Dear Eearly Bird Creator

[rebecca2525]

I'm so excited that you're creating something for me! I know I ramble a lot in my letter, but it's meant to be an inspiration more than anything. I'm not attached to any of my prompts, so feel free to ignore them. The division into art and fic prompts is only meant as a convenience, so feel free to mix and match.

I'm Rebecca on AO3. Treats are welcome.

• DNWs
• Albion (Video Game)
• Are You Being Served?
• Les fantômes du chapelier | The Hatter's Ghosts - Georges Simenon
• A Place Called Glory | The Hell of Manitoba
• General Likes

DNWs

I don't have any triggers and I am very hard to squick. There are just a few things I do not want to read about:

• death of requested characters
• giving requested characters terminal illnesses or unrecoverable injuries
• giving requested characters mental illnesses or trauma
• trans and asexual interpretations of requested characters
• rape/non-con involving requested characters
• requested characters cheating on anyone (simply not mentioning canon partners is fine)
• unrequested open relationships or poly involving requested characters (simply not mentioning canon partners is fine)
• settings AU, e.g. vampires, coffee shop, different time period, omegaverse, soulmate AUs, ... (canon divergence/altering or ignoring canon events is fine)

(There are some canon-specific exceptions listed below.)

Albion (Video Game)

Drirr/Rainer Hofstedt

Requested: Art & Fic

I love the detailed world of Albion, especially the tropic Nakiridaani with all those lush plants and animals and the culture of Iskai. I can spend hours walking around there, looking at stuff and talking to people! (Glow-in-the-dark flora & fauna! Pretty buildings that are actually shaped out of living plants! Iskai magic! The Former's' guild house!)

Drirr has a couple of funny moments that amuse me greatly and I love his impulsiveness and the fighting ability he brings to the party—strong and quick and probably a joy to watch. Rainer I love because he's the level-headed, geeky scientist, and I'm probably the only person who is actually sad when he leaves the party. Together, they make the perfect opposites attract/unlikely couple, and there's a titbit of dialog where Drirr's rash actions and Rainer's prudence clash in a bicker-y way that just hits all my buttons. Add to that the cultural and physical differences and how they start out knowing nothing about each other's species, and it makes me all the more curious to see how anything between them would play out.

Fic Prompts

• Cultural differences: Do Iskai kiss? Hug? Dance? Do they have any taboos? Do they have any rituals surrounding sex, dating, ...? Does that lead to confusions or misunderstandings? Maybe there are some gestures that one culture sees as platonic and the other as romantic/sexual and an accidental courtship ensues?
• Differences in physique: Exploring each other's differences and loving them, or some awkward moments and creative workarounds. Maybe Iskai go through some sort of heat or Pon Farr and someone has to help Drirr out?
• Drirr's tail: It's practically a tentacle—I mean long third arm and hand, so what fun uses for it are there? Is it unusually sensitive, maybe? Do Iskai attach any special meaning to things done with the tail vs with hands, or are there any specific gestures for it that Rainer learns to decipher bit by bit? Apart from sex, it could be good for inconspicuous hand-holding or other displays of affection? Or Drirr could use it to startle Rainer, maybe he finds that fun in a "pulling pigtails" sort of way. :D
• AU where Rainer and Drirr already meet during the time when Tom is still in coma: Maybe Drirr is fascinated by this newcomer? How is it for Rainer to see this strange world for the very first time, to try to communicate, to try to learn the first words? Does the Iskai mind-meld help, maybe, and does that spark something between Rainer and Drirr?
• Getting closer during a quiet night around the campfire when they are out with the party? I imagine that must be a little awkward, what with the lack of privacy...
• Sex pollen/magic/...: There are so many weird plants and so many ancient places with forgotten magic, there's probably some fun stuff around! (I bet it's Drirr who accidentally triggers it and Rainer is pretty miffed about it. Or it's the other way round for once.) Could be something that induces lust, or that forces proximity or other intimate situations or... Maybe something weird/funny happens with some ancient magic designed for Iskai biology but Rainer is human?

Art Prompts

• Drirr using his tail to touch Rainer (Sneakily? Boldly?)
• A quiet moment at the campfire — leaning onto each other, sleeping close to each other, ...
• Running fingers over each other's alien physique
• Drirr protecting Rainer from wildlife
• Drirr pinning Rainer against a convenient surface
• A kiss (What' Drirr's tail doing during this?)

Availability

Albion is abandonware and as such downloadable in various places, and there are walkthroughs, Let's Plays etc available. It's a very long game, but pretty much everything I'm referencing above happens early on and it's not a story that goes very deep into characterisation, plus I'm not wedded to any of the cultural titbits we learn about the Iskai, so I'm good with taking the character archetypes and the basic facts and running with them in any direction you like. (If you do want to go deep into Iskai lore, though, I'm up for that, too!)

In any case, I've collected some resources here

Are You Being Served?

Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries/Stephen Peacock

Requested: Art & Fic

I love how Mr Humphries is so unapologetically himself, love his humour and the camp, love how he always seems to be throwing himself into things and having so much fun. Captain Peacock is the perfect foil with his grumpy, quiet, uptight personality; I'm always intrigued by quiet-waters-run-deep kind of characters and it amuses me greatly how he's perpetually baffled by Mr Humphries' lifestyle (without being judgemental usually). They seem to respect each other–Mr Humphries is the only of the staff that Captain Peacock ever has praise for afair–and canon gives us Mr Humphries' little flirtations here and there that Captain Peacock doesn't seem to mind, so I can imagine that, to both of their surprise maybe, something could develop between them.

Regarding Captain Peacock's wife: I'd prefer if she's either not mentioned, doesn't exist, or that they separated before anything shippy happens.

I love the entire staff and am always happy for them to appear, btw. Other favourites are Mrs Slocombe and Mr Rumbold.

Fic Prompts

• Sharing a bed: There are so many moments where the staff have to sleep at the store. Captain Peacock and Mr Humphries should have to share at some point! Alternating the plot of an existing episode? A new scenario? What's Mr Humphries wearing to bed? What does Captain Peacock things of it?
• I love the episode where they dance so much (Top Hat and Tails) and I'd love any scene based on that. The dancing leading to realisations? Them discovering they'd love to keep dancing even after the episode? Why did Captain Peacock agree to dance with Mr Humphries in the first place? How did they settle that?
• The episode where Mrs Slocombe makes that perfume with that interesting effect (The Sweet Smell of Success)–maybe it hits Captain Peacock and Mr Humphries, like some sort of aphrodisiac or love potion or sex pollen-y stuff?
• Mr Humphries helping to Captain Peacock to buy some clothes and that leading to more. Taking measurements, advising him, helping him in the fitting room?
• Having to stay at each other's place. There's one episode where Captain Peacock gets thrown out by his wife and needs a place to stay, and one episode where Mr Humphries gets thrown out by his mother... something like that? Ending up liking the arrangement more than they thought? One consoling the other? Drowning their sorrows in alcohol together? Captain Peacock clashing with how Mr Humphries decorates his flat? Or with how Mr Humphries takes over his own place?

Art Prompts

• Dancing! (Love the Episode "Top Hat and Tails). Either both of them wearing suits, or maybe Mr Humphries wearing something he'd put on in a gay club? Or a dress?
• Helping each other dress: Tying ties, doing up zippers or buttons, ...
• Mr Humphries taking Captain Peacock's measurements
• Sharing a bed (voluntarily as a couple, or involuntarily?)
• Mr Humphries impressing Captain Peacock with one of his skimpy outfits

Availability

A lot can be found on dailymotion. The first two episodes are fun and do a good job introduicing the charcters. "Camping In" has some fun private moments and bed sharing potential. The episode that started my ship obsession is "Top Hats And Tails". Just look at them! The series is episodic so you can just watch a handful episodes.

Les fantômes du chapelier | The Hatter's Ghosts - Georges Simenon

Requested: Fic

Kachoudas&Léon Labbé, Kachoudas/Léon Labbé

(Note: My character death and illness DNWs and the cheating and poly DNWs don't apply here.)

I find the book and the character of Léon Labbé very fascinating. The way he is on the one hand so precise, so carefully planning, so arrogant about his own abilities, so successful, but on the other hand pretty much deceiving himself about what he really needs or wants. I think he is so deeply trapped in his unhappy life that he doesn't even realise the depths of his own unhappiness until it all very suddenly starts to go wrong. What struck me about the book is that it's also pretty sensual, for example in the way it lingers on smell or other senses, while outwardly the controlled Labbé is anything but sensual, and nothing in his life is either. It's a contrast that makes me want to poke at it.

His relationship with Kachoudas is so interesting. You have these men that barely talk to each other or interact, but who are both obsessed which each other. They have their daily rituals they perform in an 'apart but together' way, they are always observing each other. The sensual descriptions apply to Kachoudas as well. And then, of course, Labbé gets completely fixated on Kachoudas as if he's the only one who could understand him, the only person that matters, the only one who could save him perhaps (even though he doesn't even seem to respect him much). I think it's telling that Labbé starts to truly break apart the moment Kachoudas dies.

I don't really have prompts, as such. I'd love any kind of encounter between them, whether before or during the book, whether canon-compliant or canon-divergent. How did they get to where they are? Could a difference in their relationship have changed anything at all?

I can easily see some sexual component. Labbé's only positive sexual encounters seem to be with with Mlle Berthe every once in a while, so I can imagine there's the potential for lots of suppression, unexamined desires etc. Honestly, I don't even know what exactly to picture, here. I'm not looking for a HEA between the two. Maybe a one-time thing, maybe some sort of regular thing? I imagine they still barely talk about anything. I wouldn't want noncon direction or Labbé taking advantage of someone who isn't somewhat reciprocating, but I'm on board with all kinds of ill-advised sex, feelings of guilt and disgust, dubcon. Would this change anything about how the story plays out?

Availability

It's a short French novel. An English translation is available, though personally I haven't read it.

A Place Called Glory | The Hell of Manitoba

Clint Brenner/Reese

I just love how much fun these two seem to have in every scene they share. All those smiles and the playfulness and the way they seem to instantly like each other despite now knowing much of each other! <3 I can see anything from casual hookup to romance between those two.

Fic Prompts

• Their first meeting at the campfire reads like Reese hitting on Brenner to me, and Brenner at least contemplating it. I'd love anything exploring this, no matter if it leads to sex or not, if it's more flirting or fade to black or whatever. Reese can't possibly know whether his advances would be welcome within just a couple of minutes knowing Brenner — is he so smitten at first sight that he just has to try or is that just his general modus operandi? They don't trust each other yet (sleeping with their guns in their hands!) — does that influence things? (Reese at least seems like a person who finds a bit of risk extra fun...) If nothing happened that night, what's Brenner's fond smile in the morning about?
• Their second meeting in the barn and especially the last lines ("coffee's good/see you later") always make me think that now they are definitely making a date for sex, whether or not they already slept together the first night or not. I'd love anything exploring this, be it the actual sex scene or things leading up to this. If Brenner declined the night before, what made him change his mind? Are they sitting through the whole poker game building up anticipation?
• I find it pretty funny how the movie wants these two to become friends quickly but can't have them know each other's names. So, trying to fill plot holes with sex, maybe they were expecting an anonymous one-night-stand that makes it awkward to ask for names even when they started growing fond of each other? Resulting in pining while having sex because the other would never etc?
• Alternate ending: How would the movie end if Brenner hadn't got back together with Jade? Would they just ride into the sunset together, or would Brenner still try his old running away trick (and would Reese let him?) Celebratory sex?
• Post-movie reunion: How do they meet again? I'm up for all kinds of Western shenanigans if you want to go a bit plotty.

Regarding Jade, I'm fine with: ignoring that Brenner got back together with her, fic where Brenner/Reese stays casual and the movie events still happen (with possible threesome in the future?), fic set after Brenner and Jade broke up again, Brenner having feelings for both Jade and Reese, Jade not appearing or being mentioned in the fic at all.

Art Prompts

• Strip poker
• Riding into the sunset together
• Brenner teaching Reese how he makes his coffee
• Casual nudity in the wilderness: bathing in a river, laundry day, post-sex cuddling, ...
• Kissing/touching/etc while on horseback or right next to the horses

Clint Brenner/Jade/Reese

(Note: My cheating DNW does not apply to Jade cheating on her husband.)

There's that bit of dialogue between all three of them that looks so much like a three-way flirt ending in a threesome and I want more of that! I'm having trouble thinking of how an actual relationship would work out — can't imagine Reese settling down at all, and not so sure about Brenner either (even if canon wants us to believe he finally does), whereas Jade doesn't seem to be the type to go gallivanting around with them. I'd be interesting to see this develop if you want to tackle this (partly also because anything would be a highly unusual arrangement in their time), but I'm also very happy with things staying pre-ship or a casual one-off, or Brenner/Reese + FWB Jade.

Fic Prompts

• An extension or reprise of their canon three-way flirt! And/or maybe Jade + one of the guys alone that includes appreciating the third? I can imagine there'd be quite a bit of pussyfooting around taboos, and different levels of willingness to take the risk between the three of them, which might be fun to explore. Maybe Brenner gets to discover that Jade is not quite as innocent as he remembers her?
• Brenner and Reese showing Jade a good time: Her husband is abusive and it's likely she's never been with anyone else before, so I'd love for her to have a good time for once and discover how much fun sex can be. Could be interesting if Brenner/Reese are already an item and their comfort/experience with each other contrasting with Jade making new experiences? Maybe Jade discovers how much fun watching can be, too?
• Alternate version of the showdown: Maybe the final confrontation is set in motion because Jade husband suspects/finds out about her and Brenner and Reese? I've always found it a little weird that he walks right past them when they have their flirtatious conversation and doesn't seem to care.
• Alternate version of the kiss/goodbye scene: Reese gets to kiss Jade, too!
• Huddling for warmth: for reasons, all three of them spend a night in the wilderness, and it gets cold and Jade is freezing. However will she stay warm? (If you want to make up actual reasons/adventure/plot, I'm all up for it!)
• Jade wants to learn how to shoot. Brenner and Reese teach her. With lots of touching, of course. ;) (As to why, maybe Jade has developed a bit of a fuck you attitude and <del>wants to shoot her next husband herself</del> never again wants to be dependent on a man? Honestly, it's a future that I can imagine: her happily settling into a single life and Brenner and Reese regularly dropping by to check on her and ... "check" on her ;)

Art Prompts

• Huddling for warmth (see also the fic prompt)
• Kissing/Hugging/Touching
• Reese and Brenner sitting by Jade's bedside while she's injured
• Brenner making Coffey for both Reese and Jade

Availability

The movie is up in its entirety on free Youtube and is 90 minutes long.

General Likes

Any rating works for me, be it for sex, violence, language, or lack thereof. I'm here for the character interactions, and sex can be a great part of that, but isn't necessary for me.

General

• getting together
• romance
• humour
• banter & bickering
• flirting
• a pairing's first intimate moments: touches, kisses, sex, ...
• ballroom dancing and slow dancing
• friends to lovers
• all variations of forced intimacy when they secretly want it anyway: X made them do it/mistletoe/sex pollen/undercover as a couple/fake dating/having to share a bed
• games like truth or dare, bets, ...
• mistaken for a couple/everyone things they are dating
• coming to terms with things: one's past, one's feelings, ...
• competence/people being good at their job
• matchmaking/friends giving a gentle nudge
• feels like an episode/episode related (missing scene, post-ep, casting a new light upon canon events); matching the canon's tone
• bittersweet/melancholy atmosphere
• geeky/nerdy/techy stuff; science
• UST/becoming aware of one's feelings/trying to suppress one's feelings and failing
• best buddies or colleagues/acting like a married couple/knowing how to handle each other's quirks/settling into routines
• relationships that seem mismatched, unbalanced or unlikely at first glance, but aren't or work out against all odds; unlikely couples complementing each other
• keeping romantic gestures under the radar (for example because of period-typical homophobia), relying on subtlety or one's own language; unexpected allies
• a silly premise
• imperfections/not being conventionally attractive
• mixed media
• pre-relationship, UST/pining that's not resolved

Art specific

• stylised or realistic style, clean or sketchy
• landscapes and scenery
• costume porn
• unusual lighting or a strong sense of lighting
• contrast
• limited colour palette
• comics
• illustrations to my fic
• memes, visual jokes and other funny stuff
• silly poses and expressions
• relaxed poses, quiet intimacy
• small domestic moments of living together, like sharing a bathroom and bedroom, doing chores together etc.
• touching, almost touching, being in each other's space
• hands
• casual nudity
• animals

Fic specific

• all fic lengths
• open or ambiguous endings
• happy endings
• five times fic
• outsider POV: someone else's view on my pairings
• plotty fic, case fic, adventures etc (including the shippy part being the B-plot)
• descriptions of surroundings, sense of time and place
• older characters re-evaluating their sexuality

Sex Scenes

Top/bottom preferences: As to what tab goes in which slot, I don't care at all. As to who's more assertive, I love a give and take between characters.

Random stuff that I like:

• hand jobs, frottage, intercrural, blow jobs, rimming, anal, fingering
• kissing
• exploring each other's bodies with hands and tongues
• acknowledging the messier aspects of sex, like spit, sweat, semen (though I do not like including other bodily fluids)
• sex that develops spontaneously, diving in and seeing where things take you, trying out stuff and figuring things out on the go
• imperfections and loving each other's imperfections
• minor mishaps, laughing
• bantering/bickering/teasing continuing through sex
• those little moments of pause, or guessing, because you can't read your partner's mind—especially if it's the pairing's first time
• quick frantic sex, slow sensual sex
• touching through clothes
• sex with clothes on, sex without clothes on
• slowly stripping each other's clothes, quickly scrambling out of clothes
• body hair, or naturally smooth skin
• altered states of mind acting like a catalyst: adrenaline rush, alcohol, sex pollen... (as long as I can believe they both secretly want it anyway, I'm fine with dubcon-y scenarios)

Common DNWs I'm fine with

Feel free to include if it fits your story/canon!

• Any kind of -isms, internalised -isms, offensive language etc; especially for historical settings.
• Past relationships (canon and not canon), including past relationships that are important to the characters still. As far as my requested ships are the main focus, I'm fine.
• Unrequested background ships
• Teenagers (14 and above) havings sex, drinking, smoking, taking drugs
• Original characters. As long as my requested characters play a main role, I'm fine. None of my DNWs apply to OCs.
• OCs as POV characters. As long as the main focus is on their thoughts on my requested characters, I'm fine.
• 1st person POV, 2nd person POV
• Epistolary fic (be it traditional letters, or mails, chats and texts)
• Pre-ship endings, UST/pining that's not resolved. As long as non-platonic feelings are had for requested ships, I'm fine.
• Dubcon for requested ships. I want to be able to believe that both secretly want it anyway (I'm very willing to believe this!), and that there isn't one deliberately taking advantage of the other, but I'm fine with all kinds of outside forces, under the influence, things spiralling out of control, ill-advised sex etc.