Rare Women exchange letter
Feb. 28th, 2013 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lirillithFirst of all, apologies if I've screwed up or misunderstood the rules in some way: the only other exchange I've participated in is Yuletide, and I believe the matching on this one is different. If I start talking about prompts for characters you don't want to write on the fandom we matched, feel free to ignore that part, since on most of these I'm pretty flexible and would be fine with any combination of nominated characters. I'm not trying to game the system, I'm genuinely confused by it. While I'm mostly in the market for character-centric gen (or in some cases femslash) I do have some het ships and favored male characters I'll mention. Obviously those are all optional, so please don't take that to mean I don't actually want fic centering on the women!
If you find yourself regretting the fandom match and wanting to switch, I can't really help you with the availability of Suikoden games or FF6, nor can I hook you up with a level 86 character so you can do Li Li's quests in World of Warcraft, but I can tell you that Tiger & Bunny (a superhero action/dramedy) and Madoka Magica (a very dark magical girl anime) are both available subtitled on Hulu, if you have access to that. T&B is 25 episodes long and Madoka Magica is 12.
Touching on some other things that some people feel strongly about: Use whatever narrative tense or POV you want. I don't have any triggers to speak of, though I really, really, really hate scenes of public humiliation. I get annoyed with Japanese honorifics and terminology used in non-Japanese settings (i.e. Tiger & Bunny,) though I can take or leave it in Japanese settings and I've used them myself. Another thing I can take or leave is extra-canon info (spin-off or tie-in works, adaptations in other media, interviews with the creators.) They can give some fun info to use to embroider the world, but I hate when people act like they're irrefutable canon or use them to stifle fan theories and speculation, i.e. "that's a neat idea but the writers SAID..." As far as I'm concerned, canon is what's onscreen, not what's in the game guide or on the character designer's blog or the director's Twitter.
Things I like are pretty much covered in the prompts, but in general, I enjoy world-building, meta about the functioning of the world (its magic system, the superhero industry in T&B, etc.) domesticity that doesn't erase canon personalities (when I talk about domesticity, I'm thinking more of bickering about the dishes than about smooching while shopping for curtains,) sex that's awkward or silly, people who enjoy each other's company and laugh together whether they're platonic friends or lovers and whether they're sharing a meal or having sex, and maybe most of all, people finding ways to reach hope and contentment despite having been to hell and back.
Tiger & Bunny
I signed up for both Pao-lin and Karina, so most of my prompts will assume you offered both. If you didn't (I think that's how the matching works?) that's fine too!
Prompts:
Or Kaede, coming to terms with her powers, with meeting all the heroes, maybe participating in fandom herself? Her relationship with her dad and the rest of the family? As for Agnes, I'd much rather have exploration of her personality, her career, and her relationships than cracky "Agnes is in love with ratings" jokes. Extra-canon info suggests she's friendly with Nathan, which is one possible hook for a fic.
Final Fantasy VI
I only signed up for Terra, but you'll probably want to bring in other characters! To reiterate my signup, I'd really love fic of her interacting with any of the nominated characters. I see Katarin as one of Terra's closest friends, and also the first person she's known who links her to normal life; on the other hand, Celes is about the only person she knows with a similar background, someone who relates to magic in at all the same way she does and probably feels its loss in close to the same way. And as for Relm, it seems to me that in the second half of the game, Terra's probably going to connect with Gau and Relm, the two motherless children on the airship, since she's a temporarily childless foster-mother.
If you want to bring in other characters, I do ship Terra with Locke (and/or Celes; I could get behind them as an OT3 provided it's not centered around Locke and Celes being together first) and I love the whole FF6 cast. I don't want to see Locke and Celes together unless it's a triad with Terra involved, though; I especially don't want them presented as a background pairing where it's just taken for granted that they're an item.
Suikoden I
Cleo is my favorite character from this game, and the McDohl household my favorite group of characters; I'd love either pre-game McDohl household gen, or something post-game, Cleo's life in Gregminster with the household scattered to the four winds and fellow Liberation Army members running the inns and selling things in the market. I admit, I ship Cleo and Pahn, but if you'd rather explore variants other than the Perfect Ending, I'm totally game for that too. And I find Cleo's brief scene with Sonya Schulen fascinating, whether you'd rather take it in a gen or shippy direction.
Suikoden III
I picked Aila because I freaking adore Aila. But if you're stumped or blocked on ideas, I'd be totally fine with Chris-fic as well!
Aila prompts:
Madoka Magica
I picked Kazuko and Junko because, when it comes to Madoka Magica, I'm on the side of the grownups. I don't want these girls to fight and die and go to Magical Girl Valhalla; I want them to grow up and have lives and relationships and most of all THERAPY. I HATE that the ending leaves Junko unable to remember her own daughter. HATE. If you want to fix that somehow, by all means, please do so.
But fairness is not the point of this canon, so instead, I'll go for some fic of these two in any of the timelines.
If none of this is working for you, you can go to town however you want. You don't need to feel bound to write fic of these two if nothing's clicking; there are certainly plenty of women and girls to choose from! In fic focusing on any of the teenagers, I'd be all about a mundane AU, an AU with a more merciful magical system, or some alternate resolution to an otherwise unchanged story that'd let Madoka continue to exist (see earlier point about hating Junko's amnesia.) I'm fine with the popular pairings, but I also really ship Mami/Kyoko (whether post-series in the final timeline, pre-series, in the Different Story manga - the only spin-off I've read and liked - or in AUs) and was surprised to find myself shipping Madoka/Sayaka when I re-watched recently.
World of Warcraft
I am so glad I thought to check at the last minute and realized Li Li was nominated, because Li Li is AWESOME. I've only glanced at the Li Li story on the Blizz website, and I've only vaguely heard of some kind of comic featuring her, so you can feel free to ignore or incorporate any canon info however you please. Though I warn you, if you're making clever allusions to the tie-in stuff I'm not going to get it. Sorry. I just want more of Li Li being as amazing as she is in the game: mocking whichever random adventurer she picked out, who keeps stopping to fish/mine/herb/whatever and barely gets better mileage than Uncle Chen; mocking Uncle Chen himself; tormenting virmen; any or all of the above.
Sorry, I'm not so flexible here: I want Li Li fic. I want Li Li to ride around in my sidecar in-game and make sarcastic comments about everything I do, but until then, I want Li Li fic.
If you find yourself regretting the fandom match and wanting to switch, I can't really help you with the availability of Suikoden games or FF6, nor can I hook you up with a level 86 character so you can do Li Li's quests in World of Warcraft, but I can tell you that Tiger & Bunny (a superhero action/dramedy) and Madoka Magica (a very dark magical girl anime) are both available subtitled on Hulu, if you have access to that. T&B is 25 episodes long and Madoka Magica is 12.
Touching on some other things that some people feel strongly about: Use whatever narrative tense or POV you want. I don't have any triggers to speak of, though I really, really, really hate scenes of public humiliation. I get annoyed with Japanese honorifics and terminology used in non-Japanese settings (i.e. Tiger & Bunny,) though I can take or leave it in Japanese settings and I've used them myself. Another thing I can take or leave is extra-canon info (spin-off or tie-in works, adaptations in other media, interviews with the creators.) They can give some fun info to use to embroider the world, but I hate when people act like they're irrefutable canon or use them to stifle fan theories and speculation, i.e. "that's a neat idea but the writers SAID..." As far as I'm concerned, canon is what's onscreen, not what's in the game guide or on the character designer's blog or the director's Twitter.
Things I like are pretty much covered in the prompts, but in general, I enjoy world-building, meta about the functioning of the world (its magic system, the superhero industry in T&B, etc.) domesticity that doesn't erase canon personalities (when I talk about domesticity, I'm thinking more of bickering about the dishes than about smooching while shopping for curtains,) sex that's awkward or silly, people who enjoy each other's company and laugh together whether they're platonic friends or lovers and whether they're sharing a meal or having sex, and maybe most of all, people finding ways to reach hope and contentment despite having been to hell and back.
Tiger & Bunny
I signed up for both Pao-lin and Karina, so most of my prompts will assume you offered both. If you didn't (I think that's how the matching works?) that's fine too!
Prompts:
- Mid-series fic set during the ten-month timeskip - How did Pao-lin and Karina solidify their friendship? Feel free to bring in Nathan; I'd dearly love fic about the trio hanging out.
- Or for a different trio, I'd also love to see Pao-lin, Karina, and Ivan, the three youngest heroes, interacting
- I'd love to see gen from the one-year timeskip, too. Setting aside Karina's crush on Kotetsu, the loss of T&B has to have changed the dynamic for the remaining heroes; some exploration of that would be interesting.
- And, of course, femslash; I see Pao-lin as the one developing a crush first, maybe in part because it took Karina quite some time to admit to her feelings for Kotetsu, and she'd presumably have at least as much trouble facing up to bisexuality.
- Or some semi-femslash exploration, like, say, a few years on Agnes is ship-teasing the two of them for ratings regardless of how they feel about it... so how DO they feel about it?
- Or individual fics: Karina and her relationships with her parents or her civilian friends, her singing career, how much input she has into the Blue Rose persona and how she feels about it; or Pao-lin and her relationships with her parents or with Natasha, how she dealt with culture shock on coming to Stern Bild, how she feels about being a hero considering that she started very young.
Or Kaede, coming to terms with her powers, with meeting all the heroes, maybe participating in fandom herself? Her relationship with her dad and the rest of the family? As for Agnes, I'd much rather have exploration of her personality, her career, and her relationships than cracky "Agnes is in love with ratings" jokes. Extra-canon info suggests she's friendly with Nathan, which is one possible hook for a fic.
Final Fantasy VI
I only signed up for Terra, but you'll probably want to bring in other characters! To reiterate my signup, I'd really love fic of her interacting with any of the nominated characters. I see Katarin as one of Terra's closest friends, and also the first person she's known who links her to normal life; on the other hand, Celes is about the only person she knows with a similar background, someone who relates to magic in at all the same way she does and probably feels its loss in close to the same way. And as for Relm, it seems to me that in the second half of the game, Terra's probably going to connect with Gau and Relm, the two motherless children on the airship, since she's a temporarily childless foster-mother.
If you want to bring in other characters, I do ship Terra with Locke (and/or Celes; I could get behind them as an OT3 provided it's not centered around Locke and Celes being together first) and I love the whole FF6 cast. I don't want to see Locke and Celes together unless it's a triad with Terra involved, though; I especially don't want them presented as a background pairing where it's just taken for granted that they're an item.
Suikoden I
Cleo is my favorite character from this game, and the McDohl household my favorite group of characters; I'd love either pre-game McDohl household gen, or something post-game, Cleo's life in Gregminster with the household scattered to the four winds and fellow Liberation Army members running the inns and selling things in the market. I admit, I ship Cleo and Pahn, but if you'd rather explore variants other than the Perfect Ending, I'm totally game for that too. And I find Cleo's brief scene with Sonya Schulen fascinating, whether you'd rather take it in a gen or shippy direction.
Suikoden III
I picked Aila because I freaking adore Aila. But if you're stumped or blocked on ideas, I'd be totally fine with Chris-fic as well!
Aila prompts:
- Pre-game, interactions with any of the Karayan characters: What does she think of Hugo? Does she admire Lucia? Hell, what's Karayan life like in general? We only get glimpses.
- Mid- to post-game, I favor Aila joining the Twelfth Unit rather than whatever the manga did with her (I don't have very fond feelings toward the manga in general, to put it mildly.) I ship her with Jacques, my archer-OTP, though that's certainly not a requirement. I'd love 12th Unit fic in general, Aila's thoughts on her travels, anything along those lines.
Madoka Magica
I picked Kazuko and Junko because, when it comes to Madoka Magica, I'm on the side of the grownups. I don't want these girls to fight and die and go to Magical Girl Valhalla; I want them to grow up and have lives and relationships and most of all THERAPY. I HATE that the ending leaves Junko unable to remember her own daughter. HATE. If you want to fix that somehow, by all means, please do so.
But fairness is not the point of this canon, so instead, I'll go for some fic of these two in any of the timelines.
- What does Kazuko make of her new transfer student announcing she's a magical girl in class?
- What is Kazuko's boyfriend saying to prompt some of her diatribes, and is he that bad in every timeline?
- If Junko and Kazuko are around the same age, they're probably in at least their mid-thirties; has Kazuko been in commitment-seeking overdrive all this time, or is this a more recent development?
- If you feel like writing Junko/Kazuko, I'd prefer that it be pre-canon; I'd rather not have Junko cheating on her husband.
- And since I apparently came up with all these prompts on the assumption that you'd be writing both, some Junko-specific possibilities; her relationship with her husband, her kids, life as they get their amazing house designed and built, whatever you want.
If none of this is working for you, you can go to town however you want. You don't need to feel bound to write fic of these two if nothing's clicking; there are certainly plenty of women and girls to choose from! In fic focusing on any of the teenagers, I'd be all about a mundane AU, an AU with a more merciful magical system, or some alternate resolution to an otherwise unchanged story that'd let Madoka continue to exist (see earlier point about hating Junko's amnesia.) I'm fine with the popular pairings, but I also really ship Mami/Kyoko (whether post-series in the final timeline, pre-series, in the Different Story manga - the only spin-off I've read and liked - or in AUs) and was surprised to find myself shipping Madoka/Sayaka when I re-watched recently.
World of Warcraft
I am so glad I thought to check at the last minute and realized Li Li was nominated, because Li Li is AWESOME. I've only glanced at the Li Li story on the Blizz website, and I've only vaguely heard of some kind of comic featuring her, so you can feel free to ignore or incorporate any canon info however you please. Though I warn you, if you're making clever allusions to the tie-in stuff I'm not going to get it. Sorry. I just want more of Li Li being as amazing as she is in the game: mocking whichever random adventurer she picked out, who keeps stopping to fish/mine/herb/whatever and barely gets better mileage than Uncle Chen; mocking Uncle Chen himself; tormenting virmen; any or all of the above.
Sorry, I'm not so flexible here: I want Li Li fic. I want Li Li to ride around in my sidecar in-game and make sarcastic comments about everything I do, but until then, I want Li Li fic.
