Yuletide 2016!
Oct. 7th, 2016 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labellementeuseHi, author! I can't believe it's that time of the year again! I'm very happy to be doing Yuletide again and I hope you will be too.
It's important to me that you have fun, so if there's anything in my sign-up that you find obnoxious or whatever please feel free to toss it out the window and go with what you need. Read as much as you need & want to and no more :) I will be very happy with anything in my requested pairings/characters, so if the muse takes you in a different direction from my prompts and letter, please do just go with it.
QUICK NOTE: There will be Critical Role spoilers through episode 70 in this letter, and I typically watch the episodes within 24 hours of them airing, so you don't have to worry about spoiling me. Don't worry if you get jossed halfway through your story, though, I'll totally understand. I have moved Critical Role to the last part of the letter just in case you've matched me for something else and are trying to avoid spoilers!
General Likes
- For the purposes of Yuletide, hopeful (or outright happy) endings are my jam. I would prefer for all of my requested characters to still be alive at the end of the story. I don't mind if the story goes in a darker or angstier direction before that, though (in fact I quite like it).
- I love many of the classic slash tropes, especially fake dating, wake up married, kidfic, emotional misunderstandings, pining. Wacky dilemma tropes like bodyswap, sudden mind reading, cursed to tell the truth, etc are also really fun for me.
- breakup-makeup/getting back together stories are the greatest trope of all time. I love the agony of the break-up and then the cautious learning to trust again.
- I like a range of different tones, many different styles of AU, etc. I like reading stuff close to the tone of whichever canon and I like reading stuff that takes those characters and puts them in stories of different tones - darker, lighter, different contexts, pornier
- I love canon-divergence AUs where one thing happened differently and then ...
- Watch this space, I will probably do a Yuleporn comment this year. However, short form, if the porn muse takes you, go with it with my blessing. My significant squicks are bloodplay and scat, and although I love noncon I think probably not for the fandoms I'm requesting this year.
General Dislikes
- I don't enjoy rape recovery as a plotpoint
- Deathfic, sickfic, and H/C are also things I would prefer not to receive.
Swallows and Amazons
Nancy Blackett
Just to be completely clear if it doesn't come across in my prompts, I LOVE Nancy, and my heart goes out to her in the later books where she is so clearly feeling trapped between what she wants to do and what she is allowed to do. I love her extraordinary understanding of what she is supposed to be and how to do it, as exemplified in The Picts and the Martyrs, and I love her refusal to be that person in Secret Water. I'd love to read anything about her negotiating these barriers. I ship her passionately with John as two-captains-together, up against the world that doesn't quite get them (doesn't quite get her - but John does!), but I also am very keen on Nancy femslash. I love Nancy/Dot especially, a pairing I sold myself on a couple of Yuletides ago - Dot's crush on competent Nancy is SO transparent. So however the mood takes you, including a gen story just about Nancy, I am keen. My only really big DNW in this fandom is John/Peggy and stories where Nancy dies. Other than that, have fun.
Young Wizards
Dairine, Carmela
Dairine/Carmela is one of my not-so-secret weird OTPs developed by spending way too long in this fandom. They’re huge fun as foils for their respective siblings but I love them for themselves, as well. Dairine is so tough and fiery and snarky and secretly vulnerable and insecure. Carmela is genuinely secure, funny, smart, and so underestimated by the people around her. I truly believe she could conquer the galaxy. Once upon a time I wrote an embarrassing ship manifesto for this pairing. Of course I would be just as thrilled with gen; these guys are just so much fun to read about and I think they have a real spark together.
I would honestly love anything, but some of the anything I would love: AU or futurefic where Carmela is a GALACTIC DICTATOR, futurefic where Carmela runs a chocolate smuggling empire that she uses to fund a life of crime or indulgence or a free language school or a health clinic, Carmela and Dairine flirting at one of those big wizardly parties Carmela always seems to get into somehow, Carmela and Dairine: academic power couple (Carmela would be such a terrible yet awesome academic). Maybe Carmela works in publishing in New York and Dairine works for a tech company in California and they meet up once a month to shop at the Crossings and swap stories. Maybe a month after Games Wizard Play Carmela talks to Dairine about being nervous about college and she doesn't even know why she's talking to Dairine when really she's closer to Nita but somehow Dairine gets it. And they somehow keep talking to each other about things they can't talk to anyone else about and after a few years, maybe after Dairine has worked everything out with Roshaun and Carmela has settled in at college and knows where she's going, they realise that they're dating, basically, except without the kissing, and then they fix that.
I have read Games Wizards Play and the material set between A Wizard of Mars and GWP.
Critical Role
Vax'ildan, Vex'ahlia, Percy, Gilmore
I LOVE THESE KIDS, so much, every single one of them, and whatever you want to write I will love. I love Vax when he's being a loving, lovable flirt, when he's making stupid decisions about where to go, when he tells Percy "Hello, handsome" when Percy gets brought back from the dead, when he kisses Percy's cheek, when he takes long walks with Gilmore, when he's such a bad listener when Vex is in trouble and needs him (I mean, I'm mad at him then, but I love him), when he stealths away like an asshole and nobody can find him. I love Vex when she's refusing to open up, when she confesses love to people's dead bodies but then can't stand to be alone with them afterwards, when she's standing over Percy's body crying and shooting arrows, when she's cuddling with Trinket, when she's letting Vax braid her hair, when she's haggling, when she's winking. I love Percy when he's a sarcastic motherfucker, when he's so excited to have something crazy happen, when he's tinkering, in those rare moments when you get genuine feelings, when he's writing letters because he fully expects to die and he wants to make sure Cassandra is taken care of. I love Gilmore when it becomes evident that his bold façade is concealing pain, pain in relation to his family, pain because Vax has been a bit of a jerk; I love Gilmore when he's being a terrifying badass when people attack him, when he gets Vox Machina drunk in a dive bar in Emon, when he lets Vex cheat him out of goods, when he's quietly killing himself to protect Whitestone but not letting anyone know, when he's secretly dying to get the hell back to his shop and start selling people shit again.
Pairing stuff, for clarity's sake: I'd be happy with these characters in literally any permutation. Percy/Vax? Yes. Percy/Vex? Yes. Gilmore/Vax? Yes. Vax/Vex? YES. Vax/Vex/Percy? Y E S. (You definitely don't have to write the incest, I'm just, you know, putting it out there that I would enjoy it, because it's one of those things most people wouldn't write without firm clarification.) Gilmore/Vex? Well, I'll level with you, I read Gilmore as gay, but in a genderswap world, sure! And, yes, of course, if the gen muse takes you I would love some gen. If you want to work in Polymachina in the background I'm fine with/appreciative of that. (Also, for the record, I love Keyleth and Vax/Keyleth, so if you want to retain that as a canonical relationship I am a-OK with that.)
If you can only work in two or three of these characters, that's OK - don't tie yourself in a knot trying to get Gilmore into a Vax/Vex/Percy PWP, for example. (And if you get really stuck? I like all the other current members of Vox Machina, and also Kima/Allura, quite a bit. You can break away if you need to.)
Thanks again, dear author, and I hope you have a great time this Yuletide. You can stalk me as required labellementeuse here/AO3/LJ/twitter and birdhead on my (rarely updated) tumblr.
It's important to me that you have fun, so if there's anything in my sign-up that you find obnoxious or whatever please feel free to toss it out the window and go with what you need. Read as much as you need & want to and no more :) I will be very happy with anything in my requested pairings/characters, so if the muse takes you in a different direction from my prompts and letter, please do just go with it.
QUICK NOTE: There will be Critical Role spoilers through episode 70 in this letter, and I typically watch the episodes within 24 hours of them airing, so you don't have to worry about spoiling me. Don't worry if you get jossed halfway through your story, though, I'll totally understand. I have moved Critical Role to the last part of the letter just in case you've matched me for something else and are trying to avoid spoilers!
General Likes
- For the purposes of Yuletide, hopeful (or outright happy) endings are my jam. I would prefer for all of my requested characters to still be alive at the end of the story. I don't mind if the story goes in a darker or angstier direction before that, though (in fact I quite like it).
- I love many of the classic slash tropes, especially fake dating, wake up married, kidfic, emotional misunderstandings, pining. Wacky dilemma tropes like bodyswap, sudden mind reading, cursed to tell the truth, etc are also really fun for me.
- breakup-makeup/getting back together stories are the greatest trope of all time. I love the agony of the break-up and then the cautious learning to trust again.
- I like a range of different tones, many different styles of AU, etc. I like reading stuff close to the tone of whichever canon and I like reading stuff that takes those characters and puts them in stories of different tones - darker, lighter, different contexts, pornier
- I love canon-divergence AUs where one thing happened differently and then ...
- Watch this space, I will probably do a Yuleporn comment this year. However, short form, if the porn muse takes you, go with it with my blessing. My significant squicks are bloodplay and scat, and although I love noncon I think probably not for the fandoms I'm requesting this year.
General Dislikes
- I don't enjoy rape recovery as a plotpoint
- Deathfic, sickfic, and H/C are also things I would prefer not to receive.
Swallows and Amazons
Nancy Blackett
I think the thing I treasure most about this series is the sheer amount of competence!porn and learning and the shared sense of community and family even between the families. All of that hard work and skill thrills me in this context and would thrill me in any kind of AU.
I'd love to read something about Nancy in that uncertain period where John will be off in the navy (I think there are a few years before the war where he'd be gone) - what is Nancy deciding to do with her life? I'd love to read an AU that gives Nancy the opportunities that John has in the canon, whether that's a modern AU or any other kind. Modern AUs would be fun for this cast (how about a university AU with Professor Lee, Nancy's favourite Latin prof?) I'm really fond of wartime!S&A&Ds. Imagine a Foyle's War/Swallows & Amazons fusion (Nancy as Sam? - I'm breathless with delight at the idea), or cast Peggy or Dot as Rosie the Riveter. Which of the women's auxiliaries did they go into? I love Nancy a lot, but I'd really like to hear more about Titty, Dot, Bridgie, even Daisy, too. How about drawing on Roger Altounyan's real life for something about Roger? - or the D's at Bletchley Park! If you like this idea go as nuts with it as you care to. Kill anyone but Nancy if the muse strikes you.
Just to be completely clear if it doesn't come across in my prompts, I LOVE Nancy, and my heart goes out to her in the later books where she is so clearly feeling trapped between what she wants to do and what she is allowed to do. I love her extraordinary understanding of what she is supposed to be and how to do it, as exemplified in The Picts and the Martyrs, and I love her refusal to be that person in Secret Water. I'd love to read anything about her negotiating these barriers. I ship her passionately with John as two-captains-together, up against the world that doesn't quite get them (doesn't quite get her - but John does!), but I also am very keen on Nancy femslash. I love Nancy/Dot especially, a pairing I sold myself on a couple of Yuletides ago - Dot's crush on competent Nancy is SO transparent. So however the mood takes you, including a gen story just about Nancy, I am keen. My only really big DNW in this fandom is John/Peggy and stories where Nancy dies. Other than that, have fun.
Young Wizards
Dairine, Carmela
I love these guys and would love something focused on a developing relationship (romantic or friendly) between them, or on their shared (though differently expressed) love of learning. Really anything with the two of them would delight me - getting together while Carmela is at college, tooling around the solar system togther, giving Nita and Kit a hard time, flirting at Nita and Kit's wedding, having their own relationship milestones, babysitting Nita and Kit's kids (or having their own!), the two of them having their first threesome ...
Dairine/Carmela is one of my not-so-secret weird OTPs developed by spending way too long in this fandom. They’re huge fun as foils for their respective siblings but I love them for themselves, as well. Dairine is so tough and fiery and snarky and secretly vulnerable and insecure. Carmela is genuinely secure, funny, smart, and so underestimated by the people around her. I truly believe she could conquer the galaxy. Once upon a time I wrote an embarrassing ship manifesto for this pairing. Of course I would be just as thrilled with gen; these guys are just so much fun to read about and I think they have a real spark together.
I would honestly love anything, but some of the anything I would love: AU or futurefic where Carmela is a GALACTIC DICTATOR, futurefic where Carmela runs a chocolate smuggling empire that she uses to fund a life of crime or indulgence or a free language school or a health clinic, Carmela and Dairine flirting at one of those big wizardly parties Carmela always seems to get into somehow, Carmela and Dairine: academic power couple (Carmela would be such a terrible yet awesome academic). Maybe Carmela works in publishing in New York and Dairine works for a tech company in California and they meet up once a month to shop at the Crossings and swap stories. Maybe a month after Games Wizard Play Carmela talks to Dairine about being nervous about college and she doesn't even know why she's talking to Dairine when really she's closer to Nita but somehow Dairine gets it. And they somehow keep talking to each other about things they can't talk to anyone else about and after a few years, maybe after Dairine has worked everything out with Roshaun and Carmela has settled in at college and knows where she's going, they realise that they're dating, basically, except without the kissing, and then they fix that.
I have read Games Wizards Play and the material set between A Wizard of Mars and GWP.
Critical Role
Vax'ildan, Vex'ahlia, Percy, Gilmore
I would love anything with any combination of these characters, gen or any pairing, threesome, moresome, or poly arrangement you care for. How about an AU where Percy's Feywild amnesia stuck around longer? How about a bodyswap story with any of these kids - a twins bodyswap would be hilarious, but so would a Percy-Vax bodyswap, Gilmore-any of them would be hilarious. I'd like to know how Gilmore feels about his parents, and maybe he and Vax could bond over that. I would love to read Vax and Vex talking about her feelings for Percy, or his for Keyleth. I would love Percy and Vax bonding over their belief in their own deep dark souls (idiots). Porn? Yes, please, anything you like.
I LOVE THESE KIDS, so much, every single one of them, and whatever you want to write I will love. I love Vax when he's being a loving, lovable flirt, when he's making stupid decisions about where to go, when he tells Percy "Hello, handsome" when Percy gets brought back from the dead, when he kisses Percy's cheek, when he takes long walks with Gilmore, when he's such a bad listener when Vex is in trouble and needs him (I mean, I'm mad at him then, but I love him), when he stealths away like an asshole and nobody can find him. I love Vex when she's refusing to open up, when she confesses love to people's dead bodies but then can't stand to be alone with them afterwards, when she's standing over Percy's body crying and shooting arrows, when she's cuddling with Trinket, when she's letting Vax braid her hair, when she's haggling, when she's winking. I love Percy when he's a sarcastic motherfucker, when he's so excited to have something crazy happen, when he's tinkering, in those rare moments when you get genuine feelings, when he's writing letters because he fully expects to die and he wants to make sure Cassandra is taken care of. I love Gilmore when it becomes evident that his bold façade is concealing pain, pain in relation to his family, pain because Vax has been a bit of a jerk; I love Gilmore when he's being a terrifying badass when people attack him, when he gets Vox Machina drunk in a dive bar in Emon, when he lets Vex cheat him out of goods, when he's quietly killing himself to protect Whitestone but not letting anyone know, when he's secretly dying to get the hell back to his shop and start selling people shit again.
Pairing stuff, for clarity's sake: I'd be happy with these characters in literally any permutation. Percy/Vax? Yes. Percy/Vex? Yes. Gilmore/Vax? Yes. Vax/Vex? YES. Vax/Vex/Percy? Y E S. (You definitely don't have to write the incest, I'm just, you know, putting it out there that I would enjoy it, because it's one of those things most people wouldn't write without firm clarification.) Gilmore/Vex? Well, I'll level with you, I read Gilmore as gay, but in a genderswap world, sure! And, yes, of course, if the gen muse takes you I would love some gen. If you want to work in Polymachina in the background I'm fine with/appreciative of that. (Also, for the record, I love Keyleth and Vax/Keyleth, so if you want to retain that as a canonical relationship I am a-OK with that.)
If you can only work in two or three of these characters, that's OK - don't tie yourself in a knot trying to get Gilmore into a Vax/Vex/Percy PWP, for example. (And if you get really stuck? I like all the other current members of Vox Machina, and also Kima/Allura, quite a bit. You can break away if you need to.)
Thanks again, dear author, and I hope you have a great time this Yuletide. You can stalk me as required labellementeuse here/AO3/LJ/twitter and birdhead on my (rarely updated) tumblr.
