touchofstrange

Dear Fandom5k Writer,

Hello! Welcome to my oft-recycled, slightly repackaged, and probably far-too-wordy letter! (Apologies in advance for the wordiness...)

ETA: Fandoms Specific Prompts added!! (Again - sorry for the delay - and don't feel tied to any of them!!They are pure suggestion if you're looking for a jumping off point! Feel free to mix and match!)

Dear Fandom5k Writer,

Hello! Welcome to my oft-recycled, slightly repackaged, and probably far-too-wordy letter! (Apologies in advance for the wordiness...)

(FYI: Gwen/Leon/Percival (or any permutation thereof) wasn't available in the Relationship Tags, so per the mods I'm tagging it in the Optional Tags. Hence the prompts for it!)

Prompts:
1 - Merlin/Arthur: After the events at Camlann, while still trying to save Arthur's life, Merlin is given information about a way that he can save Arthur. There's another prophecy, and some obscure magical ritual and a journey to figure it all out. And since he needs Arthur to survive long enough to do this, Merlin ties Arthur's life-force to his, which means they can't separate too far from each other or it could kill them both.

2 - Gwen/Leon/Percival: Some months/years after losing Arthur, Gwen has stepped fully into the mantle of Queen and rules in strength with Leon by her side. Despite this there are still other kingdoms who see Camelot as vulnerable and her ruling alone as an advantage to expanding their territory. Gwen makes a proposal to Leon - her most trusted friend & advisor - to stave off the constant flow of marriage offers, but unbeknownst to her, Leon is already in a relationship with Percival.

3 – Merlin/Arthur: Rumor reaches Camelot that a powerful magical artifact has been uncovered in a distant land, and that Morgana is interested in finding it and using it as a weapon against Camelot. Of course, Arthur decides he needs to get there first, so he and Merlin have to travel incognito and hunt down this mysterious object. Naturally, finding it is no walk in the park, and the pair must uncover clues and perform brave deeds and battle dastardly foes to find this artifact before Morgana does.

4 - Gwen/Leon/Percival: Queen Gwen sends Leon - her first & best knight - to another land/kingdom to negotiate a treaty, but the rival ruler is duplicitous and kidnaps Leon instead. Gwen and Percival decide to travel together (in secret) to rescue him. They explore their feelings for Leon, and each other, along the way.

5 – Merlin/Arthur, Gwen/Leon/Percival: After the events of ‘The Sword in the Stone’ Gwen chooses to remain away from Camelot. Arthur is left struggling with his own issues over all the betrayal he’s experienced, and Merlin tries very hard to be the support he needs. Unfortunately, someone tries to take advantage of this and Merlin has to make the choice about revealing his magic and adding to Arthur’s tally of betrayal. Meanwhile, Leon makes a habit of visiting Gwen to keep an eye on her, and Percival decides to join him on these visits and the three strike up an interesting friendship.

Notes: Merlin/Arthur is my be all/end all OTP. The prompts are just suggestions to get you started, you absolutely don't have to follow them! Honestly, write me almost anything with those two (w/ regard to Likes/Dislikes/DNWs of course ;))! And while normally I'm all about the Merthur, I do also love the idea of Gwen, Leon & Percival all hooking up. If you want to combine or modify any of the prompts above to include the others... feel free!! Again - these are all just suggestions. Please don't feel tied to any of the above prompts!

Likes: I am a sucker for tropey stuff. First-time, slow-build is my all-time favorite, but things like Forced closeness (trapped together), Magic gone awry, Crashed on a desert island, Pretend couple/marriage of convenience. Love Epistolary fic. I like Canon Era/Post-Canon or 'Close to Canon AU' (Modern AU where they're still canon Merlin/Arthur is totally fine too). Hurt/Comfort is great. Found-family. Romance. Action-Adventure. Treasure-hunts. Dragons, Unicorns, Druids. Love plot with my porn. I adore any canon characters - so please feel free to include them - but Merthur is my OTP.

Dislikes: Merlin or Arthur paired up with anyone else (except as reference to canon). Character-bashing. Epithets. Over-used nicknames. Second-person fic. Non-magic Modern AU (Coffee shop, Tattoo parlor, etc...) or Vampire/Werewolf AU. (I don't dislike them, but I'm really in the mood for canon-ish stuff this year).

DNW: A/B/O, Extreme kink (watesports, scat, vore, bestiality, age-play, daddy-kink, infantilism, etc...), Under-age/De-aging, Genderswap, Trans or Ace headcanons, issue-fic, Non-con, Slave fic, Infidelity, Animal-abuse (hunting/eating meat is fine though).

• I am a total sucker for some of the really 'tropey' kinds of scenarios so please don't be afraid of using them (or lampshading/subverting them). Here are a few that are awesome:

o Forced closeness (trapped together)
o Magic gone awry

o Crashed on a desert island

o Pretend couple/marriage of convenience

• I love friendships, found-family and romance. Slow-build, first-time is one of my absolute favorite relationship tropes.

• And, considering that sometimes those situations can result in strong emotions, I'm obviously not afraid of angst, but I also enjoy action/adventure, plotty case-fic, and humor.
• Hurt/comfort is dandy as well, and considering a couple of my fandoms, violence could be expected. I'll admit it though: I'm a sucker for a happy ending.
• Crossovers might be okay, but I'd have to know the other fandom. I can definitely provide a list of other fandoms I'm into if you'd like!
• Length of story doesn’t matter to me – but I’m not afraid of long fic.
• If you do run into questions/concerns - please don't hesitate to have a mod ask me (or send me an anon ask on tumblr)!  I don't want this to be stressful or for anything to cause any confusion or frustration.

The ‘Stuff I like Ratings/Sex-wise’:

• I’m entirely open when it comes to Gen, Het, Slash, Femslash, Threesomes.
• I'll enjoy everything from G-rated gen all the way up to hardcore NC-17.
• Porn is great. I love porn. But it’s definitely not a must.
• If things get do porny - plain ol' vanilla sex is great, but I enjoy kinky stuff as well. A couple of things I’m particularly fond of:

o A character face-forward against a wall/door/bulkhead being sexed-up from behind.
o Love frottage, rimming and fingering in any/all gender combinations.
o Pegging is lots of fun.
o Dual penetration.
o Where it could be applicable to the fandom, I’m not opposed to xeno or tentacles…

The ‘What I’m Not So Fond of’:

So that being said, there are a few other things that aren’t really my cup of tea:

• I’d prefer if you’d avoid the more extreme kinks (watesports, scat, vore, bestiality, age-play, daddy-kink, infantilism, etc...).
• Please no animal cruelty!
• I pretty much love all the characters I’ve requested so please no character bashing.
• I’m as much a fan of the universes I’m requesting as the characters, so I’d prefer not to see much in the way of non-canon AU  (i.e coffee shop, tattoo parlor, etc...).
• I do like my POV to stay similar to the source material.
• I don’t mind if you go darkside, but I appreciate avoiding killing anyone off (permanently – temporary death for plot purposes is A-Okay).
• Partner betrayal makes me uncomfortable, as does incest (unless it’s canon) and humiliation.
• Sorry to say I’m not fond of issue-fic, trans or ace headcanons, A/B/O type verse or always-a-girl/boy (temporary genderswap is totally fine though) or D/s lifestyle 24/7.
• Lastly, I’d prefer to avoid noncon and steer away dubcon.
 

So sorry for not having this up right away!  I wrote it all and then had a connectivity issue, so my update didn’t work and I’ve been trying to recreate it.  

Hopelessly plagiarizing my own Yuletide letter for this…