jaclynhyde

 Dear Author,

Thank you so much for writing for me! This letter is under construction and will be finished by the time assignments go out; for now I've copied and pasted the relevant parts from old letters. If you're here for treats, I'd be thrilled to get art or fic treats. I've been playing through the Tales series all through quarantine and have fallen in love with pretty much all of it! Feel free to include references/spoilers to any of the Tales Series I've played (Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, Xillia 1&2, Zestiria, Berseria, Crestoria); throwaway references to the others are fine, but no spoilers please! 

Stuff I love:

• Shipping! I am a ridiculous shipper at heart, so my favorite thing would be ship fic for the pairings I request; I love sexual tension, slow burn, pining, and lots of other stuff. I love characters falling for others that they never would have expected, as is probably obvious from my ships. I love pining and hurt/comfort and cuddling to avoid hypothermia and all those wonderful fanfic tropes. Shippy pre-relationship stuff is also great!
• Identity porn! As defined by Fanlore, it's focusing on people who have secret identities which focus on the consequences of using multiple personas". So Character A is in disguise, interacting with Character B, who may or may not know who Character A really is, and there may be kissing. This has obvious implications for shapeshifters and characters with masks/secret identities, but anywhere you can fit it in I will love it. Relatedly, I'm always up for mask kink and identity reveals.
• Hurt/comfort and angst with a happy or hopeful ending. I love catharsis...
• Dramatic reunions! I love seeing characters brought back from the dead (or not actually dead, or whatever plot device works) reunited with someone who's been mourning them. I really love if the living person had feelings for the other and regrets never confessing them.
• Lots of story types--adventure, what-ifs, canon continuations, everyone is mysteriously alive somehow, etc. Both happy and bittersweet/sad fics are great, as long as the angst isn't from the pairing's relationship not working out. Snippets from any of these are also great!
• Your own prompts! I throw out a few specific story prompts for each pairing, but I will be thrilled to read any ideas you have!
• Interactive fiction! Besides any of my other prompts or your plots, I would love a dating sim with Luke or Raven romancing everyone. Character death, AU, and other pairings are fine for different endings in IF. I like all IF formats.

DNWs:

• Non-con. Dub-con is great.
• Character bashing, including canon love interests.
• Non-canon major character death. Temporary "death" or coming back from canon death is great.
• AUs of the setting instead of plot (mundane AUs, everyone is ponies, etc.)
• Unrequited love (one or both parties incorrectly thinking it's unrequited is great) & shooting down pairings I requested.
• Outsider POV.
• Non-Tales crossovers. 

Don't Like but not DNW-level:

• Pure PWP--porn along with other stuff is great, but I'm more interested in the character interactions. (For treats, go wild!)
• Established relationship fic. This isn't as set in stone as the others, but I love seeing my OTPs get together and/or have UST. I'm 100% fine with pre-relationship fic if it's shippy!

---

Abyss likes: the whole party, Tear!!!, rappigs, Guy & Luke's friendship, friend with benefits Jade/Peony, past Jade/Dist, past unrequited Luke/Van
Abyss DNWs: Ending Person as a combination of Luke and Asch


Luke/Jade

• Jade realizing how strong his feelings for Luke are only when he knows he's dying. This would go great with sharing some unexpectedly tender moments, Luke asking Jade more about Nebilim, or Jade taking Luke somewhere he's never been (maybe somewhere Jade had never appreciated the beauty of before?). This would go great with Jade wrestling with romantic feelings for the first time (especially if Peony or Guy realize what's going on with him and Jade is in denial that it's even possible). And maybe Jade tries to put distance between them by being extra caustic, but now Luke is hurt and Jade is only feeling more protective towards him and well that backfired.
• Luke is the one who comes back at the end, and Jade has already mourned him and absolutely does not know how to deal with Luke's return. (Or Asch comes back first and Luke makes it the next year?) Or he's been suppressing his feelings and and he didn't know how much he missed him until he sees him again. What if Luke wrote about his feelings for Jade instead of Tear in his diary, or wrote letters to everyone, and Jade had to deal with this knowledge? 
• Jade begins flirting with Luke to aggravate him (nibble~) and Luke blows up at him for making fun of him just because he noticed Luke has a thing for him. Jade had not, in fact, noticed this before Luke told him.
• Groundhog Day loop! I'd love to see Luke accepting his death and the consequences of his actions...and then he finds himself replaying the events, and there's definitely a whole Thing about not being able to bring back the dead but what is he supposed to do, anyway? And Jade would of course figure it out immediately, but Luke still has to keep his distance because Jade wouldn't believe how close they were in the end if he told him. How does Jade come to care this time? 
• Soulmate AU! There is SO MUCH crap that can happen with soulmarks and replicas. Replicas don't have them? Asch had Natalia and they just tattooed it on Luke? Duke Fabre had Luke's removed because a) he's engaged to Natalia anyway, and b) like hell his soulmate is a Malkuth colonel? Jade absolutely does not believe in them, of course. Or just put them into the Score (in which case, saying forget the Score and getting together despite who the Score says works too)!
• Tales of the Rays verse: I'm new to TotR and it doesn't need to be TotR canon compliant; some similar AU is fine. The important part of the setting is Jade and Luke are transported to a new world (from near the end of Abyss) and Luke's fonons are no longer separating. Luke and Jade are the only ones from their friend group at first, and they keep each other's secrets while Jade keeps an eye on Luke's health. How does Luke deal with having his future back and not having his life planned out? How does Jade deal with the grief and emotions Luke's coming death stirred up in him, now that they're gone? Do they become even closer when they're the only ones the other's got?

Crestoria likes: the whole party, demon Vicious, Vicious & Yuna's friendship, other Tales faves in weird Crestoria AUs, Yuna/Penelope
Crestoria DNWs: Makina

Crestoria has such a good story for a gacha game, and wow I love Vicious a lot. I love that the Great Transgressor is such a crass, hilarious edgelord...and that he barely ever does anything bad. I love how he's responded to being hated by the whole world with "Guess I'd better give them a reason to hate me!" and how he's manage to surround himself with people who care about him. And I really love the completely off-the-wall AUs some characters are giving (Eizen with good luck??), so feel free to throw in any of my faves in (cough secret transgressor Raven cough). I prefer Kanata and Misella aged up to 16/17 or fic set in the future; just not mentioning their ages is fine too.


Vicious/Kanata

Vicious and Kanata had a fun dynamic from the start and then it just exploded into Kanata is Vicious's reason for living??? Holy crap? I adore how important this do-gooder became to Vicious, and how freely and openly Kanata cares for the Great Transgressor. I really love the idea that both of them not quite realizing they're falling for each other (Vicious because he doesn't think he's capable of those type of feelings, Kanata because he didn't know liking guys was an option).

If not OT3, I like Kanata being poly with Misella or her just not mentioned; I don't want Misella being jealous because Kanata isn't interested in her. (Being jealous even though he is is a-ok and is pretty much canon.)

• Demon Vicious! Demon Vicious!! I love Kanata being fascinated by Vicious's demon form, and Vicious being thrown completely off-guard by that. Does he try to show him how scary he can be (which, obviously, backfires)? Does Kanata convince Vicious to get used to being in that form around him? Does Kanata have to cool him down with a hug (or kiss)?
• Kanata realizes just how important he is to Vicious, possibly at the same time Vicious realizes this. Is it Yuna's meddling? Does Vicious panic when Kanata gets seriously hurt or presumed dead? Does the revelation piss Vicious off or does he just take what he wants while trying not to think of feelings too hard?
• Any ridiculous event that could lead to romance. Do they have to defend a hot spring? Do they finally get Vicious to act? Fake dating? I love the events in this game, and pretty much any fun trope can fit into them.

Vicious/Kanata/Misella

Vicious and Misella's dynamic is absolute gold; any heroine that just straight-up stabs a party member to death in his sleep is right up my alley. I love how Misella has absolutely no time for Vicious and how he's corrupting Kanata, and how he's just exasperated with her never-ending attempts to get rid of him. And how he sometimes sounds like he's flirting, juuuust a little.

• Misella is convinced Vicious wants to corrupt Kanata sexually (along with every other way he's obviously corrupting him). Vicious thinks that's just as ridiculous as everything else she says about him, except...now that she says it... Does Vicious start openly flirting with Kanata just to annoy her except oh, Kanata's reactions are awakening something in him? Does Misella determinedly seduce Vicious first to keep him away from Kanata?
• Anything where the three of them have to travel alone and Kanata goes from being happy to be with his two favorite people to realizing he is really turned on by his two favorite people and this is awkward. 

---

Vesperia likes: the whole party, Schwann brigade, Duke, Raven & Repede's friendship, Ristelle, Leblanc/Kaufman
Vesperia DNWs: Raven/Judy (mild flirting's okay), Karol/Nan, Zagi


Yuri/Raven

These two!!! Raven is my favorite Tales character overall, and I absolutely adore his changing relationship with Yuri. The snark and Yuri taking none of Raven's shit from the beginning is amazing, and then Raven opening up about his past just a little...as he's increasingly tormented about his double life and who is he really? And then Yuri accepts him even after everything he's done and is furious that another friend thinks his life is worth nothing and Raven gives his life to him Brave Vesperia. And oh man The Empty Mask is absurdly shippy for them, with all the blatant comparisons between Casey and Yuri and how much Yuri is a light for him to follow. You don't have to read it for my sake but 100% look if up if you're a Raven fan who hasn't!

As for Flynn/Yuri, I prefer it as unrequited Yuri pining after straight Flynn (unless OT3, see below); I kind of love the idea of Yuri being into knights in uniform, to his annoyance, and then whoops turns out Raven's one of them too! Just not bringing up Flynn is fine too. Raven flirting with all the ladies is good, just please not too much Raven/Judy. I love past Raven/Casey (unrequited) and Raven/Don (requited or not).

Prompts:

• Yuri being protective of Raven after he returns to Brave Vesperia, especially about his blastia. This would be great for hurt/comfort--Raven gets a hit to the blastia, or he hasn't gotten a checkup like Yuri suggested, or he Blast Hearts and it takes a lot out of him. I love Yuri being absolutely furious with him for not taking his life seriously, and Raven suddenly realizing it's because Yuri cares a lot more than Raven thought. Also great: Yuri kissing him in (angry) relief, especially if it's during a battle and Raven has no idea what just happened.
• Captain Schwann. Identity porn. This ship is made for it. Identity porn (not actually porn) is the consequences of having secret identities and/or multiple personas; I would absolutely love the tension if Yuri meets Schwann, who's trying to hide his identity, and he's not sure if the belligerent flirting means Yuri's figured out his secret or not… Or after the reveal, Raven has to dress up as Schwann for Reasons and Yuri flirts with the Captain (maybe because he's not ready to admit he cares for Raven, but Schwann's totally a different guy?).
• Raven knows how to flirt with girls, even if he's playing it up a lot as Raven. But when he starts flirting with Yuri (maybe because Yuri starts flirting with him), it's...different. Maybe Raven thought he wasn't into guys (Don was definitely just hero worship, right?), or maybe because Yuri just reminds him of Casey more and more and the idea that it means so much is frightening. Does Yuri realize Raven's flirting, or does he think his growing feelings for Raven are unrequited?
• Yuri starts to get a thing for Raven before he disappears with Estelle, and then all that happens and his feelings are a lot more complicated. Bonus if Raven stays "dead" for longer than he did in canon.
• Raven and Yuri are becoming closer post-game (you know, when Raven comes over to lose to Repede at chess), and Raven tells Yuri his original name. And then Yuri calls him Damuron and huh Raven feels like his heart's shattered again, why is that? Also good is Yuri liking his hair down, Schwann-style, which gives Raven confused feelings because Schwann and Damuron are dead anyway, what does any of this matter?

Yuri/Raven/Flynn

Because lbr Flynn is 100% into Captain Schwann, whether he's otherwise straight or not. I'd like the focus to be mostly on Raven/Yuri and/or Raven/Flynn for this. (For Raven/Flynn, my beta vanishinghitchhiker has some great prompts!) Feel free to add Flynn into any of the Yuri/Raven prompts or:

• Yuri and Flynn are together, and Raven is (to his dismay) starting to catch feelings for Yuri or both of them. He accepts he has no chance, and he's used to just loving people from afar anyway...and then Flynn sweetly kisses him while his hair is down, or Yuri tells him to stop pining, old man, and get in here already.
• Identity porn! An AU from before the reveal: Flynn had a thing for Schwann in the knights, and there's something about this Raven guy... Yuri absolutely is not attracted to Raven (untrue), he's definitely not into people who annoy him (extremely untrue), but he keeps running into Captain Schwann and there's something about him…
• Any of my beta's Flynn/Raven prompts plus Yuri!