Sakura Exchange Letter 2023

Dear Sakura Exchange Creator,

Thanks for writing - I’m really excited for this exchange. This is my second year participating in it, and it's a real treat. I hope you’re excited as well! I’m FireBatVillain on Ao3 and Tumblr.

The stuff I’m including in this letter is optional, but I hope you consider them as you work. Whatever you make, I’ll appreciate it regardless, and I look forward to whatever comes. Prompts are just suggestions.

In addition to this letter, I also maintain an optional, general post about likes and dislikes if that's useful for you at all: https://firebatvillain.dreamwidth.org/3098.html

Things I like:

Happy stories, bittersweet stories, and stories that end with a spark of hope even if they are angry or sad. I like good communication, wordplay, honor, pointless heroism or love even if it won’t succeed. Probably one of my favorite ideas in fiction is the idea of heroism in the face of hopelessness, and love even if things seem sad.

I've often enjoyed canon-compliant off-screen fics that explore things! Some of my favorite stories of all time fit into the category of "AU - Canon Divergence" and I would say I am a common fan of "what if things were different in X way" type AUs. I do not usually enjoy modern or mundane AUs that much, but I've liked a few.

I like fics that have a lot of frantic energy about them, or with a focus on change. I am a fan of fics that are about characters being ruthless in pursuit of an ideal, and giving something up or even becoming worse as a result, because of how much they value their goal.

I'm comfortable with and enjoy all levels of explicitness/maturity in fics and art.

Anyway - on to the important stuff!

Things I don’t like / DNWs:

In fics, my DNWs are mpreg, authorial monarchist apologia, vivid descriptions of needles, and extreme underage.

In art, my DNWS are mpreg, needles breaking skin, and extreme underage.

Regarding the monarchism thing: I’m okay with characters in a feudal or monarchist setting, and even protags who are monarchs, and even these characters triumphing as monarchs as long as the story itself isn’t apologia for monarchism. Characters who like monarchism, who think of themselves as good kings, who want to restore the throne, etc - all good by me. Rider in Fate/Zero, or Moriarty in A Study in Emerald, etc are excellent characters and enjoy works about them. I just would prefer not to read a work where the final moral of the story is that democracy is bad and we should all be ruled by a single person with absolute unchecked power, as presented by the author.

Some other notes:

The inclusion of additional unrequested characters, ships, and ideas are A-OK with me, as is explicit content. Please feel free to use whatever prompts you like and don’t feel constrained by my suggestions here - aside from the DNWs and the tags we mall of this is included to inspire, rather than constrain. I do not mind darkfic. I do not mind any of the archive warnings aside from what's listed in my DNWs.

Requested Fandoms:

Request 1: Fate/Zero - Fic or Art - Relationships: Irisviel/Saber|Artoria, Diarmuid|Lancer/Saber|Artoria, Diarmuid|Lancer & Saber|Artoria

So, I love tragedy! But I also love sweet things. I know there are a lot of ways you can take these relationships because of how bittersweet, or sometimes just bitter, things go canonically for Saber. Here's something I said another time I nominated these:

"Well I'll be the first to say that I think Saber's characterization in F/Z could have been a little better. BUT. I do appreciate the tragic nature of it, and the moments she has with Lancer and with Irisviel, before that was taken away from her. I love both these ships, both for their beauty and their tragedy (which perhaps is a theme for me), and any story about them, canon compliant or not, would be wonderful. Irisviel and Saber had a bit of time to spend together in Japan before the war, time that they were truly happy. And although Saber and Lancer only met on the battlefield, whether as foes or as allies, you could really sense the chemistry between them."

Here are a few prompts that might give you some inspiration, but feel free to take this in any direction:

• Lancer and Saber get to have the honorable fight they were hoping for, without Kiritsugu intervening with the self-geas scroll. The fight could go in a way that's bittersweet or more hopeful.
• Saber somehow fulfills her oath to take the grail, and is able to truly become a heroic spirit. She reunites with Lancer in the Throne of Heroes after the events of HGW 4 or 5.
• The war goes differently, and Lancer and Saber get to face down the horrible end of the 4th HGW side by side, maybe facing off against Lancer or Berserker together, or maybe going up against the cursed grail

• Irisviel and Saber get another date! Fuyuki city is a big town and they go to some interesting places, like the not-yet-destroyed bridge or the totally innocent temple. 
• Somehow, it's after the war, and Irisviel and Saber are both around. Maybe reconstituted by cursed mud, or maybe things go wrong and Irisviel transforms back into her body and they're just waiting for the next war somehow. With each other!
• A "pre-canon" type scene (or missing scene before Ep 2 would be a better way to put it) of them having a nice time together on the Einzbern estate before travelling to Japan.

Request 2: Rurouni Kenshin - Fic - Relationships: Himura Kenshin/Kamiya Kaoru, Himura Kenshin/Saitou Hajime, Himura Kenshin & Saitou Hajime

I first watched Rurouni Kenshin as a kid, 20 years ago. It was the Cartoon Network dub, with a lot of censorship, but I really liked it. I had a chance to rewatch a dubbed, uncensored version of it recently, and loved it. I've also seen Trust & Betrayal and found it very moving. I watched part of the sequel movie about Kenshin as an old guy but I didn't like that. So basically, I'm familiar with Tokyo Arc, Kyoto Arc, and Trust & Betrayal. I'm somewhat familiar with, but didn't like, Reflections.

On the rewatch, I really enjoyed this series, both because the subbed non-censored version is a bit more serious than the Cartoon Network version, and because I have a much better understanding of what the Meiji Era was than I did 20 years ago. The era of nobles and samurai and peasantry was ending, and a new era, of a possibly democratic nation-state, was struggling to be born. Kenshin being haunted by the ghosts of his past, but also being asked to come out of retirement for One Last Job, to try to protect the fragile, possibly corrupt Meiji government, as it tries to break the back of the feudal system, etc. Very gripping! Not things that I realized had significance as a kid.

I've requested the relationships that I found this most gripping in the story. I love that Kaoru has a warrior's spirit (as we saw in that episode where she broke the stunning attack from the manslayer to save Kenshin from killing) but is also someone who is part of the new era that Kenshin fought for. I think their interactions, their tenderness, and the devotion Kaoru has for Kenshin are really sweet and powerful. As for Kenshin and Saitou, in some sense that relationship takes things in the other direction entirely. One of my favorite scenes is when Saitou is "testing" Kenshin, but they both get caught up in the fight and end up mentally back in the revolution, as imperialist and shinsengumi fighters going at each other. My fav toxic relationship tbh, big "I can make him worse" energy! I love to see it. Though, we also know Saitou has a more tender side in there somewhere, he jokes around a bit and he even (in canon at least) has a wife! So there are different ways you could take this.

Here are a few optional prompts to get the creative gears turning:

• Kenshin and Kaoru have a quiet moment alone during or after the events of the Kyoto arc, and can finally talk about the things left unsaid when Kenshin left Tokyo, and act on their feelings.
• Kenshin and Kaoru are in Tokyo, and she shows him a technique she has mastered, the final technique of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū school. After a sparring match, they have an intimate moment.
• Kenshin and Saitou discuss their reasons for supporting the Meiji government during a quiet moment, despite having left its service (Kenshin) or originally fighting for the Shogunate (Saitou).
• Kenshin or Saitou think back on their days facing off each other during the revolution, and how different things are now that they're with each other - post Kyoto arc.

Request 3: Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Fic or Art - Relationships: Siegfried Kircheis/Reinhard von Lohengramm, Reinhard von Lohengramm & Yang Wenli, Reinhard von Lohengramm/Yang Wenli

I’ll admit to not having watched nuLOGH! I’m just here for those deleted scenes that you could imagine playing out as Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wenli clash in terms of ideals and minds, or what might have been with Kricheris and Reinhardt. This could happen any time between when they first meet on the field of battle to the end (or beyond)., and for Kircheis and Reinhardt, I'm happy with something set before Kircheis' canonical death, or an AU where he survives. The politics and ideas of this series are kind of A Lot so there’s no need to encapsulate it all, but I always found the conflict that drove the characters fascinating - and I’m not just talking about spaceships blowing up. Though if it's just something about spaceships blowing up, count me in for that, too. The battles and interactions that happen in this anime are great and anything that reminds me of that is also neat.

Here's a few prompts if you're looking for something to inspire you.

• After the battle at Amlitzer, Yang fails to withdraw, and is captured by imperial forces. In the following proceedings, he meets Admiral Reinhard.
• As the Treaty of Barlat is formed, Emperor Reinhard succeeds in offering Yang a position in the Imperial government - as an admiral or in some other role.
• The assassination attempt against Reinhard goes as it went canonically, but Kircheis isn't killed, just badly injured. The two of them have a chance to talk, and maybe, admit some feelings - perhaps with Kircheis waking up a few days later after things went basically as they did in canon.
• A quiet moment between Kircheis and Reinhard before Kircheis deploys to fight in the Imperial Civil War. An admission of feelings, or something even more, a last chance for them before a risky separation that Kircheis may not return from.

Poor Yang Wenli, all he wanted was to retire with a pension in a comfortable and free society. And poor Kircheis, who wanted Reinhard to be good, and to conquer the galaxy.

Thanks for reading this!

Hopefully this gives you some ideas. I am sure I will like whatever you create. 

Thank you.