Birdhouse In Your Soul

Dear Creator:

Thank you for checking out my letter! I am requesting both fic and comics, and am open to a single 10k fic or two 5k fics, as well as a single 10 page comic or two 5 page comics at your discretion. I am good with works of any rating and welcome (but in no way expect or require) sexual content for romantic/sexual ship prompts. Below you will find some brief comments on what I like about each requested fandom and character or ship as well as some prompts for each request, and then a huge list of general likes at the end. A few fandoms and ships have specific DNWs, those are listed with each fandom. Don't feel bound by my prompts in this letter if you think you have an idea for something I will like based on my big likes list or prompts I've made previously in other exchanges.

Please don't take the relative length of each section below as a comment on my enthusiasm for any particular fandom or ship - two of the requested ships are ones I very frequently request in a variety of exchanges, while others are newer to me so I don't have quite as many prompts, but I am very excited about all of these possible options!

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

Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo/Gaby Teller

I only saw this film for the first time in late 2018 and I fell for it (and three ridiculous spies and their complicated relationship) very hard. The film has beautiful people, beautiful cinematography, gorgeous costumes, and a perfect soundtrack. It combines multiple strains of classic tropey relationship development: enemies to colleagues to friends (to lovers?) for all three of them, plus the great fake engagement between Illya and Gaby, the rivals to friends competition and one-upmanship between Illya and Napoleon, and then multiple big damn rescues (Napoleon rescuing Illya from drowning, Illya rescuing Napoleon from the electric chair, and then Napoleon and Illya both rescuing Gaby from the Vinciguerras). And all of it against a fun, iconic 60s setting backdrop, serving to set up the idea of them working together as a team for the forseeable future.

Prompts:

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 in the process.

As an UNCLE agent Gaby will be traveling outside of Germany for likely only the second 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.)

Wild AU premises that seem interesting: 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 for one another - 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.)

Speaking of Victoria, if you're inspired to write any kind of "case fic" I think she is a fabulous villain and would love anything with her as the antagonist of the piece, trying to get her revenge on Napoleon and/or the trio!

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!)

Game of Thrones (TV)

Oberyn Martell/Ellaria Sand/Sansa Stark

Game of Thrones was a very strange fandom experience for me: I've been a fan of the ASOIAF books since not long after A Game of Thrones was published in the late 90s, so it was a trip to see it all play out with a big budget on HBO. In particular, I really enjoyed the casting of Indira Varma as Ellaria and Pedro Pascal as Oberyn immensely and they went from characters of whom I was fond to beloved favorites, even knowing exactly where their plotline was headed, alas. I am intrigued by the idea of crossing the fascinating (and sadly underdeveloped) Dorne setting with Sansa's journey toward political acumen and "playing the game" as well. I can see a lot of different ways to set up this relationship - please choose whichever you find the most interesting!

Prompts:

I am a huge fan of butterfly effect canon divergence for the intricate Westeros setting, especially considering how many seemingly "minor" things end up causing a cascading effect in the political and martial conflicts in the series. Joffrey's death and Sansa's flight from King's Landing is a fascinating place to play with the notion of alternate outcomes - what if Oberyn and Ellaria's plan to make war on the Lannisters saw them deciding that stealing Sansa out from under the Lions' noses to be a more interesting play than getting involved in Tyrion's trial? I could particularly see Ellaria trying to convince Oberyn to play a longer game, and being more interested in what having Sansa with them in Dorne could allow them to accomplish.

I'm also interested in other setups to get Sansa to Dorne or at least involved in Dornish circles - might a desperate Ned (who perhaps discovered the Lannister plot before a formal Sansa/Joffrey betrothal announcement) or a King Robb in need of allies betroth Sansa to Oberyn in order to bring House Martell on as allies against the Lannister threat? Or, in a slightly altered timeline, might Hand of the King Tyrion have sent Sansa as a companion to Myrcella in Dorne to get her away from the capitol and potential threats? (I'm fine with her being married to Tyrion still in this setup, and her becoming a paramour to Ellaria and Oberyn anyway.)

I'm interested in what Sansa would make of Dornish customs and culture, and how she might relate to Oberyn and Ellaria's daughters. I don't expect she would be Shocked and Apalled at the differences, and I'd like it to be more than "Sansa is Girly and Repressed while Dornish Women are Liberated," but Sunspear seems to be a very different sort of court to King's Landing (or even Winterfell) and I'm wondering how she would fare there with her particular strengths and weaknesses. 

Whether as a wife or as a paramour to Oberyn, Sansa being taught about sex and intimacy by Ellaria could be fun. Particularly as a wife, having a legitimate child might be seen as one way to make sure the bond between the North and Dorne is secure, especially given that Sansa might be considered Robb's heir at certain points in the timeline - trying to have a child, or dealing with pregnancy and childbirth might be another interesting angle.

I would be open to a lot of AUs in semi-canon or canon divergent settings - soulmates (any two of the three are soulmates, or all three of them are together), daemons, magic (magic is common in Westeros, or nobility have magic related to their sigils or their historic seats, or the events of the series lead to characters gaining magic) or other vaguely supernatural additions to Westeros are all great.

DNW: Modern Mundane AU. Permanent major character death. (Temporary death and/or believing another character is dead for a time is fine, though.) Total downer endings. (Bittersweet is fine.) Explicitly depicting Sansa as younger than 16. (I am fine with her relative youth compared to Oberyn and Ellaria to be brought up in the narrative, especially given that they have children together her age, but feel free to handwave or vague-up the timeline as necessary to say she's at least late teens at minimum.)


The Witcher (TV)

Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer

Note for this fandom on new canon: Season 2 of The Witcher will premier on Netflix during the long writing period for this exchange. Please feel free to incorporate S2 in your work if you wish, but also feel free to ignore it entirely. I will definitely have consumed S2 by the time this exchange reveals.

I did not initially watch The Witcher with particularly high expectations - fun medieval-set swords and sorcery and Henry Cavill's ass in leather pants seemed like it would be a fun, non-serious return on investment of my time. I really ended up finding it an engaging world, and I love Geralt's relationships with both Yennefer and Jaskier immensely. I am fine with the relationship depicted as hinging on Geralt with Jaskier and Yennefer being "frenemies" rather than lovers, but I also like when Jaskier and Yennefer have a relationship as well.

Prompts:


John Wick (Movies)

John Wick & John Wick's Unnamed Dog
or
John Wick

These films are somehow exactly what would happen if you measured out a hearty few cups of my fascination for detailed "hidden world" worldbuilding, stirred in my heart-eyes love for Keanu Reeves, baked it up as a cake, and then frosted it with extremely sexy gratuitous violence and topped it with a puppy. These movies are just so freaking fun that they never get old for me. Because my primary fascination with the fandom is through John Wick as a character moving through a complex world and how that world itself bends around him, I'm prompting the solo character and gen ship (because puppy). But! I also ship him with literally everyone he meets in all three films and am fine with a gift that includes shippy content as well. (Some of my favorites include Gianna, Cassian, and/or Charon, but when I say everyone I mean it.)

Prompts:

Worldbuilding! Feel free to give me something from John's past or future that showcases how weird and wonderful the assassin-world of the films might be, set anywhere you think might be interesting. I'm always curious about what Continental Hotels other than New York and Rome might look like, how the various supporting figures (Charon, the Sommelier, the various other contacts for weapons, money, armor, resources, and the like that John comes into contact with) fit into the world or came to be there in the first place.

I'm also really intrigued by the use of metaphor/code, such as the exchange between John and the Sommelier in Rome about wine that was not at all about wine. The very blurry line between the "hidden world" and the "real world" - at no time during either film any of the more public acts of violence particularly shocking to onlookers - they certainly try to get out of the way, and there are muffled shrieks a time or two, but how is it that all of this happens with absolutely no intervention by the authorities? (Certainly Jimmy is in the know, but are all law enforcement? Are the films set in a universe where there's general awareness and acceptance that conflict between the powers that be are handled via assassination? Could there be magic involved? Sometimes I wonder when watching the films if there's some kind of power inherent in being an assassin who's a member of the underground world that allows them to hide in plain sight...)

Anything that digs into the notion of The High Table further is interesting, too. Implied textual evidence in the films suggests that only major organized crime institutions/families have claim to a seat at it - how did they get them in the first place, and how did those disparate families/groups ever agree to such a thing? There's a subtle implication, too, that the High Table is a very "old world" institution and that the "new world" doesn't have much power - why not, when so much organized crime came to the Americas alongside immigrants, including John himself?

"Be seeing you, John" from Viggo Tarasov and "Be seeing you, John" signed by Ares at their deaths - while this was likely just a more reserved "see you in hell" sort of send-off...what if it wasn't? What if John is haunted by the ghosts of all his kills? Besides Viggo and Ares, Gianna and Santino's ghosts might be particularly difficult to deal with for him.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Setting change AUs with the exception of adding magic or creeping horror elements to the canon setting. Canon divergence is also fine. Animal death. (Do not kill the dog, please. Major Character Death is fine for this fandom otherwise.)

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: Focus on any of the characters from the books where Mags or his children are protagonists. I have not read these books (Collegium Chronicles/Family of Spies) so I'm not interested in any extension of their stories. However, the founding of the Collegia is of interest to me, so focus on a story in that time period with Original Characters is fine! (Mention of canonical characters from the Mags books is fine.) Characters under 16 having sex.

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
• 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