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Yuletide letter 2020
Dear Author,
Thank you for writing for me! I am the artist formerly known as Lexie on AO3, now wakeupnew. Sorry this was still a placeholder when assignments first went out; I thought I had more time than I did! BUT I'M BACK! And I'm psyched. I've been doing Yuletide for a long time now and it's one of the highlights of my year, every year. It's one of my favorite traditions. Thanks so much for being here! I'm so excited to read what you write.
Things that I love: Friendships and family (found family and blood-related family), teams coming together, romance, domesticity; people being concerned about, caring for, and protecting each other. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and people just really liking each other, and companionable/loving squabbling! I love humor, competence, banter, ridiculous fluffy tropes where appropriate (fake dating/fake married! cuddling for warmth! seasonal or holiday content where appropriate! fic with epistolary elements or that makes use of social media! ok those last few aren't tropes, but I like them anyway), action, and happy or hopeful endings. I'm usually not into porn without plot, but I'm cool with sex scenes as long as they're part of the larger context of a story! Same goes for violence. I prefer a hopeful or happy ending but if you want to tug on my heartstrings getting there, I'm okay with that too!
Things that aren't my jam in a Yuletide fic: Incest, rape, infidelity, torture, heavy focus on suicidal ideation (especially if it's not present in canon), non-canon character death, romantic relationships with big age or power imbalances (ie: boss/employee, teacher/student, a/b/o), cancer, the gay-for-you trope. I actually love alternate-setting AU's, but the canons that I've requested have such tiny fandoms that I'd prefer to read straight-up canon fic for them!
In other places on the internet, I'm![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
wakeupnew and ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
wakeupnew.
The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert
Danika Brown, Zafir Ansari, Fatima Ansari, Kiran Ansari
Optional details: Zaf's family is A DELIGHT and my one regret was that we didn't get to see much interaction between them and Dani. I would love to see family gatherings as the other Ansaris get to know/love Dani - casual dinners, holiday celebrations, Kiran and Jamal's engagement or wedding, Dani and Zaf moving in together, Fatima's thoughts on her professor dating her uncle, Dani bonding with Fatima, Kiran, or Zaf's mom, or ... anything really, I just love Dani and all the Ansaris!!
I'm into narratives about couples settling into new relationships and coming to know each other's families and friends after getting together. People being welcomed (or not, and how everybody deals with that) into their partners' families, merging friend groups, learning whose loved ones can and can't be trusted to be in a room together without arguing (or scheming!)... I'm here for all of it. The kicker for me is the pure joy of bringing together all the people you love and having them love (or learn to tolerate, haha!) each other too -- that is some wholesome stuff, and if this isn't a year that could benefit from some wholesomeness I just don't know what is.
Dani and Zaf's romance is just .... [fist clench] so good. I loved that Zaf was all in and Dani was uncertain (or at least thought she was certain about what she wanted, but eventually changed her thinking on romantic love and commitment) and they met in the middle in the end. The banter, the romance novels, the big romantic gestures, the sexy bits, all the toppest of notches. I appreciated the treatment of Zaf's anxiety and depression. I loved all of their friends and families. And I especially loved Zaf's family - both individually as characters and in their relationships with him and each other. They're so funny and proud and deeply supportive of each other!
I love that Fatima steals her mum's and uncle's romance novels; I love that Zaf calls her Fluffy/Fluff/Fluffball and she sasses her family ("she's feral" is the funniest description of her, when Zaf's telling Dani about his family) - I love how fucking hilarious this family is. I would love to know more about Kiran and Zaf bonding over romance novels or about her romance with Jamal or her life as a hijabi Instagram influencer.
If you want to write about how the family remembers and honors Zaf's dad and brother while still continuing with their lives, I'm here for that too. I loved that Fatima was in Dani's class and was immediately in favor of Zaf dating her, and that Kiran immediately was ready to tease him and his mum was excited she was a professor. I just want to see these people all together! I would love to see the first time that Zaf brings Dani home or introduces them to her at a Tackle It function, or .... the possibilities are endless! Dani is so confident and bold but so nervous about meeting Zaf's family when the prospect is brought up, and he's so sure that they'll all like each other, and I just want to see it.
I was only able to nominate four characters and I would be thrilled to read a story featuring any of them, but if you want to include any other folks too (Jamal, Zaf's mum and her fashionable af glasses; any of the Browns or Sorcha or Zaf and Dani's other friends), I'd enjoy that too.
HIStory2-越界 | HIStory2: Crossing the Line (2018)
Xia Yu Hau; Qiu Zi Xuan
Optional details: Yu Hao and Zi Xuan are so charming and they're so charmed by each other! I would love to read about what happens after the series ends. Studying together, going on dates, cooking together again? Meeting families? Big volleyball games or figuring out how to date around all the very practical/real obstacles that Zi Xuan laid out in his big speech at the end of the series?? I LOVE IT ALL. Or: we didn't get nearly as much insight into Zi Xuan's perspective -- what had him so spooked about the feelings he was clearly having (I mean, obviously his sister liking Yu Hao, for one thing), and what changed his mind after that conversation with Cheng En? I just love these two and would love to read about them navigating their new relationship and finding their way together!
Oh fuck this show is the sweetest. Yu Hao with the pining and the TOP TIER HEART EYES, holy hell. I love settling-into-new-relationship stories and am always sad when canon ends with two characters getting together (as lovely and deeply satisfying as this particular get-together was; THAT KISS THO), so post-canon fic would be fantastic. Basically any time you have a piece of media where two kind characters take turns taking care of each other, and take the time to learn about things that are important to each other, and tenderly watch each other sleep and someone gently removes somebody else’s glasses (TWICE), that's going to be my kryptonite, bye!!
I loved that you think he's going to be a bad boy character but it turns out Yu Hao is a big softy and a (mischievous and hotheaded, granted) cinnamon roll who wants to help the volleyball team succeed and make his mom proud, and he's just so goofy (his obnoxious victory dances!). I also really appreciated that he just straight-up accepted his raging crush on Zi Xuan from the get-go. He just so genuinely likes and deeply respects Zi Xuan!! I really love stories where characters figure out new ways to push forward and achieve their dreams after unexpected setbacks, so Zi Xuan's trajectory from 'it doesn't matter if I hurt my injured leg again since I can't play volleyball anymore anyway' to 'I'm going to double major in computer science and sports management and become the best volleyball coach of all time' was just ... a lot. Like, stick a fork in me, I’m done.
The volleyball in the series itself was kind of hilarious, in re: how divorced it was from the story and how low-stakes the one game felt (Zi Xuan literally didn't even teach Yu Hao the rules!!), so it could be interesting to incorporate the volleyball more into a narrative? But I'm also not at all wedded to that as an idea, since, you know, it wasn't particularly important in the show!
Notes about other characters, in case you are someone who likes to know these things: 1) I enjoy Yu Hao's friendship with the WenWu bros but the stepbrothers-in-love thing is not for me. I'm okay with where the show left things between the two of them and would be okay with that continuing in the background in fic, but would prefer not to read about them getting together and/or navigating romance feelings. 2) Zi Xuan's sister complex is hilarious and I like Qian Ru and love their relationship. When Zi Xuan is apologizing about the whole sister-confession scene, Yu Hao says, 'I know, your sister explained it to me' -- did she go find him after the fact and plead her brother's case?! 3) Zi Xuan's friendship with He Cheng En is ridiculous and I love them.
How to Be a Werewolf - webcomic
Vincent Dysangco Walters; Elias Ross
Optional details: I was lucky enough to receive an amazing Malaya-and-Vincent gift two years ago, so I'm switching it up and hoping for MORE FICS in this tiny fandom! Watching Vincent and Elias circle around each other as Eli flails over Vincent and Vincent slowly starts to realize he might be having Feelings, has been such a joy. Theirs has been the slow-burniest of relationships and if you wanted to do your take on the inevitable eventual get-together, that could be fun! I also really dig their relationship the way that it is, if you wanted to do some slice-of-life stuff set in the current comic timeline; I've been delighted by them bringing each other food and talking about queerness over baseball and making each other blush and Eli walking Vincent to class.
Man, Chapter 9 was A Lot, with Eli collapsing and Vincent cradling him and keeping him safe (which was, in turn, a lovely turnabout from Eli doing the same for Vincent after he got kidnapped and clawed earlier in the comic), and then so-sleepy-he's-basically-drunk Eli telling Vincent how he feels and Vincent's soft face as he pets asleep-Eli's hair. A LOT. You know, you were there! Honestly I don't have a ton of specific prompts for this request; I would be so delighted with any fic about the two of them! Eli working in the cafe and making excuses to flirt with Vincent while Vince does homework and Malaya laughs at them? Something set farther down the line -- Eli figuring his life out? Does he enroll at the university and join the baseball team? Vincent and Eli going on an actualfax date, in which Eli does not accidentally invite along a third party? Vincent dealing with some of the fallout (which I think the comic has hinted at, with Joy's comment about Vincent not liking to be alone) of being kidnapped and almost dying? Eli introducing Vincent to his massive werewolf family??
Vincent's flat faces are fucking hilarious; some of his reaction panels have made me legitimately shout with laughter. I love that while he can be stoic, quiet, and a little grumpy, he also doesn't hesitate to tell his sister he loves her and he makes amazing deadpan puns. I tend to read him as demiromantic and pansexual, mostly based on this page, though he definitely doesn't know either of those words at this point in the narrative. And Eli! He's such a puppy of a person -- I love how well-intentioned and kind, if sometimes foolhardy and foolish, he is, and that while he can be clueless as heck, he tries SO HARD to get things right.
Added info on other characters in case it's helpful: I LOVE Vincent's sibling relationship with Malaya and Eli's friendship with her, and the Dysangco Walters parents are lovely; best fam. I love/ship the heck out of MarMar. Charlene is marvelous. I'm not super invested in Connie's crew of werewolves, though Ginger's integration with our crew has been fun, but otherwise, I love everyone and the world is your oyster. I know this is a weekly-updating canon and just for the record, I'm not tied to canon here -- if you want to write stuff that's set in the future or that may be contradicted by the comic, go for it; I'm not a stickler for canon like that!
Sins of the Cities series by KJ Charles
Justin Lazarus; Susan "Sukey" Lazarus; Emma
Optional details: This little grifter fam makes my heart sing! I love how fiercely they love each other and that they built a family all their own. I'd love a story set at any point in time, whether the girls are kids, teens, or adults. I didn't tag Nathaniel but would also enjoy his involvement if you want to include him; Justin, Sukey, and Emma were just my top priorities!
Some spoilers for Gilded Cage here, if you haven't read it yet. God, I've read An Unnatural Vice so many times and Gilded Cage is rapidly climbing the list as well. I love Justin's sharp sneakiness and coming at everything sideways, and how his ruthlessness (Templeton describes the poker face that Susan learned from Justin as reptilian, in Gilded Cage, which is so very good) and prickliness juxtaposes with how deeply and genuinely he loves the girls. Even if he doesn't always know the best way to take care of or support them (I appreciated that it was made clear in Gilded Cage that he didn't always succeed), he tries so hard for them; that Gilded Cage conversation where Susan says she hasn't needed to stand alone since she was eight years old because she's had Justin was A LOT.
Justin and Susan are delightfully meticulous and snarky and sly and overwhelmingly competent, and I love that they can be vicious and angry and hold grudges and won't hesitate to go low if necessary. They're both so fiercely loyal to the people they love and so funny -- Susan is delightfully dry and Justin is such a shit. I also really appreciate that they're both their own characters, for all their similarities; I loved Susan feeling like it was time to strike out on her own in Gilded Cage. I feel like we don't get as strong of a sense of Emma as a character, so I'd enjoy learning more about her! She's clearly deeply loyal and thoughtful, and I love how protective she is of Sukey (giving Sukey's landlady a colorful piece of her mind!).
There are so many possibilities for ideas that I'd love! Justin first meeting the girls or training them up as his helpers, Sukey terrorizing boarding schools or learning with Miss Rawling, Justin teaching/training Sukey (either as a clairvoyant's helper or as a detective), Susan first joining Braglewicz & Lazarus, everybody playing with Emma's kids, the family rallying around Emma and getting rid of her first husband or supporting Susan after Cara's death or Justin during one of his depressive spells or Susan founding her own agency after Gilded Cage... Anything! If casefic is more your speed, Mark says that being an enquiry agent is mostly about finding lost dogs and lost letters; Susan and Justin working a case that isn't fog, bigamy, torture, and murder could be fun!
Like I mentioned in my prompt, I also enjoy Nathaniel and if you want to explore how he became part of the family too and became a guvnor to Sukey and Emma, I would be here for that as well! If it's helpful to know my feelings on other characters: I love everyone, and I really enjoy Justin, Mark, and Susan's detective partnership. I ship everybody with their canon partners, including Justin/Nathaniel, Susan/Cara, Susan/James, Pen/Mark, Clem/Rowley, Alec/Jerry, Stan/Christiana, and Greta/Tim. Basically for anyone you might like to include, there's no losing here!
Unfit to Print by KJ Charles
Vikram Pandey, Gil Lawless
Optional details: This is one of my very favorite comfort reads; I reread it over and over. I love the trope of childhood best friends/loves finding each other again - I love that Vikram and Gil didn't immediately fall into things easily, that Gil was stubborn and hesitant and Vikram was stubborn and nervous. I would love to read post-canon fic about the two of them settling into life after the book. What's a slice of life day or week in their lives like? How does transitioning the bookstore go? Having decided to be together doesn't automatically fix everything - how do they reconcile their lives and make things work? Do Vikram's parents ever come around about his life choices and being proud of what he's accomplished, and do things get less awkward with them?
This is the loveliest book. Vikram's worrying is some Relatable Shit and Gil's self-protective coping mechanisms for how badly he's been treated in the past are deeply understandable. I loved that they're both kind of crabby sometimes and don't always understand each other - that they care enough that they both decide to work at it and they get to a much better place by the end of the story. I love how clever and funny and caring they both are; how much they've both cared for so long, and how much they make each other laugh. There are so many top notch heart-clenching moments in this book! "I have missed you all my life" and "The world has been so much less enjoyable without you" is some peak romance shit.
I'm really curious about what happens after the book ends - Gil and Vikram are in a good place, yes, but there's still a fair amount of work to do to make their lives together work going forward. What's a typical day or night like for them? Does Vikram spend most of his time at the shop? How does Sunil do as an assistant? Does Vikram ever make the trip to India that his parents wanted to go on, and if yes, were his fears founded? Or do his parents accept his no? Or I loved the bit when Vikram's fussing over Gil post-concussion and Gil finds he's warmed by the domesticity of it all -- either of them taking care of the other while sick or injured (not life-threatening, please!) would be up my alley.
The description of their time in bed together as 'easy' (when Vikram stayed over the first time) felt like a big deal for Vikram, and I loved that the narration also said they spent it making each other laugh. If you want to write that sex scene or others, I'm here for it as long as there's character or relationship/story development through it or it's part of a larger story you'd like to tell.
And if you'd like to go farther back and write about when they were best friends as teens, I'd totally like that as well.
There aren't many other characters in the novella to potentially include, but I enjoyed everyone we met (with the exceptions of Matthew and also the murderer) and would enjoy snippets of anyone, and of course I deeply respect Satan the cat.
Thank you for writing for me! I am the artist formerly known as Lexie on AO3, now wakeupnew. Sorry this was still a placeholder when assignments first went out; I thought I had more time than I did! BUT I'M BACK! And I'm psyched. I've been doing Yuletide for a long time now and it's one of the highlights of my year, every year. It's one of my favorite traditions. Thanks so much for being here! I'm so excited to read what you write.
Things that I love: Friendships and family (found family and blood-related family), teams coming together, romance, domesticity; people being concerned about, caring for, and protecting each other. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and people just really liking each other, and companionable/loving squabbling! I love humor, competence, banter, ridiculous fluffy tropes where appropriate (fake dating/fake married! cuddling for warmth! seasonal or holiday content where appropriate! fic with epistolary elements or that makes use of social media! ok those last few aren't tropes, but I like them anyway), action, and happy or hopeful endings. I'm usually not into porn without plot, but I'm cool with sex scenes as long as they're part of the larger context of a story! Same goes for violence. I prefer a hopeful or happy ending but if you want to tug on my heartstrings getting there, I'm okay with that too!
Things that aren't my jam in a Yuletide fic: Incest, rape, infidelity, torture, heavy focus on suicidal ideation (especially if it's not present in canon), non-canon character death, romantic relationships with big age or power imbalances (ie: boss/employee, teacher/student, a/b/o), cancer, the gay-for-you trope. I actually love alternate-setting AU's, but the canons that I've requested have such tiny fandoms that I'd prefer to read straight-up canon fic for them!
In other places on the internet, I'm
The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert
Danika Brown, Zafir Ansari, Fatima Ansari, Kiran Ansari
Optional details: Zaf's family is A DELIGHT and my one regret was that we didn't get to see much interaction between them and Dani. I would love to see family gatherings as the other Ansaris get to know/love Dani - casual dinners, holiday celebrations, Kiran and Jamal's engagement or wedding, Dani and Zaf moving in together, Fatima's thoughts on her professor dating her uncle, Dani bonding with Fatima, Kiran, or Zaf's mom, or ... anything really, I just love Dani and all the Ansaris!!
I'm into narratives about couples settling into new relationships and coming to know each other's families and friends after getting together. People being welcomed (or not, and how everybody deals with that) into their partners' families, merging friend groups, learning whose loved ones can and can't be trusted to be in a room together without arguing (or scheming!)... I'm here for all of it. The kicker for me is the pure joy of bringing together all the people you love and having them love (or learn to tolerate, haha!) each other too -- that is some wholesome stuff, and if this isn't a year that could benefit from some wholesomeness I just don't know what is.
Dani and Zaf's romance is just .... [fist clench] so good. I loved that Zaf was all in and Dani was uncertain (or at least thought she was certain about what she wanted, but eventually changed her thinking on romantic love and commitment) and they met in the middle in the end. The banter, the romance novels, the big romantic gestures, the sexy bits, all the toppest of notches. I appreciated the treatment of Zaf's anxiety and depression. I loved all of their friends and families. And I especially loved Zaf's family - both individually as characters and in their relationships with him and each other. They're so funny and proud and deeply supportive of each other!
I love that Fatima steals her mum's and uncle's romance novels; I love that Zaf calls her Fluffy/Fluff/Fluffball and she sasses her family ("she's feral" is the funniest description of her, when Zaf's telling Dani about his family) - I love how fucking hilarious this family is. I would love to know more about Kiran and Zaf bonding over romance novels or about her romance with Jamal or her life as a hijabi Instagram influencer.
If you want to write about how the family remembers and honors Zaf's dad and brother while still continuing with their lives, I'm here for that too. I loved that Fatima was in Dani's class and was immediately in favor of Zaf dating her, and that Kiran immediately was ready to tease him and his mum was excited she was a professor. I just want to see these people all together! I would love to see the first time that Zaf brings Dani home or introduces them to her at a Tackle It function, or .... the possibilities are endless! Dani is so confident and bold but so nervous about meeting Zaf's family when the prospect is brought up, and he's so sure that they'll all like each other, and I just want to see it.
I was only able to nominate four characters and I would be thrilled to read a story featuring any of them, but if you want to include any other folks too (Jamal, Zaf's mum and her fashionable af glasses; any of the Browns or Sorcha or Zaf and Dani's other friends), I'd enjoy that too.
HIStory2-越界 | HIStory2: Crossing the Line (2018)
Xia Yu Hau; Qiu Zi Xuan
Optional details: Yu Hao and Zi Xuan are so charming and they're so charmed by each other! I would love to read about what happens after the series ends. Studying together, going on dates, cooking together again? Meeting families? Big volleyball games or figuring out how to date around all the very practical/real obstacles that Zi Xuan laid out in his big speech at the end of the series?? I LOVE IT ALL. Or: we didn't get nearly as much insight into Zi Xuan's perspective -- what had him so spooked about the feelings he was clearly having (I mean, obviously his sister liking Yu Hao, for one thing), and what changed his mind after that conversation with Cheng En? I just love these two and would love to read about them navigating their new relationship and finding their way together!
Oh fuck this show is the sweetest. Yu Hao with the pining and the TOP TIER HEART EYES, holy hell. I love settling-into-new-relationship stories and am always sad when canon ends with two characters getting together (as lovely and deeply satisfying as this particular get-together was; THAT KISS THO), so post-canon fic would be fantastic. Basically any time you have a piece of media where two kind characters take turns taking care of each other, and take the time to learn about things that are important to each other, and tenderly watch each other sleep and someone gently removes somebody else’s glasses (TWICE), that's going to be my kryptonite, bye!!
I loved that you think he's going to be a bad boy character but it turns out Yu Hao is a big softy and a (mischievous and hotheaded, granted) cinnamon roll who wants to help the volleyball team succeed and make his mom proud, and he's just so goofy (his obnoxious victory dances!). I also really appreciated that he just straight-up accepted his raging crush on Zi Xuan from the get-go. He just so genuinely likes and deeply respects Zi Xuan!! I really love stories where characters figure out new ways to push forward and achieve their dreams after unexpected setbacks, so Zi Xuan's trajectory from 'it doesn't matter if I hurt my injured leg again since I can't play volleyball anymore anyway' to 'I'm going to double major in computer science and sports management and become the best volleyball coach of all time' was just ... a lot. Like, stick a fork in me, I’m done.
The volleyball in the series itself was kind of hilarious, in re: how divorced it was from the story and how low-stakes the one game felt (Zi Xuan literally didn't even teach Yu Hao the rules!!), so it could be interesting to incorporate the volleyball more into a narrative? But I'm also not at all wedded to that as an idea, since, you know, it wasn't particularly important in the show!
Notes about other characters, in case you are someone who likes to know these things: 1) I enjoy Yu Hao's friendship with the WenWu bros but the stepbrothers-in-love thing is not for me. I'm okay with where the show left things between the two of them and would be okay with that continuing in the background in fic, but would prefer not to read about them getting together and/or navigating romance feelings. 2) Zi Xuan's sister complex is hilarious and I like Qian Ru and love their relationship. When Zi Xuan is apologizing about the whole sister-confession scene, Yu Hao says, 'I know, your sister explained it to me' -- did she go find him after the fact and plead her brother's case?! 3) Zi Xuan's friendship with He Cheng En is ridiculous and I love them.
How to Be a Werewolf - webcomic
Vincent Dysangco Walters; Elias Ross
Optional details: I was lucky enough to receive an amazing Malaya-and-Vincent gift two years ago, so I'm switching it up and hoping for MORE FICS in this tiny fandom! Watching Vincent and Elias circle around each other as Eli flails over Vincent and Vincent slowly starts to realize he might be having Feelings, has been such a joy. Theirs has been the slow-burniest of relationships and if you wanted to do your take on the inevitable eventual get-together, that could be fun! I also really dig their relationship the way that it is, if you wanted to do some slice-of-life stuff set in the current comic timeline; I've been delighted by them bringing each other food and talking about queerness over baseball and making each other blush and Eli walking Vincent to class.
Man, Chapter 9 was A Lot, with Eli collapsing and Vincent cradling him and keeping him safe (which was, in turn, a lovely turnabout from Eli doing the same for Vincent after he got kidnapped and clawed earlier in the comic), and then so-sleepy-he's-basically-drunk Eli telling Vincent how he feels and Vincent's soft face as he pets asleep-Eli's hair. A LOT. You know, you were there! Honestly I don't have a ton of specific prompts for this request; I would be so delighted with any fic about the two of them! Eli working in the cafe and making excuses to flirt with Vincent while Vince does homework and Malaya laughs at them? Something set farther down the line -- Eli figuring his life out? Does he enroll at the university and join the baseball team? Vincent and Eli going on an actualfax date, in which Eli does not accidentally invite along a third party? Vincent dealing with some of the fallout (which I think the comic has hinted at, with Joy's comment about Vincent not liking to be alone) of being kidnapped and almost dying? Eli introducing Vincent to his massive werewolf family??
Vincent's flat faces are fucking hilarious; some of his reaction panels have made me legitimately shout with laughter. I love that while he can be stoic, quiet, and a little grumpy, he also doesn't hesitate to tell his sister he loves her and he makes amazing deadpan puns. I tend to read him as demiromantic and pansexual, mostly based on this page, though he definitely doesn't know either of those words at this point in the narrative. And Eli! He's such a puppy of a person -- I love how well-intentioned and kind, if sometimes foolhardy and foolish, he is, and that while he can be clueless as heck, he tries SO HARD to get things right.
Added info on other characters in case it's helpful: I LOVE Vincent's sibling relationship with Malaya and Eli's friendship with her, and the Dysangco Walters parents are lovely; best fam. I love/ship the heck out of MarMar. Charlene is marvelous. I'm not super invested in Connie's crew of werewolves, though Ginger's integration with our crew has been fun, but otherwise, I love everyone and the world is your oyster. I know this is a weekly-updating canon and just for the record, I'm not tied to canon here -- if you want to write stuff that's set in the future or that may be contradicted by the comic, go for it; I'm not a stickler for canon like that!
Sins of the Cities series by KJ Charles
Justin Lazarus; Susan "Sukey" Lazarus; Emma
Optional details: This little grifter fam makes my heart sing! I love how fiercely they love each other and that they built a family all their own. I'd love a story set at any point in time, whether the girls are kids, teens, or adults. I didn't tag Nathaniel but would also enjoy his involvement if you want to include him; Justin, Sukey, and Emma were just my top priorities!
Some spoilers for Gilded Cage here, if you haven't read it yet. God, I've read An Unnatural Vice so many times and Gilded Cage is rapidly climbing the list as well. I love Justin's sharp sneakiness and coming at everything sideways, and how his ruthlessness (Templeton describes the poker face that Susan learned from Justin as reptilian, in Gilded Cage, which is so very good) and prickliness juxtaposes with how deeply and genuinely he loves the girls. Even if he doesn't always know the best way to take care of or support them (I appreciated that it was made clear in Gilded Cage that he didn't always succeed), he tries so hard for them; that Gilded Cage conversation where Susan says she hasn't needed to stand alone since she was eight years old because she's had Justin was A LOT.
Justin and Susan are delightfully meticulous and snarky and sly and overwhelmingly competent, and I love that they can be vicious and angry and hold grudges and won't hesitate to go low if necessary. They're both so fiercely loyal to the people they love and so funny -- Susan is delightfully dry and Justin is such a shit. I also really appreciate that they're both their own characters, for all their similarities; I loved Susan feeling like it was time to strike out on her own in Gilded Cage. I feel like we don't get as strong of a sense of Emma as a character, so I'd enjoy learning more about her! She's clearly deeply loyal and thoughtful, and I love how protective she is of Sukey (giving Sukey's landlady a colorful piece of her mind!).
There are so many possibilities for ideas that I'd love! Justin first meeting the girls or training them up as his helpers, Sukey terrorizing boarding schools or learning with Miss Rawling, Justin teaching/training Sukey (either as a clairvoyant's helper or as a detective), Susan first joining Braglewicz & Lazarus, everybody playing with Emma's kids, the family rallying around Emma and getting rid of her first husband or supporting Susan after Cara's death or Justin during one of his depressive spells or Susan founding her own agency after Gilded Cage... Anything! If casefic is more your speed, Mark says that being an enquiry agent is mostly about finding lost dogs and lost letters; Susan and Justin working a case that isn't fog, bigamy, torture, and murder could be fun!
Like I mentioned in my prompt, I also enjoy Nathaniel and if you want to explore how he became part of the family too and became a guvnor to Sukey and Emma, I would be here for that as well! If it's helpful to know my feelings on other characters: I love everyone, and I really enjoy Justin, Mark, and Susan's detective partnership. I ship everybody with their canon partners, including Justin/Nathaniel, Susan/Cara, Susan/James, Pen/Mark, Clem/Rowley, Alec/Jerry, Stan/Christiana, and Greta/Tim. Basically for anyone you might like to include, there's no losing here!
Unfit to Print by KJ Charles
Vikram Pandey, Gil Lawless
Optional details: This is one of my very favorite comfort reads; I reread it over and over. I love the trope of childhood best friends/loves finding each other again - I love that Vikram and Gil didn't immediately fall into things easily, that Gil was stubborn and hesitant and Vikram was stubborn and nervous. I would love to read post-canon fic about the two of them settling into life after the book. What's a slice of life day or week in their lives like? How does transitioning the bookstore go? Having decided to be together doesn't automatically fix everything - how do they reconcile their lives and make things work? Do Vikram's parents ever come around about his life choices and being proud of what he's accomplished, and do things get less awkward with them?
This is the loveliest book. Vikram's worrying is some Relatable Shit and Gil's self-protective coping mechanisms for how badly he's been treated in the past are deeply understandable. I loved that they're both kind of crabby sometimes and don't always understand each other - that they care enough that they both decide to work at it and they get to a much better place by the end of the story. I love how clever and funny and caring they both are; how much they've both cared for so long, and how much they make each other laugh. There are so many top notch heart-clenching moments in this book! "I have missed you all my life" and "The world has been so much less enjoyable without you" is some peak romance shit.
I'm really curious about what happens after the book ends - Gil and Vikram are in a good place, yes, but there's still a fair amount of work to do to make their lives together work going forward. What's a typical day or night like for them? Does Vikram spend most of his time at the shop? How does Sunil do as an assistant? Does Vikram ever make the trip to India that his parents wanted to go on, and if yes, were his fears founded? Or do his parents accept his no? Or I loved the bit when Vikram's fussing over Gil post-concussion and Gil finds he's warmed by the domesticity of it all -- either of them taking care of the other while sick or injured (not life-threatening, please!) would be up my alley.
The description of their time in bed together as 'easy' (when Vikram stayed over the first time) felt like a big deal for Vikram, and I loved that the narration also said they spent it making each other laugh. If you want to write that sex scene or others, I'm here for it as long as there's character or relationship/story development through it or it's part of a larger story you'd like to tell.
And if you'd like to go farther back and write about when they were best friends as teens, I'd totally like that as well.
There aren't many other characters in the novella to potentially include, but I enjoyed everyone we met (with the exceptions of Matthew and also the murderer) and would enjoy snippets of anyone, and of course I deeply respect Satan the cat.