Letter for raremaleslashex
Dear Creator,
thank you so much for writing this story for me. We clearly share at least some interests, and I'm thrilled to find out what you'll come up with.
DNW:
- bashing of canon pairings or characters in general. By which I don't mean the characters have to like each and everyone - a great number of those I've nominated can be described as prickly jerks, among other things, and it would be ic for them to say something negative about people they canonically can't stand - but there's a difference between that and the narrative giving me the impression to go along with said opinions.
- Alpha/Beta/Omega scenarios, watersports, infantilisation. Really not my thing, sorry.
- Rape. Now, several of the pairings I nominated involve relationships with power differentials, or even canonical captive scenarios, and I'm not opposed to questionable consent per se to start with, but I really want both partners to, in the end, agree with what's going on. (Resentment at one partner for wanting him is fine, though.)
- non-canonical torture (several canons do include torture, and if you want to explore what that means for character x in their relationship with Y, absolutely, just don't add
Likes:
- flirting/seduction via wordplay and banter (doesn't work for all pairings, I know)
- for the darker push/pull dynamics: moments of tenderness and understanding in between the fighting/one upman shipping (without abandoning the anger)
- for the pairings that are gentler and harmonious by nature: making it clear each has their own life and agenda as well
- some humor amidst the angst (especially if the character in question displays it in canon)
The question of AUs: depends. "What if this key canon event did not happen?" can lead to great character and dynamics exploration, but I do want to recognize the characters. The majority of those I nominated are from historical canons, and the history is part of the fascination the canon has for me. ) However, if you feel inspired to, say, write Frederick the Great, space lawyer, and manage to do it in a way that gives me gripping analogues to the historical situations: be my guest!
How much or how little sex: I'm cool with anything you feel comfortable with, from detailed sex to the proverbial fade out after a kiss. Or even no sex at all, as long as the story explores the emotional dynamics in a way that makes it clear what's going on there is love/passion.
Specific details for specific pairings:
Stealing Fire
Bagoas and Lydias in "Stealing Fire" hit several of my fictional buttons almost better than any other pairing - they're both survivors of tragedies (of which the loss of their respective loves is but one, but a terrible one), they both help each other at different points to start a new life, and the author gets across beautifully that it's never an "either/or" or "better/worse" question, that their love for the dead and for the living are both real. As long as your story captures something of this, I'll be delighted.
Possible prompts: "Stealing Fire" is all Lydias' pov, of course, so: how about Bagoas? Tell me about his starting to relate to Lydias and to see a point to his life beyond guarding Alexander's dead body. Or: when does friendship become more? Bagoas' perspective on Egypt, which might be different from that of Lydias, would also be very interesting to me.
(BTW: if you want to include Chloe and/or set the story at a post-book point, I'm fine with this, too. It's entirely up to you.)
Roman Mythology
Speaking of survivors: since Diomedes ends up founding a couple of cities in Italy as well when Aeneas is there, and since Odysseus/Ulysses gets as far as Sicily at least, I would love a story in which Aeneas meets either of his former (?) enemies. Aeneas and Diomedes in particular have a lot of unresolved issues from the Iliad, and well, Aeneas is the son of Venus, who has been known to interfere on his behalf before. This is as good a set up for foe yay as one can ask for. Conversely, it could be a more serious story examining how they, who now all share the experience of homelessness and the attempt to start again elsewhere, relate to each other years later. Ullysses is different in that he actually has an Ithaca to return to, but does he? Depending on when you set your story, he might have already found you can't really go home again. And he and Aeneas share the experience of visiting the underworld and returning - if you want to go for a merger where they talk to the dead at the same time, go for it!
18th Century Frederician RPF
Any of the pairings I nominated would make me happy, in whichever fashion (i.e. historical or AU, contemporary or sci fi). Ideas for individual prompts,
Friedrich/Voltaire: begs for a Fandom AU where Fritz is the ambitious micromanaging ficathon runner who finally managed to win BNF Voltaire to write for his ficathon (and beta-read Friedrich's own poetry fanfiction. Cue disaster happening, and not just because someone forwards Voltaire's emails complaining about having to wash Friedrich's dirty laundry to Fritz. There's the war of the sockpuppetts writing thinly disguised scatching satires about each other, and when Friedrich uses his ficathon runner power to delete Voltaire's stories, well...
On a more historical note: I've always been wildly curious as to what Fredersdorf, who had a front row seat (and presumably had to hear many a rant and/or praise), made of that relationship. Any point in the time line would be good, from the honeymoon phase to the big implosion. (If the later: considering Fredersdorf got married in 1753, aka the year of the show-stopping fiery finale, feel free to include that in his reaction.)
Lehndorff/Heinrich: here my dream prompt is a "Five times Lehndorff kissed Heinrich" story spread through their lives. The first time when they're young and Lehndorff goes from ambitious young courtier hanging out with the princes to falling in love with one of them, the last time when they're both old (can be reconciliation after mutual irritation during Lehndorff's last Rheinsberg visit), and in between moments from particular emotional points, like for Lehndorff when he's lost both his children and first wife, is in dire need of comfort and distraction and he and Heinrich travel through the Netherlands together, or for Heinrich the first time they see each other after August Wilhelm has died.
Heinrich/Kaphengst: so, what was about Kaphengst, other than him being spectacular in bed? This was the longest lasting of Heinrich's boyfriends, and he made a great many sacrifices for him (not just financial ones, see postponing the longed-for-decades trip to France). And Kaphengst: was he in it just for the money, or was he emotionally invested as well? (And what did he make of the competition?)
Algarotti/Heinrich: a one (or two) night stand is my not entirely serious headcanon about these two; they both got around in general, plus Algarotti might have been working out his Fritz issues and Heinrich always had Fritz issues to work out. Possible scenarios: first Silesian War, while Algarotti is quickly getting bored in Berlin and Heinrich gets "apply yourself!" mail from Big Brother; later 1740s, Heinrich is still incensed about the Marwitz affair - or, if it's 1749, about being blackmailed into marriage - and Algarotti starts to wonder whether this coming back to Prussia thing had been a good idea.
Friedrich/Heinrich: because they're just that dysfunctional and wrapped up in each other. If you want a serious scenario and are up for something supernatural: When Heinrich in 1799 oves into Dear Old Wusterhausen and gets given Wilhelmine's memoirs to read, he encounters a ghost there. It's brother Friedrich. But not the brother he knew for the most years of his life. No, he keeps running into young Fritz being miserable at Wusterhausen in 1728/1729/1730. (If I did, it would be a self rip-off because I used that concept in this story about Darla and Connor from Angel.) What does Heinrich make of a vulnerable Fritz who has no power over him? (What does young Fritz with no knowledge of the future make of this weird old man?)
Farscape
The rewatch I'm currently doing has reminded me again how fond I am of this wonderfully crazy show. John/Scorpius is one of my favourite relatonships in it, not least because Crichton the genre fan is absolutely aware of the the subtext. Now this is admittedly one of the trickiest scenarios to turn main text without going for a rape scenario (which I don't want, see above), given all the invasive things Scorpius does to John already in canon. Then again, they share a kid (if you can call Harvey that) and each other's brains in oh so many ways at various points, so really, "it happens in one of their minds or both" is an absolutely valid choice here. If you can pull it off otherwise, again PLEASE not in a rape situation (and yes, a blackmail a la "I'll kill everyone if you don't..." would count as same), I'm all the more impressed.
The Last Kingdom
The Uthred and Alfred relationship in its prickly complexity was one of my favourite elements of this show, so anything focusing on it would be most welcome. As an idea: road trip at any point in canon complete with mutual snark, emotional power games and one or both having to be under cover. Canon gives us this situation for Alfred near the end of s1, but how about a trip for a three ways negotiation between Saxons, Danes and Normans where they both need to pretend to be someone else en route during the nebulous time mid s2? This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1444871.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
thank you so much for writing this story for me. We clearly share at least some interests, and I'm thrilled to find out what you'll come up with.
DNW:
- bashing of canon pairings or characters in general. By which I don't mean the characters have to like each and everyone - a great number of those I've nominated can be described as prickly jerks, among other things, and it would be ic for them to say something negative about people they canonically can't stand - but there's a difference between that and the narrative giving me the impression to go along with said opinions.
- Alpha/Beta/Omega scenarios, watersports, infantilisation. Really not my thing, sorry.
- Rape. Now, several of the pairings I nominated involve relationships with power differentials, or even canonical captive scenarios, and I'm not opposed to questionable consent per se to start with, but I really want both partners to, in the end, agree with what's going on. (Resentment at one partner for wanting him is fine, though.)
- non-canonical torture (several canons do include torture, and if you want to explore what that means for character x in their relationship with Y, absolutely, just don't add
Likes:
- flirting/seduction via wordplay and banter (doesn't work for all pairings, I know)
- for the darker push/pull dynamics: moments of tenderness and understanding in between the fighting/one upman shipping (without abandoning the anger)
- for the pairings that are gentler and harmonious by nature: making it clear each has their own life and agenda as well
- some humor amidst the angst (especially if the character in question displays it in canon)
The question of AUs: depends. "What if this key canon event did not happen?" can lead to great character and dynamics exploration, but I do want to recognize the characters. The majority of those I nominated are from historical canons, and the history is part of the fascination the canon has for me. ) However, if you feel inspired to, say, write Frederick the Great, space lawyer, and manage to do it in a way that gives me gripping analogues to the historical situations: be my guest!
How much or how little sex: I'm cool with anything you feel comfortable with, from detailed sex to the proverbial fade out after a kiss. Or even no sex at all, as long as the story explores the emotional dynamics in a way that makes it clear what's going on there is love/passion.
Specific details for specific pairings:
Stealing Fire
Bagoas and Lydias in "Stealing Fire" hit several of my fictional buttons almost better than any other pairing - they're both survivors of tragedies (of which the loss of their respective loves is but one, but a terrible one), they both help each other at different points to start a new life, and the author gets across beautifully that it's never an "either/or" or "better/worse" question, that their love for the dead and for the living are both real. As long as your story captures something of this, I'll be delighted.
Possible prompts: "Stealing Fire" is all Lydias' pov, of course, so: how about Bagoas? Tell me about his starting to relate to Lydias and to see a point to his life beyond guarding Alexander's dead body. Or: when does friendship become more? Bagoas' perspective on Egypt, which might be different from that of Lydias, would also be very interesting to me.
(BTW: if you want to include Chloe and/or set the story at a post-book point, I'm fine with this, too. It's entirely up to you.)
Roman Mythology
Speaking of survivors: since Diomedes ends up founding a couple of cities in Italy as well when Aeneas is there, and since Odysseus/Ulysses gets as far as Sicily at least, I would love a story in which Aeneas meets either of his former (?) enemies. Aeneas and Diomedes in particular have a lot of unresolved issues from the Iliad, and well, Aeneas is the son of Venus, who has been known to interfere on his behalf before. This is as good a set up for foe yay as one can ask for. Conversely, it could be a more serious story examining how they, who now all share the experience of homelessness and the attempt to start again elsewhere, relate to each other years later. Ullysses is different in that he actually has an Ithaca to return to, but does he? Depending on when you set your story, he might have already found you can't really go home again. And he and Aeneas share the experience of visiting the underworld and returning - if you want to go for a merger where they talk to the dead at the same time, go for it!
18th Century Frederician RPF
Any of the pairings I nominated would make me happy, in whichever fashion (i.e. historical or AU, contemporary or sci fi). Ideas for individual prompts,
Friedrich/Voltaire: begs for a Fandom AU where Fritz is the ambitious micromanaging ficathon runner who finally managed to win BNF Voltaire to write for his ficathon (and beta-read Friedrich's own poetry fanfiction. Cue disaster happening, and not just because someone forwards Voltaire's emails complaining about having to wash Friedrich's dirty laundry to Fritz. There's the war of the sockpuppetts writing thinly disguised scatching satires about each other, and when Friedrich uses his ficathon runner power to delete Voltaire's stories, well...
On a more historical note: I've always been wildly curious as to what Fredersdorf, who had a front row seat (and presumably had to hear many a rant and/or praise), made of that relationship. Any point in the time line would be good, from the honeymoon phase to the big implosion. (If the later: considering Fredersdorf got married in 1753, aka the year of the show-stopping fiery finale, feel free to include that in his reaction.)
Lehndorff/Heinrich: here my dream prompt is a "Five times Lehndorff kissed Heinrich" story spread through their lives. The first time when they're young and Lehndorff goes from ambitious young courtier hanging out with the princes to falling in love with one of them, the last time when they're both old (can be reconciliation after mutual irritation during Lehndorff's last Rheinsberg visit), and in between moments from particular emotional points, like for Lehndorff when he's lost both his children and first wife, is in dire need of comfort and distraction and he and Heinrich travel through the Netherlands together, or for Heinrich the first time they see each other after August Wilhelm has died.
Heinrich/Kaphengst: so, what was about Kaphengst, other than him being spectacular in bed? This was the longest lasting of Heinrich's boyfriends, and he made a great many sacrifices for him (not just financial ones, see postponing the longed-for-decades trip to France). And Kaphengst: was he in it just for the money, or was he emotionally invested as well? (And what did he make of the competition?)
Algarotti/Heinrich: a one (or two) night stand is my not entirely serious headcanon about these two; they both got around in general, plus Algarotti might have been working out his Fritz issues and Heinrich always had Fritz issues to work out. Possible scenarios: first Silesian War, while Algarotti is quickly getting bored in Berlin and Heinrich gets "apply yourself!" mail from Big Brother; later 1740s, Heinrich is still incensed about the Marwitz affair - or, if it's 1749, about being blackmailed into marriage - and Algarotti starts to wonder whether this coming back to Prussia thing had been a good idea.
Friedrich/Heinrich: because they're just that dysfunctional and wrapped up in each other. If you want a serious scenario and are up for something supernatural: When Heinrich in 1799 oves into Dear Old Wusterhausen and gets given Wilhelmine's memoirs to read, he encounters a ghost there. It's brother Friedrich. But not the brother he knew for the most years of his life. No, he keeps running into young Fritz being miserable at Wusterhausen in 1728/1729/1730. (If I did, it would be a self rip-off because I used that concept in this story about Darla and Connor from Angel.) What does Heinrich make of a vulnerable Fritz who has no power over him? (What does young Fritz with no knowledge of the future make of this weird old man?)
Farscape
The rewatch I'm currently doing has reminded me again how fond I am of this wonderfully crazy show. John/Scorpius is one of my favourite relatonships in it, not least because Crichton the genre fan is absolutely aware of the the subtext. Now this is admittedly one of the trickiest scenarios to turn main text without going for a rape scenario (which I don't want, see above), given all the invasive things Scorpius does to John already in canon. Then again, they share a kid (if you can call Harvey that) and each other's brains in oh so many ways at various points, so really, "it happens in one of their minds or both" is an absolutely valid choice here. If you can pull it off otherwise, again PLEASE not in a rape situation (and yes, a blackmail a la "I'll kill everyone if you don't..." would count as same), I'm all the more impressed.
The Last Kingdom
The Uthred and Alfred relationship in its prickly complexity was one of my favourite elements of this show, so anything focusing on it would be most welcome. As an idea: road trip at any point in canon complete with mutual snark, emotional power games and one or both having to be under cover. Canon gives us this situation for Alfred near the end of s1, but how about a trip for a three ways negotiation between Saxons, Danes and Normans where they both need to pretend to be someone else en route during the nebulous time mid s2? This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1444871.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.