Dear Yuletide Writer 2023
Oct. 17th, 2023 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runespoorI'm Runespoor on Ao3 and I want to thank you for writing a story for me. Please don't feel like you have to research through my AO3 profile I promise it's not very relevant to Yuletide (for one there's a lot more non-con over there than here).
Likes:
• friends-to-enemies-to-it’s-complicated
• m u t u a l p i n i n g
• slow burn, including the version where sex happens before anyone admits to feelings
• denial
• angst with a happy ending!
• second-person PoV angst
• putting characters through the wringer with a happy ending
• intense relationships: codependency, relationships that straddle the line between “&” and “/”, being scared of how you feel for this person because it’s giving them too much power, being greater together than apart, being awfuller together than apart, “I would do terrible/amazing things for you” and "I have done terrible things to you"
• hopeful endings
• aftermathes, picking-up-the-pieces, rebuilding
• fraught communication: double or triple meanings (on purpose or accidental), tokens as reminders/code, carefully avoiding outright lying, brazen lying, putting on a scene for the gallery, characters saying the most cruel thing, things left unsaid, things pointedly left unsaid, dancing around issues, declarations of love/hate
• emotional showdowns: understated ones, big dramatic ones after a dramatic scene, public denial, private denials, displays of support, magical curses that force you to speak the truth (and the aftermath), using the truth like a weapon
• performative relationships that don’t reflect exactly the private truth of the relationship
• transactional relationships: characters who are together because each has something the other want (including fake dating)
• a willingness to use oneself, one’s loved ones, or the love between you to achieve your goals
• the emotional cost of the above, especially in pining, denial, and sense memory after you get blood on your hands
• betrayal and loyalty: your loved ones for your ideals, your ideals for your loved ones, your morality for your ambition, your ambition for the greater good… including the opposite way you thought you were going to choose; compromising between the two while knowing you might not if it were someone else; a character concealing the fact they didn't betray someone the way one might expect they'd conceal a betrayal
• explicitly making exceptions or refusing to make exceptions for your loved ones
• when characters are truly in love and agree after angsting that this love isn’t the most important thing to them, and the fact that they agree about it is one of the reasons they’re in love
• idealists: ruthless idealists, idealists who reject ruthlessness at every turn, people whose only ideals are their devotion to another person, believers in realpolitiks, people who are very angry at discovering they have ideals, people on the run talking about what kind of a world they want, talking about the cost/limits of idealism/pragmatism
• politics: lawmaking, every day urban planning, negotiations, intrigue, alliances, etc!
• stories about ruling: rulers who want to fix their country, starting with building a hospital/passing a law banning child labour/studying how they’re going to beat the famine this winter, what kind of difficulties they face, how they deal with them, how they address the misgivings (both legitimate and not!) of their opponents, etc, with as many details as you can put in
• little details that add to the world-building: traditions, celebrations, the kind of food, etc.
• imagery, local color, a sense of place and atmosphere – traditions, celebrations, passing seasons, the color and shape of buildings and streets, what kind of people live there, how the city changes between day and night. The contrast between the overarching stakes and the mundane (we’re saving the world but we still need to buy food) and the mention of one when you’re dealing with the other.
• travels to the center of the mind/inside someone's dreams to save them (Eurydice plot with "inside their own mind/nightmares" as "the underworld" = A++)
• forced reveals: truth-telling pollen! confessing things/feelings while delirious!
• resentment, nostalgia, love
• a contrast between personal life being rocky/angsty and professional/occupational life being a success (still rocky obstacles to be surmounted, but no-one can look at the proceedings/results and think "this person is a disaster," and yet)
• semi-sentient objects, especially places, especially canonical places
Dislikes:
• Christmas fics
• different setting AU
• A/B/O
• a fic that's nothing but fluff (schmoop, WAFF, slice-of-life where people have a nice day and the focus is on that, comfort fic)
• babies/children fic, wedding fic, proposal fic
• non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time)
• bleak, banal unhappiness
• unrequested non-canonical pairings (background canon pairings are fine), unless otherwise stated
• kink-wise: pet-play, voyeurism, being caught in the act, language kink (by which I mean "speaking a foreign language as a kink"), daddy kink, TPE, gags, toys.
• shovel talks
• I have a bit of an embarrassment squick
• I cannot think it would be relevant, but the specifics of current/recent politics
smut-wise, if you're writing Magical Diary or Folk of the Air:
i like dirty talk, humiliation (including breeding kink as a threat), orgasm delay, begging/desperation, wall sex, rough sex, antagonistic sex, holding down/pinning down, manhandling, overstimulation, tears, oral or vaginal fingering, blowjobs, comeplay, riding, penetrative sex (+two-in-one, +spitroasting), nipple play, sex that is obviously a terrible idea but is so good, under-negotiated kink, fuck-or-die, a need for secrecy/~forbidden relationships~,"I could do anything to you right now and you would let me", “you are such a bastard”, the more experienced/less vulnerable partner being surprised by the other/not being in control (switching/powerbottoming/turning the tables), gentle sex as a powerplay, gentle sex as an admission you're not ready to make, the inherent intrigue of banging a royal (rounding back to "political favors")
i don't like first- or second-person pov in smutty contexts, formalized kink, safewords in contexts where “no” would work, sex where someone is in total control, spanking, TPE, daddy or mommy kink, pet-play, voyeurism unless planned by the person(s) being watched, being caught in the act, public sex, non-con where someone isn’t enjoying themselves, omegaverse, ageplay
Folk of the Air
characters: Jude; Cardan; Madoc
you don't have to include Cardan AND Madoc. As long as the fic includes Jude and either of them I'm happy!
DNW: PWP, fluff, curtain fic, major permanent character death, setting change, non-con, shovel talks, marriage/proposal/pregnancy except as fitting their use in canon (I wouldn't enjoy reading about happy, romantic marriage preparations, but fake-marrying or marrying for political gain is fine), non-canonical pregnancies, pregnancy and/or non-canonical children, pre-canon divergence.
I love the characters, and the intense, layered relationships between them, and I love Faerie and its politics. I love Jude! I love angry girls intent on survival with precious little room for morality (but who do turn out to have morals despite everything), and Cardan is such a wonderful Trash Fave. I adore Madoc's complex character and the relationship with his daughter-figures. (I was rec'ed Folk of the Air because of Madoc, and he's indeed one of my favorite parts of the book)
Here’s a few prompts:
Magical Diary
characters: any [Damien Ramsey; Mary Sue; Gary Stu; William Danson]
yes hello i’m trash and I ship everyone here. (yes, including flirty-scheming!Gary Stu with grumpy-compassionate!Mary Sue.)(note: "ship" can translate to "flirt" or "banter" if gen's more your speed!) Mary Sue/Damien and Gary Stu/William are my respective OTPs. but they’re flexible, if you see what i mean.
Subtext/pre-relationship works fine here if you’d rather write something gennish.
other ship notes: if it comes up, please don’t break up Donald/Ellen.
DNW: Christmas fic, fluff, language kink, pre-canon, non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time; dubcon where everyone is having a good time/~wants~ it despite reservations is fine, no-means-yes is fine. except William, William doesn’t dubcon people.), permanent major character death, setting change, torture, marriage except for magical/political gain, pregnancy, bleak/banal unhappiness, voyeurism unless the people being watched are doing it on purpose as part of a seduction process, the jealous kind of possessiveness, amnesia, body switching, unrequested non-canonical pairings, if you include both Mary and Gary: please go with Horse Hall canon (Gary was in Illyria).
As far as names go, I like Mary Sue and Gary!
I don’t mind fic with dark/disturbing undertones or overtones for this fandom! Think “Damien route dark” and “the magical world doesn’t explain the rules to 16yo wildseeds and then punishes them for breaking them.” If the walking content warning that is Damien is involved, I just want him to not have all the power in whatever relationship is taking place by the end of the fic, I ship him because I really like messed-up relationships where and the idea of Damien's lover "stealing back" power from him/being able to "fight back"/manipulate him etc (it's revenge + obsession all in one sexy package!).
If you want to worldbuild, especially on Illyria (and Gary Stu’s parents) or Otherworld, please do! I’d love to know more about it, if that’s where you want to set your fic. People going to Illyria in futurefic for research/resources and it leading to reconnection/OT3/OT4 time! A tropey “and now they must date/get married for magical/inheritance reasons” fic would work great. A tropey “and now they must marry someone who’s not the LI, and there’s not a lot of angst about infidelity but there’s politics/magic/intrigue/we shouldn’t but we really want to even though we’re such a bad idea” would be fantastic. I would also love that generic-ish prompt about “someone is cursed and now someone else must go through their mind to find them back.”
I love love love post-canon fics and most of the prompts under are about variations of that. They're examples and flexible.
Tales of Symphonia
characters: Genis Sage; Zelos Wilder
DNW: non-canonical character death, unrequested non-canonical ships involving the main party (mention of any combination of Aisha/Harley/Linar would be fine; Presea/Aisha or Regal/Raine wouldn't. I consider Lloyd/Colette canon.), fluff, AUs with a setting change, following DoTNW canon, timeline where Lloyd picks Kratos at Flanoir, Zelos and Sheena banging before the stuff at the Tower of Salvation happens, PWP, marriage/proposal/pregnancy, age regression
I was so excited when ToS made it into Yuletide ! I love the twists in the story, the drama of it all, and the complex characters (link to my rambling about the variety of foils in ToS here). Out of these I picked Genis and Zelos, because I'd be utterly :DDDDDD at any fic focusing on these two, but they're also characters whose relationships with other characters in the tagset I'd love to read about, more on that in a bit.
For Genis and Zelos, I always return to that moment in the game when the party is visiting the elven storyteller in Latheon Gorge, and they make the same comment at the exact same time. It’s one of my favorite super minor moments in the game and it fills me with utter glee every time (NOT SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL!!!). They get on so little, and they're both very intelligent people, in a not-dissimilar way. They both have a conflicted relationship with trust. And yet their sharply different circumstances - age (which imo impacts that Genis is more optimistic than Zelos), social situation, family situation, race, optimism or lack thereof - mean they have a totally different perspective on things! And they get on each other's nerves.
So I'd be up to read anything about the way they rub each other the wrong way, and about broken trust, or love - for their families, for complicated/unrequited situations (Mithos, Sheena…). Something after Zelos' betrayal and Genis making the effort to trust him, or at least to work with him again (does he actually trust Zelos again?). Something about Genis having his heart broken by Mithos, and Zelos knowing who Mithos was all along, and watching from afar? Or Genis confronting him about not telling anyone about Mithos (does Zelos call him out for doing the same? maybe Zelos does also understand why Genis wouldn't say anything) - unless Zelos is the one admitting to Genis, post-canon, that he knew. Maybe something about Genis and Seles attending the same school after canon, and being rivals, or dating, and Zelos having no idea how he feels about it except that Genis is an insufferable little twerp. Do they talk about their families, about mothers and sisters and love or lack of love? I like the idea of a prickly reconciliation, or reconnaissance of the self through the other, between these two. Something that's broken and sharp and uneasy, but with something else than pure hostility.
If you want, you can choose to write about any of these pairs instead, or especially add this character:
Mithos & Genis:
this is THE big tragedy of the game as far as I’m concerned, and one of the most fascinating relationships. It’s got everything: childhood friendship promises, trust, betrayal, grief, love, heart wrenching wishes. Mithos so desperate that he wrangles a promise out of Genis. Genis who keeps Mithos' secret then picks up his Crystal and mourns him. I ship them utterly, but you don't have to write them more explicit than in canon if you don't.
Here's a few prompts:
Raine & Genis:
You can focus more on Raine than on Genis if you want!
Seles:
either Zelos&Seles or Genis&Seles [or Seles&Sheena in the context of Zelos/Sheena or Zelos generally being in love with Sheena]
I adore Seles. One of my biggest regrets in the game is that it would have been so great if she'd joined the party! I love how bitter and angry and determined and tsundere she is, how fiercely she guards her jagged heart. If you want to write more about Seles' life in the Abbaye, or Seles' complicated relationship with her brother (before canon? after canon?), or Seles' life after she gets freed, I'd love it. I also think she has great potential for interactions with the half-elves of the party, what with her mother being a half-elf, especially Genis - they're both abrasive and they're both great mages and they both dunk on Zelos and they're both proud. They'd make great friends or rivals or crushes.
If you're interested in longish, the AU where Zelos is the one to go on a journey of regeneration and Seles joins the party after an assassination attempt or something is cool.
This is where I reiterate the idea of Genis and Deles attending the same school after canon and being rivals/crushes!
Zelos&Sheena:
OTP. I love, love, love, love the way Zelos loves Sheena (I wrote a tiny manifesto here). Zelos Wilder invented romance when he grabbed Sheena's wrist to drag her to safety in another world while she tries to sacrifice herself at the Otherworldly Gate. I love that he knows her buttons and how to get the reaction he wants (by annoying her) but it still hurts him that she doesn't think well of him. I love that he distracts her by giving her things to be angry at (and that sometimes he's genuinely awful), I love that he's rooting for her crush on Lloyd, like the biggest self-sabotaging just-wants-a-fun-easy-life suicidal idiot. I love their scene in Derris Kharlan. I love Sheena's anger at him, I love how wounded she is when he betrays them (Sheena's broken "idiot" as Zelos dies: <3), I love that they've known each other so, so long and the hints of their backstory, like they were friends once.
Triangle Strategy
characters: Cordelia; Avlora
DNW: Christmas, fluff, PWP, setting changes, pregnancy, Glenbrook-family-incest.
What a good game, what good characters, what good angst! I'm not super interested in the Golden Ending post-canon set-up, but if you want to write Cordelia and Avlora during the chapters when Avlora is part of the army I'd be interested in that!
For Cordelia-Avlora, I'm mostly interested in More Of Their Relationship (especially as a ship), and if you don't ship them, I'm extremely interested in More Of Queen Cordelia. More on this in the prompts. The swoon-worthy romanticism of the scene of Cordelia showing her vulnerabilities to Avlora, reading Avlora perfectly, and Avlora swearing herself to Cordelia? pheewwwwwww.
Route-wise I confess to a slight preference for the surrendering Roland in ch7 and going with Frederica's plan in ch13 - I like the drama of it all and I think Cordelia benefits from making Roland escape a lot, it's a really good route for her. This is more telling as the kind of things I enjoy rather than a "I would HATE a story that doesn't occur in that route", go with what works best for your story.
I'd prefer the Roselle to have been defended in ch11 if it’s relevant, but if you have an idea that doesn't thematically if that didn't happen, you can go for it!
Here's a few prompts:
Likes:
• friends-to-enemies-to-it’s-complicated
• m u t u a l p i n i n g
• slow burn, including the version where sex happens before anyone admits to feelings
• denial
• angst with a happy ending!
• second-person PoV angst
• putting characters through the wringer with a happy ending
• intense relationships: codependency, relationships that straddle the line between “&” and “/”, being scared of how you feel for this person because it’s giving them too much power, being greater together than apart, being awfuller together than apart, “I would do terrible/amazing things for you” and "I have done terrible things to you"
• hopeful endings
• aftermathes, picking-up-the-pieces, rebuilding
• fraught communication: double or triple meanings (on purpose or accidental), tokens as reminders/code, carefully avoiding outright lying, brazen lying, putting on a scene for the gallery, characters saying the most cruel thing, things left unsaid, things pointedly left unsaid, dancing around issues, declarations of love/hate
• emotional showdowns: understated ones, big dramatic ones after a dramatic scene, public denial, private denials, displays of support, magical curses that force you to speak the truth (and the aftermath), using the truth like a weapon
• performative relationships that don’t reflect exactly the private truth of the relationship
• transactional relationships: characters who are together because each has something the other want (including fake dating)
• a willingness to use oneself, one’s loved ones, or the love between you to achieve your goals
• the emotional cost of the above, especially in pining, denial, and sense memory after you get blood on your hands
• betrayal and loyalty: your loved ones for your ideals, your ideals for your loved ones, your morality for your ambition, your ambition for the greater good… including the opposite way you thought you were going to choose; compromising between the two while knowing you might not if it were someone else; a character concealing the fact they didn't betray someone the way one might expect they'd conceal a betrayal
• explicitly making exceptions or refusing to make exceptions for your loved ones
• when characters are truly in love and agree after angsting that this love isn’t the most important thing to them, and the fact that they agree about it is one of the reasons they’re in love
• idealists: ruthless idealists, idealists who reject ruthlessness at every turn, people whose only ideals are their devotion to another person, believers in realpolitiks, people who are very angry at discovering they have ideals, people on the run talking about what kind of a world they want, talking about the cost/limits of idealism/pragmatism
• politics: lawmaking, every day urban planning, negotiations, intrigue, alliances, etc!
• stories about ruling: rulers who want to fix their country, starting with building a hospital/passing a law banning child labour/studying how they’re going to beat the famine this winter, what kind of difficulties they face, how they deal with them, how they address the misgivings (both legitimate and not!) of their opponents, etc, with as many details as you can put in
• little details that add to the world-building: traditions, celebrations, the kind of food, etc.
• imagery, local color, a sense of place and atmosphere – traditions, celebrations, passing seasons, the color and shape of buildings and streets, what kind of people live there, how the city changes between day and night. The contrast between the overarching stakes and the mundane (we’re saving the world but we still need to buy food) and the mention of one when you’re dealing with the other.
• travels to the center of the mind/inside someone's dreams to save them (Eurydice plot with "inside their own mind/nightmares" as "the underworld" = A++)
• forced reveals: truth-telling pollen! confessing things/feelings while delirious!
• resentment, nostalgia, love
• a contrast between personal life being rocky/angsty and professional/occupational life being a success (still rocky obstacles to be surmounted, but no-one can look at the proceedings/results and think "this person is a disaster," and yet)
• semi-sentient objects, especially places, especially canonical places
Dislikes:
• Christmas fics
• different setting AU
• A/B/O
• a fic that's nothing but fluff (schmoop, WAFF, slice-of-life where people have a nice day and the focus is on that, comfort fic)
• babies/children fic, wedding fic, proposal fic
• non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time)
• bleak, banal unhappiness
• unrequested non-canonical pairings (background canon pairings are fine), unless otherwise stated
• kink-wise: pet-play, voyeurism, being caught in the act, language kink (by which I mean "speaking a foreign language as a kink"), daddy kink, TPE, gags, toys.
• shovel talks
• I have a bit of an embarrassment squick
• I cannot think it would be relevant, but the specifics of current/recent politics
smut-wise, if you're writing Magical Diary or Folk of the Air:
i like dirty talk, humiliation (including breeding kink as a threat), orgasm delay, begging/desperation, wall sex, rough sex, antagonistic sex, holding down/pinning down, manhandling, overstimulation, tears, oral or vaginal fingering, blowjobs, comeplay, riding, penetrative sex (+two-in-one, +spitroasting), nipple play, sex that is obviously a terrible idea but is so good, under-negotiated kink, fuck-or-die, a need for secrecy/~forbidden relationships~,"I could do anything to you right now and you would let me", “you are such a bastard”, the more experienced/less vulnerable partner being surprised by the other/not being in control (switching/powerbottoming/turning the tables), gentle sex as a powerplay, gentle sex as an admission you're not ready to make, the inherent intrigue of banging a royal (rounding back to "political favors")
i don't like first- or second-person pov in smutty contexts, formalized kink, safewords in contexts where “no” would work, sex where someone is in total control, spanking, TPE, daddy or mommy kink, pet-play, voyeurism unless planned by the person(s) being watched, being caught in the act, public sex, non-con where someone isn’t enjoying themselves, omegaverse, ageplay
Folk of the Air
characters: Jude; Cardan; Madoc
you don't have to include Cardan AND Madoc. As long as the fic includes Jude and either of them I'm happy!
DNW: PWP, fluff, curtain fic, major permanent character death, setting change, non-con, shovel talks, marriage/proposal/pregnancy except as fitting their use in canon (I wouldn't enjoy reading about happy, romantic marriage preparations, but fake-marrying or marrying for political gain is fine), non-canonical pregnancies, pregnancy and/or non-canonical children, pre-canon divergence.
I love the characters, and the intense, layered relationships between them, and I love Faerie and its politics. I love Jude! I love angry girls intent on survival with precious little room for morality (but who do turn out to have morals despite everything), and Cardan is such a wonderful Trash Fave. I adore Madoc's complex character and the relationship with his daughter-figures. (I was rec'ed Folk of the Air because of Madoc, and he's indeed one of my favorite parts of the book)
Here’s a few prompts:
- Jude/Cardan: a canon divergence AU where the set-up of mid-book two lasts longer. I love the “enemies having sex as they run the court, it’s more complicated than that but they don’t really trust one another” setting and basically I would love more of that. Intrigue and we-shouldn’t-but-we-totally-do. Slow-burn hatred that's a bit more complicated than hatred and politics. I live for this shit. I would have read three more novels of this.
- if there's a canon-divergence you want to write, go for it! I love canon-divergence.
- if your canon-divergence includes an idea about badwrong Jude/either of Cardan's older brothers after one of them momentarily wins the crown (depending on the specifics of the story) while Jude and Cardan find themselves into an uneasy alliance and hatebang about it I am there for it.
- Madoc post-canon, taking over that apartment building (I would prefer if there were cameos from other characters, either from the tagset or not, especially Vivienne), because "exiled Fae general becomes the incognito neighbor of perfectly normal humans" sounds hilarious, does he recruit ppl, what do the neighbours make of him and his wife, are there kids who adopt him because he'll teach them how to swordfight; maybe deciding or not to try and take back the crown? Does Jude get letters? Are Jude and Cardan expected to show up for family dinner once a month?
- canon-divergence during the first or second book where Jude is Unavailable for a while (....magical coma???) and Taryn and Cardan must team up to have Taryn play Jude's part because of reasons! or canon-divergence AU where things go a little less fast all the time and Taryn and Jude and Cardan play politics at court and Taryn gets to side-eye her sister's life-choices and also side-eye Cardan because really and they're allies? maybe?
- any post-canon with Unexpected Problems, either political or magical. Negotiating an alliance? Maybe there's Unexpected Magical Problems after the shenanigans of the third tome (maybe Jude becoming queen or Cardan becoming a giant snake has negative consequences on their health and they need a cure)!
- I’m waiving the dnw about setting change for the purpose of saying, if you wanted to add the Homestuck quadrants to this series, I,,,,, would not be in any way opposed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “Jude/Cardan and quadrants” has been living in my brain rent free for a few years now...... (for the purpose of this prompt you can ignore the DNW about unrequested non-canonical pairings, because quadrants are more fun when you can mention other things, even if they're past or unrequited.)
Magical Diary
characters: any [Damien Ramsey; Mary Sue; Gary Stu; William Danson]
yes hello i’m trash and I ship everyone here. (yes, including flirty-scheming!Gary Stu with grumpy-compassionate!Mary Sue.)(note: "ship" can translate to "flirt" or "banter" if gen's more your speed!) Mary Sue/Damien and Gary Stu/William are my respective OTPs. but they’re flexible, if you see what i mean.
Subtext/pre-relationship works fine here if you’d rather write something gennish.
other ship notes: if it comes up, please don’t break up Donald/Ellen.
DNW: Christmas fic, fluff, language kink, pre-canon, non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time; dubcon where everyone is having a good time/~wants~ it despite reservations is fine, no-means-yes is fine. except William, William doesn’t dubcon people.), permanent major character death, setting change, torture, marriage except for magical/political gain, pregnancy, bleak/banal unhappiness, voyeurism unless the people being watched are doing it on purpose as part of a seduction process, the jealous kind of possessiveness, amnesia, body switching, unrequested non-canonical pairings, if you include both Mary and Gary: please go with Horse Hall canon (Gary was in Illyria).
As far as names go, I like Mary Sue and Gary!
I don’t mind fic with dark/disturbing undertones or overtones for this fandom! Think “Damien route dark” and “the magical world doesn’t explain the rules to 16yo wildseeds and then punishes them for breaking them.” If the walking content warning that is Damien is involved, I just want him to not have all the power in whatever relationship is taking place by the end of the fic, I ship him because I really like messed-up relationships where and the idea of Damien's lover "stealing back" power from him/being able to "fight back"/manipulate him etc (it's revenge + obsession all in one sexy package!).
If you want to worldbuild, especially on Illyria (and Gary Stu’s parents) or Otherworld, please do! I’d love to know more about it, if that’s where you want to set your fic. People going to Illyria in futurefic for research/resources and it leading to reconnection/OT3/OT4 time! A tropey “and now they must date/get married for magical/inheritance reasons” fic would work great. A tropey “and now they must marry someone who’s not the LI, and there’s not a lot of angst about infidelity but there’s politics/magic/intrigue/we shouldn’t but we really want to even though we’re such a bad idea” would be fantastic. I would also love that generic-ish prompt about “someone is cursed and now someone else must go through their mind to find them back.”
I love love love post-canon fics and most of the prompts under are about variations of that. They're examples and flexible.
- post-canon SECRET RELATIONSHIP! (Mary Sue/Damien, Gary Stu/William where William goes to work in Illyria maybe, Gary Stu/Damien). Mary and Damien seducing one another, Gary seducing William. Damien or William trying to fit in Illyria, Mary balancing Horse Hall and Damien and sneaking around to meet him, Gary not telling his parents about William, all that good stuff. (do the Dansons know.)
If you wrote Damien/Gary, I wouuuuuld prefer if you found a way not to have them actually go through the soul ritual? Maybe Gary can be subtly warning people off on the down-low. Maybe Damien gets distracted playing with Gary. If you want to write a dark corruption story, go for it, though. - futurefic OT3 (or OT4) get-together! Mary Sue and Damien end up ~seducing William (maybe in the world where she lost her powers, and William's on the right side of the law, but compromises more and more until he's working with them from inside the system; or in a good-end world, Mary Sue and Damien are trying to convince William Damien is totally on level, legally speaking, now - and maybe it's true, legally speaking - and they ~seduce him); something about Damien politicking to reconquer his throne (for some reason the soul ritual isn't gonna work), does he get help from Gary and Illyria, is William a diplomatic contact? years-post-Horse Hall OT4 where Damien/Mary, on the run, go for Illyria for research, and there they find dear William, who's very close to the Illyrian crown prince… (it doesn't need to end in an OT4, I just think the set-up has potential)
- "William meets one of them/more of them years later through work, how does it go" can be liberally applied and mixed-and-matched.
- in a world where neither Damien nor William dated a PC, they get back together! (maybe it starts with hate-sex! maybe it's surprisingly rom-com-y! maybe it's years down the line! maybe it's a canon-divergence of their last year!)
- futurefic mixing the light and the dark: Mary Sue is an up-and-coming Otherworld agent and still dating Damien and so long as he doesn't perform soul rituals in her living room it's not her jurisdiction. (and maybe she's tempted to sell him out for a guaranteed promotion, or maybe he proposes to her because Magical Inheritance Reasons, and they give each other's tips, and presumably the sex is great.)
- waiving the setting change dnw here to say that,,,, if you wanted to add Homestuck quadrants,,,,,,,, the quadrant-flipping and quadrant-confusion in these relationships,,,,,, or if you literally want to write a Homestuck AU I'm here for it too. (for the purpose of this prompt you can ignore the DNW about unrequested non-canonical pairings except Grabiner/Mary or Grabiner/Gary, because quadrants are more fun when you can mention other things, even if they're past or unrequited.)
- if there's a canon-divergence messed-up fic on one of these ships you've always wanted to write, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE. (Gary seducing William but fucking Damien on the side? the Mary Sue equivalent? Go go go.)
Tales of Symphonia
characters: Genis Sage; Zelos Wilder
DNW: non-canonical character death, unrequested non-canonical ships involving the main party (mention of any combination of Aisha/Harley/Linar would be fine; Presea/Aisha or Regal/Raine wouldn't. I consider Lloyd/Colette canon.), fluff, AUs with a setting change, following DoTNW canon, timeline where Lloyd picks Kratos at Flanoir, Zelos and Sheena banging before the stuff at the Tower of Salvation happens, PWP, marriage/proposal/pregnancy, age regression
I was so excited when ToS made it into Yuletide ! I love the twists in the story, the drama of it all, and the complex characters (link to my rambling about the variety of foils in ToS here). Out of these I picked Genis and Zelos, because I'd be utterly :DDDDDD at any fic focusing on these two, but they're also characters whose relationships with other characters in the tagset I'd love to read about, more on that in a bit.
For Genis and Zelos, I always return to that moment in the game when the party is visiting the elven storyteller in Latheon Gorge, and they make the same comment at the exact same time. It’s one of my favorite super minor moments in the game and it fills me with utter glee every time (NOT SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL!!!). They get on so little, and they're both very intelligent people, in a not-dissimilar way. They both have a conflicted relationship with trust. And yet their sharply different circumstances - age (which imo impacts that Genis is more optimistic than Zelos), social situation, family situation, race, optimism or lack thereof - mean they have a totally different perspective on things! And they get on each other's nerves.
So I'd be up to read anything about the way they rub each other the wrong way, and about broken trust, or love - for their families, for complicated/unrequited situations (Mithos, Sheena…). Something after Zelos' betrayal and Genis making the effort to trust him, or at least to work with him again (does he actually trust Zelos again?). Something about Genis having his heart broken by Mithos, and Zelos knowing who Mithos was all along, and watching from afar? Or Genis confronting him about not telling anyone about Mithos (does Zelos call him out for doing the same? maybe Zelos does also understand why Genis wouldn't say anything) - unless Zelos is the one admitting to Genis, post-canon, that he knew. Maybe something about Genis and Seles attending the same school after canon, and being rivals, or dating, and Zelos having no idea how he feels about it except that Genis is an insufferable little twerp. Do they talk about their families, about mothers and sisters and love or lack of love? I like the idea of a prickly reconciliation, or reconnaissance of the self through the other, between these two. Something that's broken and sharp and uneasy, but with something else than pure hostility.
If you want, you can choose to write about any of these pairs instead, or especially add this character:
Mithos & Genis:
this is THE big tragedy of the game as far as I’m concerned, and one of the most fascinating relationships. It’s got everything: childhood friendship promises, trust, betrayal, grief, love, heart wrenching wishes. Mithos so desperate that he wrangles a promise out of Genis. Genis who keeps Mithos' secret then picks up his Crystal and mourns him. I ship them utterly, but you don't have to write them more explicit than in canon if you don't.
Here's a few prompts:
- AU of that moment where Mithos kidnaps Genis, brings him to his gothic castle. gothic heroine Genis trying to convince Mithos not to destroy the world!
- Mithos angst is in fact always good. Mithos angsty character study and pining/angsting over Genis and being a poor little meowmeow who never did anything wrong ever (<- a lie) would be an AMAZING gift.
- you can add Raine or Zelos as you want!
- post-canon AU? where Mithos did not get to get killed.
- Mithos who got thrown back in time. does he do anything different, after all? if he was thrown back in time before meeting the party, does he hold out making the same choices until meeting Genis again? does he do anything about Yuan, now that he knows Yuan is betraying him? does he turn a blind eye to the treacheries of Kratos and Yuan and find himself excuses for it?
Raine & Genis:
You can focus more on Raine than on Genis if you want!
- if you want to play around with unusual formats, a recipe/recipe book where both Genis and Raine are writing down comments would be really cool! maybe recipes Raine copied down from Genis and is now experimenting with?
- something about the lies they tell others, how precarious their situation is.
- AU where they didn't reach Sylvarant. Is Genis stuck in Sybak and Raine agreed to kill the Chosen (whichever you want) in exchange for her brother's freedom? Are they living hidden in the slums, does an incognito Mithos make friends with Genis while Raine is working for the Chosen/the Pope/Yuan/the newly arrived Chosen of Sylvarant who wants to save both worlds?
- AU where Raine didn't reach Iselia and works for the Renegades? (probably here that I mention that Yuan/Botta mentions are fine - "Lord Botta likes complicated things")
- mentions of Raine visiting the Asgard trio would make me happy, I tend to joke (but it's only half a joke) about them being Raine's harem and any mention in passing about it being not clear what the dating situation is would be fun.
- for the record I also kind of ship/think they'd have interesting convos variations of Raine/Yuan/Botta, bc "likes complicated things" and Yuan and Raine are both sharply pragmatic and he would respect how smart she is. And the request that Raine please doesn't blow up Rodyle's base was very funny
Seles:
either Zelos&Seles or Genis&Seles [or Seles&Sheena in the context of Zelos/Sheena or Zelos generally being in love with Sheena]
I adore Seles. One of my biggest regrets in the game is that it would have been so great if she'd joined the party! I love how bitter and angry and determined and tsundere she is, how fiercely she guards her jagged heart. If you want to write more about Seles' life in the Abbaye, or Seles' complicated relationship with her brother (before canon? after canon?), or Seles' life after she gets freed, I'd love it. I also think she has great potential for interactions with the half-elves of the party, what with her mother being a half-elf, especially Genis - they're both abrasive and they're both great mages and they both dunk on Zelos and they're both proud. They'd make great friends or rivals or crushes.
If you're interested in longish, the AU where Zelos is the one to go on a journey of regeneration and Seles joins the party after an assassination attempt or something is cool.
This is where I reiterate the idea of Genis and Deles attending the same school after canon and being rivals/crushes!
Zelos&Sheena:
OTP. I love, love, love, love the way Zelos loves Sheena (I wrote a tiny manifesto here). Zelos Wilder invented romance when he grabbed Sheena's wrist to drag her to safety in another world while she tries to sacrifice herself at the Otherworldly Gate. I love that he knows her buttons and how to get the reaction he wants (by annoying her) but it still hurts him that she doesn't think well of him. I love that he distracts her by giving her things to be angry at (and that sometimes he's genuinely awful), I love that he's rooting for her crush on Lloyd, like the biggest self-sabotaging just-wants-a-fun-easy-life suicidal idiot. I love their scene in Derris Kharlan. I love Sheena's anger at him, I love how wounded she is when he betrays them (Sheena's broken "idiot" as Zelos dies: <3), I love that they've known each other so, so long and the hints of their backstory, like they were friends once.
- There's a telling-the-truth-or-die pollen, or he got kidnapped and slightly tortured and she rescues him and he's delirious, or he's in a magical coma and she has to go inside his mind to save him, you can blame all that on his Cruxis Crystal. Maybe he didn't tell the truth enough and now it's biting him in the ass. It happens after canon. The important part is that what Sheena learns is that he loves her!!! For real! And he desperately never meant for her to know!!!!!
I live for the idea of that sort of fanfic-y goodness for them. - Anything about Zelos pining is good. Zelos angsting and pining and worrying about her while he's betraying the party (Sheena: "I hate traitors most out everything in the world!" Sheena: "from now on… I won't run away again.") is always tasty.
Triangle Strategy
characters: Cordelia; Avlora
DNW: Christmas, fluff, PWP, setting changes, pregnancy, Glenbrook-family-incest.
What a good game, what good characters, what good angst! I'm not super interested in the Golden Ending post-canon set-up, but if you want to write Cordelia and Avlora during the chapters when Avlora is part of the army I'd be interested in that!
For Cordelia-Avlora, I'm mostly interested in More Of Their Relationship (especially as a ship), and if you don't ship them, I'm extremely interested in More Of Queen Cordelia. More on this in the prompts. The swoon-worthy romanticism of the scene of Cordelia showing her vulnerabilities to Avlora, reading Avlora perfectly, and Avlora swearing herself to Cordelia? pheewwwwwww.
Route-wise I confess to a slight preference for the surrendering Roland in ch7 and going with Frederica's plan in ch13 - I like the drama of it all and I think Cordelia benefits from making Roland escape a lot, it's a really good route for her. This is more telling as the kind of things I enjoy rather than a "I would HATE a story that doesn't occur in that route", go with what works best for your story.
I'd prefer the Roselle to have been defended in ch11 if it’s relevant, but if you have an idea that doesn't thematically if that didn't happen, you can go for it!
Here's a few prompts:
- I'd love to read about the AU where Cordelia has time to implement her plan as explained to Avlora. I would love intrigue and the oppressive atmosphere of Cordelia (and Avlora!) working against Aesfrost right under Thalas and Erika's nose, or earlier (after Cordelia has Roland escape, frex) Cordelia spying on Aesftost and penning letters to Royalist allies/the Wolfforts with her info. If they start a oh-it's-a-terrible-idea-and-they-shouldn't relationship - or if they don't, but they know it's almost as if they were - it would also be amazing.
- Queen Cordelia: the AU where when Roland realizes he wants to abdicate, Cordelia steps up. How this happens is up to you, I just felt the lack of mention of the possibility was a weakness in the game! And Avlora returns from the dead to help her queen.
- Queen Cordelia: Frederica's ending version. In this one let's say Cordelia stays behind, because that bothered me in the game that there's no discussion about it. (if that's what you're going with you can change Benedict's epilogue and the wider political balance as you see fit, I adore Benedict's epilogue but I feel Cordelia being around as Queen might have changed things) If you're interested in this setup but dubious about how to include Avlora, you can choose not to include Avlora if the fic is about Cordelia and Benedict politicking (what would Cordelia think of Benedict's role in Serenoa leaving, would she be grateful for someone staying behind as well as her? Same with Benedict, what would be his opinion on her in those circumstances? We know Cordelia is willing to bend to realpolitik, they'd be a good team).
- if you'd rather keep purely to missing scenes, Avlora's changing opinion on this slip of a girl. More about their time together while Gustadolph was in Whiteholm! Maybe Cordelia already putting out feelers to Patriatte?
- Others: if your story involves going AU (Cordelia gets engaged to Thalas and goes to live in Aesfrost? Engaged to Dragan? Cordelia visits Twinsgate or Svarog visits an occupied Whiteholm and Svarog and Cordelia become allies upon realizing they both want Gustadolph dead?) I would never be opposed to seeing more Dragan and Svarog! They can help [whatever is going on; Cordelia politicking to help Glenbrook or help the people of Aesfrost, whichever you prefer]!
