Rare Male Slash Exchange Letter 2022
May. 26th, 2022 07:46 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.
(For the record, since apparently AO3 changed some settings and now we have to specify: I am very open to treats, if anyone should be so inclined.)
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose in fic, including that for canons originally in first person. 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).
DNWs:
- bestiality (including sexual content involving shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters: if they're married or in a relationship in canon, I'm fine with either 'the canon couple never got together for whatever reason' or some kind of poly situation, however you want to handle it! Just please no bashing of the canon partner.
- 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 great)
- permanent death of requested characters
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Abishag Shaw/Benjamin January
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 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.
On the cheating DNW: As far as Rose goes, 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. As far as Shaw's potential new love interest revealed in Death & Hard Cider goes, I feel like that's too new to know much about anyway?
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 everyone else in Ben's life is like, "Yeah, Ben, it was obvious, and this is the 1840s."
2. 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. Like, just, anything with that. I'm not picky.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Okay, so parts of Death & Hard Cider sort of read like Barbara Hambly looked at AO3 and went, "I know what these people want and I'm gonna give it to them," but uh yes hello I would like more of Shaw recuperating at Ben's house, in Ben's secret room. And his bedroom. Or like just Ben going, "Okay. Okay. How the actual fuck do you know Henry Clay?" because Kentucky is a big place and I would have bet money Shaw and Henry Clay were not from the same corner of it, but apparently I would have been wrong!
The Demon's Lexicon – Sarah Rees Brennan
Alan Ryves/Nicholas "Nick" Ryves | Hnikarr
Nick's a demon and Alan's a liar, and they love each other more than anything in two worlds. They're so fucked up and codependent and I love them. They love each other so much they'd burn down the world for each other, but they communicate so badly. Like, that is one of the things that always gets me, how Alan has spent Nick's entire life teaching him to communicate, but they don't always understand each other, or they get caught up in all these preconceived notions and miss what's really going on with each other. I love these disasters so much. And, okay, yes, they're brothers. Anyone who tries to tell them they're not brothers is probably getting murdered a lot. But they're so messed up, and they inhabit such a weird world, that I feel like what that means could easily get...messy. And I'm into it.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I love Sin and Mae! But they're teenagers, so if you want to write them having broken up, never gotten together, being extremely open-minded...whatever you want to do as long as no one's cheating on anyone!
Prompts!
1. As summer is upon us, I feel a need for The Demon's Nice Day Out At The Beach (Trying To Keep Alan From Burning To A Crisp).
2. Nick and Alan doing things that make each other happy like Nick reluctantly but of his own free will spending time in a library or museum, or Alan attempting to help Nick work on cars, or them doing unspeakable violence together.
3. Speaking of unspeakable violence: post-violence adrenaline-fueled makeouts, and Alan freaking out about it while Nick is just like, "Well it's not like we were ever going to be normal, Alan."
4. Something with Nick experimenting with his demonic powers. Maybe in like a sexy way. Maybe he has to mark Alan for some reason and Alan trusts him intrinsically not to use it against him and that's the good shit right there. Maybe there are thunderstorms in their bedroom and it's a little awkward.
5. I got a lovely fic for this prompt for Yuletide a few years back, but I always want more of this kind of thing: So when I mentioned I was thinking about requesting The Demon's Lexicon to a friend of mine, she was like, "Oh have you seen this?" and I didn't quite understand what was going on at first but apparently it's a deleted scene from SRB's tumblr, only copypasted to an anon meme? I'm not sure this is true but I WANT TO BELIEVE because in this deleted scene Anzu-in-Alan kisses Nick and Nick's only objection is, "Alan wouldn't like it." Well what if you're wrong, Nick? You've been wrong before. I'm just saying. Alan might wish to correct you on your misconception here.
6. Generally any hot demon on brother action and/or moderately fucked up domesticity idk.
Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan
I was talking to a friend recently about these books and I was like, "Basically at this point Ilona Andrews could reveal that Augustine and Rogan were actually together romantically and had a really bad breakup when he left for the military, and I feel like no one would be surprised," and just, that's it, that's the vibe.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I'm pretty into the poly option here but this isn't that exchange and also you could easily make the argument Nevada deserves better than to have to deal with these assholes and their issues, so if you do want to write some form of poly that would be cool but also: Nevada and Connor broke up, never got together, it's set in the period before they met, whatever you want to do, it's all good.
1. I'm thinking soulmates AU? Like, Rogan seems like just the kind of asshole that he'd ditch Augustine and run off to the military anyway because he was bucking against his whole life being lined up for him, and now it's ten years later and he's got to deal with the mess he made if the city doesn't burn down first. He might be hoping the city burns down first a little. (I have always sort of thought that part of the reason Augustine recruited Nevada for the Pierce case was that he realized Rogan would probably get involved and he was willing to do absolutely anything to avoid him a little longer.)
2. Until recently, I assumed (even though we've been told they'll fool things like retinal scanners) that Augustine's illusions were visual, but in recent Q&As Ilona Andrews have said things that make them sound like they're also physical--like that Augustine has clothes tailored in different sizes to make things easier on himself. I'm going to be honest, this is sort of bending my brain trying to figure out how the clothes fit without Augustine being an actual shapeshifter, but let's not stress the details of magic and let's just get right to the sexytimes possibilities of Augustine's illusions being that real. And combined with Rogan being a tactile? Yowza.
3. Augustine has finally started interviewing for a potential bride and Rogan can't figure out why he's so mad about it until someone, possibly one of his soldiers, possibly his mom, possibly Nevada, hits him with a clue bat.
4. 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!
5. 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 there are sexual forfeits. Maybe Augustine is losing on purpose.)
6. Rogan sees Augustine without his illusions for the first time in more than ten years and there's some sort of significant change he wasn't expecting. Maybe Augustine's hairline is, in fact, receding and Rogan's more upset about this than Augustine is ("I was joking about that!" "It's just hair, Connor.") Maybe Augustine has some kind of significant scar and refuses to tell Rogan how he got it so he can go kill the person who gave it to him ("They're already dead anyway." "There has to be SOMEONE I can kill!") Maybe Augustine distracts him with sex. Maybe Augustine just has new crinkles around his eyes and Rogan is alarmed by how attractive he finds them.
Augustine Montgomery/Cornelius Harrison
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 has been running with that ever since.
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. Maybe he has to petsit most of the menagerie while Cornelius is out of town on a case or something?
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 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.)
7. Using your animal sidekicks to figure out who Augustine is impersonating at society events is cheating, Cornelius, and Augustine is going to withhold his (sexy) forfeit until you apologize (no he's not).
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Christopher Steed/Hugh d'Ambray
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. 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. And yet we never really get to see them interact. There's that one really tense moment in Magic Triumphs, and then their actual conversation takes place offscreen and that's it. I need more. (I need them to kiss.)
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 of all people, 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. Speaking of angst: the whole situation with Christopher crazy and being kept in a cage, from the POV of the guy who loved him and was keeping him in a cage, and apparently feeding and talking to him in secret in his own castle.
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, with his descriptions going from "almost six feet tall" to "almost six and a half feet tall" over time. While I'm pretty sure this is just an authorial inconsistency, 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. Wingkink? Wingkink.
8. Once upon a time there was an ambitious, smart, wildly talented young twink of a necromancer who was bound and determined to climb Roland's warlord like a tree. This is his story.
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.
(For the record, since apparently AO3 changed some settings and now we have to specify: I am very open to treats, if anyone should be so inclined.)
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose in fic, including that for canons originally in first person. 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).
DNWs:
- bestiality (including sexual content involving shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters: if they're married or in a relationship in canon, I'm fine with either 'the canon couple never got together for whatever reason' or some kind of poly situation, however you want to handle it! Just please no bashing of the canon partner.
- 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 great)
- permanent death of requested characters
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Abishag Shaw/Benjamin January
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 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.
On the cheating DNW: As far as Rose goes, 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. As far as Shaw's potential new love interest revealed in Death & Hard Cider goes, I feel like that's too new to know much about anyway?
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 everyone else in Ben's life is like, "Yeah, Ben, it was obvious, and this is the 1840s."
2. 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. Like, just, anything with that. I'm not picky.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Okay, so parts of Death & Hard Cider sort of read like Barbara Hambly looked at AO3 and went, "I know what these people want and I'm gonna give it to them," but uh yes hello I would like more of Shaw recuperating at Ben's house, in Ben's secret room. And his bedroom. Or like just Ben going, "Okay. Okay. How the actual fuck do you know Henry Clay?" because Kentucky is a big place and I would have bet money Shaw and Henry Clay were not from the same corner of it, but apparently I would have been wrong!
The Demon's Lexicon – Sarah Rees Brennan
Alan Ryves/Nicholas "Nick" Ryves | Hnikarr
Nick's a demon and Alan's a liar, and they love each other more than anything in two worlds. They're so fucked up and codependent and I love them. They love each other so much they'd burn down the world for each other, but they communicate so badly. Like, that is one of the things that always gets me, how Alan has spent Nick's entire life teaching him to communicate, but they don't always understand each other, or they get caught up in all these preconceived notions and miss what's really going on with each other. I love these disasters so much. And, okay, yes, they're brothers. Anyone who tries to tell them they're not brothers is probably getting murdered a lot. But they're so messed up, and they inhabit such a weird world, that I feel like what that means could easily get...messy. And I'm into it.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I love Sin and Mae! But they're teenagers, so if you want to write them having broken up, never gotten together, being extremely open-minded...whatever you want to do as long as no one's cheating on anyone!
Prompts!
1. As summer is upon us, I feel a need for The Demon's Nice Day Out At The Beach (Trying To Keep Alan From Burning To A Crisp).
2. Nick and Alan doing things that make each other happy like Nick reluctantly but of his own free will spending time in a library or museum, or Alan attempting to help Nick work on cars, or them doing unspeakable violence together.
3. Speaking of unspeakable violence: post-violence adrenaline-fueled makeouts, and Alan freaking out about it while Nick is just like, "Well it's not like we were ever going to be normal, Alan."
4. Something with Nick experimenting with his demonic powers. Maybe in like a sexy way. Maybe he has to mark Alan for some reason and Alan trusts him intrinsically not to use it against him and that's the good shit right there. Maybe there are thunderstorms in their bedroom and it's a little awkward.
5. I got a lovely fic for this prompt for Yuletide a few years back, but I always want more of this kind of thing: So when I mentioned I was thinking about requesting The Demon's Lexicon to a friend of mine, she was like, "Oh have you seen this?" and I didn't quite understand what was going on at first but apparently it's a deleted scene from SRB's tumblr, only copypasted to an anon meme? I'm not sure this is true but I WANT TO BELIEVE because in this deleted scene Anzu-in-Alan kisses Nick and Nick's only objection is, "Alan wouldn't like it." Well what if you're wrong, Nick? You've been wrong before. I'm just saying. Alan might wish to correct you on your misconception here.
6. Generally any hot demon on brother action and/or moderately fucked up domesticity idk.
Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan
I was talking to a friend recently about these books and I was like, "Basically at this point Ilona Andrews could reveal that Augustine and Rogan were actually together romantically and had a really bad breakup when he left for the military, and I feel like no one would be surprised," and just, that's it, that's the vibe.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I'm pretty into the poly option here but this isn't that exchange and also you could easily make the argument Nevada deserves better than to have to deal with these assholes and their issues, so if you do want to write some form of poly that would be cool but also: Nevada and Connor broke up, never got together, it's set in the period before they met, whatever you want to do, it's all good.
1. I'm thinking soulmates AU? Like, Rogan seems like just the kind of asshole that he'd ditch Augustine and run off to the military anyway because he was bucking against his whole life being lined up for him, and now it's ten years later and he's got to deal with the mess he made if the city doesn't burn down first. He might be hoping the city burns down first a little. (I have always sort of thought that part of the reason Augustine recruited Nevada for the Pierce case was that he realized Rogan would probably get involved and he was willing to do absolutely anything to avoid him a little longer.)
2. Until recently, I assumed (even though we've been told they'll fool things like retinal scanners) that Augustine's illusions were visual, but in recent Q&As Ilona Andrews have said things that make them sound like they're also physical--like that Augustine has clothes tailored in different sizes to make things easier on himself. I'm going to be honest, this is sort of bending my brain trying to figure out how the clothes fit without Augustine being an actual shapeshifter, but let's not stress the details of magic and let's just get right to the sexytimes possibilities of Augustine's illusions being that real. And combined with Rogan being a tactile? Yowza.
3. Augustine has finally started interviewing for a potential bride and Rogan can't figure out why he's so mad about it until someone, possibly one of his soldiers, possibly his mom, possibly Nevada, hits him with a clue bat.
4. 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!
5. 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 there are sexual forfeits. Maybe Augustine is losing on purpose.)
6. Rogan sees Augustine without his illusions for the first time in more than ten years and there's some sort of significant change he wasn't expecting. Maybe Augustine's hairline is, in fact, receding and Rogan's more upset about this than Augustine is ("I was joking about that!" "It's just hair, Connor.") Maybe Augustine has some kind of significant scar and refuses to tell Rogan how he got it so he can go kill the person who gave it to him ("They're already dead anyway." "There has to be SOMEONE I can kill!") Maybe Augustine distracts him with sex. Maybe Augustine just has new crinkles around his eyes and Rogan is alarmed by how attractive he finds them.
Augustine Montgomery/Cornelius Harrison
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 has been running with that ever since.
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. Maybe he has to petsit most of the menagerie while Cornelius is out of town on a case or something?
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 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.)
7. Using your animal sidekicks to figure out who Augustine is impersonating at society events is cheating, Cornelius, and Augustine is going to withhold his (sexy) forfeit until you apologize (no he's not).
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Christopher Steed/Hugh d'Ambray
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. 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. And yet we never really get to see them interact. There's that one really tense moment in Magic Triumphs, and then their actual conversation takes place offscreen and that's it. I need more. (I need them to kiss.)
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 of all people, 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. Speaking of angst: the whole situation with Christopher crazy and being kept in a cage, from the POV of the guy who loved him and was keeping him in a cage, and apparently feeding and talking to him in secret in his own castle.
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, with his descriptions going from "almost six feet tall" to "almost six and a half feet tall" over time. While I'm pretty sure this is just an authorial inconsistency, 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. Wingkink? Wingkink.
8. Once upon a time there was an ambitious, smart, wildly talented young twink of a necromancer who was bound and determined to climb Roland's warlord like a tree. This is his story.
