Inshipping Letter

[linndechir]

Dear Inshipping Writer,

I just need to say first how happy I am that this exchange exists. :D I have so many incest ships, it's not even funny anymore. Apparently everything I touch turns into incest ... So I had some trouble narrowing this done and deciding which ships to request. I'm happy that you, dear author, ship at least one of these ships as well, and I hope that my letter will be somewhat helpful. My letters always get embarrassingly long (and I've copied and pasted a lot of stuff from other exchange letters), but that's just because I always figure it's better to give you a lot of stuff to choose from rather than just request two things and make you despair if you can't write those. So I obviously don't expect you to include every single thing I've mentioned in my letter; I don't even think that would be possible.

This letter has a few general likes and dislikes, an overly long list of tropes/kinks/themes I enjoy, and then some fandom- and pairing-specific sections. I hope that you'll find something you'll enjoy writing about in this letter. :)

I use the same name on AO3 and tumblr as here.



Things I like:

- I adore first time fics, but I also like established relationships a lot, I like porn as much as I like more subtle sexual tension, I like fluffier things and I like filthy smut. I also adore plotty fics in which a bunch of other things happen to my ship as well, so if writing fics that are exclusively romance and/or porn isn't your thing, that's fine by me. As long as my ship is, in one way or another, the focus of the fic, I'm happy.

- I also like: background stories about a character's past (especially if we didn't get to see that in canon), missing scenes from canon, plotty future/post-canon fics that explore where these characters are going, plotty what-if fics that explore what would have happened if a character had made a different choice, fics from a different POV than usual in canon, fics from an outside POV, fix-it fics in which people don't die …

- I would love to receive smut in my fic, although I'd rather not get a complete PWP. There is, however, no need to include porn if you don't like to write porn or if it just doesn't fit into your fic.

- I'm fine with dark themes (violence, depression, whatever you need for the plot, I have no particular triggers) and I enjoy angsty fics, but I'd prefer if my fic wasn't completely tragic. It doesn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows, but a bit of hope would be nice, and I'd rather my favourite characters/ships get a happy or semi-happy ending, even if they have to go through terrible things before they get it.

- since this is an incest exchange, this is probably a good place to mention that I'm all for kinking on the actual incest - people calling each other brother/father/dad/son etc. in bed, getting off on doing something forbidden/something people would judge them for, but also angsting/feeling guilty about it. I also really love the whole codependency aspect of incest ships - us-against-the-world, "nobody could ever love me like you do/nobody could ever love you like I do", "why would we want to be with anyone else when we have each other?" and so on.

- I'm perfectly fine with underage for pretty much all my ships. No extreme underage, but teenagers are fine, both for my parent/child ships and for my sibling ships.


Things I do not like:

- major character death, especially of my favourite characters, and completely tragic/dark endings

- crossovers, fusions and complete AUs (a bit of canon divergence is fine, but no high school AUs, coffee shop AUs etc.)

- please don't include any ships I didn't explicitly request (including canon ships) in my gift.

- genderbend fics of any kind, mpreg, A/B/O, characters being vampires/werewolves/anything but human (unless they already aren't human in canon, of course)

- I don't mind non-con in general, but please no non-con for my requested ships; I don't think it'd be IC for any of them.

- I have a major pet peeve for epithets like "the blond one said this", "the taller man did that", "the soldier replied". Please use people's names and pronouns.




Other tropes and kinks I like:

Again, there's absolutely no need to include any of these, but if they generally fit into your fic and if they're things that you like to write about, I would love it if you included any of the following themes/tropes/kinks:

Non-sexual:

- themes like loyalty, codependency, obsession, trust, and commitment issues
- characters dealing with moral dilemmas, having to question their principles, or simply wanting to do things they think they shouldn't be doing. This can be anything from "doing this would shake my entire worldview" to "maybe I shouldn't screw my son".
- intimacy, familiarity, people knowing about each other's everyday habits/hang-ups (especially in contrast to how nobody else knows them that well)
- difficulties to express feelings verbally and non-verbal expressions of affections
- age differences
- protectiveness/going ballistic when the other one is threatened
- hurt/comfort, taking care of each other
- sharing food/drinks/cigarettes/clothes

Sexual:

- clothes fetishisation (sex between a dressed and an undressed person; one of them having a thing for the other's clothes (tailored suits, uniforms, leather gloves/boots/jackets, silk shirts etc.); people dressing/undressing each other; someone casual cleans up nicely, someone who's always prim and proper looks dishevelled for once)
- asphyxiation/breathplay, touching/kissing/biting/petting the other's throat/neck, oversensitive necks, hickeys, marking
- characters losing control in bed (speechlessness, whimpering, moaning, shivering, begging)
- messiness (sweat, come play, dishevelled clothes, dishevelled hair, breathlessness etc.)
- first time sex (i.e. first time between the two characters; exploring each other's bodies, finding out slowly what the other one likes)
- small gestures of affection/casual touching/discreet PDA; accidental touching/stimulation
- seduction (sweet talking, dirty talk, teasing, eyefucking)
- sexual fantasies, daydreaming, masturbation, especially before the characters get together
- massages, backrubs, stroking the other's hair
- friction, frottage, intercrural (anal is fine, too, obviously)
- banter/teasing (during sex and otherwise)
- competence kink/admiration
- praise kink
- body worship, people being madly attracted to each other, getting distracted because they're staring at each other
- scars and their history
- hand fetish (strong/soft/rough/calloused/gentle hands, long fingers, handling guns/knives/cigarettes etc., kissing the other's wrists/fingers)
- beards and stubble (especially on people who are usually clean-shaven), beard burn on the other person's cheek/neck/thighs …
- voice/accent kink
- oral fixation (licking/biting one's lips, drinking from beer bottles, smoking)
- oral sex, rimming
- light bondage/restraints (pinning someone down, holding their wrists, holding their mouth shut with one hand, blindfolds, actually tying them up), D/s overtones (ordering the other to undress, to kneel, to hold still etc.)
- gun/knife play
- sex on tables/sofas/against walls etc. (sex in beds is great too)
- sleep-related themes (sharing a bed, falling asleep on the other's shoulder, waking the other, having dreams about each other, comforting the other after nightmares etc.)

About my fandoms:


The Fast and the Furious Movies
Owen Shaw/Deckard Shaw

So recently I watched Furious 7 because I love Jason Statham, expecting nothing but a fun action movie. Instead (or rather on top of the fun action movie) I got an awesome, terrifying, cool villain on a roaring rampage of revenge because someone dared to hurt his little brother, so of course I immediately shipped them. Went back to watch Fast & Furious 6 so I could meet the little brother before he was in a coma, and he didn't disappoint either, all meticulous and ruthless and with a not so well hidden sadistic streak. Those two just hit so many of my ship buttons: ruthless bad guys who would do anything for each other, who are all they have in the world and who don't give a damn about anyone else. But I figure their relationship is also pretty complex: they don't seem to work together all the time (since Owen has his well functioning little team while Deckard seems more the One Man Army type), so maybe they don't actually like working together all that much? Maybe their relationship is kinda tumultuous and they sometimes need time away from each other? Or maybe it's just a pragmatic decision and they actually hate being apart?

Another thing that fascinates me is that, according to the files we see in the movies, Deckard is eight years older than Owen. Meaning Owen was still a kid when Deckard joined the military and all but let him behind and could only visit a few times a year - was there resentment about that or not? (I'm oddly fond of bb!Owen all but demanding that Deckard kill their father if he's leaving, but if you want to go with something less obvious than an asshole father, that's fine by me, too.) I figure Owen must have had one hell of a case of hero worship, since he followed pretty much exactly in his brother's footsteps, while Deckard probably didn't take his little brother all that seriously at first. I'd love to see something about that, too, about Deckard realising that his little brother has grown up and is a bamf in his own right now (something like a first time fic set around the time that Owen joined the military would be great, for example).

Generally all kinds of first time scenarios would interest me for them. When did the incestuous obsession with each other start? When they were pretty young still? (Although I'd prefer that nothing sexual actually happened between them until Owen is 15ish, but I can definitely see teenage!Owen deciding to jump his brother, whether that goes well for him or not.) Or did that only happen once Owen was grown up and became more of an equal to Deckard rather than just his little brother? I could definitely see a lot of obsessive pining, stalking each other, watching each other fuck other people, getting jealous about the other fucking other people before they finally get past their hangups and get together. I can also definitely see them getting rough with each other, in bed and otherwise, especially if you go with a somewhat tumultuous interpretation of their relationship. (Things like Owen thinking his brother doesn't take him seriously?) I'd also be interested in how their relationship develops over all the years that they served together and then when they were both discharged - for that matter, how did that happen? Greed? Fuckups? Were they just a liability and their superiors tried to get rid of them? Did only one of them get kicked out of the Army and the other followed him into exile, or did they both get kicked out? How did they deal with the immediate aftermath of that?

And I would love a post-canon fic for these two. Assuming that Owen eventually wakes up from his coma (and however unrealistic that may be, I'd prefer if he wasn't permanently crippled or anything like that - it's an action movie, people get horribly injured without permanent damage all the time, right? scars are great, though) and Deckard somehow gets out of prison. I mean, how does that go? Does Deckard break out and get his brother out of hospital and helps him recover somewhere on a Caribbean island? In which case I could see Owen being massively frustrated that his recovery takes so long. Or does Owen get back on his feet and breaks his brother out? Do they go on another roaring rampage of revenge? Has almost losing each other changed their relationship compared to before? Did they maybe grow apart a bit prior to the movies and only become closer again afterwards?

Some general things I would love to see for this ship: protectiveness, possessiveness, jealousy, aggressive rough sex, completely obsessive incestuous codependency, being horrible people to everyone but each other, delighting in each other's horribleness, delighting in each other's badassery, sweaty rough sparring, gun/knife play ... Basically, you wanna go a bit fucked up and/or kinky? That's awesome. I'm even okay with them manipulating each other a little bit and even being a bit mean to each other at times, as long as they do truly love each other and don't do anything particularly bad to each other. So rough sex or brotherly fights and threats of "I will kill you if you ever let anyone else fuck you" are great, but no non-con or seriously hurting each other.





The Silmarillion
Fëanor/Fingolfin

And another messed up, complicated brother ship! There's just so much going on between them, so much resentment and anger and repressed love and grudging respect, it's a beautiful mess. Not to mention that they'd be an absolute force of nature if they ever reconciled, so I'm very intrigued by anything that explores moments during which they were NOT trying to kill each other. ;) I do think that, if anything, they would have had an easier time reconciling after Finwe's death (long term, not immediately after) because as long as Finwe was alive, he and Indis were a constant reminder of all the things that "ruined his family", from Feanor's point of view. I think with Finwe dead and Indis back in Valinor, it might have been easier for them to focus more on the things they have in common and work together. If Feanor hadn't died and all that. ;)

For side ships/characters: As mentioned below, I really love Fëanor's sons (all of them, and Amras is not dead), so if they appear as well in your fic, that's a bonus. (For that matter, I also ship all eight Fëanorians with each other, if you want to include any of that. I kind of ship Fëanor with a lot of people.) I like Fingon as well, although I'm not all that fond of Fingon/Maedhros.

A few prompts/ideas:
- I'm mostly interested in AUs in which Fëanor survives. Anything about him and Fingolfin meeting again once Fingolfin arrives in Middle-earth - the additional issues they'd have after the burning of the ships at Losgar, the fact that they'd both know at that point that they need to work together to fight Morgoth, how they'd somehow try to reconcile despite everything that's still between them. Ideally they'd manage to grow closer again, but you can make this however messy and complicated you like. They are both incredibly proud and stubborn.
- if that kind of AU is not your thing, I'm also good with any fic set during their time in Valinor. Their first time, or one of the rare times that they actually got along well and did something fun together and were relatively friendly to each other, or some time when they had a huge fight and snapped and snarled at each other and ended up having rough hate sex, or just anything set during your usual Finwean family madness.
- steampunk AU! I know I said I don't like AUs, but this is the one exception. Mostly ties in with my first prompt, though, because I do think that realistically, if Fëanor had lived, he would have invented a lot more than just swords and bows and arrows to fight Morgoth. So if you want to write steampunk elves in Middle-earth for me, I will love you forever.
- other than that: really anything that uses some of the tropes I listed at the beginning of this letter is great. First time fics? Perfect. Loyalty and trust issues? Great. Awkward hurt/comfort? Always. Inability to express their emotions properly, so they end up arguing or having sex in inappropriate places or snapping pointlessly at each other? Yes please. Slowly growing intimacy? Yessss. Outside POVs? Also yes.

Fëanor/Amras/Amrod
Fëanor/Celegorm/Curufin
Fëanor/Maedhros

I'm grouping those three ships together because, if I'm quite honest, I mostly ship the Feanorian OT8 in every possible combination and I just picked some of the many nominated combos that I find particularly interesting. But if you want to write any other combination of Feanor and his sons, or include a few more brothers in one of the ships I requested, or even write actual OT8 fic - that'd all be perfect. Although I would prefer if Feanor himself was involved, so not only his boys. In general, no matter which characters you end up writing about, it'd be nice if the OT8 existed somewhere in the background, or if you at least kept the possibility of it existing open (okay, that sounds convoluted, what I mean is: please don't write about Feanor sleeping with two of his sons and talking about how the other five don't get to participate because he's not into them).

Like I said above, I am ALL for Feanor Lives AUs. In this case, maybe you could focus on his recovery, if he got injured fighting against a bunch of balrogs? Or look at his possible reconciliation with Fingolfin from his sons' point of view? What about scheming, politicking Feanorians? If you go with something a bit steampunky, what about Curufin and Feanor tinkering away to build new weapons? More pairing-specific, I would absolutely adore a fic in which Feanor and Maedhros help each other with their recovery, or just Feanor helping Maedhros recover after Thangorodrim - taking care of him, pampering him, cleaning his wounds, but also helping him recover some sense of self and self-value at a time when Maedhros probably felt like he was a broken wreck  that would have been better off dead. If you somehow include his other brothers in the recovery process, all the better. I think this'd be especially interesting since Maedhros is the eldest brother and probably had a hand in raising his brothers, so in a way Maedhros being the one getting taken care of would be turning that initial situation around.

I also generally love fics exploring how much Feanor loves each and every single one of his sons in different ways. How he helps them with their interest when they were little (or even when they are older), how he deals with them when they're sad or upset, how they behave towards him in various situations. If you feel like writing porn, I would also love to see a fic that explores how Feanor behaves differently in bed with each and every one of his sons - what they're into, any specific preferences or kinks, who tops/bottoms ... I headcanon Feanor as someone who's pretty flexible in bed and pretty open to various things his partners are into. And I'm convinced that Feanor adores all his sons and that they adore him, so any fic that shows that would be amazing. Whether it's set in Valinor or in Middle-earth in a Feanor Lives AU.

For Feanor/Amras/Amrod, if you want to write that specific threesome, I would love to see both Ambarussa ganging up on their father. I'm not saying DP, no wait, I'm totally saying DP. Maybe taking his mind off things when he's brooding, making him feel good. But if you'd like to write a less carefree version of Amrod and Amras, especially in Middle-earth, I can definitely see that, too. Maybe Feanor taking care of them after a battle, something like that? I also like Feanor being the only one who never ever gets them mixed up. As long as you don't have Amras dying at Losgar, we're all good.

For Feanor/Celegorm/Curufin, if you want to go with that, I'd be really intrigued in their dynamics. Curufin as Feanor's more or less favourite son, Celegorm and Curufin as each other's favourite brothers, Curufin and Feanor with their all but identical interests while Celegorm is more the outdoorsy hunter ... how do the three of them interact when it's just them? At any point, in Valinor, in Middle-earth, whenever. If you want to have them scheming and plotting all together, that's great, too.

In general: I don't really see any of the Feanorians feeling particularly guilty about their incestuous relationship because to them it's just who they are, even if everyone else in their society would think they've lost their minds.  So please not too much angst in that department (unlike with Feanor/Fingolfin, I'm pretty sure Fingolfin angsts about that). I'm also more than okay with underage for my Silm ships. I doubt that elves only get interested in sex when they officially reach maturity at 80, and I doubt age would matter much to any one of them. So as long as everyone is happy about it and everything is consensual, I don't care if they're technically underage.
I prefer the characters' Quenya names, especially for dialogues (since there's no good reason why the Feanorians would call each other by their Sindarin names). I don't mind the Sindarin names in the narration, though.
Again, I don't really ship Fingon/Maedhros, so please don't include that ship. I generally don't ship the Feanorians with anyone but each other, except for Feanor/Fingolfin.





The Raven Cycle
Declan Lynch/Ronan Lynch

And here we go for complicated brother relationship number three! ;D Any fic that explores how much these two still care about each other, but are completely incapable of expressing it in sensible ways or dealing with their bottled up issues would be great. I generally find Declan very interesting and would love to see something about this relationship that's also sympathetic to his point of view, not only Ronan's. He may be an ass and he has certain control freak tendencies, but he does genuinely care about his family and try his best in a tough situation to take care of them. Can be more on the level of complicated, uncomfortable UST (as long as they're both aware of it being UST), but I'd also be interested in a fic in which they actually act on it, either before or after Niall's death. If you want to combine this in any way with Ronan/Niall or even Declan/Niall (which I didn't request, but I'd be more than okay with it in the background, as long as it's consensual, too), go ahead. For the record, I also ship Ronan/Gansey, if you want to include that somewhere on the sidelines, while Ronan/Adam is kind of my NOTP in this fandom, so please none of that.

A few ideas:
- anything about how their relationship changed with Niall's death. How close were they before? Was Declan ever bitter about Ronan being Niall's favourite? Or were they especially close since Niall was often gone for a long time? Canon does, after all, include a line about how they "stopped being friends" after Niall's death. Also, in which regards do they maybe remind each other of their father after his death? I can imagine that especially Ronan would hate those moments when Declan looks or sounds or behaves like Niall.
- something dealing with Declan's own grief for his father and how he kind of bottled it up because he felt like he had to take care of his family instead of feeling sorry for himself; maybe combined with some bitterness about Ronan behaving like he's the only one who lost someone
- if you can get them to make up in any way, even a little bit, that would be beautiful.
- once they can return to the Barns, I'd love to see Declan actually going there. To reminisce, to get old family pictures, to see his mother if she's still there ... and if Ronan happens to be there, well. Go from there.
- I'd love to see either of them getting protective about the other (because only a Lynch can beat up a Lynch, right?)
- quick, guilty, shameful, we'll-never-talk-about-this sex of any kind with desperate clinging to each other before they go back to not being able to have a civilised conversation
- I'd love to see a fic set after Gansey's death, with Declan trying to be there for Ronan and Ronan probably not being very good at accepting his help. Or maybe he would actually grow closer to Declan again? I'd prefer if Gansey eventually came back to life somehow, but you don't have to include that explicitly in your fic.

Oh, and Niall is my one exception to the "please no character death" rule. His death is just so central to who Ronan is that I don't mind fics exploring that, especially if you write about how Declan and Ronan both deal with it.

Niall Lynch/Ronan Lynch

I'm super interested in Niall's relationship with Ronan (if you can build in his relationship with Declan on the side, all the better) - how much did he tell/teach Ronan about his dreaming abilities? He must have been rather secretive considering how little Ronan seems to know about them. And how does the whole religious angle play into that? Because I'm pretty sure Ronan wouldn't be so incredibly Catholic if his father hadn't been as well. So how exactly did Niall Lynch raise his boys, what did he tell them, what did he teach them?

I'm having a harder time coming up with prompts for this ship, not because I want it any less than the other ships, but because I'm really here for anything (as long as it's consensual and mostly happy for everyone involved; I don't like interpretations of Niall as abusive). Weird codependent father-and-his-favourite-son stuff? Freaky dream sex in shared dreams? Ronan seeing Niall in his dreams again after Niall's death? Like with Declan/Ronan, I'd be good with complicated UST or with something more explicit. I'm really open to most things for this ship, so surprise me. And again, if you want to combine this ship with one of my other ships for Ronan, that'd also be welcome. Also, I'm all for daddy kink with these two, or more general praise kink.

Niall Lynch/Ronan Lynch/Richard Gansey III

I nominated this ship on a whim and I have no idea if anyone will even offer it, but I find the idea interesting. Lynchcest is obviously my thing and Ronan/Gansey is my favourite Raven Cycle ship, so I thought, why not combine the two somehow? I'd imagine that Niall and Gansey got along great when Ronan first brought Gansey home, and Gansey does seem to be really fascinated by Niall. So I'd love to see anything developing from that, from the beginning friendship/relationship between Ronan and Gansey on the one hand and Niall and Ronan's super intense relationship on the other. Gansey somehow stumbling in on Niall/Ronan? Niall deciding to seduce the boy his son has a crush on and all but dump him in Ronan's lap? Weird complicated UST situations? Niall being a seductive, irresistible force of nature? Messed up wet dreams that leave everyone feeling very horny and very guilty? Messed up wet magic dreams maybe even? If you want to throw Declan into the mix as well, be my guest.

This wasn't very helpful, sorry about that. I'm just intrigued by the concept, and if you feel like writing something for it, I'd love to read it either way.





Pacific Rim
Herc Hansen/Chuck Hansen

One of my absolute favourite father/son ships. :D I was pretty active in the fandom and wrote/read quite a bit of fic for this ship right after the movie came out, but it's been a while since then and I haven't read or written any fic about them recently. However, I'm still utterly in love with this ship and I thought this exchange would be a great opportunity to rekindle that love. Like with some of my other ships, what really fascinates me about them is how layered and complicated their relationship is: so much anger and resentment, so many bottled up issues they can't really talk about, but they still love each other so much and don't really have anyone else in the world. And the drift, having to be in each other's head on a regular basis, just makes that whole mixture more complicated and more explosive.

I love any get together/first time fics for them, especially with themes like ghost drifting, the drift leading to inappropriate sexual feelings, both of them trying to be in denial about it and failing spectacularly, angry tension-filled sparring, Herc feeling guilty as hell for lusting after his son (in addition to all the other things he already feels guilty about, mind you), Chuck eventually jumping him because he wants and needs him and the only way those two can express their feelings properly is by fighting or fucking. I'm pretty fond of virgin!Chuck who's never been with anyone but Herc, but I also like Chuck starting to screw around with guys who kinda look like Herc to make Herc jealous.

Post-canon fics, in which Chuck lives, obviously, would also be really interesting. It'd be interesting to see how their relationship develops when they suddenly stop drifting after years, when they aren't fighting together anymore and somehow have to get used to a civilian life - which Chuck has never really known. Feel free to make this kinda angsty and dark and complicated, as long as there's at least a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Even if that light is the kaiju coming back and Herc and Chuck going back to piloting together and just being so relieved they can drift again. (Maybe Herc stole some equipment so they can still drift during their retirement, even without a Jaeger.)

This ship is also great for filthy, kinky porn, if you want to include that kind of thing. Daddy kink and praise kink and lots of D/s and just about anything I listed in the trope/kink list at the beginning of the letter.

Just one thing, I really don't ship Chuck/Raleigh, so please don't include that popular fanon of "teenage!Chuck had a crush on Raleigh and/or Yancy and that's why he's mean to him". Not my cup of tea. And I'm not really interested in AUs in which they aren't Jaeger pilots or don't pilot together or anything like that; except for Chuck's death, I'd prefer something mostly canon-compliant.
But I do like past Herc/Scott, before things went to shit with Scott, so you can include mentions of that, if you like, especially if it leads to some more angst and guilt on Herc's part. ;)



Aaaaand I think now I've rambled enough. I guess I'm just really excited about this exchange and about all of these ships and the prospect of getting fic for any of them. I hope my letter gave you an idea or two and that there's something in all this rambling that you'll have fun writing.

Thanks!
linndechir