straightforwardly | 194 // Trick or Treat 2018 Recs

Finished my first run-through of the 2018 Trick or Treat collection! There's still quite a few works that I want to go back and comment on later, as always, but for now, here are some recs.

Bitter Waters (Dracula, Jack Seward & Quincey Morris, 2.5K)
October 14: En route to Varna, Seward must tell a fellow suitor what transpired one night at Hillingham.

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This Is a Lie (This Is the Truth) (Dragon Age, Varric + Others, 1.9K)
Varric tells a story.

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απολογία | apología (Greek Mythology, Hades/Persephone, 4.5K)
It is not a right and natural place, the underworld, and Hades tries and tries and tries to make her realm's majesty measure up to the up above and never quite makes it right. But he keeps on trying, and she keeps making the journey.

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Chjtolene (Jolene - Dolly Parton, Jolene/Narrator, 2K)
Looking at Jolene is like staring into the sun: it burns.

Jo.Lene (Jolene - Dolly Parton, <1K)
Jolene is gorgeous.

Everyone says so.

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Half-Blind (Love Nikki Dress Up Queen, Nidhogg/Shade, 2.4K)
Shade meets Nidhogg for the first time.

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Story of a Doll (Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~, Yeonho/Eri, 1K)
Yeonho's scars run deep.

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In Kind (Naruto, Kakashi/Sakura, 2.1K)
Sakura saves Kakashi. Then he helps her save herself.

The Mistake of Compassion (Naruto, Haruno Sakura, 2.3K)
Sakura's on her first big mission by herself! It ends unexpectedly.

Two Can Keep A Secret (Naruto, Team Seven, 4K)
His team were going to find out his secret eventually.

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Almost Blue (Original Works, Actor Cast As A Vampire Who Is Actually A Vampire/Disgraced Vampire Queen Moonlighting As A Barista, <1K)
There was something about her skin - his, too, but mostly hers, her décolletage almost translucent above the low necklines of her gowns and bracketed by that tumble of dark hair either side - that looked luminous on film back when everything was in black and white. In colour, she looked like what she was - undead, bloodless, almost blue.

Dirt (Original Works, Ghost of a Dried Up River, 1.9K)
You were vast, once, and you were mighty, a rule lasting for an age.

A million years after its planet's death, the ghost of an alien river finds a new purpose.

In the Summertime (Original Works, Female Counselor Working at the Camp Where Those Murders Happened Years Ago, 3K)
This summer was going to be different, Becca promised herself. Her skin had cleared up since she started on this new medication and she’d begun to really put herself out there, making new friends and experiencing new things. Like signing up to be a camp counselor at Camp Sunnyside during the Campus Activities Fair. The Old Becca Torres would’ve never done that.

Kilo India Tango Tango Echo November (Original Works, Grizzled Soldier Who Keeps Adopting Abandoned Kittens, 2K)
When the Marines are sent to protect Springfield, MT from an alien invasion, a grizzled staff sergeant finds a whole lot of kittens in need of tender loving care.

A Larger Vow (Original Works, Moss-Covered Unicorn, 1.1K)
"Tell me a story," the unicorn said. "And you may have a leaf of my moss."

Lost (Original Works, Slowly Dying GPS System on a Rural Road at Midnight, 1K)
The GPS knew what the Driver and the Passenger didn't, that there were forces at play that it couldn't understand. Forces that sought to mislead them down that little road in the middle of nowhere.

oh! lonesome me (Original Works, Last Survivor of an Exploration Party in Uncharted Territory, 1.8K)
They found a leather-bond volume tucked into a hollow of a tree, the writing barely legible and the story inside -- unbelievable. But there was indeed a George Torcy, who disappeared almost a hundred and fifty years ago, along with expedition led by Captain Harvey. All the rest of it -- are surely lies.

Spook Hunting (Original Works, Female Cowboy & Male Cowboy, 2.6K)
It don't matter what they find. None of the stories are ever told the same.

Sugar, Feather, Bees
(Original Works, Student of a Reviled Magic Branch, <1K)
Side effects may include: palpitations, anxiety. Loss of hair. Loss of the summoner's own immortal soul. Digestive issues. Delusions.

Work for Hire (Original Works, Tarot Card Artist, <1K)
You no longer take commissions. You've learned that the hard way.

But this one is different.

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Count D Discovers Dessert Instagram (Petshop of Horrors, Count D, Art)
What it says on the tin.

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Beach Body (Pokémon - Main Games, Mimikyu, 1.8K)
An AU where Totem Mimikyu seeks a new life outside the Thrifty Megamart. In fact, a whole twenty feet outside it!

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A Visit (Tea House - Gmail Theme, Fox & Ancestor Fox Spirits, Art)
The tea house fox awakens one night and is greeted by two ancestor spirits.

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dread wood (Tolkien, Old Man Willow, <1K)
Even the most twisted tree was once an innocent sapling.

In Which Beruthiel's Cats Explore Middle Earth (Tolkien, Beruthiel’s Cats, Art)
- and encounter a variety of other beings.

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Landlord (Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakura, <1K)
Bakura Ryou is not master of his own body.