gekigengar gargant III!!! (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aestivalis) wrote2023-07-31 06:08 pm
aestivalis) wrote2023-07-31 06:08 pm
Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2023
Greetings, ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fffx participant! My online handle is Gargant, and my AO3 account can be found under the same name (![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Gargant). I'm an irregular exchange participant, but I find that I really vibe with long-form exchange writing, so this year seems like a good time to give FFFX a go!
I'll clarify right away that I am just as happy to receive artwork as I am written fiction. If you want to take any of these prompts and go the comic route, please feel free! I can't wait to see what you'll come up with c:
I've requested for a lot of different categories this year: Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Zestiria, the Swordspoint Series by Ellen Kushner, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy XV. If any of the sections of this letter seem particularly weighted in favour of one of those groups, I promise that it isn't intentional. I'll be thrilled with anything these categories inspire from you. Follow your heart!
I have one universal DNW, which I have outlined in every subsequent section of this letter and I'm going to mention here as well. The one and only thing I would like to avoid in anything created for me are detailed renditions of modern medical procedures, particularly things like cannula insertion and the administration of intravenous treatments. Thank you for understanding.
With this all being said, here's a list of things I generally vibe with. Use this information however you see fit!
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General Likes:
✤ enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-enemies-to lovers, friends-to-enemies-but-still-lovers
✤ "can't live with you, can't live without you", relationships where the two characters have something in common that no one else can ever truly understand (emotional, magical, a shared experience, etc.)
✤ "never known/met anyone else like you", characters who turn each other's worlds upside-down
✤ messy/complicated long-term relationships (romantic, familial, pre-destined, etc.)
✤ fantasy or historical fantasy settings, magic entirely optional!
✤ worldbuilding, especially focused on exploring the political/religious/societal quirks of a setting
✤ canon divergence/"what if" scenarios/exploring the consequences of a significant choice or moment. Would they make the same choices again?
✤ "everyone is bisexual"/bisexual characters (entirely your choice on how society does/doesn't acknowledge this. bisexual utopias are extremely welcome, but explorations of societal repression are very interesting and welcome as well.)
Danger Likes: (aka, the darker stuff)
✣ age gaps of any size (note: if one character is particularly young (younger than 13), please acknowledge the abuse of power involved. go as dark and nasty as you like, though!)
✣ characters lying to themselves and/or refusing to learn from their mistakes, characters devoted to something that doesn't deserve them
✣ dubious consent, lack of consent, characters fooling themselves into believing they've given meaningful consent, characters acting against their own better judgment/morality
✣ blood, bloodplay, scarification, any of the aforementioned as part of a ritual or other binding belief (consented to or otherwise!)
✣ homophobia and/or misogyny incorporated into worldbuilding, internalised homophobia/misogyny (note: if lead characters display these attitudes, I would prefer they are challenged in their beliefs or else begin to evolve beyond them by the conclusion of the story!)
No Preference:
❋ Any tense is fine!
❋ Smut is welcome, but I am equally happy to receive something completely smut-free. Fade-to-black or stay in the moment! I am more invested in the emotional grip of any given scene than the physical, but ain't never gonna say no to a good smut scene, hahaha!
❋ Any amount of violent or graphic content is fine.
❋ Character death is fine.
❋ Unhappy endings are fine, if that's where the story takes you!
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TALES OF SYMPHONIA
If these requests seem to skew in favour of Zelos, don't be completely fooled. I do love him, but what I love most of all is exploring what it means to be the Chosen in the worlds of Symphonia.
Because yeah, being the Chosen is terrible. Regardless of whether you live in Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, it's just terrible. Raised as an eventual sacrifice and forever surrounded by people who can't be completely honest with you, it's hard to imagine an existence that so coddled and yet so isolated at the same time.
For Zelos, it was politics and persuasion and constant mistrust. For Colette it was a more immediate sense of impending doom combined with the strange rumours about being the child of an angel. It led both of them to exist in a bubble, never truly able to connect honestly with their peers. They're so similar and yet so different, and I love them both so much.
I love Mylene as well! She's paired alongside Zelos here, but I truly and completely love her in her own right. She's just as much a victim of the Chosen system as anyone else within that lineage, and I adore fiction that remembers to view her with sympathy. That doesn't mean glossing over the cold way she treated her child—more like exploring how and why it ended up that way, and perhaps wondering if things could have ever been different.
For some more specific hints for each listed pairing:
Lloyd/Zelos
I love this because.... Someone who Zelos learns to trust, even against his own better judgement. Angst, fluff, bittersweet, all rolled up into one wonderful ship. Lloyd is unlike anyone else Zelos has ever dealt with, and it's so good watching him try to figure that out and eventually falling face first right into it. I love how this pairing can be fluff, can be angst, can be bitter or sweet or both; I love the happy ever afters, and I love all the mess that can be encountered along the way.
○ AU versions of canon events are always welcome with Symphonia. What might happen if Zelos fully betrays the party at the Tower of Salvation but survives the subsequent fight? What kind of hope or reconcilation can exist between him and Lloyd? And the rest of the party, for that matter! Can Zelos be persuaded to keep on living, or does he intend to slink off and die somewhere? Happy ending or bitter disaster entirely up to you!
○ For another AU entirely, always feel free to mess around with which characters were born where or serve which roles. You want Lloyd to be a Chosen? Go for it! Or maybe Lloyd grew up in Tethe'alla and met Zelos much much earlier than in canon? Sure thing! Hell, have Zelos in Iselia for some reason if you like! Anything like this is always gonna excite me.
○ ANY OTHER IN-UNIVERSE AU/CANON DIVERGENCE YOU CAN THINK OF, seriously, I live for these.
○ Zelos contemplating his situation during the main game, looking at Lloyd and considering what he's going to do when the time comes to pick a side. Lloyd might be irresistibly soft-hearted, but is that really enough reason to put himself on the line?
○ An evening with the Tethe'allan court. Dressed to impress in their noble regalia. Does Lloyd hate all the rules, or is he cheerfully oblivious? Do they stay the course, or secretly bail out and go to make their own fun instead? Feel free to highlight the horrible wealth disparity that exists in Meltokio; does Lloyd lose his temper at the injustice of it? Does Zelos back him up or admire from afar?
○ Post-game Exsphere journey adventures! What sort of trials and tribulations might these two come up against? Are people happy to see them, or are there still people who resent them? How is the population adjusting to the combined worlds? Does Lloyd ever get frustrated by all the resistance to his collecting the Exspheres, and can Zelos make any of it better? Does Zelos ever become disillusioned and need a Lloyd-style pep talk to get him back on track? Make this a fun and plotty little casefic, or focus on the two of them supporting each others emotional needs—it all sounds good to me!
Kratos/Zelos
I love this because.... MESSY. They both harbour a lot of self-loathing and guilt, and I love seeing the different ways they reflect each other. Not a fluffy pairing, though I'm open to being convinced if you think you can get them there?! Zelos hurting Kratos as a way of hurting himself, but also wanting Kratos to somehow make things better because then maybe there's some hope for him after all (oof).
○ I'll always enjoy stories where Kratos has to train Zelos—it's that common headcanon explanation for their similar battle styles, and something I really love seeing different takes on. It's reasonable to assume that Kratos would have recently lost Lloyd and Anna, and would likely be even more dead inside than usual. Doubtless he'd be keeping everyone at a distance. How does teenage Zelos react to that? Does it just affirm his own worthlessness? (yes). Does it make him want to act out to try and force this Cruxis bastard to respond to him, damn it? (also yes).
○ AU where Zelos betrays the party at the Tower of Salvation, but survives because of Kratos's intervention. Why does Kratos do it? What guilt or obligation does he feel toward Zelos, yet another Chosen torn apart by the system he has helped enforce in Yggdrasill's name? Why does Zelos go along with it? Does he feel like he even has much of a choice? When/if Kratos leaves, does Zelos go with him? Does Kratos even extend the offer, or does he simply attempt to leave without saying so—and how does Zelos respond to that? m e s s y
○ If you want to try and convince me these two can have some sort of fluffy happiness, then I happily look forward to seeing what you can come up with! Can these two crazy kids somehow figure things out? If they can somehow figure out how to have a better relationship with each other, might it eventually lead them to have better relationships within themselves? WHO CAN SAY. It's a nice dream at least.
Mylene & Zelos
I love this because.... Their relationship is just so ugly and tragic. Ruminate on the good times as well as the bad. The bad times as well as the worst. What might they have to say to each other if they could meet again? What might either of them want to do differently? Can Zelos forgive her—hell, does he even think she needs forgiving? Can someone else convince him he has a right to be angry at her? Feel free to work any of these elements into other Zelos stories!
○ A story that explores the short and wretched time these two characters had together, taken from either or both perspectives. Was there ever any love between them? What did that love mean, when it was wrapped up in so much struggle and lack of agency? To me, Mylene's "you should never have been born" always read as more of an indictment of the Chosen system than any particular commentary on Zelos himself—though of course young Zelos wouldn't hear it that way. If you can stand the heartbreak, a story exploring such elements would be wonderful.
○ Alternatively, it's AU time again! What happens if Mylene survives the attack? What happens if she says that awful line and then survives the attack? What kind of relationship can she and her son possibly have with something so terrible now hanging between them? Are they ever able to reach any sort of understanding, or does the wedge between them only ever widen after that? Does she regret what she said, or stand by her truth? Would they be allies in the Tethe'allan court, or would they end up using politics as another corrupted way of communicating with one another?
○ JUST GIVE ME THE MESS, MAN. They're both dreadful people in their own victimised ways, and I love seeing all that mess out in full display. Especially if the rest of the world has no idea just how bad things really are beneath the surface. But if they ever can find reconciliation and middle-ground between them, I'd love to see it. Even if it's only a single moment of understanding.
Colette/Seles
I love this because.... Both have been horribly affected by the Chosen lineage. Does Seles wish she could have been the Chosen instead of her brother, and how does meeting Colette make her feel about that? AU where Seles *is* the Chosen instead, and travelled with Colette and company? Sugar and spice personalities, but neither of them ever very honest with their true feelings. Do they recognise that in each other?
○ AU once again. An adventure where Seles accompanies the party. Is she the Chosen in Zelos's place? Does she succeed in convincing them to let her join their adventure after battling the party in the Coliseum? Regardless of how you want to make it happen, how do Seles and Colette interact on the road together. Do they get along well from the outset, or does it take time for them (or Seles, let's be honest) to warm up to one another. Does Seles see Colette as a bother, or a rival? Or someone who needs protecting? And do the major events of the story change in any significant way thanks to Seles's presence?
○ When the party plan to face Yggdrasill toward the end of the game, Lloyd suggests that Colette should stay away. Colette resists, and the rest is history. But what if it played out another way? What if they decided the safest place to hide Colette would be at the Abbey, with Seles? Ignoring the fact that this completely screws up Zelos's grand master plan (it's what he deserves), how does this turn out? Is Seles annoyed or suspicious about this? Does Colette end up deciding to follow anyway, and she and Seles go on a grand Tower of Salvation infiltration mission to protect Lloyd, Zelos and the others (and maybe save the day along the way)? Or do Cruxis angels descend on the Abbey to take Colette away, and the two are forced to defend themselves right there and then? It's an adventure story all the way, and I'd love to see how it unfolds!
○ For something completely different, how about a story set after the events of the game. Seles is living in Meltokio, perhaps, and ends up looking after Colette when the former Chosen comes to visit as an ambassador of Sylvarant's people. Or the opposite, with Seles wanting to see somewhere new for once in her life and ending up under Colette's guidance in Iselia. How would they get along as they grow familiar with one another? Would they realise the similarities they have, and who would recognise it first? Would they maybe do... a little kiss????
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
FANDOM SPECIFIC DNW: Romantic Colette/Lloyd (but love them as v. important friends!). I don't know the sequel, so would prefer it not be involved.
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TALES OF ZESTIRIA
Tales of Zestiria has a bit of a reputation among Tales fans for not being the best game in the series. I don't really intend to refute that; the time scale in particular really gets my worldbuilding senses tingling with frustration. But there's so much to love in this game, and the cast especially elevate this adventure for me. Maybe it's not the most complicated or rich story in the series, but these characters. These characters, man! Let's have some fun with them!
Alisha/Symonne
I like it because... They both have such unexplored potential! These two only have the faintest amount of interaction, but I really enjoyed what little was implied between them during the Alisha DLC. I love to imagine what might happen next between them. They're such different characters, with such different trauma, and they each respond in such differing ways. What might they learn or gain from one another? What purpose is there yet to be found?
○ By the end of Zestiria, Symonne believes she has nothing left to exist for. Give me a story where Alisha becomes determined to show Symonne that that isn't the case. Why is Alisha so determined? Does she see something of herself in Symonne's despair, Symonne's unwillingness to continue now that she's lost the commandeering presence she depended upon? Does Alisha see her own relationship with Maltran reflected within Symonne's relationship with Heldalf, and does Alisha imagine that she could easily have fallen into the same kind of despair? Does Alisha credit Symonne and her illusions of Maltran as saving her from dwelling on the unhealthy feelings that could have led her to feeling that way, and does she want to find some way to help Symonne in return? Would Symonne ever be willing to accept help from Alisha? How might she try to drive Alisha away, to prove to Alisha that she's nothing but ill fortune to those around her?
○ If they do end up travelling together (or stuck together?), what would they learn about each other? What stories could they share about themselves and their lives? Would they find similarities, things they find relatable in one another? Or would Symonne dismiss Alisha as a "poor little rich girl"? What could Alisha do to win Symonne's respect, and would Symonne ever admit to that respect? To take this to an extreme, would Symonne's respect manifest as Symonne attempting to dedicate herself body and soul to Alisha, with a flustered Alisha trying to encourage Symonne to live for herself instead of always trying to attach herself to another?
○ If they do end up connected in some way, armatize them! I want to know how it goes for them! I want them to experience it! I want Symonne to have somewhere she belongs, ever as "cursed" as she is. I want the aftermath, where perhaps Symonne nestles somewhere deep inside Alisha and refuses to come back out because she assumes she'll be dismissed. I want Alisha to feel just the tiniest shred of conflict about making a pact with Symonne after everything that happened between Symonne, Dezel, and Rose. I want Symonne to become aware of that conflict and try to use that against Alisha in an act of self-harm! I WANT THEM TO BE SUCH A MESS. (Feel free to include Rose, or any other Zestiria character you feel is relevant to the story you want to tell!)
○ All that aside, however, do feel free to make this nothing but an awful illusion-fuelled mindfuck. Alisha managed to resist Symonne's torment in the DLC, but feel free to consider an alternate version of events. Or perhaps Symonne has conjured some new means by which she intends to break Alisha's spirit? Most of these prompts are about Alisha trying to uplift Symonne, but if you want to tell a story of Symonne dragging Alisha down, I am all for it! Leave them both shattered if that's the tale you have to share. Make them wretched broken girlfriends. Make them hate. Destroy them. IT'S ALL GOOD, BABY.
Dezel & Symonne
I love this because... it's such a strange and understated relationship, given how integral it ends up being to Dezel's trajectory in the story. They're two sides of one coin, two different explorations of one cursed existence, they are bleak and miserable and want to see each other suffer when they could potentially gain so much by knowing someone who has experienced a similar pain. They could have had it all, but all they have is violence. Explore that! Explore them!
○ One way or another, Dezel survives. What happens next? Does he continue to pursue Symonne despite everything that's happened, and does that destroy his relationship with Rose, Sorey and the others? Does Symonne encourage all of this to happen? Does she actually instigate it? Perhaps Dezel swears to Rose and the others that he'll never let his hatred blind (ha ha) him again, but Symonne intentionally needles him and lures him out until he breaks that vow. Is there any coming back from that? What happens when they do confront each other?
○ Same as above, but what if Dezel vows to stay away from Symonne and... succeeds! No matter what she does to try and draw him out, he keeps his attention focused on Sorey's mission. How does Symonne respond? How desperate would she get? How violent? Would she finally find some way to force his hand, presumably by threatening other members of the Shepherd's group? Can Dezel find any way to protect his friends and overcome his past while keeping hold on himself? I don't mind unhappy endings if you want to go that way with any of this!
○ All that being said, can you find any way to make them actually speak to each other? Make them realise the similarities that exist between them, make them talk about the awful curse that hangs over them and their actions. Have either of them ever actually met or spent time with another seraph who can relate to that? Could they get anything positive from interacting with each other? Could they persuade each other/themselves that they should disappear together and take their awful curse with them? At least, no matter what else, they'd still have each other for company. Even hating someone is better than being alone. Or could Symonne actually convince Dezel that he's on the wrong side...? He's cursed just the same way she is. He should never have aligned himself with the Shepherd. Seraphs like them will have no place in the Shepherds world. But the Lord of Calamity sees something in her; and he'll see it in Dezel too...
○ When all else fails, Symonne and her illusions are always the best. Give me trickery, give me mind games, give me violence and combat! Get them at each other's throats however you best see fit and I'll be delighted, I assure you!
Dezel & Zaveid, Dezel/Zaveid
I love this because... there's just so much potential that the source material hints at but doesn't fully act upon, and I'm here for all of this! I enjoy these two as a platonic relationship, and I also love the idea of them as a romantic/sexual ship. I love how Zaveid seems to be looking out for Dezel even though Dezel clearly isn't interested in anything Zaveid has to say to him, and I love how Dezel seems to have lost his memories of Zaveid and how Zaveid picks at that without ever outright challenging it. They're so weird and interesting to me!
note: If you want to ship them romantically/sexually, I have no issues with the notion that they first met when Dezel was much younger. It's Zaveid, man, he don't care. If you want to write platonic scenes between Zaveid and kid-Dezel and then later intimate scenes between Zaveid and teen-Dezel or adult-Dezel then I am down for it! I'm not too precious when it comes to semi-immortal spirit creatures.
○ Once again I request a story where Dezel survives. What happens in this scenario? Does Zaveid still end up joining Sorey and company? They don't need a second wind seraph, but maybe Zaveid wants to keep an eye on Dezel after that whole damn mess back there. Is Dezel willing to put up with Zaveid's presence and attention? Now that Dezel remembers the true events of what happened with the Windrunners, does he also remember things from his past with Zaveid? If so, how does that change their relationship? How happy does that make Zaveid? Maybe they can relate to each other in new ways, share stories of the things they've lost and process some grief together. Be glad that they still have each other (Dezel says he isn't glad at all, but shush). Let them do a little healing together, as a treat.
○ Alternative to above, maybe Dezel survives but Zaveid immediately takes him away. "Sorry Shepherd, but this guy's got some issues that need dealin' with. You can have him back when I'm done." Maybe Zaveid knows for a fact that Dezel won't be able to let his revenge mission go, so he's taking Dezel off to do some soul-searching. Maybe he intends to help Dezel track down Symonne and finally finish this thing--whatever that ends up meaning. Dezel may knows the truth now, but does that mean he's satisfied? Can he ever be satisfied? Zaveid surely has some opinions about that. What can he do to get Dezel back on the right road? (Is it sexy??)
○ Give me moments from their history! Show me how they met, or show me what happened next! Did our young Dezel idolise Zaveid, or has he always found Zaveid annoying and frustrating? Zaveid seems to be good with kids, show me how he interacted with little Dez! How long did they travel together? Did Zaveid come and go from Dezel's life at various points, or were they together for one solid period of time before parting ways? Who left who behind and why, or was it amicable? How did teenage Dezel feel about Zaveid's constant flirtation with anything capable of movement? Did it annoy him? Exhaust him? Disgust him? Frustratingly kinda arouse him? DID DEZEL INSTIGATE? Was Zaveid conflicted for longer than five seconds before going for it?!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
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FINAL FANTASY V
CW: I've requested incest for this fandom, skip ahead if you're not here for it and would rather not read about it!
With the arrival of the Pixel Remasters, I finally completed Final Fantasy V for the first time this year! Having played it previously and gotten stuck at the famous Big Bridge, it was wonderful to revisit it with a much more FF-attuned perspective and really tackle it once and for all. And I loved it! I love the job system, I love the humour, I love the simplistic but appealing worldbuilding, and I love the cute cast! I found the core party really charming, and Krile's late addition nonetheless won me over too. They're good kids (and one old man)!
But what if they were bad kids. What if they were, in fact, very naughty kids indeed.
Lenna/Faris
I love this because... One of my favourite things to explore is estranged characters being reunited. These two didn't really have any choice in their estrangement, of course, but all these years they've been apart... what has that done to their relationship now that they're together again? Two near-strangers who feel drawn to one another, protective of one another, and are ceaselessly impressed by one another. Their lives have taken them on such different courses, but now they're fighting side-by-side. Whether it's destiny or just incredible coincidence, it feels like they're meant to be together. But what exactly does that mean for them...
○ Lenna and Faris quickly become suspicious of their relationship to one another; Lenna pushes, while Faris tries to deny and reject the truth. Just how far is Lenna willing to push to try and get a reaction out of her long-lost sister? If Faris insists they're not related to each other, then why shouldn't Lenna try to pursue the dashing pirate captain romantically instead? And if Faris wants to keep up the ruse, then how far is she willing to let Lenna go in that pursuit? If this prompt sounds like "incest gay chicken" then I'm not really sure what to tell you. INCEST GAY CHICKEN PLEASE. They both know that they're sisters, but if neither one is saying it... Take this absolutely as far as you're willing to go with it.
○ Following from the above, Faris is the character full of bravado and swagger and androgynous handsome charm, but I love Lenna's determination and willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve the end result. During the game this manifests pretty exclusively as "kindness to animals at the expense of her own well-being", but we also see during a flashback to earlier years that Lenna was (potentially) willing to maim her family's precious wind drake in order to save her mother. What scenarios can you imagine during the canon present day where Lenna might make similarly extreme choices. To save Faris? To prove herself to Faris? Is she misguided in these efforts? How does Faris feel watching her kind-hearted little sister make such reckless extreme choices? If you want to go a bit cuter with this, Lenna/Faris hurt-comfort where Lenna has endangered herself to protect something (Faris herself?) are certainly welcome!
○ Life post-game for the two princesses! Faris hates life in the castle, and is shown to sneak away to rejoin her pirate crew. Can the two sisters ever reach any sort of compromise on this? Show me Faris trying to adjust to life in the castle, with her primly educated sister Lenna always at her side to guide her. Then show me the opposite of this, where Lenna joins Faris's crew for an adventure and has to adjust to life on that open sea. Which one of them handles it better? Does Faris dismiss Lenna's "easier" life until trying it for herself and discovering hidden challenges? Does Lenna dismiss Faris's "irresponsible" life until trying it for herself and discovering all the complications that Faris faces day by day? And what about their personal relationship? Perhaps Lenna assumes they'll be able to be more intimate with each other away from the kingdom, and is surprised to find Faris keeping her at arms length in front of her crew. Does Faris feel like her crew will consider her weak if she's in a relationship, only to learn her crew think it's AWESOME that she's shacked up with the princess of Tycoon?
○ Just an adventure, any adventure! A little quest as some backdrop to these two figuring things out between them. Are they reluctant because of their blood ties? Are they holding themselves back despite the debilitating UST? Do they keep dismissing the attraction as "this must just be how it is when you have a sibling" right up until they're in bed together? Is Lenna still like "wow, having a sister is great :)" while Faris insists this really isn't normal but also doesn't want it to stop? Or make it the other way around! I know I keep pushing determined/forceful/horny Lenna, but if you want to have Faris actively sweeping this princess of her feet then please go for it! Also do some Faris genderplay if you're feeling it; I love the femme/stud thing they can have going on!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
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FINAL FANTASY VI
I've played through FFVI numerous times, but recently revisited it with my partner so she could see it for herself. It's a really great game, huh! Wonderful characters, gorgeous soundtrack, visuals that still look great all these years later... and I'm still attached to the imagined relationship between two dudes who barely even speak. Sigh.
Edgar/Setzer
I like this because... Even if there isn't much canon interaction to speak of, I feel like it's surprisingly easy to envision how these two would get along well. They seem to come from extremely different social strata, but Setzer conducts himself and his wealth in a way that would allow them to be schmoozy together. Similarly, Edgar is very unpretentious in how he approaches people; a bit of wining, dining and dicing seems perfectly in-keeping. Edgar's interest in all things machinery and Setzer's beloved airships are a natural intersection to bring them closer. Smart suave men with their own agendas, one a leader of men and one who prefers to go solo... or at least, that's what he tells himself. They really just tap into something in my imagination; there's a place in my head that insists it totally makes sense that they'd stay in each other's pockets, darn it!
○ So, how about that two-headed coin, huh? Celes borrows Edgar's coin when they're trying to win Setzer's support, and uses it to con the conman (as it were). What if Setzer were to take a shine to that pretty little coin? How might he try to convince Edgar to part ways with that precious relic? Edgar has immense sentimental attachment to that coin so he wouldn't be willing to give it up... so how might Setzer sweeten the deal? What prize could Setzer possible offer that would make Edgar willing to take the risk? Is it... a sexy prize? And once said prizes are on the table, what game(s) would they play? Who ultimately wins, and do they keep their bargain? Does Sabin have any opinion on this? (note: include whatever FFVI characters you want in any of these stories! Sabin is an obvious choice for obvious reasons, but anyone is welcome, go for it!)
○ Setzer and "Gerad" cross paths in the ruined world. What happens between them? Does Setzer even try to approach Edgar, or is he too deep in despair? Does Edgar even try to approach Setzer, or is it too much of a risk to his "Gerad" persona? Does Edgar perhaps enlist Setzer into Gerad's band of thieves, thereby keeping his mission to help Figaro on track but also supporting a former ally who has clearly lost his way in this hopeless world? If so, does Setzer play along nicely, or does he put up a fight? Perhaps it's more trouble than it's worth to try and get "Gerad" to leave him alone, so he ends up going along with it. And perhaps, with King Edgar missing and Gerad simply another common brigand with no responsibilities, Setzer and his new boss can take some rare comfort from one another in this ravaged world... if only for now. (If so, what happens when Edgar casts that alias away? Be as bitter or sweet as you like!)
○ Postgame friendship, postgame relationship! Does Setzer visit often? Does Edgar find ways to offer him employment as an excuse to see Setzer again? Does Setzer subsequently refuse the work because that insults him? Edgar perhaps doesn't realise that he's hurting Setzer's pride every time he tries to employ him, and comes to the wrong conclusion; Setzer simply isn't interested. Setzer, meanwhile, likes playing games even more than most people, but damn, why can't Edgar just be frank about this? If he wants to bang, just say so! Do they ever get things figured out between them? Does Setzer end up accepting a job just so he can meet Edgar face-to-face and tell him to stop what he's doing, leaving Edgar struggling to understand what's gone wrong just when he finally thought things were looking up? Or does Setzer end up needing help from Figaro, and that finally brings them together to talk things out?
○ Opposite to the above, just have it be fluffy and fine! No confusion, no uncertainty, they're just going to have a relationship in this new world! What does that mean for them? Edgar can't leave Figaro (often?), and Setzer isn't the type to settle in one place. Setzer knows how to act in polite company, but that doesn't make him obligated to behave accordingly--but perhaps Edgar and Setzer use that to Edgar's advantage, getting "uncouth" Setzer to say the things Edgar isn't allowed to say to/about those challenging his leadership. Or hell, maybe Setzer just makes it his personal mission to force Edgar to relax now and then. Just shows up every few months to take Edgar flying beneath the stars, gift him some old machinery he's (totally coincidentally!) won over cards and he thought Edgar might like tampering with, dinner, wine, mind-numbingly delightful sex, and then just drop Edgar back at the castle in the morning. King Edgar always comes back from his brief excursions brimming with vigor and inspiration, so most people don't ask too many questions!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!
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FINAL FANTASY XV
(Note regarding canon materials: I have played all the character Episodes (Gladio, Ignis, Prompto and Ardyn). I have not read the novelisation. I have not watched Brotherhood, I have not watched the Ardyn prologue anime, and I haven't watched Kingsglaive. Reference any sources you'd like to for your story, but I may not catch certain references for material I haven't experienced!)
Not to take anything away from the various characters I've prompted him with, but Ardyn is the character in FFXV that really resonated with me, and I'd love to receive something that features him in a prominent role! That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be from his perspective, however—some of the most delicious Ardyn content comes through the lens of other characters forced to deal with him, after all. For me, Ardyn is just a brilliant character, exactly the right amount of tragic to make you really sit up and look at him, but just such an awful magnificent bastard within it. And hilarious. He's disgustingly funny, the git.
And now everyone else must suffer the consequences.
Ardyn/Noctis/Lunafreya
I love this because.... Messy royals, messy secrets, messy dynamics, messy violence enacted messily! Fury and empathy, admiration and desecration. They've got the whole bitter package, and I love it. I'm just fascinated and delighted by the dynamics that exist between these three. Ardyn is viciously motivated to destroy them, and arguably succeeds? But equally well, Luna and Noct both demonstrate willingness to save Ardyn, and they... ALSO arguably succeed! And that's just so interesting and delicious.
I didn't request Noctis/Lunafreya specifically because I really do want Ardyn involved in any FFXV story I receive, but I *do* ship Noct and Luna together and have no issues with Ardyn as the interloper into their dynamic (although do feel very free to explore the weird and messy elements of their relationship as well, i.e. both fated to die in service, very little actual face-to-face interaction, etc.).
○ AUs where certain parties survive beyond their canon death points. Keep Lunafreya around for the later half of FFXV, and explore moments that change between the three of them. Or have them all somehow survive beyond the game's conclusion (if Ep: Ignis can do it, so can you!). What does Ardyn do with himself now that he's alive and no longer immortal? How does King Noctis deal with weird uncle Ardyn loitering around Insomnia? Does Lunafreya end up mediating between them? Attempting to reconcile them? Bitterly reminding Ardyn about that one time he almost fatally stabbed her?
○ Alternatively, any kind of afterlife you want. Let them exist in some sort of post-mortality bubble if that works for the story you want to tell. Noct and Luna have their moment together in the credits, but maybe Ardyn isn't all that far away. Maybe they all share their place of repose, this sort of Afterlife Insomnia, and in sharing that space they begin to truly know one another without the weights of destiny.
○ Ardyn somehow intercepts Noctis and Lunafreya's magical exchange diary. Does he begin correspondence with Noctis? As himself, or pretending to be Luna? Talking to Luna as Noctis is fine too! Maybe he's messing with them both at the same time! Or instead, does he just insert himself into conversing with both of them, creating a three-way conversation in which he is surely not welcome? How does that pan out? Feel free to develop this into something positive, but equally well, I have no objections to Ardyn remaining every bit the antagonist he is in canon. Perhaps Ardyn continues maintaining diary contact after killing Luna, and Noctis is furious but also feels horribly compelled to continue writing back. Perhaps Lunafreya is somehow able to continue responding but only Ardyn can read what she says? Does Ardyn try to convey any of that to Noctis, and does Noctis even believe him? Throw out the rulebook and go wild!
Ardyn/Noctis
I love this because... A lot of the same things I mentioned above involving Miss Lunafreya as well. I love how they represent both destruction and salvation for one another, and how those both come to fruition over the course of the story. I love how much evil Ardyn enacts upon Noctis throughout the events of FFXV and how Noctis still treats Ardyn with dignity in their final moments. I love the parallels between them, and how they were both used and sacrificed by something "greater". How they're the same, and not the same at all.
○ I don't want to seem like I'm selling Ardyn/Noctis short, but a lot of the prompts I listed for Ardyn/Noctis/Luna can be used as inspiration points for a specifically Ardyn/Noctis focused fic, and so I recommend reading everything I already wrote up above! THIS IS NOT SPECIFYING PREFERENCE. If you matched me on Ardyn/Noctis and don't want to write about or involve Lunafreya in any way, that is beyond okay! I don't mind! I don't care! I like all flavours! If it has Ardyn's gunky handprints on it then I am happy! But nonetheless, the ideas listed above are easy to adapt into Ardyn/Noctis-focused works, and I'd love to see what you might do with them!
○ Alternatively, though, feel free to just create scenarios where Ardyn torments Noctis. Literally never get tired of that. Canon presents plenty of in-universe opportunities to insert additional scenes of Ardyn cruelty, and I'm always interested to see the kinds of devious tricks people can devise for further bullying poor Noctis. Feel free to use whatever other canon characters you see fit to make that happen! Gladio, Ignis, Prompto, or anyone else you think might be relevant--so long as the focus is still ultimately on Ardyn and Noctis, go wild with whatever you need!
○ What if Noctis doesn't outright win the final confrontation between them? Perhaps Ardyn still believes that Noctis could triumph if he just had a little something to push him over the edge? A story where Ardyn and Noctis are stalking each other through the suburban ruins of Insomnia, Noctis trying to subdue Ardyn and Ardyn trying to provoke Noctis. It's a scenario where both of them are trying to bring Ardyn a certain kind of "salvation", but have very different ideas of what that means and how it can be achieved. How sympathetic is Noctis able to be toward Ardyn in this situation? Can he make any room for empathy in his heart, or is Ardyn just too awful to endure?
○ Ardyn corrupts Noctis. I mean, that's it, that's the prompt. Just those simple words are so potent. Do with it what you will, however you will. Let Ardyn make a mess. As a treat.
Verstael/Ardyn
I love this because... WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE? Two completely insane bastards, both delivering absurd scenery-chewing camp madness in such completely different ways. Both striving forward with malevolent ambition, both using one another but doing so gleefully and with full transparency. They know what the other is, and they're here for it. Heaven help anyone who has to be around them, because I can only imagine they're insufferable when they're feeding off each other's toxic vibes. They're just rancid, and I love them.
○ How does their relationship grow and develop with time? I love the dynamic we see between them in the Ardyn DLC, where they initially have this conflicted disharmony. Ardyn is at his lowest point in many ways, confused and emotionally defeated... and then there's this campy evil mad scientist obliviously fawning over him. In the DLC this dynamic doesn't linger for long, but what if it had? Instead of taking Ardyn to Ifrit as early as he does, what if Verstael had spent more time wining and dining Ardyn to try and win him over? Verstael has no idea how to talk to people and he's completely enamoured with what Ardyn is--let me watch this insane freak try his level best to seduce Ardyn to his cause and have no damn idea where he keeps going wrong! (Seriously, I can't fucking believe Verstael literally wines and dines the monster he found in a cave, he's such a lunatic, god I love him.)
○ For another way to watch their relationship developing, how does Verstael react to the gradual changes in Ardyn as Ardyn daemonifies more people? It seems like Ardyn gains the memories of his victims each time he does this, and that subsequently warps his personality more and more. Are these shifts in Ardyn readily apparent, or is it a more creeping and subtle change that occurs over a longer period of time? If you want to write a warped version of something fluffy, I'd love to see scenarios where Ardyn gets confused after "absorbing" particularly powerful memories/influences into himself. How does Verstael take care of him in these scenarios? Let Verstael gleefully barrel through the line between science and tenderness--just because he's taken Adagium as a lover doesn't mean he's not going to take notes and delight in how fascinating Ardyn is.
○ Verstael as the commander designated to keep mad dog Ardyn under control, and Ardyn belligerently compliant. Between them they hold so much power within the Empire, but there's a dangerous and precarious balance between them. Ardyn has all the supernatural strength, but Verstael has all the knowledge and leverage in modern Eos. Demonstrate these qualities! Or perhaps tell a story focusing on Verstael's reaction upon reuniting with Ardyn for the first time post-DLC. Ardyn deliberately went off-script during the attack on Insomnia, but also he is decidedly not himself in the aftermath. How does Verstael react? What conversations do they have? What does Ardyn tell him of what occurred, or what excuse does he fabricate?
○ All else aside, just depict them being evil together. I don't mind what mechanism you use to make it happen, just show them being wretched and delighted with each other. Specifically, Verstael wants to fuck his science project so bad and they both know it. Make Verstael unrepentantly reverent every time Ardyn does some new awful fucked-up thing. Let Ardyn delight in being adored for his treachery. Show me the work they did to develop Magitek technology, and more importantly, let them have so much terrible evil "look at the unethical things we did" sex while they're at it!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!*
FANDOM SPECIFIC DNWs: Aera mentions are fine, but please don't draw excessive attention to similarities between herself and Lunafreya. They're underserved by the narrative already without being made into proxies of one another!
*UNIVERSAL DNW VERSTAEL SPECIAL NOTE: Infuriatingly, Verstael receives a mad scientist exception to this rule. If you want to write Verstael doing evil science, feel free to completely disregard this DNW. All I ask is that you either tag accordingly, or mention in the author's note that you have done so. Thank you so much for understanding!
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SWORDSPOINT SERIES
Reread Swordspoint, love it just as much as ever. No, that's a lie, I'm pretty sure my love for this series only ever increases with each visit. Right now I'm reading season three of Tremontaine for the first time, and honestly? Sometimes I wonder why I ever leave Riverside at all.
If I'd been quicker off the mark, I might have requested some Tremontaine-specific ships (yes, it's me, I'm the freak who's over-invested in fucking Florian and Shade of all people) (also platonic Diane and Micah ;a;). But, as it happens, these prompts are all about the original best awful boys. The awful original best boys. The best awful boys, certified.
Richard/Alec
I love this because... They are the perfect blend of bittersweet tragedy and devotion. They are terrible for each other, except that they're precisely everything the other wants and needs and desires most in all the world. I love their contrasts, I love their edges, I love their boundaries and the ways they can and can't let each other through. I love the hurts they carry. I love how much they love each other. I am just a wreck for these two and all the tiny ways they share everything they are with each other despite themselves.
○ Just moments. Mundane moments, everyday moments, moments at home, moments in Riverside or across the bridge or even up on the Hill if you can contrive some reason they'd be wandering around up there together. Moments eating food. Moments enjoying money, or moments where the money is running thin. These two have such a glorious dynamic, and it's the simple acts of living together that somehow draw me in each and every time.
○ Alec refuses to even try and learn swordsmanship, but he has at least agreed to carry a knife when Richard isn't around. How did that conversation go? Did Richard have to teach him how best to hold it? How he should keep others at bay? Is Alec ever actually forced to use that knife in self-defence, and how does he cope (during or after)? How does Richard react when he finds out? (For the dark flipside of this, does Alec ever give Richard cause to regret giving him the knife? Feel free to evoke canon-typical self-harm/suicide ideation here.)
○ Richard likes his privacy. His relationship with Alec isn't a secret, but they tend to keep physical intimacy behind a closed door; an arrangement that seems to suit them both. But is there ever a time where one of them forgets their own rule? What would prompt either of them to kiss/touch/embrace in public? Fear or concern for the other's safety, unexpected and overwhelming? Drunkenness (at least in Alec's case)? Or is one of them deliberately trying to anger or get a rise from the other for some reason?
○ On that note, feel free to have them be angry at one another. Alec is so often in a snit about something or another, it almost feels strange to request something where there *isn't* some degree of instability afoot. It's the certainty that they've always got each other in the end—that the love is always there, driving everything—that makes their disagreements so potent and gripping to engage with.
○ For something completely different, what if... one of them ends up in the river. You can make this completely comical (bedraggled prickly alec! grumpy sniffily richard!), or you can invoke some peril and a sense of genuine relief when the unlucky plunger is dragged ashore. How does it happen? An elaborate ridiculous accident, or an actual attempt at violence? Is Alec, drunk and aloof, attempting to harm himself? Threatening foolishness but then actually loses his footing and takes a tumble? There's a lot you can do with this simple basis--someone once wrote me a little drabble treat for this prompt and I loved it, but I still want more!!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!
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Whichever fandom you end up writing/drawing for, I really hope you have a lot of fun with this. My letter is here to help guide you or perhaps inspire ideas, but please don't feel obligated to stick super close to anything said here! 10k is a lot to write in any given length of time, and comics are always hard work, so please go with whatever gets you excited to hit the keyboard! Also, I'm a writer so I tend to phrase my prompts with writing in mind. That does not reflect a preference! Receiving art would be wonderful, I would love to see any of these ideas translated into a comic format. Go with whatever it natural for you, and know that I will be so excited and grateful whatever happens to come my way!
Just have fun out there, guys, and look forward to seeing y'all throughout the exchange! C:
fffx participant! My online handle is Gargant, and my AO3 account can be found under the same name (I'll clarify right away that I am just as happy to receive artwork as I am written fiction. If you want to take any of these prompts and go the comic route, please feel free! I can't wait to see what you'll come up with c:
I've requested for a lot of different categories this year: Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Zestiria, the Swordspoint Series by Ellen Kushner, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy XV. If any of the sections of this letter seem particularly weighted in favour of one of those groups, I promise that it isn't intentional. I'll be thrilled with anything these categories inspire from you. Follow your heart!
I have one universal DNW, which I have outlined in every subsequent section of this letter and I'm going to mention here as well. The one and only thing I would like to avoid in anything created for me are detailed renditions of modern medical procedures, particularly things like cannula insertion and the administration of intravenous treatments. Thank you for understanding.
With this all being said, here's a list of things I generally vibe with. Use this information however you see fit!
General Likes:
✤ enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-enemies-to lovers, friends-to-enemies-but-still-lovers
✤ "can't live with you, can't live without you", relationships where the two characters have something in common that no one else can ever truly understand (emotional, magical, a shared experience, etc.)
✤ "never known/met anyone else like you", characters who turn each other's worlds upside-down
✤ messy/complicated long-term relationships (romantic, familial, pre-destined, etc.)
✤ fantasy or historical fantasy settings, magic entirely optional!
✤ worldbuilding, especially focused on exploring the political/religious/societal quirks of a setting
✤ canon divergence/"what if" scenarios/exploring the consequences of a significant choice or moment. Would they make the same choices again?
✤ "everyone is bisexual"/bisexual characters (entirely your choice on how society does/doesn't acknowledge this. bisexual utopias are extremely welcome, but explorations of societal repression are very interesting and welcome as well.)
Danger Likes: (aka, the darker stuff)
✣ age gaps of any size (note: if one character is particularly young (younger than 13), please acknowledge the abuse of power involved. go as dark and nasty as you like, though!)
✣ characters lying to themselves and/or refusing to learn from their mistakes, characters devoted to something that doesn't deserve them
✣ dubious consent, lack of consent, characters fooling themselves into believing they've given meaningful consent, characters acting against their own better judgment/morality
✣ blood, bloodplay, scarification, any of the aforementioned as part of a ritual or other binding belief (consented to or otherwise!)
✣ homophobia and/or misogyny incorporated into worldbuilding, internalised homophobia/misogyny (note: if lead characters display these attitudes, I would prefer they are challenged in their beliefs or else begin to evolve beyond them by the conclusion of the story!)
No Preference:
❋ Any tense is fine!
❋ Smut is welcome, but I am equally happy to receive something completely smut-free. Fade-to-black or stay in the moment! I am more invested in the emotional grip of any given scene than the physical, but ain't never gonna say no to a good smut scene, hahaha!
❋ Any amount of violent or graphic content is fine.
❋ Character death is fine.
❋ Unhappy endings are fine, if that's where the story takes you!
If these requests seem to skew in favour of Zelos, don't be completely fooled. I do love him, but what I love most of all is exploring what it means to be the Chosen in the worlds of Symphonia.
Because yeah, being the Chosen is terrible. Regardless of whether you live in Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, it's just terrible. Raised as an eventual sacrifice and forever surrounded by people who can't be completely honest with you, it's hard to imagine an existence that so coddled and yet so isolated at the same time.
For Zelos, it was politics and persuasion and constant mistrust. For Colette it was a more immediate sense of impending doom combined with the strange rumours about being the child of an angel. It led both of them to exist in a bubble, never truly able to connect honestly with their peers. They're so similar and yet so different, and I love them both so much.
I love Mylene as well! She's paired alongside Zelos here, but I truly and completely love her in her own right. She's just as much a victim of the Chosen system as anyone else within that lineage, and I adore fiction that remembers to view her with sympathy. That doesn't mean glossing over the cold way she treated her child—more like exploring how and why it ended up that way, and perhaps wondering if things could have ever been different.
For some more specific hints for each listed pairing:
Lloyd/Zelos
I love this because.... Someone who Zelos learns to trust, even against his own better judgement. Angst, fluff, bittersweet, all rolled up into one wonderful ship. Lloyd is unlike anyone else Zelos has ever dealt with, and it's so good watching him try to figure that out and eventually falling face first right into it. I love how this pairing can be fluff, can be angst, can be bitter or sweet or both; I love the happy ever afters, and I love all the mess that can be encountered along the way.
○ AU versions of canon events are always welcome with Symphonia. What might happen if Zelos fully betrays the party at the Tower of Salvation but survives the subsequent fight? What kind of hope or reconcilation can exist between him and Lloyd? And the rest of the party, for that matter! Can Zelos be persuaded to keep on living, or does he intend to slink off and die somewhere? Happy ending or bitter disaster entirely up to you!
○ For another AU entirely, always feel free to mess around with which characters were born where or serve which roles. You want Lloyd to be a Chosen? Go for it! Or maybe Lloyd grew up in Tethe'alla and met Zelos much much earlier than in canon? Sure thing! Hell, have Zelos in Iselia for some reason if you like! Anything like this is always gonna excite me.
○ ANY OTHER IN-UNIVERSE AU/CANON DIVERGENCE YOU CAN THINK OF, seriously, I live for these.
○ Zelos contemplating his situation during the main game, looking at Lloyd and considering what he's going to do when the time comes to pick a side. Lloyd might be irresistibly soft-hearted, but is that really enough reason to put himself on the line?
○ An evening with the Tethe'allan court. Dressed to impress in their noble regalia. Does Lloyd hate all the rules, or is he cheerfully oblivious? Do they stay the course, or secretly bail out and go to make their own fun instead? Feel free to highlight the horrible wealth disparity that exists in Meltokio; does Lloyd lose his temper at the injustice of it? Does Zelos back him up or admire from afar?
○ Post-game Exsphere journey adventures! What sort of trials and tribulations might these two come up against? Are people happy to see them, or are there still people who resent them? How is the population adjusting to the combined worlds? Does Lloyd ever get frustrated by all the resistance to his collecting the Exspheres, and can Zelos make any of it better? Does Zelos ever become disillusioned and need a Lloyd-style pep talk to get him back on track? Make this a fun and plotty little casefic, or focus on the two of them supporting each others emotional needs—it all sounds good to me!
Kratos/Zelos
I love this because.... MESSY. They both harbour a lot of self-loathing and guilt, and I love seeing the different ways they reflect each other. Not a fluffy pairing, though I'm open to being convinced if you think you can get them there?! Zelos hurting Kratos as a way of hurting himself, but also wanting Kratos to somehow make things better because then maybe there's some hope for him after all (oof).
○ I'll always enjoy stories where Kratos has to train Zelos—it's that common headcanon explanation for their similar battle styles, and something I really love seeing different takes on. It's reasonable to assume that Kratos would have recently lost Lloyd and Anna, and would likely be even more dead inside than usual. Doubtless he'd be keeping everyone at a distance. How does teenage Zelos react to that? Does it just affirm his own worthlessness? (yes). Does it make him want to act out to try and force this Cruxis bastard to respond to him, damn it? (also yes).
○ AU where Zelos betrays the party at the Tower of Salvation, but survives because of Kratos's intervention. Why does Kratos do it? What guilt or obligation does he feel toward Zelos, yet another Chosen torn apart by the system he has helped enforce in Yggdrasill's name? Why does Zelos go along with it? Does he feel like he even has much of a choice? When/if Kratos leaves, does Zelos go with him? Does Kratos even extend the offer, or does he simply attempt to leave without saying so—and how does Zelos respond to that? m e s s y
○ If you want to try and convince me these two can have some sort of fluffy happiness, then I happily look forward to seeing what you can come up with! Can these two crazy kids somehow figure things out? If they can somehow figure out how to have a better relationship with each other, might it eventually lead them to have better relationships within themselves? WHO CAN SAY. It's a nice dream at least.
Mylene & Zelos
I love this because.... Their relationship is just so ugly and tragic. Ruminate on the good times as well as the bad. The bad times as well as the worst. What might they have to say to each other if they could meet again? What might either of them want to do differently? Can Zelos forgive her—hell, does he even think she needs forgiving? Can someone else convince him he has a right to be angry at her? Feel free to work any of these elements into other Zelos stories!
○ A story that explores the short and wretched time these two characters had together, taken from either or both perspectives. Was there ever any love between them? What did that love mean, when it was wrapped up in so much struggle and lack of agency? To me, Mylene's "you should never have been born" always read as more of an indictment of the Chosen system than any particular commentary on Zelos himself—though of course young Zelos wouldn't hear it that way. If you can stand the heartbreak, a story exploring such elements would be wonderful.
○ Alternatively, it's AU time again! What happens if Mylene survives the attack? What happens if she says that awful line and then survives the attack? What kind of relationship can she and her son possibly have with something so terrible now hanging between them? Are they ever able to reach any sort of understanding, or does the wedge between them only ever widen after that? Does she regret what she said, or stand by her truth? Would they be allies in the Tethe'allan court, or would they end up using politics as another corrupted way of communicating with one another?
○ JUST GIVE ME THE MESS, MAN. They're both dreadful people in their own victimised ways, and I love seeing all that mess out in full display. Especially if the rest of the world has no idea just how bad things really are beneath the surface. But if they ever can find reconciliation and middle-ground between them, I'd love to see it. Even if it's only a single moment of understanding.
Colette/Seles
I love this because.... Both have been horribly affected by the Chosen lineage. Does Seles wish she could have been the Chosen instead of her brother, and how does meeting Colette make her feel about that? AU where Seles *is* the Chosen instead, and travelled with Colette and company? Sugar and spice personalities, but neither of them ever very honest with their true feelings. Do they recognise that in each other?
○ AU once again. An adventure where Seles accompanies the party. Is she the Chosen in Zelos's place? Does she succeed in convincing them to let her join their adventure after battling the party in the Coliseum? Regardless of how you want to make it happen, how do Seles and Colette interact on the road together. Do they get along well from the outset, or does it take time for them (or Seles, let's be honest) to warm up to one another. Does Seles see Colette as a bother, or a rival? Or someone who needs protecting? And do the major events of the story change in any significant way thanks to Seles's presence?
○ When the party plan to face Yggdrasill toward the end of the game, Lloyd suggests that Colette should stay away. Colette resists, and the rest is history. But what if it played out another way? What if they decided the safest place to hide Colette would be at the Abbey, with Seles? Ignoring the fact that this completely screws up Zelos's grand master plan (it's what he deserves), how does this turn out? Is Seles annoyed or suspicious about this? Does Colette end up deciding to follow anyway, and she and Seles go on a grand Tower of Salvation infiltration mission to protect Lloyd, Zelos and the others (and maybe save the day along the way)? Or do Cruxis angels descend on the Abbey to take Colette away, and the two are forced to defend themselves right there and then? It's an adventure story all the way, and I'd love to see how it unfolds!
○ For something completely different, how about a story set after the events of the game. Seles is living in Meltokio, perhaps, and ends up looking after Colette when the former Chosen comes to visit as an ambassador of Sylvarant's people. Or the opposite, with Seles wanting to see somewhere new for once in her life and ending up under Colette's guidance in Iselia. How would they get along as they grow familiar with one another? Would they realise the similarities they have, and who would recognise it first? Would they maybe do... a little kiss????
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
FANDOM SPECIFIC DNW: Romantic Colette/Lloyd (but love them as v. important friends!). I don't know the sequel, so would prefer it not be involved.
Tales of Zestiria has a bit of a reputation among Tales fans for not being the best game in the series. I don't really intend to refute that; the time scale in particular really gets my worldbuilding senses tingling with frustration. But there's so much to love in this game, and the cast especially elevate this adventure for me. Maybe it's not the most complicated or rich story in the series, but these characters. These characters, man! Let's have some fun with them!
Alisha/Symonne
I like it because... They both have such unexplored potential! These two only have the faintest amount of interaction, but I really enjoyed what little was implied between them during the Alisha DLC. I love to imagine what might happen next between them. They're such different characters, with such different trauma, and they each respond in such differing ways. What might they learn or gain from one another? What purpose is there yet to be found?
○ By the end of Zestiria, Symonne believes she has nothing left to exist for. Give me a story where Alisha becomes determined to show Symonne that that isn't the case. Why is Alisha so determined? Does she see something of herself in Symonne's despair, Symonne's unwillingness to continue now that she's lost the commandeering presence she depended upon? Does Alisha see her own relationship with Maltran reflected within Symonne's relationship with Heldalf, and does Alisha imagine that she could easily have fallen into the same kind of despair? Does Alisha credit Symonne and her illusions of Maltran as saving her from dwelling on the unhealthy feelings that could have led her to feeling that way, and does she want to find some way to help Symonne in return? Would Symonne ever be willing to accept help from Alisha? How might she try to drive Alisha away, to prove to Alisha that she's nothing but ill fortune to those around her?
○ If they do end up travelling together (or stuck together?), what would they learn about each other? What stories could they share about themselves and their lives? Would they find similarities, things they find relatable in one another? Or would Symonne dismiss Alisha as a "poor little rich girl"? What could Alisha do to win Symonne's respect, and would Symonne ever admit to that respect? To take this to an extreme, would Symonne's respect manifest as Symonne attempting to dedicate herself body and soul to Alisha, with a flustered Alisha trying to encourage Symonne to live for herself instead of always trying to attach herself to another?
○ If they do end up connected in some way, armatize them! I want to know how it goes for them! I want them to experience it! I want Symonne to have somewhere she belongs, ever as "cursed" as she is. I want the aftermath, where perhaps Symonne nestles somewhere deep inside Alisha and refuses to come back out because she assumes she'll be dismissed. I want Alisha to feel just the tiniest shred of conflict about making a pact with Symonne after everything that happened between Symonne, Dezel, and Rose. I want Symonne to become aware of that conflict and try to use that against Alisha in an act of self-harm! I WANT THEM TO BE SUCH A MESS. (Feel free to include Rose, or any other Zestiria character you feel is relevant to the story you want to tell!)
○ All that aside, however, do feel free to make this nothing but an awful illusion-fuelled mindfuck. Alisha managed to resist Symonne's torment in the DLC, but feel free to consider an alternate version of events. Or perhaps Symonne has conjured some new means by which she intends to break Alisha's spirit? Most of these prompts are about Alisha trying to uplift Symonne, but if you want to tell a story of Symonne dragging Alisha down, I am all for it! Leave them both shattered if that's the tale you have to share. Make them wretched broken girlfriends. Make them hate. Destroy them. IT'S ALL GOOD, BABY.
Dezel & Symonne
I love this because... it's such a strange and understated relationship, given how integral it ends up being to Dezel's trajectory in the story. They're two sides of one coin, two different explorations of one cursed existence, they are bleak and miserable and want to see each other suffer when they could potentially gain so much by knowing someone who has experienced a similar pain. They could have had it all, but all they have is violence. Explore that! Explore them!
○ One way or another, Dezel survives. What happens next? Does he continue to pursue Symonne despite everything that's happened, and does that destroy his relationship with Rose, Sorey and the others? Does Symonne encourage all of this to happen? Does she actually instigate it? Perhaps Dezel swears to Rose and the others that he'll never let his hatred blind (ha ha) him again, but Symonne intentionally needles him and lures him out until he breaks that vow. Is there any coming back from that? What happens when they do confront each other?
○ Same as above, but what if Dezel vows to stay away from Symonne and... succeeds! No matter what she does to try and draw him out, he keeps his attention focused on Sorey's mission. How does Symonne respond? How desperate would she get? How violent? Would she finally find some way to force his hand, presumably by threatening other members of the Shepherd's group? Can Dezel find any way to protect his friends and overcome his past while keeping hold on himself? I don't mind unhappy endings if you want to go that way with any of this!
○ All that being said, can you find any way to make them actually speak to each other? Make them realise the similarities that exist between them, make them talk about the awful curse that hangs over them and their actions. Have either of them ever actually met or spent time with another seraph who can relate to that? Could they get anything positive from interacting with each other? Could they persuade each other/themselves that they should disappear together and take their awful curse with them? At least, no matter what else, they'd still have each other for company. Even hating someone is better than being alone. Or could Symonne actually convince Dezel that he's on the wrong side...? He's cursed just the same way she is. He should never have aligned himself with the Shepherd. Seraphs like them will have no place in the Shepherds world. But the Lord of Calamity sees something in her; and he'll see it in Dezel too...
○ When all else fails, Symonne and her illusions are always the best. Give me trickery, give me mind games, give me violence and combat! Get them at each other's throats however you best see fit and I'll be delighted, I assure you!
Dezel & Zaveid, Dezel/Zaveid
I love this because... there's just so much potential that the source material hints at but doesn't fully act upon, and I'm here for all of this! I enjoy these two as a platonic relationship, and I also love the idea of them as a romantic/sexual ship. I love how Zaveid seems to be looking out for Dezel even though Dezel clearly isn't interested in anything Zaveid has to say to him, and I love how Dezel seems to have lost his memories of Zaveid and how Zaveid picks at that without ever outright challenging it. They're so weird and interesting to me!
note: If you want to ship them romantically/sexually, I have no issues with the notion that they first met when Dezel was much younger. It's Zaveid, man, he don't care. If you want to write platonic scenes between Zaveid and kid-Dezel and then later intimate scenes between Zaveid and teen-Dezel or adult-Dezel then I am down for it! I'm not too precious when it comes to semi-immortal spirit creatures.
○ Once again I request a story where Dezel survives. What happens in this scenario? Does Zaveid still end up joining Sorey and company? They don't need a second wind seraph, but maybe Zaveid wants to keep an eye on Dezel after that whole damn mess back there. Is Dezel willing to put up with Zaveid's presence and attention? Now that Dezel remembers the true events of what happened with the Windrunners, does he also remember things from his past with Zaveid? If so, how does that change their relationship? How happy does that make Zaveid? Maybe they can relate to each other in new ways, share stories of the things they've lost and process some grief together. Be glad that they still have each other (Dezel says he isn't glad at all, but shush). Let them do a little healing together, as a treat.
○ Alternative to above, maybe Dezel survives but Zaveid immediately takes him away. "Sorry Shepherd, but this guy's got some issues that need dealin' with. You can have him back when I'm done." Maybe Zaveid knows for a fact that Dezel won't be able to let his revenge mission go, so he's taking Dezel off to do some soul-searching. Maybe he intends to help Dezel track down Symonne and finally finish this thing--whatever that ends up meaning. Dezel may knows the truth now, but does that mean he's satisfied? Can he ever be satisfied? Zaveid surely has some opinions about that. What can he do to get Dezel back on the right road? (Is it sexy??)
○ Give me moments from their history! Show me how they met, or show me what happened next! Did our young Dezel idolise Zaveid, or has he always found Zaveid annoying and frustrating? Zaveid seems to be good with kids, show me how he interacted with little Dez! How long did they travel together? Did Zaveid come and go from Dezel's life at various points, or were they together for one solid period of time before parting ways? Who left who behind and why, or was it amicable? How did teenage Dezel feel about Zaveid's constant flirtation with anything capable of movement? Did it annoy him? Exhaust him? Disgust him? Frustratingly kinda arouse him? DID DEZEL INSTIGATE? Was Zaveid conflicted for longer than five seconds before going for it?!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
CW: I've requested incest for this fandom, skip ahead if you're not here for it and would rather not read about it!
With the arrival of the Pixel Remasters, I finally completed Final Fantasy V for the first time this year! Having played it previously and gotten stuck at the famous Big Bridge, it was wonderful to revisit it with a much more FF-attuned perspective and really tackle it once and for all. And I loved it! I love the job system, I love the humour, I love the simplistic but appealing worldbuilding, and I love the cute cast! I found the core party really charming, and Krile's late addition nonetheless won me over too. They're good kids (and one old man)!
But what if they were bad kids. What if they were, in fact, very naughty kids indeed.
Lenna/Faris
I love this because... One of my favourite things to explore is estranged characters being reunited. These two didn't really have any choice in their estrangement, of course, but all these years they've been apart... what has that done to their relationship now that they're together again? Two near-strangers who feel drawn to one another, protective of one another, and are ceaselessly impressed by one another. Their lives have taken them on such different courses, but now they're fighting side-by-side. Whether it's destiny or just incredible coincidence, it feels like they're meant to be together. But what exactly does that mean for them...
○ Lenna and Faris quickly become suspicious of their relationship to one another; Lenna pushes, while Faris tries to deny and reject the truth. Just how far is Lenna willing to push to try and get a reaction out of her long-lost sister? If Faris insists they're not related to each other, then why shouldn't Lenna try to pursue the dashing pirate captain romantically instead? And if Faris wants to keep up the ruse, then how far is she willing to let Lenna go in that pursuit? If this prompt sounds like "incest gay chicken" then I'm not really sure what to tell you. INCEST GAY CHICKEN PLEASE. They both know that they're sisters, but if neither one is saying it... Take this absolutely as far as you're willing to go with it.
○ Following from the above, Faris is the character full of bravado and swagger and androgynous handsome charm, but I love Lenna's determination and willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve the end result. During the game this manifests pretty exclusively as "kindness to animals at the expense of her own well-being", but we also see during a flashback to earlier years that Lenna was (potentially) willing to maim her family's precious wind drake in order to save her mother. What scenarios can you imagine during the canon present day where Lenna might make similarly extreme choices. To save Faris? To prove herself to Faris? Is she misguided in these efforts? How does Faris feel watching her kind-hearted little sister make such reckless extreme choices? If you want to go a bit cuter with this, Lenna/Faris hurt-comfort where Lenna has endangered herself to protect something (Faris herself?) are certainly welcome!
○ Life post-game for the two princesses! Faris hates life in the castle, and is shown to sneak away to rejoin her pirate crew. Can the two sisters ever reach any sort of compromise on this? Show me Faris trying to adjust to life in the castle, with her primly educated sister Lenna always at her side to guide her. Then show me the opposite of this, where Lenna joins Faris's crew for an adventure and has to adjust to life on that open sea. Which one of them handles it better? Does Faris dismiss Lenna's "easier" life until trying it for herself and discovering hidden challenges? Does Lenna dismiss Faris's "irresponsible" life until trying it for herself and discovering all the complications that Faris faces day by day? And what about their personal relationship? Perhaps Lenna assumes they'll be able to be more intimate with each other away from the kingdom, and is surprised to find Faris keeping her at arms length in front of her crew. Does Faris feel like her crew will consider her weak if she's in a relationship, only to learn her crew think it's AWESOME that she's shacked up with the princess of Tycoon?
○ Just an adventure, any adventure! A little quest as some backdrop to these two figuring things out between them. Are they reluctant because of their blood ties? Are they holding themselves back despite the debilitating UST? Do they keep dismissing the attraction as "this must just be how it is when you have a sibling" right up until they're in bed together? Is Lenna still like "wow, having a sister is great :)" while Faris insists this really isn't normal but also doesn't want it to stop? Or make it the other way around! I know I keep pushing determined/forceful/horny Lenna, but if you want to have Faris actively sweeping this princess of her feet then please go for it! Also do some Faris genderplay if you're feeling it; I love the femme/stud thing they can have going on!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding! (Unlikely to come up with this fandom, but hey!)
I've played through FFVI numerous times, but recently revisited it with my partner so she could see it for herself. It's a really great game, huh! Wonderful characters, gorgeous soundtrack, visuals that still look great all these years later... and I'm still attached to the imagined relationship between two dudes who barely even speak. Sigh.
Edgar/Setzer
I like this because... Even if there isn't much canon interaction to speak of, I feel like it's surprisingly easy to envision how these two would get along well. They seem to come from extremely different social strata, but Setzer conducts himself and his wealth in a way that would allow them to be schmoozy together. Similarly, Edgar is very unpretentious in how he approaches people; a bit of wining, dining and dicing seems perfectly in-keeping. Edgar's interest in all things machinery and Setzer's beloved airships are a natural intersection to bring them closer. Smart suave men with their own agendas, one a leader of men and one who prefers to go solo... or at least, that's what he tells himself. They really just tap into something in my imagination; there's a place in my head that insists it totally makes sense that they'd stay in each other's pockets, darn it!
○ So, how about that two-headed coin, huh? Celes borrows Edgar's coin when they're trying to win Setzer's support, and uses it to con the conman (as it were). What if Setzer were to take a shine to that pretty little coin? How might he try to convince Edgar to part ways with that precious relic? Edgar has immense sentimental attachment to that coin so he wouldn't be willing to give it up... so how might Setzer sweeten the deal? What prize could Setzer possible offer that would make Edgar willing to take the risk? Is it... a sexy prize? And once said prizes are on the table, what game(s) would they play? Who ultimately wins, and do they keep their bargain? Does Sabin have any opinion on this? (note: include whatever FFVI characters you want in any of these stories! Sabin is an obvious choice for obvious reasons, but anyone is welcome, go for it!)
○ Setzer and "Gerad" cross paths in the ruined world. What happens between them? Does Setzer even try to approach Edgar, or is he too deep in despair? Does Edgar even try to approach Setzer, or is it too much of a risk to his "Gerad" persona? Does Edgar perhaps enlist Setzer into Gerad's band of thieves, thereby keeping his mission to help Figaro on track but also supporting a former ally who has clearly lost his way in this hopeless world? If so, does Setzer play along nicely, or does he put up a fight? Perhaps it's more trouble than it's worth to try and get "Gerad" to leave him alone, so he ends up going along with it. And perhaps, with King Edgar missing and Gerad simply another common brigand with no responsibilities, Setzer and his new boss can take some rare comfort from one another in this ravaged world... if only for now. (If so, what happens when Edgar casts that alias away? Be as bitter or sweet as you like!)
○ Postgame friendship, postgame relationship! Does Setzer visit often? Does Edgar find ways to offer him employment as an excuse to see Setzer again? Does Setzer subsequently refuse the work because that insults him? Edgar perhaps doesn't realise that he's hurting Setzer's pride every time he tries to employ him, and comes to the wrong conclusion; Setzer simply isn't interested. Setzer, meanwhile, likes playing games even more than most people, but damn, why can't Edgar just be frank about this? If he wants to bang, just say so! Do they ever get things figured out between them? Does Setzer end up accepting a job just so he can meet Edgar face-to-face and tell him to stop what he's doing, leaving Edgar struggling to understand what's gone wrong just when he finally thought things were looking up? Or does Setzer end up needing help from Figaro, and that finally brings them together to talk things out?
○ Opposite to the above, just have it be fluffy and fine! No confusion, no uncertainty, they're just going to have a relationship in this new world! What does that mean for them? Edgar can't leave Figaro (often?), and Setzer isn't the type to settle in one place. Setzer knows how to act in polite company, but that doesn't make him obligated to behave accordingly--but perhaps Edgar and Setzer use that to Edgar's advantage, getting "uncouth" Setzer to say the things Edgar isn't allowed to say to/about those challenging his leadership. Or hell, maybe Setzer just makes it his personal mission to force Edgar to relax now and then. Just shows up every few months to take Edgar flying beneath the stars, gift him some old machinery he's (totally coincidentally!) won over cards and he thought Edgar might like tampering with, dinner, wine, mind-numbingly delightful sex, and then just drop Edgar back at the castle in the morning. King Edgar always comes back from his brief excursions brimming with vigor and inspiration, so most people don't ask too many questions!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!
(Note regarding canon materials: I have played all the character Episodes (Gladio, Ignis, Prompto and Ardyn). I have not read the novelisation. I have not watched Brotherhood, I have not watched the Ardyn prologue anime, and I haven't watched Kingsglaive. Reference any sources you'd like to for your story, but I may not catch certain references for material I haven't experienced!)
Not to take anything away from the various characters I've prompted him with, but Ardyn is the character in FFXV that really resonated with me, and I'd love to receive something that features him in a prominent role! That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be from his perspective, however—some of the most delicious Ardyn content comes through the lens of other characters forced to deal with him, after all. For me, Ardyn is just a brilliant character, exactly the right amount of tragic to make you really sit up and look at him, but just such an awful magnificent bastard within it. And hilarious. He's disgustingly funny, the git.
And now everyone else must suffer the consequences.
Ardyn/Noctis/Lunafreya
I love this because.... Messy royals, messy secrets, messy dynamics, messy violence enacted messily! Fury and empathy, admiration and desecration. They've got the whole bitter package, and I love it. I'm just fascinated and delighted by the dynamics that exist between these three. Ardyn is viciously motivated to destroy them, and arguably succeeds? But equally well, Luna and Noct both demonstrate willingness to save Ardyn, and they... ALSO arguably succeed! And that's just so interesting and delicious.
I didn't request Noctis/Lunafreya specifically because I really do want Ardyn involved in any FFXV story I receive, but I *do* ship Noct and Luna together and have no issues with Ardyn as the interloper into their dynamic (although do feel very free to explore the weird and messy elements of their relationship as well, i.e. both fated to die in service, very little actual face-to-face interaction, etc.).
○ AUs where certain parties survive beyond their canon death points. Keep Lunafreya around for the later half of FFXV, and explore moments that change between the three of them. Or have them all somehow survive beyond the game's conclusion (if Ep: Ignis can do it, so can you!). What does Ardyn do with himself now that he's alive and no longer immortal? How does King Noctis deal with weird uncle Ardyn loitering around Insomnia? Does Lunafreya end up mediating between them? Attempting to reconcile them? Bitterly reminding Ardyn about that one time he almost fatally stabbed her?
○ Alternatively, any kind of afterlife you want. Let them exist in some sort of post-mortality bubble if that works for the story you want to tell. Noct and Luna have their moment together in the credits, but maybe Ardyn isn't all that far away. Maybe they all share their place of repose, this sort of Afterlife Insomnia, and in sharing that space they begin to truly know one another without the weights of destiny.
○ Ardyn somehow intercepts Noctis and Lunafreya's magical exchange diary. Does he begin correspondence with Noctis? As himself, or pretending to be Luna? Talking to Luna as Noctis is fine too! Maybe he's messing with them both at the same time! Or instead, does he just insert himself into conversing with both of them, creating a three-way conversation in which he is surely not welcome? How does that pan out? Feel free to develop this into something positive, but equally well, I have no objections to Ardyn remaining every bit the antagonist he is in canon. Perhaps Ardyn continues maintaining diary contact after killing Luna, and Noctis is furious but also feels horribly compelled to continue writing back. Perhaps Lunafreya is somehow able to continue responding but only Ardyn can read what she says? Does Ardyn try to convey any of that to Noctis, and does Noctis even believe him? Throw out the rulebook and go wild!
Ardyn/Noctis
I love this because... A lot of the same things I mentioned above involving Miss Lunafreya as well. I love how they represent both destruction and salvation for one another, and how those both come to fruition over the course of the story. I love how much evil Ardyn enacts upon Noctis throughout the events of FFXV and how Noctis still treats Ardyn with dignity in their final moments. I love the parallels between them, and how they were both used and sacrificed by something "greater". How they're the same, and not the same at all.
○ I don't want to seem like I'm selling Ardyn/Noctis short, but a lot of the prompts I listed for Ardyn/Noctis/Luna can be used as inspiration points for a specifically Ardyn/Noctis focused fic, and so I recommend reading everything I already wrote up above! THIS IS NOT SPECIFYING PREFERENCE. If you matched me on Ardyn/Noctis and don't want to write about or involve Lunafreya in any way, that is beyond okay! I don't mind! I don't care! I like all flavours! If it has Ardyn's gunky handprints on it then I am happy! But nonetheless, the ideas listed above are easy to adapt into Ardyn/Noctis-focused works, and I'd love to see what you might do with them!
○ Alternatively, though, feel free to just create scenarios where Ardyn torments Noctis. Literally never get tired of that. Canon presents plenty of in-universe opportunities to insert additional scenes of Ardyn cruelty, and I'm always interested to see the kinds of devious tricks people can devise for further bullying poor Noctis. Feel free to use whatever other canon characters you see fit to make that happen! Gladio, Ignis, Prompto, or anyone else you think might be relevant--so long as the focus is still ultimately on Ardyn and Noctis, go wild with whatever you need!
○ What if Noctis doesn't outright win the final confrontation between them? Perhaps Ardyn still believes that Noctis could triumph if he just had a little something to push him over the edge? A story where Ardyn and Noctis are stalking each other through the suburban ruins of Insomnia, Noctis trying to subdue Ardyn and Ardyn trying to provoke Noctis. It's a scenario where both of them are trying to bring Ardyn a certain kind of "salvation", but have very different ideas of what that means and how it can be achieved. How sympathetic is Noctis able to be toward Ardyn in this situation? Can he make any room for empathy in his heart, or is Ardyn just too awful to endure?
○ Ardyn corrupts Noctis. I mean, that's it, that's the prompt. Just those simple words are so potent. Do with it what you will, however you will. Let Ardyn make a mess. As a treat.
Verstael/Ardyn
I love this because... WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE? Two completely insane bastards, both delivering absurd scenery-chewing camp madness in such completely different ways. Both striving forward with malevolent ambition, both using one another but doing so gleefully and with full transparency. They know what the other is, and they're here for it. Heaven help anyone who has to be around them, because I can only imagine they're insufferable when they're feeding off each other's toxic vibes. They're just rancid, and I love them.
○ How does their relationship grow and develop with time? I love the dynamic we see between them in the Ardyn DLC, where they initially have this conflicted disharmony. Ardyn is at his lowest point in many ways, confused and emotionally defeated... and then there's this campy evil mad scientist obliviously fawning over him. In the DLC this dynamic doesn't linger for long, but what if it had? Instead of taking Ardyn to Ifrit as early as he does, what if Verstael had spent more time wining and dining Ardyn to try and win him over? Verstael has no idea how to talk to people and he's completely enamoured with what Ardyn is--let me watch this insane freak try his level best to seduce Ardyn to his cause and have no damn idea where he keeps going wrong! (Seriously, I can't fucking believe Verstael literally wines and dines the monster he found in a cave, he's such a lunatic, god I love him.)
○ For another way to watch their relationship developing, how does Verstael react to the gradual changes in Ardyn as Ardyn daemonifies more people? It seems like Ardyn gains the memories of his victims each time he does this, and that subsequently warps his personality more and more. Are these shifts in Ardyn readily apparent, or is it a more creeping and subtle change that occurs over a longer period of time? If you want to write a warped version of something fluffy, I'd love to see scenarios where Ardyn gets confused after "absorbing" particularly powerful memories/influences into himself. How does Verstael take care of him in these scenarios? Let Verstael gleefully barrel through the line between science and tenderness--just because he's taken Adagium as a lover doesn't mean he's not going to take notes and delight in how fascinating Ardyn is.
○ Verstael as the commander designated to keep mad dog Ardyn under control, and Ardyn belligerently compliant. Between them they hold so much power within the Empire, but there's a dangerous and precarious balance between them. Ardyn has all the supernatural strength, but Verstael has all the knowledge and leverage in modern Eos. Demonstrate these qualities! Or perhaps tell a story focusing on Verstael's reaction upon reuniting with Ardyn for the first time post-DLC. Ardyn deliberately went off-script during the attack on Insomnia, but also he is decidedly not himself in the aftermath. How does Verstael react? What conversations do they have? What does Ardyn tell him of what occurred, or what excuse does he fabricate?
○ All else aside, just depict them being evil together. I don't mind what mechanism you use to make it happen, just show them being wretched and delighted with each other. Specifically, Verstael wants to fuck his science project so bad and they both know it. Make Verstael unrepentantly reverent every time Ardyn does some new awful fucked-up thing. Let Ardyn delight in being adored for his treachery. Show me the work they did to develop Magitek technology, and more importantly, let them have so much terrible evil "look at the unethical things we did" sex while they're at it!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!*
FANDOM SPECIFIC DNWs: Aera mentions are fine, but please don't draw excessive attention to similarities between herself and Lunafreya. They're underserved by the narrative already without being made into proxies of one another!
*UNIVERSAL DNW VERSTAEL SPECIAL NOTE: Infuriatingly, Verstael receives a mad scientist exception to this rule. If you want to write Verstael doing evil science, feel free to completely disregard this DNW. All I ask is that you either tag accordingly, or mention in the author's note that you have done so. Thank you so much for understanding!
Reread Swordspoint, love it just as much as ever. No, that's a lie, I'm pretty sure my love for this series only ever increases with each visit. Right now I'm reading season three of Tremontaine for the first time, and honestly? Sometimes I wonder why I ever leave Riverside at all.
If I'd been quicker off the mark, I might have requested some Tremontaine-specific ships (yes, it's me, I'm the freak who's over-invested in fucking Florian and Shade of all people) (also platonic Diane and Micah ;a;). But, as it happens, these prompts are all about the original best awful boys. The awful original best boys. The best awful boys, certified.
Richard/Alec
I love this because... They are the perfect blend of bittersweet tragedy and devotion. They are terrible for each other, except that they're precisely everything the other wants and needs and desires most in all the world. I love their contrasts, I love their edges, I love their boundaries and the ways they can and can't let each other through. I love the hurts they carry. I love how much they love each other. I am just a wreck for these two and all the tiny ways they share everything they are with each other despite themselves.
○ Just moments. Mundane moments, everyday moments, moments at home, moments in Riverside or across the bridge or even up on the Hill if you can contrive some reason they'd be wandering around up there together. Moments eating food. Moments enjoying money, or moments where the money is running thin. These two have such a glorious dynamic, and it's the simple acts of living together that somehow draw me in each and every time.
○ Alec refuses to even try and learn swordsmanship, but he has at least agreed to carry a knife when Richard isn't around. How did that conversation go? Did Richard have to teach him how best to hold it? How he should keep others at bay? Is Alec ever actually forced to use that knife in self-defence, and how does he cope (during or after)? How does Richard react when he finds out? (For the dark flipside of this, does Alec ever give Richard cause to regret giving him the knife? Feel free to evoke canon-typical self-harm/suicide ideation here.)
○ Richard likes his privacy. His relationship with Alec isn't a secret, but they tend to keep physical intimacy behind a closed door; an arrangement that seems to suit them both. But is there ever a time where one of them forgets their own rule? What would prompt either of them to kiss/touch/embrace in public? Fear or concern for the other's safety, unexpected and overwhelming? Drunkenness (at least in Alec's case)? Or is one of them deliberately trying to anger or get a rise from the other for some reason?
○ On that note, feel free to have them be angry at one another. Alec is so often in a snit about something or another, it almost feels strange to request something where there *isn't* some degree of instability afoot. It's the certainty that they've always got each other in the end—that the love is always there, driving everything—that makes their disagreements so potent and gripping to engage with.
○ For something completely different, what if... one of them ends up in the river. You can make this completely comical (bedraggled prickly alec! grumpy sniffily richard!), or you can invoke some peril and a sense of genuine relief when the unlucky plunger is dragged ashore. How does it happen? An elaborate ridiculous accident, or an actual attempt at violence? Is Alec, drunk and aloof, attempting to harm himself? Threatening foolishness but then actually loses his footing and takes a tumble? There's a lot you can do with this simple basis--someone once wrote me a little drabble treat for this prompt and I loved it, but I still want more!!
UNIVERSAL DNW: Please avoid modern medical procedures in any detail! Injuries are fine, description of gore/violence/pain are fine, field medicine is fine, fantastical/historical wound treatment is fine. Quick references to needles/injections are fine! But please don't linger on descriptions of surgery, insertion of IV fluids, or anything like that. Thank you for understanding!
Whichever fandom you end up writing/drawing for, I really hope you have a lot of fun with this. My letter is here to help guide you or perhaps inspire ideas, but please don't feel obligated to stick super close to anything said here! 10k is a lot to write in any given length of time, and comics are always hard work, so please go with whatever gets you excited to hit the keyboard! Also, I'm a writer so I tend to phrase my prompts with writing in mind. That does not reflect a preference! Receiving art would be wonderful, I would love to see any of these ideas translated into a comic format. Go with whatever it natural for you, and know that I will be so excited and grateful whatever happens to come my way!
Just have fun out there, guys, and look forward to seeing y'all throughout the exchange! C:
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I’m sorry, fucking what?
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I have not watched Kingsglaive! I appreciate that this means I am missing out on Lunafreya content which is a bit of a travesty considering I actually like her, but also it only has, what, two minutes of Ardyn in it? So really, what's the point.
(But seriously, I'm open to being convinced: what is the point.)
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Really, it all boils down to two words: Nyx Ulric. To put it simply, he's my Ardyn. He's such a fun character with a clear arc and I felt every feeling they wanted me to feel over his journey.
And, like, the movie is a bit silly, but it was so beautiful and a lot of fun. And epic. If the tonal triumph of the Leviathan battle was a whole film, this would be that film. I cared just as much about these soldiers on the ground than I did about the party. And it had a bit of a peek into the very broken socioeconomic system of Insomnia, which I a) deeply appreciated; and b) wanted more of.
Luna gets several more badass moments and less awkward fussing over Noctis, too, which I'm about. And her dress. Her texture-less outfits in the game cannot begin to compare.
Did that do it, or should I continue. ♥
Also, the urge to change my profile name to "a naughty child" is so strong now.
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I love you because this might be the best approach to recommending I've ever seen. You made it personal! You referenced something you know I like and tied it to your own experience! VERY LITERARY AND SOCIAL COMPREHENSION OF YOU, A+. If I watch Kingsglaive now and end up not liking it all that much, I'll still feel enriched because I'll be able to point at Nyx and think "now I understand my necrophiliac friend a little better"!
If the tonal triumph of the Leviathan battle was a whole film, this would be that film.
This is also a very good recommendation, because when FFXV is in its stride it can be so good. And socioeconomic worldbuilding details? Sign me up sign me up sign me up. You may be a naughty child, but you have earned a gold star today!
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