yuletide

[stag]

thank you so much in advance for writing something for me, i’m so excited to read whatever you come up with!

it's been forever since i've done any sort of exchange so this letter is probably (definitely) a mess, bear with me. please feel free to ignore the prompts if nothing inspires you or if you already have an idea you'd love to write. i am so easy to please and will love absolutely anything you choose to write ♥

also i realize it might be intimidating or nerve wracking to see so many prompts for the first two fandoms compared to the latter two and i apologize. please please please don't take the order or relative length of each fandom section as any indicator as to what i more. (i blame that new fandom excitement!) i chose all four fandoms because i love them and would be thrilled to read a fic about any of them.



where to find me: i'm stag on DW, stag on AO3, and cesthiro on tumblr.



the basics
General likes: found families, friendships (esp slow burn friendships), platonic intimacy, casual intimacy, touch-starved characters + affectionately tactile characters, slow burn romance, pining, sexual tension, cynical idealists, loyalty and betrayal themes, complicated motivations and relationships, unreliable narrators, trauma narratives, characters fighting to retain/reclaim agency, moral ambiguity, conflicting moral compasses, glimpses into events or perspectives not provided by canon, canon divergence, character studies, world building, backstory, queer themes, polyamory and poly negotiations, pre-relationships and shippy gen, bittersweet stories, hopeful open endings, futurefic, reunions, porn with feelings, porn with plot, character study through porn, body horror, cosmic horror, liminal spaces, parallels, symbolism, nonlinear story-telling, missing scenes

fave tropes: found family, enemies to friends to lovers, seemingly unrequited pining, fake dating, sharing a bed, body sharing, telepathy/empathic bond, accidental feelings, spontaneous realisations/declarations of love, fakeout makeout, antagonistic friendships & rivalries & frenemies, rivals with benefits, mentor/mentee relationships (platonic or shippy), kings and lionhearts, magic incorporated in a mundane universe (urban fantasy/magical realism), fae au, werewolves au (less abo dynamics more happy domestic family pack dynamics), non-traditional alpha/beta/omega dynamics, heist au, identity porn, competence porn, casefic, hurt/comfort

general dislikes: misunderstandings based on an unwillingness to communicate, infidelity, amnesia, mind control, sexual possessiveness or jealousy as a kink, lifestyle D/s, explicit graphic depictions of rape/sexual violence (mentions, implications, and background are fine especially in survival/recovery scenarios or the character can be scared or aware of the possibility of rape/sexual assault), slavefic, deathfic, gender swap, pregnancy of any kind, forced institutionalization, high school/barista/reincarnation au, wingfic, child or animal harm, no warnings for self-harm or suicide, issuefic, character bashing, love triangles, romance being treated as superior to friendship, romance (or sex) being a fix-all, fluff without plot, group chat fics


(smut likes/dislikes are HERE // yuleporn comment here)
(crueltide likes/dislikes are HERE // crueltide comment here)



requests


The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Maia Drazhar, Csethiro Ceredin, Vedero Drazhin, Deret Beshelar

so this book had been on my to-read for almost two years and a couple weeks ago i finally finally picked it up and ending up devouring the whole thing in a few days. this is definitely one of those books that will stay with me forever.

the hardest part of sign ups was narrowing down which goblin emperor characters i wanted to request. so feel free to ignore prompts with characters not requested (basically the whole first prompt lmao). however, if you want to include any of the novel's other characters in your story, feel free!

some general things i would love to read about for this fandom:
nice things happening to maia, found family (building the family you’ve always needed/wanted), friendships (especially between female characters), friendship to lovers, hurt/comfort emphasis on the comfort, dealing with past trauma, caretaking, emotional intimacy, emotions expressed with the ears, formality and restraint, power differences/imbalance, loyalty and duty, court dress and manners, world building/culture building

and now, some prompts/suggestions

maia making a home and filling it with family and friends. i will devour literally anything about maia reconnecting with various family members; indra and his little sisters, vedero, his grandfather the great avar and his daughters (maia’s aunts). maia finally meeting his lesbian (or genderfluid?) pirate aunt shaleän and her wife.

maia learning about and reconnecting with goblin culture. maia and his horse, velvet. maia as a father, uncle, grandfather. maia’s legacy as emperor.

maia coming to terms with and dealing with past trauma. his dark & complicated feelings regarding the treatment of his mother and the abuse he endured, his fears and anxieties, the coping mechanisms he’s learned and unlearned. maia, now an emperor the age of 18, growing up and being once again loved, feeling safe, having a support system.

while maia is my fave character, i was pleasantly surprised at how much i fell in love with csethiro. i would love a csethiro fic! tell me everything. when did she fall in love with swords and dueling? tell me about her years at court, her ambitious, her "scholarly bent". her perspective on being chosen as maia’s intended empress, how her feelings towards him changed through the course of the book, how she felt watching the the assassination attempt, anything. csethiro’s thoughts/relationship with the nohecharei, especially beshelar. what is her legacy as empress?

i really liked what we saw of maia/csethiro and would love to read about their relationship. the pomp and ceremony of their royal wedding and the wedding night that followed (awkward first time + knowing the nohecharei are near). the respect they have for each other and their budding friendship slow building into romance. when do they realize they’ve fallen in love with each other? five things csethiro has taught maia, and one thing he's taught her. the first time maia watched csethiro practice swordplay and being suddenly overcome with how skilled/powerful/attractive she is.

my other maia ship is with beshelar, so i will happily read anything about the two of them (shippy or platonic). when does beshelar’s duties as nohecharei turn into something more caregiving and intimate? tell me how they struggle between duty and formality and their changing relationship. give me some of that good pride & prejudice hand touching.

vedero drazhin and her stars! how did she discover her passion for astronomy (and acadamia)? was she self taught, spending secret nights pouring over books and papers, or did she find a mentor? when did she start wearing pants? when did she start her salons and how did she find her like minded friends and peers? (maybe a 5 times fic about memorable salons?) what was her reaction when she received maia’s letter to study her stars? i am a total sucker for astronomy, especially astronomical lore relating to mythology, so i would love any worldbuilding for constellations and her thoughts about them.

literally anything with vedero/csethiro. their first meeting, the first time csethiro attended one of vedero's salons, the mutual pining. who started courting who? tell me about their courtship, was it unconventionally or by court standards? did they write each other letters? go dancing? stargazing? tell me about their first kiss.



Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Jesper Fahey, Kuwei Yul-Bo

guess who finished crooked kingdom during sign ups? yeah that's right, me. i knew before i even finished this book i was going to request this duology.

some general things i would love to read about for this fandom: complicated relationships, trauma narratives, slowburn hurt/comfort, emotional intimacy, requited and unrequited pining, pre-relationships and shippy gen, heists, reunions, futurefic, aus.

tell me about inej’s first few years with the dregs. tell me all the ways kaz brekker earned her trust. tell me about the time he and jesper taught her how to fight. her friendship with jesper, with nina, the first time she met either of them, her very first waffle date with nina. (if you want to slip some nina/inej into your story i will love and support u). tell me about her finally reuiniting with her parents after everything. give me inej coming into her own as a sea captain, the rumors and hushed whispers that make it back to ketterdam as she destroys slavers.

kaz/inej kaz/inej KAZ/INEJ. so many things i love wrapped up in one ship. give me emotional intimacy and the slowest burn hurt/comfort, how they're slowly working on overcoming/coming to terms with their traumas and issues. patience and trust and building up to deliberate touches. give me all the heated stares, the sexual tension as they slowly redefine their relationship. or a futurefic where inej and kaz reunite after a few years, how they’ve grown and changed, for better or worse. kaz meeting inej’s family.

i would love any and all kaz character studies. especially re: his trauma and disability. his coping mechanisms good and bad, how he's internalized them as weaknesses but also strength, how's he's grown and learned to live with them. tell me about the job he broke his leg. who was the fabrikator who made the crow's head for his cane? if darkfic is your thing, I am definitely open to reading about kaz becoming dirtyhands. the people he's killed, the lengths he's gone in the name of revenge and to make a name for himself in the barrel. (this does not necessarily have to be a crueltide fic, just a suggestion for something darker). also i really liked the conversations between kaz and inej about shadows & monsters and would love a exploration of those concepts. maybe a dark fairy tale or a different kind of magical realism take on it, on shadows and darkness and how characters reflect each other in different darker ways. anything about the wraith in inej and the monster in kaz, hunting and destroying those who've hurt them; "so be a monster. be the thing they all fear when they close their eyes at night."

jesper my bisexual disaster of a son whom i love! i want to read everything. tell me about his mom teaching him how to shoot. important moments he remembers growing up with his mom's zowa magic. what if his mother had lived and had continued to nurture and train his grisha powers? tell me about the decision to go to university; how did he feel leaving the farm? what was he going to study? did he have other aspirations? what's his life like post canon, with wylan? does he meet his mother's family or the girl she saved years ago?

anything exploring jesper and kaz’s relationship. jesper's unrequited crush, how desperately he wants kaz's approval and forgiveness. kaz and his complicated feelings towards jordie bleeding into his feelings towards jesper. how many times have they've gotten into fights instead of talking/dealing with their issues? does kaz ever tell jesper about jordie? when did jesper develop his crush on kaz? what if that crush wasn't unrequited? what of they had met earlier, before ketterdam, when they had been farmboys? kaz/jesper? kaz/jesper.

inej/kaz/jesper ??? as a polyship or a poly v

literally anything and everything about kuwei yul-bo! interactions that never happened in the books that you've always wanted to see. the beginnings of his crush on jesper, his loneliness and jealousy in crooked kingdom. five times he sketched jesper. give me a futurefic about his life in ravka, where he comes into his own and is given a chance to discover what he likes. or a reunion fic where he reunites with the crew years later. whispers also kuwei/jesper/wylan?? is something i'd totally be into?? again either as a polyship or poly v. maybe jesper and wylan do end up going to rakva to train with a fabrikator...

AUS! these characters lend themselves out to so many good ones, both mundane and ridiculous! space opera? high fantasy? dnd au? daemon au? wow yes. university au? here for it. inception au? pushing daisies au? drags hands down face pls.

oh, and quick disclaimer, as of the positing of this letter, i haven't read the Grisha trilogy (though it is on my to-read!).




The Penumbra Podcast
Juno Steel, Peter Nureyev, Cassandra Kanagawa, Cecil Kanagawa

literally my favorite podcast. anything you write for this fandom and these characters i will be so excited to read.

literally anything that deals in some way with juno's depression and self-hatred

what if juno had left mars with nureyev? where has nureyev been all this time?

JUNO/NUREYEV IDENTITY PORN. cases or heists, doesn't matter, give me all the aliases and the two of them undercover. have fun and trope it up! fake marrieds, fakeout makeouts, ridiculous and very public courtship or proposals, fake break ups, fake exes, etc.

honestly there are so many tropes i'd love to read for juno/nureyev. give me hurt/comfort. give me accidental soul bonding. give me spontaneous declarations of love. give me all your favorite tropes.

how did juno meet the kanagawas? how did juno get involved in the mess with cecil and the triad? considering how croesus feels about juno, how did juno really join the family? how did juno get cassandra off of mars? what does being friends with the kanagawa twins entail? what if juno grew up with twins rather than sasha & mick? au where juno featured on a kanagawa show and became an accidental martian reality star. highlights of the growing up kanagawa reality show that definitely happened while the twins were growing up. cecil and makeup and disguising himself as cassandra. give me sibling rivalry kanagawa style, with juno in the middle of it.

note this section is subject to change depending on the mid season finale lol (so yeah i will probably end up adding more prompts regardless, so definitely check back here in a couple of days)



The Wicked + The Divine
Baal, Inanna

honestly i wasn't expecting baal to become The Fave but here we all. I would love to read his early months as a god; what was it like being the first of this pantheron to emerge? what are his relationships like with various members of the pantheon, before canon and now? especially minerva. i love this tiny little found family. even as baal, valentine is an older brother. that part in volume 5 (issue 27), minerva marking their death days in the pantheon calendar. also that one panel with the strong batman and robin vibes. the training to defeat the darkness in issue 29.

tell me about innana. who was zahid? when did he become a fan of the pantheon? did he ever see any of baal's performances? what if he had befriended laura at Ragnarock 2013? tell me about his relationships with various pantheon members (esp lucifer and baphomet). tell me about his mean streak. i would love a character study of both zahid and inanna, of one letting go of all the fear that was holding him back and how other was still figuring stuff out.

BAAL/INANNA. how i wish we had gotten to see more of this relationship. please, tell me everything. the beginning, the fallout, the reconciliation we never got. how they would have finally told each other they loved each other. "i took him into the underworld. i took him everywhere." tell me about baal's tattoo of inanna's symbol.

speaking of the canon divergence where inanna doesn't die, tell me about inanna & persephone. platonic or shippy i would love to read about inanna & baal & persephone. what would inanna have choosen during the pantheon vote?




ok so in summary: please don't feel obligated to write any of my suggestions if you're not inspired. all of my requests are more of an "OR" than an "AND", so feel free to include as many or as few requested characters as you want. and if you want to include any other characters not requested in your story, go for it!

no matter what, please don't stress out about writing for me. i will love whatever you give me, so write what makes you happy, and i can guarantee that i'll be happy in return.

(and so many apologies for the how long it took me to complete my letter)

thanks and happy yuletide ♥

- ari