karanguni | Dear Yuletide Writer 2025

Dear Yuletide writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I'm a generally omnivorous reader and excited to read anything that you come up with – everything in this letter is optional. Have fun!

AO3: karanguni
tl;dr: I happily opt into gen, porn, unusual media types, and crossovers with fandoms I have read/written/requested before; ignore or take as many parts of this wall of text as you want! My AO3 account has gifts enabled for treats.

Likes/DNWs
Initial D (Takahashi Ryousuke)
平家物語 | Heike monogatari | The Tale of the Heike (Shigemori)
The Bedlam Stacks - Natasha Pulley (Keita Mori, Merrick Tremayne)
Kamusari Series - Miura Shion (Any/Worldbuilding)
The Culture - Iain M. Banks (Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints)

General Likes

I genuinely mean that I'm an omnivorous reader: if you have something that you want to write, I'm happy to read it. Please don't sweat stuff like first/second person POV, archive-warning content, &c. That said, if you want some jumping-off ideas:

Old friendships and relationships: people who were close but who then drifted or were driven apart, and how they come together again. The internal struggle of renegotiating new/old territory; unrequited/unresolved tension. Pining is great, and I don't mind not having a happy (or any) resolution.
People who know each other very well, and who translate that knowledge into a variety of things - whether that's intimacy, sex, codependency, codeswitching or otherwise - that aren't easily read or understood by third parties. Ingroup/outgroup dynamics!
Service/loyalty/contractual obligations.
High-pressure situations - whether immediate or over a long time span - and how people respond to them.
Competence porn: people who have worked very hard to become highly proficient in their skillsets, whether that's being an assassin or meticulous scholarship.
Private versus public conflicts, and how a character balances the two. Winning one only to lose the other; difficult compromises.
Cross-class interactions; the bigger the divide, the better. Double points if it's not just a case of "I've got X and you've not", but rather how two people challenge each other across said divides.
Worldbuilding, especially economic, in-group, and political worldbuilding.
AUs, crossovers, non-traditional media (IF, art, whatever!) are all fine with me. Anything I've written for or in my AO3 bookmarks is fair game, but I do bookmark things that I do not have canon knowledge of, so please hit me up via a mod inquiry if you're worried!

Dislikes/DNWs:

I have no general DNWs; all DNWs are fandom-specific and listed with each prompt. In terms of general dislikes, for porn I would prefer not to read long, detailed descriptions of daddy kink or scat, but am fine with mentions of it.

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平家物語 | Heike monogatari | The Tale of the Heike

Taira no Shigemori (Tale of Heike)

Oh Shigemori, cinnamon roll of the Heike, too good for this world. I am absolutely open to any adventures you might take him on, and I mean that in the truest sense: whether canon fill-in or grand Legends of the Galactic Heroes space opera AU or a tumble through Japanese mythology/Noh plays/???, I am down for anything you can come up with. He's just so... good. For what little time we get him, Shigemori is a force of nobility and dignity and old-time Taira awesome, the last of the Good Ones, a mirrored bookend on the other side of the tale from, say, Atsumori.

I adore Shigemori's competence, his ability to stand up to his father, his presence in the story despite how little time he has. The bittersweet tragedy of him not living long enough to become a villain (come on, who really gets out of the Genpei drama without some egg on their face?) is like candy to me.

Some ideas:

What happens if he lives and Kiyomori doesn't?
I am 100% – nay, 1000% – here for something a little magical realist or mythological: there are so many SIGNS! and SYMBOLS! in Heike. Was there something about the whirlwind before Shigemori's death that was significant? Does he come back as a ghost? Do you want him to haunt Kiyomori until Kiyomori ~~stops being an asshole~~ sees skulls and dogs baying? Or maybe he comes back as a hidden bodhisattva?
I will read anything competence porn related for Shigemori. You could write about him sitting at a desk thinking about trade deals, urban planning, the logistics of keeping a household fed, what to wear next season, or wood drying and I would love it. Maybe a bit of his journal? Some of his letters?
External point of view of his retainers or [choose your own major character]?
I hereby opt-in for wish fulfilment semi-crack. Shigemori in a modern corporate AU, where he could maybe have not fallen ill and chosen Another Way for the Taira ~~clan~~ zaibatsu? Or something IN SPACE! You really can't go wrong with IN SPACE!
Going wildly in another direction, if you feel so inclined as to invent a Shigemori Noh play... I'd love even a sketched out version or liner notes of what that might look line.
Random in-universe (?) crossovers (?): I have absolutely no justification for wanting Shigemori to chill with/school Yoshitsune, but I do. Or, what would have happened if Soujoubou randomly adopted Shigemori?
I very much love the general fatalistic mood of the canon, and how rocks-fall-everybody-dies doesn't matter because the candleflames of people's lives still burn bright for a while. I happily opt-in to character death and sadness &c. &c., as well as you pairing Shigemori up with anyone if you want to go that way.

Regarding canon and related canons: I am thoroughly unfussed about canon sources. My English copy is the Royall Tyler and I own it in annotated classical Japanese as well – but romanise however you want! My Heike knowledge is broad but also really piecemeal, as is my general knowledge of Japanese literature as a whole; I will happily suck up any links to source material/footnotes if you feel inclined to go Heike-wild. It would make my year to receive some random reference to anything Genji/Genpei/Hogen/Heiji/random Noh or kabuki or movie or anime/poetry/woodblock carvings/weirdly obscure facts about Kyoto. If, for some reason, you stick some Japanese references in, I will happily go look them up. But I also honestly don't care if you wallpaper all of that in favour of just going with... Shigemori vibes, for a lack of a better term: I'm not fussed with historical accuracy if you're not aiming for historical accuracy.

P.S. If you're reading this section of my letter and comprehending anything I'm writing to begin with, believe me when I say I'm already just gleeful that someone out there wants to read or write some Heike too.

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Initial D

Takahashi Ryousuke

Acquiring the canon: the anime dub is readily available on Youtube

I've been on a of wild Initial D kick after discovering the fandom, as one does, a thousand years after its heyday. I might be late to the Eurobeat Disco, but I'm here now!

I adore Ryousuke because while he's all Ego and I'm The Cool Guy, he also clearly, rabidly cares about more than just winning: he's interested in cars, in technique, in the aesthetics of racing (instead of just buying an R32/more expensive machine) and in the unpredictability of the street. I love that considering how he's got this whole other buttoned up career waiting for him on the side, and how incongruous it is for some rich kid of hospital administrators in med school to be doing this kind of stuff.

I will take anything about him in pretty much any flavour. Rich kid who is unafraid to use money and connections to improve his (and others') racing while also actively choosing to punch up instead of down? Check. Maniacally overworked? Check. Analytical brain thrown into a sea of intuitive savants? Double check! I love that this outwardly straight-laced human being has an enormous drive to perform, an ego almost to match, and the pride to not let his ego get in the way of adopting an absurd sleep schedule in pursuit of big bragging rights and even bigger-picture automotive excellent. MORE OF ALL THIS!!

Some ideas:

Ryousuke vs other rich kids in any situation, especially? even? non-automotive related
What if he's the son of a tofu seller
Gymkhana days
Him + mechanics and/or inadvisable things you could do in a body shop (take that however you will)
How did he terrify Keisuke all those years ago with his driving?
What car(s) does doctor!him end up with and why?
What does he do to blow off steam when he can't drive?
Gunma > Tokyo?
What happens if he gets caught illegally street racing by a hot cop, insert hot cop of choice here (feel free to dig around my fandoms for crossover ideas?)
Mentorship kink
FC porn. On the car, about the car, in the car, literally the car?
POV switch of other street racers realising, to their horror, that this guy is turning them on. Bonus points for extra denial even if/in spite of being given [a thrashing during a race | a thrashing in bed | verbal commands that they can't stop thinking about] by Ryousuke

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神去シリーズ - 三浦しをん | Kamusari Forest Series - Miura Shion

Any (Worldbuilding)

Acquiring the canon: the series is two quick and easy to read books, available in English nearly everywhere.

The worldbuild in Kamusari is so good, from the mundane (city boy thrown into the middle of nowhere!) to the mystical (kamikakushi!). I'd love to read a story about Kamusari's liminal space between the spirit world and the real one – whether that's magic magic or the magic of respect for a place, a tradition, and one's place in the tradition is completely up to you. The care given to the forest and to people's relationships with one another that shines through in the book could keep me warm through the coldest yuletide.

While no characters were nominated, I love everyone in this ~~bar~~ forest village, and Seiichi particularly so.

Some ideas:

What is Seiichi's relationship with Kamusari and its environs, gods, and people like? How is it different from everyone else's? Does him inheriting come with some other form of inheritance?
A 5 + 1 or similar format where we get to see everyone's different interactions with the world would be amazing. Especially Granny Shige's.
Kamusari Over The Ages, and I mean ages. Like, hundreds of years. Thousands, if you want to go that far back
Kamusari from the perspective of a tree, or a grove of trees. What does the passing of time look like here?
Does something happen to your relationship with the forest as you age?
A mechanic where Kamusari's hold on you is literal in some way - whether physical or psychological - and that being away from it, as someone born and bred that, is strange (if not outright wrong-feeling), would be a fun idea to explore!

(Forgive the length discrepancy on this request: I have previous letters to copy from for all other fandoms but this one, and 2025 has been Rather A Lot. I still love it as much as the others!)

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The Bedlam Stacks - Natasha Pulley

Keita Mori, Merrick Tremayne

Well here are a pair of thoroughly dubiously amoral Company boys: Merrick, tossed around by life & time(s) (or Keita?) into thinking he isn't full of his own competencies; and Keita such a mess of pining and attempting to escape out from his own abilities/heritage and to some only theoretical future. I'm fascinated by how Keita basically pushes Merrick forward/overboard into his own future: how sure was he that that was going to work out? And then there was that flash of regret we see from him in the book: what did he have to give up and forget by pushing Merrick away? Keita's so very alone for so very long, and such a prickly creature: yet he and Merrick were clearly close, and remained close enough through Watchmaker and beyond to rely on one another/show up unannounced at each other's places. Whether you set it when Keita is younger in their Company days or later in the game after Merrick's gone and found Bedlam or even post-Watchmaker series, I just want more of their amazing and complicated relationship.

I'd also thoroughly love an AU – there are so many dead-ends that could've been sprawling in the trees of possibility in Keita's timelines.

What if Keita never gets Merrick injured? What if he never leaves the Company?
What if Thaniel never ends up in the picture or leaves the picture abortively, whether because Keita realises he can't get to him in time or by other happenstance? Or what if Keita needs Merrick's help and, goodness, has to ask for it?
Merrick and Keita as pirates. Somehow.
What happens if Merrick is a younger man? Would Keita have possibly chosen him instead?
Or what happens if all goes as per Bedlam, and Keita visits? Or helps Merrick live his best South American life somehow?

Either gen or shipfic for these two would be lovely. If you prefer Keita/Thaniel and/or Merrick/&Raphael, I am also well and truly in those camps, so some ideas that lap into that territory:

Keita introduces Thaniel to Merrick after as many or few events of Watchmaker/Pepperharrow as you desire. Maybe at Christmas. Maybe there are dogs...
Merrick introduces Keita to Raphael, whether in Peru or... Heligan :3
Botany adventures. These two doing anything botany or horticulture related would be quite incredible to me, ~~like a crossover with Gardeners World somehow, somewhen, I mean, timey-wimey, right?~~
Downtime during the bad old days in the Company. I'd love it if Keita saw in Merrick real, genuine friendship because Merrick looks at all of his eldritchness and... doesn't care even though he sees clearer than most
Merrick visiting Keita in Japan, at any stage.
Keita taking Six to visit Merrick and the sheer amount of semi-grandfatherly indulgences that might involve...

DNW: unhappy endings for either Keita or Merrick. Bittersweet or ambiguous is fine, but please avoid nothing-will-ever-be-good-again levels of despair!

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The Culture - Iain M. Banks

GOU Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints

Acquiring the canon: out of The Culture series, you only need Surface Detail, which can be found anywhere books are sold

I mean come on how could you not.

I'd love something about our delightfully badly-behaved-but-within-S.C.-if-not-straightforward-moral-constraints Picket Ship. FOTNMC is a darling because it's such a bucket of contradictions: it's a bad boy, but also clearly not a loose canon. Despite its atrocious behaviour, in all the ways that seem to count FOTNMC is hardly "Mawhrin-Skel" from The Player of Games, exiled from S.C. for being too dangerous: it does its job.

So! What is it like being a "picket" ship in a rather post-war timeline? What is it like consenting (maybe) to be engineered to be exactly what S.C. wants you to be? What is its relationship with being part of the Culture's not!army – I've requested oodles of Zakalwe in the past and been rewarded with just such excellent fic about our human(ish) mercenary man-weapon, and I'd love to see the Mind/ship side of that explored. We get all these whiffs and hints of how S.C. ships and rank and committees work throughout the various books: I'd love to see that fleshed out.

I also would really like an exploration of FOTNMC's actions during the - probably large amounts of - downtime it has. If you, like me, think that it kept up with Led after the events of Surface Detail, I'd love anything you could whip up about it. The epilogue of the book mentions that it hangs around GSVs: tell me more about that, maybe – about ship-class interactions, how the physical bodies that Mind(s) get put in sort of are or are not deterministically linked to the Mind(s) themselves.

Some ideas:

FOTNMC gets put into a different ship body, for Some Reason
What are the Normal Moral Constraints anyway? Is there a standard for the panhumans and a standard for Minds? What's Moral in the Culture anyhow?
Who was FOTNMC's parent ship and/or parent S.C. committee? Does he ever get checked up on?
Was FOTNMC born into S.C.? Are all Picket Ship Minds? How do other Minds feel about that – especially, perhaps, the older (or oldest) ones from the Idirian War or the formation of the Culture?
I'm also here for just FOTNMC having a very merry holiday season indeed: FOTNMC gets a dream refit? Or maybe it gets to pick apart equivalent-level tech?
Does FOTNMC ever... read a book or something? It's got so much spare time, it claims not to be social...
Does FOTNMC ever go into the happy place that the Minds go, that land of infinite fun space? Or does it find it a load of rubbish?
FOTNMC's transmissions with Led
FOTNMC's transmissions with [any named Ship of your choice from the books]

I've read all of The Culture books and am happy for you to reference them, but I'm just as happy happy to disregard anything outside of Surface Detail, since that's the only one needed for this request.

Crossovers: I'd adore a crossover with the Culture, whether complete crack or very serious. What if Estraven from the Left Hand of Darkness lived and ended up working for the Ekumen, but what if... the Ekumen is really Contact/Special Circumstances? Or, if that's too much of a stretch, what if the Ekumen ships him off to a sector of space where he meets Special Circumstances and FOTNMC? To go from a planet where life and death are no laughing matter to the land of (erstwhile) Happy Fun Times and giga-death wars: what perspective could Estraven give a warship or vice-versa? Could they philosophically could end up on the same level? What if Estraven could Pacific Rim-style Drift with a ship because of the Handdara? /terrible thoughts.

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