Yuletide letter
Oct. 8th, 2014 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lirillithEDIT as of Nov 2: Updated with additional prompts for everything. I'm also game for Yuleporn, so if that interests you, you can see my comment here.
Hello, writer! I hope this isn't too intimidatingly long — my prompts are always just suggestions, because some of the best gifts I've ever received have been things I didn't prompt. This letter is hopefully finished, but I've been writing it in fits and spurts while traveling and I may decide to tinker with it further once I'm back home (which shouldn't be too long after assignments go out.) I hope what I have here is helpful and not just wasted verbiage, and I hope if it's too much you feel free to ignore it.
If you want to check out some of my other fandom activity, I use the same name everywhere —![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
lirillith and ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
lirillith — but since the kind of fic I write is not totally representative of the type of fic I want to read, and my Tumblr has a lot of landscape photos, food porn, and reblogs about Free! and Ace Attorney, it may not help you much with what you want to know to write a fic.
Regarding likes and dislikes: This section is always one of the hard parts for me, both because I find it hard to pin down and quantify my likes — I'm not one of those people who can look at their list of fandoms or of favorite fics and list their top five tropes — and because something that I like in one context can be an emphatic DNW in another. Crossovers/fusions and AUs both fall under this umbrella, as do a significant number of kinks; something that I like for one pairing may feel wildly OOC for another.
I'm very much a character-driven and worldbuilding kind of fan, so the vast majority of my prompts will be character-centric. That's not to say I wouldn't love something more plot-driven! I just don't tend to have ideas along those lines. But if you do, do not let me hold you back.
I have no strong feelings regarding POV or verb tense. Just use whatever works best for your story. But I do get annoyed by epithets or frequent mentions of a character's hair or eye color.
I'm a multishipper in many of these fandoms, but I do have some very strong NOTPs, so it's probably best to avoid background pairings.
The things I can assure you I like under pretty much all circumstances: Strong character voices and dialogue. Characters making each other laugh, and by extension, couples making each other laugh in bed. Bickering, banter, team dynamics, domesticity that's not just fluff (come on, everyone fights with the people they live with) and that, if applicable, involves people who aren't romantically involved (roommates, adventuring parties, superhero teams?) I like fics that, while otherwise character-driven, incorporate worldbuilding detail, or meta/worldbuilding about the use of whatever magic or special powers may be present in the canon. Worldbuilding that renders game mechanics/events into real-world terms (less applicable for this set of requests than many times in the past.) Missing scenes, especially for canons that stick pretty closely to one viewpoint character, i.e. what's going on when he's not around? I like my fluff leavened by angst and my angst to end on a note that's at least bittersweet if not happier.
Definite DNWs: The word bromance. Too much focus on bodily fluids or smells (one of the biggest sticking points for me with A/B/O is all the smelling. Never mind the mpreg, just stop sniffing each other) or on the human foot, at least in a sexual context: if you're trying to gross me out you have a good shortcut there, though. Incest, including adopted/foster relatives, though again that's in the "not pleasant or sexy" column rather than the "is a trigger" column. Focus on OCs — if an OC is needed I very much prefer to see an existing background character be used than someone made up out of whole cloth. Underage where the youth of the character or characters involved is emphasized or fetishized — basically underage as a kink rather than as a side-effect of a canon with teenage characters. With most pairings I don't care for a clearly-defined top and bottom dynamic at all (in an interpersonal sense; I can see some characters having preferences about who inserts tab A into slot B) let alone BDSM.
And the two that are a bit more personal: I'm totally game for pregnancy fic (where it's applicable... possibly not at all in these requests) but I'd rather not see a situation where a pregnant character is hugely negative about pregnancy or motherhood, or where someone loses a pregnancy. Basically if pregnancy is going to appear I want it to be a wanted and overall-positive experience.
And I have a very bad reaction (I hesitate to call it a trigger; it's about anxiety, not PTSD) to situations where character A believes character B to be a good friend and trusts them, while character B secretly looks down on her/hates her/harbors ulterior motives/plots against her/gloats over what a fool A is to not realize B is about to destroy her/etc.
One final thing: I've written extensively for some of these fandoms (and not at all for others, which isn't a favoritism thing) so if we matched on one of those, please don't feel like that means you need to make use of my interpretations of characters or relationships. You can if you want — I mean, who doesn't like it when people agree with them? — but the whole reason I'm making requests is because I want to read someone else's fic and someone else's take on the canon. My fics may give you an idea of the kind of thing I like and the way I think about fic, but they're not a complete picture. There are many things I like to read that I can't write or just haven't written yet.
Tiger & Bunny || Request: Nathan Seymour
I'm going to copy-and-paste my enthusiasm about this series from last year, because it hasn't changed.
Tiger & Bunny: I love this show for its superhero worldbuilding (who pays for the property damage? Corporate sponsors!) its tremendously likable cast, its idealistic take on heroics despite all the advertising, and its gorgeous, fascinating setting. If you're in the US, the entire show can be watched subbed on Hulu, and selected dubbed episodes are also available.
Nathan's always been a favorite character, but after I got to see Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, my need for Nathan-centric fic and friendship fic both shot through the roof. I'd really, really love something about his friendships with Pao-lin, Karina, or both, especially post-Rising hugs or (platonic) h/c; Karina and Nathan both took quite a beating trying to protect each other, after all. Or on a different but still Rising-related note, something fleshing out Nathan's backstory based on the glimpses we saw, or his relationship with his family. Something about the onset of his powers? He's notably missing the tattoo in the white-dress flashback in the movie, and all his angst seems to be about sexuality/gender/gender expression, not about NEXT status. I really like the idea that for him, paradoxically, finding out he was a NEXT was a happy and empowering discovery, which would fit with the way it didn't show up in flashbacks of his worst and most painful memories, but I'd really just love ANY exploration of the subject.
(As you might gather from my choice of pronouns, I'm not a subscriber to the nonbinary-Nathan interpretation; I certainly get where it comes from, but I don't think it's the only valid read on the character. Same goes for Pao-lin.)
I don't mean to make this sound like "RISING FIC OR ELSE." It's just that Nathan, and the Girl Power Trio's friendship, was always important to me and then it made up the emotional core of the movie. I really badly want some exploration of it. But I do also love Nathan's other relationships, or at least their potential: with Antonio, Agnes, Barnaby, and Keith in particular. I ship him with anyone he wants, and smut is very welcome, for the record. The great disappointment of Rising for me was that Nathan never even got to grope Ryan; I was really hoping for that and for an unexpected reaction from Ryan. I don't want to see much more of Ryan than we already got, in general (definitely no background Ryan/Barnaby, for instance) but if he's romancing and/or being romanced by Nathan it might be a different story. For the others: I kind of like the idea that part of the reason Nathan isn't all over Keith is that he has real feelings for him. I like the fact that despite the grope-and-object routine, Nathan and Antonio are still friends, and I'd love to see something writing a bit of Nathan/Antonio into the movie (Antonio worrying while Nathan's incapacitated, for instance.) A Nathan/Antonio/Agnes threesome would be awesome, too, whether as a casual or occasional thing or a real relationship. And you seldom if ever see Nathan paired with Kotetsu, Barnaby, or Ivan...
Log Horizon || Request: Naotsugu and Marielle
I played MMORPGs for years (World of Warcraft primarily, with forays into LOTRO and most recently FF14) and the fantastic worldbuilding of Elder Tale both as a game and as a world is probably my favorite part. I watch this show with my husband, and we've been known to pause the series to check a character's level or to make note of the composition of a raid.
This request is a bit scary for me — I'm not used to requesting fanfic for still-running series. As I write this letter, I've only seen the first episode of the second season, and I'm basing my request on the events of the first season; there may be a later update if something early in the second season really calls to me for an episode tag or missing scene, but first-season only is probably the way to go. I've done all I can to avoid information about the light novels and the manga because I'd rather enjoy the second anime season as it airs, so please no spoilers beyond what's aired in the anime.
I requested Naotsugu and Marielle, and I ship them (all the more in season 2! Their phone calls while he's away!) but you can feel free to bring in other characters, or to write gen focusing on just one or the other of them. I loved the scattered moments they had throughout the first season and their implied relationship in the second, so something along those lines, or expanding on one of those existing scenes, would be welcome. (Pre-relationship is one of my favorite tags for my own fics...) Going adventuring together to boost her a bit in levels? Valentine's Day/White Day events?
I also love Naotsugu's friendships with Shiroe and Akatsuki and Marielle's with Henrietta (do they know each other offline, or have they just shared RL details? If that's actually answered in materials I haven't read it's exempt from my spoiler-embargo — you can write that in.) I like Tetra best in small doses. I'd love some slice-of-life about getting used to life in their new world, adjusting to having a new and slightly different body (longer hair? Marielle doesn't have elf-ears IRL) tasting food again for the first time in ages, making use of subclasses, applying the same principles as in cooking or fighting to other professions or elements of life, or something along those lines. This is one of the series where team domesticity — life in the guild houses or on the road — would be great, or missing scenes of any kind.
Arkham Horror || Jim Culver, Marie Lambeau
My favorite part of this game before I played it was the character bios, the idea of the ragtag band of investigators being drawn into this apocalyptic scenario. My favorite part now that I have played it is the experience of playing it, with a group that may not be min-maxing but definitely is having fun with the experience. I apologize if you're a Lovecraft enthusiast and you got matched to me!
That first part was the origin of my choice of characters to nominate. I think an encounter between Jim Culver and Marie Lambeau would be pretty nifty; he's actually mentioned, obliquely, on her character card. Could be anything from battling cosmic horrors together to hooking up after a gig. It'd be interesting to see them running into each other when things are peaceful and there are just hints of supernatural weirdness around the fringes of their lives.
My favorite part now when I play Arkham Horror is the disconnect between the experience of playing it (yelling at dice, groaning at rumors, joking about how there are cultist guts on third-floor windows after someone rolls multiple sixes) and the tone of all the flavor text. That and the min-maxing. A mild-mannered librarian gets her hands on the Necronomicon, and we exploit the rules to treat it as an infinite vending machine for spells. A perfectly ordinary salesman gets his hands on some alchemically-created gold, goes on a shopping spree, and emerges with a pair of flamethrowers slung over his shoulders, two magic swords, a .45 automatic, a pair of carbine rifles, and a frightening gleam in his eye... then he goes around killing monsters, hauls the bleeding corpses to the police station, and gets himself deputized. We started calling her "Bloodfeast the Extreminator." (No, not exterminator. She was XTREME.)
And so on. Caroline Fern, combat psychologist! Gloria Goldberg, wandering the Plateau of Leng, turns over a rock and finds… a freaking motorcycle. So this middle-aged Jewish lady rides a motorcycle out of a portal, turns around and guns down a couple of vampires or something with an enchanted tommy gun. I like to think she then lit a cigar, tossed the match over her shoulder, and walked unflinchingly away from an explosion — she sealed the rift, that could be an explosion — but we didn't play that out.
This isn't a great help when it comes to writing a story, I know! But what can I say? I'm not a fan of the horror genre in general, or of Lovecraft, but I am a fan of Welcome to Night Vale; I enjoy horror most when there's a dose of both the absurd and the mundane involved. I'd also be interested in something more worldbuilding-based: News stories (newspaper, radio, etc.) about the escalating events of a game would be awesome. Exploring what it might mean in real-world terms to be walking around with one sanity left, trying desperately to sneak past the monsters to get to the asylum, or hiding out in one of the shops until another player can dispatch that monster for you, or coordinating with other investigators. Backstory beyond what we get on the investigator cards. The aftermath of an averted apocalypse.
Silver Spoon || Any (Aikawa Shinnosuke, Hachiken Yugo, Inada Tamako, Mikage Aki)
It's very difficult for me to articulate what I like about Silver Spoon. I tend to just yell "THIS SERIES IS SO GOOD! HOW IS IT SO GOOD?" a lot. I love Hiromu Arakawa's writing. I mean, that's what it boils down to. I love the characters. I also love cheese, so there's that.
To be honest, any character would be great — so if you desperately want to write Tokiwa fic, follow your heart — but I could only nominate four, so I picked these. No need to fit all four into a single story, or stick to only these four.
I'd love something slice-of-life/slice-of-series: missing scenes, exploration of someone (other than Hachiken)'s school experience, another character's perspective on something that happens in canon, whatever works best for you. Aikawa working to overcome his issues, or exploring the sane side of the Holstein Club? Tamako being a badass? Mikage's relationships with her friends and roommates (what does she really think of Ayame?) or getting more into her head in general? Her relationship with Hachiken delights me, and though you can tell she has feelings for him too, we don't get into her head the same way we do his. As for Hachiken himself, I'd be delighted with something cute and (pre-?)shippy with Mikage, or more about his relationships with his family, his roommates, whatever you want.
One request — please don't slim Tamako down for reasons any different than what we see in the series! I'd love to see her shipped with someone, but not if they're only attracted to her when she's thin. (Being first attracted to her when she's thin is probably fine? I guess it depends on how it's done.) I'd have a slight preference for het here — not sure why, maybe because the male students feel a bit better fleshed out than most of the girls except Mikage, Tamako, and Yoshino — but it's slight, and if you have an idea you really want to write, I am pretty sure I want to read it and can be sold on it.
I came to the series from the anime, but I'm working on catching up on the manga.
Late-breaking update: Tamako and Komaba would be awesome, come to think of it -- I just got to chapter 88 of the manga and I really liked seeing them interact.
Dangan Ronpa || Oogami Sakura and Asahina Aoi
The characters are at the heart of my love for Dangan Ronpa — I mean, especially these two, one of my biggest OTPs ever, but all the characters. Each one of them feels like the protagonist of a completely different series, which is part of why I exempt the Dangan Ronpas from my usual "no AUs" preferences; in a way it feels like each of them is in an AU already. Aoi and Sakura are the protagonists of two different sports series, stuck in a murder-game AU; Yamada got lost on his way to Genshiken; Celes wandered in from, idk, Liar Game, from what I hear? Part of what makes the deaths hurt the way they do is that it feels a bit like each character should be in a different series, one they're actually prepared for.
Oh my god I OTP these girls so hard I can't even tell you. I love them. I love them as individuals and I really really love them together, but if you can't ship them I'd be delighted with something about them as friends, as long as the emphasis was on how much they mean to each other (and please, no treating Sakura's old boyfriend like the love of her life? She wants to get over him in school mode; I'm not sure it's just because of Naegi, and even if so she could still feel the same on account of Aoi.) There are so many possibilities to explore: their normal school lives after coming to Hope's Peak, their perception of events as civilization collapses around their school, their decision to enter the lockdown, missing scenes throughout the game (when they're forging their friendship all over again with Sakura's role as the mole hiding between them)... or just happy AUs of any kind. Ordinary swimmer and ordinary martial artist in high school? No-Despair Hope's Peak? Superheroes? Fantasy AU? I'd actually be fine with almost anything, for this fandom and only this fandom.
I'd strongly prefer to see very little of Leon (unless it's as part of that "all the jocks hanging out" idea from the SDR2 section) or Mukuro. And while I have other prompts where I'm game for just one of the characters I requested, I really do want both here, shippy or not. But if you have a strong preference for writing some other era of the canon, I'd be interested to see something about Aoi post-game, dealing with Sakura's loss, her returning memories, etc. — mild spoilers from Another Episode/Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo would be fine — or something about either of them pre-game. I don't dislike Sakura's prior relationship — I actually like the fact they didn't go the "Sakura is unlovable by men and terrifies them" route — I just don't see it as a reason to write off Sakura/Aoi.
Super Dangan Ronpa 2 || Request: Owari Akane
If it's hard to talk about Dangan Ronpa without spoilers, it's almost impossible for SDR2. A lot of what I said about the first game also goes for the second, but if anything, I love SDR2's cast even more: Gundam! Chiaki! Sonia! Ibuki! But Akane won out, this time.
I love Akane — her fists-first approach to life (and the related "eh, just a head injury, nothing important" element of her character) her use of "ore" as personal pronoun, her practicality and her voracious appetite for food and fighting and who knows what else. (I ship her with Nidai, for the record. Y'know. If you're interested in that. You can feel free to tone down his canon obsession with poop. I mean really free. I mean please do.) I love that when the personal stakes are high she can apply herself — she'll never be the sharpest tool in the shed but you can tell the difference between when she's paying attention and when she's not.
Now that I can finally play the game, I'm in love with it all over again, and it feels a lot safer to request the fics heavy on exploration of later-game canon events... but at the same time, getting to play Dangan Island whetted my appetite for more mundane interaction, too, especially of the "what's going on with the other characters while Hinata cozies up to his chosen few?" or "what do these two talk about when I assign them to clean/mine/scavenge?" variety.
So I can really go either way. I'd be delighted with something really digging into her past, present, and future; her feelings and thoughts during chapter 4 and after; how she feels when she wakes up, what she does and doesn't remember, and how she recovers; or what her school days and Despair days were like.
(And while in general most of my prompts haven't called for darker stuff, I'm not averse to something addressing the canonically-implied sexual abuse/exploitation in Akane's past, or something going pretty dark regarding Despair-era Akane; I'd rather not have that completely dominate the fic, but you don't need to avoid the subject for fear of triggering or offense beyond the DNWs mentioned above. ...and I realize one of the DNWs includes incest, which could include the male semi-parental figures [stepdad? stepmom's SO? so many different translations] Akane mentioned, but like I tried to convey, I don't want it as a kink or a normalized thing; in the context of abuse you can go there)
For something completely different, I'd love to see some slice-of-peaceful-life scenes, whether in an AU or sometime post-game after they've weathered the worst of the aftermath. Post-game recovery is always welcome. And going the semi-AU route, I know I'm not the only one who wants to see some combination of Akane, Nidai, Sakura, and Aoi hanging out (with optional appearances by others who'd fit; I'm not Leon's biggest fan but I can imagine him being dragged in against his will) even if the evidence suggests none of the second games's cast made meaningful connections with their classmates during high school. Or maybe calm moments from the game itself or Dangan Island? In the FTEs we get references to all kinds of things we never see, like Saionji trolling everyone or Ibuki stealing lunches from Akane and Nidai. Or Free Time Events between pairs that don't include Hinata! The mission Usami originally mentioned called for everyone to collect Hope Shards, after all.
I have played the game, like I said, but for some reason outside fics I can't use a consistent naming scheme. Akane's always been Akane to me (though she may be "Owari" or "Owari-san" in a given fic) but I have to concentrate to call Nidai "Nekomaru" even though I loved the "Mechamaru" nomenclature from the game's official translation. So please don't worry if you're more used to the first-name-basis choices from the official English release, or if you're somewhere in between like me; just pick a way to handle names and honorifics that works for you.
I think that's everything I'd want to say. I can't promise I'll love whatever you write, because it's certainly possible to write things I don't love, but going by past experience in fic exchanges, the odds I'll love what you write are pretty dang good. I hope my letter's somewhat helpful to you, and I hope you enjoy whatever you decide to write in the end!
Hello, writer! I hope this isn't too intimidatingly long — my prompts are always just suggestions, because some of the best gifts I've ever received have been things I didn't prompt. This letter is hopefully finished, but I've been writing it in fits and spurts while traveling and I may decide to tinker with it further once I'm back home (which shouldn't be too long after assignments go out.) I hope what I have here is helpful and not just wasted verbiage, and I hope if it's too much you feel free to ignore it.
If you want to check out some of my other fandom activity, I use the same name everywhere —
Regarding likes and dislikes: This section is always one of the hard parts for me, both because I find it hard to pin down and quantify my likes — I'm not one of those people who can look at their list of fandoms or of favorite fics and list their top five tropes — and because something that I like in one context can be an emphatic DNW in another. Crossovers/fusions and AUs both fall under this umbrella, as do a significant number of kinks; something that I like for one pairing may feel wildly OOC for another.
I'm very much a character-driven and worldbuilding kind of fan, so the vast majority of my prompts will be character-centric. That's not to say I wouldn't love something more plot-driven! I just don't tend to have ideas along those lines. But if you do, do not let me hold you back.
I have no strong feelings regarding POV or verb tense. Just use whatever works best for your story. But I do get annoyed by epithets or frequent mentions of a character's hair or eye color.
I'm a multishipper in many of these fandoms, but I do have some very strong NOTPs, so it's probably best to avoid background pairings.
The things I can assure you I like under pretty much all circumstances: Strong character voices and dialogue. Characters making each other laugh, and by extension, couples making each other laugh in bed. Bickering, banter, team dynamics, domesticity that's not just fluff (come on, everyone fights with the people they live with) and that, if applicable, involves people who aren't romantically involved (roommates, adventuring parties, superhero teams?) I like fics that, while otherwise character-driven, incorporate worldbuilding detail, or meta/worldbuilding about the use of whatever magic or special powers may be present in the canon. Worldbuilding that renders game mechanics/events into real-world terms (less applicable for this set of requests than many times in the past.) Missing scenes, especially for canons that stick pretty closely to one viewpoint character, i.e. what's going on when he's not around? I like my fluff leavened by angst and my angst to end on a note that's at least bittersweet if not happier.
Definite DNWs: The word bromance. Too much focus on bodily fluids or smells (one of the biggest sticking points for me with A/B/O is all the smelling. Never mind the mpreg, just stop sniffing each other) or on the human foot, at least in a sexual context: if you're trying to gross me out you have a good shortcut there, though. Incest, including adopted/foster relatives, though again that's in the "not pleasant or sexy" column rather than the "is a trigger" column. Focus on OCs — if an OC is needed I very much prefer to see an existing background character be used than someone made up out of whole cloth. Underage where the youth of the character or characters involved is emphasized or fetishized — basically underage as a kink rather than as a side-effect of a canon with teenage characters. With most pairings I don't care for a clearly-defined top and bottom dynamic at all (in an interpersonal sense; I can see some characters having preferences about who inserts tab A into slot B) let alone BDSM.
And the two that are a bit more personal: I'm totally game for pregnancy fic (where it's applicable... possibly not at all in these requests) but I'd rather not see a situation where a pregnant character is hugely negative about pregnancy or motherhood, or where someone loses a pregnancy. Basically if pregnancy is going to appear I want it to be a wanted and overall-positive experience.
And I have a very bad reaction (I hesitate to call it a trigger; it's about anxiety, not PTSD) to situations where character A believes character B to be a good friend and trusts them, while character B secretly looks down on her/hates her/harbors ulterior motives/plots against her/gloats over what a fool A is to not realize B is about to destroy her/etc.
One final thing: I've written extensively for some of these fandoms (and not at all for others, which isn't a favoritism thing) so if we matched on one of those, please don't feel like that means you need to make use of my interpretations of characters or relationships. You can if you want — I mean, who doesn't like it when people agree with them? — but the whole reason I'm making requests is because I want to read someone else's fic and someone else's take on the canon. My fics may give you an idea of the kind of thing I like and the way I think about fic, but they're not a complete picture. There are many things I like to read that I can't write or just haven't written yet.
Tiger & Bunny || Request: Nathan Seymour
I'm going to copy-and-paste my enthusiasm about this series from last year, because it hasn't changed.
Tiger & Bunny: I love this show for its superhero worldbuilding (who pays for the property damage? Corporate sponsors!) its tremendously likable cast, its idealistic take on heroics despite all the advertising, and its gorgeous, fascinating setting. If you're in the US, the entire show can be watched subbed on Hulu, and selected dubbed episodes are also available.
Nathan's always been a favorite character, but after I got to see Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, my need for Nathan-centric fic and friendship fic both shot through the roof. I'd really, really love something about his friendships with Pao-lin, Karina, or both, especially post-Rising hugs or (platonic) h/c; Karina and Nathan both took quite a beating trying to protect each other, after all. Or on a different but still Rising-related note, something fleshing out Nathan's backstory based on the glimpses we saw, or his relationship with his family. Something about the onset of his powers? He's notably missing the tattoo in the white-dress flashback in the movie, and all his angst seems to be about sexuality/gender/gender expression, not about NEXT status. I really like the idea that for him, paradoxically, finding out he was a NEXT was a happy and empowering discovery, which would fit with the way it didn't show up in flashbacks of his worst and most painful memories, but I'd really just love ANY exploration of the subject.
(As you might gather from my choice of pronouns, I'm not a subscriber to the nonbinary-Nathan interpretation; I certainly get where it comes from, but I don't think it's the only valid read on the character. Same goes for Pao-lin.)
I don't mean to make this sound like "RISING FIC OR ELSE." It's just that Nathan, and the Girl Power Trio's friendship, was always important to me and then it made up the emotional core of the movie. I really badly want some exploration of it. But I do also love Nathan's other relationships, or at least their potential: with Antonio, Agnes, Barnaby, and Keith in particular. I ship him with anyone he wants, and smut is very welcome, for the record. The great disappointment of Rising for me was that Nathan never even got to grope Ryan; I was really hoping for that and for an unexpected reaction from Ryan. I don't want to see much more of Ryan than we already got, in general (definitely no background Ryan/Barnaby, for instance) but if he's romancing and/or being romanced by Nathan it might be a different story. For the others: I kind of like the idea that part of the reason Nathan isn't all over Keith is that he has real feelings for him. I like the fact that despite the grope-and-object routine, Nathan and Antonio are still friends, and I'd love to see something writing a bit of Nathan/Antonio into the movie (Antonio worrying while Nathan's incapacitated, for instance.) A Nathan/Antonio/Agnes threesome would be awesome, too, whether as a casual or occasional thing or a real relationship. And you seldom if ever see Nathan paired with Kotetsu, Barnaby, or Ivan...
Log Horizon || Request: Naotsugu and Marielle
I played MMORPGs for years (World of Warcraft primarily, with forays into LOTRO and most recently FF14) and the fantastic worldbuilding of Elder Tale both as a game and as a world is probably my favorite part. I watch this show with my husband, and we've been known to pause the series to check a character's level or to make note of the composition of a raid.
This request is a bit scary for me — I'm not used to requesting fanfic for still-running series. As I write this letter, I've only seen the first episode of the second season, and I'm basing my request on the events of the first season; there may be a later update if something early in the second season really calls to me for an episode tag or missing scene, but first-season only is probably the way to go. I've done all I can to avoid information about the light novels and the manga because I'd rather enjoy the second anime season as it airs, so please no spoilers beyond what's aired in the anime.
I requested Naotsugu and Marielle, and I ship them (all the more in season 2! Their phone calls while he's away!) but you can feel free to bring in other characters, or to write gen focusing on just one or the other of them. I loved the scattered moments they had throughout the first season and their implied relationship in the second, so something along those lines, or expanding on one of those existing scenes, would be welcome. (Pre-relationship is one of my favorite tags for my own fics...) Going adventuring together to boost her a bit in levels? Valentine's Day/White Day events?
I also love Naotsugu's friendships with Shiroe and Akatsuki and Marielle's with Henrietta (do they know each other offline, or have they just shared RL details? If that's actually answered in materials I haven't read it's exempt from my spoiler-embargo — you can write that in.) I like Tetra best in small doses. I'd love some slice-of-life about getting used to life in their new world, adjusting to having a new and slightly different body (longer hair? Marielle doesn't have elf-ears IRL) tasting food again for the first time in ages, making use of subclasses, applying the same principles as in cooking or fighting to other professions or elements of life, or something along those lines. This is one of the series where team domesticity — life in the guild houses or on the road — would be great, or missing scenes of any kind.
Arkham Horror || Jim Culver, Marie Lambeau
My favorite part of this game before I played it was the character bios, the idea of the ragtag band of investigators being drawn into this apocalyptic scenario. My favorite part now that I have played it is the experience of playing it, with a group that may not be min-maxing but definitely is having fun with the experience. I apologize if you're a Lovecraft enthusiast and you got matched to me!
That first part was the origin of my choice of characters to nominate. I think an encounter between Jim Culver and Marie Lambeau would be pretty nifty; he's actually mentioned, obliquely, on her character card. Could be anything from battling cosmic horrors together to hooking up after a gig. It'd be interesting to see them running into each other when things are peaceful and there are just hints of supernatural weirdness around the fringes of their lives.
My favorite part now when I play Arkham Horror is the disconnect between the experience of playing it (yelling at dice, groaning at rumors, joking about how there are cultist guts on third-floor windows after someone rolls multiple sixes) and the tone of all the flavor text. That and the min-maxing. A mild-mannered librarian gets her hands on the Necronomicon, and we exploit the rules to treat it as an infinite vending machine for spells. A perfectly ordinary salesman gets his hands on some alchemically-created gold, goes on a shopping spree, and emerges with a pair of flamethrowers slung over his shoulders, two magic swords, a .45 automatic, a pair of carbine rifles, and a frightening gleam in his eye... then he goes around killing monsters, hauls the bleeding corpses to the police station, and gets himself deputized. We started calling her "Bloodfeast the Extreminator." (No, not exterminator. She was XTREME.)
And so on. Caroline Fern, combat psychologist! Gloria Goldberg, wandering the Plateau of Leng, turns over a rock and finds… a freaking motorcycle. So this middle-aged Jewish lady rides a motorcycle out of a portal, turns around and guns down a couple of vampires or something with an enchanted tommy gun. I like to think she then lit a cigar, tossed the match over her shoulder, and walked unflinchingly away from an explosion — she sealed the rift, that could be an explosion — but we didn't play that out.
This isn't a great help when it comes to writing a story, I know! But what can I say? I'm not a fan of the horror genre in general, or of Lovecraft, but I am a fan of Welcome to Night Vale; I enjoy horror most when there's a dose of both the absurd and the mundane involved. I'd also be interested in something more worldbuilding-based: News stories (newspaper, radio, etc.) about the escalating events of a game would be awesome. Exploring what it might mean in real-world terms to be walking around with one sanity left, trying desperately to sneak past the monsters to get to the asylum, or hiding out in one of the shops until another player can dispatch that monster for you, or coordinating with other investigators. Backstory beyond what we get on the investigator cards. The aftermath of an averted apocalypse.
Silver Spoon || Any (Aikawa Shinnosuke, Hachiken Yugo, Inada Tamako, Mikage Aki)
It's very difficult for me to articulate what I like about Silver Spoon. I tend to just yell "THIS SERIES IS SO GOOD! HOW IS IT SO GOOD?" a lot. I love Hiromu Arakawa's writing. I mean, that's what it boils down to. I love the characters. I also love cheese, so there's that.
To be honest, any character would be great — so if you desperately want to write Tokiwa fic, follow your heart — but I could only nominate four, so I picked these. No need to fit all four into a single story, or stick to only these four.
I'd love something slice-of-life/slice-of-series: missing scenes, exploration of someone (other than Hachiken)'s school experience, another character's perspective on something that happens in canon, whatever works best for you. Aikawa working to overcome his issues, or exploring the sane side of the Holstein Club? Tamako being a badass? Mikage's relationships with her friends and roommates (what does she really think of Ayame?) or getting more into her head in general? Her relationship with Hachiken delights me, and though you can tell she has feelings for him too, we don't get into her head the same way we do his. As for Hachiken himself, I'd be delighted with something cute and (pre-?)shippy with Mikage, or more about his relationships with his family, his roommates, whatever you want.
One request — please don't slim Tamako down for reasons any different than what we see in the series! I'd love to see her shipped with someone, but not if they're only attracted to her when she's thin. (Being first attracted to her when she's thin is probably fine? I guess it depends on how it's done.) I'd have a slight preference for het here — not sure why, maybe because the male students feel a bit better fleshed out than most of the girls except Mikage, Tamako, and Yoshino — but it's slight, and if you have an idea you really want to write, I am pretty sure I want to read it and can be sold on it.
I came to the series from the anime, but I'm working on catching up on the manga.
Late-breaking update: Tamako and Komaba would be awesome, come to think of it -- I just got to chapter 88 of the manga and I really liked seeing them interact.
Dangan Ronpa || Oogami Sakura and Asahina Aoi
The characters are at the heart of my love for Dangan Ronpa — I mean, especially these two, one of my biggest OTPs ever, but all the characters. Each one of them feels like the protagonist of a completely different series, which is part of why I exempt the Dangan Ronpas from my usual "no AUs" preferences; in a way it feels like each of them is in an AU already. Aoi and Sakura are the protagonists of two different sports series, stuck in a murder-game AU; Yamada got lost on his way to Genshiken; Celes wandered in from, idk, Liar Game, from what I hear? Part of what makes the deaths hurt the way they do is that it feels a bit like each character should be in a different series, one they're actually prepared for.
Oh my god I OTP these girls so hard I can't even tell you. I love them. I love them as individuals and I really really love them together, but if you can't ship them I'd be delighted with something about them as friends, as long as the emphasis was on how much they mean to each other (and please, no treating Sakura's old boyfriend like the love of her life? She wants to get over him in school mode; I'm not sure it's just because of Naegi, and even if so she could still feel the same on account of Aoi.) There are so many possibilities to explore: their normal school lives after coming to Hope's Peak, their perception of events as civilization collapses around their school, their decision to enter the lockdown, missing scenes throughout the game (when they're forging their friendship all over again with Sakura's role as the mole hiding between them)... or just happy AUs of any kind. Ordinary swimmer and ordinary martial artist in high school? No-Despair Hope's Peak? Superheroes? Fantasy AU? I'd actually be fine with almost anything, for this fandom and only this fandom.
I'd strongly prefer to see very little of Leon (unless it's as part of that "all the jocks hanging out" idea from the SDR2 section) or Mukuro. And while I have other prompts where I'm game for just one of the characters I requested, I really do want both here, shippy or not. But if you have a strong preference for writing some other era of the canon, I'd be interested to see something about Aoi post-game, dealing with Sakura's loss, her returning memories, etc. — mild spoilers from Another Episode/Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo would be fine — or something about either of them pre-game. I don't dislike Sakura's prior relationship — I actually like the fact they didn't go the "Sakura is unlovable by men and terrifies them" route — I just don't see it as a reason to write off Sakura/Aoi.
Super Dangan Ronpa 2 || Request: Owari Akane
If it's hard to talk about Dangan Ronpa without spoilers, it's almost impossible for SDR2. A lot of what I said about the first game also goes for the second, but if anything, I love SDR2's cast even more: Gundam! Chiaki! Sonia! Ibuki! But Akane won out, this time.
I love Akane — her fists-first approach to life (and the related "eh, just a head injury, nothing important" element of her character) her use of "ore" as personal pronoun, her practicality and her voracious appetite for food and fighting and who knows what else. (I ship her with Nidai, for the record. Y'know. If you're interested in that. You can feel free to tone down his canon obsession with poop. I mean really free. I mean please do.) I love that when the personal stakes are high she can apply herself — she'll never be the sharpest tool in the shed but you can tell the difference between when she's paying attention and when she's not.
Now that I can finally play the game, I'm in love with it all over again, and it feels a lot safer to request the fics heavy on exploration of later-game canon events... but at the same time, getting to play Dangan Island whetted my appetite for more mundane interaction, too, especially of the "what's going on with the other characters while Hinata cozies up to his chosen few?" or "what do these two talk about when I assign them to clean/mine/scavenge?" variety.
So I can really go either way. I'd be delighted with something really digging into her past, present, and future; her feelings and thoughts during chapter 4 and after; how she feels when she wakes up, what she does and doesn't remember, and how she recovers; or what her school days and Despair days were like.
(And while in general most of my prompts haven't called for darker stuff, I'm not averse to something addressing the canonically-implied sexual abuse/exploitation in Akane's past, or something going pretty dark regarding Despair-era Akane; I'd rather not have that completely dominate the fic, but you don't need to avoid the subject for fear of triggering or offense beyond the DNWs mentioned above. ...and I realize one of the DNWs includes incest, which could include the male semi-parental figures [stepdad? stepmom's SO? so many different translations] Akane mentioned, but like I tried to convey, I don't want it as a kink or a normalized thing; in the context of abuse you can go there)
For something completely different, I'd love to see some slice-of-peaceful-life scenes, whether in an AU or sometime post-game after they've weathered the worst of the aftermath. Post-game recovery is always welcome. And going the semi-AU route, I know I'm not the only one who wants to see some combination of Akane, Nidai, Sakura, and Aoi hanging out (with optional appearances by others who'd fit; I'm not Leon's biggest fan but I can imagine him being dragged in against his will) even if the evidence suggests none of the second games's cast made meaningful connections with their classmates during high school. Or maybe calm moments from the game itself or Dangan Island? In the FTEs we get references to all kinds of things we never see, like Saionji trolling everyone or Ibuki stealing lunches from Akane and Nidai. Or Free Time Events between pairs that don't include Hinata! The mission Usami originally mentioned called for everyone to collect Hope Shards, after all.
I have played the game, like I said, but for some reason outside fics I can't use a consistent naming scheme. Akane's always been Akane to me (though she may be "Owari" or "Owari-san" in a given fic) but I have to concentrate to call Nidai "Nekomaru" even though I loved the "Mechamaru" nomenclature from the game's official translation. So please don't worry if you're more used to the first-name-basis choices from the official English release, or if you're somewhere in between like me; just pick a way to handle names and honorifics that works for you.
I think that's everything I'd want to say. I can't promise I'll love whatever you write, because it's certainly possible to write things I don't love, but going by past experience in fic exchanges, the odds I'll love what you write are pretty dang good. I hope my letter's somewhat helpful to you, and I hope you enjoy whatever you decide to write in the end!
