Dear Yuletide Santa

[winter]

Dear Yuletide writer,


I am not picky with my fiction - I enjoy a variety of styles. I prefer no mpreg, outright pornography, humiliation or incest, but apart from that, my tastes vary wildly.

Regarding the particular requests, with Elisabeth you can assume I've seen just about any version (except Swedish, Finnish and Thun). This journal is full of my thoughts about the musical, which may be of assistance. Feel free to mix casts if it suits your fancy - a meeting between Maki Ichiro's Elisabeth and Máté Kamarás's Death would be highly interesting, if only to see how long it would take her to make him whimper ;)

Tanz der Vamipire is a likewise well-described fandom. For my request, father-son moments would be ideal. About the only requests I'd have here is no incest, no slapstick, and - if possible - no Thomas Borchert, Tim Reichwein and/or Haldor Laegreid, since I don't care for their performances at all in the father-son context. For Krolock, my favourites are Steve Barton, Łukasz Dziedzic, Yuichirou Yamaguchi, Géza Egyházi, Sándor Nagy, and Jack Rebaldi. For Herbert, how about Máté Kamarás, Sascha Krebs, Thomas Müller, Jakub Wocial, Yoshino Keigo or Dávid Pirgel? And a bonus would be to feature the vampire character played by the Herbert understudy, usually shoved into the second knight's costume :)

I've only read Sarah Waters' Night Watch recently, but I love the gender-play for Kay's character. She's as chivalrous as possible, hung somewhere between female emotions and male behaviour patterns. She reminds me of a Takarazuka actress, an otokoyaku who perfects playing the romantic male lead, swaggering and honourable. I'd like to see her happy in that role. Pairings optional, but I'd rather not have her revisiting too much history ;) Perhaps send her to travel?

Lord John Grey - I adore John and Stephan together, from "A Private Matter" on. Feel free to set it whenever, though if you can fit Gustav in, I'll adore you forever. Perhaps in "Brotherhood of the Blade", while John is recovering? Pre-slash is fine, elegant slash may be even better. I'll squee either way.

Comments

[tokugawa.livejournal.com]

a meeting between Maki Ichiro's Elisabeth and Máté Kamarás's Death would be highly interesting

Ohh interesting choices now only if there will be a Suzukaze Mayo's Elisabeth meets Szabó P. Szilveszter's Death. Now that's wishful thinking on my part, ;)

[winter]

Haven't seen her Elisabeth yet, alas ;) We do know that Yoshio Inoue barely holds his own against Uwe, and falls backwards for Zunko, and that Maki and Uwe sizzle together...

Close as brothers, Part 1

[(Anonymous)]

Dear bwinter, scanning through the Yuletide Treats, I came across your Lord John request.
I’m not a Yuletide participant, but I adore those books to pieces and Lord John and Stephan von Namtzen (especially together) never fail to make me squee.
So I just had to write your request.
I have never written a Lord John-fanfic before, and I have never written an English fanfiction of more than 100 words.
So let’s see what I’ll come up with, you’ve already made me happy with even requesting a fic like this.
Please excuse it if I messed up the timeline a bit, the books all are at my flat and I'm at my parents' for Christmas.

And just before you ask, no, you don’t know me, I don’t know you, though I’ve seen your name in the [Bad username or site: ”foreignmusicals” @ livejournal.com]- and the [Bad username or site: ”musical_sharing” @ livejournal.com]-community As the yuletide-rules request, I’ll stay anonymous until January 1st – I can tell you my name after, but as I said, it won’t mean anything to you *g*

Merry Christmas!

--

Close as brothers
Lord John Series | Lord John Grey/Stefan von Namtzen | mild slash | PG-13 | for [Bad username or site: ”bwinter” @ livejournal.com]

Nights spent in agonising insomnia, days covered in soft grey mist.
People said it was because of the pain, because of the personal defeat is meant for a soldier having to leave a battlefield before the war was won.
Sure, his arm throbbed, his chest ached with every intake of breath, but the truth was, Lord John Grey had just ceased to care.
He didn’t care about people, soldiers, friends paying their visits, coming and going, talking to him with insecurity in their eyes. He didn’t care about his family never leaving him alone for too long, as if they feared he’d harm himself if given time to think.
His brain had stopped functioning, he sometimes thought, but he didn’t even care about that any more.
There was nothing but the mist, and it dulled the pain, the thoughts and especially the memories occasionally flickering across his mind, and everything else.

As he heard barking in the hall downstairs while he lay in his bed one day, staring at the ceiling, he briefly wondered since when his mother allowed dogs in the house, but the wondering soon faded to unimportance. He heard voices, too, and heavy steps nearing. So there was another senseless visit to come. He sighted, closing his eyes, pretending to sleep.
The door flung open with a bang and a full, deep voice filled the room:
“Wouldn’t it be enough if one of us tried to get rid of himself?”
Grey’s eyes snapped open.

Stephan von Namtzen was standing in the doorway, almost filling it with his massive form, his black travel coat dripping with rain. Gustav, the dachshund, strolled around his feet, his nose pressed to the floor as if he was searching for hidden badgers in the carpet.
“Stephan”, Grey said, his voice without emotions, the name could have been a greeting as well as an accusation. Von Namtzen stepped nearer, eying him from head to toe.
“You’re looking thin.”
“I haven’t been in the mood for banquets lately”, Grey snapped, instantly regretting his words. But he said nothing to take them back. The sooner von Namtzen left, letting him succumb to mist and indifference again, the better. But the Hanoverian seemed to have no intention to do so.
He threw off his coat and sat down on the bed, taking Greys uninjured hand with his left one, pressing it gently. “You’ve scared me, my friend.”
And that was why he had come here? All the way from Prussia? “How did you hear…?”
“Your brother wrote. He fortunately remembered our acquaintance and obviously thought it would be interesting for me to hear that you’ve nearly got yourself killed in battle.”
Hal. Grey again wondered how much his brother knew or suspected, but quickly lost track of this thought, too, it wasn’t important anymore. So he merely nodded, then looked past von Namtzen and out of the window. He hadn’t realised it was raining before.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m alive”, he replied with a sight. Living. Though it really didn’t feel like it."

Re: Close as brothers, Part 2

[(Anonymous)]

His eyes widened as von Namtzen suddenly let go of his hand and placed his fingertips on his temples instead, brushing back a strand of hair. “Alive”, the German repeated.
Von Namtzen was one of these men who would never know, never even let the mere idea occur to them, so all Grey could do in this second was to drink in the feeling, the softness of his fingers, the sudden warmth flooding through his body for an instant. He closed his eyes.
“I’m glad you didn’t leave me”, von Namtzen whispered.
“You were the one intending to leave first”, Grey murmured in return. “How are you feeling, Stephan?”
Von Namtzen let out a gentle, sad laugh. “I’m alive, too, as you see. More alive than last time, maybe. Maybe not. There yet are days when I really cannot tell.”
With his eyes still closed, Grey reached for his hand, squeezing it lightly, then stroking the back with one finger. Von Namtzen did not move. Their breath and Gustav’s low snoring beside the bed were the only sounds to be heard in the room for a long time.

“I think Gustav is dry enough now to pay his respects to you, too”, von Namtzen finally said, waking Grey from something very near drowsing.
“What?”
Instead of answering, von Namtzen pulled the hand away from his temple, bending down and lifting the dog to the bed. His paws still left some wet marks on the white sheets, but Grey didn’t really care about it for Gustav instantly began liking his face, madly wagging his short tail. For the first time in years, as it felt to him, he laughed.
“See?” Von Namtzen smiled down on him. “He was looking forward to seeing you ever since I’ve told him we’d go here.”
“Good dog.” Grey had involuntarily tensed as Gustav had started lumbering around on the bed, but surprisingly, the dog did not even come near his chest, his arm or any other of his injuries.
“If you agree, I’ll pick him up again after I’ve talked to the countess. I’m afraid she’s expecting my already downstairs.”
“Sure.” To his astonishment, Grey found himself genuinely smiling at von Namtzen. The mist seemed to have disappeared, at least for a moment. He knew it would be back as soon as von Namtzen left the room – and he really wondered when exactly he had gone from wanting the man to leave to desperately wanting him to stay – but for now, it somehow all seemed strangely in order. “I think Gustav and I, we will have a good time.
“Has he hunted many badgers lately?”
“So many I’m actually contemplating having a coat made from their furs.” Laughing, von Namtzen stood.
And then grew quiet again, watching Grey’s face. His shoulders tensed visibly, then, slowly and carefully, he lowered his hand to Grey’s lips, brushing them ever so slightly. The closest thing to a kiss he would ever get from him, Grey thought.

“Get well soon, brother.”

Re: Close as brothers, Part 2

[winter]

I am immensely touched by the very sentiment of writing such a story for me, and even more so since it's so skillfully executed - very them, Gustav included. If you hadn't said, I would have thought you a native English speaker at least, if not someone who writes for a living!

Do tell me your name come January :)

Re: Close as brothers, Part 2

[chija.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you like it, and what you said about my style of writing made me smile for a whole week.

Now let me introduce myself: I'm Sonja, 20 years old, student of theatre and English, from Germany. I've been writing stories since I was 12 years old. My works (mostly German, as I said, I normally don't write in English) can be found in my fandom journal fannish_chi. There will be more English stuff soon, I hope, and I'm always happy about comments and criticism.

I hope 2009 started well for you!

Chija^^