Complex characterization
This tag belongs to the Additional Tags Category.
Parent tags (more general):
This tag has not been marked common and can't be filtered on (yet).
Works which have used it as a tag:
-
Tags
Summary
Mary gives Robert permission to test Joseph's renewed sense of loyalty to her. When things go exactly the way Mary and Robert expected, there's one snag in the plan. Robert fell in love.
Well. Shit.
-
Tags
Summary
Minho breathed in the scent of death. It hung thick and heavy in the empty air around him. In a way, it was almost comforting.
He smiled.
It was
terriblebeautiful.* * *
Minho is an assassin. All his life he has only known the unforgiving hand of death and pain. When he is hired to kill one of the richest men in South Korea, he is unwittingly dragged into a world he is unprepared for. A world full of desperate souls, treacherous lies, and fatal secrets which threaten to expose the shadow of the past he will never truly escape.
-
Spotlight by soariel
Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)
25 May 2025
Tags
Summary
Suguru knew fighting. Knew the taste of sweat and blood and the sound bone made when it cracked beneath pressure. He likely wouldn't be in any official circuit, that kind of stage - that life - far out of reach now.
Suguru had made peace with that.
Mostly.
And yet, watching him - Gojo Satoru, who was barely two months older than Suguru, just debuted on the pro circuit, no dirt on him, no broken knuckles that had barely healed, not like Suguru’s - move like that, with all the lights in the world pointed his way… it lit something in his chest he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Not envy. Nothing quite so bitter.
Just the ache of something almost remembered. The thrill of wanting.
Series
- Part 1 of Apex Match
-
Blue Corner by soariel
Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)
26 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
They’d danced around each other for weeks now, two alphas destined to clash sooner or later. Drills, bags, light touches, teasing feints, always sizing one another up from afar.
But this was different.
Gloves on. Mouthguards in. Focused.Satoru was still grinning though. Always grinning.
“Try not to fall in love with me when I start dancing,” he smirked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Suguru, calm as still water, adjusted his wraps around his knuckles and raised them, then replied with a cool, “I’ll try. You keep your hands up.”
Series
- Part 2 of Apex Match
-
Of Beasts and Brothers by grenadinebeam
Fandoms: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia (Movies)
11 Jul 2025
Tags
Summary
Long before the Pevensies, before the thaw, there was Mr. Beaver and there was Nikabrik. A talking beast and a dwarf, bound first by desperation, then by something dangerously close to friendship. Together they weathered the cruel reign of the White Witch, hunted wolves through haunted woods, whispered of Aslan by firelight, and watched their world turn to stone.
But loyalty has teeth, and grief is an easy thing to twist. Years later, as war returns to Narnia, Mr. Beaver learns of Nikabrik’s death and finds himself haunted by memories of the dwarf he once called friend, and the choices that split them apart.
A tale of secret rebellions, blood oaths in the snow, and the quiet tragedy of two souls trying to survive in a winter without end.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 22,717
- Chapters:
- 10/?
- Hits:
- 17
Bookmarks which have used it as a tag:
-
Choice Is Not A Word A Bullet Knows by bomberqueen17
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
30 Aug 2015
- Words:
- 338,900
- Works:
- 10
- Bookmarks:
- 441
Bookmarked by mekare
20 Jul 2017
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
The best Natasha characterization I have ever read. A great Bucky recovering series but embedded into a fully realized world of canon characters and wonderful OCs. Everyone gets their moments to shine. But really, Natasha is the one holding it all together for me. A beautifully explained Bucky/Natasha backstory. Real relationship work.
-
Tags
Summary
“Zack,” came the positively icy reply. “Tell me you didn't just decide to walk me over to my commanding officers ass first.”
“What?” There was a smile in Zack's voice now, his shoulders moving to betray his laughter. “You said you wanted them to see your best side!”
Or how fourth time SOLDIER applicant Cloud Strife met the First Class trio and in breaking Zack's nose, set in motion all of their lives changing forever. Eventual AGSZC.
Series
- Part 2 of just be still with me
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 263,327
- Chapters:
- 52/52
- Comments:
- 2,364
- Kudos:
- 3,305
- Bookmarks:
- 810
- Hits:
- 172,151
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
04 Jul 2022
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
💜💙💜💙💜💙❤🧡💜💙💜💙💚💛❤💜💙💜💙 Woooooooooow
Right up there with the classics. It took all these topics and ideas that had the potential to be overdone and cringey and made them into a masterpiece of storytelling. Longfic with no filler. Plotty while equally focusing on emotional growth and character relationships? Sign me the hell up. I've never seen such masterful handling of this huge 5-way poly ship, pretty equal focus on everybody's relationships with everybody while feeling organic and just ????? How??? And more family betrayal than you can shake a stick at. -
i'll jump over the wall and i'll wait for you there by Kieron_ODuibhir
Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
01 Jul 2022
- Words:
- 41,239
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 671
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
14 Oct 2022
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
4 parts as of bookmarking. Parts 2, 3, and 4 are AU snippets of Part 1, and brings on the knives even harder.
Edit: Looks like the author might have deleted part 4??? Iirc it was focused on minor characters and rumors spreading through the sect, especially how everyone thinks SQH and SQQ are blob creatures like the cop.
-
Found Brother by FakeAlice
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
09 Aug 2022
Tags
Summary
For some inexplicable reason, Shen Qingqiu's body separates into Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu. Neither of them is happy with their new relationship.
Or sometimes fate is inscrutable and brings together two people who have lost their family.
Series
- Part 1 of Found Brother
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 177,737
- Chapters:
- 70/70
- Collections:
- 7
- Comments:
- 7,005
- Kudos:
- 9,274
- Bookmarks:
- 1,700
- Hits:
- 298,800
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
22 Nov 2022
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
This is it, this is the fic, all other Scum Villain fics can just pack up their bags and go home now, this one already has it all.
Ok but I will admit that the ending is incomplete. Kinda still waiting on the epilogue. Honestly no clear endgame pairings as of the end of pt1.
-
My Life for Yours by lunisyl (orphan_account)
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
19 Oct 2024
Tags
Summary
Liu Qingge dies.
He thinks that'll be the end of it, but instead, he returns to the body of a child. A child that has yet to run away to Cang Qiong Mountain, yet to become the Bai Zhan Peak Lord, and yet to meet Shen Qingqiu.
Life will be easier if Liu Qingge stays far away from Cang Qiong Mountain, from heavenly demons and demonic blades and resurrecting Peak Lords.
But with Shen Qingqiu’s fate in the balance, Liu Qingge only has one choice.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 147,951
- Chapters:
- 47/47
- Comments:
- 2,184
- Kudos:
- 2,986
- Bookmarks:
- 730
- Hits:
- 85,458
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
23 Dec 2022
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Every chapter has me screaming in a different way.
-------------------------
Shen Jiu’s back is turned toward the door when Liu Qingge enters their bedroom. Carefully, Liu Qingge climbs into bed and lies next to him.
Without warning, Shen Jiu speaks. “Qingge,” he says, “How can you bear to love a monster like me?”
What?
“You’re not a monster,” Liu Qingge says.
“Aren’t I?” Shen Jiu asks, quietly. “What other than a monster could inspire such hatred that a demon would go so far as to travel to other universes to slaughter other versions of them?”
----------------
“Shizun,” he says hesitantly. “I just— Do you truly think Shen-shibo values the loss of his bad memories more than the memory of you?”
Liu Qingge almost wants to laugh. Isn’t that the reason Shen Jiu left?
“Yes,” he answers.
-
lonely little heartbeat by kitschlet
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
09 Jun 2022
Tags
Summary
At a crucial moment in Proud Immortal Demon Way, Luo Binghe loses faith in his shizun. Shen Yuan, a brand-new reader of a novel still in the backstory chapters, feels so bad for him that it rips a hole in space-time. Now he's tasked with fixing the baby protagonist's broken heart, so Luo Binghe is ready to become the stallion he's destined to be!
Your classic reverse transmigration premise, but Binghe is fifteen.
Series
- Part 1 of LLHB universe
-
Metagaming by esama
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
20 Mar 2022
Tags
Summary
[Self-Saving System Activated! You will be now returned to your original starting position.]
Shen Qingqiu dies and gets a second chance and decides to try a different approach.
Series
- Part 1 of Master of Dual Cultivation
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 105,068
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Comments:
- 2,938
- Kudos:
- 13,983
- Bookmarks:
- 3,199
- Hits:
- 293,493
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
16 Oct 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Ends just after the Immortal Alliance Conference aftermath.
This fic is better than words can describe. Just reread it.
🥺❤️💜❤️💜❤️💜🤯😳💜❤️💜🙈🙃❤️💜❤️ -
Character Optimisation by esama
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
02 Jul 2022
Tags
Summary
[Bonus mission, "Me, Myself and I" is now available. Would you like to activate the mission?]
Shen Qingqiu tries to sort himself out. Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge try to help.
Series
- Part 2 of Master of Dual Cultivation
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 91,785
- Chapters:
- 15/15
- Comments:
- 2,506
- Kudos:
- 9,502
- Bookmarks:
- 1,406
- Hits:
- 169,430
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
17 Oct 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
This whole time reading this I was SCREAMING, and now that I'm done with the last chapter I'm frothing at the mouth vibrating in my seat praying on my knees wishing on a star that the author will release part 3 someday.
-
Parasite by kittenmarsh, mechanicaljellyfish
Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
23 Apr 2022
Tags
Summary
Shen Yuan ends up in the body of the original Shen Qingqiu, but the original’s soul never vacates it. There is no System. Instead, Shen Qingqiu himself is supervising the transmigrator’s actions and throwing a wrench into the works. Both of them are just trying to survive in the same body, while Luo Binghe loses any hope of understanding what kind of man his shizun is.
Series
- Part 1 of Parasite
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 441,370
- Chapters:
- 88/88
- Collections:
- 8
- Comments:
- 1,375
- Kudos:
- 3,670
- Bookmarks:
- 542
- Hits:
- 106,397
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
04 Jan 2024
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
I am specifically not tagging some of the spoilers in case I reread this in the future. This one's a beast and an epic! It's translated very well and the writing is so nuanced and balances so many characters, emotions, secrets, timey-wimey shenanigans, and so much more, masterfully.
There are 2 Wolves inside Shen Qingqiu: Shen Yuan is constantly losing his shit, while Shen Jiu is constantly giving SY shit LOL.
SJ-- this f*cking guy!! You can't fully love or hate him, but everything about him hurts me. 😔
Binghe, SQQ, SY... their traumas have traumas, their trust issues have trust issues, their misunderstandings have misunderstandings!! Good God, these 3 bundles of neuroses need a giant hug and maybe some pills from MQF.
From a comment I found:
SJ and LBH . . . the three things they have in common are (1) caring about SY (2) believing that SY hates them, (3) HAVING SCREWED UP THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH SY FOR DUMB REASONS THAT'S RIGHT NOW GO REFLECT AND DO BETTER, lolI know I'm down bad for this particular flavor of Bingqiu because it's taken almost 300k words for them to sit down and honestly talk about their feelings and really *start* to communicate, and we still have more than 20 chapters left. 🙃
ch73 sex scene was a freaking masterpiece of plot-advancing, supremely intimate, anxious, tearful bad sex, that somehow turns into healing and lovely non-penetrative sex. The Bingqiu in this fic really, really takes its time to go through each insecurity and issue and make them work for every inch of advanement in their relationship. Also I can't help but think of SY's narration from their first time in the extras: "Fuck! Don't joke around-- if we leave things like this, we'll both end up with psychological trauma! What if we get ED!"
ch74 though 🥵🥵🥵💦😳 was veeery hot and sweet and SY finally said ily out loud. But LBH still desperately needs therapy, gd.ch78 LUO BINGHE YOU STUPID BITCH
ch82 Such an irreverent death scene,
I'm screaming and laughing--!
'He was already feeling a bit awkward. Hadn't this goodbye dragged for a little too long? [...] Apart from the Sect Master and maybe a couple of other peak lords, no one here had any reason to feel sorry about Shen Qingqiu's death. And yet, common decency prevented them from leaving. [...] But how would they call Shen Qingqiu after his death? "The hero who saved us all" or "that guy who couldn't just die already"? "The bastard who made his brothers wait in the icy wind?"' -
Summary
'03 anime canon divergence in which the final transmutation goes wrong and Al is turned into a baby. Ed struggles to accept this new reality and Roy offers to help, getting far more than he bargained for. Longass slowburn. Series depicts their life as a family.
- Words:
- 225,515
- Works:
- 8
- Bookmarks:
- 1,070
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
26 May 2024
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Heavy on domesticity, angst, growing together, fatherhood, and the realistic grit of relationships. Probably the best thing I've ever read for this Fandom.
Individual parts are separately bookmarked.
If rereading, I'd advise that it all be read in order (except that part 4 can be out of order or in order). I didn't have the heart to read the pt8 AU quite yet, since Roy and Ed are already living their happy ending, but I may come back later to read it. -
In All Honesty/The Truth Is by gelfling
Fandoms: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
02 Sep 2022
Tags
Summary
After years of waiting, Sephiroth finds his soulmate during a botched mission to Nibelheim. Cloud is not the supportive, obedient soulmate Sephiroth had been expecting, but he doesn't have time to worry about it as they run from Shinra and look for answers.
Where Sephiroth is a bad at relationships, but is also traumatized after Jenova/Hojo/Shinra/soulmate expectations, Cloud is stressed out fluff trying to do his best fixing the past, and Zack keeps everyone alive.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 107,230
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Comments:
- 248
- Kudos:
- 1,597
- Bookmarks:
- 547
- Hits:
- 40,651
Bookmarked by Hairflip_A_Day
27 Jan 2025
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
- Jason Jordan.
This quote really encapsulates the feeling of this fic.Notes to remember this particular flavor of time travel AU:
Starts at the part of the timeline where Sephiroth is skewering Cloud and Zack. The soulmate bond shows up but Sephiroth leaves him to die. He comes back to his senses like it was a bad dream he can only half-remember and rescues Zack, who makes him rescue Cloud from Hojo when he wakes up. Then they're on the run because it's obvious that somehow Shinra was behind Sephiroth's mental break. They want revenge.
Sephiroth then spends quite a lot of time internally bad-mouthing his unworthy, pathetic, completely unsuitable soulmate who he doesn't want--all the while I'm hearing clown music in the background because joke's in him, CLOUD is the one who doesn't want HIM.
This is not a fic where soulmates fix everything. Every goalpost is hard won. Every bit of trust, intimacy, casual contact is carefully considered. Sephiroth plans multiple times to murder Cloud in cold blood. Priorities get shifted. Despite every reservation... they do work as balances to each other.
It goes far beyond the plot of saving the world and deep into the personality conflicts and ambitions inherent in Sefikura. The last chapter felt almost like a super extended epilogue but I realized the relationship was the point all along, the plot was just getting us there. This is the real meat of the story.Excerpt:
Sephiroth can’t breathe. His spine has calcified, clenched tight and stiff. His skin is frozen.
He has been so preoccupied notating and documenting all the ways his soulmate is unworthy of him, it never occurred to him that—
Excerpt:
“You do not need to know." Part of Sephiroth’s life seems damned to over-explaining simple concepts to fools. “These dramatics aren’t necessary.”“Sir, we met when you stabbed me in the ribcage and then burned down my hometown," Cloud points out sharply. "I don't think I'm leading in the dramatics."
Excerpt:
“And...if you are not interested, or if you are only acting kind due to the threads, due to cultural expectations…or fear…I would know now.”He can understand Cloud wanting to follow a fairytale romance, guided by red threads, expecting a delicate lady or gallant hero at the other end. Instead Cloud has the Demon of Wutai, Shinra’s relentless butcher, the Calamity from the stars. Even Zack has trouble reconciling the murder Sephiroth is capable of, the sheer violence and destruction, and Zack knows him better than anyone alive.
Sephiroth cannot stomach Cloud acceding to the monster’s wishes, martyring himself, just to save the planet.
Cloud doesn't answer immediately, and instead picks at his trousers. He flicks a packet of dried apricots with his finger. “Kinda hard to argue with fate,” he mutters finally, bitter and tired.
“You cannot complain of not being master of your own fate while constantly bending to the needs of others, to memories,” Sephiroth snaps, sharp. “I am giving you a choice now. You should have more than enough information to make a considered judgement.”
Excerpt:
“If you would be mine --willingly—," what could he offer? Only despair and violence, pain on top of pain, " I will ensure you are never hungry again. You will always have a home, you --I will bring all my power to bear to protect you. And... I will try to listen, when you speak. If you agree to be mine and have no other."Sephiroth’s heart drums in his ears, as the silence stretches on.
Except:
“Bad day?”
“No,” Sephiroth answers truthfully. Every day is a bad day.
Well, no that isn’t accurate either. Every day is dull, empty, without challenge or thrill or anticipation. He was made for greater things than this, trained for combat against an insurmountable power that does not exist on this planet.
He’s stagnating. He peaked in Wutai, as a teenager.
What good are all his skills, strength, if he constantly has to restrain himself from using them?