Dear Yule Goat
Oct. 7th, 2017 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novembersmith
QUICK WARNING: there's spoilers below, re: all the fandoms I'm requesting, so read with caution!
GENERAL INFORMATION
Things I love (AKA include any of these and I will be OVER THE MOON):
- Trope/themes: found families, hurt/comfort, loyalty (esp if people are grumpy about their devotion), fuck or die sex pollen type scenarios, forced to share a bed scenarios, flirting via banter/sarcasm, flirting via text/letter, people being jealous/insecure and getting comforted/reassured, people being oblivious to their own appeal and the other person being like AUGH WHY ARE YOU THIS WAY why have I laid my affections upon this idiot, PINING I really love mutual pining, fix-it fic where the sad part of a fandom gets happily resolved (SEVERAL OF MY REQUESTED FANDOMS REALLY NEED THIS), fake-dating, soul-bonding, people rescuing each other from peril of any sort, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, magical transformations, telepathy/thought-sharing, bodyswap, GHOST STORIES, anything creepy/eerie/halloweenesque, murder mysteries…
- Relationships: I’m into basically any and everything. Gen, het, slash, femslash, poly… I’m a big fan of threesomes as long as all the relationships are balanced/no one is secondary to anyone else. In relationships of any flavor, I LOVE when people know each other so well they can communicate nonverbally, while outsiders boggle. I love when friends are proud of each other and brag about the other’s [insert skill/ability here]. I’d prefer no pairings but the ones I’ve specified or canonical pairings, though.
- Ratings: Well, tbh, I again love it ALL. Flirting and UST PG fic full of pining and hand-touching, PG-13 fic with tentative kisses, NC-17 xeno biting fic... It’s all good! PLEASE don’t feel obliged, but if you’re inclined, absolutely feel free to porn! Basically, as long as both parties are sentient and consenting, I’m down for it. I love foreplay, especially when it’s teasing or if one party gets totally overwhelmed and starts begging, and I’d say my all-time favorite kink is desperation, followed closely by possessiveness. Situations where characters just CANNOT KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER = holy shit yes please. But I also really love “bad” sex where both characters laugh at each other and fall off the bed and start arguing mid-coitus about dumb shit.
- Styles/formats: whatever POV you want to use probably works for me! I like serious fic, darkly humorous fic, straight-up humorous fic, trope-filled fic with arranged marriages or mistaken identities, epistolary fic, plot-driven fic, epic poetry, character vignettes, missing scenes, fake academic papers, casefic murder mystery style.... whatever format/style works for you, I can pretty much guarantee I will like it also. I do LOVE crossovers and fusions and AUs, so long as the characters I’ve requested remain the main focus. I… also am pretty much always a sucker for space AUs; something about them is my KRYPTONITE.
- Potential crossover/fusion fandoms: Any fandom I've written or requested before! Also: Integrate by Thea Hayworth, Imperial Radch, Murderbot, Almost Human, Blade Runner, Rivers of London, Stranger Things, Valdemar...
- I generally just love nerdy details… anything from Napoleonic politics, draconic biology, ghostly physics, pegasus anatomy, Peruvian archaeology, Himalayan ethnobotany – any/all of that would delight me to bits. That said, I don’t at all mind hand-waving some specifics in lieu of focusing on the story, so don’t feel like you NEED to include that kind of level of detail! I will not be thrown out of the story by anachronisms.
Stuff I Do NOT Like AKA the DNW List:
Please no non-con, bestiality, infantilism, body-shaming, non-canonical deaths, or suicide. I'm fine with dubcon as long as it’s tagged and it's not treated as generally okay to sex up drunk people, etc. I don't like fic that is unremittingly dark and hopeless, especially this time of year. Dark humor, though, is awesome! Angst is fine and encouraged, so long as there's a hopeful/happy ending.
Okay, ON TO THE FANDOMS!
***
THE BEDLAM STACKS – NATASHA PULLEY
(source)
What is this canon? A single book (though in the same universe as another book in the tagset) about a East India Trading Company smuggler of plants and the Peruvian statue who loves him. Look, I can't actually explain this canon very well, but it has kind of the same wistful magical feeling as a Miyazaki movie, like stepping into another world that's subtly magically enchanting.
Characters: Merrick Tremayne, Raphael
Ships: Merrick/Raphael
AO3 Sign-up Prompt:
I would love more of Raphael’s POV from the earlier part of the book. When does he start falling for Merrick? I also really wish the book had had a moment for a kiss between the two – the story of their first kiss would be AMAZING from either POV. I’d also love a post-book journey… where do they go from here? What is Raphael thinking when he wakes up and sees Merrick there? Is it possible to leave the floating city now that he’s wakened again, maybe go to Merrick’s plantation away from all the staring people? Any fond moment between these two, the way they playfully banter with each other – a missing scene from the book, a future scene, an alternate scene (WHAT IF MERRICK HAD WOKEN UP WHEN RAPHAEL SLEPT PROTECTIVELY ON TOP OF HIM??) – I’d be soooo excited.
I also have a huge thing for them fixing each other coffee, caring for each other – 5 cups of coffee they shared in their post-waking life would be amazing.
IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, I’d love a fix-it where Merrick somehow manages to shift his lifespan to one that matches Raphael’s… maybe there’s some place in this world (the Himalayas maybe??) where due to HANDWAVE HANDWAVE ether stuff, time slows down. Like… entering Faerie, but more in keeping with this particular universe’s brand of magic? IDK THE INEVITABLE ENDING WHERE RAPHAEL IS LEFT ALONE IS TOO SAD FOR ME HELP.
Sexy prompt: What would sex with someone who is at least partially a statue be like?? Obviously they’d have to be a bit creative, but maybe with the right toys/magical realism-esque substances, it could work out! WHERE THERE’S A WILL, ETC.
What I love about this canon: EVERYTHING? It’s so gorgeously lush and eerie and you can almost feel the drift of cold glowing pollen around you and hear the ticking of the clockwork lamps. I love the unreal, otherworldly biology/geology (GLASS SHELLS!!! HOW?? I have so much empathy with Harry and would LOVE to read his papers on the Bedlam biology tbh – feel free to use this as a prompt if it grabs you! I’d love Harry’s perspective on martayuk biology, especially if it goes into some musing about how martayuk sex would work… maybe Merrick even finds a coded notebook/journal pondering about it?). The scenery is gorgeous and feels so ethereal yet sharp-edged, and the universe and mythology Pulley has created, how science and magic combine, is just an endless delight. Anything that plays with the science of their magic, of the martayuk, how they first evolved in this environment (AND WAS THERE ANY CONVERGENT EVOLUTION IN THE HIGH MOUNTAINS OF THE HIMALAYAS EH??) would be AN IMMENSE DELIGHT. I love how terrifying and yet gentle the martayuk can be. More about them – something from one of Bedlam’s martayuk’s POV, or the one that left and went to England! – would be divine
Anyway, as much as I adored the world-building and the universe, what I’m most enchanted by are the people. I love the complicated relationships between the characters, how nothing is simple or immediately as it seems. I’m SO CHARMED by Merrick, he’s so practical but also kind – he accepts people as they are, from Sing to Keita to Minna and even to Clem. I think how much Keita adored him and trusted him and worked towards his happiness really say a lot about Merrick’s character. Merrick’s quiet observant delight in the world around him, his ability to focus and problem solve, his delight in simple pleasures like glowing pollen, the laughing baby, the bees and the honey – and yet he can be so ruthless. It was so MUCH that he assumed Raphael was only looking after him bc he looked like his dead grandfather… I JUST HAD A LOT OF EMOTIONS when Raphael was like?? ????? ???? NO??? I also had a lot of emotions about Merrick immediately being willing to wait twenty years to see him again, and I am sure Raphael did too. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EXPLORE RAPHAEL’S FEELINGS ABOUT THIS IN FIC! Anyway, back to Merrick – I also adore his botanical side, his skill with plants AND with eluding detection/death, and would love to see any sort of fic that dealt with that. Maybe 5 plants Merrick grew, and one that [idk insert something here].
And ahhh, Raphael, so grumpy and caring and SARCASTIC and eloquent, so worried and resigned and frightened, trying so hard to keep it together. I love how frustrated he is by superstition and magical thinking, his ranting was incredible. I adored how wonderful he was with the children, how cranky he was with the goose!! How much he liked Merrick fussing over him re: cold/heat. I would love to see him get actually cuddled and cared for – any scene with these two teasing each other and laughing together and being happy would be just be beyond wonderful. In general I’d love some of Raphael’s earlier story… what it was like growing up in the floating city? What was it like LEAVING as a ten year old child, and coming to this world and being so alone? How did he meet Martel, what did he feel about his death?
Also, yes, as is manifestly obvious I ship Merrick/Raphael like burning. I frankly headcanon Merrick as demisexual, and he’s canonically a virgin (which omg I WOULD LOVE to see that played with in a fic) but I am a little curious re: Raphael. Did he ever have sex with anyone, before Merrick arrived? Harry? Someone in Bedlam? Martel? Another martayuk??? I’d prefer endgame Merrick/Raphael, but feel free to explore other pairings while getting there!
If none of what I’ve rambled about appeals to you so far re: story-telling, I would also be ABSOLUTELY DOWN for some Keita Mori showing up (although caveat, I don’t ship him with Merrick or Raphael at all – Thaniel/Keita OTP for lyfe here). What if Merrick had been slightly more awake when Keita was convincing him to leave him behind – what if Merrick refused? After all, we know from Watchmaker on Filigree Street that sometimes Keita isn’t right… sometimes the least likely, least probable outcome is what winds up happening. So – KEITA IN BEDLAM. How would that have changed things? Or even Keita meeting Rapahel years later, with Thaniel in tow!
Seriously, ANYTHING in this universe is going to make me so excited. I’ve re-read the book 3 times since I finished it, I REALLY didn’t want to leave it. Getting to go back for a bit would be such a gift.
***
LOCKWOOD & CO. – JONATHAN STROUD
(source)
What is this canon? A five book series about a teenage team of ghost-hunters in an alternate version of modern day London. It's eerie as fuck and there's lots of found family feelings and it's overall a quick fun charming read, if you don't spook easily! The first book is free for Amazon Prime users!
Characters: Lucy Carlyle, The Skull, Anthony Lockwood, Holly Munro
Ships: Lucy/Skull, Lucy/Lockwood, Lucy/Holly, polyamorous open relationship between all of the involved
AO3 Sign-up Prompt:
Y’ALL. I LOVE THIS SERIES. It’s so fun and terrifying and has ALL THE FOUND FAMILY. Feel free to focus on any one of these characters and exclude someone if they don’t fit in the fic that you’re inspired to write, because I will be absolutely 100% happy with any of these guys, in any combination. A post-book 5 case-fic that deals with undoing the damage done by Marissa, maybe involving them finding another gate and securing it? YES PLEASE.
My ships for this series are: Lucy/Skull, Lucy/Holly, Lucy/Lockwood. Any fic that involves one of those ships would make me so incredibly happy. I loved that the books ended without any one particular ship made entirely canon, but it DOES leave one longing for some resolution. A first kiss between any of these three ships would be great – maybe in the middle of some ridiculous ghost-fighting scene, or while dealing with a disgusting source, or just some mundane morning over the thinking sheet in the kitchen. Or in the world of the undead! HA. Ahem. (Maybe the Skull is powerful enough to prevent ghost-touch I am just saying ok bye).
First times in general would be amazing – they’ve all been so focused on surviving I feel like romance/sexual awakenings have kind of taken a backseat. I realize this may be slightly tricky re: the Skull, but I feel like it can be gotten around with some handwaving and/or exhibitionism/voyeurism! If this is your bag, I BELIEVE IN YOU GO FOR THE GHOST/GIRL CONNECTION. I tend to think Lucy/Lockwood first times would involve a lot of awkwardness and floundering and I’M INTO IT. I’d love to see Lucy to realize how much Lockwood adores her. Re: Holly/Lucy, I would love for Lucy to realize she’s not just into how beautiful Holly is out of jealousy, or for some Holly POV, frustrated that she’s got a crush on a straight girl in the midst of all this actual life-threatening drama (but with the happy ending that OH LUCY IS ACTUALLY NOT AS STRAIGHT AS ANTICIPATED).
If none of this shippiness appeals, seriously, DO NOT WORRY. I would love a case-fic, or an AU set IN SPACE SOMEHOW I DON’T EVEN KNOW. Ghosts appearing IN THE DEPTHS OF SPACE?? Alien ghosts?? What if instead of ghosts VAMPIRES are an issue? IDK I just love these characters, please do whatever you want with them and I will enjoy it.
What I love about this canon: Well, honestly, ghosts are my weakness. I love the Octobery Halloweenish eerie anticipation and adrenaline of a good ghost story, and Jonathan Stroud creates such a FANTASTIC mood and scene. I read some of his scenes curled in a ball biting my nails. Anything that plays with that, the tension of the dead seeping into the world of the living. This is one of the fics where I’d say I actually would be interested to potentially see character death – as long as the character comes back as a sentient ghost ala the skull and everyone isn’t 1000% miserable about the outcome (MAYBE THE 2 SKULLS 1 JAR SCENARIO ACTUALLY HAPPENS IDEK). Anyway, if you can think of a way for that to work – so that it isn’t a SAD ending – go for it! I think it’d probably have to be in the future vs when they’re all so young, but YMMV.
Anyway, although I have a weakness for ghost stories, what sold this series for me was absolutely the characters. I only asked for 4, but I love EVERYONE in this sarcastic codependent found family, Kipps and Flo and George included. I would be interested in a slice-of-their-lives, especially if the Skull DOES return as a newly mobile member of the household. Fic of them all bickering over the Thinking Sheet (maybe an epistolary fic??), or the Skull taking pranktastic vengeance on George for all those years of experiments... Can he use his awesome powers of telekinesis on a pen to stage inappropriate cartoon battles on the sheet? Does he freeze the tea of clients he doesn't like?? Is Barnes despairing of everything, like he thought the worst was over but now one of his ghost-hunting agencies has a GHOST MEMBER WHO REGULARLY TERRORIZES THE WORLD AT LARGE?? But in a really crass non-deadly way, mostly involving rude vandalism and disgusting sounds?? GODDAMMIT LOCKWOOD & CO.
But yes! Re: the specific characters I've asked for! Lucy has to be one of my all-time favorite characters, prickly and imperfect and brave and kind and sarcastic as hell. I love how she makes mistakes, and moves past them, I love how she’s kind and yet also snippy. She’d save anyone but she’ll also mentally be dragging the shit out of them while she does it. LOVE HER. I’d love to see any fic just about HER, maybe about her reconnecting with her family? I loved that the last book gave us a glimpse of that wound for her, the ache of loss of her sisters, and I would adore seeing more of them. Maybe even AUNT LUCY omg Lucy with a baby. Ahem. Yes. So anyway, if you would LIKE to write shipfic for her with the other 3 characters I’ve included in my request, please do! But I will delighted by a Lucy-centric gen fic.
Holly in particular just is so interesting to me. I absolutely headcanon her as a lesbian based on the last book, and I would LOVE her perspective on everything that’s gone down. Is she frustrated by Lucy’s obliviousness? Does she swoon over her swashbuckling? I’ve loved seeing her learning to trust her own strengths as an agent – a fic that focuses on that would be wonderful. What it’s like to be someone more feminine in a more masculine-presenting field, what it’s like to be a POC in a predominantly white ghost-filled world? Some of her family history, her thoughts on Lockwood’s parents and their well-meant but still imperialist colonial approach to ghost-hunting abroad, would be hella interesting to play with. OR, a missing/deleted scene of Lucy wandering in on one of Holly’s dates with a female agent and finally having the penny awkwardly drop would be SO GREAT, especially if it results in some sexuality-based soul-searching for Lucy. I don’t really ship Holly with anyone in the series but Lucy, but if you want to create an OC girlfriend for her, please do!
Lockwood FINALLY opening up in the last book made me so happy, I loved seeing him wrongfooted but fumbling towards emotional awareness with his awkward HERE IS MY MOM’S NECKLACE BYE move. I love how Lucy sees him as this dashing perfect figure, and yet we keep seeing his silly awkward moments… falling down stairs, wearing dumbass disguises, etc. Lucy feels insecure all the times, of course, but on the other side of the coin… I think it’s pretty fair to say Lockwood’s insecure too. I’d love to see a fic exploring his crush on HER, how he adores all of her everything and thinks HE’S not worthy of how brave and talented and unstoppable she is. Because let’s face it, Lucy’s fieldwork has got to be pretty hot. Outside this ship, I’d love to see any scene of Lockwood’s POV – how did he feel after falling down the stairs in Marissa’s tomb omg? Does he ever manage to have a one-on-one convo with the Skull somehow and if so WHAT DO THEY TALK ABOUT? Do he and Holly ever commiserate over their mutual OH NO LUCY IS SO HOT FUCK GODDAMMIT problem? If you would like to focus on Lockwood for the story, I would only ask that you focus less on his past and his grief, and more on his future. Where does he go from here, now that rage/pain isn’t his only driver?
OKAY AND THE SKULL. No lie I adore him. I love his sass (AND WHAT SORT OF TIME DO YOU CALL THIS? That line in the last book slayed me) and how we learn more about how powerful he really is… how much he sees of the spirit world that Lucy can't, even in the jar, how much he’s capable of OUT of it. He’s clearly not a great moral individual, but he also I think learns a lot and grows and changes over the course of the books. That he saves not just Lucy, but Lockwood too, is pretty great imo. I would honestly be interested in seeing him and Lucy and Lockwood working out some kind of poly arrangement, like obviously Lucy is emotionally invested in the Skull – maybe he gets to keep up a running commentary during sexytimes?? IDEK. I feel like there’s definitely space to play with, though, because Lockwood’s been pretty supportive of the Lucy/Skull relationship over the series! And obviously I’d be fine with a purely Skull/Lucy fic… maybe she’s not thinking and has a sexy dream and then SKULL INTERRUPTUS and conversation gets away from them? If he reappears, how do they renegotiate their new relationship, without the jar in the way? I think exhibitionism/voyeurism could play a role if they can’t touch, and if they CAN somehow idk feel free to handwave some kind of macguffin… or he obviously can poltergeist stuff around… TOYS COULD BE HELPFUL >.> Also just throwing this out there - what if after everything LUCY has become his source, instead of his skull... what would that do to the two of them?
ANYWAY all shipping aside, I’d like some of the Skull’s backstory for sure! What is his POV on the events of the books, between the books? When does he go from resenting depending on Lucy to caring about her? And oh man, what DOES happen to him after the epic self-sacrifice? Is he hurt? Does Lucy wind up needing to rescue him somehow from the realm of the dead? Has he been licking his wounds but is aware of her there, waiting for him to return? Can EVERYONE HEAR HIM NOW, or is it still just Lucy? Does he start making non-Lucy friends?? (OBVIOUSLY THEY WOULD STILL BE BFF THEIRS IS A BOND THAT TRANSCENDS, ETC), but does he enjoy bickering with George/staging his own experiments with him, flirting with Lockwood to see him flustered and flailing, unsure entirely what to do with Flo, who is completely unintimidated by him...
Ahem. ANYWAY. FOLLOW YOUR HEART. IF YOU LOVE THIS CANON I LOVE YOU BYE.
***
PEGASUS – ROBIN MCKINLEY
(source: me i’m sorry there was no mood board for this i tried to make my own help me)
What is this canon? A single book, THEORETICALLY the first of a trilogy, but it's been abandoned and ends on a really cliffhangery-cliffhanger, UGH. Anyway, in the distant past, when warrior humans reached this generic medieval fairytale country, they came to an agreement with the pegasi who lived there to protect them against dangerous dragons/rocs/evil magical beasts in return for the right to live there themselves as well. They wind up not interacting much, and can't even manage to communicate the same language, but royal humans and royal pegasi still have a tradition of being ~bonded together on their 12th birthdays. THEN unexpectedly for the first time in the history of ever, one human princess and one pegasus prince somehow are able to ACTUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER, and a bunch of assholes are mad about it. That's the gist. CARRY ON.
Characters: Sylvi, Ebon
Ships: Sylvi/Ebon
AO3 Sign-up Prompt:
CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE HOW LONG WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A SEQUEL? ME EITHER AUGH. Okay now I’ve gotten that out of my system, how gorgeous was this book? So quietly delicately beautiful. I absolutely ship the hell out of Sylvi and Ebon, but if you don’t want to go there, I would love just ANYTHING resolving that ending. A scene from the far future – I feel like McKinley was definitely foreshadowing adult Ebon and Sylvi the swordslady showing down with the rocs/magicians, or even just the more distant future where they’re all safe and the rocs are gone and FTHOOM HAS HIS HEAD ON A SPIKE SOMEWHERE AS A WARNING TO OTHER ASSHOLES TO STEP OFF ahem anyway you can handwave HOW they’re safe and just give me a scene of them all happy and peaceful and prosperous and visiting each other with lots of pegasi and human babies everywhere.
If future fic isn’t your thing, I would also LOVE anything that gives us some of Ebon’s perspective on the events of the book!! How is he feeling during Sylvi’s visit? During that final TERRIBLE scene? What about right before they first meet, when he sees her from afar while visiting? What does he think about potentially one day needing to find a pegasus wife, or Sylvi a human husband? …do they get jealous of each other’s new paramours and not understand why at first? >.>
Re: shipping, I could see them as winding up as romantically married without anything physical – they are just so incredibly devoted and emotionally in touch with each other. If you’d like to explore that, I would be Extremely Interested. If you’d like to take it to a more sexual place, honestly, in my opinion they’re both sapient and consenting and I think they would be able to work something out – Ebon thinks she’s beautiful, with her strong hands! She thinks he’s gorgeous and strong and ahhh I could 100% go for a fic of Ebon kinking on her hands on him, and her being all about his soft feathers on her. AHEM. I just really love the idea of them being so into each other that anatomical differences, cultural differences, nothing can keep them apart. LOVE FINDS A WAY/LIFE FINDS A WAY. I’d also be interested in hearing more about previous Pegasi/Human pairings, as discussed in the book. I know the characters aren’t in the tagset, but if you’d like to explore that, please do!
….and as ever, whatever rating or pairing-level you’re interested in, I AM ALWAYS DOWN FOR A SPACE AU. If you’ve read Integrate by Thea Harmon (another fandom in the tagset!), that might be fun to play with? OMG they would be the most amazing detective partners by the way, holy shit. But whatever space world you wanna transpose these guys into, I would just ask you keep them different (intelligent) species.
What I love about this canon: It feels like an alpine meadow, reading it. Very fresh and clean and with that very delicate kind of magic that Robin McKinley is wonderful at. I’d love to see more of this universe – the meeting of the two cultures, without the fog of the magicians clouding everything. This universe can be very dreamlike, especially where the Caves are involved, and the way the two languages meet – bringing that into the fic would be lovely, especially if it involves true-dreaming? Sylvi DOES still have that vial of lakewater (which lbr obviously reminds me of McKinley’s other books and Luthe and such, so feel free to have a crossover!). MAYBE SEXY DREAMING IDK.
AHEM ANYWAY I’d also love an outside POV on what Ebon and Sylvi look like together – at one of the fairs/festivals, or at court, or in the Caves, or really anywhere. Seeing a human and a Pegasus laughing together has to be so incredible for people from the outside – enough so that crowds come to support her visiting Rhiandomeer, excited for their princess and her friend. What does it look like from the perspective of a pegasus? I feel like there’s got to be lots of lady pegasi eyeing Ebon up, but, well. He’s pretty distracted… Or for that matter, what do they look like from the view of a royal cousin, a potential prince?
I also love both of their families, their parents and their siblings, so much. I’d love to see more of all of them, and their respective human-pegasi interactions. I was so fascinated by the fight between Danacor and his Pegasus, who was determined to go fight with his human. And obviously their fathers are fascinating. How hard are their lives right now? How DO they manage to communicate? What were their conversations like when they were young/more fiery? I find it also fascinating that both kings married surprise queen candidates… it’d be interesting to play with that a bit more!
More romantically, I could absolutely go for 5 times Ebon got jealous of Sylvi, and 1 time she was jealous of him, or vice versa. Can involve hands/wings, or paramours, or whatever jealousy aspect you want to explore! Or a species-swap… what would Ebon the human be like, or Sylvi the Pegasi? Do they ever talk about that, wistfully?
Post-book… what does Sylvi DO? I can’t imagine she stays still weeping for long. Does she decide to go out and fight rocs with Danacor, to hell with danger because WHO CARES NOW? Does she stage a jailbreak with the help of Ahathin? Likewise re: Ebon, I’d love to know what his immediate feelings are post-book, does he try to convince Sylvi to run away with him? Does she feel her responsibility too heavily to leave her country now? DO THEY BOTH WORRY FTHOOM IS RIGHT?? Nooo my babes PLEASE FIX THIS YULE AUTHOR I AM DYING.
Other prompts: I’d love to see some of Sylvi’s more academic work - her studies on the dams and bridges, on local witches and wizards! An academic-style paper analyzing that, or a paper she never intended to share discussing the pegasi would be amazing.
***
TEMERAIRE – NAOMI NOVIK
What is this canon? An 9 book series which explores the concept: what if the Napoleonic wars, but WITH DRAGONS. THAT SOULBOND WITH A HUMAN CAPTAIN. It's pretty homoerotic, but sadly not as explicitly as it could be.
Characters: Temeraire, Tenzing Tharkay, William Laurence
Ships: Laurence/Tharkay, Temeraire/Laurence
AO3 Prompt:
I MISS ALL OF THEM SO MUCH. I NEED MORE OF THEM IN MY LIFE. Tharkay POV on any of the book scenes, future fic with Temeraire and Laurence and Tharkay living together, visiting China together…. I could go for virtually anything. LET YOUR HEART BE YOUR GUIDE. If you’ve been wanting to write dragon/human captain fic for years, HELLO I AM YOUR RECIPIENT. If you can’t get enough of Tharkay’s epic crush and Laurence’s dawning realization that his feelings are mutual, HI AM HERE PLEASE LET ME LOVE YOU. If you would prefer to keep things gen, just anything at all exploring their future together would be so wonderful for me. Also, I’d be very interested in scenes from their respective childhoods – how did Temeraire feel from being laid as an egg onwards? What was growing up like for Tharkay, caught between worlds? What about Laurence, never capable of pleasing his father?
Feel free to leave characters out! I just ask that you not include these characters shipped with other characters. You can include other ships (Granby/Little, for example!), and mention past relationships (maybe Jane as an ex now, or Mei, or Sara….) but for this Yuletide I’d prefer not to see any of these characters actively paired with someone else.
Should you happen to be inclined, I would be happy for any porn with either of these pairings – specific prompts are in my letter, but seriously, if you’ve got a scenario in mind I GUARANTEE I WILL LOVE IT.
AU prompt: IMPERIAL RADCH?? I have no idea how this would work but I still want it?? Temeraire the baby ship aaaa. Any kind of space AU, whether with intelligent ships or aliens, would be GR8. And frankly I think Tharkay would make a great Vulcan. Maybe the star fleet ship gets infected/inseminated/whatevs with a baby AI that imprints on Laurence?
Why I love this canon: These are my forever books and my eternal ships. I shipped Tharkay and Laurence from Tharkay’s first chilly dry appearance in book 3, and I LOVE how he’s just blindsided by Laurence’s everything – Laurence’s earnest sincerity, his willingness to look past traditional British mores because his own moral code is so much more important, his own complete obliviousness to how remarkable he is (sometimes in a bad way STOP FIGHTING DUELS YOU NOBLE IDIOT). Ahem. Anyway, I adore how much Tharkay adores Laurence, how he’s able to reach Laurence when no one else can. His determination and quiet sarcasm and immense competence and capabilities!! He’s probably one of my favorite characters of all time. And the UST between him and Laurence in the books KILLS ME. I just want them to get married and raise a thousand cadets and dragonets together. More Tharkay POV is pretty much my eternal Yuletide prompt, tbh. You cannot go wrong with a Tharkay scene.
And of course, Temeraire. He is the reason for the season, the point of the books, and I LOVE HIM. My passionate nerdy 20 ton babyyyy. He and Laurence are SO DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER, so different in a lot of ways and yet always meeting each other halfway, somehow, whatever it takes. I love their conversations, I love that they choose each other again and again, I love that they are EACH OTHER’S MOST IMPORTANT PERSON, and I would be interested in seeing that explored in every way. I am just so overwhelmed by them giving each other gifts – I would love to see Temeraire return to that, to dressing Will as he deserves IN THE FINEST SILKS fine they don’t HAVE to be peacock blue but they do have to be VERY NICE, etc etc. Also. I could see Temeraire wandering onto the topic of human/dragon marriages and being like WELL WHY NOT and Laurence floundering trying to EXPLAIN why not and realizing he can’t actually find a decent reason. He’s pretty over what other people think of him, after all.
I like the idea that once Laurence finally is not in a constant state of 1) deep depression, or 2) mortal peril, his sex drive awakens with a passion (pun intended). I’d love anything that deals with him reconsidering his sexuality now that he’s actually got time to think and reflect (and experiment >.>). This could apply to either ship, in my opinion! I’d love to see him girding his loins to ask Granby or Little for advice (or Temeraire!!). I would also happily accept Granby/Little/Laurence educational threesomes if they are followed by Tharkay jealousy and then eventual happy poly duos and the dragons being very blasé about it all <.<
ALTERNATELY, an AU of Book 7 where THARKAY IS THERE. I mean obvs I would love some post-rescue hurt/comfort, or Tharkay being tortured alone in the caves and what he was thinking/feeling then. But seriously maaaaybe even some amnesiac!Laurence brooding over Little and Granby and wondering about his feelings toward Tharkay and if maybe they’re not actually so platonic after all? ARE THEY BANGING??? WHY ISN’T HE MORE UPSET ABOUT THAT POSSIBILITY??
Also, I do have PORNY SUGGESTIONS!!
· Porny prompt #1: when dragons get horny, their captains get horny too (think Pern dragons, but less extreme/rapey)… Laurence experiences this for the first time during Black Powder War and is VERY CONFUSED AND AROUSED. Tharkay runs into Laurence trying to keep control of himself…. SHENANIGANS ENSUE??
· Porny prompt #2: the magic pearl doesn’t let Temeraire turn into a human, but it DOES let him shift to a human size. Cue his decision this means there is no reason he and Laurence can’t be married now LAURENCE DOESN’T NEED OTHER HUMANS HE HAS TEMERAIRE OK.
· Porny prompt #3: In Book 8, Tharkay unable to use his hands and Laurence helping him dress, Tharkay getting turned on and embarrassed, LAURENCE NOTICES and uh gives him a hand if you know what I mean >.> Also, I'd looooove some service-play in general with these two, with Laurence attending Tharkay and making him feel trusted/adored/worthy.
· Porny prompt #4: What if Temeraire gets sex pollened somehow and needs help getting off OR HE WILL DIE and there are no other dragons around so Laurence (and maybe Tharkay??) HAVE to figure something out. GET CREATIVE, HUMANS.
All that said, please don’t feel you have to have any porn at all!! I know especially xeno kink isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and neither are NC-17/R scenes. Honestly, any romantic scene of hand-kissing, hair-stroking, nose-kissing, off-handed confessions of devotion – would be SO good for me. Just have fun with this – you can feel free to ignore EVERYTHING I’ve just said and if you give me more of this canon I will be SO HAPPY.
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Just reiterating now – seriously, no word of a lie, as long as you don’t include DNWs, I will be delighted whatever you write. I am just excited to get to spend more time in one of these fandom with someone else who loves it. ❤ ❤ ❤
L