Dear Yuletide Writer

[machiavellijr]

Dear Yuletide writer,

Gosh, I haven’t written one of these in quite some time. 2016 I think was the last. Feels good to be back.

Thank you for doing this. I still can’t quite believe Yuletide happens and works every year, it feels like it’s wandered over from a more agreeably cooperative world where *flails* all of all this isn’t happening. 

AO3 currently won’t let me update my requests so this is more comprehensive / thought-through than my Optional Details there, and takes precedence (bearing in mind that Optional Details Are, of course, Optional). I tend to chuck in a few potential plot bunnies by way of potential inspiration and to give you a sense of what sort of things interest me about the fandom and characters - use or ignore entirely as you will.

General likes:

Plot. Worldbuilding. Casefic. Melodrama. Keeping your head whilst all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. Competence porn. Costume porn. Actual porn. Humour. Farce. Epistolary. Wordplay. Swordplay.

I note I have only requested 2 female characters. This is due to the tagset and I’m slightly disappointed by it. Please do feel free to add in any of the awesome women from any of these fandoms who have unaccountably failed to attract nominations.

General Do Not Want:

Explicit slash

Non-con

Tight focus on babies/pregnancy (OK, not such a problem for some of these)

Addiction plots front and center - like I know there are addicts in I think all of these canons, and that's fine but I don't want a whole story about it.

Gentlemen Bastards Sequence - Scott Lynch

• Any of:
  Locke Lamora
  Galdo Sanza

• Calo Sanza

I dearly love a good heist, but totally understand that they are very very hard to write and not everyone's cup of tea.

For me the joy of this series and fandom is managing to absolutely commit and lean in to both “I steal because it’s heaps of fucking fun” and “I promise you a death-offering, brothers. I promise you an offering that will make the gods take notice. An offering in blood and gold and fire.” Sometimes both at the same time.

I really like the glimpses of Camorri religion we get, both the Nameless 13th and Aza Guilia (who if she exists is totally enjoying Jean's shenanigans). 

Some plot bunnies:
Perhaps more of the boys' training trips after the one in Republic of Thieves?
The Bastards left behind when one is off having special lessons?
An AU where whatever Chains' plans were for the Bastards get fulfilled, "a ballista bolt through the fucking heart of the Secret Peace" without Capa Raza getting there first?
I have to admit I find maudlin!Locke slightly hard work but I did request him and the Twins, so some reminiscing (perhaps with hints of the future?) would not be amiss.
I also have a nagging feeling there was a reference somewhere in LLL to the Sanzas and Jean trying to actually plan something without Locke… I bet that went hilariously. 

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Either of:
Sebastian Valmont
Kathryn Merteuil

These two are such a compelling pair, and in a way I think they might be more interesting trying to fill the gap they leave in each other's lives (no, not like that you filthy thing, unless you want it to be like that in which case by all means, pray continue).

Plot bunnies:
The sequel that would have happened if the producers could have afforded SMG?
How does Kathryn rebuild after staying out of jail (or not - prison epistolary fic?)
Either or both of them having to cope with not being rich any more?
If you know the novel or any of the stage adaptations of Dangerous Liaisons, your favourite bit that didn't make it into the movie?
Music - I’m never quite sure which bits of the soundtrack are diegetic, but let’s assume for Sebastian at least most of it is and whilst it suits the movie splendidly and I love it, I’m not sure how well it matches up with him?.
Oh, and I love the car, a cameo for the car would be very pleasing. 

Alex Stern

Darlington
Pamela Dawes

Anything about Lethe and these two and their relationship with it will delight and overjoy me. As will any wider worldbuilding-type stuff - if anyone knows what organised magic looks like outside Yale, it's probably Pamela.

Magic = elite privilege = dark academia is such a cool combination, we know a lot about Alex's relationship to it, a bit about Darlington's, none about Pamela's.

Darlington's stretch as Dante is such obvious fodder for fic that suggesting it as a prompt feels a bit of a cheat.

Any slice of life with Lethe working "as it's supposed to"? I feel like we got into the main plot so quickly in Ninth House that we sort of missed how interesting and cool the status quo was. Or hell, just Darlington being a normal student, he's supposed to be able to do that isn't he? He reminds me of that quote from Gibbon's autobiography about getting to Oxford with "an ignorance that would have shamed a schoolboy and a stock of erudition that would have puzzled a doctor" - like he's a genius in some areas but basically an autodidact, and in others he's presumably pretty ignorant. Not your average Yalie.

Yes Minister

Any Character

Give me a day in the Ministerial office, or maybe a fusion with Jim and Sir Humphrey in charge of the institution of your choice, whether that's USS Enterprise or Cambridge University (though whatever it is, I think they have to continue to be very British and institutionalised).

Or throw an outside-context crossover at the Department of Administrative Affairs - they can deal with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, wizards, first contact, etc.

If you're a politics geek, I always wondered what an election would look like on the show. I suspect Sir Humphrey regards purdah (oh, sorry, the pre-election restricted period) as something provided by a just and merciful God to reward Civil Servants.

The Hacker-develops-a-conscience episodes are all great (and ‘The Whisky Priest’ a rare good bit for Anne); I wonder what it would look like if Sir Humphrey developed one?

I think I would rather not have any contemporary politics in this setting - Hacker does not deserve to have to deal with Trump, Sunak et al. Much less Covid or the horrors in Israel and Palestine. Show-era RL politics is definitely fine though.
I also find the idea of any romance between the three principals either silly (Hacker/Sir Humphrey) or downright squicky (either/Bernard).

NB - AO3 and Yuletide are occasionally inconsistent about whether Yes Prime Minister is the same fandom or not. As far as I’m concerned it obviously is and if you want to write something with Hacker as PM, please do! I am not, however, a fan of the stage shows or the 2013 revival.

Aspects - John M. Ford

Any Character

I hardly know what to request here because it's such a tiny fragment of such a glorious, rich world that never got even close to finished. If you have the vision and gumption to take it on, I place myself entirely in your hands. There are so many mysteries left to resolve in the main plot and such a huge, awesome sandbox to play in. Go wild.