Yuletide letter

[dzurlady]

Introductory remarks:
The following letter is long! And has many suggestions. I am including those in case you are someone who works best from prompts, or would like to know more about what I as you recipient would like.
However, everything beyond fandom and characters is optional (and in some cases I am specifying that even the characters are optional.) I do not want your Yuletide to be stressful! If you can't write something, don't stress about it. If you would like to write something I haven't asked for, that's ok too.

In general, I dislike angst, have a massive embarrassment squick, and dislike seeing other characters disparaged - if you don't like someone and can't write them neutrally, I'd prefer it if you simply left them out.

Most of what I read is m/m slash, but I also enjoy gen. I do also read het and f/f slash, but I'm a pickier about which pairings I'll read. I'm happy with any level of explicitness in porn if you want to include it. I'm not a fan of non-con or cheating.

Places I am:
I am also dzurlady on dreamwidth, dzurlady on Livejournal, and dzurlady on Tumblr. Pretty easy to keep track of. :)

Fandom breakdown:
(I have gone into a lot of detail here so that if you want to choose another one of my prompts but know nothing about it this will hopefully be helpful. If having too many details makes you feel stifled please ignore them. :) )

I hope to expand this letter a little more (even though 'she needs to add more content' was probably not your first thought when you saw this letter :) ) in the future with some more general comments about things I like, and with some summaries of the all the canons for my requests, but as I want to get this posted before the assignments go out, I am going to skip those sections for now.

I will note that delurker has a good idea about what I like, so if you want to run anything past her then please go ahead. The mods have asked that we go through them for more information requests, so I am editing to reflect that.



Request 1: Scarecrow Series - Matthew Reilly
Characters: Aloysius "Black" Knight, Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield

Canon accessibility:
If you want to write something other than the request you matched me on, this is a pretty good candidate. There are three books the series and one novella (Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow and Hell Island) but they are action filled airport novels and they're pretty quick to read. If you only had time for one, Scarecrow would be it - that's the book where Aloysius first turns up. If you have time for two, Ice Station is good as an introduction. Area 7 is ridiculously fun though.
Reilly is a pretty popular author, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding his books.

Canon summary
Brief overview: A series of thriller books focused on Shane Schofield (code name Scarecrow) a captain in the US Marines. He gets sent on missions with high body counts but is very very good at thinking on his feet and has a way of saving the day. He has vertical scars over each eye (thus his callsign) and he wears silver wrap-around sunglasses most of the time to cover them up. In the third books, Scarecrow, he meets Aloysius Knight, aka the Black Knight, the second best bounty hunter in the world. Due to his sensitivity to light Knight also wears anti-flash glasses.

You can read more at wikipedia here (although it's pretty spoilery, and the surprise plot elements are part of what make the books fun) and at Reilly's official site here (not very informative, sadly. The most recently published books are at the top of the page).

The books are very action packed and fast paced. They are written in a thriller style, with many short sentences and emphasis. Note! These books are not realistic. At all. This is part of the fun. (Seriously, bouncy over the top popcorn fun. With some blood, and a sincere love of maghooks.)

Spoiler status:
I have read all of Reilly's books, even the non-Scarecrow ones, so I am spoiler proof. :)

Request:

I am very excited that you are also interested in my tiny tiny fandom! Here are some suggestions, but if you don't feel inspired by them don't worry. :) Optional details are optional.

I would love to see more Scarecrow/Black Knight interaction, either romantic or friendship. I love the over the top action of the books and would be happy to have them both running around implausibly blowing things up.

Alternatively, if you'd like to delve into their pasts - more about Scarecrow when he was starting out as a Marine, or when he was a pilot, for example; or more about Aloysius at pretty much any stage of his past career. I asked for both Scarecrow and Aloysius, but if you'd prefer to just focus on Scarecrow's past that's fine too.

Don't feel that you have to match the writing style of the books, either. (Particularly not if you're writing something more introspective, hee.)

Other notes
If you want to include other people, even significantly, that’s fine. And I don’t mind references to or thoughts about Gant, although I’d prefer it if a) this was not a massive source of angst and b) if she and her relationship with Scarecrow was treated with respect. On the other hand, if you’d prefer to pretty much stay clear of the subject, that’s fine too.

I love reading Reilly's books for the sheer fun in them - they are joyously enthusiastic. I would be happy with more introspective fic, but I would prefer no angst or sadness.

Schofield and Knight are canonically made of awesome. I love that! Don't feel like you need to make things entirely realistic, I enjoy the over the top nature of the books. Feel free to let them do their thing. Having said that, I think Reilly tries hard to show their humanity and that they have emotions, and I enjoy that too.


Request 2: Assassin's Creed
Characters: Claudia Auditore da Firenze, Desmond Miles, Rebecca Crane, Subject 16

Canon accessibility:
Not very accessible, as this is a game series and would take some time to play if you are not familiar with canon already. There are three games, Assassin's Creed 1, Assassin's Creed 2, and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (out as of 18 November 2010). (There is also a short comic book series and a facebook game, but they are not part of the main canon.) There are novelisations of the second and third novels, but not all the events of the games are included so they are not a great substitute. If you have not already played the games, your two biggest problems for picking up canon is 1) you will need a console or PC you can play the games with, plus the games and 2) they will take some time to play. However, they are pretty easy to get hold of (and good fun to play! ).

Spoiler status:
I have played part of AC1 (but know what happens), all of AC:2, and I am currently playing Brotherhood (I am nearly at the end of Sequence 2). I am also playing Project Legacy, and eventually plan to get the comic but haven't yet.

Request:

Although I requested several characters, I would actually be happy not to have them all. I nominated characters I would be interested to get fic for and would not mind if some or all but one of them were not included. If it’s easier just to write a story about Claudia or Subject 16 or Desmond or Rebecca that’s fine. I am also happy for you to include characters I didn’t nominate, as well (like Ezio, or Altair, or Shaun or Luci, or one of subject 16’s ancestors), even in a relatively significant way if that makes things easier for you.

Please see my yuletide letter for more details.

Other notes
I'd prefer a gen story for this fandom, if possible.

I am currently playing Brotherhood, but am unlikely to finish it before Yuletide reveal. I am happy to have content from AC:B turn up, but please don’t spoil me! (Or others.) If you could note in your headers if you have used any AC:B content, and how far into the game it appeared, that would be awesome. I will post updates to my dw/lj for you so you can see how far along I am, so you know where I am up to.

Here are some suggestions, in case they are helpful. But if they are not helpful, don’t try and force yourself to write them! I don’t want you to have a painful and difficult Yuletide.

I'd be happy to get something set in the current time, with Desmond, Luci, Shaun and/or Rebecca (Rebecca! <3); or something set in the past that focuses on Claudia. I am more familiar with Ezio than Altair, but I would also be happy to see him featured.

It seems we might find out more about Claudia in AC:B (not hard), which is exciting. I would love to see more of her being active and making her own decisions, or more of her life from her perspective. Perhaps she could become involved in an assassination? (I am writing this from the beginning of the Brotherhood, so hopefully canon will deliver on this. :D)

We know so little about Subject 16, but what we do know is really interesting. How did he find out the information he put in the code? What was his ancestor like? How did he experience the bleeding effect? Did he too see a recording from the ancient race Minerva came from, telling him about Desmond? Was he an assassin as well? Did he know about Luci?

I love how Rebecca’s so confident, and her happiness to be working on the animus, and her relationship with Shaun. I’d love to know more about her background, or what she thinks about the animus, what they’re seeing and what they’re trying to do.

Desmond's learnt a lot in a short period of time. I’d be interested in delving into how he feels about the new skills he’s learn, or about the bleeding effect; or about what he thinks about experiencing Altair and Ezio’s lives. What an experience it would be to relive history like that.



Request 3: Bronski und Bernstein
Characters requested: Alexander Bronski, Guido Bernstein

Canon accessibility:
Terrible. Unfortunately, the show is no longer airing and doesn’t seem to be available anywhere either legally or illegally. If you are unfamiliar with the canon, this is not a good alternative fandom.

This is a German police show, and is hands down the most slashy thing I have ever seen. The subtext is practically text (in the first episode, Bernstein orders them both breakfast from his regular place, and when they ask him if he has a girlfriend, he says ‘more of a boyfriend’.)
Hopefully I will be able to link to the first episode soon.

Spoiler status:
I have seen all the episodes.

Request:

I would love slash for this prompt (the canon is so! very! gay!) but if you're going to struggle with that, I'd also be happy with gen. Or I would be happy with case fic, like the show.

Other notes
Even though I didn't nominate them as characters, I love Micklitz and Frau Keil, and would be happy to see them featured as well if you are stuck and that helps you at all. (Not obligatory if not helpful! Or even if helpful, come to that.)

If you want to write an AU for this prompt, I would be ok with that – for this prompt I am more interested in the characters than the setting. I would prefer it if you kept the relationships between the characters and their ages consistent with canon, however.




Request 4: Call Me When You're Sober (Music Video)
Characters: Woman in Red Cloak, Wolfish Male Aristocrat

Canon accessibility:
This is a music video – canon is less than four minutes long! So if you matched me on something else and are now stuck, this is a good candidate for a backup fandom (assuming you are able to watch videos). Here is the video if you have not already seen it.

Spoiler status:
I have watched the whole video. :)
I know a bit about the story behind the song being written, but I'd prefer it if you kept the song and the music video separate.

Request:

I nominated this for Yuletide because it has a powerful woman with magic who is in control, wolves, a red cloak, girls who can fly and a hot wolfish looking guy, and I wonder how they all came to be there.

There are so many questions! What lead up to the events of the clip? What is going to happen afterwards? Have they known each other long?
Did the flying girls come with the woman in the red cloak, or do they live at the castle (I think maybe they live there? and perhaps are not human)? (I feel that the woman in the red clock is a recent arrival, not a long term resident.) What is the relationship of the wolves to the wolfish looking man? Is the wolfish looking man actually a warewolf? Why are they so interested in the red cloaked woman? What exactly is the extent of her magic, and what is she going to do with it? What was her decision about, when she's 'made up your mind?'

I am not terribly invested in trying to get the imagery to match up with the lyrics, although I enjoy the way the music is sort of angry and sort of triumphant.

Other notes
I have tried to express some of the questions I have when watching this that made me nominate this for Yuletide, as a guide to how I see the 'canon'. If you want to write this in the style of a fairy tale, that would be fine, or I am happy with fantasy or romance as well, or some other genre (although preferably not horror). I would prefer it if no-one dies or is permanently damaged etc. I like happy endings but for this I am happy if it’s just something where it seems like it will be ok eventually. I feel that the woman in the red cloak is ultimately the one in control of the situation, although I do feel that she is not all powerful and there are constraints that she is acting within (eg how other people choose to act or react).

I am happy for you to tell the story from her point of view, or to alternate it with the man’s view. I am less interested in the whole thing being from his perspective, but not completely disinterested.