Friday recs post: being so nice to me
Feb. 16th, 2018 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokifanAka
Day 10
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!
I thought I’d go back to this, cos I finally came up with a good answer, even if it’s really specific to my current main fandom.
MT!Prompto.
It’s so great. Prompto is so cheerful and extroverted and emotional and generally the exact opposite of a robot, or even a trained-to-be-a-weapon type character in canon. But there’s this AU just begging to be used, because he was taken out of Gralea as a baby - an accident? A random aside from a Lucian spy?
All the fic I’ve read using MT!Prompto has been fucking amazing. Plus it really lends itself to other tropes I love. Hurt/comfort most obviously, of course - the trope I look for first in every new fandom. Learning to be loved -- Prompto’s shock at people being nice to him is heartbreaking in all these fics, but omg my id. Touch starvation -- my second-favourite scene in Running Behind is when Prompto gets his hair cut by Ignis, and leans into the touch all overcome, and Ignis is startled but recognises the need in it, and is so kind. There’s also Noct being adorable and using the ‘strange blue substance’ of his hair gel to make Prompto a rock star. In Engine Heart touch-starved Prompto has Gladio doing his eyeliner after Iggy does is hair <3
Related to that - defamiliarisation probably isn’t quite the word I want here, but it’s also not outsider POV, quite… Basically MT!Prompto’s perspective on the bros and everybody else, when he doesn’t know them as he does in canon and comes from a completely alien culture, but of course he likes them or is in the process of learning to… it’s just a delight.
Found family <333 I wouldn’t have expected to fall for Daddy!Cor like this at ALL, but I completely have - it’s gorgeous, and especially for the ways he tends to flail around and not be that good at it, but try very hard. And obviously there’s something lovely in the bros finding each other and becoming a unit no matter how their world has changed. Noct recognising vulnerability and being kind in the face of it - I mean I love that from all characters, it speaks to me on such a deep level, but from Noct, who can be thoughtless and oblivious but wants to save people, who has such power and privilege, I love it sooooo much when he realises how other people can be hurt in ways he hasn’t been and tries hard because of it. It’s the best of him <3
Daddy!Cor is a delight, but there are also special moments that get repeated in different ways, as MT!Prompto learns to be more like the Prompto we know in canon, as he’s allowed to be more himself. Hair, clothes… MT!Prompto discovering photography is a really lovely process that makes me super emotional in all these fics.
Which brings me to - recs time!
C1:NDR3LA by![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
asidian. Prompto/Noctis; ~11000 words; Teen. Summary: The Citadel was a masterpiece in glass and steel, the sheer scale of it overwhelming. It reflected back all the lights of Insomnia, tiny twinkling points of brightness that glittered in the dark. The plush red carpet that stretched away into the high arc of the entryway ferried in couples, stunning ball outfits as brightly colored as the feathers of an exotic birdbeast.
And Prompto stood there, at the base of the steps, gaping up at it all like an idiot.
It took him five solid minutes before he could convince himself to move, and with each step, he became more certain that he was dreaming. No place this beautiful could actually exist. There was no reality in which someone would hold the door wide for him and say, "Right this way, sir."
A Cinderella AU! With Ardyn as the evil stepmother, natch, and Noct as the Prince, also natch. IT’S SUCH A DELIGHT. Things I love: the faintly fairy-tale rhythm and style of the text, which is taken on just for this fic by the author. The sweet, awkward, dorky, occasionally heroic Noct, who takes Prompto off to play video games and doesn’t tell him who he is. Ignis’ absolutely epic hero moment at the end. Prompto taking pictures of them all, so happy. Carbuncle as the fairy godmother!!!!!!!! The happy ending.
Things I do not love: the punch to the gut of the last line. Oh man. This canon is so brutal.
Running Behind byasidian. Prompto and the bros gen; ~55 000 words so far; Teen. Summary: There's a tag hanging on his storage pod, instead of the clipboard that documents his progress. On that tag, there's a single word stamped in red: defective. NH-01987's feet stick on the metal of the catwalk. Behind the ever-present metallic mask, his eyes grow huge.
He knows what that tag means. It means that, in the morning, while the other MT units are collected for training, a guard will come for him. He'll be restrained and escorted down the metal corridors toward the east wing, into the double-doors that house the correctional facility. But he won't be up for re-programming, not this time.
This time, they'll strap him down to a table for the last time ever. They'll pick him apart, to try and learn what caused his failures – and he has so very many of them, no matter how hard he's tried.
When they're finished, they'll take what's left to the crematory. That will be the end of him: a pile of ashes and a wisp of smoke.
WIP warning! I’ve reread this and recced it to friends already, but I’ve not managed to rec it here! Which is crazy cos it’s a favourite. It shows how incredibly resilient and tough Prompto is, which I adore, and there’s so much hurt/comfort. Gladio gives Prompto the opportunity to say no and he’s heartbreakingly surprised; Iggy cuts his hair and Noct styles it to “make [him] a rock star”; Noct indulges his love of chocobos and it’s just. A lot of Prompto being given nice, kind, soft things after not having any before. And also Prompto’s crippling fear that they’ll work out he’s an MT but y’know, plot requires conflict or something.
Honestly, the chocobo bits light up my life. I am horribly tempted by the chocobo t-shirt Prompto gets, which is now on Redbubble as a REAL THING.
Engine Heart by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
ohmyfae. Prompto & Cor gen plus the bros, Iris, and Regis/Clarus, with Promptis endgame; ~12000 words; Teen. Summary: Cor doesn't rescue Prompto from Niflheim as an infant: He rescues him at seventeen, when MT!Prompto is left for dead on a battlefield.
This then becomes the most dad fic of all dad fics. Dad levels are off the charts. No going back.
SO MUCH DAD!COR. SO BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT. And the boys are delightful - Gladio helping Prompto learn how to read, Noct breaking him out of his cell, Ignis trying to stop them getting into too much trouble, and Cor’s bemusement at what they do to Prompto’s hair. There’s all this AU stuff and this epic continuation and I need to get back into it, but lemme just focus on: the first part is done, and dad!Cor adopts MT!Prompto and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.
Poor Wayfaring Stranger bylithos_saeculum. Prompto & Cor gen, with the bros; ~150 000 words; Teen. Summary: Out on a mission, Cor Leonis finds a teenager, lost and sick and partway to becoming an MT. Against the advice of all and sundry, he brings him back to Insomnia. There's not a lot of love lost for MTs in the Citadel, but some of its inhabitants may still be young enough to put aside their prejudices.
OH GOD IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. I was reading this on the kinkmeme for SO LONG before I found it on AO3 and kept buggingbestchocobro to read it and I’m so glad it’s getting lots of attention and fanart because it’s entirely deserved.
It’s getting its own post so I’m gonna just say for now that it’s one of the best fics I’ve read in twelve years in fandom.
WIP warning but there’s loads of it and it’s SO WORTH IT.
Day 10
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!
I thought I’d go back to this, cos I finally came up with a good answer, even if it’s really specific to my current main fandom.
MT!Prompto.
It’s so great. Prompto is so cheerful and extroverted and emotional and generally the exact opposite of a robot, or even a trained-to-be-a-weapon type character in canon. But there’s this AU just begging to be used, because he was taken out of Gralea as a baby - an accident? A random aside from a Lucian spy?
All the fic I’ve read using MT!Prompto has been fucking amazing. Plus it really lends itself to other tropes I love. Hurt/comfort most obviously, of course - the trope I look for first in every new fandom. Learning to be loved -- Prompto’s shock at people being nice to him is heartbreaking in all these fics, but omg my id. Touch starvation -- my second-favourite scene in Running Behind is when Prompto gets his hair cut by Ignis, and leans into the touch all overcome, and Ignis is startled but recognises the need in it, and is so kind. There’s also Noct being adorable and using the ‘strange blue substance’ of his hair gel to make Prompto a rock star. In Engine Heart touch-starved Prompto has Gladio doing his eyeliner after Iggy does is hair <3
Related to that - defamiliarisation probably isn’t quite the word I want here, but it’s also not outsider POV, quite… Basically MT!Prompto’s perspective on the bros and everybody else, when he doesn’t know them as he does in canon and comes from a completely alien culture, but of course he likes them or is in the process of learning to… it’s just a delight.
Found family <333 I wouldn’t have expected to fall for Daddy!Cor like this at ALL, but I completely have - it’s gorgeous, and especially for the ways he tends to flail around and not be that good at it, but try very hard. And obviously there’s something lovely in the bros finding each other and becoming a unit no matter how their world has changed. Noct recognising vulnerability and being kind in the face of it - I mean I love that from all characters, it speaks to me on such a deep level, but from Noct, who can be thoughtless and oblivious but wants to save people, who has such power and privilege, I love it sooooo much when he realises how other people can be hurt in ways he hasn’t been and tries hard because of it. It’s the best of him <3
Daddy!Cor is a delight, but there are also special moments that get repeated in different ways, as MT!Prompto learns to be more like the Prompto we know in canon, as he’s allowed to be more himself. Hair, clothes… MT!Prompto discovering photography is a really lovely process that makes me super emotional in all these fics.
Which brings me to - recs time!
C1:NDR3LA by
And Prompto stood there, at the base of the steps, gaping up at it all like an idiot.
It took him five solid minutes before he could convince himself to move, and with each step, he became more certain that he was dreaming. No place this beautiful could actually exist. There was no reality in which someone would hold the door wide for him and say, "Right this way, sir."
A Cinderella AU! With Ardyn as the evil stepmother, natch, and Noct as the Prince, also natch. IT’S SUCH A DELIGHT. Things I love: the faintly fairy-tale rhythm and style of the text, which is taken on just for this fic by the author. The sweet, awkward, dorky, occasionally heroic Noct, who takes Prompto off to play video games and doesn’t tell him who he is. Ignis’ absolutely epic hero moment at the end. Prompto taking pictures of them all, so happy. Carbuncle as the fairy godmother!!!!!!!! The happy ending.
Things I do not love: the punch to the gut of the last line. Oh man. This canon is so brutal.
Running Behind by
He knows what that tag means. It means that, in the morning, while the other MT units are collected for training, a guard will come for him. He'll be restrained and escorted down the metal corridors toward the east wing, into the double-doors that house the correctional facility. But he won't be up for re-programming, not this time.
This time, they'll strap him down to a table for the last time ever. They'll pick him apart, to try and learn what caused his failures – and he has so very many of them, no matter how hard he's tried.
When they're finished, they'll take what's left to the crematory. That will be the end of him: a pile of ashes and a wisp of smoke.
WIP warning! I’ve reread this and recced it to friends already, but I’ve not managed to rec it here! Which is crazy cos it’s a favourite. It shows how incredibly resilient and tough Prompto is, which I adore, and there’s so much hurt/comfort. Gladio gives Prompto the opportunity to say no and he’s heartbreakingly surprised; Iggy cuts his hair and Noct styles it to “make [him] a rock star”; Noct indulges his love of chocobos and it’s just. A lot of Prompto being given nice, kind, soft things after not having any before. And also Prompto’s crippling fear that they’ll work out he’s an MT but y’know, plot requires conflict or something.
Honestly, the chocobo bits light up my life. I am horribly tempted by the chocobo t-shirt Prompto gets, which is now on Redbubble as a REAL THING.
Engine Heart by
This then becomes the most dad fic of all dad fics. Dad levels are off the charts. No going back.
SO MUCH DAD!COR. SO BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT. And the boys are delightful - Gladio helping Prompto learn how to read, Noct breaking him out of his cell, Ignis trying to stop them getting into too much trouble, and Cor’s bemusement at what they do to Prompto’s hair. There’s all this AU stuff and this epic continuation and I need to get back into it, but lemme just focus on: the first part is done, and dad!Cor adopts MT!Prompto and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.
Poor Wayfaring Stranger by
OH GOD IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. I was reading this on the kinkmeme for SO LONG before I found it on AO3 and kept bugging
It’s getting its own post so I’m gonna just say for now that it’s one of the best fics I’ve read in twelve years in fandom.
WIP warning but there’s loads of it and it’s SO WORTH IT.