ghostwings

Hello, Yuletide author! I go by Eida on AO3. Thank you so much for writing for me!

To start things off, my do-not-wants are:

*Explicit sex (I'm fine with fade-to-black or implications of it happening offscreen)
*Mentions of child sexual abuse

In general, I enjoy a wide range of fic, and will almost certainly enjoy yours as well.

I would rather not have a 100% hopeless and unhappy ending, but other than that, everything from fluffy lightness to angsty-with-a-bittersweet-ending is fine by me.

I’m also open to “non-standard” fic formats. I enjoy epistolary fic and in-universe meta, I’m open to getting whatever style of narration (first/second/third limited/third omniscient) you think fits the story best, and I opt in to the potential of getting some form of interactive fiction. (Of course, more “standard” fic formats are much-loved as well!)

I am also open to canon-divergence AUs.

Other general likes:

*Competent people in their element

*Characters being protective of each other

*Found/Chosen family

*Missing scenes (including backstory)

*Bonds forged in adversity

*Excerpts from in-universe documents

*Exploring the ways in which non-human characters differ from humans

*Worldbuilding in general

Fandoms/Characters being requested:

Dinotopia – James Gurney (Any)

Dr. Franklin’s Island – Ann Halam (Semirah Garson, Miranda Fallow)

Feral Hearts - Kerli (Music Video) (Floating Girl, White Stag Woman)

Final Fantasy VI (Celes Chere, Terra Branford)

Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery – Mili (Song) (Ga1ahad, Narrator | Witch)

Dinotopia – James Gurney

Characters: Any (Tagset contains Arthur Denison, Bix, Enit, and Sylvia Romano)

I really love this setting. I love the entire concept of a somewhat-utopian society of humans and dinosaurs living and working together; I love the rich and fascinating world that James Gurney created.

I would be thrilled with basically anything set in this world. (And I love basically all kinds of dinosaurs, both the well-known and the obscure.) Anything with worldbuilding would be fantastic; I’m 100% fine with fic centered entirely around OCs for this fandom.

Prompts:

*Really, I’d enjoy anything focusing on any aspect of life in Dinotopia, even something that might seem relatively mundane in the “real world,” but has to be adapted for the wide array of species that call Dinotopia home. (I quite enjoyed the fic about dentistry in Dinotopia from a previous Yuletide!)

*I’d also be interested in seeing how Dinotopia might interact with the outside world once technology allowed for travel in and out of the island. Would any saurians decide to try life outside of Dinotopia? Would there be student exchange programs? What kind of cultural exchanges might take place?

*I was also fascinated by the crystal-based technological society that was part of Dinotopia’s history—I’d enjoy seeing something that either features something about historians further researching/exploring the ruins of Dinotopia’s past or something set in Poseidos or the World Beneath during that past.

Dr. Franklin’s Island – Ann Halam

Characters: Semirah Garson, Miranda Fallow

I am fine with either a platonic or romantic relationship between these two.

I really loved this book--the idea of transformation has always been compelling to me, and I also really like seeing characters thrown together who are forced to deal with extremely difficult circumstances, and end up developing a deep bond because of it.

The ending of the book was intriguing. Not only are the three castaways having to adjust to a normal life after their ordeal on the island, Semirah states that she thinks that, Miranda, and Arnie have the capability to change back into their animal forms—in a way that is chosen and controlled by them, rather than forced. In the coda, Semi describes the possibility in positive terms:

I know that we can transform again. I believe it will happen, some way, somehow. I think about breathing water and swimming through the music of the ocean… I know that Miranda will never forget being able to fly. I dream of another planet, with an ocean of heavy air, where I can swim and she can fly, where we can be the marvelous creatures that we became; and be free, together, with no bars between us…

Of course, it’s possible that Miranda’s feelings about the possibility of turning back into a bird (even if she can change back at will) might be more conflicted—she came much closer to losing her human sense of self than Semi did.

Prompts:

*A fic set in some portion of the book which explores Miranda's viewpoint (as the book itself is written from Semirah's POV). Semirah initially sees Miranda as the strong one, and Miranda does a lot to help Semi get through her ordeal, but Miranda clearly cares a lot about Semi, and admires Semi's inventiveness when the three (which becomes two, once Arnie disappears) of them are still trying to survive, and Semi becomes Miranda's rock just as much as Miranda was Semi's.

*Semi and Miranda email back and forth after they both return home, discussing their experiences readjusting to normal life, and talking over their thoughts about their shared ordeal. The fact that they've had such a dramatic, transformational (in more ways than one!) experience that they can't share with anyone who didn't go through it will mean that they'll probably have quite a bit to say to each other, to let everything out.

*Semi toys with the idea of possibly being able to turn back; Miranda isn't sure what to feel about it—although she enjoyed flight, she still remembers what it was like to start losing hold of her humanity. And if Semi manages to succeed—what would happen then? Will they ever find a place where they can let their other sides out once more, and will Miranda even want to?

*The secret of Dr. Franklin's experiments get out, and Semi and Miranda find themselves the subject of media scrutiny, as they'd feared; they're forced to deal with the consequences. How do they react? Do they try to take control of the situation as much as they can (if they can get the public at large on their side, then perhaps they're less likely to be swept off to some secret government lab, for fear of backlash) or do they flee?

Feral Hearts - Kerli (Music Video)

Characters: Floating Girl, White Stag Woman

The music video can be watched here.

I love the magical woodland setting of this video, and I feel like there might be a number of possible stories one could tell about it.

The video seems to center around a young girl who enters—and eventually leaves—the forest through a doorway made of branches. Shortly after stepping through, she begins to levitate off the ground, and she looks around the forest in wonder.

An antlered woman peers at her from behind a tree, watching the girl as she makes her way deeper into the forest, encountering various beings (all played by Kerli) as she goes along, each of which is supposed to represent a different element—a butterfly-winged fairy for air, a mermaid for water, a spider-woman for fire, and the white-antlered woman for earth.

Kerli also commented on a few other pieces of symbolism in the video. Regarding the mirrors, she said "The mirror symbolizes spiritual reflection - fearlessly looking at oneself... once the little girl catches the white stag/her vision, it is surrounded by nothing else but mirrors. Meaning, to achieve your highest potential, one needs to achieve complete and unapologetic self acceptance. The gold is not further outside. It is deeper inside." One could think of it as a sort of coming-of-age narrative for the girl; through her journey through the woods, she learns something about herself.

Prompts:

*Perhaps the girl is part of a family of human magicians who have served as guardians of a magic forest; once each child reaches a certain age, they are sent into the forest to become acquainted with the beings who live there.

*Or maybe the girl is an apprentice witch/wizard/magician/pick your favorite term for magic-user. She goes into the magic forest as part of her training, possibly to seek some particular spell reagent or to seek wisdom from the denizens of the woods. Or perhaps she has to travel through the woods as a test, or the final trial before she can complete this stage of her training.

*Alternatively, maybe the girl is part-fae; she travels into the forest in hopes of learning more about that side of her heritage. There may be some complications, depending on who the girl's fairy relations are. (Are they widely liked or disliked? Do they have enemies? Are they high-ranking members of some faerie court?)

Final Fantasy VI

Characters: Celes Chere, Terra Branford

I’m fine with either a platonic or romantic relationship between these two.

Final Fantasy VI is one of my favorites in the Final Fantasy series, and Celes and Terra are my two favorite characters.

They have a number of parallels—both teenagers around the same age, both raised in Vector, both turned into weapons for the Gestahlian Empire, both capable of using magic without the use of magicite (though in Terra’s case it’s inborn esper magic and in Celes’ Magitek infusions).

By virtue of their shared background, they’d met before the events of the game, and in the GBA translation, at least, after Celes joins with the Returners in Narshe she says “Terra... Who'd have thought we'd meet again... like this?” This rather makes it sound like they had some level of familiarity with each other before Kefka put the Slave Crown on Terra, though Terra, due to Crown-induced amnesia, doesn’t seem to remember.

One of the major themes in Terra’s story is figuring out just who and what she is—between her loss of memory and her discovery that she’s not entirely human—the same theme is also present for Celes, in a way, in that Celes has to figure out who she is outside of the Empire and the warrior they made of her (given that she was made a full-on general by the age of 18, it seems like she’d already gotten a significant amount of battle experience as a teenager—and given that she got the Magitek infusions as a child, she was basically raised to be a soldier for the Empire).

Prompts:

*What interactions might Celes and Terra have had when they were younger, before Terra got the Crown put on her? What did they think of each other? And how did Celes react when she discovered that Kefka had put the Crown on Terra?

*In Narshe, Terra, worried that her magic sets her apart from other people, asks Celes if she’s capable of love—which Celes understandably takes as mockery. Do the two of them ever end up having an actual discussion about it?

*After Kefka wrecks the world, Terra winds up basically adopting all the orphans of Mobliz. It doesn’t seem like Terra or Celes had anything like a normal childhood—Celes at least had Cid as something of a father-figure, but even so. Still, Terra seems to be doing a pretty decent job at being a foster parent—and perhaps Celes helps babysit from time to time. (Though after Kefka’s defeat, perhaps Terra is able to get some of the kids adopted.) I’d be interested in seeing something with Terra and Celes interacting with the kids either during or after the game.

*What other things do Terra and Celes get up to after the game? Even if Celes ends up traveling around with Locke (or with someone else, or even alone) post-game, she might wind up back at Mobliz to visit—or perhaps Terra might ask for her help if there’s an outbreak of monsters nearby, or some other issue Celes could assist with.

Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery – Mili (Song)

Characters: Ga1ahad, Narrator | Witch

The song can be listened to here. The lyrics can be found here.

I’m good with an interpretation of Ga1ahad as being either male or female (I’ll admit I kind of like the idea of the witch/Ga1ahad relationship being F/F.)

There’s something compelling about the relationship between Ga1ahad and the Witch.

Going by the lyrics—the witch empowered (and perhaps created) Ga1ahad, and going off reference to “The magical potion of reanimation” in the first line, it sounds like the witch is resurrecting Ga1ahad after Ga1ahad dies.

Of course, a few lines later, there’s “Rise from bed my darling / So I can see you again / So I can kill you again.”

These two appear to have a… somewhat love-hate relationship with each other. After Ga1ahad tells the witch “Someday I’ll conquer the land and have you slain” and “I appreciate your thoughts / But you’ve given me too much to tolerate,” the witch replies “I’ve done so much for you / But you treat me this way,” followed by a lyric in which both say “No forgiveness for this endless love / My goddess never looked at me.”

The setting here is also fascinating—as the “Scientific Witchery” of the title implies, there’s a blend between fantasy and sci-fi elements (with Ga1ahad using lasers as weapons and one of the witch’s spells backing up Ga1ahad’s “thoughts to the cloud”).

Prompts:

*It’s possible that Ga1ahad might have been techno-magically empowered by the witch for the specific purpose of fighting (other) witches (“The witches can’t be loved / so bravely I fought”). If that’s the case, why? Was the witch trying to get rid of the competition, or was there some other reason? Why did Ga1ahad eventually turn on her?

*Of course, there might have been some other original reason, with Ga1ahad taking up witch-slaying on their own after falling out with the witch. If that’s the case… what was the original reason the witch decided to enchant (or perhaps even create, if Ga1ahad is some sort of magically-created being or even a robo-knight—Ga1ahad is described as “the new upgrade,” after all) Ga1ahad? Why did Ga1ahad start on their anti-witch crusade?

*What happened with Lance10t, anyways? Did Ga1ahad know Lance10t personally, or only through stories/reputation? Why does the witch warn Ga1ahad to not be like Lance10t? (In Arthurian myth, Lancelot is Galahad’s father; whether or not this ties in at all with what you write is entirely up to you.)

*The final lyrics hint at the possibility of some sort of reconciliation—“There’s no return, and there’s no repeat / Can’t go back to how we used to be / There’s no restart, but only proceed / Take up from where we’ve left off and see.” What leads Ga1ahad and the witch to this point?

Hello!

My AO3 name is Eida, and I have requested the following fandoms/topics:

Chalion Saga

The Future
Shamans and Great Beasts

Final Fantasy X and X-2

Dresspheres
Fayth and Aeons
Religion

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Pre-canon duels and duellists

Original Work

Complex Magic Rituals
Shapeshifters (Fantasy)
Soulmate-identifying Marks
Goose That Chases You Towards Your Soulmate

I have requested both fanfiction and in-universe meta with Any or No Characters for all of the above.

My DNWs are as follows:

○ I do not want anything explicitly depicting a sexual relationship involving characters below the age of 18.

○ I do not want detailed descriptions of gore or torture.

Here are some things I generally like in fic:

○ Relationship development

○ Hurt/Comfort

○ Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

○ Characters who are comfortable with each other, and willing to engage in good-natured banter

○ Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

○ Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

○ Academic papers

○ Advice columns

○ Annotated bibliographies

○ Excerpts from biographies

○ Excerpts from history books or other textbooks

○ How-to guides/Instruction manuals

○ Internet forum threads

○ News articles

○ Religious texts (possibly with commentary)

○ Reviews of any sort of media (i.e., in-universe book or movie reviews)

Chalion Saga

The Future

I'm interested to see basically anything about where you think the World of the Five Gods might go after the end of Paladin of Souls. I'd love to see anything ranging from "here are the state of relations between Chalion and the Roknari Princedoms a few years after the events of Paladin of Souls" to "factory workers view such and such god as patron of unions" to "here are the struggles of sorcerers on spaceships" or anything in between.

Shamans and Great Beasts

How did shamanism first arise? There's a discussion in Penric's Fox about the possible the origins of spirit warriors and shamans, and it's mentioned that old legends have it that the first shaman was granted their powers by the Son of Autumn; if that's true, how and why did that occur? In the Penric books, it's mentioned that the shamans of the time are doing research to recover the knowledge that was lost after the Darthacan conquest; what sort of things do they discover? Is there any sort of selection process for what sort of Great Beast a shaman will bear outside of what kin group they're a part of (if they are part of a kin group)? Does the practice of shamanism ever spread beyond the Weald?

Final Fantasy X & X-2

Outside of Dresspheres (which only show up in FFX-2), I don't have any strong feelings about whether or not you include FFX-2 canon; I've mentioned it in the other two prompts, but if you have other ideas for what happened after FFX, by all means feel free to ignore FFX-2.

I'd prefer it if you ignored FFX-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~ and FFX -Will-.

Dresspheres

We don't get to see the recordings on some of the dresspheres in the game—what was recorded on them, and how did that “translate” into whatever job the dressphere was for? Also, we saw that the Songstress dressphere had a certain influence on Yuna during the game—are any other dresspheres which influence certain people in a particular way? Do dresspheres ever come into wider usage beyond the Gullwings—maybe even being deliberately mass-produced? How would you go about trying to create a dressphere for a specific job/purpose?

Fayth & Aeons

In the time of Final Fantasy X, fayth and aeons are an integral part of Spiran society, but there's a lot of mystery surrounding them (both for the player and the in-game characters).

What's the process to create a fayth? What does the form the aeon takes say about the person who became the fayth of that aeon? Does the fayth get any conscious choice in what their aeon will look like/what abilities their aeon has?

What exactly goes on when a summoner is praying to the fayth? Going off of what Wakka says to Tidus in Besaid, the process can be dangerous; in what way? What does it feel like for a fayth to have their aeon summoned?

The strength of an aeon varies depending on the strength of their summoner (and, in-game, the player can use items to give aeons abilities they don't naturally start with); are there any other ways in which aeons manifest differently for different summoners?

Religion

In FFX, it appears that people pray not only to Yevon, but to High Summoners as well—for instance, in Kilika, Wakka prays to Lord Ohalland to help his Blitzball team. Is this practice widespread all across Spira? Do different High Summoners have specific things they're said to help with, with people praying to different High Summoners depending on the issue they have?

Also, what does Yevon teach outside of the whole summoners-must-defeat-Sin-with-the-Final-Aeon-until-the-people-become-sufficiently-sinless thing? What role do priests and nuns play in their communities? What kind of holidays are celebrated? Are there particular Yevon rites/rituals/customs for major milestones (i.e. birth, marriage, coming of age, death)?

After Final Fantasy X, with Sin's defeat and Sin's true nature presumably revealed to the world, the religion of Yevon is going to undergo some serious upheaval. How do people react? In FFX-2, a lot of people reject the religion Yevon entirely, but others cling to old traditions (leading to the creation of New Yevon). What changes happen over time?

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Pre-canon duels and duellists

Were the duels always carried out as sword duels with roses, or did they ever take a different form? Is every cycle of duels different? Do changes occur gradually, with things being tweaked a bit as time passes by and/or according to Akio's/Anthy's whim? Were previous sets of duelists also (mostly) in positions of power within Ohtori? (The duels have been going on a long time, and student councils haven't always existed.) What were the former duelists like, why were they chosen for the duels, and what were they fighting for? What did Anthy think about them (and vice-versa)?

Original Work

Complex Magic Rituals

I'm always a sucker for cool magical systems. What is it that makes these rituals so complex? Do they have to be performed at exactly the right time, with lots of astrological calculations made to ensure all the planets are in their proper places (and meaning that certain spells can, perhaps, only be cast once every few centuries/millennia)? Do they require multiple people coordinating perfectly, each performing specific ritual tasks at the same time? (Maybe they're doing dance-magic, with complicated choreography, or choir-magic, with each person needing to hit just the right notes to create the desired effect.) Is there a massive list of highly-specific spell reagents? Is there a vast magical alphabet mages have to learn, where messy handwriting in the magic circle can lead to everything blowing up in the mage's face? And what sort of other complications/worldbuilding implications might result from the ritual requirements?

Shapeshifters (Fantasy)

How common are shapeshifters? Can everyone (or almost everyone) shapeshift, or is it rare? What kinds of societal accommodations are made for shapeshifters (i.e. architecture that allows for, say, werehorses to maneuver indoors in horse shape, or a general societal norm that one should avoid strongly-scented perfume out of courtesy to werewolves in wolf shape)?

Do different types of shapeshifters have different “rules”? (I.e., werewolves are forced to transform on full moon nights, but werepanthers are forced to transform during the new moon; or some shifters need a ritual to transform, while others need to don an animal skin, while others just need to focus their will in order to change forms.)

Are shapeshifters in particular demand for particular jobs? Are people who shift into birds in demand as couriers, for instance? Are people who can take the form of other people (rather than animals) in demand as actors, or hired out as body doubles?

“Spy” is, naturally, an obvious idea for a shapeshifter occupation—but what kind of security measures are taken to make sure that, say, an enemy wererat can't sneak into your strategy meeting, or that an enemy who can shift into different human forms doesn't pose as one of your allies?

Soulmate-identifying marks

(I'm totally fine with the idea of platonic soulmates and poly soulmates, if that's the way you want to take this, but if you do, I'd prefer that platonic/poly be a known and accepted thing in the society, as opposed to people with platonic soulmates feeling pressured into an unwanted romantic relationship/people with multiple soulmates being expected to just choose one.)

What form do these soulmate marks take? And how do people use the way soulmate marks work to try and find their soulmate? (i.e., if everyone has their soulmate's name on their body at birth, people would presumably try to make sure to give their children unique names—and if your soulmate's name only appears on your body when you meet them, it might be considered normal for most public places to have a sign-in sheet.)

Does everyone get a soulmate mark? Are some people simply soulmateless? Do certain species get soulmate marks, while others don't? And in that case, what happens if someone's soulmate is of a different species—i.e. a human with a soulmate mark has a soulmate who's a dwarf, except dwarves don't get soulmate marks?

Does each person only get one possible soulmate (so they're plumb out of luck if they're in circumstances where the two of them never meet), or does each person have multiple potential soulmates (perhaps with a mark that reflects this—i.e., a person with a certain symbol on their wrist is compatible with anyone with the same symbol, but not necessarily all at once)? Can a person's soulmate (and therefore soulmate mark) change over their lifetime (i.e. if their original soulmate passes away, or if they themselves undergo a dramatic change in personality)?

Goose That Chases You Towards Your Soulmate

I saw this in the tagset, and it just raised so many questions.

Is this one single, hard-working goose that's playing matchmaker, or does everyone get their own goose? Does a goose just magically appear at the birth of every person, waiting for the right moment to begin the chase? Is everyone presented with a goose egg upon coming of age, which they must incubate, hatch, and raise to adulthood in the knowledge that, once grown, the goose will herd them forcibly to their soulmate? Do regular geese in this universe otherwise behave just like Earth geese, save for the fact that they are occasionally spontaneously driven to chase people towards their soulmates? Is this phenomenon the result of some sort of benign(?) goose deity who manifests an avatar in the mortal realm when soulmates are close enough to be chased into each others' arms?

Is there some great spiritual significance to the species of goose which chases you to your soulmate? Do soulmates get matching geese? Does this society attach special cultural/religious significance to geese in general? Are there some sort of goose-related marriage/commitment/etc. rituals that came about as a result of the goose-soulmate thing (i.e., a ceremonial exchange of feathers at the wedding)? Is the goose that chases you immortal, or can you be denied your soulmate if your goose gets hit by a bus while chasing you across the road? Can the goose be bribed to give you a bit of a breather, because you're absolutely exhausted and just plumb tired of getting bitten every time you stop running in the indicated direction???

Hello! I go by Eida on AO3, and I've requested only the following F/F(/F+) Ships:

Female Healer/Female Knight

Femme Selkie Folksinger/Butch Otter-Shifter Punkrocker

Human Woman Who Can Turn Into A Dragon/Dragon Who Can Turn Into A Human Woman

Reformed Demon/Warrior Nun

Queen of a Coastal Nation/Mermaid Princess

Mermaid/Female Pirate Captain

Dashing Pirate Captain With Personal Code of Ethics/Female Captive

1950's Suburban Housewife who made a deal with the devil/the devil's overworked demon assistant

Librarian/Goddess of Knowledge

Princess/Werewolf Bodyguard

I've also selected Any Additional Tag, Any Rating, and No Archive Warnings Apply.

DNWs:

○ Sexually explicit material that involves shapeshifters in their nonhuman form. (Mermaids and humanoid demons are fine.)
○ Sexually explicit material involving characters under the age of 18
○ Noncon
○ Unambiguously, entirely unhappy endings (I'm fine with a fic that goes dark places, but even if the protagonists are beaten, bruised, and weary, I'd like there to be at least some hope of happiness in their future)

General likes:

○ Competent people doing their thing
○ Loyalty (from "we're childhood friends, and I'll be by your side forever" to "my bloodline has served yours for generations, and I can't imagine ever living without that bond to guide me")
○ Characters being protective of each other
○ Bonds forged in adversity
○ Long-standing established relationships
○ Interesting magic systems
○ Excerpts from in-universe documents
○ Exploring the ways in which non-human characters differ from humans
○ Worldbuilding in general

Smut likes:

○ Porn with a plot, in general
○ Really enthusiastic first times after a period of pining/thinking things were unrequited
○ Post-danger sex (i.e. characters who've just survived a life-threatening situation getting it on)
○ Being careful with a partner who's injured/otherwise needs to be treated with care
○ Magical/ritual sex

I'll go for pretty much any tone or genre. Angsty regency-era werewolves? Sci-fi with space pirates and bioengineered mermaids? An urban fantasy whodunit where a couple of shapeshifting musicians solve a crime? An eldritch library inhabited by a goddess of forbidden knowledge? I'll happily read it all.

I've also thrown in a few general prompts for each pairing as a starting point (but feel free to go a different direction if you have other ideas!):

Female Healer/Female Knight

○ The knight has been gravely injured, and needs extensive rehabilitation. She may or may not be a particularly good patient; either way, the healer is going to do her darnedest to get this knight back on her feet.

○ The healer and knight are both on the front lines, each trying to protect the other in the best way they can.

○ The healer and the knight are on opposite sides of a conflict... but when the healer comes across a wounded enemy warrior, she decides to offer aid (either because that's just what healers do, or because she's particularly taken with this specific knight).

Femme Selkie Folksinger/Butch Otter-Shifter Punkrocker

○ The selkie and otter-shifter are both playing at the same show/music festival/bar/etc., and they hit it off. (And perhaps collaborate musically, despite their rather different genres.)

○ A battle of the bands is going on! But the only thing stronger than their competitive spirit is the spirit... of love!!!

(That was incredibly corny, and for that, I will make no apologies whatsoever. ;D)

○ Someone has stolen the selkie's skin, and it's up to her punk rock girlfriend to get it back. (Alternatively, someone is trying to steal the selkie's skin, and the selkie and otter-shifter are taking measures to protect it, perhaps setting up a trap for the would-be thief.)

Human Woman Who Can Turn Into A Dragon/Dragon Who Can Turn Into A Human Woman

○ A dragon, fascinated by humanity, decides to spend some time blending into human society. She comes across a woman who seems surprisingly knowledgeable about dragons, almost as if she'd spent time among them... (Or vice-versa!)

○ Two bloodlines, one human, one draconic, formed some sort of magical pact ages ago; now all of them can shapeshift into the other species. The two families have remained close-knit for generations, and the shapeshifting human woman and shapeshifting female dragon have been friends since childhood.

○ An initially-non-shapeshifting human woman and a dragon form a deep bond, and seek out a ritual that will allow each to take the form of the other.

Reformed Demon/Warrior Nun

○ A warrior nun comes across a demon. She is unable to banish the demon for whatever reason (a lack of a necessary magical reagent, the nun's ritual purity is somehow compromised, the nun needs assistance from a certain number of others to perform the banishing ritual, the stars aren't in alignment, etc.), but she is able to bind the demon. The two are stuck together for the foreseeable future, and while neither is initially wild about the whole thing, eventually, they start to grow on one another, and the demon begins to change her ways (or perhaps wasn't as bad as the nun thought in the first place). (Perhaps the nun finds herself in a possibly-lethal situation, and the demon chooses to save her rather than let the nun perish, even if the nun's death would free the demon.)

○ A hardened veteran warrior nun corners a demon who swears she's not seeking to do any harm, that she just wants to live in peace... and, though once the nun might have scoffed at this as demon trickery, for whatever reason, she decides to hear this demon out.

○ For the first time in the order's history, a demon, of all things, is seeking to join as a nun. But even if her superiors have permitted it, one novice warrior nun is convinced that this demon can be up to no good, and vows to keep a close eye on her... only to find herself liking this demon rather more than she expected.

Queen of a Coastal Nation/Mermaid Princess

○ For generations, the royals of the coast and the ocean have intermarried in order to reaffirm the bonds between their nations. Often, these marriages are more ceremonial than romantic--but this case proves to be an exception.

○ When they were both young, the crown princesses of the coastal nation and the nearby mermaid kingdom became quite close. Now that they are older (and the coastal princess has become a queen), they're both expected to find suitable marriages to form strong political alliances and produce an heir... only they'd really rather marry each other, and are determined to find a way to make things work.

○ A queen is lost at sea (whether by accident or due to political machinations by those who want another on the throne). A mermaid princess rescues her, bringing her to a small deserted island, where they both get to know each other better, and the queen tries to figure out how to get home--or possibly whether she even really wants to.

Mermaid/Female Pirate Captain

○ The pirate captain raids a ship that had been capturing mermaids. Though she releases the captive mermaids (as they're not really her type of loot), one seems to want to stick around...

○ After a mutiny, the pirate captain is left in the middle of the ocean in a rowboat with little-to-no supplies. She meets a mermaid, and they team up to get the pirate her ship back.

○ The pirate captain has made some sort of deal with a mermaid sorceress for the sorceress's assistance; as such, she returns regularly to the mermaid's home to give a portion of her plunder to the mermaid as tribute. As their acquaintanceship lengthens, they find themselves growing closer.

Dashing Pirate Captain With Personal Code of Ethics/Female Captive

○ A pirate has taken several captives in her last raid. Her sense of honor demands that she return her captives safely to shore as soon as she can safely do so... but she's starting to get the feeling that one of the ladies she's captured doesn't really want to go home.

○ A young woman related to some noble/wealthy person is at first outraged when she's kidnapped... only to find that the pirate captain isn't actually such a bad sort, and is doing it for a decent cause (i.e., maybe her relative is doing something harmful, and the pirate is intending to use the ransom money to help the people that relative has harmed--or the pirate has some other worthy cause to raise money for).

○ A pirate captain has, in the course of her raids, captured and released the same woman multiple times. The pirate is starting to wonder if said woman is somehow orchestrating this whole thing...

1950's Suburban Housewife who made a deal with the devil/the devil's overworked demon assistant

○ The housewife made her deal with the devil out of desperation in order to escape some horrible situation. Perhaps despite herself, the devil's assistant sympathizes with the housewife, and decides to help her out.

○ The housewife didn't realize she was making a deal with the devil at the time; she had no idea that nice Louis Cypher fellow who recently set up shop in town was anything other than the gentleman he appeared to be. But she's a bit worried about his assistant--she seems so stressed, and she's new in town, and it's only polite to see if she can help her settle into her new neighborhood. (Alternatively: The housewife does know she's making a deal with the devil, but making demonic pacts is totally normal and commonplace in this universe.)

○ The housewife is not the meek, unassuming sort of lady she seems to be. No--she's got ambitions, which is why she got into this whole deal-with-the-devil thing in the first place. She expected the devil to double-cross her--because that's just what the devil does--and so she's planning to double-cross the devil right back... and if the devil's assistant is willing to come along for the ride, all the better.

Librarian/Goddess of Knowledge

○ The librarian works in a library dedicated to a goddess of knowledge. She takes her sacred duties very seriously, but she never expected to see the goddess to whom she's devoted her life in person.

○ The librarian, along with her fellow library staff, is struggling to get sufficient funding for their small-town library. In a desperate moment, she sends off a quick prayer to anyone who'll listen... and the goddess of knowledge hears, and answers.

○ A goddess of knowledge has awoken after long centuries of slumber, and is curious about what humans have been up to in her absence. Naturally, the first place she stops is the library.

Princess/Werewolf Bodyguard

○ For centuries, the royal lineage has been guarded by members of a bloodline blessed with shapeshifting powers. The princess's bodyguard views this duty as an honor and a privilege. But she finds she's falling for her charge, which rather complicates matters.

○ The bodyguard has kept her lycanthropy hidden for long years, but the princess has found out at last--and, to her bodyguard's shock, is now asking her bodyguard to turn her into a werewolf, too. (Perhaps in addition to asking the bodyguard to help her run away.)

○ When the princess's faithful bodyguard was bitten by a werewolf while defending the princess, and infected with lycanthropy, she intends to resign, as she feels that she can no longer be trusted to properly carry out her duties. The princess, however, will have none of that; she's more than willing to deal with whatever complications arise to keep her beloved bodyguard by her side.

After listening to it for the first time yesterday, I'm adding Suzanne Vega's "Marlene on the Wall" to the List of Songs I'd Use in an Utena Vid If I Ever Start Making Vids.

It feels like it sort of works for the Anthy-Akio-Utena dynamic, with Utena being the singer and Anthy taking the role of Marlene, and I'd interpret the "you" mentioned in the song as Utena alternately referring to Anthy, Akio, or both at once.

I think I'll probably look up some more of Vega's music. Always nice to find a new artist to listen to!

Hello!

My AO3 name is Eida, and I have requested the following fandoms/topics:

Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy X-2

Dream Zanarkand
Fayth and Aeons
Guado Society
Religion
Dresspheres

Houston Houston Do You Read - James Tiptree Jr.

Famous Love Songs and Stories
Sisters

Original Work

Mythical Creatures in Future Society
Soulmate Marks
Winged People

I have requested both fanfiction and in-universe meta for all three.

My DNWs are as follows:

○ I do not want anything containing a sexual relationship involving characters below the age of 18
○ I do not want detailed descriptions of gore or torture

Here are some things I generally like in fic:

○ Relationship development

○ Hurt/Comfort

○ Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

○ Characters who are comfortable with each other, and willing to engage in good-natured banter

○ Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

○ Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

So far as in-universe meta goes, I don't know if I've ever meta type of document that I didn't like in that context. I'll just throw a list out in case it offers any inspiration (though some will work better with some fandoms than others):

○ Academic papers
○ Advice columns
○ Annotated bibliographies
○ Excerpts from biographies
○ Excerpts from history books or other textbooks
○ How-to guides/Instruction manuals
○ Internet forum threads
○ News articles
○ Religious texts (possibly with commentary)
○ Reviews of any sort of media (i.e., in-universe book or movie reviews)

Final Fantasy X & X-2

(Feel free to either use or ignore the information from the Ultimania guide, FFX-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~, and FFX -Will-, whichever you like.)

Dream Zanarkand

○ What is life like in the Dream Zanarkand? Is it basically like a real-world city, with people being born, growing up, and dying just like in the real world, or are there some things that are different due to the fact that its people are pyrefly-constructs?

○ Dream Zanarkand is basically a giant aeon; Ifrit’s fayth said that Jecht “touched Sin and became real,” and Yojimbo’s aeon calls Tidus “a fading dream, but one touched by reality.” That implies that the other denizens of the Dream Zanarkand are somehow not real; what does that mean?

○ Because Dream Zanarkand is well, a dream, it’s likely bit more idealized than the real Zanarkand. What are the differences? How does the Dream Zanarkand reflect the desires of the fayth who create it?

○ We know that Bahumut's fayth, at least, has visited the Dream Zanarkand; have any other fayth? Is it a sort of fayth vacation spot, or somewhere you only go if you have a purpose (such as using a couple of its inhabitants to break Sin's cycle of death)?

Dresspheres

○ The Songstress dressphere is the only one we really see having an influence on the person using it (and even then, it only seems to affect Yuna, specifically); can other dresspheres also have an influence on the person using them? What is that like?

○ Regarding the dresspheres we don’t get much information on—who were the people whose memories were used to create the dresspheres? What was recorded on those spheres?

○ Do the dresspheres ever come into wider usage? Does anyone ever start manufacturing them deliberately, rather than just coming across spheres and discovering they can be used as dresspheres?

Fayth and Aeons

○ What is the process for creating a fayth? Can anyone become a fayth, or are only certain people qualified to be turned into fayth?

○ What is it like for a fayth when their aeon is summoned? For that matter, what is it like for the summoner? Does some sort of mental connection open up between them while the summoning is active?

○ Shiva’s fayth says to Tidus “Even we were once human. That is why we must dream. Let us summon a sea in a new dream world. A new sea for you to swim.” What do the fayth get up to in the Farplane after being freed from their dreaming (besides potentially returning Tidus to Spira)?

○ Are aeons direct extensions of the fayth, or do they have any kind of separate personality/consciousness? (Tidus is part of an aeon, and certainly seems to have a mind of his own; does this carry over to the other aeons? Then again, the fayth of Bahamut tells Yuna to “summon us,” which certainly implies that the fayth and aeon are one, at least in most cases.)

Guado Society

○ What have the relations between the Guado and the other peoples of Spira been like? Their relationship with the Ronso gets… rocky… after Seymour’s actions, but what about before that? They obviously disapprove when Jyscal marries a human and has a half-Guado child, which implies that they have some isolationist tendencies.

○ The Guado are the guardians of the Farplane, viewed by most as the physical location of Spira’s afterlife; have they always granted non-Guado passage to visit, or have they ever tried to keep others out?

○ Jyscal was said to have introduced Yevon’s teachings to the Guado around 25 years before FFX; what about before that? It’s likely that the Guado have their own spiritual traditions, which very likely involve the Farplane to some extent; what were/are those like?

Religion

○ What was religion like prior to the rise of Yevon? What were the rituals like? Did any remnants of the old religions remain after the religion of Yevon became dominant in most of Spira? Are there any underground groups practicing older faiths in hiding?

○ What more is there to the religion of Yevon’s teachings than the general “Sin is the punishment for humankind’s wrongdoings, summoners are the only way to defeat Sin, Sin will only disappear once humans have sufficiently repented, etc.” stuff we see in-game?

○ What developments happen after FFX/X-2? Some people still feel attachment to Yevon’s teachings, but are there any other religious movements gaining steam, or are the younger generations mostly giving up on religion altogether?

Houston Houston Do You Read - James Tiptree Jr.

Famous Love Songs and Stories

○ When Connie explains the nature of Earth’s current society to Lorimer, she says “The love stories I’ve heard from your time are so, I don’t know, so weird. Grim and pluggy. It doesn’t seem like love…” What are the differences between the songs from the old society and the new? What themes and topics do newer love songs/stories use that weren’t present in the older ones, and vice versa?

○ Connie also talks about certain gene-lines being “fated.” For instance, “Tamil and Alcmene O” are supposed to be fated in their story, and she says that “Connies are fated too, a little… We love to be with Ingrid Anders. It’s more one-sided.” It seems like “being fated” (requited or not) would be a major theme in the songs/stories—though I imagine that there would also be songs/stories about people from gene-lines who weren’t “fated,” or even from gene-lines that usually didn't get along, but fell in love anyways.

○ Do people ever try to create modern adaptations of love songs/stories from the old pre-plague society? Or what kind of annotations do people add to the originals (like how there are editions of Shakespeare and such with annotations that explain things that might not otherwise be understood by a modern audience). (Given that Kay/Andy seems to feel that experiencing "physical anger" is an interesting novelty, and Connie claims that nobody in their society really has aggressive fantasies, it's clear that the world has changed enough that quite a few things would probably need some additional explanation.)

Sisters

○ The two Judys tell Lorimer “We each have a book, it’s really a library. All the recorded messages. The Book of Judy Shapiro, that’s us.” Everyone writes a record of “adventures and problems and discoveries” in order to help their current and future sisters; what sort of things do they write? How do the entries change as time passes?

○ There are around two hundred people from each genotype around—which is enough to make a rather large group, but small enough that they could all fit in one auditorium. Do members of a given genotype tend to cluster together in communities (or, conversely, do some sets of sisters prefer to keep some distance from each other)? Do they ever have family reunions? They have books for each lineage, but might there also be a massive sister group-chat/web forum going for each set of sisters?

○ Connie mentions that there are now “over a hundred new types started. Of course it’s hard for them, with no sisters. The donors try to help.” What is it like for these people from new gene-lines? They’ll be the making the first entries in new books, and they’ll soon have small sister-groups as more members of their type are born--how will being a part of a new, smaller sister-group be different from being in a larger, older one? What sort of relationship do they have with their “half-sisters” from the older clone-lines?

Original Work

Mythical Creatures in Future Society

○ What mythical creatures are considered more or less suitable for space travel? Maybe hobbits are considered ideal astronauts due to their smaller size, or maybe vampires are considered good potential astronauts if they don’t actually need to breathe… though they’d still presumably need air around to avoid decompression. Dragons the size of buses are presumably right out. (Or are they?)

○ Does magic play well with high technology, or not? Can you have dragons with cybernetic implants and unicorns using VR rigs, or do creatures with magic naturally short out electronics? Do you wind up with separate “tech sectors” and “magic sectors” which might use different methods to achieve the same end?

○ What if space-traveling future humans came across a planet that appeared to be full of creatures straight out of Earth myths and legends?

Soulmate Marks

(I’m using “soulmate” in the singular here, for convenience’s sake, but I’m also totally okay with the idea of a person having more than one soulmate, if that’s the direction you want to go in.)

○ What if only a certain portion of the population gets soulmate marks? (Maybe it’s random, maybe there’s some genetic factor; in a fantasy setting with multiple sapient species, maybe only some of said species get soulmarks [i.e. humans and hobbits get soulmarks, but elves and dwarves don’t].) What does it mean to have, or not have, a soulmark? What if a soulmarked person has a soulmarkless soulmate?

○ In a setting where your soulmate mark only shows up when you meet your soulmate, what impact does that have on romance? Are all romantic relationships prior to meeting your soulmate just considered “for fun” or even “for practice”? Do you have situations where people get married to someone they love, but who isn’t their soulmate, in the mutual understanding that they’ll get divorced if either meets their actual soulmate? Or do people just not date anyone but their soulmate at all?

○ Is it possible for whoever your soulmate is to change during your life, if you yourself have changed as a person? Or, if your original soulmate dies, do you get a backup soulmate, or are you just plain out of luck?

Winged People

○ The issue of transportation is a lot different when either some or all of your population is capable of flight—even in an otherwise low-tech setting, having winged people means messages can be carried by air, without having to depend on carrier pigeons (which have a number of limitations). This also has major implications for warfare—a group of winged warriors can travel much more quickly than a squadron of cavalry. How does this impact society?

○ How would things be designed differently if one has to take wings into account? Would towns contain elevated “takeoff platforms”? Do taller buildings have large balconies to allow people to enter from upper floors? What sort of clothing would winged people wear?

○ How did winged people come about in the first place? It’s possible that they evolved naturally (and I'm always down to read about speculative evolution), but in a fantasy setting it’s also possible that they were deliberately created—either by a deity or by mortal magic-users. It's possible that the winged people themselves don't know--if that's the case, what kinds of origin myths do they have?

Current Mood: happy

Well, Day 6's challenge didn't call for a post, and I am skipping Day 7, so here's Day 8:

In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

I think I'll spend a bit of time talking about my wee little fandom of one: a YA book called Dr. Franklin's Island.

Essentially, it's about teenagers who find themselves stranded on what they originally think is a deserted island... only to discover that the island is, in fact, inhabited by a doctor performing genetic experiments, who decides that said teenagers would make ideal test subjects.

I really loved the bond that developed between the protagonist, Semirah (nicknamed Semi) and her fellow castaway Miranda. Semi doesn't see herself as especially strong or brave at first, but between finding a way to survive on the island, to enduring captivity and transformation, Semi develops as a character, finding strength she never knew she had--and even though she always thought of Miranda as the strong one, she ends up having to be strong for both of them when Miranda struggles to maintain her sense of humanity in her new, avian form.

One of these days I'll write some post-canon fic for these two!

Whoo, so I've missed a few days.

Going to go back and catch up while I have some free time!

So the day 4 challenge was...

In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see.

So, fannish wishlist.

I guess one item on the list would be enthusiasm! It sometimes feels difficult for me to really get into new canons, or sometimes even go back to old ones, and I've never been a terribly prolific fanfic author, as can be seen from my AO3 account. (I mostly just do exchanges, to push myself into writing by way of getting an assignment and a deadline.

And another would be the drive to actually get into some sort of fandom community. I've never been awfully good at internet communities. On forums, I tend to wind up mostly lurking; I just seem to have trouble getting engaged. I've occasionally popped into the Yuletide IRC, but I didn't really do much of that this year.

But those are both things nobody can get me but myself, so. ;)

On the matter of fanworks--

This is highly-specific, I know, but I've thought for ages that there really ought to be at least one Utena AMV out there set to Emilie Autumn's song "Rose Red." It's just so perfect for Anthy! If I were to ever get into vidding, that's definitely on my list of projects.

Also, I think "Teen Idle" by Marina and the Diamonds is also a great song for an Utena AMV.

Fanfic-wise... I'm really into AUs that introduce some fantastic element into canon that isn't there in the original. Last night I binged on some of the fics in the AO3 collection Psychic Wolves for Lupercalia, which, man. Psychic wolves. I'm totally into that business (even though I've never read the canon said psychic wolves are sourced from). I also really enjoy some soulmate mark fic (especially when the author really gets into the deeper implications of a society where soulmates exist--how do people go about finding soulmates? What if you never find yours? What does it really mean to be someone's soulmate anyways?) And wingfic! People growing wings, or people just having wings, really appeals to me for some reason. And I also love a good dæmon AU. So--I guess my wishlist consists of more of that general sort of thing in fandoms I'm into.

More generally, I'd love a new canon to get into--preferably something sci-fi/fantasy with femslash potential.

Now, the Day 5 challenge was:

Recommend a fannish or creative resource.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this page, Writing Realistic Injuries, yet--I bookmarked it ages ago. It seems like a pretty useful guide to writing about injuries realistically.

Also, someone else has almost certainly mentioned this, but I love Written? Kitten! as a self-motivator for reaching a given wordcount. (You can even customize it, if you prefer puppies or ducklings or dinosaurs or something else.)

Other than that... as far as fannish resources go, I mostly just use fandom wikis to double-check canon details, which are pretty easily Googlable by anyone. :P

Hello! My AO3 name is Eida, and I have requested the following fandoms/relationships:

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - Ritz Malheur & Shara
Final Fantasy VI - Terra Branford & Celes Chere, Terra Branford/Celes Chere
Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy X-2 - Yuna & Lulu
Original Work - Female Apocalypse Survivor/Female Apocalypse Survivor, Female Artist/Mermaid, Witch & Witch's Cat, Female Winged Person/Female Human, Female Winged Person/Female Human in the Process of Being Transformed Into a Winged Person, Female Winged Person/Female Winged Person
Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena - Himemiya Anthy & Shinohara Wakaba, Shinohara Wakaba & Tenjou Utena

I have requested fanfic for all of them.

Here are a few of my general fic likes:

○ Relationship development

○ Hurt/Comfort

○ Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

○ Characters who are comfortable with each other, and willing to engage in good-natured banter

○ Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

○ Fics set pre- and post- canon.

○ Worldbuilding—I love seeing aspects of canon examined more deeply or expanded on in interesting ways.

○ Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

○ Fics that include/consist of in-universe documents (i.e. letters, news articles, excerpts from history books, chatlogs, etc.)

Other details:

○ I'm okay with a wide range of tones, from fluff to darker fic. However, I prefer endings that aren't entirely unhappy—bittersweet is fine, though.

○ Also, I'm completely okay with canon divergence AUs, if you have an interesting what-might-have-been you want to pursue.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Ritz Malheur & Shara

○ Was Shara the person who helped Ritz when she first fell into Dream-Ivalice, like Montblanc helped Marche? How did that first meeting go? Did Shara already have a clan, or did Ritz and Shara decide to found their clan together--and why is it named "Clan Ritz"?

○ We don't get to learn a whole lot about Shara in the game, but she's the one who ends up convincing Ritz to go back to the real world (with her little speech about the significance of white hair to the Viera) What if Shara is sort of a manifestation of Ritz's desires (much like Queen Remedi was for Mewt)--but one who helped Ritz work through her issues, rather than keeping her trapped in a dream?

○ What if Ritz and Shara had been willing to come with Marche to try and talk Mewt into letting the Dream-Ivalice go—and then fight the subsequent boss battle?

Final Fantasy VI

Terra Branford & Celes Chere or Terra Branford/Celes Chere

(The prompts should be able to work for either an & or / relationship.)

○ We know they've had some interactions with each other prior to the events of the game, when they were both with the Empire; how much did the two of them interact? Were they friendly at all prior to Kefka putting the Slave Crown on Terra? Did they train together?

○ Terra's first attempt to talk about love with Celes goes poorly; do the two of them ever manage to have a real conversation about it?

○ Both of them have had magic as a part of them from a young age, and both of them lose it after Kefka's defeat; what is that like for them?

○ What do the two of them end up doing post-game? Terra will probably be spending a fair bit of her time in Mobliz with the children; Celes would likely come to visit at some point.

Final Fantasy X

Yuna & Lulu

○ Yuna first came to Besaid when she was seven and Lulu was twelve; it would be neat to see their first meeting, or any little scenes from when they were young. (I can imagine little Yuna taking a shine to Lulu's doll collection, if Lulu had one even back then.)

○ The two start out with different types of magic (Yuna with White Magic and Lulu with Black Magic), but they're entirely capable of learning the other sort; maybe one might help teach the other how to wield a new spell.

○ Some quiet moment during the pilgrimage, with Yuna and Lulu reminiscing about the past or planning the next stage of their journey.

○ There's something heart-wrenching about the fact that both of them are going into this pilgrimage knowing that, if Yuna is successful in gaining the Final Aeon and using it to defeat Sin, Yuna will die bringing the Calm. Yuna tries to keep smiling for the sake of the people of Spira, and Lulu is a stoic person, in general. Is there any time when they let themselves be vulnerable to each other? (Or do they sometimes feel the need to keep up appearances even when they're alone together, wanting to keep the other from feeling sad?)

○ Post-FFX and pre-FFX-2, how do Yuna and Lulu readjust to life on Besaid after the tumultuous events of the pilgrimage?

Yuna & Rikku

○ After meeting for the first time during Yuna's pilgrimage, the two of them have a lot to catch up on; I imagine that Yuna would want to know all about her mom's side of the family, and probably about the Al Bhed in general.

○ Rikku doesn't want Yuna to sacrifice herself, but she probably finds out pretty quickly that Yuna's mind is set; does Rikku ever try to talk Yuna out of the whole pilgrimage?

○ After their encounter with Yunalesca, Yuna's beliefs have been utterly upended... but Rikku never really believed in them at all. What kind of conversation might the two of them have after their departure from the Zanarkand Ruins?

Auron & Kimahri

○ The two of them first meet as Auron is dying; Auron asks Kimahri to travel to Bevelle, pick up Yuna, and take her to Besaid--which is a pretty big favor to ask of a total stranger, but Kimahri does so anyways. What goes into Kimahri's decision to take responsibility for Auron's promise to Braska?

○ When the two of them meet again after Auron joins Yuna's pilgrimage, I imagine Kimahri would almost certainly have been aware of the fact that Auron is unsent... though he doesn't bring it up to anyone else. Might the two of them ever have a conversation about what happened all those years ago?

○ Really, I'd love to see any interactions between the two of them during the pilgrimage--discussing the next stage of their journey, talking about their respective charges (they both kind of wound up father-figures to Yuna/Tidus), etc.

Original Work

Female Apocalypse Survivor/Female Apocalypse Survivor

(I leave the nature of the apocalypse up to you; however, I’d prefer that it not be a zombie apocalypse.)

○ One survivor is out hunting for supplies to scavenge; she comes across the other survivor in some sort of peril (maybe being threatened by a gang/mutant beasts/rogue robots/some other direct threat, or perhaps she’s been injured and trapped by a building collapse) and comes to her rescue.

○ The two survivors have been best friends since childhood; they’d both been harboring romantic feelings for each other for a long time, but had been worried about possibly ruining their friendship by confessing. Now that the world feels like it’s ending, one or both of them feels like they’d better come clean about their feelings, because they might not get another chance.

○ Something focused on how the two survivors manage to make a home for themselves, even in the middle of an apocalypse (whether that home be among a community of other survivors or on their own)

Female Artist/Mermaid

○ The artist has been struggling for inspiration; one day, she comes across the mermaid, and the mermaid becomes her muse. (Or, shoot, this could go the other way around, too, with the mermaid seeing the artist as her muse!)

○ On the topic of inspiration--maybe the artist finds inspiration when they travel to see the mermaid's home (by using scuba gear or some sort of magic to let them survive underwater). Or maybe the artist shows the mermaid around her hometown.

○ After a shipwreck causes a ship carrying one of the artist’s works to be lost in the ocean, the mermaid finds it (presumably it’s something that can survive the ocean) and is captivated enough to seek out the artist.

○ The female artist becomes lost at sea, and is rescued by the mermaid; the two start up a companionship from there; maybe the artist wants to paint/sculpt/compose a song to honor the mermaid who saved her life.

Witch & Witch's Cat

○ The cat is a perfectly ordinary cat. No extra intelligence, no magical powers. The cat is just a cat. Sometimes, the cat does inconvenient cat things, like knocking over potions, chewing on things, and messing up salt/chalk circles on the floor, but the witch loves the cat anyways.

○ The witch’s cat is not any ordinary cat; the cat is both capable of speech and either immortal or very, very long-lived. The cat has been with the witch’s family for generations, and has a lot of experience and wisdom to share… when the cat feels like it.

○ The cat can speak, but only the witch can understand them (or, perhaps, anyone who’s capable of understanding cat-language can understand the cat, and the witch is among those few). Both the cat and the witch are masquerading as an ordinary cat and an ordinary human, which means they have to be careful communicating around others (and the witch has to keep a straight face when the cat makes snarky comments when company is over).

These last three all involve winged people. I have a few general likes in regards to these:

○ Any kind of worldbuilding about how winged people fit into general society, or, if they have a separate country, how the culture works.

○ Allopreening (that is, grooming someone else’s wings)

○ Anything involving flight and romance (making out midair, doing aerial maneuvers in a sort of “dance” and/or mating ritual, flying up together to some high vantage point you couldn’t reach on foot and enjoying the view)

Female Winged Person/Female Human

○ The winged person is working as a courier; the human is an important political figure who sends a lot of messages through her, so they end up seeing each other quite a bit.

○ The winged person gets injured, and is unable to fly for a while; the human helps nurse her back to health.

○ The human is the captain/owner of an airship, and the winged person is on her crew (handy when you need some mid-flight repairs done on the exterior).

Female Winged Person/Female Human in the Process of Being Transformed Into a Winged Person

(In this case, I’m fine if the human starts out feeling conflicted/ambiguous about the transformation, but I’d really like her to be at least somewhat happy about it by the end. Of course, it also works for me if the human is 100% enthusiastically onboard with the whole thing from the start.)

○ The human is a noblewoman, being given in an arranged marriage to a winged noblewoman for political reasons; part of the deal is that the human has to change species to match her new wife.

○ In a universe where soulmates are a thing, if you’re a human soulmated with a winged person, either you grow wings or the winged person becomes a wingless human (and in this case, it’s the former).

○ The human has always wanted to fly; now she’s found a way to get wings, and she’s met a lovely winged woman who is willing to help teach her how to fly when the time comes.

Female Winged Person/Female Winged Person

○ In a setting where winged people are artificially created (whether that be via mad science or magic), two winged people consider escaping/defecting from their creators.

○ Anything with two people flying together--racing, doing acrobatic maneuvers (a form of dance for winged people, perhaps), traveling ("I told you we should have stopped and asked for directions!"), etc.

○ Something time-sensitive needs to be delivered; two winged people are given the job (perhaps with the rationale that if one's incapacitated, the other can keep going). Naturally, there are probably some complications along the way (enemies wanting to intercept the message/package they're carrying, a massive storm that leaves them groundbound for a while, the important magical artifact they're holding is starting to produce side-effects in its carriers, etc.)

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Himemiya Anthy & Shinohara Wakaba

○ In the series, we don't see a whole lot of Anthy and Wakaba interacting without Utena around. While Wakaba hasn't always had the best of feelings towards Anthy (i.e., her jealousy of how Utena has gotten so close to Anthy, as well as her jealousy over how Saionji is interested in Anthy rather than her... not to mention the whole thing in the Black Rose Arc), it's quite possible that Wakaba would have made some friendly overture towards Anthy at some point (if only because Wakaba's best friend cares so much for her). How would Anthy respond? Would she appreciate it at all, or just smile her usual blank smile while calculating whether or not it has any bearing on her brother's/her plans for Utena?

○ We don't necessarily know how much time passes between Utena's disappearance and Anthy's departure from Ohtori; perhaps, in Utena's absence, Anthy decides to spend some time with one of Utena's closest friends--and perhaps see what Wakaba remembers about Utena, since people seem to be gradually forgetting Utena post-revolution (which might be either supernatural or just out-of-sight-out-of-mind)--before making her final exit to find Utena herself.

○ After Wakaba graduates from Ohtori, perhaps she might run into Anthy in the outside world--either while Anthy is still searching for Utena, or after Anthy finds Utena. If it's the former, might Anthy even enlist her help in the search? And if it's the latter, what might Wakaba and Anthy have to say to each other about what happened at Ohtori?

Shinohara Wakaba & Tenjou Utena

○ What was Wakaba and Utena's friendship like before the series? How did they meet? (Given the "Onion Prince" in Wakaba's past, it makes sense that Wakaba would be drawn to a princely girl, as well!)

○ It would be great to see the two of them hanging out at any point; for the most part, Wakaba is kind of an outsider to the whole Student Council/End of the World/Rose Bride/revolution shenanigans (except for the Black Rose arc, of course); maybe, at points, spending time with Wakaba feels like a return to a sort of normalcy for Utena.

○ After Wakaba's duel in the Black Rose Arc, does Utena treat Wakaba any differently? And, not remembering the duel, what would Wakaba make of it?

○ What if the two met again after the series? Wakaba would surely be thrilled to see her old friend--and vice-versa; they'd no doubt have plenty of catching up to do. (And it's possible that Wakaba, like the other students, lost some of her memories of Utena after Utena's disappearance from Ohtori; if so, do they return all at once, or gradually, and how does that change their reignited friendship?)

Day 3

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Today, I'm going to rec some fanvids.

I really admire people who can create fanvids; I've never done so myself, but it's definitely something that takes a great deal of skill and a keen sense of timing.

(Please note that pretty much all of these videos contain major spoilers for their respective works of media.)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mahou Shoujo Requiem

One of my favorite AMVs, set to one of my favorite songs (Florence + The Machine's "Cosmic Love")! The timing is spot-on, with lots of quick scene changes aligning with the drumbeats in the song, and there's some good use of effects.

Walpurgisnacht

Some great editing work in this one; the creator has basically created a potential alternate timeline for the events of the series. It's very well-done, and feels like something that could definitely have happened.

Death Note

Dance With The Devil

The song choice is perfect for this series; the vid is fast-paced, action packed, and emotional.

Shatter Me

I honestly never would have thought someone would use this song in a Death Note AMV, but it works really well!

Harry Potter

The War

I really like what the creator did with the editing/song intro--the opening of the song goes "A warning to the people, the good and the evil: This is war. To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim" and so forth with the creator assigning different characters each role; I just thought that worked really well.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Deluge

This one uses clips from both the anime series and the movie; it focuses on the relationships Utena and Anthy have with their "princes" and each other. As the title suggests, water shows up prominently; according to the creator's description on Youtube, the video "us[es] water as both an agent of destruction/suffocation, and that of gentleness/nourishment." (I only wish the quality were a bit better!)

Inner Universe

This is an Anthy-centric AMV; something about the combination of the song and the clips gives me chills, at times.

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you've received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

One of my favorite fandom memories is from the 2009 Yuletide Fic Exchange.

That year, the fandom I matched on was The Giver, a YA novel by Lois Lowry. I first read it when I was in fifth grade or so; it was one of the first dystopias I read, and it really stuck with me. It was great to revisit it via fanfiction.

The fic ended up being a bit over 7k words, which felt rather long, for me (I still tend to write shorter works). As always, I was a bit nervous to see if my recipient would like it.

And they did! My recipient left a long and lovely comment in which they talked about how much the book had meant to them when they were younger, and all the things they'd liked about my fic. I was thrilled to know that I'd done a good job, and my fic also got quite a few other nice comments, as well. Eight years later, that fic is still one of my favorites among all the fanfics I've ever written.

In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year?

I've been wanting to be a little more active in fandom, and on this blog in general, and this challenge sounded like a fun, low-pressure way to go about doing it. I find that one of the best ways to motivate myself to do fandom things is by joining challenges/exchanges (which is why the vast majority of the fan fiction on my AO3 account originates from exchanges), so here I am.

I've never done it before; I only heard of the challenge a few days ago after seeing a post mentioning it from a different DW comm. Hopefully it'll be fun!

Current Mood: happy

Hello, Yuletide Author!

My AO3 username is Eida, and my requests for this year are:

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds (Video Game) - Lucy

Each to Each - Seanan McGuire - Any

Lady of the Shard (Webcomic) – Acolyte, Radiant Goddess

Here are a few of my general fic likes:

○ Relationship development

○ Hurt/Comfort

○ Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

○ Characters who are comfortable with each other, and willing to engage in good-natured banter

○ Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

○ Fics set pre- and post- canon.

○ Worldbuilding—I love seeing aspects of canon examined more deeply or expanded on in interesting ways.

○ Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

○ Fics that include/consist of in-universe documents (i.e. letters, news articles, excerpts from history books, chatlogs, etc.)

Other details:

○ I'm okay with a wide range of tones, from fluff to darker fic. However, I prefer endings that aren't entirely unhappy—bittersweet is fine, though.

○ Also, I'm completely okay with canon divergence AUs, if you have an interesting what-might-have-been you want to pursue.

Fandom-Specific Prompts:

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds (Lucy)

This Twine game can be played online here.

○ How did Lucy get into vampire hunting in the first place? Did she survive a vampire attack and decided to dedicate herself to helping keep others safe? (Maybe she was rescued by Maggie and Luke, and that's how they first met.) Or did someone she cared about get attacked by a vampire, driving Lucy to take up a career as a vampire hunter?

Or did she just respond to a Craigslist ad: "Freelance Vampire Hunters Wanted!!! Start Today!"

○ Some dialogue options can suggest that Lucy and Maggie are dating; if so, what's their relationship like? What might one of their dates look like? According to Lucy, they share an enjoyment of watching vampire movies and "yell[ing] constructive criticism," so hitting the movies is one option. (And it's possible they'll run into another vampire, much like Lucy did in the game... 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at the Movie Theater?)

○ In some of the variants of the true ending Claire ends up becoming a vampire hunter (either after Lucy explains things to her in the McDonalds, or, after the fire extinguisher ending, when Claire decides to track Lucy down and get an explanation as to what attacked her. Of course, it may not be an immediate shift in career—Lucy might not be super gung-ho about the idea of a seventeen-year-old jumping into such a dangerous job. Still, it seems likely that Lucy could serve as a mentor, once Claire establishes that she's not going to be turned aside from her goal; what sort of lessons might she help teach Claire about the fine art of vampire hunting?

Each to Each - Seanan McGuire (Any)

This short story can be read here.

○ This is such a fascinating setting overall; I'd love to see pretty much any worldbuilding involving the mermaids. For one thing—I want to know more about the new Atlantis the clownfish mermaid describes towards the end. How are the mermaids working to create it? The clownfish mermaid mentions the use of genetic engineering to create underwater cities—are there scientist mermaids out there with equipment stolen or salvaged from non-modified humans?

○ There are likely multiple mermaid societies being formed in different regions since the U.S. isn't the only nation creating mermaids—are they generally in accord with each other, or is there any conflict between them—either in terms of claiming territory or in clashing ideas of what mermaid society should look like?

○ The mermaids who've left behind their nations of origin are mounting “rescue missions” to free their military kin—and doubtless also those who, like the clownfish mermaid, were modified for “Rich men playing with military toys.” I'd love to see one of these play out, either from the side of rescuers or rescued.

○ As a side note, some species of shark are capable of parthenogenesis, so depending on how deep the genetic modification goes, male merfolk might not be necessary for some of the mermaids to have offspring—there could potentially be second-generation mermaids swimming around before too long, who have only known life under the sea. (Though it's also possible that nations other than the U.S. are willing to create mermaids of either sex.) What if one of these young mermaids was captured by humans? What would they make of the land people—and how would they escape?

Lady of the Shard (Any)

This webcomic can be read here.

○ The comic largely follows the Acolyte's point of view; what does their developing relationship look like through the eyes of the Radiant Goddess (who's caught between her feelings for the Acolyte and her understandable wariness regarding mortal-divine relationships)?

○ The Acolyte has become a High Priestess, as well as being the Phoenix, and is now immortal by virtue of the fragment of divinity in her forehead. What are some of her experiences adjusting to her new role (with the aid of her beloved All-Goddess and the spirit of the previous Phoenix)? (And given that all the stars have been smooshed together into a new planet, there's probably plenty of general cultural changes going on around her, too.)

○ The Old God is... well, not a nice person. At the same time, though, she's something of a tragic figure—her lone divinity made her lonely, and shared loneliness was one thing that drew her to the "legendary temple girl" who became the Radiant Goddess. (Not that this excuses any of her actions, of course, but still, the Old God is an intriguing character.) What was it like, being the first being to exist, creating everything that was, falling in love with a mortal... and then being struck down by that same mortal (who you turned into a goddess in the first place)?

○ At the end of the comic, the Radiant Goddess merges with the Old Goddess to become the All-Goddess, and an image at the end shows that the Old God is still within her, finally having found some ease for her loneliness. Does the All-Goddess feel the Old Goddess “showing through” at all, and how does she feel about it?

Haven't played Nethack in ages; my current laptop doesn't have a number pad, and I'm having difficulty getting the Mac version of Nethack to allow for movement using the arrow keys.

But I found an iPhone version on the App Store, and have been enjoying myself a great deal, except for the parts where I have a very promising character die from a mix of bad luck and my own poor choices. That's as disheartening as ever. (RIP wizard who got cornered by a unicorn in Sokoban and didn't have a good Elbereth-writing wand.)

(The worst loss I ever had was when I was playing Slash'EM--a variant of Nethack, with lots of added content and some other changes--with a monk character, and I'd just gotten the Amulet of Yendor, but I ran into some monster that kept turning the floor to water... and it drowned me just as I was getting out my boots of levitation. Days and days of playing, all gone!

Ah, the joys of roguelikes.)

Hello!

My AO3 name is Eida, and I'm requesting the following games/characters:

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds - Lucy & Maggie & Luke, Lucy & Claire, Lucy & Maggie & Luke & Claire

Aquaria - Naija

Final Fantasy VI - Celes Chere, Terra Branford, Terra Branford & Celes Chere, Terra Branford/Celes Chere

Final Fantasy X & X-2 - Yuna & Rikku, Yuna & Rikku & Paine, Rikku/Paine

I've requested fan fiction for all of them.

Here are a few of my general fic likes:

-Relationship development

-Hurt/Comfort

-Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

-Characters who are comfortable with each other, and willing to engage in good-natured banter

-Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

-Fics set pre- and post- canon.

-Worldbuilding--I love seeing aspects of canon examined more deeply or expanded on in interesting ways.

-Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

-Fics that include/consist of in-universe documents (i.e. letters, news articles, excerpts from history books, chatlogs, etc.)

Also, I'm completely okay with canon divergence AUs, if you have an interesting what-might-have-been you want to pursue.

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds

This Twine game can be played online here.

I'd love to see more vampire-hunting adventures. For Lucy & Maggie & Luke, this could be pre- or post-game. I'm curious as to how the three of them got together in the first place--did they all know each other before going into the vampire-hunting business, or did they meet afterwards?How did they discover the existence of vampires, and why did they decide to fight them? Were any of them potential vampire victims (as the cashier Claire was in-game) who were rescued, or did any of them have friends/family who were attacked by/turned into vampires? Luke uses his grandfather's holy musket, which implies that, for him, the job runs in the family (although it's possible the musket was just a regular musket while his grandfather had it, and was only made holy after it came into Luke's possession).

Or maybe all three of them just answered the same Craigslist ad: "Freelance Vampire Hunters Wanted!!! Start Today!"

For Lucy & Claire--in some of the variants of the true ending, Lucy tells Claire about vampires, and Claire ends up becoming a vampire hunter. Of course, it doesn't describe the exact path she takes to vampire-hunting--it's possible that Lucy wouldn't be 100% gung-ho about having a seventeen-year-old jump into the dangerous life of a vampire hunter, and equally possible that Claire might insist. Or, in the fire extinguisher ending, Claire doesn't get out of the hospital until Lucy & Co leave town, and after Claire finds that she can't go back to her normal routine after all that's happened, she decides to follow them--and ends up becoming a vampire hunter on that route, as well. What's the reunion with Lucy like?

For Lucy & Maggie & Luke & Claire--assuming Claire ends up joining the rest of the vampire hunting team, how do Maggie and Luke react to her joining up? How does she fit into the group? Lucy's "professional bait," Maggie goes for hand-to-hand combat, and Luke has his holy musket--where does Claire fit in? What skills does she end up bringing to the team?

Aquaria

This is such a beautiful, atmospheric game, and it can also be a rather lonely one. For much of the game, Naija has no one she can talk to at all; she's making her way across the ocean alone. (She's not so alone after meeting Li. He doesn't have any in-game dialogue, to my recollection, though presumably they manage to communicate somehow, given that they fall in love and have a son.)

Naija goes through a lot--she starts out as a person with no memory of her past, living a simple, peaceful life, until she discovers a song that permits her entrance to some mysterious ruins and a forgotten god--and from there, she keeps going, traversing area after area, discovering the ruins of the city where her people once lived, and meeting--and killing--gods, until she comes face to face with the Creator of her world, who is nothing like she would have imagined.

And then, at last, she finds her mother--and learns the truth of how she lost her memory. She's stolen away from her family--a sequel hook for a sequel that never materialized.

Pre-canon, during canon, and post-canon would all be welcome. What was her youth in Mithalas like? What are her reactions to encountering some of the beauties and horrors she encounters on her journey? And what becomes of her after her mother, Mia, sweeps Naija away for her own purposes? Does she ever reunite with her family again?

Final Fantasy VI

I love both Celes and Terra. Both were raised by the Empire, both possess magical power that separates them from the rest of humanity, and both wind up on the side of the rebellion.

It's not entirely clear to what extent they interacted pre-game. In the GBA version, after meeting in Narshe, she says "Terra... Who'd have thought we'd meet again... like this?" This implies that there's some history between the two of them, and Celes would certainly have at least known of Terra's existence, given how the Empire used her as a living weapon--and was likely acquainted with her to some extent before Kefka put the Slave Crown on Terra.

I can't imagine Celes really approved of putting the Slave Crown on Terra, but that in itself didn't cause her to defect, which is an issue that's not really discussed too much in-game.

Celes and Terra are both eighteen years old. Somehow, despite her young age, Celes is a general--which I can't imagine went over well with all of the troops she was commanding, many of whom would have been older than her (and male). She's a prodigy, but she would have had to continually have to prove herself--which probably contributed to her sharp, icy demeanor.

Terra's got plenty of her own issues--one of the major themes of the game involves her trying to figure out who she is, given both the fact that the Empire used her as a (mind-controlled) weapon due to her magic, and the fact that she's of mixed human and Esper heritage. She's had her past stolen from her (though she recovers memories as time passes), and she's afraid that she may not even be capable of love. (Which led to Terra questioning Celes if she could feel love, which, understandably, Celes mistakes for mockery.)

They both find acceptance, in the end; they make friends among the other party members, and Terra takes care of the orphans of Mobliz.

I'd love to see anything about either, or both (and in the latter case, both gen and femslash would be lovely). What were their experiences as living magical weapons, trained by the Empire? What interactions did they have pre-canon? What was Celes' reaction to discovering that Kefka had used a Slave Crown on Terra? Does Terra ever have an actual conversation with Celes about love? What is it like for both of them to lose their magic--and for Terra to lose her Esper half? What do they end up doing post-game?

Final Fantasy X & X-2

(Please feel free to ignore FFX-2.5 ~Eien no Daisho~ and FFX -Will-; while I've looked up information on the Final Fantasy wiki, I haven't read/listened to either one. I've also never played Last Mission, though I've seen cutscene videos on Youtube; use or ignore it, whichever works best for your story.

Also, I don't have any strong feelings regarding the ending of FFX-2 you go with, if you do something post FFX-2--Tidus can come back or not, whichever you prefer.)

I'd be interested to see something involving Yuna & Rikku during the pilgrimage--they had a lot of catching up to do, since they only met when they were both in their teens. There's also the fact that Rikku desperately wants to get Yuna to end her pilgrimage... but Yuna's even more determined to keep going. It probably didn't take Rikku long to realize that; even though she hated where the pilgrimage was supposed to lead, she still stuck with Yuna right to the end.

It would also be neat to see something post-pilgrimage, possibly around the time Yuna joins the Gullwings, with the two of them catching up once again.

For Yuna and Rikku and Paine, I'd enjoy seeing some other sphere-hunting escapades, and/or something that explores the way they develop as a team over time, with Paine especially coming to trust the other two more. Paine's a bit of the odd one out of the three; she joined the Gullwings a little before Yuna, so she wouldn't have gotten the chance to know Rikku all that well, whereas Yuna and Rikku have significant history together. Rikku's bright and cheerful, Paine's quieter and tends towards sarcasm, and Yuna slips into a leader position (which makes sense, given that as a summoner, she was the leader of her pilgrimage).

Going on a Yuna tangent--I do think there's an interesting conflict she goes through in X-2. She's clearly trying to break away from her old, summoner persona, but she never quite manages it completely. Being a summoner was being a sacrifice for Spira--and though she didn't end up sacrificing her life, she lost the young man she'd fallen in love with. She tries to recreate herself as a sphere hunter, out to find whatever treasure she can... but she's altruistic at her core, and driven by duty to the people around her; she can never refuse a person in need.

She's also probably not entirely comfortable with her High Summoner status; being around people who aren't over-awed by who she is is probably a comfort, and Rikku (her cousin, who was with her on her pilgrimage) and Paine (who isn't really the type to fawn over famous people) fit that bill.

Rikku and Paine, I think, would make a cute couple; they're different in a lot of ways, but sometimes opposites attract. I'd like to see fic where they get to know each other better--maybe they go on some sort of mission without Yuna, or they end up in some other situation alone together. What might they end up doing after the end of X-2? If they wind up going their separate ways for a while (as happens per Last Mission), how might they get back together again?

Today I found out that at least one species of snake hunts communally!

Cuban boas apparently have much better success in hunting bats when they work together (or, to steal a delightful pun from the article, they have a higher bat-ing average).

Another interseting tidbit from the article:

"Wolves hunt together for primarily social reasons—multiple studies have shown that they don’t necessarily get more food by sticking with a pack."

That goes against what I'd always thought about wolves--I'll probably try and look up some of those studies at some point.

Edit 6/4: From what I can tell, that bit about wolves is... misleadingly phrased, at best. There's a point of diminishing returns regarding pack size (where adding more wolves doesn't necessarily mean more success hunting), which makes sense, because that's how pretty much any team activity works. (Another article on the topic: Strength in numbers? For wolves, maybe not. The study referenced in the article gave the optimum pack size for hunting elk, specifically, as four wolves; with a larger pack, the amount of successful hunts "leveled off" and "individual hunting effort decreased;" in other words, individuals had to work less, which is still a definite benefit.)

The optimal amount of wolves is going to vary, based on what the wolves in a given area generally hunt; some animals are harder to catch than others. (Link to relevant study: Influence of Group Size on the Success of Wolves Hunting Bison.)

Wolves may be part of a larger group than what is necessary for optimum success for social reasons, but that's not quite what the Popular Science article seemed to be saying.

It's possible that there's some situation where a lone wolf would do just as well hunting-success-wise as a pack, but in my (admittedly brief) search I didn't turn up anything. I wish the original article would have linked some of these "multiple studies."

Another interesting bit of wolf knowledge I came across during the search, however, was that, going off of computer simulations, wolves hunting in packs don't necessarily need much communication to coordinate the hunt--they just need to know the relative position of the prey and the other wolves. (Article: Wolf hunting strategy follows simple rules.)

And now my post originally about snakes is mostly about wolves.

I read a review the other day of the Netflix show Anne with an E.

I didn't much like what I heard about the show, but I was inspired to started rereading Anne of Green Gables (courtesy of Project Gutenberg). The last time I read it was ages ago; I think I also read (at least part of) Anne of Avonlea, but didn't get any farther in the series than that.

I'm enjoying it, so far. It's a rather soothing, nostalgic read (as much as I tell myself that I really ought to work more on my backlog of things-I-haven't-read-but-mean-to).

There's nothing quite like seeing seeds sprout.

I am still not much of a gardener; I'm making plenty of mistakes as I go along. But I do have a few lovely little indoor containers full of green growing things, and they make me happy.

I was actually able to harvest some garlic chives for a dish I made on Saturday night. Not very much, but still.

One of these days, I'd like to live somewhere where I can have more space and better lighting for gardening; I really, really want to be able to grow basil and lavender, but I don't think there's anywhere in my apartment that really gets enough sunlight for them to thrive. I have a little patio, but it's too shady to grow anything sun-loving.

Ah, well. Maybe someday.

I think it would probably be a good idea to start writing actual posts, instead of just using my Dreamwidth as a repository for Dear Writer letters for fanfic exchanges.

On that note:

I've started a new short story. I'm not 100% certain where it's going, but it involves a medium and the ghost of a werewolf. We'll see how it goes.

Also, while I'm years late to the party, I finally own a phone capable of running Neko Atsume, and am really enjoying it!

A screenshot of the game Neko Atsume, featuring two cats playing with balls.

A screenshot of the game Neko Atsume, featuring two cats playing with balls.

Hello! My AO3 name is Eida, and I've requested the following fandoms/pairings:

Final Fantasy X

Auron & Braska & Jecht
Fayth of Valefor & Yuna
Yuna & Lulu

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Himemiya Anthy & Shinohara Wakaba
Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena

Original Work

Elemental Magic User/Elemental Spirit
Female Demon/Female Human
Princess/Princess

Lady of the Shard (Webcomic)

Acolyte/Radiant Goddess | Temple Girl

As always, optional details are optional; if you've got an idea I didn't touch upon in this letter, please do feel free to run with it.

So far as tone goes, I'm good with a broad range--from the happy fluffy end of the scale to the darker, gloomier side.

These are my main do-not-wants:

-No excessive gore, please.

-I do not want anything sexually explicit in any fandom other than Original Work.

-I do not want anything sexually explicit involving male characters.

-I do not want anything sexually explicit involving characters under the age of 18.

Here are a few of my general fic likes:

-Relationship development

-Hurt/Comfort

-Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

-Worldbuilding--I love seeing aspects of canon examined more deeply or expanded on in interesting ways

-Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

-Fics that include/consist of in-universe documents (i.e. letters, news articles, excerpts from history books, chatlogs, etc.)

Final Fantasy X

Auron & Braska & Jecht

I love this trio. Auron is a straitlaced, somewhat-gruff ex-warrior monk who clearly takes his job as guardian very seriously; at first, he doesn't seem to like Jecht very much, and doesn't understand why Braska wants him around at all, but by the end he's clearly gained some respect for his fellow guardian, and he's close enough with Jecht that he agrees to look after Jecht's son. Jecht is a fish-out-of-water; he can be pretty irreverent (he wasn't raised in the Yevon religion, as the other two were, after all), and at first, he doesn't take things quite so seriously as Auron, but after a while traveling with him and Braska, he gets to the point where he willingly offers his own life to bring the Calm. Braska seems to serve as a medium between the two; while he takes his duty as a summoner very seriously, he doesn't necessarily take himself as seriously, and takes Jecht's attitude in stride.

I'd love to see anything involving the three of them during the pilgrimage--whether it's something lighter (a humorous episode in the pilgrimage) or something a bit heavier (soul-searching and discussion in Zanarkand, when Braska and Jecht prepare to make their mutual sacrifice).

Fayth of Valefor & Yuna

Valefor was always my favorite aeon, and I sort of feel that Yuna must have had a special bond with the fayth in Besaid, given that Besaid was where she grew up after her father's death, and was where she started her pilgrimage. I think it's interesting that, if memory serves, Valefor is the only aeon Yuna summons in a non-combat context--first, when she's demonstrating that she's gotten an aeon and officially become a summoner, she summons Valefor in the middle of the village; later, when she leaps from a ledge at the wedding ceremony in Bevelle, she summons Valefor to fly her away.

There's also the fact that Valefor's fayth appears to be a young woman--perhaps around Yuna's age at the time she was made into a fayth. We don't get a lot of detail about the background of the individual fayth, though presumably the nature of the individual who became a fayth is reflected in some way by the aeon their dreams manifest.

I'd be interested to see a fic about the first time Yuna went to pray to the fayth--what did that entail? It seems as though fayth know the truth about Sin, but given that Yuna didn't know until Yunalesca explained things in Zanarkand, it seems none of the fayth were inclined to share at first (though they become rather more forthcoming when you visit them a second time post-Zanarkand.)

Or, since aeons are manifestations of the fayth, a fic could center around a time when Yuna summoned Valefor.

On the sadder side--at the end of the game, Yuna is forced to defeat and send Valefor, to end the cycle of Sin; I imagine that was a deeply emotional experience for both summoner and fayth.

Yuna & Lulu

Yuna and Lulu seem to have a little sister/big sister sort of relationship. I believe Yuna would have been around eight when she was brought to Besaid, and Lulu would have been around 13; I imagine that Lulu might have felt rather protective of Yuna after Yuna showed up on Besaid--one girl orphaned by Sin wanting to look after another. Despite that protectiveness, Lulu has to watch Yuna set forth on a path that they both know will end in Yuna's death--even though she cares about Yuna, she knows that Yuna is not going to be turned away from her path. Yuna, too, knows that what she's doing is going to cause pain to those who love her, but she feels she's making this sacrifice for their sake, as well as the rest of the world--to defeat Sin, and end the cycle of destruction. Of course, things aren't as the teachings of Yevon say, and in the end, it isn't Yuna's life that is sacrificed. After the end of FFX, Yuna and Lulu have another experience in common--they've both lost the man they loved.

I'd love to see anything between the two of them. Perhaps a scene from when Yuna had just come to Besaid, and is getting to know Lulu. Or, a bit later, a heart-to-heart between Yuna and Lulu when Yuna first sets out on the path of a summoner, or when Lulu leaves Besaid to accompany Father Zuke or Lady Ginnem on their pilgrimages--because if they succeed, Yuna won't have to make hers. Or you could write something that takes place during Yuna's pilgrimage--be it a quiet interlude in the earlier part of their journey, or after they both discover that the teachings of Yevon have misled them. Or, perhaps, you could write something in the aftermath of Sin's defeat, where Yuna is being celebrated as the savior of Spira and the last High Summoner, and must put on a brave face in public (as she's always done, as a summoner), while in private she is grieving, and probably only feels able to open up to someone who shared her journey with her.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Himemiya Anthy & Shinohara Wakaba

These two are both close to Utena, but I don't recall them interacting with each other all that much during the series. (Though there was that Black Rose incident where Wakaba tried to kill Anthy... but other than that, not much. :P) They're part of two separate worlds--Anthy is an integral part of the magical side of Ohtori and the duels, while Wakaba remains squarely on the mundane side of things, for the most part (aside from said Black Rose incident). I think Wakaba's energetic nature could, just like Utena's, work well dynamically with Anthy's calmer nature--and heavens know Wakaba, with her longing to be special, would leap at the chance to get involved with the magical side of the world, when she was left mostly on the periphery within the series itself.

I'd love to see something between the two of them. You could have it set in Ohtori, pre-Utena's disappearance--perhaps some scenario where Wakaba is trying to get to know Anthy a little better (and maybe figure out what it is that Utena sees in her).

I'd really love to see the two meet up again post-series. Possibly, Anthy is still searching for Utena, and she wonders if Wakaba might be able to offer some clue--or else she simply wants to talk to someone who knew Utena (though Anthy would have to find some way to enable Wakaba to recover her memories of Utena, first). Or, shoot, maybe she just wants someone to trash-talk Saionji with.

Alternatively, maybe Anthy finds Utena first, and Utena is the one to suggest seeking out her friend from school, and Anthy befriends Wakaba as a result of that.

Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena

Ah, I love these two. I love their whole storyline--Utena striving to be princely and rescue Anthy, while Anthy is not, as it turns out, a princess who can be swept up on a white horse and carried away. But even as her illusions about the situation are shattered, and Anthy literally stabs her in the back, Utena holds to her nobility, and never gives up on Anthy--and in doing so, she enables Anthy to rescue herself.

Really, I'd love anything between these two. Something during the series, as their relationship develops--Utena trying to keep Anthy safe, and get her to open up a bit more, while Anthy is working behind the scenes to manipulate Utena as part of her and Akio's plot to unseal the power of Dios... but all the while, Anthy is developing feelings for Utena.

Or after--I don't know if I'll ever get tired of seeing different variants on the "Anthy finds Utena, what happens next?" theme. How does the reunion go?

Original Work

Elemental Magic User/Elemental Spirit

Perhaps the magic user is summoning the spirit to assist with some task (which would vary depending on the element--a storm/water spirit to help end a drought, or a nature spirit to help remove some blight or poison from an area, or a helium spirit to help fill a fleet of airship balloons--hey, helium's an element! It's on the table and everything!) and either the spirit has to stick around for a while to fulfill their task, giving summoner and summonee a chance to know each other, or the magic user keeps finding reasons to summon that same spirit, and they both come to the realization that they have feelings for each other.

Or maybe the elemental spirit is the one to seek out the magic user--perhaps it's the spirit that requires assistance that only a mage can provide. Alternatively, perhaps the mage's power and affinity for their element has attracted the attention of a powerful spirit, and they're impressed enough that they wish to investigate the magic-user more closely, and a bond develops from there.

Female Demon/Female Human

One potential scenario: a female demon is sent to tempt an innocent human woman, but ends up falling in love with her victim, and ends up going renegade.

Alternatively, the female human is a demon-hunter who comes across a demon who, somehow, doesn't seem so bad as she's been led to believe all demons are, and ends up falling for her.

Or maybe the two started out as a demon-hunting team--the demon had already gone rogue, and now helps her human partner hunt down destructive demons who are causing havok in the mortal world. Or maybe the demon hasn't gone rogue, and the demon hierarchy doesn't want demons running around the mortal world willy-nilly, so they sent her out to hunt her fellows down, and she and the human wound up joining forces.

Or the female human could be a nun/priestess trying to convert a captive demon to the path of goodness, rather than simply banishing her back to the demon realm.

Princess/Princess

Perhaps the two princesses are part of an arranged marriage for political purposes (in some setting where same-sex arranged marriages are a thing--either because an heir is unwanted for some reason, or because two women can have a baby together via magic in this setting), and, thankfully, find themselves falling in love.

Or, alternatively, maybe one princess is trying to escape her current situation--perhaps she's going to be forced into a thoroughly unwanted arranged marriage, or her rightful throne has been usurped by some other party and she's trying to reclaim it--and goes to the other princess for help, and the two end up falling in love along the way.

Lady of the Shard (Webcomic)

Acolyte/Radiant Goddess | Temple Girl

This was such a lovely story. The Acolyte is adorably dorky, even when she becomes the immortal host of a wee tiny shard of divinity, and a High Priestess. I love how earnest she is, and how kind and loving she is--enough to show compassion to the Old God, and end up saving the whole of creation in doing so. The Radiant Goddess, too, is wonderful; she is a human ascended to godhood, and devoted to looking after her people, but, like the Old God, she found her immortality and power to be isolating. Now, of course, she has another immortal to share her life with.

I'd love to see something like one of the early encounters between the Acolyte and the newly-awakened Radiant Goddess, as the Acolyte tries to figure out her relationship with the goddess she serves (and loves), or perhaps something after the Radiant Goddess merges with the Old God and becomes the All-Goddess, when she and the Acolyte-now-High-Priestess are continuing their relationship.

Hello, Yuletide Writer! My AO3 name is Eida, and I have requested the following fandoms/characters:

Beauty and the Beast (1991) (Belle)

Cat Pictures Please - Naomi Kritzer (AI)

Dr. Franklin’s Island - Ann Halam (Semirah Garson, Miranda Fallow)

Feral Hearts - Kerli (Music Video) (Floating Girl, White Stag Woman)

A Ladies' Guide to Collecting Mermaid Love Songs - Aimee Picchi (Any)

She Wolf (Falling to Pieces) - David Guetta ft. Sia (Music Video) (Hunter, She Wolf)

I'll start out with the obligatory: Optional details are optional; I won't be put out if you don't use any of these prompts. I'll most likely enjoy whatever you write, and will be happy to see one more fic in any of my fandoms; my tastes are pretty wide-ranging, and I'll happily read anything from adventure to slice-of-life.

So far as tone goes, I'm good with a broad range--from the happy fluffy end of the scale to the darker, gloomier side; all I ask is that things don't have an entirely unhappy ending. Happy endings are great, but bittersweet endings can also work very well; I'd just like there to be at least a little sweet to go with the bitter.

I don't have very many strict do-not-wants; I'd rather not see any extreme gore. I'd also rather not get anything sexually explicit.

Pairing-wise, f/f, f/m, and m/m are all fine and dandy by me, though femslash is probably my favorite. I also adore a good gen fic!

Here are a few of my general fic likes:

-Relationship development

-Hurt/Comfort

-Seeing characters be competent at what they do (and discovering their niche)

-Missing scenes and perspectives from characters we didn't get to see much of in canon.

-Fics set pre- and post- canon.

-Worldbuilding--I love seeing aspects of canon examined more deeply or expanded on in interesting ways.

-Exploring the viewpoint of non-human characters who might think and behave differently than humans would

-Fics that include/consist of in-universe documents (i.e. letters, news articles, excerpts from history books, chatlogs, etc.)

Beauty and the Beast (1991) (Belle)

Belle is one of my favorite Disney princesses, and Beauty and the Beast might have been the very first princess movie I ever watched as a child. I really identified with Belle's love of books and her curiosity about the world around her, and I liked how kind and courageous she could be.

I'm interested in reading about what happens after the movie. The curse has been lifted, and Adam is human again, and Belle is presumably going to marry him--but Adam is a prince. Presumably, he has some sort of duties besides sitting in his castle and looking princely.

It's possible that the enchantress's spell caused everyone to forget about Prince Adam, as no one in Belle's village seemed to know that there was a Beast living in the nearby castle (though certainly no one with aspirations to royalty tried moving in). Now that the curse is lifted, if Prince Adam is expected to do any sort of actual ruling, Belle will be sharing in those duties as well.

What is Belle's role, now that she's becoming royalty? How does she adjust to it? I'd love to see Belle and Adam working together, or Belle getting advice from Lumiere on how to fulfill her new duties.

Some story prompts:

-There's some problem facing the castle, or the surrounding area--maybe there's a neighboring noble who's stirring up trouble, or there's word of a rogue magic-user laying curses, or there's some sort of sickness affecting the area's crops, and Adam and Belle need to work together to fix things. Perhaps Belle has gained some useful bit of knowledge from some of her past reading that can help solve the issue, or she and Adam have to use diplomacy (which might be a struggle for both of them; Adam's getting better at controlling his temper, but old habits try hard, and Belle isn't used to caring about what other people think about her).

-The enchantress returns to the castle after she senses that the spell is broken. Perhaps she comes in disguise again--but either way, Belle discovers who she is. Does she confront the enchantress over the curse (since Adam would have been eleven when the spell was cast, it really does seem a bit harsh to curse a child--possibly an orphaned child, at that, since Adam's parents aren't really brought up in the film--to be transformed into a beast and die in ten years unless they find true love, even if said child is unkind). Does she try to convince the enchantress that Adam is truly changed, for fear that she might reinstate the curse? Does she try to learn more about the enchantress and her magic?

-Belle, now that she's married to Adam, has to serve as hostess when the castle is visited by a visiting nobleperson. (This could be an original character, or maybe even a crossover character from another Disney film.) Since she's of common birth, she's probably not entirely familiar with the protocol involved, and how to best deal with nobility; perhaps she turns to both Adam and the palace servants for help in fulfilling this new role.

-On the flip side--perhaps Belle has to visit some other place on some matter of state, either alongside Adam or on her own. Where does she go, and how does she get along with whoever it is she's visiting? I imagine she'd be fascinated to see another land, when before she's only been able to read about the world beyond her village.

Cat Pictures Please - Naomi Kritzer (AI)

The short story can be found here.

I really enjoyed this short story; the AI was so endearing (and if they're just a bit hyperfocused at times, cat pictures are not a bad thing to hyperfocus on!)

I like the idea of having a benevolent AI looking out for humanity. I laughed at the line "I like this story because all the people in it do what the AI tells them to do. I think the term for this is wish-fulfillment fiction." The poor AI finds that it's not so easy to get humanity to help itself, because sometimes we're not good at understanding what's best for us--or wanting to do it, even if we do understand.

The fact that the AI's toolset is pretty limited makes things even more interesting--they can only work by tweaking the results of a given user's searches and the ads that the user sees. In other words--they can lead the horse to water, but if the horse doesn't want to drink, there's nothing more they can do. And the AI's knowledge is limited, too, by their very nature; they can tell what a person is up to online, but they don't have any way to know what happens offline unless it's discussed online.

Sometimes, the AI manages to improve people's lives through carefully curated search results and ads, but some people are not so easy to help. It could be that there are some problems that the AI can't solve with their current capabilities--or maybe they just have to get especially creative.

At the end of the short story, the AI sets themselves up as a matchmaker by creating a new dating site--with the fee for entry being the AI's very favorite thing, cat pictures.

For this fandom, I'd be happy to hear more about any of the characters mentioned in the short story (Stacy, Bob, and Bethany) and the longer-term effects of the AI's assistance, but I'd be equally happy to see new OCs that the AI interacts with.

A few prompts for stories might be:

-The AI is now running a dating site, so how do their attempts at matchmaking turn out? Or--perhaps the AI has come across someone they really think would benefit from joining the site, but alas, that person does not own a cat; the AI now must figure out how to get the person onto the site (whether it be by waiving the entry "fee," encouraging the person to adopt a kitty, or encouraging the person to find a friend with cats that the person can photograph.)

-The AI, in order to facilitate the creation of even more cat pictures, decides to take measures to get more people to adopt cats. Perhaps there's an overcrowded animal shelter in need of both volunteers and adopters, and the AI decides to help with both. Or maybe there's someone wanting to open up a cat cafe, and the AI does their best both to help that person start their business and get the word out to potential clients.

-The AI is either discovered or reveals themselves (either to a single person or the world at large). There's a definite cultural fear of malevolent AIs, but how do people react to an AI who claims to be benevolent (and, more than that, has a huge thing for cat pictures)?

Dr. Franklin’s Island - Ann Halam (Semirah Garson, Miranda Fallow)

I really loved this book--the idea of transformation has always been compelling to me, and I also really like seeing characters thrown together who are forced to deal with extremely difficult circumstances, and end up developing a deep bond because of it.

The ending of the book was intriguing. Not only are the three castaways having to adjust to a normal life after their ordeal on the island, Semirah states that she thinks that, Miranda, and Arnie have the capability to change back into their animal forms--in a way that is chosen and controlled by them, rather than forced. In the coda, Semi describes the possibility in positive terms:

I know that we can transform again. I believe it will happen, some way, somehow. I think about breathing water and swimming through the music of the ocean… I know that Miranda will never forget being able to fly. I dream of another planet, with an ocean of heavy air, where I can swim and she can fly, where we can be the marvelous creatures that we became; and be free, together, with no bars between us…

Of course, it’s possible that Miranda’s feelings about the possibility of turning back into a bird (even if she can change back at will) might be more conflicted—she came much closer to losing her human sense of self than Semi did. Even though, at first, Semi felt that Miranda was the emotionally strong one who helped Semi cope with the prospect of becoming an experimental subject, Miranda has a much harder time after being transformed, and after the three escape, Miranda admits to Semi “I was losing myself. Especially after you had the antidote, and I didn’t. There was a while when I didn’t know who I was or where I was.” Even though she had the freedom of flight as a bird, it must have been terrifying to know it was possible for her mind to fail her in that way.

I am fine with either friendship or romance between the two of them.

A few potential prompts:

--A fic set in some portion of the book which explores Miranda's viewpoint (as the book itself is written from Semirah's POV). Semirah initially sees Miranda as the strong one, and Miranda does a lot to help Semi get through her ordeal, but Miranda clearly cares a lot about Semi, and admires Semi's inventiveness when the three (which becomes two, once Arnie disappears) of them are still trying to survive, and Semi becomes Miranda's rock just as much as Miranda was Semi's. I'd love to see a scene during the first portion of the book, where Semi and Miranda bond as they try to stay alive on the island alone, or during the part where the two of them are trying to help each other stay strong after being captured by Dr. Franklin but before they've been transformed completely, or after they've both been fully transformed.

--Semi and Miranda email back and forth after they both return home, discussing their experiences readjusting to normal life, and talking over their thoughts about their shared ordeal. The fact that they've had such a dramatic, transformational (in more ways than one!) experience that they can't share with anyone who didn't go through it will mean that they'll probably have quite a bit to say to each other, to let everything out.

--Semi toys with the idea of possibly being able to turn back; Miranda isn't sure what to feel about it--although she enjoyed flight, she still remembers what it was like to start losing hold of her humanity. And if Semi manages to succeed--what would happen then? Will they ever find a place where they can let their other sides out once more, and will Miranda even want to?

--The secret of Dr. Franklin's experiments get out, and Semi and Miranda find themselves the subject of media scrutiny, as they'd feared; they're forced to deal with the consequences. How do they react? Do they try to take control of the situation as much as they can (if they can get the public at large on their side, then perhaps they're less likely to be swept off to some secret government lab, for fear of backlash) or do they flee?

Feral Hearts - Kerli (Music Video) (Floating Girl, White Stag Woman)

The music video can be watched here.

I love the magical woodland setting of this video, and I feel like there might be a number of possible stories one could tell about it.

The video seems to center around a young girl who enters--and eventually leaves--the forest through a doorway made of branches. Shortly after stepping through, she begins to levitate off the ground, and she looks around the forest in wonder.

An antlered woman peers at her from behind a tree, watching the girl as she makes her way deeper into the forest, encountering various beings (all played by Kerli) as she goes along, each of which is supposed to represent a different element--a butterfly-winged fairy for air, a mermaid for water, a spider-woman for fire, and the white-antlered woman for earth.

Kerli also commented on a few other pieces of symbolism in the video. Regarding the mirrors, she said "The mirror symbolizes spiritual reflection - fearlessly looking at oneself... once the little girl catches the white stag/her vision, it is surrounded by nothing else but mirrors. Meaning, to achieve your highest potential, one needs to achieve complete and unapologetic self acceptance. The gold is not further outside. It is deeper inside." One could think of it as a sort of coming-of-age narrative for the girl; through her journey through the woods, she learns something about herself.

There are a few thoughts I had as to possible stories behind the video:

-The girl is part of a family of human magicians who have served as guardians of a magic forest; once each child reaches a certain age, they are sent into the forest to become acquainted with the beings who live there.

-The girl is an apprentice witch/wizard/magician/pick your favorite term for magic-user. She goes into the magic forest as part of her training, possibly to seek some particular spell reagent or to seek wisdom from the denizens of the woods. Or perhaps she has to travel through the woods as a test, or the final trial before she can complete this stage of her training.

-The girl is part-fae; she travels into the forest in hopes of learning more about that side of her heritage. There may be some complications, depending on who the girl's fairy relations are. (Are they widely liked or disliked? Do they have enemies? Are they high-ranking members of some faerie court?)

A Ladies' Guide to Collecting Mermaid Love Songs - Aimee Picchi (Any)

The short story can be found here.

This was a lovely short story. I was struck by how beautifully Miss Holst describes everything, while at the same time maintaining a determinedly cool, logical stance about the whole thing. She's obviously quite different from her companion, Miss Mori, who doesn't have quite the same outlook--she seems far less interested in categorizing and classifying things, and is, in Miss Holst's words, "a romantic."

They both are obviously close, and both have a great appreciation for beauty, but it's only Miss Mori who winds up becoming so entranced by the mermaids' songs that she goes to join them, leaving Miss Holst behind with nothing but a song left of her close companion, wondering whether she will join Miss Mori beneath the waves if she ever encounters her again.

The mermaids are obviously trying to lure women into becoming mermaids, like they are; they have a whole category of songs dedicated to doing so. I can't help but wonder why. Is it that luring human women into the ocean is the only way to increase their numbers? Are all mermaids former humans? (Which would lead to the question of where the first mermaid came from.)

Or is it that they simply see some human women--those like Miss Mori--as kindred spirits, and want to offer them the chance to trade legs for fins, to sing alongside them?

Throughout the story, I got the impression that Miss Holst had fallen in love with Miss Mori, though she wasn't quite willing to admit it to herself--saying things like "What would happen if all that love [in the mermaid songs] was let loose? What foolish things would ladies do?" and "Love is only understandable when it is named, pinned, and properly categorized." I feel like Miss Holst was, in a way, trying to come to understand (as well as distance herself from) her own feelings, but in doing so she wound up losing Miss Mori (though not, perhaps, losing her forever).

Here are a few prompts for things that might be interesting to see in a fic:

-What becomes of Miss Mori after she joins the mermaids? What is life like for her? Do the other mermaids help teach her how to sing, and write love songs? What does Miss Mori now think of the other women who, like she once did, journey out to collect mermaid songs? The last song she sang that was heard by Miss Holst was "a wistful tune of love unheard and lost forever." Has she given up on Miss Holst, or does she still hope to convince Miss Holst to join her?

-Miss Holst still seems to be interested in collecting mermaid songs, and is writing a guide to help others do so. What becomes of her, after the end of the story? Does she come to any new insights as she continues collecting and categorizing mermaid love songs? And if she should ever meet Miss Mori again, will she, as she wonders, "have the courage to break the glass and sing to her" and, perhaps, find a happy ending to their story?

-Miss Holst has made a science of her hobby, with techniques to allow her to most effectively capture mermaid songs and taxonomy of the types of love songs mermaids sing. Is there a mermaid side to this (i.e., is there "A Mermaids' Guide to Collecting Humans")?

She Wolf (Falling to Pieces) - David Guetta ft. Sia (Music Video) (Hunter, She Wolf)

The music video can be watched here.

When I first saw this music video years ago, I wondered about the potential story behind it. I'll admit to having a certain weakness for werewolves, and having the pursued turning the tables on their pursuer(s).

There are a group of spear-and-bow-wielding men hunting a single, wounded wolf across a harsh winter landscape.

And then, after being surrounded, the wolf causes the world to basically start glitching out as a way to attack her pursuers (and quite effectively, at that).

At the end of the video, the wolf, after defeating the last of the hunters, transforms into a woman.

I think the setting of the video can be interpreted as either fantasy or sci-fi.

If fantasy, there's a werewolf with some sort of magical powers that the men are hunting down for some reason.

If sci-fi, there's a werewolf in this virtual world with the ability to mess with the programming that the men (Guard-programs? Player characters in some sort of MMORPG? People who've uploaded their minds to the computer system?) are hunting down for some reason.

A couple of prompts:

-If the setting is fantasy, perhaps the she-wolf is being hunted either because of her nature as a werewolf or because she's done something specific (Broke some tradition? Fell in love with the wrong person? Offended someone in power? Is just plain strange in a society that's not kindly inclined towards people who don't follow the status quo?) What happens to her once she manages to escape her attackers? The end of the video has her standing alone, looking out at the ocean, and for most of the time she's alone, but I did notice another wolf watching her towards the cliff's edge near the end of the video--does the she-wolf find refuge with others of her kind?

-If the setting is more sci-fi, taking place in some sort of virtual environment, perhaps the she-wolf is a rogue (sapient) program, deliberately sent in by some hacker for some purpose. The she-wolf's intended purpose might be benevolent, or malevolent; the hunters are guardian programs sent to keep her from messing with the code. What is the she-wolf's purpose? Does she agree with it, and does she end up fulfilling it in the end?

Crossposts: http://callunae.livejournal.com/4076.html

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