Yuletide Letter 2021

[athousandwinds]

AO3 name: athousandwinds

Dear Yuletide Author,

Thank you very much for writing for me! I’m sure I’ll love whatever you come up with, so if none of the prompts below fire your imagination, please don’t feel boxed in by them. I want both of us to have a lovely Yuletide.

A lot of my prompts below are shippy, but if you’d prefer to write gen that’s fine with me, especially for 7KPP and GAA.

General likes: angst with a happy ending, smut, unexpected emotional connections, you-and-me-against-the-world type romances, complicated (but intense) relationships, canon divergence AU, identity porn, secrets, emotional repression

General DNWs: underage (under 18), incest, modern AU, AU with a complete setting change


大逆転裁判 | Dai Gyakuten Saiban | The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Video Games)
Susato

Susato!!! I absolutely adore her and the painfully difficult situation she’s in throughout the duology, on multiple levels: talented and brilliant, but barred from the profession she clearly loves; dutiful and discreet, but kept out of a number of secrets even when they affect her own life.

I’d really enjoy a fic about her confronting some of these ideas post-canon and figuring out how she wants to live her life. I’m happy with gen for this request, but if you’d like to write shipfic I have a soft spot for Susato/Rei.

For specific prompts:

• What about Susato’s relationship with her dad? She’s done a lot of to-ing and fro-ing for him without much, if any, explanation, even when it caused problems for her, he was also absent for a lot of her formative years, and there's a lot of secrets in that family. Yuujin seems to want to make it up to her by backing up any educational opportunities she wants to take. There’s a lot of potentially fraught conversations they might have post-canon, especially as Susato gets older and even more independent.
  • I should note re: this prompt that while I don't like character-bashing, I would be up for a negative take on Yuujin's actions, much of which seem really dubious to me, and how Susato might deal with that.
• Susato’s relationship with Kazuma doesn’t get a lot of time in the game, but it’s clear that she cares deeply for him and they have a long history. I’d be really interested to see a fic that deals with that history. One headcanon I have is that one of the reasons Yuujin was so sanguine about sending his teenage daughter off to Europe with a young adult man is that there was always a low-key expectation that they’d get married eventually (being married to Kazuma would keep Susato in legal circles, at least) – but by the time canon is over, Susato and Kazuma are both very different people from where they started. Rebuilding their friendship and getting to know each other again would be something I’d love to see. (My only other GAA ship aside from Susato/Rei is Kazuma/Van Zieks – maybe they could bond over that?)
• Dashing young lawyer Naruhodo Ryutaro takes Rei on a date! I’d love something that plays with Susato’s feelings about her gender and, for that matter, Rei’s feelings about Susato’s gender. I don’t have any particular headcanons about this, FWIW, but I think I'd enjoy something that digs into how much effort it must take to live up to the description "the epitome of a Japanese lady" and how she might feel about posing as a young man – which could be positive or negative, but certainly seems like it would be complicated.

Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Clarmont, Worldbuilding

Of 7KPP’s huge cast, Clarmont is my undisputed favourite - but also the most opaque of them all! I’d love something that dug into what makes him tick: what does he want out of his revolution? What are his plans for the summit, exactly?

Unlike the other fandoms in this letter, I haven’t listed any other specific characters I’d like him to bounce off (...so to speak…) because I’m genuinely interested to see which characters you think he’d have strong feelings about. Feel free to throw in anybody you like.

For specific prompts:

• How did Clarmont manage to ingratiate himself enough with the royal family that he was chosen as a delegate? The situation with the current regime seems, hmmm, unstable – how does Clarmont’s position at court/his position as a delegate affect that?
• What is it like to be Revairan? We know there’s trouble in the provinces and backstabbing in the capital – it seems like Clarmont might be familiar with both.
• How do the rebels go about their business, and what are their ultimate goals? They want to topple the current royal family, but non-violently if possible – what led them to this decision? Is this perhaps Katyia’s lingering influence on international politics, and is that why they seem so focused on the summit as the vehicle for doing all this?

In terms of ships, I’d prefer not to have Clarmont/NPC, but if you’d like to include romance, I’ve a huge soft spot for Clarmont/Ambitious Widow (ethical or immoral/manipulative, up to you!). However, ultimately it’s the focus on Clarmont as a character and the world around him that I want.


Romances of Arquitaine – Lilith Saintcrow
Vianne di Rochancheil/Tristan d’Arcenne

You cannot possibly go too melodramatic with these two for me. The messier and more fraught they are, the happier I’ll be. I just don’t want them to break up!

One thing I really like is how hard the books go on Tristan’s obsession with Vianne and the way it both fits into a kind of courtsong ideal and also super-duper-doesn’t-oh-my-fucking-god. It’s that energy I’d love to see in a Yuletide fic!

For this fandom, incidentally, I’m totally okay with dubcon and kink (though the DNWs up top still apply) – that’s part of this ship’s appeal.

For specific prompts:

• Well, what the fuck are they going to do now? Post-canon fic about how they forge a life together would be fascinating – not a whole lot gets resolved by the end of The Bandit King and I’d like to see them try. There’s just so much to work through. I’d enjoy seeing them travel the world and maybe get a glimpse of how things work in Tiberia or elsewhere.
• A canon divergence AU where the coup goes well for Tristan and Vianne actually does end up on a boat to Tiberia with him – how on earth was he planning to sell that to her? Could he succeed? Would she accept it, if Lisele was still alive, or would that motivate her to try and escape to rendezvous with Lisele?
• Pre-canon (or canon divergence) shenanigans at the Arquitaine court, where Tristan is pining to the amusement of all while Vianne is oblivious to any suitors. I’m unreasonably delighted by the idea of Tristan fighting a duel for Vianne’s honour while Vianne is utterly bewildered by such attention. Alternatively, I’d also like a story about Vianne chasing down a threat to Lisele’s position and accidentally(?) teaming up with Captain d’Arcenne.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder - Lutvak/Freedman
Monty Navarro/Sibella Hallward

Monty/Sibella is my favourite arm of the Monty/Sibella/Phoebe ménage - a relationship that clearly has some very deep roots and is much more central to both of them than they’d care to admit, especially Sibella. They’re both thoroughly on the make: she marries for money, he kills for it, and they understand each other very well even as they deliberately hurt each other.

Also, they’re just so fucking hot together.

I’m less interested in angst for this fandom, because one of the things I love most about it is the cheerful remorselessness of all the characters, so anything that goes hard on the dark comedy and absurdity would be much appreciated.

For specific prompts:

• Something set during the period where Monty’s sleeping with Sibella and courting Phoebe: his growing ruthlessness in “The Last One You’d Expect” is fascinating to me and I don’t see fic that delves into it much. What about Monty meeting Sibella at a D’Ysquith funeral and seducing her there (or vice versa)?
• Sibella and her husband meeting Monty in public and the two of them having to suffer through a uncomfortably polite conversation with Lionel where they have to hide their relationship (do they take the chance for a quick hookup? Are they just leaving a quick hookup, for extra awkwardness?)
• Sibella finds out about some or all of Monty’s real crimes - how does she react?

Comments

[kitsunerei88]

I just want to say that I love your description of Tristan for Romances of Arquitaine, yes to both idealized courting AND "oh my fucking god what"

also hello the only other person who appears to have read these books.

[athousandwinds]

Well, I'll be totally honest - it was the promo post and your Yuletide letter which got me to! I was trawling through the Yuletide letters on the app looking for potential treats and saw your description of the books and thought, Well, that looks right up my street.

The chivalric thing is so - like, Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot does all this crazy stuff for Guinevere, right? Undergoes humiliations galore, injures himself trying to rescue her, all that. But Lancelot at least is half-man, half-metaphorical representation of Love (as opposed to Reason), so you're not meant to take it as realistic. Tristan is doing all the same things in a fantasy world that we can safely assume has something similar going on, and the shift in the readers' (and other characters') view of him from "ah, yes, the faithful knight in sable armour, how obviously romantic" to "...hang on" is simultaneously hilarious and very neatly done for maximum drama.

I genuinely would really love more on the status quo ante, either from the author or in fic, because what a set-up. Vianne running round court trying to fight fires because one of Lisele's love affairs has gone scandalously awry, Tristan stalking taking an official interest in what this potential heir is doing, probably horrifying Vianne. More on why Vianne clearly thinks no one would ever seriously be interested in her! For all that she seems to have tried to avoid it, my guess is that the King wasn't the only person playing mind games at court. I know why the author went with the explosive start, but I would have loved to see more of Vianne in her element.

[kitsunerei88]

WELL THEN I'm glad I got someone to read the books because I really do love them and they're a bit of a total unknown. Not that Lilith Saintcrow is a big name author or anything, plus these books in particular were really poorly marketed as YA when... they aren't.

I super love the worldbuilding, both before and after the coup. What if Henri had been smart and given Vianne to Tristan--would there have still been a coup? Obviously the nation is horrifically unstable already, so what about exploring a loyal-to-the-Crown Tristan who is actually loyal to a very bad king? Or, like you prompted, what happens after the books? How do they get over what happened, and what about Arcenne? There are MANY questions!

I did get an arranged marriage fic as a triple crown prize last year which was amazing, so that's something. But more! More cakes!

[athousandwinds]

Always more cakes! One of my favourite things about that story was the implication that the king had had a sudden visitation of exactly how bad it would be to block Tristan from marrying Vianne and was reacting accordingly.

I do think there would still have been a coup eventually (Tristan does say it just happened to be that roll of the dice - though he's trying to get out of trouble, so a grain of salt is perhaps in order), but I wonder what angle it might otherwise have come from. A loyal Tristan contrasted against, perhaps, a more ambivalent Vianne might be a workable concept - Vianne does have her quasi-clinic and might get to see something of the world that way.

I'd also like to read (or write) something about Vianne becoming aware of Tristan's feelings while at court and maybe trying to pursue him, while Tristan is forbidden from reciprocating - that'd be juicy.

Can they even go back to Arcenne? Vianne seems to want to stay incognito for at least a few years while Adrien's reign stabilises and a lot of people there know who she is. I do wonder what she thought Tristan would do in Arcenne without her - something about how the two of them see their relationship very differently would be interesting. She definitely seemed to think he would get over her relatively quickly once they weren't seeing each other every day, which, er, well, anyway, and he sees it as being thrown away and is nigh abject in his desperation.

[kitsunerei88]

To the very few people who have read this book I know irl, I have occasionally said comparators like "I want a romance series with a male protagonist as obsessed and fucked up as Tristan." Because "nigh abject in desperation" is exactly how he is the entirety of The Bandit King.

I do agree that the coup would still have happened, or a more open rebellion later. Ooohhh a three-sided war would be fun because I do think that a loyal Tristan who was awarded Vianne for his loyalty would have fought for the Crown, but Vianne herself? Especially if she learns about the poverty, and the tax collectors, and so on? And then there's the d'Orlaans, who wants power and has it because Henri totally deferred all tax collecting power to him! There's so much potential for *juicy, juicy politics*. Except I'd never be able to do it justice in a form other than longfic, I think...

I'd honestly love Tristan at Court straight up *pining* because that would be pining for centuries. So much pining! But that setup would actually be really good for a 5x fic (Five Time Vianne Didn't Notice Tristan, and One Time She Did) or something... it does seem that Tristan did maybe try to woo her from a distance a bit, and also there's an interesting power dynamic here because Vianne is of a much higher class of noble than Tristan. Vianne is the Duchess of Rochancheil (and something else), so she has substantial lands of her own; Tristan is the heir to a barony. She's descended from the nobles of the sword (hence needing the King's permission to marry), and he isn't. It's an interesting divide!

The question of whether they go back to Arcenne intrigues me because there's such a strong question of duty here. With his father's death, Tristan is the Baron d'Arcenne--he has responsibilities! While Tristan seems more than happy to just throw them away to do what Vianne wants to do, Vianne has also spent the last 2 books doing her duty--I think it's an interesting push-pull because Vianne wouldn't necessarily want to go back, but she would think Tristan has to, while Tristan would not give a flying fuck about his duty as long as he was with Vianne.