Dear Yuletide Author ('21)

[seikasoter]

 Dear Yuletide Author,
My first Yuletide! I ... hope I get everything right here? Oh dear.

Some general preferences
Yes, please:

• extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
• unbreakable friendships;
• teamwork;
• standing battered but triumphant;
• character introspection;
• a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

• In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
• Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
• What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating: from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes - vore, scat, et al. - are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut. Hypnosis, feels-too-good-to-say-no, and in general dubcon of that nature (with apparent but not necessarily proper enthusiastic consent) get bonus points in porn.


I'm Seika on AO3, and I have my works, my previous gifts, and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even contradictory ones - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.


Exalted

Worldbuilding

 

I think everyone who's into Exalted's setting has developed their little (or very big) headcanons about parts of the world. Just cut loose, honestly. Give me what you've got.

 

(If you do want more specific prompts, here's a shovelful):

 

Tell me about an island you think floats in the Western sea, or a character who escaped the Tidemothers by some trickery. Tell me your take on the Lintha.

Write me an extract from an Imperial history book about the rising of the Realm; and/or contrast it with an Outcaste version of the story.

Recount a Lunar poem about their efforts in the war against the Dragonblooded, or about the encroaching Wyld, or how one of her Exalted thinks about Luna herself. (Special "I am a 1e super-grognard" prompt: is she really a Celestine, or something else?)

What's it like as you approach each of the Poles?

How did your setting find out about the Alchemicals, if it wasn't the Locust War/Locust Crusade?

How does it feel for a Solar, a Lunar, a Sidereal, a Dragonblooded, and an Abyssal to take their Second Breath?
Write some sutras in the classic Sidereal style for a new Sid Martial Art. (Actual Martial Arts description or mechanics not necessary). "There Once Was A Maiden ..."
Rip something you don't like out of canon and replace it with your preferred idea.

Additional inspiration sources: two rather old forum threads in the spirit of Exalted worldbuilding.


Emelan
Briar, Daja, Sandry, Tris

(You're good to write any one or any combination of these characters: it doesn't have to be the full Circle. I'm keeping my prompt to that, just because I'd run out of space otherwise, but this is not one where I strictly care about the AND matching).

 

The Circle - Whenever I prompt with these four together, I'm very open-ended, because it's the dynamic that I love about them, these family and friends and an inextricable Circle, and the plots which serve to show it off are sorta incidental to me.

 

So, yeah, literally anything that has the Circle eventually being that concerted, loving whole. Domestic, action-y, drama, according to your choice. This is one where I'd like to encourage the author to come up with their own plot and service it according to their own preferences, rather than follow my whims.

 

That said, because it's also a touch mean to just demand that of someone, a couple of seeds if you want them:

 

More days at Discipline, learning about their magic, learning about themselves, learning about each other. Possibly all at once: the way they're bound together by Sandry's thread post-The Magic in the Weaving/Sandry's Book has always been a fascinating point for me.

 

Or, the Circle in middle age: a weird un-related family no-one would believe are un-related if it weren't for their looks, who teach kid students in Discipline, or help govern Emelan in the Summersea Citadel, or just are a cheerfully terrifying bunch of great mages in their own little house whom no potential enemy ever wants to cross.

 

Or, The Circle scattered across the world as when they Opened, but now with the magical power and knowledge to keep their bond open, communicating advice, sarcasm, and love even while they're apart.

 

Get shippy if you like.

Baldur's Gate
Anomen

Specific DNWs: EEs-only content, BG3, Heroes of Baldur's Gate/Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villainy.

 

I believe this is kind of a minority opinion, but I really quite like "failed"/CN Anomen. The way he finally reacts to freedom from a strict life of duty that he's clearly struggled with and resented is fascinating and often joyous. 

"I long to laugh and do as I like...and, by Helm, I shall!"

 

His changed lovetalks also seem so much more unrestrained and genuine.

"My...my life is full of chaos, now, and I wish for there to be one thing that is permanent.  So I offer my heart to you, along with my service and my companionship."

"You are a beautiful woman, <CHARNAME>...full of a life that I have always desired.  I wish to experience new things, now that I am free...and I wish to be closer to you."

 

So:

• Anomen just exploring his new freedom outside the order, indulging in luxuries (food, wine, fighting not for duty but because he wants to, women) that he hasn't been able to before. If you're feeling raunchy, a casually romanced - or not romanced at all - Charname accompanying him as he discovers some carnal pleasures (with a grateful rescuee before Charname joins in? bawdy tavern wench? courtesan?) might be fun.
• Or, a more contemplative exploration of the way a chaotic Anomen sees Charname (romanced or otherwise) as his example and guide in a new life that he revels in but still doesn't quite yet understand. Meanwhile, Charname's chaotic dialogue options lightly suggest she leads by example where she bothers to lead him at all, just doing what she wants and hoping he'll see that he's now able to do the same. It fascinates me.
• Or, well, Anomen says it himself. Helm never rejected him, not after failing his Test, not after bypassing the law to kill the wrong man. Why? What's the deeper secret here? What in Anomen is still worthy of his god? (This might be the one for those less directly enamoured of CN Anomen).

 

(A note, if you're like me and tend to use dialogue tools to look up scenes for writing the characters: there's a lot of inconsistency in the triggers that control LN/CN dialogue. Some use AnomenIsNotKnight, others !Alignment("Anomen",MASK_GOOD) or Alignment("Anomen",CHAOTIC_NEUTRAL) or the like. Alignment("Anomen" catches most of the purely alignment-based triggers, whatever they're trying to key off).

Warframe
Operator

As ever with massive multiplayer games that try to incorporate personal story, you end up in a bit of a conundrum. How much of this has actually happened to other players, in storyline? Does it really make sense for these events to happen to other people too?

 

I'd love to see you playing with that, with Tenno awoken from the Second Dream carefully scoping out any other Tenno that have also done so, and feeling terrible relief at seeing each other again, outside their Warframes; or knowing they're the only only one in the squad who has awoken, and trying to keep it from them, because the secret can't get out; or trying to work out how they ought actually to wake the other Tenno; or feeling desperately lonely because, in fact, only one Tenno (the player) ever did go through it and the rest are all sleepers still dreaming of and as their Warframes.

 

Otherwise, I'd also enjoy an Operator pining after their missing Lotus, the guardian/commander/mother taken from them by another (awful) family, and growing determined to get her back. (Scenes of the operator and/or their warframes ripping through Sentients in this cause would also be a welcome addition). The moment in the Sacrifice when the Operator begged Ordis "I'd like to hear her" and then could ask for the line where Lotus tells us "My child... so beautiful to behold. How do you feel?" broke my heart.