HH Exchange Author Letter
Hello lovely author person!
Likes
My favourite genres are fluff and hurt/comfort, though some angst is absolutely fine too. If you want to do porn, kinks I like which I think might fit these pairings are D/s, bondage, loss of virginity, and first times. I also like reading about kissing, cuddling, or any sort of tender touching, etc. Or, if you want to keep it totally G-rated, I am always up for a big dollop of domesticity! Little shows of affection make me flail with glee too.
You'll probably notice there are a couple of recurring themes in my requests: loyalty, and intense friendships. I love these tropes and they pop up in, err, nearly all of them. Seeing people with such a strong bond, so comfortable with each other, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses inside out... ffff, I just get all giddy.
I love canon era stories but I also like alternate universes, so if you want to show me how things would be different if they were the opposite sex, or they were alive nowadays, or they had daemons - go for it! Space AUs, steampunk AUs, pirate AUs... AUs where they're actors or doctors or policemen... fusions AUs, with the characters attending Hogwarts, or as Benders trying to learn their element, or Borrowers on a mission to find food... There are so many possibilities!
Dislikes
Character death, bloodplay, watersports, scat... Yup, that's basically it. XD
Request 1: Blenkinsop/Maltravers
Adorableness please! Doesn't have to be entirely fluff, I am definitely okay with some angst, but I'd rather it wasn't unrelentingly grim. The setting is up to you: Boarding school adventures! Comforting each other in the trenches! Trying to rebuild their lives after the war! I really don't mind, as long as these two are being ridiculously cute best friends in love with each other.
I don't think I can really add anything new to this, because that pretty much says it all. So instead I'll expand on a few of those points in more detail, hopefully give you some more to work with if you're stuck.
So. Boarding school shenanigans! You could go anywhere within this period, from them being young and adorable to them being teenagers and... well, still adorable, but also discovering hormones and feelings and things. I love the trappings and routines of boarding schools: cricket, rugby, sharing a dorm, midnight feasts, Latin and maths and music, working in the library, relaxing on the playing field, staying in bed with the flu... I think spending all of your time in the same place and with the same people could produce a very intense sort of intimacy. At least for these two, because yeah - bestest best friends.
For wartime stories, I'd appreciate it if you didn't make it too dark. I've listed deathfic as a dislike above, so please don't kill either of them off, and I'd rather not have any gory descriptions of terrible things happening to other soldiers. But you can definitely delve into the hardships of the situation, the emotional and physical toll it all takes - angst is fine!
Hurt/comfort would probably work well both for that period and for anything post-war: either them trying to keep their spirits up, or take care of any injuries they might have received. Or if you want to go fluffier, you could show them recovering from the war, taking steps back to a normal life and finding hope again. Just everyday things could be really significant: eating breakfast together, having a picnic, sitting by a warm fire, cuddling up together at night... I'm sure they'd produce ridiculously levels of cute, whatever they were doing.
This is the one ship where I imagine their romantic and sexual experience to be exclusive to the two of them. I think they'd probably be each other's first crush, first kiss, first lover, etc. You don't have to make all that explicit, but I'd rather there not be any mentions of them having been with other people. (Unlike my other requests, where I multiship them all!)
Request 2: Gelda Celt/Marcus Roman
I'm really tempted to say "anything!" but I guess that's not very helpful if you're stuck for inspiration. So, what else did Marcus show Gelda? Did she go to live with him after the sketch ended? Do they get together, or are there too many obstacles? You don't have to answer any of these questions in your fic, I just want to see these two being really cute together. If you don't want to deal with all the practicalities, you could go completely AU - maybe they live in modern times! Or they're space explorers! Or Hogwarts students! Yeah, pretty much anything.
There is basically no fic for these two at all so whatever you do it would be all shiny and new to me. :D
In the sketch, I really liked how sweet these two were; how excited and interested Gelda was, and how kind and welcoming Marcus seemed. They looked really comfortable together, despite coming from such different cultures, and they seem like their personalities are a good match. The fact that both of them are already married to other people could provide some nice angst (although divorce was actually pretty easy in both cultures) but despite that I think this is mostly a happy ship.
I don't really have any story ideas for you, mostly just what-ifs. I think of all my requests, this is the one that would tend most towards AUs. There are a lot of complications in the canon time period, so unless you want to write a futurefic set after it's all sorted (which I would have no problem with!) it might be easier to set it in another place and time entirely.
But please, whatever you do, no bashing of Mrs Roman. I don't need Gelda to be Marcus's ~one true love~ so you don't need to turn his wife into a villain.
Request 3: Mark Antony/Julius Caesar
Imagine what they could get up to! Conquering Gaul. Drunkenly bantering. Winding up the other senators. Shagging after a battle. Shagging before a battle. In fact, shagging pretty much whenever. Playfully teasing each other, or escaping from a tight spot, or one comforting the other at a dark moment. ...Basically, I would love anything where these two best friends get to be awesome together. (And maybe secretly have feelings for each other that they try to ignore, shhh.)
I feel like I should give a bit of background for these two, because they don't really get to interact in the show. In real life, Mark was one of Julius's officers during the invasion of Gaul. The two became friends, and Mark was one of Julius's most loyal and trusted supporters throughout the civil war, during his dictatorship, and even long after he died. Which, as a summary, doesn't convey the sheer level of feels I have about their relationship and how important they were in each other's lives - but keysmashing and squealing about how they're "precious babies <3333" is probably not that helpful, so I shall keep it to a minimum. (Or try to, anyway. XD)
For each of them, the other seems to have been an exception to both how they treated other people and how they were treated by other people. It was common in Roman politics for people to switch sides, often multiple times, but Mark was loyal to Julius against all odds. He was also very genuine and not prone to deception, in comparison to many of the people who would say one thing to Julius's face while secretly plotting the opposite. Despite his (not entirely deserved) reputation as a drunkard and a failure, Julius took Mark on as an officer and gave him a chance to prove himself - he was one of the few people in Mark's life who ever really believed in him. There seems to have been a lot of trust between them, in a world that was generally short on trust.
Although they seem an unlikely pair - clever, calculating Julius and stupid, jokey Mark - their personalities actually meshed very well. But then Mark wasn't as stupid as he seemed (although, let's be honest, he was often a massive derp) and Julius had more humour to him than you might expect. They seem to have provided a good balance for each other, with Julius being someone who would take Mark seriously, and Mark being someone Julius could safely tease and joke around with.
That said, I think this is a ship where it would work to have them both assume their feelings aren't requited (even though they are), because it would be very easy for Mark to believe that someone as amazing as Julius wouldn't be interested in him, and for Julius to think that Mark's dislike of emotional connections extends to him as well. So I can definitely see them having a friends-with-benefits relationship while trying to hide how they really feel.
Sexwise, it was taboo for Roman men to allow themselves to be penetrated - but then they were also supposed to demonstrate self-control and Mark was once so hungover he vomited in the senate itself, so. I think dom!Julius and sub!Mark is a thing that would work well, if you want to go that way. After all, Julius is a ~conqueror~ ... and Mark would probably enjoy the sense of safety and approval. Also, there are the quotes from historical sources describing Mark as "tame and broken into entire obedience" and such, so, umm, seems like that may have been an actual thing.
(By the way, I do ship both of them with Cleopatra as well, so please don't imply that they never loved her or vice versa. Acknowledgement of multiple relationships/loves is a positive, not a negative!)
Request 4: Thomas Hardy/Horatio Nelson
Can I talk about this pairing without overusing the word "loyalty"? Probably not. Because, ugh, these two. Trying to smash the French and protect each other at the same time, with Nelson being an awesome BAMF and Hardy being an adorable cutie and them making a perfect team. Whether you show me them on an ordinary day or in the heat of battle, when everything's going well or when Nelson's feeling horribly ill, I'm sure I'd love it.
Of all the pairings, this is probably the one most suited to hurt/comfort fic. Maybe there's a storm and Hardy tries to look after Nelson, while Nelson tries to pretend that he's absolutely fine, dammit (but then eventually gives in and accepts some delicious comfort, of course). I'd love to see that gradual breaking down of barriers, the slow acceptance of vulnerability,
Or you could write about them kicking ass and taking names. Any sort of display of competency would be great. From the battledeck to the strategy table, or anywhere else you can think of, having one or both of them show how awesome they are would be amazing - even if it's not in an arena that's usually considered "badass".
If you want to write porn, I am equally happy with either of them topping. Likewise if you want to go the D/s route, I like both dom!Hardy and dom!Nelson, as well as switching between them.
Another thing you could do is show how comfortable they are with each other, how well they get on, and how easily they work together. Just a little snippet from their normal lives aboard ship, showing the routines they have and how well they know each other, would be really lovely.
(Feel free to include a bit of Beatty if the fic is set when they're on the Victory. I'd rather you didn't put in any angsty hints about unrequited love, but suggestions of a future as a happy threesome are definitely fine!)
Request 5: James VI and I/George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham
I don't really know what to say for this pairing. I just want to see Jimmy and Steenie being really unsubtle boyfriends who do things like snog in public and cry over each other's letters. Because, y'know. That is basically historical trufax! What more needs to be said??
Okay, I hesitated to request this, because for some reason I find it hard to say stuff about them that isn't just inarticulate feels-leaking (which is why they're not in alphabetical order like the others, heh) but it turns out I really can't resist, so. Some of their letters are online, and they are really sweet, and definitely worth a read if you've not seen them before. I don't have any specific story ideas for you, but anything where Jimmy is camp and adorable while Steenie is morally shifty yet still completely in love would be amazing.
...I think that's everything? Or at least I hope it is because this has gotten rather long, erm. XD Just remember that these are all ideas and suggestions: you don't have to fit them all in! Including just one of the things I've mentioned would make me ridiculously happy. Or maybe you have an awesome idea I haven't thought of! I love all these ships, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with. <3 Thank you for writing something for me!
Likes
My favourite genres are fluff and hurt/comfort, though some angst is absolutely fine too. If you want to do porn, kinks I like which I think might fit these pairings are D/s, bondage, loss of virginity, and first times. I also like reading about kissing, cuddling, or any sort of tender touching, etc. Or, if you want to keep it totally G-rated, I am always up for a big dollop of domesticity! Little shows of affection make me flail with glee too.
You'll probably notice there are a couple of recurring themes in my requests: loyalty, and intense friendships. I love these tropes and they pop up in, err, nearly all of them. Seeing people with such a strong bond, so comfortable with each other, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses inside out... ffff, I just get all giddy.
I love canon era stories but I also like alternate universes, so if you want to show me how things would be different if they were the opposite sex, or they were alive nowadays, or they had daemons - go for it! Space AUs, steampunk AUs, pirate AUs... AUs where they're actors or doctors or policemen... fusions AUs, with the characters attending Hogwarts, or as Benders trying to learn their element, or Borrowers on a mission to find food... There are so many possibilities!
Dislikes
Character death, bloodplay, watersports, scat... Yup, that's basically it. XD
Request 1: Blenkinsop/Maltravers
Adorableness please! Doesn't have to be entirely fluff, I am definitely okay with some angst, but I'd rather it wasn't unrelentingly grim. The setting is up to you: Boarding school adventures! Comforting each other in the trenches! Trying to rebuild their lives after the war! I really don't mind, as long as these two are being ridiculously cute best friends in love with each other.
I don't think I can really add anything new to this, because that pretty much says it all. So instead I'll expand on a few of those points in more detail, hopefully give you some more to work with if you're stuck.
So. Boarding school shenanigans! You could go anywhere within this period, from them being young and adorable to them being teenagers and... well, still adorable, but also discovering hormones and feelings and things. I love the trappings and routines of boarding schools: cricket, rugby, sharing a dorm, midnight feasts, Latin and maths and music, working in the library, relaxing on the playing field, staying in bed with the flu... I think spending all of your time in the same place and with the same people could produce a very intense sort of intimacy. At least for these two, because yeah - bestest best friends.
For wartime stories, I'd appreciate it if you didn't make it too dark. I've listed deathfic as a dislike above, so please don't kill either of them off, and I'd rather not have any gory descriptions of terrible things happening to other soldiers. But you can definitely delve into the hardships of the situation, the emotional and physical toll it all takes - angst is fine!
Hurt/comfort would probably work well both for that period and for anything post-war: either them trying to keep their spirits up, or take care of any injuries they might have received. Or if you want to go fluffier, you could show them recovering from the war, taking steps back to a normal life and finding hope again. Just everyday things could be really significant: eating breakfast together, having a picnic, sitting by a warm fire, cuddling up together at night... I'm sure they'd produce ridiculously levels of cute, whatever they were doing.
This is the one ship where I imagine their romantic and sexual experience to be exclusive to the two of them. I think they'd probably be each other's first crush, first kiss, first lover, etc. You don't have to make all that explicit, but I'd rather there not be any mentions of them having been with other people. (Unlike my other requests, where I multiship them all!)
Request 2: Gelda Celt/Marcus Roman
I'm really tempted to say "anything!" but I guess that's not very helpful if you're stuck for inspiration. So, what else did Marcus show Gelda? Did she go to live with him after the sketch ended? Do they get together, or are there too many obstacles? You don't have to answer any of these questions in your fic, I just want to see these two being really cute together. If you don't want to deal with all the practicalities, you could go completely AU - maybe they live in modern times! Or they're space explorers! Or Hogwarts students! Yeah, pretty much anything.
There is basically no fic for these two at all so whatever you do it would be all shiny and new to me. :D
In the sketch, I really liked how sweet these two were; how excited and interested Gelda was, and how kind and welcoming Marcus seemed. They looked really comfortable together, despite coming from such different cultures, and they seem like their personalities are a good match. The fact that both of them are already married to other people could provide some nice angst (although divorce was actually pretty easy in both cultures) but despite that I think this is mostly a happy ship.
I don't really have any story ideas for you, mostly just what-ifs. I think of all my requests, this is the one that would tend most towards AUs. There are a lot of complications in the canon time period, so unless you want to write a futurefic set after it's all sorted (which I would have no problem with!) it might be easier to set it in another place and time entirely.
But please, whatever you do, no bashing of Mrs Roman. I don't need Gelda to be Marcus's ~one true love~ so you don't need to turn his wife into a villain.
Request 3: Mark Antony/Julius Caesar
Imagine what they could get up to! Conquering Gaul. Drunkenly bantering. Winding up the other senators. Shagging after a battle. Shagging before a battle. In fact, shagging pretty much whenever. Playfully teasing each other, or escaping from a tight spot, or one comforting the other at a dark moment. ...Basically, I would love anything where these two best friends get to be awesome together. (And maybe secretly have feelings for each other that they try to ignore, shhh.)
I feel like I should give a bit of background for these two, because they don't really get to interact in the show. In real life, Mark was one of Julius's officers during the invasion of Gaul. The two became friends, and Mark was one of Julius's most loyal and trusted supporters throughout the civil war, during his dictatorship, and even long after he died. Which, as a summary, doesn't convey the sheer level of feels I have about their relationship and how important they were in each other's lives - but keysmashing and squealing about how they're "precious babies <3333" is probably not that helpful, so I shall keep it to a minimum. (Or try to, anyway. XD)
For each of them, the other seems to have been an exception to both how they treated other people and how they were treated by other people. It was common in Roman politics for people to switch sides, often multiple times, but Mark was loyal to Julius against all odds. He was also very genuine and not prone to deception, in comparison to many of the people who would say one thing to Julius's face while secretly plotting the opposite. Despite his (not entirely deserved) reputation as a drunkard and a failure, Julius took Mark on as an officer and gave him a chance to prove himself - he was one of the few people in Mark's life who ever really believed in him. There seems to have been a lot of trust between them, in a world that was generally short on trust.
Although they seem an unlikely pair - clever, calculating Julius and stupid, jokey Mark - their personalities actually meshed very well. But then Mark wasn't as stupid as he seemed (although, let's be honest, he was often a massive derp) and Julius had more humour to him than you might expect. They seem to have provided a good balance for each other, with Julius being someone who would take Mark seriously, and Mark being someone Julius could safely tease and joke around with.
That said, I think this is a ship where it would work to have them both assume their feelings aren't requited (even though they are), because it would be very easy for Mark to believe that someone as amazing as Julius wouldn't be interested in him, and for Julius to think that Mark's dislike of emotional connections extends to him as well. So I can definitely see them having a friends-with-benefits relationship while trying to hide how they really feel.
Sexwise, it was taboo for Roman men to allow themselves to be penetrated - but then they were also supposed to demonstrate self-control and Mark was once so hungover he vomited in the senate itself, so. I think dom!Julius and sub!Mark is a thing that would work well, if you want to go that way. After all, Julius is a ~conqueror~ ... and Mark would probably enjoy the sense of safety and approval. Also, there are the quotes from historical sources describing Mark as "tame and broken into entire obedience" and such, so, umm, seems like that may have been an actual thing.
(By the way, I do ship both of them with Cleopatra as well, so please don't imply that they never loved her or vice versa. Acknowledgement of multiple relationships/loves is a positive, not a negative!)
Request 4: Thomas Hardy/Horatio Nelson
Can I talk about this pairing without overusing the word "loyalty"? Probably not. Because, ugh, these two. Trying to smash the French and protect each other at the same time, with Nelson being an awesome BAMF and Hardy being an adorable cutie and them making a perfect team. Whether you show me them on an ordinary day or in the heat of battle, when everything's going well or when Nelson's feeling horribly ill, I'm sure I'd love it.
Of all the pairings, this is probably the one most suited to hurt/comfort fic. Maybe there's a storm and Hardy tries to look after Nelson, while Nelson tries to pretend that he's absolutely fine, dammit (but then eventually gives in and accepts some delicious comfort, of course). I'd love to see that gradual breaking down of barriers, the slow acceptance of vulnerability,
Or you could write about them kicking ass and taking names. Any sort of display of competency would be great. From the battledeck to the strategy table, or anywhere else you can think of, having one or both of them show how awesome they are would be amazing - even if it's not in an arena that's usually considered "badass".
If you want to write porn, I am equally happy with either of them topping. Likewise if you want to go the D/s route, I like both dom!Hardy and dom!Nelson, as well as switching between them.
Another thing you could do is show how comfortable they are with each other, how well they get on, and how easily they work together. Just a little snippet from their normal lives aboard ship, showing the routines they have and how well they know each other, would be really lovely.
(Feel free to include a bit of Beatty if the fic is set when they're on the Victory. I'd rather you didn't put in any angsty hints about unrequited love, but suggestions of a future as a happy threesome are definitely fine!)
Request 5: James VI and I/George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham
I don't really know what to say for this pairing. I just want to see Jimmy and Steenie being really unsubtle boyfriends who do things like snog in public and cry over each other's letters. Because, y'know. That is basically historical trufax! What more needs to be said??
Okay, I hesitated to request this, because for some reason I find it hard to say stuff about them that isn't just inarticulate feels-leaking (which is why they're not in alphabetical order like the others, heh) but it turns out I really can't resist, so. Some of their letters are online, and they are really sweet, and definitely worth a read if you've not seen them before. I don't have any specific story ideas for you, but anything where Jimmy is camp and adorable while Steenie is morally shifty yet still completely in love would be amazing.
...I think that's everything? Or at least I hope it is because this has gotten rather long, erm. XD Just remember that these are all ideas and suggestions: you don't have to fit them all in! Including just one of the things I've mentioned would make me ridiculously happy. Or maybe you have an awesome idea I haven't thought of! I love all these ships, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with. <3 Thank you for writing something for me!