"some kind of karmic-chi love thing" by llassah (NC-17)
Title: some kind of karmic-chi love thing
Fandom: Teen wolf
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Categories: Future fic, first time
Length: Long (27,233)
Warnings: Recreational drug use, disturbing imagery (nightmares)
Author on LJ: N/A>
Author Website:
llasah
Summary: Derek Hale comes back to Beacon Hills stoned and happy. Stiles tries not to resent him for it, and mostly fails.
Review: The first paragraph of this story reads like the set-up to a joke, with a post-3A Derek Hale rolling back into Beacon Hills in a VW van and sandals. But, as I'm learning to anticipate with llasah's writing, the joke turns serious pretty quickly. A year after sacrificing himself to the Nemeton, Stiles still can't sleep through the night and suspects that he's slowly losing his mind. He's angry, exhausted, and stretched about as tight as he can get without breaking. Needless to say, Stiles doesn't react well when Derek shows up, full of inner peace and ready to talk about his tragic past. The strength of this story is its many contrasts: the calm, relaxed Derek vs. terrified, angry Stiles, new!Derek vs. old!Derek, the humor of the prose through most of the story vs. the disturbingly real imagery in Stiles's nightmares.
While some readers might have trouble buying Derek as a cheerful stoner, llasah let just enough hints of his old personality bleed through for me to buy it. This is a Derek without his knife-edge of anger and desperation, who can throw out insights about people with a resigned air of self-awareness rather than projection. When an encounter with some wolfsbane-laced weed leaves Derek feral halfway through the story, we get to see another side of him, without human awareness filtering out his wolf instincts. The three Dereks (stoner!Derek, feral!Derek, and old, angry!Derek) form a fractured, but beautiful whole, and as Stiles pieces them together in his mental picture of Derek, he begins to get a better grasp of who he is, as well. The other thing I love about this story are Scott and the sheriff. Both of them have been focused on taking care of Stiles post-Nemeton. There are some adorable scenes between Scott and Stiles and the sheriff and Stiles that left me grinning like an idiot. I also loved how llasah portrayed Scott stepping into the role of true alpha. The dynamics between Scott and Derek were great, and Scott's focus on taking care of his pack felt absolutely true to character to me. If you follow my recs, you know that I'm a sucker for stories about healing, and this one definitely fits the bill.
some kind of karmic-chi love thing
Fandom: Teen wolf
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Categories: Future fic, first time
Length: Long (27,233)
Warnings: Recreational drug use, disturbing imagery (nightmares)
Author on LJ: N/A>
Author Website:
llasah
Summary: Derek Hale comes back to Beacon Hills stoned and happy. Stiles tries not to resent him for it, and mostly fails.
Review: The first paragraph of this story reads like the set-up to a joke, with a post-3A Derek Hale rolling back into Beacon Hills in a VW van and sandals. But, as I'm learning to anticipate with llasah's writing, the joke turns serious pretty quickly. A year after sacrificing himself to the Nemeton, Stiles still can't sleep through the night and suspects that he's slowly losing his mind. He's angry, exhausted, and stretched about as tight as he can get without breaking. Needless to say, Stiles doesn't react well when Derek shows up, full of inner peace and ready to talk about his tragic past. The strength of this story is its many contrasts: the calm, relaxed Derek vs. terrified, angry Stiles, new!Derek vs. old!Derek, the humor of the prose through most of the story vs. the disturbingly real imagery in Stiles's nightmares.
While some readers might have trouble buying Derek as a cheerful stoner, llasah let just enough hints of his old personality bleed through for me to buy it. This is a Derek without his knife-edge of anger and desperation, who can throw out insights about people with a resigned air of self-awareness rather than projection. When an encounter with some wolfsbane-laced weed leaves Derek feral halfway through the story, we get to see another side of him, without human awareness filtering out his wolf instincts. The three Dereks (stoner!Derek, feral!Derek, and old, angry!Derek) form a fractured, but beautiful whole, and as Stiles pieces them together in his mental picture of Derek, he begins to get a better grasp of who he is, as well. The other thing I love about this story are Scott and the sheriff. Both of them have been focused on taking care of Stiles post-Nemeton. There are some adorable scenes between Scott and Stiles and the sheriff and Stiles that left me grinning like an idiot. I also loved how llasah portrayed Scott stepping into the role of true alpha. The dynamics between Scott and Derek were great, and Scott's focus on taking care of his pack felt absolutely true to character to me. If you follow my recs, you know that I'm a sucker for stories about healing, and this one definitely fits the bill.
some kind of karmic-chi love thing