Yuletide 2022
Oct. 16th, 2022 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fencesit
Hi! Thanks for creating for me, or for otherwise taking a look at my letter. I’m fencesit on AO3!
You may notice that I have less details or prompts for some fandoms/ships/mediums than others. Please don't take this as an indication that I want those things any less than other things! I very much desperately want everything I've requested, I've just had more time to request some things than others.
And: please don't feel like you need to follow one of my prompts to keep from disappointing me. I've provided all the information below in an attempt to help my writer feel confident in producing a gift for me, but if prompts and extra details don't work for you then feel free to ignore them.
ALSO I know that this letter is really long. Please just skip sections that don't interest you!
DNW:
- unrequested AUs
- canon divergence is okay
- I would like ninja to still be ninja and SecUnits to still be SecUnits
- including spit as lube, but oral is fine
- specifically I would like to avoid car crashes and anything that resembles them.
- other forms of transit disaster are fine (eg, airplane crash or shipwreck)
- if I'm requesting a canon set in space, spaceship crashes are fine as long as the ships are more like airplanes or cruise ships (long term, chartered, lots of people) than they're like cars (daily commute, 1-4 people, etc).
- feel free to fudge timelines or just not mention ages specifically, though
- derealization — An alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems unreal.
- depersonalization — The persistent feeling of observing oneself from outside one’s body or having a sense that one’s surroundings/body aren't real.
- Typically dissociation shows up as reaction to stress or trauma where the character experiencing it feels disconnected in some way from their emotions, their body, reality, etc; sometimes the character acts on autopilot.
- If you're writing/drawing a character who's literally having an out of body experience (like, because they're a ghost and something else has taken over their body) or dealing with an actual fake world (like, because they're trapped in a magical illusion) then that's okay.
- magically preserved non-rotting undead like vampires or skeletons are fine
- including using characters from other canons as stand-ins for OCs, even if the character or their appearance in the fic is very minor.
- including borrowing worldbuilding/magic systems/artifacts/alien races/etc.
- definitely fine for characters to know about or reference anything you think it's reasonable for them to have consumed as media, e.g. modern mundane characters have probably heard of Star Wars.
The Adventure Zone clarifications
- the rotting undead/zombies clarification: All the undead stuff that shows up in canon is totally fine, including Lich King Gordie.
Murderbot DNWs/clarifications:
- Romantic or sexual ships with Murderbot
- vehicle accidents clarification: space ships crashing in space is fine; space ships crashing onto planets is fine; I DNW crashes involving vehicles mostly used for on-planet on- or near-ground transport. The line here is really "is the vehicle being used by these characters/described the way we would use a car/truck/bus?" If yes, no crashes please! If the vehicle instead more analogous to a space shuttle, airplane, helicopter, ferry, hot air balloon, etc then accidents are fine.
- dissociation clarification: something successfully overriding Murderbot's control of his body with some sneaky code wouldn't cross this DNW as long as it's clear to the reader that the character isn't literally dissociating.
The Touch of Sunlight clarifications
- Nulo's ears twitching/blushing/otherwise being used to convey emotion.
The Sims 4 DNW:
- Romantic or sexual ships with Patchy
Likes
Art likes
- soft colors, and also specifically moss green and all shades of purple, especially for slice-of-life and domestic scenes
- black and white or greyscale
- lineless art and thick lines and messy lines!
- dramatic lighting, especially if the moment is tense or dangerous
- cartoony styles and realistic styles!
- movement and foreshortening
- crosshatching, stippling, visible brushstrokes, and other techniques that let me see what the artist physically did with their pencil/brush/digital equivalent
- that thing where it's all back and white or greyscale except for one (1) color
- art that explores the minutiae of a character's life, like what exactly is on their bookshelf or in their bag
- hands touching, forehead kisses, focus on hair (blowing in the wind, being braided, being combed, bun/ponytails for characters who usually wear it down and wearing it loose for characters who usually wear it up), carrying (bridal, piggyback, fireman carry, that no-homo superhero side hug), flying, falling, swimming, characters doing action things like kicking and flips and stabbing
Fic likes:
- Canon divergence
- slice of life, canon-compliant fic, missing scenes from canon
- time travel
- especially peggy sue/with a fix-it focus
- time loops
- see my Past Imperfect letter!
- fake/fantasy politics/science and explorations of systems/relationships (eg magic systems, fictional governments or economies, the local gossip network)
- character backstory, noodle incidents, references to past canon or noncanon events, a sense of history between two (or more) characters
- vivid/specific details that relate to things like where a character is, what that location is used for, why, and how the character feels about it
- casefic/missionfic
- investigations/mysteries
- characters with specific goals or problems to solve (finding some treasure, getting a glass of water, murdering their nemesis)
- monster/murder/crime-of-the-week type plots
- the enemy of my enemy is my friend
- making friends under unusual circumstances
- A being uncertain of or surprised by how deep B's loyalty runs
- found family
- friends reconnecting after being out of contact for a long time
- signs of familiarity/intimacy, like knowing each other's habits really well or feeling comfortable touching them/being touched in a society where that's notable
- in terms of physical hurt: sprained ankles, dislocated shoulders, concussions, bruised/broken ribs, broken bones where the bone isn't sticking out, blood loss....pretty much anything non-permanent and not too gorey or with the gore skimmed over. special mention for Naruto-esque eye loss where it's traumatic and bad but the eye can just be put back in if they find a good medic.
- also as implied by my DNWs I'm not a big fan of sickfic but I love huddling for warmth and hypothermia fic!
- poisonings and venom are also good — I like a good spout of dizziness or swooning or confusion!
- in terms of emotional hurt: self esteem issues and unexpected mercy! Special mention for everything below.
- character convinced no one would help even if they asked (but someone does help!)
- character convinced there will be no rescue (but there is a rescue!)
- usually powerful character is helpless due to drugs (and at the mercy of someone they don't trust? :D)
- cynical/pessimistic/distrustful characters being proven wrong by things turning out better than they could have hoped for — for example: "I could never be loved!" -> Is absolutely loved, "We could never have peace." -> Peace is had
- aftermath of captivity, torture, rape, isolation, etc.
- injured character can't complete rescue mission without help from unlikely source
- lying so that the other will accept comfort or help
- hands too shaky to complete task
- forcing exhausted character to get some sleep
- characters who have to work hard to function in the same space and also characters who don't like each other — see my Hate Exchange letter!
- handcuffed together
- sharing a bed because they're safer together than apart
- captured together, working together in enemy territory
- 5+1
- drabble series
- outsider POV
- second person POV, especially if it's thematically relevant
- I'm not really into letters or social media fics, but articles, essays, textbooks, mission/case records, and wikipedia entries are all great.
- I've never received interactive fiction/CYOA before but I'm down to try it!
- I'm open to a mix of text and images and I view works with the creator's skin enabled. I do sometimes download my gifts or read them on mobile, however, so I appreciate when unconventional works use tricks like display:none (explained in this tutorial in the "What do I do if the Creator's Style is hidden?" section) which also makes works with HTML/embedded pictures more accessible!
- curses
- garbage-tier magical items
- extra senses
- worldbuilding around learning/doing magic
Ship likes:
- Anything on my general likes list is excellent in shipfic too of course. Also, I am a pretty big fan of understated shipfic — if you just put the characters together and show that they care about each other then I don't even need kissing or anything, really, which I think can work well for fandoms where characters are frequently in life-or-death situations or need to be professional. Not that kissing isn't welcome! Just, I am extremely easy to please on the "Is this shippy enough?" front.
- Slow burn, friends to lovers, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers — The slower the better. FWB-to-lovers is also great.
- Characters who have history with each other — established relationships are good, but what I really love is feeling like the characters know each other well and think about each other often. In characters who are already friends, that probably looks like, say, knowing what kind of coffee the other person likes. In characters who were enemies, they probably know each other’s weaknesses and faults really well.
- Arguments where each person thinks the conversation is about something subtly different — I mean, misunderstandings in general are great for tension, but I like it when characters are trying to communicate but they’re coming from perspectives so different that they can’t even argue without clarification.
- Casual physical affection — a lot of my ships involve people who have massive or very specific personal bubbles, so seeing the way the characters touch each other when they’re not already in Kissing Mode is really great.
- Pining, especially longstanding they-could-never-want-me pining — the id wants what the id wants and what the id wants is characters with low self-worth. Bonus points if it's tied up in some kind of misunderstanding about their relationship (eg, "They hate me!" or "I'm ugly!") or their differing rank/species/wealth/etc.
- When their hands touch and other very understated moments of romantic or sexual tension — aaaaaaa I don't even have words for how much I love this, if you include it I will wail happily at you about it in my comment, possibly at length.
Smut likes
I don't usually request smut but if you want to include it then I don't mind. I know that that's kind of an extremely bland and unenthusiastic way to start out but it's, uh, really honest, at least? I'm usually after character interaction, plot, or worldbuilding with my requests, but getting a sex scene along with other stuff definitely wouldn't ruin a gift. Overall, I want you to feel free to write sex if you would enjoy doing so/if you think the fic will be better with it! I'm generally just enthused by my writer getting to have fun writing something they're proud of, you know?
There are obviously some things I do like, and I know some folks really enjoy tailoring their fic (i'm one of them!) so:
- Extremely emotionally charged sex — No matter what kind of sex acts they do, I really love when the sex has a lot of feelings involved, especially if it's sad emotions or desperation or part of some hurt/comfort or whump.
- Sex that's very directly relevant to the plot or character arcs — I love sex scenes where I learn more about a character or relationship. Is 'character driven smut' a thing? Because if so, that's my favorite. And also porn with plot.
- anal and pegging, PIV, frottage, intercural, handjobs, all kinds of fingering, strapons, toys
- overstimulation and edging, orgasm delay/denial
- bondage — handcuffs, spreader bars, honor bondage, and honestly pretty much anything in the general category of restricting someone's movement during sex
- praise kink, loyalty kink, hurt/comfort, trust and sex otherwise overloaded with emotion
- magic/super powers being used in fun and inventive ways
- clothing/uniform kink, half-clothed sex, one naked and the other not.
- hair petting, cuddling, lazy mornings in bed, touch starvation
- size difference, size kink, come inflation, large insertions
- pregnancy, including mpreg — impregnation porn and pregnant sex welcome, eggpreg and het mpreg are also fine. And while we're talking about it, narratively speaking I love a fic where being pregnant/mpregnant is upsetting because the character didn't plan for it, thinks their partner doesn't want it, conceived in a nonconsensual or dubiously consensual way, can't afford it, etc, all of which could be comforted away with or without sex. I'm not much for birthing scenes.
- probably other things that I'm forgetting! I'm pretty open to a bunch of things that aren't on the above list or mentioned in my DNWs, and if you're unsure if you should include something please feel free to ask through the mods.
Marriage likes!
(sorry these are mostly Capitalized Like That they're mostly freeforms!
- Misunderstandings and surprises!
- Accidental Marriage due to Misunderstanding the Norms of Another Culture
- Accidental/unexpected soulbond is cultural equivalent of marriage
- Both Spouses Are In Love But Believe The Other Is In The Marriage Out Of Obligation
- Character Thinks Their Spouse is Trying to Kill Them (but they aren't! or not anymore at least lol)
- Deathbed Wedding And Unexpected Survival
- Proposal recipient thought they were just a fling
- Mistakenly Thinking Your Spouse Hates You
- Accidentally Married Someone You Hate
- Arranged marriage to end conflict
- Forced Marriage Leads to Genuine Feelings
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Marrying Someone You Don't Like to Save Them From a Worse Fate
- Marriage Arranged by Third Party With Dubious Motives
- Marriage As Clemency At Public Execution
- Suspected or Confirmed Traitor Forced To Marry Spouse Who'll Monitor Them For Further Treachery
- Spouses mutually help each other gain status from the marriage
- Long-Time Betrothed Couple Adds Third To Marriage For Political Reasons And Falls In Love
- Divorced Arranged Marriage Spouse must Marry Back Into The Family
- Second Marriage for Someone whose First Marriage was Abusive
- Character A Not As Over Traumatic First Marriage As They Thought
- Marriage Makes It Impossible to Keep Trauma Secret
- Marriage of Convenience - Divorcing Terrible Spouse Requires Support From Prospective New Spouse
- Character Entering Into M/M Marriage Invents Mpreg In Hopes Of Pleasing Their Spouse With An Heir
- Getting Married to Avoid Otherwise-Likely Marriage to Unbearable Third Party
- Marriage to Satisfy Life-Debt / Life-Debt is Considered Marriage
- Character Agrees To Seemingly Terrible Marriage Believing It's The Only Proposal They'll Ever Get
- Family Won't Pay Bride Price/Dowry So They Have To Find Someone Who Will Marry Them For Free
- If A Fight Ends In A Knock Out The Winner Can Take Your Ring And Marry Your Spouse
- If Character A Can't Have Their Loved One They'll Marry Younger Sibling B (& Fall In Love With B)
Horror Likes!
(sorry these are mostly Capitalized Like That they're mostly freeforms!
- A pervasive yet unidentifiable sense that something is terribly wrong
- Aftermath of Torture
- Being Polite About Eldritch Genitals Which Are Too Much For Human Eyes To Behold
- Belated Realization That Your Jerk "Friends" Tricked You Into This Horrifying Situation
- Betraying Someone to Save Them from a Worse Fate
- Building layout changes sometimes
- character convinced no one would help even if they asked
- character convinced there will be no rescue
- Character(s) are totally done with this ghost bullshit
- Characters are all alone in the middle of nowhere with no one able to help
- Fucking around with the Ouija Board was a bad idea
- Garbage-Tier Magical Item Which Is Regrettably Undeniably Dangerous In Its Mediocrity
- Garbage-Tier Magical Item Which Some Poor Demon Or Ghost Has Possessed
- Mannequins That Move When a Character Looks Away
- People Suddenly Start Mysteriously Disappearing
- Physically impossible spaces/buildings
- Principle of object permanence is violated
- Seemingly Mundane Object Is Surprisingly the Wrong Texture
- Seen only out of the corner of your eye
- Sharing a bed because they're safer together than apart
- The Setting Wants You to Stay; Slowly You Do Too
- Time Loop - Character Keeps Looping The Day of Their Death
- Time Loop - Friends and/or Loved One(s) Die Again and Again
- Time Loop - Looping Character Keeps Dying
- Time Travel - Character(s) Learn Dark Secret They Didn't Know at the Time
- Two Characters Who Don't Like Each Other Grudgingly Hunt A Ghost Together
- Two Characters Who Don't Like Each Other Grudgingly Save Each Other From Horrific Fates
- Two Characters Who Don't Like Each Other Grudgingly Solve Gruesome Murder(s) Together
- Usually Powerful Character is Helpless Due to Drugs and at the Mercy of Someone They Don't Trust
Time travel Likes!
(sorry these are all Capitalized Like That they're mostly freeforms!
- Time Travel Fix-It
- Peggy Sue (Mental Time Travel to Past - Replacing Past Self)
- Altering Canon or Backstory
- Altering Non-Canonical Disaster
- Dimension Hopping to Find a Timeline That's Not Doomed
- fixing one's own mistakes
- Time travel to save a friend or loved one
- Trying To Change The Timeline By Saving Someone
- Character’s Suspicious Actions Get Them In Trouble With The One(s) They’re Trying To Help
- Character Travels Back to When They Were Still a Massive Jackass
- Time Traveling To A Different Time Than The One You Meant To Travel To
- Attempted Time Travel Sends Character To Another World Instead
- Time Travel Fix-It - Time Traveler Fixes Things By Accident
- Time travel inadvertently reveals past secret
- Accidental Time Travel To The Past
- One character likes other character's past self way more than they expected
- Falling in love/making friends with a past version of an enemy
- Enemies Travel Back In Time Together
- Fixing the Timeline Requires Saving An Enemy
- Character From Future Tries To Convince Current Enemy They Will Be Friends/Allies In Future
- Character From Future Tries To Convince Current Enemy To Work Together
- Unexpectedly Living With The Consequences Of Actions During Final Loop
- Groundhog Peggy Sue
- Strangers Meet During Shared Time Loop
- Enemies Have To Work Together To Solve The Loop
- Looping character trying to save another character's life
- Time loop where character makes things worse before making them better
- Character(s) Remain in Alternate Timeline They Created
- Time Travel To The Past Destroys Original Timeline
- Can't Time Travel To A Time You're Already Alive In
- Adjusting to a Different Era
- Outsider POV Of Strange Events Caused By Time Travel
- Outsider POV Of Time Traveler(s)
- Redeemed Villain Travels to Before Their Redemption
- Introducing Advanced Technology/Medicine/Sanitation to the Past
The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
AO3 matching tag: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Fandom note: The Adventure Zone is a D&D realplay podcast on the Maximum Fun network about a world where being a hero or a villain is a professional job one attends school for and capitalism is king. The player characters attend a school for aspiring heroes and villains (it's more like a university than a high school!) and get dragged into a bunch of problems. TAZ: Graduation is the third season arc, which has no relation to any other TAZ arcs. You can listen here or read transcripts.
I've listened to all of this podcast but not to any of the Maximum Fun bonus content. If more TAZ: Graduation canon is released before reveals (eg, if they release a TAZ:G live show!) then I'll listen to it in case you want to use it, but you can take or leave any new canon.
Opt-ins:
- Yulebuilding
- Yuleporn
- Interactive fiction
Requested characters:
- Gray the Demon Prince
- Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt
Gray & Fitzroy
By the much longer section for Gray/Fitzroy you will surely sense that I really, really ship these two characters, but if you're writing for me and you don't ship them, that's okay! I will wear my shipping goggle no matter what, but I'd extremely enjoy a enemies-to-friends, or an enemies-to-grudging-allies-to-enemies fic, or even just a fic exploring them being enemies with no positive resolution! I like when characters don't like each other and I extra like when they maybe do like each other but their goals are opposed and/or their cultures are super different and everything is a mess. Please feel free to write gen versions of shippy prompts/likes, I won't be disappointed!
Gray/Fitzroy
The shippy vibes of these two in the back end of the show is OFF THE CHARTS. I really love both characters individually (Fitzroy is such a bundle of insecurity and ambition! Gray is so arrogant and mercurial!) but together???? Every conversation they have is gold, I think because they both talk like polite business rivals despite all the attempted murder, threats of war, etc. They're enemies and it's delicious but they're not exactly personally invested in hating each other — they just happen to be on opposite sides! And when they stop being on opposite sides they become "best friends"! Also Fitzroy is 6'4" (after his magical growth spurt!) and Gray is 12' and I am so here for that size difference.
In terms of what I am specifically hoping for out of my gift for these two, I would really enjoy any flavor of these two interacting! I want to know more about Gray's demon culture and his blue-orange morality (war is for "blood, and chaos, and conflict, and victory" apparently!) and I'd love to see more of Fitzroy being kind of a scumbag but not, like, a down with murder scumbag. Graduation's worldbuilding is really fascinating to me, and I'd enjoy getting to see more of the world (or of Gray's hell dimension!) and I'd enjoy something set pre-, during, or post-canon!
I know that via WOG Fitzroy is asexual, and if you want to write him asexual then I'm into that! I'm not really into most asexuality-focused narratives, but I'm definitely fine with a read of this ship where Fitzroy only feels romantic attraction or even where they're in a QPR — a story that focuses on emotional intimacy would really hit the spot for me and I'm honestly such a complete sucker for gen that I'd be pretty satisfied with anything that had Fitzroy and Gray interacting a bunch.
On the other hand, if you don't want to write Fitzroy as asexual then I am 100% on board with that, too. I've left my smut likes section the way I usually leave it because it does apply for everything else I've requested, but for this ship I would actually love for Gray to fuck Fitzroy in a wide variety of situations! I'll opt in to anything from fully consensual to extremely dubious consent — for this ship, the line for me is that I want them both to end whatever sexual encounter they have pleased that it happened and possibly planning to let it happen again, even if they were reluctant or unable to consent at the start. Please note I have specifically DNW'd corrective rape, though.
Below I have some specific prompts, but I'm so crazy invested in this ship that I want to emphasize that basically anything is fine! Please feel free to scrounge through my general likes.
Prompts:
- Something with the Ring of Truth or the True Sight Lenses! I love all the little magic things that TAZ PCs pick up during campaigns, and always yearn to see them used more. In the case of the Ring of Truth I would particularly like to see it used in a romantic or sexual context to let them really trust each other (...or to highlight how much they don't trust each other!)
- Canon divergence — Fitzroy does end up joining Gray's side the way Gray planned, or he does get all the materials he was supposed to get from Goodcastle, or Chaos' plan doesn't kick off until the Thundermen are out of school and floundering around as young professionals!
- Something set in that possible future where Fitzroy is His Royal Highness, The Thunder King and Lightning Lord, Fitzroy Maplecourt, The Storm Bringer...or something where Fitzroy really does get thrown forward in time and has to cope with that life. Like, what's Gray up to in that universe? Things probably went terribly for him, right?
- Post-canon get together. Gray wants someone to come make his next war campaign interesting, maybe, and has even picked out enemies he thinks Fitzroy wouldn't object to killing! Now he just needs to convince Fitzroy that this is a good idea, isn't a trap, will be fun, won't end with him being fed to Hellhounds, etc.
- The above prompt but also this is a classic, deeply romantic demon courting technique that ends up working weirdly well on Fitzroy.
- I don't require Gray to have exciting genitalia if you're going to write him fucking Fitzroy, but I am open to knots, pinecone dick, and anything else you think demons should definitely have.
- ...come to think of it, please also give Fitzroy whatever kind of genitalia you think would best facilitate him being fucked, if you're writing him being fucked! Again, if you want to stick with normal anal sex then that's fine and I won't be disappointed, but it seems worth it to mention you can live your, uh, genital dreams.
The Murderbot Diaries
AO3 matching tag: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Fandom note: The Murderbot Diaries are a series of books about an android in a far-future scifi setting with huge space megacorporations, exploring the android's personhood after it breaks free from the corporation that owns it. You can find more info here. I recommend the ebooks if you aren't die hard about owning physical copies because the ebooks are DRM free!
I've read all of the books and the short stories. If somehow more canon is published before work reveals I'll read that too!
Opt-ins:
- Any two of the four characters I've requested is fine.
- Yulebuilding
- Interactive fiction
Requested characters:
- Amena (Murderbot Diaries)
- Asshole Research Transport (Murderbot Diaries)
- Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries)
- Dr. Thiago (Murderbot Diaries)
I have a lot of favorite things about the Murderbot books but the way Network Effect (which is the Murderbot book I most recently reread!) develops the relationships between these characters is definitely at the top of the list. This letter section and my prompts are going to draw a lot from Network Effect for obvious reasons, but please feel free to set your fic earlier or later in canon!
Also, I'm 100% down with first person POV for Murderbot fic! Also, related, I'm for sure characters misgendering Murderbot for characterization/worldbuilding reasons both in dialogue and in narration..
Prompts for all ships:
- Missing scenes from on board ART: what did Amena and ART talk about? Did Thiago and ART have any conversation? How about Thiago and Amena?
- Thiago POV of literally anything.
- Amena and/or Murderbot's adventures aboard ART post-Network Effect
- Thiago decides to take a position as a temporary instructor aboard ART while Amena and Murderbot are aboard.
- Thiago gets kidnapped with Murderbot instead of or in addition to Amena
- ART & crew stop by Preservation before the events of Network Effect
- Murderbot gets kidnapped alone
I've also written a little bit about what I think is compelling about each possible combination of two of these four characters interacting!
Amena & Murderbot
Amena's character development — the way she eventually realizes that Murderbot was right to scare off that guy at the festival on Preservation — is so wonderful, and especially the way she and Murderbot grow closer as Murderbot does everything it can to protect her and Amena gets an up-close view of Murderbot having Big Emotions about ART being seemingly dead. That's good shit right there! I love when characters learn more about each other.
Thiago & Murderbot
And speaking of learning more about each other, the conversation between Thiago and Murderbot where they clear things up and we find out Thiago has been seriously misunderstanding Murderbot this whole time? Incredible, A+++. He was already one of my favorite characters before that conversation, too, because I just love when there are characters around who are huge jerks! Interpersonal conflict is one of my favorite fictional things, especially when it's the result of misunderstandings/misinformation.
Murderbot & ART
And speaking of interpersonal conflict! I mean obviously I love Murderbot and ART getting along and working together, don't get me wrong, that stuff is great. But I also love that ART often rubs Murderbot the wrong way (by being an asshole, haha) and portions of Network Effect where Murderbot is pissed that ART got Murderbot kidnapped on purpose are really delicious, particularly because ART 100% can't keep from bothering it, and I really loved seeing Murderbot come around to understanding and accepting what ART had done..
Amena & ART
...this is kind of a weak connection, but speaking of Murderbot and ART making up! I really liked how Amena put herself in the middle of ART and Murderbot's terrible communication problems, and especially liked ART having a huge soft spot for Amena and communicating with her a ton because ART is used to having young people on board and really likes them. I also really liked how Amena immediately and without question picked up on ART's personhood (probably because she first knew ART as "Murderbot's friend who it's grieving") and how her Preservation-raised social intelligence lets her understand what's going on with ART and Murderbot's relationship probably better than they do. I'd love something that explores how ART relates to Amena as A Young Person Under Murderbot's Protection, what kind of stuff Amena and ART talked about while getting to know each other, etc.
Thiago & ART
We don't see much interaction between them in Network Effect, but I'm fascinated by Thiago's potential as a contrast to Amena, by virtue of being older, more suspicious, and spending most of the book not trusting Murderbot. He's the one to initially say that ART can't be who ART is because "bot pilots don't talk like this" and I wonder if he has to really reconsider his worldview after accepting that ART is indeed the bot pilot, among other things!
Thiago & Amena
I love the scene in Network Effect where Murderbot is listening in on Thiago and Amena's conversation after ART comes back and notes that Thiago has already asked Amena if she's alright four times. Obviously everything about the situation since they emerged from the wormhole in Preservation space has been incredibly stressful, but I'm really charmed by Thiago's worry for Amena even as he stumbles on the execution because he's both being overbearing and doing things like being suspicious of Murderbot's drone usage.
(I also love, earlier in the book, when Amena tries to claim that Thiago trusts Murderbot and Murderbot is like, "Haha, no he doesn't." Basically...I feel like Amena's relationship with Murderbot changed a lot after they were kidnapped onto ART and I'm not sure if she really believes this or if it's just wishful thinking, but either way: delicious.)
The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine - Spoon
AO3 matching tag: The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine - Spoon (Song)
Fandom note: You can listen to this song here or read the lyrics here. The song's narrator sings about a part they really want in a fictional play.
Opt-ins:
- So long as all four of my requested characters are at least mentioned, I don't mind if you want to focus on two (or three) of the characters over the others.
- Yulebuilding
- Interactive fiction
- Play script (including characters speaking in verse)
Requested characters:
- Eddie
- Monsieur Valentine
- The Duke
- The Queen
This song has really captured my interest since the first time I heard it. I love that Eddie:
- swordfights the duke AND the queen
- makes love to the duke
- kidnaps the queen
- has a dramatic death scene
I also really love the way the narrator uses Eddie as escapism from his situation (being stuck inside with Sydenham's chorea, watching the news) and the way the narrator interprets Eddie as a heroic but probably misunderstood figure in the world of "The Stranger Dance", which seems to have a plot full of twists and turns!
If you're doing a comic, I would like a comic that juxtaposes the song lyrics with visuals just as much as I'd enjoy a traditional narrative-format comic.
Prompts:
- Monsieur Valentine is a separate character: he has a coat, boots, and a "black heart machine", as well as two very distinct sides. Does the black heart machine make Eddie and then the Queen act like villains, which is why there's so much swordfighting/kidnapping going on? What are the "two sides" of Monsieur Valentine?
- Monsieur Valentine is someone else: Maybe Eddie is Eddie Valentine, and part of what makes his dramatic death scene so interesting is that it's when his "two sides" are finally revealed. Or maybe Msr. Valentine is the Duke! Or the Queen!
- Making love to the Duke: I desperately want to believe that the events listed in the song are in roughly chronological order, because I'd love for Eddie/the Duke to be enemies to lovers, on account of how I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers. How do they get there? Is it super complicated? Is it doomed? Whether or not one of them is Msr. Valentine in what you write, I'd love to see something where they're in love/making love but aren't totally honest with each other, don't know each other as well as they think they do, are misunderstanding each other....or even where they have those problems, fix them, and then fall into bed together.
- Narrator transmigrates: Since the song is really about the narrator imagining that they're Eddie, I can't help but think about a fic where the Narrator is Eddie, and gets to "perform" the part they've always wanted most in an incredibly real way.
The Touch of Sunlight - Sandflake
AO3 matching tag: The Touch of Sunlight - Sandflake (Webcomic)
Fandom note: This is a short F/NB romance comic available for free here. One character is trapped in a well and must grant wishes; the other visits them and they fall in love. It's five chapters, please read it!
Opt-ins:
- Any character on their own is fine!
- Yulebuilding
- Interactive fiction
Requested characters:
- Eyya
- Nulo
- Worldbuilding
I love Nulo's journey towards admitting they want something for themself and I equally love how they and Eyya reflect each other and learn from each other. Eyya's accent and manner are charming and rough and it contrasts REALLY well with Nulo's extremely scripted, formal interactions with other patrons of the well. I'm also really into the way Nulo's use of first person plural pronouns highlights their terrible relationship with the well.
Below I've elaborated on each character a little, but in general I would love a work that explores the setting, character backstory, etc. I'm not really looking for downer endings, but I would super enjoy angst or hurt/comfort, per usual.
Eyya
MAGIC :DDD I love characters that have magic and I'm especially interested when it comes to Eyya because it seems that her magic really sets her apart from the rest of the town near the hill—it feels like for sure she experiences a lot of social friction and interpersonal problems because of it even when she is using it for other people, since it seems quite rare.
I'd love anything that has Eyya using her magic and I'd love to know what her life is like when she's not at the well. What's her relationship with her family like? Do they own a farm, or the mill, or something? She's in a jumpsuit that I assume indicates she does manual labor of some kind, although if you have a different idea I'd love to see it! How did she learn her magic, what can her magic do, and what exactly led up to her coming to find the well? I'm also definitely interested in missing scenes for her, like what happened when she was beat up off screen or how she found the well's rock.
Nulo
What a great sense of style and what a shame that its wasted on Nulo's sad, solitary life before Eyya comes along. I love the way Nulo's sense of identity is tied up in the well, which Nulo was presumably created by/inside of, and that part of the comic where Eyya describes Nulo's dead-eyed stare has really been living rent free in my brain. I'm also really into Nulo trying to save Eyya by banishing themself back into the well. Delicious!
I'd love anything exploring Nulo's life before Eyya, like a fic about wishes that Nulo has granted for random other people! Missing scenes from canon would be neat too, like set during one of the full moon nights when Eyya was there but Nulo couldn't see her. For post-canon works, I think it'd be neat if Nulo still had some wish-granting magic and got to use it or not use it however they want. :)
Eyya/Nulo
Obviously I do intensely ship this. I'm interested in outright tropey nonsense, pre-ship romantic/sexual tension, established relationship stuff, and anything in between. I'm not particularly looking for smut, but if you do write it then I have no preference for genital configurations for either of them.
In general I prefer shipfic that isn't straight fluff, so while I am absolutely interested in post-canon fics where Nulo gets to go to the beach with Eyya and learn to cook mallard and so on, I would like there to be some kind of tension, plot, or conflict. For example, the emotional tension of Nulo being unsure of their place in the world, their welcome with Eyya's family, their ability to meaningfully contribute to a society they've never previously been apart of. They could also uncover a secret, solve a mystery, save the family farm together, look for a new town to live in, etc.
I'd be particularly interested in something that explores whether or not Nulo is actually straight up human now or if they just look human, and also if looking/being human was part of Nulo's wish because they think that that's necessary to be with Eyya.
Worldbuilding
I'm interested in worldbuilding about the setting's technology level, the setting's society, and of course the well and magic! I'd prefer that the setting not be somewhere that exists in real life, but instead be an entirely fictional town/country/continent/etc. I'm down for a fic that's all OCs or that includes canon characters.
Technology: I'd definitely prefer that the setting be a fictional country/place I think it's really neat that the setting is at the very least on the mired in the industrial revolution if not well past it — the neighbor that strikes oil in the comic obviously can't be getting rich off of it without industrialization, but the clothing style of Eyya and the townspeople isn't exactly illuminating, so I think you could take that in a bunch of different ways! Personally I'd prefer the setting be set earlier in the Society That Values Oil technology tree rather than later, or at the very least I'm not interested in receiving a work that explores the early and extremely dangerous days of widespread car ownership. I'd love to see magic being worked into lowkey parts of every day life, even though most people can't outright perform magic like Eyya can, and I'd love to know if wishing wells are considered a common technology or if the well in canon is pretty rare/special!
Society: A town or even a whole country where wishes/blessings/curses are a real thing that can actually happen, and where you can just hike up into the woods and wish for your neighbor's crops to fail is SUPER fascinating! What's law enforcement like, who runs the town and how do they do it, and is doing something like wishing that X never sees Y again something that'd be punishable in the court of law if you could prove it? Also, is there magic education available anywhere for people like Eyya? How typical is it for towns to have a person around with magic and what role do they usually play in communities — like, are the people in this town just especially entitled, or are people with magic just automatically expected to take up some kind of Community Witch service position, and Eyya is experiencing a lot of friction for not being down for that career path?
Magic and the well: How did the well come into existence (was it built, or has it always been there? If it's always been there, has it just changed its look as society near by progressed?) and how did people come to know about it? How common are wishing wells? Are all wishing wells attended by a guardian fae like this one? Are there fae out there who are not bound to wells? What kinds of magic are out there besides the well magic — are all magic users only able to do blessings/grant wishes, or are there different types?
The Sims 4
AO3 matching tag: The Sims 4 (Video Game)
Fandom note: Patchy is from the Seasons expansion pack. I am pretty stingy with my Sims 4 pack buying, so it's probably relevant to note that I don't own any of the occult packs (eg, the werewolf one, the vampire one) so I'd prefer not to receive a gift that leans too heavily on those! I also don't tend to play with the canon/default Sims families, although if you include them that's okay.
Opt-ins:
- Yulebuilding
- Interactive fiction
Requested character:
- Patchy the Straw Man (Sims 4)
I only bought the Seasons DLC recently and Patchy is my new best friend. I love this object SO MUCH. Hands down best object in the game, 10/10, would buy for every single family. Absolutely devastated that I can't invite him to join my household.
Anyway. I would love some Patchy-centric fic! Each Patchy gets randomly assigned character traits, and I'm here for absolutely all of it. My first one was a materialistic, mean jerk that kept stealing things from the house, but I've also got one that's just a nice chill pal and I would be really into a Patchy of any stripe showing up in a fic.
Prompts:
- Patchy is so popular with the birds! It kind of looks like the crow(s) that come visit are always gossiping with him and I love it. I'd love a fic about Patchy and the birds, or where Patchy helps a human make friends with a murder of crows.
- Patchy is the best garden pal! My favorite gardening niche is permaculture, but any kind of garden-y stuff is cool with me. I love that you can get seeds from Patchy, that Patchy will give you gardening advice, and that Patchy will come to life and help you with your garden.
- Speaking of coming to life, Patchy coming inside the house to do things is so good! In my games he watches a lot of TV, but I've also seen him pick up books and play the violin. It'd be so neat if he got to learn a musical instrument, or how to cook, or something like that!
- On the other hand, yikes! Patchy can be evil! I would definitely love a horror story about Patchy being evil, cursed, haunted, etc and the Sims in the house having to figure out how to get rid of him.
- I'm also really into things that SEEM evil at first, but then turn out to be friend shaped.
In terms of human characters, I'm fine with any gender/identity/etc. I'd prefer adults over children, generally.
