Dear Author (Heart Attack 2020)

[coaldustcanary]

Dear Creator:

Bless your heart - may it make it through the next two weeks safely! Considering the challenge ahead, I want to make clear that I am extremely flexible regarding the gift you might choose to create, with extremely minimal fandom-specific DNWs listed for each fandom below. Beyond avoiding those, while I hope my prompts and big list of likes inspires you, please feel free to create...from your heart. *ba-dum-tiss*

I'm opting into art as well for any of these prompts.

You'll probably note two things about my letter if you read all the way through. One is that all my requests include Henry Cavill characters. (I have no excuse or explanation for this.) The other is that I have the most prompts for MUNCLE 2015, fewer for The Witcher, and fewer still for Enola Holmes. This is not an indication of my excitement or desire to receive fic in any particular fandom, just the length of time I've been in the fandom and/or requesting it in exchanges.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015) | The Witcher (TV) | Enola Holmes (2020) | General Likes and Preferences

The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015)
Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo/Gaby Teller

I really love my three favorite ridiculous spies as lovers and/or found family, saving the world from fascism and pulling each other out of trouble just as much as they drag each other into it. 

I live for tropey setups that push them into intimate situations and "oh. oh." realizations about how they feel about one another. Injuries in the line of duty, snowbound in a cabin, hurt/comfort, self-sacrifice (particularly when Napoleon Solo, Mr. Supposedly Always Looking Out For #1, does something very stupid and dangerous to save one or both of his partners, though I like this trope for any of the three of them), big fucking rescues (just like in the movie!), truth serum or other drugs, sharing a bed, etc. I particularly enjoy when they're trying very hard to focus on the extremely important world-saving case and/or punching Nazis but they keep getting distracted by how incredibly inconvenient their attraction to/affection for their partners has become.

Five times fics - whether a time loop caused by a mad scientist's machine, or due to drug/exhaustion hallucinations the same scenario plays out different ways, or a bunch of different themed incidents on different missions - are always good!

Undercover antics - I love the notion of the three of them all doing a mission with different covers (that might know each other or not) and having to play a dynamic that either differs from the one they share or reinforces feelings they're trying to ignore. For example, on a future mission it's Napoleon and Gaby playing at being engaged or married, and Illya "realizes" they're perfect for one another and tries (miserably) to "back off" much to his partners' confusion.

Napoleon does his best to matchmake Illya and Gaby and catches extremely inconvenient feelings for them both.

As an UNCLE agent Gaby will be traveling outside of Germany for likely the first meaningful time in her life post-film; she's also significantly younger and less experienced than Illya and Napoleon per their end-of-film dossiers. Despite getting one over on the CIA's best and the KGB's finest in the film, perhaps she has uncertainty about choosing the spy's life (maybe Illya and/or Napoleon even grimly encourage her to get out while she can) and she has to actively decide to stay with UNCLE (and her partners) when given the opportunity to do something different.

Any two of the three have to team up to rescue the third. (Doing a "three times" variation of this including scenarios where each pair has to save the third would be fun.)

Outsider's POV from Waverly. Whether as his snarky, immediately post-canon self or as a more genial and tolerant boss down the line or somewhere in between, what's his impression of his very strange trio of spies? Why would he have made his move to keep them together after the chaos of Rome? What does he see in them? How does he feel about them growing closer, perhaps beyond what is particularly safe during the Cold War, or even just considering their line of work?

Wild AU premises: supernatural/magical realism, a world where magic is known and they all have it, or space opera/sci-fi settings all sound like fun.

One of the trio gets blackmailed - perhaps with evidence of their unconventional relationship, or even just their feelings - and tries to deal with the problem alone. (I could particularly see this being the sort of thing Illya would do.)

Post-retirement future fic - what might they get up to once they're too old to be in the field? What if injuries take one or more of them out of the game even earlier? What if they end up being pulled back to their respective agencies but only meet again by chance 10, 15, or 20 years post-movie?

Illya/Napoleon and Illya/Gaby are the main ships of the fandom besides the trio, but I find Gaby/Napoleon really intriguing - a fic where they believe Illya to be dead, or he's somehow out of their reach (a prisoner, gravely injured, on a mission that they can't interfere in without huge risk) and they hook up out of grief or fear or even in anger would be interesting. (And then they go rescue Illya, right?)

I do very much enjoy them getting up to sexcapades in any context. Feel free to totally ignore my headcanons, but when it comes to sex my thoughts are:

• Illya has incredible sub energy and a praise kink the approximate size of the sun.
• Napoleon is both really full of himself and confident in bed but isn't entirely comfortable with sex that has anything to do with feelings.
• Gaby can be incredibly aggressive and likes to be in charge (she tackled Illya to the ground, after all) but has a hard time letting her guard down and being in the moment.

Dubcon scenarios like sex pollen, bad guys make them do it, having to have sex to keep their cover with one another or others are always interesting and welcome for these three (or any two of the three, as long as the overall/end ship is the trio) especially if it leads to major angst. Napoleon being extremely blasé about sex-for-the-job (even when it's only marginally consensual) in ways that unsettle his partners is a favorite trope of mine. (His slightly-strained insistence that he tried exhausting Victoria, presumably via marathon sex, in the film and his "womanizer" diagnosis hints at a lot that I'm curious about.)

Finally, as this fandom is a perennial request for me, you can peruse all of my previous letters for further prompts - all MUNCLE 2015 letters - in addition to what's prompted above. There are some Napoleon/Gaby and Illya/Gaby and Napoleon/Illya prompts among them - feel free to adapt them but I only want OT3 content for this particular exchange.

Fandom specific DNW: Modern Mundane AUs. Permanent major character death. (Temporary death and/or believing another character is dead for a time is fine, though.) Total downer endings. Endgame Illya/Gaby or Illya/Napoleon without the third character involved. (Established Illya/Gaby that becomes Illya/Gaby/Napoleon is fine!)

The Witcher (TV)
Yennefer/Geralt

I love these goddamned star-crossed, bone headed, emotionally wrecked idiots and their love so much. I was admittedly dubious that the show would be able to hook me on their relationship considering that they only have two episodes together, really, but it was enough. Between the way they immediately were able to surprise and effectively snark one another under wild circumstances but also find some moments of real connection I was won over. (Yen took one look at that ass and decided what the life-and-death situation called for was tighter leather pants.) The by-turns furious and tender interaction in 1x06 and their parting doomed me utterly. I love that they're messy and often at cross purposes. I love that they call each other out on their shit constantly. I love that the matter of the djinn complicates their relationship and throws into question what is "real" about it. I really, really love that they did the whole battle couple thing, complete with mid-fight kiss, because that's a huge weakness of mine and it was extremely hot. I am intensely curious about where S2 will take them, and about whatever you might choose to create about them. Some ideas:

Any kind of S2 speculation is welcome. I have not been following spoilers closely but I'm not bothered by them and I know they're out there - if you want to take filming spoilers and hints and shape them into a story about how Geralt (and Ciri!) meet up with Yennefer again, I am hungry for it! Alternately, fuck the spoilers and speculation and do your own thing.

Speaking of Ciri, I adore her and I am intensely curious as to how Yen will relate to her and to Ciri's relationship with Geralt, especially since Yen was so quick to point out Geralt's avoidance of the Child Surprise issue. And Ciri, too, seems curious about Yennefer, since something (her own magic, perhaps?) clued her in within literal seconds of meeting Geralt that Yennefer is someone important to him!

Maybe Geralt seeks out Yennefer to help him with Ciri's magical abilities, feeling out of his depth.

I am also eager to see a missing scene of some kind of adventure Geralt and Yennefer shared between 1x05 and 1x06. Maybe they teamed up to slay a monster, maybe they were competing for some kind of magical resource or bounty, or maybe they got involved in some messy court politics. Hell, maybe they both just showed up at one of Jaskier's concerts and were by turns being snippy and flirty all night over drinks before stumbling off to argue and/or bang in a broom closet! (Jaskier is so tired of their bullshit.)

Speaking of Jaskier, I am a fan and I am fine with Jaskier/Geralt being a thing as well, though I'd prefer the story didn't focus on rivalry or jealousy between Yennefer and Jaskier. (They can totally be snippy and somewhat adversarial with one another as per canon, I just don't want the story to revolve around a love triangle.)

A "five times" fic exploring various moments in which Geralt and Yen met up and did X - fight, fuck, argue, play the hero, play the villain, etc - would be a lot of fun!

If you're interested in writing porn, well. I do like to see Yennefer thoroughly topping the hell out of Geralt. My fondness for pegging might be relevant here as well, just saying! I also like them being very tender with one another as we saw in the tent scene in 1x06.

I would be very curious to see either of them taking care of the other, in any context.

I'm also open to all kinds of AUs for this fandom. A soulbond AU is almost bordering on canon, depending on how you interpret the djinn wish stuff, but feel free to dig into that more. I'm open to a modern AU if you really want to dig into some aspect of their relationship or the way in which they move in the world that doesn't need the magical, medieval setting.

Some kind of premise (a curse or spell?) that strips them both of their powers would be extremely interesting - anything that forces them to vulnerability around each other is A+.

"If I ever dreamed of being something other than I am, it was too long ago to remember." That line of Geralt's really gave me a gut punch - maybe, due to magic, he and Yennefer get an opportunity to experience that kind of alternate path? A curse or hallucination or the like that has them living together in domestic bliss, with a family, even, and what those versions of themselves might be like (and how they might realize the illusion is not real).

For the record I have not read the books and am only marginally familiar with the video games, but I know the major arcs and plot spoilers (why Nilfgaard is trying to capture Ciri, how the books end, etc) so if you want to incorporate any of that, feel free, just realize it might go over my head.

DNW: Permanent major character death. (Temporary death or thinking someone's dead for a time is fine). Total downer endings.

Enola Holmes (2020)
Enola Holmes & Sherlock Holmes
Enola Holmes/Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury

I'm not going to lie: I initially watched this film mostly to see how Millie Bobbie Brown would take on another I'm Not Like Other Girls role, and to appreciate Henry Cavill's curls. I ended up finding it really charming and fun, and I really hope Netflix turns it into a film series. (Honestly, I think it would have been even better as a miniseries or short series, but I understand just about everyone in it is busy with other projects.) I liked how it centered Enola's relationship with her mother, but also complicated her distant admiration for her brother's sleuthing with the realization that Sherlock, for all his skills and talents, wasn't at all sure how to deal with her. I also really enjoyed Tewky as a character and how he plays with some of the YA romance object tropes in his interactions with Enola.

Note that I haven't read the books that the film is based off of, but feel free to use some of that canon if it pleases you, I'm not worried about spoilers.

For Enola & Sherlock:

Both Enola and Sherlock continue to look into their mother's mysterious work, and keep running into one another throughout their investigations, to mixed feelings. It seems clear from the film that Eudoria is involved in suffrage movement activism that may very well turn violent - and I suspect that even as proud and fond of his sister as Sherlock is, he would not be particularly supportive of those kinds of actions. (Though, maybe he'd surprise me, I don't know!) Perhaps Enola (learning more about the Cause from Edith) and Sherlock debate about the issue and Enola tries to win him over to supporting their mother's work.

Does this Sherlock have a Watson? What's their relationship like, and how might Enola come to meet them or feel about them if they were to team up to help Sherlock at any point? (Ambiguous pronoun used on purpose, feel free to play fast and loose with the character of Dr. Watson however you like. I'm not invested in any particular variation of a Sherlock/Watson ship but if you're pulled in that direction go for it!).

Potentially riffing off the above prompt - ACD Holmes canonically had a cocaine addiction that Watson helped him overcome. (Obviously various adaptations have played with this more directly, like in Elementary.) Maybe Enola finds out that her Gifted older brother has some demons of his own?

Slice of life stuff is good, too - Sherlock attempting to convince Enola to live with him as his ward more formally (I expect she's not interested, though perhaps tempted, but it would be intriguing to see that discussion), Sherlock and Enola running into one another in an unexpected context, Sherlock and Enola competing for a particular case to the former's consternation and amusement and the latter's increasing determination.

For Enola/Tewky:

As of the film's end, it seems like Enola is very much trying to stay a step ahead of her brothers, but she does choose to meet up with Tewky and his mother and uncle, even if only briefly. Might she find herself drawn to them in some ways as a replacement family, considering her feelings of responsibility for Tewky's well-being?

Despite taking his place in the House of Lords, Tewky might be wistful for his short period of freedom again in the future - perhaps he ducks out of his responsibilities as Viscount at some point and returns to London, eager to seek out Enola again and maybe even help her with a case.

In order to gain access to high society event to solve a case, Enola leans on her connection to Tewky in one of her disguises - perhaps posing as a cousin, a ward of the family, or even his fiancée. (Whether the cousin or ward disguises are as a woman or a man is up to you, I love her penchant for stealing boys' clothes.) Oops, but he's at the same event - does he play along, or make her life a little difficult?

DNW: Incest. Mycroft featuring as the Big Bad Villain in the fic. (He can appear and be his unpleasant self, but I don't want him to be the major antagonist of the story.) Permanent major character death. (Temporary death or thinking someone's dead for a time is fine). Total downer endings.

General Likes and Preferences

Setting tropes and AU premises I love

• canon divergence/"what if" AUs - I love butterfly effect, "change one thing" AUs especially!
• soulmates and soul bonds - and soulmate subversion, and soulmates played dark or strange - feel free to play it straight but I also love characters choosing someone(s) other than a soulmate, or the notion of soulmates being as much trouble as they are a joy. The worldbuilding would be wild in a world where soulmates are A Thing - I love exploring the effects of that, and the ambiguous bits of such an AU.
• battle couples/trios - ties neatly into competency kink and loyalty kink sexual likes, but non-sexual love and romance among folks who fight together is A+ also
• magical aus (give non-magical characters/canons magic - telepathy, mind magic, arcane magic, spellcasting. Though many of the canons I tend to like have magic of some kind, feel free to go on a worldbuilding dive into what any of my non-magical canon requests might look like if magic was real.)
• alternate magical system AUs (keep the canon magic, but make it different somehow)
• time loops/Groundhog Day premise (via magic or weird science or no explanation whatsoever)
• undercover antics and/or identity porn - undercover fake married, partners or lovers undercover as enemies, or characters having overlapping complex arrangements of fake identities are all good
• future fic and "next gen" fic (about children of canonical characters as older teens or adults)
• ghosts, communicating with the dead (via magic or weird science)
• enemies to lovers
• werewolves and other were-creatures/animal shapeshifters - tying into magical AUs, I like "everyone's a werewolf" or some kind of magical critter AUs, or just one particular character being "other". Mixing and matching - werewolf and vampire, or werewolf and magical creature hunter, for example, is also a lot of fun.
• sharing a bed (sexual, romantic, or platonic) - enforced intimacy!
• huddling for warmth - more enforced intimacy!
• trapped in a cabin in a blizzard - are you seeing the trend about enforced intimacy?!
• Hurt/Comfort - see the whole section on this trope below

Hurt/Comfort & Whump favorites (note that the "comfort" can be sexual, romantic, or platonic)

The thing I really like the most about h/c and whump is the intimacy of it all. The caring for another person in h/c, and/or the traumatic headspace/emotional rollercoaster of pain and angst the whumped character goes through are absolutely my personal catnip.

Hurt and Whump Preferences:

• torture - I'm generally interested in the emotions and sensory elements more than the gore here. Exhaustion, pain, lingering emotional/mental trauma and mild-to-moderate long-term physical effects are my preferences. I'm less interested in super-severe injury, amputation, or mindbreak-levels of torture.
• sleep deprivation/exhaustion
• noble self-sacrifice - risking harm or death (by performing a noble last stand, or being a distraction, or playing the honeypot, or offering yourself up for torture/assault) to spare others punishment or to allow them to escape 
• drugging
• hallucinations
• forced to watch others being hurt

Comfort Preferences:

• hair touching/running fingers through hair
• helping others with personal care - hair washing, shaving, injury tending
• small acts of intimacy/care - preparing food, standing guard while the hurt one sleeps, sharpening the hurt one's edged weapons or cleaning their guns
• sex (with reasonable consideration for the seriousness of the hurt!)

Sex tropes I love

• dubcon - specifically in situations when both/all parties are consenting under duress due to outside forces, such as "sex pollen", "bad guys made them do it", or character(s) consenting to spare another character from having to do so. I like all kinds of outcomes from this plot - the somewhat positive outcomes of admitting hidden feelings or strengthening a relationship after such a difficult experience; a more tragic or negative outcome such as the end of a relationship/partnership, or tragedy; or something ambiguously between the two - I'm happy with any direction unless otherwise requested in my DNWs for a particular fandom/character/ship.
• bondage - particularly of stoic or restrained characters getting tied up and absolutely wrecked
• first time sex - both first time sex ever or first time performing a particular sex act for a character if there's a reasonable characterization of said character as inexperienced, and also first time sex with a particular partner
• sex magic
• pegging (both f/m and f/f)
• praise kink - particularly of stoic and/or damaged characters unused to and undone by praise
• casual physical intimacy between partners - falling asleep on partner's shoulder, cuddling, spooning, etc., especially of characters not used to casual physical intimacy becoming comfortable with it - this could include both characters who have lots of casual sex but not much casual cuddling, or characters who are touch starved or anything in between
• begging during sex ("please!")
• sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy or grief, such as friends grieving the loss of a mutual friend or loved one or getting over a shared bad experience
• Dominance/submission (though I prefer it NOT be formalized BDSM, such as negotiating safewords and "Master/sir" address, etc. Also, if it's f/m I generally prefer the female character be dominant unless otherwise requested. For my various gender composition OT3+ ships I either don't care or will specify in the prompts.)
• sex between platonic friends 
• competence kink
• threesomes
• loyalty kink
• oral sex and manual stimulation, both as a precursor to vaginal or anal sex, and as its own thing