Dear Yuletide Santa 2021

AO3 Name: Croik
Fandoms:
Path of the Dark Eldar
Samurai Warriors
Malevolent

Hi writer, and thank you for being my Santa! I've been doing Yuletide for years and years now, I love my small fandoms and I'm stoked to get something for any of them. I'm going to leave a lot of details and prompts below if you need them, but to be honest I'm just as happy being surprised. Please feel free to use whatever inspires you, and have some fun with it.

General

In general I like fics that are on the serious side. I like characters that are conflicted, romances that have to be worked for, settings that are scary or mysterious. Sadfics that range anywhere from bittersweet to soul-crushing are welcome. Action, adventure, thriller, horror, dark comedy, all good. Porn is also awesome. I love plot-oriented fics and casefic, but I'm just as happy with characters talking/fighting with each other as they try to work out their relationships, or exploring different aspects of canon.

I'm okay with a rating level anywhere from general to explicit, in terms of violence or sex. I don't have any problem with character death.

Things I like
Here are some specific tropes I'm into in case you want to work them in:

-First times. Not just in reference to sex, but characters having revelations, doing things they've never done before, exploring sides of themselves they didn't want to admit, things of that nature. And yes first time sex, too, whether it's with a specific person or ever.

-Whump and hurt/comfort in all forms, I enjoy characters being pushed to their physical limits, injured, needing to be held or helped up by each other, especially if danger is still present.  

-Shipfic, though I also like gen. I like slash, femslash, and het. I like threesomes and more. I have a section for porn below, but having it or not isn't a dealbreaker for me. In general I like intense relationships with a physical component, so even if it doesn't get to a romantic or porny level, characters touching, lifting each other up, close-quarters fighting, at each other's throats, all that is fantastic.

-Gray morality. I'm am totally okay with the POV character being terrible.

Things I Do Not Want

-Watersports/scat 

-Alternate Universe. I am very invested in these canon settings and am not interested in taking the characters anywhere else. Canon-divergence and What If stories that keep the setting intact is cool, though. 

-2nd person POV or reader-insert. 

-Omegaverse: I'm open to bizarre pregnancies, "drugs/hormones/magic made me do it," even xeno and bestiality when the canon allows--a lot of the things that Omegaverse has, actually--but I'm not interested in Omegaverse world-building and gender configurations.  

Porn

I am always happy to receive porn! I'll put some gen and pairing options in my fandoms portion, but in general I like porn that is intense rather than sweet. I like complicated situations and when desire overrides inhibition. Here're some of my porn-specific likes:

-Slash, femslash, and het.
-Solo, pairings, threesomes or more.
-Dub-con and Non-con
-Breathplay
-Sex while still partially clothed
-Voyeurism
-Tentacles
-Xeno/demons/Eldritch abominations
-Bondage
-Mind control
-Anonymous sex, like one character blindfolded or in a mask
-Aphrodisiacs and sex pollen

Characters getting off on things they didn't think they would ever get off on is SUPER awesome.

Path of the Dark Eldar
Morr, Motley

I got into Warhammer just last year during lockdown, and gravitated almost instantly to the Eldar/Aeldari factions. What can I say, I'm a sucker for elves! I've been making my way through the lore and the various relevant novels, and so far my favorite is Andy Chambers' Dark Eldar trilogy. I really enjoyed it, for its distinctive cast of characters, twisty plot, and its ability to showcase the Drukhari at their best/worst. Just about everyone grew on me immensely by the end, but the stars are far and away Morr and Motley, and their growing partnership over the course of the second book. 

I'll admit, I was as hesitant about Motley as Morr was in the beginning, but that little imp really wormed into my heart. They are the perfect odd couple, and it was fun getting to see their different cultures and outlooks contrasting through the story. I'd love to see more of them interacting,  however that can be accomplished. The back and forth of Motley being naturally a tease vs a little too aware that Morr might gut him at any moment was my favorite dynamic in the series.

Some prompts:

-How did Morr reach out to Motley when he needed help with the Kraillach situation? Would love to see how this came about, and how they reacted to each other in the immediate aftermath.

-A scene immediately after they leave the Incubus shrine. By this point Morr has been through a LOT: facing his history, fighting his former shine-mates, fighting DRAZHAR? He's been through the ringer and Motley finally gets to really see him for the first time. Just in time to sacrifice him for the greater good! Would love to see them have a little more time together before the Aeldari show up here, like a gruff wound-tending scene, or Motley having a little doubt about what he has to do.

-A straight-up fix it that lets Morr survive the ending somehow. Warhammer does weird shit, I don't really care if it's super plausible! Maybe Motley offs the aspect warriors just to be sure they don't follow the way of the warlock, and their suffering/sacrifice helps revive Morr. Or maybe Motley saves just a teensie bit of him that he's able to convince a haemonculus to revive, or maybe Morr's soul lives on in the planet, and Yvraine is able to yoink it out of there when she comes about ('cause she owes Motley a favor for some reason). Whatever it takes so we get a little more of the surly/snarky combo. Since they're both outcasts they'd fit right in with the Ynnari, and an incubus that can survive Drazhar has got to be worth a lot.

-We got pretty much Morr's entire backstory, but what about Motley? I think he's described as a Harlequin outcast, but not why (unless it's in one of the shorts I haven't). I'd like to see some his backstory with his former troupe.

-Put the sex back into the murdersex elves! Would love to see them play rough. Maybe after getting hacked up by Drazhar Morr could use a recharge, and Motley lets him smack him around or worse. Gotta stave off that thirst with suffering somehow, and Motley is willing to take one for the team. Or maybe just willing enough. However dark you want to go is fine by me, Morr's a Drukhari after all.

Samurai Warriors
Akechi Mitsuhide, Oda Nobunaga 

Samurai Warriors 5 came out this year, and it sure felt good to press square a lot again! Overall I dug the new takes on the characters, the new aesthetic, but I've played all the Samurai Warrior games so I'm interested in just about every version of these two characters. But the games haven't given a really decent focus on this pair since the original, so getting that in 5 was a nice treat and I'd like to see more of them.

Mitsuhide especially I thought was really well done in 5. It seemed like he spent a lot of the game being influenced by other people, adopting their differing moral codes and worldviews, until Nobunaga got his claws in him. With apologies to Mitsuhide I really enjoyed watching all the lessons he'd learned ultimately get twisted and turned against him, changing him into a fitting general for the Demon King, unrecognizable to his former allies. 

(Also a huge fan of his design this time around, so if Nobunaga or any other character wants to talk about how hot he is, particularly his very pretty mouth, that would make my year).

As for Nobunaga, it was fun to see a lighter version of his Fool days. Really took me back to Kessen III. I would love to see more of what the game gave us on his descent as well, especially since it felt like his arc was lighter on introspection than Mitsuhide's. I wanted to see more of how he "fell to the dark side" that doesn't lean quite so hard on the fridging part, and especially how he felt about taking Mitsuhide with him.

Prompts:

-Mitsuhide tries to comfort Nobunaga in some way after the loss of Kicho. Since she was such a catalyst for the events that followed I think some would say that Mitsuhide could or should have supported him in a healthier way, helping him overcome his need for vengeance rather than letting him succumb to it. Why was Mitsuhide so willing to go along with it? Was it personal feelings about vengeance after the ordeal his family went through, his own desire for justice, or maybe he just was so enamored of Nobunaga by then that he was willing to do whatever he said?

-Nobunaga actively seduces Mitsuhide because he enjoys the power he has over him. Maybe he's determined to see himself as the Demon King and corrupting Mitsuhide satisfies some kind of self destructive urge.

-A closer look at how Mitsuhide came to the decision that Nobunaga had to die, and what it cost him. Did he look back on his previous actions with regret?

-Mitsuhide has a moment of clarity where he realizes that Nobunaga has really gone too far, but before that can turn into real doubt, Nobunaga sexes him back in line.

-Now, Ranmaru isn't in 5, which quite frankly is a crime. How can you have a game ABOUT Nobunaga and not have Ranmaru!? He really should have been a late game addition with Yasuke, as someone totally devoted to demon!Nobunaga who didn't know him before hand. I think it would be really neat to see a version of Ranmaru inserted into the SW5 setting, whether that be as part of a threesome, or as someone for Mitsuhide to be jealous of (*He* doesn't know Nobunaga like *I* do!!).

If you haven't played any of SW5, please feel free to draw from whichever previous game and its version of these characters. Other characters are welcome to be included too.

Malevolent
Arthur Lester, John

I picked up the Malevolent podcast this year just in time for Yuletide, and holy hell I couldn't be more stoked. I really love this production, it's fantastic production values, writing, acting, and characters — it's really the full package. But of course the breakout star of it all is the interplay between Arthur and John.

I love these two so much, at all points in their relationship so far: John as the truly malevolent spirit he starts as, ordering helpless Arthur around; then the budding partnership as they realize they have to really trust and depend on each other; to the tense balance of friendship and frustration in the latest chapters. At any moment they could be expressing deep personal trust, or at each other's throats because they're exhausted and at odds, and that's just so appealing to me. It really highlights that they've known each other for a very short period of time (especially from Arthur's POV) so they can only click so much, but the intensity of what they've been through has still solidified a tight bond.

And yeah I ship it. It scratches the "the devil has a crush on me" itch I've had since TEW something fierce. I'm also a pateron member so no need to worry about spoilers for even latest episodes.

Prompts:

-Since Malevolent is a CYOA there are any number of choices that could have gone a different way, any of which could have been fascinating. Like if Arthur had managed to grab the mask-wearing cultist at the book store straight off the bat, or headed back to his apartment to prevent the body being found. Would they have spent more time exploring Arkham and found something? If at the hotel in Leery, what if they'd escaped rather than doing down into the city? Lots of what-if possibilities and I'm here for all of them.

-What if Arthur had died on the boat? (either of them? lol, he has bad luck on that lake!!) John seemed convinced that they would both fall back into the Dark World, but now that we know more about John, would that really be the case? Would John just take Arthur's body with him gone, and be alone? (q_q). Or would Arthur end up in normal-person-afterlife and John has to find a way to get him back? Or maybe he really does meet Arthur in the Dark World and they have to find a way to survive it/get back in a NEW body. Would be very interested in any exploration of the Dark World especially if they're still bound together, but maybe in a less human form.

-Body swap where for some reason now Arthur has the eyes and John most of the body, and they have to reset how they communicate and operate.

-Horniness. Depending on how canon goes John could have offspring, so I imagine he does have the kind of sexual experience us mere mortals can barely imagine, but he hasn't had the opportunity for a long time. And Arthur strikes me as a "infrequent, casual partners only" type. The two of them navigating any kind of sex in the same body has got to be messy and amazing.

Happy to have other characters included, like the King or Kellin especially. Or even a crossover with other Lovecraftian characters, like if they stumble on Randolph Carter in the Dreamlands, or get back to Arkham and have a run in with Herbert West (translating the 1980s Herbert and Dan back into their original Lovecraft setting would be super cute, especially since they also have a dysfunctional partnership ;D).

Also handing out permission like candy for Arthur and/or John (however you think it works) to get fucked by annnnnny of the monsters or enemies they've encountered. Kellin, MossMan, whoever. Here for all of the monsterfucking.

    

And that's it! Thank you for reading my letter :D I hope you've found some inspiration in my ramblings.  I love all these fandoms equally and will be thrilled with anything from any of them.  Have fun and I can't wait to see it come reveals!