Dear Yuletide Author
Hi :DDD
Firstly, just in case it isn't clear enough in my requests - I really would be delighted with anything! I love all these fandoms and I'm so excited about the prospect for new fic, so please write whatever works for you because I am 1000% sure I will love it. Everything else is just here for help and inspiration, and I do tend include a lot of stuff and ideas and info because I know how daunting it is when someone says Anything! :D and gives you absolutely nothing else to go on. Please just pick whatever ideas work for you (if anything, obvs) and don't worry about the rest!
Things I Like: competence, silliness, mythology and science and magic, bizarre intense friendship that maybe doesn't make sense to anyone else, development of characters and relationships, families, action and adventure, domesticity, saving each other's lives (repeatedly, and especially if they shouldn't actually be doing it), tropes and subverted tropes, roadtrip fic, swordfights, satisfied revenge, fics that play with formatting and timelines and storytelling, UST that takes a long time to get resolved, banter and snark and people being sarcastic instead of saying how they really feel, first kisses, getting together fic, happy or hopeful endings, and christmas fic.
Usually I'm all about AUs but all of my requests are quite set in their universes, so maybe not this year! That said, Bedazzled and Bioshock Infinite do lend themselves to universe-jumping, and Guns For Hire is so open you could set it anywhere as long as Lucy Liu keeps the fedora, so if you have a plot idea that's heading off into unknown territory then you have my total support in following it, because I do really love AUs.
[click if you're considering writing porn and want to know what kinks I like. otherwise, feel free ignore!]Kinks I Love: crossdressing, dub-con of the 'if we could consent, we would!' variety - sex pollen and fuck-or-die and power imbalances and whatever else you can think of, being trapped in a small space together, domination/submission that isn't pre-negotiated (but is still consensual), bondage, sensory deprivation, desperation, keeping their clothes on, frottage.
Things I'll happily read: public sex, voyeurism and exhibitionism, pre-negotiated sadomasochism (doesn't have to be detailed or on-screen pre-negotiation, just clear that they've discussed it), spanking, humilation, incest, light knifeplay.
Squicks: collars, breathplay (I'm generally not a fan of necks and throats being impeded in any way), mutilation, torture, bloodplay, a/b/o, animal play, medical kink, violent non-con or dub-con, scat, underage characters in sexual situations.
Things I don't like: non-con, permanent character death, abuse of any kind, anything to do with pregnancy, homophobia, bleak and hopeless endings. I am a little bit flexible on these, especially in dark!fic, but please have a very good narrative reason if you do include any of them.
Other places you can find me:
AO3: afterism
tumblr: onlylostphysics (I have tags for pretty much all of these fandoms: Bedazzled, Bioshock Infinite / Lutece twins, Peaky Blinders, and anything relevant to Guns For Hire is going to be under my Lucy Liu or Gina Torres tags)
Bedazzled (1967)
George Spiggott | Stanley Moon
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a film starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, about a man who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for seven wishes, which in theory he uses to woo the woman of his dreams but mostly he just becomes accidental BFFs with the Devil. (IMDB)I would be genuinely delighted with anything for this film! It could be something post-canon, with Stanley moving on with his life and George continuing to be constantly, casually chaotic (or maybe the other way around), or maybe a slight AU where Stanley wishes for something else and/or George interprets his wishes differently, or honestly whatever you want. Anything in the spirit of the film would be perfect.
(and I'm so genuinely delighted by the prospect of anything I'm not going to specifically request it, but I definitely would not object to Stanley/George)
My favourite thing about this film is the bizarre friendship that forms between Stanley and George, and how they genuinely seem to be a good influence on each other. I love how George is the only person who's ever taken an interest in Stanley, and how he's the only person he can really talk to - and how Stanley seems to think George is genuinely a good bloke who does bad things, and cares about him and wants the best for him. I'd love to see them continuing their unique type of friendship after the film ends - does George keep trying to tempt Stanley, and is there ever a point where he succeeds (and if so, does he give his soul back again for the right reasons this time)? and does Stanley ever get over Margaret Spencer?
Or, something set during the film - you could expand on any of the realities that Stanley's wishes created (the pop stars and Sister Luna are my favourite, but any!), or explore what other wishes Stanley might have made if he'd been nudged in another direction.
More general prompts: I'd love to see some of the other deals George makes in the past or the future - is Stanley really that special? (yes. yes he is.) What sort of routine mischief is Lucifer up to in modern times? What's the modern equivalent of scratching records and pulling the last pages out of Agatha Cristie novels? I'd love to see more of the club - maybe Stanley decides to do George a favour and go work for him there, to be his only employee that's both competent and actually likes him? I'm a big fan of the seven deadly sins (especially Avarice, Envy and Lust) if you want to include any of them, as unexpected friends or allies or something. I do love the discussions on God and angels and hierarchy, if you wanted to write them just talking about heaven and hell for the whole fic!
[if you're tempted by Stanley/George prompts, click!]Stanley/George - omg, please. As a temptation, a curiosity, friends helping out friends, a twist to a wish that turns out surprisingly well for the both of them, somehow it's Lust's fault, somehow it's Envy's fault, Stanley realises he has genuine feelings, George realises he has genuine feelings and acts accordingly/terribly/surprisingly gentlemanly - anything.
Guns For Hire (Movie Concept)
Gina Torres's Character | Lucy Liu's Character
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a fake movie that exists only in two tumblr posts, here and here. It's definitely the easiest fandom to pick up, because there isn't really anything to pick up.I would be thrilled with anything! There's no particular plot beyond Lucy Liu playing the hard-bitten detective and Gina Torres as a fierce femme fatale, so what actually happens, plot details, names, and noir clichés are entirely in your hands. I'd love to see scenes from the movie, or you could treat it like you're writing about a film that actually exists and do codas or this-is-how-this-scene-should-have-gone-down. Femslash would be awesome if you want to include it, and I'd be happy to see it anywhere from snarky banter and flirting to a total PWP.
Seriously, this one is even more 'do whatever inspires you!' than usual. Feel free to give them actual names (I'll keep referring to them as the detective and the femme fatale here, just cos it's easier and I have no preference!). I have some details and plot ideas if you want inspiration, but they are absolutely not required and are mainly just me going 'this is what I would do, but w/e, surprise me!':
I love antagonistic pairings and reluctant allies, so something where the detective and the femme fatale are either on opposite sides until they have to work together, or possibly the femme fatale hires the detective under false pretences and they end up pointing a gun at each other, could be fantastic. Complicated and manipulative hate-flirting is always delightful, and if you want to write sex it could be anywhere from seducing the other for information and nefarious purposes to being animalistically unable to resist each other (or both! both is always good, and I have such a thing for characters who use their genuine feelings to trick someone).
It could be classic noir in a black and white city that rains all the time or futuristic noir with androids who lie and where it still rains all the time. Horror, magic, fantasy and subversions of noir tropes are all welcome! I love 'hired to find a missing person and find a huge conspiracy instead', and 'please find out what's going on in this mysterious warehouse/office/apartment block I swear this isn't a trap', and 'this city is so corrupt let's steal all the money and burn it to the ground' kind of plots (also, the plots in Pushing Daisies always charmed me - I'm not asking for a crossover, and it's absolutely fine if you're not familiar with it, but it had the kind of fascinating, larger-than-life characters and mysteries that were often solved with coincidences and convenience instead of long and convoluted plots, and lots of cartoonish murder, if you want to do something a bit brighter :D). Women being competent and clever and unshakable to the point of being preternatural is always wonderful (but vices and flaws are also great, and are not mutually exclusive!).
I've been scrolling through the Film Noir and So You Want To Write A Film Noir looking for particular tropes I love (looking at those pages is not at all necessary for you, though! they're quite excellent for inspiration but there's nothing there I absolutely must have, so feel free to ignore, especially if you want to do something less tropey) - complicated plots and red herrings and moral ambiguity was always great, but my main love for noir comes from the style and the clichés and the bad guys getting their comeuppance.
Finally, the ending does not have to be happy! I usually prefer hopeful to ambiguous or all-out bleak, but for this it can be as sad and hopeless as the plot takes you. (although if you do have them driving off into the dawn together with a suitcase full of money in the trunk and trail of bodies behind them I will be ALL over that :D)
BioShock Infinite
Rosalind Lutece | Robert Lutece
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a video game with worldbuilding that I'm completely starry-eyed over. It's available on most platforms, I think, and there's loads of let's play/walkthroughs on youtube (this one is my favourite)I would love something that plays with the possibilities of reality jumping and time travel and probable immortality: they obviously have some control over where they appear, but how far can they go and what do they see in all the possible probabilities? I especially love how they have this immense power and beyond fixing what they did to Elizabeth they mainly use it to have fun and do sibling-y things and mess with Booker's head, so I would happily read about them doing nothing but bantering their way through time and space.
But! If that's not your thing, I would be just as pleased with more backstory on both of them, especially anything that explores the differences between them and how they see the world (the line "Where he sees an empty page, I see King Lear" sums up so much about what I love about these two), or something along the lines of the constancy of music and Rosalind fixing Robert after he came through the tear. I do ship it, if you want to include anything between them, but it's not a requirement!
But, really, I would love anything about these two so please use everything here as a jumble of possible ideas rather than absolute requirements!
These two are what caused my interest in this game to go from mild enjoyment to total obsession. I love the sarcasm, the snark, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead references, the way they finish each other's sentences, the way they ripped through their house in order to make a machine that allows you to reach alternate realities, and the fact they're smarter, better and more able to instantly teleport than you. I especially love how working in a male-dominated industry where women's research and breakthroughs are often overlooked and out-right stolen seems to have lead to Robert to being an optimist and Rosalind to be a bitter fatalist - they are almost literally the same person, apart from a single y-chromosome and a lifetime of experiences. How has this affected their worlds?
I would love to see something exploring what it's like to find yourself suddenly able to slip through time and space and realities at will. What was it like immediately after their machine was sabotaged? Did they materialise together or did they have find each other? How do they keep it together, and where do they go when they don't have cryptic advice to dispense? Or, you could use their abilities to explore some of the alternate realities that Booker and Elizabeth slipped through, like the one where Booker working with Daisy, or how the Vox Populi shifted from underground revolutionists to staging all-out war against the city.
Self-cest is pretty much a bullet-proof kink for me and I am so into how devoted Rosalind is to Robert (we never hear his side and he did threaten to leave if they didn't fix what they'd done, but I believe the devotion goes both ways). It's both incredibly narcissistic and telling of how relieved Rosalind must be to finally have someone who understands her, that she's willing to do anything to stay together - but, shipping them is not required if it's not your thing! It's a bizarre and complicated relationship however you look at it, and I would be delighted with anything portraying it.
If you are focusing on backstory, in theory I would prefer either equal focus or more about Rosalind than Robert, because woman who excels at science and creates a floating city but is still dismissed and patronised and referred to as 'the little lady' is more interesting to me than man who excels at science is rewarded and respected for excelling at science. But! I am so easily convinced, and the game does give more on Rosalind's backstory than Robert's so if you want to explore his past then please go for it, because I will love it.
(ETA: I've seen Burial At Sea, so feel free to include anything from it or not!)
Peaky Blinders (TV)
Tommy Shelby | Freddie Thorne
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a six episode series about gangsters in 1920s Birmingham, gorgeously shot and staring many loving close-ups of Cillian Murphy's face, if you're into that kind of thing. (IMDB and BBC site with links to episodes on iPlayer)Tommy and Freddie's dynamic delights me on so many levels, and I'd love to see more of it. Tommy/Freddie would be perfect but I'm just as invested in the rise and fall of their friendship, so please write whatever you're comfortable with. I would be thrilled with anything that explored their relationship at any point from being best friends growing up to serving together during the war to pointing a gun at each other almost every time they meet, and I'd love to read about what caused them to fall apart so thoroughly. I also love how Freddie is one of the few people who isn't scared of the Peaky Blinders, so exploring that could be wonderful.
I love the hints of their backstory that the show gave us - I'd love to hear more about the man Tommy was before the war, when he laughed instead of smirking and wanted to work with horses, and how Freddie grew up alongside a crime family and ended up a communist. I do love stories that explore the things that soldiers go through, so you could follow them from joining up to the trenches of France to Freddie saving Tommy's life in that tunnel, and, if you want, on to recovery and coming home. The show never specified what caused them to hate each other so much (that I remember, anyway? er, feel free to correct me!) so I would love to see what happened there, whether it was after the war or because of Freddie's communism or Tommy becoming head of the family business or something else entirely - although, what I especially love is how it was not as final as either of them believed (Tommy still admires him! He repeatedly tried to get Freddie to safety and never turned him in! He broke him out of prison!), so something dealing with their current feelings or a follow-up from the last episode could be wonderful. Or - something that deals with their relationship in a way I haven't thought of! Because, really, I would love anything about these two.
The only caveat I have is please don't demonise any of the ladies or dismiss Freddie/Ada if you follow their relationship to the present day - Ada and Grace have my heart. I'd much rather read something set entirely in the past or something that didn't mention them at all than something that disrespected any of the women of the show. That said, you can include them being awesome if you want! Because they really do have my heart, and I'd be delighted to see more of them. (I found this while scrolling through tumblr instead of working on this bit of my letter and it's SO PERFECT for explaining what I mean about not demonising anyone and how all connections are important, so I'm linking it. And I'll stop banging on about this now, sorry.)
I have a couple of totally optional alternative prompts for other characters, because after watching the final episode I realised that I love everyone in this bar and I want all the fic. If you're just here for Tommy & Freddie then awesome, carry on! If you want alt prompts that mostly focus on the women of the Shelby family to consider then click the spoilercut: [click! only if you want though, honestly, i just needed somewhere to put my feelings about everyone]
♥Aunt Polly Gray♥, omg, I want to know everything about her. I'd love to hear more about her running the business during the war, or growing up in the Shelby family (I'm assuming she was born and raised a Shelby and married a Gray, but I've realised I'm not actually sure, so if there's anything contradicting that then obviously go with canon!) or how she became the matriarch.
Ada, who WON MY HEART AND EVERLASTING DEVOTION in the finale, I'd love to see more of when she was younger or as the wildchild of the Shelby family or what she did during the war or how she ended up with Freddie (the explanation that he's the only one who isn't scared of her brothers delights me, and I'd kinda love to hear about how she dealt with all the boys who were.) Femslash is one of my favourite things in the world, so if you fancy writing something pre-series or slight-AU where she's in love with a girl and how that goes down in early 1900s Birmingham would amazing.
For all of these, you don't have to include Tommy or Freddie at all if they don't work in the story!
aaaand in a last-minute panic I deleted my Cargo request from my official sign-up. But! I'll leave this here for now as inspiration for anyone who needs it, at least probably until someone else who actually requested Cargo puts a DYA letter up. (or as an incredibly cheeky 'if you want to write this as a treat i would be a very willing recipient, if no one else is available!')
Cargo (Short Film)
Any
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a short film about a dad who tries to save his infant daughter after he's bitten by zombies. It made me cry like a waterfall and I love it.Anything?! I'd love to read about the survivors compound, how the zombies started, how long it's been since the world ended, how the dad knew where to go, how the other survivors managed to stay alive, what Rosie's mum was like, Rosie growing up, Rosie helping build a new world, Rosie living - whatever you like or something else entirely, I really don't know, I just want more.
The film turned me into a sobbing mess so free feel to break my heart all over again, but I would especially love something with a hopeful (or even happy) ending.
I really do mean any, so if you want to focus on just the dad or the rescuer or Rosie or worldbuilding, go for it!
Firstly, just in case it isn't clear enough in my requests - I really would be delighted with anything! I love all these fandoms and I'm so excited about the prospect for new fic, so please write whatever works for you because I am 1000% sure I will love it. Everything else is just here for help and inspiration, and I do tend include a lot of stuff and ideas and info because I know how daunting it is when someone says Anything! :D and gives you absolutely nothing else to go on. Please just pick whatever ideas work for you (if anything, obvs) and don't worry about the rest!
Things I Like: competence, silliness, mythology and science and magic, bizarre intense friendship that maybe doesn't make sense to anyone else, development of characters and relationships, families, action and adventure, domesticity, saving each other's lives (repeatedly, and especially if they shouldn't actually be doing it), tropes and subverted tropes, roadtrip fic, swordfights, satisfied revenge, fics that play with formatting and timelines and storytelling, UST that takes a long time to get resolved, banter and snark and people being sarcastic instead of saying how they really feel, first kisses, getting together fic, happy or hopeful endings, and christmas fic.
Usually I'm all about AUs but all of my requests are quite set in their universes, so maybe not this year! That said, Bedazzled and Bioshock Infinite do lend themselves to universe-jumping, and Guns For Hire is so open you could set it anywhere as long as Lucy Liu keeps the fedora, so if you have a plot idea that's heading off into unknown territory then you have my total support in following it, because I do really love AUs.
[click if you're considering writing porn and want to know what kinks I like. otherwise, feel free ignore!]Kinks I Love: crossdressing, dub-con of the 'if we could consent, we would!' variety - sex pollen and fuck-or-die and power imbalances and whatever else you can think of, being trapped in a small space together, domination/submission that isn't pre-negotiated (but is still consensual), bondage, sensory deprivation, desperation, keeping their clothes on, frottage.
Things I'll happily read: public sex, voyeurism and exhibitionism, pre-negotiated sadomasochism (doesn't have to be detailed or on-screen pre-negotiation, just clear that they've discussed it), spanking, humilation, incest, light knifeplay.
Squicks: collars, breathplay (I'm generally not a fan of necks and throats being impeded in any way), mutilation, torture, bloodplay, a/b/o, animal play, medical kink, violent non-con or dub-con, scat, underage characters in sexual situations.
Things I don't like: non-con, permanent character death, abuse of any kind, anything to do with pregnancy, homophobia, bleak and hopeless endings. I am a little bit flexible on these, especially in dark!fic, but please have a very good narrative reason if you do include any of them.
Other places you can find me:
AO3: afterism
tumblr: onlylostphysics (I have tags for pretty much all of these fandoms: Bedazzled, Bioshock Infinite / Lutece twins, Peaky Blinders, and anything relevant to Guns For Hire is going to be under my Lucy Liu or Gina Torres tags)
Bedazzled (1967)
George Spiggott | Stanley Moon
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a film starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, about a man who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for seven wishes, which in theory he uses to woo the woman of his dreams but mostly he just becomes accidental BFFs with the Devil. (IMDB)I would be genuinely delighted with anything for this film! It could be something post-canon, with Stanley moving on with his life and George continuing to be constantly, casually chaotic (or maybe the other way around), or maybe a slight AU where Stanley wishes for something else and/or George interprets his wishes differently, or honestly whatever you want. Anything in the spirit of the film would be perfect.
(and I'm so genuinely delighted by the prospect of anything I'm not going to specifically request it, but I definitely would not object to Stanley/George)
My favourite thing about this film is the bizarre friendship that forms between Stanley and George, and how they genuinely seem to be a good influence on each other. I love how George is the only person who's ever taken an interest in Stanley, and how he's the only person he can really talk to - and how Stanley seems to think George is genuinely a good bloke who does bad things, and cares about him and wants the best for him. I'd love to see them continuing their unique type of friendship after the film ends - does George keep trying to tempt Stanley, and is there ever a point where he succeeds (and if so, does he give his soul back again for the right reasons this time)? and does Stanley ever get over Margaret Spencer?
Or, something set during the film - you could expand on any of the realities that Stanley's wishes created (the pop stars and Sister Luna are my favourite, but any!), or explore what other wishes Stanley might have made if he'd been nudged in another direction.
More general prompts: I'd love to see some of the other deals George makes in the past or the future - is Stanley really that special? (yes. yes he is.) What sort of routine mischief is Lucifer up to in modern times? What's the modern equivalent of scratching records and pulling the last pages out of Agatha Cristie novels? I'd love to see more of the club - maybe Stanley decides to do George a favour and go work for him there, to be his only employee that's both competent and actually likes him? I'm a big fan of the seven deadly sins (especially Avarice, Envy and Lust) if you want to include any of them, as unexpected friends or allies or something. I do love the discussions on God and angels and hierarchy, if you wanted to write them just talking about heaven and hell for the whole fic!
[if you're tempted by Stanley/George prompts, click!]Stanley/George - omg, please. As a temptation, a curiosity, friends helping out friends, a twist to a wish that turns out surprisingly well for the both of them, somehow it's Lust's fault, somehow it's Envy's fault, Stanley realises he has genuine feelings, George realises he has genuine feelings and acts accordingly/terribly/surprisingly gentlemanly - anything.
Guns For Hire (Movie Concept)
Gina Torres's Character | Lucy Liu's Character
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a fake movie that exists only in two tumblr posts, here and here. It's definitely the easiest fandom to pick up, because there isn't really anything to pick up.I would be thrilled with anything! There's no particular plot beyond Lucy Liu playing the hard-bitten detective and Gina Torres as a fierce femme fatale, so what actually happens, plot details, names, and noir clichés are entirely in your hands. I'd love to see scenes from the movie, or you could treat it like you're writing about a film that actually exists and do codas or this-is-how-this-scene-should-have-gone-down. Femslash would be awesome if you want to include it, and I'd be happy to see it anywhere from snarky banter and flirting to a total PWP.
Seriously, this one is even more 'do whatever inspires you!' than usual. Feel free to give them actual names (I'll keep referring to them as the detective and the femme fatale here, just cos it's easier and I have no preference!). I have some details and plot ideas if you want inspiration, but they are absolutely not required and are mainly just me going 'this is what I would do, but w/e, surprise me!':
I love antagonistic pairings and reluctant allies, so something where the detective and the femme fatale are either on opposite sides until they have to work together, or possibly the femme fatale hires the detective under false pretences and they end up pointing a gun at each other, could be fantastic. Complicated and manipulative hate-flirting is always delightful, and if you want to write sex it could be anywhere from seducing the other for information and nefarious purposes to being animalistically unable to resist each other (or both! both is always good, and I have such a thing for characters who use their genuine feelings to trick someone).
It could be classic noir in a black and white city that rains all the time or futuristic noir with androids who lie and where it still rains all the time. Horror, magic, fantasy and subversions of noir tropes are all welcome! I love 'hired to find a missing person and find a huge conspiracy instead', and 'please find out what's going on in this mysterious warehouse/office/apartment block I swear this isn't a trap', and 'this city is so corrupt let's steal all the money and burn it to the ground' kind of plots (also, the plots in Pushing Daisies always charmed me - I'm not asking for a crossover, and it's absolutely fine if you're not familiar with it, but it had the kind of fascinating, larger-than-life characters and mysteries that were often solved with coincidences and convenience instead of long and convoluted plots, and lots of cartoonish murder, if you want to do something a bit brighter :D). Women being competent and clever and unshakable to the point of being preternatural is always wonderful (but vices and flaws are also great, and are not mutually exclusive!).
I've been scrolling through the Film Noir and So You Want To Write A Film Noir looking for particular tropes I love (looking at those pages is not at all necessary for you, though! they're quite excellent for inspiration but there's nothing there I absolutely must have, so feel free to ignore, especially if you want to do something less tropey) - complicated plots and red herrings and moral ambiguity was always great, but my main love for noir comes from the style and the clichés and the bad guys getting their comeuppance.
Finally, the ending does not have to be happy! I usually prefer hopeful to ambiguous or all-out bleak, but for this it can be as sad and hopeless as the plot takes you. (although if you do have them driving off into the dawn together with a suitcase full of money in the trunk and trail of bodies behind them I will be ALL over that :D)
BioShock Infinite
Rosalind Lutece | Robert Lutece
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a video game with worldbuilding that I'm completely starry-eyed over. It's available on most platforms, I think, and there's loads of let's play/walkthroughs on youtube (this one is my favourite)I would love something that plays with the possibilities of reality jumping and time travel and probable immortality: they obviously have some control over where they appear, but how far can they go and what do they see in all the possible probabilities? I especially love how they have this immense power and beyond fixing what they did to Elizabeth they mainly use it to have fun and do sibling-y things and mess with Booker's head, so I would happily read about them doing nothing but bantering their way through time and space.
But! If that's not your thing, I would be just as pleased with more backstory on both of them, especially anything that explores the differences between them and how they see the world (the line "Where he sees an empty page, I see King Lear" sums up so much about what I love about these two), or something along the lines of the constancy of music and Rosalind fixing Robert after he came through the tear. I do ship it, if you want to include anything between them, but it's not a requirement!
But, really, I would love anything about these two so please use everything here as a jumble of possible ideas rather than absolute requirements!
These two are what caused my interest in this game to go from mild enjoyment to total obsession. I love the sarcasm, the snark, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead references, the way they finish each other's sentences, the way they ripped through their house in order to make a machine that allows you to reach alternate realities, and the fact they're smarter, better and more able to instantly teleport than you. I especially love how working in a male-dominated industry where women's research and breakthroughs are often overlooked and out-right stolen seems to have lead to Robert to being an optimist and Rosalind to be a bitter fatalist - they are almost literally the same person, apart from a single y-chromosome and a lifetime of experiences. How has this affected their worlds?
I would love to see something exploring what it's like to find yourself suddenly able to slip through time and space and realities at will. What was it like immediately after their machine was sabotaged? Did they materialise together or did they have find each other? How do they keep it together, and where do they go when they don't have cryptic advice to dispense? Or, you could use their abilities to explore some of the alternate realities that Booker and Elizabeth slipped through, like the one where Booker working with Daisy, or how the Vox Populi shifted from underground revolutionists to staging all-out war against the city.
Self-cest is pretty much a bullet-proof kink for me and I am so into how devoted Rosalind is to Robert (we never hear his side and he did threaten to leave if they didn't fix what they'd done, but I believe the devotion goes both ways). It's both incredibly narcissistic and telling of how relieved Rosalind must be to finally have someone who understands her, that she's willing to do anything to stay together - but, shipping them is not required if it's not your thing! It's a bizarre and complicated relationship however you look at it, and I would be delighted with anything portraying it.
If you are focusing on backstory, in theory I would prefer either equal focus or more about Rosalind than Robert, because woman who excels at science and creates a floating city but is still dismissed and patronised and referred to as 'the little lady' is more interesting to me than man who excels at science is rewarded and respected for excelling at science. But! I am so easily convinced, and the game does give more on Rosalind's backstory than Robert's so if you want to explore his past then please go for it, because I will love it.
(ETA: I've seen Burial At Sea, so feel free to include anything from it or not!)
Peaky Blinders (TV)
Tommy Shelby | Freddie Thorne
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a six episode series about gangsters in 1920s Birmingham, gorgeously shot and staring many loving close-ups of Cillian Murphy's face, if you're into that kind of thing. (IMDB and BBC site with links to episodes on iPlayer)Tommy and Freddie's dynamic delights me on so many levels, and I'd love to see more of it. Tommy/Freddie would be perfect but I'm just as invested in the rise and fall of their friendship, so please write whatever you're comfortable with. I would be thrilled with anything that explored their relationship at any point from being best friends growing up to serving together during the war to pointing a gun at each other almost every time they meet, and I'd love to read about what caused them to fall apart so thoroughly. I also love how Freddie is one of the few people who isn't scared of the Peaky Blinders, so exploring that could be wonderful.
I love the hints of their backstory that the show gave us - I'd love to hear more about the man Tommy was before the war, when he laughed instead of smirking and wanted to work with horses, and how Freddie grew up alongside a crime family and ended up a communist. I do love stories that explore the things that soldiers go through, so you could follow them from joining up to the trenches of France to Freddie saving Tommy's life in that tunnel, and, if you want, on to recovery and coming home. The show never specified what caused them to hate each other so much (that I remember, anyway? er, feel free to correct me!) so I would love to see what happened there, whether it was after the war or because of Freddie's communism or Tommy becoming head of the family business or something else entirely - although, what I especially love is how it was not as final as either of them believed (Tommy still admires him! He repeatedly tried to get Freddie to safety and never turned him in! He broke him out of prison!), so something dealing with their current feelings or a follow-up from the last episode could be wonderful. Or - something that deals with their relationship in a way I haven't thought of! Because, really, I would love anything about these two.
The only caveat I have is please don't demonise any of the ladies or dismiss Freddie/Ada if you follow their relationship to the present day - Ada and Grace have my heart. I'd much rather read something set entirely in the past or something that didn't mention them at all than something that disrespected any of the women of the show. That said, you can include them being awesome if you want! Because they really do have my heart, and I'd be delighted to see more of them. (I found this while scrolling through tumblr instead of working on this bit of my letter and it's SO PERFECT for explaining what I mean about not demonising anyone and how all connections are important, so I'm linking it. And I'll stop banging on about this now, sorry.)
I have a couple of totally optional alternative prompts for other characters, because after watching the final episode I realised that I love everyone in this bar and I want all the fic. If you're just here for Tommy & Freddie then awesome, carry on! If you want alt prompts that mostly focus on the women of the Shelby family to consider then click the spoilercut: [click! only if you want though, honestly, i just needed somewhere to put my feelings about everyone]
♥Aunt Polly Gray♥, omg, I want to know everything about her. I'd love to hear more about her running the business during the war, or growing up in the Shelby family (I'm assuming she was born and raised a Shelby and married a Gray, but I've realised I'm not actually sure, so if there's anything contradicting that then obviously go with canon!) or how she became the matriarch.
Ada, who WON MY HEART AND EVERLASTING DEVOTION in the finale, I'd love to see more of when she was younger or as the wildchild of the Shelby family or what she did during the war or how she ended up with Freddie (the explanation that he's the only one who isn't scared of her brothers delights me, and I'd kinda love to hear about how she dealt with all the boys who were.) Femslash is one of my favourite things in the world, so if you fancy writing something pre-series or slight-AU where she's in love with a girl and how that goes down in early 1900s Birmingham would amazing.
For all of these, you don't have to include Tommy or Freddie at all if they don't work in the story!
aaaand in a last-minute panic I deleted my Cargo request from my official sign-up. But! I'll leave this here for now as inspiration for anyone who needs it, at least probably until someone else who actually requested Cargo puts a DYA letter up. (or as an incredibly cheeky 'if you want to write this as a treat i would be a very willing recipient, if no one else is available!')
Cargo (Short Film)
Any
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a short film about a dad who tries to save his infant daughter after he's bitten by zombies. It made me cry like a waterfall and I love it.Anything?! I'd love to read about the survivors compound, how the zombies started, how long it's been since the world ended, how the dad knew where to go, how the other survivors managed to stay alive, what Rosie's mum was like, Rosie growing up, Rosie helping build a new world, Rosie living - whatever you like or something else entirely, I really don't know, I just want more.
The film turned me into a sobbing mess so free feel to break my heart all over again, but I would especially love something with a hopeful (or even happy) ending.
I really do mean any, so if you want to focus on just the dad or the rescuer or Rosie or worldbuilding, go for it!