graycardinal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
graycardinal) wrote2021-10-19 11:44 am
graycardinal) wrote2021-10-19 11:44 am
Yuletide 2021: Dear Yulewriter
Greetings, O YuleScrivener, and welcome! And also, thank you! Where Yuletide is concerned, I am nothing if not a Requester Of The Seriously Obscure. Thus I am always amazed when the technomancy of the matching process succeeds in finding a writer who shares my appreciation for said obscurity, and delighted on Christmas morning when a wonderful and wondrous story from that writer's (metaphorical) pen lands in my AO3 gift-folder. We may just be setting out on this year's journey, but I know there's a happy ending to come, and I am grateful for it already. Your work is (and will be) appreciated and valued, and I look forward to seeing its fruits.
Feel free to wander backward through this journal and my fic on AO3 (linked to your left) to get an idea of my interests; what I write is very much also what I like to read – and has, over time, added up to rather a variety of fandoms. My past Yuletide letters (and those for other exchanges) are tagged "dear santa" herein; see the "Yuletide" tag too, if you like.
Things I like:
Text-driven pluses for me include effective use of wit (aka banter aka snark, etc.), as well as strong characterization & dialogue. I value both respect for and clever use of canon (including well-developed canon-divergence AUs). I thrive on UST (heavy on both U and T), and am neutral where gen/het/slash is concerned; if the pairing is well-developed, I'll read with an open mind.
I am also a sucker for the well-executed crossover, whether via oblique allusion or head-on fandom collision. Yuletide being Yuletide and Optional Details Being Optional, I have absolutely no expectations along this line...but I have included an EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS section in each of my requests, because I live in hope, and because I can’t resist this sort of opportunity. Take these in the spirit in which they’re given, or set them aside as you prefer.
None of my requests call specifically for mature/explicit content. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate sizzling erotica/smut/porn; it's just that my fanfic-reading interests and my e/s/p-reading interests mostly don't tend to intersect. That said, unless the DNWs for a specific request say otherwise, if your muse takes you into explicit territory with respect to a given request, I'm generally willing to follow along for the ride.
DNWs (general):
I've resisted writing this section for years – not because I don’t have preferences, but because I hate framing them as absolute negatives. I’m a flexible reader, and the story I want most out of Yuletide is the one you want to tell me rather than the one that’s living in my own head (that one, if I want it badly enough, I can always write myself). However. In the interests of clarity and of placating the Yulemods (who are awesome and extraordinary even if I sometimes disagree with particular rulings), some things I Do Not Want:
# Alt-setting AUs (baristas/high-schoolers/etc.). I fall for worlds; transplanting characters out of those worlds just isn't my jam.
# Noncon, incest, or adult/child kinks; power-imbalanced sex/romantic partnerships (teacher/student, boss/underling, etc.)
# Romantic partnerships explicitly inconsistent with canon (To amplify: don’t invalidate a character’s stated sexual preference/identity/relationship(s), but it's OK to establish a preference/identity where none is stated; also see specific fandoms for notes.)
REQUESTS
Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) • Carmen, Julia Argent, Player, Shadow-san
ADMIN: A story featuring any one or more of the listed characters will satisfy this request.
NOTES: I admit it: as a major fan of the 1990s animated series about Carmen, I was very nervous when the new series was announced. Having since inhaled all three seasons like so much movie-theater popcorn, I am totally and enthusiastically on board. This show is emphatically not that show -- and yet, the cues that it takes from the '90s series (and indeed, the PBS game show before it) are cleverly and ingeniously integrated into this version. One technical note: I am fussier than the show's producers and captioners were about Japanese honorifics; I hope anyone writing for me will follow formal Japanese usage with regard to Shadow-san's name and so incorporate the hyphen.
DNWs: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; any sexual relationships portrayed should be broadly age-appropriate and power-balanced (in this case, that mostly means Carmen/Shadow-san is off the table).
PROMPTS: Back story for any of Player, Julia, and/or Shadow-san -- we have some details about Player and Shadow-san, but much less about Julia. While Player has clearly taken a pretty strong interest in Carmen and her agenda, one gets the impression that he may well have other projects and protégés under his wing. Alternately, Shadow-san clearly has more secrets in his own past than we've seen - his level of skill strongly implies a mentor outside VILE's orbit, and his cultural palate is too well tuned to have come from associates the likes of Coach Brunt or Countess Cleo.
For Carmen, I'm curious about how she's gone about setting up and overseeing her charitable operation (not least to avoid the problem of someone she and Player have hired to do the day-to-day oversight turning out to be crooked themselves, a problem not unknown to real-world nonprofits). Or show Carmen in actual doing-good mode (does she maybe have a totally different ID built for talking to the media? maybe she comes across a kids-in-danger situation that she can't ignore?).
Feel free to bring in any and all of the rest of the ensemble needed to make your story work, or to go in a different direction entirely - and absolutely feel free, if you're familiar with it, to draw on the '90s series for further inspiration, character updates, or plot twists (although oddly enough, I find myself resisting the idea of crossing the two series and their respective Carmens openly with one another).
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: This is absolutely a series ready-made for my inner crossover geek. Player, on reflection, reminds me sufficiently of Wade from *Kim Possible* (the cartoon, more than the live-action version) to make me think the two youthful reclusive genii must know one another, if only electronically. Alternately, Carmen's heists might well attract any of the NCIS teams' attention, or that of an amateur sleuth (Jessica Fletcher, Rick Castle). I'd just as soon not get Carmen involved with the MCU or with the larger DC comics universe, but I wouldn't mind seeing her cross paths with the Bat-family (specifically including Catwoman/Selina Kyle) in one or another incarnation.
Diana Winthrop series -- Kate Chambers • any
BACKGROUND: The Winthrop books are a teen-sleuth series (six slim paperbacks from the mid-'80s) set mostly in New York and New England, with "Kate Chambers" being a pen name for versatile writer Norma Johnston -- a fact I didn't learn till much later. The individual mysteries are dedicated to (and often cleverly plotted in the style of) various classic and then-famous mystery authors, the characterizations are much more nuanced than is usual for this category, and there’s a strong ongoing ensemble cast (including a major and well-rendered secondary character who’s blind).
DNW: Just in case: please, no Lydian/Diana slash. Between canon’s implied Lydian/Rob Winthrop (which I approve of) and Lydian’s mentor/protegé vibe with Diana, that hits my squick radar multiple ways.
NOTES: As obscure as this series is, I've evidently managed to sell at least one or two new readers on these books over the past couple of years, so there are now more actual prompts in this request than there used to be. Nonetheless, this is what I tend to describe as an "Oliver Twist" request -- what I really and truly want most is simply more, and I am pretty much guaranteed to be delighted whether or not you actually follow any of the prompts given.
PROMPTS: One of the really nifty things about Diana's adventures was the multi-generational family dynamic. That's a big reason that in addition to Diana herself, I chose Jacintha (who's clearly an adult here, if pretty new-minted; I see her as mid-20s at the outside), Gran Culhaine, and Lydian Sinclair (who looks likely to become part of the Winthrop clan ere long) to represent the ensemble. I'd like to see familial texture here, whether in the context of a case/adventure or a more personal sort of tale. Feel free to bring in others from the extended cast as appropriate, and to look for story ideas both from Diana's past (the Boston contingent as kids? Diana's original "acting" days?) and future (what does she end up doing career-wise?) as well as the series' present.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: The crossover junkie in me points out that Diana's NYC/Boston home base and detective interests make for plausible run-ins with a great variety of other source canons, including at least one of my other current requests, and someone (other than me!) has already nudge-winked a connection between Diana's Ross cousins and a certain family of MCU military and espionage professionals. More generally, see (1) my works and gifts received on AO3, and (2) all entries tagged “Dear Santa” in my DW journal, and assume that any fandom represented therein is welcome.
Jacqueline Kirby - Elizabeth Peters • any
NOTES: My very first Elizabeth Peters heroine was Jacqueline Kirby, by way of The Murders of Richard III. She and I are both serious about books, enthusiastic about Shakespeare, amused by the eccentric ways of professional writers, and not at all hesitant to jump in at the deep end of the pool when our enthusiasms warrant. Fortunately, though, I have not adopted Jacqueline's habit of falling into the orbits of actual murderers.
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required, though not absolutely forbidden. (Jacqueline is, after all, familiar with The Lustful Turk....)
PROMPTS: A number of obvious questions arise that deserve thoughtful and entertaining answers: What happened to the father of Jacqueline's children? Have any of her kids inherited her sleuthing gifts? What are the legendary origins of The Purse? What has she written beyond what we've seen (is there a series character)?
I’m also fascinated by Jacqueline's ability to charm without being charmed, as it were. She ends several of her adventures with a man in tow who is then Never Seen Again, and insofar as we know, she's still on speaking terms with most of them. I am intrigued that this works; show me how she does it. And then there's casefic: I note that in The Seventh Sinner, Jacqueline is more or less the guest sleuth in someone else's story – it would be entertaining and satisfying to see a further adventure of that kind.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: I have for years held the private theory that Jacqueline could very well be the unnamed editor of the Emerson papers forming the basis of the Amelia Peabody series. (It really can't be Vicky Bliss; John doesn't seem to have inherited that particular archive.) A story riffing on that theory would be totally welcome...and if Jacqueline should encounter Vicky and John in the course of her editorial duties, one can but imagine the potential for fireworks.
Night World - L. J. Smith • worldbuilding
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; for straight fic, please stay within the tone and tenor of the published novels in that regard. Also, more of a Do Not Have: unless it's been preserved by a secondary fannish source, it looks like we've lost all the extended content previously available on the author's (long-dormant, by the look) official Web site, so work that relies on familiarity with that content should be avoided. (OTOH, the current Wikipedia article includes a handful of useful tidbits from the lost material.)
PROMPTS: Having picked straight-up worldbuilding, I'm wide open as to its shape: straight fic is welcome, as is meta (letters, diaries, documents, grimoires, in-universe scholarly matter, prophecies and their interpretations, etc.) Historical material is absolutely encouraged, whether featuring existing characters (Thierry or Delos especially) or OCs; I'd be especially interested in work with well-grounded European, Asian, or Latin American settings. Post-canon worldbuilding is also welcome, especially featuring the Dark Kingdom (further interaction with the outside?) or advancement of the primary prophecy. One caveat: I wasn't in love with the hints of apocalypse and dystopia that I seem to recall in some of the runup material to Strange Fate (from the Web site); if you do explore the Night World's "coming out", I'd be happiest if the social upheaval was kept under some degree of control.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: It seems likely, given six years of authorial silence (and if Wikipedia is accurate, the medical diagnosis that evidently began it), that Strange Fate is permanently off the table. Equally clearly, tying off the Night World storylines is a novel-sized project that's far beyond the scope of any Yuletide assignment. That said, and **only** if you feel truly comfortable attempting it, I would not be opposed to seeing a story or worldbuilding work that at least lays some groundwork for the Night World to move forward from the end of Witchlight.
Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman • Grace Hartshorne
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; romance is certainly in bounds, but physical intimacy should be portrayed in a tone and style consistent with canon.
PROMPTS: I'm requesting Grace individually purely to give you a freer hand with the character. I'd be delighted to see her thrust into an adventure with Emily in which Emily's CIA status finally comes out. Or maybe even better, one where Grace runs into John Farrell while on one of her group tours, a caper inevitably ensues, and somewhere in the middle they discover they have a certain mutual acquaintance. In case of a Grace-and-Farrell story, I can certainly see the potential for romance. On a totally different tack - might Grace have been working for Carstairs all along? Or how might matters fall out if it were Grace and Carstairs running into one another, perhaps in the context of some cultural event in New York or Washington?
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: I should mention here that I wrote a Yuletide story a few rounds back in which Grace Hartshorne appears, and proves to have a complicated history. If - and only if, and I recognize the extreme iffiness of that if - you're motivated in that direction, I'd be totally delighted to see what you think happens to Grace in the wake of that episode. I should add, in the context of even more extreme optionalness, that the comment to that story asking about Diane Duane's books was dead on target; I came very close to making the work a straight-up crossover.
Young Wizards - Diane Duane • Harry Callahan, Irina Mladen
ADMIN: For this request, the story should feature both requested characters, per official Yuletide matching protocols.
DNW: I initially wrote here not to even think about Harry/Irina as a romantic couple, as my thinking in requesting these two was very much focused on a friendship dynamic, and I'm strongly opposed to breaking any of the stable romantic relationships we see in canon. I'm going to walk that back slightly, because I then spent a couple of sentences working out how something might evolve. If you're determined to go there, you *must* respect all existing canon relationships on both sides, OR establish a plausible canon-divergent AU that clearly lays the groundwork for this pairing. And in either case, explicit sex is neither expected nor desired.
PROMPTS: It's been a bit since I've last reread this series, but my recollection is that while Harry and Irina have met once or twice - and had maybe one or two offstage conferences about developments in the kids' careers - they have yet to really get to know one another. I'd like to see that change, particularly now that Nita and Dairine are taking on new responsibilities and beginning to make what amount to career plans, into which wizardry will necessarily figure. Even more than Tom and Carl, Irina is someone Harry might turn to for advice on parenting youthful wizards, and Harry is someone Irina might find relaxing to talk to on those occasions when she's trying to focus on non-wizardly matters. And there's that long-simmering bit that Nita's and Dairine's potential comes down from Harry's side of the family; who better than the Planetary to open that door and tell Harry a story or two about his wizardly forebears? Basically, I'm thinking that the seeds are there for a genuine, mutually rewarding friendship to develop between these two, and I'd like to see that idea explored.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: Having mentioned AUs above, I can't resist suggesting a story about the universe where Harry actually gets wizardry with Irina as mentor - or partner. Does this happen when Harry's a kid, or does a canon-compliant meeting with Irina motivate him to take the Oath as an adult? If it does happen when Harry is young, does he still marry per canon? Are Nita and Dairine (a) never born?, (b) skipped over by wizardry, (c) still chosen, such that Harry knows about it from jump? (And does all this end up with a visit from a certain Doctor being needed to clean up assorted crossed timelines?)
All this is definitely above and beyond the call....
Feel free to wander backward through this journal and my fic on AO3 (linked to your left) to get an idea of my interests; what I write is very much also what I like to read – and has, over time, added up to rather a variety of fandoms. My past Yuletide letters (and those for other exchanges) are tagged "dear santa" herein; see the "Yuletide" tag too, if you like.
Things I like:
Text-driven pluses for me include effective use of wit (aka banter aka snark, etc.), as well as strong characterization & dialogue. I value both respect for and clever use of canon (including well-developed canon-divergence AUs). I thrive on UST (heavy on both U and T), and am neutral where gen/het/slash is concerned; if the pairing is well-developed, I'll read with an open mind.
I am also a sucker for the well-executed crossover, whether via oblique allusion or head-on fandom collision. Yuletide being Yuletide and Optional Details Being Optional, I have absolutely no expectations along this line...but I have included an EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS section in each of my requests, because I live in hope, and because I can’t resist this sort of opportunity. Take these in the spirit in which they’re given, or set them aside as you prefer.
None of my requests call specifically for mature/explicit content. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate sizzling erotica/smut/porn; it's just that my fanfic-reading interests and my e/s/p-reading interests mostly don't tend to intersect. That said, unless the DNWs for a specific request say otherwise, if your muse takes you into explicit territory with respect to a given request, I'm generally willing to follow along for the ride.
DNWs (general):
I've resisted writing this section for years – not because I don’t have preferences, but because I hate framing them as absolute negatives. I’m a flexible reader, and the story I want most out of Yuletide is the one you want to tell me rather than the one that’s living in my own head (that one, if I want it badly enough, I can always write myself). However. In the interests of clarity and of placating the Yulemods (who are awesome and extraordinary even if I sometimes disagree with particular rulings), some things I Do Not Want:
# Alt-setting AUs (baristas/high-schoolers/etc.). I fall for worlds; transplanting characters out of those worlds just isn't my jam.
# Noncon, incest, or adult/child kinks; power-imbalanced sex/romantic partnerships (teacher/student, boss/underling, etc.)
# Romantic partnerships explicitly inconsistent with canon (To amplify: don’t invalidate a character’s stated sexual preference/identity/relationship(s), but it's OK to establish a preference/identity where none is stated; also see specific fandoms for notes.)
REQUESTS
Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) • Carmen, Julia Argent, Player, Shadow-san
ADMIN: A story featuring any one or more of the listed characters will satisfy this request.
NOTES: I admit it: as a major fan of the 1990s animated series about Carmen, I was very nervous when the new series was announced. Having since inhaled all three seasons like so much movie-theater popcorn, I am totally and enthusiastically on board. This show is emphatically not that show -- and yet, the cues that it takes from the '90s series (and indeed, the PBS game show before it) are cleverly and ingeniously integrated into this version. One technical note: I am fussier than the show's producers and captioners were about Japanese honorifics; I hope anyone writing for me will follow formal Japanese usage with regard to Shadow-san's name and so incorporate the hyphen.
DNWs: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; any sexual relationships portrayed should be broadly age-appropriate and power-balanced (in this case, that mostly means Carmen/Shadow-san is off the table).
PROMPTS: Back story for any of Player, Julia, and/or Shadow-san -- we have some details about Player and Shadow-san, but much less about Julia. While Player has clearly taken a pretty strong interest in Carmen and her agenda, one gets the impression that he may well have other projects and protégés under his wing. Alternately, Shadow-san clearly has more secrets in his own past than we've seen - his level of skill strongly implies a mentor outside VILE's orbit, and his cultural palate is too well tuned to have come from associates the likes of Coach Brunt or Countess Cleo.
For Carmen, I'm curious about how she's gone about setting up and overseeing her charitable operation (not least to avoid the problem of someone she and Player have hired to do the day-to-day oversight turning out to be crooked themselves, a problem not unknown to real-world nonprofits). Or show Carmen in actual doing-good mode (does she maybe have a totally different ID built for talking to the media? maybe she comes across a kids-in-danger situation that she can't ignore?).
Feel free to bring in any and all of the rest of the ensemble needed to make your story work, or to go in a different direction entirely - and absolutely feel free, if you're familiar with it, to draw on the '90s series for further inspiration, character updates, or plot twists (although oddly enough, I find myself resisting the idea of crossing the two series and their respective Carmens openly with one another).
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: This is absolutely a series ready-made for my inner crossover geek. Player, on reflection, reminds me sufficiently of Wade from *Kim Possible* (the cartoon, more than the live-action version) to make me think the two youthful reclusive genii must know one another, if only electronically. Alternately, Carmen's heists might well attract any of the NCIS teams' attention, or that of an amateur sleuth (Jessica Fletcher, Rick Castle). I'd just as soon not get Carmen involved with the MCU or with the larger DC comics universe, but I wouldn't mind seeing her cross paths with the Bat-family (specifically including Catwoman/Selina Kyle) in one or another incarnation.
Diana Winthrop series -- Kate Chambers • any
BACKGROUND: The Winthrop books are a teen-sleuth series (six slim paperbacks from the mid-'80s) set mostly in New York and New England, with "Kate Chambers" being a pen name for versatile writer Norma Johnston -- a fact I didn't learn till much later. The individual mysteries are dedicated to (and often cleverly plotted in the style of) various classic and then-famous mystery authors, the characterizations are much more nuanced than is usual for this category, and there’s a strong ongoing ensemble cast (including a major and well-rendered secondary character who’s blind).
DNW: Just in case: please, no Lydian/Diana slash. Between canon’s implied Lydian/Rob Winthrop (which I approve of) and Lydian’s mentor/protegé vibe with Diana, that hits my squick radar multiple ways.
NOTES: As obscure as this series is, I've evidently managed to sell at least one or two new readers on these books over the past couple of years, so there are now more actual prompts in this request than there used to be. Nonetheless, this is what I tend to describe as an "Oliver Twist" request -- what I really and truly want most is simply more, and I am pretty much guaranteed to be delighted whether or not you actually follow any of the prompts given.
PROMPTS: One of the really nifty things about Diana's adventures was the multi-generational family dynamic. That's a big reason that in addition to Diana herself, I chose Jacintha (who's clearly an adult here, if pretty new-minted; I see her as mid-20s at the outside), Gran Culhaine, and Lydian Sinclair (who looks likely to become part of the Winthrop clan ere long) to represent the ensemble. I'd like to see familial texture here, whether in the context of a case/adventure or a more personal sort of tale. Feel free to bring in others from the extended cast as appropriate, and to look for story ideas both from Diana's past (the Boston contingent as kids? Diana's original "acting" days?) and future (what does she end up doing career-wise?) as well as the series' present.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: The crossover junkie in me points out that Diana's NYC/Boston home base and detective interests make for plausible run-ins with a great variety of other source canons, including at least one of my other current requests, and someone (other than me!) has already nudge-winked a connection between Diana's Ross cousins and a certain family of MCU military and espionage professionals. More generally, see (1) my works and gifts received on AO3, and (2) all entries tagged “Dear Santa” in my DW journal, and assume that any fandom represented therein is welcome.
Jacqueline Kirby - Elizabeth Peters • any
NOTES: My very first Elizabeth Peters heroine was Jacqueline Kirby, by way of The Murders of Richard III. She and I are both serious about books, enthusiastic about Shakespeare, amused by the eccentric ways of professional writers, and not at all hesitant to jump in at the deep end of the pool when our enthusiasms warrant. Fortunately, though, I have not adopted Jacqueline's habit of falling into the orbits of actual murderers.
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required, though not absolutely forbidden. (Jacqueline is, after all, familiar with The Lustful Turk....)
PROMPTS: A number of obvious questions arise that deserve thoughtful and entertaining answers: What happened to the father of Jacqueline's children? Have any of her kids inherited her sleuthing gifts? What are the legendary origins of The Purse? What has she written beyond what we've seen (is there a series character)?
I’m also fascinated by Jacqueline's ability to charm without being charmed, as it were. She ends several of her adventures with a man in tow who is then Never Seen Again, and insofar as we know, she's still on speaking terms with most of them. I am intrigued that this works; show me how she does it. And then there's casefic: I note that in The Seventh Sinner, Jacqueline is more or less the guest sleuth in someone else's story – it would be entertaining and satisfying to see a further adventure of that kind.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: I have for years held the private theory that Jacqueline could very well be the unnamed editor of the Emerson papers forming the basis of the Amelia Peabody series. (It really can't be Vicky Bliss; John doesn't seem to have inherited that particular archive.) A story riffing on that theory would be totally welcome...and if Jacqueline should encounter Vicky and John in the course of her editorial duties, one can but imagine the potential for fireworks.
Night World - L. J. Smith • worldbuilding
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; for straight fic, please stay within the tone and tenor of the published novels in that regard. Also, more of a Do Not Have: unless it's been preserved by a secondary fannish source, it looks like we've lost all the extended content previously available on the author's (long-dormant, by the look) official Web site, so work that relies on familiarity with that content should be avoided. (OTOH, the current Wikipedia article includes a handful of useful tidbits from the lost material.)
PROMPTS: Having picked straight-up worldbuilding, I'm wide open as to its shape: straight fic is welcome, as is meta (letters, diaries, documents, grimoires, in-universe scholarly matter, prophecies and their interpretations, etc.) Historical material is absolutely encouraged, whether featuring existing characters (Thierry or Delos especially) or OCs; I'd be especially interested in work with well-grounded European, Asian, or Latin American settings. Post-canon worldbuilding is also welcome, especially featuring the Dark Kingdom (further interaction with the outside?) or advancement of the primary prophecy. One caveat: I wasn't in love with the hints of apocalypse and dystopia that I seem to recall in some of the runup material to Strange Fate (from the Web site); if you do explore the Night World's "coming out", I'd be happiest if the social upheaval was kept under some degree of control.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: It seems likely, given six years of authorial silence (and if Wikipedia is accurate, the medical diagnosis that evidently began it), that Strange Fate is permanently off the table. Equally clearly, tying off the Night World storylines is a novel-sized project that's far beyond the scope of any Yuletide assignment. That said, and **only** if you feel truly comfortable attempting it, I would not be opposed to seeing a story or worldbuilding work that at least lays some groundwork for the Night World to move forward from the end of Witchlight.
Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman • Grace Hartshorne
DNW: Explicit sex is neither expected nor required; romance is certainly in bounds, but physical intimacy should be portrayed in a tone and style consistent with canon.
PROMPTS: I'm requesting Grace individually purely to give you a freer hand with the character. I'd be delighted to see her thrust into an adventure with Emily in which Emily's CIA status finally comes out. Or maybe even better, one where Grace runs into John Farrell while on one of her group tours, a caper inevitably ensues, and somewhere in the middle they discover they have a certain mutual acquaintance. In case of a Grace-and-Farrell story, I can certainly see the potential for romance. On a totally different tack - might Grace have been working for Carstairs all along? Or how might matters fall out if it were Grace and Carstairs running into one another, perhaps in the context of some cultural event in New York or Washington?
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: I should mention here that I wrote a Yuletide story a few rounds back in which Grace Hartshorne appears, and proves to have a complicated history. If - and only if, and I recognize the extreme iffiness of that if - you're motivated in that direction, I'd be totally delighted to see what you think happens to Grace in the wake of that episode. I should add, in the context of even more extreme optionalness, that the comment to that story asking about Diane Duane's books was dead on target; I came very close to making the work a straight-up crossover.
Young Wizards - Diane Duane • Harry Callahan, Irina Mladen
ADMIN: For this request, the story should feature both requested characters, per official Yuletide matching protocols.
DNW: I initially wrote here not to even think about Harry/Irina as a romantic couple, as my thinking in requesting these two was very much focused on a friendship dynamic, and I'm strongly opposed to breaking any of the stable romantic relationships we see in canon. I'm going to walk that back slightly, because I then spent a couple of sentences working out how something might evolve. If you're determined to go there, you *must* respect all existing canon relationships on both sides, OR establish a plausible canon-divergent AU that clearly lays the groundwork for this pairing. And in either case, explicit sex is neither expected nor desired.
PROMPTS: It's been a bit since I've last reread this series, but my recollection is that while Harry and Irina have met once or twice - and had maybe one or two offstage conferences about developments in the kids' careers - they have yet to really get to know one another. I'd like to see that change, particularly now that Nita and Dairine are taking on new responsibilities and beginning to make what amount to career plans, into which wizardry will necessarily figure. Even more than Tom and Carl, Irina is someone Harry might turn to for advice on parenting youthful wizards, and Harry is someone Irina might find relaxing to talk to on those occasions when she's trying to focus on non-wizardly matters. And there's that long-simmering bit that Nita's and Dairine's potential comes down from Harry's side of the family; who better than the Planetary to open that door and tell Harry a story or two about his wizardly forebears? Basically, I'm thinking that the seeds are there for a genuine, mutually rewarding friendship to develop between these two, and I'd like to see that idea explored.
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: Having mentioned AUs above, I can't resist suggesting a story about the universe where Harry actually gets wizardry with Irina as mentor - or partner. Does this happen when Harry's a kid, or does a canon-compliant meeting with Irina motivate him to take the Oath as an adult? If it does happen when Harry is young, does he still marry per canon? Are Nita and Dairine (a) never born?, (b) skipped over by wizardry, (c) still chosen, such that Harry knows about it from jump? (And does all this end up with a visit from a certain Doctor being needed to clean up assorted crossed timelines?)
All this is definitely above and beyond the call....