dear author: yuletide 2013

[straightforwardly]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

First of all, thank you for being a lovely person. I hope you don't mind long letters, because I enjoy writing them. I do believe optional details are optional, so please don't feel pressured by anything written here. This is meant to open up your options, not constrain them, as personally I prefer it when my recipients give me something to work with. As long as you treat the characters I love with love and respect, I'll probably be more than happy with what you give me. ♥

General Likes & Dislikes

Likes	Dislikes
subtle romances, romance in general, character studies, friendship, happy endings, exploring the relationships between characters, plot, love without saying "I love you", kissing	porn without plot, graphic violence, characters being humiliated, unhappy endings (in the context of this fest), infidelity, crack!fic, kid!fic, sex scenes for the sake of sex scenes, complete AUs

Gone Home

Requested Character(s): Katie Greenbriar, Sam Greenbriar
Canon: Gone Home is a game that can be bought for Steam or as a direct download. (I think. That's what the website says.)

I was introduced to this game by my best friend, who texted me one day to say, "I just played the most amazing game", and about a week and a half later he was sitting me down in front of his computer to play it.

I don't think I love it quite so much as he did, but it is a lovely story, and I knew partway through playing it that I would definitely be requesting it for Yuletide. I love how the game is set-up— how you have to piece together the story through the things you find— but that also leaves so much area to explore.

One of my favorite things about the game was, although Katie was character you played, you don't actually learn much about her. All you see is some reflections of how other people, particularly Sam, view her. For all that she's the player character, she's definitely not the main character, and you never get to know much about her.

However, despite this, the game does a pretty good job at creating the relationship between her and Sam. You can tell the two of them are very close, and I just adored that subtle building of their relationship. I'd love to see more of it, which is why I requested them.

Some possible scenarios I'd like to see:

1) Sam and Katie reuniting post-series— a year later, five, ten, I'm not picky. You can include Lonnie/Sam, or have them broken up, as long as there's no character vilification. I thought Lonnie/Sam was cute, but didn't exactly OTP them, so I'm fine with them drifting apart if the plot asks for it. Mainly, I'd like Katie to find Sam again, and for Sam to have at least one member of her family who supports her and cares for her.

2) Anything from before Katie left for Europe. I'd prefer for them to not be too young in this— I find realistically written children tragically rare, and wouldn't want to chance it— but maybe them staying up late in each other's rooms as (younger) teenagers? I don't know, I just want to see them bonding.

Whatever you go with, I do ask that you have Katie be accepting of Sam's sexuality. Sam certainly indicated that she thought Katie knew and was fine with it, and I like that version of events best.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai

Requested Character(s): Anaru (Anjou Naruko), Yukiatsu (Matsuyuki Atsumu)
Canon: An eleven episode anime, which can be watched here on crunchyroll.

I first watched this anime back in... September, I believe, and while I don't think it's actually anything special— I doubt I'll ever rewatch it— I did fall in love with some of the characters. Particularly, Anaru. I don't know what it was about her, but she really struck a chord with me, and pretty much anything focusing on her— with one exception that I'll note below— I'd be happy with.

I also nominated Yukiatsu, and that was because his relationship with Anaru was one of my favorite from the anime. I was startled when they started interacting more, and to learn of how close they were as children, but it also really worked for me. I confess that I did start shipping it, so you are definitely more than welcome to write me Yukiatsu/Anaru fic, but if you're not comfortable with that, I'd still be over the moon for friendship fic.

If you do write Yukiatsu/Anaru— or any other pairing— I do ask that you be respectful of Anaru's canon feelings. Personally, I dislike both Jinta (please don't have him play a large role in the fic) and Jinta/Anaru (please don't write me this), but I still don't want character bashing or "lol I never loved him I always loved you" or anything like that. I don't think that would be fair to either Anaru or whoever she falls in love with next, and it'd make me sad to see it.

If you're not interested in writing about their relationship, for whatever reason, then I will say that I'm intrigued by the idea of Poppo/Anaru. Poppo's interesting in that, he's a character I wouldn't think I'd like, but... I actually kind of do, and while I don't know if it'd be accurate to say, "I ship them", I am definitely interested in seeing how a romantic relationship between them could work, if that makes sense.

I would prefer if the fic was set post-series, mainly because I'm not a fan of kid!fic— too often, the voice sounds far too unnatural for my taste and (if you take a romantic focus), I'm not exactly interested in the love lives of children. If you need to set it during the anime, then please put it in the portion where they're teenagers, although I'd be equally interested in seeing their lives as adults.

My dear, don't be afraid of me - Hellobaby

Requested Character(s): God of Fire, Queen of Ice
Canon: This piece of artwork by Hellobaby on deviantart.

This is pretty much my "gimme" fandom in case you get stuck on whatever you actually matched on (unless, for some fantastic reason, we matched on this, in which case, hi! and apologies for making assumptions!), because the canon can be consumed in about ten seconds.

I've been following Hellobaby for years now, and when this piece was posted, I immediately fell in love. I don't know what it was about it, but I immediately wanted to know more about the characters. Who they were, what their world was like, how they fell in love. Something about it really speaks to the part of me that's addicted to love stories.

So, what I'm requesting here is a straight-up romance. I want to know their story, but you definitely don't need to describe every moment of it— just a scene of them interacting together would be lovely. Please, though, don't rely heavily on romantic tropes— I want a genuine relationship, not checking off things from a formula.

Subsequent viewings has definitely made me notice the power imbalances in the relationship— he's a god, but she's only a queen; he's fire, which melts ice— everything seems designed to put her in the weaker position, which... is a little troubling, for me. So, if you want to address that, feel free! I'd love the queen to have her own autonomy, and not be a cliché, all blushing and dependent on him.

Please keep in mind that I do want genuine love and affection between them, despite these possible power imbalances.

This next part is a bit nit-picky, I'm aware, so I'm fine if you ignore this. But, I would like it if you could avoid naming them outside of their given titles. If you can't avoid it, it's not a big deal, but one of the reason I usually avoid nominating fandoms with unnamed characters is that there's a chance that the names chosen could throw me off. If you do name them, I ask that you at least try to make their names connected to their titles? Like, the words for "fire" and "ice" in a different language, or something. Or maybe just have them refer to each other by "Fire" or "Ice", because that's what they rule over, or something, I don't know.

The Immortals - Tamora Pierce

Requested Character(s): Daine Sarrasri
Canon: A four book series by Tamora Pierce, set in her Tortall universe.

So, I... never realized Immortals was a Yuletide-sized fandom until I was looking through the list of fandoms to try and decide which my fourth fandom would be, which is a pity, because I definitely would have been requesting and nominating it earlier if I had known. This is pretty much my favorite book series, and has some of my favorite fictional characters of all time— including, of course, Daine.

I love so much about her. I love how stubborn and no-nonsense she is, her deep love of animals, and I love how she's flawed and actually noticeably grows throughout the series. Her prejudice against the Stormwings, and how that changes is just utterly fascinating to me.

I wasn't interested in any of the other nominated characters, which I why I only requested Daine, and you definitely don't need to include anyone else I mention. Daine is lovely and amazing, and anything about her would make me ridiculously happy. I don't dislike Numair/Daine, but it's not a favorite, and any fannish urges it ever gave me was quite satisfied by the books, so please don't focus heavily on that, if at all.

That being said, there are some characters who I love her interactions with. Every scene between her and Rikash are pretty much my favorite scenes in all the books. Partially because it correlates with how she grows as a character re: her prejudice, partially because Rikash is another one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, and partially because their friendship is probably one of my favorite fictional relationships of all time. I also ship the hell out of them, if that's something you're interested in.

Another pairing I have fondness for is Kaddar/Daine, if you're interested in wrangling with that. I'm not sure how it would work— I'd hate for Daine to give up her autonomy in any form, and he does have his responsibilities— but if you can think of something, then that's something I’ve always been interested in seeing.

I'd also be interested in friendship fic between her and Maura, especially post-series. (In that scenario, I do like Blueness and Scraps, if you need supporting characters. Cloud is also always welcomed as a supporting character, no matter which route you choose.)

If none of those characters inspire you, then something purely Daine-focused is also amazing! After all, that is what I requested and, like I said above, I really love her, and mostly want something that's about her.

While, as mentioned in my dislikes, I don't want any complete AUs, I would be open to canon-divergent AUs, if that's necessary for the plot. This is particularly true in the case of Rikash.

I will note that I've never read past the Immortals books in the Tortall timeline— just wasn't interested by any of them— and I'd prefer for there to be no mentions of canon details and things that happen after the end of The Realms of the Gods, simply because, in my head, there isn't any canon after that point.

And that's that! Whatever we matched on— and whatever you choose to write— I hope that I've given you enough inspiration, and managed to avoid making you freak out about your assignment. Don't worry if you can't follow a request exactly; as long as you treat the characters with love and try to respect my dislikes, I'll probably be very happy with whatever it is you write for me.

Thank you. ♥