Femslash Exchange 2019 Letter

[axelmania]

Hi, I'm Axel, thank you for writing for me! I've listed some different prompts for Utena and Stardom, where I'd be happy with any pairing, and then more targeted ones for Original Fiction, where I only requested a few. But first, some things I like generally--

• 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

• 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. 
  

Original Work

Adorable Monstergirl/Hunter Who Ignores Warnings Because She’s Cute

This one definitely strikes me as a horror prompt, whether or not you end things gruesomely. Mind control, horrifically maiming genitalia, bonded for life.. what are the warnings, and do they match the actual reason the monstergirl should be avoided? And then there’s the fact that this hunter is ostensibly “hunting” a sentient being… what exactly does the term mean here? Unless you’re going the route of the warnings being false and the monstergirl in fact being good and the hunter falling for her, I’d love to see things start out cute and wholesome, and then either stay cute as she gets increasingly violent or morph into something different the more the hunter compromises herself. Enthusiastic sex gone wrong, perhaps? 

Female Selkie Trapped In A Marriage On Land/Free Selkie That Used To Know Her

I figure this can go several ways. Maybe the free selkie goes out to find her, or happens upon her, and tries to save her while masquerading as a human, and they have an affair or celebratory sex or frantic “we just avoided getting caught” sex after a successful rescue. Or maybe the trapped selkie fruitlessly visits the sea from time to time, and the free selkie pines for her in the small stolen moments they have. Or maybe the trapped selkie is bitter and uh.. setting up the free selkie to be trapped, or even trapping her herself so she has a companion. Maybe even the free selkie is fascinated by the human world and has illusions about how great the trapped selkie’s life is… 

Butch Lesbian/Butch Lesbian

There’s something amazing about two butches together, sharing in their experiences with gender and navigating a connection that’s often seen as wrong or strange. If you’re connected to the community, I’d be so so happy to see something about this! 

Handmaiden To A Princess/Female Vampire Everyone But Her Thinks Is Human

The princess here could be more of a rich heiress or lady of an estate rather than a literal princess, whatever works best for the atmosphere. Either way, the handmaiden is the one paying attention, and the one who keeps catching the vampire alone while she's acting very suspiciously. Maybe the vampire even is using her specifically and comes through her window at night. So there's a sort of power play on both ends-- the handmaiden can ruin the vampire's plans and maybe even reveal her identity, but the vampire is the esteemed guest and slowly digging her claws into the princess and lords that over the handmaiden. Depending on the handmaiden's relationship with the princess, anything sexy between her and the vampire could have different connotations-- if she has a crush on the princess that can never become anything, and the vampire is already in the princess' bed, or if the princess is cruel and the handmaiden hates her enough to almost want to get back at her… It would be great to see contrast in how the handmaiden and vampire interact with others in the room, where the handmaiden probably has to be deferential, versus in private. Conversely, I'd love for the handmaiden to start finding bodies and only gradually figure out who is responsible (extra angsty if the vampire is having an affair with her and the first one to take an interest in her) or even for the handmaiden to get turned herself and be unable to help her impulses… 

Psychic Prodigy Just Trying To Live Honestly/Psychic Terrorizing Her City

I feel like the tag is a full prompt in itself, with how you can tease out why they would be in a relationship, and what the circumstances are for people with psychic powers are in their world. Is the prodigy trying to stop the other psychic, or is she being recruited? How different and psychedelic might their perceptions of the world be as psychics? 

株式会社スターダム | World Wonder Ring Stardom -

• Is Andras’s unwillingness to show her unmakeuped face in photos simply shyness, or is there a deeper, less mundane reason? Is she a human playing demon, or a demon unaware of the extent of who they are? In this video, Andras shows herself to really want Natsu’s attention-- do they ever get together, or is Andras just pining? I like to think they do, but their relationship is certainly tenuous now that Andras was aggressive towards her for caring for Natsuko during Andras’s match against her.

• Kagetsu always seems to be trapising back into Mayu’s life, and the two of them have a connection that Kagetsu seems to think will inevitably lead to them tagging when they’re older and no longer on top. And yet Mayu matches that obsession and engages with her every time. It’d be fun to see them hooking up, Kagetsu trying to drag Mayu down to her level, or them putting their differences aside for a moment and conspiring together about things that concern people in both their factions. I love all the tension and facetiousness, and yet that underlying trust and respect underneath their exaggerated disdain. Does the choking in the ring extend elsewhere?

• I’d be happy for you to go wild and show me any poly Oedo Tai scenario, I love the idea of them all being together! Some specific ideas, though: inducting new member Natsuko; Sumire feels left out after they take the trip to New York without her, so they… make it up to her; tension between Natsuko and Kagetsu because of their relationships with Hazuki (a threesome could be so fraught..)

 

• So, we all know Leo always crushed on Natsuko, right? But now any hope she had is pretty much dashed with Natsuko in Oedo Tai, right? What if that isn’t quite true? I’d love to see like… Natsuko showing up on Leo’s doorstep and Leo not being able to stop herself from letting Natsuko in. 

• Arisa doesn’t understand why she hates Hazuki so much, but Hazuki gets it… conversely, what if Hazuki didn’t understand why they’re so attracted to each other and have a ridiculous amount of sexual tension, but Arisa did? Hate sex with Arisa taunting Hazuki into exploding out with emotion, please. 

• The most romantic pairing for me is always going to be Hazuki and Kagetsu. They act like they’re married now, but it wasn’t always that way-- Hazuki used to be very in QQ, and doing her best to ignore Kagetsu, even as Kagetsu flirtatiously accepted her lollipops. What were their feelings then, and how did they begin to change? Do they connect at all over their mutual time of pining for Io? The biggest issue between them currently is Kagetsu spending so much time pursuing Azumi over Oedo Tai, which I think would be nice to see resolved in either 1) Kagetsu making it up to Hazuki in some other way, a date or a nice gesture or of course, in bed or 2) Hazuki asking to be let in on Kagetus’s plans, rather than expecting she drop them, and behind the scenes planning on how to best bring in Azumi. 

• Kyona and Natsuko finally seem to have put the grief and hurt behind them in their latest match… could this lead to a better understanding of each other, or even getting back together?
  

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 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 amidst falling for Anthy, 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? Of course, were there any significant new relationships between the female characters? 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, and more importantly, did it change anything in Utena and Anthy’s interactions? 

• 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? 

• In the new musical Anthy gets startling close to Juri in a way Juri doesn’t allow in the series. I have to wonder what it would take for Juri’s guard to go down, and what might have happened if Juri had been engaged to Anthy at any point. 

• I’m maybe a bit too interested in the idea of Wakaba/Utena… what if they experimented together at any point in the series, and just how far has Wakaba pushed Utena in her role as Wakaba’s “boyfriend” and “prince”? 

• Use your favourite characters! Surprise me!