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!
