Dear Chocolatier (Chocolate Box Round 6, 2021)

[coaldustcanary]

Dear Creator:

Thanks for checking out my letter! In general I am open to fic or art of any rating and with any AO3 content warning.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015) | The Witcher (TV) | A Song of Ice and Fire - G.R.R.M | General Likes and Preferences

The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015)

Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo/Gaby Teller
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'm also prompting the rarepair side of the trio in Napoleon/Gaby, because there's just so much less content for them than Illya/Napoleon and Illya/Gaby.

For the fandom in general:

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.

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, 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.)

For the OT3:

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. 

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?

For Gaby/Napoleon:

Illya/Napoleon and Illya/Gaby are the main ships of the fandom besides the trio, but I find Gaby/Napoleon really intriguing. I think they are very alike in some ways - Illya's "issues" are very much text in the film as Napoleon proverbially upends his baggage on the table at their first sit-down meeting - but Napoleon and Gaby are both messy characters, too.

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. 

Either or both of them trying to seduce the other that first night in Berlin would be delightful.

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.


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 sotired 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.)

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.

A Song of Ice and Fire - G.R.R.M.

Davos Seaworth/Stannis Baratheon
Rhaenys Targaryen/Robb Stark

I like both canon divergence and quirky AUs (fairy tale, space, western, werewolves, soulmates, Daemons/animal companions, etc) for these ships, but am less interested in modern "mundane" AUs with school/work settings. I love political machinations and arranged marriages (it's fine to handwave a Westeros with same-sex marriages for this purpose, and I love any kind of worldbuilding that might go along with that) and also the consequences of breaking a political arranged marriage in favor of a love match. Canon divergence where the ship is ruling Westeros as the ultimate power couple is as welcome as futures where they are on the run in Essos or fighting for a doomed cause.

Davos/Stannis:

Hello, Loyalty Kink! I love deeply flawed but noble and righteous Stannis inspiring loyalty in good right-hand-man Davos. I am always intrigued by how Davos came to be so devoted to his lord, either seeing it happen or getting in his head is always a treat. (His POV chapters are some of my favorite in the books.)

Once his maimed hand had healed, how did Davos manage to serve Stannis in their earliest years together? I personally lean toward Davos being a solid decade older than Stannis, so here's this 18 year old Stannis, half-starved from the siege and run ragged from trying to keep his men safe, and this upjumped smuggler who's canonically got to be at least 5 or 6 years older, if not likely more, who is just slotted into life as a lord and knight. What kinds of things did Davos learn from Stannis about how to move in lordly circles? What kinds of things did Stannis learn from Davos about life for a man from Flea Bottom? (Or about sex - pretty sure Davos was *much* more sexually experienced than Stannis at that time. I would not be surprised if Stannis was totally inexperienced at that point, in fact.)

Fantasy AU idea: Animal companions/Daemons. There are certain animals that are "highborn" and certain animals that just aren't, and whatever Davos has as an animal companion is considered very silly among the lordly set. But Stannis (and his stag/doe/other animal of your choice) become very defensive of Davos and his animal, whatever it is.

Rhaenys/Robb:

I have a lot of feelings about Rhaenys Targaryen, ngl. Obviously she died so young in canon that we don't know who she would have been, but I think it's so interesting to come up with ways in which she might have survived into the era of the books, and pairing her with Robb feels like an interesting extension and reversal of some of the Lyanna/Rhaegar "legend" story beats. At the same time, I've come to be very fond of Robb through rereads of Cat's POV chapters. I want them to be good for each other!

While many presume that the boy claiming to be Prince Aegon is a fake, what if Varys was able to successfully spirit little Rhaenys out of King's Landing, and it's Rhaenys who leads the Golden Company in an invasion of Westeros in the wake of Robert's death circa A Game of Thrones? Perhaps, despite history, she might be inclined to allow the Northern Rebels to be her allies.

Alternately, Robert's Rebellion fails, but Aerys is prevented from taking total revenge on the rebels by Rhaegar - how might a Princess Rhaenys react to realizing she's fallen for the son of one of the leaders of the great rebellion against her family? (The role of Lyanna and R+L=J in this is totally up to you.)

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