HC Ex Letter

[aroberuka]

ao3: aroberuka
Gifts enabled; open to treats! No art for this exchange, please.

Hello, hope you’re having a great hcex! Whether you’re here for an assignment or out of curiosity, thank you for checking out my letter ^^

In general, my fic likes tend towards gen, character-driven stories. I often gravitate towards secondary/minor characters and relationships, or relationships that can be extrapolated from canon but don’t get any on screen development, so I love most anything that involves characters getting to know each other: first impressions, learning something new, finding you were wrong about someone, etc. I do like a bit of canon divergence, especially for Homestuck and its infinite branching timelines, but what I’m looking for most of all is any kind of fill-in-the-gaps fic: backstory exploration, post-canon picking up the pieces, missing scenes, canon-typical adventures… I love adventure fic, especially as a way to build trust: give me characters on a quest / lost in the wilderness / trapped in a cave / etc. figuring out how to work together in a pinch!

When it comes to Hurt/Comfort, I’m more interested in the aftermath than the hurt itself: I only have a few hard limits on how bad the hurt should get (basically, no terminal illnesses and no permanent brain damage), but it’s not really what I’m here for either.

On the Physical Hurt/Comfort side, I enjoy all kinds of minor-to-gruesome flesh wounds, especially when Circumstances mean proper medical care isn’t available, or has to be delayed to take care of a more immediate threat. I’m not the biggest fan of sickfic, but poison, heatstroke, hypothermia, and mind-numbing exhaustion are all great sources of hurt.

On the Emotional Hurt/Comfort side, I’m always there for stories dealing with loneliness, longing for home or family, grief/mourning, and adjusting to a new normal in big or small ways. I also love anything that plays with public v. private life: holding it together until you can break down in private, letting your guard down before [trusted person], and so on.

The truest thing I can say about my preferences for the comfort side of things is “Yes”, but I do have a sweet spot for the more subtle and indirect forms of comfort: discreet shows of silent support, taking someone’s mind off the hurt even for just a minute, doing what you can from a distance when you can’t be there in person, and so on.

Do Not Wants: smut; 1st person narration; omegaverse; direct references to current events; cancer; severe traumatic brain injury (a concussion is fine, as are typical action movie head injuries with none of the serious consequences they’d likely have in real life).

Opt-ins: graphic violence.

 

 

Fandom: Naruto

Requests: Shikamaru & Hinata (both hurt), Sakura & Neji & Shikamaru (all hurt), Shikamaru & Temari (either hurt), Shikamaru/Temari (either hurt), Kakashi & Rin (either hurt)
 

Freeforms:

• adapting to permanent injury
• Character insists on completing mission despite injuries
• field medicine
• Huddling For Warmth
• Missions Gone Wrong
• Mutual Protection
• Stranded Together & Have To Rely On Each Other To Survive
• Temporary Blindness
• A tries to hide injuries from worse off B while awaiting help

One of my oldest fandoms, and one I’m always happy to revisit! Those freeform tags are really just nine Missions Gone Wrong in a trenchcoat, since that’s easily my favourite type of Naruto fic. I don’t have much to offer about the specific relationships I’m requesting - I’m mostly in this fandom for the Konoha 12, with Shikamaru and Hinata being my all around faves, so I just picked a handful of dynamics I thought would be interesting. Shikatema I like at whatever level of shippy or friendshippy you want them to be; as for Kakashi & Rin - I always have a fondness for those female characters who seem to mostly exist as other characters’ tragic backstories, and I think the period of time after Obito’s presumed death where the both of them would have had to figure out how to work without him while supporting each other through the grief is really good for both angst & h/c!

 

Fandom: Dragonlance

Requests: Dalamar & Laurana (either/both hurt), Dalamar & Tanis (either/both hurt), Dalamar & Laurana/Tanis (Dalamar or all hurt)

Freeforms:

• A accused of crimes; only B believes they're innocent
• Aftermath & Comfort For Canon Hurt
• arrow wounds
• Character A shows up on Character B's doorstep because they didn't know where else to go
• Dreamworld featuring worst memories/fears
• Homesickness
• magical character caught by witch hunters
• Temporary Blindness
• Unexpected Kindness

Elves with complicated feelings about their homeland is the common thread here. Dalamar & Tanis were fascinating to me even as a teen as an as-genuine-as-they-can-make-it friendship grounded in mutual understanding; Dalamar & Laurana never interact in canon, but I think they have a surprising amount in common in spite of their obvious differences - both of them rejected for refusing to stick to their assigned roles in elven society, both of them willing to prioritize diplomacy and work with theoretical enemies.

I’d be happy to read a fic set at any point in this very expansive canon, but for the sake of narrowing it down I’m especially partial to the aftermath of Legends, or that post “Sacrifice” road trip to Silvanesti that is alluded to but never shown.

 

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Request: Su Xiyan/Tianlang-jun & Zhuzhi-lang (any hurt)

Freeforms:

• Character is unusually vulnerable to a particular form of hurt due to their alien or fantasy biology
• character needs help staying warm
• Cleaning/treating wounds
• Cursed into animal form
• Discovery of Hidden Injury
• Rescue
• Sharing a bed to keep a close eye on hurt character's well-being & needs
• Temporary Blindness
• Usually Prickly Relationship Becomes Unexpectedly Tender During H/C

Su Xiyan has the dubious honour of being the latest in a long line of posthumous female characters that somehow manage to steal my entire heart. I thoroughly enjoyed the slow unveiling of her character & motivations, and what we see of her relationship with Tianlang-jun is ridiculously my thing, between Tianlang-jun’s questionable understanding of human courtship & the gender-flipped tropey romance vibe of it all. Zhuzhi-lang is there as a matter of course, and because snake biology + stubborn loyalty makes for excellent h/c potential imho.

I’m definitely more interested in fic set before everything goes to hell than in fix-its for this one.

 

Fandom: Homestuck

Request: Jane Crocker & Dirk Strider (either hurt)

Freeforms:

• Accidental time travel into apocalyptic future
• A can only comfort B from a distance
• Comes from alternate timeline where everyone died
• Comfort via Baking Together
• Headaches & Migraines
• Lending Sunglasses To Sick/Injured Character
• Loneliness
• Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery
• Staying Up Together after a Nightmare

Two dorks, united in their dubious sense of humour and bad taste in men (sorry, Jake). Their friendship was unexpected yet awesome and I love them for it. A few things I had in mind while picking up the tags were – attempts at comfort through pesterchat, Jane’s early skepticism muddying the waters or being confronted with the reality of Dirk’s post-apoc world earlier, mind control aftermath, side-effects of healing magic, that Game Over version of Dirk that kind of haunts me still... or maybe it’s post-canon and they finally catch a break! It’s all good.

Please no Homestuck Epilogues content for this one.

 

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Requests: Dimitri & Annette & Sylvain (all hurt), Hilda & Mercedes (either hurt), Ingrid & Lorenz (Ingrid or both hurt)

Freeforms:

• Comes from alternate timeline where everyone died
• Hurt A has to help more badly hurt B
• Mutual Protection
• patching each other up after a fight
• Poison
• Staying Up Together after a Nightmare
• Stranded Together & Have To Rely On Each Other To Survive
• trapped in an isolated place together
• A tries to hide injuries from worse off B while awaiting help

This is one of these fandoms where I like throwing characters together to see what sticks, so this is essentially a random mix of canon dynamics I like and non-canon dynamics I think would be cool. Dimitri & Annette & Sylvain is a trio I’m fond of especially for pre-timeskip shenanigans – their supports with each other all share that same ‘found siblings’ vibe I really like, and I think the three of them would be a fun if slightly explosive mix to throw at any problem. Hilda & Mercedes – I just love that Mercie completely accidentally manages to guilt Hilda into action, and I think Mercie herself could do with a little more whump. Ingrid & Lorenz I threw together because they ended up fighting side by side a lot in my last playthrough; they’re interesting to me because I feel like their understanding of nobility is as different as it could be, but at the same time they’re also fairly similar in the way they approach, and occasionally struggle with, the duties that come with their station. Plus, they both have that slightly overbearing protectiveness to them, though it manifests in completely different ways.

The Blue Lions are both my favourite house and the one that’s freshest in my mind so this is a very BL-centric request, but any route is fine here, though I’d rather avoid Black Eagle!Ingrid, which just bums me out.