AUEx Letter

[kitsunerei88]

Dear Creator,

This letter is a lot, and I apologize in advance. That said, don't take how much this letter as meaning anything in the grand scheme of things! Some things I just happen to have thought about a lot more than other things, and it doesn't mean I won't appreciate the (likely smaller fandom) fic just as much! As long as you stay away from my DNWs, I'm pretty easy to please.

General Likes:

• Fics that are character-focused, character-driven, and deal with character exploration or character development. Show me aspects of acharacter I never considered before, or explorations of how a character's upbringing influences their worldview! I also especially love minor characters, particularly BIPOC characters!
• Fics as challenge, whether it be a challenge on canon, on fanon, on fandom, or a comment on our own reality. Basically, I like literary shit, don’t be afraid to go literary and write reflective shit that talks about politics.
• A focus on relationships, particularly how a character interacts with the world around them, and other characters based on their upbringing and worldview.
• Thematically, I love when characters are put in a tough spot, moral ambiguity, and themes around honour, duty, and responsibility.
• All flavours of AU. Canon-divergence, Modern AUs, Mundane AUs, crossovers, etc, especially if it interacts with one of the above. I especially like Rule 63 AUs because of the potential for exploring gender and how it impacts and socializes characters.
• Worldbuilding, especially through in-universe documents (please consider this an opt-in to pretty much whatever in-universe document or weird in-universe storytelling device you can dream up).
• Alongside the worldbuilding, I really like accuracy and real-life details. My favourite fics have included discussions of 9/11, I’ve written fic where R2P is a big deal, I suspect I’m known for my legal shit, and so—if you have specialized knowledge of something, I love seeing it!
• Romance of all varieties: fluff, happy endings, drunken confessions, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, fake marriage, arranged marriages, established relationships, slow-burn, shovel talk, and pining (mutual or otherwise). In general, I prefer M/F pairings, but I don’t mind M/M or F/F pairings and prefer them if canon.
• Smut-wise, I love first times, gentle sex, rough sex, possessive themes, mild BDSM (e.g. bondage, spanking with a hand), D/s with femsub, impregnation and pregnancy.

I am always open to treats!

General Dislikes:

In general, unless specifically requested, I don't tend to enjoy crack fic, soapbox fic/issuefic, amnesia fic, body swaps, cringe comedy, and plots based on miscommunication or jealousy. If there is hurt, I usually like comfort, or I often just can't get through it—same goes for angst (unless explicitly requested, of course). That said, these are general dislikes—they're not DNWs, I have liked fics with all these, and I have sometimes requested these things. If you have an idea that you’re worried might come close to one of these, don’t worry and go for it.

Hard DNWs:

Please note that these are my general hard DNWs. In some cases, there may be sections where some (or all!) of them won't apply, and in that case follow what was in the sign up.

• Character bashing. In general, I like to imagine that all characters are like people—they're complex, and they have an array of good points and bad points.
• Harm or death to pregnant women, children or small animals (background mentions or past references is fine, as are things like statistics—I just don’t want to be dragged through it in detail, like please don’t make this a central point of the fic).
• Except otherwise indicated, non-canonical major character death, graphic violence and torture (graphic being “more than what is in canon”), non-con or dub-con, PWP or large age differences (>15 years)
• Adultery or infidelity (specifically, this is mostly about the betrayal--if you have a plot where two people are married for convenience and happen to have other relationships, that wouldn't trigger as long as everyone knows and doesn't care)
• Smut-wise, unless it’s indicated above in my likes, I’m likely not going to appreciate anything kinky. To be more specific, I DNW A/B/O, age play, humiliation, bloodplay, cannibalism or vore, watersports, scat, mpreg, snuff, or underage (<15).

Onto my requests!
 
Harry Potter

Medieval AU
Starting off with some setting change/worldbuilding requests! This is a bit of a catch-all, so in terms of characters and pairings, I’ve basically added some pairings and characters I liked.

What fascinates me about a medieval AU, if magical, is that this is a period before the Statute of Secrecy. What difference does it make that Hermione comes from non-magical (presumably upper-class) upbringing if magic is simply something known? What is this world like?

One thing that I really prize is how well something fits within history, like I want to be able to look at our medieval period and think, “yes, this works, this fits in and feels right.” So, I suppose what that means is that culturally, I don’t see that the magical world was different than the non-magical one until the Renaissance or later, so I really would love to see some interpretation of the magical world in the medieval era that culturally accurate to the actual medieval era.

I think there’s a lot of misinformation about what the era was like, so for a primer I give you: a discussion on Dhuoda of Uzes on Carolingian values. So, things to note here: Dhuoda was a woman living in the 800s who married into a prominent noble family. She, like many upper-class women of her time, was educated (because, you see, you want an educated woman managing your estate when the men are away at war). Dhuoda wrote one of the best remaining examples of a mirror for princes, which was a genre of books written by men and women to guide their sons through political strife. While the discussion provides a better grounding in Carolingian values, things I really would love to see in a medieval AU:

• The role of women. There’s a strong argument to be had that women’s rights declined dramatically in the Renaissance and early modern era. In the medieval era, many women rose to power both through traditional channels (e.g. Eleanor of Aquitaine) or through the Church (St. Catherine of Siena). In the medieval era, women could and did own property, sign contracts, and do all the things that a lord did do because she would have had to do them when the lord was at war.
• The impact of religion. A lot of media, e.g. Game of Thrones, fail to accurately portray how people in the medieval era believed in their religion, which was predominantly (but not necessarily) Christianity. While you definitely don’t have to write a super god-filled fic (I’m an atheist and that would make me feel a little uncomfortable), I’d like it if the characters weren’t dismissive of their own purported faith. This extends to saying something like “Damn” or breaking an oath, because both of these actions were things that had power. People literally believed that they’d be struck down by God if they did them, so they didn’t do it. I’d be tickled pink if you researched some period-accurate swears and used them.
• The role of fealty/vassalship. Related to the above point, people really believed in this system, and it worked. People didn’t break their oaths of fealty without good reason, since they’d be calling down the wrath of God if they did—unless the other person broke them first, in which case all bets were off. Also, because of the personal nature of fealty and vassalship, armies in the medieval era were tiny things and comparatively disorganized to both the Romans and the modern day. People were loyal to their lord, who was loyal to his lord and so on, but it was highly decentralized compared to the modern day.

Some prompts here:

• So, what is the role of magic in the medieval world, pre-Statute? Are there literal court wizards? Are they advisors to the Crown? How is magic used in everyday life if they don’t have to hide it? Do kings have whole magical parts of their armies? Also, are they better connected to other countries because magic?
• An exploration of who any of the characters are in a medieval setting would be great. Is Draco the son of the Head Wizarding Advisor to the King? Are Percy and the Weasleys in a magical trades guild?
• Arranged marriage fic set during this time would send me over the moon. Hermione as an upper-class woman marrying into the Malfoys for mutual benefit? Yes, please! Cho Chang, daughter of Imperial China’s Magical Diplomat to Britain, marrying Cedric Diggory or Blaise Zabini for MAGICAL ALLIANCES? SIGN ME UP, RIGHT NOW.

Anything set between the rise of Charlemagne and the fall of Constantinople would be great.

Scholomance AU

I love this series of books, and I would love a fic where the characters were at the Scholomance instead of at Hogwarts!

Something I really liked about the series is how diverse the cast of characters is. I’d love to see Cho at the Scholomance, her relationship with Cedric under these conditions, or her with Blaise and the enclave politics. Is she an enclaver? What about Hermione, or Draco, or any of the other characters? By way of prompts, I’d love to see encounters with mals, alliance forming, or the characters trading things (or needing things and being given them).

Percy Weasley

I am one of those people who thinks that Percy gets a bit of a short shrift in canon. His brothers make fun of him because he's dour and stiff and boring, and he's the only one of the Weasleys who is taken in by the Ministry. But if we consider his background, is this really that surprising? Unlike the rest of our characters, Percy is probably the only one who has memories of the First Wizarding War. In 1981, Percy was about 5 or 6 years old. He was possibly the oldest Weasley child still at home (in order for the timelines in PS to make sense, Charlie has to be at least 3 years older than him, if not more). The twins were 3 or 4, Ron about 2, and Ginny a baby. Molly almost certainly put more responsibility on Percy than he should have had, there were almost certainly extremely strict rules on him at pain of Death Eater attack and the death of his whole family and in the mix of this, Percy is 6! He is exactly what his parents made him be at that age—someone who takes on too much responsibility, who follows authority rigidly because he has been taught to follow orders without questioning, because that is how you keep a 6-year-old from inadvertently getting his family killed.

I’d love to see something shake Percy out of his blind trust for the Ministry early—for example, being Sorted into Slytherin might have given him the skills to see and avoid the Ministry entirely, though that would also probably have caused strife within his family and for him personally in his House. Alternatively, something else could happen early on at the Ministry that turned him to the Order? I’d love to read how he gets to being a spy, or what he does as a spy too.

Draco Malfoy

Draco has literally so much promise. He is who he is because he is a product of his upbringing, and the world he thought he knew shifts so completely under him during the course of canon. So, I’d really love something that shook him up early—would he have been different had he been Sorted into another House?

How does he become a spy for the Order? What changes for him—does he, early after Lucius’ failure in OotP, decide he needs protection elsewhere or try to buy his family’s protection elsewhere when Voldemort is furious with them? What if he’s a Seer and had a vision? 

Dudley Dursley

I think Dudley has a lot of promise. He was raised in a certain way, to believe that it was okay to abuse Harry, and towards the end we see him starting to change his views by leaving tea at Harry’s door. Dudley and Harry could have been siblings, and they weren’t—or, maybe, they still were because families do sometimes play favourites like this (abusive families, yeah, but they exist).

So, what if, when Hagrid shows up, he has a letter for Dudley too?

I’d love to see pretty much any way you’d like to write this, from that initial meeting to Dudley at Hogwarts, and how his relationship with Harry and his own family changes. Honestly, I really love fic where Harry and Dudley reconcile and become brothers.

Petunia Evans Dursley

Let’s talk about Petunia. I’m not entirely sure I like her story arc in the books, and while I find it not unrealistic, I also find it simplistic. Two of my favourite fics are Petunia-centred: Deco’s By Baker Street Station, I Sat Down And Wept, and dwellingondreams’ in the language of flowers. Suffice it to say, I’m definitely looking for an AU here that really works out Petunia’s character differently.

So, prompts:

• Not having magic is such a strong foundation for Petunia in canon. Petunia doesn’t have magic, and she becomes bitter and unhappy, and she never really gets over it. So, what if she’s the first one to have magic? What if she’s the one who has magic instead of Lily? How does that change her character, and who does she become? I should note that I definitely don’t see her as being as bitter or angry towards Lily if she has magic, because her entire character is based on her not having magic and being upset. If she has magic, she doesn’t have that at all.
• Dudley having magic isn’t just something that changes things for him, but also for Petunia. I can’t see Vernon being happy that his son is also a “freak”, and I do see him blaming Petunia for it. The magic was in her family, and it is in both her nephew and her son, and what happens then? I explicitly opt into abuse here, though I’d like if Petunia left (and maybe Harry and Dudley help her?!).

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Tortall

Setting Change Requests

I have often talked about my love of modern AUs and settings for this fandom, so consider this my further request for more of it! I would love a coffee shop AU, or college/university setting, or sports in general! I have fenced before and love the crazy bickering over weapons (is Neal an epeeist because Tall? Is Kel a sabreur because tank? Is Yuki a foilist because precision?), but figure skating would also be great, or other modern settings! If course, a modern setting in the Tortallan world would also be really interesting--what does the "modern" Tortall look like?

For Neal/Yuki, I’d really like a timeline where his brothers lived, so who is Neal in the modern era? How do he and Yuki meet? What is her relationship with the whole Queenscove family? How does Kel fit in? Honestly, for a modern setting AU, I’d love a gen/ensemble fic as much as I love something shippy.

For Daine/Numair, despite their age difference, I think they work in a way that neither of them could work with anyone else. Even in a modern AU, I’d like their age difference preserved, because I think that causes a lot of conflict. I think they’re perfect for a college/university AU, and while I’ve been gifted with many (and love them all!) I would in fact like more cakes.

Matthias Tunstall Request

This is a Fix-It request for Mastiff. I don’t really know what else to say here except that I usually read Tortall books multiple times but only ever read Mastiff once. Please fix it, and my heart. Make Sabine impress on him that she doesn’t care earlier on, or just that it doesn’t happen and it was all a tracking spell instead, and he comes home and he and Sabine elope. Something like that.

Jonathan of Conte Request

So, what if Duke Roger succeeded in taking the throne at the end of SotL? I think the basis of this is pretty self-explanatory, but a few ideas:

• Immediate aftermath. What happens—where does Jonathan go? Where does he escape? Who remains loyal to him (preferably Alanna, Raoul, and Gary…). Who lives who might have died, and who dies who might have lived? How do they get Jonathan away?
• This is one possible answer to the former, but what if they all take refuge in the Great Southern Desert among the Bazhir? Alanna and Raoul are both accepted in the tribes, having been adopted, while Jonathan is the Voice of the Tribes and that’s something that can’t be taken from him. Is this a start of a civil war within the country, with Jonathan at the head of the Bazhir? Or is the Great Southern Desert the staging ground for an underground resistance?  

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Romances of Arquitaine

This is my pipe dream fandom, I can’t even match on this in Yuletide, but I am determined.

How do I even begin describing my love of this series? It tickles so my id so hard, from concept to characterization to worldbuilding. To begin, there is Vianne di Rocancheil: hedgewitch, bookworm, and lady-in-waiting to Princesse Lisele d’Arquitaine. She’s also a royal byblow, but that doesn’t matter until it does, because there’s a coup that murders both the King and the Princesse.

Then, there’s Tristan D’Arcenne: the Captain of the King’s Guard, Left Hand of the King, desperately in love with Vianne and who might have betrayed and killed the King because the King wouldn’t let him court Vianne. With the coup, Vianne is now the Queen, if throneless, and Tristan must now attempt unseat the king that he might have helped put on the throne. Without letting Vianne know that he might have been involved in the murder of the last King and Princesse, of course.

Vianne di Rocancheil/Tristan d’Arcenne

I love the characterization of Vianne, especially in The Hedgewitch Queen. As she said herself, she was specifically raised to be without ambition, and those lessons took. What I love the most about her is that she is exactly what one would expect of a lady-in-waiting to the Princesse—she’s intensely loyal to her Princesse, she has no idea what she’s doing, the whole point of her life thus far was the glittering Court social scene. She has no practical skills, and she’s thrown into the deep end with no skills to survive it. And on the other hand, there’s Tristan, who is deeply in love with Vianne—and who was involved in killing the people she loved and who helped put her in this impossible situation.
So, onto my prompts!

• Canon divergence AU! I would love to see what would have happened if King Henri had realized that the price of Tristan’s loyalty was Vianne and given her to him. A straight-up arranged marriage fic would be great (in fact I got one as a raffle prize and it was wonderful!), but I’m especially interested in seeing what would happen with the coup if Tristan hadn’t betrayed the King and Princesse. What would Vianne’s life have looked like then?
• Another Canon Divergence idea—what if the coup went off exactly as Tristan planned? What if Vianne found herself on a one-way boat trip to Tiberia? I can’t imagine Vianne would have been very happy about this turn of events, but does she try to go back?
• I’d also love a fairy tale AU or fusion—I think this canon works really well for that, and tonally it’s very much got the right feeling. Note that the series itself is somewhat dark (there’s a canonical dubcon scene in book 2), so darker takes are welcomed!

For this request, I am fine with non-canonical major character deaths (kill Tristan or Vianne or both if you feel like the plot needs it), graphic torture and violence (it’s a war story and I like my wars disgusting), PWP, and non-con/dub-con (look, Tristan murdered a King over her and already kind-of-maybe raped her in The Bandit King, why wouldn’t he do it again?).

Lisele d’Arquitaine

I admit I didn’t think much of Lisele until I got the arranged marriage fic last year but really: who was Lisele? On one hand, you have Vianne’s perspective, which is that Lisele was airheaded and needed her to look out for her; on the other, you have Lisele’s single action in all of The Hedgewitch Queen, which is to protect the Seal of Arquitaine and then entrust it to Vianne, which seems to act at odds with her described character. So: more about Lisele, please! I’d love an AU where she lived and took Vianne’s role, possibly because Vianne died for her or something (oh man, her problems with Tristan would be immense, but I somehow think she’d be better equipped to do it). Alternatively, if the coup never went off or failed, what is Lisele like as Queen?

Friends at the Table: Partizan

I got really into this series recently, and I love it! From the worldbuilding to everything else, I love the themes of revolution and anti-colonialism throughout. In any case, I’d love an AU where the Millennium Break arc finishes… differently. Clementine wins the election—then what? Is it outright rebellion among the rest of the groups? What about Valence in that case?

Generally, what about an underground resistance either before the series, or after it? What if Millennium Break manages to seed a quiet underground resistance on Partizan for decades?

Otherwise, I’d also love seeing these characters transposed onto a more close-to-earth situation, e.g. The Expanse.

Veronica Mars

Setting Change Requests

The general vibe of VM works so well for both the 1920s and Scandinoir settings, so I’d really love to explore either of those! I really love both settings a lot, from the extravagance of the 1920s to the bleak landscapes of scandinoir… so I’d really love to see casefic set in either of these.

I also really love how The Expanse and Young Wizards adds elements of science fiction (or fantasy, arguably) to an otherwise modern setting, so I’d be really intrigued with an exploration of where VM would work in either of those settings.

Mac Requests

Mac fascinates me as a character! I really want to see how she would have developed had she grown up with the Sinclairs (who seem rather bookish like her) than as Mac. I love character studies, and one here would be great. Would she still be close friends with Veronica? Would she have pulled the Purity Test game?

Alternatively, not having Cassidy in the picture and Dick being an only child… could be interesting. I’m intrigued by the pairing, either in the case where Mac was never switched at birth, or if Dick was an only child.

I hope you enjoy creating for me!