Yuletide 2017

[synergic]

Joyous Yule in October, Author! Here are some additional details, which I'm afraid I am writing up much too late at night. Please excuse any rambling or typos.

Favorite Tropes

Domesticity & Established Relationships • Introspection • Bickering & Repartee • Stories-Within-Stories • Historical Details • Screwball • Adventures & Mishaps • Gap-Fillers & Epilogues • Fix-It

Please Avoid

Rape/Noncon • Non-Canonical Character Death • Gore • Alternate Universe Settings • Smut with no build-up (PWP fic) • Angst

Series

The Fire Rose

This is the only Mercedes Lackey book I still read at least once a year. There's something very special about the combination of passionate characters, plush details, and a history of magic hidden just alongside the world we know. Rose is one of my favorite heroines, and I always enjoy revisiting her rocky road to happiness and love.

I've always felt a bit cheated because the book glosses over Jason and Rose's weeks as master and apprentice before she attempts her first summoning. As apt a pupil as she may be, I'm sure that not everything ran smoothly. And this is just when Jason is learning to navigate a partnership too. (Not to mention the details of their falling in love.)

Alternatively, I would love to hear what comes next. Do they travel as planned? Find other ways for Jason to be a part of the outside world? What other business or academic ventures or causes might the two of them become interested in?

This is the point when I confess that while I've read some of the other books in this series, they never really made an impression. And if I recall correctly, were not terribly faithful to the original concept of Elemental Mastery as put forward in FR. Feel free to do as much worldbuilding as you would like, if magick is something you're interested in. I would be delighted, and I'm never going to fact check you.

The Bedlam Stacks

I've included Raphael and both of the Tremaynes as requested characters, but am officially giving you license to only write about Raphael with Merrick or Harry, if one relationship appeals to you more than the other.

Pulley's writing is fabulous but she also keeps her characters deliberately opaque. Filling in the gaps will always be appreciated, or retelling a bit of the story from Raphael's point of view. At what moment did Merrick become a person to him, and not just Harry's grandson?

Raphael and Harry's appear together so briefly in the book (although the after-effects of their time together are of course a constant presence) so I'd love any scene from that growing relationship. Especially if you feel like you can get into Harry's head at all. What was the rest of his life like? Was his grooming of Merrick's father to go back in his place a deliberate choice?

Or if you like Merrick better, post-canon continuations would be lovely. Give me clever work-arounds to that long list of human and markayuq rules of engagement. Or show me Raphael and Merrick returning to Bedlam after all, or going further afield, maybe to Merrick's estate. (What would Saint Thomas think about all this, I wonder?)

The storybook Merrick grew up with is another detail that has stuck with me. What would he think of it if he read it again after meeting Raphael?

Sleep No More

The McKittrick Hotel is a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. It's also one of my favorite places in the world. Haunting its halls has brought me a lot of happiness and catharsis over the past few years, and it's residents feel very real to me.

Any nominated character or group of characters is acceptable here, so feel free to focus on whoever you like best. Also, because of the unique nature of this show some of my requests do fall into spoiler territory. I'll be blacking them out for you to read at your discretion.

I love the idea of any combination of characters "becoming the audience" for each other, or interacting outside of their loops-- or even breaking each other off of their intended paths. I can't help but think that if these characters were able to share their one-on-one moments with each other something good might come of it. Imagine Lady Macduff and Fulton trading blessings, or bestowing a charm on the Porter. Imagine if Porter was able to give his ring to Lady Macduff. Fulton has his charms and crosses and wards, while Bargarran seems to live to break charms and curses alike. Could they ever work together? (And yes, I may have selected these characters because they're the ones I have the most empathy for. I admit, I want to see them find a little peace. I am willing to somewhat wave my DNW-ing angsty material though-- it's so much a part of this show. But I would prefer that you end on some kind of moderately peaceful note.)

Or just have Porter get someone drunk during the party and sheet dance. That would be excellent too.