halcy's 2021 fic rec list

[halcyonine]

ao3 records 64 and a half pages of history for my account this year! is that a lot? a little? guess next year will tell

but why not create a list of fave completed things I read this year while avoiding the slowly-imminent 2022? (linear time is awful, when do we get parabola time anyway)

by date last read:

• syncogon's lovely night glitter, a cardcaptor sakura/tka fusion with art by chuna! I know nothing about cardcaptor sakura but it was a very light and delightful read
• imagitory's harry potter and the lack of lamb sauce, an incredible for want of a nail fic - every character is so utterly alive in it it's astounding. the pacing, from what I remember, is very tight and excellently done, and I loved it enough to stay awake reading it until... 4am, or something like that
• malfaisant's le pendu, a jsmn fic that combines tentacles with fealty and worship and is so charmingly my cup of tea that it's a shame I've only found one other fic like it, which of course I must also list here: smaragdina's behaving as the wind behaves, a dishonored fic. did I know anything about dishonored when I started it? nope. do I know anything about dishonored now? yes, almost all of it about the outsider...
• harps17's may he who is without sinnoh cast the first stone, a steven stone & cynthia pkmn fic. really liked their characterisation and its just a very pleasant read in general, the bad puns tag is accurate so be warned
• cinis' atalanta (an argonautica), in which atlanta is an argonaut and it's just a really cool delve into gender+queerness and greek myth overall! ah mythology, my ever beloved

just reached the part of my history where there's ever given/suez canal fic. thank you ever given for a march that was not so awful as before, and for the great memes. do it again sometime xoxo

• lirelyn's gently into morning, a wenzhou word of honor fic that has some simply gorgeous lines like Zhou Zishu had gotten used to measuring time in thimblefuls and There wasn’t a container in his mind big enough to hold years, decades, centuries. it's wonderfully soft, and such a dear
• lightgetsin's count to three and also cross and also maybe the rest of their dresden files fic while I'm at it, they have such a strong grasp of pacing and plot and character its inspiring, but I do particularly love the count to three series for the - intensity, that's the word! no I've never read dresden files
• thedefenestrator's the world's weight (in starlight, faded), a tka fic that does absurdly amazing worldbuilding. it is quite literally galaxy brained the whole way through
• californiannostalgia's were i that burning star, a canon divergent trials of apollo fic that's... somewhere like disney's encanto, really, with the processing of trauma (except where abuela recognises, zeus, family-unfriendly as ever, does not). truly impeccable character exploration
• dawnstruck's clouded mind and heavy heart, a naruto fic that works unreliable narrator to its absolute limit. confession time I know exactly three things about naruto and they are: naruto and sasuke exist, they're all ninjas, boruto?? but this one... you can absolutely feel how messed in the head both characters become, which is just - super cool writing, you know?

so many smut wenzhous are in my history tbh, but somehow I can barely remember any of them... that's what you get when mid august is just a huge stack of trauma from slander and cyberbullying so intense it makes a person vanish. hell is too kind of a place for a certain organisation and whatever capital behind them; I hope they are repaid tenfold. may 2022 bring light to us all

• anticyclone's this bodes ill and the entire series after it, which are good omens fic starring crowley/aziraphale/lucifer. their characterisation is so on point, the tension they evoke in a single scene is top tier. god tier, even, but their lucifer might take offense to that
• sundermount's siji mountain rest stop for the weary traveller, which is... so light and slice-of-life-y it's unreal. always excellent for a pick me up
• hal's the divine emissary of langzhou, a nirvana in fire fic that's wildly humorous with how much mei changsu wants it and how much xiao jingyan... wants it and is incredibly bemused and frustrated by how he's going to get it he does not want to do ritual sex in front of his mother! which is, of course, a totally valid concern for jingyan-the-person, but unfortunately the objections of jingyan-the-emperor are overruled by always-plotting mei changsu and the despairing minister of rites hahaha
• thamiris' the water horse, a sir gawain and the green knight (poem) fic with just some beautiful prose, the way it's all brought to life and expanded upon to spin more myth into the tapestry that is arthuriana is breathtaking
• anonymous author's if the sea were sand alone, a harry potter fic that is, somehow, the most tender thing for how it left me with heartache after... in which dumbledore does things a little differently, and tom riddle never does become a dark lord, for nothing but the sake of a kindness once given
• aubreyli's 10/10 WOULD MARRY, a guardian fic where shen wei's various students rate him on ratemyprof, and by rate him I'm not talking about the difficulty of the course. delightfully humorous read.
• paperwing's dialetheism, which is such a good yorimitsu/onikiri dynamic and so terribly heartwrenching when you know who they are and how they are and their future and their tragedy and all the mess between them he hates and he forgives and he decides it's all immaterial and worthless at the hour of his death and I'm so weak for that, actually!!
• alherath's that ruthless love, really the pinnacle of multi-chapter nirvana in fire fic I must declare. everyone is so vibrant and loved in this, full of their own agency and fleshed out so well! nicely paced and well plotted and a definite sex comedy, I love it so much
• curtailed's sanctuary, an ennead/egyptian mythology fic that... hurts so well in such a good way to read, really, the pining is off the charts! as is the guilt and the overarching urge to be better for the sake of who you love, even if this is never reciprocated (the final scene... it's truly beautiful)
• sunromance's sweeter now, a lovely sweet wenzhou that really packed some punches when it came to the chinese experience and metaphors and the asian universality of food as an expression of love words cannot express
• lilithqueen's now everything's easy 'cause of you and a little mystery to figure out, obsidian & blood fics that are just chaotically hilarious and delightful ways to lighten the soul. xochipilli absolutely trolling in the first, and nezahual being an absolute little shit in the second - just delightful, truly!
• astolat's the compact, I mean astolat barely needs any reccing to go on a favourites list but this was incredible, a wonderful way to destroy an entire evening in the magic all over again. 
• maidenmothercrone's diagnosis, a harry potter medical drama/comedy that is actually amazing - fast paced, with vivid character and motivation, and a plot that really could be woven into television. fortunately, it's still in fic form, so my inability to watch long things while not being in a theatre did not affect my enjoyment of this masterpiece.
• justprompts' it runs in the family, crack harry potter where... hermione is voldemort's daughter! no, seriously, that's the premise (at least for voldemort, for hermione it's a little bit more complicated than that). couldn't stop laughing through it
• dirtybinary's ephesus... look, I didn't ask to fall down the hannibal barca/scipio africanus pit, but it happened. and now I know more about roman history! hurray! the banter and slow burn in this one is lovely, who wouldn't want to join me at the bottom of this nice and cozy ancient history rpf pit? 
• rusesdeguerre's you've grown wings, it seems, a wenzhou word of honor fic that is really just impeccable vibes. slice of life, and love, and the blazing fondness and roughness wenzhou apply to each other in equal measure since oh the other can take it so beautifully. 
• thegatorgood's and you're getting two thumbs up, a teixcalaan mahit/three seagrass fic epistolary fic - it's an utter delight to read their conversations with each other and the playful worldbuilding within! there once was a dancer from odile indeed
• notbecauseofvictories' a cornstalk fiddle, which finished literally today, and makes me want to weep of glad joy all over again with the beauty of its imagery, the way it simultaneously transcends and dearly stays within johnny's narrative voice - I don't have any good words to describe this fic other than amazing, though it deserves so much more

and of course my gift fics, which! were! all! amazing!! those awkward family interactions, a direct injection of 2010s wattpad into my veins, the hilarity of pinata yx my beloved, and ermahgerd. truly they brightened my life with their existence.