Dear Yulegoat Letter, 2021

[keerawa]

Hello! I'm keerawa on the AO3. This year I am all about TV series, with one long book series thrown in for variety. I don't have any 5-minute fandoms, but Adam Ruins Everything is a delightful 24-minute fandom that you can check out if you're short on time for a canon review. In most of the fandoms where I requested multiple characters, my requests are Any/Or, not a request for all of them interacting. Optional details are optional, and I know I'll love anything you write me in any of these fandoms, but if you'd like some further information on how to rock my world for Yuletide, here are some ideas.

 

If anyone is in the mood to treat, I adore drabbles and short fic, as well as artwork!

Table of Contents

General Likes, Dislikes, and Hot Sex tips

  

Adam Ruins Everything (TV) - Adam Conover

 

Warrior (TV 2019) - Ah Toy, Wang Chao

 

Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch) – Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale

 

Okkupert | Occupied (TV 2015) - Irina Sidorova, Wenche Arnesen

 

Fremvandrerne | Beforeigners (TV) - Alfhildr Enginnsdótti, Urðr Sighvatsdóttir
 

Motherland: Fort Salem (TV) - Worldbuilding, Raelle Collar, Anacostia Quartermain

 

General Likes

I'm a fan of plotty stories and case fic. I like it when interesting things happen, characters need to do something or figure something out. Even in a story where the sex or relationship is the main focus, I love having some kind of additional conflict, mystery or action going on, something that shows these characters have lives and outside interests. Characters being smart and competent really pleases me, and if some of those characters are women, queer, or people of color, all the better!

 

 

I like tight POV's, where I can really get into the narrator's head. I like questions of identity, magical realism and all kinds of world-building. I can get into past or present tense, 3rd or 1st person POV.

 

 

I enjoy angst and darkfic, up to and including deathfic, in most of my fandoms. Now, don't feel that you have to go there - I like light, happy stories too! But if your Muse leads you somewhere dark, I'm delighted to go there with you. I like it when a character's dark side and flaws are intimately related to their best qualities. It's not that I enjoy the exploration of evil, per se. More that I'm fascinated by the search for love and redemption in even the darkest of circumstances. Unless otherwise specified, I want even my dark stories to have some kind of happy, positive, or hopeful ending.

 

Worldbuilding always engages me in a story, especially anything with sci-fi or fantasy elements. I would love to see how you make these extraordinary things work in natural, emotionally-real ways, for ordinary people.

 

 

Unreliable narrators are a particular thrill for me. I like original characters and outsider POVs, so feel free. I'm a sucker for fannish tropes like amnesia fic, omegaverse, and soulbonds. Canon-divergence AUs fascinate me. I'm always interested in stories that reveal character backstory, and I love stories about people who know and trust each other working together as a team. If you see potential for an open or poly relationship in canon, I would enjoy reading about it! And if you are in the mood to treat, I love short fic, including drabbles.

General Dislikes

I don't enjoy kid fic, and pregnancy completely squicks me. I don't want any mention of COVID-19 or similar plagues in my Yuletide this year. Plots that depend on characters failing to communicate with each other bug me. Pure romantic fluff with no conflict or other plot doesn't generally work for me, and I'm not a fan of 'These characters are now pirates in the 1700's' or coffee shop alternate setting AUs. I'd rather avoid fics focusing on cheating or infidelity. Gender-bending generally disappoints me, unless there is canonical reason to question or alter the character's gender. I avoid crack-fic. No holiday-themed stories, unless you are inventing holidays as part of your world-building, in which case, please carry-on! I'm not into poetic or flowery language unless that is a canonical part of a particular character's speech pattern. Mean humor, or anything that punches-down, will make me hit the back-button.

Hot Sex

I read and enjoy lots of G-PG fic, and most of my requests this year are gen. But if you should be in the mood to write porn, yay! I like femme-slash, slash, and the occasional het or poly relationship. I'm a fan of intense relationships. People who love each other beyond all reason. Even if you're writing about a hook-up or business transaction, I want it to be in response to some deep need, not just a casual fling. Kink works for me, if you want to go there. You don't have to - one of the hottest stories I ever read never went past a purely vanilla first base. Passionate, nervous first-time kissing. Mmmmm.

 

 

My favorite kinks include dirty talk, voyeurism, masturbation, pain, bloodplay, knife-play, marking, bondage, orgasm denial, xeno, tentacles, loyalty kink, and power-imbalances. Most importantly, though, it needs to be in-character, be about these two people, what they want and need. Kinks are all about trust. I don't generally enjoy non-con or trash party scenarios, but dub-con, especially when a character is forced into something they secretly want and enjoy, but could not take, sets me off like a fire-cracker. (*coughs* omega-verse) Mind control is very, very hot, with or without consent play involved. I'm absolutely into mind control, hypnosis, sex pollen, etc, where someone is forced into participating in and enjoying sex. I enjoy the build-up and character reveal of kink negotiation, but being thrown right into the middle of an intense scene can also be very powerful and arousing. Both work for me.

 

 

I'm not generally into fisting, golden showers, scat-play, clothing-fetishes, DS as a lifestyle, necrophilia, or bestiality. One thing that seriously turns me off is fic where the character's kink is because of some childhood trauma, sexual assault, or anything like that. Pregnancy, male or female, is a hard no.

 

Adam Ruins Everything (TV) - Adam Conover

DNW: Pregnancy/childbirth/miscarriage, non-con, un-negotiated kink, or unrealistic sex in this fandom, focus on children, in-depth exploration of COVID or any infectious disease, comedy that punches down, anything terrible happening to Adam that doesn't get fixed by the end of the story
 

All the rest of my requests this year are big time investments, so think of this as a 24-minute fandom! This truTV show is a series of short 24-minute episodes where Adam Conover 'ruins' topics by confronting common misconceptions, stereotypes, and urban legends about them. You can watch any or all of the episodes here.  It verges on RPF, since Adam Conover, the main character and director/producer, is 'an investigative comedian exploring the weirdest and wildest reaches of human knowledge.'  This guy made a career out of his own epic nerdiness and complete lack of social skills. (If he isn't on the spectrum, I'd be shocked.)  Every time I watched an episode, I learned something new!

The show intentionally highlights a lot of the racism, sexism, and other biases that impact our society. I particularly liked the way that Adam, the main character, would step aside to let people often under-represented in media tell their own stories.

 

* If there is anything, practical or professional, a hobby or passion, that YOU are an expert in, I would love it if you could teach me about it by creating your own episode of Adam Ruins Everything. Crocheting? Candy-making? 8th century Greece? Go for it!
 

* The show is inherently meta. Any version of 'Adam Ruins Fandom', 'Adam Ruins RPF', or 'Adam Ruins Yuletide' would delight me.
 

* Adam DID ruin sex, but it was pretty tame. I would 100% be into a NSFW version of  'Adam Ruins Anal', 'Adam Ruins Bondage', 'Kink Ruins Adam', etc., but please keep it real. For this fandom (and this fandom only) I want the sex to be realistic enough that, if you used it as a sex guide, things wouldn't go horribly wrong.
 

* If you want to write some romance, Adam dates women in canon, but I imagine his sexual orientation as, 'anyone who asks me, because I can't figure out how to ask other people.' If it's an actual relationship, I would love to see Adam with someone who enjoys him for who he is, rather than trying to change him to be 'normal'.

* 'Adam Ruins Everything' has some amazing fusion world-building potential with a variety of fantasy/sci-fi fandoms. I'm open to crossovers with any fandom I've written or requested for Yuletide in the past, but here are a few ideas: Adam/Steerswomen, with Adam  as a steersman, asking and (much too truthfully) answering  questions and getting in all kinds of trouble for it. Adam/The Expanse, with Adam explaining Superluminal interstellar travel to a network audience. Adam/Dragonriders of Pern, with Adam as a Harper creating a Teaching Song. An Adam/Beforeigners episode where Adam can address common misconceptions about migrants from the past, or perhaps is looking at how our understanding of history has been changed by the new information and perspective they offer.

 

Warrior (TV 2019)- Ah Toy, Wang Chao

DNW: pregnancy/childbirth, narrative focus on White characters, focus on internalized homophobia

 

Like Peaky Blinders, spaghetti Westerns, and/or kung-fu films? You'll love this! Bruce Lee was the original creator of this sexy, pulpy, action-filled genre series that highlights the history of Chinese immigrants in 1870's San Francisco. Enjoy the canonically queer characters, complex characterization, and some of the best martial arts action I've ever seen.

 

The show doesn't shy away from the ugliness of period-typical racism, sexism and sexual exploitation in a city poised on the edge of a race war, a class war, or both. There is political intrigue among the ruling class of San Francisco, the Tongs and business interests of Chinatown, the Irish police, and the Irish 'Working Men' fighting furiously for the jobs Chinese immigrants will work for less.

 

Ah Toy and Wang Chao are my two favorite characters. Both of them are incredibly clever and brave; they arrived in San Francisco with nothing and  somehow carved out space, wealth, power, and independence in a world where that is incredibly difficult.

 

* Wang Chao's real-politik approach, and the way he has contacts with the police, business community, and various Tongs, fascinates me. He deals in information as well as weaponry, and I'd love to know more about how he rides this tiger.
 

* Wang Chao's backstory says he decided to cross the salt, was sold as a slave in Cuba, somehow escaped and made his way to San Francisco, and set-up his own business?!? I'd enjoy a story that colors between those broad strokes.
 

* Wang Chao taking his child away from the White, sex-worker mother and arranging for her to be raised (as a White child) by a White family was heart-breaking. Does he dream of a life when he could live as her father?
 

* Wang Chao and Ah Toy are friends. They recognize and respect each other, and generally try not to spoil each other's plots. I'd enjoy a fic showcasing their relationship, and perhaps how they reached this point.
 

* Ah Toy was interested in Ah Sahm from the beginning. What does she see in him? What does she want? Is there  a master plan at work?
 

* Ah Toy is canonically bisexual. If you want to explore and perhaps compare her relationships with the various men and women in her life, I'd enjoy that! She is careful in setting boundaries, which is tricky. I also wonder how careful she is to ensure, when she is sleeping with a woman who works for her, that she is willing.
 

* I was fascinated to see Ah Toy mentor Lai, a frightened young woman with unusual skills into a deadly combatant - and then send her away when she started getting too bloodthirsty. What line did she cross? Does Ah Toy wish someone had done the same for her? I'd like to learn more about their relationship and why she made this choice.

* Ah Toy is a practiced sex worker, a skilled medic, and deadly with a blade. A story where she uses all of that diverse knowledge of the human body to completely overwhelm someone in bed would be hot!
 

* The scene where Mai Ling tends to a terribly injured Ah Toy was powerful. I'd love to read a story where the two of them enter into a sexual relationship, each enjoying it but also maneuvering for advantage. I  imagine that Mai Ling would also be thrilled by the thought of how much it would piss off her brother. If you want to write me a story with the two of them competing for Ah Toy's affections, up to and including in bed at the same time, I am very much into it!
 

* I really enjoyed the episode where Warrior decided to show off its Western roots. A story with a strong genre or trope that is somehow inverted or subverted by one of these two very clever characters would be amazing!

 

Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch)- Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale

DNW: pregnancy/birth/miscarriage, COVID, partner betrayal, non-magical AU, explicit on-screen non-con in this fandom, focus on Lesley, children or domesticity, focus on internalized homophobia

 

I adore the magical system, and this very posh, imperial British system being subverted by Nightingale who apparently has an entirely different criteria for who might make a good apprentice. I lived in London in the early 90’s, and this series re-introduced me to it, in all of its glory and history and ridiculousness, like an old friend. The bits about how policing has changed, so now they actually prefer to bring in the person who committed the crime over someone random, is hilarious. But the thing that truly made me fall in love with these books is how the young London constable finds out that there are magical people and beings all around him, and rather than viewing them as threats to be intimidated and put down as necessary, he thinks of them as the community members it’s his duty to protect.

 

This is an ANY/OR character request, not a demand for both in one story. I'm very open to stories exploring modern issues in London including police and community responses to Brexit and BLM, but please nothing to do with COVID. My prompts are plotty gen, but I'm open to sex or romance within a larger. I’d be happy with Peter/Nightingale (so long as Beverly isn’t character-bashed) or Peter/Beverly/Nightingale. If you pair Nightingale with someone else, that's fine too, although you might have some heavy lifting to convince me the man is straight!

 

I realize not everyone has read the graphic novels and comics; feel free to incorporate that part of canon or leave it out. Beverly is pregnant in canon. I ended up having to skip whole sections of  False Value because of Peter's fascination with it. You are welcome to ignore that part of canon or briefly mention her pregnancy, but please do not focus on it in any way. I enjoy Peter's first-person narrative in canon, but if that's not your thing, feel free to write it in your own style and POV.

 

* Show me the magical underpinning of some real-world event in London.

 

* Case-fic! I love the tension of kidnappings, but I have a soft spot for any kind of case-fic. Peter’s professional ethics and morality are important to me, so if that can somehow be incorporated in the story, I’d be thrilled.

 

* Community policing in the demi-monde. How does that work, exactly? How does Peter earn the trust of people who have spent their lives viewing the Isaacs, and the Nightingale in particular, as an occupying force?

 

* The fact that Nightingale and the rest of the Folly were completely, willfully ignorant of all non-European magical traditions is very provocative. I’d love a story where Peter gets a chance to explore the magical traditions of another culture. Does he learn from a witch-finder in Sierra Leone or an I-Ching diviner? Perhaps he travels to America to study with a shaman?

 

* I was struck, in the books, by Peter’s patient awareness of people’s reaction to him as a black man, and the pragmatic ways he works around it. I adore the page of the comic where a witness refuses to answer DC Guleed’s questions, demanding a 'real policeman', and Nightingale shows up, courteously questions him, and then asks how in the world his boat ended up stuck in a tree like that. I’d like a story where Peter and Sahra bond over their shared experience of being police and PoC, or where one or both of them help Nightingale understand what kind of support they need from a superior officer.

* Apparently Guleed and Peter once ran an interrogation where both of them pretended to be speaking Wakandan. Tell me that story?

 

* Nightingale’s time in the war comes back to haunt him. This could be a very dark story, with all of the horror of war-time Britain compounded by what Nightingale saw and experienced at Ettersberg. I’d like to see Molly, Peter, or both doing what they can to help.

 

* Dark Operation Paperclip AU. Operation Ettersburg involved too many fatalities, but otherwise went as planned. The leaders of the Folly took that information from the Nazis and used it, recruiting like-minded Nazi practitioners after the war to bolster their ranks. The Little Crocodiles, or men like them, are the ones running the show. Is Nightingale Public Enemy Number One, or secretly working to undermine the system from the inside? Would magic be public or kept secret? How would Peter fit into this reality? What about Molly? Eeeee!

 

* I'm intrigued by Nightingale aging backwards as magic surged in Britain. How has he changed over time? What does he think of how the world has changed around him? What if Peter comes across a younger version of Nightingale (amnesia, time-travel, etc.) and is unimpressed by that version of him? How would he and Nightingale work through the repercussions? A story that explores Nightingale's very particular system of ethics and responsibility would also be interesting.

 

* Nightingale being both empowered and constrained by his own legend among those of the demi-monde, either in a practical or a literal, magical sense. Belief is power!

 

* Fusion with 221b Baker Towers: "Toss out what's impossible. Then take a good hard look at whatever's left, bruv, 'cause don't matter how mad, it's true." Sherlock believes the evidence of his senses, but is very, very suspicious of PC Grant and some posh DCI in his ends ‘taking an interest’. This is a gritty, fan-sourced, modern day adaptation of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes where Sherlock is a young black man growing up on a council estate in London, with almost no actual canon.

 

* Fusion with Highlander: I've got 3 potential prompts in mind here. 1) Nightingale might recognize Duncan MacLeod, in modern-day London, from his time working during WWII living in London, as part of the Resistance, or working for the British secret service. 2) A murder scene with decapitation and evidence of lightning strikes being investigated as a possible Falcon case. 3) Methos has finally tracked down those records of Nazi magical experimentation that went missing during the war, and gets caught trying to sneak into the Folly to destroy them.

 

* Fusion with Foyle’s War: Thomas Nightingale, barely functioning after Ettersberg, is sent to work with Foyle and Sam in cleaning up a very disturbing library. Perhaps this is the beginning of The Arrangement?

 

Okkupert | Occupied (TV 2015)- Irina Sidorova, Wenche Arnesen

DNW: pregnancy/birth/miscarriage, COVID, on-screen non-con, focus on children, focus on internalized homophobia

 

This is an intense 3 season political thriller set in modern-day Norway. The new PM, concerned about climate change, stops all oil and gas production. The EU threatens and Russia undertakes a quiet occupation to make sure the oil keeps flowing. The show has competent, good people being pulled onto opposing sides, going to darker and darker places trying to do what's right.

 

This is an ANY/OR request, rather than requiring both characters in one story. These two women are incredibly intelligent, competent, and cunning. They have a system of ethics and morality that they follow, but it is certainly not a conventional one. My prompts are mostly plotty, but I am open to any rating. Irina's pregnant girlfriend is a major plot point in season 3, but given my DNW, please no more than a brief mention of the pregnancy.

 

* Wenche, as head of the intelligence services, is in a position where she can see everything going wrong. Document her slow slide from believing in her government to opposing it.
 

* I don't know if this is more common in Norwegian TV than it is in the US, but I was impressed to see Wenche Arensen dealing, in a realistic way, with a terminal health condition. I LOVED Wenche's Scarlet Pimpernel ending. It was absolute genius. And the final scene with her in her apartment, with her cat, was shocking and so, so moving. I would love more insight into her final days.
 

* An epistolary fic with some low-level agent collecting and collating Wenche's correspondence would be fascinating - particularly if she'd planted evidence there to be found.
 

* It is stunning that a woman could rise to a high diplomatic position in Russia while being a lesbian. How did Irina pull it off? 
 

* I can see Irina and Anita together, both enjoying the sex and trying to gain a political advantage over the other. Lots of power games, with a painful mix of emotional honesty and lies.
 

* I believe that Irina honestly wanted a peaceful resolution to the Russian-Norwegian conflict, and was doing what she could to make that happen, while being highly aware of the limitations of her own power and influence. She seems like a 5-d chess kind of woman, and I'd like a fic that gets me into her head while she's making those split-second decisions that will change the world.
 

* The Russian government made a mistake when they killed Irina's girlfriend. I'd love to read a post-canon fic where she uses every bit of her intelligence, kompromat, and influence to make them regret it.

 

Fremvandrerne | Beforeigners (TV) - Alfhildr Enginnsdótti, Urðr Sighvatsdóttir

DNW: pregnancy/childbirth/miscarriage, COVID, focus on internalized homophobia

 

Time travel, immigration issues, and murder! This show has a unique set-up: people from Norway's distant past are appearing in modern-day Oslo. Society is attempting to integrate these refugees from another era. The two characters I'm requesting were Viking shield-maidens and close friends before appearing in the present. Alfhildir has fully integrated, and is the first 'Beforeigner' to join the Oslo police force. Urðr is struggling to adapt and living with cancer.

 

* You could ignore my character requests and go for straight worldbuilding here. The cultural conflicts as all of these people of different eras trying to live together is catnip to me. Are groceries stocking delicacies for people from different times? How is HR coping with all of this?
 

* If there is some other place in the world where you would like to have people from the past (or future) appearing, feel free! I enjoy giving people with expertise an excuse to use it in their fanfic. A Mayan priest adjusting to life in Mexico City? A Joseon dynasty warrior in modern-day Seoul? Why not?
 

* I ship Alfhildir and Urðr so hard. A PWP, with or without a man pulled in for the night, would be great! I'd like to read about Alfhildir and Urd enjoying each other and topping or femme-domming a man who they brought into their bed for fun (either long-term or just for the night). Bonus if there's some culture clash between how these two Viking Shield Maidens do their thing and modern sex/kink culture!
 

* A case-fic where Alfhildir has to deal with prejudice and brings her unique perspective to the case, for good or bad, would be lot of fun to read.
 

* Honestly, any fic that gives Alfhildir and Urðr a chance to be their bad-ass selves would be great.
 

* A fic that shows Alfhildir mourning Urðr in a way that makes sense to her, incorporating or ignoring past and present traditions, would be amazing. How would Lars support her? Go ahead and make me cry.

 

Motherland: Fort Salem (TV) - Worldbuilding, Raelle Collar, Anacostia Quartermain

DNW: pregnancy/childbirth/miscarriage, COVID or similar plague, graphic on-screen non-con or torture, mundane AU, focus on internalized homophobia

  

This is an ANY/OR request.  

  

* Motherland: Fort Salem is ripe for world-building. We know that the Salem Accord affected slavery - how? Lacrosse is important, and apparently the First Nations people have more power in that world than in our own. How did that play out? What's up with the male witches? How do families deal with the Conscription of their children?
 

* I get the feeling that a lot of what we 'know' in the show is misinformation or propaganda. I'd enjoy a story that digs into that.

 

* Sex magic - it exists in canon, and I am into it, whether you want to write a PWP or an epistolary graduate thesis on it. Also, scourges are important in combat, and I'd love to see them put to a more intimate use.

 

* Raelle's mother apparently came from a different (forbidden?) magical and spiritual tradition. Show me more!

 

* Raelle's relationship with Scylla, and her complex feelings of anger and betrayal, are ripe for exploration. It seems like Scylla honestly fell in love with her, while lying about everything else, and that is a dark story I'd love to read.

 

* I'm always impressed with pro or fan authors who can incorporate the details of life in military service into a story, and I'd like to see more from Sergeant Quartermaine's POV. 

 

* Quartermaine is deeply loyal, both professionally to the military and personally to Alder. But over time she is becoming more and more uncomfortable with her orders, and what she sees going on around her. I'd love a story that digs into her ethical dilemma and the moral injuries she suffers in her service.

* NEW: In season 2 we see witches breeding for powerful gifts, especially the Imperative and High Atlantic families, and the corresponding prejudice Raelle faces as an 'out-cross'. It's disturbing and fascinating. A story focused on that would be great!

* NEW: What determines if a new working is canon or off-canon? What about the handful of specialists in the military who learn those otherwise forbidden workings, to train witches in how to counter them? World-building, please!

 

In Conclusion

 

To me, fanfic is all about getting a chance to explore characters in ways that the original source didn't allow. I love these characters, these worlds - show me something I didn't know about them, and that's the best present you can give me.

 

 

Your Eager Recipient,

 

 

- keerawa

Comments

[hurry_sundown]

This post was interesting, my dear. I don't write for Yuletide, although I sometimes read the fic, and I know nothing about most of these fandoms. But I can say with some confidence that no one will ever convince me that Nightingale is straight. (That's not a dare, btw.)

[keerawa]

Hi there, it's good to hear from you! I hope this Yuletide provides some stories for you to enjoy. It's the only time of year I'm still fannish, so I look forward to it tremendously.

*laughs* I promise I won't take your statement as a dare! I mean, our narrator's first impression of Nightingale is literally, 'posh gay guy with outstanding dress sense looking for a slightly ethnic younger boyfriend,' and who am I to question Peter's gaydar? Still, fanfic authors have sold me on stranger things in the past.