2019 Night On Fic Mountain Letter

 

 

Hi, I'm Axel, and thank you for writing for me! Here are just some guidelines of what I like, and suggestions for what direction to take any of my requests. Feel free to ignore anything but the DNW, though, obviously, I want to see what you're interested in writing! (I might edit this a bit before sign-ups close, btw.)

Things I like

• Women!! (as a big lesbian that's always gotta be my disclaimer lol)

• Established relationships where there’s still change and issues to work through!

• Not sure it would apply to most of these, but I love when fics weave in elements of psychological or even cosmic horror.

• Also, when fantastical/supernatural/magic things are made to be pseudo-scientific.

• Strong imagery and mood are what I look for the most regardless of genre or trope.

• Dreaminess. Symbolism.

• Character studies! Character development!

• Romance!

• If you want to do them, I like sex scenes (again, preferably F/F, though M/M are fine) as long as they’re realistic, consensual, and not egregiously unsafe.

• This isn’t necessary unless you want to do it, but I love when wrestling fic gets really into what storylines would look like in the wrestling medium, i.e. describing matches/combat, press conferences, things being set-up backstage, tournament progression, etc.

DNW

• F/M anything unless it’s canon.

• Rape/non-con, incest, underage and large age gaps, teacher/student, and usually mentor/mentee, severe power imbalances in relationships that are portrayed as fine or romantic and not abusive.

• Suicide, eating disorders, A/B/O, watersports/scat, ageplay, heavy gore, animal play, pregnancy, sexual content occurring because a character "can't control themself", feminization, dom/sub as personality traits, gender swap, homophobic violence.

Dislikes

• First-person POV unless you’re confident it improves the story.
• Cheating, at least if you think it'll depress me
• Unless otherwise requested, non-wrestler AUs, RPF/breaking kayfabe, fluff-centric stories, comedy of errors, everyone knows they’re in love but them, etc.
• Again unless otherwise requested, unrequited love, but you can spend some of the story in pining if there's going to be a reveal by the end.
  
  

株式会社スターダム | World Wonder Ring Stardom

Andras Miyagi

How demonic is she, exactly? Did Kagetsu summon a demon to possess the old, human Andras? Does she think in the language she speaks in promos, and how does that reflect itself in her communication outside the arena? She seems very friendly with the rest of Oedo Tai backstage, especially Hazuki and Kagetsu, but what about with Sumire? (Shipping her with any of them would be very cool tbh.) Is her unwillingness to show her unmakeuped face in photos simply shyness, or is there a deeper, less mundane reason? I’d be happy with more of a focus on her friendship with the rest of Oedo Tai or not. The gap between pre-Stardom Andras and current Andras would be an interesting avenue to explore-- how did that happen?


Jungle Kyona

Well, the draft sure changed things, didn’t it? Everything I thought about while nominating her isn’t applicable to the broken down, dangerous version of her that now lives within KMA. So there’s two routes here: either we go with JAN (or pre-JAN) Kyona, and show her struggle to capitalize on her talent and set a good example for the children (while folks like Momo laugh at her.. what a villain), finally leading to the slow decay of her relationship with her right-hand and tag partner Natsuko, or we go with KMA Kyona, who has nothing more to lose, has found new children to care about, and has to keep a careful eye on her leader to make sure she doesn’t corrupt said children too much… but her old love and new life rival Natsuko might make that difficult! Either way, she’d be an interesting person to write within magical realism (what if her connection animals was more literal?), and her bluntness could make for something especially emotionally charged.

Relationship: Hazuki (Professional Wrestling)/Kagetsu (Professional Wrestling)

I need romance of these two so, so badly. There can be some obliviousness in the beginning or through most of the story, but I really want their ending to be happy, they both deserve it. Both of them came from a relationship in which they ended up feeling unloved and devalued, so I'd like to see that reversed now that they've found each other. Though, I wonder if Hazuki has some insecurity about whether Kagetsu would leave her once she retired, in the same way Io left her once their mentorship relationship was over (eep). Given how Kagetsu only after showed affection to Hana while she was Kagetsu's lieutant, and took a step back once Hana was a leader like she wanted, and given Hazuki is expected to be the leader of Oedo Tai after Kagetsu... well, that's a fear. On the other side, Kagetsu seems to have trouble acknowledging people truly care about her, so I'd love to see Hazuki pushing Kagetsu to accept that Hazuki loves her, and it taking some effort (in a serious way, not a fluffy one). Maybe it takes time for them to have real intimacy during sex? Some (probably) lighter ideas: they’re such a power couple.. maybe they like putting on a show, or maybe that perception is very, very wrong. What if they had like a Freaky Friday-esque scenario during Tag League, what with Hazuki "becoming" Kagetsu due to weird magic/alien/who knows shenanigans? I’d love for them to be enjoying time together in a nice hotel or otherwise relaxing. Hazuki being Kagetsu’s partner in life as well as in romance very welcome (caring for each other in mundane ways or helping each other run Oedo Tai, etc. (how many of Kagetsu's plans involve ideas from Hazuki?)) and tbh, subtle butch/femme dynamics would be very cool.

Relationship: Iwatani Mayu/Kagetsu (Professional Wrestling)

What is this relationship?? Can it ever be resolved and made into something healthy? If the answer is no, fine, but let me see them consider it, and then have a lot of hate sex. I’d prefer for minimal fluff with this, but it would be fun to see them putting their differences aside for a moment and conspiring together about things that concern people in both their factions (wow, we already started to see this with the draft,,). If you want to cover more of their time as co-head coaches in the Stardom dojo, that could definitely get more fluffy, though. Is Mayu able to put her love for tapioca behind and bring Kagetsu Starbucks coffee?? I love all the tension and lying and facetiousness, especially from Kagetsu, and yet that underlying trust and respect and mutual attraction underneath the exaggerated disdain. Ever since Kagetsu wore Mayu's shirt while Mayu was injured, Mayu seems to be seeing through Kagetsu's demeanor more, so maybe you could address that. Does the choking in the ring extend elsewhere? Is there a special significance to the wristbands they mirrored (3/21/19)? Does Kagetsu still wear the one Mayu gave her, or has Mayu given her something new to wear? What if they had some magic that let them communicate or feel what the other feels when they're apart? 

DDT Pro-Wrestling

操 | Misao

What if Hyper Misao isn’t so dead after all, and is merely undercover in her greatest trick yet? If she truly is sincere in her devotion to Sakisama, how does it feel to be her servant? In that case, I’d love to see a description of what she was feeling shortly before joining Sakisama, when she was still Hyper Misao but not for long. I’d also love to see her silently chafing under Sakisama’s treatment, and maybe even through watching how she works, begin to slowly manipulate Sakisama herself! What happens when she meets her old friends when Sakisama isn’t around? Is Sakisama using them against her? Basically, I’m obsessed with the alternate meaning of Misao’s new name kanji, haha.

新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Relationship: Chuck Taylor/Trent Barreta

Ever since Tag League, I've needed Trent to figure out what on earth is going on with Chuck. So if you could explain that through fic in a satisfactory way, I'd love you forever. ( Here’s a good interpretation, but I’d be happy to see a different one, as realistic or fantastical as you want.) … And, well, I need them to start to work through their feelings and you know, get beyond the awkward unacknowledged friends with benefits level!! Yes, I know, that’s the opposite of their MO, but please, do whatever you can. Fic of them tends to stop right before anything can change, and that’s understandable as a writer but frustrating as a reader. Maybe the stress of seeing Chuck like this finally forces Trent to admit to himself what he’s wanted all along, and what he has to lose.

Relationship: Ishikari Taichi/Naito Tetsuya

These two have known each other since they were young junior babyfaces in Mexico, and now they’re both cynical heel heavyweights who pretend not to care about anything. Since Taichi went hw, everything has seemed to be a sort of three-dimensional chess between them, whether it’s Taichi wearing LIJ merch and Naito showing up to TakaTaichi, or their feud over match card placement (Naito vs Misu | Taichi vs Goto Fall 2018), or vagueing each other online and sharing that they were dreaming about each other (perhaps you have an idea of what these dreams entail?), or their most recent feud where Naito asked Taichi to take the next step for him (and become his faction’s leader…) and Taichi’s emotions started to crack. So I’d hope for the beginnings of a romance between them to be a sort of three-dimensional chess, too, with growing cracks where their true emotions and care for each other starts to show through. Maybe they try to one-up each other with romantic gestures, or Taichi has a date with Naito at one of his family restaurants, or maybe they compete in a more extreme way and one kidnaps the other, whatever you want. How do their faction members/opponents react to how much time they’re spending around each other? This would be a great place for magic to come into play-- maybe one of them finds a monkey’s paw, or tries to curse the other, or maybe one discoveries the other is secretly a magic user. You could also have them reminiscing about their unsuccessful New Japan Cup runs, or Taichi mentioning how he’s been having more success than Naito since their last match…

Relationship: Jay White & Tama Tonga

Everyone knows Jay is the chosen leader of Bullet Club, and Tama is his most cheerful supporter, right? ...but backstage, it’s Tama who people listen to. Or at least, that's how I like to see it. I’d love to see an extension sort of tension between them, mostly unstated, Jay in over his head and having trouble getting a read on Tama, who without explicitly stating it is clearly holding the reins. Maybe Jay tries to figure out Tama and Bullet Club by asking the other members, not fully realizing how much stirring the pot that way is a bad idea, and how Tama's devotion of loyalty and the health of the group means no one wants to go against him. Meanwhile, Jay callously disrespects the other members (the way he reacted to Gedo and Jado's anniversary cake, lol), and while he seems to understand he needs to support them to be a leader they'll follow, I'm not sure they entirely buy it when he does it. Also, I’d be interested in what Jay thought of the “Good Guy Tama Tonga” time-- he tried to appease Tama during their elimination match, but I don’t remember him otherwise reacting to it. Most importantly to me, is Tama’s erratic behaviour a reflection of the Bullet Club demon getting everyone in the end? Or is Tama now controlling it, symbiotically or otherwise? Will it get Jay too? Is there just a curse (or demonic possession) on the Bullet Club that makes everybody act strange and doubt their own perception? Now that Jay’s lost the title, he seems nervous and less confident… what if the others start to smell blood? 

Yoshi-Hashi

Character study!! Please!! According to Rocky, people in Chaos have been whispering about kicking him out… is this true? Is he hearing it? Who defends him, if anyone? (Goto… Kazu... please…) Does he get revenge, or fantasize about it, or does he just work harder to try to convince them he deserves a place? Do things feel different for him now that Shinsuke isn't around? He’s very self-aware about his so far lifelong situation as an underdog, and he’s plenty bold in seizing opportunities and facing opponents head-on, yet things haven’t changed much for him. Why? Is his life truly unchangeable? Is he happy? What would happen if things did dramatically change? The story in his diary about how he was hit by a car as a child really struck me, it’s so sad. How does it feel to be best friends with Kazu, pretty much the top wrestler in New Japan? And how much did he consider Jay’s offer to join him (has he accepted it, and he’s just biding his time, or is his loyalty to Chaos true despite it all)? There’s also the weird offer of mentorship from Tanahashi to consider, all the more ambiguous now that they’re almost in the same faction without Yoshi-Hashi choosing to be with him.

Relationship: Kota Ibushi & Tanahashi Hiroshi

I really want to see an expansion of what’s going on in canon between them right now. Kota has embraced Tanahashi after years of shunning him!! And he’s pretty dead inside as a result of cutting out his heart (and Kenny…) for career success. But this is all what Tanahashi thinks is good and right… does Tana realize something’s off with Kota? Kota sees him as a god, and is doing everything to become him and get closer to those that have bested him, but Tana truly is not a god, he is a man who is increasingly struggling with his health. Though you could, of course, have Tana as a literal god here. What would god!Tana's powers be, and how would he use them? What would that make Kota, still a man, or something equally otherworldly? Anyway, I’d like to see them talking in the locker room or outside of work, and even how the rest of the Taguchi Japan-Chaos fusion locker room is interacting with this.


I should have nominated Prince Devitt/Taguchi Ryusuke, oh well…

CMLL | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

Relationship: Dragon Lee & Los Ingobernables

How does a pure tecnico fit in with a family of unapologetic rudos? He openly loves them very much, but his family members do nothing to stop Terrible from ripping off his mask, and he has never done a rudoish thing with them that I can remember other that a cheeky combinacion cambron. I’d love to see LI protecting him, or fighting with him, or people wondering why he returns to them over and over when they act the way they do. Do they ever try to convince him to join, or do opponents ever see them as one unit? (The Lucha Brothers sure seem to…) How does it feel to have Hiromu included with the others when they’re such fierce rivals? Is he secretly glad to see more of the object of his infatuation this way?

Relationship: Ishikari Taichi/Máximo (Professional Wrestling)

What was the whole story here with this feud? They start out in hate that escalates to an apuestas blood feud, yet just a few years later Taichi calls him his boyfriend and says he wants to kiss him! My headcanon is that Taichi started out thinking that Máximo was mocking gay people and felt offended, only to later realize that Máximo’s feelings for him were very real, even if he was someone who tended to put on a show, which Taichi certainly can relate to. Maybe they’re still in a long-distance relationship (Máximo goes to meet the Suzuki-gun family!), or maybe the focus is on their initial time together when Taichi was in Mexico.

Relationship: Los Ingobernables & Naito Tetsuya

I just want to see how Naito falls in with Los Ingobernables and begins to change for the better with them, the initial fascination, joining, supporting them and running around Arena Mexico together… How exactly does Naito and Rush’s relationship work? Were there any mishaps while Stardust Genius Naito was still working on his transformation? Do they take him out to get new gear? How did Naito’s perception change from this Mexico excursion compared to his previous? What are Los Ingobernables’ impressions of Naito? Honestly, I don’t know a lot about this point in Naito’s history, but it really excites me, so I’d love to see a fanfic take on it.

Relationship: Princesa Sugehit/Seductora

Lol no one will write this but I’m glad this was added regardless. Obviously ignore it if you want, but here’s my ideal scenario: They’ve had a bunch of apuestas matches, and love to fight each other, and the hate runs so deep it has started to become something else… And still, they’re two rudas who go to the same locker room at the end of the night and understand each other’s struggles. After wrestling each other so much they recognize each other’s talent and begin to fall in love. They bond over how bullshit it is for women in CMLL and start planning to kill all the men who’ve pushed them down (can take this as seriously and darkly or comically as you want). Hopefully they recruit the valets as well! Obviously the nature of this prompt means lots of discussion of heterosexuality is fine.

NXT

Relationship: Ember Moon | Athena/Kana | Asuka

They’ve known each other for so long and gone through so many different places together, so surely they’ve fallen in love by the time they reach NXT, right? Career rivals = in love for sure… yes, definitely… Anyway, I’d be happy with them as an established relationship that’s competitive in the ring, or as enemies and lovers, or a fic that has them rehashing their history through their actions in NXT and finally getting together that way. The ‘forced to be a tag-team’ trope is always great. Their interactions on social media are so cute (they went furniture shopping together! So domestic!) and their interactions in the ring are so intense, it’s an interesting clash.