Yuletide 2019 letter!
Nov. 3rd, 2019 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Dear Yuletide Author,
I can't wait to read your story! This is my first time signing up for yuletide, and I might have overcorrected by writing too much here, but the main takeaway here is that I'm SO excited to get to read whatever you end up writing. Thank you so much!!
ao3: almostnectarine
twitter: nectarinepit
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General likes:
hurt/comfort; banter; any kind of time travel mess; role reversal AUs; enemies -> lovers; You're SUCH a Fool And I Love That About You.
other stuff I love:
* when a plot point/ situation shows me something new about a character, or forces a character to reexamine or learn something new about a relationship
* fics about a first time/ characters finally figuring out their feelings for each other
* any kind of setup (we're trapped here together so we might as well talk; oh no a spell showed me your deepest fear) that gets normally obtuse people to confront their feelings
* monsters and people who are Into That
General dislikes: First- and second-person narration; mundane AUs that strip the weirdness out of a setting; five times fic; straight-up retellings of existing scenes.
DNWS: period-typical homophobia; permanent major character death; kidfic; ABO; straight-up noncon; PWP
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Additional fandom details:
Witcher: I love side characters and would be happy to have pretty much anyone (Dandelion? Ciri?) that you're interested in make an appearance! Not interested in a lot of angst about Yen; I love her but that's not what I'm here for. I've read (and loved!) the books, too, so if you want to incorporate any elements from those, that's cool by me!
Delicious in Dungeon: I'm a little less here for cooking and a little more here for adventure! Cooking as part of a story is great, but it's not my main interest. ALSO OOPS, I forgot volume 7 is gonna be out so soon, I will definitely have bought & read it by the fic deadline so if you'd like to include material from that one please feel free!
Master & Commander: Please don't go researching boats for this!!! I don't know the difference between a foc's'le (?????) and a jib and it's never affected my enjoyment of the books so far. Handwave whatever you want!
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Specific fandom info (this is all identical to the optional details section of signup):
THE WITCHER:
I love the tone of this game! It's such a tasty mix of nicely observed character interactions, humor, and intriguing mysteries. I like that it makes room to both be a grimy fantasy world and a surprisingly funny one, and I feel like Geralt and Regis are both nice complements to that: two exhausted ancient grandpas who've lived long enough to experience the freeing effects of being too old to care. I dig that they're both hyper-skilled specialists (in monster-slaying and moral dilemmas; in medicine and uh, vampiring) who also have blind spots/knowledge gaps a mile wide (in anything that's /not/ monster-slaying; in remembering to hide the fact that he's a vampire, like, at all). I absolutely ship it, they deserve each other. Also, they're both monsters (well, at least part-monster) and that slaps.
I really love casefic and plot- and character interaction- heavy fics in general! I'm very into long stories but also love a dense, tightly-packed nugget of a short fic. I love a slow burn/ tension/ build-up, but in short fics, I lean more towards like, a fade-to-black than long, explicit sex scenes. I'm not super into retellings of existing scenes from the books or game.
I wrote up some possible prompts/starters/mix-and-match kernels if you don't have anything in mind, but I'll be delighted to read whatever you write!
- Hey, remember how geralt drank a resonance potion with a bunch of regis's blood in it???? I feel like that's gotta have some long-term consequences????
- Two grandpas have to work together on a MotW contract; relying on each other forces them to actually confront/figure out how they Really Feel.
- Geralt runs into Regis in an unexpected setting.
- Geralt finally gets bored with being settled in corvo bianco. Conveniently, this coincides with rumors of Regis being spotted somewhere, so why not try to chase him down?
- Hey, remember how geralt went through a THIRD round of mutations??? I feel like that has ALSO gotta have some long-term consequences, but also, luckily, he's very close with at least one monster who could help him figure it out.
DNW: mundane AUs, permanent major character death, kidfic, ABO, straight-up noncon, PWP
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DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON:
This is one of my all-time favorite comics!! I love how sweet and earnest and FUNNY it is despite ostensibly being a series about adventurers throwing themselves into increasingly deadly fights. I like that its characters get to be both their best and worst selves in pursuit of their goals, I love the world, and I love the ongoing mystery of wtf is going on with that magician-- although I'm only caught up to Volume 6 of the yen press english release, so please don't spoil anything past that point.
I'm a huge fan of pretty much every single character but I especially love Marcille and Falin! I know we haven't gotten to see a lot of Falin, but the bits we get of her and Marcille's history are SO good. I love that they're both complete experts and that they really respect each other even though there's very little overlap in their expertise (careful, thoughtful, delicate magic vs... mostly explosions and necromancy). Also love that Marcille is a giant fool. I definitely ship it, but I'm here for anything along that timeline, from so early in their knowing each other that it's not clearly romance yet, to them realizing their feelings for each other, to the light angst of hey, I already love you but we've gotta figure out this monster/wizard curse thing, to hey you've still got dragon bits but I think that's pretty great, actually.
I really love casefic and plot- and character interaction- heavy fics in general! I'm very into long stories but also love a dense, tightly-packed nugget of a short fic.
I wrote up some possible prompts/starters/mix-and-match kernels if you don't have anything in mind, but I'll be delighted to read whatever you write!
- A MotW encounter prior to the first red dragon encounter, with the original party-- marcille & falin work together to get them through it.
- Marcille mentions that falin is good with ghosts, and we see a little bit of that on the page, but how come marcille knows that/ what happened in the past that demonstrated it?
- Hunt for a macguffin that the party thinks will break the magician's direct line to falin, but the cost is some kind of a psychic link with marcille? I like magic/ spells as an excuse to explore a weird connection.
- Any kind of time travel bullshit! Marcille very casually jokes about this as being something 'ancient magic' might be able to do. I feel like there's a lot of room to explore this as an attempted fix-it?
- The party gets falin back but much like izutsumi, she's definitely still part dragon
DNW: mundane AUs, a fic that's just a recipe, permanent major character death, kidfic, ABO, straight-up noncon, PWP
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MASTER AND COMMANDER:
I'm three books into this 21-book series and having a WONDERFUL time. I love how much this feels like jane austen, it's SUCH a good combo of humor and interpersonal drama! My favorite thing about this series is the character dynamic between Jack & Stephen: two hyper-competent people who are also Complete Fools in complementary spheres. I love that Jack doesn't realize how bad he is at violin and that Stephen has no idea how completely off the mark his very confident use of nautical terminology is. I'd be equally into jack/stephen romantically involved, jack & stephen as platonic partners in crime, or jack/sophia/stephen ot3 romance.
I really love casefic and plot- and character interaction- heavy fics in general! I'm very into long stories but also love a dense, tightly-packed nugget of a short fic. Tragically I don't... especially care about boats, so the actual napoleonic war setting is maybe the least interesting thing about this series to me. That said, I *do* really love the opportunities that setting generates to put characters in peril and see them grow/ learn stuff about each other! So if you want to stick to that setting, I'm absolutely here for it, but I'd also be here for a non-military AU if there's one that speaks to you.
I wrote up some possible prompts/starters/mix-and-match kernels if you don't have anything in mind, but I'll be delighted to read whatever you write!
Original setting prompts:
- Oh No We're Stranded Together On This Island And Have To Survive Until Rescue (or we get bored waiting for rescue and figure out a different solution)... a classic
- Jack follows Stephen on a biology expedition, it goes awry, and now they're short on time to get back to the ship and/or out of this situation. Was it actually a biology expedition? Was it cover for an undercover spy mission? I don't know and I'm excited to find out!
- Jack and Stephen decide to chance it and head on shore leave (opera? shopping?), but it turns out debtors' agents are waiting (in the audience? by the docks?) to arrest Jack??? Stephen has to take the lead on getting him back to the ship in time for their departure/ somehow avoiding capture.
- Stephen brings Yet Another Unusual(ly destructive) Animal on board the ship; Jack does his best to cover it up and/or convince the crew that no, Stephen's right and this is good, actually,
With A Twist prompts:
- There's a part in book 3 where Jack is fully convinced Stephen is bringing an armload of ?vampires? on board and is extremely unconcerned about it??? So same as above, Stephen brings an Unusual Animal home on a trip, but it's legit some extremely weird supernatural thing and the two of them have to Handle It. Literal MotW.
- It's Still Ships... But They're Spaceships. Maybe exploring, or transporting dangerous goods, or making a brief planetside stop?
- Jack and Stephen are leading a heist for the macguffin of your choice! This one could also probably work in-setting, but I love dumb gadgets and antics so whatever mix you're into works for me.
DNW: period-typical homophobia, permanent major character death, kidfic, ABO, straight-up noncon, PWP