Yuletide 2021 Letter

[shamanicshaymin]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you so much for writing for me! I'm already in love with your fanfic, and I'll do my very best to provide inspiration for it in this letter! Any rating goes for all fandoms, so go nuts. Without further ado...

Puri Likes...

- Hurt/Comfort, emotional and physical
- Canon divergence AUs
- Exploration of alternate timelines, cycles, etc. (see above)
- Pokemon/Magical Girl/Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Pacific Rim/Hunger Games/Battle Royale/Hogwarts fusions
- Modern/Sci-Fi AUs for fantasy canons, and vice-versa.
- Earn Your Happy Ending trope (the more crapsack the world, the more satisfying!)
- Unusual/Unlikely friendships
- LGBTQ and non-binary and/or gnc characters, including those on the ace and intersex spectrums
- Friends to Lovers
- Rivals to Lovers
- Enemies to Lovers
- Friends to Enemies to Friends Again/Friends to Enemies to Friends Again to Lovers
- Polyamory
- Frenemies
- Found families
- Blue/Orange morality characters/societies and exploration of such
- Petfic/Fanpets (like kidfic, but with my favorite characters raising animals like doggies, kitties, and chinchillas! :D)
- Psychological horror
- Body horror of the David Cronenberg variety, and exploration of the character struggling/freaking out/working with the changes (See: everything Rubyquest. :D)
- Action/Battle scenes
- World-building and character-driven pieces
- Emotions and wibbliness in smutfic
- Tasteful exploration of depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and the cast being supportive, patient and loving with the person going through those struggles.
- Stories where hope and kindness are valued as the ultimate strength that triumphs over cruelty and cynicism
- Happy/Bittersweet/Ambiguous/Twist/Hopeful endings
- De/Reconstruction of and bending of fairy-tale tropes
- Robots/Machines/Androids/Cyborgs
- Eldritch abominations
- Enemy Mine, aka enemies/rivals working together
- Tough characters with a love for soft cute things and fights to protect them
- Badass normals/Normal non-magical characters proving to be independent and strong in their own ways
- Grumpy softies with hearts of gold
- Broken Birds healing/learning to fly again/finding happiness again with or without their wings
- Dysfunctional characters
- Dysfunctional characters learning to heal and fix their relationships
- Stories that start out cute and fluffy but turn out to be scary and disturbing
- On that note, scary cute things. :D

Puri Does NOT Like...

- Nice Guyism being endorsed by the narrative instead of being called out/deconstructed
- Demonization of female characters in slashfic and vice versa in femmeslash.
- Transphobia/TERFdom that’s treated as okay by the narrative
- Ace spectrum characters being portrayed as cold, childish, prudish, or soulless
- Bi erasure/demonization and biphobic stereotypes
- Fat-shaming/fetishization where all that matters about a character and their sexual appeal is that they’re fat
- Characters that are regarded as "hopeless" and "better off dead" by the narrative simply because they're disabled (internalized or outside ableism is fine, just not when the narrative agrees)/characters who are "punished" with disability and/or then are magically healed once they are "redeemed."
- Rape and sexual abuse*
- Graphic depiction of drugs and alcohol (people hanging out at a bar or sharing pot or drunken party shenanigans is fine, in-depth exploration of alcoholism and addiction is not)
- Infidelity/Cuckolding
- Love triangles where there’s an obvious “winner” and the “loser” is forced to despair forever or be slapped together with a random character in an underdeveloped relationship “Pair the Spares” style.
- Character and ship bashing unless it's appropriate and IC in-universe
- Third Act Misunderstanding and the Liar Revealed tropes (in which the lying character is sympathetic and there’s a long drawn out scene where they are rejected/ostracized played for drama. That said, exceptions are made for deserving unrepentant villains finally broken of their Karma Houdini status)
- Excessive animal abuse and torture, especially for shock value. While I'm fine with animals getting hurt (preferably that they turn out okay in the end), offscreen deaths (ex. the kitten in Penguindrum), and predators hunting and nomming on prey, I don’t want explicit onscreen torture.**
- Incest***
- Pedophilia****
- Vampires
- Werewolves with stereotypical Alpha/Omega dynamics
- All-hurt-and-no-comfort fic
- People with faith in humanity being treated as childish and stupid by the narrative

*Canon-typical references in Penguindrum, Yuri Kuma, and Nanquest are fine as long as it’s not the main focus. See Nanquest requests for specificities regarding that fandom.
**Anthropomorphic animal characters like the cast of Rubyquest, Nanquest, Cannibal Ants, and Yuri Kuma are exempt. The rule applies to non-sentient animal creatures like Pluto, not Goofy. The titular cannibal ants are once again exempt from this, because... goddamn cannibal ants. :P
***Penguindrum is the obvious exception to this, since incest is a core part of the show and its themes. As long as it's the canon pairings (the Takakura siblings, Masako's feelings for Kanba) and nothing like say, SURPRISE FATHER/SON INCEST, I'm good.
****I’m okay with teenagers experimenting together as long as A. Adults aren’t sexually involved with minors. B. Neither party is under 15. Aging up is fine and vastly encouraged. One exception is explained under the Nanquest requests.

Kinks

- Oral
- Anal
- Fingering
- Bondage and BDSM
- Kinbaku/Shibari
- Aftercare
- Descriptive kissing
- Biting/Nibbling/Fangs
- Scratching/Claws
- Awkward first times
- Cuddling
- Dirty talk
- Bath/Showersex (hell, I'm just happy to see my ships being domestic and washing each other, sex or no sex)
- Size kink/Height differences
- Toys and Pervertibles
- Rough sex
- Angry sex
- Scars and tattoos
- Power-Bottoms
- Gentle submissive tops
- Massages
- Frottage/Intercrural
- Tentacles/Vines
- Xenophilia/Xenobiology

Non-Kinks

- Scat
- Watersports
- Vomit
- Ageplay/Diapers
- Stuffing/Feederism/Forcefeeding
- Inflation
- Shouta/lolicon (sexualization of minors 14 and under)
- Unrequested non/dubcon pairings
- Non/Dubcon not using my requested aggressors

Noncon is fine for: Sanetoshi x Kanba (Sanetoshi as aggressor), Mitsuko x Ginko (Mitsuko as aggressor), Filbert x Tom (Filbert as aggressor)

Dubcon is fine for: Father Velasco x Lorenzo (Velasco as aggressor), Henry x Santiago (Henry as aggressor), Henry x Pablo (Henry as aggressor), Red x Filbert (either as aggressor), all listed noncon ships above except Filbert x Tom

Absolute DNWs

- Mpreg/Pregnancy/Miscarriage/Abortion
- Period-shaming/worship/periods regarded as the “ultimate symbol of womanhood.”
- A/B/O AUs
- Everything listed under Non-Kinks (regular vomiting is fine, just nothing involving it as a kink)

Mawaru Penguindrum

Penguindrum is... complex. It's an ambitious show about family of all kinds, the cruelty of Sins of the Father, terrorist attacks and the lasting trauma it leaves on survivors and friends/family of the victims, the failure of adult society to provide help and love for abused and neglected children, and overall giving Fate the middle finger. And penguins. Lots and lots of penguins. I'm only familiar with the anime alas, though I'm excited for the compilation movies coming out. :D

Fandom-specific DNW: Yuri/Ringo, Tabuki/Ringo. Mentions of the latter are fine as an indicator of Ringo's growth past her obsession of him.

- I love Himari and Ringo's relationship so much! I would kill to see more interactions between them during or post-series, especially as a domestic wlw couple. ;; If not wlw, just them living together as family is good enough for me. <3

- I saw this really interesting AMV about Himari and Ringo being able to interact with Kanba and Shouma in dreams post-series. I'd love to read a fanfic version of this!

- I want more details of what went down between Kanba and Sanetoshi and Kanba's descent to darkness in order to save Himari. Cults are scary in their slow manipulation of their victims, especially when they make it seem like they're the only one who listens and cares about the victims' needs. tl;dr Make Sanetoshi a terrifying motherfucker who makes me sleep with the lights on.

- One of my favorite things about the show is the Child Broiler and how creepy it is. How does one first hear about the Child Broiler? Had Ringo considered going herself before discovering her sister's diary?

Yuri Kuma Arashi

Yuri Kuma is a messy canon in a lot of ways, but what it does right it does beautifully. It has a lot of genuine things to say about what it's like being a lesbian in Japan, the damage and hypocrisy of purity culture and hate groups, all told with batshit insanity, gorgeous art, and cuddly bears who can eat you alive. I'm familiar with the anime and manga, so I'm good with fanfics taking place in either universe or a mix-and-match of both. I'm open to stories with all or any one of the nominated characters (Kureha, Ginko, Lulu), but I'm also open to worldbuilding and including non-nominated characters (namely Mitsuko and Sumika. :D)

- Any ship combo with the nominated characters (KureGinko, GinkoLulu, KureLulu, OT3) goes! I'm more fond of Manga!KureGinko, but I'd love to see their relationship expanded upon in the animeverse. Ships I'm also open to: Kureha/Sumika, Kureha/Ginko/Lulu/Sumika, Ginko/Sumika, Mitsuko/Ginko, and Manga!Lulu/Sumika.

- I felt awful for Lulu being regulated to Third Wheel, so maybe a post-anime fic where Ginko and Kureha invite Lulu and Milne to join them in the other world?

- Cute genfic involving Lulu and Milne shenanigans. ;;

- Worldbuilding of the world of YKA on the history of bears and humans, and the delicate balance of coexisting on the same planet without killing/eating each other completely.

- I love the idea of Mitsuko being Ginko's foil. More interactions and mind-games between those two plz.

- Post-manga fic where the bear gang finds Reia, Lulu & Milne catching up with each other, shaky Ginko & Kale healing... just everybody being happy. ;;

Rubyquest

I'm a hopeless furry who adores animal stories and I love cosmic horror. Combine them both and you get Rubyquest! It helps that its cast are all based off of and named after Animal Crossing characters, but obviously you don't need to be familiar with AC to enjoy this comic. In fact, you're free to mix and match as much or as little AC lore with Rubyquest as you please. I'm also open to characters who weren't nominated this year, such as Bella and Stitches and Jay. :3

Fandom-specific DNW: Breaking up Ruby/Tom (staying together in polyships is fine) (Filbert/Tom noncon also doesn't count as "breaking up") Rubyquest!Filbert and Animal Crossing!Filbert being the same person/having the same personality.

- Ruby and Tom healing after their time in the Metal Glen! H/C galore as they help each other cope with their respective traumas and learn to live with their disabilities. Can be gen, but I’d also love romance with Ruby/Tom, or even an OT3 with Ruby/Tom/Jay. If feeling adventurous enough for NSFW, Tom could put those extra arms of his to good use... Points if Ruby ends up topping him despite her GIRLISH FIGURE.

- Bella has told Ruby and Tom she has seen them come as far to meet her three times before. What were those earlier runs like? Was there an attempt where Ruby made it but Tom died or vice versa? Was there a bad run in particular where Ruby and Tom ended up killing each other, via mercy kill or fighting like rabid animals?

- According to Animal Crossing and New Leaf, Ruby’s goal is to be a photographer and Tom wants to be a guitarist. Tom also used to be a Junior Bantamweight Boxing Champion in his younger days. Could that be where Tom got his MANLY PHYSIQUE from? Could sight loss have led Ruby to the Metal Glen so she could pursue her dream, and does she rediscover her passion after she escapes with Tom? Does Tom pick up guitar post-RubyQuest?

- A lot of my prompts are about characters recovering and healing. But with Filbert? I want the opposite. Tell me the story of his downward spiral. Tell me how he went from the hopeful scientist aiming to save lives to degenerating into the homicidal eldritch horror we see him as in the comic. Scare and haunt the shit out of me with his descent into madness. Go Lovecraftian/Poe/Stephen King/Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" as you please.

- Dr. Red is an interesting and fucked up dude who's left an imprint on the story in the short time we've seen him, and I want more of him. What goes on in his head? What was his relationship with the patients and other doctors like? What about Bella? I imagine he and Filbert had a complex relationship, and if you want to go into the Shipping Danger Zone and explore its dysfunctional kismesis, I'm totally for it. :D

Nanquest

Nanquest is the spiritual successor of Rubyquest and is its own beast in a lot of ways (pun intended), and I'm still screaming about this fandom for anyone who'd listen. I love the cast in their entire dysfunctional glory and Nan is a badass heroine I'm proud to have befriended in Animal Crossing (and she's the only AC-based character this time, unless you count Santiago. As this was written pre-New Leaf, Henry is hilariously nothing like his AC namesake at all) If you love people from different time periods meeting together in the same place in a horror scenario, Nanquest is gonna be a treat. ;D

Fandom-specific DNW: Nan/Any Male (except maybe Lorenzo having a one-sided crush on her), Henry/Anna

- Lorenzo is my favorite character and everything that's happened to him breaks my heart. ;; What was his childhood like? What led him to become a pilgrim? I'd love to see more of his friendship with Nan too. ;; Does he meet everyone who died in the Hotel post-death? (I'd especially be fascinated by how he interacts with Pablo, considering he made the crucial decision to stab him in the first place so Nan wouldn't have to choose. Bonus points if Lorenzo and Pablo end up slowly falling in love with each other. :D) Do he and Father Velasco have a chance to make amends in the afterlife?

- Father Velasco wasn't a character I expected to be attached to, but god, everything Weaver wrote about him in their Nanquest FAQ and all the self-loathing he endured his whole life is heartwrenching. Tell me aaaaaaaaall about this dude. What were those months between him and Lorenzo like (and yes, I encourage aaaaaaaaaall the m/m. That said, optional details are optional)? Does he ever find salvation and forgive himself post-Nanquest? Regarding the elephant in the room, mentions of his past period-typical racism is fine, but not something I want the fic to focus on.

- Hoo boy, Santiago, my Problematic Fave TM. He's clearly led a fucked up life, but in the end of it all, he's just a scared little kid who ultimately ended up doing what's right and earning a second chance (via second childhood). This is where I break my "no sexual assault" and "no pedophilia" rules, as it's heavily implied in canon that he was abused/raped and castrated by his father as a child (hence him crying during his attempted assault of Nan, since he's reliving his trauma). It's okay to write a fic exploring how this has impacted Santiago's psyche into his adulthood and his road to recovery, but I don't want any onscreen rape scenes or any more explicit detail on The Scene with Nan. tl;dr please keep it tasteful and we'll be fine.

- What was Santiago's time like in the hotel before Nan came along? What was his relationship with the other residents like? Exactly how fucked up were things between him and Henry, considering he was used as Henry's scapegoat? Was the attempted assault not part of Henry's plan, since he was unaware of Santiago's trauma? (He probably said something along the lines of, "Do the worst thing you can imagine to Nan, as long as you don't kill her, so I can save her.")

- For something fluffier, I want to hear about Nan and Santiago post-ending and all the shenanigans they get up to together. I love to think Nan adopted him and she and Kim get to show him all the cool things that exist in her timeline. :3

Cannibal Ants in a Polish Bunker

The story of the Cannibal Ants is one of the coolest things I have ever read, and when I saw it had been nominated for Yuletide this year, I knew I had to request it. From the history of the bunker itself to the ants and the bats and the humans who discovered it, there's so much material to mine for a story! :D Go as spooky, oddly hopeful, or both as you please. It's Blue/Orange Morality at its finest regarding ants and bats, so if you want to explore this trope, this "fandom" is for you. <3

- I prefer gen for this fandom, but if you want to write lesbian ants, I'm all for it! Whether it be a fucked up or loving relationship (or both!) I'm good as long as it fits the tone of the story. :D Is Ant A desperately trying to get back to Ant B from Colony 2 or vice versa? Does one end up falling to join the other? Do they work together to survive and make it, or does only one end up surviving or both dying?

- I'd love something from the ants' POV (be it Colony 1 or Colony 2, or switching back and forth between them) but seeing it from the perspective of the bats or an epistolary log from the scientists or soldiers hiding in the bunker would be cool too. :) I'm a gigantic animal and entomology nerd, so feel free to go as nuts on bat and ant behavior as possible. (Hence my "lesbian ant" option: ants are matriarchal societies! :D)

The article itself provides its own prompts, so I'm more or less copy-pasting below:

- Their colony was the wretched result of individuals falling from the healthier colony above, and with no way to climb out of the bunker, they could never return. It feels like a mirror-horror that could have come straight out of the mind of Jordan Peele, except that instead of a commentary on race and class in America, it’s a testament to one population’s sheer will to survive. “It is a peculiar colony” says István Maák, a zoologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. “They are doing the best they can, surrounded by dying.”

- The ants were first discovered in 2013, during the first year of a campaign to monitor the health of bats known to frequent abandoned bunkers like these. They make great bat dens, with internal temperatures that hover around 44 degrees Fahrenheit in the dead of winter. Though the bunkers had been sealed, curious tourists and intrepid bat-lovers had made their way in, according to an earlier study in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research that first documented the existence of the colony, authored by Wojciech Czechowski, Maák’s colleague at the academy.

Makes you wonder if the bats and ants really interacted with each other. Or how the bats feel about all the tourists and bat fans.

The ants were discovered in 2013, but what if they'd been around even longer than that. This is where worldbuilding regarding the bunker's history and the soldier comes in. How fascinated does he become by the cannibal ants and how much does it line with his current predicament?

- This is actually not an uncommon behavior for wood ants. The species is known to engage in battles among colonies, particularly in spring, when they extend their ranges in search of food. Maák calls this time of year the “wood ant wars.” After a battle, the victors feast on the bodies of the defeated. Down in the bunker there were no alternative sources of food—not enough bat guano or passing mites, for example—so instinct kicked in.

- Ant Colony Two’s drive to survive resulted in an extraordinarily meticulous ant necropolis that lined the walls of the small room and spilled through the doorway. “They were organizing their corpses in waste piles, putting neatly in the corners, and transporting it away,” Maák says. There were approximately two million corpses, many of which displayed bores from bites and fret holes—signs that their contents had been consumed, he says.

- Ant Colony Two seemed to have had some sense of its situation. “We have seen ants wandering quite far away from the bunker colony that couldn’t find a way out,” Maák says. “The hole was too far away.” The ants did not reproduce, but their numbers were sustained by their clumsy brethren above, which ensured that the population hovered at around a million since 2013 (compared with the much larger Ant Colony One, whose mound is two feet high and 10 feet wide). “They had no larvae and no queen,” he says. “But still they survived and kept their organization without any goal of life.” In 2015, the researchers dug into the second colony’s mound, directly below the shaft, to look for traces of pupae, but found nothing. When they returned 2016, the ants had repaired the mound.

- And so, out of both compassion and scientific curiosity, Maák devised a plan. Before he could unite the colonies, he had to check if they would recognize each other. If not, the resulting carnage could wipe out both populations. Wood ant colonies each carry a hydrocarbon profile that’s as specific as a barcode, and ants will scan this to see if a newcomer is a friend or foe. In spring 2016, he took a group of around a hundred ants from Colony Two to Colony One, and let them scramble toward the mother nest. The ants were not attacked, and quickly—and perhaps with no small measure of relief—reimmersed themselves in the mother ship.

- Maák’s day job is, regrettably, not exclusively devoted to the study of these ants. So he left to conduct other research. When he returned in February 2017, Ant Colony Two was gone. The necropolis remained, but the swarming black mass had disappeared. A few lone ants wandered around the base of the boardwalk—presumably only the recently fallen.

According to Maák, the most significant implication of this research is how wood ants will maintain colony organization in even the most dire circumstances, in total darkness with no food save each other. “They couldn’t predict that we would come in to save them, but they were still surviving and fighting for something,” Maák says. “And that is exciting.”

SCP Foundation

A giant horror universe canon I've been slowly integrating myself into, and it's a heckuva lot of fun! I love listening to The Volgun and Eastside Show read SCP logs as I do mind-numbing repetitive tasks in video games. :) Once again, gen is generally preferred in this fandom, though I won't say no to romance (ex. SCP-035 being flirty with the interviewer and SCP-049) if you included it. I just find the bizarre friendships between SCPs more fun. :D

- Show me the “desire camera” and how it was used throughout history. What happened that finally led SCP to discover it and contain it?

- A more detailed log or short story based off any entry listed in the SCP-978 Extended Test Logs. Can be as sweet, creepy, comical, weird, and/or heart-wrenching as you please. If you're stumped on which SCPs to choose, a few I'd be interested in are:

- SCP-035 "Possessive Mask" [TAPE 1] [TAPE 2]
Photographed Activity: At rest in its containment chamber.
Photo Result: SCP-035 is being worn by an unidentified individual sitting on a throne. On the floor there are 3 dead masked individuals. The location of the picture appears to be [DATA EXPUNGED].

- SCP-049 "Plague Doctor" [TAPE]
Photographed Activity: Standing in its containment chamber.
Photo Result: SCP-049 is embracing an unidentified approximately 6 years old child. In the background various instances of SCP-049-2 are visible.

- SCP-053 "Young Girl" [SCP Illustrated]
Photographed Activity: Coloring in a coloring book.
Photo Result: Riding on SCP-682's back in a pastoral setting; SCP-682 is wearing a bright red hair-bow and a floral dress similar to SCP-053's favored clothing, and has bright pink nail polish on its claws. Adult humans are present, but facial features are indistinct.

- SCP-106 ("Radical Larry" as named by Markiplier)
Photographed Activity: SCP-106 emerging from a wall.
Photo Result: SCP-106 roaming a wheat field. Appears to be approaching an old farm house, while a woman, appearing to be in her mid-sixties, welcomes 106.

- SCP-682 "Hard-to-Destroy Reptile" [TAPE]
Photographed Activity: Contained in Holding Tank.
Photo Result: SCP-682 was shown surrounded by several dead personnel, and mauling the cameraman.
Notes: Well, that was predictable. -Dr. Valence

- Crossovers involving my other requested fandoms encouraged! What’s revealed in a photo of Kureha, Ginko, and/or Lulu? Does the Invisible Storm try using SCP-978 to “find and exploit evil” and it ends up blowing up in their faces? Does Sanetoshi possess the camera and keeps all the photos of everyone's desires? What's his photo like? For that matter, what about the rest of the cast? The Takakura siblings and Ringo's photos are bound to be heartwrenching. ;; Are logs kept of all the subjects and doctors in the Metal Glen from Rubyquest? Is the camera an item discovered by one of the people trapped in the hotel in Nanquest? If you’re doing a Rubyquest/Nanquest/Animal Crossing crossover, it’d be interesting to see the Desire Camera compare the RQ cast and Nan with their AC counterparts. Multiverses in the SCP universe are canon, after all. ;D

Once again, thank you so much, and happy writing!

Your Recipient,
Puri / “ShamanicShaymin” of AO3