#hecks fanfic recs

[ink-splotch]

hey friends I’m looking for some reading recommendations!

I’ve just been rereading old favorites, which is a joy, but I’m hankering for something new to surprise me and capture me. I’m open to anything but have particular soft spots for:

- narrators or POV characters with distinctive, atypical voices, perspectives, or assumptions who make an ordinary or extraordinary world more interesting by being seen through their lens (ex. Martha Wells’ Murderbot, owlet’s This, You Protect)

- clever, precise plotting and storytelling such that final conclusions or reveals click together like delightful, unexpected but perfectly predictable clockwork— the sort that you can see obviously in the first chapter but only after you’ve read the last page; stories where the authors trust the reader to pay attention and figure stuff out (ex. Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen’s Thief series, The Westing Game, Pamela Dean’s The Secret Country)

- worldbuilding with depth and texture — it feels explorable, immersive, like you could study it, like you could get lost, like other stories are going on just off the page (The Secret Countey gets a second honorary mention here, great book, I highly recommend)

- characters you can root for, especially ones that are slowly, quietly, unregretfully tearing themselves apart for something they care about (Kip Mdang from Hands of the Emperor, Newt from Designations Congruent with Things, Nico D’Angelo from the Percy Jackson books, Arthur in rageprufrock’s Presque Vu)

I like stories with momentum, stories that swallow you. I like beautiful things. I like stories that surprise me and make me think. Help a gal out? What stories have captured you?

[wendingways]

Wendingways' Star Wars fic recs

The vast majority of these are fix-its. Some are time travel/time loop. Most revolve around PT, TCW, and OT characters. A lot are also gen, as it turns out.

The order of the list has nothing to do with how much I enjoyed each fic, because I've enjoyed them all in different ways, for different reasons! Fics that seem to be really popular have been placed toward the bottom of each section, because I'm guessing they already appear on a lot of other rec lists. Aside from that, the order is pretty much random.

*Chapter and word counts may not be up to date. I try to go through once in a while to update the details for WIPS, but it's a lot to keep track of!

Complete multichapter fics

Finding Obi-Wan; T, 86.9k. Obi-Wan, having disappeared from the Jedi Temple, wakes up with no idea who he is or what the Force is and gets pulled into all manner of messes (yes, Hondo gets involved, of course he does), while Anakin refuses to believe he's dead and struggles to find him.

Blood and Copper Oxide; T, 36.3k. "Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader crash land on a planet that shouldn't have existed. Luke can't escape Vader and survive the planet at the same time. Darth Vader can't capture Luke and fight off the innumerable threats the planet sends his way. They might have to work together instead." Very cool story!

The Skywalker Secret; T, 39.8k. Anakin time travels back to the Clone Wars following Endor. The story is told mostly through the eyes of perplexed observers, and has an excellent ending; it's very satisfying and lovely!

Lunches at Anakin's; T, 93.1k. After Endor, thanks to the Force's meddling, Anakin finds himself alive but stuck on Tatooine, where he ends up reluctantly mentoring a Force-sensitive girl. (Technically complete, but part of a series which is not complete.)

(Tooka)Cat Scratch Fever; not rated, 17.7k. Luke adopts a tooka which turns out to be his father, under a curse by Sidious. (I would probably rate this one as T.)

In the Tall Grass; T, 18.5k. "After a failed order 66, in which many Jedi still died but the Sith were defeated, an exiled warrior and a boy wander a distant planet and attempt to get along." This one is so cool, it has such a fairytale feel to it! And there's a sequel!

Shadows of the Future; K+, 129.3k. Obi-Wan dies on Mustafar and is sent back to TPM, where he bonds with Anakin and begins to change the future for the better.

Gut Feeling; T, 7.5k. Amusing little multichapter wherein Piett is assigned a new aide who goes by the name of Lucas Starkiller (who is clearly not Luke Skywalker, definitely not), and from there becomes embroiled in treason.

May Death Find You Alive; T, 11.0k. Anakin gets stuck in a time loop where Obi-Wan keeps dying.

Empire Reimagined; series, T, 341.7k. A saga of Luke, Vader/Anakin, Piett, Veers, and Leia covering from ESB-era to post-ROTJ. Epic friendships abound! (Series not marked complete, but the last completed fic doesn't leave you hanging.)

Mirjahaal; T, 132.8k. Another lovely Wishful fic in the spirit of Empire Reimagined, involving favorite characters and somebody else who's a surprise!

The Exiled; T, 20.1k. "Leia has tried everything to help her baby son. She has turned to every expert on the Force she knows-- all but one. (Ben and Grandpa go camping)" (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

Cloudy Symbols of High Romance; G, 22.1k. This one's a bit of a relict! Posted pre-AOTC, way back in 2001, it's a cool take on how Anakin and Padmé's AOTC-era reunion happened, and omg, it's so much better than AOTC. It's actually cute, and you can see why they like each other, and man does it make the knowledge of what's coming so much the worse.

Kintsugi; T, 16.7k. Quietly tragic, even though nobody dies and it's broadly a fix-it. Not a comfy fic, but one which is well done.

What Lurks in the Dark; T, 155.4k. "A simple mission to check out an abandoned weapons factory turns into a dangerous fight for survival. Trust is broken, loyalties will be tested, and dark secrets are brought to light. Because sooner or later, the truth always comes out."

The Beauty in the Beast; T, 46.1k. "When the Force decides it's had enough of Darth Vader and wants Anakin Skywalker back, it dumps his long-lost teenage son on his doorstep with an ultimatum: unless Vader renounces the Sith and turns back to the Light within three months, Luke will die."

Sibling Revelry; T, 24.9k. "After Bespin and before Endor, Darth Vader is shocked to discover that Luke and Leia are twins. Especially since Imperial Intelligence just told him that Organa and Skywalker are, erm, a tad closer than previously suspected..." A hilarious comedy of misunderstandings!

The Sith Who Brought Life Day; G, 13.3k. A rather entertaining take on how Vader found out who blew up the Death Star.

This Life of Ours; T, 53.9k. "On the run from the empire and the remaining Jedi alike, Vader must come to terms with his past and his future, all the while learning to care for the boy that is his only connection to his life as Anakin Skywalker." (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

Teach the Padawan. Save the Galaxy.; series, T, 387.4k. 4 books complete, but the series itself is not complete. Ben Kenobi goes back in time and becomes Obi-Wan's master instead of Qui-Gon.

Legacy; G, 175.5k. Post-ROTJ Luke and Leia time travel to the Clone Wars.

there but for the grace of god; T, 49.2k. Young Luke winds up time traveling to the Clone Wars, where he causes both confusion and conversations that will lead to a brighter future for the TCW crew and the galaxy in general.

Precipice; M, 231.7k. "An AU in which Anakin Skywalker does not follow Mace Windu and the others to Palpatine’s office after they leave to arrest the Chancellor. As a result, he doesn’t get that final push over the edge, and doesn’t Fall." Padmé and Anakin each raise a twin and work to bring Palpatine down.

Don't Look Back; M, series, 533.7k. 2 books complete, 1 in progress. Leia gets sent back to AOTC-era, and omg is she a force to be reckoned with! Very detailed, very political series.

Oneshots

Negative Static Stability; G, 8.1k. Vader and Leia meet when Leia is 5; lessons on the workings of ships ensue, along with some good old Artoo scheming. Adorable!

Palpatine's Greatest Hits II: Imperial Boogaloo; T, 1.3k. Just Palpatine being salty. It's very fun! "Fortress Dramaticus" has got to be one of my favorite bits, coupled with Palpatine's ongoing disgust at its lack of shields and certain people's inability to learn certain lessons. And his disgust at Vader's Kenobi obsession. Okay, the whole thing is great. Go read it!

Dust to Dust; T, 4.7k. "Darth Vader goes back in time. The Galaxy is saved; he is not."

Puppet Kings; series, T-M, 18.8k. Really nicely done, dark oneshot trilogy (complete) about Luke, Vader, & Co. I'm not usually one for horror and tragedy, but I read the first fic in the series and didn't want to stop!

Amelioration; T, 8.2k. "A recently liberated Vader attempts to ameliorate the future by changing the past." A different sort of angle, and an interesting fic!

The Horrendous Space Kablooie; T, 6.2k. "9 year old Anakin wakes up on the Executor. Chaos ensues." Well worth reading! Can't say more because I don't want to spoil anything.

The Agony of Tarkin; G, 4.8k. "An extra in the Imperial Opera Company discovers he has been assigned the role of Darth Vader in its upcoming production of The Agony of Tarkin." Another hilarious fic in the vein of The Sith Who Brought Life Day and Accountant Non-Heroes of the Republic.

Accountant Non-Heroes of the Republic; G, 7.0k. "Palpatine makes a choice to hide his fiscal manoeuvres in the Financial Department. The Financial Department takes advantage of this lack of transparency to do whatever they want. This saved the Republic." It's always fun to watch Palpatine shoot himself in the foot, and all the better when it comes completely out of left field.

Out of Step; T, 4.9k. Nice little oneshot with post OT-era Obi-Wan and Anakin stuck into their TPM-era selves.

FIVE HUNDRED AND ONE THING THE MEMBERS OF THE 501ST LEGION OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO; T, 4.9k. A hilarious list composed by General Kenobi. I laugh myself silly every time I read this. (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

501 MORE THINGS THE 501ST ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO; T, 3.4k. A sequel to the 501st list fic, also very funny, although it only has about 250 entries, not 501. (Visible to registered AO3 users only.) Listed with oneshots because the extant 250 entries can be read as a complete list.

Where Have We Come?; T, 2.0k. "The first time was one of the hardest and the easiest. Obi-Wan loses at Mustafar, but instead of dying he wakes up at the dawn of the last day of the republic, doomed to repeat the worst day of his life, over and over again." Time loop!

you drew stars around my scars (but now i'm bleeding); not rated, 1.1k. Post-Twilight of the Apprentice, Ahsoka and Anakin. I'd rate G or T. (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

still dancing with your ghosts (sleeping with your memories); M, 1.1k. "Everyone knows about the Massacre, and how no Jedi made it out alive. The Jedi refuse to let anyone forget." I do not cry easily at fics. This one made me cry.

The Trick is to Keep Breathing; T, 3.5k. "She's older now, and so is he. Far older now. She wonders: will he have lost any power with his age? Will he be shorter, weaker? An old man on a ventilator? It's hard to imagine that he won't still be dangerous. But then, that's exactly what she's counting on."

Tuning up your TIE-Fighter to prove you’re better than the bastard currently running the TIE-Fighter Program for fun and profit; G, 7.1K. "As a rule, Vader didn't really do anything with his social media account, but then the rant of some kid from Tatooine about the inefficiency of TIE Fighters began trending, the pilots and engineers on the Devastator started fixing their ships and Vader got invested."

Multichapter fics that are incomplete but still appear to be alive as of now

Turning Point; T, 9.8k. After Vader dies on the second Death Star, he's sent back in time to the year 69 BBY, on Naboo, where he picks up an unfortunate barnacle in the person of the teenage Sheev Palpatine. Quite entertaining, and I can't wait to see where it goes!

The Good He Seeks; T, 70.1k. "After killing the Emperor, Darth Vader agreed to serve the fledgling New Republic and destroy the last true-believers of the Empire he had once helped create. But he's living on borrowed time." Though I do enjoy pure fix-its, there's just something that really gets me about fics that are fix-it-ish, but life is messy, the characters are messy, there are no easy answers or perfect solutions, and every positive development really feels earned. So far, this is one of those fics, and I'm loving it!

The Galaxy Revolves at a Million Miles a Day (Around Me); T, 40.7k. After dying on Executor during the battle of Endor, Piett finds himself trapped in a time loop which he must break. I'm a sucker for time loops, and this is such a good one!

The Sleepover to Restore the Republic; T, 56.1k. This many Skywalkers, clones, and associated friends, relatives, and coworkers were never intended to be thrown together, and when they are, boy oh boy. Gloriously chaotic and funny. (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

Nameless, on the Edge of Nowhere; M, 100.7k. Vader survives ROTJ, but both he and Luke made it out of the second Death Star via random hyperspace jumps in separate ships. After getting by for a time, the not-fully-Sith-but-not-fully-redeemed Vader ends up with the Rebellion, where Leia becomes his handler. Slow build, and a really rewarding read thus far! (Also, I love the OCs in this one; they all feel very natural and vivid, and like people in their own right.)

Multichapter fics/series for those okay with living on the edge (inconsistent updates, long hiatus, or abandoned)

Headaches; T, 31.2K. "When Luke overhears his aunt and uncle arguing, he follows old Ben to Daiyu. Skywalker shenanigans ensues." Oh my goodness, the pure child chaos that is in this fic, it's an excellent time. Hasn't updated in almost a year, but what's there is so good!

Balance on the knife edge; T, 136.6k. After dying on Malachor, Ahsoka time travels back to Mortis, during the Clone Wars.

The Thunder Answered Back; M, 13.1k. "Count Dooku survives his duel with Anakin Skywalker only to wake up as a captive in the Jedi Temple on the evening of Order 66 and the siege. Betrayed, maimed, and surrounded by slaughter on every side, he must choose his path forward - and choose it quickly. RotS AU." Featuring Jocasta Nu.

Synchronous; G, 67.9k. "It's the usual time-entangling fiasco: 'Find the disturbance. Rectify the wrong. Fix the anomaly. Bring balance to the past so the Force may be balanced in the future.' There is a slight miscalculation, however, and Luke Skywalker finds himself in the Clone Wars while having to masquerade in the body of his late father Anakin Skywalker. Leia and Han aren't so helpful either."

In the Midst of Darkness Lays a Sleeping Light; T, 26.0k. Series, wherein Palpatine turns Vader into a dragon. (It goes great for both of them. Totally.) Angsty and enjoyable, and an interesting exploration of dehumanization/rehumanization.

To Set Up a Sith; T, 35.2k. "Teenage Luke tries to help his unwitting Sith father make a friend, with a little help from his ghost mom and the Force." Interesting story with fun and sweet bits, and I'm super curious about how it will turn out if it's ever finished!

like a lazy ocean hugs the shore; T, 10.7k. After Vader kills him, Fox gets stuck in a time loop around the time when Fives is killed.

Living Every Day; T, 82.9k. "When Satine Kryze survives her encounter with Darth Maul, it changes the galaxy. But even more than that, it changes the lives of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Skywalker family."

Dancing with Ghosts in Your Garden; T, 979.3k. Star Wars PT and TCW characters, but in a Hogwarts setting. It works surprisingly well! There's a little more teenage romance than is my personal preference, but it's a cool AU and quite long if you're looking for a fun, imaginative fic to absolutely bury yourself in for a while. (And it looks like Ahsoka might finally be entering during the next year of the fic!!)

What We've Become; T, 82.0K. "Darth Vader and Ahsoka’s fight on Malachor takes a different path, and Ahsoka actually is able to save her master. Or rather, she’s able to convince him to save himself. Diverges from canon in the last few minutes of Twilight of the Apprentice and goes increasingly AU from there."

better late than never; G, 41.4k. Ahsoka wins at Malachor, Vader redemption fic.

Madhouse Promenade; T, 13.0k. "In a bid to save his new apprentice's life, Darth Sidious siphoned the life force from Padmé Amidala, ultimately killing her. Ten years later, after finding out the truth, Darth Vader finds himself haunted by her ghost, and Padmé finds herself face-to-face with what her husband has become."

Hard Reset; T, 33.4k. "Anakin Skywalker wakes up to his worst nightmare, and he doesn't even know all of it yet." Aka Vader gets amnesia, and Anakin is confused about everything. (Visible to registered AO3 users only.)

The Ghosts on Coruscant; T, 143.6k. After surviving Mustafar and living as a rebel for eight years, Padmé is captured by the Empire, and Vader finds out.

Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns; T, 616.6k. ST-era Leia time travels back to ANH.

Old Man Luke; M, 109.4. ST-era Luke and Leia time travel to the Clone Wars.

Comics (all wips)

Dark Chasm; T, 21 chapters. "On Bespin, the truth is revealed, and Vader bids for Luke to join him. Luke looks down into the dark chasm and makes a choice."

Imperial Babysitters; T, 17 chapters. Cute comic/art series with Luke being raised by Vader, Piett, and Veers.

Our New Hope; T, 57 chapters. "After Ahsoka Tano discovers 12-year-old Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, she takes him under her wing and around the Galaxy. Meanwhile, Darth Vader has found Bail Organa's force-sensitive daughter and has started training her as a Junior Inquisitor. A chance encounter between the twins brings their worlds together."

The Tinies; G, 76 chapters. Cute comic with Vader and Padmé raising Luke and Leia.

[nachosncheezies]

Would you mind reccing the stories you liked that deal with Scully being a little psychic? I love anything that deals with that

Hello anon! I didn't think anyone reads my tags, but here you are proving me wrong. :D I'm pretty new to XF fic so I don't have enough to do a comprehensive list but here's a few I recently found in quick succession:

Contact High by Penumbra

Look I won't beat around the bush - it's heavy on the porn, so if that's not your thing then maybe give it a miss. Set post-Field Trip, they've gone home but Scully's still under the influence (still telepathic), apparently moreso than him (which I'm interpreting as, she already was a little psychic so it's hitting her harder). It appears Mulder is unaware she's picking up what he's broadcasting, and he himself only hears some of her thoughts once he knows. Meanwhile our girl is receiving every explicit moment of her partner's sex dreams in vivid technicolor, from all the way across town, in enough detail that she's basically like "Look you tease, if I'm gonna have to see this shit I'm coming down there and you're gonna make good." Queue a lot of finally talking about and working through things, in various states of [un]dress. There's even some angst in there!

By Falling In And In by @aloysiavirgata

A post-Deadalive AU, set over a span of years. I suppose the psychic angle is more about William's powers, but… he couldn't connect unless there was something to connect to, ya know? Otherwise he'd just be out here broadcasting to everyone. And as you'll see in the second half, the way Scully reaches back is pretty intense, especially when there's trouble. This is such a good story. Highly recommended whether you're in to psychic Scully or not!!

Triptych by @iconicscullyoutfits

I'm human and like most of us, sometimes Diana Fowley makes me want to wrinkle my nose like I've hit a bad smell, or maybe throw something that'll make a nice thunk sound just to get it out. But this one is worth it. The psychic!Scully angle is more subtle here. She sees ghosts, senses death, etc. It's not the main focus of the story, but it's a nice thing in an already excellent fic. I wish I could say more but I literally couldn't put it down, so much so that I need to re-read it bc I'm pretty sure I was asleep for part of it. 🙈

Bonus - since I also remarked in my tags that I wondered what Bill Sr. thought of his girls' spooky powers. Across the Sea by CalifornianHousplant is a little piece in which Maggie muses a bit on precisely that. It's Mulder/Maggie, cancer arc.

If I come across or remember any others I'll reblog this and add them! Thank you for reaching out :D

[scarlet-traveler]

Everybody drop everything and read this fic right now, it has supremely soft and qp krbk vibes and it’s!! So good!! Please check it out you won’t regret it 💕

[all-eyes-no-dragon]

Is there a fanfic out there where Peter just keeps the spider??? And can talk to it/and spiders in general? Like obvs Pete and Spider are angry, confused, etc first but they become friends of a sort and Peter brings it home and still becomes Spider-Man but he's got his little spider spy/tag along??

[cyaneyedcl]

im afraid ive fallen in a giant bkdk brainrot and i CANNOT stop thinking abt them, they r consuming so much of my daily thoughts that ive literally been scrambling all over the internet trying to find and read every single fanart and fanfic thats ever been created abt them

but theres so much abt them out alr that it makes me feel so behind

SO i am here begging the tumblr algorithm system to PLEASE find me people that rec me anything bkdk related, be it artists that draw them a lot, blogs that talk abt them, or fanfics that u've read that were really good or u think that everybody should read

heck even self promo if u do bkdk content, LET ME SUPPORT YOU

like pls pls pls let me in the fandom ill cry

[raviposting]

Thank you guys for 8k! I wanted to take this time to try and spread a little positivity and celebrate you guys, since you all help make my experience here so fun. Especially since I can't physically give everyone who has put up with my hyperfixation posting a physical medal LMFAO. Thanks for following the madness. <3

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Send me a ✨ + the link to your creations, and I'll list my top 5 favorite creations of yours!*

Share the love! Send me a 💌 and send a compliment to another user, show me a gif/edit/fic/etc. rec, send something good that happened to you that day, whatever it may be!

Send me a 🖼️ and I'll make you a moodboard based on my impression of you/your blog!

[Mutuals only] Send me a 🎵 + topic (character, show, heck yourself lmfao) and I'll make a playlist (5-20 songs) based off of it!

RULES:

You can send me multiple things (ie for art, music, creation compliments, etc.) but I ask that you send them on different asks (and please don't send me like 50 different song emojis)

No anonymous messages except for the 💌 ones. I need to know who you are for the others!

Following me would be a plus but lbr my lazy ass isn't checking

End date: July 15

*There's some content I won't read/look at if it makes me uncomfortable as a disclaimer. *Fanfics/fanvideos may also take a bit longer for the content creation asks, but I'll be looking at them as well!

Tagging some mutuals under the cut:

@smoshidiot @mikelogan @perrypixel @maygrantgf @ginnxtonic

@buudie @superspideyapologist @the-maidofmischief @nessa007 @eddiediaaz

@challengerblue @on-and-on-we-go-forever @batmanisagatewaydrug @dykerory @ghostlyheart

@fallowtail @church-of-lilith @habibialkaysani @queerbuckleys @sdktrs12

@vreenak @capinejghafa @himbobisexual

[fandom-friday]

Hi!!!

These are some fanfics I recommend focusing on Tim Drake <3333

1. Thursday's Child by anthologia/ @syntactition (tumblr): it's a really cute story of Tim being adopted early into the batfam and he's just really worried about being a burden/being too much for his family,but his family is just worried about him and very patient with him

Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628028/chapters/10552296

2. Not Unloved Anymore by Paper_Sunflower_Lane/ @paper-sunflower-lane (tumblr): I love the writing style and how his family find out how Tim feels unloved by them because of the truth serum and are trying to find ways to make sure that he knows that he is loved (still waiting for the author to finish, but it’s still something good to read)

Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26479588/chapters/64526056

3. A father's wish by Alone77/ @alone77 : it’s a really cute story on how Bruce (+Clark and Diana) travel back in time to catch a villian but in the process, Bruce gets to spend time with baby Tim before going back to his current time

Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39598968

These are def fanfics to take a look at!!!

Oh wow this is one heck of a list for the Batman fans out there! It's got angst, fluff, and enough feels for everyone! Thanks so much for all the recs!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[focusfixated]

fic rec: ted lasso

all the men and women merely players

rating: T // fandom: ted lasso // pairings: ted x trent, keeley x roy x jamie, nate x jade // length: 50.7k author: @laiqualaurelote tags: theatre, shakespeare, post-apocalypse

"So let me get this straight. You, an American whose career highlights consisted mainly of appearing on Saturday Night Live, decide in the wake of the apocalypse to lead a touring Shakespeare company across the ruins of England." "Oh, I know. Heck, I said as much to Rebecca when she suggested it. I said, 'You could fill two Internets with what I don’t know about directing Shakespeare.' And she said, 'Ted, the Internet doesn’t exist any more.'" Trent Crimm meets Ted Lasso by chance at a Shakespeare play. Five years and the end of the world later, they meet again at another. A Station Eleven post-apocalyptic theatre AU (no knowledge of Station Eleven necessary to read).

rec notes:

a post-apocalyptic ted lasso AU where the richmond players are a troupe of travelling shakespearean actors.

simply one of the best things i've read in a long time. it SO perfectly operates within its genre, one of those beautiful pieces of cross-referential AU fanfic, where there is both a deeply thoughtful blending of references, a wonderfully precise understanding of the characters from the original media, and highly-detailed worldbuilding of its own.

the author nails every character's cadence, the variety of voices, their styles of conversation. the descriptive narrative, is also excellent. achingly poetic, there is so much beauty, and so much compelling, grim horror, too. the happy moments are threaded with plenty of intense, sharply sad moments, but there is so much joy, such hope. it's an ode to art, and friendship, and community.

i had such an amazing time reading this story. it's such a brilliant idea, and its execution lives up to the concept. the amount of detail, research, reference, is evident in every chapter. and it's a wonderful tribute to the show, while also giving such a satisfying conclusion to so many story arcs that were left a little underserved in the series finale.

[aceofwhump]

Do you have any Crowley whump? (in fanfics too)

Heck yeah I do!! Season 2 has got me all abuzz about Crowley whump so I've got a whole bunch of new fics to rec.

As for canon whump there's not a lot but there are angsty moments. I've got several reblogs you can look at in the good omens tag here: https://aceofwhump.tumblr.com/tagged/good%20omens

Here are some of my favorite fanfictions I've read:

Five Times Aziraphale Saves Crowley (And One Time He Fails) by Captain_Kieren

Crowley's Armageddon and Recovery by Wolfgirl4vr

Somebody to Love by McRaider

my first Good Omens fic please be gentle by taylor_tut

Suspendin' Gravity by ahyperactivehero (ahyperactiverhero)

Black Lines by Eladriel

Holy Mistakes by winterspirit13

A Burning Thing by spinninginfinityboy

I Stretch Out My Hands by sherlocktheholmes

My Life With You Means Everything, So I Won't Give Up That Easily by PositivePumpkin

Palliative Practices by VerdantVulpus 

Crowleys a snake, and snakes dont sweat/are cold blooded. No way to internally regulate temperature. So maybe something about that? Overheating in the gardens or something?

Can you do a piece where Crowley is accidentally burned by the holy water Aziraphale gave him, and while it isn't enough to kill him he's hurt real bad and Aziraphale feels super guilty? I love your blog!

Hell Freezes Over by lilac341

[jrooc]

✨tag game wednesday ✨

thanks for the tags @michellemisfit @creepkinginc @energievie + @mybrainismelted

name: Jess

age: Old enough to be bitter

location (globally): oh Canada

location (physically): lying on the floor under a table

favourite Food to Eat: Chinese dumplings 🥟. Or savoury pie 🥧

favourite food to cook: Chicken pot pie

will you be attending @too-schoolforcool’s ☀️ Kitchen Shenanigans🍴with Cherry on the 6th july? Yes!

what’s your zodiac: Libra - Scales/Balance

will you be attending @heymacy’s ☀️ Astrology 101: More Than Just Your Sun Sign ☀️ lecture on the 13th july? Heck yes

(check @gallavich-fic-club’s lesson plan for details here)

now let predictive text complete each sentence for you after the 💭

my age is 💭 just a number (correct I'm mentally both older and younger)

my favourite animal is 💭 cat (yupp.)

i love to cook 💭 quotes (um...?)

i love to eat 💭 apples and bananas (2nd answer was 'your pancreas anime' so there's that)

i have a lot of ideas about 💭 bad ideas in my head (hahahahahah maniacal laughter)

i have no clue 💭 meaning (?)

my dream career is 💭 Doctor (nope. not even once)

my favourite character on shameless 💭 Carl Gallagher stands out as best character (Does he?)

debbie gallagher is 💭 gay. [Correct!]

carl gallagher is 💭 black [Incorrect!]

mandy milkovich is 💭 the same actress (technically no)

mickey milkovich is 💭 is the best (haha yes! I swear this is real)

ian gallagher is 💭 gay in real life. [I wish]

to me ian and mickey are 💭 Shameless [Uh, ya, I guess]

gallavich means 💭 Fanfic recs (Lolllll)

i wish anyone who reads this to 💭 meaning [this is cause when I'm writing I double check the meaning of everything to be sure lmaooo]

Tagging or just sending a hug over to:

@heymacy @blue-disco-lights @spookygingerr @roryonic @gallapiech @deedala @thisdivorce @mickeysgaymom @heymrspatel @sgtmickeyslaughter @too-schoolforcool @doshiart @guinguin1984 @francesrose3 @look-i-love-u @lee-ow @ardent-fox @sillygoofygoobersstuff @callivich @solitarycreaturesthey @bawlbrayker @stocious @transmurderbug @transmickey @astaraels @the-rat-wins @thepupperino @rereadanon @vintagelacerosette @krysmiss @deathclassic @ian-galagher @rayrayor @ms-moonlight-inn

[mirkwoodshewolf]

No following; Planet of the apes fanfic Chap. 2

*Author's note*

And here we are with the second chapter of my new POTA series. Like I said I'll be binge posting today so buckle up everyone! Here we get snippets of growing up with Caesar and Lin. Now I have written some scenes based off of deleted scenes from Rise and that'll be the case for some of series. If I find a deleted scene that could fit the story, I'll work around it and place it into my story.

Reminder I do NOT own Planet of the Apes, it belongs to their respected owners, creators and studios. I also don't own any songs that I use for the fic, it's only for entertainment purposes.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@waddles03

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@psychosupernatural

_______________________________________________________

All hail Julius Caesar! Well we didn’t call him Julius but Caesar definitely seemed to fit him, especially as he got older.  Now I had read that apes and monkeys were smart but Caesar—I’ll tell you he is something else.  Just short of a year old and he was already signing 24 words with ease, heck I can barely remember 10 of them.  But he’s brought a real light to the house, things just felt a lot more—happier, lighter.

No one seemed depressed anymore.  And I’ll say this, it’s definitely a lot of fun to now have someone to play with at home.  Sure I’ve got my school friends and the friends I’ve made at the rec center but Caesar brings something else that I can’t quite explain.  He looks up to me but also I learn from him, I don’t know if this even makes any sense but is this what it means to be a big sister?

Uncle Will spends most of his time in the study area always talking or taking notes about Caesar.  There’s always video cameras out whenever he’s doing something whether it was drawing, reading, or even playing chess (which he is a master at. Heck he treats checkers like it’s nothing and believe it or not, he’s beaten me at Candyland 17 times!).

Caesar is always up for learning and is so curious, it really is like having a baby around the house.  Like this one time I had caught him listening to some of my CD’s on his stereo with his headphones on, but his curiosity will also get him into trouble when I got mad when he came into my room and took a picture out from under my pillow.  No one and I mean absolutely no one ever touches that photo!

He got scared and kept hiding from me every time I entered a room until later that night uncle Will had me apologize to him and I told Caesar that the picture was something special to me and only I was allowed to look at it (that and uncle Will and grandpa if they were in the room too).  He took notice of my tone and demeanor as I spoke and we ended up snuggling up together on his bed as he comforted me.

Now at age two Caesar was really starting to grow up and show his intelligence.  He was completing puzzles and lego models for kids 8+ so for tweens like me who have to work hard for hours or even days on end on the Lego Star Wars Death star, Caesar can get it done within 24hrs.  Yeah he’s that smart.

I stormed in the house and walked past Irene, grandpa’s nurse and she greeted me.

“Hey Lin, how was your day?”

“It sucked! I’ll be in the attic!” I stomped up the stairs loudly and ran across the hall and reached up for the attic stairway but the rope kept swinging away from my fingertips.  “Damnit!” I hissed lowly as I looked around and found the stepstool.  “I swear I better get a growth spurt once I’m 16!” I pulled down the attic entryway but as I pulled down the staircase fully, I took a few deep breaths trying to calm down.

After scaring him the last time I got angry, I didn’t want to take my anger out on him after the bad day I had.  Once I was calm, I walked up the stairs into Caesar’s room.  Uncle Will and I had worked together to really enrich this old attic into a playroom for Caesar.

Some of the old toys I never played with again were now his, the stereo that stood on a desk filled with some books that he and I would read to Caesar.  All of them ranging from basic children’s books with lots of pictures to young tween novels like The Hobbit, Harry Potter or the Magic tree house series (those books I loved reading when I was little).

There was also some ‘monkey bars’ given for him to hang on or swing around on in order to climb up to the banisters above the balcony.  And of course the giant window that stood proudly at the center of the room and he could look out and see the entire neighborhood (well not the whole neighborhood but you get the picture).

“Caesar?” I called out.  I heard the sound of my old interactive toy phone being played with.  I walked over and looked over his bed and found Caesar on the ground, headphones on and being intrigued with the toy phone.  “Hey! Caesar!” I called out louder as I could faintly hear the loud music coming from his headphones.

He then turned to me and immediately reached for his monkey bars and swung himself onto the bed before bounding over to me and hugged me hotting happily.  The chord of the headphones came off and soon the music he was listening to now played through the speakers of the stereo.  I smiled and felt myself feeling better as he patted me enthusiastically.

“Hey buddy, hi. Oh I missed you too!” I separated from him as he continued to hoot and pant excitedly.  I took the headphones off his head and told him, “You listening to my cd’s again? John Williams this time huh? You like him too?” as E.T’s flying theme started playing through the speakers, Caesar hooted and jumped on the bed as his hands slammed onto the mattress.  “Yeah he’s the best composer ever, maybe I should get you to watch the film. I think you’d like it.”

I went over to the speaker and turned the volume down when I took notice of something on the table just across from his bed.  As I walked over to the table I asked him.

“Hey, where’d you get these puzzles?” Caesar stopped his excitement and just looked at me anxiously.  “Aren’t these grandpa’s puzzles?” I noticed that he had gotten three of my grandpa’s puzzles.  The 500 piece puzzles that only old people can seem to have the patience for.  One was a man and woman on a horse going over a beach, the other was of the New York skylight, and the third was the Declaration of Independence being signed.

The third one he was nearly done and he was about halfway done with the first two.  I turned to Caesar and raised my brow skeptically at him.  He looked down between the bed and my gaze before he lept over the bedframe and hid behind it and occasionally peeking out over the frame before hiding again.  I walked over and stroked along the puzzle of the man and woman on the beach as Caesar began nervously hooting and making a few hand gestures.

“Am I gonna tell?” I translated.  “No, no I won’t tell. This can be another secret of ours.” I heard Caesar walk back and hop onto the bed as I shook my head astounded.  “I can barely do the edge pieces to these things.” I walked over towards Caesar and collapsed across his bed letting out a deep sigh.  Caesar bounded his way over to me, his green eyes showing deep concern as he lowly hooted and signed again.  “Sad? You could say that.”

Caesar then lay down carefully and started stroking through my hair almost like he was grooming me.  I smiled softly and said.

“Thanks brother ape.” I reached and cupped the side of his face and he pressed his face against my palm.  “Never thought I’d see the day, but I don’t think Gabi and I are friends anymore. And it’s for real this time.” Caesar softly grunted as he pointed at the necklace I wore around my neck.  “Yeah, the same Gabi who gave me this, and I gave her one with my name when we both went to Disneyland last summer for our orchestra fieldtrip.”

I sat up as Caesar settled himself close to me, his hand resting on top of my lap as he rested his chin to my shoulder brushing my hair gingerly out of my face.

“I knew she had been acting distant lately, but I’d never thought it was because she was hanging out with Hannah and her cronies. Those girls made our lives hell last year, and now Gabi just up and joins in their little friend group and pretend I don’t exist!? After all we went through! I don’t…..” I felt a couple of tears slip down my face.

I then felt a rough yet gentle leather finger reach up and catch one of my tears.  I sniffled and rubbed my eyes harshly to try and get rid of the tears.

“I’m sorry Caesar, you don’t need all this teenage drama dumped on you.” Caesar softly hooted and signed.

‘Sister was sad, Caesar listened. Talking help?’ I smiled softly.

“Yeah. It did kinda help to talk about it. Can’t really dump this stuff onto gramps, and Uncle Will’s been busier than ever lately. Thank you Caesar.” He smiled at me before jumping off the bed and ran over to grab something.  He came back and placed something into my lap as he hooted softly.  I took the object and saw that it was a miniature handmade bicycle made out of two old toy wheels, some cooper wire, and old silver and green hinges.

I turned the wheels around and marveled at the bike.  It was practically a perfect replica of a real one and he made it with various materials and tools found around up here.  I looked up at Caesar who sat there looking modest.

“Did you make this?” Caesar pondered with his hand to his chin avoiding eye contact for a brief moment before looking at me and opening his mouth panting as he also smiled.  I felt myself smile more as I told him, “You’re a smart yet cheeky ape.” Caesar let out a laugh as I continued, “Maybe you can help me with my science project next eh?” I dug through my backpack and brought out all my books and folders as I showed Caesar what I had learned today in the 6h grade.

As night rolled around a sudden thunderstorm had swept over San Fransisco.  Thank god I already took my bath just an hour before the storm rolled around cause this was probably the worst storm I’ve ever heard.  A loud boom of thunder almost shook the house and I heard the fast paced running of Caesar racing down from the attic, as a flash of lightning struck from my window I suddenly was tackled to my bed and felt a shuddering, furry ape holding onto me while grunting and hooting fearfully.

“It’s okay Caesar, it’ll be okay.”

‘Thunder shake house. Will it be okay?’

“Of course it will. The wind can’t knock down this house, not like the trees outside.”

‘You’re sure?’

“Yes. Here why don’t you sleep with me tonight? I know Uncle Will says you gotta get used to sleeping by yourself when you’re scared but I think tonight he’ll have to learn to make an exception.” Caesar immediately settled himself onto my bed but refused to let go of my hand.

As I got settled in another loud boom of thunder made him shriek as he curled up beside me, his head burying itself into my chest.  I wrapped my arms around him and stroked through his fur in soothing circles.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. I’m here Caesar. It’s okay.” I softly spoke.  But even with my comforting touch and words, I could still feel him trembling in fear.  I thought long and hard until I remembered our favorite movie together.  Mighty Joe Young, the song they sing in the movie, it always seemed to put him in a good mood and he’d always say that the bond between Joe and Jill was like us.  So I did exactly what Jill did for Joe after he had destroyed his enclosure and sung the lullaby from the movie.

Imba wimbo

Wa upepo

Wakati unajiwa na

Imba wimbo wa upepo

Wakati ndoto tamu

Lala mpaka usiku uisheni

Upepo wa usiku

Wimbo wangu na

Inaendelea

Milele

I looked down and saw that Caesar had now fallen asleep against my chest, his face now clear of any fear that he had before.  I smiled softly and kissed his forehead before whispering.

“Goodnight little brother.” I pulled the covers over the both of us and soon fell fast asleep holding Caesar in my arms.

And as it turned out, the storm from last night ended up carrying into the next morning.  So I knew that everyone would be driving frantically to their next destination (I swear if it’s not sunny weather, people lose their freakin minds!).  As I donned on my raingear and prepared to leave for the bus stop up the road, Caesar came and took my hand signing as he frantically hooted.

‘No go today. Stay here with Caesar!’

“I can’t Caesar. I’ve got a big math test today and I haven’t studied for it. I’ll be fine and so will you.” Caesar began pulling on my arm hard and fearfully but I took his hand and removed his grip from my arm.  “No Caesar! You stay, I go. No following.” I told him as I also signed it to him knowing that I meant it.

Caesar looked at me pitifully but stepped aside and allowed me to go.

“Be good, I’ll see you when I get back from school.” I kissed his head and opened up my umbrella before quickly racing out of the house for the bus stop.

It was a typical Wednesday (besides the weather).  And like I have every Monday, Weds. and Friday it was my favorite elective, Orchestra.  I’ve really come to love music just beyond listening to it.  Through our class whenever we’re not practicing for Districts, we play the most famous film scores like Pink Panther, Jurassic Park, E.T. we’ve even tried a couple of songs from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

When the bell rang signaling class was over, I packed up my violin and put away the music sheets back onto the table when my teacher Ms. Stanley called out to me.

“Lin, could you stay behind for a moment, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Sure Ms. Stanley, what is it? Am I in trouble?”

“No, no nothing like that. Since you came into my class, I’ve been taking notice of how you play. Most of the students here are in it for an easy grade or just to check something off their elective courses. But when I see you play, you almost seemed enveloped in the music. Like you become one with it.”

“Thanks Ms. Stanley. Growing up I’ve always loved hearing all the best film composers from John Williams to Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, John Powell, all those guys.”

“Do you know the San Francisco community music center?”

“I know of it but I’ve never been in it. I took lessons from the old rec center that used to be around before they moved buildings a year ago. But they only did up to 10 years old for lessons.”

“Well I happen to have an old college friend who works at the community center. And not only is he the head maestro but he also runs a tour group that goes out every summer to perform for various studios across America. How about you let me recommend you for an audition?”

“Me? Seriously?”

“You’ve got talent in the likes I rarely see in kids your age. Here why don’t you take this brochure and show it to your uncle and have him look at the website for more information. Then once I hear back from my friend I’ll give you the details after class.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll—I’ll do that. Thank you Ms. Stanley.” I said taking the brochure from her hands and feeling my heart just ready to burst out of my chest in excitement.  I heard the warning bell ring and she quickly wrote me a late pass for my next class and I thanked her again as I raced out with a skip in my step.

Once school was over and I ran down the street in the rain I came up the stairs and quickly unlocked the door and came inside shaking off the raindrops from my umbrella and my raincoat.

“I’m home!” Irena soon came in and she greeted me.

“Hello Lin, had a good day?”

“Oh the best. Where’s gramps I gotta tell him something.”

“I’m afraid it’ll have to wait, your grandpa’s having a—bad day right now. I just had to step aside for a moment to calm myself down.”

“Ohh I see. I’m sorry Irena. But we really do appreciate you coming here, even if he has a bad day.” She merely gave me a hesitant nod but I could see it on her face, she was almost at her wits end with grandpa’s episodes.  I went upstairs to see Caesar and right away I was tackled by him the second I came into the attic space.  “Hey buddy glad to see me huh?”

He hooted and playfully we began to wrestle with each other before he had me pinned down and pretended to whack me repeatedly and I let out a few playful grunts before lying ‘dead’.  I heard Caesar’s curious cooing sounds as he paced around me before sniffing me.  That’s when I opened my eyes and blew air in his face which made him jump back as he shrieked and hollered playfully before laughing.

“Yeah, yeah I’d know you’d never hurt me.” He came up and hugged me before signing.

‘Happy?’

“You could say that. Oh Caesar you wouldn’t believe what my orchestra teacher told me.” I went over to Caesar’s bed and sat down and he came up beside me, curiously looking over my shoulder as I dug through my backpack for the brochure.  “This is the San Fransisco community center. It’s about roughly 25-30 minutes from here, they’ve got the best music and arts program in the entire city. My teacher told me she’s got a friend who’s the head Maestro for the Orchestra dept. there. And she said she’d get me an audition for them!”

Caesar hooted excitedly and signed to me.

‘You’ll get in it.’

“Well first we’ll have to see if he even agrees to have me audition. And if I do somehow get it, I can be a part of that orchestra for as long as I want. And I’ll even be able to tour around the country performing for thousands of people!”

‘You go away forever?’

“No, not forever Caesar. Of course I’ll come back, as long as you’re here waiting for me.” I took his hand.  “You’re my brother ape Caesar, I’ll always be there when you need me, just like I know you’ll be there for me.” Caesar let out a pant as he pulled my head towards him and we pressed our foreheads together as a sign of affection, rocking from side to side.

‘I love you Lin.’

“I love you too big guy. Now wanna learn some more sign language. Bet it gets kinda boring learning the same basics with Uncle Will.” I couldn’t help but tease.  Caesar playfully pushed me down onto the bed which made me laugh and Caesar also let out a laugh as well.  I then pulled out my homework and together we got to work practicing the lesson I was given for this week and to ready myself for the next test coming up in a couple of weeks.

Another year passed by and Caesar was now three years old.  As a surprise, we had planned a little birthday celebration for him.  I was in charge of the decorations and the table setting while Uncle Will made the cake stuffed with some of Caesar’s favorite fruits.  To make sure this was kept a surprise, grandpa promised he’d keep Caesar upstairs and entertain him while uncle Will and I got everything ready in the kitchen.

“How’s the cake coming along uncle Will?” I asked as I tied up another balloon and let it go up towards the ceiling.

“Oh pretty good.” I looked up and saw how he was covered in flour and frosting.

“Uhh uncle Will. I think the frosting’s supposed to go on the cake, not on your face.”

“Haha you’re hilarious.” He said sarcastically. “Just having a bit of trouble getting the last of the frosting out. You know how hard it is when you’re trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out, well imagine that but a bigger tube.”

“I thought you said we had enough frosting?”

“We do, it’s just always a bit tricky to get the frosting to come out especially with all these designs you’re making me do.”

“Hey I only suggested one tree but you had to do two of them, plus writing out the message in frosting. I had written on the list to get those eatable letters you can put on cakes.”

“Those are nothing but cheap plastic letters. And their too small, he could choak on them.”

“He’s smart to know not to eat them whole.”

“Whatever, just get back to decorating.” He ordered me.

“Yes sir squadron leader.” I saluted mockingly.

“Don’t get smart. We don’t have much time before Caesar gets restless and Charles can only hold him off for so long.” I nodded and got back to work.

“You think he’ll like my gift to him?”

“There’s no doubt about that. You’ve been working on it for months now practicing day and night.”

“Yeah, but……”

“Hey, no buts. He’ll love it, he loves it when you play your violin and knowing that you’ve been practicing his favorite score piece, he’s gonna love it.” I smiled softly as I finished setting up the table and Uncle Will finally brought over the cake.  “Okay, all that’s left is the candles and the guest of honor himself.”

“Should I go get them?”

“Be my guest.” He said as we both left the kitchen.  I headed up for the attic and saw both Caesar and grandpa sitting on the bed reading Julius Caesar.

“Sorry for interrupting but we’re ready.” Caesar looked at my with a head tilt as he hooted in confusion.  “We’ve got a surprise for you downstairs Caesar.” At that word, he began to hoot and shriek excitedly as he bounded over towards me.  “Okay, okay easy Caesar. Steady. First you’re gonna have to close your eyes.” He let out a whine but I told him, “don’t play that card on me. What good is a surprise if you just go down and see it? Now close your eyes.”

“C’mon Caesar, just play along with her.” Grandpa encouraged him as he came up and took his hand.  Caesar then climbed up into grandpa’s arms and closed his eyes as we both climbed down the stairs.  “Keep them closed, we’re almost there.” Grandpa told him, “No peeking.” Caesar hooted and started to bounce in grandpa’s arms until we finally came to the kitchen and I said.

“Okay, open them.” When Caesar removed his hand from his eyes, they grew wide at all the decorations as we all cried out.

“Surprise!” He let out some excited shrieks as he hopped out of grandpa’s arms and came over to the table and admired everything.  He first went over to uncle Will and hugged him.

“You’re welcome pal, happy birthday.” Caesar then came over to me and we hugged each other.

“Surprised you didn’t we?” Caesar let out a few excited pants as he smiled happily.

“Alright, here we go.” Uncle Will soon lit the candles as we all sat down around the table and we sang happy birthday to Caesar.  He was so happy as he looked at each of us and swayed in his seat before he blew out his candles by the end of the song.  We clapped and uncle Will began cutting the cake for each of us to eat.

Pictures were taken, laughs were had, and Caesar rejoiced at the new presents he got from grandpa and uncle Will.  Then the time came for me to give Caesar my gift.  I grabbed my violin and tuned it up before telling Caesar.

“Hey Caesar, come into the living room real quick.” Soon he, uncle Will and grandpa came in and Caesar and grandpa took a seat on the couch, uncle Will stood at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen with a video camera in hand.  “Uncle Will turn it off!” I cried out.

“It is off.”

“No it’s not why’s the red light on?”

“It’s the off light.” I looked at him annoyed. “Just go pretend I’m not doing anything.” I let out a groan but turned to Caesar and said.

“This is for you buddy, happy birthday.” I took a deep breath before exhaling as I held my violin to my shoulder and placed the bow along the strings.  I heard the song in my head and readied my fingers on the notes that needed to be played and soon the famed score for “E.T’s flying theme” began echoing through the living room.

Caesar let out a few excited pants and shrieks as he clapped before settling down and watched me in awe as I continued to play his favorite John Williams score.  Closing my eyes I felt myself enwrapped in the music as I could feel myself flying in the sky much like E.T and Elliot did on their bike.

Even though it was just me and my violin playing, no brass instruments or accompanying strings, I still gave as much emotion into this performance as I would if I had a whole orchestra with me.  Once I got to the end and finished the final notes, all went quiet before I heard the three person applause.

“Oh brava, bravo!” grandpa cheered.  I opened my eyes and bowed before Caesar came up and hugged me.  I set my violin down and hugged him back.

“Did you like it?”

‘Loved it! Caesar very happy! Thank you Lin.’ He signed as he hooted excitedly.

“You’re welcome little brother. Happy birthday.” I hugged him back and rocked him back and forth as I saw Uncle Will shut the camera off and he gave me a knowing smirk before winking at me.

[spooky-spextre-arts]

Encanto Fic RECS (Part I)

(*REPOST due to some unnoticed file errors during first posting)

I've been wanting to do one of these fanfic lists for a while now, but never really got to finishing any. Today, however, will be the time I finally make and post my silly little thoughts on some of my favorite fics in the Encanto fandom.

My personal taste is big ol' mixed bag of different tropes, AUs, and (platonic) relationships. However, I'd say I'm usually geared towards your typical gen, hurt/comfort or angst with a happy ending (most of the time).

(OFFICIAL WARINING: Because this is mostly a recommendation list, there are a few fics that may contain upsetting or triggering subject matter. Those fics have been labeled with a little *** next to the title, followed by a warning of what themes they may contain.)

This is merely a Part I, only covering multi-chapter fics I've read so far. Part 2 will be out shortly, containing one/two-shot fics and the ones I'm currently reading or plan to.

With that said, let's get right into it!

To fall apart, to reunite [T]

- Ongoing | by ADabOfBlessings ( @adabofblessings ) & Wikluk ( @wikluk )

Set in an AU where Mirabel doesn't survive Casita's collapse, Julieta struggles the most in the midst of her youngest’s death, hoping against hope to getting her back. Fortunately, she might just have a chance.

This fic is absolutely heart-wrenching, but in the best way possible. I was never as much of a Julieta fan as so many other people were, but I'm pleasantly surprised how much more I grew invested in her since reading this fic. Reading (mostly) from her perspective really helps enhance her character - especially once the rest of the family and even the townspeople get some time to shine. (Just saying, the characterization of Mariano’s grandmother(?) quickly became one of my favorite details of any background character.

One Step Closer [T]

One Step Beyond [T]

Complete | by Breanna (on AO3)

Part of a Bruno-and-Mirabel-centric series, these two fics explore the (platonic!) relationship these two develop with one another and their family in the time set during All Of You (Closer), and even post-canon (Beyond).

I REALLY love the (second) father-daughter sense Mirabel has with Bruno (it will make a lot of sense later in Closer), which leads to some very well-written wholesome and bittersweet moments parsed throughout.

A Place For Crows (to rest their feet) [G]

Complete | by Acewithapaintbrush ( @acewithapaintbrush )

PEDRO LIVES HALLELUJAH!!

As the note above suggests, Pedro did indeed survive the marauder attack and lived for the past 50 years in a town far, far away from the Encanto. Fortunately, after he discovers the new crack in the mountain, he rediscovers his family and how they've grown without him. This fic also explores how much the family's all grown since All Of You, but where they still struggle in a post-canon world.

I really love this one, even as someone who's… not thaaat much into the ‘[insert dead character] Lives AU’. There are both some wholesome and awkward moments where Pedro re-connects with Alma, his children, and the rest of his family. (Let's just say there's one really funny scene early on involving Mirabel, Bruno, and a classic bloodline misunderstanding.)

Because of how long Pedro's been away from his family, there's obviously a heck of a lot he's unaware of (which the family doesn't seem all too keen on sharing with him hmmmm….?) This leads to quite a bit of delicious angst and hurt/comfort, especially towards the end, but I'm happy to say it all resolves quite nicely by the end.

Mariposa [T] *

- Complete | by cloudyencanto ( @cloudy-encanto )

*(mild cw: brief child abuse and violent moments)*

An Encantober series from 2022, writing (again, mostly) from Alma's POV, with each chapter topic centering around one of the main prompts. Starting from her childhood years as a triplet herself, to meeting Pedro, having the triplets, leading the Encanto, to becoming an Abuela.

All of this really culminates into a vast character exploration showing just how much Alma had grown from a mere Caterpillar to a powerful, headstrong Butterfly.

(**As a bit of forewarning, there are a few moments early on that might be difficult to read. **These include moments where Alma's mother verbally and physically abuses her children, as well as quite a few violent moments once the marauders attack the village, and Pedro and Alma are forced to leave.)

Encanto (Tía Pepa POV) [G]

- Ongoing | by cloudy_encanto

Like Mariposa, this one's told from the POV of another character - being Pepa and her side of the family (and a few others, like Isabela, sprinkled in here and there.)

Because this one's told over the course of the movie, there are a lot of new scenes that feature the warm-colored family and what they were doing when the focus was elsewhere on Mirabel or somewhere else. There are several tooth-achingly sweet scenes that really show how much these characters love and care for one another, as well as several tense, angsty scenes that won't fail in tugging on your heartstrings.

Tremors [T]

- Ongoing | by Missilestorm ( @missilestorms )

A post-canon fic where Mirabel receives a gift after Casita's revival. The downside, however, is that this gift causes literal cracks to form. Bruno acts as a much-needed supporter and anchor for Mirabel, who must learn how to keep her new gift under control.

Each character's emotional struggles are shown incredibly well - particularly that of Mirabel and Bruno. It's heartbreaking to see how much anguish this gift causes Mirabel, especially considering how much she's encouraged her family to see their individual values that are separate from tying back to their gifts. On Bruno's end, it's sweet seeing how much he cares about Mirabel, recognizing her struggles with having a potentially dangerous gift, and consistently providing support or an extra hand to grab on to when it becomes too much. This sentiment is also applied to the family themselves, who also reach out to help in whatever ways they can.

Old Habits Die Hard [M] ***

- Complete | by Missilestorm

**TW for SA/Underage !! **

Set just after Casita’s reconstruction begins, Mirabel is sexually assaulted by a rogue townsperson. With Bruno acting as her main supporter and confidant, this fic explores the trauma of the event itself and how past, unresolved familial trauma bleeds into it.

This fic is honestly one of my favorites. I'd say it's somewhere in my top-five favorites out of all the stories I've read thus far. This story is just so raw and heartbreaking - which always hits harder when it's happening to characters you love. Not to mention, the author's handling of the subject matter is done with as much respect and care as I would hope a story with content matter like this should require. I especially love how each character (except for the villain mf) - particularly in the family - is written and how they react to the devastating events playing out around them. Despite this fic mostly centering around Bruno and Mirabel, the rest of the family have time to shine (some more than others), and man, just reading how much they care and want to help Mirabel is - just -gah! I love it, man.

I definitely recommend checking this one out if you're up to it.

we see how brave you've been [G]

- Complete | by hearth_goddess | (Mirabel & Antonio-centric)

Set in alternating pre-canon and canon, this fic is kind of a character study told through the different perspectives of the triplets. The scenes from the triplets' perspectives are of sweet moments involving Mirabel, Antonio, and their friendship (or short moments of just them with Mirabel or Antonio.) These scenes include moments set pre-canon, in-between, and during canon scenes.

One of my favorite gen pairings in the Encanto fandom is the one shared between Mirabel and Antonio. They share an incredibly sweet, wholesome, and powerful bond, despite the... admittedly little time they actually share together in the movie. But this fic definitely fills in the unseen gaps in their friendship, particularly in the moments preceding Antonio's ceremony. Seeing the triplets' reactions to the loving bond the two youngest grandchildren share is just so sweet and proves that, despite everything that led to the cracks, this family never stopped caring about one another.

Cold and Numb [T] ***

- Complete | by Amisaurus

**TW for Self-Harm and Suicide (Major Character Death) **

This one's just sad. Like - very, very sad. Set sometime after Antonio's gift ceremony (and presumably before the cracks appear), Mirabel struggles a lot with her self-worth, believing she isn't wanted in the slightest. Unfortunately, this isn't helped at all with how terribly Alma treats her in this fic and, despite good intentions, how her parents, sisters, and cousins are unable to understand not having a gift. This leads to a devastating moment in the first chapter, with the second chapter showing just how much this action hurt the family.

(With that said, there is a hopeful moment in the second chapter.)

When The Bell Tolls One [NOT RATED]

- Complete | by BudBrock (Alma-centric)

We got another Alma POV!!

Written a bit like 'A Christmas Carol,' this is an ‘Encanto watches Encanto AU,’ where Alma is shown and reacts to the events of the movie after the scene where she begs Pedro to “open [her] eyes.”

What can I say? I'm a sucker for POV character explorations like these, especially for mixed characters like Alma. Out of any Alma-centric fics, this one's definitely one of my favorites. In between, there are some funny moments reading Alma's reactions to certain scenes. However, there are also several moments where Alma is given a bird’s-eye view into the harm she'd unintentionally caused for her family.

Sound of Silence [T]

- Complete | by JilyFirecracker

Also set in an AU where Mirabel dies in Casita's collapse, with the fallout told from the perspectives of varying characters (Agustín, Pepa, Luisa, Camilo, Antonio, and Julieta.)

Definitely a bit of a sad one, especially during flashbacks of each character's core memories with Mirabel. But I really liked Julieta’s part, especially with the note it ends on.

Shining [G]

- Complete | by Sokkas_First_Fangirl ( @sokkas-first-fangirl )

Since the grandkids (not including Antonio) were young, Bruno and his sisters spent their summers at a lake in the Encanto. After Antonio's birth and Bruno’s return, the family makes a date to spend a day at that same lake for the first time in forever.

SWEET SUMMER FAMILY SHENANIGANS! The entire family is written so well, and there are many scenes that show how much stronger their shared bond has become. This is such a wonderful fic to read at a lake or beach on a hot summer day.

That's that for the recommended multi-chapter fics I've read so far. It goes without saying that all of these authors are so incredibly talented and absolutely deserve all the credit for their incredible stories.

Part II will be out shortly...

[samthehyena]

A longwinded post about how I've been feeling frustrated and tired as a femslash author

Just crossposting my recent vent post from dreamwidth since I know that some of my togachako friends have been going through similar frustrations. So I thought that who knows maybe this could help make anyone else with similar frustrations about BNHA femslash feel a little less alone.

Lately, I've been reflecting a lot on writing femslash in the BNHA fandom. I don't know, I've just been growing more frustrated with the discrepancy between how well M/M fics do compared to F/F fics.

I’ll start out with how I ended up writing a lot of F/F fics to begin with. BNHA is probably one of the first fandoms where I initially shipped mostly M/M ships rather than mainly F/F ships. It was a little bit of a shift for me given that before I started reading/writing fics on AO3 I was a shipper in fandoms where femslash ships were more prominent than in BNHA (think She-Ra or Adventure Time featuring Bubbline).

Anyways, I entered the fandom in roughly November 2022 and I was reading a lot of the very popular longfics for BNHA for the first handful of months after I got into the fandom. One of said longfics was a quirkless Izuku in fic in which there was background Inko/Midnight but Inko died before Midnight could propose. And that moment struck a chord with the tragic yuri lover in me – and I was determine to write at least one fic in which Inko and Nemuri could be happy together without their love ending in tragedy.

Thus, my fourth fic ever (if memory serves) was a self-indulgent one shot in which Inko was a cop and Midnight was a thief. And there was a very thoughtful comment and bookmark on that fic that made me overjoyed because I could see that someone else loved Inko/Midnight as much as I did. So I did what I still often do and browsed through the bookmarks of people who bookmarked that fic (after all people who like my stuff are likely to have similar fanfic tastes to me) – and behold I found so many yummy BNHA femslash recs. That’s when I realized that there ARE BNHA femslash fics out there – I just had to work harder and know where to look.

Flash forward to the summer of 2023 (ah the good old days of olden times) and I hopped onto the togachako renaissance train after the togachako chapters dropped. After all, I’ve always been a sucker for hero/villain and stories of redemption (coughs in catradora shipper). And at first posting for togachako felt so explosively rewarding. Knowing that femslash fics typically do not get as much engagement as say M/M fics, I was so amazed and overjoyed to see my first few togachako fics get comparable reader engagement when placed beside my other fics.

Heck, my most fic with the most kudos was a togachako multi chap I started posting when there was a big boom in new togachako shippers in the following months.

But with time the tides turned. By November the togachako oneshots I was posting did not get as many comments or kudos as my first few togachako fics did. And it was a bit discouraging to see the increasing disparity between my femslash fics and other fics especially since I like writing F/F the most of all. Still, I pushed forward because I’d see the returning readers in my kudos email and I had friends to cheer me on when I was feeling discouraged.

Eventually continuous togachako server drama ended up chipping away at my resilience (to no fault of the mod team – they are wonderful). I won’t go deep into it because it’s convoluted and not necessary to make my point. I’ll just touch on the two straws that broke the camels back after months of poor behavior that the mod team I was a part of had to mediate.

One day there was a comment someone made about there “not being enough new togachako fics after chapter 428 was dropped.” And that comment made quite frustrated since in my opinion at least there was a bit of a jump in togachako fics after the epilogue chapters dropped (I highly recommend this comphet fic and this fix-it fic oneshot). Also togachako writers worked FAST there was so much new togachako angst posted after chapter 428 that helped me heal from how sad I was about the outcome. Heck, I also posted an angsty togachako fic within 48 hours after spoilers for chapter 428 dropped.

Anyways, the comment made me feel like the work femslash writers were putting in was being underappreciated. Of course I get it that it can be tricky to filter for togachako fics that are more than a background pairing – but there are fics out there. Also, sorry to be a cynic here… I don’t think it’s realistic to expect as much of a boom in togachako fics as in summer 2023 where there were a bunch of new togachako fans whereas rn the bulk of togachako fics are being written by ppl who have already been togachakos for a bit.

I know that the comment was not meant to be a personal attack by any means but as someone who is a relatively prolific togachako writer idk I felt like the work I put in was being ignored. Not that I expect ppl who ship togachako to read my stuff because seriously there are a lot of togachako writers out there more adept than I am. It just instigated me guilt-tripping myself. I tried so hard to uplift the togachako community – I love making togachako rec lists and putting togachako recs in my author’s notes. I make sure to comment on togachako fics and read togachako fics regularly even when I’m tired and am lacking the reading/commenting spoons. Because I love femslash so much and I want F/F writers to know that they are valued and appreciated and how fucking cool I think their stories are.

So I fell down a spiral of thinking that my writing wasn’t good enough, that my efforts to uplift the togachako community weren’t good enough, that I wasn’t good enough. There’s a part of me that so badly wants to be like the femslash writers I admire – to inspire, motivate and induce brainrot – but I felt like I was failing. Like all the work I was putting in was pointless. All I could see was how clunky I perceive my writing style is. How a lot of my togachako fics weren’t innovative enough and kept treading the same ground.

And I really aspire to become the kind of togachako writer that avid togachako readers might recognize and be like “Oh samthehyena? That name sounds sorta familiar”. But that whole mental spiral just left me doubtful that “breaking into the ship” is in the cards for me.

On the other hand, I feel so privileged that Dear Google has gotten a lot of traction. It is such a privilege to have such a sizable readership for a togachako-centric longfic – especially since I know a lot of fanfic readers are apprehensive about reading longfics so I am so grateful for being given a chance and all the outward support I’ve gotten. I am so happy and grateful that I have a femslash fic that’s going so well – without it I would’ve reached the extent of frustration I am feeling right now much sooner.

Yet even though I have the privilege of Dear Google’s readership, I often yearn for more engagement with the bulk of my togachako fics. Because heaven knows that I’ve written a good handful of togachako fics and my femslash works in general that didn’t get comments at all or only after many months later – and I know it’s not all about the stats. That’s not what transformative works are I supposed to be about – I know, I know it’s supposed to be about the act of creation and exploring characters we already love further. I guess it’s just tough to put sth out there and hear crickets. I feel like I’m screaming into the void at times.

Added to that I was helping to run a togachako exchange for which a lot of people hadn’t turned in their assignments on time and we weren’t able to gather enough pinch hitters together. So me and another mod were struggling to crank out a bunch of pinch hits last minute. Writing four fics for that exchange was not by choice. I was already burnt out from doing too many fandom events and writing so many fics out of a sense of obligation rather than a burst of creative energy crushed me mentally.

Ultimately, I think taking on all of those pinch hits was a moment of clarity for me. The stress of that situation left me sobbing on the floor in front of my parents and I couldn’t even tell them why I felt so overwhelmed since I only talk to my brother, friends and occasionally my sister about my fanfic stuff. That’s when I realized that I needed to take a step back from being as involved with the togachako community to the extent that I have been for the past year. Because as much as I love the ship, as much as I want to do my part to uplift the femslash community, I cannot to so at the expense of my own wellbeing. Especially because the negative online interactions had made me start to resent togachako – and I do not want to lose my passion for one of my fav ships the way I did with Shindeku last year due to people behaving badly online.

So I took a step back and narrowed down the places where I exchanged with togachako to the online nooks where I did not feel emotionally drained. And I’ve been starting to heal a little. The new NSFW togachako oneshot has been really healing in that process. Because this fic doesn’t feel like a chore to write the way those exchange pinch hits did – it’s tailored to my tastes and I feel like I’m finally breaking out of the monotony that’s been present in a lot of the togachako oneshots I posted in the last few months. It’s starting to feel more like it did when I was just getting started with writing fanfics – everything was exciting and new and I wasn’t as chained to my comfort zone yet. So writing angst and smut when I usually write crack and sfw stuff has been challenging, a little scary but also exciting. And although the fic doesn’t exactly have many readers (yet) I still feel like it has value to people other than myself. The comments that this multi chap means a lot to me because it makes me feel like I’m developing a better understanding of people who like the same things that I do. Because while I do write for myself, I share because of a desire to contribute to a sense of community.

Sometimes it helps to remind myself that my favorite things I have written tend to be my femslash fics. When it comes to reading my own writing I end up being self-critical and I have a hard time enjoying the act of reading my works because all I can see are the shortcomings. The drafting process is what brings me the most joy moreso than the act of creating stuff I’d like to read. Some notable exceptions are my HungerGames!Togachako AU and my Bachelor!Inko/Midnight AU fics. They just scratch an itch in my brain and fill a niche I yearn for in a way that I can overlook how much I cringe at my pitfalls as a writer (mostly typos – a lot of typos). And even though those specific fics didn’t get as much attention as I wish they had – didn’t get the kind of traction they would have if they were M/M fics – I still love them to bits. And my favorite things I’ve written are something that ground me. A reminder that first and foremost my writing is supposed to bring me joy.

Despite all my frustrations, I don't regret taking the leap to writing mostly femslash. I appreciate Ice especially, my beloved supporter and enabler for all things femslash. Without her I don't think I would have been brave enough to switch to mostly writing femslash no matter how passionate I've always been about WLW stories. It can feel a little lonely posting F/F especially when the reader engagement compared to my M/M fics and even a good portion of my gen fic is much more limited. So seriously Ice I love you so much. I appreciate how you're always happy to Iisten to me ramble and you make me feel like my femslash writing has value and can resonate with people even if it does not always reach as wide of a readership as I would hope. You are my number one cheerleader when it comes to my fics and I am so glad to have you in my life.

So who knows what’s next? Probably no togachako oneshots for a while from me let alone event fics (save for the one that’s already written). But I still feel passionate about the togachako multi chaps because they challenge me and have stuff that is new and exciting to me that I haven’t necessarily read/written before. I guess for the foreseeable future I’ll focus on Knee Deep In the Passenger Seat and Dear Google because I’m still fixated on the stories that can only be told in longform rather than shorter oneshots.

And mayhaps I’ll even expand to other fandoms. Descendants 4 brainrot has been festering in my brain – there are some high quality femslash ships with enemies to lovers and tragic yuri vibes and I am obsessed. Also, since the movie literally came out last month I need to get to it and crank out more femslash descendants fics :DDD (cinderella/queen of hearts only has 22 fics when I checked yesterday so it’s high time i fan the flames of this precious rarepair)

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Phullo there, I’d like to ask you a question! I hope I won’t be such a bothersome.

So, I’m planning to write a story about Laughingstock and since I find your storytelling very pleasing I figured it’d be a great idea to ask for your advice about the writing!

My Idea in general for this story is just Howdy taking a day off from working in his bodega. And basically, he’ll be just wearing normal clothes.. shocking truly.

And thennn, Barnaby and Howdy accidentally stumbled into each other’s path. They later then of course had a very long conversation that lasted until evening maybe.

Of course there’ll be some fishy moments like them looking at each other with goggly eyes and other cheesy romantic nonsense- but it’s just mainly them having their usual conversation with a ‘couple’ of jokes here and there. It’s supposed to be a sweet memory for them to remember basically.

So, what I’m really trying to ask you for is- how the heck do you start a story exactly and not make it into just the dialogues? Like, I want my story to be kind of long but I’m afraid it’ll be just them, y’know, talking and I really don’t want it to be boring.. therefore, I really need your help.

I am so sorry if it’s such a bad timing considering the fact that you just had an interview which I am very proud for you for that! Even if it didn’t go as expected at least you did good half of it.

Soo, yeah! I’d very much appreciate your advice and I am sooo sorry that this was soo long!!! And again, a bad timing too.. but hey if you got any time, please consider answering. Thank you..

Also any response yet? On the interview of course.

hmmm... in my experience and Knowledge Accumulated Over The Years via reading And writing... the best place to start is to just drop in. no story introduction, no "it was a dark and stormy night", just Start. it sounds like your story begins with Howdy taking the day off, so maybe kick off with him getting ready / choosing an outfit, or w/ him reflexively almost opening the store before he stops and chides himself for almost forgetting that he's taking the day off

to combat the dialogue, maybe detail him leaving the bodega to go into the neighborhood. what does he see? hear? feel both physically and mentally? is there anyone else out and about? set the scene! ive been struggling with this too lately since i haven't seriously written in a while and i haven't been reading actual books

WHICH! IMPORTANT TANGENTS!! read well-written books, Not fanfic! im not saying dont read fanfic ever or i'd be the world's biggest hypocrite, but also read actual books. it's important to study how published authors write, how stories are structured, dialogue and action. because these books have more often then not gone through a Rigorous screening process. multiple drafts, beta readers, publishers reading it with great scrutiny before agreeing to publish - of course there are exceptions, but a lot of books are the highest quality they can be, and will outshine most fics. because, and i say all of this as good things, fics are unregulated. most dont have beta readers. a lot are from amateur authors new to the scene. there will be spelling mistakes, weird grammar & sentence structure, etc - most fics have Entirely different writing styles from each other. so if you only read fanfic, That is what your brain will learn, and it's gonna be harder for you to write. published books have less variation in styles, and the styles are subtler. there's less spelling mistakes if any, so your spelling will improve. your internal vocabulary will expand. even if you don't consciously study what you read, your brain will pick up on & internalize patterns, how action works, how dialogue works, how to structure a story, all that good stuff. if you want, i can recommend well-written books! i've been an avid reader since... like, ever. i've got recs galore! you can tell me your preferred genre & literary interest and i'll probably have something for you! and if you're not big on books, well... get out of your comfort zone lmao, books are fucking awesome and i guarantee there are plenty out there that you would love.

and when you're writing dialogue, intersperse it with little actions or the main povs' internal dialogue. if there's a natural lull in the conversation, explore that lull! what do the characters do in this moment? what's going on around them? sprinkle bits of setting in so that your reader knows where they are and what's going on.

plus, exploring the non-dialogue sections of your story can, and often will, spark inspiration in your brain for scenes and actions to fill out the story if you want it to be long (but also! if you just want to write the scene of their conversation, that's the beauty of fanfic - there's no requirements. do whatever you want lmao). when Howdy is going into town, maybe Wally calls him over for a quick pose - does Howdy say yes or no, and how does that decision change the story? maybe Julie invites him to join her in a game, or Eddie stops to talk to Howdy about him being out and about. maybe there are some complaints over the bodega not being open. what's the lead-up to Howdy and Barnaby running into each other? do they literally run into each other? what happens when they do? those are just a few possibilities of many!

remember, when you're writing, you're that story's god. you can do literally fucking anything. you decide what the characters do, where they go, what happens in their world. that mindset should help you bolster the plot instead of just "these two characters have a conversation", yk?

i hope this helps!

[mad-hatter-404]

Killugon Fic Recs

Ik a lot of people have trouble finding fics, so here are some really good ones from my bookmarks. They're all completed :)

Why not start a list with my all-time favorite fanfic?? I CAN'T BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW GOOD THIS FIC IS. Pls read it you won't regret it.

I'm x Yours is a first kiss fic, filled to the brim with tooth-rotting fluff it's so sweet!!

Another really good Quintessence fic, featuring prince!killua and guard!gon. This is a really good killugon royalty au

More Quintessence fics!! Gon gets hit by a enemy nen attack, and it makes him say **cough cough** things about Killua.

Pls allow me to introduce another author I am absolutely obsessed with (drumroll pls) - Cyberflamingo. The beauty of their KIllugon fics- I love every one of them so find my top 2 linked above!

This fic was so sweet and features ice skater!killua, a famous figure skater who meets an airhead who knows nothing about skating. You know the drill :)

You already know my favorite fic, but heck with it, I can have two. It's one of those fics that make you cry, in a good way.

Yet another DecemberCamie fic!! (I'm sorry this post is so disorganized- I would have organized it by author but laziness strikes again) This is really sweet fic where Killua becomes Gon's secret santa but has no idea what to get him.

Last but not least, a Christmas fic! I love this fic sm it's given me so much joy and serotonin go read it pls.

Alr, you've reached the end of the list hope i helped. feel free to rec me anything I'm always on the lookout for good fics :)

Leopika version next