partypaprika | Dear Id Pro Quo Wrier (Reply)

Dear Id Pro Quo Writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I’ve included some thoughts below on my preferences and fandoms, however these are suggestions and not requirements in any way (although I’d prefer if you didn’t delve into my DNWs). I’ve given some specific prompts, but feel to take a general theme from my general likes if that’s more inspiring!

I'm not active on LJ/Dreamwidth anymore, although you're welcome to poke around here. I'm slightly active on tumblr and you can also check out my pinboard. I'm on ao3 as partypaprika.

For Id Pro Quo, I’ve requested Gossip Girl - Dan/Blair, Generation Kill - Brad/Nate and Original Work (too many to list here).

General likes:

-Hurt/comfort
-Conflict
-Slow burn
-Pining and UST
-Sacrifices, especially if characters are making big sacrifices on behalf of someone that they care deeply about
-Angst ending in a HEA
-Having dysfunctional relationships
-Enemies being forced (either directly or by circumstances) to work together
-Enemies to lovers
-Opposites attracting or coming to understand each other
-Marriages of convenience, fake dating, etc.
-People being thrown together in wildly unexpected situations
-Magical realism and magical powers
-Time travel, time loops, time do-overs etc.
-Modern royalty AUs
-1920s AUs or settings
-Secret identities and identity porn
-Reincarnation
-Settings that have a sense of mystery: cemeteries, forests, abandoned temples etc.
-Epistolary and non-linear storytelling (including letters, social media POVs, archival materials etc.)
-Time travel
-Canon divergence
-Mythology
-Hidden displays of affection
-Non-traditional media (interactive fiction/art/different ways of story-telling/etc.!)
-Crossovers
-Characters that were estranged are now reconnecting
-Characters working through the betrayals of their youth

DNWs:

-Major character death
-Noncon
-Incest
-Painplay
-Torture
-Humiliation kink
-A/b/o
-Dom/sub
-Mpreg
-Knotting
-Coffee shop AUs
-High school AUs
-Unrequested poly ships

Gossip Girl
Dan Humphrey/Blair Waldorf

I've been into this pairing since that episode in season one where Dan shared the story about his mother leaving with Blair after the photoshoot debacle with Eleanor and Serena. I love how Dan was the only person to really see Blair, for better and worse, for who she truly was. And I loved their slow relationship evolution: from mutual disgust to situational allies to friends and then close confidants.

I love the fact that Dan is so much more mellow and chill (generally) than incredibly high maintenance Blair and he just takes her and her craziness in stride. I’d love to see that explored—how does Dan calm Blair down for a big event or something really important? I’d also love to see Blair looking out for Dan, protecting him, maybe in a way that he just doesn’t get (and that almost goes over his head). Just a moment between them where one is protecting the other would be great.

Canon also ended with them not together so I’d love to either see them further down the line getting together (or back together) or a canon divergent AU where they hadn’t yet gotten together and ultimately do end up together. This could also be played with Blair seeing Dan after not being in contact for quite a while and then seeing him and realizing that she totally has a thing for Humphrey. I’d love to see a story where Blair goes through the mental struggle of realizing that she is actually into Dan.

I'd also love to look at them in an alternate universe--maybe something with magic where Blair is part of the old magic families of Manhattan and Dan is breaking into the scene as a talented but unknown magician. Or a royalty AU--maybe flipping their normal statuses where Dan's the laid back royal and Blair is the snooty commoner. Maybe a look at what they would have been like in the 1920s. Maybe everything is the same as it is now except arranged marriages are a thing and Blair's family desperately needs to save face so they arrange a marriage between her and Dan (or an arranged marriage set in the gilded age)?

I love to see them working together, against the world. Maybe one of them has been framed for something and the other is the only person willing to help them/believe in them.

I would be very into seeing a secret identity take on their relationship. I also think that there’s so many identity porn ways that you can go with this where one or both of them is using a secret identity (especially with the whole Gossip Girl presence, although you can use any kind of secret identity that you like!) and falling in love through that secret identity. (I love identity porn)

I also love them being friends (or maybe starting out as enemies again) and having to work together or being friends and there being hardcore pining between them. Maybe they start hooking up (or maybe they’re hooking up with other people) and think that they’re on different pages (but they’re not!).

Generation Kill
Brad Colbert/Nate Fick

There's so much that I could say about these two. I love complete and utter trust between the two of them, in one of the highest stress situations imaginable. They're always on the same page and they always have each other's back, no matter what. There’s also a incredibly deep loyalty between them and they are always watching out for each other.

How do they handle that attraction while they’re serving together? Do they struggle with this additional element? How do they handle the fear that it will screw up their current relationship. I would love to see a scene with them handling that attraction while on a mission together.

I would also love to see Brad and Nate getting together after their return from Iraq, either pre or post the repeal of DADT. I feel like there's a lot of opportunity for pining here--maybe one of them thinking that the other doesn't reciprocating, being concerned about professional repercussions or trying to protect the other...(so many opportunities!). You could also have them going their separate ways after returning from Iraq and then reconnecting, years down the road. I’d love to see a scene where they are reunited after a long separation.

I love the loyalty in their relationship and would love to see that explored. Do they have to marry each other to save one of their political careers or do they have to marry because one of them has been compromised in some other way? Has one of them been falsely accused of treason and now the other has to rescue them and clear their name? Does one of them have to protect the other from reputational injury, career injury or actual injury? I am there for all of it! I really love self-sacrifice and angst with a happy ending, so feel free to do hurt/comfort.

On the lighter side, I would definitely love to see one of the guys selflessly setting up the other on date after date even while pining the entire time.

Original Work

FF: Washed Out Professional Hockey Player/Hockey Rec League Teammate

FF: Hockey Player/Figure Skater

MM: Retired Superstar Hockey Player/Hockey Player Who Is His Former Best Friend

FF: Retired Superstar Hockey Player/Hockey Player Who Is Her Former Best Friend

MM: General Manger Who Traded Hockey Player Away/Hockey Player

FF: Hockey Player Having a Magic-Related Mid-Life Crisis/Teammate

MM: Hockey Player Having a Magic-Related Mid-Life Crisis/Teammate

I am so intrigued by these pairings! I am going through a major resurrgence in my hockey reading, so I am very into these pairings.I did my best to add relevant additional tags but there are a lot of other ones that I didn’t have space to pick that I also love, so feel free to borrow from the additional tags listed, my general likes or to come up with something completely tropetastic based on your own id (provided that there’s a happy ending). I love messy complicated relationships, people getting older and bringing their baggage into relationships, the mortifying ordeal of being known, identity crises contrasting with romantic relationships, estranged people coming back together.

Original Work

FM: Younger Man Who Must Remain Silent Until Completing Arduous Magical Task/Older Woman Who Takes Him In

I feel like on a deep level the book Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier has formed who I am as a literary consumer, so this pairing really speaks to me.

I love all the tropes related to silence and learning to communicate and help someone who can’t vocalize for themselves. Knowing someone beyond words. I love trust arising from situations where a character knows that they are unlikely to get help and unexpectedly receiving help. The hurt and comfort that can result from miscommunication in a situation like this and loving someone even when a character thinks there’s no hope of being loved back because of the situation.

However you interpret this pairing, I would love to see it!