Dear Yuletide Letter 2023

[croik]

AO3 Username: Croik
Fandoms:

Malevolent (podcast)
The Last Case of Benedict Fox (video game)
Darkest Dungeon  (video games)
Arkham Horror (card/board games)
A Voice from Darkness (podcast)
Blasphemous (video game)

Hi writer, and thank you for being my Santa! I've been doing Yuletide for years and years now, I love my small fandoms and I'm stoked to get something for any of them. I'm going to leave some details and prompts below if you need them, but to be honest I'm just as happy being surprised. Please feel free to use whatever inspires you, and have some fun with it.

General

In general I like fics that are on the serious side. I like characters that are conflicted, romances that have to be worked for, settings that are scary or mysterious. Sadfics that range anywhere from bittersweet to soul-crushing are welcome. Action, adventure, thriller, horror, dark comedy, all good. Porn is also awesome. I love plot-oriented fics and casefic, but I'm just as happy with characters talking/fighting with each other as they try to work out their relationships, or exploring different aspects of canon. It doesn't have to be dark, I just prefer some sense of drama to fluff.

I'm cool with a rating level anywhere from general to explicit, in terms of violence or sex. I'm open to drabble collections, IF, and treats.

Things I like
Here are some specific tropes I'm into in case you want to work them in:



-First times. Not just in reference to sex, but characters having revelations, doing things they've never done before, exploring sides of themselves they didn't want to admit, things of that nature. And yes first time sex, too, whether it's with a specific person or ever.

-Whump and hurt/comfort in all forms, I enjoy characters being pushed to their physical limits, injured, needing to be held or helped up by each other, especially if danger is still present. Wounded characters getting tended to, comforted after a nightmare. Or characters left alone to tend to themselves.

-Shipfic, though I also like gen. I like threesomes and more. I have a section for porn below, but having it or not isn't a deal breaker for me. In general I like intense relationships with a physical component, so even if it doesn't get to a romantic or porny level, characters touching, lifting each other up, close-quarters fighting, at each other's throats, all that is fantastic.

Things I Do Not Want

-Watersports/scat

-Alternate Universe. I am very invested in these canon settings and am not interested in taking the characters anywhere else, particularly mundane settings. Canon-divergence and What If stories that keep the setting mostly intact are cool, though. Crossovers and fusions between my requested canons are also cool.

-2nd person POV or reader-insert.

-Omegaverse: I'm open to bizarre pregnancies, "drugs/hormones/magic made me do it," xeno and bestiality--a lot of the things that Omegaverse has, actually--but I'm not interested in Omegaverse-specific world-building and gender configurations.

-In Malevolent: Kayne or Collins

Porn

I am always happy to receive porn! I especially like complicated situations and when desire overrides inhibition. Here're some of my porn-specific likes:

-Solo, pairings, threesomes or more
-Dub-con and Non-con
-Breathplay
-Sex while still mostly or partially clothed
-Voyeurism
-Hand kink, body worship
-Tentacles and oviposition
-Xeno/demons/Eldritch abominations
-Bondage
-Mind control
-Anonymous sex, like one character blindfolded or in a mask, glory holes etc
-Aphrodisiacs and sex pollen
-Transforming during or via sex
-In video game canons, upgrade mechanics treated as aphrodisiacs/euphoric

Characters getting off on things they didn't think they would ever get off on is SUPER awesome.

Malevolent (Podcast)
Yellow

Listen to the podcast on Spotify (about 35 hours, still going)  
Fandom specific DNW: Kayne or Collins

I'm a patron so I'm totally caught up and interested in a story told at any point in the canon, or canon divergence. Feel free to use or disregard any story beats that show up during the writing period.

I'm in such a Yellow mood, I find him just fascinating and his story is the plot thread I'm most fixated on in Malev. There's so much tragedy there! You can see in his interactions with Arthur that there could have been a chance for them, if things had been different - if either of them had been better prepared, if circumstances hadn't been so dire. I love his temper so reminiscent of early show John, I love that he still retains John's (and possibly the King's?) appreciation for music and poetry and dance (such as it was in Addison, lol). Whether he likes it or not, by his perception Arthur yanked him from the Dark World, and their short time together was a formative experience for him. I'd so love to see more of him explored, either during his time in Arthur's eyes, him in Larson, or sometime later if he, John, or both get bodies of their own.

He's so ripe with possibility. How much is he like John still? Can he gain the humanity John did? Or does he enjoy villainy? Feel free to have him pick a new name for himself if you want too.

Prompts:

-Yellow adjusting to life in Larson's body. Does he have any control? What does he think of his new host? Does he feel like he's gained an upgrade, or does he come to despise Larson too? Maybe Larson holds a meeting of the cult and Yellow gets a taste of what it's like to be a leader, to be respected, be waited on. Maybe even gets to be part of a cult orgy? Or maybe he consumes Larson from the inside and takes his place. Maybe Yellow consumes Larson DURING a cult orgy (the cultists worshiping what they perceive to be power inside of Larson, which makes Yellow strong enough to take control?)

-Arthur and John are caught and dragged before The Order, except Yellow has already taken Larson's body and is the one calling the shots. Does he have to pretend to still be Larson? Does he delight in torturing Arthur, or does he have a change of heart and defy the Order to help them? Maybe from one to the other?

-Yellow gets his own body (Larson's, a magical one, sky's the limit). How does he cope with being mortal? Does he start to enjoy it? Does he reject Arthur to make a life for himself on earth? Maybe he gets a monster body and hunts Arthur down. Feel free to give him whatever anatomy.

-Yellow makes it back to the King in Yellow somehow. Is the King able to absorb him, is it ecstasy or terrifying? If the King can't absorb him outright, do they live in the Dreamlands together somehow? Does the King kinda like having a more agreeable shard of himself hanging around? If they fuck, is it masturbation? If Yellow can't cut it on earth, maybe he can make a home for himself in Carcosa.

-Porn. Arthur jerking off at the Red Right Hand with Yellow watching, or Yellow watching Arthur get gang'd by the inn patrons. Maybe some scenario where John and Yellow each have one of Arthur's eyes and they both watch. Maybe one or both get new bodies, so Arthur and John can double team Yellow and teach him what humanity is really about! (multiple orgasms). Would love a messy relationship between the three where sometimes Yellow leans on John because he and Arthur have a rough history and they resent each other sometimes, but sometimes Yellow leans on Arthur because he and John are too much the same and that's hard to cope with too.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Benedict Fox, The Companion

Oh hey if you like Malevolent you might like this game!
Watch a full game walkthrough (4 hours)

This was a fun indie game! It went to some darker places than I was expecting while delivering a great dose of bodyshare loyalty. I really enjoyed the back and forth between Ben and the Companion, the concern and affection they have for each other, the cooperation between them that seems to come naturally. I'm looking for anything that explores their relationship a little deeper, and please feel free to include other characters from the game.

Toward the end of the game, they do refer to each other as "brother". Feel free to lean into or away from that how you prefer. I shipped them before that and still after; I'm cool with incest vibes for these two if you want to go that way, or say the Companion used "brother" because they didn't understand how else to describe their feelings yet but it's more than that, or stay purely familial, anything works for me.

I also ship Ben with Tomas and Harry, however you want to handle The Companion   with regards to Ben's relationships with other people is fine by me (maybe they have an agreement where the Companion just pretends not to be around when Ben is being intimate with someone, maybe they are fully on board and we can get some tentacles involved - maybe they're jealous?). I'm seriously open to whatever, even full Gen if you want to avoid all that.

Prompts:

-How they met! It's implied that Benedict first found out about the Companion when his mask broke during some kind of training. Must have been frightening! I'd love to see their first tentative or panicked moments of realizing they're bound, maybe even a Superhero montage of Benedict learning what they're capable of together.

-One of my favorite things in the game is the level up tattoo mechanic (gives me very strong Evil Within Upgrade Chair vibes that I SUPER appreciate). That semi-masochistic mix of obviously this process causing intense pain for Benedict, but how does the Companion experience it? They're bonding more fully - is the Companion totally into it? Benedict expresses that he feels more powerful afterward and he keeps coming back for more, so it can't be ALL bad. If some pain/pleasure horniness comes out of it that would be SO cool.

-Casefic! If this is the "last" case of Benedict Fox, there are ones that came before, right? What other kinds of adventures might they have gone on?

-Something with Harry. We know they've worked together for a while, and that Benedict has a close relationship with him (The Companion suggests Harry knows him better than he knows himself). How do the three of them fit? What other kinds of things has Harry procured for them? The Companion can sense memories from the things it touches - what if Harry gave them something specifically to provoke a reaction?

-Something with Tomas. Benedict deserves to have daddy issues that manifest as infatuation with older men, okay! Maybe Benedict tries to coerce some information out of him that Tomas takes the wrong (sexy) way, and he gets in over his head. Does the Companion try to help him out of it, or are they intrigued and encourage him play it out?

-Post-game. What does it mean?? What happened next??

-Old fashioned tentacle sex.

-Crossover with Malevolent? I'm not sure if you can only go into someone's memory/dream if they're dead, but Benedict exploring Arthur's subconscious would be in for a WILD ride.

Darkest Dungeon
The Protégé, The Academic

Watch a breakdown of the second game's plot: Squatch Gaming (35 min)

I absolutely loved Darkest Dungeon, and the sequel may be very different but I was really drawn in to the meta plot more so than than that of the Ancestor/Heir. The gloomy atmosphere, the way the characters trudge on through horror after horror in spite of it. I'm so in love with the aesthetic and would love anything that reaches toward that tone.

The plot of the second is a little less straight forward than the first. There's so much about it that is surreal and dreamlike, with characters' memories and motivations just as powerful as the monsters they're fighting. I love the struggle, the metaphor of having to defeat monsters born from your own fears and regrets, and the courage the characters take to confront them.

So I'm asking for the Protégé and the Academic. Feel free to give them names. We only know so much about them, which is why I'd love to read some fic fleshing them out. I don't have any particular headcanons myself, so feel free to invent your own take on them and their relationship.

Prompts:

-The pair meeting and studying together for the first time. Even if things turned sour later, they were good friends at one point, plying open the secrets of the universe together. I'd love to see some of that passion for discovery between the pair of them, that sweet Dark Academia vibe. Maybe even fooling around amidst the books? Comforting each other after horrible revelations?

-That moment the Academic realized it was Too Much. How did their relationship deteriorate? Was there something in the Protégé's backstory that drove him deeper into the madness, into wanting to continue the work? Did he and the Academic fight over it? Would love to see their relationship unravel just as much as coming together in the first place. Maybe even some kind of physical fight between them.

-Their time with the Ancestor. The intrigue turning to anxiety to terror. What kind of messed up shit did they encounter there? Any cool necromancers and wizards they got to meet? Sexy fancy parties they attended, completely out of their league? Eldritchian tentacle orgies? Or maybe they just had some nasty run-ins with pig monsters before the end.

-The moment the Protégé took his crown and doomed his mentor and the world.

-The redemption! Feel free to count the Protégé's mental recreation of the Academic as fulfilling the character requirement. Is it really the Academic's soul come to kick down his door and get him absolved, or is it some phantom of his own creation? Is the Protégé in the cart with the heroes, talking to "himself" as they make their way to each of the mountains? What happens after the Body of Work is defeated?

Feel free to include the heroes if you're doing a game timeline set story, particularly Alhazred. I feel like he of all of them can appreciate what the Protégé was willing to sacrifice for the sake of knowledge and power.

Arkham Horror
Calvin Wright, João

Literally the only canon for Calvin is his player card!

Okay, so, we don't know a whole lot about these two. Much at all, even. Even so, the little we get tells us that they loved each other deeply, that Calvin placed João's safety and happiness above his own, that he just might do anything for him. I love the 1920s Eldritch setting and am looking for any take on these characters.

-How did they meet? If João is a Portuguese name, was he an immigrant to Arkham, or did Calvin maybe meet him in Brazil maybe? Were they young--how long were they together? Was Calvin already embroiled in the supernatural at that point? Was it an interest they shared, or something he shielded João from? Or maybe it was João who was interested and got Calvin involved?

-Would love to see them case-ficcing together against the abominations from beyond the veil! Solving mysteries, killing monsters. Calvin seems to think that João needs protecting, but I'd love to see João surprise him.

-The last time they made love before Calvin left ;_;

-"I have to leave you for your own good" is out - "You're taking me with you whether you want it or not!" is in! João tracks Calvin down, or else Calvin never left him from the start. Is João able to support Calvin as he resists the pull of the darkness inside him? Do they somehow share it? How do they navigate their relationship while constantly at threat from being possessed by evil?

-What if Calvin LOSES to the darkness in him? Does João have to go on a quest to get him back? Fight off the darkness with some ritual or spell? Does he get sexily menaced by Dark!Calvin in the meantime??

-I like the idea of "the darkness" having some kind of personification, if you're into that. Maybe it's a specific entity, demon, elder god, etc. If Calvin has weird dark magic powers that's also aces. Feel free to go nuts!

If you are familiar with what I've already written about Calvin, feel free to use or ignore at your leisure (seriously, I'm all for you incorporating Tenebrosum if you're into it, but I'm just as happy with you doing your own thing).

If you want to use any other Arkham/Eldritch horror investigators, please go on ahead. Or crossover with Malevolent/Benedict Fox.

A Voice from Darkness
Julian Holloway | The Traveling Salesman, The Stranger

Listen to the podcast on Spotify
Script of the story of The Stranger ep

I must admit I was a little crushed to learn that the creator isn't going to finish this podcast, BUT that sure means we can do whatever with fic now!!

Love the world surrounding AFfD. It makes me so curious to think how the characters must have grown up, basically knowing that supernatural stuff is completely real and has had violent effects on the world. I'm asking for Julian, and I'm very interested to see him at whatever point on his way to becoming the creature he is. We only get a few hints from canon, but it sounds like he pranked his friends so hard he decided he'd rather become a super villain than deal with the fallout. He was gifted, curious, brave enough to seek out things other people flee from - and now, a monster. I'm very interested in his fall from grace.

I also requested the Stranger, who only appears in the patron ep. This creature we know even less about, but based on the context of the show, I think we can draw the conclusion that he is connected to Farboshia just as much as the suited men. He's wearing very specifically a "pallid mask" after all, and his title of The Stranger begs a connection The King in Yellow. How far you want to take that is up to you, but I'd love to see Julian come face to face with this masked figure, learn something about it and Farboshia, the nature of the suited men, etc.

Prompts:

-How did Julian gain his powers? We assume he followed the path of Marcus, met Dormin, lost his finger. But what if it was weirder than that? Did he encounter different creatures in the forest, did he lose his finger to a different color suit-man? Was he dragged before the King of Farboshia himself?

-Did The Stranger come to him at some point before Julian sought his powers? In a dream maybe? In an elevator? Was it Julian's idea to go searching for Marcus' journal or was he recruited? Maybe The Stranger offered him otherworldly powers and pleasures and that set him on his path, or gave him his gifts into the supernatural in the first place.

-Once Julian becomes the Salesman he thinks he can pull one over on his string-pullers, claim something just for himself. Maybe he tries to pull off some scheme to further his own ends and gets caught, or ratted out, and he has to answer to The Stranger. Maybe he gets slapped with some kind of otherworldly punishment. Maybe Gilman Halifax himself shows up to strip him of his powers.

-If you'd like to include Malcolm, maybe Malcolm gets through to Julian and tries to win him back to the side of good. It's up to Julian to break free from The Stranger without getting himself and Malcolm killed (shippy or otherwise?).

Feel free to include Malcolm, Gilman, or Julian's other friends/his sister in any of these scenarios.

Blasphemous
Any

Walkthroughs: Game One (6 hours), Game Two (9 hours)
Or you could just watch this 5 min compilation of Nacimiento

Just for clarity that's any amongst the nominated Penitent One, Besamanos, and Nacimiento.

Not gonna lie, if you offered these amazing and disturbing games I'm hoping it's because you're ready for some weird shit! I just love the aesthetic of these games so much, there's little out there that goes this hard while also being this beautiful and haunting. I love how the reality of their world is heightened to a fever pitch and everything is so intense, and painful, and ecstatic, and elegant, and disgusting. All the ritualistic formality of Catholicism and bloody, nasty hypocrisy beneath it. Delicious!

Looking for anything that fits the tone of the games or more so. Weird transformations, apotheosis, gnarly curses, body horror. Bizarre worship, characters forging alliances despite the chaos, clinging to hope and each other for comfort in a doomed world, etc. The games don't get into sexy weirdness outside nudity but I'm here for that too.

Prompts:

-More adventures with our Penitent One. What kind of other strange things did he encounter that didn't make it into the game? Victims and saints and just regular people trying to survive? Invent a boss for him to kill. Or maybe he does manage to connect with someone else along the way, finds a few moments of quiet and comfort.

-Nacimiento! This is my favorite NPC. Would love to see more of him, and particularly the Penitent One interacting with him at any point along his, ah, Journey. Maybe they got to meet before the whole "man crawling out of my chest" thing. Maybe the Penitent One tries to kill the thing that's killing Nacimiento, and it either goes much better or much worse for him. Maybe he miraculously survives the old man leaving his body? He just has a very fashionable large hole in him that TPO can crawl up into and take a nap?? Or maybe the old man IS still him, and he's trapped in a new cycle of rebirth, crawling out of his own body again and again.

And maybe you've guessed by now, but if you want to make this sexy, in whatever way you can imagine, I'm here for it. Maybe TPO tries to pull the man out faster, or in a moment of desperation tries to push him back in? How might that feel for Nacimiento?

-Besamanos! Loved this funky dude in game 2. How can you meet a giant hand demanding kisses and not think Hand Job, seriously. Let TPO give him kisses. Let him get something in return. Or maybe TPO finds his hidden room and releases the other hands - maybe they gang up on Besamanos, give him a taste of his own medicine. Maybe if he wasn't always a hand, what was he like before? Maybe TPO recognizes his voice but can't say so? Or maybe he does find a way to indicate he does, and Besamanos buys his silence.

I'm a big fan of video game upgrade mechanics appearing in fics, so maybe when Besamanos increases your fervor, it comes with some kind of physical euphoria for the Penitent one.

And that's it! Thanks again for being my writer <3 I hope some of these prompts help and/or inspire you. Have fun and happy Yuletiding!