#and i just really feel like reading sparrow’s Whole Thing through the lens of a girlhood that never was and a womanhood that will never be | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cyanmnemosyne · 6 years

Text

Yuletide Letter (2018)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to write me a fic! These last few years I've been increasingly drawn to tiny fandoms, so I always look forward to this opportunity to share the love with other people who love them too. :D

I've tried to provide some commentary below for each of my requested fandoms, in case it's useful to you, but ultimately Optional Details Are Optional, and I'm sure I'll enjoy what you come up with regardless of if your heart takes you in a different direction. :)

AO3 name: darkcyan

Requested fandoms:

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

Suisei no Gargantia | Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Ghostverse - Alex Yuschik (Podcast)

Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett

[ hiding the rest under the cut, because I tend to write a lot XD ]

General Preferences:

I have no preferences regarding length, tense, or POV; feel free to do whatever seems right for the story.

Stories with emotional warmth are my jam: fluff, found family, battle couples. People learning to trust / coming to love each other, and people for whom their mutual love and/or trust is already their bedrock. I don't need the entire story to be lighthearted from start to finish, but the stories I love most are the ones where even if the characters have been through Some Shit in the course of the story, by the end they're in as good or better a place than when they started.

If you feel like doing an AU, go for it! :D I like it best when the characters feel "true" to their canon personalities, as filtered and changed through the different lens of how the AU differs from canon. I do have a slight preference for AUs that provide opportunities for interesting worldbuilding (e.g. scifi AU) than the more-typical coffeeshop/college AU.

In general, if you're the sort to enjoy doing a deep dive into worldbuilding (AU or canon), I'm happy to come along for that ride, too. :D

Time travel fic is one of my guilty pleasures. XD I have no need for the exact mechanics to be explained; going down the canon-divergence-with-foreknowledge path is completely OK with me. :D

I love it when female characters are their awesome selves

This is not an exhaustive list, so if you don't see something in my DNW list, you're welcome to either send me an anon ask or just assume it's fine. :D

DNW:

Onscreen sex. Fade to black or references to it happening offscreen are fine if you feel it’s important to the story, but if we’ve gotten to the point where we’re talking about limb positions, my reaction is almost certain to be somewhere between bored and extremely uncomfortable.

Even if it’s not explicit or onscreen, please no rape / noncon / dubcon.

I’m not a huge fan of drug / addiction plots either

Relationships, romantic or otherwise, where there’s a significant power imbalance (especially if it’s abused) tend to really bother me.

I also feel pretty strongly about free will and freedom to choose, so “I’m taking away your choices by hiding things from you / doing things behind your back For Your Own Good” narratives mostly just make me want to punch things, no matter how good the supposed justification is on the part of the person doing it.

Cheating and other forms of deliberate, sustained dishonesty within a relationship. Poly relationships are completely fine :D all that I ask is that all people involved are as aware of who else is involved / what else is going on as they want to be.

Gratuitous drama. If a misunderstanding could be resolved by the characters just sitting down for five minutes and talking to each other, and the only reason they don’t is ~*~reasons~*~, then I start getting really annoyed, really quickly

Character bashing. Even the characters I personally dislike are the heroes of their own stories.

If I wanted to hear about awful people being awful all the time and how awful everything is as a result, I’d go watch the news. (… Someday I would like this statement to be less true than it was the previous year, instead of more. ;___;) There can be awful people, they can do awful things, but I’d really prefer they not be either the majority or the focus of the story.

Fandoms:

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

Requested character(s): Nel Zelpher, Clair Lasbard

Spoiler notes: I’ve played the game. (I'm also about halfway through the manga, but so far not super impressed by its characterization of Nel, so feel free to ignore it completely. :) )

Preferred pairings: Nel/Clair or gen

So, Nel was my official first ever video game crush. This was a bit difficult for me to explain to my young, theoretically-straight self at the time, but she was so cool that I didn’t bother to think about it too hard.

When we are introduced to Clair as her partner, and every single scene in which the two appear makes it clear how strong their bond is – it was a foregone conclusion that I would start to ship them as well. And Adray’s obnoxious insistence on trying to find a husband for Clair just made me even more determined to headcanon them as lovers (or at the very least secretly pining for each other) in addition to partners.

If you don’t ship them romantically, but just think they’re great platonic partners, I’m sure I’ll still enjoy it whatever you come up with. But in case there’s any doubt, I also very much ship them. :D <3

And whether they're romantically involved or not, I love their dynamic – these two strong-willed, intelligent, fiercely competent women, working towards a shared goal that they both believe is more important than themselves. I love how deep and unshakeable their trust is – and how even though it clearly tears Clair apart to send Nel out into a situation that they both know may not be survivable, she’ll do it anyway. And Nel will go.

I don’t have any specific prompts in mind – if you want to write about a mission Clair has to send Nel off on, and the tension between their fear for and their trust in each other (and the knowledge hanging over both of them that they’re doing something that they see as more important than them both), great! Want to just do fluffy interactions during a brief break from the action (do they get vacation? How many people do they have to bribe to get vacation at the same time?), or after the war is done and things are a bit more settled, go for it.

In the narrative path where Nel goes with the party into space, does she think of Clair and all the stories she’s going to tell once she gets back (if she gets back)? What does Clair think, being left so much farther behind this time than any other time before? What stories does Nel tell when they’re reunited?

Got an idea that’s burning in your mind and has nothing to do with any of these? I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever you come up with. :)

Suisei no Gargantia | Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Requested character(s): Ridget, Bellows

Spoiler notes: I’ve watched the show, the OVAs, and the movie.

Preferred pairings: Ridget/Bellows or gen

I came to this show because I was in the mood for mecha anime, then stayed because I fell in love with the cinnamon roll main character, his slice of life struggles to find his place, and the interesting worldbuilding.

… And the badass-with-a-mile-wide-streak-of-imposter-syndrome Fleet Commander and her best friend (or more?), the irreverent excavation team head.

Ridget and Bellows don’t interact a whole lot over the course of the show, but every moment counts and it is clear even in those moments how deep their respect and appreciation for each other goes.

Talk to me about Ridget, who’s so afraid to mess everything up but determined to shoulder the responsibility anyway.

Talk to me about Bellows, who is one of the most effortlessly competent people on the ship and has a warm heart to match.

I’d love to see a story about the two of them and about how much they mean to each other, or a situation where one or both of them are supporting each other. Anywhere in the timeline is fine with me. :D

(For the record: I ship these two characters, like, a lot. But if you don’t, know that I’d still love to see a story about their entirely platonic friendship. <3)

The other characters are more than welcome to show up, too. :)

Ghostverse - Alex Yuschik (Podcast)

Requested character(s): Five, Hyeon

Spoiler notes: I've listened to the story

Preferred pairings: Five/Hyeon or gen

I stumbled across this story earlier this year, and my heart was immediately stolen by how elegantly it portrays a very interesting science fiction / fantastical world and the growing friendship of these two characters, through nothing more than a series of texts between the two.

So really, what I'd like from this prompt is more of the same. :) Do you want to explore this fascinating world, where giant mecha run by chronically sleep-deprived pilots are the only thing that stands between what's left of the world and destruction by the ravaging of (I would assume) equally giant ghosts? I'll happily read any of it.

Or dig deeper into these two characters: Hyeon, who feels so constricted by his lot in life, but still tries his best to live up to it (modulo some text complaints, because really, who wouldn't?). Five, who's driven to not only pilot a mecha, but to be one of the best; who has turned his inner grief and darkness into a sword that he uses to stand between the ghosts and others, that they not suffer as he has.

I'm most interested in what might happen after the story ends: now that Five and Hyeon have met face-to-face, what happens next? Does it change their relationship at all? What does Seven Sparrows Sleeping look like in the aftermath of that last attack, and does that affect Hyeon at all?

But honestly: whatever story you give me, I'm sure I'll love.

As usual, while I do ship these two characters, I'd also be happy to see a story where their relationship remains platonic.

And while it would be fun to see a story told solely through texts, in the mode of canon, please do not feel like that's a requirement - I'd be just as happy to see a story that uses a more standard prose format. :)

Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett

Requested character(s): Berenice Grimaldi

Spoiler notes: I've read the book

Preferred pairings: Berenice/Sancia if during/after the book; gen otherwise

I read this book recently, after hearing rave reviews, and while it took a while to get going for me, I ended up really enjoying it: both the characters introduced, and the world they inhabit. Alas, that last I heard book 2 doesn’t even have a release year yet. 😭

And perhaps my favorite was Berenice, Orso's quieter, blazingly competent counterpart. (And, in fact, one of the biggest contributors to my eventually liking Orso as well was the fact that he clearly understood and respected just how competent Berenice is; that their partnership was a partnership, as much as it initially looked like he was just peremtorily ordering her around.)

I'd love to see more stories about Berenice -- how did she start out? What was working with Orso like when they first started working together, and how many times did she have to put her foot down before he started listening to her and treating her as an equal?

What was she thinking and doing, in the parts of the book where she's not on-screen or not the POV character?

Or, if you feel like speculating -- what does she think of Orso's new merchant house (aside from "nice job rules-lawyering yourself out of getting brutally killed 👍"), and what is she doing to help make it a success? Is she taking on a teaching role with all the new scrivers he's brought in, or learning from them? Has she found any other people with talents like hers to train as well?

The bits and pieces of Berenice/Sancia we got during the book were quite cute -- I especially like the scene where Orso's trying to give her romantic advice and she's like "lol I'm way ahead of you" -- so if you'd like to explore more of their relationship, I'd love to see more of that as well! Is Sancia still touch-shy? How do they negotiate that? Alternately, now that she's gotten this ridiculous powerup with no real downsides (at least, none we've seen yet), how does that affect how she interacts with the world and with Berenice?

Given that their relationship seems to be pretty much canon at this point, if you include Sancia in the story I'd prefer that the story acknowledge that. But, is probably obvious from all the above commentary, if you'd rather <i>not</i> focus on their relationship, that's 100% fine with me, too -- the main thing I want is more of Berenice being her awesome self. :)

Note also that I find the magic system rather fascinating, and as a programmer myself am amused by how it "feels like" programming. So if you'd like to dig into the magic system and play around with it some more, I would absolutely be on board with that, too. :D

... And that's it!

I hope this letter has been of help, and am thoroughly looking forward to seeing what you come up with. :D

#dear creator letter #yuletide #yuletide 2018

29 notes · View notes

kootenaygoon · 5 years

Photo

So,

Ed slumped into the newsroom, back from the courthouse.

He spun dejected in his computer chair, his chin on his chest. I could tell this story bothered him. He’d spent all morning listening to the details of the Elephant Mountain Secondary case, sitting across from the 18-year-old accused of making “serious threats”. It seemed abundantly clear to everyone that this student had been bullied to the point of desperation, and now he’d lashed out in a heartbreakingly self-destructive way. So close to the end, and now here he was facing large-scale social ostracism and legit jail time.

“Was it as illuminating as we hoped?” Greg asked, standing up from his desk. He’d taken a multi-pronged approach to this story, having me cover the grad cancellation angle while Ed sat through the court proceedings.

“I got everything we need. The gist of it.”

Kai stood up from his desk and walked over. “And? Was this kid actually going to shoot up the school, or not? Was he just mouthing off, or was he actually planning something? And did the administration overreact, or not?”

Ed sighed. He had kids only a few years older than this student, and I could tell he felt bad for him. He shook his head and stared at the floor as the three of us surrounded him. I was midway through transcribing an interview with one of the valedictorians, talking about how the students had found other ways to celebrate over the weekend.

“It started at the rehearsal, apparently. They were all in the gym and this kid was sitting there making finger guns, pretending to shoot everybody.”

Kai snorted, held up his fingers like Yosemite Sam. “Like this?”

Ed shook his head. “He was pretending to use a rifle, and a handgun. The kids reported this to the principal, and he said it was a celebratory salute.”

I laughed, despite myself. “A celebratory salute?”

The rest of the story wasn’t funny. The principal took him aside and asked him pointed questions, trying to understand where the kids’ hostility was coming from. He said a few strange things, but the principal initially wrote off his behaviour as harmless. It was only after he slept on it that he decided something needed to be done. The next day the cops came to the school and arrested him under the Mental Health Act.

“That’s a quick escalation,” I said. “That doesn’t even sound like serious threats to me. This poor kid.”

Kai crossed his arms. “But would we be saying ‘this poor kid’ if he’d shot a bunch of his classmates? We’re only saying ‘this poor kid’ because he didn’t successfully do any of the things he said he was going to do.”

Ed told us that Dr. Nic Sparrow examined the student at Kootenay Lake Hospital, and that’s where things got even worse. Now the kid described in detail how he had planned an attack on the grad ceremony, down to how he would dress and what weapons he would use. That’s when his fate became fully sealed. He’d talked his way to the bottom. “Two counts of uttering threats. Chances are he’s going to do jail time,” Ed said, shaking his head again. “And now that his name’s out there, I don’t know what his future will be like.”

While he stewed on that, I focused on typing up my interview with one of the valedictorians, Kyle. I knew him from CrossFit. I was silver lining it as hard as I could, and wanted to get a feel-good story out amidst all the drama. These students deserved a grad, and deserved to be remembered for more than this ugly incident. I had found some photos of his grad celebrations on Facebook and I asked his permission to use them in the story.

“We’re not going to let this incident ruin everything,” he said.

“Basically my message is that Elephant Mountain Secondary has taken us in and made us feel at home. I was welcome there from Day 1 right to the last exam. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the same group of friends since kindergarten, which was really special for me.”

He believed the relationships he created at the school would be difficult to create in a larger facility and the Elephant Mountain Secondary staff go above and beyond in creating personal relationships with the students.

“I think being in a rural area is special, because it’s small and you know the vast majority of the students throughout all the grades, and for that I’m grateful. I pretty much know everybody.”

When news of the threat reached them, many of the 58 grads turned to Kyle to find out what was going on. Only hours earlier they had completed a practice run of the ceremonies to come. Now they were being evacuated.

“I was obviously quite shocked. It was scary at first, before we had everything sorted out. No matter where anyone is in the world, this is something you don’t want to face.”

But he figured the administration made the right choice.

“This is the best scenario in the worst situation for us. We could’ve been mourning for the rest of our lives, but a weekend of ceremonies can be made up.”

Once that story was typed up, I got it online. People on Facebook immediately leaped on it, praising the grads for their resilience and wishing them luck with their futures. The comments underneath were heart-warming to read compared to the court story ones. I checked and re-checked the CBC stories to make sure they didn’t have my level of access, and sure enough they hadn’t yet found a student to quote. I’d invested the time into this school, now I was reaping the rewards.

“This story has so many levels,” I said to Greg.

He turned in his chair, shrugged. “How so?”

“Well, you could go at it straight as a breaking news school shooter story, and that’s one level. You can look at it from the lens of the mental health crisis, and how this kid’s an example of that, and there you’ve got a whole different story. Then there’s these kids going through this traumatic event, and how the community has handled it, that’s another level.”

He nodded. “It’s rare we have the time or funds to get beyond the first level, but some stories are worth it. And I would say this is one of them.”

After we were finished talking, I logged out of my computer and shoved my camera into its bag. I tossed a few wrappers and empty containers from lunch into the garbage, then stood scrolling through the notifications in my phone before heading down to my car. Then my office phone rang.

“Will Johnson, Nelson Star.”

Someone cleared their throat on the other end. “Will, it’s Jeff Jones.”

“Jeff! How’re you holding up? Did you see my interview with Kyle?”

“I did. Yes, I did see that. Listen, the reason I’m calling is that we’ve re-scheduled the grad ceremonies, and I wanted to let you know. We’re going to have very limited media there, but after having a conversation with the staff we’ve decided that we’d like you to be there.”

I took a deep breath. “Really? Yes, I’d love to come.”

“Now we’re asking that you don’t bring a camera or a recorder, and we’re going to ask you not to talk to the students about anything related to this incident. This is a day for them to celebrate. We’d like you to celebrate with us. Does that make sense?”

“I’m already trying to figure out what I’m going to wear.”

Jeff laughed, and in his laugh I could hear how tired he was. “There will be an RCMP presence there, so be prepared for that. But I’m glad you’ll be able to join us. I think it will be a really special event.”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Jeff. I’ll see you there.” The Kootenay Goon

0 notes