Dear Yuletide Writer 2015
General things I enjoy seeing:
- gen
- femslash
- complicated but loving family relationships
- canon-divergence AUs
- non-mundane genre AUs
- hurt/comfort
- crossdressing
- two characters protecting each other or saving each other's lives
- loyalty
- worldbuilding/exploring aspects of the setting which canon doesn't go into depth on
- established relationships
General things I don't want in this exchange/for these fandoms:
- incest
- noncon or dubcon
- heavy focus on navel-gazing and/or angst about sexuality or gender identity
- non-canon character death
- mundane AUs
- crossovers
- focus on babies or small children
- unrelenting awfulness/sadness/grimdarkness
- focus on Christmas as religious holiday
- fic where nothing happens but introspection
I love action/adventure-y plots, I love romance, I love the combination thereof. Some of my requests this year lean more towards lower-key stuff focused on people's emotions and platonic/familial relationships, which I also enjoy. I like slice-of-life as long as it's either funny or has some kind of tension/conflict/emotional stakes that are meaningful to the characters, even if in a small-scale, everyday kind of way. (For Love Live: SIF, which is the fandom where this is most relevant, I'm basically looking for stuff similar to the show/game events/manga, where they don't really have to deal with anything earth-shattering--except maybe graduation--but do have to contend with obstacles related to becoming idols and later to winning the Love Live, as well as minor interpersonal conflicts.) I don't have a strong desire for smut for any of these fandoms, but will read it as long as the characters are sixteen or older.
I don't care at all about tense or POV, but I do find writing with no capital letters hard to parse. I like interactive fiction and would be happy to receive it.
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity - Matsunaga Sara, Tanaka Yubiseiakikana, Komachi Tsugumi, The Kid | Hokuto
I've been a big fan of Ever 17 for... jeez, almost ten years now, partly for the twists and turns and crazy pseudoscience stuff, but also for the characters, all of whom have so much more going on with them than is apparent at first (and several of whom have had really sad lives, and I want them to be happy).
So, post-True Ending, Tsugumi and her children have been reunited, but the three of them have basically never had the chance to be a family, and Tsugumi and Sara in particular have barely had the chance to be... normal people with normal relationships at all, and all three of them have varying amounts and kinds of trauma, and I'm interested in how they sort of put together a family life out of those pieces. (Obviously Takeshi is also involved in this, but I'm not so interested in him as a character, and as far as his inclusion goes I'd rather keep the focus on the parent/child relationships than his romantic relationship with Tsugumi.) And I know You's not part of the family, but as Sara's best friend and Hokuto's girlfriend it seems inevitable that she'd end up involved anyway, and she's sort of the most normal person there and might provide a sort of balance or grounding for Sara and Hokuto--although post-True Ending she's also dealing with finding out that she's not actually as normal as she thought she was. So, I don't know, she helps them figure out how to be normal people who aren't being chased by an evil pharmaceutical company, and they help her deal with being a clone whose mother is immortal? Something like that. If you feel inspired to do something that's not post-True End, though, that's really fine with me too, though I'm not sure there's any other time or timeline in which all my requested characters would be alive and in the same place--but if you'd like to just focus on one of them and write about the periods of their life pre-LeMU that canon doesn't go into in depth, or spin something off of Sara's Good End with her and Hokuto on the run from Leiblich, or anything like that, I'm game for that and don't mind if not all the characters appear. Honestly, at the end of the day, I'd just be thrilled for any fic to exist for this canon.
Also, I'm aware that I am probably the only person on the face of the earth who ships this, so don't feel obligated to include it, but I really love the idea of Sara/You. It's just... there's the scene in You's route where Sara figures out about You and Hokuto's developing romance and says she's jealous of Hokuto, and I don't know how else to take that. Also the backstory of their relationship has the sort of "one is bubbly and outgoing and the other is standoffish and Doesn't Need Friends (except she totally does) and the bubbly one keeps pushing until the other one opens up" dynamic that I really enjoy, and then by the time of the game they're really comfortable with each other and they cuddle in their sleep and it's cute. But of course Sara is still keeping pretty huge secrets from You, so there's the possibility for tension there... anyway, for the two of them I'd still love post-True Ending fic, but I'm interested in pre-canon stuff about when they were at school together as well.
If you do end up writing Sara/You, Tsugumi and Hokuto don't have to be involved in major roles--actually I'd prefer not to have too much focus on Hokuto in that case (either he and You have broken up offscreen with minimal angst or it's a slight AU where they never dated, or something like that).
Useful Links:
- A complete Let's Play: http://lparchive.org/Ever-17/
Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game) - Shirase Koyuki, Aikawa Ryo, Kurobane Sakura, Kurobane Sakuya
I fell for Love Live earlier this year and I fell hard. I love the anime, I love the game (well, I love the story bits and my relationship with the gameplay is a little more love-hate), I love the manga, I'm in idol hell and it's terrible. And although one might think I could be happy with the existence of a decent-sized fandom for the members of μ's, recently I went "I wonder if there are any fanworks about the N girls?" and... well, there aren't, as far as I can tell. I know they don't have the deepest characterizations, but they have cool designs and a bit of personality, and fandoms have been built on less. And I'm just really interested in seeing their characters explored more and having expanded idol shenanigans.
For Aikawa Ryo and Shirase Koyuki, I'm interested in how their performing arts backgrounds interact with the idol thing--what do they bring from acting/ballet dancing to being idols (and possibly vice versa)? And how do they even have time for both? I'd also like to see their longtime friendship explored and... actually see them interact, since in the game you can only hear them talk about each other. And yes, I ship it, especially after seeing the scene where Ryo talks about getting to perform alongside Koyuki in a play. I'm a big fan of the Takarazuka Revue and pretty much all the Japanese pop culture inspired by it, so anything about all-female theatrical productions is My Jam, and I am a sucker for onstage romances becoming offstage romances, as cheesy as that is.
For the Kurobane sisters, I enjoy the impression I get that their relationship is kind of superficially antagonistic--Sakuya is... not very much in touch with reality, or at least acts that way, and Sakura is more practical and seems kind of long-suffering and put-upon about having to keep her sister from doing anything stupid, but that deep down they really do care about each other. I mean, Sakura says she's the only one allowed to insult Sakuya, and I feel like that sums up what interests me about them--that maybe they're not always nice to each other, but Sakura still won't stand for anyone else messing with her sister (and people have probably tried, considering). So again, mostly I just want to see them actually interact, and I'd be particularly interested in exploring Sakuya's feelings a bit more, since canon tells us more about what Sakura thinks of Sakuya than vice versa.
I don't expect all four characters to be included in the fic, since they're apparently at different schools, but if you want to get them all in one place for an inter-school idol competition (or non-competitive idol event), that could be fun. Feel free also to include any of the other N girls--believe me, I would've nominated more than four if I could have. μ's girls can also show up, but I'd rather not have too heavy a focus on them, much as I love them; for the purposes of this request, I just want the N girls to have their moment in the sun.
Useful links:
- The game's official site: http://www.school-fes.klabgames.net/
- A good resource for character information/videos of max-bond scenes: http://schoolido.lu/idols/
Magical Makeover - Any
The thing I particularly love about this game is how mundane all the magical elements are to the characters (at least, the ones that are native to the setting). All sorts of weird and surreal things happen, but it's not surprising or mysterious or awe-inspiring, it's just part of everyday life--and frequently an annoying part, at that. So further weird magical adventures with the same sort of "oh great, now what?" tone would be fun, I think. I'd be happy to see fic following on from any of the possible endings--the PC trying to adjust to/connect with a newly adopted cassowary sister, encountering Amherst again (maybe visiting her in her world this time?), further exploring a really ill-advised attraction to Princess Philantha (possibly by sneaking into more palace events), having set the fairy free but just keeping running into her (to her chagrin), or just... some other weird magical problem coming up that the PC and/or Millie and/or the fairy have to deal with. These are very PC-centric prompts, I know, but I'd also love to read about the past or future adventures of any of the other characters--the cassowary's first day of school? Amherst trying astral projection again and ending up in more trouble? Millicent's day-to-day witch business (I mean, it seems to be her job, but what does that actually entail?) Exploration of who Philantha is and how she became so powerful? Further development of fairy society and its really cool library, possibly involving some kind of shenanigans that continue to prevent the fairy from finishing her book? I don't know, I'm just spitballing here--feel free to go in a totally different direction if you have a better idea. And if characters who don't interact with each other in canon (which is most of the non-PC characters except Millicent and the fairy) run into each other in the fic, that could be fun too.
I'm also down for shipping the PC with any of the other nominated characters except the cassowary (that would be incest, technically, and the cassowary is also underage!). Also, with the fairy, I like their dynamic (have I mentioned I like when characters bicker a lot but are there for each other when it counts?) but the fairy is also super tiny and that's not really my kink, so if you pair them up, I guess keep it fairly chaste? Or, hey, maybe one of them changes sizes (intentionally or unintentionally, though I feel like unintentionally is almost more in keeping with the spirit of the canon). That could be entertaining.
Further shipping thoughts: I love how comfortable the PC and Millie are with each other and how, when the chips are down, Millie is always willing to provide tea/sympathy/tough love/impromptu magical quest solutions/a locked room in which to recover from a bout of lepidoptero-vampirism. (And I'm sure the PC would do the same, but Millie doesn't seem to get into nearly as much trouble--at least the PC brings excitement to Millie's life?) I thought their relationship was really sweet and I'd enjoy seeing it taken in a friends-to-lovers direction. On the less fluffy side, there's PC/Philantha, which I can't quite see as a proper romantic relationship so much as a passionate clandestine thing that the PC knows is a horrible idea but keeps doing anyway. PC/Amherst, I admit, I haven't thought so much about, but it could be cute, and I think it's interesting that it's almost the reverse of the PC/Millie dynamic, with the PC as the more level-headed one.
On a side note, I'm unsure whether the game's avoidance of assigning a gender to the PC is so you can project whatever identity you prefer (interactive fiction has a history of this) or whether it's specifically meant to imply that they're genderqueer/nonbinary--I would be cool with the latter, but also with the PC being interpreted as female, if you can't or don't want to keep it ambiguous.
Useful links:
- The game: http://philome.la/Citrushistrix/magical-makeover-fixed/play
Neon Genesis Impacts - Taniguchi Izumi, Matsuzawa Ayako, Ishii Haruka
I'm not going to have so much to say about this one because it's a seven-minute short, but it's a seven-minute short with a lot of potential for further exploration of the characters, their relationships, and how they fit into the setting, I think.
Okay, so, I know the ending heavily implies that Haruka is about to get dead, but it's not shown, so as far as I'm concerned, it's not canon. I mean, she might still survive the attack somehow! Though if you'd rather work with the assumption that she is dead and focus on the other two, that's fine.
Mostly I'm interested in how they weather the coming series of catastrophes (what's it like to be an ordinary, non-mecha-piloting person dealing with the Angel attacks and all the attendant chaos?) and whether they ever meet again--and if they do, does Haruka and Izumi's apparent budding romance get the chance to go anywhere? Expanding on their backstory and how they met and became a band would be cool with me too, though. You don't have to follow the continuity of the original Evangelion TV series, or really any existing version of Evangelion continuity, if you don't want to. I mean, keep the background and the established setting elements, but as far as what happens following the Impacts short and whether Instrumentality is a thing and so on, feel free to just make stuff up. Cameos from non-Impacts Evangelion characters okay if you want to include them; major involvement of said characters not okay. Tragic and/or bittersweet endings are fine.
Useful links:
- The short, in its entirety: http://animatorexpo.com/neongenesisimpacts/
- Translation of the blurb (which gives some information, like character surnames, that's not in the short): http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-09-18/japan-animator-expo-streams-yuhei-sakuragi-neon-genesis-impacts-short/.93098
Paros no Ken | Sword of Paros - Erminia, Fiona
I read this fairly recently and I was happy to see that it ended with Erminia and Fiona riding off into the metaphorical sunset together, but that aside, it's really such an ambiguous ending. They're alive and together and have gotten away from all the nefarious plotting, but the country's still at war/being invaded--what do they do with that? Do they flee somewhere safer or stick it out or what? Do they get involved in some kind of resistance, or are they content to wash their hands of the whole mess? And just generally, how do they live and how does Erminia adjust to not being royalty anymore? It would be interesting to see Fiona basically being the one who's more competent, or at least more equipped for the kind of life that they're now living, and maybe having to teach Erminia things. Canon has a lot of Erminia being a hero and sweeping in to save Fiona and all, and while I'm cool with that happening in fic, I'm interested in also seeing some areas of their life together where Erminia is the one who's at a disadvantage.
I know it's fairly easy to read Erminia as a trans man, but personally (again, as in Magical Makeover) I would rather the character be written as either female or genderqueer/genderfluid/nonbinary. I mean, if this is a huge dealbreaker/personally upsetting for you, ODAO away, but that's my preference.
Also--and this is more of a hard DNW--don't break them up or kill either of them, please. They can go through struggles and hardships, bad things can happen to them, but I'd like a non-tragic ending at least as far as the two of them and their relationship are concerned.
Useful links:
- Full scanslation: http://mangasaurus.com/manga/2238/paros-no-ken