Riconti

Riconti is the slash ship between Ace Visconti and Felix Richter from the Dead by Daylight fandom.

Canon
Ace and Felix are part of a group of survivors who have been pulled into a constructed world by a being known as the Entity. They are forced to partake in the Entity's gruesome trials of hide-and-seek to evade and escape a myriad of monstrous killers. Between the trials, their only respite is a simple campfire, where they are allowed to rest and wait until being pursued by the next killer. With no known means to escape the Entity's clutches, they need to focus on survival whilst not giving into the despair of endless trials.

Despite Ace and Felix participating in the trials together as allies, there is no actual canon interaction between the characters due to the nature of the game. The game does not feature dialogue, and in-game interactions consist of working as a team to escape the killer; including repairing generators together as well as rescuing and healing teammates.

It is known that when Felix was pulled into the realm, he left behind his pregnant girlfriend and unborn child. While Ace's relationship status is a mystery, he occasionally wears a wedding band on his finger.

Fanon
Following Felix's character reveal with Dead by Daylight's Descend Beyond chapter in August 2020, fans quickly noticed the similarities between his and Ace's personalities. Namely, their experience with a high-society lifestyle and tendency to lie or fake confidence to get ahead in life. The characters were also relatively close to each other in age, as most of the other survivors appear to be in their early twenties and Felix was seen as a more mature character. At this point in time, Ace was not often featured in ships, and compared to other characters of the fandom didn't have much popularity on that front. Because of this, fans thought shipping him with Felix would create an interesting dynamic and give a less popular character time in the spotlight.

The ship started with fanfiction and headcanons on tumblr and gradually began to feature in fanart from different artists. Both characters also have other moderately popular ships, but Riconti still sees new content in the form of fanfiction and art, primarily on tumblr, AO3 and Twitter. The ship's portrayed dynamic usually deals with themes of acceptance and the characters dropping their masks of confidence and charisma to deal with the pain in their lives before the Entity. As both Ace and Felix are used to hiding their true feelings, shippers believe them to see past each other's lies, and that this unspoken connection is what eventually prompts them to get closer and learn to be honest with each other. The circumstances of the characters' current suffering at the hands of the Entity also features heavily in the ship, with their budding relationship offsetting some of the violence and trauma of the trials.

Aside from their similarities, the ship also makes use of the "opposites attract" trope. Ace's character is said to be confident and charismatic, while Felix's true self is anxious and socially awkward. Ace grew up poor and used wit and petty crime to make a quick buck, while Felix was born into wealth and reached success through calculated risks and his own hard work. Their differences make for an interesting dynamic that complements their similarities. Stories mostly feature the more outgoing Ace making the first move, though his flirty nature makes the advances hard to tell apart from regular banter, along with Felix's struggles to come to terms with the pain of losing his girlfriend and child.

Felix's fatherhood is also a major plot point in the ship. In canon, he is said to be excited about becoming a father, and stories set after an escape from the Entity often feature Felix and his ex having shared custody and Felix and Ace co-parenting his child. These alternate universes are usually set a few years in the future from the game's events, having Ace and Felix in a stable relationship and with Ace having moved to Germany to live with Felix.

Felix's sexuality plays a large part in the ship's fanon interpretation. Despite his canon girlfriend, Felix is often portrayed as gay or bisexual by the fandom. This is usually attributed to his desire to keep up a certain image in order to make his late father proud, even going so far as to invent a fake persona in order to advance his career. Taking into account how unhappy he was said to be with his life before the news of the pregnancy, some fans have drawn the conclusion that he may not have been in love with his girlfriend, whether he realized it or not. In contrast, Ace's flamboyant nature and nonexistent backstory have made the fandom consider him a wild card when it comes to ships and sexuality.

Rather than focusing on the grim nature of the canon material, shippers see the events of the game as a chance for redemption for both characters. Since they no longer have to keep up appearances as the comforts of the real world are stripped away from them, Ace slowly overcomes his gambling addiction and compulsive lying, while Felix accepts that he can't keep living his life to other people's expectations. Their relationship is more often than not portrayed as a mutually beneficial one, with a focus on the characters' personal growth as they learn to be their best selves together.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Riconti, in addition to being a portmanteau of the characters' last names, also means "recount" in Italian. Though likely unintentional, the ship name is a fitting nod to both Ace's Italian roots and the mathematical nature of Felix's occupation in architecture.