duskglass writes

Abyss: Frings (;A;!!! good blorbo with such a sad end); Peony (it's been over a decade since my first playthrough & I still remember the pleasant surprise of meeting him for the first time; such a fun offbeat personality for a ruler character, and I love his dynamic with Jade as the only person who can really Get to him in the same way that Jade expertly trolls everyone else); Noelle (badass pilot gal who overcomes her initial self-doubts to absolutely shine under pressure, and Ginji also deserves a special mention as an unsung badass of the game, as BOTH Albiore sibs truly have nerves of steel & the main protags literally could never have won without them); Ion (for being just... such a genuinely sweet & caring person, nice to act1!Luke even tho he's constantly a rude asshole to everyone, ultimately sacrificing himself to help the party & Tear in particular)... but honestly everyone in Abyss is so well written; all of the antagonists also have wonderful depth and understandable motives that make their downward spirals so much fun to see!!

and for the non-'mc' party members specifically (tho personally I'd still consider them mains too): JADE!! (I absolutely love this fucked up disaster man, his sarcasm & snark & being a complete troll to the rest of the party; I'm also deeply fascinated by his backstory, all his terrible mistakes & unethical actions, and his ongoing struggle to become a Better Person in spite of his 'inner nature' basically running counter to that), and Guy (my personal main on every playthrough since I instantly liked him more than Luke, plus I love how he has an incredibly painful past and set out for revenge, but then he grew past that and learnt to... not quite forgive, but realise that revenge isn't the answer & would never make anything right, choosing instead to break the cycle of pain/violence & do all he can to work for a better future); for both of them, they're people who so easily could have become utter villains & they're not only because they chose to seek a different path, and I find that type of arc incredibly compelling!! because being a 'good person' isn't a static or passive thing; it's a choice you continually have to make & often it's the more difficult option.

Vesperia: DUKE PANTAREI MY BELOVED (he's suffered greatly & was left with nothing, but has done his best to push forward anyway & keep his promise for the sake of the world as a whole, someone who in spite of all his past betrayals still gave humanity ie one Yuri Lowell in particular Another Chance.... and then attempted some admittedly terrible things but only as a last resort, trying to wrangle the least-awful and most-likely-to-succeed outcome from a set of universally terrible options... and then he STILL came through in the end, helped Yuri when he could so easily have done nothing & let them fail & picked up his own plan right where he left off, and it's in no small part thanks to HIM that Brave Vesperia's plan succeeded... and then after all that he's offered his own second chance, as in spite of their conflict Yuri treats him only with respect & extends to him the possibility of Friendship...!!! ...AND ALSO! he's just. a funny gremlin of a man; I'm such a massive sucker for his character type, where he seems like a Cool And Mysterious Badass at first, but then you find out he's really just this weird socially awkward hermit who wants to hang out with some lil forest critters, and all he ever needed was to be offered that little bit of kindness & compassion & understanding, Just One Person willing to make that effort for him, and...... sdfsgfsbfgsgf Love Him)

Nominations are now closed, and sign-ups are open! If you want to participate in this exchange, please fill out the sign-up form here.

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I read and recommended 67 incredible fics this year, and I’ve narrowed that down to 15 personal favorites for this list (+ a few other fandom favorites at the end). Links will bring you to my individual recommendations where you can read my detailed comments. :)

Overall Favorite Fic of the Year: Go East by @xinasvoice

Favorite Marauders Era Fic: keep your electric eyes on me, babe by @alamanecer

Favorite Post-Hogwarts Era Fic: the private kind of purple by @bluescape

Favorite Magic AU: Hollow Places by @eyra

Favorite Non-magic AU: Rourke by @smodernlife

Favorite Canon Divergent AU: Maybe It’s Worth It by @lurikko 

Favorite Angst: Stay by @mean-whale-writes

Favorite Fluff: wonders bright by @moonynpadfootforever

Favorite Humor: Petty (With A Prior) by @quoththethestral

Favorite Pining: Well, We’re Mates by wxpt

Favorite Established Relationship Fic: a bit like thunderstorms, a bit like you by just_lollygagging 

Favorite Spooky Reads: The Knock by flora_tyronelle & Bitten to the Quick by @ebp-brain

Favorite/Most Beautiful Writing: as real as a wolf’s teeth, or a wolf’s smile by mustntgetmy

Favorite Short Fic: Desiderium by @maraudorable

+

Favorite Comic: the Place Between by @dusk-writes

Favorite Fanart: This drawing by @lunaaaalovegreat & This piece by @pestoprongs

Favorite Playlist: in your arms i am a wild creature (chronological multi-era epic) by @catboylupin

Favorite Rec List: The Wolfstar Yearbooks Project by @billsfangearring

New Favorite Fic Rec Blog: @wolfstarhaven

im here to point fingers at the incredible authors that have enabled my new interest in HP content.  im still conflicted and upset about it, tbh, but for now we’re leaning into the curve.  we’re getting out our shovel and finding out just how deep we can make the hole we’re in.  hand in unlovable hand my beloved <3.  anyway, these fics are wonderful, their authors are wonderful, and you should go read their stuff. if there’s a star next to it that means im losing my mind over it and always will be.

Creatively Maladjusted, by elumish on AO3, 101k  (they also have a wonderful writing advice blog on tumblr, @elumish, which I recommend following if you are a writer) 

A very excellent re-telling of harry’s first year at hogwarts if he were sorted into Slytherin, plus some more not!fic or piecemeal re-tellings of his second and part of his third year.  Harry, in this, has a slightly different trauma response to growing up with the Dursley’s.  He’s a bit quieter, and the signs are a bit more obvious to the people around him, and I enjoyed that immensely. 

Honestly, if you’re going to get sucked into something you have absolutely no business getting sucked into, elumish is the way to go, their fic is incredible. their teen wolf fic is also immaculate, if you’re so inclined. 

Dissonance, by ImpishTubist on AO3, 2.5k (@impishtubist on tumblr)

Set during fifth year.  Oblivious!Harry has always been a delightful trope when well executed, and this is well executed.  Plus, some angst between Remus and Harry over what Umbridge has been doing to him.

I would certainly recommend a lot of ImpishTubist’s other hp work on AO3, like Lacuna.

blow us all away, by rexcorvidae on AO3, 23k (@rexcorvidae on tumblr)

In progress (like, updated last week in progress).  Currently in the beginning of Harry’s first year.  Fem!Harry, Indian!Harry.  Hagrid puts Harry in touch with Remus when she has questions about her parents, and they become reluctant, traumatized, angst-ridden pen pals who keep missing each other’s true intentions like ships in the night.  hot DAMN do I love this fic.  there’s hints of the way the dursley’s treat Harry peaking through in her letters, and I appreciated the attention to “hmm, her experience as a girl of indian descent in britain under the thumb of a bunch of white people who like being Normal may not have been gucci”

Definitely comb through the rest of their HP fic, too, I may or may not have gone feral over it.

Where the Heart is, by silver_fish on AO3, 15k (@kohakhearts on tumblr)

Woof.  This one said, “hey, harry was probably SUPER depressed in the summer after fifth year.  like, clinically.  maybe someone should do something about that.”  Fuck yeah.  Then this one said, “that someone was Snape.”  You all know my opinions on Snape; generally, Bad.  But damn if this fic didn’t wholly convince me by the end of it.  I thought it was a very realistic way for Snape to start seeing Harry as a person all on his own, and not a proxy for Snape’s angst over James and Lily, respectively.  The angst is wonderful, the ending is even more so.

*bernie sanders voice* I am once again asking you to read through the rest of the author’s HP fic.  a lot of them have similar themes; there’s actually a great one with Molly that i’m not reccing here, Wonder.

☆Bindings, Bindings, by Quietlemonhush on AO3, 60k (@quietlemonhush on tumblr)

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS TO YOU HOW MUCH I ENJOYED/AM ENJOYING THIS.  If I had to pick a single fic and say “you, it’s your fault I’m stuck here,” it would be this one.  Anyway Lily in the afterlife is So Very Angry about how Petunia is treating Harry, and how Sirius is rotting in Azkaban, and how Remus is alone, that she literally brings herself back to life and drags James and Regulus with her.  All three of them are there to chew bubblegum and fix everything that went wrong after they died—and would you look at that, they’re all out of bubblegum!  There’s only Fury left.  That inciting premise is very crack, but every moment after that is very much not crack.  Lily and James love harry more than anything, the way a child should be loved; James and Sirius have the epic friendship of a lifetime; Sirius and Remus have staggering amounts of resolved sexual tension and take turns keeping each other in check; Regulus, though he realized that Voldemort and his family were shit before he died, is still unlearning all his racist bullshit and, also, years of trauma.  Actually, they’re all traumatized, but hey: now they have one another again and not a damn one of them seems inclined to let go anytime soon.  Quietlemonhush went, “hey, HP has a lot of Awful people in it, and a lot of Righteous people in it, and many of them are Very, Very Powerful; also, love is the most powerful force in the universe” and i said “hell yes tell me more right now.”  And then they did!

Quietlemonhush writes Sirius/Remus in a way that makes it sooo much fun to devour, so the rest of their HP fic is most certainly worth a look, if that’s your thing.

Rebuilding, by Colubrina on AO3, 113k (@colubrina on tumblr)

Hermione/Draco (*shrug emojis into the abyss* yeah, yeah, like none of us have ever been there before).  Takes place during Hogwarts 8th year, and while the beginning is, IMO, a little unfair to Ron, it gets much better.  Tells the story of Hermione and Draco clearing the air, learning to like each other, having some hormones over each other, and then falling in love.  Also tells the story of Hermione and Theo Nott becoming friends; the story of how every single 7th and 8th year student is fucked to hell by the war and the Carrows; the story of how they start an emotional support group about it and all become friends; and the story of, what the hell do you do with yourself after that kind of trauma?

I’ve been dipping in and out of Colubrina’s HP since before I was even on tumblr; I actually found them in those dark yesteryears when the only fandom interactions I had were on fanfiction.net.  Of such fame as Green Girl, which is an HP fic staple, and has also written a lot of wackier, crackier, and darker things than that.  If you don’t take yourself too seriously, I highly recommend many of their big HP works, though I imagine it’ll press some people’s buttons.  Colubrina’s work really does take up a corner of my mind whenever I’m in an HP mood, and will take up yours if you let it.

☆ all waiting is long, by shuofthewind on AO3, 149k ( @shu-of-the-wind on tumblr)

This is so well written that I can’t stop thinking about it.  It is occupying my mind when I lie awake at night, you know?  It’s one of those.  Hermione messes with something she probably shouldn’t have in Grimmauld Place, so when Sirius is sent through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries, she gets thrust into an alternate universe…in 1975.  Instead of handwaving it away, shuofthewind actually gets into the mechanics of it in a way that makes sense, to emphasize that hermione is never going home.  ever. The world she finds herself is shifted slightly to the left, quite a bit darker, but in a “the author is treating the idea of a society-wide conflict over blood purity much more seriously than JKR ever did” way, not a sensationalist way.  Now, Hermione has to grapple with all her grief at losing everyone she’s ever loved or known, the moral/ethical/magical implications of sharing what she knows about her future in an alternate world, and, you know, a goddamn war with people who want to murder her for being who she is.  This Hermione is smart, and she’s kind, and she’s powerful, and she’s making real friends.  If you hate JKR’s guts I’d go read this right now, because it delivers in all the ways she failed us.  It’s plotty, its got great world-building, and it pulls back the white curtain on the wizarding world to show you that, like real life, it’s multicultural and full of queer people…and the discrimination that comes with both.

shuofthewind write epics, mainly for the MCU, and I’ve read some of them a looooong time ago, so this fic kinda seemed out of left field for me but im SOOOO GLAD it exists.  If you want MCU fic you can sink your teeth into, go for it, but alas, they do not have any more HP fic (…….yet?)

Speak Now [+] Listen Now, by mrsfrizzle on AO3, 33k altogether

Harry reaches out to Remus for support because Umbridge is getting to him with her literal torture.  Remus, being a former professor, former mandatory reporter, person who loves Harry and has since he was born, and all around good man, tells Harry he has to tell someone, or Remus will.  It’s everything any adult looking back on that time in HP canon ever wanted, which is for an actual adult to say “what the fuck, those are literal chidlren” and then do something about it.  Then, a far more dangerous task: Harry trusts Remus enough to go to him about the Dursleys.  Harry and Remus’ relationship develops SO WELL, and there’s a bit of exploration about how Sirius may not exactly be guardian material, because he did in fact spend 12 years of his life getting tortured instead of growing up.  I think I’m actually going to go reread this right now, because it speaks to my id.

they do have some other HP fic which did not appeal to my hyperspecific wants, but may appeal to some of yours.  I think they’re also a published author, there should be a link on their profile page.

chase the stars, by Duskglass on AO3, 101k (@felix-duskglass on tumblr)

When Harry is five years old, a picture of him ends up in the Daily Prophet, and Sirius Black, Terror of Ministry Officials Touring Azkaban everywhere, gets a hold of that issue.  He then, in order: breaks out of Azkaban; crosses the countryside to Surrey; Finds Harry: Kidnaps Harry; Breaks Into Remus’ Apartment; starts processing (or maybe just acknowledging) his trauma from Azkaban, the war, and his childhood; and pines after Remus.  It’s a little plotty, and deals a lot (sometimes through flashbacks) with the specific awful things that happened to Sirius—largely because, after years in the constant presence of Dementors, those are nearly literally the only memories he has left.  It’s a wonder he’s got the strength to love Harry and Remus at all.  But then, maybe it isn’t.

This is a Very Serious Fic, but the rest of Duskglass’s HP work is actually just cracky enough to tickle your funny-bone, while still making you think “okay but why couldn’t we have done that in the first place.”

new ficlet!! (or possibly a ch1 since I’ll likely continue this at some point) – I had a Sudden Epiphany & this fic is now my 100% canon-compliant (!!) headcanon for the end of jak3 ;D

Awakening by duskglass

once again, Jak has saved the day– he activated the Planetary Defence System and destroyed the Dark Makers’ ship, defeated Cyber-Errol and his rogue terraformer, and in the process he even met the Precursors themselves.

…or has he?

something strange is going on, and Jak is determined to get to the bottom of it.

We’re back! You’re place for happy endings has returned for another year!

As a quick reminder as to how this event works, the rules are very simple - Happy Endings. All the happy endings. Feel free to get to those happy endings by any route you wish. There are no rules against angst on the way, just so long as our two favorite boys get the good outcomes they so desperately deserved.

There are no regulations on whether these happy endings come in a mostly canon form or a totally AU form, either. There are no length requirements, or composition requirements for artists. Anything from drabbles and sketches to novellas, full comics and detailed paintings. Whatever you want to do is more than enough. The only real rule we have is for everyone to have fun! That’s why we’re here! And now for the somewhat important stuff:

The theme for this year is IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH. You can feel free to interpret that theme however you choose, so long as it plays a part in your story. Use your imagination and have fun with it.

TIMELINE: Sign-Ups open on - APRIL 12 Sign-Ups close on - APRIL 18 Final works due – JULY 11 Posting begins - JULY 19

But what they did was, instead of going for someone who would roll with their agenda, they more or less picked the now slightly less known and less viral dinosaur fucking erotic novels guy from a bit ago. And they tried to push him to a Hugo Award win out of petulant spite.

And I sometimes go over all and all of this over again, and my head spins out because this series of chances is about the most fucking ever chances. And the outcome was a super kind person now has a chance to be kind to even more people.

Cho and Chang are both last names

One's Korean, the other's Chinese (no I dont remeber which is which)

She got sorted into the Smart House

Her only interactions are following 2 white boys around like a lovesick puppy

Cho Chang sounds suspiciously like "ching chang" a term used to mock asians (This has been used multiple times against my family and other asian friends)

The only person East Asians can identify with, one of the 4 asians in the entire series (Patil twins, Nagini)

All of the Asian characters are only seen in relation to white men.

Honestly, we wouldn't be as mad if there was other East Asians that DIDN'T conform to that stereotype, but Cho is the only one we got. Thanks Joanne.

Also JK Rowling said the Voldemort's snake used to be an asian women named Nagini... who is now in service to him... and is basically his pet...

JK Rowling is a transphobic, homophobic, TERF, anti-semitic, and racist.

The only Irish kid blows shit up (ira) (Seamus Finnigan)

The most prominent black character doesnt have a dad. (Dean Thomas)

The other black Hogwarts students, (Blaise Zabini) his mom is implied to be a gold digger.

(Angelina Johnson) is good at sports (stereotype, but she's still badass)

The bankers are described as hook nose goblins... yeah.

Apparently she made aids/HIV a comparison to werewolves... where it was unwillingly given to Lupin by a man who targets children...

The only jewish character is a dude named Anthony Goldstein, who is never specified to be jewish in the books or movies, and I actually have no idea if he was actually in either.

Rita Skeeter literally described with manly hands, a strong jaw, and other traditionally masculine features... painting her as a trans women, and someone who is a liar, and is hated by everyone... and oh yeah, changes form to spy on kids.

The house elves love to be enslaved

The american wizard society, where she just shits on everything. Implying that the indigenous people had to be colonized so they could be taught "proper magic", mishandling of native cultures, and incorrectly grouping them into one entity

Saying later that Dumbledore was gay, but not putting it in the story, or into Fantastic Beasts 2, where the storyline is LITERALLY about his former lover.

I'm tired of JK Rowling. I'm tired of "it wasn't relevant to Harry's story, so I didnt include it" I'm tired of people outside of these communities telling us that we're overreacting, and that we shouldn't be offended by what we see.

so the very least you could do is educate yourself on the subject. below are links that everyone who makes or consumes any kind of hp content should read.

i won’t get political on my blog very often, but this is the exception. harry potter is a safe space for a lot of us, but the fact is, supporting harry potter is a political statement when a transphobe, racist, antisemite and misogynist wrote it.