a cat made of ones and zeroes

Fic in a Box Letter 2022

2022-08-30T22:43:24Z

Hello Boxer(s)! Thank you for checking out my ficinabox letter. I'm excited to see what you make and I hope you have a good time with it -- everything here is something I think would be fantastic to have in the world, and really any loose riff on these themes that avoids my DNWs will be a delightful gift. May you have a fantastic FIAB season!

laylah

( General Preferences )
( Archive 81 )
( Final Fantasy XIV )
( House of Many Doors )
( Warhammer 40k Generally )
( WH40k Solo Characters )
( WH40k 'Solo' Groups )
( WH40k Ships )
( WH40k Worldbuilding )

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warhammer rare ships all the way down

2022-07-20T18:01:26Z

In this post: a quick supplement to my Fandom Growth 2022 signup, individual thoughts on my Warhammer ships, because the AO3 signup box only allows 5,000 characters including spaces and HTML, and that divides badly among 11 ships. This is NOT a complete letter, just a supplement for that one canon with thousands of characters who do not do enough smooching.

( my ongoing space marine problem )

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Chocolate Box 2022 letter

2022-01-05T03:40:23Z

Dear Chocolatier,

Thank you for coming to check out my letter! I hope you have fun with this exchange. I've repeated my general preferences from my signup here, and then added some rambling-slash-prompt suggestions for each ship—please don't take any of those as demands, and please feel free to improvise with them as much as you'd like. As long as you steer clear of my DNWs you can wander pretty far afield from my suggestions and still make me happy. Have fun with what you make!

Happy creating!
laylah

( complete letter )

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Fic in a Box letter

2021-08-20T22:53:15Z

Dear boxer(s),

Thank you for coming to check out my letter! I hope you have fun with this exchange. I've repeated my general preferences from my signup here, and then added some rambling-slash-prompt suggestions for each ship—please don't take any of those as demands, and please feel free to improvise with them as much as you'd like. I am excited to open up my box in november and discover what you've made!

Also I profusely apologize for the varying lengths of these sections and promise you I want every ship in this letter passionately. ;3;

Happy creating!
laylah

( complete letter )

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five figure fanwork exchange letter oh god i'm doing this

2021-08-10T21:59:51Z

Dear five-figure fanworker,

Thank you for coming to check out my letter! I hope you have fun with this exchange. I've repeated my general preferences from my signup here, and then added some rambling-slash-prompt suggestions for each ship—please don't take any of those as demands, and please feel free to improvise with them as much as you'd like. I've tried to come up with some meaty ideas that could make for longer works, but if none of my specifics are working for you, please know I'm absolutely here for your own ideas what to do with these characters! They have great potential and I have faith that you're going to do something awesome with it. Also, if you're making a comic and I've suggested an idea that seems like too much narrative for 40 panels, feel free to do a single scene/encounter from the longer arc.

Also I profusely apologize for the varying lengths of these sections and promise you I want every ship in this letter passionately. ;3;

Happy creating!
laylah

( complete letter )

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smut4smut 2021 letter

2021-02-17T21:45:10Z

Hello smut peddler!

Thank you for coming to check out my letter! I went a bit more minimalist than usual with my tags this time, but to make up for that (i hope) i have a list of general smut likes at long last; anything from a relevant section of that list is welcome for whatever ship you're interested in. I hope you find something here inspiring, and good luck with all your smut4smut endeavors :3

laylah

( complete letter )

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Chocolate Box 2021 letter

2021-01-03T21:33:16Z

Hello chocolatier!

Let me first say you have great taste in fandoms, and I'm excited by everything here, so I really just can't wait to see what you come up with. If my signup gave you enough to go on already, awesome, don't feel bound to include any of the extras here! If you want some of my thoughts on specific fun things to do with these ships, here they are. It's all optional, it's not comprehensive, and I promise there's no secret "oh they want this request/ship more" meaning intended in the lengths of sections—those first two fandoms just have huge casts, so I collect a correspondingly large number of ships. Whatever ship you're here for, I love it :3

laylah

( complete letter )

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AU Exchange 2020

2020-07-03T17:05:46Z

Dear AU Explorer,

Thank you for taking me on (or considering it, if you're here hunting treat material)! I am flexible about all of these, and I would be happy to see you spin any of my requested AUs in a way that I don't anticipate here; as always, take as much of this information as is helpful and leave the rest. Because I've asked for the same AU several times with different ships, sometimes in different fandoms, I've pulled out a few of the AUs for general treatment at the start -- if I have a particular theme or dynamic that I really like to explore with a given AU concept, I'll talk about it a bit there so I don't have to repeat those paragraphs for half a dozen ships. Please don't take it to mean that I want those AUs more strongly; I just found them broadly applicable.

Generally what I like most about AUs as a concept is the chance to do something playful and new with already-loved characters, so please pick something you'll have fun with. I do hope you find something here inspiring, and I can't wait to see what you make!

laylah

( >complete letter )

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Rare Pairs 2020 letter

2020-06-04T21:47:38Z

Welcome to the Rare Pairs Exchange 2020 letter for laylah! Currently (june 7) I think I have this letter done! I might add to it if I come up with ideas for another ship, but I won't delete anything that exists now. Please, as always, take what you find useful here and leave the rest on the table; the ideas I have for a ship are never the only things I think would be fun to see for it, and if there's something else you're really craving for one of our shared faves, I'd love to see what you've got.

( GBF, FE:PoR/RD, SMT IV, SMT IV:A )

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Canon Ball letter

2019-08-16T16:27:36Z

Hello, Canon Ball creator! Welcome to the letter for laylah. I got through every other exchange this year with just the signup box, but this time around I had too much to say about all these fabulous ships. If my signup gave you enough to work with, please feel free to just take that and run! But if you want me chattering on about individual ships, read on.

( lots of thoughts about original ships )

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smutswap 2018

2018-03-01T16:41:03Z

Dear Smut Peddler,

Thank you so much for signing up to do one of the things I like! I'm excited to see your creation.

( stuff about my general smut preferences! )

( porns I want: House of Many Doors + a bunch of megaten )

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Chocolate Box 2018!

2018-01-04T21:52:44Z

Hello chocolatier, and thank you!

The brief cheat sheet to creating for me is as follows: please don't give me abusive relationships, gender-based humiliation (including forced feminization and involuntary/punitive sexswap), character death, bigotry/discrimination, mundane AUs (coffeeshop, high school, etc.) or unrequested dub/noncon.

I do like porn and if you are into that you should go for it; i'm especially fond of power dynamics during sex and of the exploration of how erotic experiences work for nonhuman characters, whether or not that looks like human sex. If porn is outside your comfort zone please don't push yourself to do it—the most important part is always the emotional dynamic between the characters, not the squishy bits. But if you do enjoy creating porn the squishy bits are a great bonus (and an interesting place to display that emotional dynamic).

Other things I'm fond of include adventures, exploring the characters' world, hurt/comfort (especially for battle injuries), obvious demonstrations of affection where nobody says "i love you" out loud, and fantastical AUs (magical circus? space opera? post-apocalypse? er, where that's not already the case...).

My requests are suggestions, not demands! If you have an idea already, or an idea that starts with one of my requests and wanders off in its own direction, that's great and I can't wait to see it. As long as you steer clear of the DNWs in the first paragraph, everything else has a lot of wiggle room.

On to specific requests! SPOILERS ABOUND, so skip fandoms as necessary.

( Friends at the Table, Magnus Archives, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, NieR Automata, SMT Devil Survivor 2, SMT Nocturne, SMT IV Apocalypse )

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Fated, Apocryphally

2017-10-03T04:26:39Z

So Fate/Grand Order has been an excellent gateway drug, dragging me into the franchise wholesale. I had watched the Fate/Zero anime a few years ago and liked about 40% of it but felt like too much of the story was focused on the things that interested me least, and that was that... and then I got into FGO and started driving all these losers around and wanting to know more about them, and. yep.

I've now read the four available volumes of Fate/strange fake, I'm working on a playthrough of the first route of Fate/stay night, I've read the first volume of the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, and I'm watching the Fate/Apocrypha anime as it comes out.

( Apocrypha, omg! )

I don't even know where a body goes to get DW icons anymore but I really want some Fate/ ones.

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Yuletide letter 2017!

2017-10-01T18:16:02Z

Dear Yuletide writer:

Thank you! I'm glad you wanted to write for one of my fandoms, and I hope you have fun working on it. I love all these canons and I'm really excited to receive a gift in one of them.

If you participate in any of the optional yuletide community-organized bonus challenges, I am absolutely up for Yuleporn, Wrapping Paper, and IF in any of my fandoms. I'd be into Crueltide things for Black Company or Nocturne.

Thank you again! I can't wait to see what you write. - laylah

( this gets long, as usual )

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Femslash Exchange

2017-08-22T01:10:31Z

Hi there! this is the femslashex letter for laylah. Thanks for taking a look!

( general preferences )

( fandom specifics )

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deep breaths, baby girl

2017-08-17T19:29:47Z

First, raremaleslashex reveals happened earlier this week! I wrote two things for it:

With His Need Laid Bare (nsfw), Fire Emblem Fates, Leo/Niles kidnapping roleplay. My recipient had a very open-ended signup, so I figured I would write a story that had themes that were fun for me to work on, and that seemed to go pretty well.

Eyes in the Dark (not explicit), The Magnus Archives, Jonathan Sims/Gerard Kaey. I love the mysterious feel of this canon and the strong sense of voice we get for the characters (as well we should, given the medium!) and Gerard is such a fascinating enigma. So I wrote something in the style of the canon's first-person statements about supernatural encounters. No spoilers for the series, though it's definitely inspired heavily by Episode 12, "First Aid."

Second, I'm dithering over signing up for femslashex -- I'm fairly sure I do want to sign up, but I have eight fandoms in mind and only six request slots, so I'm hesitating. I thiiiink I'm leaning toward using the final slot for Devil Survivor 2; all the options I have in mind are long shots, but I think that's the one I have the most unsatisfied feelings about. Girls surviving the demon apocalypse together, man. It's a thing.

Third: it's really rare for me to watch live action TV but the household has consumed the first four episodes of Wynonna Earp recently and I love it. It's not Quality Entertainment by any discerning measure but it's so much fun, this paranormal romp made of violence and sass, and the actors are having a good time and playing off each other really enjoyably. Dolls is my fave, I think, but the competition is fierce. (Please don't spoil me for future episodes; I've done pretty well at not learning what's up with these characters and I want to find out through watching.)

ETA Fourth, I forgot earlier: I've been playing Fate/Grand Order since it released in NA and I'm having a lot of fun with it, ridiculous history and all. My user ID is 161,219,808 if any of you are playing and would like to add me. I just equipped the Moonlight Festival CE on my Archer Support for grinding purposes.

What are you doing for fun these days?

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goddamnit.

2017-08-11T17:34:22Z

I figured out what I really wanted for femslashex about two hours after nominations closed, which is "all the SMT4 pairings." Isabeau/Kaga already exists, but also Kaga/Yuriko, Isabeau/Yuriko, Gabby/Yuriko, Hikaru/Yuriko, Hikaru/Isabeau, and basically any and every 3+ combo possible there. The things that would make this most incredibly super awesome are spoilers but my soul is crying.

Ah well. It's a small enough fandom that it wouldn't be likely I'd get a match on it anyway.

I did at least get a start on my iddyiddybangbang fic, which is going to scratch some of that itch. I meant for it to be mostly Isabeau/Kaga with a side of Yuriko, but I'm not sure why I thought I could get away with Yuriko being anything but a galvanizing central character. I mean, she's the leader of a feminist chaos cult! Isabeau is so ready for this life-changing experience.

I'm a little afraid the story is going to come out too "babby's first feminist awakening" but fuck the police, I am writing the story my id wants for this character. And between her quietly exasperated state of "why are men like this" for so much of the early game and the fact that she builds a battle party of Pallas Athena, Jeanne d'Arc, and Valkyrie when given the chance, I kinda think Isabeau could use more unapologetic fearless lesbians in her life.

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one of those stray thoughts

2017-08-08T23:22:46Z

...brought on by coming up with too many prompts for rare character/ship exchanges:

Does Abe know that Mastema is there in Ashura-Kai HQ?
Does Mastema know who Abe really is?
Are they having a secret supernatural douchebag war for the soul of the demon-wielding yakuza?

I kinda ship it spades now.

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things, hard

2017-07-28T22:09:05Z

Somehow in the last week or two I've just been on the down slope again, after being pretty stable for months. I'm not impressed and want that to stop asap. I took today off work, actually, because I badly wanted to yesterday and the day before and kept feeling like I was going to just break into tears at my desk over nothing. And yesterday when I left I had cleared my desk of all immediate deadlines, so they can probably get by without me today. (I'm an entire department; all the project teams in the roughly 200-person company route material through me alone. Makes it hard to take days off with a clear conscience.)

This morning was nice and relaxing, though; I spent most of it slowly sipping cold brew coffee and playing Atelier Sophie, which is the first of the Atelier series that I've played since the PS2 ones. It's basically exactly what I want from a comfort game: lots of gathering and crafting, pleasing bright colors, a little bit of simple combat. It's also ridiculously wholesome, to the point where I'm imagining the characters doing filthy things to each other out of self-defense. (Harol completely fucking up Julio's paladin composure pls)

I need to get myself in gear now and work on finishing up my raremales assignment, which is due Monday. I have a good start and I know where I want it to go, so it's just butt-in-chair make-words-happen time. Wuff.

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trying not to let this thing get too rusty

2017-07-19T21:49:14Z

I am still not dead! Not many things of great import have been happening, or at least not things I can talk about in detail yet. I'm still flinging myself at exchanges at an alarming rate; right now both darkestnightex (all varieties of darkfic themes) and fandomgrowthexchange (very rare fandoms, ships, or characters) are taking nominations and I'm crouched behind the couch with my tail twitching, trying to decide if I should pounce on them. Metaphorically.

I wrote a lot for nonconathon -- my assignment and three pinch hits -- and none of them are the breakout hits of the exchange (original works are the way to go there, not weird small fandoms), but the recipients seem pleased and I got to do some interesting and varied dynamics, so overall a success. And I got two things gifted to me, both of which were delicious!

( cut for details; fandoms are Voltron and Fire Emblem Fates )

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playing for the plot indeed

2017-06-29T18:49:53Z

After I finished up Nier: Automata (which was wonderful, and heartbreaking, and I still love every robot in this bar) I started playing Witcher 3. I could probably say some deeper and more thoughtful things about it but maybe later. Right now, let's talk scars.

So Geralt has an amazing scar collection, right? Which we get to see in rather a lot of detail more than once. And I am of two minds about this:

1) Thank you, devs, for inviting me to objectify your power fantasy; I really appreciate the opportunity. Badasses having clearly been fucked up hard, my aesthetic.

2) The poor bastard must be so uncomfortable all the time. It took about four months for my back scar to settle enough that it didn't hurt any time anything touched it (anything at all, including clothing), and it still itches pretty intensely on a regular basis. Geralt is probably constantly in need of compassionate souls willing to rub moisturizer into the scars he can't reach by himself.

I mean I guess you could handwave that away with mutant healing powers or something, but then where would you be? Short an excellent opportunity for sensual comfort fic, that's where.

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yet another exchange letter! \o/

2017-06-24T18:37:27Z

rarepairfest letter for laylah!

My theme for so much of this exchange is "oh my god I just wish this existed why isn't it out there???" so I would really be just delighted to see what you come up with for all these tiny underloved pairings. Thank you so much for offering one of them, by the way. Please treat my prompts as suggestions, not as requirements; if there's a story you're dying to tell about one of these pairings, I will read anything that skips my DNWs, so go for it.

General Yes Please: porn & kink (see my smutswap letter for more on my preferences there), adventures, fight scenes, monsters, fluff, playing with game mechanics, worldbuilding, nerding out about robots/demons/other sapient nonhuman perspectives.

General Not For Me Thanks: mundane AUs (high school, coffee shop, etc.), deathfic, kidfic, misunderstanding angst, hopeless endings, abusive relationships, bigotry or oppression as a major plot point, bigotry or oppression written into a setting where they haven't been shown to exist in canon, scat/vomit, infantilization, forced feminization.

Extra Stuff I Love In Various Canons:

( Read more... )

Request text:

( Read more... )

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this has probably at some point been a meme

2017-06-23T20:02:49Z

Beneath the cut: the first line of every unfinished piece of fic in my drive dating back a year or less -- minus the ones that are pieces of anon exchange submissions currently in progress.

Maybe I can convince myself to go back and make more progress on some of these for seasonofkink or something. I must have some squares that would fit some of these stories. Or iddyiddybangbang!

( this is a lot of unfinished fic, jeez )

You can totally watch my fandom spread shifting over time there. Some of these are probably abandoned for one reason or another (I still love the concept of troll Hisoka so much, but I don't have an actual idea for a plot) but hopefully I'll get some of them to see the light of day. :B

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cypher @ 2017-06-17T08:51:00

2017-06-17T15:56:02Z

press_start_comm is open for nominations! Trying to pick the fandoms I want to do -- so many of my fandoms are games, and so far it looks like none of them are in the tag set yet.

Are you playing? What do you plan to nominate?

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I love robots tho

2017-06-15T17:59:16Z

Started playing Nier: Automata over the weekend and got the A ending last night. I'm super hype to start up again and go for the rest of the story, since it looks like a lot of the content is beyond the A ending. This game is so beautiful, both visually and aurally, and I'm grooving on the themes so hard.

And there was this one sidequest with an android scientist called Jackass, who wanted to collect combat data from watching us fight, and her dialogue after those fights was...well:
( I needed to write it down )
SO THAT HAPPENED. talk about ficbait.

I love every robot in this bar.

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