DYW letter

[estirose]

From the desk of estirose:

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hi! I just realized how depressing my fandoms are this year for the most part. If you're like me, you probably have a taste for fandoms where things go really wrong, from really bad communication (Kamen Rider Kiva) to disastrous rituals (Fatal Frame games) to a minor but critical crew being blown out the hatch (Ghost Soup Infidel Blue) to the world nearly being destroyed (Final Fantasy II) or most everybody being dead at the start of the game (Fragile Dreams). So, thank you for having a taste for this kind of thing; I really appreciate it.

One thing I really love is stories about characters. I'm not an action person, despite my general tastes in fandom, I greatly prefer worldbuilding and character stories, and I have a really big love of hurt/comfort (particularly the person gets hurt and can't stay down variety*). Given the nature of my fandoms this year, I don't blame you for writing something depressing, though if you want to write something happy, that's all right too. I'm happy with all ratings, and I love slash, gen, and het, and I've written mpreg (and if you want to write me it, go right ahead). My squicks are mostly sexual; I'm a very vanilla person when it comes to that. I also have a major embarrassment squick. I don't like explicit fic involving people under fifteen. Apart from a couple of cases, I'm not really fond of incest, even though I've written it – I'll go into what doesn't squick me out in the various sections.

* I've added some h/c prompts specifically related to this trope.

I've specified "all" in all of my fandoms (okay, except the one), because I'm very flexible about characters. If you want more insight into why I enjoy the games I'm listing here, my musings on that.

I'll go into my fandoms in AO3 order (though my explicit prompts are someplace else). If you're interested in reading my fanfic for these fandoms, here's what I have:
Final Fantasy II (AO3/My archive) / Fragile Dreams (AO3) / Ghost Soup Infidel Blue (AO3) / Kamen Rider Kiva (AO3) / Fatal Frame series (AO3/My archive)

* * *
"My… my brother, Leon. Have you heard of him?"
-Maria, Final Fantasy II

Did you match me here? If so, I'll be very surprised, but welcome! I love this 1988 game for… well, everything. But I love the characters, especially, and the world that you can imagine despite/because of the limitations of the era. I adore all the characters, especially Maria and Minwu, and the more fic for the fandom, the better. There's so much to tell, and there's so little fic for this fandom. The only thing I ask is that you don't pair Maria with Leon, because they're siblings. (Firion is never labeled as a sibling in-game, so I don't have issues with pairing him with either Maria or Leon.)

(If you offered this expecting Cecil, I love him dearly, but he's not in this game. However, I have a crossover prompt just for you.)

If you're new to this fandom, but want to get into it, it's available on both iOS and Android, as well as a bunch of other platforms. I find the Android version buggy, but it's playable (let's not go into the bug in iOS that randomly made me lose essential keywords….). I first played it on iOS, then on a GBA, and I also own the Android game. If you're short on time and want to write in it, I have an entire dialogue guide (as well as a location guide, but that's not as useful unless you get your places confused).

More babbling re Final Fantasy II.

Here are some prompts for you:
* Maria and Leon and Firion - give me some stories of their lives before anything happened. Where did they live? They didn't seem familiar with Paul, who supposedly lives in Fynn.
* How many animal languages does Guy speak? The team finds out.
* Firion runs into Leila and asks her the burning question of how a pirate did so well in running a landbound army.
* Minwu and anybody of the four - dealing with his gentle wisdom.
* Any of the team keeping in touch with the people they've met, even beyond the grave.
* Crossover with Final Fantasy IV: Cecil and Maria talk about difficult brothers.
* One of the four is injured in their adventures, and it's up to their teammates (which may include Minwu) to keep them healing. Potions and heal spells can only do so much, after all.

* * *
"When we got home,
you dropped to your knees
and hugged me tight.
I wagged my tail, hoping to cheer you up,
but the sorrow never left your face."
Dog Collar memory, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

If you ended up matched with me for this, hello! I'm sure this game broke your heart as surely as it broke mine. This is my new fandom this year – I saw it on the fandoms list, remembered that I had it on my list of games to play, and finally picked it up. And I don't regret it. The graphics are gorgeous, I love Seto and PF (and, for some weird reason, the little girl you have to play hide-and-go-seek with), and the stories told by the memory items break my heart. It's just… people are dying and these are the last bits of themselves, their last legacies. So many of them just seem so resigned, so despairing. I just keep wanting more and more. However, I'd love any stories set in the universe, particularly about Seto and PF. I don't mind Crow, but I do see his relationship with Seto as friendship instead of a relationship, so please keep that in mind.

If you're not into this fandom, but would like to pick it up, here's a favorite Let's Play, and I've got a little bit of a transcript.

More babbling about Fragile Dreams.

Here are some prompts for you:
* Take any memory (or set of memories) and spin a tale. My favorites are the Dog Collar and the Compass/Secret Map/Cookie Tin (they're the ones that just broke my heart the most), but use your favorite.
* "That's right. I promise." But, as it turns out, she couldn't keep her promise until Seto handed the paper crane memory to the little girl. There's a story in there about a little girl who loved races even tough she lost them, and her loving mother, and what they did to repay Seto for reuniting them.
* Seto and the Old Man - a story of Seto growing up, or how the Old Man ended up with him.
* Seto and Sai - a missing scene where they talk about love (and Seto's first kiss) in the ruins of the fun park.
* AU to the game - Seto and Ren live a long happy life (in the observatory) with or without kids after helping to rebuild society.
* Seto nearly dies, and his companion of the moment has to keep him from stressing himself. This may be tricky for some of them.


* * *
"Bip, bip... come over into the exam room, little human. You're all alone, yes? Nobody looking for you, yes?"
-Bipi the Medi-Bot, Ghost Soup Infidel Blue

I'm going to laugh if you match me on this one, because the fandom's so wanky, and that's usually not my thing at all! Give me a good depressing survival horror game about ghosts and I'm happy. Anyway, I don't care for any of the relationships in this series, or any other character in the Ghost Soup franchise. I just care about Bipi the Medi-bot and how he's so deliciously creepy. And yes, Bipi is a he, I don't care what anybody else says. Whoever else you want to stick in is fine with me, Bipi loves mpreg and so do I in this fandom.

Yeah, getting a hold of this series (especially Bipi's episodes) is incredibly tricky, but you'll find it. I especially recommend the untranslated Ghost Soup Infidel Blue manga where Bipi appears.

Here are some prompts for you:
* I want a story where Bipi watches too many Let's Plays of survival horror games, and builds a few monsters out of spare body parts just to see how the humans will react. This is the bot that nearly flushed everybody out the airlock, I can see him getting a whole twisted pleasure out of seeing the monsters devour the humans, especially the boss monster with the wings and the haunting turkey laugh.
* Or how about a story where Bipi goes off without telling everybody. It's something he would damn well do, after all. The silly humans can take care of themselves, or his assistant will cheerfully dismember them if they really need assistance.
* Bipi just creeps me out (in a good way), and if you can't think of anything else, have him talk to his assistant. You know, Nuri Kabe, the Futakuchian nurse that just loves eating.
* How about an AU where the crew find Bipi in an abandoned tower (or a coal mine, this is Bipi we're talking about), and he just convinces them to sit down and have tea. Whether it's poisoned or not is up to you. Or just have him be creepy, period. Use that overly-handsome assistant, Rufus, that only appeared in one episode, the one that totes all those weapons around, just for fun. You know, the one before the other nurse that everybody forgets about, Jin (you know, the practical jokester with the boyfriend).
* There are few non-machines that Bipi cares for, but his staff (and his captain) are some of the few. And, of course, he's an expert in making sure injured staff members stay down and don't hurt themselves further.
* Oh, heck. It's obvious that I just think creepy and heartbreaking is the theme for this year, so come up with something that works for you.

Ramblings on GSiB, ahoy!

* * *
"It appears I was too soft on you, Wataru…."
-Nobori Taiga, Kamen Rider Kiva

Perhaps you matched me on this fandom, dear writer. I kind of doubt it, because it's so tiny that I suspect that you didn't. But if you did, hello! Kiva had plotholes Dran could dive through, but I loved it anyway. I was fascinated by the Fangire – what kind of society they have, how they live among humans, and what they do when they're not rampaging. This is reflected in my choice of Taiga, Wataru, and Mio as characters, partly because Taiga and Mio both have Issues (the capital being deliberate) and I like to see the three of them interacting with each other. In fact, Taiga/Wataru is my one solid incest pairing. (And the only one I'd be comfortable with – the potential parent/child romantic relationships squick me out.) I prefer the 2008 storyline, even though I have a soft spot for 1986 as a setting; this probably has to do with the fact that I'm not really fond of Otoya or Maya.

This is a slightly harder fandom to pick up, but the entire series and specials are fully fansubbed if you're interested.

Kamen Rider Kiva babbles

Here are some prompts for you:
* Write a happy life for Mio, where she's not with Taiga and can live normally.
* Taiga and Shima - how do they get along, post-series?
* What if Wataru had met Mio earlier, like before the start of the series?
* What if Wataru won the fight at the end of the series and became King for real?
* What if Wataru had been raised by Jiro, Ramon, and Riki?
* Wataru gets injured, post-series, and it's up to Taiga to make sure he gets the rest he needs.


* * *
"Yuu...! Mafuyu...! But why...? Please don't leave me behind...."
-Kei, Fatal Frame III

I seem to have this knack for playing sad but beautiful video games, and the Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame games are no exception. I just love hearing stories about the tragic characters that populate these games. Face it, every single character in this series is in some kind of pain (either that, or they're little kids who have no clue what happened), living or dead. I've loved every single ghost I've encountered, even if I'm swearing under my breath when fighting them. I'm the kind of person who wants to know if the human-shaped lump in the entrance to Himuro Mansion is Child Behind's parent, and how Mio learned to cope, if she ever did. There are so many stories to tell, and so few people to tell them.

I'm most familiar with I-III, have seen walkthroughs of IV, and I think I've seen fragments of the Spirit Camera walkthrough. I nominated the four mains, though if I had a choice I'd have chosen to include Yuu. He, Mafuyu, and Miku are my favorite characters, followed by Yae. Pairing-wise, I tend to ship Kei/Miku, Kirie/Mafuyu (or Kirie/Kirie's Lover), Yuu/Rei, and I'm not adverse to Yuu/Miku if you could make it work. One-sided Sae/Yae, Mayu/Mio, and maybe not-so-one-sided Itsuki/Mutsuki don't squick me, but any other incest would. (Yes, that does include You/Sakuya; I know it works for the story, but it still squicks me out.)

The games are all several hours long (except for maybe Sprit Camera), so they might not be easy to pick up in a hurry. However, there are tons of Let's Plays on Youtube, especially if you would like to introduce yourself to the series via Fatal Frame II. (That being said, it's often considered the scariest game of the bunch, so be aware of that.) The third game is the most explicitly related to the other games in the series, while the fourth references series concepts, and the first two games share a pair of minor characters. If you're interested in my views, I've written some meta about the games for the defunct fandom_level.

And if you want, more babbling about Fatal Frame

Here are some prompts for you:
* Take your favorite ghost and write a backstory. (I'm partial to Broken Neck, myself.)
* Any couple in the Fatal Frame games, canon or not - how did they meet, and can you write some fuzzy moments for them? (If you're stuck, I'd love Masumi/Miyako, Reika/Kaname or any of the pairings above.)
* The Asou family - how do they survive, given everything that seems to happen to them?
* Mio - how does she survive without Mayu, and who helps her?
* Seijiro Makabe - what was his time like in Minakami village, and how did he feel about what happened to him?
* I'd love anything about Choushirou, though the biggest thing is the man needs a damn hug for all that happened to him, even if he has to come back for one. If that's not your thing, I'd love a POV about him from Haibara You, about this man that doesn't give up chasing him even though he should stop.
* It's not hard to get hurt when you're running around strange haunted areas, and healing items only do so much. Sometimes one needs a helping hand, or at least a reminder to stay down and rest now that everything's over.

---

ETA: Here are the prompts I gave in my signup:

Final Fantasy II

I'd love any fic in this fandom featuring the four main characters, though there are so few fics that I'd take practically anything. That being said, I'd love fics about Maria and Firion's background, what languages Guy speaks, Firion having a meal with Leila and asking how she managed a land-bound army so well, or Leon learning to forgive himself.

FRAGILE さよなら月の廃墟 | Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

There's so little fic in this fandom that anything would be wonderful, especially fic focusing on Seto and PF. (I just love PF, if you couldn't tell.) The memories break my heart, so if you can't find anything about the main characters, please write me something there. Sai's background would be great, as would her after the ending of the game. I have a weak spot for the little girl playing hide and go seek. She's bratty, but I don't think she's a bad kid, just a little self-centered. I'd also be happy with some Seto and Crow chatting during the tail end of the fun fair segment, but I'd prefer gen with those two.

Ghost Soup Infidel Blue

Bipi-centered, please! I want to see him in all his creepiness. His staff, too, if you can manage it, though anything would be wonderful. Whether he's "taking care" of his patients, serving tea with exotic flavors, or being found on a dead ship, it's up to you, but please make him scary.

Kamen Rider Kiva

I just find Taiga, Mio, and Wataru fascinating, both in romantic and non-romantic ways. I mean, I wouldn't mind fluffy OT3 fic, but I realize that the incest involved is not everybody's cup of tea (and heck, Mio was woefully and terribly developed. I love her anyway). So, just something happy AU-ish for Taiga and Mio where Mio hadn't fallen for Wataru, or an established Mio/Wataru pre-series relationship where things don't happen to her. Or, if you prefer gen, I'd love introspective on one of them, especially Taiga and Mio, and what makes them tick.

Zero | Project Zero | Fatal Frame Series

This is another fandom I'd be happy with any of the eight nominated characters and with pretty much anything. Miku is my favorite of the four leads, and I'd love fic focused between I and III, mostly how she copes and how she gets some help. Explain how Rei doesn't know anything about Miku's brother before III. Miku and Rei and their lives between the two games, and how Rei met her fiance. Give me a story about Dr. Aso, Seijiro Makabe, and how Seijiro ended up with taking the camera to Minakami village. Or Seijiro Makabe getting his wish to see the ritual firsthand. He seemed so exciting. If that doesn't appeal, any of the ghosts would be great; I'm partial to Broken Neck (or Broken Neck Woman), and a bit of backstory would be wonderful.