Dear Yuletide Writer 2022
Haha, I feel like I need to apologize that I'm still here! But thank you for checking this regardless!
This letter is for Napkins, which is my name on AO3 as well!
First off, thank you so, so much for signing up and for offering one of the fandoms we matched on! Hopefully this letter will be useful to you -- I’m generally really easy to please; I like the whole gamut of fiction and a whole mess of tropes in there.
Continuing with my trend, as requesting femslashy canons resulted in some beautiful work that I loved the past few years, I thought why stop a good thing! Some returning fandoms, some new, but again with the theme of close female friendships that could easily hint at something more but for Reasons the canon didn’t go there (or did!). There's a ship in each request that I would be so thrilled to get shipfic from, but at its core are nuanced friendship dynamics that are fascinating to me if you want to keep it platonic that I would be equally thrilled to receive fic about.
My dislikes are pretty few, so let’s start off with them: character death/permanent injury (can be ignored for canon events), pregnancy/kidfic, and serious issues not already brought up in canon (think homophobia, political stands, self-harm, abuse, trans headcanons, etc). I am all for sexual content, and rough sex is fine, but none of these relationships should be antagonistic, so no dubcon/noncon or sex with violence at its core, please. Also no bodily fluids that don't have a standard place in sexual encounters, please.
I’ll talk about the fandoms I requested and some specific prompts below, and please feel free to ignore or add anything as you want, but here are some general tropes and prompts I enjoy:
AUs of all shapes and sizes, fake dating, taking care of someone while sick, Christmas/other holidays, winter or other cold-weather activities, domesticity, hurt/comfort - especially with illnesses, character introspection/exploration, friends to lovers, banter that can easily accidentally slip into hints about actual feelings, and found family. I really will love anything that you write, this is more to give you an idea of my likes and reasons for them, so thank you so much again!
The Aquatope on White Sand
Requested characters: Kukuru and Fuuka
This series just captivated me right from the start! Beautiful animation, life lessons, and aquariums! I felt so spoiled to get a whole anime about aquariums and marine life so gorgeously treated. Plus Fuuka and Kukuru together are such a wonderful combination - they both support each other and rely deeply on believing in the other to help themselves get through the hurdles in their lives. I appreciate that the series takes a fairly realistic view of aquariums and having to care for other living creatures and that presents a lot of the drama and opportunities for growth. I enjoyed that the whole storyline wasn't actually about saving Gama Gama, but learning how to turn that passion into something to carry forward to continue the spirit of it. On that note, the fact that Fuuka and Kukuru are neighbors is just so thrilling! There's so much there! I see them as more than friends - Fuuka came back because she couldn't stop picturing Kukuru crying alone - but there are so many facets and good things about their relationship and where they could go in the future that I'm just happy to be along for the ride! I would love anything from either series events or post-canon, with both of them working in conservation and marine biology - easy beach dates!
Ice Princess
Requested characters: Gen and Casey
You know you’ve grown up when you rewatch a movie you enjoyed as a teenager, but now side with the adults and their decisions. But there’s so much heart to this movie that I hardly mind. Most of what I got out of a rewatch of this movie was that I wanted more of Gen and Casey and their friendship and how they see what they want out of life in each other’s positions. Casey is fascinated with Gen and her skating and can’t understand why she’d ever want to give it up and Gen is entranced with Casey and her “normal” life and is devastated when her mother costs Casey her chance at sectionals. It’s clear that she doesn’t feel the same way towards the other girls who train at the rink, that the way that Casey loves skating in a way she doesn’t catches her attention. I’d love to see something set later - it’s implied that Tina would continue to be Casey’s coach in any continuing skating career, so there’s plenty of opportunity for Gen and Casey to continue to be in each other’s lives. Maybe Gen helps out with choreography for some of Casey’s programs or has to take over as the coaching crew during a competition if her mother can’t make it. I do ship it, but I would absolutely be fine with something focusing more on the skating.
Lycoris Recoil
Requested characters: Takina and Chisato
I felt so, so spoiled this past anime season with all of the great female-centric series, but LycoReco really stood out to me with Chisato and Takina! Chisato clearly has more going on to her than you get at first impressions, but that she's able to pull Takina out of her shell even before everything about her comes to light made that moment when they both subsequently risk themselves for the other that much more poignant. The episode of Chisato taking Takina underwear shopping absolutely made my day - I loved the touch of slice-of-life moments, since that's what they're fighting to protect as Lycoris, and seeing them get to enjoy that peace and enjoy time with each other was wonderful. I'd love fic from any point - Takina becoming more comfortable with Chisato and the LycoReco crowd, the time while Chisato was off on her own, or post-canon in Hawaii! There's so much I love about this series, but I love that Chisato and Takina are the heart of it the most.
The Book of Tea Series
Requested characters: Zhen and Ruyi
While I loved Ning and all of the worldbuilding in these books, what really called to me was Zhen and Ruyi, the perfect trope of loyal bodyguard and mistrusted princess. I would just love so much more of them! At what point did they know they loved each other? Quiet moments at the palace, as few and fleeting as they might have been? Seeking comfort on the road? They trust each other, even when they don't like the other's decision, which isn't an easy place to get to, especially in the midst of so many politics and betrayals, so I'd just love to see more of them deepening their bond!
Dracula (Novel)
Requested characters: Mina and Lucy
Reading Dracula as an adult versus an edgy teenager, you notice more things that you'd kind of shrugged off as quirks of the era, like Lucy and Mina's...very close friendship. Mostly how it's put on the same level as Mina and Jonathan's marriage and love, and that that love is held up as an example of a deep and enduring love. I don't need Mina and Jonathan to be broken up or worked around, but I would love to see more of Mina and Lucy! I'm totally here for AUs if that's the route you want to go down, and there are so many! Both of them vampires, except Lucy got to Mina first, Lucy as a vampire and Mina human, or even both of them just in the times leading up to the events of the novel. Mina is so competent that I can't help but think that things might've turned out very differently if she'd known about vampires sooner...
This letter is for Napkins, which is my name on AO3 as well!
First off, thank you so, so much for signing up and for offering one of the fandoms we matched on! Hopefully this letter will be useful to you -- I’m generally really easy to please; I like the whole gamut of fiction and a whole mess of tropes in there.
Continuing with my trend, as requesting femslashy canons resulted in some beautiful work that I loved the past few years, I thought why stop a good thing! Some returning fandoms, some new, but again with the theme of close female friendships that could easily hint at something more but for Reasons the canon didn’t go there (or did!). There's a ship in each request that I would be so thrilled to get shipfic from, but at its core are nuanced friendship dynamics that are fascinating to me if you want to keep it platonic that I would be equally thrilled to receive fic about.
My dislikes are pretty few, so let’s start off with them: character death/permanent injury (can be ignored for canon events), pregnancy/kidfic, and serious issues not already brought up in canon (think homophobia, political stands, self-harm, abuse, trans headcanons, etc). I am all for sexual content, and rough sex is fine, but none of these relationships should be antagonistic, so no dubcon/noncon or sex with violence at its core, please. Also no bodily fluids that don't have a standard place in sexual encounters, please.
I’ll talk about the fandoms I requested and some specific prompts below, and please feel free to ignore or add anything as you want, but here are some general tropes and prompts I enjoy:
AUs of all shapes and sizes, fake dating, taking care of someone while sick, Christmas/other holidays, winter or other cold-weather activities, domesticity, hurt/comfort - especially with illnesses, character introspection/exploration, friends to lovers, banter that can easily accidentally slip into hints about actual feelings, and found family. I really will love anything that you write, this is more to give you an idea of my likes and reasons for them, so thank you so much again!
The Aquatope on White Sand
Requested characters: Kukuru and Fuuka
This series just captivated me right from the start! Beautiful animation, life lessons, and aquariums! I felt so spoiled to get a whole anime about aquariums and marine life so gorgeously treated. Plus Fuuka and Kukuru together are such a wonderful combination - they both support each other and rely deeply on believing in the other to help themselves get through the hurdles in their lives. I appreciate that the series takes a fairly realistic view of aquariums and having to care for other living creatures and that presents a lot of the drama and opportunities for growth. I enjoyed that the whole storyline wasn't actually about saving Gama Gama, but learning how to turn that passion into something to carry forward to continue the spirit of it. On that note, the fact that Fuuka and Kukuru are neighbors is just so thrilling! There's so much there! I see them as more than friends - Fuuka came back because she couldn't stop picturing Kukuru crying alone - but there are so many facets and good things about their relationship and where they could go in the future that I'm just happy to be along for the ride! I would love anything from either series events or post-canon, with both of them working in conservation and marine biology - easy beach dates!
Ice Princess
Requested characters: Gen and Casey
You know you’ve grown up when you rewatch a movie you enjoyed as a teenager, but now side with the adults and their decisions. But there’s so much heart to this movie that I hardly mind. Most of what I got out of a rewatch of this movie was that I wanted more of Gen and Casey and their friendship and how they see what they want out of life in each other’s positions. Casey is fascinated with Gen and her skating and can’t understand why she’d ever want to give it up and Gen is entranced with Casey and her “normal” life and is devastated when her mother costs Casey her chance at sectionals. It’s clear that she doesn’t feel the same way towards the other girls who train at the rink, that the way that Casey loves skating in a way she doesn’t catches her attention. I’d love to see something set later - it’s implied that Tina would continue to be Casey’s coach in any continuing skating career, so there’s plenty of opportunity for Gen and Casey to continue to be in each other’s lives. Maybe Gen helps out with choreography for some of Casey’s programs or has to take over as the coaching crew during a competition if her mother can’t make it. I do ship it, but I would absolutely be fine with something focusing more on the skating.
Lycoris Recoil
Requested characters: Takina and Chisato
I felt so, so spoiled this past anime season with all of the great female-centric series, but LycoReco really stood out to me with Chisato and Takina! Chisato clearly has more going on to her than you get at first impressions, but that she's able to pull Takina out of her shell even before everything about her comes to light made that moment when they both subsequently risk themselves for the other that much more poignant. The episode of Chisato taking Takina underwear shopping absolutely made my day - I loved the touch of slice-of-life moments, since that's what they're fighting to protect as Lycoris, and seeing them get to enjoy that peace and enjoy time with each other was wonderful. I'd love fic from any point - Takina becoming more comfortable with Chisato and the LycoReco crowd, the time while Chisato was off on her own, or post-canon in Hawaii! There's so much I love about this series, but I love that Chisato and Takina are the heart of it the most.
The Book of Tea Series
Requested characters: Zhen and Ruyi
While I loved Ning and all of the worldbuilding in these books, what really called to me was Zhen and Ruyi, the perfect trope of loyal bodyguard and mistrusted princess. I would just love so much more of them! At what point did they know they loved each other? Quiet moments at the palace, as few and fleeting as they might have been? Seeking comfort on the road? They trust each other, even when they don't like the other's decision, which isn't an easy place to get to, especially in the midst of so many politics and betrayals, so I'd just love to see more of them deepening their bond!
Dracula (Novel)
Requested characters: Mina and Lucy
Reading Dracula as an adult versus an edgy teenager, you notice more things that you'd kind of shrugged off as quirks of the era, like Lucy and Mina's...very close friendship. Mostly how it's put on the same level as Mina and Jonathan's marriage and love, and that that love is held up as an example of a deep and enduring love. I don't need Mina and Jonathan to be broken up or worked around, but I would love to see more of Mina and Lucy! I'm totally here for AUs if that's the route you want to go down, and there are so many! Both of them vampires, except Lucy got to Mina first, Lucy as a vampire and Mina human, or even both of them just in the times leading up to the events of the novel. Mina is so competent that I can't help but think that things might've turned out very differently if she'd known about vampires sooner...