Dear Author (Yuletide 2018)

[panny]

General Likes: Tropey shenanigans, taken as seriously or as silly as you like. Protectiveness. Loyalty. Conflict. Hurt/comfort. Messy, complicated relationships where no one person is necessarily "better" than the other. Characters who are normally in control very much not being that. Canon divergence/for want of a nail AUs. Role swaps. Dragons and/or robots. Hair ruffling.

General DNWs: PWP. Non-canonical (permanent) major character death. Torture or mutilation. Issue fic. Mundane AUs (e.g. coffee shop, no powers, etc.). Non-con, even off screen. Unrequested ships.


The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

Duck Newton, Beacon

Fandom ships: Ned/Duck, Aubrey/Dani

Past letters: Duck & Beacon trope thoughts

So I really, really like Duck Newton. Every new fact we find out about him just charms me even more. I love the whole chosen-avoiding-the-call-thing. I love how he reacts (or doesn't) to the weird stuff he encounters. I love him trying to fruitlessly reign in his teammates as they try to steal Mothman's glasses. Every other week, I am left howling with laughter over Duck being such a terrible liar. I love when he handles tense situations poorly. I love every little tidbit about his past. I even love the constant fear I'm in as Justin rolls poorly on another beginning of the arc vision sequence and I have to worry that the Duckman's gonna kick the bucket. I was absolutely gaga for that speech he gave Minerva about saving the goatman. I really love Duck Newton.

Beacon is a constant delight every time he is given the opportunity to open his mouth. I love the clashing personalities between him and Duck and their reluctant partnership. I love his drawling voice and relentless snark. I appreciate how awkward it must be for Justin to RP with himself, but man oh man, I want some Duck & Beacon adventures.

Casefic is always wonderful, especially for a monster of the week show like Amnesty. Duck whump is definitely okay with me. Reluctant partners to...kiiiind of friends-style development would be great. Protective!Beacon is very, very choice - especially if he's maybe a little surprised by how much he cares about Duck being in genuine peril.

Specific prompts:

• Backstory - Duck first acquiring Beacon, the initial development of their relationship, maybe even Duck making the decision to leave Beacon with Ned.
• Something happens during a hunt that requires Beacon to act independently. Beacon is caught between the desire to finally act on his own impulses, unrestrained by Duck's interference, and the inconvenient need to act in Duck's best interests.
• Duck's in danger from something that Beacon is completely useless against and help is taking longer in coming than he's comfortable with - hypothermia? cave-in? injured after separating from the group?
• Beacon shares Duck's future visions - as is befitting of a magical weapon designed to protect a Chosen One. Duck doesn't know.
• Duck loses his Chosen One powers for some reason. Maybe it's a creature on a hunt, maybe he touches something in the Cryptonomica he shouldn't have, maybe it happens for some other reason. Up to you whether it's temporary or permanent. As much as Duck never asked for his destiny and as much as Beacon has longed for a new owner, they both wind up feeling that this is...not so great. Also Kepler is still very dangerous and Duck is no longer Tough.
• Time Loop - temporary character death (and other catastrophes) is definitely a-okay here. Either Beacon is the only one aware of the loop and keeps making long-suffering attempts to avert whatever goes wrong or both Duck and Beacon are the only ones aware and are suffering through it together.

Killing Eve

Eve Polastri, Villanelle

Fandom ships: Eve/Villanelle, Carolyn/Elena, Eve/Elena, Villanelle/Nadia

Killing Eve is like the show that I've been waiting for my whole life and the dynamic between Eve and Villanelle is everything that I've ever wanted.

I love when Eve is amazingly clever and I love when she's incredibly brave and I love when she can't hold herself back from blurting out the truth. I love her reckless determination and I love her fixation on the case and on Villanelle. I love when she's awkward and I love when she's surprisingly devious and I love when she has those moments where she realizes that she may be getting in over her head, but for better or for worse she always pushes on anyway. I love her compassion and I love that it doesn't prevent her from seeing right through Villanelle's bullshit.

I love how much of an asshole Villanelle is and how wild (and often mean spirited) her sense of humour is. I love how predatory she can be and the genuine enjoyment she gets out of what she does. I love her pride and her cleverness and how the two combined sometimes lead her to do things that are ultimately against her own interests. I love those rare moments of genuine vulnerability that we get out of her and I love how ruthlessly the show continually reminds us of exactly who and what Villanelle is and what she's capable of. I love how genuinely calculating she is even about seemingly small things and I love how hung up she is on Eve and how that drives her to escalating impulsive behaviour.

I'd be so excited to see something post-season one because Eve stabbing Villanelle has got to have an impact on their dynamic. It permanently establishes Eve as someone separate from Anna to Villanelle who can no longer be...almost pedastalized - it puts them on something closer to an "even" playing field where Villanelle has to see Eve as her own person with her own agenda who is capable of being dangerous. While Villanelle will definitely be angry, I think it will only feed her obsession with Eve. And as for Eve...she finally stabbed the woman she wanted to kill with her bare hands and then regretted it like five seconds later. I think that moment humanized Villanelle to Eve in a way that she hadn't been before.

That being said, AUs with the same general tone/dynamic as the show are totally welcome. This includes, like, really balls to the wall AUs too. Like Villaneve in a Venom-style symbiote relationship? Bring it on (although generic suphero/villain ship would be super fun too). Jurassic World!AU where Eve is an animal behaviour specialist and Villanelle is a shape shifting raptor? Goddamn, let's do it. Post-apocalypse (zombie or otherwise) AU where they're leaders of survivor groups that come into conflict? So down! AU where Villanelle is a sadistic ghost who develops a thing for the nerdy ghost-busting scientist who the general public doesn't believe? Boy howdy! AU where Villanelle is a representative of a hostile alien species, but the only person she'll talk to is Eve, who was not humanity's first choice of negotiator (maybe she's a desk jockey for the space exploration program, maybe she a reckless reporter who couldn't stay away from a rumored UFO landing site)? Yes, absolutely. Canon already gives me so much and is so good that I am totally up for something really different, especially if it's super tropey, where I get to enjoy the same relationship dynamic that drew me to the series in the first place.

I love seeing super competent, morally bankrupt bad guys like Villanelle super fucked up on love and winding up in vulnerable (or even just inconvenient to their agenda) positions because they care about this one particular person. I love seeing good guys like Eve do shady, questionable things in the pursuit of their goals and righteous ideals, especially when it's related to trying to take down the villain. Eve genuinely getting the upper hand is very choice.

The Question

Renee Montoya, Kate Kane

Fandom ships: Kate/Renee, Renee/Helena, Renee/any woman, Kate/any woman

You know that scene in Crime Bible/The Five Books of Blood, specifically "The Lesson of Greed", where Batwoman and Question get into a physical scrap out of sheer desperation to save each other (in Kate's case, saving Renee from herself and in Renee's case, saving Kate from the Religion of Crime)? And there are these really intense feelings even though they're already exes at this point? And a lack of communication and a lot of hurt on both sides?



Hoo boy, that's my shit. That level of conflict and tension is the pinnacle of what gets to me about Kate/Renee as a ship.

It doesn't all have to be physical brawls (though those are certainly welcome). The scenes related to their break-up in pre-New 52 Batwoman cut me deep in the best way, especially knowing how Renee being outed actually went down when it happened. Kate/Renee is one of those absurdly rare canon F/F ships that draws off a rich shared history and complex character flaws and motivations and an absolute inability to completely move on even when they want to, it's a blessing. Anything that gives them an opportunity to interact and a reason for conflict while still having those intense emotions and that deep caring and protectiveness in place is going to be my jam - that holds true whether you plan to have them together or broken up (either is genuinely fine).

I'm really into the idea of super tropey casefic for these two. I'm also very into scenarios that draw on Renee's self-destructive "ends justify the means" approach to problem solving; her willingness to do some pretty shady things despite the cost to herself (physically, mentally, ethically) in order to protect the people she cares about is like catnip to me. On that note, I'm also very down with Kate being entirely, justifiably furious over Renee taking it upon herself to be the martyr.

Specific Prompts:

• Groundhog day timeloop shenanigans. I'm totally willing to break my character death DNW for this, provided the final loop comes out with both Kate and Renee alive.
• Somebody gets a hold of a monkey's paw (or, well, something like it). I could see this leading to some interesting conflict whether the holder is Kate or Renee, but Renee's tendency toward self-destruction could be particularly relevant here.
• Any situation where they have to investigate something together. They could both start off investigating independently and be drawn together by the case or set out to work together from the get go.
• Stakeout scenarios - lots of genuine case tension, but lots of awkward time to fill where they have to deal with each other.
• "Betray her to save her" scenarios.

The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde

Thomas Adye, Edward Hyde

Fandom ships: Tom/Hyde, Tom/Dorian Gray, Tom/male literary villains

The dynamic between these two pretty much made the comic for me. It's so good. The general back and forth and learning to work together and Tom discovering things about himself that maybe he would have preferred not to. And then that genuine moment of returned friendship just before Tom shot Hyde in the chest followed by Tom tearing up in relief over having confirmation that Hyde's still alive and then using his serial killer best buddy to threaten people. Right up my alley.

I really like all the development and internal conflict that Tom went through over the course of the comic and would be totally stoked to see further development and potential fallout related to that. Whatever reason you can cook up for Hyde making a return and the two of them having to team up again is totally fine with me. (Has someone come after Hyde? Is Hyde keeping tabs on his good mate Tom? Did Tom finally decide to track Hyde down himself? Does the newest villain have something Hyde's interested in?)

I know the original comic has a lot of violence against women because, well...Jack the Ripper and I'm fine with there being some female murder victims in fic for it, but I'd also prefer that the fic not...dwell on it. If possible.

I would be totally head over heels for something set after the original comic dealing with some other famous literary monsters/villains, especially those drawn from Gothic horror. The sequel hook at the end of the comic teased the Invisible Man as Tom's next case and the cover for the planned sequel comic (which sadly never materialized) confirmed that Dorian Gray exists in this universe and would come into contact with Tom (who would, naturally, be "seduced by his philosophy"). Either of those options would be fabulous, but don't feel restricted by them - bring in whoever you want.