Dear Yuletider!
Oct. 12th, 2021 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonexistentwenchHello, dear Yuletide writer! This is my first time doing this exchange, so I hope I have given you a pleasant and reasonable selection of prompts to be inspired by. I'm aware the fandoms involved are all over the place in terms of obscurity and how many ideas I have about them, but you can stand assured that for this exchange I have picked only things that would make me terribly, self-indulgently happy and I want them all equally. So:
DNWs
- Rape/noncon between the requested characters. I'm not sure of the line between dubcon and noncon as I don't go there, but really, I don't need elaborate negotiations or asking permission for a kiss or everyone to be perfectly sober when initiating sex or no power imbalances ever, just no unambiguous assault. Rape as a backstory or trigger for hurt/comfort or a background element/reference is ok.
- Sex scenes (most sexual elements are perfectly fine. Mentions, jokes, quick descriptions even if graphic or kinky are fine. I just don't want lengthy porn.)
- Eating disorders/body shaming and insecurity
- A/b/o
- Mpreg
- Soulmates AU or similar magical realism stuff like Hanahaki
- Slavefic
- Incest between siblings or parents and children
- Voluntary abortion (miscarriages and child death are ok)
- Setting AUs, My exception is Romeo and Juliet, which I think lends itself well to setting changes, though I have a preference for AUs that aren't mundane , if it makes sense, but keep some of the stakes of the original plot - for example I wouldn't really like a coffee shop AU or a plain high school AU, but the characters involved being in high school (as would be unavoidable given the ages) while in, say, an organized crime AU would be lovely. Historical, horror and fantasy AUs are also lovely, though I dislike sci-fi.
Likes
- Hurt /comfort, in any combination of physical and emotional as long as it's intense and touchy. I especially love mental breakdowns, exhaustion due to overwork, battle wounds, subdrop/domdrop
- Mental illness headcanons, especially in settings where the characters don't have the words to explain what is going on
- Banter, humor, ironic narration, dialogue-heavy fic
- Self discovery journeys
- Character studies, relationship studies, introspection, worldbuilding, backstory. I love to see how dynamics work and what people like about each other in relationships
- Getting together and especially getting BACK together
- Kidfic, both in the raising kids sense and in the characters as children sense
- Angst with an happy ending
- Dysfunctional yet loving relationships, especially with ships from which you really don't expect that
- Dysfunctional families and family dynamics in general, exploration of the cycles of abuse
- Cute shenanigans, adventures, mysteries rescue missions
- Characters being overprotective of each other, whether as gen or ship
- Found family, characters recovering from past abuse and bad experiences with each other's help
- Physical affection, fluff, people having fun together and finding things they share
- Past relationships, exes, background ships, background characters: this was meant to be an opt in, but honestly I just really love to see a nicely fleshed out world if the plot of the fic allows it. For the same reason, I'm perfectly fine seeing more than one requested ship in the same gift, whether they're conflicting or not
- Revenge stories
- In general feel okay with going as heavy in terms of themes as you wish: abuse, suicide/self harm, death, fairly graphic violence etc.. All that I didn't wish to receive I've DNWed
The Cabin in the Woods
Worldbuilding
So, huh, the worldbuilding possibilities of this one is something I've been obsessing over ever since I saw the movie. I adored the implication that in every country the horror movie is different, so I would love a story from the point of view of another country's secret lab, such as the one with vulcano they show in the movie but also a completely made up one. What influences on reality do they have to take in account for the movie to work? What's the premise? Do they have a creepy cellar equivalent that calls the shots on what monster will feature, or is it something that avoids monsters entirely, focusing on human serial killers or anxiety regardin man VS nature or whatever? Do they riff on the US formula but adapting it to their culture with more local boogeymen? (I'm thinking of stuff like A Classic Horror Story). I'm woefully ignorant about non-US horror tropes so I would really love any version of this. You can also explore the story of the Japanese schoolgirls too. Is it the same movie every year in Japan too (I imagine its a bit harder to get away with every year than the "5 dumb teens go missing in the woods" setup, tho you obviously can also... not apply real world logic to this movie) or is it more diversified, just like Japanese horror is more imaginative than slasher? Do the girls have their own archetypes going on? (I'm still seething at CinemaSins complaining about having kids there when the archetypes include whore and athlete. First of all its so unimaginative to assume the archetype would be the same, and second anyway why can't one of these baby girls be a jock?) How do they find a solution? WHat's the story of the demon?
Uh - beyond this horrifying wall of text I'd be seriously into any worldbuilding at all. Slice of life from the characters we see in the movie in their day-to-day operations - how they select the kids, whether it's getting harder these days with better technology and security and all. I found it interesting the "teens" where actually well into college - is this commentary about teens being less unsupervised out and about for shenanigans now than in the 80s? Is there any creativity involved or is it always rehashing the same movie? Was it always like that? Is there some creative personality who really pushes back against it and always risks ruining the whole thing with their ideas? What's the workplace culture like? Also, what other monsters were available for the kids to choose, what history was made up for them, what would have happened if they'd been chosen?
Jerusalem Delivered
Tancredi
Clorinda
I obviously ship them, but I'm not opposed to a more gen/introspective take. I love them both as characters individually, with the extremely guilt-prone overthinking woobie personality that is typical of Tasso buried under an appropriate level of warrior stoicism. Something where Clorinda survives the duel (hurt/comfort? mutual hurt/comfort?), whether she might regret her conversion, and how what happens when she finds herself very much alive and having to deal with what her dying choices mean for the war, her involvement in it and her loyalties. Sensual sparring, the fire/water symbolism their story is so full of, wartime romance tropes in general whether as enemies or later allies. You can also skip entirely Clorinda's conversion if you prefer so as I realize that, while it is a sweet bonus to me, the whole religious crisis aspect is not everyone's cup of tea.
The poem is crystal clear about how Tancred falls in love (and his kink for scary ladies running at him with a sword, bless him) but not much about how Clorinda does, since she avoids him for most of the poem. Is she repressing, or is it her last conversation that seals it for her, with the kindness he shows her in listening to her dying wishes? I also love the concept of Clorinda appearing to Tancred in dreams when she's dead, so an alternative take on that, where they have more of an actual conversation maybe VS her just being a motivating vision, would be lovely.
Romeo and Juliet
(Any)
Benvolio
Juliet Capulet
Lady Capulet
Mercutio
Nurse
Romeo Montague
Rosaline
Tybalt
Worldbuilding
This is my favorite play, I just couldn't narrow it down to any permututation of characters. I've been in the fandom for a lot and I just can't get enough of it in any way, I'm open to canon era (however smoky such a concept is, being set in the 14th century and written in the 16th, I don't really expect historical accuracy) but also to any AU, however tropey or niche, that you think fits the themes. The only things I ask are that the presence of a feud with potentially deadly stakes is kept and that, if you deal with Romeo and Juliet's romance in any way, it is not made out to be an obviously ridiculous idea that could never have worked out. I'm open to them being shipped with someone else, or breaking up or never meeting or being gay bffs who decided to arrange their marriage to bring peace to Verona: I'm just exhausted with the "dumb horny teens who any sensible person can tell are wrong" take on them. Having other characters as unreliable narrators diss them is totally fine though.
The ships I personally like are Romeo/Juliet, Benvolio/Mercutio, Tybalt/Mercutio, Tybalt/Benvolio, but I enjoy outlandish pairings of all kinds, whether het, m/m or f/f. I'm also very fond of reading about the dysfunction of the Capulet family, and I'd love to see interactions we don't see in the play, especially involving Juliet. I'm not going to prompt for all configurations of nine characters, so I'm just going to talk about some aspects and scenarios that I think can fit whatever character you wish to add.
In terms of both worldbuilding and character driving fic I'd really like exploration of the feud in terms of... how did it start, how it affects relationships and life in Verona even beyond the specific Capulet-Montague fighting, how children are raised to uphold it and how they internalize it etc. I'm especially fond of friendship kidfic involving Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio and their first run-ins with violence, usually both productions and fics tend to act like only Tybalt is fucked up by it and, despite my love of fucked up Tybalt, it's such a waste. You are absolutely free to pick any level of horrible things these people do to each other. An outsider POV, for example Nurse having to get used to work for the 14th century mob family, would be super interesting too. Or Romeo and Juliet having a bit more time to talk and really go into their issues and how they deal with all this and with their families. Also, canon divergences! Mercutio dies and Tybalt lives? Mercutio lives and Tybalt dies? Benvolio accidentally kills Tybalt in act 1 scene 1? (I have an extreme fondness for Benvolio getting dragged into violence out of feelings of honor and responsibility VS Romeo getting dragged there out of essentially love) Friar Lawrence manages to prevent Juliet to kill herself though Romeo is dead and then? What happens? She wants revenge or does she reconciles with her family? An incredibly intriguing plot bunny to me is also the idea that when Lady C offers to help Juliet send someone to poison Romeo in vengeance for Tybalt she accepts to delay the marriage and then she has to handle being in a sleuth mission against someone she very much doesn't want to kill. A silly AU I love is Batfam AU, with your choice of kids being the bickering sidekicks of some adult who decided to do something about the feud. If you want extra inspiration, I have more prompts in my past letters as well.
DNWs
- Rape/noncon between the requested characters. I'm not sure of the line between dubcon and noncon as I don't go there, but really, I don't need elaborate negotiations or asking permission for a kiss or everyone to be perfectly sober when initiating sex or no power imbalances ever, just no unambiguous assault. Rape as a backstory or trigger for hurt/comfort or a background element/reference is ok.
- Sex scenes (most sexual elements are perfectly fine. Mentions, jokes, quick descriptions even if graphic or kinky are fine. I just don't want lengthy porn.)
- Eating disorders/body shaming and insecurity
- A/b/o
- Mpreg
- Soulmates AU or similar magical realism stuff like Hanahaki
- Slavefic
- Incest between siblings or parents and children
- Voluntary abortion (miscarriages and child death are ok)
- Setting AUs, My exception is Romeo and Juliet, which I think lends itself well to setting changes, though I have a preference for AUs that aren't mundane , if it makes sense, but keep some of the stakes of the original plot - for example I wouldn't really like a coffee shop AU or a plain high school AU, but the characters involved being in high school (as would be unavoidable given the ages) while in, say, an organized crime AU would be lovely. Historical, horror and fantasy AUs are also lovely, though I dislike sci-fi.
Likes
- Hurt /comfort, in any combination of physical and emotional as long as it's intense and touchy. I especially love mental breakdowns, exhaustion due to overwork, battle wounds, subdrop/domdrop
- Mental illness headcanons, especially in settings where the characters don't have the words to explain what is going on
- Banter, humor, ironic narration, dialogue-heavy fic
- Self discovery journeys
- Character studies, relationship studies, introspection, worldbuilding, backstory. I love to see how dynamics work and what people like about each other in relationships
- Getting together and especially getting BACK together
- Kidfic, both in the raising kids sense and in the characters as children sense
- Angst with an happy ending
- Dysfunctional yet loving relationships, especially with ships from which you really don't expect that
- Dysfunctional families and family dynamics in general, exploration of the cycles of abuse
- Cute shenanigans, adventures, mysteries rescue missions
- Characters being overprotective of each other, whether as gen or ship
- Found family, characters recovering from past abuse and bad experiences with each other's help
- Physical affection, fluff, people having fun together and finding things they share
- Past relationships, exes, background ships, background characters: this was meant to be an opt in, but honestly I just really love to see a nicely fleshed out world if the plot of the fic allows it. For the same reason, I'm perfectly fine seeing more than one requested ship in the same gift, whether they're conflicting or not
- Revenge stories
- In general feel okay with going as heavy in terms of themes as you wish: abuse, suicide/self harm, death, fairly graphic violence etc.. All that I didn't wish to receive I've DNWed
The Cabin in the Woods
Worldbuilding
So, huh, the worldbuilding possibilities of this one is something I've been obsessing over ever since I saw the movie. I adored the implication that in every country the horror movie is different, so I would love a story from the point of view of another country's secret lab, such as the one with vulcano they show in the movie but also a completely made up one. What influences on reality do they have to take in account for the movie to work? What's the premise? Do they have a creepy cellar equivalent that calls the shots on what monster will feature, or is it something that avoids monsters entirely, focusing on human serial killers or anxiety regardin man VS nature or whatever? Do they riff on the US formula but adapting it to their culture with more local boogeymen? (I'm thinking of stuff like A Classic Horror Story). I'm woefully ignorant about non-US horror tropes so I would really love any version of this. You can also explore the story of the Japanese schoolgirls too. Is it the same movie every year in Japan too (I imagine its a bit harder to get away with every year than the "5 dumb teens go missing in the woods" setup, tho you obviously can also... not apply real world logic to this movie) or is it more diversified, just like Japanese horror is more imaginative than slasher? Do the girls have their own archetypes going on? (I'm still seething at CinemaSins complaining about having kids there when the archetypes include whore and athlete. First of all its so unimaginative to assume the archetype would be the same, and second anyway why can't one of these baby girls be a jock?) How do they find a solution? WHat's the story of the demon?
Uh - beyond this horrifying wall of text I'd be seriously into any worldbuilding at all. Slice of life from the characters we see in the movie in their day-to-day operations - how they select the kids, whether it's getting harder these days with better technology and security and all. I found it interesting the "teens" where actually well into college - is this commentary about teens being less unsupervised out and about for shenanigans now than in the 80s? Is there any creativity involved or is it always rehashing the same movie? Was it always like that? Is there some creative personality who really pushes back against it and always risks ruining the whole thing with their ideas? What's the workplace culture like? Also, what other monsters were available for the kids to choose, what history was made up for them, what would have happened if they'd been chosen?
Jerusalem Delivered
Tancredi
Clorinda
I obviously ship them, but I'm not opposed to a more gen/introspective take. I love them both as characters individually, with the extremely guilt-prone overthinking woobie personality that is typical of Tasso buried under an appropriate level of warrior stoicism. Something where Clorinda survives the duel (hurt/comfort? mutual hurt/comfort?), whether she might regret her conversion, and how what happens when she finds herself very much alive and having to deal with what her dying choices mean for the war, her involvement in it and her loyalties. Sensual sparring, the fire/water symbolism their story is so full of, wartime romance tropes in general whether as enemies or later allies. You can also skip entirely Clorinda's conversion if you prefer so as I realize that, while it is a sweet bonus to me, the whole religious crisis aspect is not everyone's cup of tea.
The poem is crystal clear about how Tancred falls in love (and his kink for scary ladies running at him with a sword, bless him) but not much about how Clorinda does, since she avoids him for most of the poem. Is she repressing, or is it her last conversation that seals it for her, with the kindness he shows her in listening to her dying wishes? I also love the concept of Clorinda appearing to Tancred in dreams when she's dead, so an alternative take on that, where they have more of an actual conversation maybe VS her just being a motivating vision, would be lovely.
Romeo and Juliet
(Any)
Benvolio
Juliet Capulet
Lady Capulet
Mercutio
Nurse
Romeo Montague
Rosaline
Tybalt
Worldbuilding
This is my favorite play, I just couldn't narrow it down to any permututation of characters. I've been in the fandom for a lot and I just can't get enough of it in any way, I'm open to canon era (however smoky such a concept is, being set in the 14th century and written in the 16th, I don't really expect historical accuracy) but also to any AU, however tropey or niche, that you think fits the themes. The only things I ask are that the presence of a feud with potentially deadly stakes is kept and that, if you deal with Romeo and Juliet's romance in any way, it is not made out to be an obviously ridiculous idea that could never have worked out. I'm open to them being shipped with someone else, or breaking up or never meeting or being gay bffs who decided to arrange their marriage to bring peace to Verona: I'm just exhausted with the "dumb horny teens who any sensible person can tell are wrong" take on them. Having other characters as unreliable narrators diss them is totally fine though.
The ships I personally like are Romeo/Juliet, Benvolio/Mercutio, Tybalt/Mercutio, Tybalt/Benvolio, but I enjoy outlandish pairings of all kinds, whether het, m/m or f/f. I'm also very fond of reading about the dysfunction of the Capulet family, and I'd love to see interactions we don't see in the play, especially involving Juliet. I'm not going to prompt for all configurations of nine characters, so I'm just going to talk about some aspects and scenarios that I think can fit whatever character you wish to add.
In terms of both worldbuilding and character driving fic I'd really like exploration of the feud in terms of... how did it start, how it affects relationships and life in Verona even beyond the specific Capulet-Montague fighting, how children are raised to uphold it and how they internalize it etc. I'm especially fond of friendship kidfic involving Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio and their first run-ins with violence, usually both productions and fics tend to act like only Tybalt is fucked up by it and, despite my love of fucked up Tybalt, it's such a waste. You are absolutely free to pick any level of horrible things these people do to each other. An outsider POV, for example Nurse having to get used to work for the 14th century mob family, would be super interesting too. Or Romeo and Juliet having a bit more time to talk and really go into their issues and how they deal with all this and with their families. Also, canon divergences! Mercutio dies and Tybalt lives? Mercutio lives and Tybalt dies? Benvolio accidentally kills Tybalt in act 1 scene 1? (I have an extreme fondness for Benvolio getting dragged into violence out of feelings of honor and responsibility VS Romeo getting dragged there out of essentially love) Friar Lawrence manages to prevent Juliet to kill herself though Romeo is dead and then? What happens? She wants revenge or does she reconciles with her family? An incredibly intriguing plot bunny to me is also the idea that when Lady C offers to help Juliet send someone to poison Romeo in vengeance for Tybalt she accepts to delay the marriage and then she has to handle being in a sleuth mission against someone she very much doesn't want to kill. A silly AU I love is Batfam AU, with your choice of kids being the bickering sidekicks of some adult who decided to do something about the feud. If you want extra inspiration, I have more prompts in my past letters as well.
