198 | Yuletide 2018 Rec Post

[straightforwardly]

Without extra commentary this year, mostly because I don't think I have the headspace for it.

This year, I didn’t separate out my gift fics from the rest of my recs — mostly because 3/5 (!!!) of the I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess with Only Destruction Flags!* section was written for me, and my recs for that section looked a little sad without them. I did put stars in front of the titles of my gifts, though, to differentiate them a bit from the rest.

(* Honestly, requesting this fandom for Yuletide might have been one of the best decisions I made this year. The stories in that fandom all brought me so much delight on Christmas morning.)

gilded cage (The Borgias, Cesare/Lucrezia, 1.6K)
"Are you mine, brother?" she asks. "Or am I yours?"

There's heat in her voice, though it's tempered by whatever this is that's troubling her. Cesare turns her around in his arms and leans in, touching his forehead to hers. "Is there a difference?" he asks. What does it matter, as long as they are each other's?

Regina Mundis (The Borgias, Cesare/Lucrezia, <1K)
"Give me you, Cesare."

*

Death Pinball (Death Parade, Chiyuki, 2K)
Another day, another game - but in Septendecim, the game doesn't work quite the same way as it used to.

*

Dragon's Thief (Dragon’s Bait, Alys/Selendrile, 11K)
Alys thought it would be a normal day in the market.

*

After Hamelin (Fairy Tales - The Pied Piper of Hamelin, 7.2K)
There are many stories about the events of Hamelin. They all agree on two things--the presence of a Piper and the absence of the town's children.

Fair Jennet and Dear Jenny (Fairy Tales - Donkeyskin, 12K)
Even the skin one wears can have a tale to tell.

*

Elemental (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Gretel/Hansel, 3.8K)
Fire, water, earth, air: a love story.

*

DLC: The Noble Lady's Kindness (Destruction Flag Otome, Katarina/Maria, 7.3K)
The popular otome game Fortune Lover is getting an update! Go on a brand-new route to romance former rival Katarina Claes!

★ Farming is what Katarina's best at (Destruction Flag Otome, Katarina/Mary, 2.6K)
Katarina hits a destruction flag and is exiled from the kingdom. She’s given a farm, and it turns out that she’s quite good at it, and might even want to stay there forever.

★ Hanakotoba (Destruction Flag Otome, Katarina/Keith/Sophia/Nikol, 3.4K)
It takes a variety of flowers to make a truly beautiful bouquet, especially when the one gathering them is as clueless as one Bakarina Claes.

Is this really a kidnapping (Destruction Flag Otome, Katarina/Mary, 1.4K)
Mary kidnaps Katarina after graduation, bringing her back to her family’s fief.

★ Villainesses Must Stick Together (Destruction Flag Otome, Katarina/Original Katarina, 2.9K)
Katerina Claes is enjoying--or at least enduring--an uneventful summer when Prince Jared shows up at her door with a Katerina from an alternate universe. And says this Katerina will be staying on the Claes manor! What an outrage. Surely there is only room for one.

*

Ivy, Unlimited (Jane Unlimited, Ivy/Jane, 13K)
If Jane's choices are like the ribs of an umbrella all branching from one point, Ivy's are more like a Scrabble board, where you can lay a new word down across any word already there.

*

Feifan Tentacle Party (Love Nikki Dress Up Queen, Shade/Nidhogg, 2.7K)
It’s not until Shade makes it to the Lily Fashion Carnival and meets his handler there that he realizes just why this mission is so special.

Sudden Thoughts (Love Nikki Dress Up Queen, Nikki/Kimi, 1.2K)
Nikki can’t protect any of them tonight, but she can take care of these three, and she can keep Kimi warm.“Kimi,” she says. “Let me get you something else to wear.”

*

The Rock and The River (Spirited Away, Chihiro + Haku/Chihiro, 17K)
Chihiro takes magic and bends it around herself to make a place in the world.

*

Stardew Crossed Lovers And Other Tales (Stardew Valley, Sebastian/Sam/Abigail, 5.4K)
Snapshots of Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian growing up, growing wiser, and growing together.

*

a kingdom blanketed in white (lies) (Star Stealing Prince, Richard & Lina & Snowe, 1.7K)
Richard tries to guide Lina towards creating some good memories for Snowe. She delegates.

lullay, lullay (Star Stealing Prince, Snowe & Erio, 2.2K)
And the prince, he whispered through his unraveling, smiling lips, closed his eyes.


*

weaver of tales, weaver of clouds (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms - Mercedes Lackey, Original Characters, 9.6K)
“Tell me again, Miyu,” Shiori said.

“Which story, Grandmother?”

“Any story you like. Your favorite, perhaps.”

*

The Inbox of Good Tidings (Tea House Gmail Theme, Fox, 2K)
Something is very different around the tea house. For one, it has snowed. Fox's entire routine is thrown off!

*

Fridge Raider (To Whatever, Ethan & Whatever, 2.8K)
The thing in the walls was restless. Angry voices and arguments always made its tentacles knot painfully, and the tenant in 3B was still taking part in a loud dispute. It had been an hour already. Would it go on all night again?

No. As the thing listened, there was a final – slam! – and stomping shoes made their way out into the corridor. The one making the huffing breaths as he stormed out sounded like the taller, ungainly one. Back inside 3B things were calm and quiet at last.

“Shit,” said the other tenant, the short, dark one. He spoke quietly, sat down heavily on the couch.

While the shorter tenant was occupied elsewhere, the thing in the walls took the opportunity to puncture and drain the new container of sweet, creamy whiteness in the fridge. Delicious.

To You (To Whatever, Ethan/Whatever, 2K)
You really could have told me that the runes on the window need to be aligned to the phases of the purple moon for you to actually hear me.

Ethan and his roommate grow even closer.

*

The Realms of the Immortals (Tortall, Rikash/Daine, 50K)
Rikash knew he was signing up for a lot when he became Lord of the Stone Tree Stormwing nation.

But joining forces with the extremely dangerous, mysterious, and oddly intriguing Veralidaine Sarrasri, the famous Stormwing Killer, on a road trip through the Divine Realms to assassinate those immortals stupid enough to risk the destruction of the world by working with Chaos?

That's - unexpected.

*

it was all for this (Windy Day Music Video - Oh My Girl, 4.3K)
Lately Yooa had been having strange dreams.

*

★ The Child and the Prophet (Winterstrike, Player & the Ironbird, 1.1K)
The moment she realized what she must do.

*

Trapped and Fluttering (Wuthering Heights, Hareton/Cathy, 1.8K)
Hareton helps Cathy rescue another poor creature from being trapped at the Heights.