subjunctive

My dear writer, hello! Thank you for writing for me, and for having a bang-up taste in canons. I'm listing a mix of likes and prompts for my requests, but honestly, mostly I'm looking forward to your delight in the story you want to tell - go wild, and happy tide <3

For the reference, I'm egelantier and egelantier. Also for the reference: I'm definitely open to treats!

Likes

• hurt/comfort! all kinds, all flavors, physical, emotional, both, go for it. i prefer the whippings and crucifixions and dungeon rescues more then light colds and mild mishaps end of spectrum, but that's about it.
• loyalty, from formal (oaths, queens and knights, kneeling, bonds) to informal (family ties, friend ties, us-against-the-world, i-will-do-anything-for-you stuff)
• hope in the end of the tunnel, hope found in people and ties and doing the work together
• delicate glass canon characters showing off their cores of steel in extremis
• devoted caretaking without infantilization, bodyguards and carers and loyal retainers and so on
• weirdos banging together
• rebuilding the world-city-hamlet-house from scratch after the catastrophe
• characters stoically reflecting on how they're needed but not loved and it's absolutely okay, while actually being so loved
• nature as a living part of the story
• religious characters actually practicing their religion in a way that impacts their lives (this is mostly geared at fantasy religious, but if you know what you're talking about in terms of real world religion, go nuts)
• peaceful post-apocalyptic cities overtaken by grass and dandelions
• picaresques set in canons with colorful worldbuilding
• grounded, highly specific descriptions of doing things: if A&B are running that coffeehouse, do tell me where they buy their coffee and who chose their coffee machine and why and what went into their design decisions
• competence porn
• high concept AUs (fantasy, pirates, monks and nuns, space opera, history, and so on.)
• arranged marriages! or old-fashioned slavefics

Do Not Wants

• non-canon major character death (canon is fine unless i'm actively specifying I want a fix-it; presumed dead or died but came back are OK)
• rape/non-con
• PWP (I enjoy porny parts of the fics, especially if it's bdsm-flavored, but i'd rather it not be the main drive of the story)
• grimdark of there's no hope and there was no point even in trying and being kind is stupid and pointless variety
• unhappy endings
• infidelity and/or partner betrayal of any kind
• omegaverse, hanahaki, assigned soulmates
• modern gender/identity/neurodiversity terms when it's ahistorical or goes against worldbuilding (a character can be an autistic aromantic genderqueer bisexual in a polycule just fine, gimme, they'd just most likely not be called that)

requests and prompts

Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly

Abishag Shaw, Livia Levesque

I deeply enjoy Shaw and his aw-shucks schtick and his deadly competence and his understated but deep loyalty to Ben and his family, and how carefully and mindfully and wholeheartedly he's ready to step over the racial divide between them. He's an unutterably lonely character, without roots or family of community of his own, and while he can't quite join Ben's, it's pretty obvious that they're one of the main sources of light in his life. Also he hurts very prettily and I love it for him.

And on the other side there's Livia, a deeply horrible woman who also was so deeply horribly done by you can't help but see where she's coming from - and I imagine she's lonely, too, after a lifetime of one selfish choice after another, all taken in the search of that elusive safety... She keeps shoring her walls up, and I think she nevertheless knows very well that's she might be building on the time. She fascinates me! And one got to admit, if you don't have to, like, deal with her, mama Levesque just slaps as a character, and her wit and her memory are sharp and awesome.

So. Those two probably won't be caught dead in one room together in a normal situation... but there's got to be something that will get them working as a team - most likely really bad danger to Ben, or maybe a mystery so tasty to Livia that she can't pass up the chance to get into it. (Ben can be an entirely offscreen character if needed, or play a vital part). Or something else! They're going to be the worst team ever, but also they're going to be an absolutely terrifying unstoppable force if they work in tandem. Yes please.

Winter's Orbit - Everina Maxwell

Kiem Tegnar

Look, I just really like Kiem. He reminds me of Freddy from Heyer's Cotillion - not necessarily the smartest person in any room, but his EQ is par excellence and his kindness is all the charts. I love that he's kind despite pretty much nothing in his upbringing or surroundings wants him to be kind, I love that he's Determined and Brave and Decent without getting on a high horse about it, I love that he's so invested into treating people around him like people, and that it never occurs to him to use or abuse. I love that he's been exiled to a monastery, and that he's a world-class meditator! And I sense that underneath all that healthy altruism his self-esteem issues run as deep and as complicated as Jainan's are, if maybe in a different direction.

So! Give me post-canon Kiem please, give me him finding his legs, or Jainan learning more about him as their marriage grows, or Jainan and Bel teaming up for some Kiem-centric issue. Or just some good old whump. Or Kiem dealing with his job or his charities or with politics, and slowly learning to be consciously unstoppable about it. Give him a chance to discover himself competent and complicated, and let me revel in it.

The Foundling - Georgette Heyer

Gideon Ware, Adolphus "Gilly" Ware

Your honor, those guys are in love! I love that Foundling is essentially a bildungsroman instead of a standard romance, and I love that Gilly goes on to have his big adventure, and Gideon has the faith in him to let him handle it - up to a point where Gilly does need his help, and then he drops everything and rushes to his rescue. I love the undercurrent of tension relating to titles/inheritance issues, and how Gideon's own father shortly suspects him of killing Gilly for the title... and how much it makes Gideon angry. I love how Gideon is slow and methodical and Gilly is kind and bright and yet surprisingly competent, and I imagine they share a pretty wicked sense of humor between them.

So... give me more! Post-canon, getting together, figuring it out, more Shenanigans, mutual rescues; fantasy AU (Gilly as a prince in trouble and Gideon as his heir apparent? fleeing from the coup? hm); all kinds of AUs, actually, i think it's interesting how this tension might play out in a different setting. Or, yes, some good fashioned whump. For one of them or for both of them! Let Gilly see how much Gideon cares, let Gideon has a front row seats to how unhinged Gilly can be when he's putting his back into it. Let them have some high-stakes fun.

역대급 영지 설계사 | The Greatest Estate Developer (Webcomic)

Kim Suho | Lloyd Frontera, Javier Asrahan, Alicia Magentano

Okay, so I adore how off the wall insane Kim Suho is, and yet how competent, and how both Javier and Alicia are so so so into it, at this point without reserve or holding back - all the while being open to how ridiculous his antics are. I love the complete lack of hinges in this trio, on all sides, and I love the tension between all that devotion and excitement flying in all directions... All the while Kim Suho keeps laughably underestimating how important he is to both Javier and Alicia, how much they're willing to do for him, and how much they love him. He's still stuck in his self-image of an impostor, and I think he's on some level pretty sure his value is solely in his use, for all his bluster and self-aggrandizement, and that's like catnip to me.

So! I'm caught up to the current state of canon and while canon-wise it's interesting, I just want like... see Alicia put a ring on it, and of course get Javier on board, and then see how poor Kim Suho manages to be a king-consort and how much insanity it will wrought and whether or not Alicia and Javier combined can hammer into his head that no, he IS loved and appreciated and seen. Even when he's not trying to work himself to death trying to fix yet another Situation (on a more serious note, I'm super intrigued by the idea of him laid low and unable to do shit - we know from canon that he self-isolates when depressive, and self-isolates in general, but what if they won't let him?).

Anyway. Yes. Whump is a plus, construction nerdery is a plus, administrivia is a plus, Alicia imparting some of the relationship wisdom with a healthy dose of BDSM is beyond a plus.

The Rising World Series - Martha Wells

Bashasa Calis, Kaiisteron

This pairing (romantic or platonic) essentially contains everything I love in a nice fictional relationship in a single package: overcompetence, utter devotion, mutual protectiveness and care, Kai imprinting on Bashasa for that first real spark of hope and then just never ever letting go, Bashasa taking constant and personal care of Kai - both his well-being and his dignity (I think the moment when Kai went from 'oh cool' to 'oh no I'm done for' was when he realized Bashasa made sure to take Enna's body from the Summer Halls.)

And on the other hand there's this undercurrent of tension with Bashasa's alcoholic coping strategies, and constant inability to truly protect each other - either from the war they're waging or from the complexities of establishing the peace afterward; and, of course, Kai having to see Bashasa grow old and die...

Anyway yes. Canon is tantalizing but there's just not enough of those two! Gimme skirmishes, gimme politicking and cultural shock, gimme epistolary bewilderment and outside POV of their contemporaries, gimme mutual hurt/comfort, gimme on-the-run-together, give me them giving some bodily, worshipful care to each other, just really dig into it. Any other character is welcome in the mix (aside from Zeide and Tehren I'm tickled pink by Kai's cadre and the sheer concept of it, I love them, give me them). I'm still finishing the Witch King but it's definitely going to be finished before Yule rolls around, so post-canon, mid-canon, sideways from the canon, all is good for me. Divergence or fusion AUs are fun too (they would do really well in a nice old-school slavefic or an arranged marriage fic, you know?)

And that's it! Thank you for writing for me, and I hope you enjoy yourself; I can't wait.