ghostwings | Entries tagged with dear author

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.

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

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?)

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?

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

Hello, mystery person-who's-been-assigned-to-me!

My AO3 name is Eida, and the requests I've made are:

"Kings" - The Pierces (Music Video)
"The Lioness" - Xandria (Song)
"The Lion's Roar" - First Aid Kit (Song)
"Little Talks" - Of Monsters and Men (Music Video)
"Running With The Wolves" - AURORA (Music Video)
"What The Water Gave Me" - Florence and the Machine (Song)
"Which Witch" - Florence and the Machine (Song)

I've asked for fanfic for all the music pieces.

I don't have many strong do-not-wants. I'd rather not get anything super-gory.

I'd also prefer that the ending not be completely bleak and hopeless--I'm okay with stories that get a bit dark, but I'd like there to be at least some light at the end of the tunnel. Bittersweet endings can be lovely, as long as there's at least a pinch of sweet to go with the bitter.

If a fic goes into sexually explicit territory, I would like everyone involved to be a consenting adult, and am solely interested in femslash.

For anything non-explicit, of course, I'm good with femslash, slash, and het (though of the three, I tend to favor femslash). I also love a good gen fic!

Genre-wise, I enjoy stories that have some sort of speculative fiction element--be it sci-fi or fantasy. I'd be interested in pretty much any subgenre you can think of--sword and sorcery, urban fantasy, magic realism, space opera, cyberpunk, steampunk, post-apocalyptic, etc.--if it works for the story, it works for me!

Of course, if a present-day real-world no-fantastic-elements setting works for the story you want to tell, I'm completely fine with that, too!

So far as tone goes, I'm happy with anything from sweet fluff to rollicking comedy to emotionally wrenching drama. However, as I mentioned above, I do prefer that the ending not be entirely unhappy--even if all problems aren't solved, there should be some note of hope, and the feeling that there's a chance for resolution.

Here are a few of my general fiction likes:

-Exploration/development of relationships (romantic or platonic)

-Worldbuilding (I really enjoy reading about fictional cultures, with their own customs, social mores, religions, and ways of viewing the world)

-Interesting magic systems

-People being competent in their field

-A strong sense of place--settings that are distinct and evocatively described

-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.)

I've tried to give some general prompts, but as always, optional details are optional--if you have something different in mind, feel free to go for it!

"Kings" - The Pierces (Music Video) [Youtube | Lyrics]

If we want to
We could do what kings do
I can feel the earth move
When you speak
If we fight through
All the things we once knew
Everything would change for me and you
We could do what kings do

There’s all sorts of interesting imagery in this video. The characters are all, save for the possibly-dead king in the opening, female, and seem to be living with a rather low technology level (given that they’re using swords and spears as weapons.) I get the impression of a post-apocalyptic society, knocked back to a lower technology state by some unknown disaster.

There appear to be two groups of women preparing for battle—though as it turns out, no actual battle takes place. Rather than competing for the crown, they end up destroying it, and then all gathering together to dance around a bonfire.

Was there an actual conflict brewing over the possession of the crown, and the power (symbolic or otherwise) it represented, which was narrowly averted? If that's the case, then what causes the characters to decide, together, to reject the crown?

Or was this all a pre-planned ritual of some sort—and if so, what is it supposed to symbolize, and how did the tradition begin?

"The Lioness" - Xandria (Song) [Youtube | Lyrics]

The lioness is hunting us
So beautiful and dangerous
Her embrace is murderous
Beware of the lioness

The song's lyrics describe a lioness. There's an ambivalence in the singer's attitude towards the predator--the singer seems to feel both fear and admiration, and the lines "Do you feel her gentle touch / Her sweet caress hurts just as much" imply a feeling of closeness.

There are a number of ways you could interpret the lyrics. The lioness doesn't necessarily have to be a literal lioness, though that's a possibility--the protagonist could be in a situation where they're in danger of falling prey to an actual lioness, or a similar large feline.

Alternatively, the lioness could be a person--perhaps there's an assassin/bounty hunter known as the Lioness, and the protagonist is trying to escape her. The matter could be complicated if the protagonist and the Lioness had a prior history together--whether it was a working relationship, or they were friends/lovers.

Or, to put a different spin on it--maybe the lioness isn't an external entity. Perhaps the protagonist is a shapeshifter struggling to come to terms with their animal side, or otherwise has some sort of lioness-related magic they're struggling to control.

"The Lion's Roar" - First Aid Kit (Song) [Youtube | Lyrics]

And I'm a goddamn fool, but then again so are you
And the lion's roar, the lion's roar
Has me seeking out and searching for you
And I never really knew what to do

It's another song featuring a lion! However, this one has a rather different tone.

There's a certain bitterness in the lyrics--I get the idea of a person singing to someone they were once close to (and still care about), but have had a falling-out with for some reason. Possibly they feel the other person has been "blindly deceived / By those who preach and pray and teach," and that's the root of their current separation. The "lion's roar" could be, again, literal or metaphorical--an actual lion/other large feline (i.e., a cougar, if this takes place in the Americas), or a person, or an organization, or even something like a natural disaster (a storm can roar, too)--but either way, the crisis might help to force the singer and their estranged friend/relative/lover to work together, and possibly reforge old bonds.

For instance, the protagonist might be out in the wilderness for some reason (a camping trip, or a research expedition), and might wind up stranded with the other person (maybe they were with a group, and got separated, or perhaps they met up by chance, or maybe this general area was somewhere they both used to go together, and each of them, individually, chose to come out here for nostalgia's sake), and have to work together to make it through whatever difficulty that's gotten them stuck out here.

"Little Talks" - Of Monsters and Men (Music Video) [Youtube | Lyrics]

Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right
Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear

'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Ever since the first time I saw this video, I wondered about the story behind it.

There are five men in a rather homey-looking zeppelin, and in their travels they come across what looks like a meteor… which hatches to reveal a fiery flying woman, who, for whatever reason, chooses to come along with them on their journey through a snowy, mountainous landscape full of massive ancient statues and strange beasts. Along the way, she rescues the men several times with her magic (though, sadly, their zeppelin is a lost cause). In the end, the woman meets a gigantic creature, aglow with a fire that matches the woman’s own—she seems overjoyed to see them, as though she’s been searching for this creature the entire time, and at the song’s close, she’s floating above the creature’s forehead as the creature unfolds their massive wings.

I’d love to hear your interpretation of what’s going on, here. Who are these men, and why are they traveling? Are they searching for something—the creature, perhaps, or something relating to all the old statues they fly past? What sort of being, exactly, is the woman, and what is her relation to the creature? What are the interactions between the human men and the fiery woman like? What do they make of her, and she of them? Do they become friends?

And what happens after the end of the video?

"Rose Red" - Emilie Autumn (Song) [Youtube | Lyrics]

A thousand years gone by
Too late to wonder why
I'm here alone
If in my darkest hour
She rose that fell a flower
I should have known

This song seems to be about a woman--perhaps a princess, or noblewoman--who has grown embittered and cynical, and is now determined to take her fate into her own hands.

What happened to her in the past that made her the way she is now? Who was it who rose after "fell[ing] a flower" (said flower might be the singer herself--but you could interpret it as being someone the singer cared about, as well)?

And the lyrics mention "A thousand years gone by"--if taken literally, the protagonist has had her life massively extended by some means (unless she's of a naturally long-lived species, i.e. a faerie or elf. Or a dwarf; I haven't seen many dwarven princesses before.) How did this come about? Was it by the protagonist's own will--to let her survive for long enough to see whatever plans she has come to fruition--or is it part of a curse, to force her to live in misery until some condition is met? If you want to take this in a more science fiction, rather than fantasy, direction, there might be longevity treatments, cryostasis, or time dilation involved.

This part of the song is intriguing:

For this freedom
I have given all I had
For this darkness
I gave my light
For this wisdom
I have lost my innocence

What freedom has she gained? What darkness? What wisdom?

And how does she end up using all three to weave her own destiny, and give her story the ending she desires?

"Running With The Wolves" - AURORA (Music Video) [Youtube | Lyrics]

There's blood on your lies
The sky's open wide
There is nowhere for you to hide
The hardest moon is shining

I'm running with the wolves tonight
I'm running with the wolves

In the video, there’s a young woman traveling through a barren land, with a city full of skyscrapers visible in the distance that she seems to be trying to get away from. She seems to have wires stuck into various parts of her body—perhaps she was the subject of some sort of experiment, and is fleeing from the ones who performed it. She has one pursuer, as she flees—a man in a truck. However, she’s able to get away, to a forested area, and the closing shot is of her walking into a body of water, and diving under.

What’s her story? What happened to her? Is she a human, altered by experimentation? And if so, in what ways, and to what purpose? Or is she, perhaps, a humanoid robot? And who was it that created/altered her, in either case? Is it a government agency, a shadowy organization, or perhaps a single renegade scientist (i.e. the man in the truck)?

And where does she go after she gets into the woods? Has she finally lost her pursuer(s), or does she still have to try to find some safe place for herself? Will she find a friend, somewhere, to give her aid and shelter?

"What The Water Gave Me" - Florence and the Machine (Song) [Youtube | Lyrics]

‘Cause she’s a cruel mistress
And a bargain must be made
But oh, my love, don’t forget me
When I let the water take me

So lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Pockets full of stones

What is the bargain the lyrics mention? And what is meant by "let the water take me?" There seems to be some sort of sacrifice--how did it come about, and what is it meant to achieve?

It's possible there's some sort of magical contract between the people of a certain area and a deity/spirit of the nearest body of water (an ocean, or river, or lake), and that part of it involves the sacrifice of a person to the water. While the "pockets full of stones" is suggestive of drowning... perhaps the sacrifice doesn't actually die, but is, after submerging themselves, transformed in some way to become of the water (a mermaid, or naiad, or other water-creature). Or perhaps they're taken to the realm of the gods/spirits, to attend upon the god/spirit of the water. Or perhaps there's merely a symbolic "drowning" in which the person is submerged, pulled back up, and then taken off to some remote temple where they'll spend some amount of time in service (possibly a lifetime, possibly less--but still enough time that it's a big deal.)

Whatever happens, it seems clear that the person who's being taken by the water will be separated from those they knew (thus the entreaty that their love not forget them). What is it like, for the person to be sacrificed, and what is it like, for those left behind? Do they believe the sacrifice was worth it?

"Which Witch" - Florence and the Machine (Song) [Youtube | Lyrics]

And it's my whole heart
Weighed and measured inside
And it's an old scar
Trying to bleach it out
And it's my whole heart
Deemed and delivered a crime
I'm on trial, waiting 'til the beat comes out

The singer appears to be in a situation where their love has been "deemed... a crime." How did this come about? Why is their love forbidden, under under threat of punishment? (Especially since the punishment is possibly execution--which might involve burning at the stake, given the line "Fire, help me to forget," though you could also interpret the lyrics as not referring to judicial punishment, but merely strong social disapproval, with the fire and chains being metaphorical.) Who is it that the protagonist loves so deeply as to be willing to defy society, how did their relationship develop, and what ends up happening to the protagonist and their beloved?

The singer's attitude, to me, comes off as both defiant and weary of the suffering they've gone through--but no matter the cost, they're not going to give up their feelings for the person they desire.

Witchery is mentioned in the title, but not in the song itself--though the song is pretty clearly trying to allude to witch trials. It's up to you whether witchcraft (or the fear of it) is involved at all. One possibility--the protagonist is accused of witchcraft, in a setting where that's a serious accusation with heavy penalties if found guilty, by someone powerful who wants to get the protagonist out of the way because they're in love with the same person as the protagonist. Alternatively, in a fantasy setting, the protagonist could have actual magic powers, which might either help them resolve the situation... or might be the reason they're in it in the first place (either witchcraft is outlawed, or there are restrictions against witches being involved with non-witches, or there are warring witch clans and the protagonist has fallen in love with someone on the other side, etc.)

Of course, witchery might have no role whatsoever, and the protagonist's love is forbidden for any of the many, many reasons that love has been forbidden over the centuries--be it that the lover/beloved are in two groups that aren't supposed to intermarry, or that the beloved, specifically, is someone the protagonist's family/society does not want the protagonist to be with.

Crossposts: http://callunae.livejournal.com/3721.html

Hello, mystery writer!

My AO3 name is Eida, and the fandoms and relationships I've requested are:

Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy X-2: Paine/Rikku and Auron/Lulu

Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold: Ivan Vorpatril/Byerly Vorrutyer and Gregor Vorbarra & Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena: Arisugawa Juri & Tenjou Utena, Shinohara Wakaba & Tenjou Utena, Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena, and Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena/Shinohara Wakaba

Crossover Fandom: Ariel (The Little Mermaid)/Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Tenjou Utena & Undyne (Undertale), and Arisugawa Juri & Undyne (Undertale)

Undertale: Papyrus & Undyne, Chara & Frisk

I've requested fanfic for all five fandoms.

My one real do-not-want is anything sexually explicit.

In general, I enjoy stories with tones ranging from fluffy to bittersweet. I like adventure/casefic as well as domestic, slice-of-life stories.

I also enjoy AU fic, especially canon divergence AUs and daemon AUs. (I'm open to pretty much any other kind of AU you can think of, with the exception of A/B/O and completely mundane modern-day AUs for fantasy/sci-fi fandoms.)

I also really enjoy epistolary fic.

Other things I like include character and relationship development, stories set pre- or post-canon, missing scenes, and worldbuilding.

Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy X-2

(Note: I haven't played Final Mission, read Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~, or listened to the audio drama Final Fantasy X -Will-, though I've read the FF Wiki articles about them; feel free to ignore them when writing your fic.)

Paine and Rikku two have a sort of potential opposites-attract thing going on. Both have reacted to the tragedies in their past in very different ways--Paine has become more brooding and sarcastic, while Rikku clung to optimism, even in the face of Sin, and maintained a far more perky attitude. I feel like Rikku is capable of bringing some sunshine into Paine's life, while also being able to tone it down when necessary, and that Paine can provide balance, and be something of an anchoring presence.

I'd love to see fic of them that takes place during the game itself--perhaps bonding during one of their missions--or post-canon, as they figure out where to go next after defeating Shuyin.

Auron and Lulu, on the other hand, have quite a bit in common. They're both rather serious characters who both took part in a second pilgrimage after the death of their summoner during their first. I think that there's potential for them to bond over their shared experiences and current duty, and that while both characters are rather reserved, in time, they might begin to open to one another. And there's the poignancy that comes with knowing their time together is limited, as Auron is Unsent, and canonically disappears at the game's end. (If you want to do an AU where he sticks around a bit longer, feel free, but I'm completely okay with a bittersweet ending with them cherishing what time they are able to have, even knowing it will soon end.)

Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

I'm quite fond of Ivan/Byerly as a pairing. Ivan makes a perfect straight man for Byerly's satirical sense of humor, and they're both the sort of people who, when it comes down to it, will do the right thing (even if Ivan winds up getting dragged into situations quite against his own wishes, and Byerly goes about the whole thing in his signature sardonic fashion). It would be wonderful to see something with Byerly getting himself caught up in some sort of troublesome situation (which may or may not be related to his duties with ImpSec) and Ivan getting begrudgingly pulled along for the ride.

I'd also love to see something that explored Gregor's relationship with Cordelia, who has served as his surrogate mother for nearly his entire life--and who also has a distinctly non-Barrayaran viewpoint which has surely come in handy for him at some times. It would be equally interesting to see their relationship when Gregor is young, or when Gregor has come more into his own as Emperor.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

I'd love to see something post-canon. How might Juri or Wakaba meet Utena again, in the outside world? Given that, after the series, most of the students in Ohtori seemed to gradually forget Utena, how much of their earlier relationship with Utena would Juri or Wakaba remember, and would they remember more of it as they became re-acquainted? How does Utena react to seeing how her old friends have changed?

I'd also love to see something exploring Utena's romantic relationship with Anthy, once they meet again. How does their relationship develop? What difficulties do they face? (Outside Ohtori, it's far less likely that they'll have anything like a fairytale ending--and there may be some repercussions from the events of the series finale which the two of them will need to deal with.)

I also love the idea of Utena, Anthy, and Wakaba as a romantic triad. After all that Anthy and Utena have gone through together, they share a deep bond--but Wakaba and Utena share a bond, as well. I think Wakaba's presence could brighten both Utena and Anthy's lives, and that there's a certain sense of normalcy to her that--in a setting full of magic swords, duellists with dark, twisted pasts, and fairy tales gone horribly wrong--could bring a sort of balance to the relationship. I just really enjoy the idea of the three of them settling into a new life together post-canon, with Anthy and Wakaba getting to know each other a bit better (as they didn't really interact that much in canon.)

Crossover Fandom

Belle is someone who loves stories--I can't help but think she'd be fascinated to see a mermaid straight out of a fairytale appear in her life. And with Ariel's fascination with the human world, and the fact that Belle would certainly have an interest in learning about the mermaid world, they'd probably have plenty to talk about. (Though first you'd have to figure out how they'd meet, as Ariel lives in the ocean and Belle's home village appears to be somewhat inland. Perhaps Ariel makes her way upriver? Or perhaps the village is actually close enough to the ocean that the two could meet at the shore? Or maybe Ariel has made a bargain, as in canon, to get herself some legs, and makes her way to Belle's village, in which case she'd seem to be a normal human at first--but then, eventually, the truth would come out.)

As for Utena/Juri and Undyne, canonically, Undyne mentions "Alphys's history books made me think humans were cool... with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen." So far as flowery swordswomen go, both Utena and Juri surely fit the bill! (Of course, it's possible they might be just a bit burnt-out on roses and duels after the events of canon...) Even if Utena's idealism might have been tried by everything that's happened to her, she might still find Undyne's straightforward ideas about heroism, knighthood, and protecting others to be appealing, and they both want to protect the people they care about. And Undyne would certainly be sympathetic to Utena's goal to reunite with Anthy post-canon.

Juri started off with a firm disbelief that miracles were possible, but that belief, too, was tried by the events in canon. It might be interesting to see her reaction to encountering a monster--an undeniably magical creature--outside of the enclosed far-from-mundane environment of Ohtori Academy (and if Undertale and Shoujo Kakumei Utena are happening in the same 'verse in the fic, then the return of monsters to the upper world might be seen as a miracle in and of itself). In addition, it's possible the two might make for good sparring partners (even if Undyne's weapon of choice is usually a spear, rather than a fencing sword!)

Undertale

It would be wonderful to see a fic focused on Papyrus and Undyne doing something together. They're both such enthusiastic characters! Possibly another cooking class (maybe they're finally going to branch out beyond spaghetti?), or a friendly sparring match, or just hanging out at Papyrus's house waiting for Frisk's regular cell phone calls during the game, or finding new and exciting things out in the human world post-Pacifist ending. (Given Undyne's... exuberant approach towards a lot of things, one wonders what might happen if she ever convinced Papyrus to let her try driving his car.)

I really like the Chara-as-narrator theory--that is, the idea that Chara is a presence in the Neutral and Pacifist route, as well as the No Mercy route, in that she provides much of the commentary in the game that's shown when examining items and Check-ing monsters. In this theory, the way Chara manifests in Neutral/Pacifist route is not malevolent, unlike in the No Mercy route; Chara's actions are impacted by Frisk's/the player's choices.

With this in mind--I'd like to see the friendship between Frisk and Chara developing. Chara's past, the game implies, contains a great deal of pain, and whatever happened left Chara with a hatred of humanity and a willingness to go to truly drastic measures to destroy the barrier. How does the journey through the underground with Frisk change Chara? Is Frisk able to help Chara find some sort of peace that Chara could never find in life?

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Dear Yuletide Writer (2020)
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