maharetr

I'm hoping I'm writing this before you see your assignment email, or that you've come back! See my dear creator tag for more details, especially about Bastard Son (etc), but here we go!

General DNWs I have a weirdly intense embarrassment-adjacent squick that basically goes: if you could describe a character as crestfallen, I'm going to struggle to read it. That goes double if it's not 200% fixed for the character in question before the end of the piece. I am here for angsty, definitely, and I love me some hurt/comfort. But I'd rather no graphic violence, rape, or major character death etc.

Disco Elysium. Oh god, I love so much of this game (the fatphobia a jarring, saddening exception). But I love Kim so much, and realising-he's-maybe-not-100%-straight, trying-to-sober-up Harry.

Idea sparks:
- sheltering somewhere together out of the weather in Martinase
- reserved, compartmentalising Kim letting Harry see all of him (his home, or sharing what lights him up, and/or his body).
- Harry figuring out how to have a life post-addiction and who he might want to be. Or figuring what/who he wants to be sober for, if he's not anywhere near post-addiction yet.
- Both or one of them figuring out how to be really, actually happy. I'm happy for a solo character study here, if you want.

Bastard son... uh, see here for possibly too many of my thoughts?

4'33" - John Cage (Song) I saw this on the fandom list and cackled with joy. So the point of this piece is that whatever you can hear over the next 4 and a half minutes *is* the music. Loosely. Wiki entry here.
Idea sparks:
- So someone's (your fandom fave? an OC?) sitting quietly. Where are they/what're they doing/why. What are they hearing and what are they making it mean?
- A person in an orchestra and/or the conductor making those four ish minutes really mean something to themselves (or the partner they're silently communicating with) I love me some non-verbal communication, in-jokes, and...I'm struggling to find the word for it at speed, but that language that develops between two people that makes sense to them alone.

Good luck! Feel free to use or discard any idea here, basically, and have fun!

I fell so hard for this show, and I'm excited for basically any fic for it. Go nuts! <3 But if you're after specific pointers, see below:

Things I love about this fandom: cool powers! generational rituals! magic and spells and alchemy! And thing that is not stated in the text but infuses every word: abuse, and if we'd been able to get a season 2 (fuck you Netflix), starting to process that abuse and trying to work towards recovery or some form of peace: Annalise after the finale, holy shit, or in the case of the guys, what they want their lives to be now they're not being actively abused or controlled. Um, this fandom pinged many of my dark recovery buttons, basically.

A respite from the dark is equally welcome! A cosy time together on the boat (minus traumatic twin deaths!), a few more fic-days with the Blood witches in France and that bed. Or that quiet night in, in a squat or an apartment somewhere: bad movies, takeaway, and safety, god they deserve that.

If you wanted to follow me down that darker rabbit hole...that moment where someone looks at their abuser and realises that person doesn't have the same control over them anymore -- that the victim is now a survivor, and both of them know it. Triple points for friends/lovers supporting and backing the survivor up. The three of them being fucked UP in their own ways, and finding comfort in each other and a little bubble of okay, if they can let their guards down enough to receive it.

With Gabriel & Mercury in particular with the above point: Fuck, all that memory fuckery, and Gabriel knowing he can't trust his own fucking memory, and trying to find a way to be okay. Making memories that he wants to hold on to with Nathan and Annalise, and not wanting Mercury in them, ugh. Wanting to rescue her latest victim. There's a wallop of psychological and emotional abuse going on, and I feel like the show was also strongly hinting at sexual abuse there that was potentially continuing into adulthood, but no need to go there (unless you want to. I'm here for it if you are).

Within the context of the threesome: Nathan and also never having known a life that wasn’t being brutally controlled and monitored. And his relationship with Ceelia (who I adore embarrassingly a lot), who controlled and abused Nathan for all of his known life (she probably didn't do it *willingly* but still, that doesn't make it any less traumatic for him, obv). What's it like for them as equals--or probably Nathan as now *stronger* than she is, assuming [finale assumption redacted]?

For Annalise, holy fuck girl, that finale was A LOT. She who'd been doing comparatively trauma-free growing up and then WELP. Are the others there to catch her? How do they do it?

Best of luck! <3

Hi! I love this time of year! I'm so excited to see what you'll come up with! :D

Concept ideas, from last year's letter: I've got a lightly rotating list from my dear creator/writer tags that you're welcome to check out. For a challenge like this, where the emphasis is a little more on 'short and sweet', I'm very here for, say, a sex/afterglow scene that showcases the characters, or something else utterly mundane to hang a moment on (cooking a meal, sharpening a weapon, making something). No need for anything convoluted or intricate (unless you're into that ;)) Feel free to grab a concept from another fandom/prompt here and apply it to whatever we matched on, too.

Mood Likes
Looking at my fandom list, and with maybe one exception, I'm all about people being safe and happy this year, or at least safe and happy for the space of the work.

General loves:
- People being immensely competent at something, (and also kind in teaching others).

- Hurt/comfort, both emotional and physical, especially after some sort of trauma. Finding a new/better/different way to be in the world after wrenching change.

- That Oh romance moment – either startling realisation of "I'm in love with them", or esp in already established relationships – where Character A looks at B and thinks: I adore you.

- Characters shaving/brushing hair/tending to each other as quiet acts of devotion or service. Esp if one can't do it themselves because of injury etc, but also just because maybe they're exhausted or had a bad day, and having someone take care of you is deeply soothing.

- Having or making cosy/habitable spaces esp in post-apoca settings or settings of scarcity: no stable home, or in the middle of a ruin etc)

( Sex Likes )

DNWs
- Fatphobia, specifically. Show any/all larger characters the love and respect and joy in their own skin that they deserve as people, pls. I'm okay with a little homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, sexism etc, should the muse take you that way, as long as it's refuted/scoffed at by the characters it's directed at.

- Prefer no pet/familiar death (killing animals for food is fine).

- About the only hard limit I've got aside from fatphobia is characters getting their hopes up and then getting those hopes dashed (basically, if you could describe a character as 'crestfallen' I'm going to be unable to keep reading, unless I know it turns out all okay in the end, or that the character gets to process it properly. Yeah, I don't know why, either. I think it's a weird mutation of an embarrassment squick).

( Fandoms! )

Okay, I think it's Done. These are all... Guidelines *Pirates of the Caribbean voice*. If you want to write (or art) A Thing for this pairing/relationship combo, go for it. Feel very free to hit up the mods if you have any questions or want to check something. Good luck! :D


General loves: I've got a lightly rotating list from yuletide that you can check out via the tags. For a challenge like this, where the emphasis is a little more on 'short and sweet', I'm very here for, say, a sex/afterglow scene that showcases the characters, or something else utterly mundane to hang a vignette from (making a meal, sharpening a weapon, making something). I love Actual Drabbles (100 words! I will die on this hill! etc), 5 things (or as-many-or-as-few-as-you-like things) fics, basically you do not have to do a plot here, ever. Unless you want to. Feel free to grab a concept from another fandom/prompt here and apply it to whatever we matched on, too.

Things I love in my sex scenes: laughter and affections; consensual and enthusiastic: power play, pain play, boundary play; worship and adoration.

ART: I flounder still some about what makes a useful art prompt for the Original Works area. I love vibrant colours, digital art, watercolours, um. Things I like to see! Characters being happy and content together, or excited/pleased about [a thing]. I love detailed backgrounds, but ha, that seems like a mean thing when the fic expectations start as low as 300, so don't fret about that.

DNWs: Hmm, Character death (unless it's UnDeadwood or otherwise canonical), excessive violence, characters getting their hopes up and then getting those hopes dashed (basically, if you could describe a character as 'crestfallen' I'm going to be unable to keep reading, unless I know it turns out all okay in the end, or that the character gets to process it properly. Yeah, I don't know why, either. I think it's a weird mutation of an embarrassment squick).

( The last of us )

( Original works )

( His Dark Materials (TV Series) )

( UnDeadwood (Web Series) )

Usual preamble here: if you've got an idea for Fandom that you want to write, go for it (try dodging my dislikes, maybe, but other that, go for it). Ideas, if you want them, under the cuts. I'm delighted by gen, slash, femslash. I love characters being casually bi/having had relationships with both/(many?) genders. I'm good with explicit sex, but love non-sexual intimacy moments even more. (See below)

( Likes )

If you're panicking about producing a fic where people have to Do Stuff, and there should probably be Plot and a Story Arc, and Character Development, and Characters Learning Shit! You totally don't have to. I'm all for 1,001 words of lazy Sunday afternoon; a bunch of vignettes or drabbles; a slice-of-life; a five-times fic; a missing scene or chapter, etc etc... I mean, if you've been bitten by a bunny that is all about the Plotty Character Development then shit yeah, run with it and be joyous. But it's not required.

( Dislikes )

On to the fandoms! ETA a note here that my write ups are noticeably Lions of Al-Rassan heavy bc I'm re reading it right now so it's freshest, but all my requests are here because they're beloved wants.

( The Juniper Game )

( The Lions of Al-Rassan )

( Know your name )

( Princess Bride )

Anyway, have fun, try not to stress too much (pot, kettle, etc, but still!). My yuletide tag has all my past letters, if that helps somehow, I'm also on tumblr under this username. Feel free to hit up the mods with any questions. Good luck!

Ante-up Creator! Hi!

How you doing? I'm seriously excited it's that time of year again -- Losers things! I hope you're stoked, and not freaking out too badly. Hopefully you're going to look at my letter and go 'yaaay! I can do that!' If you don't... can I offer you reassuring hugs, and 'you're making something, just for me! So much love! <3.'?

Okay! This is a compilation of general notes from my Losers letter last year, and my Yuletide letter/s. You can also check out my 'dear writer' tag for the original letters.

( General things! )

( More specific things! )

( Things I'd rather/rather not have )
If you'd like to double-check something or want more specific details, I imagine you can contact kate or lady_krysis and they'd pass on a message?

Best of luck! Have fun! <3