fishhook

Hello my most excellent gifter, I hope this sign-up letter finds you well.

It's hockey holidays time, which tbf -- this exchange is my low-key favorite. I really hope you're excited for it. I know I'm freaking pumped as hell on my end. Wooooo!

Ultimately, the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, you're writing me a gift, and like all gifts, the ones that you feel like you're able to best craft are usually the best gifts of all, so roll with the punches and go wherever your heart takes ya. If it resembles some of the food for thought in this letter, wooo! If it doesn't? Wooo!

(Aight that's enough with the woooos for the time being.)

Some super general likes and dislikes:

LIKES: Magical realism, D/s themes (but like, the less structured the better -- formal BDSM isn't my favorite thing), bondage (but see prior), horror, ghosts, fables, AUs of almost any kind, always-a-girl, desperation, trope inversion, unexpected intimacies (ex: one person washing another's hair, painting someone's nails, giving someone a haircut, changing someone's bandage, etc.), impaired sex (ex: on drugs, sex-pollen, magical compulsion), character development through porn

DISLIKES: Rape, MPREG, wing-fic (although idk see trope inversion above, you could make it work if this is really your jam), straight-up fluff, over-negotiated sex of any kind, sexual humiliation, scat? do I even need to say this here? IDK just in case fam

NOW FOR THE PAIRINGS --


Eddie Lack/Roberto Luongo

Christ. OK. I love goalies. I don't know if there's something that I like more than goalies together, and these two in absolute particular are a total delight. Why? Let me count some of the ways --

First of all, Eddie deserves only good things in life; between numerous concussions, and shitty career (only some of which has to do with his personal insecurities coalescing with a really fucked up developed -- gee thanks Vancouver) prospects only really getting shittier, Eddie has still managed to maintain an absolute marvel of a outlook and softly upbeat personality which speaks to a tremendous strength of character. But it's a quiet strength, you know? And he still has a certain mental fragility -- he's human, and really obviously susceptible to his insecurities, and bless him but his poker face is kind of terrible. He also loves tacos enough to have a taco tattooed onto his body (and speaking of his body, he is really fucking cut and cute as a damn button). He is an angel. We all know this and love him.

And then there's Bobby Lu, who lost his mind at some point (probably also in Vancouver, fuck Vancouver), and pathologically seems to dissociate to the point of taking the concept of not giving a fuck a few standard deviations beyond the normal standards of human interaction. But it's not like he's skating high on not caring in lieu of having real human emotions, which is actually the real marvel. He's this energizing, vivacious overgrown little shit, and his personality spills outwards.

The two of them together, both while they were in Vancouver, and in their online interactions since Vancouver, really kind of highlight not only a really healthy mentor-mentee relationship, but a genuine compatibility -- these two have ways of being that really complement and feed off each other. And it's the exchange of existence between these two that's really attractive to me.

So like how does that three-paragraph digression actually translate into what I want for these two? Hahahah. Yeah, uh, the frank answer is I'd take anything, but I also recognize that's not so helpful, so -- I like tropes with these two that really highlight both symbiosis and a natural kind of opposition; they're almost opposite in their energies, but they were so unbelievably well together, so stuff like hunter/supernatural beast, cop/serial killer, where the two form an unlikely bond that superceeds their designated roll would really tickle me pink. Especially anything that's visceral and bleeding, but that's me and hockey tbh.

Jeff Carter/Mike Richards

Be still my tragic gay heart. Occasionally there are two people who are not only friends, but who's careers and lives as a result meet in multiple places throughout their careers for extended periods of time, you have to wonder if the universe actually has a sense of humor and authorial intent.

I feel this way deeply about Carts and Richie.

I want them helpless in each other's orbit. I think that's really what cuts at the heart of their history for me. Like, maybe they can recognize the bad in each other, maybe they really can't, but there is an attraction that runs between these two that smashes down the door of sensibility. I particularly like their history with alcohol and drug use, I enjoy fics that handle that (and the repercussions of it well), but it's a difficult topic to tackle honestly and I don't want to push that on anyone that feels like it might be out of their depth. However -- if you're inclined to write me Actual Mess Mike Richards, I will strap in on that ride with you.

I'd take any AU that mirrors some of the history they've actually dealt with together IRL in their careers together. I'd also be just as happy with something like -- Mike Richards, Head Coach of This CHL Team that Jeff Carter's Son Was Just Drafted To. Or even What Ifs, where maybe Jeff Carter is the one with a fucked career, and Mike Richards got his ass together and is wearing an A for an NHL team presently. Or please, tell me a story about Mike Richards getting the fuck out of hockey and learning how to be happy again, and Jeff Carter's tragic realization that his eventual happiness doesn't actually revolve around him, God.

With these two, I'm happy being left sad and hurting if that's what needs to happen.

Anthony Beauvillier/Josh Ho-Sang

MY FUCKING CHILDREN YES I AM SO HAPPY THEY HAVE ISLES KIDS THIS YEAR YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW.

Josh is a goddamn gift. He's really intense, he's really ambitious, but he's silly and loves showmanship while also is so awkwardly aware of his status as an "outsider." He's gotten to that point for numerous reasons including his reputation for having an ego, his race, his baldly admitting to wanting to be better than his contemporaries, and as a result, he doesn't really have a lot of friends. Like, the puppy piles of CHL rookies, he was never really a part of that -- rightly or wrongly. I can't imagine how lonely he must get sometimes.

I am ALIVE at the idea of him finding some sort of kinship with Beau -- who is also intense af but quiet. Beau also gets mad in a way that Josh really hasn't displayed much of on the ice -- Josh's self-possession really seems to let him roll that haterade off his back like a duck in water, but Beau gets flustered and mad at times.

I like the idea of them being different sides of a trope inversion coin -- Josh is an introvert that can't help but be animated and loud as a by-product of anxiety and poor energy management. Anthony is an extrovert that is cripplingly shy; he needs to feed off the energy of other people, but has a hard time asking for what he needs in that regard.

I'm cool with actual hockey adventures of these two, AUs, doesn't matter.

Like maybe Josh finds communicating by touch less stressful than the words that sometimes spill out like a leaky faucet and Anthony is touch-starved -- they find that out entirely accidentally after a celly pile on the ice late 2016. You could totally set something in last season's end of season run where the Isles were still in contention for that last WC spot if they won their last five games and Toronto lost at least one -- facts: the Isles won their last five games, Toronto just didn't lose either. RIP. Something about the frustration that's got to come with getting their shit together as a team in the back end of the second of half of their season, and their best wasn't enough to get them to the playoffs. Beau and Josh don't know about that pain yet, not really, but the rest of that team sure does.

I think sentinel/guide would work well between these two as well for AUs, I'd also die a hot messy death for a fucking HS AU with these two, with Josh being the jock that actually has a soul consumed with art, Anthony as the nerdy francophone theater kid that has a reputation for being a real bitch (which couldn't be further from the actual truth). Take it where ever you see fit if you get this, I'm honestly gonna be over the moon for more Isles content.

Pekka Rinne/Juuse Saros

Oh man, so OK. I really really really really like age-play, mentor/mentee, and mild D/s themes (or heavy ones, fuck, honestly) when it comes to these two because of the entire Finnish condition and the fact that they actually lived together and Pekka actually called himself Juuse's dad. This is a thing that actually fucking happened.

I am not demanding daddy kink from you, it's actually something I'm not -- broadly -- a fan of, although I'll definitely let you go with if you want to use it with them, but what I do like about the grab box that daddy kink belongs to is the idea of Pekka being really inspired to push Juuse, sometimes against his better judgement. In little things, and in the way he plays on ice. Juuse, as an actual tiny goalie, and having a particularly aggressive style of goaltending, has probably got some real issues about turning that drive to prove himself off. He's also still pretty young, a lot of young, competitive individuals struggle with that issue.

I want Juuse's perhaps-unhealthy need to prove himself to butt heads against a Pekka who wants to take care of his countryman and protoge, but who's fascinated (not that he'll openly admit to it) by the fire of Juuse's same need to prove himself.

In whatever context. I just want Pekka both responsible for sharpening and dampening Juuse's need to excel.


I LOVE YOU, WRITE WHATEVER AND I'LL LOVE IT TOO.

Seriously, it doesn't have to bear any resemblance to what I suggested. Writing is miserable if you feel like you can't create something you're proud of, so write whatever bubbles up. And thank you, thank you, ahead of time for your efforts.