embraidery

Just Unrequited Letter

Wed, 06 May 2026 17:03:22 GMT

Hello potential creator!!

All of these likes are super optional. If you think I’ll like your idea based off just what I said about a specific ship or a freeform I requested, or even if it is just what you are really excited to write about for the ship (and you don’t see it in a completely opposite way to me), I bet I am going to like what you write. Also, many of these tropes won’t apply to the ship we matched on! It’s more important to me that you write something that makes sense for the characters than that you hit my general likes. But if you would like more information, I can provide!

A few rock solid topics/tropes I like off the top of my head.

Casual sex, friends with benefits, enemies with benefits… Ambiguous and/or undefined relationships… Arranged marriages and marriages of convenience. Proxy sex. Complicated feelings: love and hate, love and resentment, or hey, lust and hate. Pre-ship, post-breakup (with or without hope of reconciliation)… Characters deeply attracted to others but not knowing what it is they’re feeling. Suppressing it whether or not they know what it is. and

Unrequited attraction, which needs its own bullet point! Some ships I’ll feel strongly that it would only be unrequited in one direction, but if so, I’ll specify. Otherwise, go for your life. If A loves B: I love A carrying that secret, angstily or not; I love B knowing it, whether A knows they know or not; I love it being a source of strain and/or just another facet of a friendship. I love A and C bonding over their mutual feelings for B (which, for me, is a great fit for an A/B request!) or bonding over saying they both deserve better, or B deserves better. I love it all. I once got a fic in which A, knowing B had unrequited feelings for them, asked B for a handjob while framing it as “letting” B do it. I ate that shit up with a spoon.

Which I guess leads me to manipulation. I am especially into manipulation where the manipulatee knows what’s happening, but lets it happen for some reason (and the reason can be that it’s effective even when they recognise it as manipulation). Power! Leverage! Complicated motives!!

Intimacy, vulnerability, and caretaking! Particularly when any of these things are reluctant and/or forced. I have a soft spot for hair care of many kinds (tender or tension filled hair washing/combing/braiding/shaving) and wound care, but it’s all about the emotion, you know? Oh, and wing care! Wing care is great. Give a fictional lil guy wings and someone to look after them and I’m there.

Which leads me to AUs! I love them. Obviously, since it’s on this list. I particularly love an AU that casts a new light on a canon situation, but I also just love playing dress up with AUs. I’m fond of settings like Wild/Weird West, in space, regency England, and urban fantasy, but don’t be afraid to come up with your own! It’s also totally cool to do an AU of another canon, like a Pacific Rim or The Witcher or Heated Rivalry, whether or not I know it. I’m also into mermaid, vampire, and wing AUs, or, again, get creative with some other kind of creature AU. I like monsterfucking/xeno, including xeno genitalia and knots. (Not particularly into werewolves.)

Body horror!! I love transformations, willing and unwilling, ones that leave the transformee’s sense of self intact and those that change it beyond recognition or subsume it into a collective mind or break it entirely. I love plants and mushrooms being where they’re not meant to be (like in and on people).

And here are a few tags from this year’s Bulletproof that don’t fit in any of these categories, to give you a smattering of my other interests (but again, I love so many things and this is one tiny piece).

Rescued By Someone They Don’t Trust

Once dangerous enemy now at main character’s mercy

Captor and Prisoner/Hostage must work together to survive external threat while captor tries to maintain feeling of control over prisoner [this one I’d also love for enemies not in a hostage situation; enemies temporarily working together is just so tasty]

Characters A and B dislike each other but A encourages B to take care of themself so they can take good care of C (who they both care for)

Character A can’t help their devotion to character B despite knowing character B is bad news

Character A asks B to mercy kill them; B reluctantly complies

Also note that, as much as I love all these things, I also love happy and uncomplicated G-rated fluff, or uncomplicated smut, or whatever in between.

For this exchange specifically:

-levels of knowledge about the feelings. A has a crush on B. Does B know? Does A know B knows? Does B know A knows B knows? Maybe they’re wrong in assuming someone knows something and it comes out in an awkward and/or heartbreaking and/or funny way. (A: Why didn’t you tell me you were dating someone? B: I didn’t want to hurt your feelings! A: Why would it hurt my feelings? B: Because…you like me? Or, B: Why did you book us separate hotel rooms? We could have shared one. A: I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. B: Why would that make me uncomfortable? A: Because…I like you?)

-finding out, directly or indirectly, about the crush or about who knows what. A thought they were being subtle but overhears C talking about it. A and B are looking at something on A’s phone together when someone messages A something that gives away their crush on B. B hears A talking to C, asking their advice on how to deal with bottling up feelings, or asking advice on how to confess. (Maybe C has a thing for B, too, now or in the past.) Or direct confessions, however that goes! Don’t be afraid to make it uncomfortable!

-forced proximity! Fake relationship for whatever reason and needing to kiss to make it convincing, classic kissing to make bad guys overlook them, huddling for warmth. A’s reluctance to do something in case they’re “taking advantage” of B, who ends up leading the way. Complicated feelings—A wanted to do this someday but only if B wanted it, but they can’t help enjoying it, but they feel bad for enjoying it…

-A’s agony of being attracted to B, who isn’t attracted to people of their gender. The agony of being attracted to B, who is attracted to people of A’s gender, but just not A. Liking someone in a relationship or a superior or inferior or someone too old or too young. Guilt about feeling attraction they don’t think they should feel. Internalised homophobia.

-Discomfort or guilt about not returning feelings, or wishing they could return them, but not being able to. (Or being fine with not returning them!)

-A being involved with someone else as a proxy for B, especially if the someone else is close with B, too. A and C bonding over their similar feelings for B, or pretending their relationship isn’t about B at all.

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Flash Fiction Ex: Fandom Promo

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:19:24 GMT

Flash Fiction Ex is a semi-flash exchange for written canons such as flash fiction, short stories, and novelettes (no longer than roughly 30,000 words)! Tell us about the stories you hope to see requested or offered.

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Dear Candy Hearts Creator

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 04:31:31 GMT

A few rock solid topics/tropes I like off the top of my head.

While I love a ship being in uncomplicated love, I also love relationships that aren’t that. Casual sex, friends with benefits, enemies with benefits… Ambiguous and/or undefined relationships… Arranged marriages and marriages of convenience. whether or not they lead to love. Proxy sex. Complicated feelings: love and hate, love and resentment, or hey, lust and hate. Pre-ship, post-breakup (with or without hope of reconciliation)… Characters deeply attracted to others but not knowing what it is they’re feeling. Suppressing it whether or not they know what it is. and

Unrequited attraction, which needs its own bullet point! Some ships I’ll feel strongly that it would only be unrequited in one direction, but if so, I’ll specify. Otherwise, go for your life. If A loves B: I love A carrying that secret, angstily or not; I love B knowing it, whether A knows they know or not; I love it being a source of strain and/or just another facet of a friendship. I love A and C bonding over their mutual feelings for B (which, for me, is a great fit for an A/B request!) or bonding over saying they both deserve better, or B deserves better. I love it all. I once got a fic in which A, knowing B had unrequited feelings for them, asked B for a handjob while framing it as “letting” B do it. I ate that shit up with a spoon.

Which I guess leads me to manipulation. I am especially into manipulation where the manipulatee knows what’s happening, but lets it happen for some reason (and the reason can be that it’s effective even when they recognise it as manipulation). Power! Leverage! Complicated motives!!

Intimacy, vulnerability, and caretaking! Particularly when any of these things are reluctant and/or forced. I have a soft spot for hair care of many kinds (tender or tension filled hair washing/combing/braiding/shaving) and wound care, but it’s all about the emotion, you know? Oh, and wing care! Wing care is great. Give a fictional lil guy wings and someone to look after them and I’m there.

Which leads me to AUs! I love them. Obviously, since it’s on this list. I particularly love an AU that casts a new light on a canon situation, but I also just love playing dress up with AUs. I’m fond of settings like Wild/Weird West, in space, regency England, and urban fantasy, but don’t be afraid to come up with your own! It’s also totally cool to do an AU of another canon, like a Pacific Rim or The Witcher or Heated Rivalry, whether or not I know it. I’m also into mermaid, vampire, and wing AUs, or, again, get creative with some other kind of creature AU. I like monsterfucking/xeno, including xeno genitalia and knots. (Not particularly into werewolves.)

Genderswaps and trans headcanons! Always down for a cisswap, particularly if it makes an M/F ship F/F or M/M, or an M/M ship F/F. I’m more likely to jive with trans headcanons if they’re a canon man being a trans man or a canon woman being a trans woman, but there are always exceptions. (Characters whose whole thing is self-hatred, like Cyrano de Bergerac, I don’t want written as trans at all. Characters who faced misogynistic violence, like Inej Ghafa, I don’t want written as trans women—but transmasc Inej would be fascinating.)

Body horror!! I love transformations, willing and unwilling, ones that leave the transformee’s sense of self intact and those that change it beyond recognition or subsume it into a collective mind or break it entirely. I love plants and mushrooms being where they’re not meant to be (like in and on people).

Also note that, as much as I love all these things, I also love happy and uncomplicated G-rated fluff, or hot and uncomplicated smut, or something in between.

Art Likes

AUs: genderswaps and trans headcanons, setting AUs, monster and wing AUs (see above!)

body and plant horror

dramatic, high-contrast, possibly brightly coloured lighting, but also soft, golden lighting

paper dolls and other interactive pieces

in-universe art -- maybe a postcard from one character to another with art of a location from the canon?

tarot cards

textured art

I've listed some prompts as art prompts just because I think they'd be easier to depict than the rest, but of course, they make good fic prompts too! Also I didn't have art specific prompts for a couple, but I still would like art for them, just don't have ideas.

DNWs

Non-con (between requested characters: xcon because of intoxication, sex pollen, complicated feelings, power difference, etc is great, but I don't want characters deliberately taking advantage of each other with the intent to harm*). Omegaverse, biological BDSM. Scat/emeto/watersports. ABDL, ageplay. Sexual content for characters under 17. Genitals in art. Podfics of my own work as a main gift.

*exceptions: Eijeh/Ryzek, Benedict/Lestat, Jareth/Piranesi

Canon-specific/request-specific DNWs:

River of Teeth: Hero giving PIV with their own flesh dick, if they have one (strap ons are great); Hero receiving PIV if they have a vagina (toys, fingers, tongue are great). Hero having dual genitalia.

Crossover Fandom: Requested character death for Over the Garden Wall/Labyrinth crossovers, Susan Pevensie/Kat Stratford, Murray Mag'Nesson/Myles of Olau. Occtis being trans.

Critical Role: Julien/Aranessa smut, Julien/Aranessa genderswaps, Occtis/Thimble smut. Occtis being trans.

One Piece: thinking of each other as/calling each other partner/boyfriend

Fandoms

Carve the Mark - Veronica Roth

Art, Fic, Podfic

Ast & Cisi Kereseth, Isae Benesit/Cisi Kereseth, Eijeh Kereseth &/ Ryzek Noavek

I love how Ast and Cisi, in their own ways, care about Isae, believe the way the other is manipulating Isae is bad, and yet still manipulate Isae for their own ends. Could be in the same fic as Isae/Cisi. Art: staring daggers at each other, Ast stabbing Cisi, glaring across a table

Isae and Cisi are so sweet in some ways and yet! The manipulation!! Art: tender moments, comfort after Orieve's death

The slow slide into Eijeh and Ryzek becoming a plural we — what was that like? How did they get used to it? If Eijeh could talk out of Ryzek’s mouth and vice versa, how else could they have used their two bodies? What if one of them had been killed earlier in their transformation? I’d absolutely be interested in a shippy take, whether it takes the form of intimidation/domination/possession (or toxic tenderness that surprises them both) by Ryzek before they’ve really become joined, or as the eroticism of sharing bodies and minds after their transformation, or whatever else! Art: oooh, I don't know if I have ideas. Feel free to get abstract with it! Melding of two selves...

River of Teeth

Art, Fic

Adelia/Hero, Archie/Adelia, Archie/Houndstooth, Houndstooth/Adelia/Hero, Archie/Houndstooth/Adelia/Hero

Art prompts for all: competence porn, taking care of weapons (each other's weapons?), wound care, tender moments

Edgeplay note: look, lots of them have knives and other weapons and Hero has poison and maybe they should experiment with that!

Archie ships: playing with her fluidity/cross-dressing! Also she should get to peg people. Especially Houndstooth. Hero should also get to peg (or use their own dick, if you give them one) Houndstooth.

Archie/Adelia - '"So, I've been wondering. What is that for?...I can't imagine using it to disable a man, much less a charging hippo." / "I adore your idea of small talk, Adelia. This is my meteor 'ammer. I will show you 'ow it is used sometime. I think you will like it." / "I hope I don't have a need to see it in action, but I would love to see a demonstration." She looked at the meteor hammer and for a moment, genuine affection ghosted her features."

They start off so well, these women with so many things in common, and then it all goes off the rails. How might they repair their relationship? Archie comes to visit the Hero-Houndstooth-Adelia household?

Adelia/Hero - Hero sticking around with Adelia just to help her recover Ysabel, and then inviting her to come live with Hero and Houndstooth! Also, that understanding they have around their respective careers and why they're leaving them behind.

Archie/Houndstooth - The long history they have together is so palpable. Her loyalty and the way she protects him are excellent - but so, too, is what she says after he has offended her: ""Do not come back until the moon is up," she added, pressing a loving hand to his wet cheek, "or I think I will kill you."" She says Houndstooth isn't her type, but is she telling the truth? Or maybe they were involved years ago and are amicable exes? Queerplatonic vibes (though please don't have them label it as such)? Also: they've been friends for at least ten years, but Houndstooth has never seen her wear a suit before it happens in the book. What does he think?

Canon specific DNW: Hero giving PIV with their own flesh dick, if they have one (strap ons are great); Hero receiving PIV if they have a vagina (toys, fingers, tongue are great). Hero having dual genitalia.

Crossover Fandom

Art, Fic, Podfic

Beatrice & Wirt (Over the Garden Wall) & Sarah Williams (Labyrinth) - I think these three would be so much fun together. Sarah and Beatrice have such strong personalities--do they mesh or clash? I can also see Sarah's loyalty wavering between Beatrice and Wirt, if she and Wirt can relate to each other about being older siblings to annoying little brothers. Art: walking through Labyrinth or the forest? Putting on pumpkins? Interacting with Labyrinth inhabitants?

Benedict Bridgerton (Bridgerton TV)/Lestat de Lioncourt (IWtV 2022) - This would just be so hot. Lestat would probably chew Benedict up and spit him out if they were involved for more than a day or two, and I'm down for that! Benedict getting away safe (ish), or being turned into a vampire, or drained and left for dead--up to you. Have fun. Art: steamy, admiring art, life modelling, gore, bathing

Benedict Bridgerton (Bridgerton TV)/Red-Haired Shanks (One Piece Live Action) - they should just have some casual fun and Benedict should put his hair down (metaphorically speaking)! Art: drinking together, steamy, Benedict learning pirate-y things

Benjamin Ferel (Lupin TV)/James "Hobie" Hobart (The Goldfinch) - Two men devoted to their craft and to someone who's going to get them into legal trouble someday. If they were involved and Hobie found out that Ben does forgeries and stuff...would he be okay with that, or only pretend to be? (You'd be more than welcome to include Assane (and potentially Ben's feelings for Assane) and/or Theo. What if Ben found out about Theo's dealings before Hobie did?) Art: teaching each other their skills, absorbed in conversation over glasses of wine, steamy

Spoilers for ep 4 of CR Aramán.

Bolaire Lathalia (CR: Aramán) & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries) - A person and a not-person who were created as weapons and learned about emotion and etiquette through human (or orc) media. it practically writes itself!! I'm happy for your work to take place in either universe or in a fusion. Murderbot could be some fantasy equivalent, like an automaton. Art: talking while Murderbot has its visor in place, because hey, Bolaire's wearing a mask too; Murderbot protecting Bolaire from something; Bolaire has to attempt a repair on Murderbot's innards after a fight

Cornelius Hickey (The Terror TV)/John Silver (Black Sails) - Slippery, sweet-talking men who con their way onto ships. Put them in a room together!! Art: standoff/argument, steamy, knives

Grandma Ursula (Merge Mansion Ads) & Any Member(s) of the Addams Family (Addams Family - Sonnenfeld) - Grandma Ursula makes poisonous mushroom pies with Gramma Addams and/or teams up with Wednesday to feed them to Pugsley or something! Art: cooking up a storm, standing in underground vaults of gold, fencing

Greg (Over the Garden Wall) & Ludo (Labyrinth) - Greg introduces Ludo to his frog and Ludo gives him a piggyback ride and they probably don't get themselves out of trouble but they'll keep each other company while they wait!

Jareth (Labyrinth)/Piranesi (Piranesi) - mazes, memory, disorientation, manipulation, menace. I nominated Piranesi under that name since that's generally what I think of him as, but a crossover could be set during any of his eras: pre-House Matthew, during-house Piranesi, post-House secret third guy. Art: something trippy (like those three stones in the Labyrinth that look like Jareth's profile from the correct angle), menacing comfort

Katniss Everdeen (THG - Collins)/Katsa (Graceling) - prickly women believing that they're monsters, knowing how to survive, recovering from trauma. Feel free to involve Peeta and/or Po in whatever shippy combination! Art: wound care or gore in the arena, teaching each other their skills, wrestling, bathing

Murray Mag'Nesson (CR)/Myles of Olau (Tortall) - someone was suggesting Murray flirt with her coworker Myles and presumably get him all flustered, and I'm here for low-stakes flirting with no end goal, but if you dream up a way to get them together for real: go for it!! Art: flirting, poring over documents or artifacts together, arguing

Occtis Tachonis (CR Araman)/Thom of Trebond (Tortall) - friend sent me a Tumblr post that said "I loved being neglected as a child........so much time for research" with Occtis's fanart pasted over it, and I immediately thought of Thom. What if they studied together? Art: studying together, magical duel, Thom getting caught petting Pin (we don't have to see Occtis in this one--maybe just Thom looking alarmed)

Susan Pevensie (Narnia - Lewis)/Kat Stratford (10TIHAY 1999) - Lots of possibilities here. What would Kat's feminism look like in the 40s? If she went to Narnia, how would that affect the way she sees our world? What impact might she have on Susan, who is not nearly as bellicose, and vice versa? Art: cleaning up after a fight, Susan teaching Kat how to shoot a bow, riding a motorcycle together

Tyranny (CR Araman) & Mollymauk Tealeaf (CR Exandria) - and feel free to take it in a romantic and/or sexual direction as well! I think they would have a blast together. I'm so here for them getting smashed at a bar or getting horn piercings together, but equally for Molly to give Tyranny advice, whether that's on how life works when not in the Pit, or on what to do when she finds herself caring about people and doesn't like it.

Request-specific DNW: Requested character death for Over the Garden Wall/Labyrinth crossovers, Susan Pevensie/Kat Stratford, Murray Mag'Nesson/Myles of Olau. Occtis being trans.

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Art, Fic, Podfic

Inej Ghafa/Nina Zenik

I love the (bitter)sweet moments they have together, singing and joking during Inej's healing process on the Ferolind, and would love to see more. Getting those pastries they say they'll go for? Hurt/comfort and acknowledging that there are no easy answers for them are welcome. (Also totally cool to have Inej have feelings for Kaz in the background, and Nina for Matthias.) I love joyful trans woman Nina. Art: rooftop or boat cuddles, eating pastries, steamy

Critical Role: Aramán (Web Series)

Art, Fic, Podfic

Julien Davinos & Lord Primus Tachonis, Julien Davinos/Aranessa Royce, Murray Mag'Nesson/Kattigan Vale, Occtis Tachonis/Thimble

Contains spoilers for episode 4.

I love the rage Julien felt during ep 4. No matter how conflicted he had felt about his dad (and if you wanna speculate on the nature of his issues with his dad, go right ahead!), that's his dad! How dare Tachonis! Maybe Julien dreams of his revenge and plans it all out ahead of time, and then it doesn't go the way he expects... Art: badass action poses

And Julien's rage powering him so he could save Aranessa! I'm obsessed with his devotion to her. This is a ship for which I'm particularly interested in unrequited feelings or one or both parties suppressing their feelings for propriety's sake. That, or maybe some very quiet gesture made during a desperate or vulnerable moment--squeezing a hand or kissing a forehead. Happy with works set pre- or during canon, though I think going on the road poses some great opportunities for boundaries of propriety to come down a bit. Art: being all restrained in a carriage with thought bubbles full of kisses, Julien defending Aranessa during a battle, Aranessa saving the day with magic, tender moments on the road

That moment where Kattigan said he'd have Murray's back, front, side, up, and down was so much fun. I'd love to see where things would go for them if they had time. Also, I'm into genderswaps for just about everybody, but especially for these two! I think F!Kattigan, wild woman, would be so much fun with Murray, whether canon Murray or M!Murray, flamboyant male wizard. Art: flirting, steamy

I thought the moment where Occtis and Thimble said goodbye just before Occtis followed Julien was SO sweet, where they said it was good to see each other again and Thimble patted his cheek. How did they meet the first time, and how much time have they spent together? I'd believe it wasn't that much time altogether and they're still in that stage where they think the other is interesting and they'd like to get to know each other more, but there hasn't been time. Anyway, here I'm very down for ambiguous relationship vibes. Art: Thimble patting his cheek or riding on Pin's back, tender moments

Canon specific DNWs: Julien/Aranessa smut, Julien/Aranessa genderswaps, Occtis/Thimble smut

Black Sails

Art, Fic, Podfic

Edward Teach/Charles Vane, Hal Gates/Captain Flint

Here I'm particularly interested in unrequited feelings or one or both parties suppressing their feelings. Social pressures! Feeling like Vane had been kind of like a son/feeling like Teach had been kind of like a father! (Teach/Vane I could see unrequited either way; Gates/Flint I only see as Gates -> Flint and not the other way around.)

I'd also be into fic from the point of view of half of the ship after the other half's death, whether a canonical death or not. What if Teach had died before Vane, for example?

Obsessed with Teach's love of/loyalty to Vane, even after Vane betrayed him for a second time and it was clear Vane was not going to be his successor. Dive into that complicated relationship!! Art: knives, Vane melting into a hug he didn't expect, badass action poses, laughing together, steamy

Gates' devotion despite his misgivings... the fact that Silver counts him among the people that got the closest to Flint, where the other two were Flint's romantic partners... I love thinking about him hopelessly in love even while he has Concerns about Flint's plans. Art: making plans together over a map, badass action poses, laughing together

Graceling Realm - Kristin Cashore

Fic, Podfic

Bann/Giddon, Giddon/Saf, Bitterblue/Giddon/Katu

I love the council crew! Feel free to have any shippy combo of council members in the background (except Katsa/anyone but Po), and to include Giddon's budding feelings for Bitterblue, but this time I wanna focus on Bann and Giddon. I love the bit (Bitterblue p 412) when "Bann rested his chin on Giddon's shoulder" and in order to get Bitterblue to come have cake they tell her they're going to complain about Katsa, Po, and Raffin, and have cake. Then there's also the bit (Bitterblue p 434) when Giddon's dripping water into a glass and Bann tosses a bean into the glass and they argue ("'Perhaps I'll test the impact of a bean upon your beautiful white shirtfront,' said Bann, with a threatening wave of a bean"). They have known each other for so long! What might have tipped them over into a different kind of relationship?

Giddon/Saf!

"Saf had the Grace of giving people wonderful dreams, which Giddon found irritatingly romantic."

"'...because Saf needed some time.' 'Time to do what?' said Giddon. 'Sleep with everyone he met?'"

and the bit about Saf probably enjoying it if Giddon punched him through a wall.

Let them get on each other's nerves and fuck about it!! (It's okay to include Giddon's and/or Saf's feelings for Bitterblue as a complicating factor in their relationship, though it shouldn't be the only thing drawing them together.)

Bitterblue/Giddon/Katu! (Katu is Bitterblue's former lover who goes missing in Winterkeep.) After Giddon saved Hava by taking off his shirt, and saved Katu with his shirt on: "'He didn't strip for me,' Katu mused, sounding hurt." Close the triangle for these three!

Lupin (TV 2021)

Art, Fic, Podfic

Assane/Ben, Claire &/ Ben, Claire/Assane/Ben, Philippe Courbet/Ben

Basically I have lots of feelings about the Assane/Claire/Ben trio. I'm happy for a V with Assane in the middle, or for Ben and Claire to be involved as well--maybe somewhat ambiguously? Kiss but not fuck? (Also I picked spitroasting as a tag for Battleship bc I think Assane should be in the middle with Claire pegging him, okay.) Ben could be pining after Assane, or both of them, but not involved with either... look, however you fit these puzzle pieces together, I love they!

Also, Ben/Assane on its own (could also be ambiguous and/or unrequited), and Ben & Claire!! What do they mean to each other outside of Assane, or is most of their relationship built on how much Assane means to each of them?

I'm cool with a variety of, like, they're both/all drunk, or Ben and Claire fuck about Assane even if they aren't normally into each other and/or regret it the next day and/or Ben's gay, or they're teenagers and not quite sure how to navigate sex and consent and/or they think they're into something but change their minds but don't know how to communicate that, and nonconsensual voyeurism if Ben sees something and can't quite tear himself away. Art: tender moments, late nights falling asleep on a couch worrying about Assane, happily ever after at their house in the country

And then for Courbet/Ben! Could Ben be a sort of mentor figure as Courbet gets involved in crime? Courbet bringing a fresh perspective on what Ben's gotten used to over the years? Maybe they're into each other, maybe it's a stress relief thing after a heist(s) and maybe it's awkward and/or bad (or not!), maybe they're both actually into Assane and it's a proxy thing. Surprise me! Art: makeover, steamy, planning a heist

One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

Art, Fic, Podfic

Mihawk/Shanks

Always obsessed with Mihawk going out of his way to bring Luffy's wanted poster to Shanks. It seems like Shanks would be smart enough not to tell just anyone that there's a kid he cares about, so that Luffy couldn't be used against him, but Mihawk knows? Smut, banter, begrudgingly given intimacy (shaving? wound care?). Complicated feelings? I'm happy for whatever kind of relationship config you wanna give them, but whatever it is, I don't see them thinking of each other as a partner/boyfriend. Some things I like for them: transmasc Mihawk, winged Mihawk, sex pollen (or cuddle pollen tbh), setting change AUs like space or western, knifeplay.

Canon specific DNW: thinking of each other as/calling each other partner/boyfriend

comments

Dear Yuletide Author 2025

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 21:28:33 GMT

Hello author!

I haven’t put general likes this time, since I’ve requested canons that are really different from each other. I don’t want to make you feel like you have to hit likes that don’t make any sense for your chosen canon. Just know that I love these works! Anything that captures the feeling of canon and/or emphasises things I love about the characters (say, in an AU) will be great.

However, I will include these likes! Again, not a requirement and don’t shoehorn them in, but since they’re the kind of thing people might feel uncertain about including in a work, here they are:

• 1st and 2nd person POV
• interactive fiction - particularly, but not exclusively, for Beneath the World, a Sea
• in shipfic: unrequited attraction, requited attraction but there’s something keeping people apart, pre-get together, characters unable to recognise their attraction for what it is (and potentially struggling with it), post-relationship, complicated feelings, ambiguous relationships
• major character death
• body horror (I don’t know how many on this list this applies to, but just in case, because I love it!)
• in-universe documents: letters, academic documents, newspaper articles, etc

I've gone pretty minimalist on DNWs. All these canons are different flavours of dark, and don't feel limited to the canon level! Beneath the World, a Sea could lend itself to fantastic body horror; the gore in Carve the Mark didn't happen to Eijeh or Ryzek, for the most part, but I'm happy for it to be included in your fic; etc!

I have treats enabled, and any would be greatly appreciated! <3

Beneath the World, a Sea - Chris Beckett
[no characters nominated]

This book really got its hooks into me the first time I read it, and I still love it. I adore the Zona and the Delta. The ecosystem (the idea that the creatures and trees are all one giant organism!), the way it protects itself and even makes people forget about it halfway across the world, the effect it has on people… The philosophical implications of the Zona making people forget what they experienced while there…

I’m down for original characters!

I love thinking about identity, memory, and the continuity of being. How do the things experienced in the Zona impact someone’s identity or behaviour in such a way that it affects them even after they leave, and how do they deal with those effects when they can’t remember the causes?

What draws Duendes to humans, even as humans kill them? Are they really communicating with Rio, and what is that like?

What if Ben let himself go and got absorbed into the forest like Rio? What if he’d had Duende-influenced sex with Hyacinth instead of Justine? What did he actually do in the Zona?

DNW: sexual content involving characters under 16, physically violent noncon (fine for Duendes’ influence to be an instigator), setting change AUs, outside forces succeeding in developing the Delta (fine for people to attempt it, but the forest should successfully defend itself)

Carve the Mark - Veronica Roth
Eijeh Kereseth, Ryzek Noavek

I think these two are so interesting. The slow slide into becoming a plural we — what was that like? How did they get used to it? If Eijeh could talk out of Ryzek’s mouth and vice versa, how else could they have used their two bodies? What if one of them had been killed earlier in their transformation?

I’d absolutely be interested in a shippy take, whether it takes the form of intimidation/domination/possession (or toxic tenderness that surprises them both) by Ryzek before they’ve really become joined, or as the eroticism of sharing bodies and minds after their transformation, or whatever else!

(I don’t have as much to prompt for this one as some of the others, but I think they’re so cool and I’m raring to hear more!)

DNW: modern/mundane AU, omegaverse

The Islanders - Christopher Priest
[only worldbuilding nominated; I have requested no characters, so you can write about anything]

There are so many fantastic things you could write about here. I’m happy for worldbuilding (in-universe documents would be a great fit!) or equally for fic about specific characters!

Some favourite characters/islands/aspects:

Dryd Bathurst, Jordenn Yo, Oy. In-universe thinkpieces on their art, whether a canonical piece or one you invent. Dryd’s sordid adventures. (Feel free to cross him over with some other art-adjacent and/or hedonist characters, like Dorian Gray!)

Caurer: her relationships with Chaster and Dant Willer

The fear towers: how, why, by whom were they built? How did people manage to pull them down?

Esphoven Muy and the winds of Aay: write one of the myths that gave them their names! (Some of the winds: The Combiner, The Poisoner, The Mantrap, The Gargler, The Abyss.) Or, why did Esphoven retreat from the world?

Athanasia! I’m fascinated by the philosophical, ethical, and practical implications of people becoming immortal.

I’d love a take on the islands that incorporates the philosophy of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino! See the chapter about Piqay or Siff especially for the passages that inspired this request, or the foreword about how you can’t trust maps and you can only experience or imagine reality.

DNW: sexual content involving characters under 16, omegaverse, noncon (but where Dryd Bathurst is involved, it can be very dubiously consensual). Works centred on the following characters/storylines: Commis’ murder, Kerith Sington, or Chaster’s involvement in that story (though Chaster himself can be a focus of a fic!); Kal Kapes and his wife; military presences on the islands and the characters involved (Lorna, Tomak). Setting change AUs.

Note re: setting change AUs—happy for you to invent new islands etc, but don’t change the setting by adding the supernatural beyond what’s hinted at (spooky towers anyone?) or soulmate tattoos or moving the entire thing to space.

River of Teeth - Sarah Gailey
Hero Shackleby

Hero! <3

I love their sense of humour and their courage. I’m curious about how they got into what they did and what strained their relationship with their family. (I’m less interested in a fic with a bunch of OC family members and more in seeing how what happened informs their feelings as they create their own life, or affecting how they feel about forming their own family post-canon.) I love their storyline with Adelia in the sequel and how they come to forgive her and invite her to live with them and Houndstooth. I’d love to see their life with the two of them (and Ysabel) post-canon. (And I think Hero/Adelia is great, whether or not Houndstooth is also involved!)

I think body horror is fun for Hero, whether in the original setting or a different one. I wrote a fic where they were slowly turning into a snake, but whatever you want to do, I’m keen to read it!

DNW: sexual content involving characters under 16, omegaverse, Hero giving or receiving PIV sex (fingers/toys/tongue all great), Abigail (their hippo) dying

comments

Battleship 2025 Recs

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:48:40 GMT

I haven't read that much from the collection, all things considered! I didn't know that many of the fandoms. So of course there is lots of good stuff out there to read, including stuff I enjoyed but didn't put on the list! Check out the Battleship lore tags if you haven't already.

Lots if not all of these could be enjoyed without knowing the fandom.

Jeeves & Wooster (TV 1990), Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse

They’re Saying It’s the New Grindr, Jeeves

Reginald Jeeves/Bertram “Bertie” Wooster, Reginald Jeeves & Bertram “Bertie” Wooster

Mature, No Archive Warnings, 3.9k

A delightful modern AU that fuses old slang and new in sentences like “they made me go through my camera roll and choose the plummiest photos of myself looking like a proper snack.” Gussie Fink-Nottle leaves a bloke a voicemail saying they should exchange “newt photos,” and I’m sure you can imagine the miscommunication that ensued.

The Bear (TV 2022)

your pulse like a moth inside a jar

Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto/Richard “Richie” Jerimovich, Michael “Mikey” Berzatto/Richard “Richie” Jerimovich

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 17.5k

A gorgeous and heartbreaking fic split between two timelines. I know nothing about The Bear and it didn’t matter: I was immediately drawn into Carmy’s anxieties and insecurities and compelled by his on-again off-again affair with his older brother’s best friend.

I’d Be The Voice

Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto/Richard “Richie” Jerimovich

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 900 words

Haven’t even seen this show and I’m into these two from what I’ve read in the collection. Hot and sad and complicated!

Sword That Rips All of a Man’s Clothes Off - Paperback Paradise

A Sword In The Hand Is Worth Two With Some Bush

Salmon/The Sword, Salmon/Orcos, Salmon/Orcos/The Sword

Explicit, Graphic Depictions of violence, 3.7k

(You especially don’t have to know the canon for this one; it’s just a book cover for a book that doesn’t exist.)

An extremely well-done parody following Salmon and his talking sword, who has a name, but Salmon doesn’t know it because he doesn’t give a shit. Features things like Salmon kicking a door down even though he has the key, the narrator complaining about the publishers censoring the otherwise badass cover art, and lots and lots of dicks.

The Old Guard (Movie 2020)

gethsemane

Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nile Freeman

Teen, No Archive Warnings, 2.5k

Set partway through the second movie, this beautiful look at Booker and Nile’s different relationships to Christianity, squaring it with how many people they have killed, and Booker’s looming sacrifice, literally made me tear up.

Stellar Firma (Podcast)

An Unloved Flower

David 7/Trexel Geistman

Teen, No Archive Warnings, 2.3k

I didn’t know this fandom either, but it was such a sweet and funny fic with someone experiencing hanahaki for the first time.

Dune - Villeneuve

to sweetly cheer some milestone (and fondly cling to your millstone)

Paul Atreides/Duncan Idaho

Gen, No Archive Warnings, 500 words

On his 18th birthday, Paul pines for the oblivious Duncan. Sweet and teasing and full of achingly teenage angst.

Tortall - Tamora Pierce

post-nut clarity

George Cooper/Thom of Trebond

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 5.1k

When Thom wonders if he should try to raise Roger from the dead, his feet lead him to The Dancing Dove…and, eventually, into George’s bed. HOT.

grief and love and love and grief

Gary of Naxen/Raoul and Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 3.2k

Comforting each other after their first real taste of war turns into sex–but Raoul can’t quite get his mind off the horrors they experienced.

Howl’s Moving Castle

punk rock lesbian wizard

Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon

Teen, No Archive Warnings, 3k

A fun look at a Howl who never bothers to tell people that she’s a woman, and her trip to a punk bar with Sophie. I loved the descriptions of Howl’s 1980s clothes from Sophie’s perspective – her armour jacket, made of leather, with metal rails to close the front panels instead of buttons.

Hamlet - Shakespeare

Remember Me

Hamlet & Horatio

Gen, No Archive Warnings, 2k

A sweet and fun story that slides into an eerie interlude with the Witches from Macbeth that slides back into sweet and fun–except for Horatio, the only one to remember what the Witches said.

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

imagination

Diana Barry/Anne Shirley

Mature, No Archive Warnings, 300 words

In a hurried moment, Anne kisses Diana’s neck–and surely she’d meant to go for the cheek…? Lovely longing!

Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede

In Which Our Heroes’ Tea Party Is Interrupted By A Giant Courtship Ritual

Teen, No Archive Warnings, 1.2k

Cimorene, Morwen, and Telemain go to investigate the cause of the Forest shaking around them.

Critical Role

hot and cold

Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 400 words

Beau gives Jester head in a park while Jester drinks a smoothie. Hot and cute!

Dirt Man - Carter Vail (Song)

In Case He Comes to Town

Narrator/Question Asker, Narrator/Question Asker/Dirt Man

Explicit, No Archive Warnings, 3k

Bros-with-benefits Carlton and Coulton are in for a baffling, sexy, literally transformative night with the Dirt Man when Carlton throws away the dirt under Coulton’s pillow. Hard to describe, but please give it a go!

Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

To See That All Is Well

Frodo Baggins/Sam Gamgee

Teen, No Archive Warnings, 300 words

Very, very sweet pre-ship fic. Sam checks on Frodo in Rivendell.

Benlian - Oliver Onions

tear me open wide

Benlian/Pudgie

Not Rated, Graphic Depictions of Violence, 1.3k

A horrifying dream of erotic cannibalism, couched in Pudgie’s mind-controlled willingness to go along with whatever Benlian wants.

Black Sails

i thee wed

Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Charles Vane

Teen, CNTW, 1.9k

Genderswap to F/F. “Faced with her imminent death from hanahaki, Teach asks Vane to marry her.” Lovely and bittersweet.

The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt

that storm keeps on raging

Charlie Sisters/Eli Sisters

Explicit, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, 3.6k

Charlie and Eli Sisters have always had a complicated relationship. It doesn’t really surprise either of them that it spirals into incest. 2nd person POV.

Art

Original Work

[Art] Light as a Feather

A ballerina, standing with wings extended above them, seen mostly in silhouette. Their head? hair? seems to be made of flame. Orange and purple and navy blue.

[art] Stubborn

A capybara in plate armour and a three-seated saddle; its guinea pig rider tries to get it to move with a carrot.

The Flying Capybara Rescue Service

A capybara wearing a set of mechanical wings and swimming through stormy water. Guinea pigs ride on their back and on a log floating alongside.

Art: Strawberry Princess

A princess and a deer.

Pokemon - AMT

I’m just like you!

Skitty and Sylveon! They’re adorable.

Invisible Inc. (Video Game)

[Art] Swimsuit Model

Someone in a swimsuit showing off their cyberpunk augmentations. Gorgeous colours, and the augmented designs really glow!

Battleship Lore

The Fruit Heist

“Glorbo, Barry, and Pearry stealing fruits.”

a Portrait of Pearry [art]

Pearry looking for dirt!

king of grapes

Playing cards of Glorbo, Slorbo, Plorbo, and Lelorbo!

Nyan Cat

By the light of the nyan, I will nyan at you!

Nyan Cat as a magical girl.

comments

2024 Exchange/Fest Works Rec List

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 02:59:56 GMT

2024 was an excellent year for exchanges and fests! I’ve put together a list of some of my favourite works, which is by no means exhaustive. I’ve included some works by myself as well!

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

always me and you by embraidery. Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona, 1.4k, rated T.

Kat and Patrick broke up during college. When they see each other again at Bianca’s wedding, they can’t help falling in love once more.

fascinating new thing by notyourwinter. Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona, 1.4k, rated T.

Kat gets a grey hair. She doesn’t want to care, but she does. Patrick cheers her up about it while also riling her up, because he’s Patrick. Just perfect for them and a delight.

mesmerizing by embraidery. Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona, 1.6k, rated T.

“Kat looks sideways at Patti and loses her train of thought. Freckles! Hazel eyes! That jawline! She looks like that and plays guitar like a dream? Like, hello? Kat’s never wished she was a lesbian quite this fervently.”

Truth in the Mountains by blueyeti. Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona, 2.9k, rated M.

After Kat impulsively marries Patrick, the knowledge that she has a husband and the feeling that she’s betraying all her ideals never goes away. She asks him for a divorce. He asks her if she still wants to stay. Heartbreaking and beautiful and so very Kat and Patrick.

The Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld)

Trick and treat by c_art. Gomez/Morticia and Wednesday. Art, rated G.

Gorgeous, sketchy watercolor and ink drawings. The one of Morticia and Gomez is particularly stunning in its lovely shading and their facial expressions, the look of love so fervent it’s almost pain on Gomez’s face.

Benlian - Oliver Onions

godhood by redgear. Benlian/Pudgie, <1k, rated M.

Just a gorgeous and horrifying piece about Benlian passing into the statue and Pudgie eating what was left over, to transfigure himself into a statue just as beautiful as Benlian’s.

though the weight was heavy by TisStrangerEerierAndPreposterousUsername. Benlian/Pudgie, <1k, rated T.

A beautiful post-canon fic: Pudgie looking back on what happened with Benlian, and what happened in his dreams.

Bridgerton (TV)

For her own satisfaction alone by psychomachia. Simon Basset/Anthony Bridgerton, 1.5k, rated M.

Simone and Antonia still box, still drink. A fantastic look at how their lives might have been different. The dialogue is wonderful and very sharp.

Use Him As He Uses Thee by within_a_dream. Cressida Cowper & Alfred Debling, 2k, rated G.

A lovely, mildly angsty, but ultimately very sweet fic about Cressida and Alfred finding respite in a lavender marriage.

Challengers (Movie 2024)

Material Girl by darkrosaleen. Art Donaldson/Patrick Zweig, 1.1k, rated T.

High school-aged Art and Patrick go to a Purim party. The way Art feels about Patrick in his Britney costume combined with an eventful game of Truth or Dare leads to some realisations. Fantastic dialogue and a very fun premise.

put your lips on my scars by buries. Art Donaldson/Tashi Donaldson/Patrick Zweig, <1k, rated E.

A gorgeous bit of smut with note-perfect dialogue for all three of them.

Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types

If It’s A Mirror You Want, Just Look Into My Eyes by Lady_Ganesh. Edmund Pevensie/Aleksander Morozova (Shadow and Bone TV), 1.4k, rated G.

A wonderful push and pull between Edmund and the Darkling. Their implied backstory, times when Edmund had the upper hand, then the Darkling; what they can say to hurt each other or to endear themselves to each other; the shifting of the power dynamics between them, are all so tasty.

The Morning Sun by Phantomato. Edmund Pevensie/Aleksander Morozova (Shadow and Bone TV), 9k, rated E.

In this world, a Narnia overtaken by eternal darkness does not tempt Lucy to return. Only Edmund, an Edmund who stays prickly and bitter, experiences Narnia. He returns again and again to spend time with a quiet woodsman who loves the light Edmund can summon. They have such a fascinating, complicated dynamic, where Edmund wants Aleksander; wants to seem grown up; and yet, there is something frightening about the man. As I said in my comment: Edmund “had the sense of having won something” in staying with Aleksander, but I am not so sure he did.

A Touch of Grey by Rhizophora. 5.6k, rated M.

(It’s crossed over with The Voice in the Night, which you don’t have to have read to enjoy this.)

An absolutely chilling, dreadful, slow build of a horror fic set during The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The fungal and body horror is top notch. The foreshadowing is fantastic and lends itself well to rereads as you appreciate exactly how screwed everyone is.

What the Thunder Said by WingedFlight. Edmund & Lucy, 8.9k, rated G.

A dark alternative universe where only the two younger Pevensies made it to Narnia, and where both of them started working with Jadis. The pacing and tension are absolutely stunning; the nonlinear narrative reveals a bit of information at a time. This Edmund and Lucy, older than Peter and Susan now, cold and sharp and willing to do what they have to, are delightfully characterised.

The Country - Billy Collins

only a mouse by redgear. <1k, rated G.

You can absolutely read this poem-of-a-poem without having read the original. A beautiful little poem about a mouse finding a match.

Critical Role (Web Series)

help me to decide by withthekeyisking. Caleb Widogast &/ Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows), 3.2k, rated T.

Caleb flees the Empire and ends up in Ketterdam, where he catches the eye of another very dangerous teenager.

new bonds by DotyTakeThisDown. Mollymauk Tealeaf/Edgin Darvis (D&D: Honor Among Thieves), 2.7k, rated E.

Ed has a great night after chance encounter at a carnival. Using tarot to flirt, hot smut, just a delight. (Also some very cute Ed & Kira moments!)

so you’ll be an austrian nobleman by thatsparrow. 1.2k, rated G.

Mollymauk Tealeaf is an AI given an android body that he proceeds to make wholly his own. The AU is just perfect for Molly, including such little but tantalizing details as people assuming that his tarot readings are absolutely true because AI can’t lie. (Molly can!)

(watch me) dissolve by embraidery. 3.6k, rated M.

“Fjord accepts Molly’s offer to help him bathe after a tough battle, and then takes him up on another (unspoken) offer.” Lots of attention paid to caretaking, bathing, and playing with each other’s hair.

Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band

(I got several wonderful gifts for this fandom in late 2023; this was the only one that was posted in 2024, but I have recs if you want them!)

give the devil his due by thatsparrow. The Devil & Johnny, 4.1k, rated T.

Johnny won the battle, but the Devil isn’t inclined to let him win the war. He gets under Johnny’s skin again, and again, and again. Delightfully sharp and twisty, very easily read as shippy.

The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen

A Fleck of Green by scioscribe. 1.1k, rated T.

I don’t know this canon at all and it was perfectly readable. Lovely and horrifying epistolary fic with the creeping knowledge that things are going terribly wrong.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Don’t Panic! Enjoy the Sapient Bathtubs of Quirt! by blueyeti. <1k, rated T.

A very fun entry in the Guide about a planet where tiny sapient bathtubs eventually grow into ocean-sized ones. Perfect Adams voice.

Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones

Ladylike by Chocolatepot. Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon, 1k, rated G.

In a world where Howl is a young woman, much is the same: the crackling banter between Sophie and Howl, Howl’s vanity. I also appreciated the tension between Sophie and Howl when Howl proposes to go talk to the king and play the role of a beautiful airhead.

Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins

Negotiations by ChronicBookworm. Haymitch Abernathy/Seneca Crane, <1k, rated T.

Haymitch wants the possibility of a dual win for Katniss and Peeta. Seneca knows what he wants in response. I love the Capitol politics!

never felt young by numismatium. Haymitch Abernathy/Finnick Odair, 1k, rated E.

“In Haymitch, Finnick admires all the signs of age the Capitol will never allow him to show.”

Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022)

Fan Meet and Greet by acernor. Daniel Molloy/Tianlang-jun (Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System), 1.2k, rated T.

There’s a way drinking people’s blood usually goes for Daniel. Tianlang-jun turns that routine upside down. I love the power dynamic between them, the way Tianlang-jun is so blase about giving Daniel his blood, as though he’s doing Daniel a favour.

I Saw Three Cities - Kay Sage (Painting)

The Third City by Ohdoyoucomeonthen. 1.9k, rated T.

Absolutely gorgeous fic with a wonderful narrative voice, weaving an atmosphere of exceeding loneliness as the main character explored a foreign land. Eerie.

The Islanders - Christopher Priest

The Delicious Thryme and Other Tales of the Dream Archipelago by kitsunerei88. 10k, rated T.

A wonderful, thoughtful fic of in-universe documents that could be enjoyed without fandom knowledge. The first chapter is a review of a restaurant that, controversially, serves the meat of a kind of arthropod that is extremely dangerous to humans. It goes into the history of the creatures and the islands they call home. The second chapter is an article about those who undergo a surgical procedure to make themselves immortal. The in-universe author interviews four immortals with different views and experiences of their own immortality. The final chapter is an essay analyzing a short story and novel by an in-universe author. The author has constructed a mythos of his island making it difficult to leave, a mythos which may be completely fictional. All three chapters nail the voice of their format and explore fascinating, complicated topics.

Jaws (Movies)

some extinct animal by TheFlirtMeister. Matt Hooper/R. J. MacReady (The Thing 1982), 1.2k, rated T.

I don’t know either of these canons, but I loved this moment between two survivors. Just in case MacReady is infected, Matt won’t drink whiskey from the bottle MacReady drank from; MacReady tips the whiskey into his mouth.

Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse

Jeeves Coshes Death on the Noggin by tablelamp. Jeeves & Wooster, 1.2k, rated T.

A delightful, light-hearted fic about Wooster not realising he’s dead, and Jeeves putting it right again. Absolutely cracking narrative voice.

Jeeves & Wooster

rubber duckie (i am awfully fond of you) by veryrach. Jeeves/Wooster, 1.1k, rated G.

A very fun premise, as Wooster acquires a rubber duck Jeeves fails to appreciate the way Wooster thinks he should. Absolutely wonderful pastiche of the narrative voice. There is also a delightful podfic by peasina!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom

Temple of Time by deathcomequickly. Artwork, rated G.

Gorgeous pixel art of a temple. Very soothing to look at.

The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen / The House of Asterion - Jorge Luis Borges

grace; a maze by primeideal. Asterion/The Little Mermaid, 1.1k, rated T.

The mermaid’s prince is condemned to be sent into the Labyrinth. The mermaid insists on going along with him. The mermaid and the minotaur find a sort of understanding.

The Gallery-Pool by Stellarete. Asterion & The Little Mermaid, 1.1k, rated T.

The mermaid is sent into the labyrinth as a sacrifice to the Minotaur. There is no comfort to be had.

Lupin (TV 2021)

Come Here by acernor. Assane Diop/Benjamin Ferel, 1.8k, rated E.

Gorgeous, atmospheric, hot, and heartbreaking. Assane and Ben both know Ben loves Assane and Assane doesn’t return that regard. But one night, when they wake up in the middle of the night, Assane asks if Ben wants to jerk him off.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

recoil by Fleetling. Ilya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo, <1k, rated T.

I think it’s best recommended by its own summary: “They're a muzzle flash pair, bright and painful in the night.” Gorgeous prose with a throughline of weapons metaphors and a sense of danger.

The Mandalorian (TV)

Considerations by Semjaza. Din Djarin/Cobb Vanth, <1k, rated T.

A lovely fic about Cobb trying to convince Mando to stay with him (gently, so as not to spook him). Lovely Din Djarin & Grogu vibes in the background.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

dreams of your hair and your stare and sense of belief by lazyfish. Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, 5.8k, rated T.

A 5+1 of times they touched each other’s hair. I loved the look at “different kinds of intimacy,” Steve always thinking about how Nat has her guard up and her surprising him. The banter, the love, the thoughtfulness and gentleness with which they relate to each other are just beautiful.

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare

go on as three by noblydonedonnanoble (commanderdameron). Beatrice/Benedick/Don Pedro, <1k, rated T.

A delightful epistolary fic sketching out the way our heroes navigate their getting together. I particularly enjoyed the use of strikethrough to show Benedick’s struggles to find the right words.

una misma cosa by embraidery. Beatrice/Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano de Bergerac). 1.3k, rated T.

Cyrano teaches Beatrice how to fence; perhaps she can teach him how to love. Banter and pathos.

One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

Bare Your Throat by nununununu. Red-Haired Shanks/Dracule Mihawk, 1.1k, rated T.

In which Shanks shaves Mihawk’s face when Mihawk can’t do it himself. Chock-full of impeccable banter, flirtation, and innuendo.

Haven by embraidery. Kaya/Nami, 1.5k, rated T.

That night when Nami tried to steal all Kaya’s valuables, Kaya invites her in to braid her hair…and share their first kiss.

Playfight by embraidery. Red-Haired Shanks/Dracule Mihawk, 1.7k, rated E.

(Transmasc!) Mihawk grows a set of wings; turns out having them played with is a turn-on.

Special Princess by embraidery. Red-Leg Zeff & Sanji, <1k, rated T.

Zeff’s sick; Sanji fixes his mustache; they affectionately snipe at each other the whole time.

A Useful Tactic by nununununu. Red-Haired Shanks/Dracule Mihawk, <1k, rated G.

I’m just such a sucker for the way nunu captures their banter & the way Mihawk pretends not to be completely gone on Shanks (and the way they both know the truth).

Were those words my blood-sucking too? by rosarosi. Red-Haired Shanks/Dracule Mihawk, 3.1k, rated E.

*clears throat* Ahem. Extremely hot knifeplay/bloodplay tinged with murderous and cannibalistic fantasies.

Original Work

Corruption by blarfkey. Tyrannical Emperor/His Morality Pet Childhood Friend (M/M), 13k, rated E.

An astonishing piece about the reunion between the new emperor and the prince of the country he conquered, ten years after they were torn apart. The layers and layers of feeling between them… The deposed prince, captive and at his friend’s mercy, still fighting against the execution of others in his country and the attempt at exchanging sex for their lives… And very hot.

Eat Like a God by Sath. 1.7k, rated M.

Gorgeous, chilling, and a very cool original setting in space. When a ship crash-lands on an alien planet, things don’t go well for the crew. The 2nd person POV fits so well.

free floating by sassaffrassa. Prince in Disguise/Commoner Who Saved Him from Danger (M/M), 8k, rated E.

Hot and fun with delightful sci-fi worldbuilding.

gold-lie by cheju. Spoiled and Entitled Prince/Feisty and Recalcitrant Peasant Gifted to Him as Sex Slave (M/M), 15.7k, rated E.

I don’t normally go for sex slave fic but I clicked on this on someone else’s recommendation, and oh man, am I glad I did. The speed with which Enzo (the peasant) flips their dynamic on (Nikolas) the prince and makes it that Nikolas can’t complain about anything Enzo does without humiliating himself in front of his guards and his brothers. The power Enzo has over Nikolas (while also having very little, given he’s a slave)! The humiliation he puts Nikolas through in private! The emotions are wonderfully complicated and the smut very, very hot.

love is not a debt you pay by lazyfish. Honorable Female Warlord/Her Worst Enemy’s Widower (F/M), 1.5k, rated T.

Very cool worldbuilding with meaningful face paint! I love the respect that Fieyr (the warlord) has for her worst enemy, and the way that she hopes that she will one day care for her new husband, because it’s what her enemy “would have wanted.”

a movement that persists by sassaffrassa. Starship Captain/His Loyal First Officer (M/M), 5.7k, rated E.

A stunning fic about a captain and his first officer waiting for rescue on their defunct ship after sending the rest of the crew home. Such beautiful emotions and loyalty on both sides, pining finally resolved. The smut is so sweet and so hot.

per my last email by TheFlirtMeister. IT Guy & Sentient Printers He Cares For, 2.4k, rated G.

Really, really sweet. One of the emails from the printers to the IT Guy: “A child was in the office and a child is like a smaller human you may not know that henry but it came up to me and it put a sticker of a glittery butterfly on my shell and everyone else was so jealous of my sticker we could see the envy in their eyes but we were the only one sticker-fied and we would like to keep the sticker forever and ever we would like to be a butterfly.”

Ptarmigan Griffin by crowloft. Artwork, rated G.

Delightful drawing of a ptarmigan-rabbit griffin!

under the olive grove by embraidery. Nobleman/His Childhood Friend Returned Disabled From War (M/M), 6.9k, rated E.

A nobleman is astonished to find himself arranged to be married to a man he hasn’t seen in fifteen years: his best friend, the son of his family’s servants, now elevated to lordship.

The Orville (TV)

who will believe the fantastic and beautiful story of our survival? by lazyfish. Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer, 3.1k, rated T.

I hadn’t yet watched the show when I read this and it worked very well all the same. Lovely and aching hurt/comfort (both physical and emotional) between a captain and his second-in-command, who also happen to be exes.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms

a fine and true romance by marcaskane (commanderdameron). Sally Jackson/Poseidon, <1k, rated T.

A lovely and sensual pre-canon fic in which Poseidon gives Sally a slow, gentle bath.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

The Darling Buds of May by RussetFiredrake. Caroline Bingley/Original Female Character(s), 10.7k, rated G.

A beautiful and bittersweet post-canon story for Caroline. She makes friends with a brother and sister who came to money from a common background; their manners are rather less than genteel. All the same, Caroline finds something that makes her happy.

I appreciated the letters from another original character it’s implied Caroline had feelings for in the past, highlighting some of Caroline’s struggles and heartbreaks as a closeted woman.

every change of season a new beginning by Vaznetti. Charles Bingley/Fanny Price (Mansfield Park), 9.4k, rated G.

I haven’t read MP, but reading the Wikipedia summary was enough. A lovely, gentle, slow romance.

Saltburn (2023)

Ways Out of the Labyrinth by longwhitecoats. Felix Catton/Oliver Quick, 1.2k, rated E.

The party went differently; Felix and Oliver fuck and Felix kind of hates Oliver and Oliver finds another way to get Venetia out of the way. Delicious.

Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo

Hearteater by terribletressym. <1k, rated T.

Jurda parem turns Nina into a vampire.

Skyggen | The Shadow - Hans Christian Andersen

Infinitely diminished, infinitely increased by psychomachia. Learned Man & The Shadow, 1.8k, rated G.

A gorgeous and eerie space AU of the original story, which you shouldn’t need to know to enjoy this. A man, accidentally separated from his shadow, sends him away. Years later, the shadow returns to haunt him.

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

As we lie in fields of gold by RoselynnThornwood. Achilles/Patroclus, <1k, rated T.

Achilles and Patroclus’s reunion in the afterlife, described in absolutely stunning prose.

slipstream by sassaffrassa. Achilles/Patroclus, 1k, rated E.

Achilles and Patroclus’s first time, figuring out how their bodies go together – especially because Achilles doesn’t have human anatomy down there. Very sweet, very hot. I love Achilles’ cluelessness about human bodies and the frankness with which he asks Patroclus if having a boner hurts.

The Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff Vandermeer

A Fire That Knows Your Name by Rhizophora. 1.3k, rated T.

I hadn’t read the book yet when I read this and it was still extremely readable. Stunningly gorgeous prose as the main character lets go and lets herself transform into…something else.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV)

aces wild by Daxs10thHost. La’an Noonien-Singh/Number One | Una Chin-Riley, 1.2k, rated T.

I have never seen this show, but this fic is a delightful and funny snapshot of life on the spaceship. Una’s subordinates have a betting pool on how she will wear her hair each day…and when Una lets slip something about La’an’s hair that day, a certain hidden truth is revealed.

Stardew Valley (Video Game)

and all the greens of summer come blowing through the door by straightforwardly. Caroline/Wizard | M. Rasmodius, 1.2k, rated G.

A beautiful and melancholy fic following Caroline as she slips out into the green rain and runs into someone she hasn’t seen in a long, long time.

cut. by afterism. Abigail/Emily/Haley/Leah/Maru/Penny, 3.2k, rated T.

A gorgeous and creepy time loop fic about the bachelorettes-break-up-with-farmer cut scene.

epiphytes by embraidery. 2.1k, not rated.

Abigail discovers, to her horror, that the green rain is different in the secret woods.

imposition by redgear. Elliott/Willy, <1k, rated G.

Not yet together, but aware of a mutual interest, Elliott offers to let Willy spend the night in his cabin. Very sweet and mildly angsty.

Raindrops by embraidery. Sebastian/Willy, <1k, rated G.

Sebastian catches a frog. Very sweet!

rivers in his hair by embraidery. Elliott/Willy, 1.4k, rated T.

Elliott and Willy sit together after the Luau; Willy playing with Elliott’s hair leads to something more.

Top 5 CRAZIEST Trail Cam Captures! by fayharley. 1.7k, rated G.

Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian debate the existence of junimos (or, as Abigail and Sam call them, night bouncers) in a delightful and wonderfully characterised Discord chat.

Taste - Sabrina Carpenter (Music Video)

binary black holes by afterism. 2.6k, rated M.

I don’t know if I can put together words for what I love about this one, but it is just fantastic. The relationship between Sabrina Carpenter and Jenna Ortega’s characters through the centuries, killing each other, seeing each other, obsessed with each other. Funny and sharp and perfect.

The Terror (TV 2018)

disaster in motion by numismatium. Thomas Blanky & Harry Goodsir, 1k, not rated.

Blanky lets vampire!Goodsir feed from him.

he whom i love so dearly by embraidery. John Bridgens/Harry Peglar, 1.4k, rated M.

A getting together fic where John is the younger one.

Rules and Rewards by Cousin Shelley (CousinShelley). John Bridgens/Harry Peglar, 1.9k, rated E.

God, they <3 Combining reading lessons with sex!

take of my flesh by numismatium. Francis Crozier/Thomas Jopson, <1k, not rated.

Jopson dreams of that banquet table. He dreams of feeding himself to Crozier.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Fairy Tale)

on and on and on by embraidery. <1k, rated M.

A take on the fairy tale where the castle is sapient and wants to feed. 2nd person POV.

Tortall - Tamora Pierce

falling prey by numismatium. Roger of Conté/Thom of Trebond, 3.3k, rated E.

It’s only too easy for Roger to manipulate Thom into his bed, not because he wants him there, but because it’s an easy way to keep him under Roger’s thumb. Thom is in way, way over his head.

Where Angels Fear To Tread - E. M. Forster

Not The Face of A Gentleman by psychomachia. Gino Carella/Philip Herriton, 6.5k, rated M.

I hadn’t read this novel, but a quick Wikipedia skim was enough to get what was going on. This is a wonderful, melancholy, touching friends-to-lovers fic set as Philip recovers from his injuries.

魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

dangerous appeal by dottie_dramas (dottie_wan_kenobi). Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, <1k, rated M.

I haven’t read MDZS, but this is a very fun and sexy mermaid au where WWX teases Lan Wangji with threats of kidnapping and eating him.

天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Playing with the Big Kids Now by thetrickisnotminding. Background Hua Cheng/Xie Lian, 1.8k, rated T.

A crossover with Maverick (1994). Bret Maverick takes Annabelle with him to Ghost City when he wishes to gamble with Hua Cheng. Absolutely delightful Bret and Annabelle dialogue and a very fun combination of fandoms.

comments

Candy Hearts 2025

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 18:05:46 GMT

Hello potential creator!

I’m embraidery on ao3 and dreamwidth.

I really just want to read something you loved to write, but if you’d like some pointers:

For what I request, I use / in a very flexible way. As long as at least one person involved had sexual and/or romantic feelings during the fic or before the fic was set, I am happy! Pre-relationship, getting together, established, during or post-breakup; casual sex or FWB or romo relationship; ambiguous feelings, unrequited love, unresolved sexual tension, banging because they both have feelings for the same third party, whatever. Someone wrote me a fic where A had feelings for B, who knew about it but didn’t return the feelings. B offered to let A jerk him off. The fic was the bomb dot com!
If I request multiple pairings for one fandom, you can absolutely combine them in the same fic. You can also include canon pairings. Whether that’s as a former relationship (mentioning Thomas/Flint in a Flint/Gates fic), current feelings for (or a relationship with) someone else (like if Hickey still has feelings for Gibson in a Hickey/Silver fic), or combining ships that have a character in common into a polycule, I love people having complicated feelings and relationships. I am a big fan of a fic focusing on their current relationship feeling like it fits into their story as a whole.
(All that said, these are all rare pairs and I will also be delighted with a fic where they are together romantically and sexually and none of their other relationships are mentioned! Just letting you know that I am open to a wide variety of situations.)
I adore AUs! Could be genderswap (please don’t swap F/F or M/M to M/F, but otherwise have fun, including with genderqueer characters), creature AUs like selkie/vampire/ghost (I love human/nonhuman relationships and nonhuman genitalia), setting AUs… For modern and mundane I prefer if the setting has some kind of stakes, like spies or politicians, but otherwise the world is your oyster. Historical, different location, magic or no magic, in space, on a submarine… Also feel free to write a story inspired by another one, whether a folk tale or myth, or the plot of another canon.
Format: First person POV if the canon is in first person; I love second person (as long as the person being addressed is a character, not a reader insert), non-linear narrative, interactive fiction, epistolary and in-universe documents…
Some beloved tropes: caretaking (especially wound care and anything related to hair), something forcing characters together physically or emotionally (only one bed, in a jail cell together, truth potion…), conflicted feelings (whether inward, like guilt or internalised homophobia, or towards the other person, like love and resentment), sparring, cooking together…but seriously, there are so many things I could put here. If you really want more info, you can look at my other letters on my dreamwidth (embraidery) or at my other signups on the app.
I love horror and darkfic! Don’t hesitate to include (if it feels appropriate for the canon or au) minor character death (major character death I’ll specify per fandom), violence and injuries and amputations, body horror, imprisonment and abduction…or a gently spooky ghost story!

comments

Dear Yule Goat

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 19:53:49 GMT

Hello, potential Yule creator!

I am @embraidery on both Dreamwidth and AO3.

I am open to treats! As well as to 2nd person POV, minor character death (and major character death as detailed below!), and interactive fiction (except The Court Magician).

The Eyes Are the Best Part - Monika Kim

Ji-Won, Alexis

(You may write about just Ji-Won, if you like!) I barely know where to start with this request. I loved Ji-Won’s anger and hunger and quest for revenge and getting what she so desired. I also loved her obvious crush on Alexis and the fun they had together. So, indulging in either (or a combination of both!) really appeals to me. More murder and cannibalism? Perhaps her father, as she planned to do? (Is it harder to take her revenge on him than she thought?) I think it could be fun (and heartwrenching) to have Alexis catch her, or for Ji-Won to decide to bring Alexis in on her secret. Is there a way Alexis could sympathise with her? Even join in? (Alexis joining in on the murder/cannibalism could be in a dream of Ji-Won’s, too. I loved the ambiguity of dream and waking life; anything in a dream would be fantastic!)

Alternately, something fluffy with Ji-Won and Alexis? Doesn’t have to be shippy on Alexis’ end if you don’t want, but I’d rather Ji-Won keep up the admiring, affectionate energy she has for Alexis in the book. If you do go shippy — how does Ji-Won confront her feelings? Is that something she has thought about before? (In a story without much focus on Ji-Won’s murderous activities, you’re welcome to include her sister as well!)

Everything that happens in the book is fine to include (eye trauma, murder, cannibalism, racism, stalking/harrassment). It’s also okay to mention the way George looked at and talked about Ji-Won and her sister, but I’d rather no more than the level of canon.

DNWs: sexual content (fine for Ji-Won and Alexis to kiss, and for more to be implied), genital trauma, Ji-Won being arrested, Ji-Won or Alexis dying in reality (fine for it to be a dream), non-con or dub-con, gender swaps, setting change AUs.

Beneath the World, A Sea - Chris Beckett

Worldbuilding

It’s also hard to organise my thoughts on this one! I love the worldbuilding, the Zona, the Delta, the odd creatures in the forest, the white spiralling structures the duendes create, the psychological effects of the forest and its creatures and the way it protects itself against intruders in planes. The musings on identity and memory and continuity of being. Worldbuilding must be the focus, of course, but there’s such a variety of interesting topics! How does the Delta exert its influence on people in the outside world so they forget it exists, even while they’re talking about it? Are the duendes and the birds and the harts and the rays all part of the same creature? If the Delta crashes planes that come into it, why not boats?

The other nominated characters are the Duendes, Ben, and Hyacinth, and I think you can do a worldbuilding focus while including any of them. What draws Duendes to humans? Are they really communicating with Rio? I loved the moment when Ben lowered himself below the floating root mass of the forest and sat in the water and thought about the forest; something like that with him and/or Hyacinth would be great. How does Hyacinth relate to the forest? What would happen if she let herself merge with it more as opposed to holding herself separate? What if Ben really let himself go and got absorbed into the forest like Rio? In writing about them, you can absolutely go a Ben/Hyacinth direction, whether that’s one-sided or ambiguous or them being together (temporarily or not). What if Ben had had duende-influenced sex with Hyacinth instead of Justine?

DNWs: E-rated sexual content, genital trauma, Ben or Hyacinth dying, violent non-con (fine for Duendes’ influence to draw people together), setting change AUs, outside forces succeeding in developing the Delta (fine for people to attempt it, but the forest should successfully defend itself), gender swaps.

The Court Magician - Sarah Pinsker

no characters selected - nominated characters: The Narrator, The Court Magician, The Regent

You can read The Court Magician here.

I love the world in this one: the juxtaposition of fake magic against real magic and the implication that magic is a limited resource that many don’t know of—or is it unlimited, just kept very hush-hush for the people lowest on the ladder? I love what magic takes from them and the trick that after the Magician convinced himself he loved the pillow, it didn’t end up fooling the magic because he actually did love the pillow. It’s very interesting that the Narrator says that the magic won’t take his ability to hear the Regent’s requests, or his teeth or his tongue, so that he can keep saying the Word — but the Narrator is just a voice, and can still talk, so I suppose that’s more metaphorical than literal. Does the Regent know about what’s happening? The Magician “instinctively” didn’t tell the Regent the cost of the magic, but it could be that the Regent knows and doesn’t care. What did the Magician do after he left the palace? Why did the Narrator keep using the magic until they had nothing left to give?

Any solo character or combos of characters, platonic or shippy, ambiguous, one-sided, whatever — though I’d rather the story be character-focused than ship-focused. Also, MCD is totally fine for this one. (If the Narrator found a way to end their existence even without a body to kill, would they use it? Would the Magician ever try to kill the Regent?)

DNWs: on-page sexual content (can be implied), giving the Magician, the Regent, or the Narrator names, setting change AUs.

Merge Mansion “What’s Grandma Hiding?” Ads

Grandma Ursula

I used this compilation of the ads, both live-action and animated, when I made this request. The whole thing is about 12 minutes long. Highlights: Pedro Pascal as the detective trying to figure out what’s going on with Grandma Ursula, Kathy Bates as Grandma, Grandma disappearing from the garden and immediately reappearing in the house, Grandma lowering herself into a well, Grandma picking poisonous mushrooms, the vault of piles of cash money and suits of armour underneath Grandma’s house, etc etc. You’re free to go as light-hearted as you like or to pile on the horror (I think someone said something about Grandma possibly making a human pie)? Also up to you: is there something supernatural going on? I’m less interested in finding out what’s actually happening there and more about playing with the mystery and the suspense — maybe her granddaughter (Maddie, I think, not Maggie) and/or Tim Rockford trying and failing to find the truth. Interactive fiction would be so much fun for this one!

Totally optional crossovers: Grandma Ursula is a member of the Addams family (whether this just inspires the direction you take and you maybe toss in a reference to another Addams, or whether you include other Addamses, is up to you!), or she is friends with Granny from Hoodwinked! I love the idea of them going on grandma adventures while keeping them secret from their grandkids; maybe Red and Maddie team up to try to figure them out.

DNWs: Grandma Ursula, Maddie, Tim dying; totally okay for Grandma to fake her death, though, if we get a hint that it was fake. Sexual content. Setting change AUs.

comments

Fic or Treat!

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 05:45:17 GMT

@ficortreat

EMBRAIDERY's Door

DW username: embraidery

Light is on for: friends, DW followers, anyone who came here from ficortreat!

What's in the Bowl? Ficlets, logic puzzles (by Raymond Smullyan, not me), book recs, podficlets, doodles, blackout poetry

Let Me Know:

Ficlets - check out my profile on AO3 or my autoao3app for fandoms I've created for or requested before! I'll be honest, I have a lot of rare fandoms, but it's a fun grab bag. I won't create for Harry Potter anymore, but almost anything else is fair game. Let me know characters/ships you're into, maybe a prompt, DNWs? Let me know your AO3 handle if you'd like it gifted.

Logic puzzles - these would be from one of my books of logic puzzles, mostly dealing with figuring out which statements are true and which are false (i.e. one person always lies and the other always tells the truth).

Book recs - let me know genres! I have a variety of YA, sci-fi, fantasy, a little bit of horror, a little bit of poetry, quite a bit of PG Wodehouse. I also have some short stories to recommend!

Podficlets - drop a few options of fics under 2.5k and I'll see what I can do. Doesn't have to be in a fandom I know. No non-con or omegaverse and no Harry Potter, please! (And, of course, the author must be okay with the work being podficced.) Let me know your AO3 handle if you'd like it gifted.

Doodles - I can draw characters I know or characters I don't if you can link me a visual reference. Or geometric art and/or optical illusion art!

Blackout poetry - send me a page of a fic you wrote or a book/poem in the public domain and I'll black it out and make poetry!

Other info: Drop me a fun fact about something in the world or the weirdest thing you've ever eaten or some other bit of information! Happy Halloween!

comments

Trick or Treat Letter 2024

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:56:29 GMT

Hello and welcome to my (mostly) tiny fandoms extravaganza! I am ready to get spooky.

I am embraidery on AO3 and Dreamwidth! My app page with all my past requests is here if you would like to poke around. (My horror requests would be under Trick or Treat, Jump Scare 2024, or there are a few in Sufficiently Advanced 2024, for the most part.)

Just to make totally clear: major character death is totally fine.

Also, if the muse strikes you, I'd love a crossover between any of my requested fandoms! Perhaps Benlian, in passing himself into his sculpture, leaves his shadow behind (and his shadow becomes his own person, a la Skyggen)? Could Thom of Trebond be saved by putting his essence into a piece of art, or was he a court magician losing parts of himself every time he used the word of power?

General Horror/Spooky Likes

Taken from the Summer of Horror ex subgenre definitions:

+ dark fantasy: "dark magical realism; fantasy genre elements like secondary worlds, fairy tales, or magic/sorcery"

+ folk horror: folklore, myths, mythical creatures

+ gothic horror: "blended with romance, mystery, or adventure," "dreams and visions," "erotic elements"

+ institutional horror

+ survival horror

+ cosmic horror (the unknowable, incomprehensible)

And from what I've been learning from exchanges I've participated in recently:

+ body horror: fungus or plants growing in and/or on people, places, objects

+ transformations: physical and/or mental; feel free to lean into the gore of bones and organs breaking or shifting, new nerves or organs or other structures unfolding. The transformation of someone's sense of self: from one to plural, the addition of someone to a hive mind. The transformation of the way a character sees their world or their situation, possibly caused by mind control, as in Benlian, or the inherent magic of a place. As in Benlian, I loved the mind-controlled character finding nothing horrifying about the situation they find themselves in (but of course a character finding it horrifying is also wonderful!).

+ cannibalism: romantic and/or erotic and/or just plain hunger with no emotions attached

+ leaving gaps in the reader's knowledge of a horror situation; what we imagine can be scarier than whatever's put down on paper

And my favourite fears from The Magnus Archives:

+ The Buried (suffocation, drowning, buried alive, being trapped)

+ The Corruption (specifically the "unhealthy love and companionship" angle of bugs or fungus growing in or on someone, but I don't mind rot/decay either)

+ The Dark (unable to see what's coming after you or what might be hiding in a place, dark water)

+ The Eye (specifically the need to know, "even if your discoveries might destroy you")

+ The Spiral (the feeling "that your mind is lying to you") & The Stranger (uncanny valley, "the creeping sense that something is not right")

+ The Vast (heights, falling, the sky, space, deep water, insignificance)

+ The Web ("fear of being controlled or trapped, especially being unaware of one's own entrapment, being forced to do things against one's own will, of being manipulated")

Format Opt-Ins

1st/2nd/3rd person POV, any tense, epistolary (letters, diaries, other in-universe documents), interactive fiction/CYOA, non-linear storytelling, etc

DNWs

x The kind of eye trauma where something like a knife or a tree branch goes in an eyeball on a character who is going to keep living. Fungus in eyes, eyes being plucked out, etc is fine. No holds barred on eye trauma as part of a character being killed and/or eaten in the moment the eye trauma happens.

x Sexual content (except for Skyggen and Benlian; for those, no non- or dub-con except for it arising from someone "consenting" in a situation where their partner is lying or deliberately leaving out information about their identity that would change their consent)

x Genital trauma

x Setting change AUs (except for Skyggen, Tortall)

x Surgical bodily modifications. Violent acts that result in injuries, limbs being ripped off, field surgery to repair injuries, accidents causing injuries, etc are all fine -- I specifically don't want "body mods" like devices implanted into the body, tongue splitting, horn implants, a human being modified to look like someone of a different species, etc

x Characters under the age of 18 (except Thom of Trebond)

Fandoms

Benlian - Oliver Onions

Benlian is a short story found here (search for Benlian — it’s in a collection of short stories).

Through the eyes of a fairly normal artist known as Pudgie, we see the story of a sculptor named Benlian. Benlian takes the concept of an artist “putting their soul into their work” entirely too seriously. Under Benlian’s powerful (magical?) influence, Pudgie, who is thrilled about the idea, helps Benlian “pass himself” into his sculpture.

I’ve requested Benlian and Pudgie separately to give you the most freedom, but please feel free to write Benlian &/ Pudgie in whatever way makes sense to you. Benlian swore off women, drinking, and smoking in order to save as much of himself as possible for his sculpture — perhaps if writing something explicitly shippy appeals, one of them has a dream about the other? Or Pudgie moves into Benlian’s studio after Benlian’s death and talks to the sculpture as if it’s Benlian?

Other ideas: Benlian’s perspective on the events: what did the process feel like? Does he have any sort of consciousness once within the sculpture? How did he learn about this process — did he have a mentor?

Skyggen - Hans Christian Andersen

Skyggen is a short story found here.

A solitary scholar sends his shadow out to investigate something. The shadow comes back years later, having become his own man. He convinces the scholar to travel with him under the condition that they reverse their roles. The shadow meets and marries a princess. When the scholar refuses to continue the charade that he is the shadow’s shadow, the shadow uses his influence with the princess to have the scholar killed.

I’ve requested the Scholar, the Shadow, and the Princess separately to give you the most freedom, but feel free to ship whatever combination of them you like, & and/or /. I think the interplay between the Scholar and the Shadow has so much possibility — and how was the Princess convinced to have the Scholar executed? What other ways might the story have gone? I love setting change AUs for this story.

The Court Magician - Sarah Pinsker

The Court Magician is a short story found here. A street urchin turned magician learns, once he starts working at court, that real magic comes with a real price. Whenever he uses the word of power, he loses something valuable to him: his toes, his memories of his mother, his pillow. The narrator, a former court magician, gradually lost their entire body.

I requested the Court Magician, the Narrator, and the Regent separately to give you as much freedom as possible, but certainly feel free to explore their relationships with each other and other characters in the story, whether canonical or original.

What does the Regent know about the magic? Why was the Narrator willing to lose everything, and why did the Magician decide he couldn’t? What did he do after he left the castle?

The Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities is a novel; you can read it here. Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan of the cities he has seen.

Original Inhabitant of Valdrada: Valdrada is a city built over a lake, so every part of it is reflected perfectly in the city in the lake. The knowledge that every action will be reflected “prevents [the inhabitants] from succumbing for a single moment to chance and forgetfulness…The two Valdradas live for each other, their eyes interlocked; but there is no love between them.” What does it mean to have that horrifying awareness?

Original Inhabitant of or Original Visitor to Adelma: When Marco Polo visited Adelma, everyone there had the face of someone he had known who had died. Is that an illusion, and if so, does it fade with time? What about children born in Adelma that don’t yet know anyone who has died? If only one grandfather has died, does every man in the city look like their grandfather? Perhaps the people there get used to it since the people don’t have the personalities to match the faces? Or, as Marco Polo proposes, is Adelma the afterlife? Etc.

Original Inhabitant of or Original Object Within Clarice: Clarice is a city that was once glorious, then fell to ruin; survivors repurposed items, planting basil in funerary urns, roasting meat over window grilles, etc, and a city grew from the ashes of the old one. As the cycle continued, the inhabitants of each new city tried to recreate and enshrine the original Clarice — even though they had no knowledge of it. Indeed, perhaps the urns had contained basil before they contained ashes? Something about history and what we think we know, or anthropomorphise an object and trace it through multiple life cycles.

Original Visitor to or Original Inhabitant of Eusapia: Eusapia is a city that built a copy of itself underground to house its dead, well-preserved and set up as though participating in the same activities they participated in in life. The city of the dead is always changing, and so the living Eusapia copies the changes: but perhaps it was the Eusapia of the dead that built the Eusapia of the living, and who can tell which is which? There’s so much to do with that!!

Original Visitor to Penthesilea: Penthesilea is “only the outskirts of itself. The question that now begins to gnaw at your mind is more anguished: outside Penthesilea does an outside exist?” TASTY.

Tortall - Tamora Pierce

I've requested Thom of Trebond and Roger of Conté separately to give you freedom to play, but feel free to explore Thom /& Roger. With them I generally prefer an implication of their involvement/Roger’s manipulations rather than explicit romantic or sexual involvement, but I will keep an open mind!

For Roger: what did it feel like to be under the Sorcerer’s Sleep and/or to be resurrected? Did he feel as wrong as he looked to outsiders? Was he always set on his ambitious path?

For Thom: why did he decide to resurrect Roger despite not trusting him? What was it like for him when his magic was corrupted and he was emanating heat and light? Even if Si-Cham had been able to save him, what sort of consequences might he have to face?

I’m happy for setting change AUs here. Different magic system (open to crossovers, I don’t have to know the other fandom)? In space? Real world historical era + magic?

The Jackalope Wives - Ursula Vernon

You can read The Jackalope Wives if you like, but what is relevant to this request is the sequel, The Tomato Thief, a novella that can be read here.

Trains, in this world, are gods, and train-priests can speak to them. More accurately, perhaps, they possess the priests. "When he blinked, his eyelids came down like the door to the firebox slamming shut."

What is it like to be a train-priest? Are any of the trains affectionate with their priests, or are they so different from anything we know that we don’t recognise their attempts at affection?

comments

Ships Crossing Letter

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 22:45:19 GMT

Hello Crossover Creator!

I'm @embraidery on AO3; I've also signed up as @numismatium. I'll indicate which requests are for which handle.

Thank you in advance for whatever you might make for me. I’m very excited for this exchange!

I opt into treats, including fanart treats, for all of my requests. =)

You're also welcome to combine ships across requests if they share a character--for example, Edgin Darvis/Mollymauk Tealeaf and Mollymauk Tealeaf/Red-Haired Shanks can be in the same fic, whether that's separately or as a poly arrangement!

Seriously, have an absolute ball creating it and I'm sure I'll have an absolute ball reading or looking at it.

General Likes

Don’t feel bad if your idea doesn’t include any of these; I’m excited about the ships and prompts I put and I’m keen to see what you come up with. This is especially true for crossover ships, where there are a ton of possibilities and I may not have thought of whatever absolutely brilliant idea you’ve come up with! That said, if you’d like some ideas:

Tough feelings: vulnerability, conflict (internal or with other people), regret, pining, unrequited love, struggling with duty (don't worry, I also love fluff)

Relationships: one night stands, casual sex, FWBs, pre-relationship, getting together, established, post-breakup, getting back together, friendship, arranged marriage

Headcanons: LBG, trans (please keep to canon gender/pronouns, i.e. Edmund Pevensie being a trans man)

Intimacy: sex, caretaking (bathing, washing/braiding/cutting hair, wound tending), sharing secrets, sparring

Setting change AUs: Anything not modern and mundane: historical time period, in space, fantasy or sci-fi setting (can be another canon or your original setting), organised crime

In-universe settings: underground, on a ship/spaceship/train, anything enclosed

Smut: laughter, kisses and hickeys, cunnilingus, masturbation (solo, mutual, guided), light bondage, light dom/sub, praise kink, anal sex

Humor: identity shenanigans and disguises (can also be for serious reasons!), banter

Horror: pursuit & misuse of power (especially magical), institutions and politics, creeping dread, mythological creatures, fear of what a character might be swayed to do

Format: epistolary, non-chronological, 2nd person POV

General Art Likes

Honestly, I have a pretty varied list of likes! Traditional (of whatever medium! seriously, do a collage if you want) or digital, lined or lineless, B&W, subtle colour, bright colour, monochrome or varied palettes, smooth or textured, dramatic lighting or soft lighting. Chibis, tarot art, a character's self-portrait or a portrait drawn by someone else, strip of Photo Booth photos, paper dolls with outfits, colouring pages, a picture of a doll you crocheted (or a crochet pattern?), whatever. I'm here for it.

Prompts: cuddling, fucking, laughing, trying each other's clothes, an activity they do in canon...

General DNWs

Major character death*. Non-con and dub-con*. Sex for characters under 18 (let’s say no more than a mention)*. Omegaverse. Scat/emeto/watersports.

*except where I’ve opted in.

Canon Primers (contains spoilers for Critical Role s2e26)

The Scorpio Races is a stand-alone novel (~425 pages) about a tiny island community that, every year, participates in the deadly Scorpio Races, in which people ride bloodthirsty water horses. Puck enters on her non-bloodthirsty pony in order to save her family.

Critical Role (Campaign 2) is an actual-play d&d podcast (also in video form). I'm requesting Molly and Fjord; Fjord appears throughout the whole campaign, but Molly is only in the first 26 episodes. All you really need is this supercut (hr and 20 min). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNGz7Rd1s7s&t=4203s. Molly's great! He's a lavender tiefling who loves new experiences: drugs, sex, food, etc. He's not above theft and lying, but he has a great heart.

The House of Asterion, The Little Mermaid, Skyggen, and The Court Magician are short stories; I've linked to them in the appropriate request.

One Piece (Live Action) is 8 episodes. I've requested Mihawk and Shanks, who are both relatively minor characters. Mihawk appears in 4 episodes (Eat at Baratie!, The Chef and the Chore Boy, and Worst in the East). Shanks appears in 3: Romance Dawn, The Man in the Straw Hat, and Worst in the East.

Requests - @numismatium

Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery/Stardew Valley (Video Game)

DNW setting change AUs (i.e., please set the fic in either the world of Anne of Green Gables or Stardew Valley, or whatever combination of both you come up with)

I love epistolary fic for all my fandoms, but I think it would be particularly apropos for Anne to be writing to any of her friends about her adventures in Pelican Town.

Anne & Elliott
Anne & Elliott & Leah

I’d love Anne to have some artsy friends! Either where Elliott and/or Leah lived in Pelican Town or Avonlea since they were young or where they moved there as adults, I think this would be really sweet. Picnics in the forest? Writing with Elliott or trying art with Leah? Cooking? Getting into scrapes like classic Anne? Stardew flavour is more than welcome, of course. Maybe Anne befriends one of the bears (or the raccoons) in the forest or plays make-believe with the statue in the secret woods. Feel free to include Anne’s friends like Diana and Jane to flesh out a picnic group!

Anne & Leo
Anne & Paul Irving & Leo
Anne & Davy Keith & Vincent

I think it would be so sweet if Anne could tutor the kids. You’re more than welcome to include any/all of the other Stardew kids and some of the Avonlea kids as well! I think Davy Keith & Vincent would be such a fun combination. I asked for Leo in particular because I think Anne would find it really interesting that he grew up with the birds, and for Paul Irving because I love him and he could find a kindred spirit in Leo.

Gilbert Blythe & Sebastian
Gilbert Blythe/Sebastian

I think this would be interesting! Gilbert isn’t nearly as emo as Sebastian — maybe he could be a positive influence? Would Gilbert play Solarian Chronicles with Sebastian and Sam if they’re in the SDV universe? What would Sebastian’s hobbies be in Avonlea?

James Harrison & Matthew Cuthbert & Willy
Matthew Cuthbert & Willy
Matthew Cuthbert/Willy

Some excellent old men! They’re all a bit on the loner side and it would be nice if they could hang out together and probably not say much. Fishing? Pint at the pub? Does Matthew show them around the farm? I don’t have as many prompts but I love the idea.

Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis/Shadow and Bone (TV)

Edmund Pevensie/The Darkling

Kind of a perpetual crossover ship for me. There’s so much that can be done with it and I love all the different takes I’ve gotten on it! Are they on the same side or opposite sides of a conflict? What do they want from each other? Perhaps Edmund has magical powers that the Darkling wants, or political power, or something else. Setting change AUs are absolutely welcome.

*Dub-con is fine here as long as both participants have a reason to agree, even if they don’t want to — ie manipulating each other or in exchange for something they want.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins/The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

I opt into major character death for this fandom combination!

DNW setting change AUs (i.e., please set the fic in either the world of The Hunger Games or The Scorpio Races, or whatever combination of both you come up with)

Finnick Odair & Puck Connolly
Finnick Odair/Puck Connolly

Finnick Odair & Sean Kendrick
Finnick Odair/Sean Kendrick

Finnick Odair/Tommy Falk

It’s been a while since I’ve read The Scorpio Races, so I don’t have as many specific prompts for each ship, but I love these ideas. The themes of a potentially deadly event and of growing up near the water, in Finnick’s case, would weave together so well! I am open to however you’d like to combine the settings (or not) and however you’d like to adapt Finnick’s backstory if setting it on Thisby.

You're also very welcome to combine the Sean and Puck ships however you like; I also ship Sean/Puck. I'm happy for that interest to be background to a Finnick.& Puck or Finnick & Sean fic, or for them to be involved in whatever complicated (or simple!) poly arrangement you like!

*It’s fine to mention non/dubcon and underage sex in the context of Finnick’s past.

Katniss Everdeen & Puck Connolly
Katniss Everdeen/Puck Connolly

These are two young women who had to grow up too fast in order to provide for their families and got pushed into something very dangerous in order to protect them. How might they go together? Would they clash? (I’d love a bit of a clash.) I’m open to however you’d like to combine the settings (or not).

The Old Guard (Movie 2020)/Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)

Bart Curlish & Any Old Guard Member

DNW setting change AUs (i.e., please set the fic in either the world of The Old Guard or Dirk Gently, or whatever combination of both you come up with)

I opt into temporary major character death for this fandom combination!

Bart as a member of the Old Guard? I think there are so many cool ways to do this as a fusion or crossover. One of the OG crew as a holistic, or her as an OG; or maybe a combination of both? Anyway, I love Bart and I love the crew. <3

The Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld)/Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

DNW setting change AUs (i.e., please set the fic in either the world of Cyrano or The Addams Family, or whatever combination of both you come up with)

Cyrano de Bergerac & Gomez Addams.

Cyrano and Gomez. Fencing match of the century? Poem-off? Gomez giving Cyrano much-needed self-esteem advice? Can be a bit silly or completely serious or somewhere in between.

La casa de Asterión | The House of Asterion - Jorge Luis Borges/Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen

(Read The House of Asterion here and The Little Mermaid here)

I opt into major character death for this fandom combination!

DNW setting change AUs (i.e., please set the fic in either the world of The House of Asterion or The Little Mermaid, or whatever combination of both you come up with)

Asterion & The Little Mermaid

This I just grabbed from the tagset! I love it. How might they interact? Is Asterion a mermaid, or perhaps he was the one the mermaid saved from drowning? Maybe they interact after both their deaths? Or the mermaid was sent into the House as an offering after gaining her legs? Whatever you do, I’m sure I’ll love it.

The Court Magician - Sarah Pinsker/Skyggen | The Shadow - Hans Christian Andersen

(Read The Court Magician here and Skyggen here)

I opt into major character death for this fandom combination!

(The Magician, The Regent, and The Narrator are from The Court Magician; The Shadow (and Original Shadow Character) and The Scholar are from Skyggen.)

The Magician & The Shadow
The Magician & Original Shadow Character

The Magician & The Scholar

The Narrator & The Shadow
The Narrator & Original Shadow Character

The Narrator & The Scholar

The Princess & The Regent

The Court Magician follows a young man who discovers that real magic comes with a horrifying price; Skyggen follows a man who separates from his shadow and pays for his callousness.

Anything you do with this one would be really cool, I think! Feel free to make any relationship slashy, if you’re so inclined.

Perhaps the Magician or the Scholar loses his Shadow by using the word of power, or their Shadow persists even when they’ve lost their whole body to using their magic? The Magician takes his revenge on the person who put him in that tower as the Shadow took his revenge on the Scholar? I don’t even have a ton of specific ideas for this one, I just think it’s so neat.

Either of the canon verses is wonderful, or you’re welcome to change the setting. I just received a Skyggen fic set in space that really used the setting to inform the story!

Requests - @embraidery

The Old Guard (Movie 2020)/One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

I just watched The Old Guard and it was a lot of fun! I loved the hints at the emotional complexity of the situation and their relationships to each other, and I'd love to get more of that, if that's what you want to write -- otherwise smut or banter or action/adventure or whatever will absolutely be adored as well!

I just couldn't stop thinking about how Booker had a similar facial structure to Shanks (wider face, but similar eyes/eyebrows/nose) and then my friend said Mishanks Old Guard au and I was sold. But you're also welcome, ofc, to adjust Booker's backstory to fit the world of One Piece! I just think they could be fun. Go wild.

Critical Role (Web Series)/Tortall - Tamora Pierce

I opt into major character death for this one!

Caleb Widogast/Thom of Trebond

Ambition! Magic! Trauma! Loss! Love it. Studying magic together? Tempering each other’s most ambitious plans or egging each other on? Warning each other against getting too close to Ikithon / Duke Roger? Ignoring each other’s sage advice? Meeting each other after their respective tragedies? I’m here for it.

Critical Role (Web Series)/Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Beauregard Lionett & Holga Kilgore
Beauregard Lionett/Holga Kilgore

Martial arts ladies slightly rough around the edges social skills wise, but with SO MUCH heart. Sparring? Pub night or bathhouse trip? High Sun Games? Setting change AUs are welcome! What if they’re jaeger pilots together or something like that? (I don’t have to know the canon; just leave me a quick author’s note for context!)

Edgin Darvis/Fjord/Mollymauk Tealeaf
Edgin Darvis/Mollymauk Tealeaf

I just think it would be fun to bounce these guys off each other like marbles. One night stand? FWB? Or if smut isn’t your bag, High Sun Games? Monster killing with running commentary from Edgin as he avoids most of it? Bathhouse trip or drunken singing at the pub? Setting change AUs are welcome!

Critical Role (Web Series)/One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

Mollymauk Tealeaf/Red-Haired Shanks

Just some characters I think are hot and fun and could be hot and fun together. Is Molly a pirate, or Shanks a D&D adventurer? (What class would he be?!) Bathhouse trip or drunken singing at the pub? Setting change AUs are welcome!

Bridgerton (TV)/Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare

Benedick/Benedict Bridgerton

It started as a same name ship, but I think it would be fun! We know Benedict loves a bit of banter and they’d be so much fun together. Is Benedick in high society (or perhaps part of the art scene), or were they soldiers together in Messina? Bit of homoerotic fencing in either setting? Getting high on that special tea Benedict has in season 2? Setting change AUs are welcome!

Benedick/Simon Basset
Benedick/Don Pedro/Simon Basset

Also just a bit of fun! Fencing or boxing? Soldiers together, or part of society? (It could be interesting to have Don Pedro still a prince and Simon still a duke and perhaps Benedick has no title, or a title much lower than theirs…) Setting change AUs are welcome!

Bridgerton (TV)/One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

Benedict Bridgerton/Red-Haired Shanks

Just some fun, hot guys! How does Benedict fit into the world of One Piece, or vice versa? If Shanks is still a pirate, how do they meet? Or if Shanks has some other occupation would that be? Setting change AUs welcome!

comments

Carrara - Billy Collins

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 23:35:30 GMT

The Tyrrhenian Sea was bouncing off to the right
as we headed south down the coast,
and to the left rose the Apennine mountains,
some with their faces quarried away,
from where heavy blocks of white marble
had been cut and carried down
and stacked in rows in yards along the highway.

Is anyone hiding within? I wondered,
as we passed a little Fiat
and were passed in turn by a green Lamborghini,
hiding the way Pinocchio hid inside a log--
maybe a David who goes by another name,
or an anonymous girl caught dancing,
or any other figure encased and yet to be revealed.

Are you in there, Dawn with your sunburst halo,
concealed from the freshly sharpened chisel?
How about you, Spirit of Revolution
waving a flag of marble
and crushing the serpent of Tyranny with one foot?
Or is nobody home, no one barely breathing
in the heavy darkness of the pure white stone?

Soon, we were standing on a wide beach
where the body of Shelley had floated ashore,
and where all those questions washed away--
though later I pictured a sculptor wandering
among the blocks, hands clasped behind his back,
then deciding it was time to get to work
on a towering likeness of his favorite English poet.

comments

Rare Pair Ex 2024: Crossovers

Sat, 11 May 2024 05:30:17 GMT

Hello, dear potential creator!

This is just for my crossover pairings since I don't think my requests will all fit in the box. My general, smut, and horror likes are in my ToT letter here.

Caleb Widogast/Thom of Trebond

I am ready and willing to be surprised by whatever you have in mind, but if you'd like some guidance: I'd prefer at least a little bit of angst to unmitigated fluff, but again, I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever you write!

I'd love to see them fanning the flames of their ambition. Are they rivals? Do they start as rivals but end up working together? One thing that could provide interesting friction is that Caleb was supporting his empire whereas Thom was supporting a mage working to seize the throne. Perhaps in a world where Ikithon and Duke Roger co-exist, Caleb is supposed to take down Duke Roger and any of his supporters, and has to decide what to do about Thom.

Also welcome: rebuilding their lives/deciding who they want to be after their big mistakes.

I'm flexible on the nature of their relationship; it can be one-sided from either side, UST, pre- or post-relationship, etc. Under- or overtones of Thom/Roger are totally fine, as are Caleb/Astrid/Eadwulf.

Opt in: major character death (even Thom and Caleb), setting change AUs (though they should be magical and have similar stakes to canon)

DNW: Mundane AUs, non/dub-con between Caleb and Thom (fine for Thom/Roger to be unbalanced with inherent power differences that make it hard for proper consent to exist, but no violent rape, please)

Beauregard Lionett/Holga Kilgore

I wrote these two for an LBD request and it was a lot of fun! I love their rough edges/the way they aren't super great socially, but they're such fun characters and I think they could be great together. Sparring, one-night stand or FWB or long-term relationship, maybe they meet at the High Sun Games or on the road...

Setting change AUs (not modern and mundane) welcome!

DNW: Holga/Edgin, Edgin/Xenk, modern and mundane AUs

Edmund Pevensie (Narnia - Lewis)/The Darkling (Shadow and Bone TV)

I've been lucky enough to get a few very different takes on these two and I am still fascinated by the possibilities. Which world are they in -- Narnia's, Ravka's, England's, or a world of your creation? AUs very welcome, including modern, as long as there are stakes. (I just watched Challengers and it rewired my brain chemistry, so any sort of competitive athletics AU? Absolutely.) Are they enemies? Working together? Both? Are they genuinely attracted to each other or trying to use each other? Both?

Dubcon is welcome as long as everyone is either into it since they're attracted to each other or willing to use sex as a tool

DNW: underage sex (under 18)

Edmund Pevensie (Narnia - Lewis)/Harry D. S. Goodsir (The Terror TV)

Recently someone suggested putting a former blorbo with a current one and I just. I don't know how or if this would work, but it is compelling! (If they don't work, that's okay, too! I'm into that kind of story.)

If Edmund lived over a century earlier, what would he have done after Narnia? Any chance of crossing paths with a young surgeon? Or any other AU, honestly, especially a historical one. (And if you think you recognise this, yes, it was originally an arranged marriage prompt. I just can't figure out who would have arranged it or why, but if you have an idea, run with it!)

DNW: underage sex (under 18)

Edgin Darvis/Mollymauk Tealeaf(/Fjord)

I put Ed/Molly in the Holga/Beau fic I wrote as a throwaway reference to the night before and honestly. I'm into it. Doesn't have to be a long term thing, though I'm happy for that too! They're both so hot (and so is Fjord) and I think they could have fun.

Setting change AUs welcome!

DNW: Edgin/Xenk

Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You 1999)/Aneesa Qureshi (Never Have I Ever)

These two both play soccer and I think maybe they should kiss about it. Otherwise just have fun with it, I don't have too many specific thoughts!

DNW: underage sex (under 18)

Alexis St Martin (19th C RPF)/Harry D. S. Goodsir (The Terror TV)

Alexis St Martin was a French Canadian fur trapper who, in 1822, was shot at extremely short range with a shotgun. He was not expected to live for more than about half an hour, but with bizarre luck and the dedicated attention of his doctor, he lived! (And healed with a permanent hole into his stomach. Look him up if you want, it's a wild story.) IRL he had a contentious relationship with the doctor who patched him up and paid him to let the doctor dangle bits of food into his stomach to study digestion, and I just think he should have been taken care of by a nicer man who wouldn't have been so hoity-toity about the fact Alexis couldn't read or write.

I read about St Martin's case extensively for Yuletide and I won't be squicked by any medical descriptions of what happened to him. Go for it.

Beatrice (Much Ado - Shakespeare)/Cyrano de Bergerac

WORDPLAY and ANGST. Feel free to have as much of a tangled web of relationships as you want -- any of Beatrice/Benedick/Don Pedro, however requited or not, and any of Cyrano/Roxane/Christian, though Cyrano shouldn't actually be in a relationship with either of them since he's so emotionally constipated. Beatrice and Cyrano don't have to get together, and if they do, they don't have to stay together. Go wild! Setting change AUs welcome, as is anyone except Beatrice dying!

Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet)/Patrick Verona (10 Things I Hate About You 1999)

I was trying to write an R&J au for Kat and Patrick and Mercutio started flirting with Patrick. Very rude of him. But in all honesty I'm just throwing this out there and I'm down for whatever you think is interesting! I don't have a preference for version of Mercutio -- I've read the play, watched the Zeffirelli and Luhrmann movies, and just saw a snippet of the National Theatre one with Josh O'Connor as Romeo, but if you have a fave Mercutio, I'm happy for that one! So obviously setting change AUs are just fine by me! Mercutio can die.

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Candy Hearts 2024 Recs

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 22:00:27 GMT

I have truly been feasting this year! What a wonderful collection, and I'm not even done yet. Nonetheless, here are 15 recs in 14 fandoms (2 crossovers), including some for fandoms I'm not familiar with:

One Piece (Live Action)

a touch of color - Kaya/Nami, E, 3k.

"Just because you've never done anything with Usopp doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared for what could happen." Nami leans in, crowding Kaya so that she falls back against her pillows, silky hair fanning out across the fine embroidery. "I can teach you a bit of what I know. Friend to friend. As a birthday present. What do you think?"

Hot and a lot of fun!

How Far We Sail Together - Kaya/Nami, T, 1.9k.

Nami hasn't done a lot of things that people her age have, and neither has Kaya. Together with their friends, they manage to try out a few of them.

Lovely, sweet and introspective.

The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), The Untamed (TV)

the light upon the leaves of trees, the voice of water - Boromir/Lan Xichen, not rated, <1k.

Lan Xichen turned his head so he could brandish his smile directly at Boromir. "I was thinking of our first meeting."

A beautiful and peaceful description of their first meeting in the forest. I have not watched The Untamed. :)

Temeraire - Naomi Novik

Contentedness - William Laurence/Tenzing Tharkay, G, <1k.

Laurence reads in the Lotus Garden.

A sweet and funny moment. I have never read Temeraire!

Saltburn (2023)

choking on your alibi - Felix Catton/Oliver Quick, Felix Catton/India, E, 2.5k.

Olly comes on so innocent, so doe-eyed, but those antlers strapped to his head say hart, not hind. Far from a prey animal, Oliver Quick is the lurking, skulking persistence predator Felix has spent the entire evening pretending not to see.

Anyone else would go away in the face of Felix’s disapproval.

Everyone else always has.

An excellent alternate take on That hedge maze scene.

Wrong to Be Right - Felix Catton/Oliver Quick, M, 1k.

He'd never got to kiss Felix in life.

A funny and chilling Felix-comes-back-wrong AU.

Hunger Games Series - AMT

rubble in the aftermath - Peeta Mellark/Finnick Odair, T, 2.7k.

Death is better for them. Trust me, is the third thing Finnick Odair says to him, right after Hi, I'm-- and That's right.

Or: At the end of the 74th Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark finds Finnick Odair.

A wonderfully bittersweet Victor!Peeta au.

home is where the heart is - Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket, T, <1k.

Haymitch surprises Effie with flowers.

A gorgeous, more sweet than bitter, little moment between the two of them post-canon.

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

storytelling - Matthew Cuthbert & Anne Shirley, G, <1k.

When Matthew pulled the buggy around into the lane, he was a bit surprised to catch sight of Anne's bright hair through the pale blossoms of the trees ahead.

A pitch-perfect moment of Anne daydreaming and Matthew doing what he can to supplement her dreams.

Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

a little honesty - Richard Gansey III/Ronan Lynch (pre-relationship), G, <1k.

With visible effort, Ronan pulled himself back, sorted himself out. None of the Lynch brothers liked to appear anything other than intentional, even if it was intentionally cruel. Instead of answering, he asked, “Do you not want me to come?”
Something stuck in Gansey’s chest. “I would take all of you anywhere with me.”
– The Raven Boys

Ronan manages to answer Gansey's question. Some of it, anyway.

It's been a while since I read TRC, but this voice feels so right for canon. Complicated and adoring with so much left in the space between words.

Ted Lasso (TV)

Diamond Dogs Assemble - Roy Kent & Ted Lasso, Roy Kent & Jamie Tartt, Coach Beard & Roy Kent, G, <1k

Roy needs advice before the first match of the season, so it’s the Diamond Dogs— and long-distance Ted— to the rescue.

Delightful, funny and sweet.

Uprooted - Naomi Novik

River Water - Agnieszka/Kasia, G, <1k.

The next time Kasia wrote from Gidna to ask for a jug of water from the Spindle, I brought it to her myself.

A beautiful little moment post-canon.

Critical Role

Continuing Professional Development - Fjord/Mollymauk Tealeaf, T, 1.6k.

Activities, behaviours and values that contribute towards the effective running of a team: agility, leadership, resilience, empathy, and candour.

Fjord and Molly enjoy the learning curve.

Fjord & Beau, Molly & Beau, and Fjord/Molly are my fave M9 relationships, and they weave together so beautifully in this training montage.

And my gifts!

Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis, Shadow and Bone (TV)

The Morning Sun - The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova/Edmund Pevensie, E, 9k.

Edmund stumbles into a dark forest and an unprecedented power—but Narnia’s troubles are not his, and his sunlight belongs to himself.

In a different universe, Lucy never returned to Narnia, and Edmund kept it to himself. He grows up into a different kind of man and creates a different life for himself with a taciturn woodsman. I loved how perfect Edmund's brattier thoughts and feelings were, particularly at the beginning, as a boy. I also loved the way their relationship teetered between comforting and ominous.

Bridgerton (TV)

For her own satisfaction alone - Simon Basset/Anthony Bridgerton (genderswapped to F/F), M, 1.5k.

No, the truth of the matter was that ever since Simone returned from her scandalous Grand Tour, everything she did these days seemed deliberately calculated to get Antonia to quarrel with her, as though she chafed at Antonia's practiced composure and wished her to be consistently unsettled.

I loved how thoughtfully the author adjusted their backstories and circumstances while keeping their dialogue perfectly in character and, in particular, keeping Simon's sharp edges. A delight.

comments

Yuletide 2023 Recs: Part One

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 19:48:18 GMT

What a wonderful Yuletide it's been this year! I had a bounty of delicious and thought-provoking gifts, and I've had a great time reading other people's gifts as well. Many of these should be able to be enjoyed without knowledge of the canon; some are 5-minute fandoms, if you want to brush up on them first!

Horror-esque

Devil Among the Stars, Devil Went Down to Georgia (Song). G, 4.7k.
"The ISS Georgia picks up a stranger with a penchant for music."
This was a wonderful space gothic (as it was tagged) -- with creeping dread as you wondered what the Devil would do, balanced with just how charming they were and the beautiful descriptions of music.

What the shadow left out, Skyggen | The Shadow - Hans Christian Andersen, Unrated, 2.8k.
"I lied to him. I lied to him, while I put my feet up on my dreaded replacement, to cover it up so he might forget about its wretched presence and look at me, to keep looking at me, for once, while absent of any desire to puppet me. And perhaps he knew, when I gave him my card, and never sought sight of me again. Or perhaps, it was as Poesy said, that he simply could not open his heart to continually acknowledge that which was outside his ideals - of truth, beauty, and goodness. Or remember their existence. Not without me as an external memory bank."
Skyggen tells a tale of a shadow separated from the man he was once attached to, who becomes a man in his own right. This deliciously creepy story gives an alternate version of how he became his own man, in the house of a woman who could not accept darkness.

The Origin of Hunger, Moon Colony Bloodbath - The Mountain Goats (Album), M, 1.8k.
"There's more than one way to end up starving."
A fantastic look at one person's journey to cannibalism on a moon base.

Humor

home is where the fear is, Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld), G, 1.5k.
""I'm sure we can find you and Wednesday your perfect home!" Jessica was sure of it. Until, of course, she met Wednesday Addams."
A fun look at Wednesday and Joel's unconventional hunt for their first home.

New Neighbors, Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld), Check Please! (Webcomic), G, 1k.
"Bitty is DETERMINED that the new neighbors will like him."
Bitty (with a supportive Jack behind him) sets out to win over the Addamses.

Matilda di Canossa Presents: Succession Planning for Dummies - Crusader Kings 3 (Video Game), 11th Century CE RPF. T, 2k.
"It's always, "dear God in heaven, Matilda, how could you have eaten the pope?" and never "how was eating the pope; did the pope taste good?""
A hysterical guide for setting your chosen successor up for success, by whatever means necessary (usually murder and seduction).

Philosophical-ish

The Other Side - Hey Diddle Diddle (Nursery Rhyme), G, 1.2k.
"On the other side of the mirror, anything is possible."
A beautiful, dreamlike view of the world behind our world.

Revelations on the coast, They See What We Do Not See - Otto Mäkilä, G, 1.2k. [The painting it is inspired by is included at the top.]
"Behold, the shapes of existence to come! Yet there are those who remain unimpressed by the view. Like it does not matter that the oracles perform, like there is one simple homogeneous truth, like we are not ourselves changed in turn."
Written as a letter, it is one person's musings on the enigmatic oracles so important to their culture that a visitor from the outside does not understand.

The Waters below the Nineteenth Eastern Hall, Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), M, 1.5k.
"Between the Eleventh and the Fifteenth days of the Sixth Month in the Year the Albatross Came to the South-western Halls, there are days for which nothing was recorded. To fit into that space: a reflection on certain surprising Elements of the House."
A gorgeous, canon-voice-perfect rendition of Piranesi's discovery of erotic statues within the House and his musings on sexuality as it pertains to the House and to his own life.

Other

Two more of my gifts that didn't fit the other categories, but are still wonderful!

If You Care To Take A Dare, Devil Went Down to Georgia (Song), T, 2.1k.
"Johnny competed against the Devil with his soul on the line in every possible universe, and in every universe he always won."
A fun multiverse take on the song with variations of Johnnies competing in a variety of disciplines, and a fun twist with the last one.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia Station, Devil Went Down to Georgia (Song), T, 1.8k.
"Me, I was just about ready to play the fool myself when the Devil arrived. You see, the sector sheriff had died a little while back, and the spaceways were so infested with bandits that no law-abiding ship dared to fly. The bandits didn't come stop at Georgia Station for a drink and a fiddler either--nobody comes down here unless they've got a resupply contract, for there's only one safe route in. I was feeling my old wanderlust, what with being cooped up in one place for so long, and besides my free meals were getting smaller by the day. That's why, when the Devil came sauntering into the station's only saloon and slid into the booth across from me, bringing out her fiddle from Devil-knows-where, I listened when she made me a deal."
A fun Space Western take on the song! With absolutely gorgeous prose, the fic describes music and storytelling, and features a great twist on the original story.

I hope you all enjoy my recommendations!

comments

Dear ToT Creator

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 03:22:43 GMT

Hello!!

I am embraidery on ao3.

This is my standard general likes list, some of which might not apply for tricks, but I'll just paste it anyway!

specific horror/spooky likes, inspired by the summer of horror ex subgenre definitions:

* dark fantasy: "dark magical realism; fantasy genre elements like secondary worlds, fairy tales, or magic/sorcery" -- perhaps especially for Edmund/Darkling, anything Tortall

* folk horror: folklore, myths; especially for All Creatures Great and Small, with a beautiful, rural setting that Jim is new in; and mythical creatures

* gothic horror: "blended with romance, mystery, or adventure," "dreams and visions," "erotic elements" -- yes!!!

* institutional horror, survival horror: THE TERROR

* I'm less interested in killer horror, medical horror, religious horror, and violent horror. (Horror no longer looks like a word.)

* Basically, depending on the canon, I'm interested in the pursuit and misuse of power (especially magical power), institutions and politics, creeping dread, mythological creatures, fear of what a character might be swayed to do (give up their soul, as in Devil Went Down to Georgia, or eat people, as in The Terror)...feel free to send clarifying questions, but also just try stuff and write what you're inspired to write -- I'm in the mood to read scary things.

(But also, if horror isn't your thing, I'm happy to read gently spooky and/or angsty Tricks, too!)

general likes:

* epistolary: letters, social media/texting, in-universe documents; interactive fiction, non-linear storytelling

* canon divergence, what-ifs

* physical and emotional vulnerability, (non-)platonic intimacy

* hair!! Braiding, washing, cutting, emotional significance of…

* slow reveal of information, secrets withheld and revealed, and new information changing what the reader or the character thinks about a situation or relationship

* identity shenanigans, disguises

* settings that enclose characters — whether physically (boat/train, caves) or emotionally (social expectations, duty), road trip fics

* developing relationships, pining (requited or not), fake or secret relationships, arranged marriages

* characters experiencing an emotion they rarely get to (happiness, pleasure, vulnerability)

* the tragedy of fatal flaws and stories that couldn’t have ended any other way because of who the characters are

smut likes:

* frottage

* cunnilingus

* hand jobs

* masturbation (solo, mutual, and/or guided)

* kisses and hickeys (especially on necks, collarbones, thighs, underside of jaw)

* happy trails

* light bondage (hands tied loosely)

* light dom/sub, praise kink

comments

Dear hAPPy birthday Creator

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 03:28:35 GMT

Hello! I am embraidery on ao3 and here are all my requests on the auto ao3 app.

Each signup will have appropriate likes and DNWs if you feel like checking them out! Also, some of these are from exchanges with no character/ship matching; I’ve put whatever characters/ships I suggested in the signup box, but feel free to have fun with it!

At the bottom I've put some 5 minute fandoms; for the painting, music video, and short story, I've put links to where you can find them.

(Note: I don't want to receive works for my past Harry Potter or Brooklyn 99 requests.)

I'd like to make this as easy for you as possible, but man, it is so much information. Okay, here we go.

Books/Literature

Abarat Series - Clive Barker

John Mischief

All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot

Helen Alderson, James Herriot, James Herriot & Helen Alderson, James & Mrs Pumphrey & Tricki Woo, Siegfried Farnon, Tristan Farnon, Tristan Farnon & James Herriot

All the Crooked Saints - Maggie Stiefvater

Beatriz Soria, Beatriz Soria/Pete Wyatt, Daniel Lupe Soria, Pete Wyatt

Ancient Greek Religion & Lore

Asterion the Minotaur &/Icarus

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

Anne Shirley, Anne Shirley & any of Diana Barry, Dorothy Gardner, Marilla Cuthbert, Paul Irving, Philippa Gordon; Anne Shirley &/Gilbert Blythe, Marilla Cuthbert, Paul Irving

Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild: I originally requested this for Purimgifts, so no characters were requested. You can check that request or just go wild!

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

Esperanza/Estevan, Estevan & Mattie & Taylor Greer, Estevan&/Taylor, Lou Ann Ruiz, Lou Ann Ruiz & Taylor, Mattie, Taylor Greer, Taylor & Turtle, Turtle

Carve the Mark - Veronica Roth

Culture/Geography/Biology of Ogra, Culture/Geography/Biology of Pitha, Shotet culture, Temple and Oracle Culture of Thuvhe, Cyra Noavek, Eijeh Kereseth, Original Characters

Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

Aravis &/Lucy, Aravis&/Susan, any combo of Caspian & Lucy & Edmund, Caspian & Susan, Caspian/Edmund, Caspian/Edmund & Caspian/Lilliandil, Caspian/Peter, Edmund, Edmund & OMC, Edmund & Susan, Lucy &/OFC, Lucy &/Sea Girl, Pevensie siblings, Susan, Susan & Lucy, Susan/OFC, Western Edge of the World

Frogkisser! - Garth Nix

Magics and Potions, Merlin Backstory, More Wacky and Flawed Magical Items, The Good Wizard Backstory, The Good Wizard, Merlin | Snow White, The Seven Dwarves, Original Characters

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Andy Barbour & Theo Decker, Boris Pavlikovsky & Pippa, Boris & Popchik, James "Hobie" Hobart & Pippa, Theo & Hobie, Theo & Popchik

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams I also requested this for Purimgifts, so while I've requested specific characters for other exchanges, you can also just go wild.

Zaphod Beeblebrox, Zem the Mattress, The Captain of Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B, Pink-Winged Insectoid Receptionist

Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins

Cinna & Katniss Everdeen, Finnick Odair, Haymitch Abernathy & Katniss, Haymitch & Peeta Mellark, Katniss & Finnick, Mags & Finnick, Peeta

La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Perrault

Any of Bluebeard's Wives/Any of Bluebeard's Wives

Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino: Worldbuilding (you can check the specific request if you like, or just go wild)

The Islanders - Christopher Priest

Any Island, Any Character, Any Relationship

Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale)

Little Red Riding Hood &/ Wolf

Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

Goldberry, Goldberry/Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow

Mink River - Brian Doyle

I think this was for another exchange with no character/ship matching, so you can do whatever, but faves: Billy, Cedar, Maple Head, any combo of Cedar/Billy/Maple Head, Grace

The Ones We Burn - Rebecca Mix

Aramis Sunra & Galen Sunra & Foldrey Wolfe, Ranka & Aramis & Galen & Percy (& optional Foldrey Wolfe), Ranka & Galen, Ranka/Aramis

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

Piranesi, Piranesi & The House

Rapunzel (Fairy Tale)

Prince/Rapunzel & Their Children, Prince/Rapunzel, Rapunzel & Witch, Rapunzel

Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater: Another no character/ship matching exchange, but what I technically requested:

Puck, Connolly Family, Tommy Falk

Secret Language of Girls - Frances O’Roarke Dowell

Kate Faber/Marylin McIntosh

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Nina Zenik &/Inej Ghafa

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

The Magic of the Library, Other Ports on the Sea, Other Doors and Visitors, Long-ago parties and balls

Tortall - Tamora Pierce

Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, Alanna & any of Alex, Buri & Thayet, Eleni Cooper, Faithful, Raoul; Alanna/Jonathan, Duke Roger & Thom, George/Jonathan, George/Liam Ironarm, Jonathan, Jonathan/Raoul, Liam Ironarm, Raoul, Thayet, Thayet/Buri.

Comics/Cartoons

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes, Calvin & Calvin’s Mother

Over the Garden Wall: no character/ship matching

Tintin-All Media Types

Snowy & Tintin, Snowy

Movies

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Bianca & Kat, Bianca & Kat & Walter, Kat, Kat/Patrick, Patrick

The Addams Family(Movies - Sonnenfeld)

Morticia, Wednesday, Gomez/Morticia

Bandits (2001)

Joe Blake & Terry Collins, Joe Blake/Kate Wheeler/Terry Collins

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

Jess Bhamra/Jules Paxton

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Forge Fitzwilliam, Holga, Xenk Yendar (check the request for suggested ships)

Enola Holmes (2020)

Enola Holmes & Tewky, Enola & Eudoria Holmes, Enola & Sherlock

The Family Stone (2005)

Amy Stone, Thad Stone

Home Again (2017)

Harry, George, Teddy, Alice/Harry, and any of the boys & any of Alice’s kids

Labyrinth (1986)

Sarah Williams

Lagaan (2001)

Bhuvan/Elizabeth Russell/Gauri, Elizabeth Russell/Gauri

Maverick (1994)

Annabelle Bransford, Annabelle Bransford/OFC, Bret Maverick, Bret Maverick/Joseph, Joseph

Pacific Rim (Movies)

Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori

Shrek: no character/ship matching

While You Were Sleeping

Jack Callaghan/Lucy Moderatz

Theatre/Other/No Media

Critical Role

Beauregard Lionett, Caleb Widogast, Fjord, Fjord/Mollymauk Tealeaf, Jester, Molly, Nott, Pumat Sol, Yasha

Crossover Fandom(note: Alanna always refers to Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau)

Tortall & Critical Role: Alanna & Buri & Beau Lionett, Alanna & Liam Ironarm & Beau Lionett, Alanna/Beau, Caleb Widogast/Thom of Trebond

Narnia & Six of Crows: Aravis & Lucy & Inej & Nina, Aravis/Inej (& optional Nina), Aravis/Inej/Nina

Narnia & 10 Things I Hate About You: Susan/Kat Stratford & Lucy, Lucy & Susan & Kat Stratford, Susan&/Kat

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency & Various: Amanda Brotzman/Beau Lionett (CR), Bart Curlish & Nadia Vulvokov (Russian Doll)

10 Things I Hate About You & Various: Aneesa Qureshi (Never Have I Ever) &/ Kat Stratford, Kat Stratford &/Kate Sharma (Bridgerton TV), Kat Stratford/Any Female Character You Like

Misc: Alanna (Tortall) & Fa Mulan (Disney’s Mulan), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) &/ Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano de Bergerac), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) &/ Emilia (Othello), Creator's Choice of Character (Much Ado) & CCoF (Othello), Beau Lionett (CR) & Susan Pevensie (Narnia) & Alanna (Tortall), Elizabeth Swann (PotC) & Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows), Katniss Everdeen (THG) & Citra Terranova (Arc of a Scythe), Lucy Pevensie (Narnia) & Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Edmund Pevensie &/ The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova (S&B), Dorian Gray (Picture of Dorian Gray) &/ Dryd Bathurst (The Islanders)

Crossover Fandom with any/no characters (feel free to check the requests):

any of Piranesi, Labyrinth (1986), Invisible Cities, Abarat Series, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Monument Valley, Devil Went Down to Georgia (Song)

any of Chronicles of Narnia, The Boxcar Children, Anne of Green Gables, The Penderwicks Series, Over the Garden Wall

any of The Bean Trees, Wayfarers Series, All the Crooked Saints

any of Arc of a Scythe Series, Six of Crows Series, The Goldfinch, Song of the Lioness Series

any of Binti Series, Wayfarers Series, Skybreaker - Kenneth Oppel

any of Binti Series, Wayfarers Series, Pacific Rim (Movies)

any of Critical Role Campaign Two, Song of the Lioness Series, Wayfarers Series

Arc of a Scythe Series, Hunger Games Trilogy

Arc of a Scythe Series, Six of Crows

The Addams Family, Anne of Green Gables

Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

any combo of Christian/Roxane/Cyrano, Cyrano, Cyrano &/ Le Bret, de Guiche, Le Bret

Fiddler on the Roof- Bock/Harnick/Stein: no character/ship matching, but I suggested:

Perchik, Fyedka/Chava

Minecraft

Axolotl, Drowned, Player, Pillager, Villager

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare: also no character/ship matching, but I suggested:

Beatrice, Beatrice/Benedick, Benedick, Benedick/Claudio, Benedick/Don Pedro, Don Pedro, Hero/Don John, Hero

Stardew Valley

Abigail/Female Player, Elliott & Leah, Elliott & Leah & Player, Elliott & Leah/Female Player, Krobus & Leo, Krobus & Player

Three Days of Rain - Richard Greenberg: no character/ship matching

TV Shows

Bridgerton (TV)

Bridgerton Benedict & Eloise, Benedict/OMC, Eloise & Kate Sharma, Kate/Anthony, Simon, Simon & Daphne, Simon & Gregory & Hyacinth, Simon/Anthony

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016)

Amanda Brotzman, Amanda & Dirk Gently, Amanda & The Rowdy 3, Amanda & Todd, Amanda/Litzibitz Trost, Bart, Bart & Ken, Bart & Panto Trost, Bart & Suzie, Farah Black, Farah & Todd & Dirk, Farah/Amanda, Ken, Litzibitz, The Beast, Todd, Todd & Dirk, Dirk

Drop Dead Diva: No character matching, so go wild, but I requested:

Jane, Stacy, Teri

Glitch (TV 2015)

Charlie Thompson

The Good Place: no character matching

Grace and Frankie

Grace & Frankie

The Great

Aunt Elizabeth, Catherine, Catherine/Leo, Catherine/Marial, Catherine/Marial/Leo, Catherine/Peter, Leo, Marial, Peter

Lupin (TV 2021)

Assane Diop, Assane & Claire & Raoul, Assane & Guedira, any combo of Assane/Benjamin/Claire, Philippe Courbet

Merlin

Merlin &/Arthur, Gaius & Merlin, Gwen & Merlin

Never Have I Ever

Trent Harrison, Trent Harrison/Paxton Hall-Yoshida

New Girl

Jessica Day/Nick Miller, Joan Day/Nick Miller

Numb3rs

Charlie Epps

One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)

Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks/Dracule Mihawk

Partner Track

Ingrid Yun/Jeff Murphy

Pushing Daisies

Chuck, Ned, Ned/Chuck

Russian Doll

Nadia Vulvokov, Maxine, Lizzy, Original Private Investigator

Ted Lasso

Keeley Jones/Rebecca Welton, Sam Obisanya/Rebecca Welton

The Terror (2018): no character/ship matching so have fun, but suggested in the signup:

Francis Crozier, Francis Crozier &/ James Fitzjames, Francis Crozier & Thomas Blanky, Francis Crozier & Thomas Jopson, Harry D. S. Goodsir, James Fitzjames, Thomas Blanky, Thomas Jopson, Bridgens/Peglar, Goodsir/Crozier

5 Minute Fandoms

Aimless Love - Billy Collins (Poetry)

Any Statue, Chess Pieces, Elk River, Mouse with a Match, Snowglobe Inhabitants, The Four-Moon Planet, The Four-Moon Planet Inhabitants

The Carrying - Ada Limón (Poetry)

Eve, The Narrator, The Goldfinches, Mammoth Cave National Park, Any Horse

Crossing - Shaun Tan (Painting) - find it here

Cat, People on the Cat’s Head

Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band (Song) - find the lyrics here

Johnny, Devil, Johnny & Devil, Johnny/Devil

Genghis Khan - Miike Snow (Music Video) - find it here

Song and Dance in the Wider Universe, How Secret Agent Lost His Finger, Heroism and Villainy, Original Characters, Gold Nose Villain, Secret Agent

The House of Asterion - Borges (Short Story) - find it here

The Labyrinth, Any of the Nine Men, Ariadne, Asterion, Original Characters, The Translator

Original Work

Mermaids/Humans

dainty mermaid/big buff female sailor | dockhand he's crushing on, dainty mermaid/big buff female sailor | dockhand she's crushing on, lighthouse keeper/mermaid, mermaid who does not or cannot live on land/sailor lover/sailor's spouse, mermaid/human they saved once, mermaid that loves humans/mermaid that hates humans/clueless human, Stranded mermaid/human caring for her (F/F), mermaid witch/lonely local human woman

Mermaids & Humans

baby mermaid who floated away from parent & worried parent mermaid & friendly human, foolhardy adolescent mermaid & kind human adult who keeps rescuing them, mermaid & child who believes in imaginary friends, mermaid curious about humans & mermaid scared of humans & human, teen intern & marine biologist & mermaid they discovered during field work, teen mermaid & teen human

Mermaid Misc

half-human half-mermaid, injured mermaid &/ human caretaker, terrifying giant deep-sea female mermaid captured for study, mermaid curious about humans/mermaid scared of humans, mermaid witch, teen mermaid & teen wind witch, mermaid shopkeeper/flirty mermaid adventurer

Other Original Work

Death & Lucky Explorer Who Always Narrowly Escapes Dying, Female Sailor Who Ferries People Between the Islands of an Archipelago, Friendly Shark & Scuba Diver, Gentle Monster/Human Childhood Friend They've Fallen in Love With, Ghost of a Prehistoric Creature & Person Who Has a Piece of Its Fossil Remains, Older gentleman/his younger wife whom he adores, Witch Who Recently Moved In/Hunter Who Brings Her Potion Materials (F/Any)

comments

FFFX Letter 2023

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 03:53:53 GMT

Hello!! I am embraidery on ao3. Feel free to check my autoao3 everything page if you'd like links to past letters or to get an idea of what I'm into, if that's helpful. This is my first FFFX letter, so I'm not entirely sure what to include!
The general theme for my requests, entirely accidental, is of stories of people trapped in their societal roles and hierarchies. Many are tragedies not only of society but also of personality. I'm definitely here for explorations of the difficult feelings and hard consequences.

Where To Find My Canons

The Terror, Shadow and Bone: check online; Shadow and Bone should still be on US Netflix. I don't know if there are any streaming services that have The Terror for free. (Wink.)

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

Cyrano de Bergerac: it might be helpful to watch one of the movies first if you're wholly unfamiliar with the plot, even though I'm requesting the play version

Chronicles of Narnia: I'm only requesting Edmund, who has the biggest appearances in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; you certainly wouldn't have to read all of them. I've linked VDT, my favourite.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Islanders is a novel written kind of like a travelogue for fictional islands where the truth is unknown or always changing. Besides the dubiously factual entries on the islands, it includes essays, newspaper articles, scientific journals, investigative papers, letters, interrogation transcripts, diary entries, and other documents on ordinary and famous people of the islands.

Critical Role: it's a Dungeons and Dragons real play series; here are the videos. I'm only requesting characters from the second campaign. The podcast version of the episodes are slightly harder to find; it seems to start at episode 20 on Spotify.

General Likes

epistolary fiction (letters, in-universe documents), interactive fiction, non-linear storytelling, experimental formats
canon divergence, what-ifs
physical and emotional vulnerability, (non-)platonic intimacy
hair!! braiding, washing, cutting, emotional significance of...
the slow reveal of information, secrets withheld and revealed, and new information changing what the reader or the character thinks about a situation or relationship
identity shenanigans
settings that enclose characters--whether physically (boat/train, caves), or emotionally (social expectations, duty)
developing relationships, (un)requited pining, fake or secret relationships, arranged marriages
characters experiencing an emotion they rarely get to, especially happiness, pleasure, vulnerability
the tragedy of fatal flaws and stories that couldn't have ended any other way because of who the characters are

Smut Likes

frottage
hand jobs
masturbation (solo, mutual, and/or guided)
kisses and hickeys (especially on necks, underside of jaws, collarbones, thighs)
happy trails
loosely tied hands
walking in on masturbation

General DNWs

See individual requests for exceptions.

Non/dubcon
Explicitly detailed sex
Omegaverse
Underage sex (under 18)
Incest
Oviposition
Scat/watersports
Explicit violence/gore
Character death that doesn't happen in canon
Setting change AUs

Much Ado About Nothing and Othello I've requested as a crossover, as well as Much Ado by itself. I think they're the comedy and tragedy versions of the same coin. There would be so many ways to play with that, whether you write for one or both: what would it take to make Much Ado a tragedy, or Othello a comedy?

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare

Beatrice, Benedick, Hero

There is so much to love about this play and yet so much to critique. I itch for a longer version that lets Beatrice hold on to her anger, to ask Benedick to go through with challenging Claudio, that holds just about every man in the play (except for Benedick and the friar) accountable for their actions. I have quite a few different plot bunnies since I just did a bit of a deep dive on the play (and several of its adaptations) for Fandom5K, but I'll try to restrain myself.
I'm so happy for gender swaps, role swaps, and/or setting AUs; either and all are a great way of examining the ~society~ stuff that so fascinates me! Feel free to mash as many of these ideas together as you like.

Beatrice cross-dresses to challenge Claudio, or she was always a man, or she wakes up in Benedick's body one morning and uses that opportunity to her advantage.
F/F or M/M Beatrice/Benedick. If Benedick is a woman, presumably she has no power with Claudio and Don Pedro. What would Beatrice do then to try to right the situation and get her revenge? If Beatrice was a man, did he fight in the war with the lads? How does that change how he got his revenge, and how does it change his relationship with Benedick?
Talk to me about Hero. Why does she agree to marry Claudio after what he did? Is she happy about it? What if the answers to those questions were different?
I requested this for grief/mourning flash, and I think there are great opportunities for a wide variety of stories that centre on grief.
Relationships: Benedick sleeping with his fellow soldiers during the war. Did they break. them off when they left, or just kept them secret? How would those relationships affect the way Benedick was on Beatrice's side and Don Pedro stuck with Claudio?
What is similar and different in a different era and/or location? I'd prefer an era before, say, 1950, and an AU with similar stakes in terms of war and the ruination of a woman's reputation.
What would it take to get Don Pedro believing Hero's side of the story? If he had sided with her (and, perhaps more importantly, Benedick), would Claudio have stood his ground or folded?

I'm good with these ships, requited or unrequited, unless noted. Combinations of them, as triads or V or W shapes or whatever else you dream up, are very welcome.

Benedick/Beatrice, Don Pedro, or Claudio
Claudio/Benedick, Don Pedro, or Hero
Don Pedro/Benedick, Claudio; could have unrequited feelings for Beatrice
Don John/Hero, or unrequited for Claudio

I've requested Beatrice, Benedick, and Hero as a starting point, but I'm fascinated by the main characters (not the guardsmen and Dogsberry), and if you want to go on a long tangent about Don John and Don Pedro's relationship or something like that, please do.

I opt into setting change AUs (not modern and mundane) for this canon. I also opt into character death that doesn't happen in canon, like if Benedick (or Beatrice) kills Claudio.

Crossover Fandom

Othello & Much Ado About Nothing

Creator's Choice of Character (Othello) & Creator's Choice of Character (MAAN), Beatrice/Emilia

I framed it as CCoF&CCoF since I wasn't sure how else to nominate, but this is really carte blanche to mash these stories together in some way. Whether it's one (or more) characters transplanted into the other story, or borrowing elements of the other story plot-wise, or mashing them all together, I'm sure I'll love it.
As with Much Ado, I'm so here for gender swapping and role swapping and the like.

I'm particularly interested in seeing characters with similar roles interacting. Beatrice and Emilia don't have similar roles, but upon seeing Othello for the first time, I was struck by how fiercely feminist Emilia was, and I'd love to see her interacting with Beatrice. Similarly, Don John and Iago or Othello and Don Pedro? I'd love to see more depth given to Hero and/or Desdemona, together or separately.
Of course, characters with different roles is also very interesting! What if Othello hadn't married Desdemona yet, and asked Beatrice if she might like to marry him, if she wouldn't have anyone else? Claudio and Desdemona?
What if Othello and Desdemona weren't married yet, with room for a Much Ado-type plot for someone to ruin their wedding before it happens? Or Claudio and Hero were already married, and Don John (or Iago) had to try to ruin their cemented marriage?

See the request for Much Ado for ships I'm cool with, but I'm also happy for crossover ships, as mentioned above or as anything else you can dream up that seems fitting. Canon Othello ships also work for me. I haven't looked at many fanworks for it, so I don't know what the fanon ships are, but I don't mind those either!

I opt into non-canonical character death (as in character death that didn't happen in canon) and setting change AUs for this canon.

Cyrano de Bergerac - Rostand & Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare

Beatrice/Cyrano de Bergerac, Beatrice & Cyrano de Bergerac

I just think they're neat! At first I was absolutely in it for the wordplay angle, two brilliant minds meeting, but the more I think about it the more complicated it gets. Beatrice is absolutely verbally combative, but it's all directed outwards, whereas Cyrano does a ton of collateral damage to himself whenever he unleashes his anger on someone. Cyrano has the option to fight with a literal blade, and often does. Beatrice doesn't have that option -- but would she take it, if she did? She might fight Claudio, but otherwise I don't know how much she would pick up a literal sword. (I'm here to be convinced, though!)
So as many similarities as they have, they also have a ton of differences, and it could be complicated for them to navigate a developing relationship (platonic or romantic). I'm absolutely here for messy feelings, self-loathing, emotional facades and breaking them down, unrequited love, relationships that just can't work out even though both people love each other, etc etc.

Any sort of letter-writing and shenanigans is welcome!
What if Beatrice asked Cyrano to protect her love Benedick, who was just joining Cyrano's cadet? Oh shit do I want a messy Cyrano/Beatrice/Benedick situation? I AM OPEN TO IT.
You can check my request for Much Ado for ideas for pairings to include, whether or not the feelings are requited, whether or not the relationships last. As for Cyrano: any combo of Cyrano/Christian/Roxane, Le Bret pining for Cyrano, Cyrano believing himself in love with Hero, etc.
I'm open to Cyrano dying in your fic even if the storyline is otherwise different from the play. How is his tragedy different? What secrets, if any, are revealed at the end?
Feel free to play with gender; I especially love the idea of Beatrice cross-dressing. I'm less interested in cisswapping her for a requited / request, maybe because I have a hard time imagining Cyrano allowing himself to recognise or indulge in having feelings for a men (which, to be clear, I think he does; he's just repressed). But if you're doing a & take on it, or an unrequited / kind of situation, go for it! I love thinking about Beatrice with more societal power!

I opt into setting change AUs (not modern and mundane) for this crossover.

The Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis & Shadow and Bone (TV)

Edmund Pevensie/Aleksander Morozova | The Darkling, Edmund Pevensie & Aleksander Morozova | The Darkling

My unabashed darkfic request (my other requests are absolutely geared towards something solemn, if not dark, but at least I can imagine a happier scenario for them; it's harder to imagine a happy scenario for these two!). I initially envisioned the Darkling as taking the place of Jadis as Edmund's tempter when he first arrives in Narnia, with Ed as a Sun Summoner, but there are so many good directions you could take this prompt. Fuse the worlds as much or as little as you want!

What would it take to get Edmund out of the Darkling's clutches/convince him that what the Darkling wants is wrong?
Is this post-LWW or did something other than Edmund's canonical "betrayal"* storyline make him realise he was being a selfish brat? Or did he never get that wake-up call and thoroughly embraced being selfish? I'm cool with him being a villain, to whatever degree you like!
*I'm not convinced he betrayed his siblings. He was told that they would all rule. Sure, he had a little prickle in the back of his head that Jadis was bad news, but he was like nine and she was nice to him and gave him drugged candy and told him they were all gonna rule Narnia. I'm kind of on his side here.
If you write a setting change AU: I have a slight preference for there still being magic, but honestly I'm here for interesting ways to interpret the Darkling's goals and what tools he'd use to achieve them. What might Edmund have access to that he would want, and vice versa? Political power? Money? A new, highly secretive kind of technology?

I opt into setting change AUs for this crossover.

Normal DNW of dubcon waived for this request, as long as both of them want to be doing whatever they're doing (and "want" can mean "isn't attracted to the other one, but thinks doing this will sway the other one to their side." But DNW underage still applies and if Edmund is under 20 I DNW the Darkling attracted to him romantically or sexually. Also, DNW Edmund explicitly being into women.

The Picture of Dorian Gray & The Islanders

Dorian Gray/Dryd Bathurst, Dorian Gray & Dryd Bathurst

Another probably darkfic request.

Dryd Bathurst is a character from The Islanders. He's a ridiculously charismatic, enigmatic, talented painter who travels from island to island, often fleeing after sleeping with the wrong person. His description: A tall young man of slender build, narrow-hipped, with a chiselled face and lustrous fair hair. He looked sullen and aggressive, but also vulnerable.

Later in life: His face remained aquiline and attractively angular, his fair hair flowed about his shoulders. He moved with feline grace and carried himself with an aura of manly strength... His force of personality was extraordinary. Everyone present felt acutely aware of him, as if he was exerting a magnetic attraction.

I think they'd make an interesting, chaotic, selfish power couple! Basil obviously couldn't keep up with Dorian after the magical portrait was made. What if Dryd had painted that fateful portrait, or Dorian met him after Basil painted it? Would Dryd have been involved in Basil's murder? What sorts of erotic, hedonistic adventures might they get up to?

Dryd doesn't have any dialogue in The Islanders, as far as I remember. You'd be welcome to invent a personality for him and/or keep him mysterious by doing outsider POV type stuff. What do people say about him and Dorian? I'd love in-universe documents: obituary for either of them, essay on one of his paintings (perhaps of Dorian, or Dorian posed as a Greek god or something), letters to or from either of them, gossip columns, serious newspaper articles about events they host, or crimes they commit, etc.

Also, check above for smut likes ;)

DNW Exceptions: I'm okay with explicitly detailed sex, explicit violence/gore, and character death for this crossover.

The Terror (TV 2018)

Francis Crozier, Harry D. S. Goodsir, James Fitzjames

This is my newest fandom and I love it. I love how big a part society plays in their doom: anti-Irish sentiment, Navy hierarchy, the way Fitzjames got his captaincy, etc etc. Just how many times a crisis could have been averted if someone felt like they could go over their superior's head on a decision...woof. Anyway.

I've requested my three faves solo to give you, my creator, the most freedom, but by all means include them interacting with other people! Some of my favourite relationships are Crozier & Blanky, Crozier & Fitzjames, Crozier & Goodsir... As for slash ships: one of the things I like most about the show is men chafing against & submitting to the hierarchy of the navy, which dooms them. I'm most interested in enforced heterosexuality being part of the social norm that kills them, so if there are romantic or sexual undertones in the fic, I'd prefer them to be angsty "he doesn't even realise he's in love" kind of stuff. I don't want smut. I'm okay with a forehead kiss or a lingering handshake or something, but for me it's allllll about the repression.

ANYWAY. If you do wanna include those undertones, requited or unrequited: Crozier/Fitzjames is the main one for me. Hickey having an unrequited thing for Crozier is interesting. Crozier/Jopson of any flavour is so...! Oh and Fitzjames having complicated, admiring, possibly rom/sexual but possibly wanting a father figure feelings for Sir John, absolutely unrequited? Chef's kiss.

Some ideas, which you can combine/jump off from/completely ignore as desired:

Sir John dies later than he does in the show. Crozier launches his mutinous rescue mission. When he comes back, Sir John has died and Fitzjames is the only captain (or he's appointed one of the lieutenants to be his second). Not having that long period of commanding together, as well as Crozier having mutinied against Fitzjames' beloved Sir John....Can they reach an understanding and mutual respect before Fitzjames succumbs to lead poisoning? (The answer can absolutely be no.)
I loved the scene between Goodsir and Crozier before Goodsir's death ("You have nothing to fear. Not you. You're clean, Goodsir.") and we didn't get to see them developing this closer relationship. I'd love to see that grow!
Goodsir character study: Goodsir and Sir John are the two characters who talk the most about God. I think Goodsir's trying so hard to convince himself of everything. Tries to convince himself that they're doing the right thing as he explains to Silna why they're looking for the passage. I love that even as everything he believed in fell down around his ears ("Is there a God here, Captain? Any God?") and he believed himself lost ("If ever I was a doctor, I am one no longer"), he held onto his dignity and strength. I'm obsessed with him and I'd love to know what he was thinking. If he survived, would he still have faith in his God?
I was very curious about his motivation for his murder-suicide (I suppose you could call it). In his estimation, killing several people by poisoning them (assuming they committed the sin of cannibalism) isn't a worse sin than cutting up a man in order to be eaten?? Or does he figure if he's going to Hell he might as well go in a Lincoln and take these sinners along with him? Or he's given up on the idea of God and he just wants to stop these people from killing each other?
What if Crozier had managed to convince Goodsir to leave the mutineers' camp with him (or, idk, hit him on the head real hard to knock him out and carried him away?
I have complicated feelings about Goodsir and Silna! I feel like she shouldn't have to be friendly or kind to any of the men who killed her father and kidnapped her, but it also makes sense that, as much time as she spent there, she would consider Goodsir a relatively safe person to spend time with. Her curling up behind him during his panic attack KILLED me. So basically I don't want a whole fic about them, but especially in the context of a character study, I'd be into some time spent on them and how their relationship figured into his arc.
Anything changing when a character died. Earlier? Later? What if Goodsir had been the only surgeon/doctor earlier in the show, or Stanley hadn't tried to kill everyone and the ships had a full complement of surgeons and doctors until later? Would Stanley have tried to suppress the truth about the canned food?
Fitzjames's arc with Crozier is so delicious to me. And also Fitzjames in general! I noticed the only two times he cried were at Sir John's death and during/after the talk with Crozier where Crozier validated him and declared them brothers (which ALSO killed me). Did he cry in private at all? How did he deal with All That Shit?
Crozier and Jopson...the layers! I'm here for an ambiguous relationship that has different dynamics at different times. And DEVOTION.
Crozier and Blanky....their history! I loved them laughing about the reindeer before Crozier sank back into apprehension, and Blanky just trying to be optimistic (at least on the outside). Them laughing together about Blanky's planned self-sacrifice. I love what the showrunners said about how each character steps into a horror story at a different point in the show, and Blanky refuses. His story never becomes a horror story, and I love that for him.

I didn't talk as much about Fitzjames, but rest assured, I love him and his growth! I just don't have as much to say, perhaps because we see less of him interacting with other characters than the other two?

Also, exceptions to my non-canonical character death and explicit violence/gore DNW for this fandom. My only fandom-specific DNWs are Silna/anyone and any sexual content. DNWs of setting change AUs and omegaverse still apply. Anything else in the show is fair game (death, injury, etc etc!).

The Islanders - Christopher Priest

Worldbuilding

I'm so fascinated by the world of The Islanders; I think whatever you create I will love, because there is so much to explore!

I enthusiastically opt in for in-universe documents and fics that combine as many documents and traditional, narrative stories as you like. Feel free to write about one character/island or many.

Create a new island and/or character! I love getting into the whys of an island -- the winds, currents, geology, etc shaping the nature of the island and its culture. But also political and cultural aspects (though I'd rather the war between Glaund and Faiandland remain in the background) and just about anything else you can dream up. I'd love if the island felt tied into the existing world in some way, whether by having established characters play a part in its history, or having a close relationship with an existing island, or something like that.
An existing island I loved to read about was Mesterline -- the spell of the island's water, life in a house built against a sheer cliff, the joy and anger of the the people tearing down the water bottling plant.
Athanasia -- I'm fascinated by the philosophical, ethical, and practical implications of people becoming mortal. The line about employers starting to discriminate in favour of Athanasians because they wanted to hire people who wouldn't die has SO MANY IMPLICATIONS.
Jordenn Yo -- I'm super interested in her art, both in an abstract, major picture kind of way (talking about its effect on the islands, or what people think about it), but also in a more personal way -- I love the chapter where she's involved with Oy and how singing along with the mountain relieves her deep-seated anger. (One of his other books, The Gradual, talks about how there are some people who are literally in tune with the islands, and many of them express that through music.)
Also, Oy -- I think his art is interesting! I especially liked the fake sand dune, the upside-down staircase, and filling the cottages with concrete. I'd love an in-universe think piece on his art (and/or an arrest warrant documenting the crimes he's committed against an island), or invent another art piece for him to make?
I love so many of the artists on the islands. DRYD BATHURST. I'd love an in-universe example of the "theoretical, analytical, and academic papers attempting to unravel the enigmas perceived in his paintings." (I've also requested Dryd Bathurst/Dorian Gray, if that angle interests you!)
If you're familiar with Invisible Cities | Le Citta Invisibili, I'd love a take on the islands that incorporates that philosophy! See the chapter in The Islanders about Piqay or Siff especially for passages that inspired this request, or the forward about how you can't trust maps and you can only experience or imagine reality.
More character/relationship oriented prompts: I'd love something about Caurer and Chaster -- their few days together, or she sees his ghost at his funeral and they get closure. Or Dant Willer and Caurer -- their friendship (or romance?) and their quiet life in their secluded school.
I'm curious about the creepy fear towers! What's going on with them? I'm less interested in Alvasund's story and more in the history of the towers -- how and by whom were they built? What are the snaky things? What was it like when people tried (successfully or unsuccessfully) to pull them down? I am totally down for an exploration of the tower changing Torm's psyche and what it's like when Alvasund comes back and finds that he's rebuilt it. I don't really want anyone permanently injured or killed by the towers, though it's fine for people to be scared and see scary visions. It's also totally fine to discuss legends of people being permanently injured or killed in the past -- I just don't want to be an eyewitness to it, if that makes sense!

Fandom-specific DNWs: suicide/murder/execution (even if canonical). Please avoid stories about Kerith Sington, Commis, and Chaster's involvement in that storyline (though it's fine for that storyline to be why Caurer gets in touch with Chaster in the first place, and for her to ask questions I assume he would avoid answering), and the tragic end of Kal Kapes and his wife. Also, I DNW stories about the military presences on the island and the characters involved, like Lorna, Tomak, or the story of Winho.

Note re: setting change AUs --happy for you to invent new islands etc, but don't change the setting by adding the supernatural beyond what's hinted at (spooky towers anyone?) or soulmate tattoos or moving the entire thing to space.

Critical Role - Web Series

Mollymauk Tealeaf, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Fjord

I adore Molly and Fjord. Together I love that their stories are different takes on leaving behind a life that “wasn’t worth living” (in Fjord’s case) or belonged to someone else (Molly), finding an unexpected family and then another one, trying to become a better person and leave the world better than you found it. So many similarities; they’ve been born into ostentatious bodies that might draw negative attention, but whereas Molly drew more attention on purpose, Fjord at first tried to reduce his difference to everyone else. I adored how Molly gave the bandits that tried to rob them a gold coin and Fjord noted how much he liked that; I’d like to think that if Fjord knew Molly snuck a silver into the pocket of everyone in Alfield that bought them a drink, he’d respect that, too. Such wonderful men making the best of what they have. Oh also, Fjord wanting to be part of Molly praying over his swords — any exploration of Molly’s genuine faith, what it means to him, and what it might mean to Fjord would be wonderful, before or after Fjord’s conversion to the path of the Wildmother.

Molly’s storyline was beautiful and I loved his conversation with the M9 about how he was not Lucien and none of that was anything to do with him. (What might he have done if he had lived, if he had been able to get rid of the red eyes?) I loved the way he butted heads with Nott, and in retrospect, knowing exactly why Nott would take the opposite position. (Such tastey trans vibes!) What if, if Molly was resurrected, he was able to revisit that conversation with Veth? I also loved Molly and Beau’s developing friendship and the way he impacted her philosophy, and Molly and Yasha’s wonderful friendship, though Molly and any of the M9 is just fine!

I’m happy for any amount of exploration you’d like to do around Molly’s genderfluidity, including no exploration at all, though in general I prefer Molly using he/him pronouns. I like the idea of his actual gender being something just for him (or select, trusted companions), not because it's private but because he just doesn't feel the need to share, and his presentation being a mix of performance and genuinely whatever works for him. Also re: sexuality, I’d be into Molly/original characters or canon characters from his past, exploring what he’s into and how that ties into his storyline of creating his identity.

So many interesting things to do with canon divergence. What if Fjord had encountered the carnival before he met Jester and found a home there? (Fjord as a sword swallower?) Molly lives AUs, or Molly is reincarnated later, and he gets to know the new Fjord. Also, setting AUs! Nothing modern or mundane, please, but I would be into sci-fi and/or fantasy settings, whether an existing canon (I don’t need to be familiar with it) or a setting you create. Anything exploring the relationship between body, mind, and identity would be much loved; AI, android and cyborg bodies, etc, are wonderful. Given how much they both have foreign bodies in their bodies, what would it look like if those elements were computer or mechanical elements?

Gen Fjord & Molly is perfectly wonderful, (though I would prefer any Fjord/Jester you include to be in the background), but if you’re interested in Fjord/Molly: I love interpreting Fjord’s comments about Molly probably bringing someone up to their room or whatever as envy, whether he realises it or not. So many “but they were roommates” possibilities! Pub nights or spa trips, Molly teaching Fjord how to dance or flirt (I love that Fjord tries to help Beau with compliments and other social skills, but he has this whole other world of skills he himself could learn), Fjord dipping his toe into Molly’s hedonistic lifestyle and trying some fun new magical drug. Patching each other up after a scuffle with a monster. (All of these prompts are great as gen too!)

Fjord having relatively little experience and just not realising what he’s feeling, or is insecure about it. Anything from unrequited interest (on Fjord’s end) to them having a fling, to friends with benefits, to ride-or-die ship — I’m here for it. Fjord dreaming about Molly in between his creepy Uk’otoa dreams? I’ve included smut likes at the top of my letter, but some specific Fjolly likes: Molly’s tail, long incisors/tusks and playing with the sensations from those, light breathplay (lightly restricting airflow, but not full-on choking), the idea of Molly helping Fjord figure out how to dom (and praise kink tied to that), complicated relationships to sex, bodies, and pleasure, including stopping to re-evaluate or talk something out, sex without orgasms, kink exploration.

I opt into setting change AUs for this canon. DNW: Molly/Caleb.

comments

pine4pine letter

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 05:39:31 GMT

hello pine4pine author!

just general likes as well as smutty likes here -- I'll put specific prompts in the signup box.

(EXCEPT: I just remembered this prompt for my cyrano request. this is v specific so by no means feel pressured to do it, just tossing it out there. what if roxane got pregnant on her wedding night to christian, and because it was kind of a shotgun wedding with no banns read, it kind of doesn't count and she has to get married ASAP after his death? this can be to anybody, including OCs (except de guiche and cyrano please), but my personal fave is le bret, for maximum "I'm married to the woman the man I love loves..." angst)

general likes:

* epistolary: letters, social media/texting, in-universe documents; interactive fiction, non-linear storytelling

* canon divergence, what-ifs

* physical and emotional vulnerability, (non-)platonic intimacy

* hair!! Braiding, washing, cutting, emotional significance of…

* slow reveal of information, secrets withheld and revealed, and new information changing what the reader or the character thinks about a situation or relationship

* identity shenanigans, disguises

* settings that enclose characters — whether physically (boat/train, caves) or emotionally (social expectations, duty), road trip fics

* developing relationships, pining (requited or not), fake or secret relationships, arranged marriages

* characters experiencing an emotion they rarely get to (happiness, pleasure, vulnerability)

* the tragedy of fatal flaws and stories that couldn’t have ended any other way because of who the characters are

smut likes:

* frottage

* hand jobs

* masturbation (solo, mutual, and/or guided)

* kisses and hickeys (especially on necks, collarbones, thighs, underside of jaw)

* happy trails

* light bondage (hands tied loosely)

* light dom/sub

* walking in on masturbation

* for fjord/Molly: molly's tail, long incisors/tusks and playing with the sensations from those, light breathplay (slightly restricting airflow, but not full-on choking), the idea of Molly helping fjord figure out how to dom (and praise kink tied to that)

comments

Dear Battleship Creator: Everything I've Requested

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:37:30 GMT

Hello! I am embraidery on ao3 and here are all my requests on the auto ao3 app.

Each signup will have appropriate likes and DNWs if you feel like checking them out, but ofc only DNWs in my signup box technically count, so you're all good! Also, some of these are from exchanges with no character/ship matching; I’ve put whatever characters/ships I suggested in the signup box, but feel free to have fun with it!

At the bottom I've put some 5 minute fandoms; for the painting, music video, and short story, I've put links to where you can find them.

(Note: I don't want to receive works for my past Harry Potter or Brooklyn 99 requests.)

I'd like to make this as easy for you as possible, but man, it is so much information. Okay, here we go.

Books/Literature

Abarat Series - Clive Barker

John Mischief

All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot

Helen Alderson, James Herriot, James Herriot & Helen Alderson, James & Mrs Pumphrey & Tricki Woo, Siegfried Farnon, Tristan Farnon, Tristan Farnon & James Herriot

All the Crooked Saints - Maggie Stiefvater

Beatriz Soria, Beatriz Soria/Pete Wyatt, Daniel Lupe Soria, Pete Wyatt

Ancient Greek Religion & Lore

Asterion the Minotaur &/Icarus

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

Anne Shirley, Anne Shirley & any of Diana Barry, Dorothy Gardner, Marilla Cuthbert, Paul Irving, Philippa Gordon; Anne Shirley &/Gilbert Blythe, Marilla Cuthbert, Paul Irving

Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild: I originally requested this for Purimgifts, so no characters were requested. You can check that request or just go wild!

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

Esperanza/Estevan, Estevan & Mattie & Taylor Greer, Estevan&/Taylor, Lou Ann Ruiz, Lou Ann Ruiz & Taylor, Mattie, Taylor Greer, Taylor & Turtle, Turtle

Carve the Mark - Veronica Roth

Culture/Geography/Biology of Ogra, Culture/Geography/Biology of Pitha, Shotet culture, Temple and Oracle Culture of Thuvhe, Cyra Noavek, Eijeh Kereseth, Original Characters

Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

Frogkisser! - Garth Nix

Magics and Potions, Merlin Backstory, More Wacky and Flawed Magical Items, The Good Wizard Backstory, The Good Wizard, Merlin | Snow White, The Seven Dwarves, Original Characters

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Andy Barbour & Theo Decker, Boris Pavlikovsky & Pippa, Boris & Popchik, James "Hobie" Hobart & Pippa, Theo & Hobie, Theo & Popchik

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams I also requested this for Purimgifts, so while I've requested specific characters for other exchanges, you can also just go wild.

Zaphod Beeblebrox, Zem the Mattress, The Captain of Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B, Pink-Winged Insectoid Receptionist

Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins

Cinna & Katniss Everdeen, Finnick Odair, Haymitch Abernathy & Katniss, Haymitch & Peeta Mellark, Katniss & Finnick, Mags & Finnick, Peeta

La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Perrault

Any of Bluebeard's Wives/Any of Bluebeard's Wives

Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino: Worldbuilding (you can check the specific request if you like, or just go wild)

The Islanders - Christopher Priest

Any Island, Any Character, Any Relationship

Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale)

Little Red Riding Hood &/ Wolf

Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

Goldberry, Goldberry/Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow

Mink River - Brian Doyle

I think this was for another exchange with no character/ship matching, so you can do whatever, but faves: Billy, Cedar, Maple Head, any combo of Cedar/Billy/Maple Head, Grace

The Ones We Burn - Rebecca Mix

Aramis Sunra & Galen Sunra & Foldrey Wolfe, Ranka & Aramis & Galen & Percy (& optional Foldrey Wolfe), Ranka & Galen, Ranka/Aramis

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

Piranesi, Piranesi & The House

Rapunzel (Fairy Tale)

Prince/Rapunzel & Their Children, Prince/Rapunzel, Rapunzel & Witch, Rapunzel

Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater: Another no character/ship matching exchange, but what I technically requested:

Puck, Connolly Family, Tommy Falk

Secret Language of Girls - Frances O’Roarke Dowell

Kate Faber/Marylin McIntosh

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Nina Zenik &/Inej Ghafa

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

The Magic of the Library, Other Ports on the Sea, Other Doors and Visitors, Long-ago parties and balls

Tortall - Tamora Pierce

Comics/Cartoons

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes, Calvin & Calvin’s Mother

Over the Garden Wall: no character/ship matching

Tintin-All Media Types

Snowy & Tintin, Snowy

Movies

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Bianca & Kat, Bianca & Kat & Walter, Kat, Kat/Patrick, Patrick

The Addams Family(Movies - Sonnenfeld)

Morticia, Wednesday, Gomez/Morticia

Bandits (2001)

Joe Blake & Terry Collins, Joe Blake/Kate Wheeler/Terry Collins

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

Jess Bhamra/Jules Paxton

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Forge Fitzwilliam, Holga, Xenk Yendar (check the request for suggested ships)

Enola Holmes (2020)

Enola Holmes & Tewky, Enola & Eudoria Holmes, Enola & Sherlock

The Family Stone (2005)

Amy Stone, Thad Stone

Home Again (2017)

Harry, George, Teddy, Alice/Harry, and any of the boys & any of Alice’s kids

Labyrinth (1986)

Sarah Williams

Lagaan (2001)

Bhuvan/Elizabeth Russell/Gauri, Elizabeth Russell/Gauri

Maverick (1994)

Annabelle Bransford, Annabelle Bransford/OFC, Bret Maverick, Bret Maverick/Joseph, Joseph

Pacific Rim (Movies)

Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori

Shrek: no character/ship matching

While You Were Sleeping

Jack Callaghan/Lucy Moderatz

Theatre/Other/No Media

Critical Role

Beauregard Lionett, Caleb Widogast, Fjord, Fjord/Mollymauk Tealeaf, Jester, Molly, Nott, Pumat Sol, Yasha

Crossover Fandom(note: Alanna always refers to Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau)

Tortall & Critical Role: Alanna & Buri & Beau Lionett, Alanna & Liam Ironarm & Beau Lionett, Alanna/Beau, Caleb Widogast/Thom of Trebond

Narnia & Six of Crows: Aravis & Lucy & Inej & Nina, Aravis/Inej (& optional Nina), Aravis/Inej/Nina

Narnia & 10 Things I Hate About You: Susan/Kat Stratford & Lucy, Lucy & Susan & Kat Stratford, Susan&/Kat

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency & Various: Amanda Brotzman/Beau Lionett (CR), Bart Curlish & Nadia Vulvokov (Russian Doll)

10 Things I Hate About You & Various: Aneesa Qureshi (Never Have I Ever) &/ Kat Stratford, Kat Stratford &/Kate Sharma (Bridgerton TV), Kat Stratford/Any Female Character You Like

Misc: Alanna (Tortall) & Fa Mulan (Disney’s Mulan), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) &/ Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano de Bergerac), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) & Emilia (Othello), Beau Lionett (CR) & Susan Pevensie (Narnia) & Alanna (Tortall), Elizabeth Swann (PotC) & Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows), Katniss Everdeen (THG) & Citra Terranova (Arc of a Scythe), Lucy Pevensie (Narnia) & Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Edmund Pevensie &/ The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova (S&B)

Crossover Fandom with any/no characters (feel free to check the requests):

Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

any combo of Christian/Roxane/Cyrano, Cyrano, Cyrano & Le Bret, de Guiche, Le Bret

Fiddler on the Roof- Bock/Harnick/Stein: no character/ship matching, but I suggested:

Perchik, Fyedka/Chava

Minecraft

Axolotl, Drowned, Player, Pillager, Villager

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare: also no character/ship matching, but I suggested:

Beatrice, Beatrice/Benedick, Benedick, Benedick/Claudio, Benedick/Don Pedro, Don Pedro, Hero/Don John

Stardew Valley

Abigail/Female Player, Elliott & Leah, Elliott & Leah & Player, Elliott & Leah/Female Player, Krobus & Leo, Krobus & Player

Three Days of Rain - Richard Greenberg: no character/ship matching

TV Shows

Bridgerton (TV)

Bridgerton Benedict & Eloise, Benedict/OMC, Eloise & Kate Sharma, Kate/Anthony, Simon, Simon & Daphne, Simon & Gregory & Hyacinth, Simon/Anthony

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016)

Drop Dead Diva: No character matching, so go wild, but I requested:

Jane, Stacy, Teri

Glitch (TV 2015)

Charlie Thompson

The Good Place: no character matching

Grace and Frankie

Grace & Frankie

The Great

Aunt Elizabeth, Catherine, Catherine/Leo, Catherine/Marial, Catherine/Marial/Leo, Catherine/Peter, Leo, Marial, Peter

Lupin (TV 2021)

Assane Diop, Assane & Claire & Raoul, Assane & Guedira, any combo of Assane/Benjamin/Claire, Philippe Courbet

Merlin

Merlin &/Arthur, Gaius & Merlin, Gwen & Merlin

Never Have I Ever

Trent Harrison

New Girl

Jessica Day/Nick Miller, Joan Day/Nick Miller

Numb3rs

Charlie Epps

Partner Track

Ingrid Yun/Jeff Murphy

Pushing Daisies

Chuck, Ned, Ned/Chuck

Russian Doll

Nadia Vulvokov, Maxine, Lizzy, Original Private Investigator

Ted Lasso

Keeley Jones/Rebecca Welton, Sam Obisanya/Rebecca Welton

The Terror (2018): no character/ship matching so have fun, but suggested in the signup:

Francis Crozier, Francis Crozier & James Fitzjames, Francis Crozier & Thomas Blanky, Francis Crozier & Thomas Jopson, Harry D. S. Goodsir, James Fitzjames, Thomas Blanky, Thomas Jopson

5 Minute Fandoms

Aimless Love - Billy Collins (Poetry)

Any Statue, Chess Pieces, Elk River, Mouse with a Match, Snowglobe Inhabitants, The Four-Moon Planet, The Four-Moon Planet Inhabitants

The Carrying - Ada Limón (Poetry)

Eve, The Narrator, The Goldfinches, Mammoth Cave National Park, Any Horse

Crossing - Shaun Tan (Painting) - find it here

Cat, People on the Cat’s Head

Genghis Khan - Miike Snow (Music Video) - find it here

Song and Dance in the Wider Universe, How Secret Agent Lost His Finger, Heroism and Villainy, Original Characters, Gold Nose Villain, Secret Agent

The House of Asterion - Borges (Short Story) - find it here

The Labyrinth, Any of the Nine Men, Ariadne, Asterion, Original Characters, The Translator

Original Work

Mermaids/Humans

Mermaids & Humans

Mermaid Misc

Other Original Work

comments

Dear Crosscrafter 2023

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 21:06:54 GMT

ao3 username: embraidery

Hello!! I am so excited to see what you create and I hope you're excited and inspired by what I have to suggest, but if you aren't, I trust you to come up with something all your own (that doesn't violate any DNWs).

Just a general note, you're more than welcome to combine 3 or more fandoms from one request into one work.

I'd love to see characters from both/all canons in the fic you write and as much of a fusion between worlds as you want to do! For fics with groups of characters from different casts, I’m more interested in them always having existed in that world than in portal-style crossovers, except where there’s a canonical kind of portal, like in Narnia or Piranesi!

General Likes: playing with/cutting/washing/braiding hair, platonic intimacy, isolated settings like caves/underground/on a ship (dunno why), there was only one bed, friends to lovers, banter, new crush/relationship energy, f/f relationships, characters playing with gender, mythology and folk tales, fluff, gift-giving, cuddling, doing ordinary things together (studying, grocery shopping), canon-divergent AUs, missing scenes, sensory details that bring the scene to life, winter and autumn, distinct sense of place, chosen/found family, hand kisses

Opt-Ins: gender/sexuality headcanons, epistolary fic (letters/emails etc), 2nd person POV, nonlinear storytelling, minor character death (except where noted)

General DNWs: sexual content beyond implication (totally fine to say people sleep together, making out is also fine), graphic descriptions of violence/injury, non/dub-con, major character death (except where noted), incest

Bucket One - Strange Worlds

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke, Labyrinth (1986), Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino, Abarat Series - Clive Barker, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Adams, Monument Valley (Video Game), Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band (Song)

I love all these fascinating places.

Devil Went Down to Georgia/Anything - whether the devil is Southern American or more like the setting you put him in (an Abaratian devil? shivers), I’d love to see him making a deal with someone. Piranesi? Jareth? John Mischief? Zaphod Beeblebrox? Or what if he wanted to make a deal with someone in Monument Valley but couldn’t figure out how to get anywhere because of the architecture?
Invisible Cities/Anything - I’d love to see how Marco Polo would describe any of the cities, islands, planets, architecture, etc from any of the other properties.
Piranesi finds a door from the House into the Labyrinth, or the Abarat, or one of the cities from Invisible Cities…or someone from a different canon finds their way into the House.
If Candy Quackenbush ever found herself in the Labyrinth, she’d FUCK IT UP. Jareth wouldn’t know what hit him.
Somehow Johnny (from Devil Went Down to Georgia) finds himself facing Christopher Carrion and just isn’t fazed. After all, he faced down the devil and won.

But seriously, if you have an idea, run with it!

I have only read the first Abarat book; I don’t mind spoilers for later books, but I’d rather you focus on characters that appear in the first book (if using characters — I’m also happy to have the focus on an Hour!).

DNW: Unless going with the Devil making some sort of bet with Jareth, I don’t want the focus on Jareth. Totally fine for him to kidnap babies and instigate the plot in some other way, and to appear and talk to the characters, but I don’t want him as a main character. DNW Sarah/Jareth, Candy Quackenbush/John Mischief.

Bucket Two - Intrepid Kids

Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner, Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, The Penderwicks Series - Jeanne Birdsall, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)

I love these kids.

I’d love to see the casts interact! Maybe solve a mystery together a la Boxcar Children?
- Anne Shirley and Jane Penderwick bonding about writing?
- Benny Alden and Greg from OtGW hanging out?
- I’d love to see Skye Penderwick get her hands on a sword and fight someone, maybe Lucy and/or Edmund Pevensie?
- Jessie Alden and Susan Pevensie bonding over being eldest sisters and getting to have some time for themselves for once
- I haven’t read some of these books in a while, so I can’t confirm whether these ships would work, but if you get a hankering to write a cute lil teen romance I’d be down. Anne Shirley/Jessie Alden? Gilbert Blythe/Rosalind Penderwick? Any gender config is great, as are poly ships! No sibling ships please.

Whatever you write I bet will be great! I’d just prefer you keep the kids/teens roughly their canon ages (if they age a lot over the series, like Anne, probably a max age of 18). Basically I want stories about them as kids/teenagers. If, say, a story is about all the Pevensies or all The Penderwicks, please keep all of them as kids/teenagers; but if, for example, it just features Lucy, then it’s fine for her to be an older teen (putting her siblings in their 20s).

DNW: Ships with more than 2 years age difference, Anne Shirley/Gilbert Blythe, character death (canonical is fine), Edmund Pevensie explicitly being into girls, Susan Pevensie explicitly being into boys

Bucket 3 - (Found) Family

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver, Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers, All the Crooked Saints - Maggie Stiefvater

I just love the tender exploration of family in all of these — creating a family from scratch, navigating the family you’re born in, and all the diverse kinds of family in Wayfarers. Also the themes of doing the right thing, creating your own identity, personal growth, helping others even when it might put you at risk. I have fewer specific prompts for these but I just think it would be nice?

Any canon ship welcomed!

I’ve only read the first two Wayfarers books so far, but I’m happy with characters/cultures from later books being included; I’m sure I’ll love them.

DNW: If in the Wayfarers setting - characters of colour being alien species if white characters are human; feel free to have it be the reverse or both kinds of characters alien

Bucket 4 - Tough Teens

Arc of a Scythe Series - Neal Shusterman, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt, Song of the Lioness Series - Tamora Pierce

Teens in situations where a lot is demanded of them, whether or not they chose to be there….

Boris Pavlikovsky and Theo Decker in a gang in Ketterdam? Or maybe George Cooper runs a Ketterdam gang, Alanna is a grisha and conflicted about it, and he tries to recruit her?
Any of the Crows in a modern au accidentally getting involved in the criminal world the way Theo Decker does?
I'd like to see some other character as a trainee Scythe: Inej would be fascinating as canonically she hates killing people, but maybe she’d see it as an exception? Or maybe she would still hate it, I don’t know!
What if powerful Grisha magic could bring people back to life so that the Six of Crows universe had revival centres like in Scythe? Perhaps they’d only be for the wealthy? I imagine if they had a society of Scythes it would be pretty corrupt and perhaps mostly glean poor kids like the Crows…
Scythes Faraday and Curie as knights teaching/mentoring pages and squires in Tortall

Favourite characters/ships: Faraday, Curie, Faraday/Curie (though I like Citra and Rowan as well!); Nina, Inej, Nina/Inej, Jesper; Hobie, Boris, Pippa, Boris & Pippa; Alanna, Jonathan, Alanna/Jonathan, Raoul, Alanna & any of the pages, Alanna&/Thayet&/Buri.

I’d also be interested in crossover ships if you think of any that tickle your fancy! Most of the characters from these books I’d be happy to read with someone of either or no gender. I think just about the only exception would be that I think of Theo Decker as gay.

Note: I’ve only read Scythe and about half of Thundercloud; haven’t even touched the last book. No spoilers, please!

Opting in to major character death for this one, if that’s where the story takes you. I still don’t want to see graphic descriptions of violence/injury, though stating that someone stabs someone else or whatever is fine!

DNW: Kaz/Inej or Boris/Theo actually dating (pining is fine, as is whatever the fuck Boris and Theo had going on in Vegas!). George/Alanna. If any of the major characters die, please don't dwell on the physical act itself. (Emotional ramifications, on the other hand, are encouraged!) Ships with an adult (over 21) with a teenager (under 18).

comments

Dear Rare Pairs Author

Tue, 30 May 2023 00:50:44 GMT

(embraidery on ao3)

Hello! This letter is under construction at the moment, hopefully I'll be able to add more ships before signups close.

This is exclusively for my crossover ships since I have multiple and quite a bit to say about them; my other ships should all fit in the OD box.

So far:

Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)/Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Aneesa Qureshi (Never Have I Ever)/Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You)
Caleb Widogast (Critical Role)/Thom of Trebond (Tortall)

To begin with, treats (including art) are very welcome and I'm sure I'll be delighted even that you're willing to take on one of my crossover ideas! So the letter is just for fun.

Beatrice/Cyrano

(Feel free to ignore all this rambling, by the way, and follow your heart. I SCREECHED when I saw that someone wrote me this rare pair last year and I promise I will be thrilled you decided to write it for me, whatever it is. Tl;dr on DNWs: non/dubcon, sexual content rated E. Major character death welcomed but by no means necessary.)

Recently reread/rewatched both these canons and like. Hello. Two very clever people with sharp tongues, neither entirely honest with themselves about love and what motivates their actions. But they’re also fairly different — Cyrano often turns his rage on himself (as well as other people) whereas Beatrice doesn’t poke fun at herself much. They’re both quite proud but Cyrano talks about upholding his ideals where Beatrice doesn’t (or at least, her ideals are, like, ‘not falling in love’ rather than maintaining creative integrity).

So many different ways to go with this. Does Cyrano write to Hero on Christian’s behalf, and Beatrice finds him out? Or was Beatrice always the object of Cyrano’s affections? Maybe Beatrice takes the place of Le Bret, trying to make Cyrano see sense. I have a hard time imagining Cyrano together with Beatrice if Roxane is in the story somewhere (just because Cyrano is so single-minded), but I’m happy to follow wherever your inspiration takes you. I just ask that Cyrano is still somewhat a tragic character, caught up in the stories he tells about himself while pretending that they’re stories *others* are telling about himself. His happiness would not come easily, if it comes at all.

I’m happy for this to be as tangled and complicated and messy and angsty as you want. Pre-relationship, or even an implication that they’ll never be in a relationship, as long as at least one of them has feelings for the other; established relationship, post-relationship. You can have whatever other people involved, as past or current relationships; heck, if you have a Beatrice/Benedick or Beatrice/Benedick/Don Pedro thing happening and Cyrano fits into that, that’s great! Or Beatrice fitting in somehow with any combo of the Cyrano/Christian/Roxane thing! I also firmly believe Le Bret was pining like hell after Cyrano and you’re more than welcome to work that into this beautiful tapestry of fiction. You go nuts, beautiful mystery author.

I’m happy for setting changes. I’ve read Much Ado set in the 1980s and in the 1940s where Beatrice & Benedick were codebreakers in WWII, for example. I’ve written Cyrano set in space. I would just ask for a similar weight to the story and the characters’ emotional arcs, though they don’t have to be at war (or recently finished a war, in the case of Much Ado).

DNW: non/dub-con, explicit sexual content (rated E); otherwise…. Cyrano the play is definitely a tragedy, so. Fine with major character death re: Cyrano & Christian especially, but if the story needs anyone else gone, go for it! Grieving, injury, death, complicated feelings, selfishness, etc I’m all here for. Being involved with and/or in love with multiple people at once is all good but I’d prefer no infidelity (ie kissing someone else before gaining permission from current partner(s), if in a monogamous relationship).

Aneesa Qureshi/Kat Stratford

I’ll be honest, I was envisioning a rivals (to friends?) to lovers scenario here revolving around a soccer game, something fun and flirty, but I am also intensely curious what anyone else would dream up for these two!

Kat is obviously a bit of a personality and I think she could easily rub Aneesa the wrong way, especially when it comes to intellectualism; Kat might fall into the same trap as Ben. Whether you want to explore that or entirely ignore it is up to you, haha.

I don’t have as much to say about them as some of my other crossover ships, but I promise I’m keen! I’m super open in terms of pre-relationship, established relationship, post-relationship, etc; even one-sided attraction is cool by me. Past/current ships (polyamory or being into multiple people all good) I’m cool with include Kat/Patrick, any combo of Aneesa/Ben/Devi. It could be interesting to have them meet when they’re in HS (maybe at a soccer game — I have Feeligns about rivalry and high school girls’ sports) when either or both are tangled up in something messy and it ends up being the wrong time, but maybe they reconnect when they’re older and maybe Kat has learned some things about privilege and education.

You’re welcome to set it in either location/time or some combo of both, or even some other time and place!

DNW: non/dub-con, sexual content (happy for it to be mentioned or fade to black), character death, violence

Caleb Widogast/Thom of Trebond

Just have fun with this one! I have never written it or read it and I am ready and willing to be surprised by whatever you have in mind.

Mostly I'm imagining something dark rather than fluffy, but if there's some tender moments in amongst the angst, that is welcome as well!!!

Soultryce Academy or wherever it was Thom studied or somewhere else, I'd love to see these two fanning the flames of their ambition....are they rivals? Do they start as rivals but end up working together? One interesting thing is that Caleb was supporting the empire whereas Thom was supporting a mage working to seize the throne. Perhaps in a world where Ikithon and Duke Roger co-exist, Caleb is supposed to take down Duke Roger and any of his supporters, and has to decide what to do about Thom?

Do whatever you like about Astrid and Eadwulf; I don't mind polyamory, one or both of them being dead or out of the picture, their relationship with Caleb being platonic, etc. I am also flexible on the nature of the Caleb/Thom relationship; it can be one-sided from either side, UST, pre- or post-relationship, etc etc etc.

Opt in: epistolary, 2nd person POV, character death including major character death (even Thom and Caleb), setting change AUs (though they should be magical and have similar stakes to canon)

DNW: Mundane AUs, non/dub-con, sexual content rated E, PWP, Thom/Duke Roger as an official relationship (happy for their relationship to be in an undefined grey area) or sleeping together

comments

Dear Fandom5K Author Letter

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 22:48:33 GMT

[embraidery on ao3 and dreamwidth]

[Note: I can't figure out how to do the pretty cuts on DW posts even after some googling -- I've tried a couple different ways but the preview window keeps showing me no cuts. Sorry about that. So, if you want to Ctrl + F and skip to the request you're looking for, here's a quick summary of my letter: General Likes, General DNWs, 10 Things I Hate About You, Crossover Fandom, Chronicles of Narnia, The Islanders, Dirk Gently.]

Dear Author,

This is my first Fandom5K and I’m so excited! I’m sure I’ll love whatever you write for me. So without further ado:

General Likes

epistolary: letters, social media/texting, in-universe documents; interactive fiction, non-linear storytelling
canon divergence, what-ifs
physical and emotional vulnerability, (non-)platonic intimacy
hair!! Braiding, washing, cutting, emotional significance of…
slow reveal of information, secrets withheld and revealed, and new information changing what the reader or the character thinks about a situation or relationship
identity shenanigans
settings that enclose characters — whether physically (boat/train, caves) or emotionally (social expectations, duty), road trip fics
developing relationships, pining (requited or not), fake or secret relationships, arranged marriages
characters experiencing an emotion they rarely get to (happiness, pleasure, vulnerability)
the tragedy of fatal flaws and stories that couldn’t have ended any other way because of who the characters are
(and those inevitable tragedies being subverted somehow)

And many, many more — feel free to check out my past letters on the app or in the one or two other letters I posted on my dreamwidth if you’d somehow like even more.

General DNWs

Non-con, dub-con, explicitly detailed sex, a/b/o, underage sex (under 18), incest, oviposition, scat/watersports. There’s no good way to phrase this as a DNW that is actually enforceable and I won’t be upset if something is included that I consider a kink, but in general I prefer vanilla sexual content. Fading to black or implication of sex is always a solid option for gifts for me.
Explicit violence or gore.
Non-canonical character death — it’s okay for it to be mentioned that someone’s grandparent has died or something, but no one with dialogue in the fic should die.
Individuals being the target of homophobia/transphobia/fatphobia (on a societal level is fine).

Fandoms

10 Things I Hate About You

Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona, Patrick Verona

Kat Stratford/Patrick Verona

Welcome background relationships: Kat & Bianca (& Mr. Stratford), Bianca & Cameron, Kat & Mandella, Kat & OC, Patrick & OC

I love how these two can lower their facades around each other, and I love the way Patrick can see through to Kat’s core — I assume it’s also true vice versa, though we don’t see as much of that side in the movie. Is that the case? How does Patrick feel about being seen?
I love their paintball and paddleboat adventures. Anything of that vein being included in the fic would be fantastic!
One AU I love thinking about is if Bianca approached Kat to date someone so she (Bianca) could go out with Joey. What if Kat said yes to Patrick with that in mind? Would she tell him about her ulterior motives?
How does their relationship work after high school? What plans does Patrick have, if any? If he doesn’t plan to go to college, does Kat struggle to reconcile that with her upbringing as the daughter of a doctor? (Totally okay for them to break up, whether or not you have them get back together.)
Speaking of which…I love the idea of Kat wanting to be very cool but having these hangups from her dad. She goes off to Sarah Lawrence, maybe kids try to get her to smoke some weed, how does she do with that?
But seriously…I just love these two. Chase your bliss.

Patrick

Welcome background relationships: Kat/Patrick, Patrick & OC, Patrick/OC, Patrick & Family Members

I feel like I understand Kat more than I understand Patrick — we see more sides of her and know more about her family life. What’s Patrick’s deal?
How did he feel about moving to the US? I get the sense there was something sad involved, whether a death of a parent (character death DNW waived in this case) or a divorce or maybe his grandparents were ill and his family had to come take care of them? In any case, I feel like he’s probably learned to be self sufficient and probably has to look after the adults in his life — the money he accepted from Joey seemed like it was very important to him and not in a buying video games kind of way.
What does he want to do after high school?
How does he feel about his reputation? Does he encourage the rumours?
He gets so intense when Cameron says he’s not deserving of Bianca, even though he barely knows the people involved. Does that touch on one of his own insecurities, or something from his past?
Happy for Kat/Patrick to be a part of this fic from background to major — I just want to know more about Patrick!!

Crossover Fandom

deep breath Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)&/Cyrano de Bergerac, Beatrice (Much Ado) & Emilia (Othello), Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You)/Susan Pevensie (Narnia), Kat Stratford & Kate Sheffield (Bridgerton TV), Aneesa Qureshi (Never Have I Ever) & Kat Stratford, Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau (Tortall)/Beauregard Lionett (Critical Role), Aravis Tarkheena (Narnia)/Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows), Bart Curlish (Dirk Gently) & Nadia Vulvokov (Russian Doll), Edmund Pevensie (Narnia)&/The Darkling (Shadow and Bone)

Specific DNWs: totally happy for you to combine settings or put both characters in one of their worlds or even to do a different historical au (Beatrice &/ Cyrano could be fun in any historical period tbh), but no modern/mundane AUs.

Exception for Aneesa & Kat since both their canons are modern and mundane, and for Kat/Susan if you set it in Kat’s canon. Also exception for Alanna/Beau because it would be fun.

Beatrice &/ Cyrano

Welcome background relationships: any combo of Beatrice/Benedick/Don Pedro; any combo of Cyrano/Christian/Roxane; Hero/Claudio, Benedick/Claudio, Hero & Beatrice, Cyrano & Le Bret

As with most of the ships in this section, I just think they’d be neat!!
I originally thought of Cyrano writing dramatic love letters to Hero, thinking she’s his love, before realising Beatrice is much better suited to him;
then Missy had the brilliant idea of Cyrano writing letters to Hero on Claudio’s behalf, and neither realises Beatrice is actually writing under Hero’s name;
but however you put them together, I just think their great minds would be an interesting matchup!
I’m happy for any of these as background pairings, whether or not they last, whether or not they’re requited: Beatrice/Benedick(/Don Pedro), Hero/Claudio, Benedick/Claudio; any combo of Cyrano/Christian/Roxane
Also feel free to combine this one with Beatrice & Emilia for maximum crossover fun omg
I’m open to Cyrano dying in this one even if the storyline is different; how is the tragedy different? What secrets are revealed at the end?

Beatrice & Emilia

Welcome background relationships: Beatrice/Benedick(/Don Pedro), Othello/Desdemona

The first time I saw Othello I was struck by Emilia’s fierce feminist leanings and thought she should meet up with Beatrice. That’s it, that’s the post.
(If you need more: I’m happy for whatever setting, whether Othello or Much Ado is the background storyline, or a combination of them somehow, or neither - could be pre-canon for both stories, for example!)
if you’re so inclined you can make the & into a / !

Specific DNW: Emilia dying, focus on Emilia/Iago

Kat Stratford/Susan Pevensie

Welcome background relationships: Susan & any of her siblings, Kat & Bianca, Kat & Mr. Stratford

Strong women with two different flavours of armour…I love seeing them bounce off each other and find common ground and getting to be vulnerable
For this crossover I generally like Susan having Narnia under her belt (whether or not you retcon The Last Battle), but I’m also open to Narnia not existing — in that case, what gives her a similar sense of life experience beyond her (apparent) years?
Kat’s time period or Susan’s, England or the US… have fun with it!

Kat Stratford & Kate Sheffield

Welcome background relationships: Kat/Patrick, Kat & Bianca, Kate & Edwina, Bianca & Edwina, Edwina/Anthony Bridgerton

let these ladies argue!! Aaaa!!
if you’re so inclined you can make the & into a /…. :eyes:
time period is interesting for these two! I think Kat’s brand of (white) feminism is firmly grounded in her time period and I don’t know what it would look like in the Regency era. On the other hand, Kate’s specific storyline of trying to provide for her family by getting her sister married would be out of place in 1999. You can do whichever you like, or set them in a different time period altogether!

Aneesa Qureshi & Kat Stratford

Welcome background relationships: Aneesa & Ben & Devi, Aneesa/Ben, Ben/Devi, Kat & Bianca, Kat/Patrick

you might be able to tell, but I love Kat, okay
these two both play soccer! Maybe they meet at a soccer match? Rivals/enemies to friends (to lovers, cough cough) kind of vibe?
Kat is quite an intellectual but she might be slightly less of an asshole about it than Ben Gross? Or maybe she would also look down on Aneesa a bit? But Aneesa could totally hold her own against Kat

Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau/Beauregard Lionett

Welcome background relationships: Alanna & any combination of Jonathan, Raoul, Gary, George, Liam Ironarm, Thom, Alex, Thayet, Buri; Beau & any of Yasha, Caleb, Jester, Fjord, Mollymauk

martial arts ladies…
whatever setting would be fun, I just want them both to stay warriors! Even modern and mundane would be fun
I like the idea of Beau showing Alanna this middle road where she (Alanna) doesn’t have to wear dresses and get her ears pierced and stuff if she doesn’t want to, there are other ways for her to be feminine
also Beau and Alanna practicing fighting where Alanna doesn’t have her chest bound so she can actually breathe. what a concept.
but honestly just chase your bliss

Aravis Tarkheena/Inej Ghafa

Welcome background relationships: Inej & Nina, Inej & Jesper, Aravis & Hwin

two young women out in the world on their own….one leaving her family because of what they were going to make her do, the other ripped away from her family….
hard choices…..
so many interesting things you could do with this one! I don’t have a ton of prompts just. Go for it
but if you’re so inclined. piracy. Aravis doesn’t have to be a pirate…maybe she’s working for the kingdom of Archenland (or Ravka or whichever other country in the Six of Crows world) and Inej is the pirate. Or they’re both pirates.
hang on what if they’re space pirates.

Bart Curlish & Nadia Vulvokov

Welcome background relationships: Bart & Ken, Nadia & any of Alan, Ferran, Ruth Brenner, Maxine, Lizzy

(Disclaimer: I’ve only seen the first season of Russian Doll; I don’t mind if you include canon from the second season, I just won’t necessarily Know what’s happening)

I love the similarities and differences between these two! Curly hair and gruff voices, bit of a rough edged personality, but coming from two totally different places, one of no socialisation and the other of growing up in a massive city. But both had traumatic childhoods and both could stand to be vulnerable and connect with other people
happy for whatever setting! Bart could take Alan’s place in the loop or maybe the time loop isn’t supposed to be happening and the universe enlists the holistic agents to try to stop it? Or they’re wholly in the Dirk universe, who knows.
Character death and explicit violence/gore DNW waived for this one, they can die (temporarily) as part of a time loop, and Bart can kill randos as needed. Levels of blood etc canonical to either show is fine.

Edmund Pevensie &/ The Darkling

Welcome background relationships: Edmund & any of his siblings, The Darkling & Jadis

(Disclaimer: I’ve seen part of the first season of S&B and wiki’ed the rest; I’m gonna rewatch the first season this week. I don’t mind if you include stuff from season 2 though.)

I initially wrote The Darkling as kind of taking the place of Jadis as Edmund’s temptress when he first arrives in Narnia (and Ed is the Sun Summoner) but honestly there are so many good things you could do with this. Fuse the worlds as much or as little as you want!
What would it take to get Edmund out of his clutches/convince him what the Darkling wants is wrong?
Is this post-Narnia or did something else make him realise he was being a selfish brat? Or did he never get that wake-up call?
Edmund can totally drink the evil koolaid, I’m into that too.
Normal DNW of dubcon waived for this one, as long as both of them want to be doing whatever they’re doing (and “want” can mean “isn’t attracted to the other one, but thinks doing this will sway the other one to their side”). But DNW underage still applies and if Edmund is under 20 I don’t want the Darkling attracted to him romantically or sexually
Also violence and a bit of gore is fine (as is body horror typical for S&B).

Chronicles of Narnia

Caspian/Edmund Pevensie & Caspian | Ramandu’s Daughter | Liliandil

Welcome background relationships: Edmund & any of his siblings, Caspian & Lucy, Liliandil & Ramandu, Liliandil & any of the other Pevensies

inspired by an OW nom I saw for Arranged Married Prince/King and Queen Who’ve Been Married for a Long Time, but obviously there are a lot of things you can do with this one!
You can totally change the setting, whether to a non-Narnian fantasy world or to our own world or whatever, and change the time period. All I ask is that they’re all still royalty/former royalty (if you choose to have Edmund be a former king as he would be in Narnia post-LWW). I was gonna say they could be modern politicians but it doesn’t have that same tasty flavour of being born into a duty.
ANYWAY. I’m just here for navigating complicated relationships (and potentially arranged relationships?).
I personally see Edmund as gay; you don’t have to, obviously, but I DNW the Edmund/Liliandil side of that triangle. Very into consensual voyeurism in a throuple though. Also I think it could be interesting to navigate Liliandil having unreciprocated feelings for Edmund and how that complicates the dynamic

DNW: Edmund explicitly being into women (he doesn't have to say, on-page, I Only Like Dudes, but I'd rather not hear about women he's liked in the past)

The Islanders - Christopher Priest

Any Character, Any Island, Any Relationship

(Read for free here: https://booksvooks.com/fullbook/the-islanders-pdf-christopher-priest.html?page=1)

I’m so fascinated by the world of The Islanders, and there are so many great places you could take it. This would be a great canon for in-universe documents, if you’re so inclined! Letters, essays, newspaper articles, anything. I’m happy for the fic to be focused on one person/island/relationship or on more than one, if you want to imitate the anthology style! Or instalments on one person, like (say) letters, diary entries, essays all relating to Dryd Bathurst
create a new island and/or famous person and write documents about them!
winds on the island of Aay -- how did they get their names? Write me the myths! (Some of the wind names are The Combiner, The Poisoner, The Mantrap, The Gargler, and The Abyss.)
Life on Mesterline -- the spell of the island’s water; people revelling in the rain showers; life in a house built against a sheer cliff; the joy and anger of the people tearing down/exploding the water bottling plant.
Jordenn Yo -- I’m super interested in her art, both in an abstract, zoomed-out kind of way (talking about its effect on the islands, or what people think about it), but also in a closer, more personal way -- I love the chapter where she’s involved with Oy and how singing along with the mountain relieves her deep-seeded anger. Bonus: Has life grown in the tunnels of Manlayl or any other island with Yo tunnels -- plants, animals, birds?
Speaking of which, Oy -- I quite like him! I think his art is interesting. Love the fake sand dune, the upside-down staircase, filling the cottages with concrete...write an in-universe thinkpiece on his art, or invent another art piece for him to make?
I would love an in-universe example of the “theoretical, analytical, and academic papers attempting to unravel the enigmas perceived in the paintings” of Dryd Bathurst. Go nuts!
If you’re familiar with Invisible Cities | Le Citta Invisibili, I’d love a take on the islands that incorporates the philosophy of Invisible Cities! See the chapter about Piqay or Siff especially for the passages that inspired this request, or the foreword about how you can’t trust maps and you can only experience or imagine reality.
Something about Caurer and Chaster -- their few days together, or she sees his ghost in his room at the funeral and they actually get to reunite (and he doesn’t cough blood on her, lmao)
I’d enjoy something about Dant Willer and Caurer -- their friendship (or maybe romance?) and their quiet life in their secluded school.
Athanasia (the immortality treatment) -- the results of it individually and on a societal level are fascinating! I hadn't thought about employers discriminating against mortals but that makes sense.
I’m curious about the creepy fear towers! What’s going on with them? I’m less interested in Alvasund’s story and more in the history of the towers—how and by whom were they built? What are the snaky things? What was it like when people tried (successfully or unsuccessfully) to pull them down? I am totally down for an exploration of the tower changing Torm’s psyche and what it’s like when Alvasund comes back and finds that he’s rebuilt it. I don’t want anyone killed by the towers, though it’s fine for people to be scared and see scary visions. It’s also totally fine to discuss legends of people being permanently injured or killed in the past—I just don’t want to be an eyewitness to it, if that makes sense!

Specific DNWs: suicide/murder/execution (even if canonical). Please avoid stories about Kerith Sington, Commis, and Chaster’s involvement in that storyline, and the tragic end of Kal Kapes and his wife. Also, I DNW stories about the military presences on the island and the characters involved, like Lorna, Tomak, or the story of Winho.

Note re: setting change AUs—happy for you to invent new islands etc, but don’t change the setting by adding the supernatural beyond what’s hinted at (spooky towers anyone?) or soulmate tattoos or moving the entire thing to space.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Bart Curlish & Suzie Boreton

Welcome background relationships: Bart & Ken, Bart & Dirk, Dirk & Todd & Farah

I think there’s so much potential here. Bart’s broken out of Blackwing, where nothing ever happens, and is pursuing the one person she cares about in the world. Suzie lives in this small town where she doesn’t care about anyone and she’s pursuing this power that is giving her so much. Bart’s discovering maybe she doesn’t want to use her ability to kill people and Suzie, well, she doesn’t discover that she doesn’t want to use her power, but she COULD.
I just think they’d be neat! I think together Suzie might rediscover her maternal instinct (or discover she has one, period) and Bart might discover there’s more than one person in the world she cares about.
After saving Suzie from the guys trying to kill her, Bart asks if Suzie wants to come with her to look for Ken, and I just think that’s a perfect jumping-off point, if you need inspiration
Character death DNW waived for this one: Bart can kill randos as needed, though I would rather neither Bart nor Suzie die

comments

Dear Crossworks Author 2022

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 02:12:17 GMT

ao3 username: embraidery

Just a general note, you're more than welcome to combine all 3 fandoms from one request into one work.

I'd love to see characters from both/all canons in the fic you write and as much of a fusion between worlds as you want to do!

General Likes: playing with/cutting hair, platonic intimacy, isolated settings like caves/underground/on a ship (dunno why), there was only one bed, friends to lovers, banter, new crush/relationship energy, f/f relationships, characters playing with gender, mythology and folk tales, fluff, gift-giving, cuddling, doing ordinary things together (studying, grocery shopping), canon-divergent AUs, missing scenes, sensory details that bring the scene to life, winter and autumn, distinct sense of place, chosen/found family, hand kisses

Opt-Ins: gender/sexuality headcanons, epistolary fic (letters/emails etc), 2nd person POV, nonlinear storytelling, minor character death

Request One: Binti Series, Wayfarers Series, Skybreaker

What I love about Binti: interspecies communication and relations, Binti's strong ties to her family and culture, mathematics and magic

What I love about Wayfarer: interspecies communication and relations (!!), feather (found) families (especially the Wayfarer crew), questions around making decisions for someone else, developing a sense of self (Pepper and Sidra), the modding community and their dedication to creating a life that works for them. Hopepunk

What I love about Skybreaker: exploration of a dangerous environment, quick thinking, the tension between different motivations and desires in a crew, risking everything to save your crew members

Note: I haven't read the third Wayfarer book yet, though I probably will by the time Crossworks reveals. If it's as much about people, communication, love, etc as the first two, I'm happy for you to use it as the basis for this work! (Same for the fourth and fifth, though I’m unlikely to have read them by the time works are revealed.)

As you can tell, I am all about communication, especially between species! The moment when the little Aandrisks meet Rosemary and they're trying to be careful but they grab her boobs -- oh, I loved that. Rosemary and Sissix negotiating their relationship. Pepper and Sidra communicating about how best to help Sidra acclimate to having a body.

Equally I'm about communication with yourself in terms of who you are and what you want. I've already talked about Wayfarer, so I'll relate this to Binti: Binti negotiating her cultural values versus her desire to learn, and how she navigates expressing her culture when she's so far from home.

Skybreaker's there for the exploration and thriller elements! I love the idea of exploring a broken-down airship (or spaceship, if you go that direction!) in a dangerous situation with limited resources.

Suggestions

Binti's transferred into an artificial body after the events of her last book, needs to get used to that (Pepper and Sidra crossover?)
Exploring an abandoned airship/spaceship with your choice of crew (possibly a crew drawn from multiple books?)
What if Binti's ship was attacked not by Meduse, but by a species from the Wayfarer trilogy? Or she's on an airship bound for a university somewhere and the airship is attacked by aerozoans? Less of an interspecies thing there and more of a survival thing, I guess! Unless aerozoan language can be translated by Binti's device!! *waggles eyebrows*
After some sort of dangerous money-making venture, Nadira's able to make her own way out in the world -- what does she do? Study at Oomza? Join the fringes of the modder community, or a spaceship crew like the Wayfarer's?

Cluster-specific DNWs: The Matt/Kate/Nadira love triangle subplot; if they're in your story, whether Matt dates one of them, both of them, none of them, or whatever (I'd even ship Kate/Nadira tbh), please have it be amicable. Also please don't exotify Nadira the way the author does with her always smelling of sandalwood etc. Don't use the g-slur for Romani people.

Request Two: Binti series, Wayfarers Series, Pacific Rim

What I love about Binti: interspecies communication and relations, Binti's strong ties to her family and culture, mathematics and magic

What I love about Pacific Rim: THE DRIFT. The drift the driftthedriftthedriftthedr okay you get it. Raleigh and Mako’s connection and their duel to prove their compatibility. The different relationships all the pairs/triplets have to each other. Hopepunk, saturated colours, alien science.

Note: I’ve only seen the first Pac Rim film!

Suggestions

Characters from Binti and/or Wayfarers in the drift. What is an interspecies drift like, especially with an Aeulon, who communicate with colours?
There are space kaiju and everyone’s gotta suit up to save the world (Wayfarers or Binti fusion)
Raleigh and Mako on board the Wayfarer? Newt as a modder? Hermann is adjacent to the modder community but super against the riskier mods?
Even something sleazy about Hannibal Chau profiting off alien species from Binti or Wayfarers’ worlds would be cool, haha.

Cluster-specific DNWs: Chuck and Herc Hansen, Newt/Hermann

Request Three: Critical Role season 2, Song of the Lioness, Wayfarer Trilogy

What I love about Critical Role: coming together with a diverse group of strangers, growing to trust each other, deciding to become better people. Fjord, Molly, Beau, Yasha, Caleb

What I love about Song of the Lioness: Gender fuckery, secrets, knights (especially lady knights), Alanna working hard to accomplish her dreams, selfish magic users, Shang warriors, stubbornness, conflicting desires and goals, duty. Alanna, Raoul, Jonathan

Suggestions:

Alanna (SoL) &/Beau (CR), whatever form that takes -- friends, dating, friends with benefits, on-and-off as they're both wandering around the country. I love ladies who can fight, your honour!! I especially like Beau as a Shang warrior, or a failed Shang warrior
Caleb studies magic with Thom -- are they friends? Rivals? What's Caleb's relationship to Duke Roger and does he get in on the plan? Alternatively, Thom studies magic with Caleb under Ikithon.
Molly's part of a modder community from Wayfarer. Are tieflings an alien species in that world, or is Molly a different species in this one? What kind of electronic mods does he go for? Alternately, translate his storyline with dying and waking up a new person to him being AI and being rebooted. Either way -- I wanna see him on a journey of self-discovery or in a comfortable place once he's figured out what that is.
Alanna's determined to make it in a very difficult vocation -- what would that vocation be in Wayfarer or Critical Role? What would Thom's be? Alternately, what would Alanna's divine guidance look like in either of those worlds?

Cluster-specific DNWs: Alanna/George

Request Four: Scythe, Hunger Games

What I like about Scythe: Citra and Rowan's journey from being horrified at the idea of being a Scythe to accepting it, the way their Scythe mentors shape their growth as people and as Scythes, philosophy of life and death, them negotiating being pitted against each other, their complicated relationship, the thin line between a utopia and a dystopia. Citra, Rowan, Scythe Faraday, Scythe Curie

Note: I’ve only read Scythe and about half of Thundercloud; haven’t even touched the last book. No spoilers, please!

What I like about Hunger Games: societal impact on individuals, making sacrifices, Katniss and Peeta's evolving relationship (including fake relationship), conflicting ideas about the best way to run a revolution. Katniss, Peeta, Cinna, Finnick, Rue

This one's all about societal impact on kids/teens who have to make tough decisions.

Suggestions:

I'd like to see some other character as a trainee Scythe: Johanna, Finnick, Katniss, Peeta (oh, Peeta would be fascinating) -- actually, I think in some ways Katniss and Peeta being pitted against each other as trainees would mirror Citra and Rowan's arc, with Peeta more likely to sacrifice himself so Katniss can go on as a Scythe, but I'm here for whatever you think would happen! Feel free to play with who goes where -- Katniss being mentored by Scythe Goddard would be interesting. But how would they be different if their childhoods were different -- like if Katniss didn't have to hunt for food for her family?
Citra and Rowan as the Tributes for their district, oh man. I imagine they'd be in a fairly wealthy district. I bet Goddard would be one of the mentors -- it's harder to imagine adapting Faraday or Curie into someone willing to train Tributes. What would an alliance between Citra and/or Rowan with Katniss and/or Peeta look like?
Mixing up the casts -- what if Citra and Katniss were trainee Scythes or Tributes together?
What if District 1 with all its wealth had gotten to a point where anyone who died could be revived, like the world of Scythe? Would they ever institute such a system? Would they revive Tributes who had died in the arena?

Cluster-specific DNWs: Katniss/Gale, though mentions of past involvement are fine. If any of the major characters die, please don't dwell on the physical act itself. (Emotional ramifications, on the other hand, are encouraged!)

Request Five: Scythe, Six of Crows

What I like about Scythe: Citra and Rowan's journey from being horrified at the idea of being a Scythe to accepting it, the way their Scythe mentors shape their growth as people and as Scythes, philosophy of life and death, them negotiating being pitted against each other, their complicated relationship, the thin line between a utopia and a dystopia. Citra, Rowan, Scythe Faraday, Scythe Curie

Note: I’ve only read Scythe and about half of Thundercloud; haven’t even touched the last book. No spoilers, please!

What I like about Six of Crows: heist! Intricate plots! Leveraging information! Grisha magic, the distinct impact of faux-Dutch merchant culture. Inej, Nina, and Jesper are my favourite Crows; I love Nina/Inej and Jesper pining for Kaz.

This one's all about societal impact on kids/teens who have to make tough decisions.

Suggestions:

I'd like to see some other character as a trainee Scythe: Inej would be fascinating as canonically she hates killing people, but maybe she’d see it as an exception? Or maybe she would still hate it, I don’t know!
Mixing up the casts -- what if Citra and one of the Crows were trainee Scythes together?
What if powerful Grisha magic could bring people back to life so that the Six of Crows universe had revival centres like in Scythe? Perhaps they’d only be for the wealthy? I imagine if they had a society of Scythes it would be pretty corrupt and perhaps only go for poor kids like the Crows…

Cluster-specific DNWs: Kaz/Inej actually dating. If any of the major characters die, please don't dwell on the physical act itself. (Emotional ramifications, on the other hand, are encouraged!)

Request Six: Addams Family (Sonnenfeld), Anne of Green Gables

What I like about Addams Family: the kooky spookiness of it all, how much they all love each other, subverting expectations, did I mention how much they all love each other? GOMEZ, Morticia, Wednesday!

What I like about Anne: ANNE. She’s such a unique character and I love her whimsy, her stubbornness, her fearlessness, her determination to speak up, all her quirks. I like all her little adventures and scrapes and how passionate she gets about things. Also Paul Irving (my tiny gay poet son) and Philippa Gordon!

For remix revival I wrote a fic about Anne and Wednesday becoming friends based on this great fanart by facethestrange of them being adopted sisters and I just love it conceptually. But there are so many ways you can go with it — do they run a haunted house one year and Anne and her friends go through? Or an older Anne dates an Addams cousin and gets invited to a ball there? Anne and Diana get lost and knock at the Addams’ door (instead of Miss Lavendar’s)?

Cluster-specific DNWs: Anne/Gilbert, Wednesday/Joel Glicker

Thank you so much and happy Crosscrafting!

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Dear Yule Creator 2021

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 04:04:58 GMT

embraidery on ao3 and dreamwidth

The Crossing (Shaun Tan), Le Città Invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino, The Islanders - Christopher Priest

I'm opting into the mini challenges Wrapping Paper (receiving art), YUMADRIN (receiving drabbles), and Yulebuilding (receiving worldbuilding).

Hello!! I’m really excited to see what you create, and I’m sure that if you write about something you love, I will love it too! However, if you want some more guidance, feel free to look below.

General Likes -- some of these won't really apply as I'm mostly prompting for worldbuilding, but just to give you an idea/if you end up going with some of my more character-based prompts!

+platonic (or romantic!) intimacy such as playing with/cutting hair, sharing a bed, bathing/washing, taking care of each other, giving gifts, hand kisses

+isolated settings like beaches, caves, on a ship (super duper applies for anything The Islanders!)

+relationship tropes like mutual/unrequited pining, (enemies to) friends to lovers, chosen/found family, exciting new crush/relationship energy, identity shenanigans

+misc: banter, embracing the beauty in everyday things, fluff, sensory details that bring the scene to life, winter and autumn, distinct sense of place, canon-divergent AUs, missing scenes

stylistic: unique forms of story including in-universe documents, epistolary, nonlinear storytelling, more than one timeline woven together, 2nd person POV, mythology and folk tales, unusual sentence/paragraph structure, poetry. One thing I really appreciate about nonlinear storytelling that works just as well in linear storytelling, if you prefer that route, is the way that information is uncovered one piece at a time, with your perspective on the secret/event/person etc changing with every bit of information revealed.

Worldbuilding Likes

+In-universe documents, new places and cultures, elaboration on existing places and cultures

+Especially for The Islanders and Invisible Cities, I'm interested in places/cities that are shrouded in mystery. Do they even really exist? Maybe they exist more at certain times than others?

+Similarities and differences between cities/islands, and most cities/islands are all the same, really.

+Geography having a big impact on culture

+Mythology and folklore

+A sense that the author has built more of a world than is seen on the page/worldbuilding in this story connects to worldbuilding elsewhere in that world

General DNWs

-Setting change AUs (see fandoms for more detailed explanations)

-Sexual content (kissing allowed for characters older than 15!)

-Death of requested characters, major focus on death of any character, terminal illness

-Explicit descriptions of violence/gore, cannibalism

-Heavy religious themes

-Drug use other than alcohol, cigarettes, weed

-Incest

-romantic/sexual relationships between anyone under 18 and anyone over 18, romantic/sexual relationships with anyone under 25 and anyone over 35

-Homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, fatphobia directed at an individual or a small group (totally fine on a societal level, but please no more than is canonical)

Crossing - Shaun Tan

Cat, People on the Cat’s Head

(find it here! https://beinart.org/products/shaun-tan-crossing-limited-edition-print-of-300-48-3x33cm-19x13)

There’s also a lot of possibility in this fandom! I’m down for a story about this specific cat and the specific people on its head; I’m also definitely here for a more zoomed-out, worldbuild-y type fic.

+Is the cat really big, or are the people really small? Or are there standard-sized people for whom the cat is small and then there are even smaller, Stuart Little-sized people that can ride on the cat?

+What is the cat swimming away from, or swimming to?

+Who made the decision to take the journey? Maybe the cat kidnapped the people, or the people asked the cat to take them, or it was a mutual journey. Did they know each other before the Crossing?

+Can the cat talk?

+Are there lots of giant cats? How did they come to be? Misfired spell, or intentional spell, or that’s just the way cats are?

+Is “cat taking people across a body of water” a common thing in this world, exceptionally rare, or somewhere in between?

+Did the people have to pay for this service, whether with money, favours, or something weirder?

+How dangerous is the journey? What dangerous monsters lurk under the surface of the water? Will the journey continue past arriving at land?

Le Città Invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

Worldbuilding

(Read for free here: https://booksvooks.com/nonscrolablepdf/invisible-cities-pdf-italo-calvino.html)

My favourite cities are Zaira (city where past events are written into physical objects), Isaura (city of wells), Zoe (city where all activities can be done anywhere so there is nothing to distinguish any building from another), Zenobia (city on stilts), Euphemia (city where stories are traded by traveling merchants), Octavia (city hanging over a void), Ersilia (city where strings between houses symbolise relationships), Baucis (city on stilts; inhabitants observe the earth through telescopes), Melania (city with a dialogue always the same played by different actors), Clarice (city that reuses funerary urns as plant pots etc), Olinda (city that grows a new city from its centre that pushes the old parts of the city outwards), and Perinthia (city built to reflect the heavens; astronomers are wrong or the heavens are monstrous).

Of the conversations between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, I love the idea that neither of them know whether their conversations are real or only imagined, and that they may not even be in the Khan’s garden at all, but imagining that space between fighting or trading. I also like the ideas that seeing other cities is the only way to learn about your own city; “cities too probable to be real,” and the idea of a city whose desires destroy it vs a city whose desires are destroyed by the city itself.

+Write some sort of essay about cities and/or communication and/or storytelling? Or write something that makes it unclear whether Polo and/or Khan are “really” in the garden or not.

+Write about one of the cities! My favourites are above, but I’m willing to be swayed by your interest in a different city. In general I found some of the more conceptual/cerebral cities a little confusing to understand (the ones that made some sweeping statement about human nature), so you might have to simplify it a little for me :P

I’m here for zoomed-out type writing (I’m addicted to this phrase apparently, sorry) about the city in general or what the neighbouring cities think of it, but also here for stories about one or more inhabitants/visitors and what their daily life is like. Series of vignettes is totally fine.

Also totally cool to invent one or more original cities. Write a travel guide to them, or write about them in the style of the novel, or write about their inhabitants! Go wild! I’d be particularly interested in a city located underwater, underground, or in space (the International Space Station except it’s a city?!).

Note on the setting change DNW—I’m happy for you to invent new cities etc, but don’t change the setting by adding the supernatural beyond what’s hinted at, or soulmate tattoos, or moving the entire thing to space.

The Islanders — Christopher Priest

(no characters nominated)

(Read for free here: https://booksvooks.com/fullbook/the-islanders-pdf-christopher-priest.html?page=1)

I’m so fascinated by the world of The Islanders, and there are so many great places you could take it. This would be a great canon for in-universe documents, if you’re so inclined!

+create a new island and/or famous person and write documents about them!

+winds on the island of Aay -- how did they get their names? Write me the myths! (Some of the wind names are The Combiner, The Poisoner, The Mantrap, The Gargler, and The Abyss.)

+Life on Mesterline -- the spell of the island’s water; people revelling in the rain showers; life in a house built against a sheer cliff; the joy and anger of the people tearing down/exploding the water bottling plant.

+Jordenn Yo -- I’m super interested in her art, both in an abstract, zoomed-out kind of way (talking about its effect on the islands, or what people think about it), but also in a closer, more personal way -- I love the chapter where she’s involved with Oy and how singing along with the mountain relieves her deep-seated anger. Bonus: Has life grown in the tunnels of Manlayl or any other island with Yo tunnels -- plants, animals, birds?

+Speaking of which, Oy -- I quite like him! I think his art is interesting. Love the fake sand dune, the upside-down staircase, filling the cottages with concrete...write an in-universe thinkpiece on his art, or invent another art piece for him to make?

+I would love an in-universe example of the “theoretical, analytical, and academic papers attempting to unravel the enigmas perceived in the paintings” of Dryd Bathurst. Go nuts!

+If you’re familiar with Invisible Cities | Le Citta Invisibili, I’d love a take on the islands that incorporates the philosophy of Invisible Cities! See the chapter about Piqay or Siff especially for the passages that inspired this request, or the foreword about how you can’t trust maps and you can only experience or imagine reality.

+Something about Caurer and Chaster -- their few days together, or she sees his ghost in his room at the funeral and they actually get to reunite (and he doesn’t cough blood on her, lmao)

+I’d enjoy something about Dant Willer and Caurer -- their friendship (or maybe romance?) and their quiet life in their secluded school.

+I’m curious about the creepy fear towers! What’s going on with them? I’m less interested in Alvasund’s story and more in the history of the towers—how and by whom were they built? What are the snaky things? What was it like when people tried (successfully or unsuccessfully) to pull them down? I am totally down for an exploration of the tower changing Torm’s psyche and what it’s like when Alvasund comes back and finds that he’s rebuilt it. I don’t really want anyone permanently injured or killed by the towers, though it’s fine for people to be scared and see scary visions. It’s also totally fine to discuss legends of people being permanently injured or killed in the past—I just don’t want to be an eyewitness to it, if that makes sense!

Fandom-specific DNWs: suicide/murder/execution (even if canonical). Please avoid stories about Kerith Sington, Commis, and Chaster’s involvement in that storyline, and the tragic end of Kal Kapes and his wife. In general I don’t want stories about Dryd Bathurst’s sexcapades, though it’s fine to talk in generalities about his reputation if you’re writing a paper about one of his paintings. Also, I DNW stories about the military presences on the island and the characters involved, like Lorna, Tomak, or the story of Winho.

comments