Press Start Letter 2021

Press Start Exchange 2021 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

It’s that time of year again! Press Start is one of my favourite exchanges of the year, so I am pretty damn excited about this one. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be thrilled to receive a fic for any one of the fandoms or ships I’ve requested. All requests are for both art and fic.

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Art Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Darkwood
• Dishonored
• Thief

General Likes and DNWs

General Likes

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst
• Case-fic.
• Whump
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief.
• Crossovers (If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, go for it).
• Post-Apocalypse
• Stranded Together With No Way Home
• Time Loops

Smut Likes

• Sex Pollen and aftermath
• Aliens Made Them Do It
• Angry Sex
• Careful Sex with an Injured Partner
• Clothed Sex
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Foreplay - Kissing down partner's spine as you slide down/unzip their top
• Hate Sex - Characters having hate sex gradually catch feelings
• Kisses pressed against the back of the neck and/or along bare/mostly-bare shoulders
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Morning after (amazing sex the night before)
• Oral Sex
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes

General Art Likes

In terms of artwork I'm open to a lot of different things. I'd love to see something which captures the atmosphere of canon, whether that be beautiful scenery, or something grim and gritty. All the fandoms I’m requesting for this exchange are ones where I love the visuals of the setting and the world. I love contrast and lots of rich intricate detail, whether in colour, or intricate detailed monochrome line art but I also love softer, more muted colours if that's your style. I also quite like diptychs and triptychs, as well as the use of stylised borders which incorporate themes and objects from canon, such as clockwork, books, or vines. Artist-wise, I'm particularly fond of art nouveau, but seriously, anything.

DNWs

• A/B/O
• Noncon (Extremely dubious dubcon is fine if prompted)
• Unrequested one-sided dubcon (mutual dubcon of the 'something made us do it' kind is ALWAYS okay)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage (normally <18, but for Ceolbert, <16)
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Sexualised lactation
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Requested Ship: Octavian Claudius Britannicus/Original Character
Ivarr the Boneless/Ceolbert
Requested Medium: Art and Fic

Octavian Claudius Britannicus/Original Character

That Octavian exists is one of the things I appreciate most about this game, this Roman-obsessed, sexually repressed, utterly adorable weirdo just chilling with his beloved statuary in the middle of a Viking settlement. I mean, what the HELL? Who is he? Why (and when) did he change his name? What tf happened between him and Maximilian? Where does he get his togas? I just find it utterly delightful that he exists, and I wish he had a bit more of a role in the game. Plus sexually repressed fish-out-of-water oddballs are very, very much RTMI. He's delightful and I just want him to have nice things, and also, with any luck, get laid.

I can see two types of main ship for this, and both appeal: him being shipped with someone quiet and scholarly and similar to him, or go full on for the opposites-attract kind of pairing and hook him up with a Viking or some other warrior. I have no problem with crack played straight, and besides, alcohol is a great leveller and enabler of how-the-fuck-would-that-even-happen romantic pairings. Unrequited pining is also welcome. Go with something borderline-cracky, angsty, or something much sweeter – handle it however you want. I’d love to see something of how he fits in to the settlement or something about his background. How does he feel generally about the Vikings turning up in his homeland and thieving everything that isn’t nailed down?

Play with Greek/Roman mythology – maybe he stumbles on someone bathing and can’t get the image out of his head? Or he gets someone to pose for him. Or someone from his past turns up, or he meets a man who bears more than a passing resemblance to that statue of a Roman legionary he’s so, ahem, fond of. Oh, and that rivalry with Maximilian, and Octavian’s spitting fury, is one of my favourite bits, so if you want to explore that, then do, although I’d prefer that they stay hating each other.

Rather than an Original Character, if you want to ship him with any of the characters from the game, feel free to do that instead, except except for Maximilian. (Octavian deserves better!) Them having had a relationship in the past is fine though.

Optional Prompts

• Trying to teach Octavian some simple moves to protect himself leads to something rather more.
• Drinking contests make for an excellent enablers. The other member of the ship decides Octavian needs to loosen up and get into the Vikingr life a little more, so challenges him to a drinking contest, but while they’re both drunk it leads to sex.
• He goes back in time to Roman Britain and falls in love with a Roman. Is it real, or could mushrooms potentially be involved?
• Exploring Roman ruins – whether plotty (they get lost/trapped/pinned down by bandits) or just a quiet moment watching the sunset.
• Hurt/comfort of any kind: after the settlement is attacked Octavian patches up the other member of the ship.
• An old friend of Octavian’s visits the settlement.
• Ghosts! I love the eerie atmosphere of the Standing Stones and the letters from Brendan of Clonfert (who shares a voice actor with Octavian), so perhaps while travelling he finds himself at a stone and feels some sort of connection.

Ivarr the Boneless/Ceolbert

Erm. Yeah. I think it’s fair to say this is probably one of my more, uh, problematic ships. XD I would really prefer one-sided dubcon be avoided here. Mutual dubcon because they’re both drunk (or for some other something made them do it reason) is fine, though, and it’s also fine for Ivarr to be less affected by alcohol, so long as he isn’t deliberately getting Ceolbert drunk to have sex with him (but otherwise encouraging Ceolbert to drink for the sake of it is fine too.)

I am a sucker for ships that rip my heart out and stamp on them, and if whatever it is that happens between them does involve some genuine affection (even if it’s just meaningless sex on either or both their sides), then that just makes what comes later all the more brutal, and I am completely fine with Ivarr being the brutal murderous pathologically impulsive monster that he is in canon (although canon divergent fix-its are fine too).

Oh man, the Sciropescire arc. I already adored Ceolbert, and Ivarr is the worst in the best way, so damn was I happy to meet them both again, and then… that. About halfway through, when I started to think, ‘Wait, do I… do I ship Ivarr and Ceolbert? I don’t, do I?’, up until the point when a happy, excited Ceolbert took Eivor fishing to make eel stew for Ivarr, and realised that not only did I ship them, I had a really bad feeling about the way that questline was going to end. And then came a dying Ceolbert stroking Ivarr’s cheek and murmuring his name, and the ending of that arc did absolutely nothing to dissuade me. Whyyy, Ivarr? Whyyy?

It’s so messed up. It’s so messed up it’s actually a bit ridiculous, and there are so many reasons why this ship is a bad fucking idea, and yet. I love their relationship as it’s presented in the game, particularly in the Sciropscire arc, how Ivarr goes from being contemptuous of Ceolbert to taking him under his wing, and Ceolbert’s mingled disgust and exasperation with Ivarr alongside his clear hero-worship and affection for the man. Mainly, I’m a sucker for ships that rip my heart out of my chest and stamp on them.

Optional Prompts

• Explore what goes on between the scenes that we see in game, whether it’s from early on, and Ivarr teaching Ceolbert how to fight, or from later in the game.
• Ceolbert can’t sleep after his first battle. Ivarr’s there to… well, comfort him probably isn’t the right word.
• Bonding over shared aspects of Vikingr and Saxon cultures.
• What the hell happened? Did Ivarr set out with the intention of murdering Ceolbert, or was it something he decided on impulse? Presumably he did plan something since he had the dragon dagger, but perhaps he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it until the last moment. I’d be fascinated by a character study of Ivarr here – does he feel guilty about what he did or not? Is he taking out his own fury and guilt at what he did through what he does to Rhodri? Or give me an AU where Eivor isn’t present and Ivarr’s visited by Ceolbert’s spirit instead.
• Ceolbert comes back wrong.

Optional Art Prompts

For art, I'd love to see the gorgeous locations in the game incorporated, especially the Roman ruins and statues (especially for the Octavian ship). Or alternatively, play with smoke and light and shadow in the longhouse. Show me romance developing during everyday life, or a moment of hurt/comfort after a battle. Or give me something ridiculously adorable and sweet. Yes, even for Ceolbert/Ivarr. XD The ships getting to know each other, bathing in a river, hurt/comfort after a battle, sparring together (for either ship: a seasoned warrior teaching Octavian how to use a weapon (a gladius?) would be very cute.), bruises, scars, drinking together, one member of the ship teaching the other how to play Orlog.

Darkwood

Requested Ship: The Stranger
Requested Medium: Art and Fic

I always love a good creepy murder-forest, and this game had probably one of the best murder-forests I’ve ever seen. I absolutely loved the visuals of it, the black and white artwork, the style of the game and the way the colours shifted as the light changed and the sun went down. The atmosphere was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the survival aspects and that slow-building sense of dread as you barricaded up your house and hoped to survive the night. There's so much to love about this game: the Eastern European setting, the grotesque body horror, the creepy dream sequences, the folk horror aspects of the villagers (and their Sow), the character artwork, and the incredibly creepy imagery. I love the vague hints of mythology and echoes of fairy tales (the Wolfman putting on the Huntsman's clothes in a creepy-as-fuck reverse Red Riding Hood).

For this I'd love more of what's in canon. Creepy dreams, gruesome monsters, body horror, the desperate fight for survival when the generator's about to run out of gas and there's something lurking in the shadows. One thing I really like about the game is the sense that the protagonist is himself a complete monster, so feel free to play with that.

Optional Prompts

• Anything involving the confusion between dreams and reality after the Stranger believes himself to have escaped from the wood.
• Survival horror. The Stranger trying to survive a couple of nights in his barricaded shack, or finding himself stranded out in the woods as night comes in.
• An outsider’s POV of the Stranger. A kid from the village, maybe?
• Anything exploring the setting, the dream sequences, the set pieces like the wedding, the confrontation with the doctor, any of the dream sequences, the Sow. Basically, I’d just love to have some of the game’s vibe captured in fiction.
• The Stranger dreams about the man he used to be.

Optional Art Prompts

Horror, horror, horror. I love the visuals in this game, the creepy-as-fuck monochrome artwork, the copious amounts of body horror, the murder forest setting, and the style of the in-game readables, so I’d be delighted with a comic that incorporates any of those things. There are so many weird and creepy images in this game, like the Sow, the Talking Tree, the nightmares… And one trope in particular that I will never fail to adore: being trapped in confined spaces with monsters.

Dishonored

Requested Ship: Corvo Attano/Teague Martin
Emily Kaldwin/Teague Martin
Requested Medium: Art and Fic

Corvo Attano/Teague Martin

I’m honestly a little baffled that this ship isn’t larger than it is, given all the whump potential of Corvo rescuing Martin from Holger Square. And yeah, okay, maybe it’s because Martin is a treacherous little weasel, but he’s a fascinating treacherous little weasel, and I ship them like burning. It hit me out of nowhere this ship, and I ship them all the harder for how hopeless and bleak and messed up it all is, with the betrayal and Corvo having been marked by the Outsider, not to mention his having just seen his lover murdered right in front of him. I just wish there was more fic for this pairing.

I'm enthralled by the Loyalists and everything that's going on behind the scenes with them while the events of the first game are taking place. But Martin especially: all that delicious angst and guilt as he struggles with his conscience and how he owes Corvo everything but still betrays him. His shady background is hinted at, but never really expanded on, and his true feelings about the Overseers is never quite made clear. Is he really a man of faith, or is it just a convenient route to power?

I’d be thrilled with anything that captures the awkward place between love/attraction, obligation and betrayal, or which tackles their awkward backstories and complicated emotions. Any level of relationship is welcome, from hateship, to using each other as a distraction, to one-sided pining, to genuine love and affection: mainly I’d be fascinated to see what you come up with for these two. Perhaps Martin's still recovering from his injuries, or Corvo's still mourning Jessamine, and trying to bury his grief in sex (whether meaningless or otherwise). Maybe they're trying to keep it quiet for whatever reason, or Martin is still struggling with the decision of whether or not he should turn against Corvo. Plotty canon-divergent fic is particularly welcome here.

Optional Prompts

• Post-canon ‘fix-it’ fic, although the actual fix-it part is entirely optional.
• A Bad Guys Win!AU. Corvo fails to stop the Loyalists but isn’t killed. Maybe he’s just injured or imprisoned, and resurfaces years later. Perhaps Martin regrets what happened and has done his best to make amends by serving Emily as best he can, and then he starts to hear rumours about an assassin who sounds very much like Corvo. Does he hole up somewhere or go looking for him?
• (Uh, also writing the above prompt has made me realise that I’d be open to a fic with the above set-up where Emily and Martin stumbled into a love affair once she was old enough, but they're both still hugely fucked up over Corvo (who could be alive or dead). Falling in love with her older protector/advisor was what her mother did, after all, and she thinks of Martin as one of her father's loyal supporters, and meanwhile Martin's basically obsessed with Corvo and Emily is almost a replacement for him.)
• Something set during the events of the first game. Corvo is still mourning Jessamine, Martin is still recovering from his injuries, and the whole situation is ripe for some gloriously angst iddy whump. Could be smut or emotional or physical hurt/comfort.
• The Outsider reaches out to Martin and offers him powers, perhaps the chance to go back and change events.
• Something set during the final mission of the first game: Emily is saved, the Loyalists are defeated, but Martin is still alive and Corvo has some loose ends to tie up.
• A canon-divergent AU where they’re discovered or betrayed and the Hound Pits Pub is overrun with the Lord Regent’s men and they have to scramble to survive whilst protecting Emily.

Emily Kaldwin/Teague Martin

I’d prefer that Emily be 18+ when the possibility of a sexual relationship occurs to Martin, although a crush on Emily’s part is fine before them.

This one is a little awkward due to my Underage DNW, which still stands, but I ship adult Emily/Teague Martin so freaking hard. It grew out of a prompt for the Corvo/Martin ship, but thinking about it and how it might work got me shipping it as its own separate thing. I would also be fine with it treated as entirely gen if you'd prefer to set it during the course of the first game - Martin fascinates me as a character and we don't really see him interacting with Emily.

But if you do decide to ship it, there's a very specific ship dynamic that I adore and which this hits for me: a man who acted as a semi-guardian to a younger woman, and the two of them just sort of accidentally falling into an awkward, guilty, somewhat angsty relationship once she's well past the age where she's old enough to be acting in an adult capacity. Seriously, it's like CATNIP, and that's part of what appeals to me about this ship.

I almost always adore older man/younger woman age gap ships anyway, particularly when the power balance isn’t always as clear-cut as it might seem. What I first imagined for this request is a canon divergent AU where Corvo died failing to stop the Loyalists and Martin finds himself as High Overseer and acting in an advisory role to Emily who remains unaware of the betrayal, while they conduct an affair. She’s still sort of messed up over the events of the first game, and, since Jessamine was probably about 12 when Corvo was appointed as her Royal Protector, she sees an affair with Martin as somehow following in the steps of her mother. Meanwhile Martin is conflicted about his betrayal of Corvo and guilty as fuck about having an affair with a woman he knew as a child. There’s so much potential for trauma, horribly conflicted loyalty kink, and guilty angst here, especially if you feel like combining the two ships with Martin having formerly been Corvo’s lover.

That really is a much more elaborate head-canon than I usually like to give, but it’s honestly just a suggestion, mainly because it seems the simplest way of getting them together. If you have another idea of how this could work (Outsider shenanigans or time travel or a Came Back Wrong fic – all of which I’d freaking love), then please do run with it. Martin can survive a high chaos run, so there’s every chance he could be imprisoned in Coldridge, and I would love to see how a High Chaos version of the first game would go on to affect Emily as an adult and how that might play into her relationship with Martin and her memories of her father.

I’m also fine with the ship taking a back-seat to the plot, and with one-sided pining or extremely awkward and badly timed UST.

Optional Prompts

• A canon-divergent AU where the Outsider pays Martin a visit shortly before his death and offers him the Mark. Maybe he goes back in time and it's him rather than Daud who winds up preventing Delilah from taking over Emily’s body, or Delilah succeeds in that, and years later, he has to restore Emily's spirit to her adult body, only she’s been a disembodied spirit growing up in the Void for all this time, touch-starved and desperate for human contact.
• Martin survives the events of the first game, but is imprisoned for his crimes, only to then become one of Emily’s few allies during the events of the second game (perhaps the Outsider chooses to mark him rather than Emily, and he sees a chance to make amends).
• The headcanon in the general notes about the ship. Maybe rumours start to surface about someone who looks very much like Corvo appearing in Dunwall, or the other surviving Loyalists are being killed off one by one. Or maybe Emily runs into Samuel and learns the truth about what happened to her father.
• Time-travel – as an adult, Emily travels back to the events of the first game. Maybe she takes over Corvo’s place in the missions, or sees a chance to put things right.

Optional Art Prompts

I absolutely love the gritty visuals of Dunwall: the rats, the grimy brickwork, the ruined buildings, the whales, and the eerie distorted imagery of the Void, so I'd be thrilled with anything that captures the look and feel of the world, and in particular, if you can somehow capture moments of beauty (a gorgeous sunset? oilslick rainbows on the river water?) along with the grittiness, then all the better.

For Corvo and Martin, oh god, the look of these two together. *hearteyes* Maybe a quiet moment captured in the pub, Martin still bruised and beaten to shit, but recovering? Or the moment where Corvo frees him? Or something darker, when Corvo confronts him towards the end of the game? Also up for AUs here too: maybe they meet again in the Void, or Martin's somehow come back? Oh, and explicit fanart for this pairing is welcome.

If you'd like to draw something for Emily/Martin, then I'd love to see something involving an adult Emily, with or without emphasis on the age-gap. Maybe in an AU where Martin survived and is now High Overseer and one of her advisors. Perhaps a post-coital moment between them, or a quiet flirtatious moment when they think no one's watching. Or Martin awkwardly comforting her at Corvo's memorial. Or a scene from that AU version of the events of the second game where Martin is her ally – watching a Karnaca sunset together on the Dreadful Wale or a moment of hurt/comfort after (or during) a mission.

Thief

Requested Ship: Garrett
Requested Medium: Art and Fic

Every now and then a game gets hold of you and you can't put it down. I love this series. I love everything about it: the gameplay, the lore, the level design, the characters, and the setting. I love the set-up, the competing factions of the Hammerites and the Pagans, the folk-horror imagery, and the steam-punky vibes. Oh, and Garrett. He's sort of a bastard, tries to be a misanthrope, but then there are those moments when his compassion shine through, like the Trail of Blood mission in the second game which was so sad and unexpected. In the first two games it's interesting to see the difference in his character between the cut-scenes when he's interacting with others (where he's misanthropic, angry, and bitter), and the pre-mission voice-overs (where he's confident, collected, and wry).

I'd love to see some world-building: the City is such a fantastic, fascinating setting, and there's so much scope for exploring, with the mix of old technology with the steampunky vibes of the first two games.

In many ways, this is the perfect canon for horror. Garrett is extremely vulnerable once spotted, and there are some seriously creepy antagonists in the game, as well as certain missions and locations being slanted towards horror, particularly the Haunted Cathedral, Constantine’s mansion, and – most of all – Shalebridge. Not to mention zombies, ghosts, the Hammer Haunts, necromancers, the bleak desolation of the walled off part of the City, the folk horror aspects of the Pagans, the Trickster’s monsters, torture, and the grotesque body horror of the Hag. There’s so much to explore, and I would love to see something exploring any aspect of these games.

Garrett is and remains one of my favourite characters of all time, and if there’s ever been a character who I’d love to see getting whumped, it’s him. I would LOVE a fic that focuses on him and him alone, or which focuses on his relationship with the City (which deserves to be a ship in its own right, honestly), his day-to-day life, or his background.

In the first two games it's interesting to see the difference in his character between the cut-scenes when he's interacting with others (misanthropic, angry, bitter), and the pre-mission voice-overs (confident, collected, dark humour). I'd be fascinated by anything exploring that apparent 'discrepancy' in his character, or by his backstory, what led him to be the way he is, what really happened while he was with the Keepers, why he left, and what happened after he left.

Prequels, sequels and fics set during canon are all welcome. I'd particularly love anything exploring Garrett as a young man, particularly his time with the Keepers, or just after leaving them. I'd especially love to see a Bad Guys Win AU for the first game in particular -- what happens if the Trickster wins and the world is plunged into darkness? Or alternatively, something exploring Garrett's past and his time with the Keepers. What was it like for him being one of their number, and why did he leave?

I would be thrilled with gen, but if you're interested in writing shipfic, I'm up for Garrett being shipped with Viktoria (whether consensual or dubconny), the Trickster/Constantine (leaning towards dubcon), Inspector Drept, or an original character (with a slight preference for a female OC).

Optional Prompts

• Shalebridge Cradle. Just that, basically, whether it’s set during the game’s events, or perhaps a pre-canon fic where Garrett is younger.
• Anything that follows on from the loss of his eye. I’d be fascinated to see something which looks at his early relationship with Karras before the events of the second game
• I love the bleakness of the walled-off part of the City, the ruined buildings, the zombies, and in particular the Hammer Haunts. It’s so atmospheric and creepy.
• The Eye fascinates me too, the way it speaks to him, how manipulative it is, and just what the implications are of it coming into his possession at the end of the third game.
• Any kind of heist fic is always welcome.
• I love the setting and the world building, and I'd love to see your take on balancing the different versions of the City. The third game is very different from the first two: how do you reconcile those differences?
• A fellow thief (ex-lover?) tricks him when they're going after a particular priceless artefact (guarded by Kurshok? Zombies?), and they repeatedly turn the tables on each other.
• A post-canon fic where one of the ex-Keepers now turned loose in the world comes to him for help.
• Something exploring the healing process Garrett goes through after his escape from Constantine's mansion and the loss of his eye. It was Karras who gave Garrett his replacement mechanical eye, and I'd particularly love something which explores the complicated relationship between them -- Garrett being vulnerable and hurt and broken, and it being Karras of all people who helps him start to heal.
• The Trickster Wins AU. Garrett, being Garrett, is nothing but pragmatic, and decides that he might as well make the best of a bad situation and seeks to make himself useful.
• Constantine invites Garrett to his house to give him the tour. I'd love to see more of their early game dynamic (and those creepy gardens), so stick to pre-slash conversation if you want: that mix of hostility and mistrust and greed. Maybe Constantine slips something in Garrett's drink to make him more voluble (or something in the air in the gardens?). Or, if you want to do smut, then that, whether Garrett remembers it all afterwards or not.
• Drept meets up with Garrett after the events of the third game. What happens to the Keepers, given the destruction of the glyphs? Does the destruction of the glyphs mean that the sealed-off part of the Old Town won't be sealed off anymore? And what will happen to Garrett now that he has the Eye? I have so many questions.
• For the Bad Guys Win AU, after being tortured, Garrett is seriously injured and close to death. Viktoria tends to his wounds.
• A fic set during the course of the second game when Garrett and Viktoria are gradually getting used to working with one another, and still don't quite trust each other. Does Viktoria try to make amends?

Optional Art Prompts

I especially love the style and visuals of the first two games, but the third has its moments as well. I love the style of the box art and the cut scenes (particularly in the first two games – the deep shadows contrasted with the jewel-bright colours), and I am always here for horror imagery, not only of the zombies and various monsters, but all the folk horror stuff as well, not to mention the urban cityscapes and the Thieves’ Highway, all the intricate little passages and differing styles of architecture, the old mixed in with the modern, the way the city is layered and constantly reinventing itself, the Keepers and their library, the mages, the Hammerites and their religious trappings, the steampunk elements… And then there’s Garrett himself. Look, basically, I’d love to see any element of the game explored.

Thanks for reading!