As the Cardinal Flies

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 

( Details:  )

Diana Winthrop series -- Kate Chambers • any

( Details: )

Jacqueline Kirby - Elizabeth Peters • any

( Details: )
 
Night World - L. J. Smith • worldbuilding

( Details: )

Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman • Grace Hartshorne

( Details: )

Young Wizards - Diane Duane • Harry Callahan, Irina Mladen

( Details: )

Double pleasure this time around; I have a story and a treat, both from L. J. Smith's Night World  series.

Feel the earth move and then • by flamebyrd 
Fandom: Night World (L. J. Smith)
Rating: G
Length: ~1100 words
Characters: Raksha Keller, Galen Drache (Galen/Raksha)
Warnings: none
Tags: AU, first meetings, spies & secret agents
This is mildly AU, treating the Night World as spy/intrigue fare with a first meeting between Our Heroes that hits all the right notes.  Fun yet nuanced, and quite well executed.

Vacation • by flamebyrd 
Fandom: Night World (L. J. Smith)
Rating: G
Length: ~650 words
Characters: Aradia, Maggie Neely, Delos, Raksha Keller
Warnings: none
Tags: team bonding, late night conversations, quiet moments
And this is a shorter piece, a thoughtful and perceptive character snapshot of Aradia -- a secondary but important character who turns up in the last couple of Night World books.

I'm very happy with both stories, and especially grateful to have both an "official" story and a treat from the same talented writer.  That's beyond the call of duty for sure, and very much appreciated.