You may be acquainted with the night

Yuletide once more!

Features: The Misfit of Demon King Academy, Reincarnated as a Slime, Wayne Family Adventures

Yuletide once more and goodness this last year has flown by. I hope it's been kinder to you than previous years and that you've been able to reconnect with folks and strengthen your bonds after all that's gone down. To quote Motion City Soundtrack: the future freaks me out, so things like Yuletide really give me something to look forward to during the rougher winter months, and I hope it's something you get to enjoy (and not stress too much about) in turn.

For myself, I will genuinely enjoy just having things to read in these fandoms, especially as my first two have very little fic! Thank you for taking the time to look through my letter, and I apologize in advance for my rambling.

Also, did not realize I needed to say as such but! Treats are welcome!

Quick points of things I like:

- Worldbuild Worldbuild Worldbuild. The hows and the whys always fascinate me
- OC's or minor characters with outsider opinions of the main cast and situations, especially looking at how intense/overpowered or kind someone is in situations that 'normal people' would not be kind in.
- Culture clash, fish out of water scenarios
- Power dynamics and awareness of them
- Someone being utterly terrified of someone / something that could be dangerous, but has no intent to do harm - I've seen this called mercyfic and yeah, that entire idea of mercy is a fave trope
- Very self-aware characters kicking ass in rough situations / survival in rough situations
- Absolute sacrifice or submission to a larger power that then is treated with kindness
- Loyalty and loyalty porn
- Plot over Fluff.
- Found Family Feelings
- Hurt / Comfort

DNW:

- Unresolved endings or tension

- Ambiguous or melancholy endings

- Character death

My A03: Elemental

Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha | The Misfit of Demon King Academy (Anime)

Anos Voldigoad, Lay Glanzudlii, Shin Reglia, Misha Necron

I have chosen all of these characters but note that you don’t have to include everyone if it doesn’t fit the story, as long as Anos is included or is the throughline.

My tiny fandom of almost nothing. Last year, I asked for this and could sort for 'complete, non crossover, +1k' and the result was 3 fics, only one is in English. This year that number is the same, and I am a sad fan.

Anyway, this Anime makes no sense, (as far as I can tell the LN doesn't make much sense either,) but I really adore it nonetheless. I think it's just a surprisingly charming power fantasy where the MC isn't a creep and genuinely cares about his friends and family and looks after them. We don't get that a lot in this sort of genre where protagonists tend to look at people only as tools or romance options, but this series tackles things differently and that's before we even touch on the MC's HISTORY.

Prompts:

Anos and Shin. We only really get one scene from them in the anime, but Shin's loyalty is clear. His request for permission to be reincarnated because he doesn't want to live in a world without Anos as his lord is pretty telling. How did their relationship come to be? What are their power dynamics like? How do other people see them? Has Shin been reincarnated in the current timeline and what would he think of Anos now? How does Anos treat his Underlings in general and Shin in specific?

Anos and Lay (Kanon). In the same episode as Shin's introduction (#5) we hear that Kanon has 7 sources and no matter how many times he is killed, he comes back. Does that mean he loses the body he has and he is reborn as a child that must train again? Does he speed grow the way Anos does in the series? Or can he rebuild himself? What does that look like to Anos? Does he face a different looking Kanon every fight he wins? How does he feel about that and this never ending war? We never really get to see any of their battles and the sequence between Anos and Kanon that sets the plot off - ie: come to my castle and I will kill myself and end this war - is so rushed. I’d love, LOVE to see that really examined in depth to see how Anos got there and what Kanon thought when he arrived and how much of a trap he expected it to be compared to how Anos works. Give me FEELINGS!

Likewise, reincarnated as Lay, he swears oaths to Anos and seems to mean them, but also is willing to betray him to sacrifice himself for peace. What is his thought process? When the peace is made, how do they find their futures together?

Anos and Misha. If none of the above strike your fancy, I’d love to see Anos post series just rebuilding the world with Misha (and anyone else) into something where everyone does actually have a chance at a peaceful future, and seeing where she fits in there, especially as an observer who understands more about how cruel people can be. I’d love to see Anos in a mostly ace context where sure he has a harem of women but they’re his court, more than his consorts, if that makes sense. He loves his family and the girls are a part of that, even if he can absolutely flirt with the best of them.

I’d Love: Anything looking at oaths of fealty, codes of honor, sacrifice, someone offering Anos their life in exchange for another, politics where things actually work out well instead of depressing, or anything where Anos is the very best son to his family.
DNW: Anos as an actual terrible person, PWP, Anos as a womanizer, Anos explicitly only interested in women.
Shipping: I’m a fan of open or non-monogamous relationships where EVERYONE IS AWARE and on board with it.

Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken | That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Anime)
Rimuru, Benimaru, Souei,

Here is another power fantasy portal fantasy, two of my absolute favourite things in the world combined. And the main character is genuinely wonderful and intelligent without being full of himself and isn’t a creep! I LOVE IT!

I read Rimuru as Ace/Asexual. I like to think he hasn’t figured it out himself yet, but while he enjoys the sexy ladies he doesn’t want to do anything with them beyond the very simple (sitting on their laps and sharing baths) and as an ace person myself I just love seeing that in a series where he could be so, so creepy. Of course the porn writes itself but I’m really more looking for stuff that examines his character dynamics, politics, and worldbuild!

Prompts: (Separated by character but of course please feel free to combine any bit and piece here)

Rimuru: How terrifying is he to an outsider? We get some sense from the various nobles but I’d love to dig more into that, especially once he’s a DEMON LORD. That has to put a lot of people on edge. How about his interactions with Benimaru and Souei? I have such a love for loyalty/honor/self sacrifice, and seeing them be willing to risk themselves to protect Rimuru, how does he feel about that when it happens? What about someone trying to suggest a political marriage? Or Rimuru losing his temper at an ambassador?

Souei: In one of the diary episodes he mentions that his duty is to basically have no life save for his service. Does he ever learn to live more than that? How does he split his service between Rimuru and Benimaru, who are both his lords? As he gets stronger and more people train under him, does he start to realize he cares for those he is teaching and doesn’t want them to die?

Benimaru: One of my favourite scenes is when Geld kneels in the cave and asks Benimaru to take his head, and spare his brethren, and Benimaru’s reply. I’d love to see other scenarios where that could happen with outsiders, or how Geld’s people treat Benimaru if they ever find out about what happened/almost happened. Likewise, I’d love to see the dynamic between Benimaru and Souei - if you want to play with D/S themes here without it involving sex that could be fun, especially as Benimaru gets stronger and stronger.

Others/Tempest itself: I’d love anything looking at TERRIFYING ORC KING GELD being gentle with the children, it melts my heart every time. Or a group of adventurers being rescued by Tempest workers! As Tempest grows it does become quite a source of high end goods, who are the merchants who come and go and what do they think of the town?

I’d love: Anything with politics, power, oaths and fealty, letters back and forth, 5+1 things, Rimuru realizing he’s ace or the others realizing he’s really not interested in bedding someone, anything where the good guys win, giant pile of everyone sharing a bed for some reason and it being nice family feels!
DNW: PWP, Shuna needing rescue, the monsters losing or Humans with the moral highground.
Shipping: I’m a fan of open or non-monogamous relationships where EVERYONE IS AWARE and on board with it.

Wayne Family Adventures
Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake

I was delighted to see this one make it to YT this year! First thing first: there is a whole BUNCH of backstory/canon we don't know about for WFA because it does assume a basic knowledge of the series, and my own reference points are from reading the comics nonstop about a decade ago and falling into fandom all over again the last few months, and then reading the whole webcomic over the course of a week. So that said, my points may reference canon that doesn't align with what we've seen in WFA. If that's the case, your reading/the WFA canon wins out. I don't think there's a conflict, but if, say, I reference Jason and Tim and the Titan s Tower Event and it's been stated somewhere that isn't canon for that verse, please feel free to ignore me. Hopefully that makes sense!