#yuletide24

First of all, I’ve repeated requests, despite being lucky enough to receive AMAZING fic for them in the past; but they are all still Yuletide-sized, and greedily I still want more. 

Devil’s Cub- Georgette Heyer

Characters Requested: Mary Challoner, Dominic Alastair

Where to Find Source Material: your local library or bookstore!

Problematic as this book is, I read it at an impressionable age, and so can’t help but have a reluctant soft spot Mary/Dominic—but mostly Mary Challoner and the wit and sparkle of Heyer’s prose. Not to mention Mary’s snark and competence, and Dominic’s grouchiness paired with his utter adoration of Mary, or everything about the utter farce that leads up to the climax in Dijon, or—like pretty much every reader of this book ever— that one scene where Mary shoots him. Give me more of their  delicious dynamic, and I will be over the moon! Requesting this fandom has produced incredible stories in the past,  but what is Yuletide for than coveting MORE CAKES in teeny fandoms?

 Consider:

* Dominic and Mary meeting the first few times, Sophia included with Mary (I’m sure) crankily falling for him while Dominic remains oblivious (or does he?)!

*A tropey AU (or multiple in one fic), whether social media/fandom-based, daemon AU, or any other fusions you enjoy!

* Finally, this is completely optional, but I’ve had this prompt rattling around my brain since I created this graphic—I would love a racebent version of Mary and Vidal, whether that means they’re Indian immigrants who’ve settled in Victorian Britain, or transplanted into the intrigues of the Mughal court, or whether involvement in the Quit India movement, or lack thereof, is an additional tension in their relationship!

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Mystic Pop-Up Bar

Characters: Weol-joo, Gwibanjang | Yi Hon

Where to Find Source: Netflix

This was a delightful canon to find during a stressful time, and the honest sweetness of the main leads always brought a smile to my face. I have been lucky enough to get amazing fics for this in the past, and have loved them every time, so please know I will be delighted with pretty much anything. SPOILER warning from now on, just to explain what I enjoyed the most about canon–

–but I really adored Weol-jo and the Crown Prince’s romance above all else. 500 years of pining, secret identities/identity porn, and bonus bickering friends turned lovers the second time around made for everything I wanted, especially with a fantasy twist. The story was always Weol-joo’s, in all her prickly glory, and Gwi was–in his own words–only there to help her. I also really, really loved that despite their shared sense of humor, Weol-joo and Gwi are both extraordinarily competent and good at their jobs, and canon goes out of its way to emphasize that. Yes, they might bicker about nonsense –and my reading of the situation is that most of this is being intentionally facetious, both to be underestimated and because it appeals to their shared sense of humor. So some prompts, to be combined as you wish:

* More about how Yi Hon and Weol-joo met and fell in love! If I understood the prologue correctly, they both entered Yi Hon’s dreamworld to put down multiple angry ghosts, with a vendetta against the royal family, and I’d love to see how this played into the start of their romance. For one, their feelings–shallow as they initially seem–were strong enough to last half a millenium, and so must have been born in adventure and magic; for another, as demure as young Weol-joo was, I refuse to believe her usual snark didn’t show its head as she got to know the Crown Prince.

* Chief Gwi’s first eleven months as Weol-joo’s manager, complete with silent pining and unknowing painful jabs on the part of an oblivious Weol-joo, and how exactly Gwi manages to break through Weol-joo’s shell so effectively by the time we meet them. (Potentially the answer to that might be an impetuous, desperate hookup Weol-joo at least is going to pretend never happened.)I've previously received amazing gifts covering just that, but there is such potential for adventures we missed, and I’d love to see your take on it too!

* Finally, if you want to write post-canon casefic, what about another grudge that the family settles (along with getting accustomed to be an actual family)–potentially something where the reincarnation of Won-hyung’s sister (she was jilted by her childhood friend and orphaned by the same man on her wedding day; and we saw everyone else who was affected by the tragedy leading into Weol-joo’s death, except her) appears, either for revenge or to have closure; or–and this could play into the previous prompt too!–any ghost/grudge-holder who forces the trio to explore either his parents’ past lives or a canon-divergence AU where Weol-joo and the Crown Prince never died, and Kang-bae was born to them, either as a royal prince, or as their child in hiding? (Of note, if you go with this one, I love Weo-rin to bits, and I’d love to see her get to discover her boyfriend’s big secret at last!)

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Spymaster Series- Joanna Bourne

Characters Requested: Justine DeCabrillac, Adrian “Hawker” Hawkhurst

Where to Find Source Material: Your local library, bookstore, or ebook supplier!

The Spymaster series is all brilliant characterization and intrigue. The action plots are superbly paced, where the romance doesn’t take up too much from the main plot, and the limited perspective works so well–the Annique twist in the first book took me utterly by surprise, and then delighted me. 

So writer, if your long standing dream has been to write canon-typical plotfic, I would be so ecstatic! Couples working and bantering together is always one of my favorite things to read, and the espionage aspect of this series is a particular strength . While we see a lot of glimpses of the Adrian-Justine relationship, I think there’s always room for more, so whether you want to add a post-canon adventure, or invent one we didn’t see between flashbacks, it would be great!

I also love these characters, and their relationship–I love the pining in the face of duty, the very real tragedy* I love how it extends in bits and pieces of the years, I love how it’s frequently interpreted and misinterepreted through outsider POVs. Something that plays with outsider POVs would also be so fascinating, again, at any time during the series; or, what a happily ever after looks like for these two crazy kids.

*again, DNW caveat: it’s okay to acknowledge canon-accurate mentions of prior assault in this case, but I would really prefer that it be kept to a minimum, with no on-screen incidences.

I was lucky enough to get amazing Cami/Pax exchange fic for the prompt "5 ways they didn't meet and one way they did" and if you want to adapt that (or another 5+1 AU format) to Adrian and Justine's story, that would be great!

Finally, although I haven’t formally requested, Annique (and her irreverent narration) is always a delight. I love her instant platonic-soulmates friendship with Adrian, and I am intrigued by Joanna Bourne’s words on her blog on how Annique compares with Justine:

When I was writing Annique, I was making her the other side of the coin with Justine. They were both child spies, about the same age. Both raised by Lucille. One relatively protected, innocent, a child of the light, one who had not killed. The other abandoned and debauched, a child with little light inside her, a willing killer.

And they knew each other, of course, as they were growing up. They were more than a little jealous. When Annique makes the remark about the doppleganger, she’s thinking of Justine.

Adrian, in TSL, come fresh from one side of the coin to the other and neither Annique nor Adrian realize this.

This is such an amazing dynamic we never see on-screen, and I would love to dig into it further at both ends.