Yuletide 2017 Letter

[straightforwardly]

Dearest Writer,

Hello, and welcome! Yuletide is very near and dear to my heart, and I’m so excited that it’s come around again. In this letter, I’ve tried to give a clear overview of my likes, dislikes, and general wishes. Hopefully there’s something here that inspires you. ♥ Please don’t stress out too much over my gift, though. Honestly, I’m pretty easy to please. I’m ecstatic when someone follows my general likes and/or one of my prompts, but as long as you avoid my DNWs and treat the characters that I love with love and respect, I’ll be happy.

AO3 Handle: straightforwardly
Previous Letters: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

General Likes

• canon settings.
• canon divergence AUs.
• exploring the relationships between characters.
• quiet / subtle / low-key romances.
• hand-holding, casual touching, any focus on hands.
• dysfunctional or otherwise complicated relationships, especially if the people involved genuinely care about one another.
• worldbuilding.
• emotional hurt/comfort.
• trapped together / huddling for warmth scenarios.
• winter/autumn settings and atmosphere.
• any time-related shenanigans: time travel, time loops, peggy sue, etc.
• castles, shrines, abandoned ruins, dark forests, places with a deep sense of atmosphere and/or history.
• unusual formats (e.g., epistolary, interactive fiction, non-linear storytelling, & so on.)
• ghosts & hauntings.

General Do Not Wants

• porn without plot.
• eye injuries.
• zombies / any of the rotting undead.
• hopeless endings & character death (of the requested characters).
• detailed descriptions of/focus on pregnancy, marriage and childbirth in general.
• kid!fic, and anything to do with the next generation, canonical or not.
• crack!fic, A/B/O, and complete AUs.
• characters being humiliated.
• unrequested pairings.

Child of Light

Requested Characters: Aurora, Norah, Gen
Canon: An absolutely gorgeous roleplaying/platforming game about a young Austrian girl who suddenly finds herself waking up in a fantasy world after having seemingly died from a mysterious illness.

First: you don’t need to include all of my characters in your fic! For this fandom, I’m mostly interested in the interactions between Aurora and Norah, and Aurora and Gen, and would be delighted in any fic that focused on at least one of those relationships. Though if you wanted to combine my prompts for those two relationships in some way, feel free to!

You also definitely don’t have to mimic the rhyming structure of the game’s dialogue. I’d rather their dialogue be closer to 19th century language structure than the 21st (since Aurora is from the 19th century), but as long as there’s not any glaringly modern slang/phrases, I’m not going to be fussy about it at all. In regards to the rest of the cast, I’d be happy to see most of them appear if needed, and am particularly fond of Óengus. But I’d rather not see Robert appear / play any large role in the fic, though mentions of him are fine.

I actually didn’t care about the story of this game at all at first—the bad poetry was a bit painful, and I was mostly playing it for the music/gameplay/beautiful artwork—but then Norah’s betrayal happened, and I suddenly found myself invested in the game as a whole. I find her relationship with Aurora so interesting. Even before the betrayal I was having some feelings about how her skillset revolves around defense/protection, which I read as “defense/protection of her little sister”, but the betrayal sent my interest skyrocketing. I love that one of the last things Norah says to Aurora before she betrays her is actually a compliment + some advice, and I’m definitely not convinced that Norah actually hated her, though I do think that Norah tried to convince herself that she did.

I actually thought that the game was gearing up for a redemption arc for her, and was pretty surprised when that didn’t happen. So… redemption arc, please? I’d love for something where she didn’t actually die after her battle with Aurora, whether it’s a more canon-compliant take where Aurora just thought that she died but she didn’t, or something where everyone involved was just badly injured. I’d be into so many different takes on this: something set while Norah is healing under Aurora’s care and bitter about it, something where they run into each other by accident months or years later, something where Norah’s been nursing some pretty complicated and bitter feelings and seeks Aurora out herself, Norah having to deal with living under Aurora’s rule in the new Lemuria… anything you can think of, really.

I was also actually pretty disappointed with how the game handled Aurora’s reactions to her sisters’ deaths. She seemed genuinely fond of them before, and her pleas to Cordelia right before that boss battle seemed so heartfelt, but she didn’t seem to care at all about their deaths afterwards. That didn’t sit right with me, and I’d definitely be interested in something dealing with that. Maybe Aurora finds herself struck with grief at odd moments? Or has to deal with a delayed grief setting in once the dust is settled? This can be combined with my above fix-it prompts (Norah suddenly appearing while she’s mourning!) or not. Or maybe she finds herself haunted by Norah’s ghost? Does she end up reconciling with her that way, or—?

The other relationship I mentioned being interested in is that between Aurora and Gen. I actually ship Aurora/Gen a lot! I just loved the way they bonded over having lost their parents at such a young age (as far as I can tell, they were the same age before Aurora suddenly Grew Up). I can’t help but think that could lead to them feeling a connection and a sense of understanding with one another.

That being said, I don’t want anything happening between them until Gen’s an adult. So, future-fic, maybe? I’d love any glimpse into what Aurora’s reign is like. Where does Gen fit in? Does she live in Aurora’s court year round (does she have a role there? what is it?), or does she spend her time travelling and only come by for visits? How could a relationship between them begin? Is it a slow, gradual thing, or? How does a relationship between change or not change where they (and Gen in particular) fits in Aurora’s kingdom?

Just, anything about their adult lives and how they intersect (particularly in a romantic context) would delight me. I wouldn’t mind gen either, though, as long as they’re shown feeling a connection to one another and aren’t paired up with anyone else.

Gokusen

Requested Characters: Sawada Shin, Yamaguchi Kumiko
Canon: A manga about a brand-new teacher who ends up teaching a class full of delinquents at a boys-only school. Oh, and said teacher also happens to secretly be the heiress to a yakuza family. :D

This is a very new canon for me—as in, I read it in the period between the tagset reveal and sign-ups opening—but I’m heads-over-heels in love. I found this manga hilarious and touching, and ended up shipping Shin/Kumiko really hard. (I’m not even sure how that happened; I’m usually squicked by teacher/student, but for some reason, these two work for me). I love that Shin was the first to see through her “silly naive teacher” act and how he ends up helping her keep her secret. I loved watching them turn to one another for help, and how they both grow to rely on one another more and more as time went on.

I’d really love to see post-canon fic, especially post-canon fic set while Shin’s in college. I really want to see how they continue to be in one another’s lives now that they’re no longer teacher and student. Casual meet-ups that are totally not dates, nope (except they kind of are, or at least Shin would like them to be). Shin casually spending time at the Kuroda household and being accepted by the inhabitants there. I did love his relationship with Kyou-san, and how Kyou-san seemed to see him as someone to take under his wing, so any inclusion of that would be adored.

I’d also love to see Kumiko slowly realizing that maybe she’s in love with him too. Canon-typical shenanigans are also most definitely welcome! (Maybe one of Shin’s former classmates gets into trouble? Or anything you can think of!) Or a realization of love coupled with canon-typical shenanigans? Kumiko kissing Shin and then immediately panicking because she hadn’t realized she was into him until that moment?

Or maybe Shin gets kidnapped (because of something yakuza-related? something unrelated?) and Yankumi needs to swoop in and rescue him? They both get kidnapped, and have to work together to break out?

Or...I’m not normally interested in AUs, but I’m willing to waive that DNW if you wrote Shin and Kumiko as a pair in a state-mandated ghost-hunting AU! (Especially if Kumiko’s family is still yakuza! How would the yakuza fit in a world with actual ghosts? What kind of insane rituals would they have that normal people/ghost-hunters don’t?)

Or anything you can think of!

I do love the other side-characters too, and would be more than happy to see them appear in the fic! I’m particularly fond of Shin’s friendship with Kuma, both Shin & Yankumi’s relationships with Shin’s friend group, Kumiko’s relationships with her grandfather and “little brothers”, both of their relationships with Kyou-san, Kumiko’s friendship with Fujiyama... ♥

A canon-specific Do Not Want: I’m not fond of the chapters focusing on Shin and the dog, and would rather not see anything like those chapters in content/tone.

A Little Lily Princess

Requested Characters: Lavinia, Jessie
Canon: An f/f otome game based on the novel A Little Princess. It can be purchased here, or on Steam.

I ship Lavinia/Jessie like mad. I did get an excellent fic for this pairing last year, but I’m greedy for more. ♥ I have a soft spot for relationships with dysfunctional elements, and these two certainly have that in spades. One of the things that strikes me the most about them is that they both have something that they desperately need—for Lavinia it’s acceptance, and for Jessie, security—and they’re both in the perfect position to give one another what they need, but it instead ends up being the cause that drives them apart. Lavinia plays power games with Jessie over whether or not she’ll take her with her as a companion, which pushes Jessie away from her, while Lavinia seems to be unable to trust in the veracity of Jessie’s feelings for her at least in part because she knows that Jessie needs her for security.

Which raises the question—how do things go forward from here? Before I go any further, I should say that, at least for this exchange, I don’t want any fic that’s set during Jessie or Lavinia’s route. I’d much prefer to see how their relationship develops in one of the other routes, where neither of them turn to Sara as the outlet for the problems in their relationship.

Does Jessie ever find out about Lavinia’s mother? I can’t see Lavinia ever telling her herself—how does she find out? And when does she find out? Or maybe Lavinia does tell her herself—how could they conceivably ever get to that point?

I think this is a good point to say that I’d be very interested in a fic set after they’ve finished school, and Jessie’s become Lavinia’s paid companion—especially if it starts out with nothing yet improved from where we see them in the game. How would the new situation change the tenor of their relationship? That being said, I’m not opposed to fic set while they’re at school either!

Basically, how do things work out for them? Because I would like to see things to work out for them. I don’t mind a bit of continuing dysfunction, because 1) Lavinia and 2) I love dysfunctional relationships, but I’d love for there to be some actual communication between them, even if it’s a bumpy, long-delayed kind of communication. I would love Lavinia to see and be able to trust in Jessie’s love for her, and for Jessie to feel secure, and have her love returned. So how could that happen?

I should say that I love how messed up Lavinia is—her intense self-hatred, the contrast between her sense of superiority and supreme insecurity, her hunger for power, her craving for control and how that leads her manipulation of others, her tendency to cruelty, and her sudden moments of vulnerability. All of the breakdowns she had in Sara’s route were like catnip for me, and I would love to see her being forced to show that same vulnerability to Jessie—especially in a situation where Jessie’s already become her paid companion.

Essentially, I adore Lavinia, and while I would like her and Jessie’s relationship to improve, I definitely don’t want it to end in Lavinia becoming a Sara-like figure. I like her sharp edges, and all the ways that she doesn’t fit in the mold of a Proper 19th Century Lady, and I don’t want her to lose that.

Also, anything with Lavinia and cats can never go wrong. The same is true of Jessie and travel.

Shall We Date? The Niflheim

Requested Characters: Any (Sunny, Isabella, Orlando, Philippe)
Canon: A free-to-play visual novel/otome game on the cellphone. You can see a trailer for it here.

I’m familiar with all of the main routes (though not quite all of the endings), and most of the event stories. If you want to reference something that happened in one of the temporary Grace Point event stories, feel free to do so. I remember the Lovesickness Event and onwards best, though I did read through the Grace Point event that happened before it.

This is a canon that I have a deep and almost ridiculous amount of affection for. I’m particularly fascinated by the worldbuilding. It’s so charming and strange! I’d love anything that explores more into the world of Niflheim. I’m also interested in canon divergence AUs set from literally any point in any route, darker takes on any of the concepts we see in game, weird fluff… honestly, just write me something about these characters in Niflheim, and I’m sure to be delighted.

My favorite ships for these characters are Sunny/Isabella, Philippe/Isabella, Orlando/Jean, J.J./Isabella, and Jean/Isabella. That being said, I’m pretty easy about shipping in this fandom, and am willing to waive my “unrequested ships” DNW if you get an idea for another ship. The only pairing that I absolutely do not want to receive are Victor/Anyone and Skeletiano/Isabella.

I’m also perfectly happy to receive gen! I’d be particularly interested in seeing any of my requested characters interacting with one another, though I’m also happy to see their relationships with other, not-nominated characters or them on their own. I’m not very interested in Victor, though, so I’d prefer any involvement on his part to be kept to a minimum. Also, you don’t have to include all of my requested characters in your fic! As long as the fic centers on at least one of them, I’d be delighted.

In regards to Isabella in particular: Best heroine, or best heroine? I adore her enthusiasm, her kindness, her energy, and her curiosity about all things Niflheim. Her admiration of Sunny in particular is just the sweetest. When it comes to Isabella on her own, there’s nothing that I’d be more interested in than just Isabella exploring Niflheim. Locations (both those we’ve seen in canon and brand-new ones), festivals (ditto), the people—all of those things would be excellent.

In regards to Sunny in particular: I love how she’s prickly and competent and ultimately good-hearted. If you’re familiar with the Before We Met event, I’m also fascinated by the sadness of her backstory and how embittered she was when she first woke in Niflheim. How did she start to heal without the aid of a time-travelling Isabella? (Though if you never got to read that event, don’t worry about it. ♥ I’m definitely fine with Sunny-fic that doesn’t mention her backstory.) Or, I’d definitely be interested in fic set when Sunny’s more secure in her place in Niflheim. Does she have a weird encounter of her own, like Isabella always does? I do love the idea of her getting sucked into a novel like Isabella does in the Halloween event.

In regards to Philippe in particular: I’m eternally fascinated by the concept of a living person in Niflheim, and I love how genuinely Philippe cares about Isabella. Enough to wait 1000 years for her—and enough to step aside without even mentioning a word of his own feelings if he sees that she’s in love with someone else. How did he find Niflheim in the first place? How does he manage to wait so long without losing hope? Did he ever have any close-calls with the ghosts? (Did the Pale Ghost maybe help him out without Philippe knowing it?) How does the problem of his being alive get resolved when Isabella falls in love with someone else? Anything based on his Dark Ending would also be fascinating.

In regards to Orlando in particular: I just really like what a complete bastard he can be. I love his jealous possessiveness, his smiling manipulation, his charming he can be, and the fact that that charming face is an act. I’m especially curious about his role in the day-to-day running of Niflheim. Show me a moment when Orlando uses his charm and skills at manipulation to help Niflheim. Or maybe something with Niflheim’s never-ending excuses for holidays and festivals! Is Orlando disgruntled because all of the work for organizing the latest one has fallen on him, again? Or something else entirely!

I would also like to drop a reminder that I do have a massive zombie squick, so I do ask that, if you write about J.J., you please don’t linger on him being a zombie/what that means/any bodily details. If you absolutely must mention it, that’s fine, but please be as brief as possible, and don’t give any details.

Finally, I’ve requested this fandom in quite a few exchanges over the years, and would definitely be interested in receiving fic based on literally anything that I’ve prompted for in the past. Some of the more relevant ones can be found here: femslashex 2017 (Sunny/Isabella), Darkest Night 2017 (Jean; Jean &/ Isabella), Chocolate Box 2017 (Philippe/Isabella, Orlando/Jean), Yuletide 2016 (Orlando/Jean), Trick or Treat 2016 (Orlando, Philippe, J.J., Jean), Yuletide 2015 (Sunny/Isabella, Philippe, J.J., Jean)