Yuletide 2023

Dear Yuletide Author,
Thank you so much for writing for me! I am Blurble on ao3. I am very excited for what you will make.
This year I am asking for two old favorite canons and one new one - I blather on a bit more about the new one, but it's just because I feel like I've already said what I have to say about the other two. 

Note: I have treats enabled and welcome them. I have opted into Wrapping Paper.


General Likes:
- BAMF moments
- vivid details of sensory aspects of magic, magic used for mundane/prosaic purposes, magic with lots of ~vibes~

- relationships that contain multiple layers of conflicted or complicated feelings
- Defying fate, resisting compulsions, subverting the Expected Outcome that Everyone Expects of You
- dramatic irony in a variety of shapes and forms (includes, non-comprehensive: identity shenanigans, underestimated underdog is actually badass, characters having a conversation without being aware who they're talking to about things they would definitely not knowingly discuss with each other, etc)

- I love comedic horror (I mean things like Junji Ito's Cat Diary or My Roommate is an Apparition or anything else that plays with a horror atmosphere but very deliberately fails to actually be horror)
- unique AUs with cool worldbuilding
- animals! of all kinds!

DNWS:
- sex more explicit than fade to black
- unrequested non-canon romantic/sexual pairings (I don't care about mention of OC/OC background pairings as long as they are not a focus)
- trans headcanons
- neurodivergence headcanons
- pregnancy
- issue fic
- gore
- hopeless bad endings (bittersweet with hope is ok)

Idylls of the Queen

Characters: Kay

What I love about this canon: Kay. No seriously, give me a grumpy snarky person highly competent in underappreciated glue-work with a complicated but still loyal relationship with his brother and no reverence for magic, exasperated by the drama around him and wishing everyone would just be more sensible, and I'm sold.
Was the murder mystery fun for me as a person who didn't know that particular Arthurian legend? Sure.
Did I enjoy the book's take on the women of Camelot and their perspective on events? Yes.
Did I appreciate the fantastic reveal of the Mordred angst? I love dramatic irony so I ate it up with a spoon. (The entire Mordred and Kay dynamic is very fun, especially every time Mordred is being super dramatically doom-and-gloomy and then Kay completely unknowingly pops his drama bubble without even meaning to).
But I fell in love with this book when Kay started complaining about the Siege Perilous and Merlin in chapter one. Kay is 100% the selling factor of this book for me.

Brainstorming prompts out loud: Kay managing to derail the tragic fall of Camelot through annoying Lot's sons. Kay solving another case in Camelot. Kay in the past, interacting with Merlin, possibly involving aforementioned case in Camelot. Kay getting involved in some conspiracy with the women of Camelot. Kay and Mordred stuck on an adventure together before or after canon. Kay gets stuck in a time loop. Kay gets sent back in time. Kay discovers he also has a magical talent, oh no! Sir Kay and the terrible horrible no good very bad day.

ALSO, I will super happily take a modern setting AU of this canon, it can have the exact same insane honor driven tragedy just with vehicular manslaughter or whatever... or it can downgrade everything a level of severity to like, insurance fraud. I'm fine with either. I just enjoy the image of Kay suffering in some modern equivalent of his job as seneschal. (I'd prefer there still be magic and it still be annoying Kay, though.)

Canon specific DNWs: I don't mind the Arthur/Guenevere/Lancelot situation being mentioned/acknowledged, but I don't want fic with that as a major focal point.

 

Last Scenario

Characters: Any (Augustus, Bergheim, Drakovic, Ethan, Felgorn, Matilda, Thorve)

What I love about this canon: I wrote a promo comment for this canon here in 2021 including where to find it (it's free!). My short version is that I really enjoy how much depth and complexity got packed into this free lil indie game, and I love so many of the characters. 

Brainstorming prompts out loud: You can steal my prompts from previous requests here and here if you want. I don't think I have any new ideas this time round but I'm happy to read whatever you come up with.

Ahriman's Prophecy

Characters: Frederick Le Mew

What I love about this canon: This is a beloved nostalgia canon for me, just hearing the music from it can immediately flood me with old feelings. It's a relatively straightforward classic jrpg with a typical hero's quest and a slightly less typical ending. I find a lot of the charm to be in the little details, the twists on familiar fairy tales in many of the side quests or the little bits of worldbuilding. The feeling of going from a small sheltered backwater to a much wider, more dangerous and grand world repeats with many of the characters.

Note: It is available for free for both computers and (with a somewhat clunky interface) Android phones!

Brainstorming prompts out loud:  I would love to see what happened to Frederick after the end of the game. What kind of adventures did he get up to? One of my favorite things in AP was the monster sanctuary in Aveyond, which unfortunately never returned in the subsequent games, I'd love if Frederick went back there and had something to do with whatever ended up happening to it. I'm similarly curious what happened to Animal Town... But honestly I'll take any interesting adventure with Frederick in the AP world. What's his life like now that he can turn into a dragon or a nightmare?