R/S Games Wrap-up & Reclist

This year was the last ever rs_games, and it was also my first. I had an absolute blast working on my fic, getting to know a whole lot of new people, and reading all this incredible new R/S content. Many thanks to the mods for all their hard work, to Team Sirius for putting up such a great fight, to the friends worked at this alongside me, new & old. My particular thanks to my teammate luminousgloom for beta reading and Britpicking my fic, as well as helping me out with geography and authenticity, and to aroceu for beta reading and cheerleading, as ever.

I've put together a reclist of some of my personal favourite pieces from the games. I drafted everything while the works were still anonymous, and all that I added after author reveals were usernames. This reclist is curated in pairs, two works side by side with some kind of unifying content, theme, or mood between them. The idea is that if you want to dive in to the R/S Games but don't know where to start, then hopefully my short blurbs will be useful in choosing, and you can take it two at a time. There are eight paired recs here; sixteen works in total. Of course, there are plenty more great works in the collection, so if this sampler is your starting point, please don't let it limit you! I have also included my own fic at the end, both for the sake of completeness and as a totally indulgent self-rec. Enjoy! :)


#1: Seven Simple Machines by fluorescentgrey & Devil's Bridge by veeagainsttheday

If you're looking for something long and engrossing, start here—although I haven't only paired these fics together for their length. Both are AUs and both are luxuriantly heavy on the worldbuilding, the kind of stories you can absolutely lose yourself in. "Seven Simple Machines" covers a sequence of AUs in set the UK and the USA, set in different time periods and very different circumstances, but centring always on Sirius' relationship with Remus and presented within a canon setting frame, lending each setting something of the surreal. Each AU is examined with great depth, and the fic is often unsettling in the content it portrays and the issues it addresses, which to my mind is a mark of absolute skill on the part of the author. "Devil's Bridge" is a non-magical AU that closely follows the canon Marauder storyline but places in it in a modern dystopian setting, a fascist surveillance state Britain which again is quite unsettling in how utterly realistic it is, serving almost as a warning. Both are the sort of fic I was unable to stop reading once I'd started, vivid and arresting and stunningly written.


#2: A Duet by mustntgetmy & For Brighter Skies by potolok

I'm reccing these fics side by side because they're both Slytherin Sirius AUs; beyond that, though, I realised that if pressed to rec only one fic from each team, these would quite likely be the two I'd choose. They were both posted early on in the Games and left really lasting impressions on me. They have other things in common, too: beautiful, evocative writing, and perfectly rounded plots which, although ultimately telling tragic stories, leave you with that unique feeling which only a certain kind of almost paradoxical open-ended closure can give. "A Duet" tells a First War story, of Sirius as a pianist and composer and Remus as his multi-instrumentalist accompanist. It is as heartbreaking as it is hopeful and it's just bursting at the seams with the richness of its atmosphere. Full disclosure, it brought me close to tears. "For Brighter Skies" is framed as a recollection, Sirius looking back in the wake of James and Lily's deaths, and the story deftly follows his growth, leading to one of the most satisfyingly bittersweet conclusions in any fic I've read.


#3: A Day Like Any Other by dustmouth & Fairytales & Prayers by myprettycabinet

These two works are not fics in the traditional sense, although both tell utterly captivating stories. "A Day Like Any Other" is a graphic novel, with bright and beautiful art and a charming sense of humour. It manages to capture the real essence of this ship. Throughout the humour, there are tender moments too, and each time I read it, it leaves me feeling so thrilled. "Fairytales & Prayers" is a multimedia history of Remus and Sirius' entire relationship, told in letters and accompanying artwork. The letters are all handwritten, and much care has been put into differences in handwriting, changes over time, and adherence to canon. Apart from anything else, both of these works are just gorgeous to look at. They also both feature bright and engaging friendship and relationship moments, and real explorations of character.


#4: EXILE/RETURN by zambla & Ghost Notes by nachodiablo

Although having little in common on the surface, I've paired these two fics together because they're both strongly tied to and influenced by the era of history they're set in. Both authors have expertly captured a sense of time and place with style & flair in their writing, and pathos in their stories. "EXILE/RETURN" is a poetic, semi-epistolary story of the AIDS crisis, in a non-magical AU where Remus is an artist and writer. It is incredibly Welsh, incredibly sad, filled with all the justified anger of a generation wronged. The writing is exceptional and transcendent, powerful and deeply affecting. "Ghost Notes" is an AU where Remus doesn't attemd Hogwarts and ends up in a punk band, which is how he meets Sirius. The story explores what it means to be an outsider in society and it bursts to life with history, music, and friendship.


#5: This World Lies At The Bottom Of A Lake by berhanes & Eclipse Season by theheartischill

These two stories are both canon compliant, both set around the time Sirius is disowned. Both fics take Sirius on an internal journey, and I'm just enamoured by how they do it, as well as the subtle shifts in his relationship with Remus and the incredibly natural feel of the characterisation. "This World Lies At The Bottom Of A Lake" is introspective and familiar, touching on Sirius' relationships with Remus and James, and above all else, with himself. The atmosphere it sets just pulled me in and it's one of those fics where I felt very deeply like I was present throughout. "Eclipse Season" uses the framework of real, historical eclipses (one of my favourite things to see in a fic!) to help Sirius work through a difficult time in his life, and has him inching closer to intimacy with Remus. It's a great mix of humour, amity, and magic.


#6: Hiraeth by llassah & love please don't leave me evermore by grandilloquism

Is there anything more satisfying than First War fix-it fic? I was recently asked to list my favourite Wolfstar tropes and this was at the top. Both of these fics are canon divergent takes on the First War which offer Sirius freedom, and both are Team Remus, giving his take on events, which I found just thrilling to read. "Hiraeth" focuses on Remus as a spy during the height of the war and takes elements of classic spy stories to give it a real sense of mounting tension. The writing is clever and compelling. "love please don't leave me evermore" starts after Sirius' arrest and covers Remus' efforts to get his name cleared, and is perhaps one of the most cathartic Wolfstar fics I've ever read.


#7: Hope & Legacy: Black Brothers Edition by epithalamium and nerakrose & Burning Candles by huldrejenta

These two fics are paired together not for any overt reason, but for the sentiments they exhibit so well. "Hope & Legacy: Black Brothers Edition" is a highly inventive AU where Sirius is a skilled figure skater, featuring a magical version of figure skating, and deconstructing Sirius and Regulus' relationship. The scene where Sirius is mistaken for a faerie was my #1 laugh-out-loud moment throughout the Games. "Burning Candles" is a modern AU about Sirius finding his way in the world. The story and the writing work together to perfectly capture the mid-twenties feeling of growing up and trying to discern the direction your life is taking. Both of these fics explore the ideas of learning who you are and what you'll leave behind, and let me tell you, they got me good.


#8: Between Towers by alwaysalready & The Fall of the House of Black by starfishstar

Here are two magical places I'd love to visit. The common thread between these two fics is their exceptional descriptive writing and the vivacity of the locations they depict. "Between Towers" is an AU where Remus doesn't attend Hogwarts, and he and Sirius meet as students at Oxford. The descriptions of magical Oxford, the arcane secrets of this hidden world, are entrancing, and the way that Remus and Sirius' relationship blossoms in the midst of this is a joy to read. "The Fall of the House of Black" has a much darker mood, a Poe-inspired tale of Sirius' fear of madness inside his family's ancestral seat, faithful to the tradition of the Gothic. Every bit of descriptive writing in this is brilliant, and the story is told without pauses or section breaks, in a way that really draws you in.


Bonus: the time when you were mine by necessarian

This is the one I wrote! My prompt was a Marlene Dietrich quote: "It's the friends you can call up at four a.m. that matter." It's a modern AU set in London, between the hours of 4 and 5 in the morning, divided into a sequence of 60 microfics, one for each minute of time that passes. I saw that time was an integral element of the prompt so I really wanted to challenge my pacing skills (which I did—this was hard to write!) and push the concept of the passage of time to its fictional limits. And because I was already doing something pretentious with the format, I decided to make this part-chatfic, part-stream of consciousness. I wanted to go all out with this, and I'm really proud of what I ended up creating!