Snowflake Challenge, Day Ten

[sunlit_stone]

I keep wanting to go through and rec things to people, but I think that's going to have to wait--I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

Okay, so.

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!



So, first, I love it when the reader has more information than the characters. I realized as I was contemplating this post that it was a common thread behind several of my favourite tropes. For instance:

Mutual Pining. God, I love mutual pining. Unfortunately I can't think of any recs that are for this specifically, as opposed to just including mutual pining, but if you want to rec me some I would be delighted :D

Identity Porn. Fuck, this is one of my very favourite tropes. (This is one reason I love Nirvana in Fire so much.) My recs for this one are mostly Stony:

Bizarre Love Triangle by panickyintheuk, an about 2K fic the plot of which you can probably guess from the title, and which never fails to crack me up. Once the idea was in his head, he’d started picking up on all kinds of things, like the way Stark talked about Iron Man with such affection, and seemed to share so many of his mannerisms, and was constantly working on ways of improving the suit. It was obvious.

I (created from fantasies) exist solely for you by Mizzy;62 K, a classic for a good reason. Six years ago, without the Avengers Initiative there to save the day, scientist Dr. Eric Selvig sacrificed himself to save the world, the almighty demi-god Thor was lost to a terrible storm, and vigilante Iron Man – spotted with a nuclear weapon trying to take advantage of the situation – was forever labelled an enemy of SHIELD.

This is a comic book office AU, where Steve is defrosted a year too late, Thor has forgotten who he is, and no one knows Tony is Iron Man.

Also includes: office pranks, inappropriate post-it notes, and superheroes who like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Then we've got Think of This as Solving Problems (That Should Never Have Occurred by Sineala, one of my very favourite authors. 35K, and combines identity porn with that other classic trope, amnesia. No one knows Tony is Iron Man. Then Tony gets amnesia, and literally no one knows Tony is Iron Man.

But there's also a Clark/Bruce fic: Fake Empires, by copperbadge. 11K. Starts with Clark interviewing Bruce Wayne, builds from there;
very good. Bruce Wayne can't possibly be as dumb as he acts, and Clark Kent isn't as ordinary as he appears.

Okay, enough with the identity porn. (Is such a thing even possible?)

Next up: conversely, I love it when the reader has a lot less information than they think they do. That is, I love

Twist Endings (or Twist Middles), at least when they're well done. I don't want to rec for these publically because it's kind of a spoiler, y'know, but if you don't mind that drop me a line and I'll pass some along.

Next up we have Power Differential. *coughs* yeah, I've got no explanation for this.

Um. No, wait, I do know what to rec for this: the Legends and Legatees series, by Fahye. 51K, though the first ~5K is both its own story and porn. Summary of the second fic, which is the bulk of the series: Eggsy slumps against the wall, feeling every bruise like it's new, and tells the truth.

"You want to make sure I jump when I'm told?" he demands. "It'd better be you doing the telling, Harry."

Very good! Also contains dom/sub elements! Very hot!

--come to think of it, that really looks an awful lot like my next favourite trope,

Loyalty Fic. Honestly this is my favourite trope to end all tropes: I /love/ loyalty-centred fics, I'd say "even when they're not romantic" but that feels like missing the point. Half the time what I get out of romance-flavoured loyalty fic is that you're almost guaranteed it's going to be the most important relationship. I said earlier today that I wish "falling in loyalty" was a genre the same way "falling in love" is, and I really meant it.

Some recs. Many of these aren't just loyalty kink, I think, but loyalty is a very important element throughout:

A goodly amount of Person of Interest fic, including most of the stuff astolat has written. My favourite astolat PoI fic is Dangerous If Unbound, which is Rinch BDSM+telepathy AU. It always makes me feel sort of like crying, but in a really happy way, or in relief almost, as though someone had just lifted a burden from my shoulders. It's possible I'm not really able to be objective about it. I recommend it highly. 23K. The Texas sun beating down was merciless, almost a physical weight on his shoulders. John couldn't move even to change the angle: the collar was tight, the cuffs were tight, and the chains had been pulled to their limits.

Single-Use Weapon by Fahye. This is one of my very favourite fics, despite the fact that the only prior acquaintance I had with Kings was binging the TVTropes article so I could read this. It's really, really good, and also--how, in a way that's hard to describe. 67K, Jack/David and Michelle/David. "The king is dead," says Samuels. "Long live the king."

A story about fealty and destiny, spies and secrets, and the things we do to hold onto power.

A Field Guide to Common Birds in New York, by Toft. PoI fic, Finch again. A fundamentally devoted Reese. Also includes surveillance, which is a trope I love in PoI fic. Went on the list of my favourite PlI fics the moment I read it. 15K. In which John acquires a Tumblr, a therapist, and an interest in birdwatching.

And last but definitely not least we have Aral Vorkosigan's Dog, by philomytha (DW). Illyan's point of view on Aral from just before to shortly after the Escobaran war. Unlike the others this is gen, but please don't let that stop you; in my heart this is the loyalty fic, a sort of Platonic ideal if not for all loyalty fics then at least for a certain subtype. The process of Illyan becoming loyal to Aral and coming to understand his own loyalty is beautiful and occasionally heartbreaking to watch. I've reread it many times, especially when I'm also reading Shards of Honour; it fits perfectly into the canon, so rereading it feels necessary when rereading canon from that era. Obviously, I strongly recommend it. 76K. Illyan is assigned to watch Aral Vorkosigan during the Escobaran war. Soon he has to choose between his duty and his conscience, and the consequences rapidly get beyond him.