Yuletide 2016 Letter

[rosecake]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

I’m rosecake on AO3. Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! I’m very excited about participating in Yuletide this year, hopefully you are as well!

I enjoy a wide variety of story types and I really adore all the fandoms and characters I’ve requested, so I’m sure to love whatever you write. The letter got a little long, mostly because I’m very excited, but feel free to ignore all the prompts below if you’ve already got something in mind that you’re hyped about writing. They’re more ‘here’s an idea if you need an idea’ type prompts, they’re definitely not the only things I’d like to read for my fandoms.

LIKES:
- gen/het/slash/femslash
- ratings from G to NC-17
- everything from plot-heavy gen to PWP
- action & adventure
- comedy
- tragedy
- mysteries
- backstories
- five things fics
- canon-divergence AUs
- mirrorverse AUs
- bodyswap
- timeloops
- hurt/comfort
- domesticity
- holiday fix
- fluff
- team bonding
- huddling for warmth
- fake dating & accidental/convenience/forced marriages
- sex pollen
- empathic bonds
- loyalty & betrayal
- sacrifice
- pining
- threesomes
- uniforms/costumes
- mind control
- ghosts & hauntings
- bondage
- captivity
- violence
- deathfic
- torture
- scars & losing limbs
- corruption
- noncon/dubcon

DISLIKES:
- loli/shota
- lifestyle/heavily negotiated BDSM
- mundane AUs
- unsolicited incest (i.e., any incest pairing I haven’t mentioned liking by name below)

Also, I think this is clear from the prompts but I want to be as clear as possible, I don’t expect you to necessarily include all of the characters requested for each fandom in your story. All of the characters I nominated/requested are characters that I really love and would happily read about either by themselves or with a variety of other characters!

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Manga)
Characters: Artesia | Sayla Mass, Bright Noa, Casval | Char Aznable, Lalah Sune

From the signup:
Anything involving these characters would be wonderful! I don't need all four to be in the story, and I do like all combinations of the four as pairings if you want to write ship fic. I'd like anything that focuses on the relationships - Lalah's loyalty to Char, Char and Sayla's complicated feelings about their relationship, Sayla and Bright's relationship and how it changes as they work together and more of Sayla's secrets come out, Bright and Char's feelings about each other as adversaries, or an AU where Lalah ends up with the Feds and how Bright feels about having another newtype to deal with. I'd also enjoy more individual backstory for the parts of their lives we didn't see in the manga!

I loved the original MSG ’79 series, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is the sort of remake I never even would have dreamed of. I would have been happy with just the additional backstory on Sayla and Char, but no! I got the whole series re-done, streamlined and beautifully drawn on an epic scale! I can still hardly believe it’s a real thing, it’s so perfect. It was painful narrowing down the list of characters I nominated to four, because the entire cast is magnificent. I love Sayla and the sense of mystery surrounding her, and how her relationship to the White Base crew changes over the course of the story as she becomes less reserved. I love Char and how the people around him get caught up in his charisma and desire for revenge. I love Lalah and her strength and understanding of her own powers, her loyalty and idealism, and her desire to see a new world. I love Bright and his struggle to keep his inexperienced crew together despite the fact that he’s brand new himself, and how seriously he takes that responsibility even as his faith in the Federation dwindles.

Not only do I happily ship all four of the above in any combination (including Sayla/Char), I also really love Bright/Mirai, Sayla/Mirai, Bright/Mirai/Sleggar, Lalah/Kycilia, Lalah/Amuro, Char/Kycilia, and Ramba Ral/Harmon. Or anything that focuses on those relationships as friends or adversaries.

As for prompts:

- Lalah lives AU! If she survives, does she stay loyal to Char and turn the tides of the war in his favor? Or does her revelation with Amuro in space lead her to switch sides to the Federation? Or does she go full pacifism and reject both sides?
- Alternatively, more Lalah backstory. We saw her first meeting with Char, but what was her life like at the Institute?
- Speaking of backstory, Bright’s the only character we get basically nothing in the way of backstory for, so I’d like some for him. Why’d he join up in the first place? What was he doing before he was assigned to the White Base?
- By the end, Sayla’s identity as Artesia has been revealed to the authorities on both sides, so how does that affect her life going forward? Does she embrace it, or does she try to snap the lid back down on it?
- I love Char scheming, I always want more of Char scheming. What was his end game going to be if the Zeon side won at A Baoa Qu?
- What if Ramba Ral and Harmon had fled to Earth (or another colony) and raised - Sayla and Char there themselves? How would history have proceeded from there?
- Sayla and Bright and anybody else from the White Base get captured by the Zeons! Could Sayla manage to blackmail Char into helping protect them by threatening to reveal his identity to the Zabis? Or can she somehow use her own identity to switch their captors to their side?

Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Characters: Reinhard von Lohengramm, Siegfried Kircheis, Walter von Schenkopp, Yang Wenli

From the signup:
I love so much about this series, having to narrow it down to four characters to nominate was painful. I love all four characters, and while I love their relationships with each other I also love them as individuals, so please feel free to only use one or a couple of them in the story. The story covers such a wide expanse, and the two sides of the conflict spend most of it separated, but I'd love anything that expands on the points where they meet in person, like when Kircheis came over for the POW exchange or when the Empire first took over the FPA. That, or any sort of look at the way Reinhard's relationship with his subordinates compares to Yang's. I also have a really wide spread of pairings I like, and I'd happily read any combination of the four of them.

First, a quick note on the names - all these characters already had canonical tags, so I went ahead and nominated them under those spellings. I’ve seen about ten different spellings of Schonkopf alone, though! I don’t have any preference as to how the names are spelled in your story, and I’m definitely not married to the spellings in the tags.

The scope of this story is stunning! I usually try to manage my expectations about any series as heavily hyped as LotGH is, but holy hell did it deliver. There’s a lot of room to go back and fill in gaps, and the sheer number of characters and relationships worth exploring is mind-blowing. I love that there’s such a wide array of character types, all with their own strong beliefs and desires, and I was constantly amazed at how well the show balanced making both sides likable and endearing. I really wanted Yang and Reinhard to win, even though it was impossible given their positions. I love the deep, probably insane level of loyalty between Reinhard and Kircheis, I love the mutual respect between Reinhard and Yang, I love how everyone on both sides spends the whole series going “Fuck I wish Kircheis was still alive” because everyone acknowledges he was too pure for this world. I love how Yang decides to trust in Schonkopf, and how Schonkopf’s loyalty is clearly to Yang, not the FPA.

I have so many pairings, which is to be expected from a 150+ episode series with a massive cast. I like every possible variation on the characters I nominated, and I also like Reinhard/Annarose/Kircheis (or any combination), Schonkopf/Attemborough, Yang/Attemborough, Yang/Frederica, Mittermeyer/Reuenthal, Mittermeyer/Eva, Kesler/Vier, Kesler/Marika, Lutz/Muller, and Caselnes/Hortense.

As for prompts:

- So, spoiler alert, literally every character I nominated dies ;___; So this request is ripe for AUs where they don’t die! Or just die later on or in a different way, because I do like depressing death fic and having a lot of feelings.
- The two different sides didn’t interact in person all that much, given the political situation, but I loved it whenever they did. I’d love an extended take on that period where Kircheis was negotiating the prisoner exchange on Iserlohn with Yang, or maybe an AU where after the Free Planets Alliance was defeated their higher-ranking military officials are brought to Odin for supervision.
- AU where Schonkopf’s family never defects! How does his life turn out if he stays in the Empire?
- I’d like any kind of story that compares Reinhard’s relationship with his subordinates to Yang’s relationship with his. Reinhard’s relationships alway seem more more formal (excepting Kircheis) and prone to intrigue, although that’s probably at least partially due to his position. Yang’s relationships with the people he surrounds himself with always seem downright familial, but he also has more freedom given that he’s only a general for most of the story, not a supreme leader.
- I like the historical tone the narration of the story takes, and I’d enjoy something that flows from that - how do the history books of the future end up looking back on these characters?
- The plot tends to shift from conflict to conflict, but I’d like more on what happened during the peaceful moments. What was going on in the background while Yang was running Iserlohn the first time? What were Schonkopf and Attemborough up to after the Empire took over but before the remnants of the FPA tried to assassinate Yang? What was going on in the various fleets during all of their downtime?

Green Lanterns (Comics)
Characters: Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz

From the signup:
This is one of my favorite new comics to come out of Rebirth, and I just want more of it! I want to read about my favorite rookie lanterns getting into hijinks forever. I love Jessica and Simon's relationship, but I also liked them as individual characters long before they met, so I'd be perfectly happy with a story that only features one or the other of them. I love how they have trouble getting along, but at the end of the day they do balance each other out, and you can tell at the end of the day they do both care about each other. They might frustrate each other, but they're both still good people, and neither wants to see the other one get hurt.

I remember when this book was announced I was so hesitant about it. I can’t even remember why now - I love Jessica, I love Simon, I guess I was just worried about them being written by somebody other than Johns? Anyway, I was stupid to be worried, because OMFG this comic is amazing! I can’t remember the last time I read a comic so incredibly delightful in every possible way. While I love the space opera that GL has turned into, I do also love the more grounded Earth-based space police story the Silver Age version started out as, and I like that Green Lanterns is bringing that back, along with making their respective families important parts of the cast. I’ve been pretty pleased with Rebirth as a whole, but even so Green Lanterns still sticks out as a highlight. Even the covers are fantastic - I was at the comic book store yesterday and look at this Halloween cover! Look at their ring construct costumes! I hope my adorable rookie lanterns book runs forever.

The obvious ship here is Jessica/Simon, which I’m totally into, but I also really like both of them with Hal, and also Simon/Bleez and Jessica/anybody in the Justice League.

As for prompts:

- I think their dynamic lends itself really well to the sort of accidentally-handcuffed-together, forced-bed-sharing, accidentally-married, accidental-soul-bond genre. Anything involving any sort of bonding against their best attempts not to bond!
- So Baz has healing powers (including the mental aspect of healing, based on when he deactivated the Red Lantern ring’s pull on Bleez), which is usually only possible for a Blue Lantern. And this is a little bit more of a stretch, but Jessica’s narrative is all about overcoming her traumatic past and becoming a more optimistic person (she still doesn’t always have a lot of faith in herself, but she does seem to have a lot of faith in other people, going by her characterization in Justice League), which also meshes nicely with the Blue Lantern milieu. Anything with either/both of them getting involved with or having some sort of connection to the Blue Lantern Corps would be neat! Maybe one of them goes full Blue Lantern, how would that affect their dynamic as a team?
- Hal makes them do team-bonding exercises! How do they react? Also, does Hal ever take them out for a tour of the universe?
- If one of them gets their ring taken back, how would they both react to that?
- They both get stuck on an alien planet where their rings don’t work! How do they handle it?
- They get sucked into the Earth-2/Crime Syndicate world, and Jessica has to deal with fallout from hosting Volthoom.
- In addition to liking modern GLs, I also like the Golden Age GL! An AU where their rings are based on a shared magic/the Starheart would be fun.

The Good Place (TV)
Characters: Tahani Al-Jamil

From the signup:
I love this show and I love Tahani, and any story that gives me more Tahani is going to make me happy! She's so flawlessly gorgeous and has so many things going for her, but she's still a bundle of insecurities and I love that. Gen-wise I'd like to see more of her life before she died, or have her discovering more about The Good Place as she snoops around trying to find ways to be helpful. Pairings-wise I really love Tahani/Eleanor and Tahani/Michael. I like how Eleanor is attracted to her, despite not really wanting to admit she likes someone so disgustingly perfect at first. And with Michael, I like that Tahani might have finally found a source of approval at last.

I was first attracted to this show because I love Kristen Bell, and I then I was sold on it because oh wow this is a whole network comedy about fake dating, but at the end of the day I’m all about Tahani! I love everything about her - her perfect look, her perfect house, her perfect manners, and how despite reaching 100% perfection she’s still insecure as hell. The colorful absurdity of the show in general is filling the hole in my heart left when Pushing Daisies got cancelled, and I hope it runs for a million years.

If you want to write something romantic and/or pornographic, my favorite ships so far are Tahani/Eleanor, Tahani/Michael, and if you don’t want to focus on Tahani I also really love Eleanor/Chidi.

As for prompts:

- I loved Tahani’s backstory episode (poor Tahani ;__;) and would love more of it. What happened to her after she walked out at the reading of the will? Was she able to make it on her own, or did she have to go back to her sister? How did she die?
- Tahani finds out about Eleanor and tries to help her blend in, but accidentally makes things worse.
- Tahani finds out about Jianyu/Jason! Does she help cover for him? Is she upset with Eleanor and Chidi for not telling her about it?
- If Tahani finds out that several of the others aren’t actually good people, maybe her insecurities start getting the better of her. What if there was a mistake and she’s not really a good enough person either? Or what if really none of them are ‘good' people, or they all have something important they have to figure out before they can fully move on?
- Any kind of additional world-building. I want to know more about how The Good Place works! Maybe Tahani finds something she's not supposed to know about while she’s snooping? Maybe she and Michael finally figure out what’s going wrong?
- Anything involving Eleanor and Chidi having to fake being a loving couple. Maybe everyone is faking being a loving couple!

Again, thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful time this Yuletide season!