Dear Trick or Treater 2021
Sep. 18th, 2021 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meretriculaHappy Halloween and thank you in advance for writing for me! I really hope you'll have fun. This post has some prompts and general info about my preferences, but Optional Details Are Optional and also you can only fit so much in 300 words, so if you already have an idea you want to write about the characters/ships I've requested, don't worry about sticking too close to my prompts: write the story you're into! So long as you respect my DNWs I'm sure I'll love it if you loved writing it. I'm meretricula on the AO3 (and Tumblr), if you need to find me!
Yes, Please!
-Happiness. I want everybody to be happy or at least not overtly miserable at the end of the fic. They can suffer and be angsty in the beginning or middle but please please please let the ending be sunshine and rainbows or the promise of sunshine and rainbows on the not-too-distant horizon. I'm also happy to get a fic that's 100% fluffy sunshine and rainbows all the way through.
-Characters having lots of feelings about each other. I'm a big fan of tropes where characters have a lot of history between them -- friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, best frenemies, sibling relationships, etc. I'm not a big fan of porn for porn's sake but if you want to write about people expressing their feelings via sex, that's great! If you don't want to write shipfic, something focusing on friendship or family bonds is great too.
-popular fandom tropes and cliches (if you want to write "snowed in at the hotel and there's ONLY ONE BED", sedoretu, unexpected baby acquisition, genderswap, somebody inexplicably has wings, etc., but are worried that it wasn't specifically prompted, please know that I love that kind of stuff and follow where your muse leads you -- only exceptions are I'm not too keen on soulmarks and A/B/O when they're done straight)
-subverted/inverted tropes and cliches (including soulmarks and A/B/O if they strike your fancy)
-lots of dialogue; limited third person POV; epistolary/mixed media/documentation fic
-canon settings (feel free to throw in some worldbuilding!)
-canon divergences (i.e. fork in the road AUs)
-alternate universes (the wackier the better; personal faves include Regency settings, Star Trek or similar space settings, magic, and "bring your fandom to work" AUs; it is TOTALLY OKAY to give me an AU even if I didn't ask for one specifically)
-food; competence; found families
No, Thanks!
-unhappy endings
-unrequited love
-major character death (as in, this character is gone and not coming back; death followed by resurrection or altered form of existence is fine so long as the character is still around)
-humiliation; intense angst; graphic violence and gore
-noncon and dubcon; kink involving bathroom functions or vore
-first and second person POV
-fics that center around dealing with discrimination or identity issues (it's fine if these things are addressed in the course of the narrative but I don't want it to be the point of the story)
-AUs that change the nature of characters' backstory together (e.g. if two people have known each other since childhood I'd rather not have an AU where they meet for the first time as adults, and if they've been best friends their whole lives I'd rather not read an AU where they're enemies instead)
-writing my requested characters in relationships with other, unrequested characters (if you don't vibe with my ships, please just write friendship fic!)
-I seriously doubt that this will be an issue for these fandoms, but just as a note, I spent many years of my life studying Latin, so please don't throw random Google-translated Latin into the fic or use it for a title.
-I requested only Treats, but I do love supernatural elements and magical creatures and things like that, so if you want to interpret Tricks as something spooky but fun I would love them! I just don't want something with a downer ending.
-I requested Fics only. I'm not a super visual person! Please spend your energy creating art for someone who is better able to appreciate it!
This year I have requested...
Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty - Tang Fan, Sui Zhou
Sleuth is a thoroughly delightful detective procedural/political drama about a Good Man with PTSD and service top tendencies who meets a bratty minor government official who cares about JUSTICE and promptly invites him to move in. Sui Zhou expresses his feelings by cooking elaborate meals and Tang Fan expresses his by eating while making pornographic faces. They adopt a daughter in something like episode five. Jackie Chan directed so the fight scenes are incredible. You can stream the whole thing with subtitles for free (with ads) on Viki; I highly recommend it.
My desires are simple: there is always so much plot going on in Sleuth. Can I please just have some fluff! Caretaking! Found family! Kidfic! (Not trying to railroad you into any plot in particular but I just saw this twitter thread and almost screamed with how much I now want post-canon kidfic.) Something food-related would be lovely -- Sui Zhou cooking something special for Tang Fan, or Tang Fan trying (and failing) to cook for Sui Zhou? If you want to go with a modern AU, Dong'er's first Halloween living with Sui Zhou and Tang Fan would be so cute. Sui Zhou going overboard trying to make sure she gets the perfect costume! Or a vampire AU where Sui Zhou feeds Tang Fan a little more intimately... I love them, I want them to be happy, you cannot go wrong.
Legend of Fei - Li Yan/Yang Jin/Ying Hecong
The perfect YA adventure show about a buff girl who loves hitting things with swords and a gremlin boy who wants to follow her around and hold her flower while she kicks everybody's asses. More villains per capita than the headquarters of the League of Evil, and every last one of them has incredible character design. The sexiness of the main character's grandfather is a recurring plot point. You can watch the whole thing with subtitles on Youtube and you definitely should.
While I adore Zhou Fei and Xie Yun individually and together, I have instead requested Li Yan, the heroine's bratty little sister, who intentionally gets kidnapped by a very sweet himbo with an enormous anime sword and proceeds to force him to buy her candy by crying the fakest crocodile tears ever seen on screen. To this frankly impeccable relationship vibe they add a socially maladjusted snake handler, who Yang Jin clearly thinks will at least give him someone lower in the pecking order (Li Yan having laid claim to the top immediately) and who then joins Li Yan in bullying him mercilessly. They're adorable and I love them. I'm not picky: I just want something cute about the three of them making it work post-canon! Timeshare between 48 Strongholds, Big Medicine Valley and Little Medicine Valley? Yang Jin with TWO tiny people bossing him around and also casually planning to murder anyone who hurts his feelings? Ying Hecong getting to finally feel secure and loved after a lifetime on the run? Alpha Li Yan and her two extremely long-suffering omega mates? (Just a note in case it's relevant, I love kidfic normally but would prefer not for Li Yan to get pregnant. They do not need children to be a family!)
The Prince of Tennis (2019 Chinese live-action) - He Xinglong/Lu Xia
A tennis prodigy with intense daddy issues and ZERO social skills moves from the States to China and discovers the epic highs and lows of high school team sports. Much like the original Prince of Tennis anime, this is a very stupid show that somehow manages to be charming because of the character interactions: Lu Xia's crew of caring but frankly weirdo upperclassmen and their web of intense rivalries and relationships, the sweet girl with a disastrous crush on him, his (actually very nice and trying so hard to undo the daddy issues) dad. It's available on Netflix, and if you decide to watch it, good luck and godspeed.
Ok, now that I'm done lowering expectations: I absolutely love how soft and awkward Lu Xia is. One of my favorite things about the show is how much fun it has at its protagonist's expense -- Lu Xia looks cool for about five seconds, and then it becomes clear that tennis is the only thing he's good at. His relationship with He Xinglong fascinates me! Lu Xia clearly likes He Xinglong so much, but it's not because he looks up to his tennis skills. He just... likes spending time with him? I would love to see that dynamic explored further. Something goofy and cute like the episode where the whole team is following Lu Xia and Qi Ying around would be adorable, or something about Lu Xia being predictably terrible at romance (but trying his best, bless him). And I really like Qi Ying, if you want to include her! I would genuinely love a story in which Lu Xia and Qi Ying are friends who rely on each other for romantic advice in true "the blind leading the blind" fashion. (If you want to make my entire year by having them bond over their gay crushes on their best friends, go for it.) I also love both Lu Xia and He Xinglong's dads and would adore getting to see their perspective on what's going on between their sons, or them hanging out together, or embarrassing son-in-law bonding time. Stories set during or after the show are both great.
One fandom-specific DNW: I am aware that there are many difficulties for the LGBTQ+ community in modern China but I would prefer not to receive a story about homophobia. It's fine to set this story in a slightly alternate universe where not only are all the weird physics-defying tennis moves possible, but being gay is a non-issue.
The Cabots series by Cat Sebastian - Tommy Cabot/Everett Sloane
Not a Chinese drama! Tommy Cabot Was Here is a romance novella set in 1959 about high school exes reconnecting after 15 years of radio silence. Tommy broke Everett's heart by getting married, so Everett walked away and never looked back -- except now he's teaching math at their old school, and Tommy shows up to drop off his kid on the first day of semester. This book has it all! Tragic misunderstandings! The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one! Learning how to love yourself through home renovation! Available wherever ebooks are sold (either on its own or as part of the anthology He's Come Undone), or hopefully at your local library.
I love everything about this book, but it's so short! We barely scratched the kidfic and domesticity possibilities... Tommy sweating his way through the first volume of The Art of French Cooking when it comes out in 1961! Everett helping fix up Tommy's house! Daniel giving Everett a shovel talk! I think that Tommy deserves to put up Halloween decorations and hand out candy to adorable trick-or-treaters and turn out the porch light when it gets late and snuggle with Everett. Or for Everett to be a vampire tenderly feeding on Tommy's sweet blood or for Tommy to be a refugee on the run from the Wild Hunt after stealing himself and his beloved child from the clutches of the Fairy Queen, idk, I'm not picky. Final note, I love Pat and Harry and would be thrilled to see them, too!
Yes, Please!
-Happiness. I want everybody to be happy or at least not overtly miserable at the end of the fic. They can suffer and be angsty in the beginning or middle but please please please let the ending be sunshine and rainbows or the promise of sunshine and rainbows on the not-too-distant horizon. I'm also happy to get a fic that's 100% fluffy sunshine and rainbows all the way through.
-Characters having lots of feelings about each other. I'm a big fan of tropes where characters have a lot of history between them -- friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, best frenemies, sibling relationships, etc. I'm not a big fan of porn for porn's sake but if you want to write about people expressing their feelings via sex, that's great! If you don't want to write shipfic, something focusing on friendship or family bonds is great too.
-popular fandom tropes and cliches (if you want to write "snowed in at the hotel and there's ONLY ONE BED", sedoretu, unexpected baby acquisition, genderswap, somebody inexplicably has wings, etc., but are worried that it wasn't specifically prompted, please know that I love that kind of stuff and follow where your muse leads you -- only exceptions are I'm not too keen on soulmarks and A/B/O when they're done straight)
-subverted/inverted tropes and cliches (including soulmarks and A/B/O if they strike your fancy)
-lots of dialogue; limited third person POV; epistolary/mixed media/documentation fic
-canon settings (feel free to throw in some worldbuilding!)
-canon divergences (i.e. fork in the road AUs)
-alternate universes (the wackier the better; personal faves include Regency settings, Star Trek or similar space settings, magic, and "bring your fandom to work" AUs; it is TOTALLY OKAY to give me an AU even if I didn't ask for one specifically)
-food; competence; found families
No, Thanks!
-unhappy endings
-unrequited love
-major character death (as in, this character is gone and not coming back; death followed by resurrection or altered form of existence is fine so long as the character is still around)
-humiliation; intense angst; graphic violence and gore
-noncon and dubcon; kink involving bathroom functions or vore
-first and second person POV
-fics that center around dealing with discrimination or identity issues (it's fine if these things are addressed in the course of the narrative but I don't want it to be the point of the story)
-AUs that change the nature of characters' backstory together (e.g. if two people have known each other since childhood I'd rather not have an AU where they meet for the first time as adults, and if they've been best friends their whole lives I'd rather not read an AU where they're enemies instead)
-writing my requested characters in relationships with other, unrequested characters (if you don't vibe with my ships, please just write friendship fic!)
-I seriously doubt that this will be an issue for these fandoms, but just as a note, I spent many years of my life studying Latin, so please don't throw random Google-translated Latin into the fic or use it for a title.
-I requested only Treats, but I do love supernatural elements and magical creatures and things like that, so if you want to interpret Tricks as something spooky but fun I would love them! I just don't want something with a downer ending.
-I requested Fics only. I'm not a super visual person! Please spend your energy creating art for someone who is better able to appreciate it!
This year I have requested...
Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty - Tang Fan, Sui Zhou
Sleuth is a thoroughly delightful detective procedural/political drama about a Good Man with PTSD and service top tendencies who meets a bratty minor government official who cares about JUSTICE and promptly invites him to move in. Sui Zhou expresses his feelings by cooking elaborate meals and Tang Fan expresses his by eating while making pornographic faces. They adopt a daughter in something like episode five. Jackie Chan directed so the fight scenes are incredible. You can stream the whole thing with subtitles for free (with ads) on Viki; I highly recommend it.
My desires are simple: there is always so much plot going on in Sleuth. Can I please just have some fluff! Caretaking! Found family! Kidfic! (Not trying to railroad you into any plot in particular but I just saw this twitter thread and almost screamed with how much I now want post-canon kidfic.) Something food-related would be lovely -- Sui Zhou cooking something special for Tang Fan, or Tang Fan trying (and failing) to cook for Sui Zhou? If you want to go with a modern AU, Dong'er's first Halloween living with Sui Zhou and Tang Fan would be so cute. Sui Zhou going overboard trying to make sure she gets the perfect costume! Or a vampire AU where Sui Zhou feeds Tang Fan a little more intimately... I love them, I want them to be happy, you cannot go wrong.
Legend of Fei - Li Yan/Yang Jin/Ying Hecong
The perfect YA adventure show about a buff girl who loves hitting things with swords and a gremlin boy who wants to follow her around and hold her flower while she kicks everybody's asses. More villains per capita than the headquarters of the League of Evil, and every last one of them has incredible character design. The sexiness of the main character's grandfather is a recurring plot point. You can watch the whole thing with subtitles on Youtube and you definitely should.
While I adore Zhou Fei and Xie Yun individually and together, I have instead requested Li Yan, the heroine's bratty little sister, who intentionally gets kidnapped by a very sweet himbo with an enormous anime sword and proceeds to force him to buy her candy by crying the fakest crocodile tears ever seen on screen. To this frankly impeccable relationship vibe they add a socially maladjusted snake handler, who Yang Jin clearly thinks will at least give him someone lower in the pecking order (Li Yan having laid claim to the top immediately) and who then joins Li Yan in bullying him mercilessly. They're adorable and I love them. I'm not picky: I just want something cute about the three of them making it work post-canon! Timeshare between 48 Strongholds, Big Medicine Valley and Little Medicine Valley? Yang Jin with TWO tiny people bossing him around and also casually planning to murder anyone who hurts his feelings? Ying Hecong getting to finally feel secure and loved after a lifetime on the run? Alpha Li Yan and her two extremely long-suffering omega mates? (Just a note in case it's relevant, I love kidfic normally but would prefer not for Li Yan to get pregnant. They do not need children to be a family!)
The Prince of Tennis (2019 Chinese live-action) - He Xinglong/Lu Xia
A tennis prodigy with intense daddy issues and ZERO social skills moves from the States to China and discovers the epic highs and lows of high school team sports. Much like the original Prince of Tennis anime, this is a very stupid show that somehow manages to be charming because of the character interactions: Lu Xia's crew of caring but frankly weirdo upperclassmen and their web of intense rivalries and relationships, the sweet girl with a disastrous crush on him, his (actually very nice and trying so hard to undo the daddy issues) dad. It's available on Netflix, and if you decide to watch it, good luck and godspeed.
Ok, now that I'm done lowering expectations: I absolutely love how soft and awkward Lu Xia is. One of my favorite things about the show is how much fun it has at its protagonist's expense -- Lu Xia looks cool for about five seconds, and then it becomes clear that tennis is the only thing he's good at. His relationship with He Xinglong fascinates me! Lu Xia clearly likes He Xinglong so much, but it's not because he looks up to his tennis skills. He just... likes spending time with him? I would love to see that dynamic explored further. Something goofy and cute like the episode where the whole team is following Lu Xia and Qi Ying around would be adorable, or something about Lu Xia being predictably terrible at romance (but trying his best, bless him). And I really like Qi Ying, if you want to include her! I would genuinely love a story in which Lu Xia and Qi Ying are friends who rely on each other for romantic advice in true "the blind leading the blind" fashion. (If you want to make my entire year by having them bond over their gay crushes on their best friends, go for it.) I also love both Lu Xia and He Xinglong's dads and would adore getting to see their perspective on what's going on between their sons, or them hanging out together, or embarrassing son-in-law bonding time. Stories set during or after the show are both great.
One fandom-specific DNW: I am aware that there are many difficulties for the LGBTQ+ community in modern China but I would prefer not to receive a story about homophobia. It's fine to set this story in a slightly alternate universe where not only are all the weird physics-defying tennis moves possible, but being gay is a non-issue.
The Cabots series by Cat Sebastian - Tommy Cabot/Everett Sloane
Not a Chinese drama! Tommy Cabot Was Here is a romance novella set in 1959 about high school exes reconnecting after 15 years of radio silence. Tommy broke Everett's heart by getting married, so Everett walked away and never looked back -- except now he's teaching math at their old school, and Tommy shows up to drop off his kid on the first day of semester. This book has it all! Tragic misunderstandings! The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one! Learning how to love yourself through home renovation! Available wherever ebooks are sold (either on its own or as part of the anthology He's Come Undone), or hopefully at your local library.
I love everything about this book, but it's so short! We barely scratched the kidfic and domesticity possibilities... Tommy sweating his way through the first volume of The Art of French Cooking when it comes out in 1961! Everett helping fix up Tommy's house! Daniel giving Everett a shovel talk! I think that Tommy deserves to put up Halloween decorations and hand out candy to adorable trick-or-treaters and turn out the porch light when it gets late and snuggle with Everett. Or for Everett to be a vampire tenderly feeding on Tommy's sweet blood or for Tommy to be a refugee on the run from the Wild Hunt after stealing himself and his beloved child from the clutches of the Fairy Queen, idk, I'm not picky. Final note, I love Pat and Harry and would be thrilled to see them, too!
