I'll be your Gypsy Lane

RECS.

I really really meant to get over here and pimp my Yuletiede prezzies before the reveal, but Dean Winchester had other ideas. BUT. In an unprecedented display of EEE YAY, I got ALL my requests filled, in the form of awesome fics for Breaking Bad and The Hour (why have you not watched The Hour? You need to watch The Hour.) and a lovey Downton Abbey drabble with THOMAS. Which is completely amazing and I can't thank these writers enough. <3


*Breaking Bad: Saturday in the Sticks with Jesse
Walter Jr. has questions, and he's pretty sure Jesse has the answers.

*Downton Abbey: Some Truth
Make him feel, if not like a good man, at least a better one.

*The Hour: Let Nothing You Dismay
Christmas Eve, 1965: We interrupt your scheduled programming to bring you this breaking news.
The threat of a rapidly spreading epidemic has the entire staff of The Hour spending a holiday in unexpected quarantine.

---

AND ALSO FIC.

Annnnnd as probably (or definitely if your name is Eggy) suspected from the suprise guest appearance by Pingu and the fact that I make fun of Morrissey and use the 'hang the DJ' line from 'Panic,' by anyone who read it, what I wrote was How to Plan Your Funeral. In which we rejoin Dan Ashcroft in 2011, Jones is not my!Jones, and everyone is kind of a dick.

It was actually really kind of fun to write because part of the request was for some subversion of fanon!Jones tropes, and after I got done cackling at the irony of a request including that going to me of all people, and after I got done nearly chickening out and trying to write Mean Girls femslash instead, it was a good challenge and I haven't written them in eons and I kind of missed them as it turns out.

PS (pre-script??) The more I (over)think about this, the more it sounds crazy picky and demanding, but remember that bit in the assignment emails about getting a pony? This is a pony. This is like ten ponies frolicking around a chocolate fountain with half-naked rock stars handing out neverending mugs of gin and Norman Reedus wants to be my best friend but I'm just too cool for him. As in, REALLY SERIOUSLY disregard any of this you want or need to, except hopefully the stuff on the OMG NO REALLY NOT EVER list and we will be JUST FINE. <3

Dearest, loveliest Yule-writer goat/person,

Firstly, I love you already, because you are writing a thing just for me! I had to miss out last year so I'm extra super excited. And also flailing a bit. That's part of the fun. :D If I'm not there commenting with joy at your shiny gift the moment the archive opens, please don't worry-- I'm going to have several places to be, mostly with people who will not understand why I keep eyeing the computer/phone. I will delve in as soon as I have a few minutes to myself, 26th at the latest but probably much sooner. <3

Secondly, there are a lot of details here. A LOT. I figured, well, better to have too much than not enough, and then I got kind of carried away. Also, I'm going to mention a lot of stuff that might sound anywhere from fairly to extremely crazy, on the off-chance that your brain works the same way as mine, but anything you can't get your head around, just cheerfully ignore.

So please don't panic! I know that optional details are optional. Do the kind of writing you're most awesome at, because I'd so much rather have something that you love too and had a good time writing than have you pulling teeth to cater to every single whim. All I'm aiming to do is maybe spark some extra inspiration for one thing or another, in case you need it. Think of it as, 'well, yeah, she'd really like this extremely specific kitchen appliance that I've never heard of, but holy crap, I was in the antique store the other day and found this cool thing that would be a really bitchin' surprise.'


So, that said, details!

The only thing I really need in a story is to be able to recognize the characters, no matter how far off from a strictly canon-compliant situation they're taken. As in, no, Freddie will probably not be canonically bumming Hector anytime soon (especially not in the middle of a zombie apocalypse where Captain Jack Harkness has inexplicably turned up), but if that's what the story's about, I want to know they're them from something other than whose names are in the tags. The characters and how they speak and think and interact are what far more makes a story for me than how intricate the plot is. All of these requests have some kind of pairing(s) suggested but I'd rather have them be gen if a pairing is going to feel forced and weird to you.

I love: awesomely in-character dialogue, old comfortable friendships, bromance (whether or not it ever becomes romance and whether or not the people in question are actually dudes), future-fic, atmosphere, characters being awesome at doing some thing or other they're known to do (seriously, I can't get on a plane unless I buy my competency kink its own seat), playful/fun/funny sex, backstory exploration, that fantastic little random detail that makes you go "oh!", slices of life, outsider POV, anyone playing a guitar or a piano.

And crossovers! I'm a total sucker for them so if you are too and you feel one coming on, either from amongst these requests or from stalking what I've written in the past, pull up a random time/space portal or similar flimsy excuse (because if it happens, I'm soooooo not bothered how it comes about) and GO FOR IT. (that goes for zombie apocalpyses too-- I'm totally caught up with Walking Dead. :P)

I would enjoy less: Pure fluff, all angst all the time, PWP, deathfic (one exception under Breaking Bad but that's more a case of death as a plot device, not for it to be all about that), super graphic sex, extreme kink, the thing (pet peeve alert, sorry, but it honestly throws me right out) where one attempts to avoid using names too many times and there's a bunch of 'the older man' and 'the blonde' even though what's going on has nothing to do with age or hair color, characters assigned a past Great Big Trauma that canon doesn't mention, kidfic, totally tragic and un-hopeful endings.

I really really can't go near: Eating disorders, self-injury/cutting, under-18 sex, rape/non-con/dub-con, prostitution, D/s, abuse.

The requests!

( Breaking Bad: Walter White Jr, Jesse Pinkman )

( The Hour: Lix Storm, Freddie Lyon )

( Downton Abbey: Thomas Barrow )


You've actually read this far? I love you EVEN MORE. Just remember that whatever mad things I've waxed long-winded crazypants about, the thing I will love the most is the thing you're really proud of, even if you go a totally different way with it than anything I've suggested. Everything else is gravy on the Yuletide potatoes of joy.

Love and terrible metaphors and happy Yuletide,
Mercy

ALSO, BECAUSE THIS DESERVES ITS OWN POST AND I AM KIND OF A BAD PERSON FOR NOT DOING IT SOONER:

I got TWO awesome Black Books fics for Yuletide: Lamplight and The Quiz and you should read them immediately.

**GIANT SQUEE-Y HUGS TO BOTH GORGEOUS ANONS**

Dear Fantastic Giver of Yuletide Fiction Joy,

First and foremost, OMGSQUEETHANKYOU!!! A fic written especially for me is an absolutely amazing gift no matter what it is, and you're awesome for doing it.

I know I asked for slash in every single one of my requests. Do not panic if that isn't your cup of tea, either for the particular fandom you're going to write or at all. Really, don't. I love gen too! I even write a good bit of it, because the big yay for me is getting into the heads and souls of the characters, getting to see them do new things or getting to find out what was behind old things. If they're in-character and true to voice, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

I gave a good many prompts, too, but by no means should you feel you have confine yourself to them. They're just ideas. If a prompt I did give inspires you, awesome. If not, go with whatever does!

Stuff I like: slash (graphic sex is not necessary but not at all objectionable to me-- though if it comes down to a choice I would rather have more left to the imagination in favor of other meaningful interaction); happy-ending angst (including breakup/make-up type stuff); hurt/comfort; banter (if it would make sense for the characters you've chosen); outisder-POV of friendship/relationship definitely floats my boat; if there happens to be sex my major kinks include frottage, partially-clothed-up-against-the-wall desperation, languid sleepy kissy-cuddly adoringness, or on the flipside of that, a good angry-shovey-bitey explosion of desire.

Stuff I don't like: het (there is one exception to this, and that's if in the context of a slash story one of the guys ends up jealous of a woman but prevails in the end-- you could even take this as far as to have a bit of sexy voyeurism if it happens to go that way); character death (there are certainly fics I like very much where there is death, but not for this particular thing, plz. Of course if it's a temporary Raffles-death that's fine, but even then it's not something I'd really want a fic centered around); crack!fic (it has its place in my heart, but again, not for this); characters reduced to one-dimensionality (e.g. Danny is not an idiot, Bunny is not a total bumbling wuss, etc.); and in terms of sexytimes if they happen, I do not enjoy non-orgasmic bodily fluids (bloodplay, scat, watersports), heavy BDSM, D/S, non-con, dark dub-con, humiliation, or anyone going 'unnnnngh' or similar.

As a completely separate note, crossovers are totally allowed if we happen to share more than one fandom, either from within these requests or from stuff I haven't requested. Jeeves and Wooster, Torchwood (mostly Ianto), and Sherlock Holmes are all things I adore and would be more than happy to see make an appearance. An OMGWTFTIMETRAVEL!? premise would not bother me in the slightest if that kind of thing is your cuppa. But all that is incredibly optional; I only say it just in case.

(Skip to this part if my long-windedness makes you glaze over!) The only other real direction I can give is that  I am far more interested in how the requested characters interact with and feel about each other than I am in an elaborate plot. Slash or no slash, I like the them-ness of them, and if our tastes don't match up on anything else, that's the thing I want most. Anything else is just sparkly sparkly icing on the Yuletide cake. I don't want this to be some horrible chore--as long as you have a blast writing it and include some good in-character interaction between my guys, I'm happy as a truckload of clams.

Yours are my internets and everything in them,
Mercy

( The full requests for your convenience and the edification of others )

P.S. -- Don't be worried/upset if I don't comment on your wonderful gift as soon as it goes live! December 25th usually sees me pulled in about ten different directions and I may not even get to see it until the next day.