Gakked from musesfool

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Dear yuletide Author

(N.B.: Portions of this letter have been lifted from last year's letter.)

Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of three people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The ILLUMINATUS! Trilogy, one of seven people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The NeverEnding Story film trilogy, one of eight people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlen's books, and/or one of nine people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.

If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me, and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like. OTOH, don't be intimitated; this letter might demonstrate that I've thought long and hard about why I want what I want, because I'm full of myself and like to navel-gaze so you can get a feel for my tastes, but the specifics of what I'd like are intentionally vague even in my own mind.

I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is (female) children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist. Likewise, Miss Portinari is a girl who is both a teen and the spiritual leader of the Lief Erikson, commanding a position of authority and respect while be sexually and spiritually and practically liberated. Bastian and Nicole are teens who have command the awesome power of the NeverEnding Story and of the Auryn. And the Childlike Empress--well, I could go on for ages about the Childlike Empress. Likewise, Laz and Lor always get the better of their elders.

This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on The NeverEnding Story or Heinlein (although, really, Laz/Lor is canon, no?); I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too. But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that incest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable (with the platonic ideal being, ultimately, twincest)--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Bastian/Nicole or Laz/Lor if you go down that route, a demonstration that their strongest bond (or, at least, an exceptionally strong bond) is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.

Beyond that, I like to think I'm easy to write for. I have few squicks--I'm fine with character death, BDSM, mpreg, dubcon, noncon, chan, incest (obviously, given the above, and in both the fluffy and dirtybadwrong versions, although I prefer fluffy for sibcest), you name it, I'm probably okay with it. Just please no bashing of my favorite characters, and only break up pairings if you're going to put the characters back together again in a combination that fits my requests. Happy, uplifting fics are good, but so are soul-crushingly depressing ones so long as the pairings and characters get to be awesome. Ambivalent fics where we're not sure whether we should cheer or cry are probably best of all. If I didn't like existentialism and pseudo-nihilism in my fic, I wouldn't be a Joss Whedon fan.

( more on where on earth is carmen sandiego? )

( more on the ILLUMINATUS! trilogy )

( very little about r.a.h. )

( more on the neverending story )

Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!

Yours in La Mancha,



Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian