yuletide letter 2015

[whimsical_irony]

Dear Yuletide writer,

Thank you in advance for writing for me! I love all the fandoms I've requested very much, and I look forward to reading your fic.

I'm a fan of all kinds of stories: gen and ship, introspective character studies and ensemble pieces, character backstories and AUs and epistolary fic and everything in between.

I am not interested in graphic violence, character death, or non-con.

My AO3 account is elyndis.

Saving Face
Wilhelmina Pang



I love Saving Face because of how specific and real the world feels, and how realistically it depicts what it's like to be Chinese-American. I love Wil and her family, as well as the larger Flushing community they're a part of. Love Wil and Vivan's relationship, how they are similar and yet so different. I love that they get a happy ending, and even the approval of their families, to varying degrees.

Prompts:

• I love how realistic Wil and her family are, how you can feel the tension of the three generations all trying to co-exist. I would love anything that explores that familial dynamic. Wil grew up in a single parent home. What was her childhood like? Did Wai Po help out Hwei-Lan, and were there ever clashes in parenting styles? Are Wil and her grandma close? Does Wil confide in her grandma things she can't talk to her mom about? How close is Hwei-Lan with her parents-in-law? Did the death of her husband bring them closer? Both Hwei-Lan and Wil made drastic choices in the movie -- how does the family grow and evolve after the events of the movie?
• Wil and Vivian. What does it mean to be two young Chinese-American women in love? What are some of the unique obstacles of navigating their relationship? How do their two very different families (Vivian's divorced parents, Wil's mom and very traditional grandfather) fit together? I would also love slice-of-life fic depicting what they look like in a relationship together, how they balance each other. Maybe Vivian takes Wil clothes shopping -- what does that look like? I'm also interested in how the community at large views their relationship, and how that can be both a source of comfort and of tension. Does Vivian's dad ever come around on their relationship? There's a scene in the movie where Wil brings Vivian (as a "friend") home to meet her mom, and they have an awkward meal together. I would love to see that same dinner post-movie, after Hwei-Lan comes around on Wil and Vivian's relationship. Alternately, I would also love a flashback to the incident when they were kids and Wil rescued Vivian outside the temple.
• Ato Essandoh has a small part in the movie as Wil's neighbor Jay. I love both the character and the actor and would be interested in anything that explores Wil and Jay's friendship. Maybe a story about how they progressed from neighbors to friends, or one that touches on how Wil can confide in Jay about certain things because he won't judge her and isn't mired in Flushing's politics. In the movie you also see Hwei-Lan and Jay hanging out and watching tv together, even though Jay doesn't understand Mandarin and Hwei-Lan doesn't seem to quite understand Jay. What else do they do together?

Fandom-specific note: I can read Chinese, so if you want to include the language in your story, feel free!

Humans
Anita/Mia



"Found family" is one of my favorite tropes, and I love the verrsion in Humans with the human-synth family of the Elsters. Leo and Mia and Fred and Niska and Max are an interesting example of what it means to be a family.

Prompts:

• I would really love some synth family backstory. For most of season 1 the synths are separated from each other, so we don't get to see their group dynamic as a whole or how they each relate to the group. We see some memories of what it was like for the synths to live together secluded in the country in their early years, and I would love to see the synth's beginnings explored more, and see what they were like before chaos beheld them. What was the group dynamic like? Were some synths closer to each other than others? Is there one synth who talks all the time, and another person who barely talks but when they do, everyone listens? We know the synths had hobbies, like Mia would paint and Fred played instruments and Niska read. What else did they do for fun? I'd also love fic about their time on the run, before the synths were kidnapped at the beginning of season 1. We saw them work efficiently as a group, and I would love fic that shows them working together on something, or shows how they became an efficient team over time and came to inhibit their designated roles. I would also love fic about the day Leo died (and his subsequent resurrection), how the synths responded to the tragedy. We know synths might not be able to cry, but they have feelings. And later, how did they help Leo recover? How did the group dynamic change, after he became more like them? Did it ever cause tension that Leo has to eat and sleep, but the rest don't? Honeestly, anything that touches on what it means to be a synth-human family would make me super happy. (I'm not as interested in Karen or the human Elster parents. Feel free to include them if you'd like, but I'd prefer they not be a central focus of the story.) PS -- Don't feel obligated to include all the synths in your story. I listed them all for a wider range of options, but I would totally enjoy fic that centers around Mia and Leo, for example, or Mia and one of the other synths, or any combination of them.
• I'm also interested in how Anita/Mia fits in the Hawkins household, especially her deepening relationship with Laura, and what they means to both Anita/Mia (I find both Anita and Mia interesting, and don't have a preference whose perspective you choose to write from) and to Laura. I would love any "missing moments" we don't get to see in the show where Anita/Mia helps Laura with a task around the house, or plays with Sophie, or gets grilled by Mattie.

How to Get Away with Murder
Laurel Castillo



Here again I love the "found family" dynamic of the Keating 5, though I guess they could be more accurately characterized as "found frenemies." I requested Laurel in particular because she's my favorite of the five but I'm very open to ensemble fic with any combo of the Keating 5 (plus Annalise, Frank, and Bonnie) as long as Laurel is involved.

Prompts:

• Laurel backstory! She doesn't seem very close to the rest of her family, who she seems to view as self-centered and easily caught up in the trivialities of daily life. Was she always "the black sheep" of the family, and why? Is her family distant and formal in general? We've gotten some tidbits about her family here and there, and I'd love any exploration of the world you think she might have come from. Who is her cousin, the fifteen-year-old she mentioned to Frank? What did Frank mean when he referenced the people she grew up around as proof she could have killed Rebecca? Also, Laurel grew up very privileged, in a household with maids. What made her decide she wanted to devote her time to defending the less fortunate?
• I'd also love fic that explores Laurel's relationships with some (or all) of the other members of the Keating 5. Laurel is rarely paired with Connor or Asher on the show, but what if she did have to work on an assigment with either one of them -- what would that look like? Laurel and Wes seem the most ideologically similar out of the 5, but they came from very different backgrounds. Does that make them a better lawyering team? Is there stuff they don't agree on? Laurel and Michaela have had a contentious relationship, but after Laurel's apparent concern when Michaela admits she's never had an orgasm and her later "claiming" of Michaela during the orgy discussion scene, I kinda ship it. What would Laurel and Michaela in a relationship (or friendship) look like?
• Frank/Laurel. I love how this pairing has grown from something purely physical to...whatever it is they are now to each other. Bonnie said that a girl like Laurel doesn't end up with a guy like Frank. And it is true that they come from very different worlds. So, what do they see in each other, beyond the physical attraction? There are many reasons why they don't fit together, but what are some ways they do? Frank is fiercely loyal to Annalise, and see those tendencies come out toward Laurel when he tells her he'd do anything to win her back the night of Sam's death. What would a scenario where he risks everything for Laurel look like? Alternately, if you like writing tropey shipfic, feel free to go wild here. Maybe the two of them have to go overcover as a couple, maybe they have to share a bed (during one of the periods they're not sleeping together), maybe they're in an alternate universe where both of them are spies or assassins or something, or maybe they're stuck in a confied space together and have to talk about their feelings. Maybe one of them is sick or hurt and the other takes care of them. Maybe you just want to write a cute domestic scene with them. What does date night look like for them? A lazy day spent in? The rating for this pairing can be whatever you'd like it to be. Cute G-rated fic is welcome, as is explicit sexytimes. We know both of them have an exhibitionist streak, or just don't mind doing it where they might get caught. What are the craziest places they've had sex? How many different non-bed surfaces can they do it on? What does a splinter to the ass feel like, anyway? [EDIT: So Frank took Laurel home to meet his family in "Two Birds, One Millstone," and there was so much new material to work with! Feel free to involve that in your story, explore how that went down and the consequences of it if you'd like. Or you can completely ignore it, up to you! I'm cool either way. Also I really like the dichotomy of Frank bringing Laurel home to meet his family contrasted with him burying Rebecca's body in the woods. They're both hiding stuff from each other still. How do they, especially Frank, recocile those parts of themselves?]

If you're not feeling the Laurel-centric prompts, or not comfortable writing shipfic, no worries. Here are some other prompts I would love filled just as much:

• Keating 5 fic! I'd love any exploration of the group dynamic of these five. In many ways they've grown beyond their roles of Puppy and Wallflower and Prom Queen and Hair Gel and Doucheface, and in some ways they haven't. I love when they are forced to work together, whether for work or outside of it. Maybe they go undercover for a case and have to try to hold it together and not blow their cover. Alternately, because this show is very murder-heavy, I would love some non-murder shenanigans. Maybe four of them try to put together a birthday surprise for the fifth and it proves harder to organize than expected. Maybe they just get drunk together, or maybe they have to dress up and attend some party or formal event together and be on their best behavior. We've seen how they spend Christmas, but what about other holidays? Who dresses up for Halloween and who doesn't?
• Adults of the Keating firm (aka Annalise, Bonnie, and Frank). The adults on this show have really grown on me over time and become interesting characters in their own right. I would love backstory on them either as a team or separately. For example, we've seen that Frank and Bonnie are very very loyal to Annalise. Bonnie even says at one point that Annalise considers Frank family. Any backstory on Bonnie and/or Frank and their relationship with each other or with Annalise would be amazing. How did they come work for and to be so loyal to Annalise? (The recent epsiode "Meet Bonnie" shines some light on Bonnie's backstory, so feel free to either elaborate or discard that and go with a different backstory if you'd like.) Was there another situation before Sam's murder where Bonnie and/or Frank put themselves on the line to help Annalise cover something up? What kind of crazy things have Bonnie and Frank seen (and learned to ignore) in the Keating house from working there all these years? How did the firm get along before Annalise hired students to help out?

Fandom-specific note: I don't actively ship Connor/Oliver. I don't mind if Oliver is in the story and the relationship is mentioned or implicit but would prefer it to not be the central focus.