Hi! Thanks for creating for me, or for otherwise taking a look at my letter. I’m fencesit on AO3! I'm requesting all fic for this exchange.

You may notice that I have less details or prompts for some fandoms 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.

DNW:

unrequested AUs
- canon divergence is okay
- obviously the crossovers and non-canon divergent AUs I'm requesting may involve some adjustment of the world the characters live in, which is fine! I would like ninja to still be ninja and cultivators to still be cultivators and so on, though.
cannibalism or vore
necrophilia (ghost sex is fine)
PWP
sounding
rimming
bodily waste
suicide/suicidal ideation
- please see specific clarifications for The Untamed in that section.
vehicle accidents
detailed or graphic descriptions/depictions of wounds, medical procedures, torture, etc.
unrequested explicit noncon
- Implied/referenced is fine!
anal tearing or other serious injury during sex
incest (mentions of canonical incest are fine)
sex scenes with underage (under 18) characters or adults being attracted to minors
- feel free to fudge timelines or just not mention ages specifically, though
permanent noncanonical character death of major canon characters (except villains)
permanent death of requested characters
- even if canon
- except for Izuna, who can die however and whenever you want
dissociation, which includes:
- 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.
- If you're writing 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.
the rotting undead/zombies
- magically preserved non-rotting undead like vampires or skeletons are fine
- please see SVSSS and The Untamed sections for clarification notes.
unrequested crossovers
- 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.

Black Box DNWs/clarifications:

DNW: erotic fanworks of any kind; characters can have sex but I don't want porn.
Please disregard my dissociation DNW for this canon.
Please consider me to be opted-in to canon-typical levels of dubcon/noncon.

"Polo"

Death of Marco or Polo
unequivocally bad end for Marco or Polo, especially if you're writing noncon, breeding, or forced soulbonds.

SVSSS DNWs/clarifications

Focus on SQQ/LBH, but it's fine in the background
characters finding out that they're fictional
the rotting undead/zombies clarification: TLJ kind of falls into this category but I love him and he can definitely show up! Please gently skirt around any gross details about his poor sad plant body — mentions of his limbs falling off are fine, but description of why exactly they won't stay attached is best left implied.

The Untamed DNWs/clarifications

plot/characterization drawn from other related canons — I haven't read MDZS yet, am behind on the donghua, etc. I don't mind smaller worldbuilding details or character information being pulled from the novel where it doesn't contradict The Untamed, but I will get confused if you blend the two canons!
suicide/suicidal ideation clarification:
- the suicides in the show are fine to mention/have happen/include on-screen, but I don't want anything written from the POV of those characters in that moment
- it's fine for a time looping character to kill themself to start a new loop, if that's a mechanic you want to include, as long as they're doing it to deliberately reset the loop rather than in hopes of dying for good.
the rotting undead/zombies clarification: Obviously, the show has puppets, not zombies...but okay, they're kind of basically exactly obviously zombies, lmao, and to be honest I do love necromancy as a narrative element despite being squeamish and weak.
- You can stick with show-canon "they were just puppets!"/"Wen Ning was only mostly almost dead!" if you want!
- or you can have them be zombies, but I really do DNW the "rotting" part of this DNW — please let your undead be either freshly killed, magically preserved, or past the point of rotting (eg, skeletons, ghosts!).
- (if you just don't mention decomposition I will happily never consider it even when it should be happening!)

Likes

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!
dimension travel (eg from the canon timeline to a divergent timeline)
worldbuilding —
- 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
plot
- 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
friendship and loyalty
- 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
hurt/comfort & angst
- 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
forced (non-sexual) intimacy
- 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
unconventional formats/POVs
- 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!
magic (in already-fantastic settings)
- 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.

Black Box - Jennifer Egan

AO3 matching tag: Black Box - Jennifer Egan

Fandom note: This is absolutely my favorite short story and I'm very jazzed to receive it. You can read it for free here at The New Yorker, unless you've read all of your free articles already this month, in which case you can read it via the Wayback Machine. It's about a lady spy!

For this fandom I am suspending my dissociation DNW, as it's a canonical part of the spy training in the story and I don't want any potential creators to feel they have to navigate around it. For the purposes of my "no unrequested noncon" DNW, I am requesting canon-typical levels of dubcon/noncon.

I DNW erotic fanworks; characters can have sex but I don't want porn/smut for this fandom.

Requested character(s)/ship(s):

Alpha Beauty (Black Box - Jennifer Egan)
Narrator (Black Box - Jennifer Egan)
Narrator's Husband (Black Box - Jennifer Egan)

Character usage & shipping note: Any combination of these characters, or solo fic about them, would be great — you don't need to include all three. Please include or don't include whatever ship(s) you want.

Alpha Beauty + Narrator + Narrator's Husband

I love the style Black Box is written in and I would absolutely love to see something written in that style. I'd really be happy with just about anything you want to write! In addition to the second person POV, features of this style that I really like include:

The numbered sections! If you're going to write something set during the events of the story, then I'd love to have you use the scene number to let me know exactly when you're breaking in. (Eg, if you're diverging from canon in the middle of section 16, number your first scene 16, your section scene 17, etc.)
The short paragraphs! Originally this story was released via twitter and inside the logic of the story thoughts are only recorded for the record when the Narrator makes the conscious choice to turn the recording device on. I don't necessarily need you to stick to paragraphs that'd fit inside a tweet, though.
The narrative distance! The Narrator is recording her thoughts, but she's doing so as professional instructions and a record of her mission, plus she's gone through and trimmed down extraneous thoughts after getting home. It creates this really interesting, restrained effect where we're definitely literally inside the Narrator's head, but at the same time the Narrator is concentrated almost entirely on giving instructions and practical information. It creates this great distance between the Narrator's narrated thoughts and the narrator's self, which is the sort of thing that really makes second person POVs shine. It leaves lots of room for the Narrator to know and think and feel things that she also simultaneously cannot know, think, or feel.

Again, anything in this fandom would be wonderful! But in case you need something to go off of and the mediums haven't sparked anything...

An AU where the Alpha Beauty is with the same spy program as the Narrator and they team up, or honestly just anything where they're allies. I really loved the exchange in part 29 where the Alpha Beauty calls the Designated Mate a bastard for leaving the Narrator behind and I just... want more!!
How does the Narrator deal with coming home? How does her husband deal? Maybe the Narrator is encouraged to continue to use the thought transcriptions for therapeutic journaling reasons.
What was training like for the Narrator? Does she help train further women when she gets home? Anything that handles what this program does before and after missions would just be great.
How did Alpha Beauty end up where she is, doing what she does?

"Polo"

AO3 matching tag: Polo (Comic) - alligatestheartisan

Fandom note: This is a 10-panel comic available on tumblr here about a demon and a guy! It's basically a joke that's also a comic but I think it has interesting implications. You can view it here.

Requested medium(s):

fanfiction

Requested character(s):

Marco ("Polo")
Polo ("Polo")

Character usage & shipping note: / or & between Marco and Polo would be fine. I'd prefer that they both appear in the fic, but if you dont want their relationship to be the central point of the fic it's fine for the fic to focus a lot more on one than the other.

Marco&/Polo

I would love Marco & Polo or Marco/Polo! I'd also love either worldbuilding or a more emotional/character-focused look at things. Or both! I love how Marco handles the situation calmly despite his alarm and I love how Polo is embarrassed by it, so I'd love something character-focused and emotional, but porn would be good too.

What would Polo have done if he had gained ownership of Marco's soul?
Who told Polo about the "Marco Polo" call-and-response?
Is there ever a day when Marco does say Polo's name?
Presumably "Marco" is Marco's true name, which Polo has now said to Marco, possibly thereby granting Marco his soul, or the demon equivalent thereof. If that's the case, what does owning this demon's soul mean for Marco?

Here are some tags I selected for this fandom for Jump Scare 2019:

Competently handling the horrifying thing
Seen only out of the corner of your eye
A pervasive yet unidentifiable sense that something is terribly wrong
Horrifying cultural differences
Human/Parasite Relationships
Stalked by Non-Human Entity
Being Followed Home In The Dark
Accidental One-Sided Soul Ownership Because A Said B's True Name & B Didn't Say A's Back
Being Polite About Eldritch Genitals Which Are Too Much For Human Eyes To Behold

For this fandom, I would very much enjoy a focus on the following in any fic, ship or gen: friendship, found family, loyalty, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, hurt/comfort, angst, forced intimacy, worldbuilding.

If you want to write shipfic for this ship, I would specifically enjoy: UST, pre-ship, friends to lovers, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, FWB-to-lovers, pining, when their HANDS TOUCH AAA, huddling for warmth, soulbonds (but preferably not soulmates)

If you want to write smut for this ship, I would specifically enjoy: xeno (including weird dicks, tentacles, etc), oviposition, mpregnation, porn with feelings, no-no-yes noncon, sex magic & rituals, size kink. If you want to write Marco has having or gaining both sets of genitals (against his will or otherwise) I'd be into that.

The Adventure Zone (Podcast)

AO3 matching tag: The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Graduation

Fandom note: I’ll keep up with new episodes that come out during the writing period, but feel free to ignore them if you want. I haven't listened to any of the bonus content so I would prefer you not draw from that.

Also, I think the McElroys have been careful not to overlap Balance, Amnesty, and Graduation's universes, so I would consider doing so a crossover. I think there may be some small exceptions (the goof about Clint McElroy the janitor, maybe?) but, well, I would really like things to stay as separate as possible! I like each one as its own thing, despite having piled them both in here like this.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested character(s):

Agent Stern (The Adventure Zone)
Barclay (The Adventure Zone)
Gary (TAZ:G)
Master Firbolg (TAZ:G)

Character usage & shipping note: I like all canon ships and don't mind the inclusion of any other ships that you like. I am definitely angling for Agent Stern/Barclay in that request, but honestly if you want to just write about one character and not both for either of these requests that's fine.

Agent Stern&/Barclay

Requested Characters:

Agent Stern (The Adventure Zone)
Barclay (The Adventure Zone)

Agent Stern/Barclay might be my favorite TAZ ship because....FBI Agent/Bigfoot!!! And also they cohabitate in a bed and breakfast! I'll take gen or pre-ship or UST or whatever for them if you'd prefer.

Barclay knows being in love with this FBI agent is a bad idea but he can't help it.
Agent Stern needs to focus on his work but damn the cook at the Amnesty Lodge is distracting...
Agent Stern finds out that Barclay is Bigfoot in the worst possible situation.
Mama wants to retire so Agent Stern quits his job to take over the Amnesty Lodge with Barclay.
A magical accident sends Agent Stern back in time.

Gary & Firbolg

Requested Characters:

Gary (TAZ:G)
Master Firbolg (TAZ:G)

I think TAZ worldbuilding is really fun because there are a lot of goofs to think way too deeply about, and that's especially true of Graduation. One of the TAZ bits about Firbolg having to take an accounting class made me weep with laughter so hard I had to stop washing the dishes and pause the episode. It's just SO FUNNY, and I think the thing that really really does it for me is that you can tell Justin McElroy has actually gone out and done a bunch of research about accounting so that he can take this joke very, very seriously. Like, it would be really easy for it to be a cheap joke about the Firbolg not understanding, but instead the Firbolg is learning! Adapting! Becoming a competent accountant even though this personal property thing seems really fake to him!

Anyway, overall, yes, what I would love for you to make me something that follows canon's tradition by being so funny because it takes things very, very seriously.

Gary

I'd love to know what you think is actually up with all the Garys, and especially the "Dark Gary" and all the other goofs the McElroys do about how the Garys are basically the internet kind of.
I think a fic from the point of view of one Gary in particular or of the Gary hivemind would both be great
Pretty much any direction you want to take it in is fine — I'm curious to know if you think they've noticed anything weird about the school, how they get along with any of the other students/professors, what it's like to be a series of statues of indeterminate number and sentience, and if Pocket Garys or Outside Garys every feel weird about not getting to hang around inside with everyone else.
Gary wanting friends really tugged my heartstrings. More friends for Gary!

Firbolg

I'm really interested in Firbolg's experience at the school. Not just accounting (although definitely accounting included) but also the general struggle of being in such a different culture and then the forgetting stuff and also making friends!
I would love Firbolg in any of his classes.
Or between classes, talking to people other than argo and Fitzroy — not that I don't love them both, but I'm really interested in Firbolg's whole school experience that we don't see in the show.
Firbolg trying to solve a problem he's really, really not suited for with just the help of the pocket Gary.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

AO3 matching tag: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Fandom note: I'm pretty sure I've read all the available extras, so no worries about spoilers.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested character:

Gōngyí Xiāo

Shipping note: Background SQQ/LBH is fine. I would be really interested in receiving GYX/LBH though!

Gongyí Xiao

Maybe my favorite minor character!!! He's so great. I love how much he respects SQQ and I love the part he plays in the books, except for the part where he beefs it TT_TT so I would really love a fix-it where ZZL doesn't murder him, if you're up for it! Or at least for him dying to not make it into the fic, if you want to write something canon-compliant set before his death.

An AU where he and SQQ straight up escape together instead of him wandering off and getting murdered, and then things go at least better enough for GYX to survive the experience.
GYX's POV of LBH at any point in canon.
GYX having taken to heart SQQ's lesson about not killing things you don't have to and about some demons being fine.
GYX time travel or timeloop
Something where GYX defects from Huan Hua Palace and joins Qing Jing.
GYX & any of the Cang Qiong disciples
GYX falls into the Abyss with LBH

The Untamed

AO3 matching tag: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)

Fandom note: I finished this series specifically just in time to nom for AU Ex and I'm so glad I did because as you can see below I have SO many feelings. I'm not into the book or the donghua so per my DNW please stick to show canon for plot points, character beats, etc. I don't mind the inclusion of smaller details/worldbuilding from MDZS, though. I've seen Fatal Journey (the Nie bros movie) but I haven't seen the Wen Ning movie yet.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested character:

Lán Qǐrén (The Untamed (TV))

Shipping notes: I'd be very very happy with LQR gen. I don't mind LWJ/WWX in the background, but don't want shipfic focused on them for this request. If you want to ship LQR, I would be interested to try LQR/NHS!

Lan Qiren

LQR is a really fascinating character to me because he largely functions as an antagonist and as the voice of the traditional/conventional cultivation that WWX largely rejects. I love that he's frequently in conflict with our protagonists and that he's a very strict and kinda disagreeable person and I would just really enjoy either a canon-compliant character study or some kind of plotty fic where LQR can really shine!

If you're desperate for more of my feelings about The Untamed, please see my AU Ex letter — I didn't request Lan Qiren but it covers my feelings about basically everything else.

Does LQR ever seriously consider WWX's argument about obstruction vs redirection? If not, what would make him do so?
What if LQR visited the Burial Mounds while WWX and the Wen Remnants were there?
LQR and WWX have a talk during the Sunshot Campaign.
LQR's opinion of Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao
I don't usually like characters meeting themselves...but what do you think a post-canon LQR would have to say to a LQR from pre- or mid-canon?
LQR has a problem and only WWX can solve it.
LQR meets the Ghost General and it's underwhelming because Wen Ning is in the middle of being bullied by children or rabbits or a donkey or something.
...LQR reacts to the juniors coming home with a donkey.