Yuletide Letter

Hello writer!

I've never done Yuletide before, but I'm very excited to see how it goes! I've listed some prompts, but they're suggestions, not requirements.  I've also listed some of my favorite tropes, but it's by no means an exhaustive list of things I enjoy reading. I enjoy both gen and not-gen and I'm sure I'll love whatever you write.

Likes:

• heistfic (characters committing crime heck yeah)
• mutual pining
• fake dating
  
  • (which dovetails nicely with both heistfic and pining)
• banter
• competence (and characters being turned on by each others' competence)
• canon divergence AUs
  
  • and time loops
  • the intersection of time loops with canon divergences - it gives the chance for characters to see What Could Have Been (either good or bad) and suffer accordingly
• characters who are bad at admitting they have feelings
  • those characters then having feelings and not knowing how to deal with it
• characters who aren't used to affection getting affection and not knowing what to do with it
• political infrastructure and scheming
• dark!fic (especially with psychological manipulation)

DNW:

• Cross-overs (fusions are okay, though)
• A/B/O
• Mundane AUs (High School/College, Coffeeshop, etc. Any AU that involves the characters Committing Less Crime, basically)
• Major Character Death
• watersports/scat play
• homophobia, especially internalized homophobia
• kid!fic or pregnancy
• first/second person narration
• character bashing

Fly By Night Series - Frances Hardinge:
Mosca Mye
Eponymous Clent

What I like about this canon: The language and worldbuilding. The worldbuilding is so vivid. (But it's also fairly dark; it's the colorful, imaginitive kind of dark that I imagine might have happened if Scott Lynch had tried to write "The Gentleman Bastards" sequence for a YA audience.) The way that the series explores the importance of words and language and ideas also strongly resonates with me. But I also just adore Mosca. She's been dealt a bad hand and is so angry about it. I love it when we get to see her learning new things and running full-speed with the knowledge. Her friendship with Clent is also great. They're both untrusting, down-on-their-luck tricksters who love language. I adore the fact that they spent a good portion of Fly By Night mistrusting each other, until the point where Mosca realizes Clent didn't kill Partridge and Clent realizes that Mosca actually thought he killed Partridge and they both went oh shit that other person is just as scared as I am. They're both too suspicious and pragmatic to admit to wanting or having friends, but that's what they are. I don't see Clent as a father-figure to Mosca (partially because I think she would reject one and partially because of his comment in Flytrap about forgetting that "[her] small size is the result of youth, not pickling"), but I can see him as sort of a mentor.

(gen only for this fandom, please)

Story suggestions:

• Mosca and Clent spend some time on the road discussing scandalous uses of an illegal printing press that they would never ever try. (Bonus, if you want to add Plot: this is fine until the moment one of these never-ever discussions is their only option to get out of trouble. Maybe they need to distract the authorities or frame someone else as the owner of a printing press. Maybe they need to sway public opinion. Maybe they need to evacuate a town and think scaring everyone into leaving is the way to do it. Maybe they're delivering misinformation to armies working against Mandelion.)

• Mosca and Clent accidentally get hired to run a mayoral election campaign. Does Clent try to escape at the first chance or does he welcome the opportunity? How does Mosca feel about democracy as a variation on governance? Are the guilds interfering the election and if so, how? When Clent and Mosca start succeeding, does that put them at risk of being murdered?

The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison:
Csethiro Ceredin
Maia Drazhar

What I like about this canon: The characters. Oh god the characters. I love the setting and the politics and the intricacies of formal/informal pronouns, but none of it would ring quite as clearly if we weren't getting it through the characters. I especially like Maia. He's so good at reading people and resisting manipulation, and he's trying so hard to do the right thing. (I like fish-out-of-water stories and competence-porn stories and oh-god-I-got-an-affection-what-does-it-do? stories and The Goblin Emperor is ALL OF THEM AT ONCE.) I also really like Csethiro. She seems much less adept at people-ing than Maia is, judging from her remark about "having the sense to not scare [him.]" But once she realizes that she might like him, she tries. (Stilted emotional displays from stabbity people who are trying very hard not to socially mis-step are yet another trope I adore.)

Story suggestions:

• Someone tries to kill Maia (again), giving Csethiro the opportunity to Stab Someone For Love that she keeps missing out on. (Alternately, Csethiro has a Conversation with the nohecharei about the fact that they keep Getting There First, Dammit.)

• Csethiro and the Great Avar get along disturbingly well, and Maia isn't used to people scheming about his safety and happiness this much.

• What does an empress (or empress-to-be) do? Does Csethiro have any political power? Does she help wrangle the nobles' social intricacies? Does she use non-political angles (socialing, gathering information--or, since this is Csethiro, possibly dueling) to help solve delicate political problems (such as the intersection of the imperial tax code with unusual deaths or an attempt to unionize airship pilots or sorting out who's liabile for a batch of tainted flour that got into bread).

The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore:
Artemis Entreri
Jarlaxle Baenre
Dwahvel Tiggerwillies

What I like about this canon: The characters, especially Entreri, Jarlaxle, Dwahvel, Dahlia, and Sharlotta. (And Drizzt and Catti-bri, depending on how they're written.) I especially like fic set in the sellswords era (Silent Blade through Road of the Patriarch), the Legacy/Starless Night era, and after Gauntlgrym.

Entreri and Jarlaxle are my favorites and I ship the heck out of them. Things I like about them: Ruthless pragmatism and communications issues up the wazoo. They keep trying to manipulate each other and (especially in Jarlaxle's case) it keeps making things worse. I like to think that they will eventually get to a point of trusting each other, but I recognize that there will probably be some stabbing along the way. (I have a weakness for characters that are too pragmatic to want emotional attachments getting emotional attachments anyway and not knowing what to do with them.)

I also really like Dwahvel. She's smart, she's practical, and I get the sense that she probably compartmentalizes the heck out of her emotions. (Given how much she works with Entreri after he kills Dondon, either she had very complicated feelings about her cousin or she can compartmentalize like a mofo. Probably both.) She has to walk a very delicate line in order to keep her much smaller guild safe, and yet she chooses to align herself with Entreri, who seems prone to destablizing everything he touches. I'd love to see more day-to-day stuff about how she runs her guild or how she got started. And if you wanted to ship her with Sharlotta I wouldn't complain.

I understand that getting all three of my requested characters in the same fic may make writing a bit frustrating, so you have my explicit permission to omit one of them.

Story suggestions:

• During the Servant of the Shard roadtrip, Jarlaxle tries seduction as a tactic to get the shard back and it doesn't work. Later, when he flirts with Entreri after the Shard is destroyed, Entreri's first reaction is to assume this is a trick and flirt back in the most obstructive manner possible, partially because it's fun--let's be honest, this is barely a deviation from their existing banter--and partially to figure out Jarlaxle's angle. This leads to mutually annoyed sexual tension and what can only be described as a war of escalation on both sides. It's up to you if they actually manage to get past aggressive flirting and into bed.

• Jarlaxle and Dwahvel finally get to meet (either during an AU sellswords era where they end up back in Calimport or after RotP when Jarlaxle inevitably tries something foolish to talk to Entreri). How would they get along? Would they compare their (rather similar) tactical choices? I can't imagine Dwahvel got a very flattering impression of him from Entreri's description of the Crystal Shard problems. If they meet after the events of Road of the Patriarch, does Dwahvel want to get as much information as she can or just get him to go the fuck away? Is Entreri there and, if so, is he helping steer the conversation or just enjoying the show?

• If you're familiar with the later canon, I'd love to see some canon divergence and/or time travel fic regarding the debacle with Charon's Claw and the Netherese.

Fandom-specific DNW:  If you do include Idalia's Flute, please don't treat it as a positive/healthy influence. (I've written a long, boring essay about why it squicks me out if you really need more information, but don't feel obligated to read it.)

Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner:
Katherine Talbert
Artemisia Fitz-Levi

What I like about this canon: I love the setting and the exploration we get in canon of Katherine's place in society. I also really like politics and swordfighting. I like that we get Katherine exploring who she is. I like Artemisia gets the chance to do the same (even though we don't get as much of her doing so from the canon). I also just like this series for the asthetic. It's pretty. What I really want from fic about these two is a continuation of the emotional journeys they started in Privilege of the Sword. And maybe some porn. I wouldn't say no to porn.

Story suggestions:

• Femslash, getting-together fic for Katherine and Artemisia. During Privilege of the Sword, Katherine isn't sure if she'd want to kiss Artemisia--what makes her decide that she does? They can fall pretty easily into flirting with each other via The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death references, but how do they get past that point? How does Artemisia navigate her own feelings, both about sex and propriety? Does Katherine figure everything out on her own or does she find someone (such as the Black Rose) to ask for advice?

• How does Katherine's ability to stab people affect Hill politics? Do swordsmen come back into style as a sincere safeguard against assassination? Do other nobles accuse her of being willing to indiscriminately attack her political rivals? Do they keep underestimating her until the day she needs to make a point? (Bonus points for Artemisia helping with the social scene end of whatever is going on.)

• Alternately, if you're familiar with Tremontaine, I would also love fic about any of the ladies from that.  (Especially Ixkaab/Diane.) Diane actually realizing what All These Emotions are and turning her considerable powers of manipulation in that direction would be a delight.