BloodyMary fic recs! (Ace friendly marked with *) EDIT: I FORGOT TO ERASE THIS THEYRE ALL ACE
Within a spectroscopic binary, Ace so far (its uncompleted, though to be fair most of these are) and my favorite bloodymary fic of all time!!! my comfort fic but also loaded with angst, and i love how the author portrays Rocky!!
Elevator to the Moon (Distance never made a difference), my own fic but hey, gotta respect the hustle. Its a NASA AU, where Grace goes to the ISS and Simon studies marine biology :)
Gods Name, it has LOTS of art, and is very focused on Simons self-discovery. Plus, i really really adore Simons character at the start. Just a great fic overall
The great tribulation, Grace gets thrown into the Iron Lung universe!!!! i rarely see these kinds, and the author wrote a AMAZING C.O.I. its so cool... i love it
After a failed hookup the previous night, the Independent terran sophont, Adora has just about given up. The apparent happiness of her sister and friends only makes it worse. What's wrong with her? why can't she enjoy sex like other people? A chance encounter at a local lemonade cafe may just provide the answers (and the family) she needs.
I fink I needa siddown.
Somfing 'bout dis stowy feels... cozy.
...I'm actually really bad at typing like that so I'm gonna stop now.
Lemonade and Snuggles is a beautiful little sprout story about a sex-repulsed asexual figuring out what she needs and getting it from Mama and a whole family of delightful little sprouts. I'll be blunt, I did not know what to expect going into this - this is very much not my usual fare, and I usually find myself further on the hypersexual side of things, but there's just something about this story that feels... I dunno how else to put it, it feels like healing. It appeals to a side of me I didn't really know was in there, or at least, like to pretend isn't. It may not be for everyone - it leans very heavily on CGL and Little Sprout themes, and while the diapers aren't sexualized, they are very present - but I recommend giving yourself the chance to be surprised. Maybe this will awaken something in you like it did in me.
This document reviews a series of events occurring on January 5, 2555 between a floret and her Affini, who is a clerk at the Office of Neoxenoveterinary Archeobureaucracy and a skilled bureaucrat. Attached is the series of forms that make up the bulk of the events. Review by floret follows.
This is a story told entirely in the form of bureaucratic filings between a floret and her owner.
It is gut-bustingly hilarious, surprisingly wholesome and meaningful, and shows off just how successfully you can use the very mechanics of bureaucracy as a tool of play. In short, it's a Harmony story, and a very accessible one at that. Give it a read!
Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Our lead, Cassandra, has problems with reality. She sees things that other people don't. Sometimes they exist; sometimes they don't. She has never shaken the feeling that there's a sinister side to the Affini Compact, a dark secret they carefully hide.
And then, one day, she finds it. And everything stops making sense.
Acekink. Conspiratorial. Canon-compliant.
Where do I even begin when talking about Red String Mind? No, seriously, I'm genuinely unsure. Do we talk about the incredible acekink that is at once perplexing, arousing, and deeply sensual? That's probably not a bad place to start, yet feels like underselling the whole affair. Do we talk about the insanity of the plot structure? Probably not; it's quite difficult to talk about the plot of a mystery story without giving away things you'll absolutely want to figure out on your own. Do we talk about all the ways this story breaks the rules? No... no... Do we talk about how this story contains the single greatest fight scene in the entire HDG canon (and it's not close)? Probably worth mentioning, at least in passing.
Dame Harmony has dropped another absolutely insane banger, folks. I just got done reading it, and I'm absolutely stunned at the intricate web of conspiracies, spycraft, and mystery woven by this unbelievably talented author. Go read this. Do not wait, do not hesitate, and don't get too hung up on what "Class-T" is supposed to be. Don't worry if things don't make sense at first. Sit with the feelings of cognitive dissonance; spend time feeling what it is like to have the hyperactive imagination of a schizotypal disorder - a feeling this story evokes with incredible effectiveness. Allow Harmony to carry you away on the wings of the story, with a reassurance from me that it will all, at some point, make sense. And let's not forget: a conclusion that belongs up there with To Seek What They Sought, Cat & Mouse, and The Fall of Abundance in the canon of truly fantastic climaxes. This story is completely incredible.
You won't want to miss this, which is a shame, because given Harmony's publishing strategy of "post everything at once in a way that doesn't even bump it to the front page of Ao3, then almost never talk about it again", I feel like quite a few people might. Are you subscribed to aem on Ao3 yet? If you like HDG, you should be.
Which Rural-Suburban North American Wild Mammal Are You?
Basically yeah, based on the mammals in my area which are you (well some of them I excluded bear because there was too much overlap with bobcat and coyote) https://uquiz.com/R1iMwx
The Ribbon - A Short Saga by Slylittleprincess, with art and editing by Sheepwave
Published: January 2026
10k words, 2/4 chapters, ongoing
Ace-Friendly: Yes
Ava loves poems, and has been working on her latest one all week. She especially enjoys sharing them with Fiodoir, her online friend who definitely isn’t an Affini. When Ava makes the fateful decision to spy on her friend while on a very overstimulating visit to a different hab ring, she discovers just how bad things really were for her, and has a series of experiences that change everything.
Sly doesn't miss.
Sly. Does. Not. Miss.
I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm supposed to say in response to this other than that. The first time I read the first chapter, I had vaguely intended to liveread it, but I didn't. Instead, I just let myself be carried away by the frankly insane flow of this story. To call it "hypnotic" almost feels like selling it short; I could not put it down. Ava is immediately an engaging, well-fleshed-out character, presented with an efficiency that I can't help but laud, and Fiodoir is just... woof. God damn. She starts performing suggestibility tests on Ava within seconds of meeting her in person. It's beautifully predatory, but in a sweet kind of way that could go in a lot of different directions.
Then, after chapter one, I said to myself, "Aww, another sweet courtship story by Sly, I wonder how this one will go?" And then I read chapter 2, and realized that Fiodoir is less like a patient, seductive temptress and more like an oncoming freight train with absolutely zero brakes. Holy shit. Do you remember A Taste of Class Omega? Incredibly hot one-shot by Sheepwave, Cadence turned it into a hypno file, great fun was had by all? The second chapter of this story feels a little bit like Sly lived through that scene and decided to write about it. Except even hotter. Absolutely peak shit, do not miss it.
Ace-Friendly: there is nothing resembling human sexuality here, but the affini do have something resembling orgasms, so I'm gonna hazard a "yes"?
Noteworthy tags: Subfini, Affini x Affini
Celeste Andromeda, Ninth Bloom, is really tired of being a Person. Hopefully nothing kinky, cathartic, or otherwise intensely desirable will happen if she confesses this to her best friend.
Set in the Human Domestication Guide universe.
So my Christmas vacation has been quite lovely. Time to catch up on some of the things I missed.
Is it a known thing that I'm kind of wild about subfini stories? I've mentioned how much I adore Dancing to Her Rhythms, I love the subfini moments in Independent Establishment, I spoke at length about how goddamn good the (kinda) subfini moments in A Prince and His Lilies are...
I swear to god this story exists to snipe me specifically. An affini who's tired of being a person admits this to her best friend. Florting ensues.
Did you ever read Junebug Domestication Guide (which is absolutely fire, by the by) and think, "This is hot, but I could use roughly 50% more descriptions of the physical mechanics of things, and maybe a slightly kinder dominant"? Because if so, run, don't walk, to read The Taming of the Shrub. Grafting kink. Soft but irresistable dominance. A Class-H scene for the history books. God DAMN.
...I just remembered I did this story back in November. Well, fuck. STILL KINDA FERAL ABOUT IT THOUGH.
44,115 words as of chapter 8; the planned scope for this story is long
Ace-Friendly: So far, yes
Noteworthy tags: Cotyledons, and also
When the captain of an illegal SETI operation awakens paralyzed in a mysterious laboratory, she can't remember how she got there or what has happened—but her owner does. Now she must navigate this strange, frightening new life as a cotyledon—something between a test subject and cherished pet—all the while unlocking her forgotten past piece by piece with the help of her affini guardian’s hypnotic bioluminescence and unconditional, mandatory love.
A story about being helpless and becoming okay with that.
This is a longform hurt/comfort with heavy emphasis on hypnosis, conditioning, medfet, and dollification. CW for surgery, PTSD, implied suicide, and minor character death. Hypogeal is set in the Human Domestication Guide universe, though no previous works are required reading to enjoy it.
The first thing that caught my eye about this story was the fact that SlyLittlePrincess was beta reading it, and recommending it the way folks on the community discord recommend starting HRT.
The second thing that caught my eye about this story was seeing reading channels on multiple servers I'm on absolutely explode looking at it.
So, what the hell. Let's read a bit of it...
...What do you mean it's suddenly midnight? Why am I sobbing violently into my pillow?
As said yesterday, I am lighting the beacon on this one. We have another example of a new author stepping into the scene, and crafting something so insane that the entire community blows up about it. This story is doing something fairly unique, very painful, and incredibly potent.
The rest of this review will contain at least some spoilers below the cut, so if you haven't started on this one, do yourself a favor and start on it. I'm calling it now, this is the next Independent Establishment. This is the next How A Floret Finds Out. Honestly, that doesn't even go far enough. This has the potential to be something like the next The Place Where We Can Stop Running. Like, I'm coming right out and saying that, if it continues at this level, this is a story that will have an impact on what Human Domestication Guide is, on the stories that get told in the future of this setting, and I say that in the most complimentary way I can.
Go read Hypogeal. To call it incredible feels like selling it short.
More analysis (and spoilers!) under the cut.
The basic framing device of Hypogeal is a cotyledon recovering from an implantation surgery where something went wrong, having more or less completely lost their memory. The story is split between an affini caring for them, and hypnotic regression into the protagonist's shattered memories.
This dance is important, because the protagonist's memories primarily involve watching their crew die around them as they're stranded in deep space with no realistic hope of rescue after a series of very human snap decisions and mistakes. It is a harrowing story to tell. And it's all foreshadowed with devastating precision and care. This is stupidly hard to do right, and you can tell it's working if you want to laugh one moment and wail in pain the next, which... is very much the Hypogeal experience.
The horrifying experiences on the Last Signal are also, importantly, real and human. It shares this crucial quality with From Pawn To Princess, where the events of the prologue are heinous and horrifying and cruel, but they're heinous in ways that make sense, both for an uncaring capitalist hellscape and for a group of people doing their best to survive in a desperate situation. Things are bad, but they're not bad out of malice or evil, just the uncaring logic of a thousand algorithmic bean-counters who can't conceptualize you as a person because it'd make their jobs impossible. The situation is dire, but these people care about each other - they just end up making terrible snap decisions under severe duress.
Y'know what's really different from From Pawn To Princess (very minor spoilers for that here, by the by)?
When the affini show up in From Pawn To Princess (and if you haven't grok'd that this comparison is high praise for Hypogeal, uh, now you know why I keep comparing it to one of my favorite stories in the entire setting), they fix things. They have the medical technology, they have the tools needed, and things get better almost immediately. The drama shifts from "will I die horribly" to "how can I manage to understand and live in this new world; how can I accept that things actually are better".
But this is a cotyledon story. So when what's left of our bedraggled crew gets rescued by the affini, things are not just suddenly okay. The affini can't just fix everything, can't just make everything okay. They can and do try their absolute best, but the required knowledge must be built up before they can truly help in the ways we're used to. They can't even communicate at first. There's a moment in chapter 7 where, without wishing to spoil too much, this reality comes crashing down in a way that left me stunned. Without words. GOD DAMMIT. FUCK.
By the by, can I just pause to say that the scenes of the two species desperately trying to figure out how to communicate with each other with extremely limited information is impossibly clever from both perspectives? It's not the only incredibly clever thing in this story, but it's one I wanted to pause and draw attention to, because holy shit it's so fucking smart. Gives me the same feeling I had watching the scene from Apollo 13 (1995) where they desperately have to jury-rig the CO2 filters to survive. I watched that movie when I was a kid. Reading that chapter gave me goosebumps. And then it went ahead and twisted the knife in a way that made me bawl like an infant. FUCK.
I am deeply curious how the tone of this story will shift as we get further into it, but I trust Astra to nail it, because... well... look at this shit! It's incredible! It's hard to even describe how good Hypogeal is. I keep stumbling over my words, trying to find the right way to express these feelings, and I keep falling back on that same response: loud, angry swearing.
Fuck. FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK! ALSKDJFALSKJDLAKDN;LMKCNV;BNSFEDJLKGHNSAERUOIGHE§U$R%HGNKJ§EHNGJEN!!!!! STACKABLE IDAHO! FUCK!
I have. No idea. How this community keeps consistently attracting this level of talent. Seeing just how insanely fucking good this and openAngel's opening salvo are is humbling; the skill on display is palpable. I cannot wait for more of this story, and I am excited to see more of this author.
