Yuletide Letter 2017

[linndechir]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing something for me and taking the time to look at this letter. My letters always get terribly long - I prefer listing a variety of things I like and hoping that some of it works for you rather than only prompting one or two things you might hate. Obviously I don't expect anyone to include every single thing I've listed in this letter. I've listed some general likes and dislikes - that's the important stuff, really. It's followed by a list of kinks I like reading about, should you feel inclined to write porn, and then fandom-specific sections with a variety of prompts. But if those don't work for you, that's fine - if you write something that includes a couple of elements I like and doesn't include any of my DNWs, I'm sure I will enjoy it.

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 with no ray of hope are quite my thing. I like shorter fics and plotty longfic. I strongly prefer shipfic to gen, but if you don't want to write my ship, I think many of my prompts and likes also work for gen - casefic or background stories about characters' past are always fun to read. As long as there's some focus on the relationship between the characters I've requested, I'm happy, even if it's not a romantic/sexual relationship in your fic. I'd only ask that you don't pair off these characters in other ships I didn't request.

I am in love with every single one of the fandoms I'm requesting and would be happy to receive a fic in any of them. Some fandom-specific sections turned out longer than others, but that's only because I had more prompt ideas for some of them, not because I like any one of them better than the others.

I use the same username on AO3 and tumblr.


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
• 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
• familiarity, intimacy, characters getting to know each other better (their habits, their hangups etc.)
• pre-canon/background stories
• post-canon fic
• canon divergence
• casefic
• moral dilemmas, characters having to question/go against their principles
• loyalty, devotion, trust, but also trust/commitment issues
• obsessive, codependent, complicated relationships (whether sexual/romantic or not)
• unhealthy/weird relationships that should be a trainwreck, but work for the characters involved
• us-against-the-world
• jealousy, possessiveness
• age differences
• 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 ...
• infidelity (not between my requested ships, but one half of my ship cheating on their previous partner with the other half of my ship)
• outside POVs, different POVs than in canon (more "usual" POVs are great, too)
• 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.

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)
• 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
• unrequested ships (including canon ships)
• unrequested crossovers or fusions
• complete AUs (canon divergence is fine, but please no high school AUs, coffee shop AUs, in space AUs etc.)
• permanently unrequited love or permanent breakups for my ships (gen is fine, but please no "A loves B and B doesn't love A back")
• unnecessary epithets, please use characters' names/pronouns unless their name isn't known to the POV character
• 1st and 2nd person fic (unless the canon itself is in 1st person, then it's fine)
• for porn: detailed kink negotiation, safewords for scenes that don't involve consent play; scat, watersports, coming in pants, crossdressing, feminisation, body modification, ageplay/infantilisation (daddy kink is fine though)

Kinks I like to read about:

• anal, oral, fingering, rimming, intercrural, and frottage are all great
• biting, bruising, marking, branding
• asphyxiation/choking/breathplay
• rough/angry sex, hate sex, fighting/sparring leading to sex
• dressed sex, dressed/naked, clothes kink (suits, uniforms, gloves, boots etc.), neat characters being dishevelled for once, casual characters cleaning up nicely
• size kink, strength kink
• D/s (for my requested ships I prefer casually developing kink rather than minutely negotiated, formalised BDSM; if anything under-negotiated kink is a plus for me)
• bondage, chains, ropes, collars
• spanking, riding crops (and for BvS also more extreme stuff like whips)
• gun play, knife play, blood play
• consent play
• dirty talk (including the humiliating kind), voice/accent kink
• banter, teasing
• hand kink; fisting
• stubble/beard burn
• messiness (sweat, come play, dishevelled hair/clothes)
• characters being overwhelmed, begging for more, becoming speechless ...
• 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
• competence kink, admiration
• praise kink
• scars and their history
• oral fixation (while smoking, drinking, talking ...)
• sharing cigarettes, clothes, food ...
• sleep-related themes: waking each other from nightmares, falling asleep on each other's shoulder etc.

Blitz (2011)
Tom Brant, Porter Nash

What I like about this canon:

• Brant is such an asshole and I love him for it: he's unabashedly violent and manipulative and selfish and dishonest; at the same time he does care about people (Robinson, Falls), and it's not like he doesn't have a sense of humour
• Nash seems at first so much more polite and well-adjusted, but then you realise that he's tough as nails underneath and almost as fucked up as Brant, just a lot better at hiding it
• the fact that both these smart, tough guys have a ton of issues - nightmares, blackouts, a drinking problem ...
• their immediate rapport: how Brant respects Nash right away despite insulting him, how he goes to Nash's place in the middle of the night to talk about his problems, how Nash opens up to him in return - basically that entire scene when Brant shows up at Nash's place is my favourite thing
• their trust and their willingness to do fucked up shit together; moments like Nash quietly handing Brant a gun to kill someone with after he just as quietly watched Brant beat the crap out of them
• I love that for all his assholery and homophobic comments Brant doesn't seem to have the slightest problem with Nash being gay, and I love that Nash seems to realise this almost immediately

Ships and characters:

I love Brant/Nash so much. I would be happy with any of the supporting characters appearing in the fic, but I'm mostly here for Brant and Nash.

What I would like to see in fic:

• casefic, especially if they use somewhat unconventional methods again
• slow burn getting together fic in which they work together for ages and neither of them wants to make the first step (Nash because he knows better than to hit on his apparently straight macho coworker, Brant because he's very uncomfortable and in denial about his feelings/attraction)
• or conversely: rough hookups they never talk about and pretend didn't happen, because they just work together, it's not like there are any feelings involved, right?
• internalised homophobia and masculinity issues on Brant's part, especially contrasted with how comfortable Nash is with his sexuality (I'm fine both with Brant being so completely in denial he's never slept with a man before, or just deeply closeted and hooking up with men in secret and horrified by the very idea of anyone who knows him ever finding out he's gay)
• jealousy: maybe Nash starts seeing someone and that's the kick in the ass Brant needs (either to finally make the first step, or to admit that their hookups meant more than he liked to admit); I'd also love to see the other side of this - Nash maybe wondering why he'd much rather have his alcoholic repressed asshole coworker than a perfectly nice, respectable, out boyfriend
• anything dealing with how fucked up they both are: Brant's alcoholism, his blackouts, both their violent streaks ...
• more about their past: are they still in touch with their families? any nice, friendly exes of Nash's who might show up on the doorstep and wonder what the hell he's doing with this macho asshole? any unsolved old cases being re-opened? old enemies wanting revenge?
• for porn: I'm open to anything, but one idea I'd love to see would be Nash as a dominant bottom who loves telling Brant exactly how to fuck him. If you want to go kinkier with this - Brant getting off on Nash ordering him around, humiliating dirty talk about how Brant is just a dumb brute who's not good for anything but fucking Nash, Nash putting a collar on him ... But, again, totally optional, if you want to write fluffier, gentler sex, I have no objections to that. :)

Crossover idea:

Feel free to ignore this if you don't know both canons or just don't like crossovers or hate this particular idea. I'd love to see a crossover between Rivers of London and Blitz. They're both canons about London coppers, so it'd be easy to have Nightingale and Peter and Brant and Nash meet on a case. Maybe Brant and Nash are trying to solve a murder that turns out to have a magical background. Brant would think Nightingale is the poshest snob he's ever met, Peter would hate Brant's obnoxiousness and violent tendencies, Nash would desperately try to get Brant to behave around the gentlemen who can do magic ... (and who knows, maybe Nightingale is into Brant, I'd be very amused by a Nightingale/Brant hookup ;)) A casefic in which these four have to work together and keep clashing with each other would be wonderful to read.


The Hateful Eight (2015)
Chris Mannix, Marquis Warren

What I like about this canon:

• the dialogues - I'm generally a huge Tarantino fan, I could listen to great actors delivering his lines all day long
• the historical setting: I find both the Civil War itself and the post-Civil War era fascinating and I love what the movie has done with this, throwing together characters from both sides of the conflict, showing how in their minds it isn't over yet, how the war and the immediate post-war era have shaped the way they see the world and other people - so if you want to throw in any more historical background stuff, I'd love that (I'm not super fussed about complete historical accuracy for a Tarantino canon, so don't worry about getting everything 100% right)
• Warren in all his confident, brilliant, scheming, adaptable glory; he's smart and ruthless and manipulative and so unapologetic about who he is
• Mannix because he is such a layered character: ostensibly just a violent racist asshole, and yet he admires Warren from the start; he's loud and talkative and confident, but also incredibly eager to please and ready to submit to someone else's lead (possibly because he's the youngest of who knows how many brothers and used to doing as he's told?); at first he doesn't seem very bright, but he's the only character perceptive enough to see through Warren's bullshit Lincoln letter
• Warren and Mannix's relationship: Mannix admires him, Warren seems weirdly amused by him; they have to work together despite antagonising each other from the start and despising each other on principle, and yet they work together so well; the fact that Mannix defers to Warren immediately ("please, Major, let me shoot that ugly bastard" - you'd think that a guy like Mannix wouldn't ask a black man for permission to do anything, and yet he does), the fact that Mannix refuses to betray Warren, that easy camaraderie they fall into at the end.
• the claustrophobic tension of the movie (although I don't think that can really be replicated in a fic set before or after the movie)

Ships and characters:

I ship Warren/Mannix like mad and would prefer to get a fic focusing on their relationship, whether shippy or not. I like all the other characters in the movie, especially Warren's and John Ruth's past is interesting, although I'm not sure how you'd fit any of them in since I'm mostly requesting post-canon fic. I don't have any other ships for this canon.

What I would like to see in fic:

• post-canon fic in which they somehow survive - I think most of my prompts go in that direction (please let's pretend Warren only got shot in the upper thigh and everything is still intact? or, idk, he got one ball shot off, but the rest is still there)
• maybe Mannix was less injured and manages to patch Warren up, and they weather the storm together until someone finds them? Warren dealing with the fact that Chris Mannix of all people saved his life, twice.
• Sheriff Mannix and bounty hunter Warren having a drink every time Warren brings in a bounty and slowly developing the oddest friendship
• the two of them working together as bounty hunters (with lots of competence kink and being turned on by the other one being so damn good at killing people, while also being disgusted when remembering where the other one learnt to kill so well)
• antagonistic friendship where they get along great at times and want to strangle each other at others
• protectiveness, loyalty kink, especially if they're surprised by how much they've grown to care about each other
• anything about Warren's or Mannix's past: where Warren grew up, how he escaped (I'm assuming that's what's happened), his time in the Union army and afterwards; Mannix's family, his childhood as the runt of the litter, how obsessed he is with his father (daddy issues!), his war experiences, the Mannix Marauders ... Feel free to have them meet old friends or old enemies in your fic.
• them being amoral bad guys who are both awful in their own way - they're not nice or good people and I like that
• hate sex; or huddling for warmth leading to sex; or post-battle sex in the blood of their enemies/bounties ...
• for porn: I usually don't have fixed top/bottom preferences, but in this particular case, I doubt Warren would be okay with not being completely in charge of anything that happens between them. And Mannix seems to be pretty okay with letting Warren call the shots.
• kinks: uniform kink, scars, D/s, Warren ordering Mannix around and getting off on the way Mannix calls him "sir", humiliation kink, daddy issues (Warren teasing Mannix in bed with how disappointed his father would be in him if he could see him right now), size kink, restraints, a bit of spanking/flogging, discipline/punishment, gun play, knife play, boot kink, rape roleplay (Mannix can't admit what he wants, but he's fine with letting Warren take it as long as Mannix can pretend he doesn't want it), dirty talk, praise kink (because Mannix can be such a good boy) ... any of these would be great :D
• dubcon with Warren manipulating Mannix into doing things he's not 100% okay with, although I'd prefer if Mannix ended up enjoying it, even if he feels very ashamed about it
• shame, internalised homophobia, guilt: I doubt Mannix is happy with being attracted to men, I don't know if Warren is; either way they're both probably very unhappy with being attracted to this particular man

내부자들 | Inside Men
Ahn Sang-goo, Woo Jang-hoon

What I like about this canon:

• the scheming and plotting and the whole revenge intrigue
• I love characters with very different morals and ideals working together
• the "good guy" of the two, the one who's righteous and principled, is also a rude dick who antagonises people for fun, while the violent, fairly ruthless gangster is pretty amiable and easy-going
• how quickly their relationship goes from completely antagonistic to much friendler, how quickly Sang-goo decides to trust Jang-hoon (despite just finding out that another person he trusted betrayed him), how their initial insults soon turn into friendly banter and teasing

Ships and characters:

I love both main characters more than I can say and I ship them ridiculously hard (I mean, the movie basically ends with them deciding to go on a date together). I also really enjoy Jang-hoon's relationship with his father, so feel free to include him.

Sang-goo's hand is exempt from my "no permanent injuries" DNW, by the way, no need to retcon or fix that. But I'd still prefer that nobody lose any further limbs, except maybe their antagonists in prison. ;)

What I would like to see in fic:

• I could read a hundred different post-canon getting together fics about them: how do things continue between them after that last scene? Do they jump each other's bones that very night because they've been flirting almost since they met? Do they proceed to have months or years of slow-burning UST and pining while they become friends and meet up for dinner all the time and tease each other and banter and neither of them wants to ruin that by making the first move? Does it take some kind of outside element like one of them getting hurt for them to get over each other? Does one of them maybe make the first move, but gets rejected (because the other one is repressed or whatever reason), and they only get together much later?
• if you want to write something plotty: the post-credit scene heavily applies that Lee&co aren't done yet, so what if they are let out of prison a few years later and want to get back at them?
• all the banter and insulting each other, including in bed. Also, how that banter gets friendlier over time, how Jang-hoon's insults slowly turn into endearments (he already says "gangster" in the fondest voice at the end of the movie).
• maybe some conflicts arising out of the whole "lawyer and gangster" thing? Maybe Jang-hoon can live with a certain amount of illegal stuff he knows Sang-goo is up to, but there are lines he won't let him cross (at least not to his knowledge)? Maybe Jang-hoon gets somehow dragged into one of those deals, like someone thinking it'd be a great idea to abduct Sang-goo's BFF/lover to blackmail him? Of course Sang-goo would burn everything down to get him back and Jang-hoon would be fucking furious that was even necessary.
• I love repression and denial in fics, especially for characters like these two. I could see it for either one or both of them: I can see Sang-goo as fairly relaxed about his sexuality because he's a gangster who does what he wants anyway, but I could also see him having a lot of masculinity hangups and being in complete denial about wanting men. I can see Jang-hoon not giving a fuck because he strongly believes all people should be equal (though he'd still be incredibly closeted, of course), but I can also see him being completely repressed because he knows how much anything like that would hurt his career and his dream of a successful, normal life. I could see a total top clash where they're both willing to sleep with a man, but neither is willing to bottom because they'd consider that way "more gay". Additionally, I could see Sang-goo having some issues about anyone staring too much/touching his right arm, and Jang-hoon just not giving a shit because he still wants him more than anyone else.
• I really enjoyed those scenes with Jang-hoon's father, how much those two bitch at each other while still clearly caring a lot, and also how incredibly polite and respectful Sang-goo is to him (because he does have manners, unlike some people ;)). So if you felt like including him, and what he thinks about his prickly asshole of a son befriending the gangster he stashed at his place that one time, that could be great.
• I'm mostly into post-canon fic for these two, but I also wouldn't mind some kind of canon divergence where some part of their revenge/justice plan goes wrong and they have to improvise, although I would prefer a happy ending.
• if you want to write smut: suit porn, rough sex, manhandling, roughness, lots of banter in bed, competitive sex, arguing about who gets to top or maybe convoluted deals ("if you blow me, you get to fuck me") even once they're both enjoying pretty much all of it, lots of body worship (Sang-goo's tattoo and insanely perfect muscles, and maybe also petting the stump of his arm), sauna sex, spanking (maybe Sang-goo gets tired of Jang-hoon being a rude little shit), and really any of the kinks I listed above.
• I could definitely see some fluffier things for them, too, especially once they are together: nice dinners, Sang-goo getting Jang-hoon gifts and Jang-hoon complaining about it, visiting his dad again and hanging out by that lake, actually running off to the Maldives to spend a week doing nothing but sprawling around drinking Mojitos ...

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Vortigern, Uther, Arthur, Catia

Note: I'm officially requesting these four, but I'd be perfectly happy with a fic about Vortigern interacting with only one of them - I think putting all four of them in the same fic would actually be somewhat difficult. I'd be equally happy with Vortigern/Earl of Mercia for some villainous loyalty kink, so feel free to write that instead. As long as I get fic about Vortigern with any of those four (Uther, Arthur, Catia, Mercia), I'm happy. :D Additionally, my prompts for this fandom tend to stray a bit darker than for my other requested fandoms - lots of noncon/dubcon and fucked up relationships and the like. I'd still rather not read about them dying (Uther's and Catia's canonical deaths are okay as long as the fic isn't exclusively about that), but feel free to write me something dark and fucked up that doesn't necessarily have a happy ending.

What I like about this canon:

• the aesthetics! It's just so damn pretty. The castles and the glorious costumes and the soundtrack.
• the magic and political scheming
• Vortigern was my favourite thing about the movie: power-hungry, ruthless, resentful, angry, overdramatic, with a completely warped view of the world - I love that he genuinely loved his family and still sacrificed them for power and then probably angsted about it forever
• Vortigern and Uther's relationship fascinates me - the mixture between conflict and affection (that clinging hug :D)
• Vortigern being so overprotective of his daughter, presumably because she's literally the only thing he has left in the world
• Arthur and Vortigern sniping at each other was a lot of fun to watch, I always enjoy a good villain-hero-rivalry, and I generally loved Arthur a lot - snarky and pragmatic and loyal and ambitious and not at all your average goody two-shoes hero

Ships and characters:

I ship Vortigern with just about anyone: Vortigern/Uther, Vortigern/Arthur, Vortigern/Catia, Vortigern/Mercia. Any of these ships would be great. Just Vortigern on his own being horrible would also be great. I also love Arthur and his buddies and his new knight friends a lot, so they're very welcome, too.

What I would like to see in fic:

• I love fic from Vortigern's POV because his self-delusion and all his justifications for why he does what he does are fascinating
• this fandom is made for creepy magic rituals, creepy fantasy creatures, deals with the devil siren, blood magic ... do what you want with that! magical rituals involving sex are cool, too, if you want to write that
• Vortigern/Uther: I'd love for Vortigern to have had an obsessive thing for Uther since they were young - whether it used to be all love that only slowly turned into jealousy and resentment or whether there was resentment from the start
• unrequited Vortigern/Uther would be interesting, but I'd also love to read about them having had a sexual relationship when they were younger and Uther eventually calling it off (maybe when he got married) and Vortigern being furious about it
• Vortigern and Uther do seem to disagree on more than a few things, so - hate sex, arguments leading to angry fucking on map tables, whether it's Vortigern taking his frustration out on Uther and Uther letting him (or not letting him), or Uther reaffirming his authority by making his unruly younger brother bend over or get to his knees ...
• canon divergence AU in which Vortigern captures Uther alive and *handwave* keeps him for some magic rituals to bind the sword to him: basically he keeps Uther locked up in a dungeon or in a nice, comfortable, but inescapable room ... to use him for weird blood magic, to flog orwhip him, to fuck him, to rant at him how much this is all Uther's fault for not loving him enough ...
• or something similar with Arthur: rather than executing him, Vortigern keeps him alive for *handwave* magical rituals to bind the sword to him. Either he forces him, or he makes Arthur cooperate by threatening to kill his friends otherwise.
• Vortigern/Arthur: a verse in which Vortigern captures young Arthur, basically raises him as his own son, teaches him to love him as much as Uther never did, and grooms him while he's at it (underage down to about fifteen is fine and even very welcome)
• generally Arthur as a replacement for Uther would be really hot - things like Vortigern loving any similarities in looks between them, or loving it when Arthur reminds him of Uther, or enjoying that he can get all the things from Arthur that Uther tried to deny him ...
• Vortigern/Catia: she's the only person he has left in the world and he's clearly incredibly protective of her. Maybe he doesn't want her to marry because then she'd be gone, too? Maybe he convinces himself that he'd be better for her than any other man? I'd love to see him getting increasingly inappropriate with her while still coming up with all kinds of deluded justifications for what he's doing. Dubcon preferred over outright noncon For this ship, too, underage down to about fifteen is fine and very welcome (some inappropriate touching/kissing before that works, too, but I'd rather not read about them actually fucking while she's younger than that).
• I'd love to know more about Vortigern and the Earl of Mercia's relationship, whether shippy or not: there's a LOT of loyalty there, and I'd love to see some exploration of where that came from. How long have they known each other? Were they always friends, or was there a point later on when Mercia decided he'd rather support Vortigern than Uther?
• for all of these prompts and ships, I'd rather not read about Vortigern getting what he probably deserves and dying/getting locked up - so please don't write about Arthur turning the tables on him or Uther finally escaping or Mercia betraying him or anything like that

Rivers of London
Thomas Nightingale, Peter Grant

Note: I've read all the books, including The Furthest Station. I haven't read the comics - I don't mind spoilers, but I'd rather not receive a fic that requires knowledge of comic events or includes comic-only characters.

What I like about this canon:

• Peter's narrative voice: his jokes, his pop culture references, his inability to talk or even think clearly about his own feelings, his dry humour, his admiration of Nightingale (for this canon I don't mind 1st person fic from Peter's POV)
• Nightingale: I adore everything about Nightingale. His loneliness and his sense of humour and his stoic devotion to his duty; how he's so set in his ways sometimes, but he still took Peter on as his apprentice; the fact that he can be a ridiculous show-off at times; how posh he is without being snobbish; the fact that he apparently has a history of befriending unusual people nobody expected him to befriend (Molly, Peter).
• Nightingale and Peter's relationship: Peter's hero worship without putting Nightingale on a pedestal, Nightingale's protectiveness and willingness to listen to Peter, the fact that they listen to and respect each other but aren't afraid of criticising each other, how well they complement each other, how very quickly they get used to each other because they live together
• the sense of history: the bits and pieces we know about the Folly's past, about Nightingale before the war, about Nightingale's friends and family, about what exactly happened during and right after the war
• the cases they work in canon: murder (or other crimes) with magic is fun; I also love pretty much all the other police characters we've met in canon, especially Seawoll

Ships and characters:

I ship Nightingale/Peter, and they're the two characters I find most interesting in the books. I also like Seawoll a lot, as well as Walid, Stephanopoulos, and Molly, and I'd be happy to see them appear in supporting roles. OCs are of course fine if you need them for casefic or for Nightingale's past, as long as the focus stays on Peter and Nightingale. I firmly headcanon Nightingale as gay, so please no het for him - if you don't want to write him as gay, I'd prefer if his sexual orientation just wasn't mentioned in the fic. I don't ship Nightingale/Mellenby. Past Nightingale/Seawoll could be interesting.
Please no Peter/Beverley or Peter/Lesley. I'd generally prefer if the Rivers didn't appear. Lesley appearing briefly is fine, but I'd rather the fic didn't focus on her.

What I would like to see in fic:

• any kind of getting together fic: pining and slow burn and UST and worrying about their working relationship or the power imbalance, and Peter maybe not being entirely comfortable with falling in love with a man? I'm always here for "first time with a guy" fics.
• developing relationship: if they do get together, how do they negotiate their private and their working relationship? Does it lead to any conflicts? Do they want the same things from a relationship? Is it immediately a relationship or does it initially start as ill-advised fucking after cases? Peter clearly has some commitment issues in canon, while I imagine Nightingale as someone who takes relationships very seriously, so that might not work out immediately.
• casefic: magical murder or theft, faeries, ghosts, demons, other wizards, supernatural creatures we haven't seen yet in canon, mind control, magical diseases, rare books or other magical items getting stolen or disappearing, someone breaking into the Folly ...
• any case that requires both Nightingale's and Peter's respective skills so they can only solve it by working together
• combining supernatural elements and modern technology - something like the Rivers but for the internet or the train system, magical cyber crime, industrialised magic, cyberpunk demons, hacker ghosts ...
• I'd love to know more about Nightingale's past: flashbacks, Nightingale telling Peter about previous cases (or about more private things), an old case coming back to haunt Nightingale ... Honestly, if you want to write me a fic about Nightingale's Indiana Jones adventures before the war, travelling through the Empire, meeting practitioners from other traditions, looking for cool magical artefacts or books, go for it - I wouldn't even mind Peter not appearing in the fic if you wrote something like that.
• anything domestic: Latin and magic lessons, midnight conversations when they both can't sleep, being there for each other, drinking together, going out for dinner together, Peter getting excited about things while Nightingale is exasperated and confused, or maybe Nightingale getting excited about something for once, playful banter, comfortable silences - just show me how easily they've become part of each other's lives and how good they are for each other
• hurt/comfort and protectiveness (in either direction, but I am always here for Nightingale kicking ass when someone threatens his apprentice)
• random AU idea: in which Peter was born in the early 20th century and becomes Nightingale's apprentice in the 1930s, to the rest of the Folly's dismay and shock, but Nightingale doesn't care because he likes Peter and The Nightingale can afford to do what he wants; anything with this would be great - how Peter became Nightingale's apprentice in this AU, Nightingale's friends being weirded out by his odd choice of an apprentice, them travelling the world together because that's what Nightingale did before the war, Peter being one of the few people left after the war (maybe his apprenticeship wasn't finished yet during the war?) ...
• even in canon (flashbacks? visions? dreams?) I'd love to see Peter somehow seeing or interacting with the pre-war Folly
• for porn: praise kink or dirty talk could be fun, suit porn definitely, or some light bondage; I could also see them getting a little competitive about making the other one lose it first, or teasing each other a lot. I usually imagine Peter having no previous sexual experiences with men and Nightingale teaching him a thing or two, but that's not a must if you want to write it differently. I'd also be up for something more kinky, espeeeecially anything D/s or spanking/caning-related. Nightingale was born in the 1900s ...
• speaking of which: I always love reminders of that - Nightingale having some (from a modern point of view) unusual opinions, Nightingale being weirded out by certain modern developments (and both liking some modern changes and disliking others), just anything that works as a reminder that he was born and raised in a different time and age. Even if it's only Nightingale stubbornly smoking one cigarette a day because he's been smoking all his life and Walid isn't going to make him give it up completely, thank you very much.

Crossover idea:

Feel free to ignore this if you don't know both canons or just don't like crossovers or hate this particular idea. I'd love to see a crossover between Rivers of London and Blitz. They're both canons about London coppers, so it'd be easy to have Nightingale and Peter and Brant and Nash meet on a case. Maybe Brant and Nash are trying to solve a murder that turns out to have a magical background. Brant would think Nightingale is the poshest snob he's ever met, Peter would hate Brant's obnoxiousness and violent tendencies, Nash would desperately try to get Brant to behave around the gentlemen who can do magic ... (and who knows, maybe Nightingale is into Brant, I'd be very amused by a Nightingale/Brant hookup ;)) A casefic in which these four have to work together and keep clashing with each other would be wonderful to read.



Welcome to the Punch
Max Lewinsky, Jacob Sternwood

What I like about this canon:

• enemies forced to work together is always good, especially when those enemies have history
• Max's obsession with Jake, and how he built up this whle image of what Sternwood is like in his head, and how that is challenged when he actually meets him in person
• the fact that Jake is mostly a pragmatist who doesn't actually enjoy hurting anyone, he just does what needs to be done
• the fairly open ending is basically asking for "what happens next" fic, right?
• I love action movies, I love Mark Strong, and I love James McAvoy, so there's that, too

Ships and characters:

I'm mostly interested in Max/Jake, though I think a lot of my prompts can also work for gen if that's more your thing. Feel free to include any other characters from the canon, if you like - I don't dislike any of them, although I'm also not particularly attached to them.

What I would like to see in fic:

• Jake feels like he owes Max after the ending of the movie and decides to break him out before they can ever put him on trial (the common fanon seems to be that he breaks him out of a prison van, but anything works). How does Max react? What do they do after that, where do they go?
• alternative version of that prompt: what if Jake can only break him out later and has to deal with a Max who just spent several (probably very unpleasant) months in prison? Feel free to go dark about what happened to Max in prison, violence and noncon included, although I'd prefer if he didn't get more permanent injuries and could (more or less) recover from what happened.
• if you want to skip the prison break itself: any plotty fic about them working together as private investigators maybe or even becoming partners in crime. Bonus if you deal with their conflicting principles, with Max refusing to cross certain lines, with Jake only being willing to compromise so much ... I generally imagine that, however things go, Max would have trouble adjusting to technically being a criminal on the run who has nobody left in his life but the man who ruined (and then saved) his life.
• if you want to write something darker, you could go for a fic in which Max really goes off the rails after having his life ripped to shreds. So he starts taking drugs or just overdoing his pain meds, or maybe he develops some serious anger management issues and constantly gets into fights, or he tries to push Jake away … I'd prefer a somewhat happy/hopeful ending though, with Jake helping him through his issues. Bonus if you include that Jake has his own issues to deal with after losing his son.
• vague father figure themes, considering their age difference and Jake losing his son. Especially if neither of them would ever acknowledge them.
• generally I love to see them help each other through what's a pretty grim time in both their lives; taking care of each other in slightly awkward ways, but also not tolerating each other's bullshit and telling each other to get the fuck over himself; protectiveness; us-against-the-world; not having anything left in the world but each other; sudden realisations that they went from grudging allies to friends/lovers
• any run-ins with people from their past could be interesting: acquaintances of Max's who can't believe he's on the run with a criminal (plus potential conflicts because that person could rat Max out to the cops, so what are Max and Jake going to do about them?) or old partners or enemies of Jake's who can't believe his new partner is a former cop.
• for porn: these two are just made for angry, desperate, rough sex with lots of biting and grabbing and pushing; but I'd also love to see something more tender as their relationship develops

And that's it! I hope that there's something in this letter that works for you, dear author, some trope you love to write or a prompt that inspires you. Happy Yuletide, and I hope you receive a wonderful gift fic yourself. :)

Thanks!
linndechir