The Sentinel (+ multiple other fandoms): Imperfections by Dasha

[starwatcher]

Fandom: The Sentinel (+ multiple others)
Pairings: various in later stories. Jim and Blair friendship.
Characters: Jim, Blair, Jack Kelso, relevant characters from other series, OCs
Rating: Gen to Mature
Length: 384,300 words in 19 stories
Creator Links: Dasha_mte
Theme: Series, Sentinel AUs, Crossovers/fusions, Worldbuilding

Summary: If Blair's washing out of the guide program, who's taking care of Jim?

Reccer's Notes: This series is stupendous. It's a Sentinel AU where sentinels and guides are known and (relatively) common, with specific training and accreditation for the guides. This 2007 post, where Izhilsha rhapsodizes about the series explains it much better than I can. The worldbuilding is complex and detailed where it diverges from canon, and the sentinels and guides are as varied as RL people; there's no "set" way for either of them to act and/or react; we see difficult adjustments as well as easy adjustments. The series is sweeping and expansive and totally engrossing.

The main crossover is Sentinel & Monk, but in various stories, Dasha brings in characters from Highlander, Numb3rs, due South, Bones, Psych, and Quantum Leap, but knowledge of those fandoms is not necessary. Dasha deals with the characters, not the fandom, and they can be regarded as OCs if the reader doesn't know them, learning about these guest characters as Jim and Blair do.

Stories 1-9 are the "main storyline", Jim and Blair settling into their new status as sentinel and guide and dealing with all the other sentinels and guides that they meet. (Ignore the 1/? on story #8; Dasha may have intended more, but the ending is not a cliffhanger; it feels more like a teaser/lead-in to story #9.) Stories 10-15 are "side roads" that follow separate sentinel-and-guide pairs; Jim and Blair may not be around, but they're all in the same universe.

I would expect that everyone and their sisters and brothers have already read this but if not, and if you're at all interested in The Sentinel fandom, you're in for a treat.

Content Notes: Cases with occasional canon-typical violence and injuries.

Fanwork Links: Imperfections series by Dasha at AO3.

The Old Guard: Magnetic series by Energie_Vie

[starwatcher]

 
(Apologies for the repost. I tagged the wrong length is the first post, but the comm won't let me edit tags.)

Fandom: The Old Guard
Pairings: pre-Booker/Nile. Joe/Nicky background. Andy/Quynh background.
Characters: Nile, Booker, Joe, Nicky, Andy, Quynh.
Rating: Gen to Mature
Length: 35,300 words in 12 stories.
Creator Links: energie_vie
Theme: Series, Post-canon, Character of color, Friends to lovers, Domestic

Summary: Pre-romance. Nile and Booker move from team mates to best friends to a milimetre away from getting together.

Reccer's Notes: I love this series; Energie_Vie does a good job with their interactions being lighthearted and sweet without being sappy, as Nile and Booker tentatively negotiate their way through mutual attraction toward getting together. These stories are full of teasing and flirting and the push-pull of 'maybe someday', with Nile unsure about whether or not they should, but she can't resist, and Booker convinced that he's not worthy, and the others carefully ignoring or teasing them whenever they notice. It's just a whole lot of fun, full of starry eyes and dreams. Enjoy.

For those who like to 'seal the deal', Energie_Vie has a sequel series, Gooey, where Booker and Nile are finally together (ratings Mature to Explicit), but I think the potential and light-angsty hopefulness of Magnetic is simply more fun.

Content Notes: In various stories -- drinking, recreational drug use, temporary character death.

Fanwork Links: Magnetic series by Energie_Vie at AO3.
 

MCU: The Ultimate Kidfic of Ultimate Destiny series, by JHSC

[beatrice_otter]

Fandom: MCU
Pairings/Characters: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanov
Rating: E
Length: 209k words
Creator Links: JHSC 
Theme: series, kidfic (has kids), AU, backstory, character development, families of choice, family, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, novel length, epic,

Summary: Clint is seventeen. He has a girlfriend, a baby on the way, and a headlining act in the circus.

Then, he doesn’t.

Reccer's Notes: The title of this series is misleading; when one thinks kidfic, one thinks that the kid will naturally be ... present. Part of the story. Not in this case; in this story, it is the absence of the child that defines the story, and which sends Clint on his journey. The story is very well-written, and I love all the backstory that is created, and the wonderful three-dimensional OCs. There's some delicious angst, and some great healing and growth and happy endings.

Fanwork Links: The Ultimate Kidfic of Ultimate Destiny series

Harry Potter: the dogfather au by hollimichele

[beatrice_otter]

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings/Characters: Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Rating: M
Length: 72k
Creator Links: hollimichele 
Theme: series, AU, fork in the road, secret identity reveal, book fandom, old fandom, fixit, domestic

Summary: “I’m not a reverse werewolf either,” says the man. “I’m your godfather.”

Reccer's Notes: For an AU that starts off badly, it quickly becomes filled with hope and goodness. There's enough here that it could have been a 300k-word epic, and yet hollimichele gives us everything we need for quite a satisfying story.

Fanwork Links: the dogfather au

Star Wars: Feathers on the Sand by Carradee

[beatrice_otter]

Fandom: Star Wars
Pairings/Characters: Padme Amidala/Anakin Skywalker,
Rating: T
Length: 185k
Creator Links:  Carradee 
Theme: series, AU, backstory, competence, female characters, female friendship, minor characters, novel length, epic works, plotty fic, time travel, time travel fixit

Summary: When Padmé Amidala was eight years old and entering politics, her grandmother put blocks on her memory. It was meant to protect her. Instead, a Sith destroyed the Republic.

Only after she died did she remember what her grandmother had done, that it was all fixable, and she demanded that she be sent back. She'd meant her body, which mainly had a repairable-but-broken hyoid bone and was right there.

Instead, her grandmother sent her back in time…to before the memory blocks had ever been put in place. She's a twenty-seven-year-old woman in her eight-year-old body.

And this time, when Palpatine and the Jedi show up and start tugging at her Force abilities? She's going to know what she's doing.

Reccer's Notes: I tend to prefer the "Padme has bad/unhinged taste" theory, rather than jump to "her marrying Anakin doesn't make sense/is a plot hole," but I love this story anyway because it leads to such an interesting AU.

Fanwork Links: Feathers on the Sand