FFFX

[wafflelate]

Hello, thank you for reading my letter! A few notes:

• I'm a slow commenter, so please don't panic if it takes awhile for me to comment. I will try to set aside extra time in case I get something super long, but I really can't promise anything.
• Some things will have more prompts than others but that doesn't mean I want anything more or less than anything else.
• Although I try to provide a lot of prompts please don't feel like you need to write one of them! I think prompts make it easier to see where I'm coming from/how I'm approaching the tag, but this letter is not a final summation of all the fic plots I could possibly enjoy. Whatever you come up with will be great!

DNWs

• Suicide, suicidal ideation, mentions of suicide, implied suicide, the word suicide
  • You may find yourself in a situation where you're writing, say, one character staying behind to fight so that their teammates can escape. Please focus on their determination to save their comrades, live as long as possible, and maybe just maybe succeed without dying no matter how slim the chances are.
  • Or, since I've requested time loops, you might find yourself writing a character who seeks/experiences temporary death to achieve some goal. Temporary character death is fine, but please have them killed by other people rather than killing themselves.
• dissociation/depersonalization from the POV of the person experiencing it, including Nara being in the black
  • examples include characters not feeling real, not feeling connected to their body, feeling like they're viewing a scene from the third person while someone else moves their body.
  • Exceptions to the above:
    • obviously there are canon characters who can do that kind of thing to themselves/other people because of their cool powers.
    • characters having a literal out-of-body experience because of magic ninja bullshit is fine.
    • characters literally not being in control of their bodies because of magic ninja bullshit is fine.
  • What I DNW is dissociation and the like as a reaction to stress/trauma. If it's enemy action to be resisted and fought against, go for it.
  • I know being in the black is some magic ninja bullshit but I DNW it because it's still like, a character's internal stress response. Showing Nara in the black from an outside POV is fine.
• smut
• people being sexually attracted to minors (under 18)
• first person POV
• characters meeting other versions of themselves on-screen
• Unrequested AUs that change the setting, replace the magic system, or significantly change the society the characters live in.
  • So, no to: mundane AUs, IN SPACE AUs, fantasy AUs, soulmate AUs, etc, unless directly requested.
  • But yes to: canon divergence, alternate timelines, For Want Of A Nail
• car crashes or people being hit by cars (a fender-bender or airplane crash would be fine though) EDIT 11/23/2020 Rereading my requests when I went out to PH made me realize I should mention it's fine to mention how Yusuke canonically died/to set things while he's dead. For my YYH request please just don't add additional, non-canonical people-getting-hit-by-cars.
• permanent death of requested characters
• references to modern politics or current events
• DoS-specific DNWs:
  • Nara Shikako having her reincarnation status revealed
  • Nara Shikako being pregnant, married, or having sex even off screen.
  • anything written from the POV of a character who's in the black.
  • Incorporating significant chunks of Boruto stuff.
    • I won't notice if it's a jutsu here or there, but I'm not interested in any of the worldbuilding or characters in Boruto.
• POI-specific DNWs:
  • Lionel Fusco/Anyone shipfic or subplots. Mentions of the mother of his kid are fine and so are any incidental comments about Fusco dating or being into people are fine! I just really like my Fusco fic to be gen where Fusco's relationships are concerned.

Likes

• casefic, mission fic, murder mysteries — I love intricately plotted examples but I ALSO don't mind simple plots or just having canon-typical events happening vaguely in the background
• minor characters — do you have a weird rare fave? please give them a cameo!
• worldbuilding — why and how do things work the way they do? what systems and social structures are in place?
• fake and fantasy politics — International (eg, concerning the threat of war or the import of stuff) or domestic, inter- and intraclan politics, small local politics, even stuff like city planning and zoning boards or school boards or HOAs! (Or fantasy equivalent.)
• unlikely friendships (friendship in general!)
• enemies to friends, enemies to allies, enemies to since-you've-had-a-rough-day-already-I-won't-try-to-stab-you-this-times
• characters who don't like each other being forced into doing something together, like solving a problem, escaping from prison, being handcuffed together, helping some third party that they both like, etc
• angst — especially over not belonging or not being use if a friendship/other emotional bond is real/reciprocated, and especially when everything turns out okay in the end!
• hurt/comfort — I like a broad range of emotional hurt/comfort, whatever you think fits the character! for physical, I like non-permanent injuries unless canonical. for sick fic, magically induced or poison-related are good, stress headaches or migraines, fevers/chills/hypothermia.
• protectiveness/loyalty — especially unexpected! also tied into something like being rescued when they thought they'd be on their own, or someone refusing to leave them behind.
• time travel — I like mental time travel the most if the character is traveling back to when they were about 8 or older, but physical time travel is also really fun!
• time loops — I like when time loops have a solid reason for existing and end because the characters do something, but if the canon worldbuilding makes the "you can't escape unless you confess your feelings" etc type of timeloop work then that's great too! I am not very picky about what exactly causes it, though: even in a canon like Person of Interest, feel free to throw in a random artifact that Just Does That and then the character has to find and break it to escape ot whatever.
• canon divergence — I like fix its, For Want Of A Nail, and pretty much any kind of canon divergence that could have happened because someone made different choices but doesn't remove the fantastic/non-mundane aspects of canon.
• dimension travel — like from canon to a wild canon divergence!
• garbage-tier magical items
• detailed setting description
• gentle spooks and horror — you can find more specifics in my Trick or Treat letter!
• committing treasons or other serious crimes for the benefit of loved ones/against a corrupt authority

Art/Comic likes

• Easy to read panel order — I used to struggle really hard with how to read comics! I'm a lot better than I was but I'm still really easily confused by very complicated page layouts. You don't have to go comic-strip simple or anything, but just...try to idiot proof it for me lol.
• establishing shots of locations — I love scenery and buildings and seeing what rooms look like and what characters have on their desks! I won't, like, die without this, but if you like that stuff I would be so pleased to get it
• limited color palettes and highly stylized art — I mean, I also like normal color palettes and realistic art, but if you want to experiment with your style I would be into it!
• bold lines and lineless art — and everywhere in between!!!
• scenes without dialogue — not that I expect you to do 10 pages with no dialogue or anything, but I am just always really impressed with purely visual storytelling and I love comics as a medium bc of how it can emphasize characters' actions.
• ...and basically probably whatever your own personal style is bc I really love comics!

Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen

Where to find: Dreaming of Sunshine is a 700k+ Naruto fic that a lot of people read without really being into Naruto at all! I wrote a primer that links to DoS, its sidestories, and the full podfic.

What I like in this fandom: outside POVs of Shikako, ninja politics, the mundane/everyday considerations of a society full of assassins, the way Shikako knows the future sorta but can't tell anyone, picking the team above the mission, trying to find a better way but being pragmatic about the situation at hand.

Ships: The only ship I'm interested in in this fandom is Anko/Aoba.

Mitarashi Anko & Nara Shikako & Yamashiro Aoba

I love all three of these characters and I love them together even more! I am obviously down for something that includes all three of them in most scenes, but I would also enjoy them being paired off in various combinations instead! That is, I would definitely enjoy something exploring them all being friends/teammates together, but if you want to make something where they're just all in the fic/comic a bunch that's also great.

• All three of them go on a mission together! Maybe Anko is needed to an intel run, or maybe Shikako self-assigns herself something and they invite themselves along.
• Anko is sent on the Hot Springs mission with Shikako instead of Aoba or in addition to Aoba.
  • Anko and Aoba used to go on Intel missions together, so she's definitely capable of taking the mission with Shikako instead, and I'd love to see how Shikako and Anko handle things compared to Shikako and Aoba. Would they stick together? Would Anko have a better time fighting off the Jashinists? Would having the Snake contract save Anko the way Shikako's summoning contract saved her?
  • I'd also be interested in Anko being missing/presumed dead for awhile so that Aoba and Shikako can have something like the conversation that Anko and Shikako had in canon.
• A time- or dimension-traveling Shikako comes across Aoba and Anko on a mission.
• Aoba and Anko take a trip to a timeline where Shikako is presumed dead but secretly in ROOT.
• Two of them travel to a dimension where the third is a missing nin.

Yamashiro Aoba/Mitarashi Anko

This is just the tiniest little OTP of my heart. I am totally okay with non-shippy stuff about them where they do non-ship things and I can just put my ship goggles on and sigh happily!

• Anything that explores their past with each other and especially Anko's backstory post-Orochimaru's betrayal. From the Sunshine Sidestory where she talks to Inoichi I get the impresssion it was really rough for her and probably really tense, that not a lot of people trusted her and that she didn't trust very many people. How does Aoba fit into that?
• Especially interested in him being an older ninja with more experience in politics and intel but less combat power because uh he wasn't
• Anko told Shikako that she and Aoba have been on missions behind enemy lines together and had each other's backs. I would love to see anything about that. I don't make the rules, but maybe... there could be some cuddling for warmth? Maybe! Or.. one of them could be injured....?
• Aoba lives through Hot Springs
• Anko and Aoba make jōnin together thanks to Gai's training.

Sai

Sai is so sad and I just want a fic that rolls around in how sad he is and then makes him feel better.

• Like, obviously Sai and Shikako have real friendship feelings between them, but does Sai even realize that? I mean, logically, given what he must have been taught in ROOT, isn't he possibly thinking that when Shikako finishes investigating ROOT she'll just let Sai get executed as a traitor?
• I'd love to see something about who Sai trusts and why
• I am fascinated by Sai's loyalty (to Shikako, to the village) and would love for it to be put to the test by something.
• I'm very very here for Nara!Sai.
• Sai goes on along on a diplomatic visit and meets some interesting people. What does he think of Gaara? What does Zabuza think of him?

Also here are some hurt/comfort freeforms, because I love them:

• Character believes comforter is taking care of them for practical or selfish reasons
• Character believes no one is coming to save them
• Character expects to be punished for failure but is shown unexpected concern
• Comfortee Believes They Have To Earn Their Comfort
• Falling Asleep As A Sign Of Trust
• Mistakenly Believes the Other is Dead
• Unexpected Mercy
• A is too uncertain of their place in B's life to directly ask for direly needed help
• Character A abandons plans in order to rescue Character B

Crossover Fandom (Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen/Naruto)

Mitarashi Anko (DoS) & Momochi Zabuza (Naruto)

Alright. Okay. Listen. Listen. We don't actually see Anko and Zabuza them interacting during the Mist arc, but they must have, right? Anko got to see Zabuza being a teacher and learn he's in charge of the Mist academy and probably shit talk him about her team being awesome. Maybe they're not friends but they're not not friends! Plus absolutely everyone probably knows all of the details about the Land of Wave mission because that was such a fuck up of mission intel.

...what I'm saying is, Anko is uniquely positioned to meet Naruto!Zabuza and be like, "Hey, it's that guy who's great with kids!", which is in my opinion a really really interesting set up for character interactions. \o/

So, okay:

• No preference for who goes in which direction or in what manner.
• Anko throws herself back in time but whoops lands in a universe without Shikako where everything is sucky — but at least she can bust Tazuna and get herself assigned to go to Wave where she can try to help their future alliance with Mist along?
• Anko needs help rescuing one or more of her kids (or her kids need help rescuing her) and Zabuza gets roped into it, maybe while being mistaken for DoS!Zabuza.
• Zabuza needs help rescuing Haku and Anko is happy to help.
• Zabuza's been contracted to assassinate someone and is undercover trying to make that happen...and for some reason this Konoha ninja is helping him.
• Zabuza's been contracted to assassinate someone and Anko's been assigned to a similar mission and insists they work together.
• Anko is the one undercover and she's trying to kill Gatou; Zabuza helps.
• Anko and Zabuza are sent back in time to try and avert a terrible future, but the time travel technique is misaimed so A) Anko ends up in a universe with no Shikako and B) when she goes to make contact with Zabuza he has no clue who she is or what she wants.
• Zabuza is powerless or at Anko's mercy and she helps/spares him because she knows they could be friends and it'd be better for him to live and overhaul Mist's education system.

Also this was straight copied from the Gen Freeform Exchange so here are the freeforms from that because they're still good and maybe you want them:

• Character From Future Tries To Convince Current Enemy They Will Be Friends/Allies In Future
• Time Travel - Mercy Killing Your Original Timeline & Creating A Better New One
• Undercover - Character is undercover and their enemy unexpectedly plays along
• Undercover - Enemies have to corroborate each other's cover
• Dimension travel to a significantly diverged timeline
• Enemies to Allies - Character From Future Tries To Convince Current Enemy To Work Together
• Injured Character Can't Complete Rescue Mission Without Help From Unlikely Source
• Team Up to Rescue Another Character
• Unexpected Mercy
• Usually Powerful Character is Rendered Powerless

Nara Shikako (Dreaming of Sunshine) & Nara Shikaku (Naruto)

Shikaku is the best dad and I'd just really love to see something where Naruto!Shikaku gets to be Best Dad for Shikako despite not knowing her. I'm okay with Narutoverse Shikaku never having had a daughter or with Narutoverse Shikaku having had a daughter but she died as a baby — whatever works for you! I'm also okay with Shikako having to stay in Narutoverse or with her going home.

Here are hurt/comfort freeforms that I would love to have applied to these two:

• Catching Hurt Character as They Collapse
• Character draws negative attention onto themself to protect another
• Falling Asleep As A Sign Of Trust
• Dimension Traveler A Has Had Bad Experiences With Other Versions Of B
• Character Comforts By Taking Immediate Action To Solve The Problem
• Character must comfort a stranger because they look like someone else
• Comfort focusing on little hurt because the big hurt is massive and unapproachable
• Comforter stunned by how much comfortee trusts them
• Comforting dimension traveler who can't go home
• Dimension Traveler A Has Had Bad Experiences With Other Versions Of B & Is Cautious
• Character abandons plans in order to rescue stranger who is suffering

Person of Interest

Where to find: POI is a 5 season American TV show currently streaming on Netflix USA.

What I like in this fandom: saving people, struggling with the Machine's personhood, Fusco's character development, the extreme found family feels, the NYC setting, the episodic number-of-the-week nature of early seasons and the complex scifi-y plots of the later seasons.

Ships: I DNW ships for Fusco, but I am otherwise okay with background ships. Fusco POV of Finch/Reese or Shaw/Root or whatever floats your boat happening in the background/as a subplot sounds wonderful!

Lionel Fusco

Fusco is my favorite character on TV ever and I would just love anything about him! His redemption arc is so wonderful and his interactions with other characters are always fantastic.

• Fusco is pretty sure he's 100% exactly perfectly the wrong member of the team to be stuck in this time loop trying to save [character of your choice], but he's not a quitter. He's going to get this right. (Or: Fusco peggy sue time travels back to an earlier point in his life. It's up to him to help change things! He has to save everyone! This is so much pressure!!!)
• Instead of falling in with HR, Fusco meets Finch or Reese some other way. Or go even more AU! He could meet Shaw or ROOT at a different time! I love canon divergence AUs so go wild.
• What's it like for Fusco to try and help numbers alone? Post-series welcome!
• We see Fusco have plenty of awkward conversations with people he tried to kill or wronged and honestly I eat them up with a spoon you can't go wrong.
• What do other people think about Fusco? What does Fusco think about other people?
• I'm really attached to the premise of the show (saving people whose deaths were deemed irrelevant, Fusco being a corrupt cop, etc) but there is something just so, so delightful to me about Fusco having to deal with spooky supernatural things and/or magic. I would love something that adds a fantastical element onto canon — demons, vampires, a legitimate haunted house, that sort of thing!

Some hurt/comfort freeforms:

• Aftermath Of A Enduring Torture To Keep Enemy From Noticing What A's Friends Were Doing
• Character Must Convincingly Pretend to Betray Others
• Mistakenly Believes the Other is Dead
• A is too uncertain of their place in B's life to directly ask for direly needed help
• Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting

Natsume's Book of Friends

Where to find: Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yuujinchou) is a 6-season anime available for free on crunchyroll. (Also there's a manga, but I haven't worked my way through that yet.) The seasons are short and it was a pretty quick watch — I think you'd know by a couple episodes in whether or not you like it. it's about a boy who can see demons and all the trouble that gets him into, with lots of gen friendship/found family feels, emotional hurt/comfort, and sickfic! Content warning for child abuse/neglect. I found Natsume Yuujinchou is very peaceful and relaxing, nearly but not quite slice-of-life

What I like in this fandom: found family!!!!, Natsume being super well-respected by the local demon population, Natsume's ability to see demons staying a secret or being revealed to the Fugiwaras (but not really fic where they found out before the fic began), Nyanko-sensei acting like a big dumb cat.

Ships: I'm not interested in any focus on shipping in this fandom.

Natsume Takashi

I really really love Natsume-centric stories! Natsume really speaks to my need for angsty sad people who slowly find their place in the world so he will just always be my fave. Here are some ideas!

• Canon-typical demon problems would be so wonderful. I would love a return of minor/side characters — any youkai would be great, and on the human side I'd love Sasada, Taki, or Tanuma, but whoever you're interested in would also be fantastic!!!
• I'm a sucker for Natsume accidentally attaining godhood.
• Natsume is stuck in a situation where he has to use the Book of Friends to help himself or someone else.
• What would it take for a demon to convince Natsume to let them add their name to the Book of Friends?
• What would it take for Natume to let Madara actually eat a human?
• Natsume's Dog's Circle leads to him being in charge of the local youkai, which involves a surprising amount of demon politics.
• Whoever it was that sealed Madara away comes back and starts causing trouble.

Yu Yu Hakusho

Where to find: Yu Yu Hakusho is an anime available for free on funimation, plus also a manga. It's about a boy who dies via a surprisingly selfless act and comes back to life with the help of the spirit world, who also want his help with ghost and demon problems! It's an old fandom of my heart from childhood with typical long shounen seasons and really wonderful plots and characters.

What I like in this fandom: ensemble fics, fights/action, ghosts, seeing the female characters do things and talk to each other.

Ships: I'm not interested in any focus on shipping in this fandom, but I do like Keiko/Yusuke and don't mind background ships. I also like Keiko and Yusuke as just friends, or as exes-who-are-still-friends!

EDIT 11/23/2020 Rereading my requests when I went out to PH made me realize I should mention it's fine to mention how Yusuke canonically died/to set things while he's dead. For my YYH request please just don't add additional, non-canonical people-getting-hit-by-cars.

Yukimura Keiko

Keiko!!!! I love the main boys, I really do, but my heart lies so firmly in Keiko's corner even still. I would love to see her shine!

• Keiko dies and becomes the spirit detective instead of Yusuke.
  • I don't think everything could be exactly the same with Keiko's death because obviously she doesn't have the problems Yusuke has, but I bet she's still capable of surprising Spirit World. I'd love to see her going through that and watching Yusuke grieve and stuff, it sounds deliciously angsty.
  • Something set farther forward would be great, too! Does Keiko work with Genkai? Does she go to the Dark Tournament?
  • I'd also be really interested in how different Keiko dying and coming back would be compared to Yusuke dying and coming back from a mundane logistics standpoint, since Keiko's parents don't get much focus in canon but it seems like they'd react a lot differently than Yusuke's mom did.
• I also love Botan and Yukina and Shizuru! I'd love to see and AU where they're the main characters, or even just anything where they have their own adventures! It could go with the above AU or it could be separate.
• One thing I wish canon had spent more time on is ghost hunting cases and minor demons in the human world, so I'd love to see Keiko team up with someone to fix a ghost problem or hunt down a low-level ghost criminal!
• Demon AU — ...Obviously YYH already has demons. Specifically, I'm thinking an AU where Keiko is or becomes a demon! Canon divergence where she keeps that Jagan eye or something would be great, or maybe you could tie it into her becoming the spirit detective, so she has Yusuke's demon ancestry as well? Or, her just being any other kind of demon! It all sounds fun.

Crossover Fandom: Natsume's Book of Friends/Yu Yu Hakusho

Where to find: Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yuujinchou) is a 6-season anime available for free on crunchyroll; Yu Yu Hakusho is a 4-season anime available for free on funimation.

Why I'm begging for this crossover: I think the worldbuilding could go really well together and I am OBSESSED with thinking about it. More details in the sections for the two relationships I've gone with, but both characters have a relatively mundane public word and main characters who know about the secret supernatural world full of demons!

Ships: I'm not interested in any focus on shipping in this fandom.

Natsume Takashi (Natsume Yuujinchou) & Kuwabara Kuzuma (YYH)

While I was watching Natsume Yuujinchou all I could really think during the sad flashback scenes about everyone being terrible to Natsume for seeing things no one else can is that I really, really, REALLY want Natsume and Kuwabara to meet. Like, so desperately!!!

• They could be the same age or Kuwabara could be older, I am not worried about making the timelines match, do what feels right!
• Kuwabara has all those very supportive friends!!!! Natsume should meet them too and also feel supported.
• Pre-series, canon-era, or post-series Kuwabara would all be great.
• They could run into each other in some really mundane way — Natsume transfers all the way to Sarayashiki Jr. High, the Kuwabara family is on vacation near where Natsume is living, whatever — or they could run into each other when Kuwabara is doing something for the spirit world! Or maybe some kind of exorcist-related thing! I bet the Matoba clan hates Genkai so much...

Natsume Takashi (Natsume Yuujinchou) & Botan (YYH)

Botan is so cheerful and friendly and Natsume needs more cheerful, friendly people in his life. Also, Botan just opens all kinds of interesting doors!

• One of the other YYH characters really desperately needs help — and lucky for Botan this nice kid with the fat cat can see her!
• The Spirit World is looking for a new spirit detective and Natsume is definitely strong enough. Botan is sent to scope him out.
• Natsume dies before his time, but he's given the chance to come back to life.
• Demons can see ferry girls but Natsume can't; he gets to experience the very strange sensation of watching people talk to someone he can't see! Then later Botan reveals herself for reasons, like maybe some demon spirit world recently arrested needs its name back so that it can be sentenced properly.
• Literally anything with ghosts, I cannot stress that enough.

Naruto

Where to find: Naruto is a really really long anime/manga that you can find all over the place! I think it's on both CrunchyRoll and Netflix. You are probably not going to consume it just to write it for me, though, and that's okay.

What I like in this fandom: ninja politics, the mundane/everyday considerations of a society full of assassins, picking the team above the mission, ruthless pragmatism vs hopeful idealism, enemies-to-friends(-to-lovers!)

Ships: I am very very happy with gen — I love gen so much, these characters could definitely just be friends and/or enemies! — but if you would like to include a ship I enjoy Hashirama/Mito, Hashirama/Madara, Mito/Madara, and Hashirama/Madara/Mito. I'm also fine with V-shaped poly and cheating! These characters just really interest me, so I'd enjoy them being combined in lots of different ways, you know?

Senju Hashirama & Uchiha Madara & Uzumaki Mito

I love the Warring Clans Era. I love it so much. Tension in my fics is a really big draw for me, and there's SO much of it and this gen relationship is just overflowing with possibilities — blood feuds! Culture clash! Trying to totally change their society! It's wonderful and I want all flavors of it.

• I always imagine that Hashirama and Mito were probably an arranged marriage or at least knew each other long before getting married, on account of their clans being allies...Did Hashirama ever tell Mito about his meetings with Madara? About his dream of peace? What did Mito think about that?
• Canon only ever lets us see Mito seal the Kyūbi into her and otherwise she does basically nothing but UM EXCUSE ME that's EXTREMELY hardcore. Does Mito do other hardcore seal things? Is she a powerhouse on the field or does she usually keep off it — did she found Konoha's barrier team, is she known for traps, is she famous, does she go on missions? I would enjoy many different variations on Mito but please gosh Let Mito Do Ninja Things even if those ninja things are different from the ninja things Hashirama and Madara do.
• AU where the Uchiha are allied to the Uzumaki.
• Two of these three characters are captured by some enemy. The third rescues them.
• All three of these characters are captured by some enemy. They team up and save each other.
• Time travel — one of them travels back to the body of their younger self, seeking to change things for the better.
• Dimension travel — canonverse Madara travels to a universe where Izuna didn't tattle on him so he was killed by Hashirama's father.

I'm enthused by pre-village or during the village's founding! Izuna could be dead or he could be alive, but I definitely love it when Izuna is a thorn in the side of people trying to make peace/keep the village running, and I love when Izuna is an antagonist — anywhere from "annoying but manageable" to "outright trying to assassinate people to break the peace" works for me!