#if theres issues w links ill fix it later

[cheswirls]

sa fic rec list [non-eng] pt 2!!

1) About Pirates Who Tell Tales by Hattis

https://ficbook.net/readfic/9819431 russian - complete - M rating - 551 pages

i don’t think i can do another russian section without paying homage to this giant of a fic so. yea let’s do that.

want to preface this by saying yes, it is very long – it is also very worth it. my favorite part of the whole story is the second epilogue, and you really need the context of the whole fic thus far to take in what makes the scene so good, which means. yes. i am telling you to read all of it AND its worth it a promise. even if it takes a long time.

the au is like.. historical real-world i suppose?? it’s a pirate au y’know how those go. not-one-piece pirates. i’m sure everyone has thought abt it more than once. imo this fic does a rly good job of not glossing over the goings-on of the era it depicts. when Hattis wants you to think someone is cruel and savage she really gets the point across. also REALLY good at depicting highly emotional moments, whether it be hopelessness, panic, despair, devotion, salvation, whimsy, heartfelt joy. i think it’s fair to say everyone gets what they deserve by the end, be it in a good or bad way.

there is so much uhhhhhh that goes into this one and it has been a minute since i finished it so this is a bare-bones summary: ace is a pirate under the flag of another, and sabo is an english nobleman. by birthright they both follow in the footsteps of cruel legacies, and become more and more entwined each time their paths cross.

this fic rly chews you up and spits you back out as a different type of whole. in a good way. like, i promise reading it is not gonna break you. it gets tough at times but everything works out :’)

before this gets too long one final tidbit: there is so much symbolism at work and it all culminates so well but my favorite one (and the one that connects w my favorite scene in the whole story) is that ace’s beaded necklace is made from blood pearls, and was (if i’m remembering correctly) his mothers before his own, and he and sabo pass it back and forth to each other over the course of the fic as a tangible sign of their devotion to each other.

2) life [i’m glad i’m alive] and life [1+1=1] by normal_q

cat’s pov // ace’s pov thai - complete - G rating - 12k (p1) + 11k (p2)

a duo!! they are both the same story, just altered c: it doesn’t matter which you start with, so i’ve linked them in publishing order.

i spent sooooo loooooooooong last year looking for these and failed because i was searching for it in the wrong language. stumbled upon the pair by chance earlier this year and saved them immediately. i didn’t think there were two and the fact they’re in thai completely tripped me up (sn: there are so many sa fics in thai but all the translators i’ve tried to use won’t recognize the symbols and when translated into eng come out as a wall of ⊠⊠⊠. idk why ao3 is different but it does it correctly so!! saving grace ig) but i am so glad i found them again.

in the story, there is a human sabo and a cat sabo. human sabo is overseas and him and ace have a long-distance relationship. cat!sabo is a recent addition and a pretty good insight to ace’s loneliness. about the day-to-day lives of ace and cat. (another sn: there’s a death warning in the first link bc it’s alluding to the nine lives of a cat, as this is cat!sabo’s ninth “life”, so there is no actual death involved promise promise!!!)

this pair of fics is really charming and filled with melancholy. if you have time to spare i highly recommend giving one of them a go. it’s a quick read and leaves you feeling warm inside by the end.

3) idiot couple’s house record by Wirola

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26487442 chinese - complete - M rating - 8k

this one is SO cute!!! also bittersweet but that doesn’t detract from the fluff. it’s modern au, starting at the beginning of the pandemic when the area sabo and ace are living in goes under quarantine and they have to cancel their wedding ceremony :[ sad.

it follows their lives together from that point onward, with sabo working long hours from home and ace stuck at home. it’s super cute and heartfelt and also just. realistic. you really feel feel for them as the story progresses. like, at one point ace stages a “wedding” in animal crossing to show sabo only for him to get a call from work and be stuck with it and not get done until long after everything is over. and the next day has my favorite line and probably one of the most heart-wrenching of the story: “Sabo thought resentfully in the dim light of the computer screen, it's none of my business, I'm just a garbage doctor who delays people to death with useless conversations, so garbage that I can't even save my marriage.”

it doesn’t end sad tho i promise all of these are good, happy endings aaaaAAA!!! still, i think when you’re supposed to feel depressed, wirola does a tremendous job of putting you in that mindset.

the second half is more lighthearted. ace gets a vr headset and keeps getting hurt, so sabo buys a bunch of childproof equipment for the house in the hopes of preventing injuries and forwards the bill to a coworker for reimbursement, and said coworker... misunderstands and rants online that sabo and ace have a baby before her, which is completely unfair. misunderstandings galore. garp sends luffy halfway across the world to see them w gifts and meat following the false “news”. everything works out in the end.

this one def makes you laugh and cry all in one sitting. worth it tho!!

4) couple’s travel hotel guide by SiebenL

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556993 chinese - complete - T rating - ~7k

i really love fics that are formatted in sections like this. it has been too long for me to remember much, so i reread it before adding it so i could ramble a little more. and. yeah. i can see why i had it on the list.

siebenL writes a lot of interesting premises in fics and this one hits the spot. it jumps all over the place in the lives and relationship between professional photographer ace and (on the side) blogger/hotel reviewer sabo. i don’t think sabo’s (main) profession is really ever defined? something to do w/ writing. not that it rly matters.

the formatting is overall what does it for me on this one and why i’m putting it above all other of siebenL’s works (at least for the list!) it bounces between present, reviews + comment section, and past interactions. if sabo has some notoriety, he blogs anonymously, because it’s unknown. meanwhile ace is a popular photographer for a famous magazine, and it’s fun to see all the hints to such unfold with each review. (: sabo attaching ace’s photos to reviews to counter his own (incredibly mediocre) shots, and ppl in the comments connecting the dots on who his friend A is after the (second scene’s) most recent review by going back thru older entries.

also, like always, the way siebenL depicts ace and sabo is so fantastically good. (if you like this one i high-key recommend you check out other works of theirs ! ) both of them meet after exchanging notes thru a homestay’s message (cork)board because they never have the same timetables to be in the building at the same time, until the very end of both of their stays, when they run into each other by chance. and then it goes from there!

5) Arctic Lovers by Ryo

https://pattco863.postype.com/post/9632169 korean - complete - T rating - 1k

admittedly all of ryo’s sa works are good, but since this is the first one i read uhhh quite a bit ago now, i have a particular soft spot for it. the prose is very lyrical and sweet, and even though it’s not too long, i definitely think it’s worth checking out. 

it’s mostly sabo’s internal musings about living somewhere cold with ace. along with a little insight into their life together. short and soft and sweet and everything ever. if you don’t feel like committing to something longer, then out of everything on this list, pls give this one a chance :) and if you like ryo’s writing, go check out the rest of their works too. 

6) we love you! by Wings of Freedom

https://sperospara.postype.com/post/6648591 korean - in progress - T rating - ???k

this is a series, and the first work of ten is linked above, so here is the series link. (also postype doesn’t do wc and i am not rounding up each part individually so like uh best guess is 15k+)

although it’s not complete and i didn’t get a chance to re-read everything recently, i think from what i remember it can read as completed. meaning. there aren’t any loose ends, so it’s just a matter of not being everything the author wanted to write. anyway, point is, please don’t let the incomplete status scare you away !!

the story is about ace, a (1st yr) criminal justice major, and sabo, a pre-med student, moving into the same residence together right before the start of the semester without knowing the property has been rented out to both. they clear the misunderstanding fast, decide to split the house between 1st floor and 2nd floor, and begin their first year of living together while attending university.

when i first read this work i flew through over half the series in one day and swept by the rest of the parts relatively quickly following that. something about the author’s writing style makes it all really easy to digest. the setting was a cool change too, since i’ve never read a sa work set in korea before! and just. them. they’re so heartwarming and the way they realize their feelings for each other gradually and forming conclusions about each other and going for it is all really sweet. cannot recommend this one highly enough.

#saboace #op #if theres issues w links ill fix it later #aaa kinda got a little wound up on time but i think this is #sufficient enough for now #acesabo

[lavendertrash39]

uhh Infinity Train rosawatts

SPOILERS FOR INFINITY TRAIN

Okay so like this is going to be a long ramble I guess because I saw a thing of rosawatts art with infinity train and I didn’t talk about it here because idk man but I think their art was referencing the new trailer for book 4 with linked numbers?? okay anyways

so part one of this ramble: THIS IS MY OPINION neil is totally Simon and Evas totally grace

okay lets start with neil because ive explored his character more. He shows a lot of signs of abandonment issues which I touched a bit on in another ramble but basically yeah he shows those signs with mostly Eva especially because hes detached from everyone else b u t her. Simon is shown to be extremely attached to Grace and have bad abandonment issues that ultimately consumed him and killed him. 

I’m not quite sure how to explain Eva and Grace other than like the way she treats Hazel and Simon reminds me of Eva. Theres also like how she leads all the kids reminds me of her, less of like when ever she was more self absorbed but still. I also have like a head cannon that Eva grew up with strict parents, not like they didn’t have one of those cool happy comfortable families that I w I s h I knew better, also that she was compared to her older sister a lot. 

so yeah, neil and Eva as Simon and grace. But, if I were to do a rosawatts au I’d probably still switch things up. Y’know, probably not have Neil die in the end because yeah. Neil’s in deep shit, so his number would definitely be high and he’d follow the same thing as Simon where he doesn’t want to believe numbers correlation to emotional instability. Eva would probably have a pretty average number. Again, I’m not quite sure what her main issue would be that she needs to fix. Damn I just took like an hour long break from writing this-- Neil would work through his issues but it wouldn't be easy. Evas issue might actually be enabling Neil or just like letting him be? No idea, I don’t want everything to revolve around him but I feel like Eva would get out before him and it would be like a huge test for Neil to not be like she's gonna leave me whenever they aren't in the same world(?). Yeah I might do more on this later but im tired as shit and also maybe one day ill post more about my superhero au even tho no one cares

#to the moon #rosawatts #infinity train #neil watts #eva rosalene #impostor factory #finding paradise