#gpfotp

[follypersist]

good parahumans fic of the present

Use Your Words, by Wilderling

I think people were rightfully excited for an intentionally low-powered Taylor to use a neat, unassuming “Thinker 1” sort of power — the ability to communicate along any language — and try to do good and do well in the Bay. What actually happens escalates about as much as any Taylor ever, but that’s not a bad thing, it’s just not what I would’ve expected. In its favor is: good writing, great surprises, a rapid release schedule, an interesting core, and a kind of jet-fuel of momentum and what-might-happen-next.

Amy Dallon, Herald of Andraste by Kylia 

Amy Dallon is having a miserable time in Thedas, having to balance learning about magic, and the unique biological horror of the blight and the political difficulties of the Chantry and Templars, and also the existential horror of having the Mark and the Breach existing. She’s still Amy Dallon; her existence is a poignant kind of suffering, and over the course of the story she will experience something like growth (if not in any way Closure.)  This is a compelling story told richly, and the marriage of Amy as a character and Thedas as a setting is not one I would’ve ever seen coming, but it really does work. As someone who cares about both Cassandra Pentaghast and everyone’s least-favorite healer, it’s an unqualified recommend, but it probably helps to have put even a few hours into Dragon Age: Inquisition once sometime in the last twelve years.

The Weaver’s Web by FabiusMaximus

This is perhaps the longfic-longfic of the bunch, originally posted on SpaceBattles but from my understanding being ported over to AO3 by the author; I read it on Reader Mode SB. Taylor pulls a classic “I’m actually two capes”, but this time leaning Scary Stranger on the bug side and Just a Weak Thinker on the multitasking side, as Orb Weaver and Investigator. I’m a fan of old radio serials, and this work is explicitly inspired by The Shadow, in a way that is genuinely fun! Come for the little-ripples of the world of Taylor having a different first-night-out, stay for the interesting different interpretation of the ABB, at least one Laborn in the Wards, and a look at what evil lurks inside men’s hearts.

Wanderer by Camo30209

The most literary and ambitious fic shared here today also happens to be a finished one, and that’s the space-and-time-shaping smugbug Wards world of Wanderer, also featuring Missy in a supporting role. This is to me very similar to Godzilla: Singular Point or Urashima Tarō, asking big questions and taking big swings in a fun-filled existential time-romp (not to be confused with a specific time loop), and if the ending is neat, you at least have the mess of the beginning and middle, and we and I can be a bit more human than before. The answer is the universe itself — the answer is in the question — and that is how the story begins!

And also…

Technomancer by Camo30209

I could talk longer about Wanderer, but instead I’ll point you to check out some more of Camo’s work, including Deadpool!Lisa (better than that sounds), and the currently updating Technomancer, where Taylor is a brutally fresh trigger with control over technology and an impassable gap of distance towards her own body. Almost certainly going to contain some insight into Dennis as a character, some exploration of the limits of tinkertech for a non-tinker, and character growth at overcoming alienation. Get it while it’s hot!

[follypersist]

good parahumans fic of the present

I always wish in hindsight that I had done something like this, so I'm starting now! there's a few stories i'm eagerly reading each update of.

instead of Tilt and Peasant showing opposite sides of a Taylor-Wards coin, would you believe that there are two Lisa Joins the Wards fics that each started this month?

Unauthorised Access by ghostlied you can remember as the Lisa-as-Vixen one. I'm particularly interested in this view of power-testing, and how Lisa's power and persona might develop with a support structure intent on making her not solely reliant on her power! Piggot, Colin, and Ethan are major supporting characters, and Calvert is playing a different game than the one we expect.

Curiosity by SilviaNorton has Lisa joining the wards under less safe circumstances, and saddled with the Curiosity Killed the Cat theme. This is likely to be more harrowing, but does feature Crystal Pelham if that's something that appeals to you! And Lisa-Victoria sniping. We'll see if satisfaction can bring Curiosity back.

Hive by lifebaka is the fic I'm most earnestly excited for, as it tells an alternate post-Leviathan story of girls being desperate, difficult, and human. It's an AU on a few elements, but its specificity of groups of people trying to recover and build a civil society, where powers are present but fights are the least wanted thing in the world, is kind of astonishing.

Madison Clements has an Unusual Power (And she's going to be a Hero!) by Nox_Penumbra is the feel-good fic of the bunch, and it's at 400k and counting! The best comparison I have for it is Inheritance, but it's much, much slower in its escalation and in the rate at which the cast expands. Mover Madison is at her finest-ever here, and the consequences of choosing to be an unambiguous capital-G Good Person are fascinating to trace. Taylor's guy-in-the-chair role here is novel but somehow doesn't feel out of character. Nepenthe by kkopi is the Uh-Oh fic of this bunch and also the newest (having started last week). It's Amy with Amnesia following the S9 being chased out of Brockton — how much of the OG canon is canon here is yet to be seen, but all Amy knows is that Skitter knows everything, and she can't stop her dreams about the mysterious villain. How well she can keep healing as a Ward in a broken city will remain to be seen as the mystery plays out.