--YULETIDE 2015: DEAR CREATOR

[ceu]

(for archival purposes)

Hello dear creator! My name is Aro and I'm super excited for you to have me (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ This is actually my first time ever doing Yuletide so I'm super pumped!! I hope you have fun creating my thing :D

If you want to know more about me I guess and see the type of person I ~am~ in par with things I like (of which there are many, really, I'm honestly a very enthusiastic person) you can find me at aroceu & also sheerscold.

I'm very much a shippy person so this letter is written that way; but if you're not you're welcome to alter and interpret the things I say to make them more gen!



GENERALLY

Things I like include:
- fake dating
- identity porn
- deaging (even though TSN has a lot of this, but honestly I've read all of them and never complain to more)
- crossover fusions (a list of things I like and know can be found here!)
- online dating
- secret notes/misdirected communication/think You've Got Mail (though probably not as foeyay) where two people who already know each other communicate with each other through non-facial means and not know that it's them (though this is basically just a specific brand of identity porn)
- ghostfic
- fix-it fic!
- childhood best friend AUs
- roommate AUs (university or otherwise)
- missing moments/years
- romcom ~tone~

Although if none of these are up your alley or you don't feel confident with these or you have another idea from my little rambles about each of these things, feel free to ignore this list!

Things I dislike pertaining to my fandoms this year:

- rape/noncon
- scat, watersports, puke stuff, the like
- violence/gore
- mafia AUs
- space AUs
- terminal illness
- royalty AUs
- war AUs
- angst with regards to religion, homophobia, or both
- excessive family angst
- character bashing

Please avoid these while you can! Stylistically, epithets ("the older man," "the blue-eyed guy," "the shorter one") also make it a lot harder for me to read, comprehension-wise.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Ohhh man. TSN is actually my main fandom at the moment (I'm five years late, gOD) so I was pretty excited that it qualified! I've honestly been living off of nothing but TSN headcanons and fics for the past three months. It's a problem.

Anyway, naturally I am a HUGE Eduardo/Mark shipper, I just, I love them so much. I think my general favorite thing and general situation about them is usually post-movie and post-deposition stuff, because I know I'm usually a fluff and humor person but the angst at the end and that the movie totally potentially has honestly hits me in all the weak places. Maybe not angst necessarily, but all the inner emotional turmoil that Eduardo has with forgiving Mark (potentially, though preferably) and the shit they went through pre-Facebook in Harvard and then the lawsuit and now this... rebuilding their relationship from the bottom, again.

I've honestly done an excessive amount of thinking about how the dilution happened and why, but in the end I think it really boils down to that neither of them really anticipated knocking the other one out of their lives. I think before the dilution, but maybe during it, and before Eduardo knew about it, if someone asked (movie!)Mark if he could imagine not having Eduardo in his life he'd say no, and if someone had asked Eduardo if he could imagine not having Mark in his life he'd also say no. I don't think either of them wanted to leave each other and wanted to leave, before. Mark was so gutted when Eduardo yelled at him because he didn't plan for this to happen, but he knew that there was no way he could talk Eduardo out of leaving him when Mark basically booted him from the company.

ANYWAY, I've not really actually talked that anywhere before but if you can get something from it - the amount they liked each other back in Harvard (AEPi parties! Eduardo motherhenning Mark! Or maybe switch it up from fanon and have him not motherhen him, haha) or how they learn to like each other post-deposition, be my guest!

But I also really like anything post (or in) canon, or maybe changes from canon, like dilution but no deposition, fun with the Phoenix, I dunno, whatever else you can think of. I ALSO adore high school AUs for TSN so honestly that works too.

I am extremely not adverse to porn (aka I love E/M porn) with these two, either; I like the idea of them falling into a harmonic but codependent relationship and trying to work off the codependency; I like established relationship fic with them still working out the kinks in their relationship; I'm honestly just a sucker for these two it's ridiculous.

Other side notes include (but not one or all of these are required, just little things that I enjoy!): Erica and Mark friendship, Mark and Dustin friendship, ~fab four~ friendship and goodness, Chris and Dustin being supportive memes, alternate universe/canon with Mark & Winklevoss & Divya friendship, Mark fencing, and Eduardo being Top Weather Geek™.

As for Sean Parker, I generally prefer it if he's not villainized (especially with regards to drug-related stuff) - in fact I like it when he's a good friend to Mark, or at least tries to be, and/or that he and Eduardo expect to hate each other but they find good qualities in each other (of which Sean is more inclined to address than Eduardo.) I really like the idea of Mark and Sean getting high, or Eduardo and Sean getting high, (weirdly I prefer a lot of getting high headcanons when it only happens in twos) (also even though this is Sean's sentence I also like Mark and Eduardo getting high) SO there's also that.

Oh yeah, I'm really not a Dustin/Chris shipper; and if Christy was in the fic in any way, I'd prefer it if she wasn't made out to be crazy or clingy or wildly jealous in a negative tone. Thanks!!

THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS

God, my tiny sports fandom. I love that this commercial is hardly a minute long and I just scream and cry and want all the fic for it. I love rivalry relationships and characters grudgingly (but eventually) admitting the other's strengths and looking forward to playing against each other and being DETERMINED TO KISS DEFEAT THEM!!!

Anyway, I have a lot of love for both of the characters, even though, really, one minute long. So I'm honestly super open to how the characters are interpreted; for the few fics I've read for them (read: all) I've seen Meng Ling being more snarky and Ben Watkins being more... I guess Gryffindor-minded and determined, haha. But if you've got a different read on them, I'd love to read about it!

Honestly this fandom is so small and fics are so few I'm probably the least pickiest person in the world when it comes to specific likes or dislikes for them, HAHA. I'm actually a massive basketball nerd so if you end up talking a lot about the sport or detailing games or whatever, that's basically indulging me :3 I also like the idea of Watkins and Ling playing street ball with each other, or practicing on their own, at night, kissing. I also don't know a lot about the ~industry and PR-related stuff, so if you want to skip over that, it's fine; if you want to make it up, that's fine; if you know a lot about it and want to write about it, that's also fine, because I'm open to learning about new things :D

I guess porn-wise I'm not staunchly picky about anything really - not adverse to it, won't mind if there isn't any. I'd probably prefer getting together fics with them (friends with benefits turned lovers would also be cool!), but if you're more of an established relationship kind of person, them being together and working out PR and basketball related stuff and probably potential homophobia is also okay!

I love these ambitious and competitive and ridiculous men :D

GOOFUS & GALLANT

I am the only person in the G/G tag and honestly I'm so surprised how this got here because I DIDN'T NOMINATE IT? I'm honestly so confused, but shout out to whoever nominated it for me, because I was like "would it be too vain for me to nominate a fandom where I'm the only contributor" and then I was like "yes" so I didn't.

And now it's here!

Anyway, UH haha I really like high school or college/university AUs (or both!) for these guys, because my fondness for teen eras knows no bounds. I feel like Goofus is more of a stoner kid or a delinquent or whatever; or maybe not that drastic and just messes around in class, has a lot of friends but no one really likes him, or has a lot of friends and everyone tries to tolerate him. I'm not against him being a ~misunderstood~ kid or whatever, though maybe he acts out all the time because he just likes getting attention, even if it's negative. Or just being loudmouthed and terrible at manners is the way he is! Whether deliberate or innate, I'd prefer not to see him as a caricature of himself, haha.

Gallant on the other hand I think is very conscious that he's a Good Kid, but he's not the sort of person who would let teachers compare him to Goofus and other kids - or maybe he is! Maybe that's the bad part of him that he hopes no one sees. (Again, I'm open to so many types of character interpretation.) I do think that the level of earnestness that he likes to keep on the outside can also reflect how he reasons things on the inside; maybe he's also concerned with reputation the same way Goofus might be concerned with attention. Or maybe he just wants to be the Best Him He Can Be so he's smart and has a pretty common talent like piano or something and people like him and he likes them.

With their dynamic together, I like it when they bring out their own parts out of each other. Like, Goofus brings out Gallant's more underhanded side, makes him snarkier or more cutting or more blunt with his feelings, which Goofus (for the most part) can take. And Gallant makes Goofus a little more in touch with his emotions, I guess, makes him softer when they're around each other, can make Goofus feel guilty and affectionate and things that Goofus doesn't usually like feeling. I guess like Yin and Yang, in that Goofus makes Gallant recognize his ~black on white~ and Gallant makes Goofus acknowledge his ~white on black~, that sort of thing.

I know the point of the Goofus and Gallant comics was to show kids what to do and what not to do. I'm not sure if people who usually draw the G&G comics had them take place in the same universe, so I also like the idea of them being parallel universe version of each other (and still being gay, preferably.) But my general default headcanon is that they take place in the same universe and don't meet until whenever, or they've always known each other and their parents always compare them (well, it's more like Goofus's parents being all why can't my son be like your son) and Goofus sort of hates Gallant and Gallant doesn't hate Goofus, he finds him interesting. Or maybe they don't know each other until later, it's also your call! This stuff doesn't really have a canon, I'd like to think (though references to the actual comics would be hilarious.) I just like the idea of them meeting and/or knowing each other for however long for whatever reason and the result of their characters being together is either destructive or hilarious or sweet or... whatever else.



ANYWAY, I apologize for the delay with this letter, and hope this helps in one way or another! I'd also be happy to answer any questions with regards to other things I might like or not like - I hope you, creator, love what you write for me just as much as I know I'll enjoy it ♡(。-ω-)