Shipoween 2020 Letter
Sep. 15th, 2020 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sadlikeknivesDear Author,
AO3 user sadlikeknives here, really excited to find out what you're going to write for me! I'm sure it's going to be great. For all of my requested fandoms, I have requested fic only and all three theme tags. Some of my fandoms may not include prompts that fit all three themes, but that's just because I don't have specific prompts for those tags in mind. I'm open to whatever you've got!
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose. I like pining, hurt/comfort, people using other people's prejudices and expectations of them to their own advantage, loyalty kink, competence kink, scars, soulbonds and soulmates, sexy-type biting and related bloodplay, size kink (I really like both the bigger guy manhandling the smaller guy and the smaller guy loving it, and the smaller guy bossing the bigger guy around and the bigger guy loving it). I'm down with porn or not porn. You are probably going to notice that I really like werewolves. I love all the basic bitch fall accouterments like pumpkin spice everything and leaves and scarves and apples. All of it.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters (so like, a PI handling a cheating case is fine)
- omegaverse, aka a/b/o, or any other type of mpreg
- graphic animal harm (for example: mention of a werewolf eating a bunny: fine; graphic description of what happened to the bunny: not fine)
- permanent death of requested characters
Benjamin January/Abishag Shaw, Benjamin January/Rose Vitrac January/Abishag Shaw
You remember waaaaaaaaaay back at the end of A Free Man of Color when Shaw's standing by Ben's table at the Place des Armes Because Society and Ben's like, "Or you could sit the fuck down one of these days?" Gentle Author, I shipped it then, and I ship it still. I just want to shove them together like a couple of really tall Ken dolls and go, "NOW KISS." I love how they navigate their godawful society's expectations and restrictions, how they often communicate via what's not said. I love how tentative Ben has always been to trust Shaw, in the face of evidence that Shaw is All In on trusting Ben, and then how in Murder in July he realizes Shaw would march off to assassinate the Queen of England if he asked him to (although it sort of drives me crazy that then at the end of the book Hannibal and Ben decided they needed to pull a fast one on Shaw just in case he randomly decided to confiscate the papers at the expense of Rose, like that's a thing he would ever do). I love how committed to justice they both are, and how they recognize that's different from the rule of law, and their mutual frustration with society's preference for a tidy resolution over true justice being done. I love how respectful they both are of the other's skills, and how they both use other people's expectations of their behavior. In short, I love them, and I want more of them.
And Rose! I love Rose! She's so practical except when it comes to science, when she is often two seconds away from an explosion, and she and Ben are so good together! And I think she would basically be the boss of Shaw and he would let her.
Quick note: As I said above I'm really not into straight up infidelity/cheating, and Ben, of course, has a wife. So if you don't want to write the poly option, you could set your fic before Ben met Rose, or handwave the whole relationship away/platonic, or have Rose be really open-minded because she's Rose, but please: no straight-up cheating.
Additional note: I think we as a fandom have come to a consensus on this by now but just to be clear: I generally picture Shaw as more, you know, sexy scruffy (like, Hollywood historical scruffy) than with the level of hygiene, if one can even call it that, described in the books, because seriously, he's an intelligent man, he knows what soap is for, why will he not use it?? It's not cute. So, like, if you could steer away from descriptions where he is as unpleasant as in canon, I would greatly appreciate that.
Prompts
1. Possibly Shaw could be pining after Ben. I feel like this makes a lot of narrative sense. Like, he knows it's useless and never gonna happen (but then it DOES?) and probably beats himself up over it, but ooooh that commitment to justice and all that expertise, so sexy. Possibly Rose has known about this for a while and is amazed Ben has been so oblivious.
2. They could investigate something new! Who's dead, in the middle of a scandal, or robbed blind this week? Which combination of medical, musical, tracking, science, and marksmanship expertise saves the day? (Maybe Shaw and Rose have to team up?)
3. Concept I know I've been banging like a drum for a while now, but that's because I love it so: Abishag 'what is bathing, and also, I can track you through a hurricane' Shaw is a werewolf. (And just maybe Hannibal is a vampire?) Ben finds out (Silver allergy? Something connected to a case?). He's intrigued. Possibly, together they fight supernatural crime.
4. While so much of these books is in the setting, I just really love modern New Orleans. Like a lot. And it's still very atmospheric, no? Picture it: Shaw's still a cop, Ben's a surgeon who moonlights in a jazz band. Rose is a badass chemistry professor at Tulane. Together, they solve crimes. And make out.
5. Shaw realizes that, vis a vis the end of Murder in July, Ben has not yet gotten the memo that he's All In, and his feelings are really hurt, but he's trying to be, like, an adult about it. Things get awkward. Possibly Rose has to knock some heads together.
6. Shaw stays in Texas instead of Hannibal in Lady of Perdition that's it, that's the prompt. Listen, I just found it hilarious how the book kept hanging a lampshade on how Shaw would have been the better choice to help actually investigate the murder, but it had to be Hannibal who stayed Because Of Reasons.
7. Something with Shaw and his six-shooters because I feel like the day he got them in Lady of Perdition must have been one of the most exciting of his life thus far.
8. Something else seasonal! Which, with New Orleans, would maybe mean either a late hurricane ("Well since we're stuck in this unlikely location until the water goes down we might as well have sex"?) or something totally spooky involving voodoo. Or both? Both is good.
Abishag Shaw & Olympe Corbier
There's a line from the Hidden Legacy books that came to mind when I thought about this team-up, something like: "My job in this family of Care Bears is to provide logical analysis." And I feel like Rose would protest that that's her job, but honestly, Shaw and Olympe are both, in their own ways, a lot more practical and just colder than the rest of Team January. Plus, they met when Shaw arrested Olympe for murder, and as Ben pointed out, he wouldn't have arrested her if he didn't think she really might have done it, so uh, they got off to a great start. I feel like they're never really going to 100% trust each other, especially on Olympe's side (and that Shaw would just be like, "Fair.") but that over time a certain amount of respect may have developed.
Prompts!
1. Shaw has a voodoo problem or just needs to know something about voodoo for a case, and obviously there is only one practitioner in the city he's going to go to about it. Olympe is reluctant but ugh Ben would never forgive her if she didn't help.
2. Olympe has some sort of legal problem and she is reluctant to involve the white legal system but if she has to Shaw's the best option available.
3. Ben thought Marie Laveau was behind that jailhouse poisoning at the end of Murder in July, but I always thought the symptoms sounded like the castor bean from The Shirt On His Back, so like: what if that was Shaw and Olympe working together? What if that? (It would not be the first time Shaw arranged a convenient jailhouse death to protect Ben, after all...)
4. Any other time they teamed up, either behind Ben's back to deal with a problem before he even knew it existed, or just to deal with their own shit.
Abishag Shaw & Livia Levesque
So here's what's amazing: they both clearly hate each other, and I don't think we've ever really seen them interact because LOL as if Livia willingly would, and also that is something Ben is willing to go to great lengths to prevent. Livia is still calling Shaw an animal thirteen books in, and I'm pretty sure Shaw has called Ben's mom 'a real piece of work' at least once, and, I mean, he's not wrong. And they are both very intelligent people who excel at using other people's perceptions against them and figuring out why other people do the things they do, and using that, and so I really want them to have to deal with each other. I don't really have specific prompts here, just a nebulous notion: maybe Livia has a problem and she's like, "Ugh, fine, I guess I'll summon Ben's pet American policeman," or maybe she's (however peripherally) involved in a case Shaw is investigating and he's like, "Fuck me gently with a not-yet-invented chainsaw, I have to interview Ben's mom." And then they are forced by circumstance to work together and/or use and/or respect one another's skill sets and forms of intelligence, and it's kind of horrible for both of them. And maybe one or both of them gains insight into What The Other One Thinks They're Doing Here that rattles the other, because...most people don't see that deep.
I've gotten some great gifts for this fandom lately but they just make me want more, so okay let's go.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan, Nevada Baylor/Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan"
Augustine and Rogan's friendship is really interesting to me, the way they often don't seem to like each other that much, or at least are really prickly with each other—and yet they're also each other's best friend in the world, and know stuff about each other no one else knows. And, like, how we know they'd each kill the other person without a moment's thought if their family was on the line, but they'd feel really bad about it afterward, and in their world, that's really rare. It's honestly almost like they are family, or at least are operating on a higher level of intimacy than most of the relationships around them. I'm into it.
In keeping with my aforementioned infidelity DNW, I would prefer this to be set in either the period before Nevada and Rogan got together, or for there to be some kind of open relationship/poly arrangement going on, or maybe Nevada and Rogan never got together! Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.) And I feel like Nevada/Connor/Augustine would be a really interesting relationship because just...how do I phrase this? They're all so prickly and sharp. Picture the rotating pivot point of any two of them siding against the other one on any one petty issue. Picture the absolute terror that is the three of them united against you. It's glorious.
1. Maybe Rogan and Augustine never broke up/fell out when Rogan went off to the military. Maybe they've been on again/off again for over a decade and they snipe at each other as a form of foreplay. Maybe they're Houston's secret or not at all secret power couple. Whatever you want to do with it!
2. Some bad situation has happened and Augustine has completely drained his magic and is without his illusion and now Rogan(+Nevada) has to get him out of it. (And maybe it's the first time Nevada's seeing him without the illusions! Drama!)
3. I just really like the idea of Rogan making Augustine while he's undercover. Like, his illusion is flawless, his impersonation dead to rights, but there is some little detail that makes Rogan mutter, "Hi, Pancakes," in his ear as he walks past. (Maybe this is a game they play at society functions. Maybe Rogan is teaching Nevada how to play it.)
4. Something with Rogan being a tactile okay go.
5. Augustine has to pretend to be Rogan and escort Nevada to an event. Or Augustine has to pretend to be Nevada and go with Rogan to an event. And then they all meet back up at home and *cough* debrief.
6. AU where Augustine was there to be like, "Stop. Breathe. It is my professional opinion that that is obviously an illusion mage on that tape and we are going to fix this and no one is going to do anything dramatic and drastic, Nevada, Connor, put those divorce papers in the shredder this instant," about Victoria Tremaine's disgusting "test."
Cornelius Harrison/Augustine Montgomery
In Sapphire Flames when it's mentioned that Augustine came to the warehouse and picked Matilda up, everyone sort of brushes it off as, "Well, MII has a personal security division," which is true, but doesn't explain why the owner of the company is chauffeuring a random second grader, and so my brain helpfully decided that he's dating her dad.
And I know there was that whole, "Cornelius will never truly love again," thing, but maybe that's not, like, definitive. Maybe science magic turns out to be wrong about that. Or maybe it's an FWB thing and that works for them, or something! Maybe somehow it all works out.
1. Thinking back to Augustine manipulating Nevada into taking Cornelius' case after Nari died, maybe Augustine has been carrying a torch for Cornelius for a while, but he knew it was hopeless and it was never going to be a thing. And now...it is a thing, and he's sort of freaking out, but trying to keep it cool because Augustine Montgomery does not freak out. (Cornelius? Charmed.)
2. Something involving Augustine having to deal with Cornelius' animal friends. There are so many animal friends. One of them is a cat thing from another dimension. Augustine doesn't seem like a pets person, so it's...a lot.
3. Something about Cornelius having to deal with Augustine's best friend, Mad Rogan. It goes way better than Augustine and the menagerie does. After all, he works with his wife.
4. Maybe Augustine's illusion magic goes haywire somehow and Cornelius has to help him get out of a situation. Or maybe the illusion magic has, uh, sexytimes applications. (NOT "I can look like your dead wife" as just occurred to me after I typed that. Fun applications!)
5. I almost died at Cornelius saying he would "ferret out" Tatyana's secrets in Emerald Blaze, so: something with Cornelius being a terrible maker of animal puns and Augustine NOT being charmed by it, not at ALL, he SWEARS (he is MELTING on the inside).
6. Augustine needs Cornelius's help with a job. More specifically, he needs the ferrets' help with a job. This isn't an excuse to spend time alone with Cornelius in an enclosed space, what are you talking about? (It is also that.)
Arabella Baylor/Stephen Jiang
Get it, Arabella! This development is delightful and I am here for it. And really, aside from the possible 'loyalties to different Houses' issue that plagued Nevada and Rogan, they're a great pairing. Arabella needs to settle down some. Stephen needs to loosen up some. The children might have completely insane magic, but they will be breathtakingly beautiful.
1. Stephen's reaction to finding out what Arabella's magic is by witnessing it firsthand. And/or Arabella's reaction to witnessing Stephen's waterbending, besides 'fanning herself.'
2. Stephen's reaction to the general Baylor family chaos. Rogan and Alessandro were both sort of urchins outside the bakery window about it, although Alessandro at least did a good job of hiding it. Would Stephen also be drawn to their kind of family, or would he like, not even be able to cope at first?
3. Or are the Baylors more like the Jiangs than expected? Maybe House Jiang turns out to be more chill than they appear on the surface. They haven't actively stopped Henry from being an actor in China, after all. Maybe they welcome Arabella with open arms, even after she nervously blurts out, "My magic is Arcane and the grandchildren will probably be really weird!" ("Did you hear that, honey, grandchildren!")
4. Or maybe Arabella's like, "I don't want kids," and Stephen's like, "Oh thank God, me neither." Maybe that. (Maybe this is what leads to his leaving House Jiang and joining House Baylor? Hmm.)
5. The Artisan & The Scourge of Mexico: We're here to give you the shovel talk.
Stephen Jiang: No offense, but your wives are scarier.
The Scourge of Mexico & The Artisan: Oh, you're gonna fit in just fine.
6. "Arabella, you can't marry him, your magics are completely incompatible." "Okay, who said anything about marriage, slow down, we've been on three dates."Stephen: *hides ring box*
7. They go on ONE little strictly professional business lunch and now everyone on Herald is shipping it. Crazy, right? (Grandma Frida: *hides in-progress fanfic*)
8. Arabella drags Stephen off on an adventure and he ends up having an amazing time.
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Hugh d'Ambray & Christopher Steed, Hugh d'Ambray/Christopher Steed, Hugh d'Ambray/Elara Harper/Christopher Steed
Okay, so after the part in Magic Triumphs where Christopher tells Kate that A) unlike pretty much everyone else outside the Iron Dogs, he paid enough attention to figure out what Roland was doing to control Hugh pretty early on and B) Hugh took better care of him when he was in the cage than previously thought, and possibly than he was supposed to, considering it's mentioned he fed and talked to him only at night when no one else was around, and Hugh's guilt-flashback re: Christopher in the cage in Iron & Magic and how he thinks about Christopher as the only Legatus he could ever stand, I went back and reread Magic Rises and I realized that maybe Hugh set Kate up to rescue Christopher on purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (like, maybe not consciously, because of Roland's conditioning and because he really didn't expect to lose that match, but on some level I really think he knew what he was saying there, because Hugh is not wired to withstand someone suffering on his watch like that and he had to fix it somehow).
And now I ship it. Or I at least want to see them interact, even if it's not shippy. It's a whole mess of history and dynamics to dig into and I'm into it. Like: they were horrible men, and they were equals. And then one of them kept the other one in a cage. And now they're both different people in some ways, living in the aftermath of all of that, and it's just...really interesting to me.
As far as Hugh/Elara/Christopher goes, Christopher is a wildly magically powerful human with a god stuffed in him, whose hair was turned white by magic (Maybe? The books seem to go back and forth on whether it's blond or white. I think it's white.). Elara, as far as we can work out thus far, is a wildly magically powerful human with some kind of elder power stuffed in her whose hair was turned white by magic. What if Hugh has a very specific type? What if. I'm just saying.
Note: If you're writing something set during the era of the books, as opposed to the pre-canon Preceptor/Legatus era, please nothing sexual during the period when Christopher was mentally unstable. As far as the canon relationships go, I'm happy for Hugh's marriage to Elara to remain a professional business arrangement, or with some form of polyamory, whatever you want to do there. As far as Christopher's relationship with Barabas, I can't really see Barabas sharing Christopher with Hugh d'Ambray, but, I mean, maybe? Or maybe they didn't get together. However you can make it work!
Prompts!
1. Some kind of FWB arrangement set during their days as Legatus and Preceptor that maybe gets more serious than either of them meant it to, or mutual pining and both of them aware that it's a REALLY BAD IDEA as far as Roland is concerned, and then maybe after everything they meet up again and realize they have a second chance.
2. Or in that same period, something with Christopher and Hugh working together to salvage a situation, possibly one that's gone south thanks to Roland's meddling/not listening to Hugh/maybe even brainwashing Hugh. Like, when Omaha got broken, was that...was that what was supposed to happen? Or were they both pretty sure for about five minutes there that they were super going to die (and then possibly "I can't believe we survived that" sex?)?
3. Something to do with Christopher losing his wing in Magic Triumphs, because I have this notion that Hugh is the healer you call in to deal with the situation when you've got an actual avatar with an extra-crispy appendage, and then you've got Christopher, of course, devastated, and Hugh feeling really guilty about being unable to save the wing and yes good angst.
4. Something set during the preparations to face Neig, with Hugh and Christopher both being weirded out by how easily they fall into a groove of working together again and the Iron Dogs enthusiastically embracing Christopher because it's always nice when someone they used to know A) is alive and B) isn't trying to kill them, and possibly also ragging the hell out of Hugh for having A Type, because haha wow are there some similarities between Elara and Christopher. Meanwhile I feel like Elara and Christopher would be somewhere between "initially slightly spooked by each other" and this.
5. So oops it turns out Hugh can't marry Elara to seal their alliance because he and Christopher are already married. Maybe they didn't realize that thing they did as a quick way to solve a problem one time was legally binding. Maybe it was entirely on purpose and a secret. Maybe they're trying to get a quickie divorce like in a Hallmark movie and life keeps throwing obstacles in their path. Whatever just run with it.
6. I noticed on reread that Hugh grows throughout the course of the series—something in the range of four to six inches. While I'm pretty sure this is just another authorial inconsistency like his country of origin switching from England to France, it could also be fanwanked as the result of his stint healing in a phoenix egg, so something with Christopher reacting to his new height (and Hugh to Christopher's new shoulders?) could be a thing.
7. Elara finally finds out that Hugh knows how to make panacea when he and Christopher start bickering about some fine point of its preparation.
8. Wingkink? Wingkink.
9. It's Halloween or some other magical thing is going on and Elara and Christopher are being generally spookier and more of an eldritch horror and fear god than they usually are on the surface and this is fine, everything is fine. Hugh might even be into it.
Mercy Thompson Series – Patricia Briggs
Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Let's talk about how much I have always loved Warren and Kyle. Like, on paper, they don't work: a hundred and fifty year old Texas cowboy werewolf who works at a gas station and a rich, human, Ivy League educated lawyer. And they both know that. And it doesn't matter. I love Kyle's ridiculous marble statues, and his vanity and the chip on his shoulder, and the way Warren loves those things too and sees Kyle's good heart. I love how easygoing and Texan Warren is, and all the pain and violence that's simmering away under the surface, and how Kyle doesn't care about all of the werewolf shit, he just loves him—and how Kyle, as he says in the short story "In Red, with Pearls," is his own kind of predator, and that just because he eviscerates his prey in court, not, you know, literally, doesn't mean he can't understand Warren's wolf.
Prompts!
1. There's like seven or eight rough months for Warren and Kyle between Moon Called and Blood Bound that we know very little about, and I'm really interested in this period—the pining and the draw that kept them coming back to each other (Were they sleeping together at any point in this period? That must have been really bittersweet) and saw Kyle hiring Warren, especially, but also how the 'so, werewolves' conversations went (and the fights, you know there were fights).
2. Concept: Kyle gets turned into a werewolf. I feel like he'd probably be pretty good at it. How does that happen? Is it on purpose, like he's sick or something? Or does some rogue or some other pack trying to come at Columbia Basin, now that they're exiled, attack him? How does that affect the pack structure? How many bed frames do he and Warren break while Kyle is learning his new strength?
3. In Frost Burned, Kyle reveals that his mating bond with Warren is starting to be two-way, but, being human, he just thought he was going crazy. And then we never really hear about that again. So: how does that psychic bond work for a human? Do he and Warren have enough control over it for it to be useful? Does it have sexytimes applications?
4. Something dealing with Kyle's family. Maybe his sister he still speaks to is coming to visit for Thanksgiving and he's freaking out (especially since Thanksgiving seems to be cursed for the Columbia Basin Pack?), or his deploying the nuclear option with regards to his father in Frost Burned comes back to bite him (possibly on multiple fronts, I know you were going through a rough time but using your boyfriend as blackmail material was sort of...not cool, Kyle) and has to be dealt with somehow.
6. As per some hinting in Storm Cursed, Kyle apparently wants kids. I feel like Warren would not even have thought about kids because...that wasn't an option. So either they have an adult discussion about this and figure out whether they, in fact, want to pursue parenthood, or they semi-accidentally acquire like, some kind of magic toddler or something. Or like, both.
7. Because Thanksgiving is clearly cursed, it is hereby canceled and will henceforth be known by the Columbia Basin Pack as 'Thursday,' a day on which we serve Anything But Turkey and try really hard not to get kidnapped.
Adam Hauptman & Warren Smith
Hi, my name is sadlikeknives and fun facts you might not know about me: Like Adam Hauptman, I'm from Alabama and I speak Russian! (Okay, I used to speak Russian. Now I honestly don't remember that much.) So I've always been really interested in Adam, and as previously established I love Warren, and I would really love to see more of their friendship explored. I feel like we're told more about it than we're shown, partly because it's rarely plot-relevant and thus exists as a sort of background thing. But they're both old, and Southern, and very dominant werewolves, and they get along like a house on fire, and I want more of that.
Prompts!
1. Patricia Briggs never really leans in on both of them being Southern. Like, they both canonically suppress their accents and 'y'all' is described as 'bad grammar,' (I'll fight you Briggs) which they only use deliberately in certain contexts. I will accept these speech patterns, even if I'm not thrilled about them (especially for Warren, who has had no good reason to suppress his accent), but there is more to being Southern for them to bond over. Especially food. I would love to see them bonding over food. Do they both have a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge at all times? Are they still weirded out by the Yankee madness that is sugar in cornbread? Does Warren show up at Adam's office one day to kidnap him for lunch because he finally found a place that makes decent collards?
2. Reading between the lines in the last couple of books, possibly starting from Silence Broken, possibly from the entire pack ending up at his house in Frost Burned, it looks like Warren is inching closer to being recognized in his rightful place as second in the pack (independent of the question of whether Darryl might be leaving to become an Alpha). Like, in one of the Alpha & Omega books it's mentioned that generally the pack's second's house is a secondary gathering place, and Pack Movie Night's been happening at Warren and Kyle's for a while now. And I think that would be great (especially if Darryl can stay), because Warren's placement has been unfair and artificial since the beginning, but I feel like Warren would still be hesitant/concerned, and need some reassurance from his Alpha/bestie.
3. Something about Warren and Adam's early relationship. I keep thinking about how Warren worked at the closest gas station to Adam's house, before Adam even built that house. And he was besties with Mercy. They definitely met, several times, before Mercy approached Adam about him and Adam invited Warren to join the pack. Like, there was probably some kind of formal notice when Adam & Co. first showed up, right? And so it seems weird that Adam never even thought about inviting Warren to join the pack before, even considering he's *gasp* gay. Did he think he wanted to be left alone? Did he think Warren was probably pissed because the Tri-Cities were basically his territory before Adam showed up? Did Warren show up to that meeting with Adam expecting to be told, "It's been real, now, leave town." What was going on there? And what were Warren's early days in the pack like? Apparently Christy thought Warren might make a pass at Adam; how much did the two of them laugh over that?
4. Poor Warren stuck in the middle of being Mercy's best friend AND Adam's best friend while they were determined to not get along.
5. Something about Adam meeting Kyle and realizing he needed to Do Something about these heteronormative homophobic werewolf rules before Warren lost this guy. Be a good wingman, Adam. (Or at least try, as ultimately everything blew up and it was Mercy who had to Do Something.)
6. Because Thanksgiving is clearly cursed, it is hereby canceled and will henceforth be known by the Columbia Basin Pack as 'Thursday,' a day on which we serve Anything But Turkey and try really hard not to get kidnapped.
Asil Moreno/Original Male Character
Listen, I just want Asil to get laid by someone who doesn't turn out to be evil. He deserves it. The guy's had a really rough time of it. I just want him to have a nice time. And he's old enough that his attitude toward sex and sexuality probably does not line up with our modern ideas, so maybe that someone is a guy. Maybe after the five blind dates he decides to try a hookup app and accidentally downloads Grindr instead of Tinder and then just decides to roll with it. Maybe one of the other gay werewolves moves to Aspen Creek and oh no he's hot, Asil was not expecting this.
It doesn't even have to be an original character, it can be someone who's basically an OC with a name, like that French guy Juste who has completely reasonable beef with him (antagonism that leads to makeouts, yesss) or, I don't know, Carlos, since it looks like Carlos might be bi now? Just, anything. Somebody show Asil a real good time/let Asil show them a real good time.
Soulbound Series – Hailey Turner
Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn & Patrick Collins, Patrick Collins/Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn
From the first moment Gerard showed up in that phone call at the end of A Ferry of Bones & Gold cussing Patrick out for working with the goddamned vampire again, I was delighted and in love. And then he actually showed up on the page and:
1. Oh, no, he's hot.
2. Oh, no, he has a spear and that's hot.
3. Oh no, he's fucking Cú Chulainn.
Amazing.
A thing you may or may not be aware of: there's a free prequel short story, "Down a Twisted Path," available via Hailey Turner's website (I believe you have to join her mailing list to get access, but don't quote me on that) in which Patrick & Gerard interact, and I have read that, but if you haven't, that's fine, I don't think it's necessary.
Regarding my infidelity DNW: Legendarily speaking, Cú Chulainn was a giant slut, so I'm assuming that Órlaith is fine with that and they have an open relationship (and like...maybe it's an AU where Gerard happened to mention he was engaged at some point in the past instead of awkwardly blindsiding Patrick with, 'My fiancee's been kidnapped btw I have a fiance.'). On Patrick's end, if you're writing a fic set after he met Jono I'm good with whatever AU or poly arrangement you come up with to make that work.
Some prompts!
1. Something set during the Hellraisers era, whether that be, like, "I can't believe we survived that," sex, or facing down some unspeakable evil together, or drinking games. Or all three.
2. Or maybe Patrick had a puppy crush on Gerard (because, look at him), but he was young and already fucked up and under his command so that never happened, but now two of those three things are no longer true, so: maybe?
3. Cú Chulainn's berserker state, the warp spasm, is hinted at several times, especially in the third book, but it hasn't happened yet. I would like to see it, please, and everyone else freaking the fuck out. (And possibly Patrick just being like, "Oh great he's back on his bullshit.")
4. Something dealing with the revelations of book three and Gerard and Patrick working to repair their relationship.
5. Something with Gerard standing up to other immortals for Patrick. Please, let him give Persephone a piece of his mind. Please.
Patrick Collins/Jonothon de Vere
This canon and this pairing could have been tailor made for me, holy shit. HE'S a lonely alpha werewolf who just wants a pack to take care of, to whom the god Fenrir speaks. HE'S a mage with secrets, dramatic scars, and metaphysical damage that makes his magic painful and draining to use, resulting in many opportunities for h/c, despite the fact that he takes to h/c about as well as a cat does to water. Also he's indebted to the gods and they keep trying to run/ruin his life. They have an ACCIDENTAL SOULBOND and one of them thinks it's great and the other one thinks it's the worst thing ever. Together, they fight crime and learn about found family. AMAZING.
PROMPTS!
1. See above re: opportunities for h/c. Maybe Patrick overtaxes his magic again. Maybe he just has the flu! Maybe something else. Whatever way you go with it, Jono's caretaker instincts are triggered and Patrick is grumpy about it (But humoring him. Yeah, that's what it is. Humoring him.).
2. Something involving their CANONICAL SOULBOND (and possibly sex applications thereof). I'm not picky.
3. Listen just make them fuck and I'm happy. Bonus points for something about Patrick's scars/self-consciousness about his scars and/or Jono's need to make Patrick smell like him.
4. Something involving the various gods in their lives! Either something about Jono dealing with Fenrir's opinions/interference or just, like, Patrick's whole situation. Or both, both is good.
5. "We are trying to have date night/Valentine's Day like a nice normal couple but supernatural bullshit keeps interfering so much."
6. Jono attempts to teach Patrick to cook. It...it goes...on the bright side, the kitchen did not burn down? At least Jono's really hard to poison? (Gerard & Keith: "Wow you're so much braver than us.")
7. What does Halloween look like in this world? Is the veil, in fact, super thin and Patrick needs Jono's help keeping idk demons from rampaging in New York? Or is there just a costume contest at Tempest?
8. Patrick and Jono (and possibly Sage and Wade for pack bonding fun?) go on some ridiculously seasonal outing. Like apple picking. (And then possibly supernatural shenanigans ensue.)
West Hell Magic Series – Devon Monk
Real talk I don't understand how this series doesn't have more of a following in fandom. It's about werewolves and wizards playing hockey! It's super slashy! What more do I need to say?
Hawthorn Graves/Random Hazard
Okay so in the scene where Ran sees Graves for the first time, when he's just some random guy at the skating rink, the way he described him had me going, "Is this...is this an M/M book? It didn't say anywhere that it was an M/M book but YAY!" And then the female love interest showed up and it turned out to not be an M/M book after all, but for a while there I really thought it could be! And like, it only continues with the way Graves is willing to toss himself on the sword of the Dead Man trade for Ran and Ran's promising career in Spark, and just, like, it's slashy as hell, okay?
1. Seriously what the fuck is Graves? My best guess at the moment is, "Dragon? Maybe?" but take your best shot. Or don't and just play around with the weirdness we've been given.
2. "You're just starting your career, I'm near the end of mine, this can't last....but we really want it to last..."
3. Maybe Graves helpfully points out to Ran that if his middle name is somehow disastrous enough to not be preferable to being known as 'Random Hazard,' there is always a thing called a legal name change he could explore. Maybe that.
4. Graves tests Ran's control over his magic...during sex.
Hawthorn Graves/Elliott Clay
This might actually be canon? They've known each other for ages and that scene in Spark where Coach Clay borrows Graves' phone but Graves won't actually let him touch it because he'll just break this one, too did nothing to convince me they're not an old married couple, anyway.
1. See above re: WTF is Graves? I feel like Coach Clay might be the one person who already knows the answer to this question.
2. Something with them sneaking around hiding their relationship from the team. Sex in an equipment closet. Sex on Clay's desk, possibly with "you've been a bad bad player and you need to be punished" roleplaying. Also, "We're too old for all this sneaking around."
3. The two of them watching the younger generation's *cough*Ran*cough* drama like "Were we ever that young?"
4. Or! Maybe they're NOT in a relationship yet. Maybe they've been like two ships passing in the night their whole careers and it was just never the right time, and now Clay is in a position of authority over Graves and it just wouldn't be right, he feels, and there is pining, and then Graves finds out that THAT'S what the holdup is this time and is like, "LOL sure authority, screw that, let's get it on."
5. Just like...anything involving Coach Clay being a were-snow leopard, because that's awesome.
AO3 user sadlikeknives here, really excited to find out what you're going to write for me! I'm sure it's going to be great. For all of my requested fandoms, I have requested fic only and all three theme tags. Some of my fandoms may not include prompts that fit all three themes, but that's just because I don't have specific prompts for those tags in mind. I'm open to whatever you've got!
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose. I like pining, hurt/comfort, people using other people's prejudices and expectations of them to their own advantage, loyalty kink, competence kink, scars, soulbonds and soulmates, sexy-type biting and related bloodplay, size kink (I really like both the bigger guy manhandling the smaller guy and the smaller guy loving it, and the smaller guy bossing the bigger guy around and the bigger guy loving it). I'm down with porn or not porn. You are probably going to notice that I really like werewolves. I love all the basic bitch fall accouterments like pumpkin spice everything and leaves and scarves and apples. All of it.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters (so like, a PI handling a cheating case is fine)
- omegaverse, aka a/b/o, or any other type of mpreg
- graphic animal harm (for example: mention of a werewolf eating a bunny: fine; graphic description of what happened to the bunny: not fine)
- permanent death of requested characters
Benjamin January/Abishag Shaw, Benjamin January/Rose Vitrac January/Abishag Shaw
You remember waaaaaaaaaay back at the end of A Free Man of Color when Shaw's standing by Ben's table at the Place des Armes Because Society and Ben's like, "Or you could sit the fuck down one of these days?" Gentle Author, I shipped it then, and I ship it still. I just want to shove them together like a couple of really tall Ken dolls and go, "NOW KISS." I love how they navigate their godawful society's expectations and restrictions, how they often communicate via what's not said. I love how tentative Ben has always been to trust Shaw, in the face of evidence that Shaw is All In on trusting Ben, and then how in Murder in July he realizes Shaw would march off to assassinate the Queen of England if he asked him to (although it sort of drives me crazy that then at the end of the book Hannibal and Ben decided they needed to pull a fast one on Shaw just in case he randomly decided to confiscate the papers at the expense of Rose, like that's a thing he would ever do). I love how committed to justice they both are, and how they recognize that's different from the rule of law, and their mutual frustration with society's preference for a tidy resolution over true justice being done. I love how respectful they both are of the other's skills, and how they both use other people's expectations of their behavior. In short, I love them, and I want more of them.
And Rose! I love Rose! She's so practical except when it comes to science, when she is often two seconds away from an explosion, and she and Ben are so good together! And I think she would basically be the boss of Shaw and he would let her.
Quick note: As I said above I'm really not into straight up infidelity/cheating, and Ben, of course, has a wife. So if you don't want to write the poly option, you could set your fic before Ben met Rose, or handwave the whole relationship away/platonic, or have Rose be really open-minded because she's Rose, but please: no straight-up cheating.
Additional note: I think we as a fandom have come to a consensus on this by now but just to be clear: I generally picture Shaw as more, you know, sexy scruffy (like, Hollywood historical scruffy) than with the level of hygiene, if one can even call it that, described in the books, because seriously, he's an intelligent man, he knows what soap is for, why will he not use it?? It's not cute. So, like, if you could steer away from descriptions where he is as unpleasant as in canon, I would greatly appreciate that.
Prompts
1. Possibly Shaw could be pining after Ben. I feel like this makes a lot of narrative sense. Like, he knows it's useless and never gonna happen (but then it DOES?) and probably beats himself up over it, but ooooh that commitment to justice and all that expertise, so sexy. Possibly Rose has known about this for a while and is amazed Ben has been so oblivious.
2. They could investigate something new! Who's dead, in the middle of a scandal, or robbed blind this week? Which combination of medical, musical, tracking, science, and marksmanship expertise saves the day? (Maybe Shaw and Rose have to team up?)
3. Concept I know I've been banging like a drum for a while now, but that's because I love it so: Abishag 'what is bathing, and also, I can track you through a hurricane' Shaw is a werewolf. (And just maybe Hannibal is a vampire?) Ben finds out (Silver allergy? Something connected to a case?). He's intrigued. Possibly, together they fight supernatural crime.
4. While so much of these books is in the setting, I just really love modern New Orleans. Like a lot. And it's still very atmospheric, no? Picture it: Shaw's still a cop, Ben's a surgeon who moonlights in a jazz band. Rose is a badass chemistry professor at Tulane. Together, they solve crimes. And make out.
5. Shaw realizes that, vis a vis the end of Murder in July, Ben has not yet gotten the memo that he's All In, and his feelings are really hurt, but he's trying to be, like, an adult about it. Things get awkward. Possibly Rose has to knock some heads together.
6. Shaw stays in Texas instead of Hannibal in Lady of Perdition that's it, that's the prompt. Listen, I just found it hilarious how the book kept hanging a lampshade on how Shaw would have been the better choice to help actually investigate the murder, but it had to be Hannibal who stayed Because Of Reasons.
7. Something with Shaw and his six-shooters because I feel like the day he got them in Lady of Perdition must have been one of the most exciting of his life thus far.
8. Something else seasonal! Which, with New Orleans, would maybe mean either a late hurricane ("Well since we're stuck in this unlikely location until the water goes down we might as well have sex"?) or something totally spooky involving voodoo. Or both? Both is good.
Abishag Shaw & Olympe Corbier
There's a line from the Hidden Legacy books that came to mind when I thought about this team-up, something like: "My job in this family of Care Bears is to provide logical analysis." And I feel like Rose would protest that that's her job, but honestly, Shaw and Olympe are both, in their own ways, a lot more practical and just colder than the rest of Team January. Plus, they met when Shaw arrested Olympe for murder, and as Ben pointed out, he wouldn't have arrested her if he didn't think she really might have done it, so uh, they got off to a great start. I feel like they're never really going to 100% trust each other, especially on Olympe's side (and that Shaw would just be like, "Fair.") but that over time a certain amount of respect may have developed.
Prompts!
1. Shaw has a voodoo problem or just needs to know something about voodoo for a case, and obviously there is only one practitioner in the city he's going to go to about it. Olympe is reluctant but ugh Ben would never forgive her if she didn't help.
2. Olympe has some sort of legal problem and she is reluctant to involve the white legal system but if she has to Shaw's the best option available.
3. Ben thought Marie Laveau was behind that jailhouse poisoning at the end of Murder in July, but I always thought the symptoms sounded like the castor bean from The Shirt On His Back, so like: what if that was Shaw and Olympe working together? What if that? (It would not be the first time Shaw arranged a convenient jailhouse death to protect Ben, after all...)
4. Any other time they teamed up, either behind Ben's back to deal with a problem before he even knew it existed, or just to deal with their own shit.
Abishag Shaw & Livia Levesque
So here's what's amazing: they both clearly hate each other, and I don't think we've ever really seen them interact because LOL as if Livia willingly would, and also that is something Ben is willing to go to great lengths to prevent. Livia is still calling Shaw an animal thirteen books in, and I'm pretty sure Shaw has called Ben's mom 'a real piece of work' at least once, and, I mean, he's not wrong. And they are both very intelligent people who excel at using other people's perceptions against them and figuring out why other people do the things they do, and using that, and so I really want them to have to deal with each other. I don't really have specific prompts here, just a nebulous notion: maybe Livia has a problem and she's like, "Ugh, fine, I guess I'll summon Ben's pet American policeman," or maybe she's (however peripherally) involved in a case Shaw is investigating and he's like, "Fuck me gently with a not-yet-invented chainsaw, I have to interview Ben's mom." And then they are forced by circumstance to work together and/or use and/or respect one another's skill sets and forms of intelligence, and it's kind of horrible for both of them. And maybe one or both of them gains insight into What The Other One Thinks They're Doing Here that rattles the other, because...most people don't see that deep.
I've gotten some great gifts for this fandom lately but they just make me want more, so okay let's go.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan, Nevada Baylor/Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan"
Augustine and Rogan's friendship is really interesting to me, the way they often don't seem to like each other that much, or at least are really prickly with each other—and yet they're also each other's best friend in the world, and know stuff about each other no one else knows. And, like, how we know they'd each kill the other person without a moment's thought if their family was on the line, but they'd feel really bad about it afterward, and in their world, that's really rare. It's honestly almost like they are family, or at least are operating on a higher level of intimacy than most of the relationships around them. I'm into it.
In keeping with my aforementioned infidelity DNW, I would prefer this to be set in either the period before Nevada and Rogan got together, or for there to be some kind of open relationship/poly arrangement going on, or maybe Nevada and Rogan never got together! Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.) And I feel like Nevada/Connor/Augustine would be a really interesting relationship because just...how do I phrase this? They're all so prickly and sharp. Picture the rotating pivot point of any two of them siding against the other one on any one petty issue. Picture the absolute terror that is the three of them united against you. It's glorious.
1. Maybe Rogan and Augustine never broke up/fell out when Rogan went off to the military. Maybe they've been on again/off again for over a decade and they snipe at each other as a form of foreplay. Maybe they're Houston's secret or not at all secret power couple. Whatever you want to do with it!
2. Some bad situation has happened and Augustine has completely drained his magic and is without his illusion and now Rogan(+Nevada) has to get him out of it. (And maybe it's the first time Nevada's seeing him without the illusions! Drama!)
3. I just really like the idea of Rogan making Augustine while he's undercover. Like, his illusion is flawless, his impersonation dead to rights, but there is some little detail that makes Rogan mutter, "Hi, Pancakes," in his ear as he walks past. (Maybe this is a game they play at society functions. Maybe Rogan is teaching Nevada how to play it.)
4. Something with Rogan being a tactile okay go.
5. Augustine has to pretend to be Rogan and escort Nevada to an event. Or Augustine has to pretend to be Nevada and go with Rogan to an event. And then they all meet back up at home and *cough* debrief.
6. AU where Augustine was there to be like, "Stop. Breathe. It is my professional opinion that that is obviously an illusion mage on that tape and we are going to fix this and no one is going to do anything dramatic and drastic, Nevada, Connor, put those divorce papers in the shredder this instant," about Victoria Tremaine's disgusting "test."
Cornelius Harrison/Augustine Montgomery
In Sapphire Flames when it's mentioned that Augustine came to the warehouse and picked Matilda up, everyone sort of brushes it off as, "Well, MII has a personal security division," which is true, but doesn't explain why the owner of the company is chauffeuring a random second grader, and so my brain helpfully decided that he's dating her dad.
And I know there was that whole, "Cornelius will never truly love again," thing, but maybe that's not, like, definitive. Maybe science magic turns out to be wrong about that. Or maybe it's an FWB thing and that works for them, or something! Maybe somehow it all works out.
1. Thinking back to Augustine manipulating Nevada into taking Cornelius' case after Nari died, maybe Augustine has been carrying a torch for Cornelius for a while, but he knew it was hopeless and it was never going to be a thing. And now...it is a thing, and he's sort of freaking out, but trying to keep it cool because Augustine Montgomery does not freak out. (Cornelius? Charmed.)
2. Something involving Augustine having to deal with Cornelius' animal friends. There are so many animal friends. One of them is a cat thing from another dimension. Augustine doesn't seem like a pets person, so it's...a lot.
3. Something about Cornelius having to deal with Augustine's best friend, Mad Rogan. It goes way better than Augustine and the menagerie does. After all, he works with his wife.
4. Maybe Augustine's illusion magic goes haywire somehow and Cornelius has to help him get out of a situation. Or maybe the illusion magic has, uh, sexytimes applications. (NOT "I can look like your dead wife" as just occurred to me after I typed that. Fun applications!)
5. I almost died at Cornelius saying he would "ferret out" Tatyana's secrets in Emerald Blaze, so: something with Cornelius being a terrible maker of animal puns and Augustine NOT being charmed by it, not at ALL, he SWEARS (he is MELTING on the inside).
6. Augustine needs Cornelius's help with a job. More specifically, he needs the ferrets' help with a job. This isn't an excuse to spend time alone with Cornelius in an enclosed space, what are you talking about? (It is also that.)
Arabella Baylor/Stephen Jiang
Get it, Arabella! This development is delightful and I am here for it. And really, aside from the possible 'loyalties to different Houses' issue that plagued Nevada and Rogan, they're a great pairing. Arabella needs to settle down some. Stephen needs to loosen up some. The children might have completely insane magic, but they will be breathtakingly beautiful.
1. Stephen's reaction to finding out what Arabella's magic is by witnessing it firsthand. And/or Arabella's reaction to witnessing Stephen's waterbending, besides 'fanning herself.'
2. Stephen's reaction to the general Baylor family chaos. Rogan and Alessandro were both sort of urchins outside the bakery window about it, although Alessandro at least did a good job of hiding it. Would Stephen also be drawn to their kind of family, or would he like, not even be able to cope at first?
3. Or are the Baylors more like the Jiangs than expected? Maybe House Jiang turns out to be more chill than they appear on the surface. They haven't actively stopped Henry from being an actor in China, after all. Maybe they welcome Arabella with open arms, even after she nervously blurts out, "My magic is Arcane and the grandchildren will probably be really weird!" ("Did you hear that, honey, grandchildren!")
4. Or maybe Arabella's like, "I don't want kids," and Stephen's like, "Oh thank God, me neither." Maybe that. (Maybe this is what leads to his leaving House Jiang and joining House Baylor? Hmm.)
5. The Artisan & The Scourge of Mexico: We're here to give you the shovel talk.
Stephen Jiang: No offense, but your wives are scarier.
The Scourge of Mexico & The Artisan: Oh, you're gonna fit in just fine.
6. "Arabella, you can't marry him, your magics are completely incompatible." "Okay, who said anything about marriage, slow down, we've been on three dates."
7. They go on ONE little strictly professional business lunch and now everyone on Herald is shipping it. Crazy, right? (Grandma Frida: *hides in-progress fanfic*)
8. Arabella drags Stephen off on an adventure and he ends up having an amazing time.
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Hugh d'Ambray & Christopher Steed, Hugh d'Ambray/Christopher Steed, Hugh d'Ambray/Elara Harper/Christopher Steed
Okay, so after the part in Magic Triumphs where Christopher tells Kate that A) unlike pretty much everyone else outside the Iron Dogs, he paid enough attention to figure out what Roland was doing to control Hugh pretty early on and B) Hugh took better care of him when he was in the cage than previously thought, and possibly than he was supposed to, considering it's mentioned he fed and talked to him only at night when no one else was around, and Hugh's guilt-flashback re: Christopher in the cage in Iron & Magic and how he thinks about Christopher as the only Legatus he could ever stand, I went back and reread Magic Rises and I realized that maybe Hugh set Kate up to rescue Christopher on purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (like, maybe not consciously, because of Roland's conditioning and because he really didn't expect to lose that match, but on some level I really think he knew what he was saying there, because Hugh is not wired to withstand someone suffering on his watch like that and he had to fix it somehow).
And now I ship it. Or I at least want to see them interact, even if it's not shippy. It's a whole mess of history and dynamics to dig into and I'm into it. Like: they were horrible men, and they were equals. And then one of them kept the other one in a cage. And now they're both different people in some ways, living in the aftermath of all of that, and it's just...really interesting to me.
As far as Hugh/Elara/Christopher goes, Christopher is a wildly magically powerful human with a god stuffed in him, whose hair was turned white by magic (Maybe? The books seem to go back and forth on whether it's blond or white. I think it's white.). Elara, as far as we can work out thus far, is a wildly magically powerful human with some kind of elder power stuffed in her whose hair was turned white by magic. What if Hugh has a very specific type? What if. I'm just saying.
Note: If you're writing something set during the era of the books, as opposed to the pre-canon Preceptor/Legatus era, please nothing sexual during the period when Christopher was mentally unstable. As far as the canon relationships go, I'm happy for Hugh's marriage to Elara to remain a professional business arrangement, or with some form of polyamory, whatever you want to do there. As far as Christopher's relationship with Barabas, I can't really see Barabas sharing Christopher with Hugh d'Ambray, but, I mean, maybe? Or maybe they didn't get together. However you can make it work!
Prompts!
1. Some kind of FWB arrangement set during their days as Legatus and Preceptor that maybe gets more serious than either of them meant it to, or mutual pining and both of them aware that it's a REALLY BAD IDEA as far as Roland is concerned, and then maybe after everything they meet up again and realize they have a second chance.
2. Or in that same period, something with Christopher and Hugh working together to salvage a situation, possibly one that's gone south thanks to Roland's meddling/not listening to Hugh/maybe even brainwashing Hugh. Like, when Omaha got broken, was that...was that what was supposed to happen? Or were they both pretty sure for about five minutes there that they were super going to die (and then possibly "I can't believe we survived that" sex?)?
3. Something to do with Christopher losing his wing in Magic Triumphs, because I have this notion that Hugh is the healer you call in to deal with the situation when you've got an actual avatar with an extra-crispy appendage, and then you've got Christopher, of course, devastated, and Hugh feeling really guilty about being unable to save the wing and yes good angst.
4. Something set during the preparations to face Neig, with Hugh and Christopher both being weirded out by how easily they fall into a groove of working together again and the Iron Dogs enthusiastically embracing Christopher because it's always nice when someone they used to know A) is alive and B) isn't trying to kill them, and possibly also ragging the hell out of Hugh for having A Type, because haha wow are there some similarities between Elara and Christopher. Meanwhile I feel like Elara and Christopher would be somewhere between "initially slightly spooked by each other" and this.
5. So oops it turns out Hugh can't marry Elara to seal their alliance because he and Christopher are already married. Maybe they didn't realize that thing they did as a quick way to solve a problem one time was legally binding. Maybe it was entirely on purpose and a secret. Maybe they're trying to get a quickie divorce like in a Hallmark movie and life keeps throwing obstacles in their path. Whatever just run with it.
6. I noticed on reread that Hugh grows throughout the course of the series—something in the range of four to six inches. While I'm pretty sure this is just another authorial inconsistency like his country of origin switching from England to France, it could also be fanwanked as the result of his stint healing in a phoenix egg, so something with Christopher reacting to his new height (and Hugh to Christopher's new shoulders?) could be a thing.
7. Elara finally finds out that Hugh knows how to make panacea when he and Christopher start bickering about some fine point of its preparation.
8. Wingkink? Wingkink.
9. It's Halloween or some other magical thing is going on and Elara and Christopher are being generally spookier and more of an eldritch horror and fear god than they usually are on the surface and this is fine, everything is fine. Hugh might even be into it.
Mercy Thompson Series – Patricia Briggs
Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Let's talk about how much I have always loved Warren and Kyle. Like, on paper, they don't work: a hundred and fifty year old Texas cowboy werewolf who works at a gas station and a rich, human, Ivy League educated lawyer. And they both know that. And it doesn't matter. I love Kyle's ridiculous marble statues, and his vanity and the chip on his shoulder, and the way Warren loves those things too and sees Kyle's good heart. I love how easygoing and Texan Warren is, and all the pain and violence that's simmering away under the surface, and how Kyle doesn't care about all of the werewolf shit, he just loves him—and how Kyle, as he says in the short story "In Red, with Pearls," is his own kind of predator, and that just because he eviscerates his prey in court, not, you know, literally, doesn't mean he can't understand Warren's wolf.
Prompts!
1. There's like seven or eight rough months for Warren and Kyle between Moon Called and Blood Bound that we know very little about, and I'm really interested in this period—the pining and the draw that kept them coming back to each other (Were they sleeping together at any point in this period? That must have been really bittersweet) and saw Kyle hiring Warren, especially, but also how the 'so, werewolves' conversations went (and the fights, you know there were fights).
2. Concept: Kyle gets turned into a werewolf. I feel like he'd probably be pretty good at it. How does that happen? Is it on purpose, like he's sick or something? Or does some rogue or some other pack trying to come at Columbia Basin, now that they're exiled, attack him? How does that affect the pack structure? How many bed frames do he and Warren break while Kyle is learning his new strength?
3. In Frost Burned, Kyle reveals that his mating bond with Warren is starting to be two-way, but, being human, he just thought he was going crazy. And then we never really hear about that again. So: how does that psychic bond work for a human? Do he and Warren have enough control over it for it to be useful? Does it have sexytimes applications?
4. Something dealing with Kyle's family. Maybe his sister he still speaks to is coming to visit for Thanksgiving and he's freaking out (especially since Thanksgiving seems to be cursed for the Columbia Basin Pack?), or his deploying the nuclear option with regards to his father in Frost Burned comes back to bite him (possibly on multiple fronts, I know you were going through a rough time but using your boyfriend as blackmail material was sort of...not cool, Kyle) and has to be dealt with somehow.
6. As per some hinting in Storm Cursed, Kyle apparently wants kids. I feel like Warren would not even have thought about kids because...that wasn't an option. So either they have an adult discussion about this and figure out whether they, in fact, want to pursue parenthood, or they semi-accidentally acquire like, some kind of magic toddler or something. Or like, both.
7. Because Thanksgiving is clearly cursed, it is hereby canceled and will henceforth be known by the Columbia Basin Pack as 'Thursday,' a day on which we serve Anything But Turkey and try really hard not to get kidnapped.
Adam Hauptman & Warren Smith
Hi, my name is sadlikeknives and fun facts you might not know about me: Like Adam Hauptman, I'm from Alabama and I speak Russian! (Okay, I used to speak Russian. Now I honestly don't remember that much.) So I've always been really interested in Adam, and as previously established I love Warren, and I would really love to see more of their friendship explored. I feel like we're told more about it than we're shown, partly because it's rarely plot-relevant and thus exists as a sort of background thing. But they're both old, and Southern, and very dominant werewolves, and they get along like a house on fire, and I want more of that.
Prompts!
1. Patricia Briggs never really leans in on both of them being Southern. Like, they both canonically suppress their accents and 'y'all' is described as 'bad grammar,' (I'll fight you Briggs) which they only use deliberately in certain contexts. I will accept these speech patterns, even if I'm not thrilled about them (especially for Warren, who has had no good reason to suppress his accent), but there is more to being Southern for them to bond over. Especially food. I would love to see them bonding over food. Do they both have a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge at all times? Are they still weirded out by the Yankee madness that is sugar in cornbread? Does Warren show up at Adam's office one day to kidnap him for lunch because he finally found a place that makes decent collards?
2. Reading between the lines in the last couple of books, possibly starting from Silence Broken, possibly from the entire pack ending up at his house in Frost Burned, it looks like Warren is inching closer to being recognized in his rightful place as second in the pack (independent of the question of whether Darryl might be leaving to become an Alpha). Like, in one of the Alpha & Omega books it's mentioned that generally the pack's second's house is a secondary gathering place, and Pack Movie Night's been happening at Warren and Kyle's for a while now. And I think that would be great (especially if Darryl can stay), because Warren's placement has been unfair and artificial since the beginning, but I feel like Warren would still be hesitant/concerned, and need some reassurance from his Alpha/bestie.
3. Something about Warren and Adam's early relationship. I keep thinking about how Warren worked at the closest gas station to Adam's house, before Adam even built that house. And he was besties with Mercy. They definitely met, several times, before Mercy approached Adam about him and Adam invited Warren to join the pack. Like, there was probably some kind of formal notice when Adam & Co. first showed up, right? And so it seems weird that Adam never even thought about inviting Warren to join the pack before, even considering he's *gasp* gay. Did he think he wanted to be left alone? Did he think Warren was probably pissed because the Tri-Cities were basically his territory before Adam showed up? Did Warren show up to that meeting with Adam expecting to be told, "It's been real, now, leave town." What was going on there? And what were Warren's early days in the pack like? Apparently Christy thought Warren might make a pass at Adam; how much did the two of them laugh over that?
4. Poor Warren stuck in the middle of being Mercy's best friend AND Adam's best friend while they were determined to not get along.
5. Something about Adam meeting Kyle and realizing he needed to Do Something about these heteronormative homophobic werewolf rules before Warren lost this guy. Be a good wingman, Adam. (Or at least try, as ultimately everything blew up and it was Mercy who had to Do Something.)
6. Because Thanksgiving is clearly cursed, it is hereby canceled and will henceforth be known by the Columbia Basin Pack as 'Thursday,' a day on which we serve Anything But Turkey and try really hard not to get kidnapped.
Asil Moreno/Original Male Character
Listen, I just want Asil to get laid by someone who doesn't turn out to be evil. He deserves it. The guy's had a really rough time of it. I just want him to have a nice time. And he's old enough that his attitude toward sex and sexuality probably does not line up with our modern ideas, so maybe that someone is a guy. Maybe after the five blind dates he decides to try a hookup app and accidentally downloads Grindr instead of Tinder and then just decides to roll with it. Maybe one of the other gay werewolves moves to Aspen Creek and oh no he's hot, Asil was not expecting this.
It doesn't even have to be an original character, it can be someone who's basically an OC with a name, like that French guy Juste who has completely reasonable beef with him (antagonism that leads to makeouts, yesss) or, I don't know, Carlos, since it looks like Carlos might be bi now? Just, anything. Somebody show Asil a real good time/let Asil show them a real good time.
Soulbound Series – Hailey Turner
Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn & Patrick Collins, Patrick Collins/Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn
From the first moment Gerard showed up in that phone call at the end of A Ferry of Bones & Gold cussing Patrick out for working with the goddamned vampire again, I was delighted and in love. And then he actually showed up on the page and:
1. Oh, no, he's hot.
2. Oh, no, he has a spear and that's hot.
3. Oh no, he's fucking Cú Chulainn.
Amazing.
A thing you may or may not be aware of: there's a free prequel short story, "Down a Twisted Path," available via Hailey Turner's website (I believe you have to join her mailing list to get access, but don't quote me on that) in which Patrick & Gerard interact, and I have read that, but if you haven't, that's fine, I don't think it's necessary.
Regarding my infidelity DNW: Legendarily speaking, Cú Chulainn was a giant slut, so I'm assuming that Órlaith is fine with that and they have an open relationship (and like...maybe it's an AU where Gerard happened to mention he was engaged at some point in the past instead of awkwardly blindsiding Patrick with, 'My fiancee's been kidnapped btw I have a fiance.'). On Patrick's end, if you're writing a fic set after he met Jono I'm good with whatever AU or poly arrangement you come up with to make that work.
Some prompts!
1. Something set during the Hellraisers era, whether that be, like, "I can't believe we survived that," sex, or facing down some unspeakable evil together, or drinking games. Or all three.
2. Or maybe Patrick had a puppy crush on Gerard (because, look at him), but he was young and already fucked up and under his command so that never happened, but now two of those three things are no longer true, so: maybe?
3. Cú Chulainn's berserker state, the warp spasm, is hinted at several times, especially in the third book, but it hasn't happened yet. I would like to see it, please, and everyone else freaking the fuck out. (And possibly Patrick just being like, "Oh great he's back on his bullshit.")
4. Something dealing with the revelations of book three and Gerard and Patrick working to repair their relationship.
5. Something with Gerard standing up to other immortals for Patrick. Please, let him give Persephone a piece of his mind. Please.
Patrick Collins/Jonothon de Vere
This canon and this pairing could have been tailor made for me, holy shit. HE'S a lonely alpha werewolf who just wants a pack to take care of, to whom the god Fenrir speaks. HE'S a mage with secrets, dramatic scars, and metaphysical damage that makes his magic painful and draining to use, resulting in many opportunities for h/c, despite the fact that he takes to h/c about as well as a cat does to water. Also he's indebted to the gods and they keep trying to run/ruin his life. They have an ACCIDENTAL SOULBOND and one of them thinks it's great and the other one thinks it's the worst thing ever. Together, they fight crime and learn about found family. AMAZING.
PROMPTS!
1. See above re: opportunities for h/c. Maybe Patrick overtaxes his magic again. Maybe he just has the flu! Maybe something else. Whatever way you go with it, Jono's caretaker instincts are triggered and Patrick is grumpy about it (But humoring him. Yeah, that's what it is. Humoring him.).
2. Something involving their CANONICAL SOULBOND (and possibly sex applications thereof). I'm not picky.
3. Listen just make them fuck and I'm happy. Bonus points for something about Patrick's scars/self-consciousness about his scars and/or Jono's need to make Patrick smell like him.
4. Something involving the various gods in their lives! Either something about Jono dealing with Fenrir's opinions/interference or just, like, Patrick's whole situation. Or both, both is good.
5. "We are trying to have date night/Valentine's Day like a nice normal couple but supernatural bullshit keeps interfering so much."
6. Jono attempts to teach Patrick to cook. It...it goes...on the bright side, the kitchen did not burn down? At least Jono's really hard to poison? (Gerard & Keith: "Wow you're so much braver than us.")
7. What does Halloween look like in this world? Is the veil, in fact, super thin and Patrick needs Jono's help keeping idk demons from rampaging in New York? Or is there just a costume contest at Tempest?
8. Patrick and Jono (and possibly Sage and Wade for pack bonding fun?) go on some ridiculously seasonal outing. Like apple picking. (And then possibly supernatural shenanigans ensue.)
West Hell Magic Series – Devon Monk
Real talk I don't understand how this series doesn't have more of a following in fandom. It's about werewolves and wizards playing hockey! It's super slashy! What more do I need to say?
Hawthorn Graves/Random Hazard
Okay so in the scene where Ran sees Graves for the first time, when he's just some random guy at the skating rink, the way he described him had me going, "Is this...is this an M/M book? It didn't say anywhere that it was an M/M book but YAY!" And then the female love interest showed up and it turned out to not be an M/M book after all, but for a while there I really thought it could be! And like, it only continues with the way Graves is willing to toss himself on the sword of the Dead Man trade for Ran and Ran's promising career in Spark, and just, like, it's slashy as hell, okay?
1. Seriously what the fuck is Graves? My best guess at the moment is, "Dragon? Maybe?" but take your best shot. Or don't and just play around with the weirdness we've been given.
2. "You're just starting your career, I'm near the end of mine, this can't last....but we really want it to last..."
3. Maybe Graves helpfully points out to Ran that if his middle name is somehow disastrous enough to not be preferable to being known as 'Random Hazard,' there is always a thing called a legal name change he could explore. Maybe that.
4. Graves tests Ran's control over his magic...during sex.
Hawthorn Graves/Elliott Clay
This might actually be canon? They've known each other for ages and that scene in Spark where Coach Clay borrows Graves' phone but Graves won't actually let him touch it because he'll just break this one, too did nothing to convince me they're not an old married couple, anyway.
1. See above re: WTF is Graves? I feel like Coach Clay might be the one person who already knows the answer to this question.
2. Something with them sneaking around hiding their relationship from the team. Sex in an equipment closet. Sex on Clay's desk, possibly with "you've been a bad bad player and you need to be punished" roleplaying. Also, "We're too old for all this sneaking around."
3. The two of them watching the younger generation's *cough*Ran*cough* drama like "Were we ever that young?"
4. Or! Maybe they're NOT in a relationship yet. Maybe they've been like two ships passing in the night their whole careers and it was just never the right time, and now Clay is in a position of authority over Graves and it just wouldn't be right, he feels, and there is pining, and then Graves finds out that THAT'S what the holdup is this time and is like, "LOL sure authority, screw that, let's get it on."
5. Just like...anything involving Coach Clay being a were-snow leopard, because that's awesome.
