Dear Yuletide Writer (2017)

Dear Yuletide Author,

There once was a fanfiction trade
For all of the stories we've made!
Whatever you bring
Will make my heart sing
For all of these fandoms displayed!

(Optional details are optional! Write whatever you like, I'm looking forward to reading it, but maybe something here can be a jumping-off point if you'd like inspiration.)

Previous dear author letters, from which most of this preamble continues to be reused.

I'm also primeideal on Ao3 (and Tumblr), and Ember Nickel on FFN.

I love happy endings, sad endings (when providing some measure of closure or melodrama), snark, wordplay, mathplay, gen of any stripe, friendships and familial bonds, fourth-wall bashing and unashamed meta, and general nerdery.

I do not want issue-fic, explicit sex, rape/noncon, or cliffhanger endings--I strongly prefer self-contained stories that lead to some resolution, be that happy or sad. (I have no problem with character death, if that's the route you want to go down!)

I'll talk more about specific pairings in each fandom section.

Alif the Unseen (any character: nominated characters Azalel, the Convert, Dina, Intisar, Sheikh Bilal, Vikram the Vampire, Alif)

Anything for this fandom! Worldbuilding in the djinns' society; what other forms do they take or books have they encountered with unexpected encodings? Who else has Sheikh Bilal needed to give counsel to? What books does Alif recommend to Dina going forward, and which ones click? Does Intisar have more freedom going forward to affect the changes she wants? What about the convert and her child?

I'd love something that tries to include the tones of canon, but whether that incorporate explicitly fantasy elements or just the hopeful tones of the human characters can depend on the timeframe you choose--anything from the distant past to the future is cool with me. Please no religion-bashing.

Chip's Challenge (any character: Chip and/or Melinda nominated)

Anything for this fandom! Chip's increasingly frustrated diary as he beats his head against a wall/block of ice/force field? Melinda's notes to him as she watches him drown for the twelfth time? Postgame adventures once Chip is a Bit Buster in his own right?

I'm also familiar with the second game, so if you happen to know it, feel free to incorporate the new puzzles (letting Melinda and Chip summon each other so they can get out of traps neither one could escape on their own, and so on); if not, absolutely not expected! Either allusions to specific levels from the original game or just generic "oh no, it's a monster" would be welcome. I'd be cool with either a shippy or a gen focus to Melinda and Chip's relationship.

The Prestige (any character: Alfred Borden, Bernard Fallon, Robert Angier nominated)

I'm fascinated by the dynamic of Borden and Angier's rivalry and how their hatred leads them in an ever-increasing pursuit of each other's destruction. I think a shippy take on this could be great, as could a gen one.

A couple spoilery AU scenarios that might be fun to explore:

-What if there were no duplicates, and Angier's "with you awaiting execution for my murder" was just that? His obsession with Borden leads him to kill himself in order to bring about Borden's death.
-The movement of the "teleporter" coincides with "Borden's" impending execution, so what if it really was a teleporter and Angier was reluctantly setting it up to whisk Borden away at the last moment, deciding he tolerated him after all? (Can be an AU in which there's only one "Borden.")

But again, anything goes for these characters. Please no incest.

Shadow Hunters (board game) (any character: Allie, Bob, Charles, David nominated)

Neutral chaos! Why do they have such different goals, and how, if at all, do they achieve them in the midst of battle? How does everyone feel about Allie just backing the winning side? What is Bob doing with all that hoard? Does Charles get a machine gun to kill off everyone? Is David's death wish thwarted?

Feel free to bring in any other characters, either from the original game or the expansion. Any pairing (or none) among the characters would be fine with me. Go as silly or serious as you'd like between the potential for dramatic battles or "why are we rolling dice to see who picks up a banana peel."

Here's an overview of the nominated characters.

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Again, don't feel obliged by any of this, and thanks for writing for me!