runespoor | Dear Yuletide Writer 2021 (Reply)

I'm Runespoor on Ao3 and I want to thank you for writing a story for me.

Likes:
• friends-to-enemies-to-it’s-complicated
• m u t u a l p i n i n g
• slow burn, including the version where sex happens before anyone admits to feelings
• denial
• angst with a happy ending
• putting characters through the wringer with a happy ending
• intense relationships: codependency, relationships that straddle the line between “&” and “/”, being scared of how you feel for this person because it’s giving them too much power, being greater together than apart, being awfuller together than apart, “I would do terrible/amazing things for you” and "I have done terrible things to you"

• hopeful endings
• aftermathes, consequences, atonement, picking-up-the-pieces, rebuilding

• fraught communication: double or triple meanings (on purpose or accidental), tokens as reminders/code, carefully avoiding outright lying, brazen lying, putting on a scene for the gallery, characters saying the most cruel thing, things left unsaid, things pointedly left unsaid, dancing around issues, declarations of love/hate
• emotional showdowns: understated ones, big dramatic ones after a dramatic scene, public denial, private denials, displays of support, magical curses that force you to speak the truth (and the aftermath), using the truth like a weapon
• performative relationships that don’t reflect exactly the private truth of the relationship
• transactional relationships: characters who are together because each has something the other want

• a willingness to use oneself, one’s loved ones, or the love between you to achieve your goals
• the emotional cost of the above, especially in pining, denial, and sense memory after you get blood on your hands
• betrayal and loyalty: your loved ones for your ideals, your ideals for your loved ones, your morality for your ambition, your ambition for the greater good… including the opposite way you thought you were going to choose; compromising between the two while knowing you might not if it were someone else; a character concealing the fact they didn't betray someone the way one might expect they'd conceal a betrayal
• explicitly making exceptions or refusing to make exceptions for your loved ones
• when characters are truly in love and agree after angsting that this love isn’t the most important thing to them, and the fact that they agree about it is one of the reasons they’re in love

• idealists: ruthless idealists, idealists who reject ruthlessness at every turn, people whose only ideals are their devotion to another person, believers in realpolitiks, people who are very angry at discovering they have ideals, people on the run talking about what kind of a world they want, talking about the cost/limits of idealism/pragmatism
• politics: lawmaking, every day urban planning, negotiations, intrigue, alliances, etc!
• stories about ruling: rulers who want to fix their country, starting with building a hospital/passing a law banning child labour/studying how they’re going to beat the famine this winter, what kind of difficulties they face, how they deal with them, how they address the misgivings (both legitimate and not!) of their opponents, etc, with as many details as you can put in

• little details that add to the world-building: traditions, celebrations, the kind of food, etc.
• imagery, local color, a sense of place and atmosphere – traditions, celebrations, passing seasons, the color and shape of buildings and streets, what kind of people live there, how the city changes between day and night. The contrast between the overarching stakes and the mundane (we’re saving the world but we still need to buy food) and the mention of one when you’re dealing with the other.

• travels to the center of the mind/inside someone's dreams to save them (Eurydice plot with "inside their own mind/nightmares" as "the underworld" = A++)

• outsider PoV
• resentment, nostalgia, love
• a contrast between personal life being rocky/angsty and professional/occupational life being a success (still rocky obstacles to be surmounted, but no-one can look at the proceedings/results and think "this person is a disaster," and yet)
• semi-sentient objects, especially places, especially canonical places

Dislikes:
• Christmas fics
• different setting AU
• A/B/O
• a fic that's nothing but fluff (schmoop, WAFF, slice-of-life where people have a nice day and the focus is on that, comfort fic)
• babies/children fic, wedding fic, proposal fic
• non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time)
• bleak, banal unhappiness
• unrequested non-canonical pairings (background canon pairings are fine), unless otherwise stated
• kink-wise: pet-play, voyeurism, being caught in the act, language kink (by which I mean "speaking a foreign language as a kink"), daddy kink, TPE, gags, toys.
• shovel talks
• I have a bit of an embarrassment squick
• I cannot think it would be relevant, but the specifics of this past couple of years (politics, covid etc)

smut-wise, if you're doing Yuleporn:

i like dirty talk, humiliation (including breeding kink as a threat), orgasm delay, begging/desperation, wall sex, rough sex, antagonistic sex, holding down/pinning down, manhandling, overstimulation, tears, oral or vaginal fingering, blowjobs, comeplay, riding, penetrative sex (+two-in-one, +spitroasting), nipple play, sex that is obviously a terrible idea but is so good, under-negotiated kink, fuck-or-die, a need for secrecy/~forbidden relationships~, infidelity rp, "I could do anything to you right now and you would let me", “you fucking bastaah yes just like that”, the more experienced/less vulnerable partner being surprised by the other/not being in control (switching/powerbottoming/turning the tables), gentle sex as a powerplay, gentle sex as an admission you're not ready to make, the inherent intrigue of banging a royal (rounding back to "political favors" and "breeding kink")

i don't like formalized kink, safewords in contexts where “no” would work, sex where someone is in total control, spanking, TPE, daddy or mommy kink, pet-play, voyeurism unless planned by the person(s) being watched, being caught in the act, public sex, non-con where someone isn’t enjoying themselves, omegaverse

Folk of the Air
characters: Jude; Cardan; Madoc; Taryn
you can choose to write only a subset of these characters, as detailed below: you don’t need to include them all

DNW: PWP, fluff, curtain fic, major permanent character death, setting change, non-con, shovel talks, mariage/proposal/pregnancy except as fitting their use in canon (I wouldn't enjoy reading about happy, romantic mariage preparations, but fake-marrying or marrying for political gain is fine), non-canonical pregnancies, pregnancy and/or children.

I love the characters, and the intense, layered relationships between them, and I love Faerie and its politics. I love Jude! I love angry girls intent on survival with precious little room for morality (but who do turn out to have morals despite everything - the parallel/contrast between Jude and Taryn ), and Cardan is such a wonderful Trash Fave. I adore Madoc's complex character and the relationship with his daughter-figures. (I was rec'ed Folk of the Air because of Madoc, and he's indeed one of my favorite parts of the book)

Here’s a few prompts:

Jude/Cardan: a canon divergence AU where the set-up of mid-book two lasts longer. I love the “enemies having sex as they run the court, it’s more complicated than that but they don’t really trust one another” setting and basically I would love more of that. Intrigue and we-shouldn’t-but-we-totally-do. Slow-burn hatred that's a bit more complicated than hatred and politics. I live for this shit. I would have read three more novels of this.

if there's a canon-divergence you want to write, go for it! I love canon-divergence.

Madoc post-canon, taking over that apartment building (I would prefer if there were cameos from other characters, either from the tagset or not, especially Vivienne), because "exiled Fae general becomes the incognito neighbor of perfectly normal humans" sounds hilarious, does he recruit ppl, what do the neighbours make of him and his wife, are there kids who adopt him because he'll teach how to swordfight; maybe deciding or not to try and take back the crown?

something focused/showcasing the complicated relationship between he and his daughter and his daughter's sisters. The relationship between him and the girls was the first thing that made me fall of this series and I would love to read more of that. How does his relationship with Taryn go post-canon, does he respect her more or feel like he understands her better? How does Taryn feel about being Madoc's focus for once? His relationship with Jude? Does Jude get letters? Are Jude and Cardan expected to show up for family dinner once a month?

canon-divergence during the first or second book where Jude is Unavailable for a while (....magical coma???) and Taryn and Cardan must team up to have Taryn play Jude's part because of reasons! or canon-divergence AU where things go a little less fast all the time and Taryn and Jude and Cardan play politics at court and Taryn gets to side-eye her sister's life-choices and also side-eye Cardan because really and they're allies? maybe?

any post-canon with Unexpected Problems, either political or magical. Negotiating an alliance? Maybe there's Unexpected Magical Problems after the shenanigans of the third tome (maybe Jude becoming queen or Cardan becoming a giant snake has negative consequences on their health and they need a cure)!

I’m waiving the dnw about setting change for the purpose of saying, if you wanted to add the Homestuck quadrants to this series, I,,,,, would not be in any way opposed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “Jude/Cardan and quadrants” has been living in my brain rent free for two years now...... (for the purpose of this prompt you can ignore the DNW about unrequested non-canonical pairings, because quadrants are more fun when you can mention other things, even if they're past or unrequited.)

Yuleporn commment incoming

The Locked Tomb
characters: Ianthe; Coronabeth

DNW: Christmas, fluff, PWP, setting changes.

Basically I zeroed in on Coronabeth Not Dealing Well with her sister not killing her as if it was a sign that Ianthe doesn't care about her, and I would just like more of the totally messed-up codependent relationship between these two.

(i vigorously approve of messed-up Coronabeth/Ianthe, consummated or not)

Here's a few prompts:

give me all the fucked-up/incestuous One Flesh, One End thoughts/flashbacks, did one of them ever promise it to the other???

Corona's Jody feelings vs Corona's Ianthe feelings, fight. (relatedly does Ianthe think Corona is doing... what, exactly?)

Ianthe Has A Plan to replace Jod, actually. Corona's opinion on it is up to you.

Ianthe successfully replaced Jod and is now hunting Corona (dreambubbles???) and if Corona/Judith happen in this one i would be happy

Magical Diary

characters: any [Damien Ramsey; Mary Sue; Gary Stu; William Danson]

DNW: Christmas fic, fluff, language kink, pre-canon, non-con (the kind where someone isn’t having a good time; dubcon where everyone is having a good time/~wants~ it despite reservations is fine, no-means-yes is fine. except William, William doesn’t dubcon people.), permanent major character death, setting change, torture, marriage except for magical/political gain, pregnancy, bleak/banal unhappiness, voyeurism unless the people being watched are doing it on purpose as part of a seduction process, the jealous kind of possessiveness, amnesia, body switching, unrequested non-canonical pairings, if you include both Mary and Gary: please go with Horse Hall canon (Gary was in Illyria).

post-canon SECRET RELATIONSHIP! (Mary Sue/Damien, Gary Stu/William where William goes to work in Illyria maybe, Gary Stu/Damien). Mary and Damien seducing one another, Gary seducing William. Damien or William trying to fit in Illyria, Mary balancing Horse Hall and Damien and sneaking around to meet him, Gary not telling his parents about William, all that good stuff. (do the Dansons know.)
If you wrote Damien/Gary, I wouuuuuld prefer if you found a way not to have them actually go through the soul ritual? Maybe Gary can be subtly warning people off on the down-low. Maybe Damien gets distracted playing with Gary. If you know you love to write dark corruption stories, go for it, though.

futurefic OT3 (or OT4) get-together! Mary Sue and Damien end up ~seducing William (maybe in the world where she lost her powers, and William's on the right side of the law, but compromises more and more until he's working with them from inside the system; or in a good-end world, Mary Sue and Damien are trying to convince William Damien is totally on level, legally speaking, now - and maybe it's true, legally speaking - and they ~seduce him); something about Damien politicking to reconquer his throne (for some reason the soul ritual isn't gonna work), does he get help from Gary and Illyria, is William a diplomatic contact? years-post-Horse Hall OT4 where Damien/Mary, on the run, go for Illyria for research, and there they find dear William, who's very close to the Illyrian crown prince… (it doesn't need to end in an OT4, I just think the set-up has potential)

"William meets one of them/more of them years later through work, how does it go" can be liberally applied and mixed-and-matched.

in a world where neither Damien nor William dated a PC, they get back together! (maybe it starts with hate-sex! maybe it's surprisingly rom-com-y! maybe it's years down the line! maybe it's a canon-divergence of their last year!)

futurefic mixing the light and the dark: Mary Sue is an up-and-coming Otherworld agent and still dating Damien and so long as he doesn't perform soul rituals in her living room it's not her jurisdiction. (and maybe she's tempted to sell him out for a guaranteed promotion, or maybe he proposes to her because Magical Inheritance Reasons, and they give each other's tips, and presumably the sex is great.)

waiving the setting change dnw here to say that,,,, if you wanted to add Homestuck quadrants,,,,,,,, the quadrant-flipping and quadrant-confusion in these relationships,,,,,, or if you literally want to write a Homestuck AU I'm here for it too. (for the purpose of this prompt you can ignore the DNW about unrequested non-canonical pairings except Grabiner/Mary or Grabiner/Gary, because quadrants are more fun when you can mention other things, even if they're past or unrequited.)

if there's a canon-divergence messed-up fic on one of these ships you've always wanted to write, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE. (Gary seducing William but fucking Damien on the side? the Mary Sue equivalent? Go go go.)

commment at Yuleporn incoming

Scholomance [SPOILERS FOR THE LAST GRADUATE]

characters: Aadhya; Galadriel “El” Higgins; Orion Lake

DNW: explicit smut, marriage/proposal/pregnancy, fic focused on fluff/waffiness, non-con/dub-con (except for external, "magic made them do it" type of causes), fluffy established relationship, major permanent character death, setting changes, pet-centric fics, shovel talks, body-switching, age regression

after The Last Graduate, El looking for Orion... (maybe Aadhya is there! maybe they kiss! maybe when El finds Orion he's gone dark!!!)

remember El fake-dating Orion for social capital in A Deadly Education? That (that she ends up not using right, i love her so much) is PEAK my jam and i would read so much more of it if you want to canon-diverge.

the post-canon one where Orion has become the Dark Lord and El stands against him and possibly hates that the prophecy was misunderstood (because of course it would be) or useless (because of course it would be), and it would be so much easier to just join him and be by his side? or something along those lines, I just think “Orion goes dark and El really doesn’t” has potential I’d love to see explored! Maybe El and Aadhya fall into each other’s arms! Maybe someone is awfully betrayed! Maybe the New York enclave falls and El and/or Aadhya now counts Orion’s mom among their… allies? Maybe Magic Stuff needs to happen for Orion to be unDark-Lorded!!

El/Aadhya/Orion get-together, please I’m dying. El has two hands!!!! Orion and Aadhya can realize they’ve started Competing over Utterly Oblivious El! (they all win but it’s gonna be a while because our protag is not the most non-oblivious one) or she's fake-dating Orion for social capital and confusingly-real-date (is it dating?) Aadhya! and it can get complicated! or Magic Makes Two Of Them Do It and it's extra awkward and the three of them get together!

in general "El Gets A Girlfriend"(that she may insist is not a girlfriend, sure she's angry-kissed Liesel twice during planning sessions, but they're not dating!) while she's dating/pining/looking after Orion is very good.