Dear Yuletide Writer - 2016

[touchofstrange]

Dear Yuletide Writer/Yulegoat/Santa,

*Waves*

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

 

First and foremost, I know it's cliché, but I'm just thrilled that you'll be writing for one of my chosen fandoms. That in itself is fabulous, and I'm appreciative and excited and I certainly hope your assignment is something that you enjoy!

Second and uh, secondmost?, I love all of my fandoms equally, so I’ll love whichever one you end up writing for.  I’m just excited to get fic in any of these fandoms!

If it helps you at all - I'm on tumblr as touchofstrange and have anon turned on. I'm on AO3 as skitz_phenom (DV-Skitz) and I have an LJ that hasn't been updated in about 7 years, also as skitz_phenom - if you're someone who really likes to get to know your recipient. :)

I'll start off with more of a general description of my likes and dislikes/DNWs in fandom and fic, and then I'll move on to more specifics for each of my selections. Please be assured though, that I'm open to almost anything and I want you to have fun writing this. If, upon reading the fandom/characters you were matched on, an idea sparked in your mind: run with it (just please keep the 'not fond of/DNW' list in mind)! Also please note that my details and/or prompts may contain spoilers.

General ‘Stuff I like’:

•         Slow-build/burn, first-time is one of my absolute favorite relationship tropes. Friends-to-lovers, or enemies-to-lovers or anything in-between.

•         I’m also a total sucker for lots of the really tropey plots & scenarios so please don't be afraid of using them (or lampshading/subverting them). Here are a few that are awesome:

·         Bed-sharing/Huddling for warmth/forced closeness

·         Magic gone awry

·         Stranded together/Crashed on a desert island

·         Pretend couple/marriage of convenience

•         I love friendships, found-family and romance.

•         I also really enjoy action/adventure, plotty case-fic, and humor.

•         Angst & Hurt/comfort is terrifically 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 (although, feel free to crossover ANY of Tanya Huff's works/universes). And Canon-adjacent AU is welcome.

•         Length of story doesn’t matter to me – but I’m not afraid of long fic. I will love anything from 1000-100,000 words!

•         I'm signed-up for both Yuleporn (all my fandoms) & Crueltide (Damien)

•         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)!

The ‘Stuff I like Ratings/Sex-wise’:

•         I’m entirely open when it comes to Gen, Het, Slash, Femslash, Threesomes/ Moresomes (it's always fun to include a fandom where 'moresomes' are a possibility) as they suit the fandom & characters.

•         I'll enjoy everything from gen to explicit and everything in between.

•         Porn is great. I love porn. But it’s definitely not a must. (I’m including some PWP type prompts – though I think any of the other prompts could lend themselves to porn happening.)

•         If things get do porny - plain ol' vanilla sex is great, but I enjoy kinky stuff as well.

•         I like top/bottom switching. I'm not picky on who does what to who and the more variety the better.

•         A couple of kinks/things I’m particularly fond of (in any/all gender combinations):

·         A character face-forward against a wall/door/bulkhead being sexed-up from behind.

·         Frottage

·         Rimming

·         Fingering

·         Biting/Marking.

·         Pegging.

·         Dual penetration.

·         Intercural.

·         Xeno or tentacles (where applicable to the fandom).

The ‘What I’m Not So Fond of’ aka DNWs:

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

•         I’d prefer not to see certain extreme kinks: underage, watesports, scat, vore, bestiality, age-play, daddy-kink, infantilism, emetophilia, inflation, feeding, lactation/pregnancy, amputation.

•         Please no animal cruelty. (Hunting/fishing is fine as they fit the fandom)

•         Please no character bashing. Even if I didn’t request the characters, I pretty much like them all.

•         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...)

•         Not a huge fan of 1^st or 2^nd person POV, or of epithets.

•         No permanent character death or suicide. I don’t mind if you go darkside, and temporary death for plot purposes is fine, but I appreciate avoiding killing anyone off. **

•         Partner betrayal makes me uncomfortable, as does incest (unless it’s canon) and humiliation. **

•         Sorry to say I’m not fond of vampire/werewolf AU, slave AU, seme/uke dynamics, disability fic, issue-fic, trans or ace headcanons, A/B/O type verse, Mpreg, always-a-girl/boy, or D/s lifestyle 24/7.

•         Lastly, I’d prefer to avoid noncon, and steer away from dubcon w/out feelings and/or consequences. **

•         All this with the caveat that I do expect some of this could be applicable in the canons I’ve selected - e.g. consent with regard to the di’Taykan (Valor series) could easily be dubious.

** The Damien caveat: Not to complicate things, but for Damien I’m open to ignoring anything noted with ** in the above list. Dark & twisted is encouraged here. He's the Antichrist after all! I’d still prefer to avoid the first bullet point – but other kinks are welcome and encouraged (ex: knife/blood-play, somnophilia, bondage, domination, pain-play, etc…)

All righty, I realize all of that is pretty general - if it's enough to get you started, great! But if you'd like more fandom-specific thoughts, keep on reading! I’ll also provide a bit more about what I love about each fandom, some general things I’d be interested in, as well as a couple of specific prompts (which are complete suggestions! Like I said, if you've got an idea already, go for it! Or feel free to mix & match prompts, or use a prompt for a different fandom!)

Valor Series - Tanya Huff (Any)

From my Sign-up Details: "I simply adore these books. I’ve read all the books multiple times - including the newest - so any setting/time-frame that fits with the characters nominated would be great; but I particularly love the idea of Torin's new team working for the Wardens being kick-ass and going on awesome ex-space marine adventures. But post-series isn’t a must; I'd pretty much love anything to do with any of these folks or even the different alien species/societies or worldbuilding. Fun action/adventure, mystery, intrigue, 'day in the life', smutty di'Taykan fun... it's all good. I'm also extremely partial to Ressk/Werst and their relationship. FYI my sign-up details may contain spoilers for the latest book!"

The reason I love this fandom: I feel a bit ‘broken record here’ but it’s definitely Huff’s characters that drew me into the Valor books in the first place, and they’re the reason I reread them so often. I love Space Marines and the team/found-family vibe of Torin’s crew.  I love the sprawling space-opera aspect of these books and the various alien species we’ve been introduced to and the even the politics of the war with the Primacy and the issues of the Elder races and the whatever-the-hell is up with the plastic aliens. There are lots of tropes in these books, but I love that so often they’re subverted/averted/lampshaded. Oh, and the Taykan… cuz how can you not adore a race of sexually indiscriminate space elves with matching pastel hair and eyes…

It bears repeating that I adore everything about these books. I'll be honest: Ressk/Werst is my Valor OTP, made even more-so based on the last book (bonded!!! *flaily dolphin-noises*). So basically if you write something with the two of them involved, I'll adore it. But honestly, focusing on any character is equally wonderful. Torin is about as badass as they come, and she's got plenty of her own struggles to deal with. The same with Craig - kinda got that scoundrel with a heart of gold thing goin' on.  Binti is so kick-ass and we know so little about her! I've also grown to love fucked-up woobie Alamber and while he's got some growing up to do, he's really become a part of the family (how adorable is the idea of him cuddling up at night with Torin and Craig, or Ressk and Werst?) 

So, whether they're fighting pirates, or running into new and weird aliens, or stranded in space in the Promise and forced to live in each other’s pockets (and have wild orgies)... just have fun with 'em! I’ll include prompts for each nominated character, and worldbuilding, but a focus on one/any/all of them (in any combo) is great.

Specific Prompts:

•         Torin never seems to catch a break. The crew of the Promise has been hard at work doing jobs for the Warden's and decide that a team vacation is in order. But even their down-time on a space station that’s touted as the ‘happiest place in space’ is plagued by the same kinds of shenanigans that always seem to follow Torin around. Maybe it's plastic aliens, or someone/thing from Torin's past that comes back to haunt them.

•         Ressk and Werst return to the Krai homeworld to complete some kind of ceremony (what does 'bonding' entail for the Krai?) and get to invite their closest friends. Learning a bit more about each of their roles in society (Werst being disbelieving that he's lucky enough to have been bonded to someone from Ressk's kind of upper-crust background is insanely adorable!!) - it seems their bonding might raise a few nostril-ridges back home!

•         Binti competes in some intergalactic games and while she’s focusing on trying to win the sharpshooting events, the rest of the team are behind-the-scenes trying to prevent something bad from happening. Or perhaps Binti gets to know one of the competitors a bit better (friendship or femslash).

•         Alamber’s lonely and Torin's right: they need another Taykan on board! Tell me about who that is, and how things change with Alamber with finally having another of his species on board. Alamber's got issues out the wazoo (how could you not want to hug the poor guy after his little 'experiment' with the Thun) and maybe it takes another mixed-up di'Taykan to help him work through them.

•         Craig’s had to make a lot of changes in the last few years to accommodate first Torin, and then the rest of the crew. What’s that been like for him? Does he ever resent it? How does he deal with things when it all gets a bit too close or overwhelming?

•         Worldbuilding: There have been so many fascinating alien species described or even just briefly mentioned throughout the series. Introduce me to one (or more) in more detail! The Dornigan and their awesome mouthful names, the Mictok and their beautiful art, the H’san and cheese... tell me more!

•         PWP: Orgy aboard the Promise! Di’Taykan pheromone fun and games where everyone wants to play. Mix & Match! Binti and Torin get some quality lady-time, while Ressk and Werst engage in some weird Krai antics that involve all those opposable digits, and Craig finally puts poor Alamber out of his misery. (Seriously, any and all combos - threesome, foursome, moresome... new alien species with tentacles?!! - Go for it!)

•         PWP Worldbuilding (is there such a thing?): A Di’Taykan (one we know or someone new) is dead-set on sexing-up every sex-receptive species in the galaxy. He/she/zhe keeps a journal of these encounters… uh, for science.

Damien (TV) - (Damien Thorn)

From my Sign-up Details: "This show… I just loved it so much. *sigh* I decided to give Damien a chance because I both adore Bradley James, and also love the original Damien movie. And to me, the show did not disappoint. The story, the setting, the characters… they were all great. It had such ridiculous potential for ongoing seasons and I was rather gutted that it got cancelled. I’d absolutely love to read something that focuses on Damien, either during the show, or delves into what happens after.  I requested only Damien, but exploring his relationship with any of the other nominated characters (or any combination thereof) would also be awesome. There is so much potential for fucked-up dynamics."

The reason I love this fandom: As I mentioned, I came for the Bradley James & the classic horror I love, and stayed for a show that really ended up far better than I expected. I just rewatched the entire thing again and found it even better the second time around. What really got to me was how morally grey everyone was, and even when you were pretty sure someone was evil for evil’s sake, they were shown as having humanity.  And I pretty much wanted to get inside Damien’s head through every single scene. For this one I'm leaning towards dark fic, aggression, exploring power limitations, power dynamics, kink, really extreme hurt/comfort.

Specific Prompts:
 

•         So, Damien has – however reluctantly - accepted who he is. What does that mean for him going forward? We know he’s tried to be ‘good’ but also that he has a dark side. Will he be able to maintain this balance now that he’s come to terms with being the Antichrist?

•         Photographing a war vet while he committed suicide obviously had a huge impact on Damien. Tell me about Damien’s thoughts throughout, and what prompted his own attempt.

•         There’s a really awesome antagonism between Damien and Detective James Shay. Damien’s been pretty cocky and Shay was going a bit mad with it all. What does it mean that he took a knee for Damien at the end? Is he truly hopping on the Antichrist bandwagon? And what does Damien think of the good detective’s sudden change of heart. How does he take advantage? (Totally open to PWP, or really dark, fucked-up dynamics here).

•         Speaking of awesome dynamics, Damien’s relationship with Ann Rutledge is just so twisted. Does she want to be his mother, his lover, his keeper, his servant, his protector, or all of the above?  What does she want from Damien? What does Damien want from her now that he’s acknowledged who he is? Will he continue to push against her, or will he give in and be what she wants? (Totally open to PWP, or really dark, fucked-up dynamics here).

•         Throughout all of the shit Damien’s been through, Amani has been there to support him. Even when Damien pushed him away, Amani came back. He’s loyal and true-hearted and brave as hell. (And not dead, btw… Cuz that was totally his hand, right?)  But, now that Damien’s come into his power, what will that mean for Amani? Will Damien be able to keep from letting his power change his relationship with Amani? Ship-fic and/or Hurt/comfort would be awesome here.(Totally open to PWP, or really dark, fucked-up dynamics here also!).

•         PWP: Drunk on his new power, and wanting to take back his own control, Damien puts his influence to the test with one/more of the people in his life (any of the nominated characters - could absolutely go threesome/moresome as well). How dark and depraved will he get?

Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game) (Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Vernon Roche)

From my Sign-up Details: "I’ve played everything, all the way through Witcher III: Blood & Wine. This game series was just fantastic, but Witcher III was absolutely one of my favorite games of all time. I loved the world, and the gameplay and the rich and detailed storylines. It was just so immersive. I absolutely loved playing as Geralt and everything about being a Witcher. And, maybe it’s because of my previous decisions through Witcher II, but I also love Vernon Roche as well. He’s not necessarily a good guy, but he’s loyal and protective and makes some hard choices. And yeah, I kind of unapologetically ship Geralt/Roche.  I don’t absolutely need ship-fic by any means, but would definitely enjoy more adventures involving these two. There’s so much room in the canon to explore new adventures, monsters or even revisit old friends/enemies. Heck, even just Vernon and Geralt hanging out in his villa in Toussaint would be great!"

The reason I love this fandom: Witcher III pretty much stole my soul for the first half of this year. I’d not played any of the Witcher games before but RPGs & MMORPGs are my jam, so I bought all 3 bundled, played through I & II fairly quickly so that I could immerse myself in III; and boy howdy, did I! I think I played so much of this that for a while my husband used to joke about me spending time with my ‘boyfriend’ Geralt. (It didn’t help that he was rather attractively rendered). I’ve not read the books, so my knowledge is purely from the Video Game series. I love Geralt because he’s got an emotional depth buried beneath such a hard façade. When I played him, I most often choose solutions or scenarios that tended towards kinder outcomes and/or were greyer in morality – and he definitely didn’t always choose to slay the monster. Sometimes he tried to understand and help them. I don’t know how much – if any- of a role Roche plays anywhere other than the games, but I kind of adore him. His history is so dark and desperate. I feel like he tries to do what’s right for his country, above all else, even when it ends up backfiring for him terribly. (In my playthrough of Witcher II, he totally assassinated Henselt. Oh, and I also killed Letho. And we killed Djikstra together.)

I think he and Geralt could be wonderfully broken together, bonding over their failed relationships, and poor decisions in trying to eventually do the right thing. I do utterly ship them, and obviously would love ship fic, but I would also totally love action adventure or plotty, ‘buddy-cop’ antics. Any mention of video-game canon characters is totally fine as well! In my play-through, Geralt ended up alone, though I don’t dismiss his relationships with Triss & Yennifer. They were both awesome characters. Then again, he also had flings with Kiera, Shari and Syrana (and pretty much every prostitute … I just liked getting Geralt ‘naked’). I esp. loved Ciri, Dandelion, Regis, Zoltan and Ves.  So, please don’t feel like you can’t include any of them, but I’d like the focus to be on Geralt and Roche.

Specific Prompts:
 

•         Geralt is tasked to complete a mission (maybe something associated to Witcher-school lore) that will require him to venture into some kind of spirit/other realm, leaving his body behind. He needs someone he trusts to watch over him while he does this, and asks Roche. Naturally things don’t go as planned and Roche needs to follow him into this other realm/Geralt’s mind/etc... to rescue him.

•         Roche is at his wits end with Ves, and he contacts Geralt once more to ask his advice. Cue them bonding over difficult ‘daughter-figures’.

•         PWP: Geralt encounters Roche while on a mission to dispatch an incubus. Inhibitions lowered, Geralt and Roche give in to their desires and lots of hot, sweaty sex ensues. They try to blame it on the incubus… only to find out it wasn’t an incubus after all.

•         Roche shows up at Geralt’s villa needing a place to lay low. Though he’s close-mouthed about it at first, Geralt convinces him to talk about his troubles, and the two work together to get Roche out of his latest political conundrum.

•         Roche enlists Geralt's help after some men under his command disappear and he fears some kind of beast/monster. Together they dispatch the creature, but Roche is horribly injured, forcing Geralt to make the decision to try to use Witcher decoctions to try to save his life. Hurt/comfort to the max!

 

FYI – this is what ‘my’ Geralt looked like:

iZombie (TV) – (Liv Moore, Ravi Chakrabarti)

From my Sign-up Details: I adore everything about this show and while I pretty much love all the characters, this year I’m interested most in Liv and Ravi. I think Liv is brilliant and beautiful and though she’s sometimes barely staying a step-ahead of the whole zombie thing, she manages to make it through all the crazy zombie antics with her generous heart (mostly) intact.  And Ravi has melted my heart since the very first episode. He’s a sexy, geeky, charming goofball, and I love when he’s protective of Liv and/or gets a chance to be a badass.  Yeah, I completely ship them, but I’m great with their awesome friendship as well. I’d love something that explores their relationship, or takes them on a case, or has them working together to save mankind… just give me Liv and Ravi and I’ll be thrilled!

The reason I love this fandom: More coming clean here. I started watching this show only because I knew Bradley James was going to guest star in it, and figured I’d start from the beginning.  Cue my falling head-over-heels for the whole thing. I love its take on the zombie phenomena, I love the brain-eating and visions and personality changes. I love the humor and the quirky cases and all the characters – but I especially love Liv and Ravi. 

As my sign-up says, I do ship them like burning, but it’s not an absolute must.  As much as I love the idea of them together, I have definitely had strong feelings for Liv’s previous relationships (esp. Lowell) and even do a lot of multi-shipping in this fandom (Ravi/Major, Liv/Clive, Clive/Ravi, Liv/Clive/Ravi, Liv/Major, Liv/Peyton, Ravi/Peyton, Major/Peyton, Lowell/Ravi, etc… even a bit of Ravi/Blaine – my only ‘anti-ship’ is probably Liv/Blaine, but I do love Blaine as a bad guy!).  So, if Ravi/Liv isn’t your thing, I’m okay with them being awesome BFFs – and other ships being mentioned, but I’d rather they not be the focus.

Specific Prompts:
 

•         While examining a body at a crime scene, somehow a bad guy is overlooked and he tries to kill Ravi. Liv gets Ravi to safety, but inadvertently scratches him while doing so. Unexpectedly, Ravi doesn’t turn and they discovers he’s immune to zombie-ism. While he works to understand and possibly come up with a cure, he and Liv get closer. (And realize that they could absolutely have sex).

 

•         We already know that Ravi’s good at ignoring the more ‘extreme’ brains influencing Liv, but what if he only thought it was a brain, when he and Liv start getting closer. How will he be able to trust that her feelings are hers, and not the brains?

•         After all her heartbreak, Liv is feeling that she’ll never be happy if she stays a zombie. So she insists on being the guinea pig for Ravi’s latest attempt at a cure. Unfortunately she starts to show the same signs as Blaine that the ‘cure’ is going to cause her to forget herself entirely.  Ravi has to find a way to save the Liv he knows, or risk ‘losing’ her forever.

•         Ravi and Liv are pulled in by Clive on a really crazy case where Liv’s running on a scooby-doo-esque private detective brain, and Ravi’s equally fascinated because the case involves something he’s passionate about (Diablo III maybe?) and there are hi-jinks and wackiness galore.

•         PWP: Ravi invents a ‘zombie-proof’ prophylactic of some kind. Naturally Liv wants to test it out, and who better to use it with than Ravi?

 

Black Sails  - (Captain Flint, Billy Bones)

From my Sign-up Details: "I enjoy the entire show and pretty much all the characters but, Billy is absolutely my favorite.  Mostly because I love the fact that he's a sort of moral-compass for the pirates. He doesn't let his personal feelings get in the way of doing what's right for his brothers, no matter what that entails – even if that means betraying Flint. Second to Billy is Flint. I had a love/hate relationship with Flint, but then came the reveal about Thomas and the idea that everything he does - no matter how deplorable - is for Thomas... well, what's not to love about that? His passion is scary and he's still a bastard, but I can't help loving his character now. I admit that I'm extremely into Flint and Billy's relationship and could definitely see it becoming more than it is.  So again, while I'd love something shippy - that's definitely not a requirement. Gen or friendship or the existing kind of adversarial frenemies thing they've got going on right now, plus action or battle or even just some quiet contemplation is great!

The reason I love this fandom: Full disclosure: I started watching this show because of Tom Hopper and just fell hard for Billy and the show itself.  It's harsh and gritty and sometimes a bit gratuitous, but I'm totally drawn in by the characters and the story.  Billy is everything I love in a character, and knowing what the future has in store for him (both of them, really) makes him even more intriguing to me!  As I commented in my sign-up, I've had a love/hate relationship with Flint, but looking back on even his worst actions after learning about Thomas... sort of makes them, not necessarily acceptable or even forgivable, but I guess just understandable. That kind of love and devotion is pretty overwhelming. And, I so badly wish we'd been given a bit more of Thomas and Flint.  Much as I love the Flint/Thomas backstory, I love Flint and Billy's relationship and I do ship them pretty hard.  If Flint/Billy isn't your thing, just focusing their relationship as crew and how it affects the current politics of what's going on, is totally fine.

Despite going on and on about Billy and Flint, I do very much enjoy the rest of the show and the characters!  The only character I'm not overly fond of (though, he mostly just gets on my nerves) is Silver.  Don't feel like he has to be excluded (obviously he's a big part of the story overall), I'd just prefer not to focus on him, or have him be included in any relationships (except with Madi). I also don’t ship Billy with Gunn, either. Overall, I'd be happy with a story focusing on either Flint and Billy as crewmates, or with Flint/Billy relationship, but something that gives the pair of them the chance to interact equally.

Specific Prompts:
 

•         When Flint discovers Billy’s seeming change of heart about the politics on Nassau, and his decision to put forth Silver as the face of the Pirates of Nassau, he’s understandably upset. He confronts Billy, but Billy has quite a bit to say in his own defense… some of which comes as quite a shock to Flint.  

•         Some time after the events of the series, Flint enlists Billy's help in hiding what remains of the Urca gold/treasure. The two end up shipwrecked together on a tropical island. Slow-build, first-time would be awesome here!

•         Flint is obviously very familiar with Billy's backstory; tell me about their first encounter, how he rescued Billy, and how Billy ended up sharing so much of his past with Flint.

•         Things on Nassau don't go as planned and Flint is injured during the pirates attempt to regain control of the island. Billy finds him wounded and struggles with the decision over what to do with him. But, whatever animosity he might feel towards Flint and whatever direction he's driven things for Nassau he's compelled to ensure that Flint survives.

•         PWP: Flint's pretty terrifying when he's angry, but Billy is just big and strong... a confrontation between the two, where Flint is out for blood, takes a decidedly different turn when Billy fends off Flint, but doesn't make any effort to hurt him back.

Well, I hope that helps - and sorry for babbling so much! I already know I'll be happy with whatever you do! I just want you to not let it stress you, and I hope you have fun with it. I absolutely can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy Yuletide!!