dear yuletide author

[alwaysalready]

 dear author,

thank you so much for writing for me! you can find me over at tumblr here.

some general DNWs:

• i don't like long explicit sex scenes (except for where i indicate otherwise below), i don't like onscreen noncon (don't mind brief references to it, but not as an act between main characters), and i'm not into BDSM or other kink stuff. some sex in a story is fine, i'm just not after porn.
• deathfic/fic in which major characters die or are seriously ill.
• i don't like high school AUs or coffeeshop AUs.
• i don't like first person or second person.
• i don't want kidfic or fic about pregnancy. the exception to this is Portrait of a Lady on Fire, where i'm fine with references to pregnancy and with the inclusion of Héloïse's children.

here's stuff that i generally like!:

• i am happy with any kind of experimentation or weird formatting you want to try - from reverse chronology to epistolary fiction through to interactive fiction, etc. but i also perfectly happy without any of that stuff! whatever works for you.
• i like casefic, get-together fic, fic about characters getting back together (as friends or lovers), mysteries, 5+1 times stories, mutually unrequited pining, hurt/comfort (with the emphasis more on the hurt than the comfort), bittersweet stories, happy stories, sad stories (with at least a slightly hopeful ending).
• i like ghosts, ghost stories, and generally spooky goings on
• canon-divergent AUs
• i am happy with shipfic but also happy with gen!

REQUESTS:

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Characters: Marianne, Héloïse

I was lucky enough to catch this film last month, and it's beautiful and heart-breaking and soul-giving and it's everything. things i liked: the way the relationship between Marianne and Héloïse develops, and how it's complicated and they both know it can't last but it still means so much to them. I loved the art - all of the stuff about Marianne's sketches in particular. I loved all of the references to Orpheus, the music, how situated in and yet apart from the outside world they are.

I really liked seeing them both interacting with Sophie, but I also loved how isolated they were - how them finding each other felt a bit like they were the only two people in their private world. So if you want to write about just them, go for it - but if you want to include other characters, I'm happy with that too.

Some specific prompts:

• I would love a fic where they meet again maybe 10 years or so down the line. Has Héloïse's husband died? Is she more established and able to travel more and meet people socially on her own terms? Maybe they bump into each other when leaving the opera, or the theatre? Or maybe Héloïse's husband hires Marianne to paint his wife as a surprise anniversary gift? I am happy with any pretext to get them together again.
• Do they ever write to each other after the events of the film? What would their correspondence look like?
• Héloïse attends an exhibition with her husband, and comes across a painting by Marianne that has been submitted under her father's name. But she knows it's by Marianne... and then it could either develop into her persuading her husband to buy it, or she uses it as an excuse to get in touch with Marianne again, or...
• Héloïse, now in her 40s, wishes to take painting lessons. A lady painter of some reputation has recently arrived for the season in Milan...

College of Magics - Caroline Stevermer

Characters: Faris Nallaneen, Tyrian

 

I discovered A College of Magics (and Scholar of Magics and When the King Comes Home) in the past couple of years, and i love it so much. such a wonderful, fun, and oddly bittersweet book! i particularly love the mysterious, numinous quality of the magic in this world. i love the worldbuilding of the ruritanian states that the world is built around, i love the fraught journey on the orient express... and i love all of the characters.

 

I am only requesting Faris and Tyrian, but am happy for you to include other characters (or not) as you see fit. I am a big fan of Faris and Tyrian's relationship, and would love to get a fic focusing on that relationship, although i'd also be happy with a more gen story about their adventures if you're not up for romantic fic.

 

Specific prompts:

• Faris/Tyrian negotiating Tyrian's new body and their relationship in the wake of the ending of A College of Magics. Tyrian is in the body of a 50-something king. He doesn't seem very happy about it, but Faris doesn't seem to mind so much... I would actually love a story about them in bed together, Faris convincing him that she loves him even if he does look like the old king.
• Would also be very happy with a fix-it fic about this. Maybe there's a magical solution after all! Maybe they have to go on an adventure together to find it! Maybe it's a gross blood magic ritual and Faris is keen but Tyrian isn't! Who knows. I would love for them to find a way for Tyrian to be happy.
• If you don't want to focus on this, I would be happy with a story about events in the book from Tyrian's perspective. Would especially like his perspective on the relationship with Faris.
• Any kind of canon-typical adventures with the two of them would also be great. Maybe some more fun in Paris?
• I love the worldbuilding of this universe a lot and would also like something about Faris and Tyrian visiting Glasscastle, or anything that ties into When The King Comes Home (maybe Faris gets really into renaissance art?)

Lynes and Mathey Series - Amy Griswold & Melissa Scott

Characters: Ned Lynes, Julian Mathey

I love these books so much and constantly want to reread them. A take on magical Sherlock Holmes that is very gay and manages to build its own mythology and cast of characters with this much depth?! Yes, yes, more please.

I love them both, so much. I love that they have a complicated relationship history with all of these traumas and yet they love each other very fiercely and want it to work out.

 

This is another series where I love the worldbuilding and magic a lot. I love what we know of the magic system and would love to see more exploration of that if you're into it too (but don't worry if not). I'm interested in their personal histories, although I don't really want too much more exploration of their time at boarding school. 

 

i am happy with basically any heat level for this. canon-typical fade to black for sex is pretty ideal for me but am also happy with sex scenes as long as there's other stuff in the fic too. similarly, although i don't love reading kink, i think a certain amount is built into their relationship... so i am happy for you to include exploration of that if you want to! 

 

Specific prompts:

• Casefic. I'd love fic about them solving crime together, set at any point in their adult lives (within reason - I don't want fic about them when they're super elderly).
• I'd love to see established relationship fic about them a few years after Dionysus Club where they seem pretty happy and comfortable, or fic where they're still a bit unsure and negotiating it.
• AU in a different historical time period. 1920s London? 1960s? 1980s? I don't really want modern day AU, but I consider any time through the 1990s to count as a "historical time period" (god i am old), and I am flexible. I would love to see what they, and the magical world they live in, would look like at another moment in history. But I want the world they live in to still be magical!
• How did they start sleeping together again before Death by Silver? Would love story about the clueless idiots falling into bed together and misunderstanding everything.
• Would love pre-canon fic about them at Oxford and making each other miserable.
• This is a fandom where I would particularly love a 5+1 times fic, showing their relationship at different points. So maybe 5 times Ned didn't tell Julian what he was thinking, and 1 time he did. Or 5 times Julian didn't go home with Ned, and one time he did. 
• Undercover As A Couple/fake dating. Pre-canon or AU, maybe in another club something like the Dionysus Club...