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Letter: Candy Hearts Exchange 2023
Jan. 7th, 2023 11:00 amDear 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 the record: I am open to treats.)
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose in fic, including 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 party manhandling the smaller party and the smaller party loving it, and the smaller party bossing the bigger party around and the bigger party loving it), and praise kink.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including sexual content involving shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon/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
Let's get to the fandoms!
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Abishag Shaw & Livia Levesque
If you just gasped, good. We're on the same page.
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 over a dozen 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.
And then possibly Ben finds out and is never going to emotionally recover from this. Or maybe he remains blissfully oblivious. IDK it's up to you!
*Bonus points if Livia refers to Shaw as Ben's pet American and/or policeman to his face and he's just like, "Yes, and?"
Abishag Shaw & Rose Vitrac
Okay, so I did not request Ben/Rose/Shaw because my ideas here don't really feature Ben, but I would be totally down with that being in the background of the ship and the dynamic between Shaw and Rose in the fic being / instead of &, if that's a direction you want to go in.
I have a few ideas.
1. Since she and Ben started having kids, Rose has had to stay in New Orleans whenever the series took Ben out of it on adventures, so maybe she and Shaw get involved in something while Ben is out of town. Ben and Hannibal are off somewhere doing a thing? Fine, they'll make their own fun! Or their own "How did things go while I was gone?" *flashback to Shaw wrestling a gator while Rose defuses a bomb* "Oh, you know...normal."
2. Maybe the team-up happens when Rose crossdresses again to investigate a case on her own and stumbles into the middle of Shaw's investigation and they're both like, "Well, this might as well happen."
3. Or something less adventure-y with Shaw checking in on Rose and the kids while Ben's away, or maybe when he brings back Selina Bellinger.
3. Shaw shows up and Ben assumes he needs his expertise on a case but he's like, "Actually, Maestro, it's Mrs. January I need to speak to." Some kind of chemistry problem, maybe? (Another bomb to defuse?)
4. Something while Shaw is convalescing at Chez January during Death & Hard Cider. Maybe Rose is the one who finally snaps and is like, "All right, how the hell do you know Henry Clay?" because I would not have guessed those two gentlemen were from the same parts of Kentucky. Maybe Rose, unlike her blissfully oblivious husband, is just aware that Shaw has known about the Underground Railroad for a while now and is fine with that.
Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
I apparently am really into getting Augustine Montgomery paired off already.
Augustine Montgomery/Arabella Baylor
Yeah, okay, he's way too old for her and there's the whole thing where he held professional power over her family, but Arabella's an adult now, she can make her own decisions, Catalina says herself in Ruby Fever that she trusts Arabella's decisions about men, and I feel like this would be a really interesting dynamic. Very Beauty & the Beast, except they can both be either. And Augustine is so tightly wound and closed off, I could totally see Arabella getting him to loosen up a little bit, while I can totally see Arabella being drawn to someone a little bit more reserved and calm. The children would be very blond.
1. How does this even happen? Maybe they run into each other on vacation and wake up married. Maybe it's somehow a business decision. Maybe they hook up while trapped in a supply closet after assignments they're both working that turn out to intersect go horribly wrong, and then they're like, "...Nevada and Connor must never know." Maybe one of them is minding their own business having a nice day and gets dragged into the other's catastrophe (can't let Connor's sister-in-law or best friend get kidnapped on MY watch, after all). Maybe something else?
2. It was supposed to be a one-time fling but now it keeps happening, with increasingly complicated hijinks to keep Arabella's family from finding out.
3. Nevada and Connor (and the rest of the Baylors) Find Out. (Cut to: Catalina somewhat reluctantly wrestling a sniper rifle away from her mother.)
4. Arabella has ideas for sexytimes applications of Augustine's illusion magic that he hadn't even thought of.
5. Something with Arabella getting Augustine to loosen up and have some fun. Probably he's not convinced that whatever activity she has in mind will be fun at first, but she's so enthusiastic. And then he ends up having a great time!
6. I'm positive that by this point in the series Augustine knows what Arabella's magic is, but there's probably some leeway to play around with here as far as when he finds out and Arabella finds out he knows, etc., and how that plays out. Like, was it the incident on the interstate, something less dramatic, something she didn't even realize gave him a clue until later?
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 him sitting with Cornelius's family at Runa & Bern's wedding sure didn't make me not think that, let met tell you!
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. 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" applications. Fun applications!)
2. Or maybe Augustine does make the 'I could look like your dead wife' offer, considering how realistic his illusions apparently are (clothes in different sizes fit him!), and Cornelius is appropriately horrified and now they have to sort through, like, Augustine not thinking he's enough as himself, and also him thinking that's something Cornelius would go for because what the fuck, Augustine?
3. 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).
4. 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.)
5. 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).
6. Augustine "It's my job to know all your secrets" Montgomery is the last person in Houston, or at least in their mutual social circle, to figure out that Cornelius faked his magical evaluation, despite having seen him do multiple things that should be impossible even for Primes with his own two eyes.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan(/Nevada Baylor)
I was talking to a friend a while back 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. I'm really into the concept of them having broken up messily back in the day and then maybe Nevada finding/figuring it out and having to deal with this mess and them still being in love with each other in the present. I feel like the character dynamics of this trio are really interesting because they're all such prickly people, and they all have such clear reasons for friction in their interpersonal relations--Nevada & Augustine's professional dealings, Rogan & Augustine's rocky past, Rogan's whole psychological deal in general and whatever hidden mess is going on in Augustine's backstory--but even when Rogan and Augustine don't seem to like each other that much they'd still throw down for each other. And my God, what a power trio this would be. And I feel like Nevada/Connor/Augustine would be a really interesting relationship because just...how do I phrase this? Picture the rotating pivot point of any two of them siding against the other one on any one petty issue they can have a ridiculous argument and then makeup sex about. Picture the absolute terror that is the three of them united against you. It's glorious.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I'm pretty into the poly option here but 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 awesome 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. Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.)
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. (Recent blog postings indicate against this headcanon, but 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, so...meanwhile Nevada is just standing here holding the brain cell.)
And Rogan totally seems like the kind of special that would have two soulmates. (If you go with something like 'soulmate-identifying marks,' Augustine could even suspect Nevada is the other soulmate before he sends her after Pierce, which would be interesting.) How does he feel about his soulmates unionizing against him, and why is the answer 'turned on?'
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. Either Rogan or Nevada has some unskippable social event they're supposed to go to with the other and something comes up that means they can't make it, and need to not be seen not making it, so Augustine impersonates the missing partner. If it's Rogan I feel like he's slightly sarcastic about it all night and Nevada has to keep trying not to laugh. If it's Nevada Rogan is probably weirded out by how good he is at it. And then they all meet back up at home and *cough* debrief.
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 the scar Konstantin could see in Ruby Fever is new, and Augustine 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.
7. Rogan teaching Nevada how to play 'Spot the Pancakes' at society functions. His illusions are flawless, his impersonations impeccable, but Rogan will find him. (Possibly the forfeits are sexual?)
8. Anything with some bad guy realizing at the worst possible time that the power couple is actually a power trio and now they're screwed. Possibly:
Bad guys: and now we are going to kill you
Nevada and Rogan, bored: Oh no. Please don't.
Augustine: Oops there is an Illusion Prime with a knife in this room.
But it could also be like a business deal situation or literally anything.
7. Maybe an AU where the Rogan-Baylors had the good sense to get their on-call Illusion Prime to consult on that disgusting sex tape Victoria Tremaine had made and sent to them, and Augustine gets to hold the brain cell for once: "You are both going to sit down and not do anything rash because here are all the reasons this is a clear fake. I mean they didn't even get your cock right, Connor, it's much nicer than that."
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Christopher Steed & Hugh d'Ambray, 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 accidentally-on-purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (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, if you didn't sign up to write the ship, I want to see them interact, because I think they must have been really interesting coworkers. 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.
Note: If you're going shippy, and 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! Most of these are shippy TBH but some of them can go either way, I think.
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. (I mean, we now know it grew back, but that was still very much in doubt at the end of Magic Triumphs.
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.
5. The whole situation with Christopher crazy and being kept in a cage, from the POV of the guy who respected and/or loved him and was keeping him in a cage, and apparently feeding and talking to him in secret in his own castle.
6. 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 and absurd romcom style obstacles keep falling in their path. Whatever just run with it.
7. 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 early in the series 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.
8. Anything, platonic or romantic, to do with them after the series ends, dealing with the fact that they were both really horrible people who did horrible things (and that Hugh did some of those things *to* Christopher), and now...here they are in the aftermath, in some ways very different people but in some ways still who they always were, just with a chance to be better now.
9. 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.
Sons of the Fallen Series - Jaclyn Osborn
For either scenario, I would love to see some wing kink. Like, actual wing kink, not the wing slit kink we see in the text (although that is also hot). But like touching someone's wings being intimate and pleasurable for the one being touched, trying to avoid the sharp edges of the feathers, mutual grooming, etc. I would also like to see sexy biting/blood-drinking, because...hot.
Alastair/Lazarus
Okay, look. As early as book one I was like, "Why...why can they communicate telepathically and none of the other brothers know why? Wouldn't it be a total trainwreck if it's because they're secretly soulmates? I see a lot of potential there, actually," and then they were secretly soulmates. But...I didn't love how it was handled in book seven. Like, Lazarus wasn't just "hard on Alastair" or whatever, he used him as a whipping boy. The history is ugly, and it felt like that got swept under the rug--Lazarus expected Alastair to reject him at first, but that was at least partially because of his hiding the truth and being an asshole for the last few millennia, not because of their early relationship, and Alastair sort of breezed right past all of it faster than I would have expected. Like, I really thought that when Lazarus was permanently marked with whip scars and then Alastair, the boy he used to whip whenever any of his brothers screwed up, was his freaking soulmate, that that would turn out to be more of a thing than it was. I mean, the scars were touched on, but...I expected more angst and drama there. Additionally I expected way more of a reaction from Alastair's brothers, and every time Lazarus called Alastair a brat or threatened to spank him I was like, "Nope, absolutely the hell not," and as you can see from my Night World prompt above, I'm totally into that sort of thing when it's right.
But I still think it's a pairing with a lot of potential, so: fanfic?
DNW anything involving punishment or like, whipping or spanking in a sexual context for this pairing. I think there's way too much baggage for that to be sexy here. References to their canonical history involving those things in a non-sexual context is a-okay, and I'm okay with face slapping. IDK why, brains and ids are weird. Maybe the snap-out-of-it slap in Raiden did things to me. But, yeah. Lazarus can slap Alastair to snap him out of a Pride meltdown or whatever, or just because they're into it (although ideally Lazarus should be conflicted at first in this case before he's like "...no okay that's really hot.").
1) I really thought Alastair knew. Like, I thought it was more likely that he knew and Lazarus didn't than the other way around, from some things he said and did in Bellamy. So: AU where Alastair's the one who knew all along and, like, Michael sealed the bond, and now the seal's it's broken and Lazarus has to come to terms with having been a dick to his soulmate for a few thousand years. (Or maybe without the added pressure of feeling the connection Alastair didn't, and the council breathing down his neck, he would have been less of a dick and more likely to spend some of that time trying to make amends for how he treated them as children, therefore making the situation harder for an Alastair who's aware? Hmmm.)
2) Or! AU where Lazarus told Alastair the truth early on and Alastair was able to make informed choices about how to conduct his life under such difficult and unusual circumstances, rather than having it sprung on him at the eleventh hour and having to feel vaguely guilty about every relationship he's ever had in front of Lazarus' face. Alastair still wouldn't feel the bond, but he might have organically developed emotions for Lazarus over time, leading to a lot of delicious pining and hidden angst behind his brothers' back.
3) Or let's go further AU! What if Lazarus managed to collect all the other brothers, but he wasn't able to pry Alastair out of the heart of Lucifer's army, so they meet as adults, across a battlefield, the same way Bellamy met Phoenix? Now it's enemies to lovers! Without all the child abuse! (I mean, presumably the others still got...yeah. Lazarus has a lot of work to do no matter how you slice it.)
4) Or even further AU than that! At one point it's revealed that Lazarus was a follower of Lucifer at one point, so like, what if he fell? Does he fall in love with Alastair as a young man and they realize together Lucifer is in the wrong? Or does like Michael steal the Nephilim bros, and then he meets Alastair across a battlefield as an enemy and, again, it's Bellamy and Phoenix 2.0? (I don't really want them to stay evil.)
5) Or maybe during the book the council pushes the issue and Lazarus puts his money where his mouth is and falls to be with Alastair, and is this just an excuse for more blood drinking porn? Absolutely. But you could also have the council after everything's done and it's firmly established that Lazarus was right like, "So...does anyone know how we reinstate an angel...?"
6. I really liked the bits about how Alastair tends to spiral and Lazarus can stop that and get him out of his head, and am totally into the idea of Alastair being submissive sexually for this purpose, with Lazarus praising him and telling him he's good and perfect and etc.
7. I would also like to see Lazarus experience some of the first times we didn't get to see in the book--first time bottoming, first time giving head, first rim job. I would kind of like to see him kneeling at Alastair's feet; that role reversal feels very satisfactory and possibly cathartic.
Bellamy/Any Cursed Son
Okay, listen, we're told that Bellamy's never had sex with any of his brothers, but I don't really...buy that. It feels like fake news. Like, it doesn't seem to jive with how he gets sick if he doesn't have sex regularly, and the fact that they were isolated until they turned eighteen. I've been around teenaged boys, there is no way Lust didn't wake up until after Bellamy was eighteen. (And while it's possible, considering they were eight when they met and didn't automatically see each other as brothers, a strong incest taboo just doesn't...fit, especially when we know Castor and Galen had a fling.) I also find it kind of implausible there's never been a dry spell where there weren't really other options around in all the time since. So maybe something with one of those scenarios, or just even like, sex as comfort. Maybe at a different period in history, Bellamy was less all up in his head about it and saw things more like Raiden's worldview: orgasms are nice. Bellamy gives great orgasms. Who wants some? And maybe through this they figure out the other deadly sins are immune to the obsession issues that come from repeatedly banging Lust.
I don't really have specific prompts for most of the bros, but I'm still in vague disbelief that Gray's book never went to even a little bit of a somnophilia place ("Oh, no, you're getting sleepy? Guess we can't have sex now." Yes, you can! I expect more creativity and can-do spirit from a Marine!), so maybe they figure out at some point that coming in your sleep is enough to sate Lust without triggering the 'best sex I ever had' thing and the issues that come with that. Or something.
Maybe at some point one of his brothers (or all of them, as a group, as like a birthday present or something) were like, "I know Lust makes you always be all about whatever your partner wants, but tonight it's all about YOU," and then they just like, cater to Bell and help him figure out what he likes.
Also, I realize this is more gen, but the whole thing with Bellamy's secret real eye color feels like it deserves a deleted scene where his brothers find out about it, because in everybody else's POV we've gotten no indication that anyone knows Bellamy has a secret eye color he's angsting about, and at this point someone has to have seen Phoenix look at him and his eyes turn blue at least once. I want the fallout from that, because while it's by no means on the level of the Alastair/Lazarus thing, it's a secret he's been keeping from his brothers for thousands of years, and it feels like the reaction would be epic.
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 the record: I am open to treats.)
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose in fic, including 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 party manhandling the smaller party and the smaller party loving it, and the smaller party bossing the bigger party around and the bigger party loving it), and praise kink.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including sexual content involving shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon/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
Let's get to the fandoms!
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Abishag Shaw & Livia Levesque
If you just gasped, good. We're on the same page.
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 over a dozen 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.
And then possibly Ben finds out and is never going to emotionally recover from this. Or maybe he remains blissfully oblivious. IDK it's up to you!
*Bonus points if Livia refers to Shaw as Ben's pet American and/or policeman to his face and he's just like, "Yes, and?"
Abishag Shaw & Rose Vitrac
Okay, so I did not request Ben/Rose/Shaw because my ideas here don't really feature Ben, but I would be totally down with that being in the background of the ship and the dynamic between Shaw and Rose in the fic being / instead of &, if that's a direction you want to go in.
I have a few ideas.
1. Since she and Ben started having kids, Rose has had to stay in New Orleans whenever the series took Ben out of it on adventures, so maybe she and Shaw get involved in something while Ben is out of town. Ben and Hannibal are off somewhere doing a thing? Fine, they'll make their own fun! Or their own "How did things go while I was gone?" *flashback to Shaw wrestling a gator while Rose defuses a bomb* "Oh, you know...normal."
2. Maybe the team-up happens when Rose crossdresses again to investigate a case on her own and stumbles into the middle of Shaw's investigation and they're both like, "Well, this might as well happen."
3. Or something less adventure-y with Shaw checking in on Rose and the kids while Ben's away, or maybe when he brings back Selina Bellinger.
3. Shaw shows up and Ben assumes he needs his expertise on a case but he's like, "Actually, Maestro, it's Mrs. January I need to speak to." Some kind of chemistry problem, maybe? (Another bomb to defuse?)
4. Something while Shaw is convalescing at Chez January during Death & Hard Cider. Maybe Rose is the one who finally snaps and is like, "All right, how the hell do you know Henry Clay?" because I would not have guessed those two gentlemen were from the same parts of Kentucky. Maybe Rose, unlike her blissfully oblivious husband, is just aware that Shaw has known about the Underground Railroad for a while now and is fine with that.
Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
I apparently am really into getting Augustine Montgomery paired off already.
Augustine Montgomery/Arabella Baylor
Yeah, okay, he's way too old for her and there's the whole thing where he held professional power over her family, but Arabella's an adult now, she can make her own decisions, Catalina says herself in Ruby Fever that she trusts Arabella's decisions about men, and I feel like this would be a really interesting dynamic. Very Beauty & the Beast, except they can both be either. And Augustine is so tightly wound and closed off, I could totally see Arabella getting him to loosen up a little bit, while I can totally see Arabella being drawn to someone a little bit more reserved and calm. The children would be very blond.
1. How does this even happen? Maybe they run into each other on vacation and wake up married. Maybe it's somehow a business decision. Maybe they hook up while trapped in a supply closet after assignments they're both working that turn out to intersect go horribly wrong, and then they're like, "...Nevada and Connor must never know." Maybe one of them is minding their own business having a nice day and gets dragged into the other's catastrophe (can't let Connor's sister-in-law or best friend get kidnapped on MY watch, after all). Maybe something else?
2. It was supposed to be a one-time fling but now it keeps happening, with increasingly complicated hijinks to keep Arabella's family from finding out.
3. Nevada and Connor (and the rest of the Baylors) Find Out. (Cut to: Catalina somewhat reluctantly wrestling a sniper rifle away from her mother.)
4. Arabella has ideas for sexytimes applications of Augustine's illusion magic that he hadn't even thought of.
5. Something with Arabella getting Augustine to loosen up and have some fun. Probably he's not convinced that whatever activity she has in mind will be fun at first, but she's so enthusiastic. And then he ends up having a great time!
6. I'm positive that by this point in the series Augustine knows what Arabella's magic is, but there's probably some leeway to play around with here as far as when he finds out and Arabella finds out he knows, etc., and how that plays out. Like, was it the incident on the interstate, something less dramatic, something she didn't even realize gave him a clue until later?
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 him sitting with Cornelius's family at Runa & Bern's wedding sure didn't make me not think that, let met tell you!
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. 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" applications. Fun applications!)
2. Or maybe Augustine does make the 'I could look like your dead wife' offer, considering how realistic his illusions apparently are (clothes in different sizes fit him!), and Cornelius is appropriately horrified and now they have to sort through, like, Augustine not thinking he's enough as himself, and also him thinking that's something Cornelius would go for because what the fuck, Augustine?
3. 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).
4. 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.)
5. 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).
6. Augustine "It's my job to know all your secrets" Montgomery is the last person in Houston, or at least in their mutual social circle, to figure out that Cornelius faked his magical evaluation, despite having seen him do multiple things that should be impossible even for Primes with his own two eyes.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor "Mad" Rogan(/Nevada Baylor)
I was talking to a friend a while back 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. I'm really into the concept of them having broken up messily back in the day and then maybe Nevada finding/figuring it out and having to deal with this mess and them still being in love with each other in the present. I feel like the character dynamics of this trio are really interesting because they're all such prickly people, and they all have such clear reasons for friction in their interpersonal relations--Nevada & Augustine's professional dealings, Rogan & Augustine's rocky past, Rogan's whole psychological deal in general and whatever hidden mess is going on in Augustine's backstory--but even when Rogan and Augustine don't seem to like each other that much they'd still throw down for each other. And my God, what a power trio this would be. And I feel like Nevada/Connor/Augustine would be a really interesting relationship because just...how do I phrase this? Picture the rotating pivot point of any two of them siding against the other one on any one petty issue they can have a ridiculous argument and then makeup sex about. Picture the absolute terror that is the three of them united against you. It's glorious.
Re: the infidelity DNW: I'm pretty into the poly option here but 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 awesome 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. Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.)
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. (Recent blog postings indicate against this headcanon, but 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, so...meanwhile Nevada is just standing here holding the brain cell.)
And Rogan totally seems like the kind of special that would have two soulmates. (If you go with something like 'soulmate-identifying marks,' Augustine could even suspect Nevada is the other soulmate before he sends her after Pierce, which would be interesting.) How does he feel about his soulmates unionizing against him, and why is the answer 'turned on?'
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. Either Rogan or Nevada has some unskippable social event they're supposed to go to with the other and something comes up that means they can't make it, and need to not be seen not making it, so Augustine impersonates the missing partner. If it's Rogan I feel like he's slightly sarcastic about it all night and Nevada has to keep trying not to laugh. If it's Nevada Rogan is probably weirded out by how good he is at it. And then they all meet back up at home and *cough* debrief.
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 the scar Konstantin could see in Ruby Fever is new, and Augustine 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.
7. Rogan teaching Nevada how to play 'Spot the Pancakes' at society functions. His illusions are flawless, his impersonations impeccable, but Rogan will find him. (Possibly the forfeits are sexual?)
8. Anything with some bad guy realizing at the worst possible time that the power couple is actually a power trio and now they're screwed. Possibly:
Bad guys: and now we are going to kill you
Nevada and Rogan, bored: Oh no. Please don't.
Augustine: Oops there is an Illusion Prime with a knife in this room.
But it could also be like a business deal situation or literally anything.
7. Maybe an AU where the Rogan-Baylors had the good sense to get their on-call Illusion Prime to consult on that disgusting sex tape Victoria Tremaine had made and sent to them, and Augustine gets to hold the brain cell for once: "You are both going to sit down and not do anything rash because here are all the reasons this is a clear fake. I mean they didn't even get your cock right, Connor, it's much nicer than that."
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Christopher Steed & Hugh d'Ambray, 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 accidentally-on-purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (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, if you didn't sign up to write the ship, I want to see them interact, because I think they must have been really interesting coworkers. 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.
Note: If you're going shippy, and 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! Most of these are shippy TBH but some of them can go either way, I think.
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. (I mean, we now know it grew back, but that was still very much in doubt at the end of Magic Triumphs.
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.
5. The whole situation with Christopher crazy and being kept in a cage, from the POV of the guy who respected and/or loved him and was keeping him in a cage, and apparently feeding and talking to him in secret in his own castle.
6. 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 and absurd romcom style obstacles keep falling in their path. Whatever just run with it.
7. 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 early in the series 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.
8. Anything, platonic or romantic, to do with them after the series ends, dealing with the fact that they were both really horrible people who did horrible things (and that Hugh did some of those things *to* Christopher), and now...here they are in the aftermath, in some ways very different people but in some ways still who they always were, just with a chance to be better now.
9. 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.
Sons of the Fallen Series - Jaclyn Osborn
For either scenario, I would love to see some wing kink. Like, actual wing kink, not the wing slit kink we see in the text (although that is also hot). But like touching someone's wings being intimate and pleasurable for the one being touched, trying to avoid the sharp edges of the feathers, mutual grooming, etc. I would also like to see sexy biting/blood-drinking, because...hot.
Alastair/Lazarus
Okay, look. As early as book one I was like, "Why...why can they communicate telepathically and none of the other brothers know why? Wouldn't it be a total trainwreck if it's because they're secretly soulmates? I see a lot of potential there, actually," and then they were secretly soulmates. But...I didn't love how it was handled in book seven. Like, Lazarus wasn't just "hard on Alastair" or whatever, he used him as a whipping boy. The history is ugly, and it felt like that got swept under the rug--Lazarus expected Alastair to reject him at first, but that was at least partially because of his hiding the truth and being an asshole for the last few millennia, not because of their early relationship, and Alastair sort of breezed right past all of it faster than I would have expected. Like, I really thought that when Lazarus was permanently marked with whip scars and then Alastair, the boy he used to whip whenever any of his brothers screwed up, was his freaking soulmate, that that would turn out to be more of a thing than it was. I mean, the scars were touched on, but...I expected more angst and drama there. Additionally I expected way more of a reaction from Alastair's brothers, and every time Lazarus called Alastair a brat or threatened to spank him I was like, "Nope, absolutely the hell not," and as you can see from my Night World prompt above, I'm totally into that sort of thing when it's right.
But I still think it's a pairing with a lot of potential, so: fanfic?
DNW anything involving punishment or like, whipping or spanking in a sexual context for this pairing. I think there's way too much baggage for that to be sexy here. References to their canonical history involving those things in a non-sexual context is a-okay, and I'm okay with face slapping. IDK why, brains and ids are weird. Maybe the snap-out-of-it slap in Raiden did things to me. But, yeah. Lazarus can slap Alastair to snap him out of a Pride meltdown or whatever, or just because they're into it (although ideally Lazarus should be conflicted at first in this case before he's like "...no okay that's really hot.").
1) I really thought Alastair knew. Like, I thought it was more likely that he knew and Lazarus didn't than the other way around, from some things he said and did in Bellamy. So: AU where Alastair's the one who knew all along and, like, Michael sealed the bond, and now the seal's it's broken and Lazarus has to come to terms with having been a dick to his soulmate for a few thousand years. (Or maybe without the added pressure of feeling the connection Alastair didn't, and the council breathing down his neck, he would have been less of a dick and more likely to spend some of that time trying to make amends for how he treated them as children, therefore making the situation harder for an Alastair who's aware? Hmmm.)
2) Or! AU where Lazarus told Alastair the truth early on and Alastair was able to make informed choices about how to conduct his life under such difficult and unusual circumstances, rather than having it sprung on him at the eleventh hour and having to feel vaguely guilty about every relationship he's ever had in front of Lazarus' face. Alastair still wouldn't feel the bond, but he might have organically developed emotions for Lazarus over time, leading to a lot of delicious pining and hidden angst behind his brothers' back.
3) Or let's go further AU! What if Lazarus managed to collect all the other brothers, but he wasn't able to pry Alastair out of the heart of Lucifer's army, so they meet as adults, across a battlefield, the same way Bellamy met Phoenix? Now it's enemies to lovers! Without all the child abuse! (I mean, presumably the others still got...yeah. Lazarus has a lot of work to do no matter how you slice it.)
4) Or even further AU than that! At one point it's revealed that Lazarus was a follower of Lucifer at one point, so like, what if he fell? Does he fall in love with Alastair as a young man and they realize together Lucifer is in the wrong? Or does like Michael steal the Nephilim bros, and then he meets Alastair across a battlefield as an enemy and, again, it's Bellamy and Phoenix 2.0? (I don't really want them to stay evil.)
5) Or maybe during the book the council pushes the issue and Lazarus puts his money where his mouth is and falls to be with Alastair, and is this just an excuse for more blood drinking porn? Absolutely. But you could also have the council after everything's done and it's firmly established that Lazarus was right like, "So...does anyone know how we reinstate an angel...?"
6. I really liked the bits about how Alastair tends to spiral and Lazarus can stop that and get him out of his head, and am totally into the idea of Alastair being submissive sexually for this purpose, with Lazarus praising him and telling him he's good and perfect and etc.
7. I would also like to see Lazarus experience some of the first times we didn't get to see in the book--first time bottoming, first time giving head, first rim job. I would kind of like to see him kneeling at Alastair's feet; that role reversal feels very satisfactory and possibly cathartic.
Bellamy/Any Cursed Son
Okay, listen, we're told that Bellamy's never had sex with any of his brothers, but I don't really...buy that. It feels like fake news. Like, it doesn't seem to jive with how he gets sick if he doesn't have sex regularly, and the fact that they were isolated until they turned eighteen. I've been around teenaged boys, there is no way Lust didn't wake up until after Bellamy was eighteen. (And while it's possible, considering they were eight when they met and didn't automatically see each other as brothers, a strong incest taboo just doesn't...fit, especially when we know Castor and Galen had a fling.) I also find it kind of implausible there's never been a dry spell where there weren't really other options around in all the time since. So maybe something with one of those scenarios, or just even like, sex as comfort. Maybe at a different period in history, Bellamy was less all up in his head about it and saw things more like Raiden's worldview: orgasms are nice. Bellamy gives great orgasms. Who wants some? And maybe through this they figure out the other deadly sins are immune to the obsession issues that come from repeatedly banging Lust.
I don't really have specific prompts for most of the bros, but I'm still in vague disbelief that Gray's book never went to even a little bit of a somnophilia place ("Oh, no, you're getting sleepy? Guess we can't have sex now." Yes, you can! I expect more creativity and can-do spirit from a Marine!), so maybe they figure out at some point that coming in your sleep is enough to sate Lust without triggering the 'best sex I ever had' thing and the issues that come with that. Or something.
Maybe at some point one of his brothers (or all of them, as a group, as like a birthday present or something) were like, "I know Lust makes you always be all about whatever your partner wants, but tonight it's all about YOU," and then they just like, cater to Bell and help him figure out what he likes.
Also, I realize this is more gen, but the whole thing with Bellamy's secret real eye color feels like it deserves a deleted scene where his brothers find out about it, because in everybody else's POV we've gotten no indication that anyone knows Bellamy has a secret eye color he's angsting about, and at this point someone has to have seen Phoenix look at him and his eyes turn blue at least once. I want the fallout from that, because while it's by no means on the level of the Alastair/Lazarus thing, it's a secret he's been keeping from his brothers for thousands of years, and it feels like the reaction would be epic.
