corpsebrigadier | Snowflake Challenge #8: Recs

Challenge #8: Rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.

Aw yeah... if you are into one specific JRPG (or two specific JRPGs), do I have some good stuff for you! If not, well... I'll try. I honestly just love making lists of things, which is why this particular challenge got a little longer than strictly necessary

I should note that I've also put together a recs tag for this blog.

Final Fantasy Tactics

Fic

"Four Ghosts" (Delita, General, 1K) by Terra: This is an evocative, bittersweet piece that explores Delita and his relationships. It's prose is just exceptionally gorgeous all around, and it does a marvelous job communication the loneliness inherent to being near to the only major character that survived the game and came out the seeming victor.

"Horns" (Dycedarg & Zalbag, Teen, 3.8K) by moemachina: I read this last summer and cried that there was apparently some platonic realm of fanfiction from which this work had been snatched to bring light to our corrupt and mortal world. All of moemachina's stuff is brilliant ("The Godmothers" and "A House in the Zodiac" also rank high among my faves), but this is the piece of theirs that absolutely took my breath away. I am utterly obsessed with explorations the complex, messed up relationships that would inevitably connect all the members of House Beoulve, but I'm particularly taken with anything that looks to how Dycedarg and Zalbag interact with one another. This is the fic that opened my eyes to the potentials of Dycedarg/Ruvelia as a pairing, that solidifed my profound addiction to Zalbag being subject to even more angst than he is subject to in game, and that gave me my first thoughts as to how one might portray two brothers doomed to kill each other as having had some genuine and meaningful connection. It's also about a unicorn, and unicorns done right are just incredibly hardcore.

"Simple Arithmetic" (Alma/Tietra, Not Rated, 1K) by Jaydee_Faire: Jaydee_Faire does a lot of fine work writing idyllic and/or hatesexy M/M works involving various combinations of Ramza, Delita, and Algus. My favorite work of theirs, however, is this very cute, slice of life piece about Alma and Tietra generally just being affectionate as they speculate about their marital prospects.

"the taste of dried-up hopes" (Delita/Ramza, Delita/Ovelia, Agrias/Ovelia, Teen, 1.9K | Character Death) by Rethira: This is a beautiful, poetic piece of fragmented episodes that looks to Delita and Ovelia's relationship with regards to the other people who haunt them. Like so many good FFT pieces, it's brimming with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia for the things that characters inevitably lose over the course of the story, and it ends with a heartbreaking gesture of closure.

"A Touch of Color" (Alma & Ovelia, General, 1.4K) by beltsquid: I love anything that looks to Alma and Ovelia's relationship as oblates at Orbonne, and this piece does just that. Vibrant and full of a sense of place, it communicates the isolation of monastical life and the joy of companionship through color, just as its name suggests.

"Transformation" (Reis Duelar, General, 1.2K) by Lassarina: I things that explore characters navigating duel existences and duel consciousness, and Reis--FFT's dragonwoman and Ladyhawke expy--is perfect for this. This piece is a succinct and evocative take on the shock of a dragon finding itself to be human again

"Works Cited" (Olan and others, General, 1.4K) by Moonsheen: This is a completely top-notch exploration of the composition of the Durai papers that delivers scene after scene of Olan interacting with the rest of the cast in wonderfully composed and characterized ways as he searches for information and answers. The scenes between him and Delita are fantastic and have contributed a lot to how I imagine the two characters' relationship to one another.

Art

"Dycedarg in his Garden/Zalbaag in the Church" (Dycedarg & Zalbag, General) by chacusha: chacusha made me this beautiful piece featuring my two favorite trainwreck bros for the 2019

challengeonthebigbridge JRPG exchange. I love anything that underscores the two characters' briefly mentioned relationships to nature and faith, and this work--with its contrasting dark and light and vastly differing settings--hits that home perfectly.

Corpse Brigade Diner (Wiegraf & Miluda, General) by nakade1: I rec this dang Modern AU piece everywhere I go because it has left me absurdly taken with the idea of Wiegraf and Miluda Folles starting up a struggling eatery of some sort and owning a cat.

Final Fantasy VI

Fic

"An Artist's Eye" (Relm & Gau, General 600 words) by Phlyarologist: I love Relm. I absolutely love Gau. This bite-sized morsel of a fic nails both of their characters perfectly, looks towards how their abilities play out in a manner that builds on game mechanics, and generally just seems tailored to make one smile.

"Before the world ends and all roles are forsaken" (Cyan/Sabin, General, 1K) by laughingpineapple: Cyan/Sabin is a galaxy brain pairing to which I've only recently been introduced, and this is a phenomenal rendering of it. It takes a mundane episode of getting the poison status ailment during travel and explodes it into an occasion for character exploration and coming together. It's prose is also completely delicious.

Art

"Searching for Friends" (Various, General) by laughingpineapple: laughingpineapple's video game art is amazing as a whole is fantastic (I also have a lot of feelings about their Cecil/Rosa/Kain FF4 piece). It's bright, vibrant, and plays with exaggeration and color in a way that makes everything exciting. All their FF6 work is spectacular, but this series in particular exemplifies a lot of what I love about their style and their take on this canon.

Other Canons

I could probably come up with a lot of recs if I tried, but after going a bit overboard on the Final Fantasy recs, I'm just going to constrain myself to a few things that have caught my eye over the past month.

Fic

"Old Curiosity Shop" (Bagpuss and Sapphire and Steel | General, 1.3K) by thisbluespirit: I got a phenomenal Bagpuss fic by

Tanaqui for

in_a_peartree, and it inspired me to browse about for more fic for the same canon. I was rewarded by finding this absolute gem of a crossover that captures the feel of both canons perfectly and is just immensely satisfying in how completely unforced and natural it feels. I left it very much with a feeling of complete acceptance that element-themed agents managing time distortions and magically alive cloth cats inhabit the same universe.

"so slip your hand inside of my glove" (The Handmaiden | Hideko/Sook-Hee, Teen, 2.6K) by Lirazel: A lovely post-canon piece portraying Hideko and Sook-Hee's lives traveling the world.

"Spies Three, Two Soon to Be" (The 13 Clocks | The Golux & Hark & Whisper, General, 1.3K) by wavewright62: The fact that The 13 Clocks is getting requests and fic in exchanges thrills me to no end. This piece showcasing my absolute favorite plot device as well as a princess and some henchmen is light, witty, and very in keeping with Thurber's prose.

Snowflake Challenge #8: Recs

Final Fantasy Tactics

Fic

Art

Final Fantasy VI

Fic

Art

Other Canons

Fic

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