Unsent Letters 2025: Dear Correspondent

[graycardinal]

I can't write short letters worth a darn, so while I've got detailed material farther down, it's only fair to give you the list of fandom requests up front. So, those would be:

Batman (1966)
Crossover Fandom(s) - see below
Doctor Who
Gargoyles
Kim Possible
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Power Rangers Time Force
Stargate (SG-1)

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 letters for various exchanges are tagged "dear santa" herein.

Things I like:

I’m a flexible reader; the story I want most out of a given exchange is usually 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).

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.

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 intersect. Also, for this exchange, I find myself not especially interested in any of these characters writing e/s/p.

DNWs:

AUs. For this exchange, avoid alt-setting (i.e. coffeeshop, high school, dept. store, etc.). and major canon-divergence in non-crossover requests. This does not mean you can’t extend on canon, fill in blanks, etc.; indeed, Unsent Letters strike me as designed for just this sort of thing. Nor does this necessarily preclude crossovers, even if not formally built into a request.

Explicit sex, or “sexting” exchanges. Most likely not an issue as nearly all my requests are "&" rather than "/", but to be clear - basically, this just isn’t my jam. Non-explicit mention or discussion of sex is fine, though. Please avoid noncon, incest, adult/child, power-imbalanced sexual/romantic partnerships (teacher/student, boss/underling, etc.), and A/B/O settings.

Romantic elements that directly contradict canon. Also unlikely to be an issue, per above, but to amplify: where a character explicitly states a sexual preference/identity in canon, honor the statement. OTOH, if no preference/identity is specified onstage, it’s OK to establish – or widen – one for a given character. It's also OK to create or expand relationships for unpaired characters, including cross-canonical pairings where the potential arises.

Requests:

Batman (1966)
Alfred & Commissioner Gordon • Batman & Catwoman • Bruce Wayne & Alfred • Bruce Wayne & Barbara Gordon • Commissioner Gordon & Barbara Gordon • King Tut & None • Olga & Egghead

I fully recognize that this is a Very Weird set of requests, and I’m fully prepared both for work that goes overboard on the cracktastic and work that takes the setting as seriously and straight-faced as do the characters residing therein.

Some notes: First, the use of both “Bruce Wayne” and “Batman” in the relationship prompts is deliberate; I won’t object if messages/writing from both personas shows up in any given work (as might well happen in a couple of these), but the emphasis should be on the persona named in the request. Similarly, Barbara should be written primarily as Barbara – but that’s not to say that Batgirl’s persona should be wholly ignored.

As to the villains: I’m horribly curious about Tut’s private journals (and how much of what Professor McElroy knows does or doesn’t inform them). Onscreen, I prefer the Newmar and Meriwether takes on Catwoman to Kitt’s, but don’t let that stop you from working with the Kitt version if that’s where your muse goes. OTOH, I much preferred the original super-smart version of Egghead to the milquetoast he becomes when he falls in with Olga, and would dearly love to see fireworks between those two when the genius Egghead re-asserts himself.

Crossover Fandoms

These constitute an extremely mixed bag; I'm assuming anyone who tackles one of these is reasonably familiar with the fandoms. If you need more prompts for one of this group, ping the mod(s) and I'll do my best to be useful.

• Colter Shaw (Tracker) & Clint Barton (MCU)

This one occurred to me pretty much out of the blue; it strikes me that these two characters are in some ways very much alike – Clint just has some better toys and a somewhat more focused mission statement. Given the right missing-persons case, it would be fascinating to see them interact. (Might there be a way to put both of them on the trail of “forgotten” Peter Parker? Or maybe Clint has some information on a part of Colter’s family’s past….)

• Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1) & Stephen Strange (MCU)

On one hand, this might be an interesting way to poke at the whole “multiverse” arc in recent MCU continuity…but even if it isn’t, you have to think that sooner or later, these two will end up on opposite sides of the same artifact, at which point, cue the turf war. And the snark.

• Elsbeth Tascioni (Elsbeth) & Madeleine Kingston (Matlock)

Both these women are incredibly smart, incredibly devious, and incredibly devoted to helping the underdog take out the over-privileged villain. They’re working practically next door to one another in NYC. They’re both likely to look at the other and see a dangerously capable adversary at first glance. Does that impression hold, or do they gradually transform from arch-foes to allies?

• Lexington (Gargoyles) & Hardison (Leverage)

As two of the world’s most talented white-hat hackers, they’ve obviously known each other – online – for ages. So what happens when Hardison finds out he’s been trading code with a genuine 24-karat gargoyle…and thereby on the perimeter of David Xanatos’ radar?

• Mary Russell (Laurie R. King) & Bruce Wayne (Batman)

It's said that Batman learned his crimefighting craft from the best teachers in the world. One of them could well have been Sherlock Holmes...and in that case, Bruce and Mary might have a history of their own.

• Vala (Stargate SG-1) & Parker (Leverage)

The best thief on Earth and one of the cleverest thieves in the immediate galaxy; put them together, and just watch the fireworks.

Doctor Who (1963)
Any Doctor & the Brigadier • Sarah Jane Smith & None • Three & the Master (Delgado)

There’s just nothing like classic Who for colorful characterizations, and I confess to a long-standing fondness for the Brigadier’s unwavering ability to survive playing straight man to the Doctor’s lead – and still be able to say “Wonderful chap – all of him” with a straight face. Likewise, the chemistry between Three and the Master is purest melodrama – and both of them clearly know and play to it.

As for Sarah Jane, the one thing we very rarely see in canon is her actual journalistic output – though she retains a reputation for being near the top of her field more or less throughout her turn in the series. I’d be equally pleased with excerpts from her clip file or pointed correspondence of one sort or another with her sources as she researches a story.

Gargoyles
Demona & None • Macbeth & None • Owen Burnett & Macbeth • Xanatos & Owen Burnett • Xanatos & Halcyon Renard • Xanatos & None

Some of these should be self-explanatory; I can’t imagine Demona or Macbeth not having kept some kind of journal at least occasionally over the centuries (and in Macbeth’s case, he’s also probably published – if under pen names – a fair bit of writing along the way; I had him play theater critic in one of my own stories). In Xanatos’ case, he might be less inclined to keep a diary as such, but business documents (and the personal annotations thereto) could be fascinating reading (from whom would he have bought Castle Wyvern, for instance?).

As to Xanatos’ correspondence with (or private notes on) Owen & Renard, or Owen’s with Macbeth – on one hand, such messages or notes might be awfully succinct…or surprisingly thoughtful. [In the Xanatos-&-Renard case, possibly Owen – who’s worked for both – has accumulated files on both his masters and done up a compare-and-contrast analysis….]

Kim Possible
Kim & Dr. Director • Kim & Monique • Kim & Nana Possible Kim & Shego • Kim & Yori • MrsDrP & Dr. Director • MrDrP/MrsDrP

A large chunk of my early fanfic was set in this fandom, and I still have a number of ancient plot bunnies from that era grazing in my backbrain. The main question most of these prompts raise for me is the degree to which Kim's crimefighting life interacts with her home life, in both amusing and useful ways (and, in a couple of cases, how those around her set and monitor boundaries on Kim's activities).

A specific note on Kim & Shego: In this fandom, I happily read both K/R and KiGo, and I'm not in love with parts of Season 4. That said, for this exchange and that prompt, please keep the “&” in mind…though I will totally not object to a work that suggests the existence of chemistry in either direction on that front.

MCU
Kamala Khan & Pepper Potts • Maria Hill & Carol Danvers • Maria Hill & Cassie Lang • Maria Hill & Kamala Khan • Maria Hill & Pepper Potts

For all these duos, let’s agree that the MH seen in Secret Invasion was a Life Model Decoy or equivalent, and therefore the real Maria is (a) still in the game, and (b) very much involved in mentoring, managing, and/or bonding with the MCU’a most capable young heroines (and CEOs). And I will totally not object if one of these requests morphs into a three- or four-way round robin affair.

Power Rangers Time Force
Lucas/Nadira

I’m in the corner of Ranger fandom that regards Time Force as one of the best Ranger seasons in the franchise – and one of the reasons for that was the degree of complexity it built into the character relationships. Better, the writers came back to those relationships in the subsequent Wild Force crossover, and not just to the Wes/Jen pairing. I’d be delighted to see further developments between Lucas and Nadira explored here (and I’m sure that reformed!Ransik will have opinions of his own which he won’t hesitate to share; that whole brief set piece at the end of the crossover is just the right mix of touching and hilarious).

Stargate SG-1
Sam Carter & Cassandra Fraiser • Vala & Cassandra Fraiser • Vala & George Hammond • Vala & None • Vala & Sam Carter

My goals with this set of prompts were first, to give Vala a chance to hang out (metaphorically, at least) with characters she’s not usually matched with in canon, and second, to match Cassie with potential mentors/role models in a way also not much seen onscreen. In particular, I’m interested in how Vala spends her time when she’s Earthside and “off the clock” (a degree of mischief seems unavoidable), and in how Cassie and Vala might relate to one another as offworlders on Earth.