estirose | Supplimentary material (DYW)

Author's note: Marissa and Buddy are two of my NaNoWriMo characters, and Marissa is the type of character that wants things just right. I wanted to muse about those things that would really give me pleasure without making my writer feel like they really had to write something that didn't speak to them just because I wanted it.

Marissa tapped her screen impatiently. While her Yuletide recipient had given her lots of prompts, she wanted to write the best fic ever for them.

"What'cha up to, Mar?" Buddy asked. Nobody called him by that name anymore in public, but she still thought of that name when she saw him. Heck, she still called him by that name, at least in private.

She looked up at him, scowling owlishly. "I'm not sure what to write."

Buddy leaned down, adjusting his glasses. He was still as thin as a beanpole, a side effect of their powers. "Oh, I know her! We had Civ with her years ago in college."

"Buddy, that was a scarily long time ago." She looked up at him. "You kept in touch with her all this time?"

"Unlike some people I might mention," Buddy said, "I actually did date people outside our group."

Marissa ignored the fact that her cheeks might slowly be turning red. "Okay. So, oh great Water, tell me what you know."

"Okay. What fandom did you have in mind?" He smiled at her, as if he was ready to share some great secret with her.

"Just tell me all of them, just in case." If he knew the recipient, she couldn't let him know in case he blabbed or something.

"Okay. FFII - that's Final Fantasy II. I know she really likes Minwu. Write her anything Minwu, and she'll think you're great."

"What does she like about him?" Marissa asked. Her family had insisted that she minor in something fun, so she'd ended up with a minor in Creative Writing, and she really didn't have cause to complain. It came up useful, sometimes.

"She sees Minwu as wise and gentle, the advisor of the group. He's the guy who sees his fate, and is totally okay with it, takes it pretty well. He does what he needs to do, no matter how painful it is, and she likes characters like that."

"Okay. And Firion/Maria?"

"Well, that's her favorite pairing in the game, though she's starting to wander away from it. There's something in the flavor stuff in the manuals that says that Firion was from Salamand and was adopted by Maria and Leon's family, making Maria and Firion siblings, but she doesn't care. I think that whole bit about Firion's adoption makes her interested in the possibility that Firion was adopted by Minwu and still went adventuring. She tends to write Minwu as a lot older than the main characters."

"Okay. I'll think about that. What about…." She had to check. "Kaizoku Sentai Gokainger?"

"Gokaiger," Buddy corrected. "A really interesting show about these young people who are space pirates. Anyway, her favorite character is Gai, because he's from Earth and he's so enthusiastic about things, even if she's a bit embarrassed to admit she likes him because he really does tend to make a fool of himself. She's really not big on people being embarrassed, so keep that in mind if you write him. Anyway, he's the character that got her into the show, so she writes a lot about him. What she likes to think about is how well he learns to be part of the crew."

"But she likes other characters too," she said, checking the letter.

"Yeah. I know Don and Ahim she likes a lot because Don's a pacifist and such an amazing techie and Ahim is really sweet and yet has a core of steel. Marvelous intrigues her because he's so impulsive, and up until a recent episode, he was really, really protective of his crew, which she likes a lot."

Marissa nodded. "And… Kamen Rider W?"

"She likes Kamen Rider a lot, and I know she had a lot of trouble with this one because she didn't want people to worry about writing her slash if it's not their thing. She's not kidding about the post-'Begins Night' fic, and I think she's really fascinated with the relationship between Shoutarou and Philip. She also has a soft spot for a certain British Shorthair. I know she's really into the bond between people, whether family or not, and I also know that Philip's desire to know everything resonates in her, as well as Shoutarou's soft spots. She likes Akiko too, but she's not that keen on Terui, oddly enough."

"Right." She'd have to think about that. "Last one. Mulan."

"You'd have no problem writing Mulan," Buddy said with a grin. "I think she'd be cool with anything, but if you want to do research on the original legends and incorporate them in, that would be totally great!"

"Oh, okay." She squinted up at him. "Are you sure you're not her?"

"Nah." He grinned. "Some of us just have outside friends to keep us sane, you know?"

She nodded, understanding. "Yeah. Well, I'll see what I can do."

"If you've got any more questions, just let me know." He waved, heading off into the kitchen to their shared place, and she returned to reading.

If she tried hard enough, she'd get it just right.