Trick or Treat Exchange 2019 Letter

[axelmania]

Hi, I’m Axel, thanks for writing for me! Sorry this is a bit late! I’m organizing this with likes first and then prompts by fandom.

Things I like -

• Women!! (as a big lesbian thats always gotta be my disclaimer lol) 

• Gender issues, genuine butch/femme dynamics, trans headcanons 

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

• Platonic and romantic intimacy 

• Fluff that is earned or in the midst of angst, rather than for its own sake, if that at all makes sense 

• Psychological horror, cosmic horror, rising dread… 

• Characters trapping themselves or gradually ruining their lives 

• Fantastical/supernatural/magic things made to be pseudo-scientific or feel real

• Strong imagery and mood

• 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) 

• 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. 

新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling -  

In this and in DDT, I’d strongly prefer everything stays in kayfabe, i.e. no RPF. Requested characters are bolded the first time they appear in a prompt.

• Okada is very enthusiastic about being in a “rivalry” with Sanada, and now says it is their natural destiny to keep facing each other, as if this was not a relationship he himself invented. How invested is Sanada in their rivalry by comparison? Is there a romantic or sexual element to it? What if one of them took their rivalry too far and it had serious consequences? It would also be interesting to see a “no one gets to hurt you/be your rival except me” situation, possibly involving Jay. 

• Kenta has recently decided to destroy his relationship with his soulmate, Shibata. That being said, their connection hasn’t been ignored or completely severed, as Kenta is still using Shibata’s moves and calling out to him in little ways. How is Shibata taking this? Were there signs that Kenta would betray him before it happened? If they are literal soulmates, is Kenta experiencing heart sickness because of the pain in their bond? 

• I’m still pretty obsessed with Apollo 55, so I would kill for something about Prince Devitt and Taguchi reuniting, whether that takes the form of Devitt asking to meet and apologize while he’s in Japan and Taguchi being unable to stay away, or Devitt living a second life literally haunting Taguchi whenever he falls asleep and that wreaking havoc for both of them, or Devitt taking the chance to go back and change things with some magical item and it working or not, or whatever else. 

• More scary to me than anything else is the way that wrestling aces act, and who is a greater ace than the once in a century Tanahashi. It was so striking how Tanahashi wouldn’t save Ibushi during any of the times Bullet Club beat him down, despite apparently liking him a lot and wanting him to be more connected to Hontai and even maybe bequeathing his legacy to Ibushi. My friend suggested that it's a sort of trial by fire, to make Ibushi prove he can make other friends, which is honestly disturbing. All the pushing that aces do to make people improve… is it right? And how is Ibushi really adjusting to Hontai, according to Taguchi and Tanahashi he’s starting to spend more time with them and opening up about, say, mobile games, but what about deeper things? Is he managing to make any real connections? And what about Kenny, is their relationship really at a complete standstill? Has Ibushi let go of him, and if not, is Tanahashi pushing him to? 

• Bullet Club is for life, and that’s not because of any special brotherhood between the members, but because anyone who tries to leave is pretty much always “killed” and removed from the company. Robbie Eagles is a notable exception to this, one Tama Tonga has been very vocal in assuring us will be dealt with. I’d love to see what form that might take, whether disturbingly real or completely supernatural with real demons. Does Robbie still struggle to remove the awful mindset Bullet Club internalizes in you? His relationship with Ishimori really intrigues me, he tried so hard to impress him and get his affection and it’s hard to say whether he ever got anything real from Ishimori, given how cold and business-focused (robotic, even..) he is. Ishimori taunted him with this recently, suggesting he missed Robbie, but was happier having the apparently more talented ELP on his side… would love to see more along those lines. 

• Jay is supposed to be the leader of the Bullet Club, yet he never really orders around the other members, is afraid of Tama Tonga, who many see as the true leader, and desperately needs to keep winning in order to maintain any grip on power, which isn’t looking great for him right now. (Another interesting thing: according to Taichi everything he does truly comes from Gedo, and if Gedo topples so does he, like a puppet with its strings cut.)He acts so convinced people want him, but do they? My favourite scenarios for him right now are him daydreaming about Roppongi 3K admitting they were wrong about him and lavishing him with affection, only for reality to be much colder; and especially him fucking up enough he gets kicked out of Bullet Club and ends up back in Chaos somehow or another faction. And what did he think of Good Guy Tama Tonga? 

• Right now I’m very interested in Taichi’s past, and potentially present, affection for Suzuki (please see the amazing Miyano’s tweets like these ones for details drawn from his Twitter). How has he been taking Suzuki’s decline? Does his affection clash with his desire to be the leader? How has Suzuki molded Taichi over time? 

• Taichi seems to have gradually handed over his role as chief lackey to Desperado-- how that did that happen, and will the resentment that seems to be between them ever boil over? If Taichi did take over Suzuki-gun, what would Desperado’s place be? And Zack’s? Taichi, Nobu, and Despy keep going on the comedy/prank show Sushi Boys, and each time there’s some incident where Taichi and Desperado get into a terrifying physical confrontation, only for everyone to laugh it off and say to was just to prank the hosts… what if it happened for real? The first time this happens, it’s because Taichi lets others play around with Desperado’s mask, which he genuinely doesn’t seem to have much respect for… how does Desperado feel, being a half-Mexican and a rudo luchador in a Japanese heel faction, and how much respect and understanding do they have of these parts of him? How does Douki’s simultaneous closeness with Desperado and Taichi fit into this? I love shipping Zack and Desperado, so if you wanted to show contrast in him and the rest of Suzuki-gun I’d love it. 

• As we saw in this year’s Fantastica Mania, Namajague and Desperado are apparently two different people. How can this be? 

• Who do you think Suzuki is more interested in or afraid of, Kishin Liger, or Keiichi Yamada, his handsome superior when he was a Young Lion? What if he tried to put a curse on the mask in order to get Liger to take it off and really show “the real him”? 

• What is Evil’s Darkness World, in practice? Something similar to Area X in Annihilation is my favourite idea. I wonder how different Naito and Bushi’s motorcycle rides and ferris wheel dates would be there. And is Sanada being the Cold Skull and apparently a pirate at all literal? How do Evil and Sanada connect despite their differences? 

• Can Zack give up his hatred for Halloween for regularly costumed Desperado (and Taichi and Douki), or is he destined to ruin the holiday for the entire New Japan roster? 

Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena - 

As in the original series, please generously mix the fluff and the horror. 

• I’m most interested in seeing missing scenes from the series, whether that’s more development between Touga and Saionji, Kanae realizing what’s happening to her and resisting in-between her Black Rose duel and her disappearance, the worst of Shiori and Juri’s interactions in their original school time together, Utena’s depression and thoughts on the world, etc. 

• On the other hand, there’s really never enough future!fic for the characters besides Utena and Anthy-- how did things go for everyone? Horribly right or horribly wrong? 

• I’m especially interested in knowing whether Juri and Shiori were able to mature enough to come back together in a healthy relationship (if not, I’m very much still interested in seeing the trainwreck). And, to be honest, most interested in their pairing in general, I would love to see them protecting each other or fucking other people to hurt each other or anything during the series, just inject them into my veins. 

• What did it feel like for Utena when she was in Anthy’s body during the curry episode? Did Akio spend time with Anthy while she was in Utena’s? 

• If you have experience with it and want to play with Utena’s compulsory heterosexuality and forced femininity and how horrifying that is throughout the series, please, please do. 

• Many people theorize that Kanae was in one of the earlier failed groups of duelists. If so, what was that like, and did it impact how Anthy saw her in the series? How painfully close to success or far from it did she come? What was her reason for dueling, and when she was engaged to Anthy, what was their relationship? 

• How did the deterioration of Anthy and Akio’s relationship, Akio’s turn from purity and grooming of Anthy and the eventual incest, go as time progressed from Anthy sealing him away and being pierced by the swords of hate? 

• Use your favourite characters! Surprise me! 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga) - 

I don’t have a lot to say here, as this is very much a childhood nostalgia request, I’m just very interested in something that embodies the spirit of the original manga/season zero, with punishment games and Jounouchi’s gang involvement and professors turned to mummies and rivals that are really trying to kill Yugi. Jounouchi turning the tables on Kaiba, or the opposite with Kaiba surprising Jounouchi with his choices, and of course them in a relationship, I especially am into.