Hurt/Comfort Exchange Letter
Dear Hurt/Comfort Exchange writer,
Thank you for writing for me and having a look at this letter. I've got some general likes and dislikes listed - those are the important parts, really. They're followed by a list of kinks I like, should you feel inclined to write porn and some hurt/comfort-specific preferences. The fandom sections have a general note on my ships and then the tropes I've requested - I've added an explanation when I thought I should specify what I had in mind, but most freeforms are pretty unambiguous imo. This letter is mostly focused on the freeforms I requested, but I've requested most of these fandoms in previous exchanges, just in case you want some more general prompts/ideas, too.
As a general rule, I enjoy all ratings; I like darker, angstier fic and more light-hearted stories, although neither completely conflictless fluff nor completely bleak darkfic without a ray of hope are quite my thing. I'm always happy about porn, but it's not a must. I like shorter fics and plotty longfic. The fandoms are listed alphabetically, and the length/number of requested tags doesn't mean I want some fandoms more than others, just that I had more ideas for some.
I use the same name on AO3 and tumblr as here.
Do Not Wants:
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Things I like to read about:
Kinks I like to read about:
I like hurt/comfort for injuries (battle- or torture-related, just please no serious eye/hand injuries; painful and dangerous injuries are fine but I'd like them to heal again and not leave any permanent damage beyond scars or things like "my knee aches sometimes when it's cold"), exhaustion (especially stubborn, determined characters with a job to do pushing themselves to the brink of physical collapse), mental/psychological trauma (war-related, torture or rape, guilt over not managing to save somebody or similar, losing someone they care about ...) and other kinds angst (internalised homophobia, shame about their desires or any other weaknesses they think they have, failures etc.). I don't like sickfic, whether it's serious illnesses or just a cold.
In general, I'm a huge fan of stoic badasses continuing to be badass even after they were hurt, pushing themselves harder and being bad at accepting comfort. Depending on personality, I like them dealing with their pain with a stiff upper lip, simple denial because they're totally fiiiine, humour, whatever fits. I like self-sacrifice and accepting pain or guilt so somebody else doesn't have to. I like it when both characters are badass in their own way and trying to support and help each other in whatever ways the other one might be able to accept.
Some freeforms from the tag set I loved - while I didn't specifically request these, feel free to sprinkle them all over anything you write for any fandom:
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Alexios/Brasidas (either or both hurt)
I mostly have protagonist!Alexios in mind for this. I love his sense of humour, I love how cheerful and arrogant he is at times, I love that he likes to help people but will still tell them they're ridiculous dicks afterwards. I played him as fairly pro-Sparta and genuinely wanting to return home, which I think goes rather well with this ship anyway. I love his banter and his immediate connection with Brasidas (that warehouse fight! *heart eyes*), I love how much they just get each other and trust each other - even though Alexios really has reason enough to mistrust just about anyone he runs into. And since it's absolutely tragic the game didn't let us romance Brasidas, that's clearly what fic is for. :D As for Brasidas, I love how smart and cunning he is, how he thinks outside the box while still being a ruthless fighter when the situation calls for it, and how much he genuinely and openly cares about people who are important to him.
I'm up for setting this at any point during the game - around their first meetings in Korinth, when Alexios is in Sparta, or when they're working together later on - or post-game in a verse in which Brasidas didn't die. Because I'm in denial about that and damn historical accuracy. ;)
While I usually DNW unrequested ships, I'm fine with mentions of 1) Alexios's male canon hookups, 2) Brasidas being married (or widowed) because it's just unlikely that he wouldn't be, although I'd see that more as a practical arrangement than a marriage of love, 3) any erastes/eromenos-style relationships Brasidas might have been in, whether it's him currently having someone under his wing or still being good friends with the guy who, er, "mentored" him years ago. However, I wouldn't want any of those relationships to be more meaningful to them than each other, if that makes sense.
Requested tropes:
Deus Ex
Adam Jensen/Jim Miller (either or both hurt)
Note: I've played Human Revolution and Mankind Divided and I've read Black Light. I don't mind spoilers for any of the other games or comics or whatever else there is, but I'd prefer not to get a fic that requires me to be familiar with those parts of canon.
Adam's injuries prior to getting his augs are obviously exempt from my "no permanent injuries" DNW. However, I don't want anyone else to get their limbs ripped off or the like, and I don't want Adam's augs to get permanently disabled or destroyed.
I love Adam so much: that he's a genuinely good guy who wants to help people, that he's snarky and cheeky and irreverent, that (at least post-augs) he's pretty withdrawn and emotionally unavailable and has all these walls built around himself (and I really want someone to get past them). I like angst and suffering and Adam is a well of suffering, and I enjoy it while simultaneously wanting nice things to happen to him (after lots of beautiful suffering). As for Miller, I love that he has a temper and is impatient and often isn't particularly nice, but underneath that gruffness he cares about doing the right thing and he cares about his men. I also adore Pritchard and ship both Adam/Pritchard and Adam/Pritchard/Miller, so if you feel like including him, go for it. I'd also be happy to see any other TF29 or SI characters appear in the story. I'd especially love to see Sarif and Miller meet.
Requested tropes:
Kraken - China Miéville
Dane Parnell/Billy Harrow (either or both hurt)
I love Dane and Billy's relationship: how quickly they start trusting each other, how well they work together despite being such different people, Dane teaching Billy about the world of magic and weird shit, saving each other's life, and of course the size kink is a bonus. I find the worldbuilding and the general weirdness of this book fascinating and would love more of that, and I'm also really interested in Dane's whole kraken faith. (I'm much less into body horror than Miéville is, though, so I'd appreciate fic that goes less hard on that. Feel free to break out the tentacles for porn, but I don't need detailed descriptions of people being turned into radios or having their teeth slammed into their throats.)
Unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of how the book ended. Mostly I'd like for 1) Dane to live, 2) Billy not to be Billy 2.0 after beaming, but just Billy, 3) people not to forget half the plot of the book because that's one of my least favourite tropes. Feel free to just handwave or ignore however that happens, though.
Requested tropes:
Mass Effect
Male Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Male Shepard/James Vega, Male Shepard/Garrus Vakarian/James Vega (hurt Shepard)
Because I'm very frustrated the games didn't let me romance the characters I wanted to romance most. I adore Shepard's relationship with both Garrus and James so much: that undying loyalty, will-follow-you-to-the-end-of-the-galaxy friendship he has with Garrus, and how much renegade Shepard enables Garrus's darker impulses and how much they just get each other; and that more complicated relationship with James, the fact that James massively hero-worshipped Shepard before meeting him, and then babysat him for six months when Shepard was at his lowest, and then in ME3 he really feels like one of the people who keep Shepard grounded, who are aware that he's human and that this war is taking a toll on him, that his hero is fallible.
I strongly prefer renegade Shepard (who is nicer to his companions/friends) - ruthless and efficient, the end justifies the means, snarky and intimidating, willing to do whatever needs to be done, no matter the cost to himself or to others. Should it come up, I really prefer him sabotaging the genophage cure for that reason because Shepard having to kill two of his friends to do what he thinks is right is such a horrifically great moment in the games. I picked the Spacer/Ruthless backgrounds and vanguard as his class, but I'm not fixated on that, if you want to use something else. Ending-wise, I think for fic a handwavey "the Crucible destroyed the Reapers without destroying the geth, and Shepard is alive" works best. I'd also be super interested in a variation of the Control ending, though, in which Shepard doesn't die while uploading part of himself into a God-AI, simply because the mindfuck of co-existing with an all-powerful AI version of yourself must be incredible. In general, I love stoic and/or angry suffering, so feel free to whump Shepard hard as long as there's a happy-ish ending. Honestly, I think all my requests are "please whump Shepard".
I'm very attached to his default looks and name, so please no custom Shepards. I love pretty much all the other companions and am happy to read about them. My other faves are Zaeed, Legion, Miranda, Jack, Cortez, Mordin, Javik, Joker, Grunt, Samara, Traynor.
Requested tropes:
Rivers of London
Thomas Nightingale/Peter Grant (hurt Nightingale)
Note: I should be up to date on the series by the time reveals happen (and if not, I don't care much about spoilers). However, I haven't read the comics and would prefer not to get fic that requires comic knowledge. I don't enjoy the Peter/Beverley and related baby developments, so please please let's just ignore that for the sake of this fic. And should you happen to write something plotty, I liked Nightingale and Peter solving magical crimes together better than the big police operations in the more recent books.
I really love the setting of these books, I'm incredibly fond of many of the characters, I'm crazy about Peter and Nightingale's relationship, and I really love Peter's narration style (the self-deprecation, the irony, the pop culture references, his love for London and for architecture). I love worldbuilding for this fandom, especially anything related to the history of the Folly (because I love the Folly a lot), and Peter's admiration (fanboy crush) for Nightingale. I like it when Peter and Nightingale are both being emotionally constipated and not very good at talking about their feelings and probably misunderstanding each other quite a bit (although I would like if they figured things out eventually and got a happy ending), and I'd love anything dealing with Nightingale's very probable PTSD and depression and loneliness (and how having Peter with him helps at least somewhat). For porn, I'm fond of the idea that Peter has maybe never acted much on his attraction to men until Nightingale happens to him. I also like Peter completely misjudging just how experienced/possibly kinky Nightingale might be (because he's so very Proper and Posh, but hey, he was a young man in the 20s, he's probably had a wild youth).
I also like many other characters in the books and wouldn't mind at all if they appeared in the fic, especially all the Met/Folly characters. I'm not a huge fan of the Rivers, so I'd prefer if they didn't appear. I firmly headcanon Nightingale as gay, so I'd rather not read about bi!Nightingale. I'm not super into the idea of Nightingale/Mellenby as a past ship, should that come up.
Requested tropes:
Vampyr
Jonathan Reid/Geoffrey McCullum (either or both hurt)
This ship has so many things I love! Antagonism and profound distrust and grudging respect and so much potential to work together reluctantly and grow closer ... I'm easy. :D I did a Not Even Once playthrough and ended up being incredibly frustrated by the game's morality system, where letting awful people go free or saving their life is apparently always the best choice, and I realised that I much prefer a version of Jonathan who's generally a good person and wants to help others, but who can also be rather ruthless and is very willing to get his hands dirty when he thinks someone deserves it. I love that he and Geoffrey are both stubborn people who tend to think they're always right, and I love how much they'll probably always butt heads even once they're closer.
I didn't enjoy the forced romance, so I'd prefer if we could pretend that Jonathan and Elisabeth were simply friends (and tbh thematically I prefer the ending in which she chooses to die to the one where he saves her with the power of love or somesuch). I'd prefer if Swansea didn't show up (unless it's before his possible in-game death, of course) because I have a hard time justifying turning him in-game. I also prefer Jonathan not turning Geoffrey in-game, simply because I find it more interesting if they have some time to get to know each other better while Geoffrey is still human, but I'm totally up for him turning Geoffrey later on.
Requested tropes:
And that's it! I hope you find something in all this that you enjoy writing, dear author, and I'm happy to answer any questions if you want clarification on anything. I'm very much looking forward to whatever you'll write for me, no matter the fandom we matched on!
Thanks!
linndechir
This entry was originally posted at https://linndechir.dreamwidth.org/70946.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Thank you for writing for me and having a look at this letter. I've got some general likes and dislikes listed - those are the important parts, really. They're followed by a list of kinks I like, should you feel inclined to write porn and some hurt/comfort-specific preferences. The fandom sections have a general note on my ships and then the tropes I've requested - I've added an explanation when I thought I should specify what I had in mind, but most freeforms are pretty unambiguous imo. This letter is mostly focused on the freeforms I requested, but I've requested most of these fandoms in previous exchanges, just in case you want some more general prompts/ideas, too.
As a general rule, I enjoy all ratings; I like darker, angstier fic and more light-hearted stories, although neither completely conflictless fluff nor completely bleak darkfic without a ray of hope are quite my thing. I'm always happy about porn, but it's not a must. I like shorter fics and plotty longfic. The fandoms are listed alphabetically, and the length/number of requested tags doesn't mean I want some fandoms more than others, just that I had more ideas for some.
I use the same name on AO3 and tumblr as here.
Do Not Wants:
- character death of characters I like (random side characters or antagonists dying is fine)
- serious illnesses, permanent injuries (blood and wounds that will heal again are fine), sickfic
- completely tragic/bleak endings
- animal death/cruelty
- genderbend of any kind, mpreg, A/B/O, characters being werewolves/vampires/anything than what they are in canon
- non-canon gender identities/sexual orientations (e.g. writing characters as trans or asexual), except for writing characters as gay or bi
- unrequested ships (including canon ships) *
- unrequested crossovers or fusions
- complete AUs (canon divergence is fine, but no high school AUs, coffee shop AUs, in space AUs, groundhog day AUs etc.)
- permanently unrequited love or permanent breakups for my ships (for a given value of love for the antagonistic ships)
- unnecessary epithets, please use characters' names/pronouns unless their name isn't known to the POV character (or unless the characters think of each other by e.g. their title rather than their name)
- 1st and 2nd person fic
- for porn: detailed kink negotiation, safewords for scenes that don't involve consent play (and even then I'm not really into safewords); scat, watersports, coming in pants, crossdressing, feminisation, body modification, infantilisation (daddy kink and calling characters "boy/girl" is fine); femdom, pegging
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Things I like to read about:
- first time/getting together: slow burn, pining, UST finally getting resolved, but also antagonistic hate sex or casual hookups that are only later followed by feelings (emotional pining while already having sex is great)
- friends with benefits who think the other one can't possibly be in love with them/want a serious relationship
- developing relationships: relationship conflicts after the characters got together, trying to figure out how to make things work, some things maybe not working at first, temporary breakups, basically anything that doesn't assume that first time sex -> perfect relationship
- porn, especially porn with feelings/porn that says something about their relationship (see list below for kinks I like)
- enemies to lovers, partners to lovers
- reluctant allies grudgingly starting to like each other
- non-verbal expressions of affection, unusual romantic gestures that fit the characters
- familiarity, intimacy, characters getting to know each other better (their habits, their hangups etc.)
- pre-canon/background stories, first meetings/first impressions (especially if we didn't see those in canon)
- post-canon fic
- canon divergence
- casefic
- moral dilemmas, characters having to question/go against their principles, situations in which there is no clear right or wrong
- loyalty, devotion, trust, but also trust/commitment issues
- obsessive, codependent, complicated relationships
- unhealthy relationships that should be a trainwreck, but work for the characters involved
- obsessive/intense family relationships
- us-against-the-world
- villains/sociopaths in love, bad guys who would literally burn down the rest of the world for each other
- jealousy, possessiveness
- age differences
- misunderstandings (as long as there's a good reason for them)
- competence, characters being smart and skilled and good at what they do; characters with different skill sets complementing each other
- hurt/comfort (after injuries/exhaustion, not so much with illness)
- angst: self-doubts, guilt, shame, internalised homophobia, nightmares, fears, self-destructive tendencies, alcohol abuse ...
- period-typical attitudes towards sex, sexuality, class, morality, religion etc. (I obviously don't expect 100% historical accuracy, but I like reading about characters from different societies having different values and principles from our own - this also applies to fictional societies)
- infidelity (not between my requested ships, but one half of my ship cheating on their previous partner with the other half of my ship)
- meaningful name uses (e.g. characters who always call each other by their last name or title switching to using first names)
- outside POVs, different POVs than in canon (more "usual" POVs are great, too)
- sleep-related themes: waking each other from nightmares, falling asleep on each other's shoulder etc.
- soulbonds (but no soulmates, please)
- undercover as enemies (undercover as a couple is fun, too, as long as it actually fits the setting/characters, like spies or cops)
- I like darker elements (violence, murder, noncon/dubcon, manipulation, depression, whatever fits your plot and isn't on my DNW list), but I'd prefer a happy or semi-happy ending. Feel free to make me bawl my eyes out, but please cheer me up again afterwards.
Kinks I like to read about:
- anal, blowjobs, fingering, intercrural, frottage, PIV, rimming & felching are all great
- asphyxiation/choking/breathplay (this is my kink holy grail that makes everything else hotter to me; even just throat-touching without choking is great)
- switching
- biting, bruising, marking; possessive sex
- rough/angry sex, hate sex, fighting/sparring leading to sex, adrenaline-fuelled post-battle and "thank fuck we/you're alive" sex
- dressed sex, dressed/naked, clothes kink (suits, uniforms, gloves, boots etc.), neat characters being dishevelled for once, casual characters cleaning up nicely
- D/s (I prefer casually developing kink to minutely negotiated, formalised BDSM; if anything under-negotiated kink is a plus for me)
- kink discovery/exploration
- strength kink; body worship; men's body hair (on chest, arms, thighs, butt; not so much on back and shoulders)
- stubble/beard burn
- hand kink; fisting; finger sucking
- large/thick cocks (not absurdly huge, but bigger than average); size kink
- bondage: leather cuffs, ropes, restraints, chains, collars
- face slapping, spanking, flogging, riding crops
- gun play, knife play, blood play
- consent play
- dirty talk (both the praising and the humiliating/condescending kind), voice/accent kink
- praise kink
- banter, teasing
- hard, desperate kissing with lots of biting
- barebacking (including the ill-advised, unplanned, unnegotiated we-really-shouldn't-have-done-that-but-it-was-so-hot kind - I'm not into serious STD scares, though; if there is an "oh fuck, what did we just do?" aftermath, please have both characters be certain that they're clean)
- come play (licking come off fingers/skin, felching, feeding each other come, kissing after blowjobs/felching ...)
- come as lube, spit as lube (especially the top spitting on the bottom's ass)
- messiness (sweat, come play, dishevelled hair/clothes)
- overstimulation; characters being overwhelmed, begging for more, becoming speechless ...
- shaving (face or body), especially with straight razors/knives
- sex on tables, against walls, on the floor, on a chair, in the shower ... (sex in beds is great, too)
- masturbation/fantasising about the other before getting together
- incest kink (i.e. characters who are related kinking on it)
- competence kink, admiration
- kneeling, hand kissing, physical expressions of loyalty/fealty
- scars and their history
- oral fixation (while smoking, drinking, talking ...)
- sharing cigarettes, clothes, food ...
- shame in sexual desires (whether about being attracted to another man at all, being attracted to this specific person for whatever reason, wanting to bottom, wanting to suck dick, wanting to hurt their partner, wanting to be hurt by their partner ...)
I like hurt/comfort for injuries (battle- or torture-related, just please no serious eye/hand injuries; painful and dangerous injuries are fine but I'd like them to heal again and not leave any permanent damage beyond scars or things like "my knee aches sometimes when it's cold"), exhaustion (especially stubborn, determined characters with a job to do pushing themselves to the brink of physical collapse), mental/psychological trauma (war-related, torture or rape, guilt over not managing to save somebody or similar, losing someone they care about ...) and other kinds angst (internalised homophobia, shame about their desires or any other weaknesses they think they have, failures etc.). I don't like sickfic, whether it's serious illnesses or just a cold.
In general, I'm a huge fan of stoic badasses continuing to be badass even after they were hurt, pushing themselves harder and being bad at accepting comfort. Depending on personality, I like them dealing with their pain with a stiff upper lip, simple denial because they're totally fiiiine, humour, whatever fits. I like self-sacrifice and accepting pain or guilt so somebody else doesn't have to. I like it when both characters are badass in their own way and trying to support and help each other in whatever ways the other one might be able to accept.
Some freeforms from the tag set I loved - while I didn't specifically request these, feel free to sprinkle them all over anything you write for any fandom:
- [Blank] to Lovers - A gets in trouble or injured protecting B; which makes B see A in a new light
- [Blank] to Lovers - A is in danger and needs to be rescued; prompting B to realize their feelingsAccidentally revealing trauma
- A and B Try To Talk About Relationship But It Leads To Hurt Feelings
- Badass in Distress
- Blaming Themself for the Other Character Being Injured
- Carrying A Sick/Hurt/Exhausted Character To Bed
- Character A doesn't know their own strength and hurts B by mistake
- Character doesn't realize how badly they're hurt until they collapse
- Character is ashamed of needing help/comfort
- Character is Injured while Protecting Another
- Character Must Convincingly Pretend to Betray Others
- Character who is clearly not fine insists they are fine
- Enduring Pain to Protect Another
- Helping hurt character to dress/undress
- Hurt character doesn't want comfort
- Hurt character hides their hurt out of pride
- Hurt character is used to having to tend to their own wounds
- Near Death Experience Makes Unaffected Character Realize They Love the Victim
- unexpected tenderness
- Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Alexios/Brasidas (either or both hurt)
I mostly have protagonist!Alexios in mind for this. I love his sense of humour, I love how cheerful and arrogant he is at times, I love that he likes to help people but will still tell them they're ridiculous dicks afterwards. I played him as fairly pro-Sparta and genuinely wanting to return home, which I think goes rather well with this ship anyway. I love his banter and his immediate connection with Brasidas (that warehouse fight! *heart eyes*), I love how much they just get each other and trust each other - even though Alexios really has reason enough to mistrust just about anyone he runs into. And since it's absolutely tragic the game didn't let us romance Brasidas, that's clearly what fic is for. :D As for Brasidas, I love how smart and cunning he is, how he thinks outside the box while still being a ruthless fighter when the situation calls for it, and how much he genuinely and openly cares about people who are important to him.
I'm up for setting this at any point during the game - around their first meetings in Korinth, when Alexios is in Sparta, or when they're working together later on - or post-game in a verse in which Brasidas didn't die. Because I'm in denial about that and damn historical accuracy. ;)
While I usually DNW unrequested ships, I'm fine with mentions of 1) Alexios's male canon hookups, 2) Brasidas being married (or widowed) because it's just unlikely that he wouldn't be, although I'd see that more as a practical arrangement than a marriage of love, 3) any erastes/eromenos-style relationships Brasidas might have been in, whether it's him currently having someone under his wing or still being good friends with the guy who, er, "mentored" him years ago. However, I wouldn't want any of those relationships to be more meaningful to them than each other, if that makes sense.
Requested tropes:
- A rescues B from the underworld or afterlife: would prefer actual Greek mythology for this than what happened in canon
- Character thinks they aren't good enough for the object of their pining
- Gods messing with character for their amusement: related to how much I'd love to see Alexios as Zeus' son - because being a demi-god in Greek mythology rarely goes actually well; anything from something more light-hearted like Aphrodite-related sex pollen to something more serious like Hera being out to get him works
- Humor as way of dealing with pain/trauma
- A makes a deal with a devil or deity to save B's life: saving Brasidas is the obvious choice, but I'd also love poor mortal Brasidas making a deal to save Alexios after Alexios somehow got himself (almost) killed
- Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them
- Soulbonding is the only way for A to save severely injured B's life
Deus Ex
Adam Jensen/Jim Miller (either or both hurt)
Note: I've played Human Revolution and Mankind Divided and I've read Black Light. I don't mind spoilers for any of the other games or comics or whatever else there is, but I'd prefer not to get a fic that requires me to be familiar with those parts of canon.
Adam's injuries prior to getting his augs are obviously exempt from my "no permanent injuries" DNW. However, I don't want anyone else to get their limbs ripped off or the like, and I don't want Adam's augs to get permanently disabled or destroyed.
I love Adam so much: that he's a genuinely good guy who wants to help people, that he's snarky and cheeky and irreverent, that (at least post-augs) he's pretty withdrawn and emotionally unavailable and has all these walls built around himself (and I really want someone to get past them). I like angst and suffering and Adam is a well of suffering, and I enjoy it while simultaneously wanting nice things to happen to him (after lots of beautiful suffering). As for Miller, I love that he has a temper and is impatient and often isn't particularly nice, but underneath that gruffness he cares about doing the right thing and he cares about his men. I also adore Pritchard and ship both Adam/Pritchard and Adam/Pritchard/Miller, so if you feel like including him, go for it. I'd also be happy to see any other TF29 or SI characters appear in the story. I'd especially love to see Sarif and Miller meet.
Requested tropes:
- Character used to suffering alone is gratefully surprised to recieve comfort
- Cheating characters feel guilty about infidelity; comfort each other: in an AU in which Jim is still trying to patch things up with Neil
- Fake Dating While Mutually Pining & One Partner Gets Hurt
- Forced to have sex to maintain cover; both characters think they took advantage
- hurt character still being the protective one: both ways would be great - hurt!Adam is still the ones with the military-grade augs and wants to protect Jim, or hurt!Jim is still Adam's boss and responsible for him and wants to make sure Adam gets out okay
- A is used to dehumanization by society; comforting B is shocked by how they're treated
- Pretending to Betray Someone to Save them: whether related to one of the undercover prompts or to Illuminati-scheming? Mostly thinking Jim pretending to sell out Adam (to get information or access or whatever) and Adam actually thinks Jim is seriously betraying him /o\
- Touch-Starved
- Undercover as a Couple - mutually pining characters forced to have sex to keep their cover
Kraken - China Miéville
Dane Parnell/Billy Harrow (either or both hurt)
I love Dane and Billy's relationship: how quickly they start trusting each other, how well they work together despite being such different people, Dane teaching Billy about the world of magic and weird shit, saving each other's life, and of course the size kink is a bonus. I find the worldbuilding and the general weirdness of this book fascinating and would love more of that, and I'm also really interested in Dane's whole kraken faith. (I'm much less into body horror than Miéville is, though, so I'd appreciate fic that goes less hard on that. Feel free to break out the tentacles for porn, but I don't need detailed descriptions of people being turned into radios or having their teeth slammed into their throats.)
Unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of how the book ended. Mostly I'd like for 1) Dane to live, 2) Billy not to be Billy 2.0 after beaming, but just Billy, 3) people not to forget half the plot of the book because that's one of my least favourite tropes. Feel free to just handwave or ignore however that happens, though.
Requested tropes:
- Aftermath of Ritualistic Sex
- Doing Bad Things So Others Don't Have To / I'll do the traumatic thing because I'm used to it: I can especially see Dane doing this to spare Billy
- Entering a dream/nightmare to help the dreamer
- Injured by Mind Controlled Friend or Loved One
- Losing Control Over Powers Hurts Others/Loved Ones: Dane and his kraken powers maybe? tentacles or otherwise
- A makes a deal with a devil or deity to save B's life: either way around - I find Dane's faith really fascinating so I'd love to see this explore more in a scenario like this (is it the kraken who saves Dane or Billy? or did either of them have to make a deal with a different power and now their life is bound to them and Dane isn ot happy about it?)
- Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them
- Possessed and forced to hurt someone you love
- Soulbonding is the only way for A to save severely injured B's life
- Trying to prevent Hurt foreseen in vision - successful
Mass Effect
Male Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Male Shepard/James Vega, Male Shepard/Garrus Vakarian/James Vega (hurt Shepard)
Because I'm very frustrated the games didn't let me romance the characters I wanted to romance most. I adore Shepard's relationship with both Garrus and James so much: that undying loyalty, will-follow-you-to-the-end-of-the-galaxy friendship he has with Garrus, and how much renegade Shepard enables Garrus's darker impulses and how much they just get each other; and that more complicated relationship with James, the fact that James massively hero-worshipped Shepard before meeting him, and then babysat him for six months when Shepard was at his lowest, and then in ME3 he really feels like one of the people who keep Shepard grounded, who are aware that he's human and that this war is taking a toll on him, that his hero is fallible.
I strongly prefer renegade Shepard (who is nicer to his companions/friends) - ruthless and efficient, the end justifies the means, snarky and intimidating, willing to do whatever needs to be done, no matter the cost to himself or to others. Should it come up, I really prefer him sabotaging the genophage cure for that reason because Shepard having to kill two of his friends to do what he thinks is right is such a horrifically great moment in the games. I picked the Spacer/Ruthless backgrounds and vanguard as his class, but I'm not fixated on that, if you want to use something else. Ending-wise, I think for fic a handwavey "the Crucible destroyed the Reapers without destroying the geth, and Shepard is alive" works best. I'd also be super interested in a variation of the Control ending, though, in which Shepard doesn't die while uploading part of himself into a God-AI, simply because the mindfuck of co-existing with an all-powerful AI version of yourself must be incredible. In general, I love stoic and/or angry suffering, so feel free to whump Shepard hard as long as there's a happy-ish ending. Honestly, I think all my requests are "please whump Shepard".
I'm very attached to his default looks and name, so please no custom Shepards. I love pretty much all the other companions and am happy to read about them. My other faves are Zaeed, Legion, Miranda, Jack, Cortez, Mordin, Javik, Joker, Grunt, Samara, Traynor.
Requested tropes:
- Character is extremely bad-tempered about comfort
- Character raped as part of military training: whether N7 or Spectre, I just want him to be really messed up about it (and pretending he isn't)
- Character resigned to their death survives; doesn't know how to cope: feels like Shepard spends most of ME3 being ready to die - I'd love to see him having no idea how to live anymore once the war is over (and he's suddenly this galaxy-wide messiah figure)
- Coping through past rape through sex: whether it was rape as part of military training or getting captured and raped by bad guys of your choice (I especially like Shepard "allowing" himself to be raped to save his friends/lover(s) from the same fate)
- Doing Bad Things So Others Don't Have To
- Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them
- Soldier having trouble readjusting after the war
Rivers of London
Thomas Nightingale/Peter Grant (hurt Nightingale)
Note: I should be up to date on the series by the time reveals happen (and if not, I don't care much about spoilers). However, I haven't read the comics and would prefer not to get fic that requires comic knowledge. I don't enjoy the Peter/Beverley and related baby developments, so please please let's just ignore that for the sake of this fic. And should you happen to write something plotty, I liked Nightingale and Peter solving magical crimes together better than the big police operations in the more recent books.
I really love the setting of these books, I'm incredibly fond of many of the characters, I'm crazy about Peter and Nightingale's relationship, and I really love Peter's narration style (the self-deprecation, the irony, the pop culture references, his love for London and for architecture). I love worldbuilding for this fandom, especially anything related to the history of the Folly (because I love the Folly a lot), and Peter's admiration (fanboy crush) for Nightingale. I like it when Peter and Nightingale are both being emotionally constipated and not very good at talking about their feelings and probably misunderstanding each other quite a bit (although I would like if they figured things out eventually and got a happy ending), and I'd love anything dealing with Nightingale's very probable PTSD and depression and loneliness (and how having Peter with him helps at least somewhat). For porn, I'm fond of the idea that Peter has maybe never acted much on his attraction to men until Nightingale happens to him. I also like Peter completely misjudging just how experienced/possibly kinky Nightingale might be (because he's so very Proper and Posh, but hey, he was a young man in the 20s, he's probably had a wild youth).
I also like many other characters in the books and wouldn't mind at all if they appeared in the fic, especially all the Met/Folly characters. I'm not a huge fan of the Rivers, so I'd prefer if they didn't appear. I firmly headcanon Nightingale as gay, so I'd rather not read about bi!Nightingale. I'm not super into the idea of Nightingale/Mellenby as a past ship, should that come up.
Requested tropes:
- B sees formal A voluntarily wearing casual clothes for 1st time while A is sick/injured: can be as early as Nightingale getting shot in the first book, can be later
- Character hasn't been with anyone since death of their lover; feels guilt over falling in love again / New Relationship Triggers Resurgence Of Grief Over Past Partner Death: I like to imagine that Nightingale had a happy, loving relationship with another man before the war, and his lover probably died at Ettersberg just like so many other people he cared about - and if he hasn't been with anyone else since, he might well feel like falling in love with Peter now is somehow betraying the memory of his dead lover
- Doing Bad Things So Others Don't Have To / I'll do the traumatic thing because I'm used to it: considering that Nightingale does this canonically, I'd love to see it explored more
- hurt character still being the protective one
- Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them
- Soulbonding is the only way for A to save severely injured B's life: either way works obviously, but I'd find Nightingale initiating that soulbond to save Peter's life (because he has the magical know-how to do it) and then angsting about binding Peter to himself in such a way extra interesting
- Time Travel - Falling in love with someone in the past and reuniting in the present: I always need Peter travelling into the past to meet Nightingale in the 20s/30s :D
- Undercover as a Couple - mutually pining characters forced to have sex to keep their cover
Vampyr
Jonathan Reid/Geoffrey McCullum (either or both hurt)
This ship has so many things I love! Antagonism and profound distrust and grudging respect and so much potential to work together reluctantly and grow closer ... I'm easy. :D I did a Not Even Once playthrough and ended up being incredibly frustrated by the game's morality system, where letting awful people go free or saving their life is apparently always the best choice, and I realised that I much prefer a version of Jonathan who's generally a good person and wants to help others, but who can also be rather ruthless and is very willing to get his hands dirty when he thinks someone deserves it. I love that he and Geoffrey are both stubborn people who tend to think they're always right, and I love how much they'll probably always butt heads even once they're closer.
I didn't enjoy the forced romance, so I'd prefer if we could pretend that Jonathan and Elisabeth were simply friends (and tbh thematically I prefer the ending in which she chooses to die to the one where he saves her with the power of love or somesuch). I'd prefer if Swansea didn't show up (unless it's before his possible in-game death, of course) because I have a hard time justifying turning him in-game. I also prefer Jonathan not turning Geoffrey in-game, simply because I find it more interesting if they have some time to get to know each other better while Geoffrey is still human, but I'm totally up for him turning Geoffrey later on.
Requested tropes:
- Character manages to injure arch-foe and realizes they don’t actually want to hurt them
- Character with high pain tolerance is in too much pain to hide it
- Character(s) ashamed of their sexual desires: whether that's Geoffrey angsting about wanting a man (or a leech), or Jonathan angsting about just how much he wants to eat Geoffrey while they fuck ...
- Circumstances force enemies to patch each other up
- hurt character still being the protective one
- No One Is Allowed to Hurt You Except Me
- Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them
- Rough Sex to Stave Off Other Violent Urges
- Soldier having trouble readjusting after the war: obviously Jonathan has a ton of other things going on as well, but I'd also love fic exploring his war experiences (I doubt Geoffrey was a soldier, but being Priwen is probably close enough that he can relate a bit)
- Soulbonding is the only way for A to save severely injured B's life
- Undercover as a Couple - mutually pining characters forced to have sex to keep their cover
- Vampire AU - Character is transformed to save their life
- Vampires - Vampire A must feed to win a fight; human B feeds them then gets taken care of
And that's it! I hope you find something in all this that you enjoy writing, dear author, and I'm happy to answer any questions if you want clarification on anything. I'm very much looking forward to whatever you'll write for me, no matter the fandom we matched on!
Thanks!
linndechir
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