What If? AU Challenge

Challenge #14: In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom.

So, last year, I wrote up my first promo for a beloved ship (and had a fantastic time). This year's prompt is a little bit more geared toward canons, but I ran into some difficulties with that. Have you ever wanted to get into Transformers? Well, I'm told the new movie is actually a great way to get into it, but I didn't see it, so have you considered a cartoon from 2007... So instead, I'm going to give you a quick ship promo and rec list for another beloved ship of mine: Ema Skye/Franziska von Karma from Ace Attorney!

(I don't have a thing for rarepairs that share one character with a much more popular ship at all, haha.)

So, no, Ema and Franziska don't have a lot of screentime together (they do interact briefly in Ace Attorney Investigations). But I first got interested in the ship based on the parallels. They're both intelligent, talented women with complicated relationships to their jobs - Franziska struggling with not being the "perfect" prosecutor, while Ema ends up stuck as a detective instead of forensics like she wanted. Both of them have a close relative, a respected prosecutor, who had a long-term impact on their choice of career and also ends up in jail for serious crimes including evidence forgery; Lana is going to get out of jail someday and Manfred isn't, but it's still a point for them to connect over.

They're a lot of fun to bounce off each other, too. They're both abrasive and blunt, even on a good day; Franziska has no patience for incompetence and Ema is not interested in sugarcoating things to make people feel better, and I don't get the impression any of that would change in a romantic relationship. But Ema says she prefers her prosecutors "simmerous" (as opposed to "glimmerous") - yeah, yeah, I know what canon meant, but as far as I'm concerned that's a great description for Franziska. It's a ship with a lot of potential spice! There's room for comfort and fluff, too, but I do have a weakness for ships that argue. (Also, while there's not much fic for the ship, the fic that is there is extremely hot. One might say...simmering.)

So, if all of that sounds promising and you wanted to get into this ship, where should you start? I have a few suggestions, based on what you're interested in! (Some of which are self-recs, for which I will not apologize. It's a rarepair. :D)

Open to WIPs and interested in long, plotty fic? I've been having a great time following flaws (upon your sleeve) (beneath the ground), described as "A catastrophic doomed-to-fail toxic-yuri we-can-make-each-other-worse romance workbuddies fic." It's extremely fun and you should check it out.

Here for some hurt/comfort and the actual getting-together process? How To Avoid The Holidays, written for AA Holiday Rarepair Week at the end of last year: Franziska and Ema bond over disliking Christmas. (This one's mine!)

Looking for comedy and into chatfic? Try Instructions Unclear, Bi Panicked from the kink meme, featuring Maya and some excellent Ema&Maya BFFs alongside the FranEma.

Hey Riella, you said this ship has extremely hot fic, where's that? Three choices for this one! The Music Our Collisions Make (rough sex, it's-complicated relationship), which I recced earlier in Snowflake but will always happily bring up again, Far Gone (premature ejaculation, light teasing) from the kink meme, or Her Summer Blouse (post-office-party PWP), also from the kink meme.