coaldustcanary: Eleanor of Aquitane from The Lion In Winter (Default)
Dear Author:

Thanks for checking out my letter! I've included some general notes about my preferences up front, some detailed prompts and thoughts about each of my requested fandoms, and then a big list of "Things I Generally Like in Fic" at the very end. Please note that I'm a regular participant in fanfic exchanges and so I had a lot of this already written up - don't feel you have to read every word or stick closely to the prompts given if you're inspired differently! I am generally very easy to please.

Overall, I am open to fic of any rating, and including any AO3 Archive Warning if appropriate to the story. When prompting for romantic pairings or shippy content I'm happy to receive (but in no way require) sexual content. I permit and welcome treats of any kind.

 

Enola Holmes (Movies)
Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes

I really enjoyed this film, and am eagerly looking forward to the second one coming out in November - please feel free to incorporate content from that film into your work if you wish, but don't feel obliged to do so. I will definitely have watched it by the time works are revealed, though, so I have no concerns about spoilers. Similarly, I have not read the books these are based on, but feel free to incorporate content from the books if you like.

I liked how the first film 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'd really like to see a fic set post-film that looks at that developing relationship. I love Eudoria, Edith, and Tewky and would be pleased if they featured as well, but I would prefer that Mycroft not play a significant role in the fic.

Prompts:

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?

Enola/Tewky is very cute (he's a good boy) and I'm fine with it being included in a fic - Sherlock seemed unbothered by the idea of their relationship, perhaps even a little amused. Whether Enola is really romantically attached to Tewky or just very protective of his helplessness or something in between, fic featuring the three of them could be interesting.

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.

DNW: Incest, death or serious harm to young (under 13) children (but Enola and/or Tewky getting into trouble or peril is good, though!), Mycroft more than mentioned in the fic

Hustler Magazine vs. Falwell RPF
Jerry Falwell, Larry Flynt

In 1983, Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine published a parody ad in which religious leader Jerry Falwell supposedly gave an interview about his "first time" - with his mother, in an outhouse. It was a crude, grotesque, and funny parody of popular suggestive liquor ads at the time, and Falwell was deeply offended. He sued Flynt, and the resulting case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The resulting decision - Hustler Magazine vs. Falwell (1988) - prohibited public figures from recovering tort damages from emotional distress or harm from a published work so long as a reasonable person would not consider the content factual.

This case is the reason that RPF has stronger legal protections in the United States than most other fanworks! That would be enough, for me, to prompt silly fanfic responses to it, but the reality gets even weirder.

Years after the court case was decided, Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt met up on a talk show to discuss the case, and went on to become friends. They publicly debated the merits of the case in front of audiences multiple times, and - per Larry Flynt's word - they became close enough to regularly exchange Christmas cards and phone calls.

If this tickles your fancy in any way, I invite you to write fic about it. It can be broad parody, a serious character study, shocking, tender, or anything in between. Let's celebrate the weird relationship between these two men that came out of the case that protects our right to make up really weird stories about celebrities!

Some possible sources of inspiration:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell - An overview of the court case.

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) is an Oscar-winning biographic film about Larry Flynt that is primarily about his personal life but, as the title suggests, depicts many of his courtroom antics (he was sued many other times) including a depiction of the Falwell case being heard by the Supreme Court. The film is streaming on Hulu and available elsewhere online.

www.latimes.com/la-op-flynt20may20-story.html - Their friendship in Larry Flynt's own words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLAOzn9x9Go - a video of one of their "road show" public debates

DNW: death or serious harm to young (under 13) children.

Valdemar series - Mercedes Lackey
Worldbuilding

With the announcement that the Valdemar books are being adapted for television, I've been feeling very nostalgic for this world. Valdemar was my first real fandom - I recieved Mercedes Lackey fan club newsletters in the mid 90s - and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the setting, despite (or perhaps because of) all it's melodrama and silliness.

Prompts: I'm mostly interested in stories that poke at expectations and understandings of the world presented in the book without going really grim-dark. Outsider's perspective on Valdemar and the Heralds. I particularly enjoyed Alberich, Kerowyn, and other non-Herald's more clear-eyed view the strengths and weaknesses of Valdemar's systems.

On the flip side, from the inside, what about a story about a member of the Valdemaran royal family who isn't Chosen, either due to a lack of Gift or the Companions deciding that they had some more important purpose in a different role?

The books imply that prospective Monarch's Own sometimes have "unbonded Choosings" and only *really* Bond with the Grove Born Companion when they take office. (When Jisa is a child in the Last Herald-Mage books Vanyel implies this could be her future, and it's not clear if it didn't happen for political (keeping her out of the line of succession) or practical (Randale wouldn't live long, anyway) reasons.) But... what would that be like, and in what circumstances might it happen? How would the "temporary Companion" feel about it?

Similarly, what happens when an adult Herald is tapped as the next Monarch's Own? Was their bond with their existing Companion not real? Would the Companions argue about it?

In general I'm curious about Companion interpersonal interaction. They are definitely implied to have human-like conflicts and prejudices. How does that play out? Do they chastise one another for breaking the rules? How?

For what it's worth, besides Alberich and Kerowyn some of my favorite characters are Talia and Dirk, Kris, Selenay, and Skif. From Vanyel's time, I am fond of him, Savil, as well as Randale, Shavri, and Jisa. But any characters not in my DNWs are fair game, as are OCs both from within and outside of Valdemar.

DNW: death or serious harm to young (under 13) children, works focusing on Mags and his children (I have not read the "Spies" series - referencing events therein is fine but I don't want those characters to be the focus of the work)

The Wheel of Time (TV)
Lan Mandragoran, Nyneave al'Meara

Important note for this fandom: In addition to Lan and/or Nyneave, I am open to works featuring Siuan Sanche, Moiraine Damodred, Alana Mosvani or any combination of these 5 characters! If you would prefer to write a character study of Moiraine, or Moirane/Siuan, or Moiraine & Alana, or Alana/Her Warders, etc, I would be thrilled.

The Wheel of Time books were foundational to my appreciation for fantasy literature, and despite their many flaws, I will always think of them fondly. That said, I think the show is doing an incredible, fun adaptatation of the material and I cannot wait to see what they do with it next. In the books I found Lan interesting but distant, and Nyneave impressive but not my favorite of the main female channelers by any stretch of the imagination. But their show counterparts absolutely floored me with their characterization and chemistry. I am very into anything exploring their at turns tender and antagonistic relationship and how impressed they are by each other. I love that they are so strong and so visibly struggling at the same time. Any exploration of their relationship and interaction - or post S1 speculation about how it might go forward - is welcome.

Prompts:

A world in which Lan and Nyneave are allowed a *llittle* more time in the whirlwind of the finale to talk about...everything.

What would happen if Nyneave were to somehow accidentally bond Lan as a Warder at the same time that he was still bonded to Moiraine, or forged some other connection with The Power that coexisted with it?

I love whenever they do something to meaningfully impress the other - a quiet moment of shared competence in any context would be great.

I'm very open to explicit content for them as well - some fitting themes there might be praise kink, loyalty kink, bondage, dom/sub, or any other kinks that you think might work from my big list of sexy likes below.

I'm also a huge fan of Moiraine, Siuan, Moraine/Siuan, Moraine & Alana, and Alana & her warders.

Moiraine/Siuan - a glimpse at the past, and what their literal years of effort toward seeing the prophecy fulfilled has been like as a couple

Moiraine & Alana - I loved their scene together on the bed, their easy camraderie. What is their friendship like?

Alana & her Warders (or Alana/her warders, I do love a M/M/F threesome) - She's so direct with them, and they speak of her so fondly. I'm curious to see what their relationship is like beyond the few glimpses we got.

DNW: Death or serious harm to young (under 13) children, alternate setting AUs (canon divergence is fine and welcome, however!)


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)
  • fairy tale AUs
  • daemon AUs (or any other "sentient animal companion" magic settings - Valdemar's Companions, Chronicles of the Cheysuli's lir, the "Animalled" of Beukes' Zoo City, witch familiars, etc)
  • 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 some consideration for the seriousness of the hurt, but I do not expect medical accuracy)

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 fingering/handjobs, both as a precursor to vaginal or anal sex, and as its own thing

coaldustcanary: Eleanor of Aquitane from The Lion In Winter (Default)
Dear Author:

Thanks for checking out my letter! I've included some general notes about my preferences up front, some detailed prompts and thoughts about each of my requested fandoms, and then a big list of "Things I Generally Like in Fic" at the very end. Please note that I'm a regular participant in fanfic exchanges and so I had a lot of this already written up - don't feel you have to read every word or stick closely to the prompts given if you're inspired differently! I am generally very easy to please.

Overall, I am open to fic of any rating, and including any AO3 Archive Warning if appropriate to the story. When prompting for romantic pairings or shippy content I'm happy to receive (but in no way require) sexual content.

 

Enola Holmes (2020)
Edith Grayston & Sherlock Holmes

I received a wonderful gift for this fandom last year focusing on Enola and Sherlock's complicated familial relationship, so I thought I'd prompt for a different sort of relationship this year. I quite loved the brief scene between Edith and Sherlock in canon; Edith reads Sherlock so easily and thoroughly and is so utterly done with his nonsense from the first moment of their interaction. He, in turn, makes a half-hearted attempt at making a veiled threat but mostly looks totally chagrinned from Edith's first words back because she's summed him up accurately and the total wasn't all that impressive. It's rather as if they had a brief round of verbal sparring over a tea set and Edith left Sherlock metaphorically flat on his back on the mat.

I am very curious about the ways in which they might connect again either through Enola or Eudoria. Enola seems ready to set herself up independently in London and do her own thing, while Eudora seems ready, now that her youngest fledgling has left the nest, to devote herself entirely to the cause of women's suffrage. Edith seems a likely contact for Enola in the future, as well as a possible co-conspirator with Eudoria. Sherlock, on the other hand, seems amused by Enola's antics and possibly perturbed by whatever political activism Eudoria might be contemplating. I could see Edith and Sherlock teaming up to assist either Enola or Eudoria, to try to find them after something goes wrong, or even for Edith to work against Sherlock to keep him from interfering in Enola or Eudoria's work.

I'm amused by the idea of Sherlock deciding to regularly stop into the tea shop on increasingly transparent pretenses, ostensibly to learn more about Edith and her connection to his mother and sister, but increasingly because he's so intrigued by Edith herself.

I do ship them, primarily in a "she tells him off, he's unexpectedly charmed by the accuracy of her verbal barbs" sort of way, where they might challenge and annoy (and turn on) one another in the future.

Likes for this fandom and characters: Banter, case fic, winning each other over the hard way, grudgingly teaming up, sparring (verbally or physically), disguise/undercover work, chance meetings/meetings in unexpected circumstances,

DNW: Incest, death or harm to young (under 13) children (Enola and/or Tewky getting into trouble or peril is good, though!)

Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Sarah Alder & Worldbuilding


Note for this fandom: Please feel free to treat this as Sarah Alder OR Worldbuilding if you wish - Alder can feature very minimally in the fic, and anything you might write about Alder is very likely to include Worldbuildling content I'd be interested to see.

I am obsessed with the setting of this fandom and the richness of the alternate history and alternate universe that it sets up, and about which we know so frustratingly little. ANYTHING you want to tell me about your ideas for this world would be like water on parched soil for me. A few ideas, but do not limit yourself:

I'm really curious about the Imperatrix and the whole witch "breeding program" - and how the heck she specifically (unlike every other witch we see) is not under Alder's authority. How did that happen? How has she lost track of so many witch lines? Is this cultural myopia or is something specifically sinister going on with her or her office? Are there similar programs in other countries? Relatedly, what are "Matrifocal Compounds" (like where Tally grew up) besides women-only spaces? The Imperatrix seemed very unimpressed by her background - was it just that her mother received a dispensation not to serve, or something else? Are non-military witches like Tally's mother leading Mother Goddess cults in California?

What's up with male witches? They seem capable of performing magic, albeit more low-powered than what women can do. We finally learn in S2 that the child of a male witch and a non-witch can never be a witch, while a female witch's children are always witches, which explains the firm hand placed on arranged marriages, but why don't male witches seem to be part of military units beyond something of an auxillary flirtaton force?
 
Interviews with the showrunners have suggested that Sarah Alder's first and closest companions after the Salem Accords were previously enslaved witches, and seemed to strongly imply that most of High Atlantic society descends from former slaves, which is pretty fascinating! What would that have meant for society, both army and civilian?

What does the rest of the world's witch population/agreements look like? The Salem Accords seem to be a US thing - what about the UK, Russia, India, and other nations we briefly see members of
 
The Cession's existence is really interesting - what is it's relationship to the United States and to the Salem Accords? Are Native American/American Indian witches exempt from the Salem Accords? It seems to be something of a safe haven for witches who aren't entirely enthused about army life and a lot of Dodgers, but there are also many army veterans there, like Quinn. Non-Native people seem to live here, and obviously Raelle was still conscripted and Alder sent the army there a few times, but it does seem like there might be political considerations that mean that some "outsiders" are there and are at least tolerated, and possibly welcome.

For Alder herself, I'm very interested in any glimpse of her history - the actual Salem Accords, the early years of the military (perhaps with an early Bellweather ancestor at her right hand), any of the various conflicts throughout history, more about the Liberian conflict and "martyrdom" and what inspired Nicte Batan to create the Spree. I love her relationships with Petra, Anacostia, and Tally, if you'd like to explore any of them as colleagues, enemies, or lovers. I'd also be really interested to see any kind of further exploration of her connection to her Biddies, and how that magic (apparently from Native American witches) came to preserve her immortality. I love her complexity, and the sorts of factors that come into play besides the effective immortality to remain leader of what seems to be the most powerful military in the world.

DNW: death or harm to young (under 13) children


New World (Video Game)
Worldbuilding

This is my wildcard of a prompt, and will be pretty vague - this game is weird. It's an incredibly well-designed MMO from a gameplay standpoint - they've made missteps, but the gameplay overall is well-balanced and engaging. But the lore, to be frank, is a nonsensical mess. You expect me to believe that this is taking place in the 17th century in the REAL WORLD and there are castaways and sailors and pirates from Europe, Africa and Asia have washed up on this creepy magical island and EVERYONE has just ignored all political and cultural difference and teamed up without a blink?

Look, I understand why the game doesn't touch the politics of the setting with a ten-foot pole: by it's nature the game is already disturbingly framed as a colonialism narrative because they erased Native American references from the game as a "solution" to the Unfortunate Implications, which honestly just kind of made it worse. Apparently the game developers wanted this to be "the world stumbles upon the legend of Atlantis and puts aside conflict to survive the bigger threat" but kept faceplanting into the fact that Age of Sail/Age of Exploration narratives can't be divorced from racism and colonialism very easily. But it doesn't make sense.

That said: Tell me any kind of story you like about this world and how it became a terrifying magical cesspit of demons and undead. Go weird. Go meta. Go critical. Whatever floats your boat! (And sends it hurtling into a jagged shoreline of a weird magical island.)

DNW: death or harm to young (under 13) children

Rotkäppchen | Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale)
Little Red Riding Hood

As a huge fan of wolves and werewolves in mythology, I love this fairy tale to no end. I am interested in any kind of retelling, angle, prequel or sequel of the tale (and feel free to use versions other than Grimm as your inspiration if you wish) and a focus on Red herself. 

 I'm a huge fan of anything where Red is just as Big and Bad as the wolf in her own way (or maybe even the same way). The Wolf may be an ally or enemy, same for the Woodcutter, but I'm interested in any kind of fic or art where Red is mostly standing on her own two (or four) feet, and the tale isn't quite the way it's usually told. Lighthearted or dark, comic or totally serious, whatever seems interesting, go for it!

I like any kind of play with the metaphors of Red, well, wearing Red, or going on a dangerous journey alone, or what the battling Woodcutter and Wolf represent, or speculation about why Red's visiting her grandmother in the first place, or what makes her such an appealing target of the wolf.

DNW: Incest, death or harm to young (under 13) children


The Wicker Man (1973)
Lord Summerisle

This movie is chilling and strange and engaging and not a little terrifying, and I have been in love since the first time I saw it years ago. I am fascinated by the character of Lord Summerisle--his easy confidence and powerful charm--and would be happy to receive any fic that focuses on him as a character. Despite him having quite considerable monologue opportunities in the film to lay out the whole of his belief and viewpoint to Sergeant Howie, I still feel like he's a bit of a mystery.
  • What would happen if, as the Fool warned, in a future year the crops fail once more and only a lordly sacrifice will do? How would it happen? How would he feel about it? Is he as ready for that to happen as he says he is?
  • Something exploring Summerisle's youth or how he became a figure imbued with authority and trusted in his role as both ruling lord and High Priest would be interesting, too.
  • What's his relationship with Miss Rose like? Obviously they are High Priest and High Priestess and there are symbolic roles they both fulfill, but they seem to have a very intimate and loving relationship beyond that as well.
  • Alternately, his relationship with other members of the community such as Willow MacGreagor or the young man he "introduces" to her (how did he come to honor Willow as an embodiment of Aphrodite?), or perhaps how he came to choose Rowan Morrison to serve in her particular role would be interesting ideas to explore.
  • I would also love to see an expansion on his interaction with Sergeant Howie - what if they'd had more time to talk during Howie's escalating investigation? What if Summerisle, recognizing that Willow would not be a proper temptation for the Fool to resist, had attempted to seduce Howie himself? Every time I watch the movie I half wonder if Summerisle sized Howie up and thought he would be too tempting and too likely to succeed if he made a move on the man,  and they really needed the sacrifice...
DNW: death of young (under 13) children (for this fandom, canonically tangential things like Howie believing that Rowan was going to be a sacrifice or even more elaborate schemes to make him believe she was dead are fine, just no actual "on screen" deaths in the fic)


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)
  • fairy tale AUs
  • daemon AUs (or any other "sentient animal companion" magic settings - Valdemar's Companions, Chronicles of the Cheysuli's lir, the "Animalled" of Beukes' Zoo City, witch familiars, etc)
  • 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 some consideration for the seriousness of the hurt, but I do not expect medical accuracy)

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 fingering/handjobs, both as a precursor to vaginal or anal sex, and as its own thing
coaldustcanary: Eleanor of Aquitane from The Lion In Winter (Default)
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)
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
coaldustcanary: Eleanor of Aquitane from The Lion In Winter (Default)
 Hi there,

Thanks for checking out my letter. This is my fifth year participating in Yuletide and, as always, I'm looking forward to it. This letter is organized into three parts: first are general preferences around fic, next are fandom-specific prompts and Do Not Wants, and finally is a big list of general tropes I enjoy.

General Preferences: I am overall open to receiving fic of any rating, including violent or sexually explicit content. I am OK with any AO3 required warning if appropriate to the fic. I am also open to worldbuilding fic in each of my requested fandoms this year that barely includes any requested character, if such a premise interests you.

I do not have broad DNWs (in the sense of topics that I under no circumstances want to receive in any fic) just fandom-specific preferences detailed below with each set of prompts.

XXX

Enola Holmes (2020)
Requested Characters: Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes


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'd really like to see a fic set post-film that looks at that developing relationship.

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.

Prompts:

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?

Enola/Tewky is very cute (he's a good boy) and I'm fine with it being included in a fic - Sherlock seemed unbothered by the idea of their relationship, perhaps even a little amused. Whether Enola is really romantically attached to Tewky or just very protective of his helplessness or something in between, fic featuring the three of them could be interesting.

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.

Fandom Specific DNW: Incest. Mycroft featuring as a Big Bad Villain in the fic. (He can be mentioned or even pass through, but I'd rather just ignore the big boor.)

Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Requested Characters: Anacostia Quartermaine, Berryessa Tansey


I think the worldbuilding for this show is fascinating...and full of holes screaming for further development. The alternate history is both intriguing and frustrating in its inconsistencies. I am absolutely starving for more details like the bits of history timeline we've seen in bits and pieces across the first season, and its effects on everything from global power structures to religious practices.

Prompts:

I chose Sgt. Tansey and Anacostia as my requests because they are my favorite minor and major characters, respectively, and I adored their conversation during the Beltane festivities. I would very much welcome Anacostia/Berryessa-focused fic, but I'm also okay with only one of them featuring in the fic, or neither. For a ship-focused fic, something about their pasts together (Beltane festivities when they were cadets, perhaps? or perhaps the idea that they were both fosterlings together?) or how Berryessa - as a ritualist and perhaps religious figure - might help Anacostia deal with her doubts prompted by the events of the end of S1.

Worldbuilding, religious-style: Sgt. Tansey is a "matrimonialist" - "Matrimonialist" appears to be a title and perhaps even a specific military rank - we see Sgt. Tansey on the show seem to lead both the Beltane ritual and Charvel Bellweather's marriage ceremony. With witchcraft ability being inherited and implied to come from extra-human physical development (per the ability of the Fort Salem witches to identify murder victims as witch-descendants by autopsying their vocal chords) it stands to reason that maintaining family lines is extremely significant. At the same time, there's enough witches who slip through the cracks that there were dozens of Bellweather-related victims previously unknown to the military. If there's a role that's equivalent to something between an archivist, matchmaker, and priestess devoted to keeping the family lines known and marrying well, what would that be like? What social and cultural norms would grow up around that - we see glimpses of some interesting worldbuilding around pregnancy in combat (considered an admirable thing, perhaps lucky for the baby?) and pagan-flavored temporary, contract-like marriages. Any exploration of this would be fantastic!

Worldbuilding, soldier-style: What does it mean to be a soldier - not a general and not a cadet - in the witch military? We've seen a bit of it filtered through the POV of Raelle's mother, but she had a very particular POV. What was Anacostia's experience like before she became an instructor and leader at Fort Salem? She must have had battlefield experience, but unlike most of the other adult characters on the show we don't actually hear her talk about that time much. If she has always been close to General Alder, as their relationship implies, what was that like for her? What has she seen or heard, and how does that influence the way she's made her choices re: Scylla and the Spree at the end of S1?

Fandom specific DNW: No Magic AU. Major focus on any romantic relationships between students. Background references to relationships are fine, inclusion of canon Raelle/Scylla's effect on Anacostia's work and emotional state is great, but I would prefer any relationship focus be on the adult characters I requested with each other or others.

Valdemar series - Mercedes Lackey
Requested Characters: Lythe Shadowdancer, Rothas Sunsinger


Link to the lyrics of all of the Sun & Shadow music here: http://www.goldenboughmusic.com/music/SunShadow/SunShadow.htm

The legend within the story, the one that Lackey swore she'd never actually write about - but I'm intrigued. I love the Sun and Shadow ballads in the books (I have owned the Firebird Arts and Music recordings since the 90s, I must admit) and I am always interested in seeing what others think of the legend and what might be behind it. We know that "officially" Sun and Shadow were cursed, eventually found magic to undo the curse but instead used it to free an heir of Valdemar from an evil mage and lost their chance to beat the curse, and were eventually chosen by Companions to become Heralds, which then (because Companion Magic, presumably) caused them to be freed from the curse.

But...is that really how it went down?

In addition to a direct take on the legend, I would also be game for any fic in the Valdemar setting that touches on the ballads themselves and doesn't directly include the prompted characters - a Bard character working on their own variation of the legend in song or poetry, an archivist trying to find the real history in the legend, a pair of starcrossed lovers somewhere else in the universe of the books relating to the great tragic love of Sun and Shadow.

I'd also be interested in a very meta take involving "Herald-Archivist Myste" (Mercedes Lackey's extremely transparent self-insert, gods love her) writing about (critiquing?) the ballads and the history if that's your interest.

Tonally, anything from total tragedy (they were not, in fact, saved by Companions, in the end...) to lighthearted comedy (*groan* oh god not ANOTHER Sun and Shadow ballad!) is welcome here.

XXX

And the final part of my letter is the below big list of preferred tropes. I am a pretty regular fic exchange participant and so this is my "list of likes". Not all of them will apply to every fandom or prompt, but if you're looking for some evidence of my tastes and trope preferences in fic, this might help clarify things.

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"
  • 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 deeply intimate nature of caring for another person in h/c, and/or the headspace/emotional rollercoaster of pain 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. Torture that leads to chronic injury/pain, mild-to-moderate debilitation over time or permanently, or psychological trauma are the sorts of things I want to see for this kind of hurt. 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
  • characters forced to watch others being hurt
Comfort Preferences:
  • hair touching/running fingers through hair
  • helping others with personal care - hair washing, injury tending, etc
  • small acts of intimacy/care - preparing food, standing guard while the hurt one sleeps, etc
  • 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. This can lead to a positive outcome - admitting feelings, strengthening a relationship after such a difficult experience - or a negative outcome - angst, the end of a relationship/partnership, tragedy - or something ambiguous.
  • 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 - I tend to prefer getting together over established relationship unless otherwise requested
  • 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 - friends grieving the loss of a mutual friend or loved one or getting over a shared bad experience
  • Dominance/submission (if it's f/m I generally prefer the female character be dominant unless otherwise requested)
  • sex between platonic friends 
  • competence kink
  • threesomes
  • loyalty kink

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