As the Cardinal Flies

Greetings, O writer of letters, and welcome! And also, thank you!

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:

Doctor Who (1963)
Mary Poppins (Movies)
Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Young Wizards (Diane Duane)

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

DNWs:

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 a given exchange 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). That said, in the interests of clarity, some things I Do Not Want:

AUs: For this exchange, avoid both alt-setting (i.e. coffeeshop, high school, dept. store, etc.) and canon-divergence AUs. This does *not* mean that 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 absolutely preclude crossovers, but for once I’m (mostly) reining in that part of my muse.

Explicit sex, or “sexting” exchanges.  In the context of this exchange, this just isn’t my jam. Non-explicit mention or discussion of sex is fine, though. Kinks to avoid: noncon, incest, adult/child, power-imbalanced sexual/romantic partnerships (teacher/student, boss/underling, etc.).

Romantic partnerships that directly contradict canon. 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. (Also see canon-specific notes.)

Doctor Who (1963)
Any Companion & Any Companion, Any UNIT Member & Any UNIT Member, Sarah Jane & Harry

NOTES: I’m good with seeing any of the available epistolary formats for this request.

PROMPTS:
I picked “Any Companion & Any Companion” (and its UNIT-based cousin) with full knowledge of just how wide a net that casts, and I am good with that. I’m best acquainted with Three through Six and their fellow travelers, but if your muse runs to correspondence between Susan Foreman and Ace (however that might fall out) or Peri and Jamie (ditto), I’m on board. That said, I’m especially fond of Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Jo Grant, and Tegan, especially intrigued by Turlough and Kamelion, and curious about how Adric might find a way into this form.  

EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: For any of these prompts, I am entirely OK with drifting into the 2005-era timeline, and also into Sarah Jane Adventures territory.  And if you can finesse a regeneration cycle for Sarah Jane out of one of these prompts, feel very free to do so!

Mary Poppins (Movies)
Bert & Mary, Minerva McGonagall & Mary, Mary & Original Characters

NOTES: I’m good with seeing any of the available epistolary formats for this request.

DNW:
• AUs: See above - but in this context I’m thinking that McGonagall & Mary looks more fusional than crossover-ish, still, either way (and even if your take differs from mine) that’s one request where it’s OK to indulge. (Also, if by some chance you’ve actually read a certain fic of mine in which Mary appears, extending or riffing further on that fic’s premise is totally in bounds.)

PROMPTS
Bert often appears to act as Mary’s eyes and ears in the mundane world; it would be interesting to see his written reports – whether on the Banks children or other matters (does he vet potential candidates for Mary’s patronage?). Was Minerva Mary’s mentor (or maybe vice versa?), or is Mary something outside wizardly rules and traditions?  Who else has Mary already nannied over the years?

Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Holmes & Professor Moriarty, Irene Adler & Holmes, Watson & Anyone

NOTES: I’m good with seeing any of the available epistolary formats for this request.

DNWs:
• Note that Adler & Holmes material should be non-romantic as per the tag.
• For Holmes & Moriarty: just in case, let me emphasize here that ACD-canonical Moriarty is not, repeat not, equivalent to the popular post-canon Moriarty of movies, TV, and pastiche (this last in either direction, whether slanted toward Meyer & Kurland or toward Horowitz and ELementary). As with Poppins, I’m happy to see thoughtful speculations roving outward from canon – but I’d like to see them grounded *in* canon, one way or another.

PROMPTS:
• For Holmes & Moriarty: I’m thinking the most intriguing material is likely to be pre-canonical. Yet every bit of “fanon” we have (the professor as the Holmes family math tutor, etc.) is purely speculative; there’s a lot of room for that speculation to go in different directions.
• For Holmes & Irene – who writes to whom first, and why? Does Holmes need a field agent, does Irene need a sleuth, or are they simply sharing practical tips on cross-dressing disguises (heh)?
• For Watson, the great question here is: how did the good doctor really store, sort, and distribute the millions of words’ worth of manuscripts he evidently wrote? (And who got the job of doing either the field work or the cataloging?)

Young Wizards (Duane)
Carl/Tom, Dairine & Roshaun

NOTES: I’m good with seeing any of the available epistolary formats for this request.

DNW:
• Explicit sex/kink; for Dairine & Roshaun, it’s way too soon, and for Carl & Tom, I’m happy to give them their privacy for that.
• AUs: Avoid both alt-setting (i.e. coffeeshop, high school, dept. store, etc.) and canon-divergence AUs. This does *not* mean that you can’t extend on canon, fill in blanks, etc.; indeed, Unsent Letters strike me as designed for just this sort of thing.

PROMPTS:
• For Carl & Tom: I’m absolutely up for intimate exchanges, given this relationship, but I am more interested in the intimacy than I am in the romance, if that makes sense. (For example, what do they write, whether for themselves or each other, after ‘losing’ Picchu? Or what do their journals or texts look like during/after the memory lapses from WIZARDS AT WAR? Alternately, I’d love to see some of their after-action reports to higher authority (whether Irina, or some intermediary) after some of the kids’ adventures.

• For Dairine & Roshaun: individual journal entries may be easier to deal with than actual letters/texts/manual-mail for these two, but either is totally fine. I’d love to see each of them trying to nail down their perceptions of the other in writing – or, alternately, an exchange between them grumbling and commiserating about how No One Else Understands My Pain. Or even just Dairine trying to explain the Star Wars movies to Roshaun….

EXTREMELY OPTIONAL BONUS POINTS: If any of these prompts give you an excuse to have someone exchange email or other correspondence with Mr. (Counselor) Millman, do not hesitate to bring him in; he’s such a good sounding board as well as an excuse for the sort of wry humor that Duane is so good at injecting into these books.