#delayed answer because I was going ooh and aah at my bookmarks again

[texasdreamer01]

End of year fic asks: 14, 25

14.) a fic you didn’t expect to write

Of published fics… about any of them, actually, since I haven't done a gift exchange this year and I find writing at all a generally difficult task. Of unpublished fics, definitely all of them, though I'm happy to write for the SGA fandom because of all the new things to play with.

25.) a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

Many reams of reading later, I've managed to find the fics I've read from this year that I'd recommend the most:

Pilgrim's Progress by sardonicsmiley

Stargate Atlantis, Teyla & Rodney, Teen, 43k, Whump, Religion, Artificial Intelligence, Mind Control, Action/Adventure

Summary: ""You're not God, Sheppard's not your messiah, and I'm not the anti-Christ. But I am going to kill you.""

Mad respect for the author making an enormous fic just to use one line, and also an exceptionally strong argument for why Rodney and Teyla are such well-bonded friends (also a strong argument for Teyla/Rodney, as some other readers have commented, even if not an intended focus of the fic), because canon does not... articulate that. It does a great job on the particularities of living in a different galaxy, and how one thing on the "what problem are we having this week" scale can snowball and have a very narrow possibility of being fixed. In that respect, it's a very Stargate fic, and worth settling in for a long read.

Immanence by orphan_account

SGA, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Mature, 3.5k

Summary: "For a time there were two of them: a blood-and-bone Rodney and one made of data and light."

This fic is so sad. Gotta read it, though. This follows the Last Man!Rodney through his entire decision-making process to get John back home, and the author has done such an excellent job at following and developing Rodney's thought process - and even how it differs when he becomes a hologram - that it stuck with me to the point that I started writing Theorems of a Ghost and, a little bit, also Interface.

The Idiot's Array by @ashcroft-writes

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Cad Bane/Obi-Wan Kenobi, mentioned Obi Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Explicit, 161k, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, a lot of other tags I'm too lazy to write out but played a major factor in me deciding to read this fic

Summary: "Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi with countless regrets. However, forging a shameful secret with the notorious Cad Bane while undercover… it actually wasn’t one of them.

He wishes it was. What sort of man does that make him now?

After all, something inside has started to crack. Perhaps that’s why he isn’t even surprised when a certain bounty hunter surges back into his life, dead set on turning his calamitous fall into fortune… and on making the Jedi suffer that did him wrong."

Part 1 of Gunslinger's Paean (and how cool is that name for a series??), I think I was initially intrigued by this one because of some fanart? Or maybe I just saw it in so many bookmarks that I went "fuck it" and clicked the link. Either way, great decision on my part - if I hadn't already liked Bane/Kenobi, this would have convinced me. It's always been a bit of a what-if question in the SW fandom of "what if Obi-Wan was a bounty hunter?", and this answers the question with its own interpretation very, very well. I haven't read the other two fics in the series but I should probably get on that whenever my fandom brain swings back to Star Wars.

To the gloaming and the dusk by fictional_hr_department

The Hobbit, Bard the Bowman/Thranduil, Teen, 11k, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Compliant Battle of Five Armies, Pre-Relationship, other tags that also made me click the link

Summary: "“It is because of love that I have spent centuries, millennia even, fighting against the evils of this world.” Thranduil could hear the hints of tremor in his voice but found that he could not steady himself. “Love for my people, love for the forest that is our home, love for Arda herself. Just because it is not the love you have read about in your storybooks does not make it any less real and it, like the Greenwood, like our kingdom, like our people, will endure. Now. Get out of my way.”

Or, how the events leading up through the Battle of Five Armies might have gone differently."

#i just shoved book canon and movie canon in a blender to see what came out <- tag that made me click on the link. This is probably a cornerstone fic in how I headcanon Thranduil, and the author does a fantastic job of taking the tatters of canon Tolkien left in the book(s) and propped up the inconsistencies in movie canon to make Thranduil a solid character. Load-bearing work in the fandom, really. I love the fact that it both does and does not happen in Thranduil's point of view, and that the author does a great job a differentiating how the differences in lifespan and experiences shape a character's perspective on the same events.

safer places to wander by pomgore

The Hobbit, Thranduil & Tilda, Bard the Bowman & the Bardlings, Pre-Bard the Bowman/Thranduil, Gen, 5k, Post-Battle of Five Armies, Fluff without Plot, Aftermath of Violence, Being Lost, thranduil has to relearn how to interact with children, Digital Art

Summary: "Of course, Thranduil is not on high alert for children when the battle in Erebor rages because battlefields are no place for children. Indeed, even a lofty being like a Doriath elf feels faint among all the death - darkness is dwelling strong here, and Thranduil feels dim and alone as he walks the war-torn streets of Dale.He is untethered as he drifts among his fallen soldiers like a ghost. So, when a child turns a corner and runs directly into his leg, Thranduil almost doesn’t notice. ~~~ Bard's youngest, a talkative creature named Tilda, is separated from her family. Thranduil knows something must be done, but it is a challenge to figure out exactly what."

I quibbled on whether to include this, but, genuinely, aww. This is a Thranduil who's not great at something, knows it, and does his best anyway. I love how the author convey humor with their verbiage and pacing, and Thranduil's sincerity come across very clearly. He's a little awkward, means well, and can admit to himself when - and that! - he likes Bard. Short, sweet, worth reading.