Yuletide 2019

[withinadream]

Thank you for writing for me! I am within_a_dream on AO3, and you can read my previous letters here if you want to see some of my previous exchange requests!

DNWs:

• Pregnancy/childbirth - canon pregnancies are fine to include, but I would prefer no fics that are focused on the experience of being pregnant (e.g. hurt/comfort around morning sickness, pregnancy complications, etc) and no pregnant characters at all in art treats


• Kink DNWs: oviposition, stuffing kink, focus on stomach bulges (from large insertions, enemas, etc), breeding kink

I love gen, f/f, m/m, het, and polyships, and feel free to include your favorite friendships and ships in your gift--I have very few NOTPs, and those that I do have are listed. I’ve put down a few favorite ships for each fandom, but please don’t hesitate to fill my prompts with gen fic/art if you would rather!If you write or draw smut, I will love literally any kink that's not in my DNW list. I love all genres and tones from the fluffiest fluff to the darkest angst to the raunchiest porn without plot.

I’m requesting historical fandoms of various eras this Yuletide, and I am totally here for anything along the spectrum of historical accuracy from "fic that comes with a bibliography and footnotes" to "history, what’s that?" Don’t feel obligated to research, although you are welcome to if you find it fun!

Table of Contents
Opt-In Details
General Likes
Smut Likes
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Overlord (2018)
Benjamin January Mysteries – Barbara Hambly
Lilywhite Boys series – KJ Charles
Green Men series – KJ Charles
Band Sinister – KJ Charles

There are a lot of things generally considered "opt-in" that I am totally fine with you including if you want to write them! You are free to include literally anything not in my DNWs, but a few things I am totally down for include:

• Any tense or POV (including 2nd person)


• Character death – canonical and noncanonical, including my requested characters – and fic about grief


• Graphic violence


• Rape/noncon


• Unusual formats, including epistolary, nonlinear or experimental prose, and interactive fiction


• Any background ships


• Polyamory and/or adding extra characters (including OCs) to my requested ships


• Combining several of my requested ships into larger poly ships


• Unhappy endings


• Art treats

General Likes

• Fic about canonical children, Accidental Child Acquisition of OC children (especially for characters who are not at all parental and have no idea what to do with kids)


• Casefic, with a loose definition of "case" that encompasses mysteries for mystery fandoms, paranormal investigations for fantasy canons, espionage for spy canons, etc


• Ghost stories! Particular favorites include the "ghostly hitchhiker" urban legend and the setup where characters need to spend the night in a haunted house for Reasons


• Recovery or aftermath – of canonical traumatic events or noncanonical torture, rape, murder attempts, etc


• Whump, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort


• Fantasy, horror, and Western Aus


• 5+1 fics


• Rule 63 AUs, especially canonically male characters in always-a-woman AUs (I would prefer that for any m/m or f/f ships, you take both members of the ship to a different gender rather than making canonically m/m or f/f ships het)


• Trans headcanons/character-is-trans AUs


• Internal or external homophobia


• Holiday fic! Seasonal or nonseasonal-to-Yuletide is great, and while I think Christian or Jewish holidays are the best fit for my requested characters, if you feel there’s another holiday that would b a good fit feel free to use it (like, I could see the Murder throwing a raucous celebration based on Ancient Greek holidays, for example)

Smut Likes

• Any and all sex acts (vaginal, anal, oral, manual, frottage, intercrural, fisting, double penetration, etc) are great! I am especially fond of het and f/f anal. I have no top/bottom preferences.


• My favorite words for genitals are cock and cunt, but I have no objections to whatever you’d like to use


• Pretty much anything under the BDSM umbrella. I am especially into unnegotiated or undernegotiated kink, and characters falling into kinky dynamics or things they enjoy (especially with the younger characters). I have no dom/sub preferences


• I would love noncon for any of my requested characters or fandoms – if you want to know more about what I like in dubcon or noncon I have a general list of kinks and tropes here in my Consent Issues letter. I generally prefer noncon with an OC or canonical antagonist as the rapist, and "fuck or die" setups between my requested characters are also great!


• Roleplay – I am into both serious roleplay and goofy scenarios that the characters can’t quite take seriously, and I am especially fond of rape roleplay/consensual non-consent


• Group sex, orgies, and gangbangs


• Gunplay, especially fucking someone with a gun


• Watersports – I am mostly into it for humiliation or marking aspects, and am neutral about drinking piss (and would prefer if any drinking happens it’s someone having their mouth pissed in directly rather than just drinking a glass of pee/etc)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Ships I like: Stella/Ruth, Stella/Auggie/Chuck, Stella/Ramón, Stella/Ramón/Ruth, Stella/Ramón/Auggie/Chuck, and various Sarah Bellows ships in my section for her!

Characters requested: Any (and feel free to include Chuck and Auggie even though they are not nominated!)

• Sarah Bellows - I would love seeing Sarah’s precanon revenge on her family, and/or any other times her stories might have been enacted in town. For stories you are welcome to draw from the Scary Stories books, other folklore, or just make up your own. I would also love some Sarah/Stella femslash, anywhere on the spectrum from consensual to noncon. I would also love some pre-death angst or whump (or, if you are down for some horrible porn, incestuous noncon between her family and her is very welcome)


• Ramón Morales - Precanon fic for Ramón, especially showing his life on the run before meeting Stella and her friends, would be fun! I would also love to see his time in Vietnam (how does war compare to facing down monsters?) or his return home (I love stories about the aftermath of war/trauma). Something epistolary with Stella could also be fun


• Ruth Steinberg - I would really love aftermath fic about her recovery from the spider incident! I would also love to see her and Stella’s post-canon adventures and attempts to rescue Chuck and Auggie. I would also love to read Ruth having a queer awakening (about Stella or otherwise), and am especially fond of reading her as a lesbian


• Stella Nicholls - I love Stella’s love of horror and status as an outsider and issues with her mom leaving the family! I would especially love post-canon fic with her, trying to (and maybe succeeding in) saving Chuck and Auggie. I would love to see her ending up as a roving paranormal investigator! I’d also love to see how her relationship with Ramón would proceed post-canon, or something about her falling for Ruth.


• Porn is very welcome, and I am especially into first-time and/or inexperienced fumbling sex, and discovering kinks together

Overlord (2018)

Ships I like: Boyce/Rosenfeld, Boyce/Rosenfeld/Tibbet

Characters Requested: Edward Boyce, Jacob Rosenfeld

• These two are already good friends by the time canon starts, and we get so little insight into their pasts – I would love to see how they got to know each other! Did they meet in basic training? Were they friends before they enlisted?


• I would love to see their further time at war post-movie (and wow, the Overlord characters having to go straight from fighting Nazi zombies to fighting regular Nazis is incredibly stressful, and I would like to see the aftermath of not having any time to relax after literally saving the world)


• I really want post-canon fic about Boyce and Rosenfeld’s lives after the war, especially something where they end up living together (platonically or romantically). Feel free to include Tibbet in this post-canon world! I am especially into stories where one or more of them end up with serious injuries from the war (missing limbs? Debilitating PTSD?)


• If you are down for heavy angst, I would love fic where one of them dies (and would be fine with fic that features only one of my two requested characters for this prompt, so long as it’s focused on the survivor’s grief about the other’s death)


• I have Smut Swap prompts for this fandom if you would like to write Boyce/Rosenfeld(/Tibbet) porn

Benjamin January Mysteries – Barbara Hambly

I haven’t read Lady of Perdition yet, but I will have by reveals, so feel free to write fic based on its events.

Ships I like: Everything canonical, Minou/Chloe, Ben/Shaw(/Rose), Ben/Hannibal(/Rose), Ben/Ayasha/Rose, Rose/Hannibal, one giant polyship of Ben/Rose/Hannibal/Shaw(/Ayasha)

For noncanonical ships involving Ben or Rose, I would prefer polyamory, open relationships, or just not mentioning canonical relationships rather than infidelity.

Characters requested: Any

• Livia Levesque - absolutely fascinates me. I love her complicated relationship with her children, and the times we see her facade crack. I would especially love to see a Livia-POV fic set during Cold Bayou, as I think this is the least composed we’ve seen her (and with good reason). I would also love her view on any events of the previous books (or if you write me shipfic with noncanonical ships, Livia’s POV on her son’s or daughter’s unorthodox relationships has the potential to be great fun)


• Marie Laveau - I only know about her what’s in the books and on her Wikipedia page, but feel free to include historical details if you would like! I would love something about the times her life has intersected with Ben’s, or casefic with her either helping the main cast or solving a mystery on her own. I am also very into an Olympe&Marie (or Olympe/Marie?) relationship in fic


• Abishag Shaw - I have loved Shaw since his first appearance, and all I want is more of him solving crimes and using people’s perceptions of him to his advantage (and possibly banging Ben if you share my ships). If you fancy writing casefic, I would love to see his mystery-solving skills in action. I would also love some Shaw h/c – I would love to see him recovering from an injury (either a canonical or an invented one) or grieving his brother post-Shirt On His Back. I would also love to see him interacting with Ben and Rose’s kids! (Or any of the other children of the January siblings.)


• Augustus Mayerling, Madeleine Mayerling - More secondary characters I would read novels about! I would love backstory on either of their lives before the events of Free Man Of Color. I’d especially love to see how the two of them met, or how Augustus became Augustus. I’d also love to see the events of the books they’re in from either Madeleine’s or Augustus’s point of view, or something domestic about their life together (maybe adopting a kid?)


• Ayasha January - First off, I am always here for Ayasha-lives AUs. I would love to see her in New Orleans, meeting the rest of the cast. If you don’t want to resurrect Ayasha, I am also totally here for any backstory—tell me about her life before she met Ben, or about their lives together in Paris before her death.


• Benjamin January - Any fic about Ben is great, and a lot of my prompts for other characters would work well with him involved. Casefic is great, as is shipfic or domestic fic about him and his family. Hurt/comfort would also be great. I’ve been pondering either an always-a-woman or trans man Ben AU for a while, and would also love to see your take on that – I’m lumping them together because the setup would be the same even though Ben’s gender would be different. I could see going to school in Paris as a great setup to start living as a man, and I’d be interested to see how this AU would change Ben’s interactions with Augustus Mayerling, or any ships (canonical or not).


• Chloe Viellard - I loved seeing the main characters’ opinions of Chloe change over the course of the series, and I would love a fic that gets inside Chloe’s head more. Her perspective on the events of Cold Bayou is especially on my mind since I finished the book, but her POV on events of any of the books is great. I’d also love to see more of her relationships with Henri and Dominique—whether you ship her and Minou or like them as friends, they do seem to be close and we know Chloe spends some time with Charmian. I do love platonic marriages of convenience, so I’d love to see her relationships and negotiations with Henri too.


• Dominique Viellard - Some of my favorite parts of Dominique’s role in the books is when she helps Ben solve a crime, and I’d love to see a casefic where her knowledge of fashion or New Orleans social circles or something else comes in handy. I also love her relationships with Henri, Chloe, and Charmian, and would love to see shipfic or some domestic fluff. I’d also love to see her relationship with her siblings, especially set earlier in the canon and having her getting to know Ben or Olympe.


• Hannibal Sefton - Hannibal is especially great for hurt/comfort and whump, given how often he gets injured or ill in canon. I’m down for addiction angst, TB angst, or any other route you want to go in that direction. I’m also always down for Hannibal ending up the damsel in distress in casefic. I’m also into Hannibal shipfic or friendship-fic with pretty much any character, or I’d love to see him babysitting any of the canonical children.


• Olympe Corbier - Olympe’s life as a voodooiene is fascinating and I would love to see more of it in fic, especially from her POV (since we only see her from Ben’s perspective in the novels). I’d also love to see fic about her childhood, or about her and Ben getting to know each other again after he returns from France.


• Rose Vitrac-January - Pretty much anything about Rose would be lovely, but I am especially into her doing science, teaching/interacting with her students, kidfic about her kids or her nieces and nephews, casefic, or something showing what she was up to in the books where she’s less present.


• I have Smut Swap prompts for many ships in this fandom if you feel moved to write porn and want more details or prompts!

Lilywhite Boys Series – K. J. Charles

I’ve read all three books in the series, and would not object to Susan and James/Templeton included in addition to or instead of my requested characters!

Ships I like: Canon ships are great, and despite what the characters say in canon I have a fondness for Jerry/Templeton (especially as a sexual fling that they both agreed was a horrible idea that should never be mentioned again)

Characters requested: Any

• Alexander "Alec" Pyne-ffoulkes - I love Alec’s friendship with Susan, and would love to see more of it in fic. I would also love to see pre-canon fic with him and Cara. Post-canon fic is also very welcome, especially something domestic and/or smutty with Jerry. Pornwise, I love the lowkey roleplaying they have going on with the Lord Alexander persona, and would love to see new personas developed after Lord Alexander has served his purpose – ridiculously cheesy roleplaying scenarios very welcome!


• Jerry Crozier - I love Jerry’s skewed moral compass and how much he loves Alec and his burglary skills! I would love some jewel thievery fic, or backstory about the beginnings of his relationships with Templeton and/or Stan. I would also love something post-canon about his life on the straight-and-narrow (I imagine going straight meets with some rough spots, knowing Jerry)


• Miss Christiana - I am so in love with Christiana and I want way more than the one novella about her. I would love to see her getting started in performing. I also love the Sins of the Cities books, so Pen’s cameo was delightful and I would love to see some Pen&Christiana interaction. I am also a sucker for angst, so fleshing out her time under Kammy’s thumb would be great (and if you want to get really angsty I would be so here for a rape or attempted rape in fic). Shipfic with Stan is also wonderful! One thing that comes to mind is something like "5 times Stan and Christiana’s date night was interrupted by business"


• Stan Kamarzyn - I would love to see Stan learning the trade of fencing fleshed out in a fic, or more about his family and his relationships with them. I would also love his first time meeting with the Lilywhite Boys explored in fic! Stan’s delight when Christiana said his name right was really great, and I am a sucker for fic about learning languages, so I have a niche desire for Stan teaching Christiana a bit of Polish.


• And if you have also read Gilded Cage, some Susan and James prompts: I would love to see Susan working a case (and feel free to include Justin, Mark, Nathaniel, and other Sins of the Cities characters), Susan/Cara, James’s childhood with his Uncle Richard and Cyprian (I’ve read and loved Society of Gentlemen so the cameos were great fun for me), angst about James’s time in Australia (and if you are into noncon I would love some noncon during that period), and any smut but especially Susan domming James

Green Men Series – K. J. Charles

Ships I like: Randolph/Saul, Barney/Max

Characters requested: Any

• Hugh "Barney" Barnaby & Max Isaacs - I’m putting my prompts for them together because they do seem to come as a unit in the books, but feel free to write one of them individually! I do ship them, but am also totally here for gen. I would love a work that focuses on their experiences during the war (and feel free to lean into the angst and/or body horror here). And I would love to know how they felt about each other when they first met! They certainly don’t seem like the type of people who would have been friends if they hadn’t met while being experimented on by the military. Casefic with them taking on supernatural occurrences is also great. And I would love porn about them! I have requested them for Smut Swap if you want more details, but above all I would love some sex utilizing their tentacles (possibly framed as a "screw you" to the people who gave the tentacles to them or as a reclaiming of their bodies and their new parts)


• Randolph Glyde - First off, I am fascinated by his backstory and would love to see him growing up in the Glyde magical lineage and being trained, his relationship with Theresa, and his time at war. I would also love casefic, pre or post Saul. Porn with Saul is very welcome, I am into what we see of them in canon and don’t have many ideas for kinks or plots besides "more of that", but feel free to throw in whatever you would like!


• Saul Lazenby - I want to see more of Saul learning about his new role as the Walker! His unconscious use of his powers and subsequent reactions were great in the book, and I would love to see more of that. Casefic would be great. I would also love to see some domestic fluff with him living in a place where he can finally be open about who he is, or him getting to know the Green Men.

Band Sinister – K. J. Charles

Ships I like: Guy/Philip(/Corvin/John), Corvin/John(/Philip), Amanda/David, and I would also love crossovers that involve other characters hooking up with any of the Murder (especially crossovers involving other KJ Charles characters, possibly shifting eras to make the timeline work)

Characters requested: Any

• Amanda Frisby - I love Amanda’s writing and the way we see her mine her time at Rookwood Hall for salacious details that might be good for her next novel. I would love to see her writing further novels, maybe hashing out writer’s block with David or Guy. I also love her relationship with Guy and would love a fic about the siblings! And I would be very into Amanda getting to know the Murder. The discussion of her converting to Judaism in the book also piqued my interest, and I’d love to see a fic showing how that goes post-canon.


• David Martelo - I would really love to know how David ends up friends with the rest of the Murder, he seems so much more serious than the rest of them! (Although perhaps that’s just because he has a patient at the time.) I would also love to see him practicing medicine in general (possibly with Amanda helping out?) And shipfic with him and Amanda is always welcome!


• Guy Frisby - I would love to see Guy exploring the world now that he and Amanda are not bound to their estate! Philip introducing him to new things would be lovely – going to the theater, travelling, new sex stuff, anything is good! I also love Guy’s relationship with Amanda and would love to see more of that in fic.


• For John, Corvin, and Philip, in general I would love to see more of their childhood and further life together. I am sure they have gotten up to some wild things, and I’d love to see that in fic! How their friend group changes with the introduction of Guy (and Amanda?) would also be interesting.


• John Raven - I would love to see John’s marriage explored in fic. I would also love to see his political convictions in fic, and the fandom has put the idea of a Society of Gentlemen crossover where he ends up friends with Silas into my head, so if you are familiar with both canons feel free to roll with that!


• Lord Corvin - Honestly I would just love to see Corvin’s romantic exploits (feel free to throw in OCs or crossovers) and/or his attempts to be notorious. I would also love to see him interact more with Amanda, they seem like they would get along like a house on fire and Corvin would be a valuable resource for Amanda’s writing (although I’m sure many of his stories would be far too scandalous to be written into her novels unedited)


• Philip Rookwood - I would love to see some post-canon scenes from Philip and Guy’s relationship. I would also love to see more of his childhood with Corvin and John. Also, Philip’s experiments in agriculture were very endearing and I would love to see more of him managing and modernizing his estate.


• Pornwise I have a lot of prompts for various combinations of Guy/Philip/John/Corvin in my Smut Swap letter, and am also very into some Murder-centric orgies. I would also love some Amanda/David porn! You can go wild with whatever you feel like they would be into sex-wise, but if you want to get a little silly with it, with Amanda’s writing I could see her being into complicated roleplay scenarios that occasionally devolve into being way more focused on the storyline than the sex.