Yuletide Letter 2018

[aondeug]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

    Hello! My Ao3 name is Aondeug and I am very new at this Yuletide thing so I am not entirely sure how to write my letter, but I hope that this letter will prove to letter-y enough. I suppose to start with I should run down my general Do Not Wants. I’m not sure yet quite what will ruin a present for me, but I do have two in particular that I know of: scat and scriptfic.

    In terms of general likes, I really love both fic that explores the canon universe and its setting, but I also have a soft spot for AUs. Even silly AUs like cafe au are things that I enjoy, because honestly the thing I love most of all are the characters. I really enjoy character and relationship heavy fic, so I don’t really mind fics that boil down to plotless fluff and such. While I’d admit I really adore shipfic, I really adore explorations of friendships and families too. I also really enjoy a variety of tones! Sad, happy, scary, angry...I like lots and lots of tones and lots and lots of ways of exploring a character and relationships. In terms of overall tone though, I do tend to prefer something that is close to the canonical tone. Or, I suppose, the canonical ways of handling tones. I’m generally fine with any POV, though I really adore second person. I also really love interesting formats to fics, like poems or epistletories.

    Now to move to the fandoms themselves…

Force of Will TCG

Characters: Fiethsing and Zero, possibly Kaguya. I am fine if Kaguya is left out.

    This is a series that’s very near and dear to me. It’s not the best written thing out there, which makes sense as it’s a card game. Still FoW has very impressionable characters and an interesting world to match. It also has a very optimistic tone to it that is entirely earnest. FoW’s a world of possibility to explore and that’s the sort of thing I’d like looked into, especially from a relationship standpoint. I’d really love for the family relationship between Fiethsing and Zero, and their daughter Kaguya explored. Even if Fieth and Zero are treated more as just good friends, it’d just be really neat to see their family unit explored and what that family unit means to them.

    An idea I have that I find amusing is...what if it’s Christmas time in Re-Earth and Santa Claus exists! I mean, other Fairy Tales exist and roam the setting after being pulled from their stories like Hansel and Gretel, and even Kaguya herself. So why not Santa too! What is Santa like in this world and what does the true meaning of Christmas mean to this family. Modern AUs are also greatly appreciated.

Another thing that I'd find fun because I'm curious about it is what exactly does Fiethsing love about Zero. We see a lot in canon about why Zero loves Fiethsing and why it is she trusts her the way she does. We don't really see a lot from Fieth's point of view though. Why out of everyone else in the world is her best friend this fairly cranky woman with a mysterious past? Why is Fiethsing so adamant about trusting Zero, no matter what? Just what does Fiethsing see in Zero and why does she see it that way? What is Fiethsing getting out of the relationship? Like what sort of emotional need is Zero fulfilling for Fiethsing? If the wind is freedom no matter where, is there a sort of freedom she can find in Zero and Zero alone? For someone we see so much of in the series, we see shockingly little of Fieth's perspective regarding her best friend!

    In terms of a series specific dislike, I really don’t like when Fieth and Zero are portrayed as hating each other and always fighting over everything. They bicker a lot, but they are good friends in the game’s story.

The Chronicles of the Kencyrath

Characters: Torisen Black Lord and Jamethiel “Jame” Priest’s-bane

    Another one of those series that’s very near and dear to me. Though it’s not as cheery as FoW! It’s funny, tragic, uplifting, terrifying...Kencyrath is many things. It’s a world where mythic archetypes like the Highking and the Destroyer Avatar are real people and beset by real people problems. But even if our righteous highking is mentally ill, he’s still very much the righteous highking. The things I like best about Kencyrath are how it balances its very stark and realistic handling of mental illness, especially that related to abuse, with its high fantasy tone. I love how it’s a world where our hero is a ridiculous kung-fu action princess with a magical unicorn and a kitty and also she’s the incarnation of a face of God, but she’s also a person with very real problems.

    Beyond that I’d really like for the twins’ relationship with one another to be explored. To the surprise of no one who knows Kencyrath, I do ship them and quite a bit. I’m more than fine with fic that just explores them on a more platonic front though. Either way, it’d be really nice to see their complicated love-hate relationship looked into. Like, what does it mean to them and why. Little moments they’ve had together and what those little moments mean. Or, hell, recontextualize their relationship in an entirely different world. Like, what would Jame and Tori be like as siblings in a perfectly mundane world where Jame’s a barista and Tori is a college student coasting by on Daddy’s money? What would they be like as Transformers and why would they be so very them about their relationship during the Energon Crisis? What if Jame and Tori were tieflings and how would their probably different ways of handling being that affect their relationship? Just Jame and Tori as siblings with a complicated relationship.

    Don’t feel bad about going super antagonistic or to very dark places with them either. It is Kencyrath, after all. Precious, happy moments between the twins are lovely, but so are the harder, darker parts of their relationship.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Characters: Karen Kohiruimaki/LLENN and Elza Kanzaki/Pitohui

    A newer obsession of mine, but one regardless. One with not lots of fic either! I really love its tone. It’s like...anime PUBG. With ridiculous anime fights that aren’t really plausible if one thinks about them too hard. But that’s the fun part of the series! The ridiculous nature of it all. The moments of hype, like one feels while watching real esports, taken to extremes only possible in a light novel or anime.

    Like with my other series, I’d really like an exploration of the relationship between Pito and LLENN. Maybe you could have some sort of irl meeting between the pair at Karen’s house. Maybe they have a casual night of hunting players together. Maybe they philosophize about and explore the nature of sadism. Maybe they just have really kinky sex and Karen learns a thing about herself. Whatever the case, it’d be really neat to see their friendship explored because it’s got an interesting feel to it.

    In terms of series specific dislikes I really don’t like when Pito’s behavior is softened. She’s rude, abusive, doesn’t care about boundaries and so on. Even when she’s just rambling about guns for several hours, she’s still a bit too forward and friendly and it’s obvious that she’s not the most mentally stable person. The more unsavory sides of her can be less looked at, but I’d really not want her to be made into a good, stable person because she’s really, really not either of those things.