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Phoenix Down Exchange Letter 2024
Dear Phoenix Down 2024 creator,
Rally-ho! I am![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Phlyarologist and I submit that every good Final Fantasy is divisible by three. (Kidding. 6/9/12 are just the only ones I've played to date.) I am looking forward to seeing whatever you make! If you have a grand idea, please ignore any of my prompts at will. All requests are open to either fic or art.
Likes and DNWs | Crossovers | FFVI | FFIX | FFXII
Fic likes: Humor, friendship, adventure, worldbuilding, missing scenes, character study, interactions between characters who don't normally share a lot of page- or screentime, bittersweetness, hope in the face of adversity. Angst, complicated family dynamics, body horror, deathfic.
Art likes: Illustrations of characters doing stuff! Any of the subject matter in my fic likes also welcome here. I like big dramatic shapes, compositions with a lot of movement in them, and unusual color palette, lighting, or perspective choices. I am easily impressed by sharp lineart but I also like a lot of lineless art styles. Cool poses. Alternate outfits or hairstyles. That thing where two people stand back to back brandishing weapons at a horde of enemies. Women holding men at swordpoint.
DNWs - general: Explicit sexual content (implied or fade-to-black is fine), non-con, unrequested incest, unrequested adult/underage ships; mundane or modern AUs; pregnancy; non-canonical child characters; gender or sexual orientation as sources of angst/conflict; non-canonical death by suicide (canonical suicides or suicides-by-proxy are fine; ideation or attempts not resulting in death are fine); vomit, feces
DNWs - art: Visible genitals; flashing/strobing images; white text on black background
CROSSOVERS
N.B. I have no familiarity at all with any of the canonical crossover-type games (Dissidia, Opera Omnia, Record Keeper, WoFF, other things I've never even heard of??). References to them will be lost on me!
VAAN & ZIDANE
I don't have a lot of concrete ideas here, I just think these two thieving dipshit teens should get into shenanigans. Given Zidane's hammy grandstandy tendencies, I also think it would be extremely funny if he tried to step into a Balthier-like role (and Vaan's probably not having it and they're both trying to be The Balthier and make the other guy be The Vaan)? Anyway, maybe they do a heist or a swindle. Maybe one is showing the other his city. Imagine the shittalking.
CELES & BEATRIX
I think they should swordfight; I think that would be cool. If one were to simply draw a picture of these two in the same place and there was a sword motif, floral motif, or both, I'd be like "sick! It's everything I've ever wanted!" Slightly more nuanced thought - a fic exploring their different attitudes toward violence, soldiery, what constitutes a better reason to fight, perhaps it is nice to be valued as a human being and not just a weapon (but at least in Beatrix's case, uh, make sure you never take for granted how good of a weapon she IS)? They have similar "cool sword dame working for the bad guys is thrown aside by said bad guys and gets humanized by events" vibes - on the other hand Beatrix was working for the bad guys entirely voluntarily. So I think they'd have both interesting common ground and the potential for conflict! They could fight a common enemy or each other or awkwardly try to engage with non-sword-related hobbies. Or any other better idea you have.
[top]
FINAL FANTASY VI
EDGAR/LOCKE
These two! Their friendship is so fun and charming. There's a lot of trust there and a lot of snark and I enjoy them enormously; I'll take anything you want to create.
Friends-to-lovers is an obvious angle - maybe some kind of bantery get-together while they do Returners stuff, or postgame! I am also extremely down for friends to miserable idiot pining*, from either direction or both, favorable resolution optional. Maybe they've been low-drama FWBs since back in the day and that's just a thing that's happening while they're trying to save the world or recover from the apocalypse? They are very clever; they are absolute morons; they're best friends; they're both deeply questionable as relationship material; there are many possible takes and I like them all, so do what you want!
EDGAR/CELES
These two don't have a ton of scenes together, but when they do interact, I have questions. When he tries to warn her off dating Locke, is he trying to protect Locke's feelings, or protect her from Locke? How did she find out about the trick coin on such slight acquaintance? Granted that they seem to have become friends; how does she put up with that? He is very annoying.
I'm intrigued by how these two might come to trust each other – though outwardly very different, they're both smart and practical people who have had to hold shit together for everyone else after suffering serious personal losses, and they tend to keep people at a distance. It's interesting! I'd like to see things like: Celes calling Edgar on any of his various brands of BS, or Edgar getting through her defenses somehow. Sparring, verbally or literally(as my art likes state.... I like women holding men at swordpoint). A moment of quiet sympathy. Edgar ruining any of the above with dumb flirting. Anything related to the Gerad sequence, just, anything at all. If you like mess, an extra-drama option: Locke is their mutual ex?
CELES & CYAN
So, the Empire took everything from Cyan, and Celes was complicit in Imperial crimes. Also, the Empire took everything from her and she may not have had quite as much agency about everything as she wants to believe. I think, especially early-game, these two are both pretty black-and-white thinkers and their alliance under the Returners' banner ought to be UNEASY AS HELL. Do they ever actually have it out? Are they avoiding each other throughout the WoB because they know they will fight it out and can't afford to right now? Will they ever, in the WoR or postgame, find common ground and make peace? I am fine with either hopeful or mega-dark answers to any of these questions, please do what you will. Fanart-wise, similarly, I would be delighted to see either A Fight or some cautiously civil interaction. Or genuine friendship if you like!
[top]
FINAL FANTASY IX
BEATRIX/STEINER
Shakespearean misunderstandings and desperately running through the streets of the city chopping down monsters together, this is what peak romance looks like. I'd love to see early-relationship stuff for them, figuring out what exactly their partnership is going to look like and their respective roles vis-a-vis Garnet and Alexandria. Maybe fighting an external threat together, maybe taking some time to get on the same page about stuff. For fanart-specific prompts, oh man, Standing Back To Back Fighting Off Hordes Of Enemies is both one of my favorite things and 100% canon in this case, so, just throwing that out there...
STEINER & VIVI
These two are a great combination both for comedic purposes and for doing massive amounts of damage in battle; I'd be happy to see anything silly, badass, or both(?) set at any point during the game. I also like a lot of the quirky locations in this game - maybe send these two on an errand somewhere the setting can be shown off to advantage? Also - Vivi's personal crises in-game are a lot bigger than Steiner's, but on some level they're both going through some stuff about being intended as the agent of bad guys, and deciding not to play along. They could attempt to support each other! Or accidentally say the wrong thing and do some emotional damage! THEY'RE DOING THEIR BEST.
DNW any description of Steiner & Vivi's relationship as familial - I like it better as a weird cross-generational friendship and I do not see Steiner as anybody's dad.
FREYA & ZIDANE
I like friendship and adventure and snark and hijinks, and I'd love to see things like that with these two specifically! Maybe pre-canon or post-canon, Zidane drags Freya into some kind of Scheme, or tries to help solve a problem for her in a way that just happens to involve Scheming! Or, given they met when Zidane was quite young, are there any ways Freya's very cool gallant knightliness has affected or rubbed off on him? Or, something could certainly be done with their different attitudes toward the concept of "home." Art-wise, any kind of friendly interaction or battle pose very welcome, and I would also love to see Burmecia if you can swing it! That place looks so cool.
[top]
FINAL FANTASY XII
VAAN & PENELO & MIGELO
The city of Rabanastre is my favorite character in Final Fantasy XII. I am not joking even a little. I really like the early-game sequences where you're introduced to both the city and the world through Vaan and the relationships he has with Penelo and Migelo and other Rabanastrians. I'd love to see some slice of life stuff with these three at any time before or after the game (or even during, if the party is making a pit stop in Rabanastre). Or for a plottier option, Vaan and Penelo getting into misadventures doing errands for Migelo. Or for an angstier option, the early days of them coming together in a makeshift family after losing everyone else, and Migelo having to show these two bereaved kids the ropes.
(Some Vaan/Penelo spin on this is welcome, if that's how it strikes you!)
FRAN & JOTE & MJRN
Backstory would be welcome - what happened around the time of Fran's departure, how did Jote talk about it to Mjrn, what were their relationships like even before Fran left? But I'm also interested in what Mjrn is up to after the party drops her back home, including how she thinks of Jote afterward, and Fran's absence just kind of palpably hanging over them... Weird complicated sibling shit, basically! For fanart I feel like these three are suited to some kind of cool moody triptych full of Symbolism of some kind, but am open to anything!
[top]
Rally-ho! I am
Likes and DNWs | Crossovers | FFVI | FFIX | FFXII
Fic likes: Humor, friendship, adventure, worldbuilding, missing scenes, character study, interactions between characters who don't normally share a lot of page- or screentime, bittersweetness, hope in the face of adversity. Angst, complicated family dynamics, body horror, deathfic.
Art likes: Illustrations of characters doing stuff! Any of the subject matter in my fic likes also welcome here. I like big dramatic shapes, compositions with a lot of movement in them, and unusual color palette, lighting, or perspective choices. I am easily impressed by sharp lineart but I also like a lot of lineless art styles. Cool poses. Alternate outfits or hairstyles. That thing where two people stand back to back brandishing weapons at a horde of enemies. Women holding men at swordpoint.
DNWs - general: Explicit sexual content (implied or fade-to-black is fine), non-con, unrequested incest, unrequested adult/underage ships; mundane or modern AUs; pregnancy; non-canonical child characters; gender or sexual orientation as sources of angst/conflict; non-canonical death by suicide (canonical suicides or suicides-by-proxy are fine; ideation or attempts not resulting in death are fine); vomit, feces
DNWs - art: Visible genitals; flashing/strobing images; white text on black background
CROSSOVERS
N.B. I have no familiarity at all with any of the canonical crossover-type games (Dissidia, Opera Omnia, Record Keeper, WoFF, other things I've never even heard of??). References to them will be lost on me!
VAAN & ZIDANE
I don't have a lot of concrete ideas here, I just think these two thieving dipshit teens should get into shenanigans. Given Zidane's hammy grandstandy tendencies, I also think it would be extremely funny if he tried to step into a Balthier-like role (and Vaan's probably not having it and they're both trying to be The Balthier and make the other guy be The Vaan)? Anyway, maybe they do a heist or a swindle. Maybe one is showing the other his city. Imagine the shittalking.
CELES & BEATRIX
I think they should swordfight; I think that would be cool. If one were to simply draw a picture of these two in the same place and there was a sword motif, floral motif, or both, I'd be like "sick! It's everything I've ever wanted!" Slightly more nuanced thought - a fic exploring their different attitudes toward violence, soldiery, what constitutes a better reason to fight, perhaps it is nice to be valued as a human being and not just a weapon (but at least in Beatrix's case, uh, make sure you never take for granted how good of a weapon she IS)? They have similar "cool sword dame working for the bad guys is thrown aside by said bad guys and gets humanized by events" vibes - on the other hand Beatrix was working for the bad guys entirely voluntarily. So I think they'd have both interesting common ground and the potential for conflict! They could fight a common enemy or each other or awkwardly try to engage with non-sword-related hobbies. Or any other better idea you have.
[top]
FINAL FANTASY VI
EDGAR/LOCKE
These two! Their friendship is so fun and charming. There's a lot of trust there and a lot of snark and I enjoy them enormously; I'll take anything you want to create.
Friends-to-lovers is an obvious angle - maybe some kind of bantery get-together while they do Returners stuff, or postgame! I am also extremely down for friends to miserable idiot pining*, from either direction or both, favorable resolution optional. Maybe they've been low-drama FWBs since back in the day and that's just a thing that's happening while they're trying to save the world or recover from the apocalypse? They are very clever; they are absolute morons; they're best friends; they're both deeply questionable as relationship material; there are many possible takes and I like them all, so do what you want!
*DNW clarification re: gender/sexuality angst - I personally like a lot of fanfiction to occur in Hypothetical Normalized Bisexuality Land... So I would love angst or pining here, but what I don't want is for it to hinge on homophobia or on one of them thinking their orientations are incompatible. So e.g.
I do not want:
"A serious relationship with Edgar is impossible because we're both dudes"
"Locke won't accept my feelings because he only likes women"
I am here with bells on for:
"A serious relationship with Edgar is impossible because of his responsibilities as king"
"Locke won't accept my feelings because he only likes SPECIFICALLY THE DEAD EX-GIRLFRIEND HE HAS STASHED IN A BASEMENT"
...or any of the many other reasons either of them might have reservations!
EDGAR/CELES
These two don't have a ton of scenes together, but when they do interact, I have questions. When he tries to warn her off dating Locke, is he trying to protect Locke's feelings, or protect her from Locke? How did she find out about the trick coin on such slight acquaintance? Granted that they seem to have become friends; how does she put up with that? He is very annoying.
I'm intrigued by how these two might come to trust each other – though outwardly very different, they're both smart and practical people who have had to hold shit together for everyone else after suffering serious personal losses, and they tend to keep people at a distance. It's interesting! I'd like to see things like: Celes calling Edgar on any of his various brands of BS, or Edgar getting through her defenses somehow. Sparring, verbally or literally
CELES & CYAN
So, the Empire took everything from Cyan, and Celes was complicit in Imperial crimes. Also, the Empire took everything from her and she may not have had quite as much agency about everything as she wants to believe. I think, especially early-game, these two are both pretty black-and-white thinkers and their alliance under the Returners' banner ought to be UNEASY AS HELL. Do they ever actually have it out? Are they avoiding each other throughout the WoB because they know they will fight it out and can't afford to right now? Will they ever, in the WoR or postgame, find common ground and make peace? I am fine with either hopeful or mega-dark answers to any of these questions, please do what you will. Fanart-wise, similarly, I would be delighted to see either A Fight or some cautiously civil interaction. Or genuine friendship if you like!
[top]
FINAL FANTASY IX
BEATRIX/STEINER
Shakespearean misunderstandings and desperately running through the streets of the city chopping down monsters together, this is what peak romance looks like. I'd love to see early-relationship stuff for them, figuring out what exactly their partnership is going to look like and their respective roles vis-a-vis Garnet and Alexandria. Maybe fighting an external threat together, maybe taking some time to get on the same page about stuff. For fanart-specific prompts, oh man, Standing Back To Back Fighting Off Hordes Of Enemies is both one of my favorite things and 100% canon in this case, so, just throwing that out there...
STEINER & VIVI
These two are a great combination both for comedic purposes and for doing massive amounts of damage in battle; I'd be happy to see anything silly, badass, or both(?) set at any point during the game. I also like a lot of the quirky locations in this game - maybe send these two on an errand somewhere the setting can be shown off to advantage? Also - Vivi's personal crises in-game are a lot bigger than Steiner's, but on some level they're both going through some stuff about being intended as the agent of bad guys, and deciding not to play along. They could attempt to support each other! Or accidentally say the wrong thing and do some emotional damage! THEY'RE DOING THEIR BEST.
DNW any description of Steiner & Vivi's relationship as familial - I like it better as a weird cross-generational friendship and I do not see Steiner as anybody's dad.
FREYA & ZIDANE
I like friendship and adventure and snark and hijinks, and I'd love to see things like that with these two specifically! Maybe pre-canon or post-canon, Zidane drags Freya into some kind of Scheme, or tries to help solve a problem for her in a way that just happens to involve Scheming! Or, given they met when Zidane was quite young, are there any ways Freya's very cool gallant knightliness has affected or rubbed off on him? Or, something could certainly be done with their different attitudes toward the concept of "home." Art-wise, any kind of friendly interaction or battle pose very welcome, and I would also love to see Burmecia if you can swing it! That place looks so cool.
[top]
FINAL FANTASY XII
VAAN & PENELO & MIGELO
The city of Rabanastre is my favorite character in Final Fantasy XII. I am not joking even a little. I really like the early-game sequences where you're introduced to both the city and the world through Vaan and the relationships he has with Penelo and Migelo and other Rabanastrians. I'd love to see some slice of life stuff with these three at any time before or after the game (or even during, if the party is making a pit stop in Rabanastre). Or for a plottier option, Vaan and Penelo getting into misadventures doing errands for Migelo. Or for an angstier option, the early days of them coming together in a makeshift family after losing everyone else, and Migelo having to show these two bereaved kids the ropes.
(Some Vaan/Penelo spin on this is welcome, if that's how it strikes you!)
FRAN & JOTE & MJRN
Backstory would be welcome - what happened around the time of Fran's departure, how did Jote talk about it to Mjrn, what were their relationships like even before Fran left? But I'm also interested in what Mjrn is up to after the party drops her back home, including how she thinks of Jote afterward, and Fran's absence just kind of palpably hanging over them... Weird complicated sibling shit, basically! For fanart I feel like these three are suited to some kind of cool moody triptych full of Symbolism of some kind, but am open to anything!
[top]