Yuletide 2020
Oct. 16th, 2020 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iomixitDear Yuletide Author,
Thanks for dropping by! My fandoms are perennially small, so it’s always wonderful to have an exchange that celebrates them every year. All of these fandoms are near and dear to my heart. Aside from all my likes and prompts, I’d love for you to write something that you enjoy writing! That always makes my day in a gift fic. So DNWs aside, the world is your oyster. I am asuralucier on Ao3. My gifts are great; my bookmarks are great! Check it all out.
This year, I am requesting the following fandoms: Line of Duty (TV), ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime), Verwirrung der Gefühle | Confusion - Stefan Zweig, 신세계| New World (2013), 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki, eXistenZ (1999)
My DNWs are:
-Non-con, anything sexual involving animals, the toilet, tentacles, non-human biology, underage (sexual activities between characters under 17; references/implications fine).
-Second person POV - this is defined as having the narrating character take up the perspective of “You.” If they are talking aloud and happen to mention “you” to an imaginary audience or something that’s fine.
-Non-canonical kid characters. A note on canonical kids - I’m happy for them to turn up, but I’d rather them not take over the plot.
-Character bashing by narrative. Piss-taking fine and encouraged!
-Modern/Mundane AUs or AUs involving space, zombies, werecreatures, or a/b/o dynamics. If you want to have the characters still meet cute in a cafe in-universe or everything is the same except one character is a vampire, then please do! As long as I can recognise the world as canon I will be happy.
General Likes (by no means a complete list):
+ Sexual Tension - Happy for it to be angsty, cracky, anything in between. Just make me squirm while I totally want the characters to bang.
+Literary/Philosophical Allusions, extended metaphors, color theory, wordplay/banter, absurdity - the more obscure the better! I also love characters who read and/or have weird jobs. Pack in a strange little detail somewhere and I’m sure I’ll love it.
+___!Porn: Identity porn, suit porn, food porn, drinks porn, locations porn? Is that a thing? I just like lush descriptions of things.
+Angst. I love love angst. Give me all the angst. Reasons for angst can include: moral ambiguity, guilt, failed ambitions, infidelity, thoughtful portrayals of grief, depression, PTSD, lost loves and all the rest. I also don't mind character death, but please please don't let it be a cheap plot point for angst.
+Humour: but I also like fun, characters who don’t take themselves too seriously, and people who have the ability to see the absurdity in their situations.
+Smut likes: teasing, helping each other undress/ruined clothing/frottage, blow jobs, tattoo licking, sex in semi public places, voyeurism, phone sex/voice kink, fluid sexual dynamics (no strict top/bottom roles), edging, pain kink/painplay, rimming (for m/m ships only), fingering, cunnilingus, awkward sex, overstimulation, dubious consent (defined as the character being dub-conned still having some form of agency, even if s/he doesn’t have all the information to hand.), differences in sexual experience, sensory deprivation, roleplaying, breathplay/choking
+Other things that I like that are hard to categorise: loyalty/friendship/ride or die, mindgames, locked room scenario, non-linear narrative, epistolary, crack treated seriously, character study, in universe meta, crapsack worlds, worldbuilding, for want a nail, pining, dramatic irony.
Fandom: Line of Duty (TV): Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott, Jodie Taylor, Roz Huntley
I ship: Ted/Steve and Jodie/Roz, but gen is fine too. They do not have to show up in the same fic. I also quite like: Maneet, Dot, Nigel, Kate (circa S1), Lindsay. If they happen to turn up in the fic, I wouldn’t say no.
Some Ted/+Steve prompts:
I kink on accents and probably could sit there and listen to Ted “yes like the battle” Hastings speak forever. But anyway. This show is so tense and exciting and took police interviews to the next level. I would love anything that leaned into the subordinate/superior power dynamic, age difference, Ted’s Catholic guilt contrasted with Steve’s “I’m a single bloke with a private life nobody is safe from my dong” approach. Anything from their pub chat in S2, where Ted opens up to Steve about the state of his marriage and his lack of sexual experience would just be LOVELY. I have no qualms if you’d like to include infidelity, but please do not demonise Roisin.
Steve sets Ted up on Tinder. Or something slightly tone deaf but well meant. Make my day.
So uh, Martin Compston used to be a pro footballer and I also recently watched Dogs of Berlin, a German show about football fixing and the police. Give me a football-related case, maybe Steve goes undercover as a player to investigate a cop that’s been covering up the wrongdoings of a star player etc. Ted doesn’t watch the football, but I guess he does now. Bonus if there’s interoffice football where AC12 trashes AC9 or something. Bonus bonus for Kate also being good at football. (Full disclosure: I don’t really football, I don’t mind if the details aren’t right.)
S4 gave me a lot of feelings. A lot. How about Ted accidentally moves himself into Steve’s flat to take care of him? I have no clue why, but I feel like Ted would be a whiz in the kitchen. Him making Steve a lamb stew like his grandmother used to make would just warm my cockles. If you’d like some conflict, perhaps while Ted is busy taking care of Steve, he doesn’t end up fighting his Reg 15 notice as he should have? It goes ahead and Steve and Kate have to band together to help Ted clear his name. Also like if you go this route, please give that douchebag Hilton the sendoff he deserves.
Undercover Dating. I have no idea how this would work. I just know I would love it. Bonus if Ted calls Steve “darling” by accident in an attempt to make the endearment gender neutral.
Some Jodie/+Roz prompts
HOW DOES JODIE KNOW EVERYTHING? I’d be happy if you’d just...explain that, tbh. It baffled me, and I think if I understood it more, it would have been more fun to watch. Her network must be nuts. How does she manage? Did Roz hone her manipulative streak? Did Jodie become this way to impress Roz? (I get a real hero worship vibe and I’d love to see that being leaned into.) Who was Jodie before she joined the Met? Does she know what she’s doing or does she just get lucky?
Or maybe, plot twist, Jodie joins AC12 afterwards to ahem, help Roz while she’s still in jail?
I just want that fic where Nick works up the balls to divorce Roz in jail and when she gets out, she’s got no one to turn to. Except Jodie who’s a DI/DCI now, perhaps stressed out over a high profile op. How the tables have turned. (Feel free to handwave it and make her sentence five years if it suits, I’m not terribly picky.)
Was Roz Huntley ever a decent copper? That is the question. I don’t mind if she isn’t, but I love how unapologetic she is about basically everything. Continue her machinations, and that will make me happy.
Basic me wants Roz to rescue Jodie from a bad date. Either gen or shippy fine.
Or maybe Jodie Single White Females Roz and her family having moved into their spare room as she erm, house hunts in the area. Honestly, anything goes.
ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime): Ichinose Kai, Amamiya Shuuhei, Ajino Sosuke, Pang Wei
What is this? It is an absolutely gorgeous anime series about various characters from all walks of life who compete in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. It is 2 seasons, and available on Netflix (UK and I would presume the US too but I don’t know about other places, sorry!) All requested characters do not have to show up in the same fic.
Some permutations I’d enjoy:
Ajino Sosuke & Ichinose Kai: This hits all my mentorship buttons. I love that Sosuke finds a will to live through teaching a very unusual student and that Kai grows exponentially as a person and a musician under Ajino’s watchful eye. I would love any missing scenes of Kai growing up during lessons with Ajino; the first time they go abroad together; Kai worrying about Ajino just as much as Ajino worries about him. I would not be upset if Ajino’s piano got rescued somehow and turns up. Please please do not ship or preslash them!
Ajino Sosuke/&Pang Wei: Pang Wei’s backstory made me cry so much and I love the fact that Ajino’s piano saved him from a life of pain and gave him purpose. I do ship this especially after the “You don’t need to inherit my piano when you have your own.” I’d love any measure of slow burn, where Pang Wei gets involved with Ajino’s comeback; where it is Pang Wei instead of Kai who comes back to help Ajino practice and heal up after his operation.
I’d also love it if Pang Wei owns a time travelling piano or something and uses it to time travel back to young Ajino. Perhaps to keep his accident from happening? Given that the anime centres around a guy who finds a piano in a forest, I feel like this is possible.
Amamiya Shuuhei/&Ichinose Kai: Bulletproof Friends to Lovers scenarios ahoy! I love their relationship throughout, how insecure Shuhei is, how Kai is just SO EXCITED to have a friend, how different their pianos are and even if they are rivals they still manage to help each other grow. If you wanted to give me Shuhei/Kai wherein Kai is in his Maria guise, that would be fine too! Alternatively, maybe a Canon Divergent AU where Kai ends up being semi adopted by the Amamiyas? How would Kai turn out if he was taught by Shuuhei’s Dad instead of Ajino? Also I’d love the both of them attending the same music conservatory.
Ajino Sousuke &/ Amamiya Shuuhei - that canon divergent AU where Sousuke does say yes to Shuuhei and taking him on as a student, having seen how hard he works. How does Shuuhei’s dad really feel about this? Does Shuuhei still meet Kai later? I love the idea of an AU where they meet for the first time with Kai as Maria and Shuuhei almost never does this but decides that Ajino has to meet this club pianist RIGHT NOW. I don’t have any overtly shippy prompts for them, but I’m interested! Feel free to sell me.
Other things I like:
Amamiya Shuuhei/&Karole Adamski: Anything post-canon would do me very nicely. Maybe Shuhei decides to go travelling and meets Adamski somewhere? Shuhei just needs a hug so much in this show and Adamski gives really nice mindful hugs.
Ichinose Kai & Ichinose Reiko: I love their relationship and the way Reiko insists to Ajino that she and her son are old war buddies really got me. I would love anything that celebrates Reiko’s devotion to her son, as unusual as it is, and maybe a 5+1 type fic where Kai sends his mother things and maybe 1 time he turns up home again.
Pang Wei & mafia goons: I don’t know why, but the idea of Pang Wei, world famous classical pianist also running underground gambling rings or who knows what, is an amazing idea and if you can make it work, you do you, and let me shower you with praise.
Verwirrung der Gefühle | Confusion - Stefan Zweig: Roland, The Professor, The Professor’s Wife
Queer academia basically makes my life. I am the most familiar with the Anthea Bell translation, but don’t feel as if that’s the one you have to stick to. This is just a beautiful novella, full of longing and celebrates the lushness of language, I'd love anything that celebrates either of those themes. I don't mind if people don't all show up.
Basically, I'd love for Roland and the professor to meet again. What's happened to his wife? Is it going to be different this time?
Gay sailors are a thing right? What if Roland joined the navy like he wanted? Maybe he runs into the professor or his wife or both in a port city. What's a weekend with someone you'll probably never see...again? Even if that's what you said the first time, erm.
I find the Professor's wife such an interesting character. I'd love to know anything about her. I have a vague headcanon of her being more into women than men, but she's not had the opportunity to enjoy or explore that, having been a bit disheartened by her husband's own explorations.
I'd love the meta/dramatic irony that comes with one of the nominated characters writing a roman-à-clef. What are the consequences? Give me all the goss!
신세계| New World (2013): Lee Ja Sung, Lee Joong Gu, Jung Chung
As ever, not everyone has to show up in the same fic. But given the nature of canon, it might make sense for all three of them to show up.
Suits! Guns! Misguided loyalty whee. Also, a good guy finding it impossible to do the right thing so he finally does what's best for him? Yes! I basically love this movie for all its flaws and I adore the friendship/almost-siblingship between Jung Chung and Lee Ja Sung ( / or & welcome). I would love to learn about all those times where Ja Sung had to cross a line, and soon enough, he's not really doing it because he's a policeman, but because he's Jung's brother and confidant.
I'd love Jung teaching Ja Sung how to speak Chinese and feeding him weird foods in Shanghai. I'd love Ja Sung teaching Jung the art of uh, subtlety, possibly through sex. Um. I'd love them helping each other get dressed. And of course, I love subtle pda in front of Jung's men and nobody bats an eye. I also love the two of the being hungover and stuck somewhere in rural China and maybe they have to take a bus.
On the more angsty side, I'd like to see how Jung reacts when he finds out Ja Sung is a police officer. The film is fairly Haha we don't know why he kept you, deus ex machina, but I'd like to see an angsty, h/c get together here. With maybe Jung trying multiple times to have Ja Sung killed and not being able to pull the literal trigger because he's not going to hurt his bro, no way.
For Lee Joong Gu&/Lee Ja Sung...um, hate sex? But like, dutifully on Ja Sung's part? Maybe Ja Sung is back channelling on Jung's behalf and then finds Joong Gu more and more attractive? Maybe at the end of the movie, Joong Gu offers to marry Ja Sung in order to save his own skin? (If you decide to go down this route, please feel free to handwave Ja Sung's canonical marriage or make up something about a mafia husband/civilian wife thing I don't know.) I also don't mind infidelity, especially given what Ja Sung's wife has been up to in the film.
Or maybe Ja Sung somehow uses Joong Gu to get back at Kang. Or or, perhaps the movie, but with Ja Sung as Joong Gu's man instead of Jung's? How would things change?
色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki: Tazaki Tsukuru, Kimoto Sara, Haida Fumiaki
This is my favourite Murakami novel, and I’m excited to see it in the tagset! I am mostly interested in fix-its or character studies (particularly in the cases of Sara and Haida and seeing their inner lives and what they get up to when they’re not with Tsukuru.
For Sara, I’d love a compare and contrast of her affair with the other man and her relationship with Tsukuru. Obviously we only get Tsukuru’s limited perspective. Tsukuru, much as I love him, doesn’t seem like the most self aware guy (a trait he seems to share with a lot of other Murakami protags) and obviously she must get something from the other guy.
I dearly want Sara to show up at the end of the novel, but it’s okay if she doesn’t too. What I’d like to see is the consequences of that decision/her coming to terms with it. Is there any chance for reconciliation? I feel like an epistolary fic is suitable here. How many drafts does Sara go through? Does she ever send Tsukuru anything, in the end?
For Haida, I really want to know how and why he disappears! Does he ever finish university? What in the world happens to him? He doesn’t even turn up again in the novel but I love the quietness and sort of distanced quality of their relationship - it’s like they’re being lonely together, but they don’t mind. If you do something during canon, I would love something that leans into this dynamic.
I’d also adore it if Haida turns up in Finland and he and Tsukuru ride trains and go on an impromptu Scandi trip.
For Tsukuru, I adore Tsukuru’s job designing train stations. I’d love to see more of that, or of him visiting more train stations - St. Petersburg? Vienna? Paddington?
I’d love him trying to solve Shiro’s murder, but if you just want to give me a bite size of that, I’d be happy too. It doesn’t have to be an out and out casefic. (Note: if you choose this prompt, I waive my non-con DNW as it may or may not be important, but I'd still like for things to occur in background/have already occurred, rather than being onscreen/explicit.)
If OT3/ambiguous open relationships strikes you, please do feel free to explore that. If Sara doesn’t terminate her other relationship, how would things change if Tsukuru became acquainted with Haida again? What would the relationship look like? Travel is a large part of the novel, I’d be interested in them moving in and out of each other’s lives.
eXistenZ (1999): Ted Pikul, Allegra Gellar, Gas, Evgeny Nourish
As ever, not everyone has to show up in the same fic.
For Evgeny Nourish - I'd love to hear about earlier video games! What worked? What didn't? Did he know any of the other people in the focus group before trialing eXistenZ? (I have a weird preference for Gas, aha guess why, or maybe the Chinese waiter) but you could tell me anything about him and I'd be happy. I'd also love to read about the time they tried to get Evgeny to be the face of a new yoghurt and maybe the campaign was shut down by anti video game people, I don't even know.
For Gas - I unabashedly have a thing for Willem Dafoe and if you're here for that thing, then I love you, full stop. I'd like to either...hear more about his in-game life, (he has only inserted ports into three people, besides Ted. What were the other times like? What other weird shit does he get up to? And it's Cronenberg so when I say weird I mean weird. I'm also interested to hear about Gas's IRL life, he seems older than most of the participants, what's his deal? Why is he here? Does he often structure his life around trying to participate in these game focus groups?
For Allegra Gellar/&Ted Pikul I have a feeling that this relationship is just Messy. Tell me about how they first got together (bonus if bad Chinese takeout is involved)., how they first broke up and got back together. Why are they passionate about their cause? Did the two of them bond over losing someone to video games? What if Allegra or Ted got recruited by a games company and didn't tell the other person? One thing that I got the sense of is that even though they were together, there was a real lack of trust, and I'd love to explore that!
For Allegra/&Gas/&Ted - Uh, Dafoe sandwich? Just kidding. I like the idea of maybe Gas kidnapping them both and then ends up on the run with them. Or Allegra femdoms the heck out of them because wheee. Or maybe the people who are after Allegra find Gas's place sooner than they do in the film, and Gas makes the unexpected choice to protect them and lies. Or something. Because hey, Allegra Gellar did change his life, and Jude Law is never not pretty. Or like for this prompt or any other, someone give me the port fingering/licking fic of my dreams
For Ted Pikul: why does he not have a port? How has he managed to avoid it all this time? (if we take the movie at face value?)
For Allegra Gellar: I don’t know, I just really like Jennifer Jason Leigh being badass and hot. I have a weird feeling that she’s the mastermind behind all this; I’d love to hear about previous attempts to derail video games.
For anyone: what happens immediately after the end of the movie? What does limbo look like in this canon?
Thanks for dropping by! My fandoms are perennially small, so it’s always wonderful to have an exchange that celebrates them every year. All of these fandoms are near and dear to my heart. Aside from all my likes and prompts, I’d love for you to write something that you enjoy writing! That always makes my day in a gift fic. So DNWs aside, the world is your oyster. I am asuralucier on Ao3. My gifts are great; my bookmarks are great! Check it all out.
This year, I am requesting the following fandoms: Line of Duty (TV), ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime), Verwirrung der Gefühle | Confusion - Stefan Zweig, 신세계| New World (2013), 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki, eXistenZ (1999)
My DNWs are:
-Non-con, anything sexual involving animals, the toilet, tentacles, non-human biology, underage (sexual activities between characters under 17; references/implications fine).
-Second person POV - this is defined as having the narrating character take up the perspective of “You.” If they are talking aloud and happen to mention “you” to an imaginary audience or something that’s fine.
-Non-canonical kid characters. A note on canonical kids - I’m happy for them to turn up, but I’d rather them not take over the plot.
-Character bashing by narrative. Piss-taking fine and encouraged!
-Modern/Mundane AUs or AUs involving space, zombies, werecreatures, or a/b/o dynamics. If you want to have the characters still meet cute in a cafe in-universe or everything is the same except one character is a vampire, then please do! As long as I can recognise the world as canon I will be happy.
General Likes (by no means a complete list):
+ Sexual Tension - Happy for it to be angsty, cracky, anything in between. Just make me squirm while I totally want the characters to bang.
+Literary/Philosophical Allusions, extended metaphors, color theory, wordplay/banter, absurdity - the more obscure the better! I also love characters who read and/or have weird jobs. Pack in a strange little detail somewhere and I’m sure I’ll love it.
+___!Porn: Identity porn, suit porn, food porn, drinks porn, locations porn? Is that a thing? I just like lush descriptions of things.
+Angst. I love love angst. Give me all the angst. Reasons for angst can include: moral ambiguity, guilt, failed ambitions, infidelity, thoughtful portrayals of grief, depression, PTSD, lost loves and all the rest. I also don't mind character death, but please please don't let it be a cheap plot point for angst.
+Humour: but I also like fun, characters who don’t take themselves too seriously, and people who have the ability to see the absurdity in their situations.
+Smut likes: teasing, helping each other undress/ruined clothing/frottage, blow jobs, tattoo licking, sex in semi public places, voyeurism, phone sex/voice kink, fluid sexual dynamics (no strict top/bottom roles), edging, pain kink/painplay, rimming (for m/m ships only), fingering, cunnilingus, awkward sex, overstimulation, dubious consent (defined as the character being dub-conned still having some form of agency, even if s/he doesn’t have all the information to hand.), differences in sexual experience, sensory deprivation, roleplaying, breathplay/choking
+Other things that I like that are hard to categorise: loyalty/friendship/ride or die, mindgames, locked room scenario, non-linear narrative, epistolary, crack treated seriously, character study, in universe meta, crapsack worlds, worldbuilding, for want a nail, pining, dramatic irony.
Fandom: Line of Duty (TV): Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott, Jodie Taylor, Roz Huntley
I ship: Ted/Steve and Jodie/Roz, but gen is fine too. They do not have to show up in the same fic. I also quite like: Maneet, Dot, Nigel, Kate (circa S1), Lindsay. If they happen to turn up in the fic, I wouldn’t say no.
Some Ted/+Steve prompts:
I kink on accents and probably could sit there and listen to Ted “yes like the battle” Hastings speak forever. But anyway. This show is so tense and exciting and took police interviews to the next level. I would love anything that leaned into the subordinate/superior power dynamic, age difference, Ted’s Catholic guilt contrasted with Steve’s “I’m a single bloke with a private life nobody is safe from my dong” approach. Anything from their pub chat in S2, where Ted opens up to Steve about the state of his marriage and his lack of sexual experience would just be LOVELY. I have no qualms if you’d like to include infidelity, but please do not demonise Roisin.
Steve sets Ted up on Tinder. Or something slightly tone deaf but well meant. Make my day.
So uh, Martin Compston used to be a pro footballer and I also recently watched Dogs of Berlin, a German show about football fixing and the police. Give me a football-related case, maybe Steve goes undercover as a player to investigate a cop that’s been covering up the wrongdoings of a star player etc. Ted doesn’t watch the football, but I guess he does now. Bonus if there’s interoffice football where AC12 trashes AC9 or something. Bonus bonus for Kate also being good at football. (Full disclosure: I don’t really football, I don’t mind if the details aren’t right.)
S4 gave me a lot of feelings. A lot. How about Ted accidentally moves himself into Steve’s flat to take care of him? I have no clue why, but I feel like Ted would be a whiz in the kitchen. Him making Steve a lamb stew like his grandmother used to make would just warm my cockles. If you’d like some conflict, perhaps while Ted is busy taking care of Steve, he doesn’t end up fighting his Reg 15 notice as he should have? It goes ahead and Steve and Kate have to band together to help Ted clear his name. Also like if you go this route, please give that douchebag Hilton the sendoff he deserves.
Undercover Dating. I have no idea how this would work. I just know I would love it. Bonus if Ted calls Steve “darling” by accident in an attempt to make the endearment gender neutral.
Some Jodie/+Roz prompts
HOW DOES JODIE KNOW EVERYTHING? I’d be happy if you’d just...explain that, tbh. It baffled me, and I think if I understood it more, it would have been more fun to watch. Her network must be nuts. How does she manage? Did Roz hone her manipulative streak? Did Jodie become this way to impress Roz? (I get a real hero worship vibe and I’d love to see that being leaned into.) Who was Jodie before she joined the Met? Does she know what she’s doing or does she just get lucky?
Or maybe, plot twist, Jodie joins AC12 afterwards to ahem, help Roz while she’s still in jail?
I just want that fic where Nick works up the balls to divorce Roz in jail and when she gets out, she’s got no one to turn to. Except Jodie who’s a DI/DCI now, perhaps stressed out over a high profile op. How the tables have turned. (Feel free to handwave it and make her sentence five years if it suits, I’m not terribly picky.)
Was Roz Huntley ever a decent copper? That is the question. I don’t mind if she isn’t, but I love how unapologetic she is about basically everything. Continue her machinations, and that will make me happy.
Basic me wants Roz to rescue Jodie from a bad date. Either gen or shippy fine.
Or maybe Jodie Single White Females Roz and her family having moved into their spare room as she erm, house hunts in the area. Honestly, anything goes.
ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime): Ichinose Kai, Amamiya Shuuhei, Ajino Sosuke, Pang Wei
What is this? It is an absolutely gorgeous anime series about various characters from all walks of life who compete in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. It is 2 seasons, and available on Netflix (UK and I would presume the US too but I don’t know about other places, sorry!) All requested characters do not have to show up in the same fic.
Some permutations I’d enjoy:
Ajino Sosuke & Ichinose Kai: This hits all my mentorship buttons. I love that Sosuke finds a will to live through teaching a very unusual student and that Kai grows exponentially as a person and a musician under Ajino’s watchful eye. I would love any missing scenes of Kai growing up during lessons with Ajino; the first time they go abroad together; Kai worrying about Ajino just as much as Ajino worries about him. I would not be upset if Ajino’s piano got rescued somehow and turns up. Please please do not ship or preslash them!
Ajino Sosuke/&Pang Wei: Pang Wei’s backstory made me cry so much and I love the fact that Ajino’s piano saved him from a life of pain and gave him purpose. I do ship this especially after the “You don’t need to inherit my piano when you have your own.” I’d love any measure of slow burn, where Pang Wei gets involved with Ajino’s comeback; where it is Pang Wei instead of Kai who comes back to help Ajino practice and heal up after his operation.
I’d also love it if Pang Wei owns a time travelling piano or something and uses it to time travel back to young Ajino. Perhaps to keep his accident from happening? Given that the anime centres around a guy who finds a piano in a forest, I feel like this is possible.
Amamiya Shuuhei/&Ichinose Kai: Bulletproof Friends to Lovers scenarios ahoy! I love their relationship throughout, how insecure Shuhei is, how Kai is just SO EXCITED to have a friend, how different their pianos are and even if they are rivals they still manage to help each other grow. If you wanted to give me Shuhei/Kai wherein Kai is in his Maria guise, that would be fine too! Alternatively, maybe a Canon Divergent AU where Kai ends up being semi adopted by the Amamiyas? How would Kai turn out if he was taught by Shuuhei’s Dad instead of Ajino? Also I’d love the both of them attending the same music conservatory.
Ajino Sousuke &/ Amamiya Shuuhei - that canon divergent AU where Sousuke does say yes to Shuuhei and taking him on as a student, having seen how hard he works. How does Shuuhei’s dad really feel about this? Does Shuuhei still meet Kai later? I love the idea of an AU where they meet for the first time with Kai as Maria and Shuuhei almost never does this but decides that Ajino has to meet this club pianist RIGHT NOW. I don’t have any overtly shippy prompts for them, but I’m interested! Feel free to sell me.
Other things I like:
Amamiya Shuuhei/&Karole Adamski: Anything post-canon would do me very nicely. Maybe Shuhei decides to go travelling and meets Adamski somewhere? Shuhei just needs a hug so much in this show and Adamski gives really nice mindful hugs.
Ichinose Kai & Ichinose Reiko: I love their relationship and the way Reiko insists to Ajino that she and her son are old war buddies really got me. I would love anything that celebrates Reiko’s devotion to her son, as unusual as it is, and maybe a 5+1 type fic where Kai sends his mother things and maybe 1 time he turns up home again.
Pang Wei & mafia goons: I don’t know why, but the idea of Pang Wei, world famous classical pianist also running underground gambling rings or who knows what, is an amazing idea and if you can make it work, you do you, and let me shower you with praise.
Verwirrung der Gefühle | Confusion - Stefan Zweig: Roland, The Professor, The Professor’s Wife
Queer academia basically makes my life. I am the most familiar with the Anthea Bell translation, but don’t feel as if that’s the one you have to stick to. This is just a beautiful novella, full of longing and celebrates the lushness of language, I'd love anything that celebrates either of those themes. I don't mind if people don't all show up.
Basically, I'd love for Roland and the professor to meet again. What's happened to his wife? Is it going to be different this time?
Gay sailors are a thing right? What if Roland joined the navy like he wanted? Maybe he runs into the professor or his wife or both in a port city. What's a weekend with someone you'll probably never see...again? Even if that's what you said the first time, erm.
I find the Professor's wife such an interesting character. I'd love to know anything about her. I have a vague headcanon of her being more into women than men, but she's not had the opportunity to enjoy or explore that, having been a bit disheartened by her husband's own explorations.
I'd love the meta/dramatic irony that comes with one of the nominated characters writing a roman-à-clef. What are the consequences? Give me all the goss!
신세계| New World (2013): Lee Ja Sung, Lee Joong Gu, Jung Chung
As ever, not everyone has to show up in the same fic. But given the nature of canon, it might make sense for all three of them to show up.
Suits! Guns! Misguided loyalty whee. Also, a good guy finding it impossible to do the right thing so he finally does what's best for him? Yes! I basically love this movie for all its flaws and I adore the friendship/almost-siblingship between Jung Chung and Lee Ja Sung ( / or & welcome). I would love to learn about all those times where Ja Sung had to cross a line, and soon enough, he's not really doing it because he's a policeman, but because he's Jung's brother and confidant.
I'd love Jung teaching Ja Sung how to speak Chinese and feeding him weird foods in Shanghai. I'd love Ja Sung teaching Jung the art of uh, subtlety, possibly through sex. Um. I'd love them helping each other get dressed. And of course, I love subtle pda in front of Jung's men and nobody bats an eye. I also love the two of the being hungover and stuck somewhere in rural China and maybe they have to take a bus.
On the more angsty side, I'd like to see how Jung reacts when he finds out Ja Sung is a police officer. The film is fairly Haha we don't know why he kept you, deus ex machina, but I'd like to see an angsty, h/c get together here. With maybe Jung trying multiple times to have Ja Sung killed and not being able to pull the literal trigger because he's not going to hurt his bro, no way.
For Lee Joong Gu&/Lee Ja Sung...um, hate sex? But like, dutifully on Ja Sung's part? Maybe Ja Sung is back channelling on Jung's behalf and then finds Joong Gu more and more attractive? Maybe at the end of the movie, Joong Gu offers to marry Ja Sung in order to save his own skin? (If you decide to go down this route, please feel free to handwave Ja Sung's canonical marriage or make up something about a mafia husband/civilian wife thing I don't know.) I also don't mind infidelity, especially given what Ja Sung's wife has been up to in the film.
Or maybe Ja Sung somehow uses Joong Gu to get back at Kang. Or or, perhaps the movie, but with Ja Sung as Joong Gu's man instead of Jung's? How would things change?
色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki: Tazaki Tsukuru, Kimoto Sara, Haida Fumiaki
This is my favourite Murakami novel, and I’m excited to see it in the tagset! I am mostly interested in fix-its or character studies (particularly in the cases of Sara and Haida and seeing their inner lives and what they get up to when they’re not with Tsukuru.
For Sara, I’d love a compare and contrast of her affair with the other man and her relationship with Tsukuru. Obviously we only get Tsukuru’s limited perspective. Tsukuru, much as I love him, doesn’t seem like the most self aware guy (a trait he seems to share with a lot of other Murakami protags) and obviously she must get something from the other guy.
I dearly want Sara to show up at the end of the novel, but it’s okay if she doesn’t too. What I’d like to see is the consequences of that decision/her coming to terms with it. Is there any chance for reconciliation? I feel like an epistolary fic is suitable here. How many drafts does Sara go through? Does she ever send Tsukuru anything, in the end?
For Haida, I really want to know how and why he disappears! Does he ever finish university? What in the world happens to him? He doesn’t even turn up again in the novel but I love the quietness and sort of distanced quality of their relationship - it’s like they’re being lonely together, but they don’t mind. If you do something during canon, I would love something that leans into this dynamic.
I’d also adore it if Haida turns up in Finland and he and Tsukuru ride trains and go on an impromptu Scandi trip.
For Tsukuru, I adore Tsukuru’s job designing train stations. I’d love to see more of that, or of him visiting more train stations - St. Petersburg? Vienna? Paddington?
I’d love him trying to solve Shiro’s murder, but if you just want to give me a bite size of that, I’d be happy too. It doesn’t have to be an out and out casefic. (Note: if you choose this prompt, I waive my non-con DNW as it may or may not be important, but I'd still like for things to occur in background/have already occurred, rather than being onscreen/explicit.)
If OT3/ambiguous open relationships strikes you, please do feel free to explore that. If Sara doesn’t terminate her other relationship, how would things change if Tsukuru became acquainted with Haida again? What would the relationship look like? Travel is a large part of the novel, I’d be interested in them moving in and out of each other’s lives.
eXistenZ (1999): Ted Pikul, Allegra Gellar, Gas, Evgeny Nourish
As ever, not everyone has to show up in the same fic.
For Evgeny Nourish - I'd love to hear about earlier video games! What worked? What didn't? Did he know any of the other people in the focus group before trialing eXistenZ? (I have a weird preference for Gas, aha guess why, or maybe the Chinese waiter) but you could tell me anything about him and I'd be happy. I'd also love to read about the time they tried to get Evgeny to be the face of a new yoghurt and maybe the campaign was shut down by anti video game people, I don't even know.
For Gas - I unabashedly have a thing for Willem Dafoe and if you're here for that thing, then I love you, full stop. I'd like to either...hear more about his in-game life, (he has only inserted ports into three people, besides Ted. What were the other times like? What other weird shit does he get up to? And it's Cronenberg so when I say weird I mean weird. I'm also interested to hear about Gas's IRL life, he seems older than most of the participants, what's his deal? Why is he here? Does he often structure his life around trying to participate in these game focus groups?
For Allegra Gellar/&Ted Pikul I have a feeling that this relationship is just Messy. Tell me about how they first got together (bonus if bad Chinese takeout is involved)., how they first broke up and got back together. Why are they passionate about their cause? Did the two of them bond over losing someone to video games? What if Allegra or Ted got recruited by a games company and didn't tell the other person? One thing that I got the sense of is that even though they were together, there was a real lack of trust, and I'd love to explore that!
For Allegra/&Gas/&Ted - Uh, Dafoe sandwich? Just kidding. I like the idea of maybe Gas kidnapping them both and then ends up on the run with them. Or Allegra femdoms the heck out of them because wheee. Or maybe the people who are after Allegra find Gas's place sooner than they do in the film, and Gas makes the unexpected choice to protect them and lies. Or something. Because hey, Allegra Gellar did change his life, and Jude Law is never not pretty. Or like for this prompt or any other, someone give me the port fingering/licking fic of my dreams
For Ted Pikul: why does he not have a port? How has he managed to avoid it all this time? (if we take the movie at face value?)
For Allegra Gellar: I don’t know, I just really like Jennifer Jason Leigh being badass and hot. I have a weird feeling that she’s the mastermind behind all this; I’d love to hear about previous attempts to derail video games.
For anyone: what happens immediately after the end of the movie? What does limbo look like in this canon?
