Summer of Horror letter

[carabas]

Hello, horror writer! Thank you for writing for me and for sharing one of these fandoms (or a love of original mad scientists and monsters). I'm looking forward to some horror! I'd prefer if my requested characters survive the story (original works excepted) but otherwise go as dark as you like; I've got no preference whether it ends happily or extremely unhappily or bittersweet; I love both shortfic and longfic, any rating, I'd be equally happy with gen or slash and I ship all my requested characters. And regarding the recent AO3 settings change, I do have gifts enabled, treats are always very welcome.


Fandom:
Malevolent (Podcast)
The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
The Witcher (Video Game)
Vampyr (Video Game)
Original Work
Crossover: Near Dark and The Hitcher


Some things I like in horror:

• Monsters/killers thoroughly enjoying themselves in ways that may or may not involve a body count.
• Characters struggling to survive some horrible situation together; relationships forged through being forced to depend on each other or shared experiences that no one else would believe.
• Desperation driving characters to desperate acts.
• Stalking, obsession, murder of bystanders as a form of courtship.
• Monsters/killers attempting to turn other people into monsters/killers.
• Monstrous transformations, new monsters overpowered by new instincts, slowly- or subtly-transforming characters trying to hide it and pretending that everything's normal, characters enjoying some perk of their transformation before having to face the downsides.
• Situations that force someone to rely on a monster or killer for help, for information, for shelter, or for protection against other monsters, even knowing the monster they're forced to rely on is the worst of them all.
• Legends and lore, a sense that the horror here has a long history, a sense of being touched by something mythic and being changed by it.
• Road trips from hell.
• The setting itself as a source of horror.
• Blood, gore, violence, body horror, and cannibalism.
• Characters who've been trying to resist some kind of monstrous appetite - for blood, death, brains, whatever it is that sustains whatever kind of creature they are - finally indulging that appetite.
• Desperate emergency first aid, and characters trying to run or fight back despite their wounds.
• Magic rituals requiring blood or pain.
• Slowly-impending doom, characters caught in some kind of trap with a time limit and needing to find their way out before it's too late.
• Situations where a victim is made to look like a villain - physical transformations, framing them for some horrible act, coercing them into performing some horrible act, stealing their body and leaving them trapped in the body of a killer - anything that makes the world see the victim as the monster.
• Characters being hunted and forced to hide.

Other general likes:

• Shapeshifting, possession, bodyswaps, magical mishaps, mad science mishaps - pretty much anything that really leans into the quirks of magical or supernatural settings
• Only one bed
• Huddling for warmth
• Altered states
• Telepathic connections
• Shared dreams
• Identity porn, and any situation where a character is in some sense two people, or where two people are in some sense one person
• Loyalty, and oaths of loyalty, and conflicted loyalties
• Competency, admiring someone's absorption in something they're good at
• Established relationships
• UST
• Outsider POV
• Fake marriage, forced marriage, accidental marriage
• Case fic and canon-typical adventures
• Characters wearing their partners' clothes
• Possessiveness, marking, bite marks
• Stockholm syndrome
• Scars
• Characters temporarily rendered helpless by their injuries
• Relationships that in some way change a character into something stranger
• Apotheosis
• Mirrors (really anything using mirrors - a character's reflection or a vampire's lack thereof, distorted funhouse mirrors and mazes, spying through one-way mirrors, magical mirrors for scrying or used as portals, historical mirror-making featuring mercury poisoning)

Smut likes:

• Mirror sex
• Blindfolding
• Voyeurism and exhibitionism
• Voice kink
• Suit kink
• Boot kink
• Wearing nothing but jewelry
• Throne sex
• Nonpenetrative sex and oral sex
• Masturbation
• Biting, scarring, leaving a mark
• Blood kink
• Sex in the blood of their enemies
• Weapons kink
• Guro
• Xeno, tentacles, unusual erogenous zones
• Dubcon
• Noncon involving intense, unwilling arousal
• Unnegotiated somnophilia

DNWs:

• Permanent deaths of my requested characters (deaths they can come back from are fine. For Malevolent, John being permanently absorbed by the King is fine. For Near Dark and the Hitcher, canonical deaths are fine. For Original Works, this DNW does not apply, it's fine if the original scientist and/or his assistant die.)
• Unrequested mundane AUs or omegaverse
• Watersports or scat
• Trans headcanons for my requested characters, or trans victims
• Pet names that weren't used in canon (canon ones are fine. For Original Work, just no use of pet names during sex, please.)
• For Malevolent: DNW John getting a separate body (mentioning separation in the past or as something that might happen in the future is fine, I'd just prefer him to still be bodysharing with either Arthur or the King during the fic itself.)
• For the Magnus Archives: DNW one-sided Elias/Jon, and DNW mention of unrequested ships for either of my requested characters, including canon ships.

 
Malevolent (Podcast)
Characters: John and Arthur Lester; Arthur Lester and The King in Yellow
Horror subgenres: body horror, cosmic horror, folk horror, killer horror, monster horror, religious horror

I'll ship any configuration of these characters you like - John/Arthur, King/Arthur, King/Arthur/John, any additional characters you want to toss in there, I'll ship everyone on this show - and I'm equally happy with gen, I'm just looking forward to some horror here! For John and Arthur, I always love the way this show uses the tension of Arthur and John getting into some terrifying danger and the relief of surviving it, the way it forces them to depend on each other, the urgency and difficulty of trusting each other. For the King and Arthur, I really love all the ways in which Yellow and John and the King are and aren't the same person, and Arthur's insistence that John needed to own his past as the King - so I want to see more of Arthur interacting with and/or being tormented by the version of John with all his old godly memories and powers and none of his humanity. And please no patreon spoilers, if that's relevant; feel free to ignore any new canon developments after the writing period starts.

Please feel free to ignore these prompts and use something from my general likes/smut likes/horror likes for a prompt instead, or anything else you've got in mind for some horror with Arthur and John and/or the King. But a few starting points if you want them:

I will never get tired of John and Arthur exploring somewhere new and encountering something eerie - maybe something that initially seems wonderful and strange, with a hidden danger to it? Canon-typical adventure where Arthur and John are hunted by a creature? Or they encounter some horror with a long local history, something with a bit of a legend around it? Or something that leans more into the cosmic horror, something that plays around with time or reality or vast beings that are truly indifferent to humanity rather than deliberately tormenting them - John kept saying various powers/worlds were supposedly beyond comprehension, I would love for Arthur to really feel some incomprehensible cosmic awe. Or cultists trying to kill or retrieve or worship John? Horrifying eldritch rituals? Monstrous transformations? John taking over more pieces of Arthur's body? Maybe the King haunts Arthur's dreams or imprisons him in an illusory world? Or a post-episode-20 AU where Arthur doesn't make the deal with Kayne or where the terms of the deal are different, and the King gets to keep John a little longer - maybe the King is influenced by John, or by John's memories? Maybe instead of dealing with Kayne, Arthur sought out the King's cultists in an attempt to get back to the King and John? Or without Kayne's deal, maybe Arthur is forced to attempt to rebuild his life in the real world without John, and the King takes an interest - maybe Arthur's status as John's former host still draws various horrors into his life?

 
The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Characters: Elias Bouchard and Jonathan "Jon" Sims
Horror subgenres: body horror, folk horror, killer horror, monster horror, survival horror

I'd love either Jon/Elias or gen; if you do include Jon/Elias, I'd like it to be requited in some way. I thoroughly enjoyed Jon's whole monsterization arc, it's one of my favorite flavors of horror - especially seasons 3 and 4, with his growing reliance on statements and conversations with Elias about humanity, and then finally taking the statements directly, against the statement-giver's will, and all the different ways he finds to justify that to himself, incredibly fun to listen to - and I also thoroughly enjoyed Elias's enjoyment of Jon's monsterization arc, and the genuine interest and pleasure in Elias's voice whenever they talked about it, and Jon's frustrated need for answers even when he's frightened of what those answers might be, and the whole dynamic of Elias understanding exactly what's happening to Jon long before Jon himself does.

Please feel free to ignore these prompts and use something from my general likes/smut likes/horror likes for a prompt instead, or anything else you've got in mind for some horror with Elias and Jon. But a few starting points if you want them:

I'd love to see Elias and Jon needing to survive some terrible experience together, something that Elias can't simply Know his way out of, or something that could drive Elias to take action instead of just watch. Maybe some threat targeting just Elias, when Jon's aware that Elias's death would kill Jon too? Or something during Jon's S2 paranoia phase - maybe Jon stalks Elias and stumbles into something he shouldn't have (or something Elias wanted him to see)? Or maybe Elias and Jon go on a road trip/business trip and encounter some local horror, which may or may not have been Elias's whole purpose in organizing the trip to begin with? Or I love when there's a sort of mutual understanding between the avatars of the various fear entities even when they're rivals - maybe Elias playing some game or placing some wager with the avatar of another fear entity, with Jon caught in the middle? Or terrible artefacts/Leitners/statements do terrible things to Jon - or maybe Elias has made some mistake, and this time the terrible artefacts/Leitners do terrible things to Elias? Or maybe a serial killer AU - this is an exception to my DNW for mundane AUs, I'd be completely up for an AU where Elias and/or Jon are killers without any fear entities involved.

 
Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Characters: Geralt of Rivia and Gaunter O'Dimm
Horror subgenres: body horror, folk horror, religious horror, monster horror

I'd love either Gaunter/Geralt or gen. Gaunter's DLC was my favorite part of the whole game, I love deal-with-the-devil stories where people get exactly what they asked for and then can't wriggle out of their deal in the end, and LOVED that Geralt got roped into working for the devil in that scenario instead of the person trying to wriggle out of the deal - Gaunter making pleasant if ominous conversation with Geralt while stopping time and casually killing random bystanders for being slightly rude, just fantastic. And Gaunter branding his name on Geralt's face! So I just want more - more of Master Mirror in general, but especially more of him toying with Geralt, putting him through hell while being perfectly pleasant(-ish) in conversation, and marking him as his own.

Please feel free to ignore these prompts and use something from my general likes/smut likes/horror likes for a prompt instead, or anything else you've got in mind for some horror with Geralt and Gaunter. But a few starting points if you want them:

If Geralt banished him, what kind of revenge would Gaunter enjoy? Curses, transformations, violence, casual playing with the laws of reality? Gaunter possessing a person the way a ghost or demon might, whether that means possessing Geralt himself or people around him? Or maybe some canon-typical adventures featuring some other horror - if Geralt didn't banish him and they parted on (relatively) good terms, what kind of desperate situation could make Geralt call on Gaunter? How does Gaunter get along with the various other local horrors? Does having been marked by Gaunter for a while draw the attention of any other creatures? What other kinds of rituals and lore around Master Mirror are out there?

 
Vampyr (Video Game)
Characters: Jonathan Reid and Edgar Swansea
Horror subgenres: body horror, cosmic horror, folk horror, gothic horror, killer horror, monster horror, psychological horror, religious horror, supernatural horror, survival horror

I ship it and would be equally happy with gen. I loved their whole odd power dynamic, Jonathan as the actual vampire here but the human Edgar as the one he turns to for help understanding his new condition, and Edgar's sheer delight at the accomplished Dr. Reid's transformation even while Jonathan himself is stumbling around lost, confused, and covered in bloodstains; Edgar as Jonathan's boss at the hospital, and Jonathan as Edgar's maker.

Please feel free to ignore these prompts and use something in my general likes/smut likes/horror likes for a prompt instead, or anything else you've got in mind for some horror with Jonathan and Edgar. But a few starting points if you want them:

Body horror or monstrous transformations featuring Jonathan struggling to deal with his own new vampiric powers? Or Edgar and Jonathan needing to rely on each other to survive some external horror, whether that horror is coming from trouble with the various factions, ancient gods, strange blood rituals featuring the alignment of stars? And I'm really fond of the game mechanic that rewards you with more XP the more you've gotten to know an NPC's secrets before eating them, sort of incentivizing Jonathan to become the kind of vampire who stalks a victim over time, and I'd love something exploring how that mechanic plays with Jonathan's personality - even if he's successfully resisting the urge to eat people, is it more difficult around those people he's grown closest to, and why does he feel the need to compel people to tell him their secrets in the first place? Something involving Edgar being (worryingly or reassuringly) fascinated by Jonathan's worst impulses, whether Jonathan's been acting on those impulses or not?

And on the pacifist-to-evil spectrum, all versions of Jonathan are great and I'd love to see any version of him for any of the above prompts, but I'm also particularly fond of the brooding-alone ending where he's somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, where Jonathan's eaten some innocent people but still has some qualms about it - so I'd love to see some horror digging into that conflicted killer version of Jonathan! Who's the first edible NPC Jonathan ate, and what drove him to that point, especially if it's one of the NPCs who aren't serial killers or similarly easy for him to justify? Edgar can make a few comments during the game that show he's aware of Jonathan's kills, but at no point does he kick Jonathan out of the hospital for them or try to stop him - how did he find out about them, especially if the victims were in other districts? How deeply has he been indulging his vampire-watching fetish? Or maybe something with Jonathan being literally, supernaturally haunted by his past kills?

 
Original Work
Characters: Scientist Secretly Experimenting On His Assistant & Male Assistant Transforming Into A Monster
Horror subgenres: body horror, cosmic horror, gothic horror, medical horror, monster horror, psychological horror, science fiction horror

Slash or gen are equally welcome. I love everything about this scenario. Feel free to run with whatever ideas you've got for these two or use my general likes/smut likes/horror likes as prompts, but for a starting point if you want it, some things I love about this dynamic:

Manipulation! Transformation! A mad scientist's devotion to his field to the point of obsession! The assistant as the one actually experiencing the transformation, but the scientist as the one with all the answers! How long does it take the assistant to realize what's happening to him? Does he take revenge? Is the scientist holding out the possibility of an antidote/reversing the process, is the hope that it can be reversed the only reason the assistant-turned-monster hasn't killed the scientist? Or is the process irreversible - and if so, does the assistant know that? Does the scientist make a habit of violating other personal boundaries? What kind of monster is the assistant turning into, is this transformation filled with body horror, or is it something less physically obvious but just as horrifying to go through, more along the lines of Dr. Jekyll becoming Mr. Hyde or Dr. Rappaccini's poisonous people who can't help but kill everything they touch? Is it affecting his mind? Is this transformation the scientist's idea of a triumph, is he delighted by all the changes he's witnessing, is the assistant turning into the scientist's own personal ideal or his pet monster on a leash, or has the experiment gone wrong?

 
Crossover: Near Dark and The Hitcher
Characters: Jim Halsey & Jesse Hooker; Caleb Colton & John Ryder; Caleb Colton & Jim Halsey
Horror subgenres: cosmic horror, folk horror, gothic horror, killer horror, monster horror, paranormal horror, psychological horror, supernatural horror

I'll ship any of these character combinations, and gen is just as welcome. One of my favorite horror genres: 80s movie with beloved B-movie actors about a young man who gets dragged into a homicidal road trip across the American southwest by some ambiguously supernatural killer(s) attempting to Stockholm syndrome our hero into joining their ranks with mixed results. Near Dark and The Hitcher are kind of both the same movie, and I just want some kind of crossover to play with that.

Please feel free to ignore these prompts and use something from my general likes/smut likes/horror likes for a prompt instead, or anything else you've got in mind for some Near Dark/Hitcher horror. But a few starting points if you want them:

Maybe after surviving the Hitcher, Jim is drawn to someone who reminds him strangely of John Ryder? Or after surviving Near Dark, Caleb thinks he recognizes what John Ryder is, but then the sun rises and it doesn't bother John at all? Or Jim and Caleb meet and recognize someone who's been through something similar to their own experience? Did their respective movies have any lasting effects on Jim or Caleb, did Caleb's cure stick or was it only temporary? Or some cosmic horror strangeness about variations on the same story playing out over and over again, or the highways and backroads themselves as the source of horror?