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Dear Chocolatier Letter
Dear Writer, thank you so much for offering to write one of my favorite ships from one of my favorite canons! I truly appreciate you taking on my requests and hope you have a little fun writing for me.
My requests are fic-only, but art treats for any of these fandoms/ships are more than welcome if you are feeling at all inspired.
I'm merle_p on AO3 as well (and on tumblr and on LJ, but really, my fandom presence has been primarily at AO3 for a long time). I used to post letters on LJ but realized that it's not a safe space for everyone anymore, that's why I am posting this letter now in my otherwise unused DW account.
GENERAL LIKES:
Feel free to pick and choose. These are all things I reliably love in fic, so I’ll be thrilled to receive a story that includes any one or two things from the list below. I also enjoy a ton of other stuff, so don’t worry about including other tropes not listed here as long as they don’t show up in my DNWs.
Plot/character-related:
(Sex scenes of all ratings are lovely, but most definitely not a requirement to make me happy – allusions to potential future sex, fade-to-black, or whatnot are all equally welcome!)
GENERAL DNWs:
FANDOMS/CHARACTERS/PROMPTS:
I sorted the fandoms alphabetically, so no reason to read anything into the order. Potential differences in length between the fandom-related passages are primarily due to the fact that I didn’t always request the same number of ships. I love these ships all equally and am desperate for more (any!!!) fic in either of these fandoms.
Banlieue 13
Ship: Leïto/Damien Tomaso
I recently revisited the two movies for a different exchange and I just cannot wrap my head around the crackling chemistry between these two. For all that they are such opposite personalities, they are so in synch, so comfortable with each other, and seem to have so much fun together in pretty much every scene they share. Add to that the loyalty, the trust, and the willingness to put their lives on the line for each other, and it’s hard to see how anyone would not ship those two. Anything post-canon would be wonderful: How does Damien handle being in charge of overseeing the rebuilding process? What does Leïto decide to do with his life now that he can’t run around and blow holes in walls anymore? Does this finally open up a space where they can think about their feelings for each other? I would also be delighted to receive (slight or more significant) canon divergence, if you’d prefer to write something that is set in the dystopian world of the canon era – something where Damien is on the run from the police and has to move in with Leïto? Or one of them actually getting seriously injured and having to cope with not being mobile for a while? One of them being kidnapped by the new villain on the block, and the other one having to swoop in and save his life? I want to read it all!
Fandom-specific DNW: Infidelity/Cheating. If the story is set post-Ultimatum, I would prefer for Damien and his girlfriend to break up before anything happens between him and Leïto. Or maybe that thing with Sonya was really more of a casual fling anyway. I also don’t mind if you simply want to pretend that the bedroom scene with Sonya never happened. Mostly I just don’t want Damien to be cheating on her with Leïto.
Downton Abbey
Ships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis, Thomas Barrow/Tom Branson
Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis: One of the best things about the Downton movie was Thomas’ budding romance with Richard, the fact that he finally got to develop feelings for someone who actually reciprocated them, and that the whole thing didn’t end in disaster and tears! What I would have liked to see more of was Ellis’ side of things – it’s clear that and why Thomas is infatuated with him, but I would love to read anything that shows Ellis falling for Thomas, or explains what it is that he likes about him. Because Thomas deserves someone swooning over him. Alternatively, anything dealing with the continuation of their relationship post-movie would be great – visits in London or Downton? Thomas moving to the city? Coded love letters? Misunderstandings and pining and jealousy, to be happily resolved? I am pretty much open to any direction you want to take this in, as long as the eventual outcome is a happy or at least hopeful one.
Thomas Barrow/Tom Branson: It’s always made me kind of sad that their relationship was never explored more in canon, and that there’s not more fic about those two, because I find the parallels between them intriguing. Thomas doesn’t really fit in downstairs, Tom doesn’t really fit in upstairs, but neither of them really seem to be able to get away from Downton either. I found it interesting how the movie clearly showed that the Crawleys ultimately see them both as outsiders and don’t trust either of them – they didn’t trust Thomas to run the household while the royal couple was visiting, and they didn’t trust Tom not to assassinate the king. Instead of having them both find love with newly introduced characters, I kept thinking that it would have been interesting to see them connect with each other: so if you’d like to write about them somehow coming together during or after the events of the film, that would be amazing! But starting off at any other point during canon, or writing post-canon fic (whether taking the film into consideration or not) would also be excellent – I just want to see the potential of an unexpected romance (or at least sexual attraction) between them explored. Enemies (to friends) to lovers is perfectly welcome here, if that’s the trajectory you envision for them.
Fandom-specific DNW: Please no suicide attempts on Thomas’ part, please no detailed exploration of period-typical “treatments” for homosexuality, please no anachronistic acceptance and celebration of homosexual relationships by everyone at Downton.
The Full Monty
Ship: Guy/Lomper
Okay, so I get that this is a long shot, but I just recently rewatched The Full Monty after not having seen it in ages, and was reminded, with a bang, of just how much I have always loved the glimpses we see of the romance between Lomper and Guy. The handful of moments we get between them were enough to sell me on them being perfect for each other. But there’s so much missing! I will forever adore whoever is willing to tell me more about their love story.
I would love any missing moment from the film that tells us how those two got from Guy taking off his pants during the audition, causing Lomper to visibly shift in his seat, to the two of them holding hands in public at Lomper’s mother’s funeral (in an English steelworkers’ town in the 1990s no less). Would also be thrilled to read a post-canon scene that shows what became of them after their memorable performance with “Hot Metal”. Do they ever talk about Lomper’s brush with suicidal thoughts? Does Guy introduce Lomper to Singin’ in the Rain? How does gay sex with an exceptionally “blessed” boyfriend change Lomper’s life? How does coming out work for them? Romantic, funny, steamy, bitter-sweet, it’s all good as long as they are (about to get) together and in love. (Feel free to throw in any of the other guys and/or Nathan for comic relief or moral support!)
Fandom-specific DNW: I would prefer if other people’s responses to their relationship mostly stayed within a roughly canon-typical range. In other words, I am not looking for a story that pretends homophobia doesn’t exist, but I would also rather if the fic didn’t feature any actual hate crimes or major verbal/physical abuse.
Holiday (1938)
Ships: Johnny Case/Linda Seton/Ned Seton, Ned Seton/Original Character, Nick Potter/Susan Potter/Ned Seton
I love this movie, but for all that I adore the happy ending for the main couple, the one thing that always breaks my heart is Ned being left behind at the mansion with his narrow-minded father and his self-absorbed sister, and Linda’s epic line to her brother: “I’ll come back for you!” I would love to see him finally get a little bit of the happiness he deserves, in whatever constellation. I do think it is well established that the character is meant to be sort of an alter ego for gay director George Cukor and very obviously queer-coded, so I read him as canonically queer, though obviously two of the pairings I’ve prompted here are M/M/F threesomes, so whether you would like to make him gay or bisexual or somewhere in between is up to you.
Prompt ideas (these are merely suggestions, feel free to write something else!):
- Ned changes his mind and joins the others on the cruise. Depending on what pairing/characters we matched on, this could unfold in different ways: Ned meeting a hot guy on the boat who's charmed by Ned's dry humor and musical talent; a Ned/Linda/Johnny threesome since clearly he adores his sister and also agrees with her that Johnny is quite the catch; or a Ned/Nick/Susan threesome (see also below).
- Nick and Susan feel like something has been missing from their lives since Johnny doesn't live with them anymore and is still in the honeymoon phase with Linda. Ned decides to quit his job and leave his father's house, and somehow ends up living with Nick and Susan. Depending on your inclinations, they may just be good friends, encourage him to play music, and introduce him to a nice guy. Or this might actually develop into some kind of menage-a-trois ... with Nick and Susan being their wonderful caring selves and Ned finally getting to come out of his shell.
- Linda and Johnny come back from their cruise and check in on Ned, as Linda promised. They decide that he needs rescuing and whisk him away – for a threesome, if you are so inclined, or to introduce him to the city’s eligible bachelors.
Fandom-specific DNWs: Julia playing a major role, AU setting (canon divergence is fine, but please no AU in a completely different setting or era).
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Ships: Finn/Poe Dameron, Lando Calrissian/Poe Dameron, Armitage Hux/Poe Dameron
Finn/Poe: TROS reignited all my Finn/Poe feelings … there were so many scenes brimming with shippy subtext, and so many meaningful tiny moments between them. At the same time, I also was a little disappointed about the lack of resolution for some of their interactions, so any story that explores the aftermath/resolution of one of those moments would be wonderful. For example the “I’m not Leia.” “Yeah, that’s for sure.” exchange … I’ll eat up anything about Finn following up with Poe on that: reassuring him that he’s enough, checking in with him about Leia’s death, apologizing for hurting him and *kissing it better* … it’s all good. In the same vein, bringing the whole “Finn has secrets” thing to a proper conclusion would be lovely – whether you want to focus on Finn being able to sense the force as the big secret, or on Poe being jealous about Finn and Rey having secrets, or something else entirely, I want to read it. Or, you know, if you want to explore an entirely different moment in their relationship during, before, or after the film, I’ll take it all!
Lando/Poe: That’s one relationship I wish had been explored more during TROS. I loved their interactions, with Lando comforting Poe and emphasizing the importance of friendship, and then later basically showing up like the knight in shining armor to support Poe and his fleet. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the movie retconning Poe’s backstory from the Poe Dameron comics, but I do love that it establishes yet another parallel between Lando and Poe, with both of them being not only hotshot pilots but also former smugglers. If you would like to explore any of these points of connection between them, that would be excellent. Also, I would love anything about Lando satisfying Poe’s need for praise and approval … if you would like to write some praise kink, for example, I’m on board! Just in case, I do want to clarify that my general DNW: Daddy kink also applies to this pairing. I do very much like the age difference between Poe and Lando and totally support that being a factor in their mutual attraction (as in, Lando very much being into his young hot lover, and Poe very much being into Lando’s experience and reputation), just please don’t write it as daddy kink.
Hux/Poe: I never thought I’d be into it but TROS unexpectedly left me with a lot of Hux/Poe feels and a craving for fic, plus I found myself rather saddened by Hux’ sudden and anticlimactic ending. I would love to see a fix-it of sorts where Poe and Finn decide to take Hux with them when they escape (with or without Finn shooting him in the leg). Maybe they put him in a cell and after everything is over, someone is like “What should we do with the prisoner?” and Poe is all, crap, what am I supposed to do with you now? And somehow that ends with them getting real close … whether that’s in the form of adrenalin-fueled post-battle hate sex, or slow burn romance in the aftermath of the war, I’m open to either of those and everything in between. Or maybe the Resistance allows Hux to get involved in the fight and he gets his chance to be heroic and save Poe’s life? If it turns out that Hux always found Poe irresistibly attractive and secretively and shamefully used to jerk off to forbidden fantasies about bratty reckless rebels, well … I definitely would not say no!
Fandom-specific DNW: Please no polyamory or infidelity for any of the pairings. They don’t need to jump from first kiss straight to marriage ceremony or anything like that, but I would prefer if neither of the characters were involved with someone else at the time of their encounter/getting-together/relationship.
My requests are fic-only, but art treats for any of these fandoms/ships are more than welcome if you are feeling at all inspired.
I'm merle_p on AO3 as well (and on tumblr and on LJ, but really, my fandom presence has been primarily at AO3 for a long time). I used to post letters on LJ but realized that it's not a safe space for everyone anymore, that's why I am posting this letter now in my otherwise unused DW account.
GENERAL LIKES:
Feel free to pick and choose. These are all things I reliably love in fic, so I’ll be thrilled to receive a story that includes any one or two things from the list below. I also enjoy a ton of other stuff, so don’t worry about including other tropes not listed here as long as they don’t show up in my DNWs.
Plot/character-related:
- Dialogue/banter
- Any kind of hurt/comfort or angst with a happy/hopeful ending
- Canon divergence (canon-setting AUs which diverge from canon in small but significant ways)
- Sidekick/underappreciated characters being appreciated
- Competent people who are good at what they do without being super-human
- People from different (social, national, political…) backgrounds being confronted with each other’s perspective on the world
- Getting together/first times
- Friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers
- Friendships of all kinds (with a soft spot for male/female friendship)
- Pining, jealousy, misunderstandings (as long as they get resolved in the end!)
- People taking care of each other
- People working well together as a team
(Sex scenes of all ratings are lovely, but most definitely not a requirement to make me happy – allusions to potential future sex, fade-to-black, or whatnot are all equally welcome!)
- Passionate/rough sex
- Messy/sloppy sex
- Porn with Feelings
- Size difference /Size kink
- Loyalty kink and Praise kink
- Kissing, lots of kissing
GENERAL DNWs:
- Devastating endings or hopelessly unrequited love
- Character bashing
- A/B/O-verse, Dom/Sub-verse, soulmate-verse
- Mundane AUs (coffeeshop, highschool/college AUs, and similar scenarios)
- Genderswap, bodyswap, trans or ace headcanons, mpreg
- Infantilism kink, Mommy/Daddy kink
- Eating disorders, cutting as ritualized self-harm
- “Shovel talks” (so, please no “They’ll never find your body if you hurt my friend/kid” conversations)
- Kid!fic (I don’t mind kids appearing or being discussed in the story, especially canonical ones; but would prefer not to receive accidentally acquired babies, children playing matchmaker, or stories written from the perspective of a child who is not a requested character)
- Violence played for laughs (I don’t have a problem with violence in fic at all, make it as messy/gruesome as you like, but I’m not a fan of unnecessary/excessive violence being treated as a joke)
FANDOMS/CHARACTERS/PROMPTS:
I sorted the fandoms alphabetically, so no reason to read anything into the order. Potential differences in length between the fandom-related passages are primarily due to the fact that I didn’t always request the same number of ships. I love these ships all equally and am desperate for more (any!!!) fic in either of these fandoms.
Banlieue 13
Ship: Leïto/Damien Tomaso
I recently revisited the two movies for a different exchange and I just cannot wrap my head around the crackling chemistry between these two. For all that they are such opposite personalities, they are so in synch, so comfortable with each other, and seem to have so much fun together in pretty much every scene they share. Add to that the loyalty, the trust, and the willingness to put their lives on the line for each other, and it’s hard to see how anyone would not ship those two. Anything post-canon would be wonderful: How does Damien handle being in charge of overseeing the rebuilding process? What does Leïto decide to do with his life now that he can’t run around and blow holes in walls anymore? Does this finally open up a space where they can think about their feelings for each other? I would also be delighted to receive (slight or more significant) canon divergence, if you’d prefer to write something that is set in the dystopian world of the canon era – something where Damien is on the run from the police and has to move in with Leïto? Or one of them actually getting seriously injured and having to cope with not being mobile for a while? One of them being kidnapped by the new villain on the block, and the other one having to swoop in and save his life? I want to read it all!
Fandom-specific DNW: Infidelity/Cheating. If the story is set post-Ultimatum, I would prefer for Damien and his girlfriend to break up before anything happens between him and Leïto. Or maybe that thing with Sonya was really more of a casual fling anyway. I also don’t mind if you simply want to pretend that the bedroom scene with Sonya never happened. Mostly I just don’t want Damien to be cheating on her with Leïto.
Downton Abbey
Ships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis, Thomas Barrow/Tom Branson
Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis: One of the best things about the Downton movie was Thomas’ budding romance with Richard, the fact that he finally got to develop feelings for someone who actually reciprocated them, and that the whole thing didn’t end in disaster and tears! What I would have liked to see more of was Ellis’ side of things – it’s clear that and why Thomas is infatuated with him, but I would love to read anything that shows Ellis falling for Thomas, or explains what it is that he likes about him. Because Thomas deserves someone swooning over him. Alternatively, anything dealing with the continuation of their relationship post-movie would be great – visits in London or Downton? Thomas moving to the city? Coded love letters? Misunderstandings and pining and jealousy, to be happily resolved? I am pretty much open to any direction you want to take this in, as long as the eventual outcome is a happy or at least hopeful one.
Thomas Barrow/Tom Branson: It’s always made me kind of sad that their relationship was never explored more in canon, and that there’s not more fic about those two, because I find the parallels between them intriguing. Thomas doesn’t really fit in downstairs, Tom doesn’t really fit in upstairs, but neither of them really seem to be able to get away from Downton either. I found it interesting how the movie clearly showed that the Crawleys ultimately see them both as outsiders and don’t trust either of them – they didn’t trust Thomas to run the household while the royal couple was visiting, and they didn’t trust Tom not to assassinate the king. Instead of having them both find love with newly introduced characters, I kept thinking that it would have been interesting to see them connect with each other: so if you’d like to write about them somehow coming together during or after the events of the film, that would be amazing! But starting off at any other point during canon, or writing post-canon fic (whether taking the film into consideration or not) would also be excellent – I just want to see the potential of an unexpected romance (or at least sexual attraction) between them explored. Enemies (to friends) to lovers is perfectly welcome here, if that’s the trajectory you envision for them.
Fandom-specific DNW: Please no suicide attempts on Thomas’ part, please no detailed exploration of period-typical “treatments” for homosexuality, please no anachronistic acceptance and celebration of homosexual relationships by everyone at Downton.
The Full Monty
Ship: Guy/Lomper
Okay, so I get that this is a long shot, but I just recently rewatched The Full Monty after not having seen it in ages, and was reminded, with a bang, of just how much I have always loved the glimpses we see of the romance between Lomper and Guy. The handful of moments we get between them were enough to sell me on them being perfect for each other. But there’s so much missing! I will forever adore whoever is willing to tell me more about their love story.
I would love any missing moment from the film that tells us how those two got from Guy taking off his pants during the audition, causing Lomper to visibly shift in his seat, to the two of them holding hands in public at Lomper’s mother’s funeral (in an English steelworkers’ town in the 1990s no less). Would also be thrilled to read a post-canon scene that shows what became of them after their memorable performance with “Hot Metal”. Do they ever talk about Lomper’s brush with suicidal thoughts? Does Guy introduce Lomper to Singin’ in the Rain? How does gay sex with an exceptionally “blessed” boyfriend change Lomper’s life? How does coming out work for them? Romantic, funny, steamy, bitter-sweet, it’s all good as long as they are (about to get) together and in love. (Feel free to throw in any of the other guys and/or Nathan for comic relief or moral support!)
Fandom-specific DNW: I would prefer if other people’s responses to their relationship mostly stayed within a roughly canon-typical range. In other words, I am not looking for a story that pretends homophobia doesn’t exist, but I would also rather if the fic didn’t feature any actual hate crimes or major verbal/physical abuse.
Holiday (1938)
Ships: Johnny Case/Linda Seton/Ned Seton, Ned Seton/Original Character, Nick Potter/Susan Potter/Ned Seton
I love this movie, but for all that I adore the happy ending for the main couple, the one thing that always breaks my heart is Ned being left behind at the mansion with his narrow-minded father and his self-absorbed sister, and Linda’s epic line to her brother: “I’ll come back for you!” I would love to see him finally get a little bit of the happiness he deserves, in whatever constellation. I do think it is well established that the character is meant to be sort of an alter ego for gay director George Cukor and very obviously queer-coded, so I read him as canonically queer, though obviously two of the pairings I’ve prompted here are M/M/F threesomes, so whether you would like to make him gay or bisexual or somewhere in between is up to you.
Prompt ideas (these are merely suggestions, feel free to write something else!):
- Ned changes his mind and joins the others on the cruise. Depending on what pairing/characters we matched on, this could unfold in different ways: Ned meeting a hot guy on the boat who's charmed by Ned's dry humor and musical talent; a Ned/Linda/Johnny threesome since clearly he adores his sister and also agrees with her that Johnny is quite the catch; or a Ned/Nick/Susan threesome (see also below).
- Nick and Susan feel like something has been missing from their lives since Johnny doesn't live with them anymore and is still in the honeymoon phase with Linda. Ned decides to quit his job and leave his father's house, and somehow ends up living with Nick and Susan. Depending on your inclinations, they may just be good friends, encourage him to play music, and introduce him to a nice guy. Or this might actually develop into some kind of menage-a-trois ... with Nick and Susan being their wonderful caring selves and Ned finally getting to come out of his shell.
- Linda and Johnny come back from their cruise and check in on Ned, as Linda promised. They decide that he needs rescuing and whisk him away – for a threesome, if you are so inclined, or to introduce him to the city’s eligible bachelors.
Fandom-specific DNWs: Julia playing a major role, AU setting (canon divergence is fine, but please no AU in a completely different setting or era).
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Ships: Finn/Poe Dameron, Lando Calrissian/Poe Dameron, Armitage Hux/Poe Dameron
Finn/Poe: TROS reignited all my Finn/Poe feelings … there were so many scenes brimming with shippy subtext, and so many meaningful tiny moments between them. At the same time, I also was a little disappointed about the lack of resolution for some of their interactions, so any story that explores the aftermath/resolution of one of those moments would be wonderful. For example the “I’m not Leia.” “Yeah, that’s for sure.” exchange … I’ll eat up anything about Finn following up with Poe on that: reassuring him that he’s enough, checking in with him about Leia’s death, apologizing for hurting him and *kissing it better* … it’s all good. In the same vein, bringing the whole “Finn has secrets” thing to a proper conclusion would be lovely – whether you want to focus on Finn being able to sense the force as the big secret, or on Poe being jealous about Finn and Rey having secrets, or something else entirely, I want to read it. Or, you know, if you want to explore an entirely different moment in their relationship during, before, or after the film, I’ll take it all!
Lando/Poe: That’s one relationship I wish had been explored more during TROS. I loved their interactions, with Lando comforting Poe and emphasizing the importance of friendship, and then later basically showing up like the knight in shining armor to support Poe and his fleet. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the movie retconning Poe’s backstory from the Poe Dameron comics, but I do love that it establishes yet another parallel between Lando and Poe, with both of them being not only hotshot pilots but also former smugglers. If you would like to explore any of these points of connection between them, that would be excellent. Also, I would love anything about Lando satisfying Poe’s need for praise and approval … if you would like to write some praise kink, for example, I’m on board! Just in case, I do want to clarify that my general DNW: Daddy kink also applies to this pairing. I do very much like the age difference between Poe and Lando and totally support that being a factor in their mutual attraction (as in, Lando very much being into his young hot lover, and Poe very much being into Lando’s experience and reputation), just please don’t write it as daddy kink.
Hux/Poe: I never thought I’d be into it but TROS unexpectedly left me with a lot of Hux/Poe feels and a craving for fic, plus I found myself rather saddened by Hux’ sudden and anticlimactic ending. I would love to see a fix-it of sorts where Poe and Finn decide to take Hux with them when they escape (with or without Finn shooting him in the leg). Maybe they put him in a cell and after everything is over, someone is like “What should we do with the prisoner?” and Poe is all, crap, what am I supposed to do with you now? And somehow that ends with them getting real close … whether that’s in the form of adrenalin-fueled post-battle hate sex, or slow burn romance in the aftermath of the war, I’m open to either of those and everything in between. Or maybe the Resistance allows Hux to get involved in the fight and he gets his chance to be heroic and save Poe’s life? If it turns out that Hux always found Poe irresistibly attractive and secretively and shamefully used to jerk off to forbidden fantasies about bratty reckless rebels, well … I definitely would not say no!
Fandom-specific DNW: Please no polyamory or infidelity for any of the pairings. They don’t need to jump from first kiss straight to marriage ceremony or anything like that, but I would prefer if neither of the characters were involved with someone else at the time of their encounter/getting-together/relationship.