Dear Yuletide Person (2010)
Here are some general things I like:
(by no means an obligation or a checklist)
I like humor.
I love plots.
I'm a sucker for Wild West or Film Noir AUs. Futuristic dystopias are also kind of neat. Steampunk is gorgeous.
I love folklore and working off of mythologies and urban legends.
I love examining the relationships between people (though I'm not generally a fan of romance or porn, except where explicitly noted)
I like math and science, especially when taken to the brink of implausibility
I have a weakness for puns.
I like politicking and murder mysteries and conspiracies and complicated plots, but these are hard and would be totally beyond the call of duty.
Did I mention I like humor? Because a touch of humor in any story is awesome, even if it's a tragedy.
I like a little grain of discomfort/unease mixed into otherwise pleasant stories.
I like a strong sense of setting or culture
I like a sense of impending disaster.
I like it when an author's love for the characters and story really shows.
Here are some things I'm not really into:
Porn and stories that are all about romance. I'm a genfan, what can I say? This isn't an absolute, but I'd like to keep the romance near the same sort of level it is in canon, and if there are canon couples, I prefer that they stay together.
Characters being unpleasant to each other all of the time (fine in small amounts and fine if it's in character, but too much of it starts to get me down)
Character bashing. Believe it or not, there are very few characters in these series that I don't like. (And if you don't like a character, it's okay for you to not write them! Seriously, I understand! Do what you love, not what you hate!)
Request 1: Gunnerkrigg Court
This is truly one of those "any" means "any" requests. I'd be hard-pressed to find a character in Gunnerkrigg Court I didn't adore. That said, if you need direction, I'm quite fond of the medium-in-training trio, Reynardine and Surma's relationship intrigues me, the psychopomps and other supernatural/mythological creatures are interesting, Jack is hilarious and his time with the spider was genuinely creepy, Jones and Randy make an interesting couple, and Boxbot is a perpetual favorite. Also, City Face.
No really. I mean this. Anything with any of these characters that feels like the series will be wonderful. As an additional idea, if you can tell me how the lower right button happened, I will love you forever.
Note: this is the request that's easy to get the canon for. Gunnerkrigg Court is a webcomic, and all of the canon is online at that link. Be warned: it may take you half a day to go through all the archives, but it's definitely worth it.
Request 2: You're Beautiful
The humor aspects are my favorite part of this show, so I'd like something along those lines for this request (the drama's good, too, of course, but humor helped balance out the melodrama). I love the band's quirks--Tae Kyung's OCD and being allergic to the world, Jeremy's enthusiasm and secret love of fanfic, Shin Woo being a sneaky little guy sometimes, Mi Nyu's life being cursed with bad luck and klutziness, so something about them as a group or any of them as individuals would be fun. I'm sympathetic to most of the characters, including He Yi (who I actually though was interesting and also wouldn't mind having her included if you're interested in writing her).
Band antics are my favorite thing in the world. The bit where they're going around the supermarket imitating their old commercials is my favorite part of the whole show. I forgot to mention Manager Ma and Coordinator Wang, but they're hilarious and adorable, so writing about them would be awesome, too. If you're a slasher, I'm cool with that, and I'm sure Jeremy would approve as well, but try not to break canon too much. I vaguely ship Shin Woo/Male!Go Mi Nam as something that would be potentially hilarious.
Request 3: Natsume Yuujinchou (Tanuma)
I love Natsume Yuujinchou as a whole, and Tanuma in particular, so anything about him would be great. I think his relationship with Natsume is very interesting, and the way he sometimes teams up with Taki is funny and adorable. Backstory, futurefic, a story where he interacts with a cast member he isn't often seen with (Natori, Tooko, etc) or gets to make supernatural friends of his own are all ideas that interest me. So long as it's warm and has that Natsume Yuujinchou feeling, I'm happy. (In the spirit of Natsume Yuujinchou, if you decide to write romance, please keep it at the low-key kind of thing similar to how romance is treated in the manga/anime.)
I think I've said it all right there. This is something I've written a fair amount for, so you can check the archives for the way I perceive Tanuma, if that helps. To underline one part of my request, no porn of this, please. Thank you!
Request 4: Prince of Persia 2008
I love how these two interact, banter, and challenge each other, either through discussions of philosophy or games of I Spy. I like the ways they work together as partners, and the ways they don't completely understand the other. I'm up for anything, so long as it involves these two.
I've played the entirety of the game many many times, haven't played the extended ending but I know about it and I'm planning on playing it before Yuletide posts, so you can use or discard that part however you like. I'm one of those people who adored the Prince's choice at the end, so please don't undercut it unless you have a great idea for an AU. Something pregame involving either one of them would also be good, since I'm curious as to how the Prince got his vast pile of fortunes, and Elika's childhood was probably very interesting.