Dear Creator Letter: Press Start 2022
Jul. 7th, 2022 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
corpsebrigadierPress Start Letter for CorpseBrigadier on Ao3
Dear Creator,
Let me thank you in advance for undertaking to create for me and congratulate you on your great taste regarding whichever canon it was that provided the basis for our match! I've tried below to explain what it is about each game I love, and to provide some prompts for the characters, relationships, and mediums I've requested, but I want to emphasize that I'm very interested in you feeling free to flex your creative muscles.
If the prompts listed aren't quite doing it for you, I am a genuine believer in optional details being optional, and I would love to see whatever creative production you are inspired to make out of these canons.
[NOTE: This letter is functionally complete at the time it was posted, but it may be tweaked through the end of sign-ups.]
General (DNWs, Likes, Opt-Ins) | Final Fantasy Tactics | Final Fantasy VI | killer7
• ageplay
• daddykink
• incestuous relationships portrayed as healthy and uncomplicated (messed-up, dysfunctional incest is absolutely a-okay)
• omegaverse
• pregnancy-related kinks (ex: breeding kink, mpreg, worshipful focus on pregnant bellies, etc...); narrative explorations of childbearing, pregnancy, and reproduction more than welcome
• scat/emeto (unsexy mentions of vomit are okay; all poop is a no go)
Opt-Ins:
• all archive warnings
• comics, animated artwork, and illustrated fic
• epistolary fiction
• interactive fiction (I like IF a lot, you can check out myunconventionalfanworksex letter here for details.)
• non-linear narratives
• NSFW for all canons in which I don't DNW it
• whatever person/tense is your jam
General Likes:
• angst
• bittersweetness
• black humor
• character death
• complex family relationships
• hurt/comfort
• illness and injury (plague and head bashing in particular)
• incest where everything is maladaptive and bad
• fever dreams
• existential despair
• non-kinky explorations of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood
• stoicism in the face of terrible things
• surreal imagery
• torture; religious, mythological, and/or plant-based symbolism
• whump
Smut Likes:
• awkward, bad, or inept sex that's still enthusiastic
• blasphemy/sacrilege kink
• clothed or partially clothed sex
• double penetration
• drunk/drugged sex
• hate sex
• gangbangs
• non-con/dub-con in general
• non-penetrative sex
• strangulation/breathplay
• undead sex
• violent sex
Art Likes: I like things with dynamic poses; things that are cute/cartoonish; things that do something offbeat and a little bit exaggerated/surreal; and things that are a little over-stylized and dripping with symbolic imagery. Limited palettes and starkly inked black and white pieces are close to my heart as I am a rotten colorist and have an affinity for styles I could conceivably emulate. I also tend to like things that are de-saturated or a washed out looking. As with my general likes, I'm a sucker for anything that has cool symbolism with plants and religion in it.
Music Likes (for vids): I like a lot of indie/folk and the general weepy alt rock that was popular on 8tracks playlists of old. Ludo, Momus, Nick Cave, and AJJ are some of the artists/bands that I've listened to most extensively. You might get some mileage out of my prior![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jukebox_fest sign up for more of my thoughts on songs. In terms of what I enjoy in a fanvid, I am definitely most happy when I can feel the lyrics line up with the work, even if it's a song from a genre I'm not terribly familiar with.
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This 1998 tactical RPG by Square-Enix has been my major fandom for several years now. I love how immensely unrepentantly bleak it is, how it's full of Church-flavored horror, and how it is just filled to the brim with unhappy families. I'm entirely here for political backstabbing and endless misery 24/7 in this sad little world of grid-based warfare.
For this exchange, I'm requesting some niche combinations of characters that are all near and dear to my heart. I want to emphasize, however, that I really adore everything about this game and that you should feel free to rope in other parts of the narrative that you want to explore. Unrequested pairings, appearances by the rest of the cast, and your favorite generic unit OCs are all welcome here. I'm always interested in seeing new takes on this canon, and I am up for AUs and fusions if you feel so inspired.
Note on Names: I mix and match PSX and PSP names for characters and places based entirely on what I think sounds cool, and I encourage you to do likewise and adhere to whatever orthography you like best.
Dycedarg Beoulve & Zalbaag Beoulve: These guys are my absolute favorite dysfunctional sibling duo in a game all about dysfunctional sibling duos, and I would love to read anything you can come up with about them. I'm particularly curious about what their family history is like before the younger Beoulves come into the scene and before Dycedarg started on a career of patricide and general awfulness. What was their mother like? What's up with the decade long age gaps in this family? Why did the two legitimate heirs to a family as important as the Beoulves never marry? What did they make of the sudden addition of bastards and/or foundlings in their household? How and why did they both become willing to do such terrible things? I'm also absolutely here for dark takes on their eventual dual fratricide and miserable transformations into eldritch abominations. I deeply love AUs where the Lucavi win, and I'd enjoy seeing Goatdarg and Zombag in such a context. I also think role-reversal AUs where one mixes up who does patricide and who turns into what type of abomination could be fun.
As for art, I'm a sucker for siblings and connected characters in dynamic poses looking cool. I'd also be super into something where they're much younger--perhaps an older Dycedarg interacting with a child Zalbag?--or both brothers being of age to be fighting in the Fifty Years War and hanging about in the midst of some portion of that conflict? Also, I am absolutely never going to say no hokey images of them that involve goats or depressing images of them that involve mushrooms.
Zalbaag Beoulve/Wiegraf Folles: [Explicit Works Welcome] This is my deranged OTP, and I am absolutely happy to receive anything imaginable for it. I adore all the potential here, and if you want a very TL:DR breakdown, I wrote an extensive ship manifesto explaining my rationale for this unintuitive ship. Zalbag and Wiegraf are two characters of roughly the same age who had their lives impacted by the same war, and I'd love to see things that look to how their different respective outlooks and social ranks affected them before they went on to star in some capital T Tragedy and turn into a boss battle. I'm particularly into hate sex and high toxicity for these two, but I'm stoked to see any take on them you can imagine. If you are so inspired and can pull off fluff or happy endings for these two, have at it. Feel free also to set things whenever and wherever you want. Pre-canon, mid-canon, AU: it's all good!
In terms of art, I'm similarly of a stance that anything goes for this. Draw them as pre-canon Fifty Years War soldiers, as mid-canon opponents, or just abstractly two cool guys hanging out. I am really A+ 110% all right with some injury and blood as it is applicable, and I continue to be up for dumb animal imagery in FFT art. Sheep are great. I will never get tired of Wiegraf being drawn in conjunction with or as sheep. If you're doing something appropriately cutesy and want to throw in a monkey too (Zalbag was jokingly referred to as "Monkey Bag" in the sound test menus for the game in Japanese), go for it. Explicit works are definitely okay here.
Simon Penn-Lachish & Zalmour Lucianada: Simon quit the Inquisition because of an "incident," and that incident is never explained. I would be thrilled to learn more about that incident. I'm also generally interested in something that brings together and contrasts the only two characters in the game who were active in the Inquisition, as they don't actually get a chance to meet in canon. Zalmour is such a confirmed zealot and Simon is such a textbook case of lost faith in the midst of lingering obligations. As two of the few people who are affiliated with the Church without being affiliated with any of its multi-layered conspiracies, it would be neat to see how both men grapple with faith. Simon is also one of the only characters who would actually remember an Ivalice before the Fifty Years War, and I'd be fascinated to see how two men who would have seen most of that conflict play out relate to it.
In terms of art, I'm a sucker for ostentatious JRPG-Catholic visuals, and I'd adore something that really explores and plays with what religious ornamentation looks like in the Glabados faith (playing up the details of locations like Orbonne, Bervenia, or Mullonde would be fantastic). As always, I'd love to see younger versions of the requested characters, and how these two dudes might have looked at an earlier point in time. A novice Zalmour learning from an older Simon perhaps?
Canon DNWs: n/a
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Final Fantasy VI is my favorite game of the numbered installments of the series, and despite Tactics being my personal favorite, I honestly think of VI as having the strongest overall package of any of the games I've played. I love how well it weaves together very serious, character-driven narratives while simultaneously being aware that it is a goofy JRPG with surreal monsters dripping out of every corner. The fact that its most beloved sequence involves both an emotional opera scene and a giant purple octopus is very much the sort of thing I love this game for, and I'd enjoy anything that can play to that juxtaposition.
For this exchange, I'm particularly interested in the narrative's obsession with fatherhood vis a vis explorations of its foremost sad dad and foremost bad dad. I want to see something that meaningfully brings together Shadow and Cyan in relation to their respective family tragedies or that looks to how two people with fairly opposite moral codes act in relation to one another.
Note: While you don't have to absorb any of my headcanon re: Shadow as Doman, I think it's worth exploring the connection he is shown to have has with Doma. He and Baram/Billy are very obviously doing their train robberies in the vicinity of the phantom train, and Clyde is later seen abandoning Baram at the base of the Baren Falls (which is around where he abruptly leaves your party early in the game). I'd definitely dig something that looks to what Shadow's attitude on Doma and Doman culture are, and how they might overlap or clash with Cyan's understanding of his lost homeland.
Cyan Garamonde & Shadow: I'd enjoy seeing the two of them butt heads as ninja and samurai, as I imagine Cyan can get confrontational as regards Shadow's moral code (or lack thereof). It would be neat to have there be something that touches on their respective experiences as fathers--both in circumstances where Shadow's relation to Relm is known and in circumstances where it isn't known (and Shadow's commentary about his past is presumably veiled. Having the two of them get combative about their past family lives and how things turned out would be lovely. I'd also enjoy anything where they can find some room for commonality or sympathy (and interesting fact if you pay attention to the Ultimania is that noth men have a watch with a some manner of portrait as a prized possession). Having Cyan react to Shadow's eventual death (whenever you envision it as happening) would also be a nice opportunity to explore some commonalities or differences. Feel free to rope in Sabin, Gau, Relm, and Strago in particular as supporting cast members.
Cyan Garamonde/Shadow: [Explicit Works Welcome] I would love an exploration of any of the issues mentioned above in the & version of this relationship save that the two characters make terrible decisions of some sort that result in some bad dad/sad dad action. I think this is a marvelous ship for hate sex and toxicity, although I'd also be interested in takes on the pairing that explore how the two might come to some sort of understanding about their similar griefs and dadly melodrama. I'd be interested in Shadow being vindictive and Cyan being ruffled. I'd be interested in thinking about their dead lovers in weird and unpleasant ways (and feel free to make Baram Clyde's ex). In general, I'd just be interested in anything you can come up with for these two that really teases out the trauma of their pasts in interesting and/or distressing ways.
Canon DNWs: n/a
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killer7 is a game that hit me like a ton of bricks, and while I haven't done a replay in forever, I am absolutely haunted by how well it pulled off subverted mechanics and using gameplay as an effective narrative device. I love its weird, hyper violent, surreal aesthetics and the general sense of style that oozes out of every polygon. I also just love shooting things into an explosion of blood while watching whatever two note badass I'm playing as look cool as they spout off one liners.
While I have read that one guy's GameFAQs speculations and have given real thought to the plot and its workings (I haven't--I confess--made it through Hand in Killer7), its a game where I am also content to admit that there are parts I do not follow or get. If you feel you get killer7 very well please do not feel like you have to hold back on any galaxy brain takes or references to supplementary material out of fear I will not appreciate them. If something goes over my head, I am the sort of person whose keen to look it up, and I will adore whatever you produce whether it plays to a very shallow or a very deep reading of the game. In general, I'm very comfortable being confused with this canon.
In general, please feel free to be strange, provocative, or over-the-top as you fancy with whatever you create. I love this game very dearly, and I'd love to see fanworks for it that capture how completely out there the game can be as an experience.
Dan Smith/Coyote Smith: [Explicit Works Welcome] I really really like hate ships, and this feels like it would be such a good hate ship. These two--as per the manual--hate each other. One is a cop and one is a criminal. Dan literally (or as literally as anything seems to get in this game) killed Coyote. They are also both hot and are trying ever so hard to be cool. I don't feel there's a lot that needs to be added to this equation for there to be murderous, rivalry-fueled shenanigans--and by shenanigans I mean make outs. Please just come up with a dynamic in which they dramatically injure, violently kiss, and/or desperately fuck one another. I would love something intense that plays into their pasts being killed by other people in other ways or that veers into over the top violence. I would also love something a little more jokey that plays into the fact that Coyote's major skill is picking one very specific type of padlock and how this could figure into some sort of bondage scenario. I am also absolutely fine with some PWP.
In terms of art, I feel my narrative suggestions for dramatically injury, violently kissing, and/or desperate fucking all translate fairly well to images. In terms of vids, I confess that this might be a slightly trickier than average request given how little Dan and Coyote are shown together on the same screen. I feel that something short and satisfying could still be done with the right song and quick transitions from one character to another (and you might be able to create the illusion of them being in conversation by subbing Coyote for other characters Dan engages with where each speaker has their own shot). Honestly, something that does a good job conveying what's sexy about both characters is great even if they aren't ever in the same place.
Garcian Smith: Garcian/Emir throughout the last few chapters breaks my heart. As I mentioned above, what really blew my mind when I played this game in '05 was how well the gameplay fed into my experience of the story. The black smile battle--in which you have all the cool characters you spent forever leveling up shorn away to leave you with a nearly useless backup persona--was such an "aha" moment for younger me when I realized you could very easily map that sense of upset and annoyance onto Garcian/Emir: that he was suddenly confronted very viscerally with the fact he was the main character. Anything that plays to that moment or that addresses either Emir's initial suicide or Garcian's eventual revelation on the roof would be something that I would really adore. I'm also game for fictional treatments of Emir's past experiences with brainwashing and abuse (I know some people attribute Kun Lan's parable about the young man murdering his mother as a retelling of something in Garcian's past--although I don't think it fits exactly in the timeline of him being 13 at the Union Hotel). Since what really hits me so hard about Garcian is the question of his identity and sense of self, I'd also find it fascinating to see how he views the other members of the Syndicate whose personae he assumes. Dan might be a particularly interesting case, given how he seems so full of main character energy when he ultimately isn't the real protagonist.
In terms of art, interpretations of the Black Smile battle, of Garcian-as-Emir, or of Garcian assuming the identities of other personae would all be welcome. Honestly though if you create something that has the same vibrant, out there feel of the game, I'd appreciate Garcian doing just about anything. Bright blood everywhere, third eyes, a golden gun: there's just a lot of stand out visuals you can employ here.
In terms of vids, I'd be interested to see something that focused specifically on cut scenes where we are shown only one member of the killer7 interacting with somebody, and the implications that this figure is or is not Garcian (something that plays with the shift with the camera early on is what I'm envisioning). I'm also down for something that puts Garcian in dialogue with one character (as mentioned above, Dan might be a good pick for a member of the syndicate, although one could very obviously do a lot with Mills). If you have a fun song for it, I'm also absolutely fine with something where the bulk of the video is the Russian Roulette scene. I'm also up for something that uses "Greensleeves" as the song, although I'd appreciate it if it took a notably different tack than the killer7 "Greensleeves" vid that already exists.
Susie Sumner: SUSIE IS THE BEST. ≧∀≦ She is the trollish severed ghost head I need in my life to deliver me very specific inventory items. 〃ω〃 I fucking love Susie, and I will love anything you make that is true to the spirit of this delight of a character. In terms of fic, I am happy if you want to go dark and explore all of her very troubling and violent relationships she had pre-canon (or if you even want to invent some more). I am happy if you want to go lighter and write about her adventures in various appliances or boxes. I bet she talks shit about the other remnant psyches constantly. >‿< I bet she talks shit about everyone constantly. Having her hang out with any of the vast multitude of ghosts that dwell about Garcian's head would be wonderful, as would having her just pop out of record crates or toaster ovens or what have you to interrupt important or dramatic moments. Please do not hesitate to drown any fic you might write in emoji.
For art, I would enjoy something that looks to her past when she was more than a head (or even specifically to episodes like the murder of her mother or boyfriend) but I am also just absolutely game for lulzy images of her being a head that is hiding in something. Feel free to be creative in terms of what she might hide in.
In terms of vids, I feel that you can do a lot with the right song if it can convey the upbeat weirdness of somebody constantly vocalizing emoticons, somebody cheerfully telling you about their lulzy murder sprees, or somebody just popping out of random places in which you do not expect to find them. I feel there's also a lot of potential here if you can locate good a tune about the speaker giving somebody a ring.
Canon DNWs: n/a
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Dear Creator,
Let me thank you in advance for undertaking to create for me and congratulate you on your great taste regarding whichever canon it was that provided the basis for our match! I've tried below to explain what it is about each game I love, and to provide some prompts for the characters, relationships, and mediums I've requested, but I want to emphasize that I'm very interested in you feeling free to flex your creative muscles.
If the prompts listed aren't quite doing it for you, I am a genuine believer in optional details being optional, and I would love to see whatever creative production you are inspired to make out of these canons.
[NOTE: This letter is functionally complete at the time it was posted, but it may be tweaked through the end of sign-ups.]
General (DNWs, Likes, Opt-Ins) | Final Fantasy Tactics | Final Fantasy VI | killer7
General (DNWs, Likes, Opt-Ins, Etc...)
Do Not Wants:• ageplay
• daddykink
• incestuous relationships portrayed as healthy and uncomplicated (messed-up, dysfunctional incest is absolutely a-okay)
• omegaverse
• pregnancy-related kinks (ex: breeding kink, mpreg, worshipful focus on pregnant bellies, etc...); narrative explorations of childbearing, pregnancy, and reproduction more than welcome
• scat/emeto (unsexy mentions of vomit are okay; all poop is a no go)
Opt-Ins:
• all archive warnings
• comics, animated artwork, and illustrated fic
• epistolary fiction
• interactive fiction (I like IF a lot, you can check out my
unconventionalfanworksex letter here for details.)• non-linear narratives
• NSFW for all canons in which I don't DNW it
• whatever person/tense is your jam
General Likes:
• angst
• bittersweetness
• black humor
• character death
• complex family relationships
• hurt/comfort
• illness and injury (plague and head bashing in particular)
• incest where everything is maladaptive and bad
• fever dreams
• existential despair
• non-kinky explorations of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood
• stoicism in the face of terrible things
• surreal imagery
• torture; religious, mythological, and/or plant-based symbolism
• whump
Smut Likes:
• awkward, bad, or inept sex that's still enthusiastic
• blasphemy/sacrilege kink
• clothed or partially clothed sex
• double penetration
• drunk/drugged sex
• hate sex
• gangbangs
• non-con/dub-con in general
• non-penetrative sex
• strangulation/breathplay
• undead sex
• violent sex
Art Likes: I like things with dynamic poses; things that are cute/cartoonish; things that do something offbeat and a little bit exaggerated/surreal; and things that are a little over-stylized and dripping with symbolic imagery. Limited palettes and starkly inked black and white pieces are close to my heart as I am a rotten colorist and have an affinity for styles I could conceivably emulate. I also tend to like things that are de-saturated or a washed out looking. As with my general likes, I'm a sucker for anything that has cool symbolism with plants and religion in it.
Music Likes (for vids): I like a lot of indie/folk and the general weepy alt rock that was popular on 8tracks playlists of old. Ludo, Momus, Nick Cave, and AJJ are some of the artists/bands that I've listened to most extensively. You might get some mileage out of my prior
jukebox_fest sign up for more of my thoughts on songs. In terms of what I enjoy in a fanvid, I am definitely most happy when I can feel the lyrics line up with the work, even if it's a song from a genre I'm not terribly familiar with.[Back to Top]
Final Fantasy Tactics
[Requesting ART or FIC]This 1998 tactical RPG by Square-Enix has been my major fandom for several years now. I love how immensely unrepentantly bleak it is, how it's full of Church-flavored horror, and how it is just filled to the brim with unhappy families. I'm entirely here for political backstabbing and endless misery 24/7 in this sad little world of grid-based warfare.
For this exchange, I'm requesting some niche combinations of characters that are all near and dear to my heart. I want to emphasize, however, that I really adore everything about this game and that you should feel free to rope in other parts of the narrative that you want to explore. Unrequested pairings, appearances by the rest of the cast, and your favorite generic unit OCs are all welcome here. I'm always interested in seeing new takes on this canon, and I am up for AUs and fusions if you feel so inspired.
Note on Names: I mix and match PSX and PSP names for characters and places based entirely on what I think sounds cool, and I encourage you to do likewise and adhere to whatever orthography you like best.
Dycedarg Beoulve & Zalbaag Beoulve: These guys are my absolute favorite dysfunctional sibling duo in a game all about dysfunctional sibling duos, and I would love to read anything you can come up with about them. I'm particularly curious about what their family history is like before the younger Beoulves come into the scene and before Dycedarg started on a career of patricide and general awfulness. What was their mother like? What's up with the decade long age gaps in this family? Why did the two legitimate heirs to a family as important as the Beoulves never marry? What did they make of the sudden addition of bastards and/or foundlings in their household? How and why did they both become willing to do such terrible things? I'm also absolutely here for dark takes on their eventual dual fratricide and miserable transformations into eldritch abominations. I deeply love AUs where the Lucavi win, and I'd enjoy seeing Goatdarg and Zombag in such a context. I also think role-reversal AUs where one mixes up who does patricide and who turns into what type of abomination could be fun.
As for art, I'm a sucker for siblings and connected characters in dynamic poses looking cool. I'd also be super into something where they're much younger--perhaps an older Dycedarg interacting with a child Zalbag?--or both brothers being of age to be fighting in the Fifty Years War and hanging about in the midst of some portion of that conflict? Also, I am absolutely never going to say no hokey images of them that involve goats or depressing images of them that involve mushrooms.
Zalbaag Beoulve/Wiegraf Folles: [Explicit Works Welcome] This is my deranged OTP, and I am absolutely happy to receive anything imaginable for it. I adore all the potential here, and if you want a very TL:DR breakdown, I wrote an extensive ship manifesto explaining my rationale for this unintuitive ship. Zalbag and Wiegraf are two characters of roughly the same age who had their lives impacted by the same war, and I'd love to see things that look to how their different respective outlooks and social ranks affected them before they went on to star in some capital T Tragedy and turn into a boss battle. I'm particularly into hate sex and high toxicity for these two, but I'm stoked to see any take on them you can imagine. If you are so inspired and can pull off fluff or happy endings for these two, have at it. Feel free also to set things whenever and wherever you want. Pre-canon, mid-canon, AU: it's all good!
In terms of art, I'm similarly of a stance that anything goes for this. Draw them as pre-canon Fifty Years War soldiers, as mid-canon opponents, or just abstractly two cool guys hanging out. I am really A+ 110% all right with some injury and blood as it is applicable, and I continue to be up for dumb animal imagery in FFT art. Sheep are great. I will never get tired of Wiegraf being drawn in conjunction with or as sheep. If you're doing something appropriately cutesy and want to throw in a monkey too (Zalbag was jokingly referred to as "Monkey Bag" in the sound test menus for the game in Japanese), go for it. Explicit works are definitely okay here.
Simon Penn-Lachish & Zalmour Lucianada: Simon quit the Inquisition because of an "incident," and that incident is never explained. I would be thrilled to learn more about that incident. I'm also generally interested in something that brings together and contrasts the only two characters in the game who were active in the Inquisition, as they don't actually get a chance to meet in canon. Zalmour is such a confirmed zealot and Simon is such a textbook case of lost faith in the midst of lingering obligations. As two of the few people who are affiliated with the Church without being affiliated with any of its multi-layered conspiracies, it would be neat to see how both men grapple with faith. Simon is also one of the only characters who would actually remember an Ivalice before the Fifty Years War, and I'd be fascinated to see how two men who would have seen most of that conflict play out relate to it.
In terms of art, I'm a sucker for ostentatious JRPG-Catholic visuals, and I'd adore something that really explores and plays with what religious ornamentation looks like in the Glabados faith (playing up the details of locations like Orbonne, Bervenia, or Mullonde would be fantastic). As always, I'd love to see younger versions of the requested characters, and how these two dudes might have looked at an earlier point in time. A novice Zalmour learning from an older Simon perhaps?
Canon DNWs: n/a
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Final Fantasy VI
[Requesting FIC]Final Fantasy VI is my favorite game of the numbered installments of the series, and despite Tactics being my personal favorite, I honestly think of VI as having the strongest overall package of any of the games I've played. I love how well it weaves together very serious, character-driven narratives while simultaneously being aware that it is a goofy JRPG with surreal monsters dripping out of every corner. The fact that its most beloved sequence involves both an emotional opera scene and a giant purple octopus is very much the sort of thing I love this game for, and I'd enjoy anything that can play to that juxtaposition.
For this exchange, I'm particularly interested in the narrative's obsession with fatherhood vis a vis explorations of its foremost sad dad and foremost bad dad. I want to see something that meaningfully brings together Shadow and Cyan in relation to their respective family tragedies or that looks to how two people with fairly opposite moral codes act in relation to one another.
Note: While you don't have to absorb any of my headcanon re: Shadow as Doman, I think it's worth exploring the connection he is shown to have has with Doma. He and Baram/Billy are very obviously doing their train robberies in the vicinity of the phantom train, and Clyde is later seen abandoning Baram at the base of the Baren Falls (which is around where he abruptly leaves your party early in the game). I'd definitely dig something that looks to what Shadow's attitude on Doma and Doman culture are, and how they might overlap or clash with Cyan's understanding of his lost homeland.
Cyan Garamonde & Shadow: I'd enjoy seeing the two of them butt heads as ninja and samurai, as I imagine Cyan can get confrontational as regards Shadow's moral code (or lack thereof). It would be neat to have there be something that touches on their respective experiences as fathers--both in circumstances where Shadow's relation to Relm is known and in circumstances where it isn't known (and Shadow's commentary about his past is presumably veiled. Having the two of them get combative about their past family lives and how things turned out would be lovely. I'd also enjoy anything where they can find some room for commonality or sympathy (and interesting fact if you pay attention to the Ultimania is that noth men have a watch with a some manner of portrait as a prized possession). Having Cyan react to Shadow's eventual death (whenever you envision it as happening) would also be a nice opportunity to explore some commonalities or differences. Feel free to rope in Sabin, Gau, Relm, and Strago in particular as supporting cast members.
Cyan Garamonde/Shadow: [Explicit Works Welcome] I would love an exploration of any of the issues mentioned above in the & version of this relationship save that the two characters make terrible decisions of some sort that result in some bad dad/sad dad action. I think this is a marvelous ship for hate sex and toxicity, although I'd also be interested in takes on the pairing that explore how the two might come to some sort of understanding about their similar griefs and dadly melodrama. I'd be interested in Shadow being vindictive and Cyan being ruffled. I'd be interested in thinking about their dead lovers in weird and unpleasant ways (and feel free to make Baram Clyde's ex). In general, I'd just be interested in anything you can come up with for these two that really teases out the trauma of their pasts in interesting and/or distressing ways.
Canon DNWs: n/a
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killer7
[Requesting ART, FIC, or VIDs]killer7 is a game that hit me like a ton of bricks, and while I haven't done a replay in forever, I am absolutely haunted by how well it pulled off subverted mechanics and using gameplay as an effective narrative device. I love its weird, hyper violent, surreal aesthetics and the general sense of style that oozes out of every polygon. I also just love shooting things into an explosion of blood while watching whatever two note badass I'm playing as look cool as they spout off one liners.
While I have read that one guy's GameFAQs speculations and have given real thought to the plot and its workings (I haven't--I confess--made it through Hand in Killer7), its a game where I am also content to admit that there are parts I do not follow or get. If you feel you get killer7 very well please do not feel like you have to hold back on any galaxy brain takes or references to supplementary material out of fear I will not appreciate them. If something goes over my head, I am the sort of person whose keen to look it up, and I will adore whatever you produce whether it plays to a very shallow or a very deep reading of the game. In general, I'm very comfortable being confused with this canon.
In general, please feel free to be strange, provocative, or over-the-top as you fancy with whatever you create. I love this game very dearly, and I'd love to see fanworks for it that capture how completely out there the game can be as an experience.
Dan Smith/Coyote Smith: [Explicit Works Welcome] I really really like hate ships, and this feels like it would be such a good hate ship. These two--as per the manual--hate each other. One is a cop and one is a criminal. Dan literally (or as literally as anything seems to get in this game) killed Coyote. They are also both hot and are trying ever so hard to be cool. I don't feel there's a lot that needs to be added to this equation for there to be murderous, rivalry-fueled shenanigans--and by shenanigans I mean make outs. Please just come up with a dynamic in which they dramatically injure, violently kiss, and/or desperately fuck one another. I would love something intense that plays into their pasts being killed by other people in other ways or that veers into over the top violence. I would also love something a little more jokey that plays into the fact that Coyote's major skill is picking one very specific type of padlock and how this could figure into some sort of bondage scenario. I am also absolutely fine with some PWP.
In terms of art, I feel my narrative suggestions for dramatically injury, violently kissing, and/or desperate fucking all translate fairly well to images. In terms of vids, I confess that this might be a slightly trickier than average request given how little Dan and Coyote are shown together on the same screen. I feel that something short and satisfying could still be done with the right song and quick transitions from one character to another (and you might be able to create the illusion of them being in conversation by subbing Coyote for other characters Dan engages with where each speaker has their own shot). Honestly, something that does a good job conveying what's sexy about both characters is great even if they aren't ever in the same place.
Garcian Smith: Garcian/Emir throughout the last few chapters breaks my heart. As I mentioned above, what really blew my mind when I played this game in '05 was how well the gameplay fed into my experience of the story. The black smile battle--in which you have all the cool characters you spent forever leveling up shorn away to leave you with a nearly useless backup persona--was such an "aha" moment for younger me when I realized you could very easily map that sense of upset and annoyance onto Garcian/Emir: that he was suddenly confronted very viscerally with the fact he was the main character. Anything that plays to that moment or that addresses either Emir's initial suicide or Garcian's eventual revelation on the roof would be something that I would really adore. I'm also game for fictional treatments of Emir's past experiences with brainwashing and abuse (I know some people attribute Kun Lan's parable about the young man murdering his mother as a retelling of something in Garcian's past--although I don't think it fits exactly in the timeline of him being 13 at the Union Hotel). Since what really hits me so hard about Garcian is the question of his identity and sense of self, I'd also find it fascinating to see how he views the other members of the Syndicate whose personae he assumes. Dan might be a particularly interesting case, given how he seems so full of main character energy when he ultimately isn't the real protagonist.
In terms of art, interpretations of the Black Smile battle, of Garcian-as-Emir, or of Garcian assuming the identities of other personae would all be welcome. Honestly though if you create something that has the same vibrant, out there feel of the game, I'd appreciate Garcian doing just about anything. Bright blood everywhere, third eyes, a golden gun: there's just a lot of stand out visuals you can employ here.
In terms of vids, I'd be interested to see something that focused specifically on cut scenes where we are shown only one member of the killer7 interacting with somebody, and the implications that this figure is or is not Garcian (something that plays with the shift with the camera early on is what I'm envisioning). I'm also down for something that puts Garcian in dialogue with one character (as mentioned above, Dan might be a good pick for a member of the syndicate, although one could very obviously do a lot with Mills). If you have a fun song for it, I'm also absolutely fine with something where the bulk of the video is the Russian Roulette scene. I'm also up for something that uses "Greensleeves" as the song, although I'd appreciate it if it took a notably different tack than the killer7 "Greensleeves" vid that already exists.
Susie Sumner: SUSIE IS THE BEST. ≧∀≦ She is the trollish severed ghost head I need in my life to deliver me very specific inventory items. 〃ω〃 I fucking love Susie, and I will love anything you make that is true to the spirit of this delight of a character. In terms of fic, I am happy if you want to go dark and explore all of her very troubling and violent relationships she had pre-canon (or if you even want to invent some more). I am happy if you want to go lighter and write about her adventures in various appliances or boxes. I bet she talks shit about the other remnant psyches constantly. >‿< I bet she talks shit about everyone constantly. Having her hang out with any of the vast multitude of ghosts that dwell about Garcian's head would be wonderful, as would having her just pop out of record crates or toaster ovens or what have you to interrupt important or dramatic moments. Please do not hesitate to drown any fic you might write in emoji.
For art, I would enjoy something that looks to her past when she was more than a head (or even specifically to episodes like the murder of her mother or boyfriend) but I am also just absolutely game for lulzy images of her being a head that is hiding in something. Feel free to be creative in terms of what she might hide in.
In terms of vids, I feel that you can do a lot with the right song if it can convey the upbeat weirdness of somebody constantly vocalizing emoticons, somebody cheerfully telling you about their lulzy murder sprees, or somebody just popping out of random places in which you do not expect to find them. I feel there's also a lot of potential here if you can locate good a tune about the speaker giving somebody a ring.
Canon DNWs: n/a
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