Yuletide 2021
Oct. 21st, 2021 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atreidaiHere is my ao3!
Wow, I can't believe it's already that time of year! I love Yuletide tbh. I love seeing the niche-ish canons everyone's accrued over the year, I love seeing the creativity and enthusiasm that ensues, and I love the gift fics I get. This year I find myself leaning towards canons that run towards the surreal, sometimes even horror (Yanxi Palace might be the outlier here but... then again it's horrifying what some of the characters have to go through!) A lot of them have such a sense of wonder and creativity to them, too, so don't feel too boxed in. I can handle pretty much anything on the sliding scale of light to dark as long as it fits the canon's tone. I enjoy less traditional storytelling methods too, if that's your thing. (are you inspired to write epistolary fic? Do you want to write in some kind of non-chronological format? go for it!) All I ask is that you avoid my do not want section.
As far as general content goes I'm pretty easygoing and would prefer for you to write something you're enthusiastic about rather than strictly adhere to one of my prompts if you find it limiting. They're more of a guideline for you to get a sense of the kind of content/mood I'm into for each particular request.
Aaaand yeah! I'm really excited to see what you write! I adore all these canons and would always love to spend more time exploring them so I really appreciate you allowing me to do that.
(Note: I'm going to copy paste my usual likes/dislikes because my fictional preferences really haven't changed much since my last few exchanges, save a few minor tweaks here and there.)
What I really like:
Hurt/comfort, emotional tension (resolved or otherwise), unresolved sexual tension (also resolved or otherwise), smut in general, fun dialogue, companionable snark, found families, competence porn, allusions to mythology or fairy tales, urban legends, horror/creepypasta, earned happy endings, grouchy or straight-up mean characters having a soft side, nice or kind characters having moments of weakness/cruelty, inter-generational family drama, characters figuring each other out, angst, mysteries and a sense of ambiguity, exploration of trauma, relationships that are complex but still full of trust/loyalty, characters having a sense of humor about sex, newcomers dealing with etiquette or danger they aren't fully aware of, creepy houses, gallows humor, characters getting stranded together, extremes in weather, unsolved mysteries, liminal spaces, ambiguity, competence kink, the sense that minor characters have lives beyond the page/screen
DNW:
Deaths of pets (especially dogs), bathroom and vomit play, cancer, daddy kink, omegaverse, infestations and an emphasis on insects (even in horror), jokes about OCD
Below are my fandom prompts. These are definitely just here for you to see what interests me most in each canon, but I'm not demanding any one thing in particular. Also some descriptions/prompts will be longer than others but that doesn't mean I want one more fandom more than any other. I'm interested in all fandoms equally!
Fandom: Several People Are Typing - Calvin Kasulke
Characters: Gerald, Pradeep
I think this book is one of my biggest surprises of the year! It’s a hilarious office satire with a side of cosmic horror (or maybe the other way around?) and some bonus canon m/m! For more details, see my fandom promo here! I’m basically bound to love anything that leans into this book’s charming blend of spooky shit and mundane corporate work shit! Also I requested Gerald and Pradeep but I’m totally fine with it if you want to have them as side characters and explore this universe worldbuilding through other coworkers. Like if you want to show what’s up with Lydia’s consciousness and having them encounter her again, or have one of the coworkers get stuck in their long-abandoned livejournal when they go to delete it … we’ll let’s just say I’d be so into that.
Prompts/ideas:
-Gerald trying to deal with having a corporeal form again! Pradeep’s new boyfriend sometimes just likes to stare into space at zoom meetings while remembering that time he was a gif but Pradeep is good at covering for him.
-It gets really awkward when your new boyfriend sometimes asks for your consent during sex by phrasing it like a slackbot scripted question.
-We know this office has an office Spotify where people make playlists. What if Pradeep has his own experience with getting trapped in technology and ends up stuck in Spotify?
Fandom: The Story of Yanxi Palace
Characters: Consort Gao of Xing, Wei Yingning
Oh boy, what an absolute epic of a show. I’ve been slowly savoring it since 2020 (I have one or two episodes left but I’m fully spoiled so refer to anything you like in canon.) I adore so many of the characters and love following their journeys and seeing how the all of them adapted to/are warped by the challenges of the imperial harem. That being said, it killed me to learn there was a whole scrapped plot line with Consort Gao helping Yingluo’s sister, Yingning. I’d love anything tbat explores this relationship, whether you choose to go platonic or romantic. I just love the potential complexity this introduces to all the different canon relationships.
Some prompts:
-Gao and Yingning are both creative, artistic people, Gao with her opera skills, Yingning with their embroidery.
-Really anything exploring Gao and Yingning as a parallel to Rongyin and Yingluo. How did they grow so close? Was Yingning Gao’s hope (and if so did she lose it fully when Yingning died?) Did they like each other right away or was it an enemies to friends/lovers situation?
-AU: Consort Gao helps Yingning hide for her own safety and Yingluo comes to the harem to explore why her sister has gone missing.
-AU: Yingning survives but Gao still had her canonical death, and Yingning is there to comfort Gao as she dies
Fandom: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Characters: N/A
Ahhh I love this era of SNES games! So many franchises like this one saw a leveling up in their graphics and artistry. They were able to work more of a storyline into them as well. However they still had a limited amount of memory, so dialogue and cut scenes were rather limited. As a result, as a kid I would play these games and try to fill in the gaps. Link to the Past was one of the best for this. I’d love to see your own take on one of this game’s ambiguities or mysterious moments. I’ve provided a list of things that intrigue me about this game but feel free to go where the muse leads you!
Note: I know the overall Zelda timeline connects this game to other Zelda games. I’m fine with references/worldbuilding fun, but for reference the Zelda games I know best are Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, Link Between Worlds, and Breath of the Wild.
Some prompts:
-Okay I have to tell you, I imprinted hard on the disappearances of the maidens/Zelda in this game. It was vaguely thrilling/terrifying the same way it is when Jasmine gets trapped in the hourglass in Aladdin. I would really love anything exploring their experience in this game. Some of them seem to be nobility, while others are seemingly average girls. But all of them end up trapped in crystals in the dark world. This game ends all happily but at bare minimum these girls probably have nightmares at the end. Especially if they actually died and it was Link’s wish that brought them back.
-I greatly enjoy the body horror of the dark world, and the general push and pull between the light world and dark world; Link turning into a bunny, that guy with the flute turning into a tree (are the trees in the light world creepily musical when their branches creak because of him?). What happens to other people who go there. Do the maidens slowly crystallize?
-I also love how there are fairy fountains and it’s just one of those things that are never explained (really love how things just exist in this world and that’s that.) It would be really interesting to see the life of one of those fairies. Maybe a fic that’s a list of all the increasingly desperate wishes that random Hyruleans make in those walls.
-I love that dungeons in this series are generally called temples and palaces. They’re long abandoned by the time of this game but I’d love to see what kind of societies made places like, say, Turtle Rock. I know the dark world is a corruption of the realm of the triforce so like … what was going on there before it was corrupted.
-I was also obsessed with the plot twist with Blind the Thief. Don’t really have any prompts for that but if you find yourself wanting to write him I certainly wouldn’t mind that.
-Agahnim! I know he’s just an extension of Ganon but it would be fascinating to see him develop a consciousness of his own. It’s fine if he’s angsty about it. It’s fine if he is awful in his own ways and enjoys tormenting the maidens (I mean this in both sexy and non-sexy ways haha. By which I mean does he get weird boners sending them to the dark world and is he like “what’s THAT all about?)
Fandom: Shum - Go_A (Eurovision Music Video: Steampunk Dance Party in the Woods version)
Characters: Worldbuilding
WHAT A FREAKING SONG, EH? This year was the most fun I’ve had with Eurovision in a while. Loved the winning song, and I’m also not surprised this one came in second in the televote. I love how it’s got party vibes but in a vaguely threatening way. I also loved digging into translations and explanations that delve into this song’s references to mythology.
Here is a translation of the lyrics.
And here’s a discussion about the deeper meaning of the song.
This is a bit harder to write prompts for given that it’s a five minute fandom, but I’ll try!
Some prompts:
-So is Kateryna’s character a witch/priestess invoking Shum or is she an immortal incarnation of shum? Choose your own adventure! And if she's a mortal devotee what is it like to awaken the ENTIRE FORCE OF SPRING?
-The perspective of the people drawn into the dance! Are they long time worshippers? Are they random people who get seduced by the power of this song (if so, I feel you, people.)
-I have no idea what sort of prompt to write for this but I seriously love the interplay between ancient/lost to time mythology/deities and the modern/futuristic looks.
-This video gets compared to Mad Max a lot and I adore Fury Road. It’s probably hard to write crossovers given that this video and that movie take place on opposite sides of the world but I’ll be insanely impressed if you do want to do that and find a way!
Wow, I can't believe it's already that time of year! I love Yuletide tbh. I love seeing the niche-ish canons everyone's accrued over the year, I love seeing the creativity and enthusiasm that ensues, and I love the gift fics I get. This year I find myself leaning towards canons that run towards the surreal, sometimes even horror (Yanxi Palace might be the outlier here but... then again it's horrifying what some of the characters have to go through!) A lot of them have such a sense of wonder and creativity to them, too, so don't feel too boxed in. I can handle pretty much anything on the sliding scale of light to dark as long as it fits the canon's tone. I enjoy less traditional storytelling methods too, if that's your thing. (are you inspired to write epistolary fic? Do you want to write in some kind of non-chronological format? go for it!) All I ask is that you avoid my do not want section.
As far as general content goes I'm pretty easygoing and would prefer for you to write something you're enthusiastic about rather than strictly adhere to one of my prompts if you find it limiting. They're more of a guideline for you to get a sense of the kind of content/mood I'm into for each particular request.
Aaaand yeah! I'm really excited to see what you write! I adore all these canons and would always love to spend more time exploring them so I really appreciate you allowing me to do that.
(Note: I'm going to copy paste my usual likes/dislikes because my fictional preferences really haven't changed much since my last few exchanges, save a few minor tweaks here and there.)
What I really like:
Hurt/comfort, emotional tension (resolved or otherwise), unresolved sexual tension (also resolved or otherwise), smut in general, fun dialogue, companionable snark, found families, competence porn, allusions to mythology or fairy tales, urban legends, horror/creepypasta, earned happy endings, grouchy or straight-up mean characters having a soft side, nice or kind characters having moments of weakness/cruelty, inter-generational family drama, characters figuring each other out, angst, mysteries and a sense of ambiguity, exploration of trauma, relationships that are complex but still full of trust/loyalty, characters having a sense of humor about sex, newcomers dealing with etiquette or danger they aren't fully aware of, creepy houses, gallows humor, characters getting stranded together, extremes in weather, unsolved mysteries, liminal spaces, ambiguity, competence kink, the sense that minor characters have lives beyond the page/screen
DNW:
Deaths of pets (especially dogs), bathroom and vomit play, cancer, daddy kink, omegaverse, infestations and an emphasis on insects (even in horror), jokes about OCD
Below are my fandom prompts. These are definitely just here for you to see what interests me most in each canon, but I'm not demanding any one thing in particular. Also some descriptions/prompts will be longer than others but that doesn't mean I want one more fandom more than any other. I'm interested in all fandoms equally!
Fandom: Several People Are Typing - Calvin Kasulke
Characters: Gerald, Pradeep
I think this book is one of my biggest surprises of the year! It’s a hilarious office satire with a side of cosmic horror (or maybe the other way around?) and some bonus canon m/m! For more details, see my fandom promo here! I’m basically bound to love anything that leans into this book’s charming blend of spooky shit and mundane corporate work shit! Also I requested Gerald and Pradeep but I’m totally fine with it if you want to have them as side characters and explore this universe worldbuilding through other coworkers. Like if you want to show what’s up with Lydia’s consciousness and having them encounter her again, or have one of the coworkers get stuck in their long-abandoned livejournal when they go to delete it … we’ll let’s just say I’d be so into that.
Prompts/ideas:
-Gerald trying to deal with having a corporeal form again! Pradeep’s new boyfriend sometimes just likes to stare into space at zoom meetings while remembering that time he was a gif but Pradeep is good at covering for him.
-It gets really awkward when your new boyfriend sometimes asks for your consent during sex by phrasing it like a slackbot scripted question.
-We know this office has an office Spotify where people make playlists. What if Pradeep has his own experience with getting trapped in technology and ends up stuck in Spotify?
Fandom: The Story of Yanxi Palace
Characters: Consort Gao of Xing, Wei Yingning
Oh boy, what an absolute epic of a show. I’ve been slowly savoring it since 2020 (I have one or two episodes left but I’m fully spoiled so refer to anything you like in canon.) I adore so many of the characters and love following their journeys and seeing how the all of them adapted to/are warped by the challenges of the imperial harem. That being said, it killed me to learn there was a whole scrapped plot line with Consort Gao helping Yingluo’s sister, Yingning. I’d love anything tbat explores this relationship, whether you choose to go platonic or romantic. I just love the potential complexity this introduces to all the different canon relationships.
Some prompts:
-Gao and Yingning are both creative, artistic people, Gao with her opera skills, Yingning with their embroidery.
-Really anything exploring Gao and Yingning as a parallel to Rongyin and Yingluo. How did they grow so close? Was Yingning Gao’s hope (and if so did she lose it fully when Yingning died?) Did they like each other right away or was it an enemies to friends/lovers situation?
-AU: Consort Gao helps Yingning hide for her own safety and Yingluo comes to the harem to explore why her sister has gone missing.
-AU: Yingning survives but Gao still had her canonical death, and Yingning is there to comfort Gao as she dies
Fandom: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Characters: N/A
Ahhh I love this era of SNES games! So many franchises like this one saw a leveling up in their graphics and artistry. They were able to work more of a storyline into them as well. However they still had a limited amount of memory, so dialogue and cut scenes were rather limited. As a result, as a kid I would play these games and try to fill in the gaps. Link to the Past was one of the best for this. I’d love to see your own take on one of this game’s ambiguities or mysterious moments. I’ve provided a list of things that intrigue me about this game but feel free to go where the muse leads you!
Note: I know the overall Zelda timeline connects this game to other Zelda games. I’m fine with references/worldbuilding fun, but for reference the Zelda games I know best are Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, Link Between Worlds, and Breath of the Wild.
Some prompts:
-Okay I have to tell you, I imprinted hard on the disappearances of the maidens/Zelda in this game. It was vaguely thrilling/terrifying the same way it is when Jasmine gets trapped in the hourglass in Aladdin. I would really love anything exploring their experience in this game. Some of them seem to be nobility, while others are seemingly average girls. But all of them end up trapped in crystals in the dark world. This game ends all happily but at bare minimum these girls probably have nightmares at the end. Especially if they actually died and it was Link’s wish that brought them back.
-I greatly enjoy the body horror of the dark world, and the general push and pull between the light world and dark world; Link turning into a bunny, that guy with the flute turning into a tree (are the trees in the light world creepily musical when their branches creak because of him?). What happens to other people who go there. Do the maidens slowly crystallize?
-I also love how there are fairy fountains and it’s just one of those things that are never explained (really love how things just exist in this world and that’s that.) It would be really interesting to see the life of one of those fairies. Maybe a fic that’s a list of all the increasingly desperate wishes that random Hyruleans make in those walls.
-I love that dungeons in this series are generally called temples and palaces. They’re long abandoned by the time of this game but I’d love to see what kind of societies made places like, say, Turtle Rock. I know the dark world is a corruption of the realm of the triforce so like … what was going on there before it was corrupted.
-I was also obsessed with the plot twist with Blind the Thief. Don’t really have any prompts for that but if you find yourself wanting to write him I certainly wouldn’t mind that.
-Agahnim! I know he’s just an extension of Ganon but it would be fascinating to see him develop a consciousness of his own. It’s fine if he’s angsty about it. It’s fine if he is awful in his own ways and enjoys tormenting the maidens (I mean this in both sexy and non-sexy ways haha. By which I mean does he get weird boners sending them to the dark world and is he like “what’s THAT all about?)
Fandom: Shum - Go_A (Eurovision Music Video: Steampunk Dance Party in the Woods version)
Characters: Worldbuilding
WHAT A FREAKING SONG, EH? This year was the most fun I’ve had with Eurovision in a while. Loved the winning song, and I’m also not surprised this one came in second in the televote. I love how it’s got party vibes but in a vaguely threatening way. I also loved digging into translations and explanations that delve into this song’s references to mythology.
Here is a translation of the lyrics.
And here’s a discussion about the deeper meaning of the song.
This is a bit harder to write prompts for given that it’s a five minute fandom, but I’ll try!
Some prompts:
-So is Kateryna’s character a witch/priestess invoking Shum or is she an immortal incarnation of shum? Choose your own adventure! And if she's a mortal devotee what is it like to awaken the ENTIRE FORCE OF SPRING?
-The perspective of the people drawn into the dance! Are they long time worshippers? Are they random people who get seduced by the power of this song (if so, I feel you, people.)
-I have no idea what sort of prompt to write for this but I seriously love the interplay between ancient/lost to time mythology/deities and the modern/futuristic looks.
-This video gets compared to Mad Max a lot and I adore Fury Road. It’s probably hard to write crossovers given that this video and that movie take place on opposite sides of the world but I’ll be insanely impressed if you do want to do that and find a way!