Yuletide 2021

[iomixit]

Dear Creator,

Thanks for dropping by! I’m asuralucier on ao3. This year is my fourth Yuletide, and I’m always excited to see what I get because it’s such a huge exchange and I have no way of really guessing. Whether we’ve matched or you’re browsing for a treat (!!) you have great taste and I salute you already!

This year, I’m asking for fic in the following fandoms: ”The Music of Erich Zann” - H. P. Lovecraft, 恋するザムザ - 村上春樹 | Samsa in Love - Murakami Haruki, 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 - 村上 春樹 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki, Great Pretender (Anime), ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime), ばらかもん | Barakamon

By and large, please feel free to treat all my requests as OR! Not everyone has to show up in a fic!

My DNWs are as follows:

-Non-con (but extreme dubious consent where the victim still has some form of agency and ends up enjoying** it is fine), underage (characters under 16 but implications/brief references fine). Sexual content involving the toilet, tentacles, non-human biology, Omegaverse

**Feel free to take a broad view on the word enjoying as well, as long as the victim isn’t completely helpless or miserable. I’m aware that this might only apply to Great Pretender and Erich Zann, but if you’d like an elaboration on this I hope this is helpful!

-Setting change or Modern/mundane AUs. However, I have a very broad definition of what counts as a canon divergent AU, so the one rule I have is “as long as I can recognize the world as canon, it’s fine!” So if you’d like to work in a coffee shop meet cute except everything else is still the same, or if one character is a vampire but everything is still the same, feel free to have at it. I’m also a big fan of wild post or pre canon AUs that sees characters arriving/becoming who they are.

-Adjacent to the above, please do not include zombies, werecreatures or prolonged settings in space as part of your AU endeavors.

-Non canon kid characters. Canon kid characters are welcome to show up, but please don’t let them take over the plot! I don’t mind young non canonical characters 16+ if you need them, but I’d rather them not take over the plot or anything! They’re absolutely fine for functional reasons.

-2nd person POV. (Addressing the audience in an extended aside is fine, but having the narrating character taking on the perspective of “you,” please avoid.)

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Fandom: “The Music of Erich Zann - H. P. Lovecraft
Requested Characters: The Narrator, Erich Zann

This is a non Cthulu short story about a freaky viol player named Erich Zann, and a young student narrator. If you’re interested, here is a link! It’s a quick read, but so worth it and creepy. I keep thinking about this story and coming back to it (much like the narrator perhaps, when he goes searching and searching for Rue d’Auseil in vain. I’m just so intrigued by many aspects of this world and its two rather insular characters and would like to know anything! Some things that intrigue me in particular are:

The alienation/foreignness of Erich Zann and the Narrator - one gets the sense that they nearly bond over being strangers in a foreign land. Where are they? Why are they here? Do they ever go home? (Is there even a home to go to?) I’m infinitely hung up on small spaces/messy student flats and what a person’s living space has to say regarding them as people. We get a sense of that in the story too, but I’d love more!

Cosmic horror free space! I’m not too hot on Cthulu mythology and one of the reasons I really liked this story was its non Cthulu horror elements, but hey, if you had an ingenious idea on how to blend Cthulu and this in a way that might convince me otherwise, I’m open and interested! What exactly is in those papers? What if the Narrator finds them again? What if upon finding them he falls into a cosmic abyss, thereby upsetting his somewhat normal life?

Paganini devil/violin revisionist free space! It really sounds like Erich Zann made a deal he couldn’t exactly keep to be uh, successful at his music? Can one even call it that? I would like to learn about the circumstances very much. Please take this as a catchall prompt to tell me anything you’d like about Erich Zann. How did he end up...how he ends up?

Erm, shipping wise? I’m into all sorts of creepy unhealthy implications. Both the Narrator and Erich Zann seem to be fairly obsessive, which is great for this sort of thing. I can’t really imagine a / scenario, but please take this as a carte blanche to get weird and creepy and perhaps even sexy.

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Fandom: 恋するザムザ - 村上春樹 | Samsa in Love - Murakami Haruki
Requested Characters: Gregor Samsa (Samsa in Love), Hunchback Woman (Samsa in Love), Worldbuilding (Samsa in Love)

If you’re interested, you can read the story here! Again, like “Erich Zann”, it’s a breeze of a read but it’s something that’s still stuck with me.

Basically, this is Murakami’s version of a Kafka fanfic, where Gregor Samsa turns back into Gregor Samsa from a cockroach and has to figure out how life works again. His parents and sister have disappeared and the world around him seems to have descended into chaos. He meets a hunchback locksmith who comes to fix a lock and falls in love with her. I am open to ship and gen fic for them.

I’d love anything you could tell me about this world. Although we don’t see much of it, we get the sense that the world is much changed. Does Samsa discover any other evidence of his parents around the house? Is he there when the hunchback woman comes back to return the lock? How does he teach himself about life? Does he find any books? What’s the world like when he decides to go outside, perhaps for some milk and bread?

I’d love to know anything about the Hunchback Woman. She’s so tough and no nonsense. I’d love to know, outside of her relationship with Samsa, why she decided to go into locksmithing, her experiences of the world as opposed to her brothers’. What does she tell others about Samsa, or does she tell anyone at all?

I’ve also read a lot of Kafka and Murakami both, so if you want to stick Easter Eggs in there for me, do feel free!

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Fandom: 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 - 村上 春樹 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami Haruki
Requested Characters: Tazaki Tsukuru, Kimoto Sara, Haida Fumiaki

This is my favourite Murakami novel! 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 his relationship with Tsukuru - 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 Tsukuru 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.

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Fandom: Great Pretender (anime)
Requested Characters: Edamura Makoto, Laurent Thierry

Disclaimer: I binged Cases 1-3 in a day but for the life of me couldn’t get through Case 4. However, if you had a fix it you’re dying to write, please don’t let that stop you. Maybe a fix it where Laurent does come to terms with his actions and faces some consequences for them and poor Makoto learns to stand up for himself a bit more is what I need! Or maybe there’s a version of Case 4 out there where adorable Edamame takes over the Yakuza proper and Laurent doesn’t know what to do. How does this wreck his plans? I’ve more or less spoiled myself but the final case is definitely not a favorite. If you want to pretend it doesn’t exist, go ahead!

But before Case 4 I was enjoying this show a lot! It was zany, fun, and I really enjoyed how culturally aware it seemed to be. I’m sorry, but Makoto’s stint at the Japanese restaurant made me laugh, along with the fact that he keeps being mistaken for being Taiwanese. I love the team dynamic, so do feel free to include Cynthia and Abbie and even Kim Shi Won or Kudo in your fic. I’m up for all sorts of divergent AUs that include time tested tropes, I will always say yes to more fake dating and random oops you and me against the world I guess we’re on the run now.

I’m also down for a version of Case 2 specifically where Makoto smells something funny about working on planes and refuses. The next day Laurent Thierry turns up on his doorstep and announces that he’s moving in. Um.

Anything where Makoto tops Laurent to let off some frustration and weirdly they both enjoy it. I’m also a fan of first times but maybe Edamame isn’t as virgin as he looks? (I don’t have a preference generally, but I’d like to see how this dynamic would work.) If you feel compelled to write me bottom!Edamame I’d also like that very much, but would like him to at least have a sense of what he’s getting into instead of uh, being overwhelmed by Laurent’s sexy or something.

I’m also up for all sorts of alternative first meets! Feel free to get creative here. As long as it’s full of snark and Edamame being put upon and Suwabe Junichi I mean Laurent sounding hot but sometimes one upped I’m there for it.

Indulgent food free space prompt - if you don’t know this exists yet, you’re missing out - basically Suwabe Junichi makes food and is super cute about it? Just lookit how happy he is when he says cheese.. So maybe they’re conning/undercover at a restaurant and Laurent is an unexpectedly great cook or something. IDK.

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Fandom: ピアノの森 | Piano no Mori | Forest of Piano (Anime)
Requested Characters: Ajino Sosuke, Pang Wei, Ichinose Kai, Amamiya Shuuhei

This is a beautiful two season anime available on Netflix UK and US about people from all walks of life competing in the Chopin International Competition! It’s so heartwarming and has also inspired me to take up piano again having not played in an age. Plus plus, the real life Chopin International Competition is going on RIGHT NOW, and I’m obsessed. I couldn’t not.

Some permutations of characters I would enjoy are:

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.

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Fandom: ばらかもん | Barakamon
Requested Characters: Handa Seishuu, Kido Hiroshi, Kawafuji Takao

I’m so easy I promise. This is such a wholesome series a calligrapher who gets stuck on an island WITH ONE PHONE with a bunch of kids. Also it’s infinitely shippable. Let me show you the ways:

+ Handa Seishuu/Kawafuji Takao: Anything with established relationship when Handa has to go off on the island. Cue the kids being very curious about Sensei’s boyfriend from the city; Handa just wanting some privacy when he’s on the only phone on the island; and how Kawafuji just has so much patience for the poor sod. Actually, after the hilarious scene that Handa’s mother walks in on in Ep. 11, something where they try to spice up their sex life and fail miserably. I would also love anything friends to lovers or fake-dating.

+ Handa Seishuu/Kido Hiroshi - I like fish out of water characters clinging to a sane man, and Hiro seems to be that for Handa. I would love anything in the get-together-slow-burn flavour, with fanfic circulating about them amongst the kids; Hiro teaching Handa how to cook; Hiro staying at Handa’s place when he’s looking at universities in Tokyo; Handa encouraging Hiro to follow his dreams, or anything else.

+ Kawafuji Takao/Handa Seishuu/Kido Hiroshi - Uh, I don’t normally OT3 but I want this! I have no idea how it’d work but I trust you. Perhaps Hiroshi finally goes away to university and Handa and Kawafuji weirdly feel an urge to keep looking after him, even though Hiro is FINE REALLY (...but hey, he likes the attention.)

+ Kawafuji Takao/Kido Hiroshi - I am a rampant multishipper and I don’t think they hang out that much but given that they’re both connected to Handa...what happens if Handa were to go away for a bit? Maybe to China or somewhere else to hone his craft or something? Do they hang out because they’re bored? What if Kawafuji does his own stint on the island for reasons? The possibilities are endless.

Anything where there’s consequences of Tamako drawing doujinshi of these two of your choice or three. I so enjoy chaos. Also it occurs to me that my prompts for this fandom are not particularly geared towards gen however, gen snark I'm always here for. Maybe they all go out for hot pot for New Year's or something.