality and, perhaps, Will's ultimate choice. Short and deep, not to mention beautiful writing and an eerie mimicry of what I found mysejf thinking during the film.

I just ran across an old favourite-- Nym's short but sweet "Disposal", in which a young Remus Lupin learns a lesson about werewolves, and a lesson about friends. Gen, Marauders-era short story that makes you smile and, subtly, makes you cringe, thinking about what Remus faces every day of his life.

While sorting out my links today, I found a fic I obviously had meant to rec. ""Binding", by Kanzeyori, is maybe PG at most, and probably G, but there's such a wealth of feeling, of heart and heartache, beneath the short, seemingly simple action the story revolves around. Pirates, and scars, and Will and Elizabeth, with a tad bit of rum.

I'm glad to have rediscovered Kanzeyori-- expect further recs!

Find the story here.