coaldustcanary | Entries tagged with yuletide

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! This is very much "Optional Details Are Optional" per Yuletide tradition; I'll be happy with whatever you create.

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.

Ladyhawke (1985) | The Wheel of Time (TV) | The Young Riders (TV) | General Likes and Preferences

Ladyhawke (1985)
Isabeau d'Anjou, Philippe Gaston, Etienne Navarre

What I like about canon: I unironically love every silly minute of this film and the totally 80s soundtrack. The story of star-crossed lovers helped in their quest to defeat the curse hanging over their heads by the most unlikely of thieves is charming, and the notion that the lovers grew as fond of their friend as one another, in the end, makes me very happy.

Prompts:
Soulmate AU: In the film it's Philippe's clever mix of half truths and inspiration that keep Isabeau and Navarre from losing heart in their quest. It seems like they have been cursed for years and not making much headway in trying to break the curse, even though Navarre is sure he knows how. Maybe that's because they specifically needed Philippe as their missing "piece" as their soulmate just as much as they are each other's, and they realize that along the way. How might that have changed the way things played out?

As an extension of what occurs in the film, Philippe as a "go between" having moments (romantic, tender, sexy, kinky) with Isabeau and Navarre individually as the cursed lovers use him to physically send messages to one another (with or without Philippe's embelishments!)

Post-canon: Isabeau and Philippe have to team up to rescue Navarre from some threat against which their combined wit and way with words is most effective.

The Young Riders (TV)
Louise "Lou" McCloud, The Kid, Jimmy Hickock

What I like about the canon: This ridiculous show was the first thing I wrote fanfic for as a frantic 10 year old. Attractive people, check. Horses, check. Sweeping romantic period drama, check. The whole "girl with a fake nmae pretending to be a boy" and "boy who won't give his own name but seems willing to die for her" thing was catnip, and then everyone else got in on the secret and scruffy Jimmy's interest in Lou and open conflict with Kid flirted with all the most messy elements of a love triangle. Whew! Anyway, this stuff still apparently has a desperate hold on my id 30 years later, and here we are.

Prompts:

Post-canon offers a lot of possibilities. What did the three of them get up to during and after Civil War? Where did they go? How did Lou adjust to being a wife and no longer wearing men's clothes - or did she not stop? How did Kid deal with his own conflicted feelings about his upbringing in Virginia? Jimmy Hickok would (historically) become a hard-fighting, hard-drinking Civil War veteran who was involved in reckless shootouts quite often - what would happen if he showed up 5 years post-series on the Kid and Lou's doorstep?

Alternately, the awkward first time that the three of them hooked up while still riding for the Pony Express. Perhaps one day Kid and Jimmy's conflict boils over into something a little sexier and Lou is surprisingly into it.

Literally any trope I have listed in my likes below would be welcome, especially (but not only) hurt/comfort, whump, cuddling for warmth, bedsharing. Seriously, all the classics are my bread and butter for this show. Hurt someone and conjure a storm so they have to take refuge in a cabin, or have them sharing a bed due to Circumstances - I'm all over it.

On a more platonic note, I am 100% here for A Very Special Christmas Episode With The Young Riders. Teaspoon and/or Emma and/or Rachel is super serious about Christmas, or they find some kind of reason to celebrate the spirit of the season all together. Reminiscing about childhood Christmases past, and hopes for the future. Fluff up to my eyeballs, give it to me.

The Wheel of Time (TV)
Alanna Mosvani, Ihvon, Maksim

What I like about this canon: 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 Alanna interesting but often more of a plot device than a developed character, and her relationship with her Warders (Ihvon and Owein in the books, instead of Maksim) similarly unexplored. I find her (and them) much more intriguing in the TV adaptation.

Prompts:

How exactly did Alanna come to bond both men, and how did their romantic relationship follow from it? Or was the order a little different? Relatedly - Maksim says he became a warder because fell in love with a Warder, and Ihvon says because he fell in love with an Aes Sedai. How did they negotiate those complicated emotions early on, and how has the balance of the relationship changed since then, if it has? "Things are messy before they are perfect," Alanna says. I would love to see some mess!

Or, tell me about some adventure they had pre-series, perhaps against the Shadow, defending against a Trolloc raid, or in the Borderlands.

Alanna seems incredibly solicitous of Moiraine's needs; do her Warders fully agree with the depth of the friendship between the Aes Sedai?

What role might the trio play in the future of the series? If you're familiar with book canon, you know that Alanna is likely to become even more prominent of a character in the future. I don't think it likely that the show will follow all of the beats of the books (thank god) but if you want to guess at how these particular versions of the characters might experience some of those events, I would welcome it!

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

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) | Hustler Magazine vs. Falwell RPF | Valdemar series - Mercedes Lackey | The Wheel of Time (TV) | General Likes and Preferences

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 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

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 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

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

General notes: Good with any rating. No explicit DNWs - there are some things implied/mentioned in the trope/kink preferences list below that are things I tend not to like as much, but don't consider them entirely off-limits.

Requested fandoms:

Carnival Row (TV)
Characters: Tourmaline Larou, Vignette Stonemoss

What I like about the canon: the incredibly elaborate setting and Aesthetic, the grim social commentary, and all that is hinted at by the worldbuilding and in our characters' pasts but fairly under-explored in the actual canon.

I am deeply fond of Tourmaline and her stubborn loyalty toward Vignette, and the depth of their friendship as well as the outlines of their past romantic entanglements. To that end, prompts:

What was their relationship like previously? Was it friends with benefits? Was it more like a teenage crush? Were they ever in love, or was it something different? Feel free to speculate about fae customs and norms around relationships - what were the expectations, on either side, or by those that knew them?

In the Burgue and the present of the series, what do they mean to one another? How does Vignette feel about Tourmaline's life choices, and vice versa? Tourmaline seems very resigned when it comes to Philo's place in Vignette's heart--what if she was more willing to fight for Vignette's affections? (Personally I like Philo well enough and though I think his history and initial hook-up with Vignette was a bit rushed, I can see how they would fall together again in the Burgue, but I would be equally happy for Vignette to be tired of his dramatic bullshit and choose her relationship with Tourmaline first.)

In the presumed future of the show, with the fae hemmed in on all sides, how might they resist, either on an individual level or as part of a larger organization? How might they talk to Philo about being faerie--or choose to keep secrets from him?

Alternately, I am fully game for full-on worlbuilding in this fandom that barely mentions either requested character. Something about politics, or religion (what's the Martyr religion about, besides Jesus being hung by a noose instead of a cross?), or high society norms? I'm also very fond of Agreus and Imogen--though I'm not requesting them so as to avoid over-complicating things for matching, if you're inspired you could focus on them. What if they had missed the ship and somehow ended up on Carnival Row themselves?

Prodigal Son (TV)
Characters: Malcom Bright, Dani Powell

Oh, these two. I watched this show expecting a procedural with a touch of whacky hijinx, Bellamy Young reprising her role from Scandal and a smirking Michael Sheen - what I got was 99% balls to the wall whacky hijinx, Malcolm being whumped, Young and Sheen bringing their soapy drama A-game, all sewn together with a fig leaf of procedural elements. It's very silly and very fun. Even the procedural elements that are included are all fully designed to dig into everyone's trauma and personal demons for angsty or comedic effect!

I would really like fic that focuses on Bright and Dani's relationship, either platonically or romantically/sexually.

On the platonic side, more bonding like we saw in Ep. 5, where they realized that Gil's paternal/mentor influence had really shaped them in some similar ways, and that they had some things in common, would be great. I get that the show has already canonically gone for a ton of tropey whump situations with Dani comforting Malcolm during his night terrors and watching over him when he's accidentally drugged, but more in this vein is always welcome. A role reversal might be interesting, too - how might Bright be as a caretaker if Dani was hurt?

On the sexual/romantic side, the show certainly keeps playing with the notion that Bright is a masochist and someone who seeks out others to put boundaries on him, and Dani might be the kind of person who'd hurt him the way he wants to be hurt and control him the way he thinks he needs. I would be very keen to see a D/s and/or BDSM relationship between the two. I think it would be hilarious to see them painstakingly negotiating what that kind of relationship might look like, for example. Alternately, maybe they continue to skirt the edges of such a relationship without really discussing it, and then fall into something much deeper without thinking it through. I'd be happy with a range of content or tonal elements here - dark and grim is fine, light and comedic is also fine, and everything in between.

Another idea that could fit with either version of the relationship would be Jessica or Martin's take on Dani, or vice versa. What might Dani make of Martin, if she were to accompany Malcolm to the psychiatric hospital on one of his visits. What might Martin make of Dani and her relationship with his son? Or with Jessica, might she see Dani as a rival, or a positive influence on Malcolm, or something else?

Johan from the stables
Characters: Johan, Speaker, Speaker's Father

So much said in so few words - a whole world is sketched in that tweet! I would love to see some historical fantasy worldbuilding and some playful engagement with the prompt. Who is the speaker talking to (maybe their mother? their friend? their political advisor? their tutor? their romantic interest?) and why do they keep saying the Speaker is his/her/their worst enemy? What kind of self-destructive behavior or thinking patterns are being observed--or is the speaker being gaslit, here? (For the record, I am not partial to any particular gender for the speaker. Whatever you like is fine.)

I would very much welcome an enemies-to-lovers scenario for the Speaker and Johann. (They don't have to become friends on the way, if ever. Enemies who hatesex is also great!)

***

hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional), whump, soulmates (and soulmate subversion, and soulmates played dark), sex pollen, fuck or die, dubcon (especially when both/all parties are consenting only under duress due to outside circumstances), bondage, canon divergence/"what if" AUs, first time sex (both first time sex ever and first time for a particular pairing), sex magic, pegging, praise kink, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth, falling asleep on someone, cuddling, spooning, competitive sex games (who can make the other orgasm the fastest, who can resist orgasm the longest, who can successfully finish a task while the other partner tries to get them off or tries to entice them into sex, etc), begging for/during sex, sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy, battle couples/trios, alternate magical system AUs, Dominance/submission with Dominant female/submissive male or Dominant female/submissive female (situational, prefer not to read lifestyle/24-7 D/s stuff), sex between platonic friends, future fic and "next gen" fic about children of canonical characters, ghosts,
communicating with the dead (via magic or weird science), enemies to lovers, threesomes, werewolves (preferably not A/B/O-style)

Dear Yuletide Author:

Thank you for checking out my letter! I've been in fandom for what feels like forever, but this is only my third Yuletide, and I'm looking forward to it immensely. Below you'll find my nominated fandoms listed alphabetically with some prompts and preferences, and at the end there's a list of my general fandom likes and dislikes when it comes to tropes and themes. Overall I'm comfortable with fic of any rating, shippy or gen both welcome.

Forged In Fire (TV) RPF
J. Neilsen, David Baker, Doug Marcaida

I am in love with this ridiculous show - it's the first reality competition program rabbit hole I've ever fallen down, and I've fallen for it hard. I have both some general and some specific prompts in mind for this fandom.

Prompts:

If you're feeling up to it, my dream prompt for this fandom would be "J., David and Doug judge competing smiths from fictional media". Feel free to go as far as your imagination takes you with this prompt, but some fictional smiths who come to mind include Perrin Aybara (Wheel of Time series), Will Turner (Pirates of the Carribbean), Gendry (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones), just about any character from Highlander (films or TV), Kate (A Knight's Tale), Celebrimor (LOTR), Need (Valdemar Series - as either a human or a sword, go wild), various gods and demigods with smithing skills, etc. Go full crossover as needed, using whatever fandoms appeal.
Alternatively, the above with smiths from a variety of generalized fantasy/sci-fi settings (ex: orc smiths, dragon smiths, alien smiths) or smiths from a variety of real historical periods
I think the show coming up with the most esoteric weapons possible to challenge the competitors is always amusing - how would they go about choosing really absurdly unusual weapons, and why?
The totally unsubtle references to video game and movie franchises are always entertaining - "as seen in the popular video game, Assassin's Creed!" Another possible crossover element?
Literally anything you can come up with involving these characters doing their thing, particularly if it plays with the usual episode drama (multiple quenches! cannister damascus getting stuck! the blade is 1/8 of an inch too short of parameters! YOUR BLADE WILL KEEEL!) will be welcome.

Fandom-specific DNW: I'm happy to receive fic exploring the friendship/working relationship between the judges, but please no sexual content for this fandom.

The Wicker Man (1973)
Lord Summerisle

This movie is chilling and strange and engaging and not a little terrifying. I am fascinated by the character of Lord Summerisle (awe-inspiring silver fox Christopher Lee) 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?
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
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?

The Young Riders (TV)
Louise "Lou" McCloud, The Kid (The Young Riders)

Whomever nominated this fandom and these characters, you're my favorite! Lou and the Kid were the OTP of my adolescent heart and this show was everything to me for a few years. It had every formative trope I could imagine, and influenced my fandom life a lot.

With only Kid and Lou in the tagset, I'm expecting anyone matching on this fandom is likely willing to write the Kid/Lou, and on my wishlist would be some post-canon fic about the adventures they get up to as a married couple, potentially featuring them joining up with some of the other Riders years down the line. What did Lou and Kid do during the Civil War? Where did they go? How did Lou adjust to being a wife and no longer wearing men's clothes - or did she not stop?
Look, I was weak for Josh Brolin's baby face and I enjoyed the love triangle thing with Lou pulled to both Jimmy and the Kid. Feel free to play with that as you like, either with jealousy, flirting, or (better yet) a threesome. Maybe "just the once" or maybe something that happens in the future if their friend Jimmy Hickok - who historically would become a hard-fighting, hard-drinking Civil War veteran who was involved in reckless shootouts quite often - comes to visit.
Feel free to play with tropes with these two - the show sure did. Literally any trope I have listed in my likes below would be welcome, especially (but not only) hurt/comfort, whump, cuddling for warmth, bedsharing. Seriously, all the classics are my bread and butter for these two. Hurt someone and conjure a storm so they have to take refuge in a cabin, or have them sharing a bed due to Circumstances - I'm all over it.
If you go the sexy route, awkward first time sex would be fun, or the two of them being very Earnest About Sex and trying something new in the bedroom.
On a more platonic note, I am 100% here for A Very Special Christmas Episode With The Young Riders. Teaspoon and/or Emma and/or Rachel is super serious about Christmas, or they find some kind of reason to celebrate the spirit of the season all together. Reminiscing about childhood Christmases past, and hopes for the future. Fluff up to my eyeballs, give it to me.

General trope preferences (these are in no particular order, may not apply to all fandoms/characters/pairings and include both plot tropes and sexual acts - but feel free to run with one if you're inspired):
hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional), whump, soulmates (and soulmate subversion, and soulmates played dark), sex pollen, fuck or die, dubcon (especially when both/all parties are consenting only under duress due to outside circumstances), bondage, werewolves (just not a/b/o type), canon divergence/"what if" AUs, first time sex (both first time sex ever and first time for a particular pairing), sex magic, pegging, praise kink, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth, falling asleep on someone, cuddling, spooning, competitive sex games (who can make the other orgasm the fastest, who can resist orgasm the longest, who can successfully finish a task while the other partner tries to get them off or tries to entice them into sex, etc), begging for/during sex, sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy, battle couples, alternate magical system AUs, Dominance/submission with Dominant female/submissive male or Dominant female/submissive female (situational, prefer not to read lifestyle/24-7 D/s stuff), sex between platonic friends, future fic and "next gen" fic about children of canonical characters, ghosts, communicating with the dead via magic, enemies to lovers, threesomes

Do Not Want tropes/themes:
A/B/O dynamics (Werewolves are great, but the A/B/O trope doesn't work for me), mpreg, bestiality (weres and shifters are great, but no sex in animal form please), excessive focus on bodily fluids/bodily fluid-focused kinks, age regression in a fic focusing on a romantic relationship (in a fic without romance or platonic/familial relationships it's OK), high school AUs, childhood friends-to-lovers (unless canonical), teacher/student romantic relationships (regardless of ages), female submission in f/m relationships (male submission in f/m is great, female submission in f/f also great)

Hello, and thanks for taking a look at my letter to peruse further details on my request, it's much appreciated. I've been in fandom a long time but only started participating in Yuletide last year, and though I've done exchanges off and on for a long while, I'm really looking forward to another Yuletide season. This post is organized around sections for each of my requested fandoms below, and concluded with a list of general likes in terms of plot, tropes, kinks, etc, and a list of DNWs as well.

My requests, in alphabetical order:

The Expanse (TV)

Requested Characters: Chrisjen Avasarala, Bobbie Draper

What I like about this media: Hard sci-fi doesn't usually grip me, but this show has proven to be an exception to that rule, and I find it incredibly engaging, and one of the best shows currently on TV. The characters are diverse and unique - and I pretty much love them all - without their appearance or characterization seeming to fill quotas or just be for show. The late S2 meeting of Chrisjen and Bobbie absolutely floored me, and I loved their interaction, flavored as it was with both mutual respect and distrust.

Prompts:

I'd love to see some canon divergence or canon speculation about Bobbie and Chrisjen and their relationship development as allies from very different worlds.
I wouldn't mind seeing Chrisjen introducing Bobbie to Earth culture - after seeing Bobbie's delighted reaction to cucumber sandwich hors d'oeuvres and considering my impression of Martian food culture as somewhat ascetic, I kept imagining Chrisjen inviting Bobbie to dinner with her family and introducing Bobbie to an diverse array of Indian food, or some other "Earther delicacy".
Alternately, Bobbie introduces Chrisjen to some Martian practice, food, or cultural norm, something that Chrisjen thinks she understands as a life-long diplomat and student of politics, but she finds herself understanding it in a totally new way after learning about it from Bobbie.
I'd be intrigued to see a romantic dalliance between these two, as long as Chrisjen's husband Arjun isn't implied to be a bad person - their relationship is so strong and lovely - but maybe it's an open relationship, or it's an AU where Arjun has died. Bobbie seems to be under the impression that Chrisjen is a fragile little old lady, and though she's been disabused of that notion to some extent now, probably, it would be interesting to see her learn it more intimately!

Fandom-specific DNWs: Though it's unlikely he'd come up, I don't want to read about Joe Miller, please. Other characters appearing, especially Arjun or Cotyar or the Roci crew, are fine!

John Wick (Movies)

Requested Characters: John Wick, Gianna D'Antonio

What I like about this media: The setting - the totally serious but also a bit tongue-in-cheek setting. I love the "hidden underworld" motif, and the arcane ways of the assassin's world. The Continental and its rules, blood oaths and Herculean task challenges, and the idea of moving in and out of a shadowy other-world as John does over the course of the films. Everything is so over-the-top and yet the dialogue is so understated - I love that.

Prompts:

I would be very pleased to receive straight-up worldbuilding in this setting - please feel free to barely mention either requested character and tell me a story about how you perceive the details of the world. An outsider's POV would be fascinating - either a true outsider to the setting, or someone who works for the Assassins but isn't actually one, perhaps. How did they perceive the events of either film, especially Gianna and/or Santino's deaths and what it means for the future that John flouted the rules so explicitly? How did they perceive - and how do they talk about - the events of John's Task that allowed him to leave their world years ago?
I would also love fic that explores the past that John and Gianna are strongly implied to share. Were they lovers? What was that like? Their hands are metaphorically - and sometimes literally - dripping with blood, the both of them, and while the John of the films seems to be ambivalent about aspects of his past, Gianna seems to be totally unashamed. Has it always been that way?
Alternately, an entirely morbid canon divergence fic in which Gianna requests (demands? draws on old promises to compel?) a final fling with John "for old time's sake" before he kills her could be both highly creepy and very hot - dubcon and/or femdom themes welcome. Could still end with Gianna's death or be ambiguous or go entirely AU somehow...

The Truman Show (1998)

Requested Characters: Truman Burbank

What I like about this media: This movie was so much ahead of its time in some ways - it was so predictive of reality television and social media and the way in which our lives are shaped and controlled by media, and we are compelled to share ourselves and our lives online. I re-watch it now and again and constantly find new ways to appreciate it. Jim Carrey's performace is amazing, too.

Prompts:

Legitimately, however you wanted to have a go riffing off of this film would be fine. Feel free to go experimental, weird, meta, or quirky.
A post-film fic in which Truman finds himself utterly unable to escape being the center of media attention despite being *free*, or expressing shock at the notion of individuals choosing to have their lives broadcast via media.
Alternately, an AU in which it was all a delusion (This is a real thing, though not an official psychiatric diagnosis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show_delusion)

The Vikings (1958)

Requested Characters: Einar (The Vikings 1958), Eric (The Vikings 1958)

What I like about this media: I saw this film for the first time this past year while enjoying a lazy weekend, and I adored it - the performances of Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh and Ernest Borgnine are delightful and fun and a bit campy but very engaging.

Prompts:

Eric and Einar's relationship is such an incredible mix of loathing and jealousy and admiration - you can cut the tension with a knife in their scenes. I would love to see any kind of exploration of their rivalry and what precipitated it - one may be the Jarl's son, and the other a slave, but they grew up together, after all. Would be happy to see Kitala and/or Sandpiper show up in a pre-canon fic like this - how did they become so close to Eric?
I could also see a canon divergence in which Einar does not die, but the two of them remain rivals and warleaders constantly struggling for power - what might that look like? Does Morgana remain a point of contention between them? Does Eric's knowledge of Viking culture make him more successful and fending off Einar's attacks?
I'm absolutely here for a sexual relationship between the two - consensual but heavy on the competitive rivalry, dub-con, or non-con all welcome, either pre-canon, at any point during the film, or canon divergence. One specific point of divergence that might work well is when Einar attempts to rape Morgana, he's put off by her total passivity and lack of response to his urging to fight him - perhaps he goes looking for Eric with the assumption that Eric will fight back.

Fandom-specific DNW: I would prefer no Modern AUs in this fandom. Also, I'm fine with seeing the characters interact as children or teens, but if there's any sexual content, please age the characters at least to "ambigously late teens" at minimum.

General Plot, Trope, & Kink preferences:

Future fic (including with child characters grown to adults), hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional), whump, sex pollen, fuck or die, dubcon generally (especially but not only when both/all parties are consenting only under duress or when impaired due to alcohol or drugs), rope bondage, werewolves (just not a/b/o type), canon divergence, first time (both first time sex ever and first time for a particular pairing), sex magic, pegging, praise kink, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth, falling asleep on someone, cuddling, spooning, competitive sex games (who can make the other orgasm the fastest, who can resist orgasm the longest, who can successfully finish a task while the other partner tries to get them off or tries to entice them into sex, etc), begging, sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy, battle couples, alternate magical system AUs, sex between platonic friends

Tropes/Kinks I don't want:

A/B/O dynamics (Werewolves are great, but the A/B/O trope doesn't work for me), mpreg, bestiality, excessive focus on bodily fluids/bodily fluid-focused kinks, age regression in romantic pairing fics (I'm OK with it for platonic pairings!), high school AUs, childhood friends-to-lovers (unless canonical), teacher/student relationships (even when the student is adult)

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