Dear Fic In A Box creator
Aug. 23rd, 2020 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonexistentwenchDear creator, thank you in advance for creating something for me!
First of all, consider everything in this letter to be completely optional, especially in the case of special mediums, as I have never received one before and don't know well how to prompt, not to mention I'd be over the moon with everything. Length or amount of prompts has nothing to do with my desire to receive any fandom or pairing, only how much overthinking I have done about them!
Now, here for the general stuff:
Likes
Here is the stuff that REALLY drives me crazy and is 100% guaranteed to enhance my fic if included.
- 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
- 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
Opt ins:
This is not to be interpreted as "tropes I'm meh about'" but rather commonly DNWd stuff I like and doesn't bother me if included in fic, but I'm not asking you to go out of your way to include (nor that you should go out of your way to include likes either, again totally fine with ODAO, but you get me). Feel free to also ask the mods for anything not included here
- Gender/sexuality headcanons. Honestly literally any headcanon you have
- Pretty much anything stylistically (person, tense, 5 +1 fix, song fic for all i know… Just feel free)
- Underage as long as it's over 13 and without like… 10+ age gaps or manipulation
- Torture and violence, though I prefer it not be excessively graphic, but you can trust your judgment, it's not something that will ruin my gift in any case
- Suicide/self harm
- Abuse, as long as it isn't a requested character being the abuser
DNWs
- Rape/noncon (unless said otherwise or canon backstory
- Cheating
- Unrequited love that doesn’t end either with getting together or with the pining character meeting someone else
- 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
Opt-in mediums clarification:
- I just don't have a developed enough taste in music to prompt songs, but I strongly prefer songs with lyrics over instrumentals. Just in case you need any inspiration, feel free to completely ignore: I enjoy musical showtunes, indie, my favorite artists are Aurora, OfMonstersAndMen, Skillet, Laura Marling, Halsey etc. I also prompted some fan music for the specific fandoms
- Probably irrelevant, but I'm Italian! If by some cosmic consequence you are too, feel free to bust out the De Andrè discography etc, especially for r&j.
- I enjoy both videos that tell a story and video that simply explore a theme/character study. Unfortunately I didn't do much nomming so i didn't prompt much in terms of solo characters but it's not necessary to make a video shippy as long as there's some character I requested in there
- I don't have much of a preference in terms of effects used etc. But I do prefer colors over black and white
- When I say Shakespearean-style theatre, I mostly imagine that stuff where Star Wars and ASOIAF scenes are rewritten as if they were a scene from a Shakespeare play, with asides for inner monologue and all. I love them.
- I am very amenable to everything for comics and art likes in general! Again, I prefer having color, and I love focus on expressions and characters and all but really whatever fits your style. I'd be over the moon with anyhing
- AITA posts can be serious or more comedical, based on real events of the plot or some shenanigan you made up, no preference. You can always involve unrequested characters there as commenters etc.
So, I'll be sort of light on prompts because I just don't have a lot of ideas for the opt-ins, but if you need any inspirations my former letters are here, my Tumblr is team-mom-wannabe and my ao3 account amitye. I tried my best but probably didn't take the best look at the various opt-ins so if there's anything that inspires you but haven't requested feel free to contact me!
Romeo and Juliet
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
Medium opt-in: In-Universe Poetry
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Animatic
Medium Opt-In: Song Lyrics - Filk/Parody
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: Remix - Fic Remix of my Fic
Medium Opt-In: Remix - Art Remix of my Fic
Medium Opt-In: Costume design
I love AUs for Shakespearean fandoms, you can truly get wild with that, but for this one I would prefer it keeping some of the high stakes of the feud in mind, even if it's lighthearted. Like, characters are in high school while the plot happens is okay, the feud is between two rival frat parties I'd rather avoid. I'd also prefer no age ups - Juliet being her canon age, Romeo 15-16 and the other boys no older than their late teens.
For a quick explanation of the opt ins: first of all, a lot of them aren't shippy, so feel free to use any combination of the requested characters for them. I'd prefer fanvids to use footage from the 1968 movie or some niche adaptation than the 1996 R+J. Honestly for the music I'd love any old fanvidding staple (If I die young, This is war, Daniel in the Den, Lucy, So cold, you know the genre) but I don't have huge preferences, I trust you. For animatic/filk there is the option of using the Romeo et Juliette musical by Gerard Presgurvic too. For costume design I am absolutely fine with any AU or canon era. Conspiracy boards are in my mind mostly for Bencutio or Tycutio or Tyvolio (or straight up a poly thing, frankly, though I forgot to nominate it) - these boys would totally have conspiracy theories about each other/the third element that they're jealous of, especially influenced by the feud. The rest I think are pretty self-explanatory
Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague
I have such a sweet spot for these stupid babies and would like pretty much anything about them.I'd especially love a modernized version for a comic, showing how things change yet they stay the same. In fic, I'd love some exploration of their personal issues and how they seem to be the only people who truly understand each other in city of people who are cynical at best and murderous at worst - Juliet's family is pretty obviously abusive and a really fascinating clusterfuck of terrible dynamics, but Romeo seems pretty unhappy with his life as well, though he does at least have friends, it's easy to imagine he feels misunderstood and definitely uncomfortable with masculinity and violence expected of him. Otherwise, what if everything goes alright and they manage to get married in front of their families, what drama does it entail? What if instead of killing herself Juliet goes on a vengeful rampage (after all, her mother was planning to poison Romeo - she might very easily blame someone else for his death) ? What if they run away together and go explore Italy and have fun? There's so many possibilities.
Tybalt Capulet/Benvolio Montague
Of these boys, I really love the potential they have as foils. Tybalt is war and Benvolio is peace, but it's more complicated than that - Tybalt obviously thinks Benvolio's peacemaking is just a facade, judging from the opening fight, and I feel like he is right to some extent, at least in the sense that while Benvolio avoids conflict for safety and to avoid trouble with the law he doesn't really feel any more warmly to the Capulets than Tybalt does to the Montagues, which to Tybalt reads as hypocritical. And a lot of Tybalt's fightiness stems from a frankly sad tendency to see literally everything as a danger and threat.
So, I'd love any situation that allows to contrast them - rival gang leaders? they're both in love with Mercutio and having a lowkey pissing contest about it? Some combination of their parents having murdered each other? They both have some job of representing their family for an important occasion and keep sabotaging each other? Some weird BatFam AU where they're sidekicks to the same brooding vigilante (...Escalus?) and also throw down on the regular because their approaches are so different? (They have such a Dick and Jason vibe, good lord).
Mercutio/Tybalt
Ah, the apotheosis of enemies to lovers! I imagine them having a very fraught relationship, with their very clashing personalities and Mercutio's Montague friends, but I'd also like for there to be some genuine affection and protectiveness for each other, purely UST based relationships don't do it for me. I like the idea they truly have fun with all these fights they have, and in some way they can only be themselves with each other, where Mercutio has someone who doesn't go easy on him, compared to his much softer friends and a family that well, is royal, so is probably somewhat restrictive to him, and Tybalt is able to genuinely express his own feelings and be more than his family's sword arm. I like the idea he's both horrified and fascinated by Mercutio's freedom and shamelessness, and Mercutio has such a way to see into people and figure out the things they're hiding. A development of their relationship would be really cute, or maybe a situation where they're exes by the time the events of r&j happen, a getting back together story. One of the two getting kicked out for some misbehavior and only having the other to turn to. Maybe a situation where Mercutio survives the duel (and the stabbing was mostly accidental I suppose) and they have to navigate this mess? In general for them I'm super wild on H/C where the comforter caused the hurt. Bonus points in this one for banter and Mercutio's wild imagination exploited to the maximum potential
Benvolio Montague/ Mercutio
A very sweet relationship compared to the previous ones, but lots of potential all the same. A story of how their relationship evolved (from childhood friends, maybe?) would be really sweet. Maybe Mercutio did date Tybalt when he was younger and there is jealousy and possessivity? In a lot of adaptations that have each family as a gang Mercutio and Benvolio seem to be co-leaders, so maybe some cool heist-fic or anyway something exploring the worldbuilding of the feud and how they face it together?
Something that really intrigues me about them is that dialogue where Mercutio pokes fun at Benvolio for being a violent drunk and in general much more prone to anger than how he acts - and I don't like to think he's joking or talking about himself, Mercutio is really good at seeing under people's masks. So some backstory to that conversation would be nice.
In general they have such a lovely dynamic that fits slow burn friends to lovers or a nice comic perfectly. You're welcome to involve Romeo as much as you wish, trio shenanigans are always lovely! If you go with them being older, or even just more worldly and protective, I think I would enjoy them worrying about their friend's relationship with a Capulet and doing sleuthing about her and so on.
Benvolio Montague/Prince Escalus
This is a guilty pleasure of mine: you can lean on the age difference as much as or little as you want, since most portrayal of Escalus are 40-ish or anyway middle aged, but there have been fairly young ones too and one of the historical figures he might have been based on died at 27 - I would though prefer for Benvolio to be 18-20 if you write this one, rather than underage. My first image for them is post-play, during the long adjustment period that one can imagine follows the end of the feud - how does Benvolio actually feel about, given that he always leaned towards peace but he also has a very huge and very recent reason to not feel peacefully inclined to the Capulets? He might willingly volunteer to help Escalus in his goals (a huge guilty pleasure of mine with them is Buddy Cop AU, modern or adapted to canon era with Benvolio being hired in the prince's guard maybe?) or rather he might go through a phase of depression/rebellion that Escalus kinda has to snap him out of... one way or another. Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be post play: there's a lot of potential in Benvolio sneaking off to sleep with his best friend's uncle on the sly, or even just having a crush for him, maybe unconsciously getting involved into fights because he gets off being yelled at or something.
Solo: Juliet Capulet - Solo: Lady Capulet
Doing these together because I'm also really interested in their relationship, but it's totally okay to have them in a different circumstance!
So, you can find a lot of my thoughts about Juliet down in the crossover section, but I think there are so many fascinating dynamics she's in the middle of! What was her childhood like, given she was obviously a lot closer to the Nurse's family than her own? It's not known when Nurse's daughter died, so maybe they were friends before that, and it's kind of why Juliet doesn't really seem to have any other friends despite having female cousins, because she can't get as close to any other girl? Were she and Tybalt best friends? Something else I find very interesting is her relationship with her mother, who is interesting because, while a lot of adaptations have her as a sort of stepford wife/pageant mom, is actually very interesting because like... she routinely assassinates people? She speaks her mind pretty openly? So it's not just an issue of Lady Capulet wanting a perfect little doll for a daughter, I actually find it interesting that, while 13 year old unmarried Juliet is expected to obey and shut up, she's actually being groomed to be a sort of Lucrezia Borgia-like figure, similar to her mom, except... she could totally be that way (the way she spins words to lie to her mom in Act 3 Scene 5, or how she manipulates Friar Lawrence making him think she's gonna kill herself) but she just hates the way of becoming like that. Since she can see her mom isn't happy or having functional relationships with anyone, and she's rather cold and distant with her, whereas she wants to be able to love and be sincere.
It would also be interesting to see Lady C's past, as a very, very young mother married to a much older man, and the fact so many of her children died, as Lord C says "Earth hath buried all my hopes but she", and of course that's valid with Juliet too, how impactful was it for her? Were they all stillbirths or did any died in infancy/old enough for her to have bonded with? Is this why she's so kind of resigned about Tybalt's death? This got dark.
Also an interesting thing: Lady C's relationship with Tybalt, and her brother (did he die? I feel like it's widespread fanon that he did die and that's why Tybalt is kinda adopted into the Capulet house but also nothing really indicates it in canon so) and how she might project one on the other. I don't like Tybalt/Lady Capulet sexual relationships, but I do love how she cared for him, and I like the thought he found him more compatible than Juliet to her and was kinda more maternal to him
Gotham
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Excerpts from a Character's Journal/Notebook/Sketchbook
Medium Opt In: AmITheAsshole post
Here the opt-ins are pretty self-explanatory, I think, given how canon establishes that conspiracy boards are kinda how baby Bruce copes with things. You can bring on any unrequested characters for the AmITheAsshole post, given how both the relationship here could draw a lot of mileage from the poster being called out en-masse for their poor relationship handling. Feel also free to combine the two into a sad pining teen love triangle! One thing I ask is that you don't make too many parallels/links to other DCU media, both because I'm very fond of these dynamics and am not hugely interested about reading about those characters as adults, and because I'm very new to the DCU fandom still.
Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle
These two are just the death of me, both in their early seasons tender puppy love and in their later teen drama. A bit of adventure/slice of life from their time in the street together would be great, or the background of the whole saga with Selina's mom, maybe with Bruce trying to track her down (excellent conspiracy board material!) and soft hurt/comfort afterwards. And similar instances of Bruce's weird contorted "throwing money at stuff to solve people's problems and maybe THEN I'll deserved to be loved!!" love language. Or maybe in season 1 Bruce does actually get kindapped by the spirit of the goat and Selina for whatever reason is the one to rescue him! I love how much of Selina's looking for a gang is really her looking for a family, and any happy ending of that kind for them would be great.
Selina Kyle/Bridgit Pike
Kidfic! History! They obviously went through so much together. (Incidentally, a song they make me think off if you're inclined in that direction is Run for your life, the Fray) I love how Selina has this mom-friend streak and wants Bridgit to fight for herself - she'd be so miserable she ended up being exploited again like she was by her brothers. I love the idea of her running with the Goddess of fire thing to get close to Bridgit, keeping the show of being her servant up until she trusts her and she can try to bring her real self back. Which is a great long-term fic, but I'd also love a simple scene in that episode in the Arkham secret room, with all the angst of having to talk to her friend as someone she's not, serving her and like soothing her burns and stuff to try to get her trust but her heart is breaking all along.
A Song of Ice and Fire
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Song Lyrics - Filk/Parody
Medium Opt-In: Animatic
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
I strongly prefer no setting AUs for this one - I'm just enamored with the politics and aesthetic of Westeros. I'm also significantly more okay with porn in this one, though i' d still prefer no pwp. For fanvids, filk and animatic, in addition to whatever unrelated song that might inspire you I signal you the excellent renditions of in-universe songs (as well as original fan songs) by Karliene and christocakes
Asha Greyjoy & Theon Greyjoy
There are several options here:
- kidfic! Childish adventures in the sea, their relationship with their other brothers - we know so little about Asha's feelings for them, it's such a pity - the way they dealt with the war. They didn't seem to have a terribly peaceful relationship as children, but they clearly loved each other. Bickering and pranks feel very natural, but also mutual comfort and easiness and going through such a scary time together, Asha's feelings about Theon's exile etc
- during canon! Again, fighting, bickering, possible UST due to Asha's questionable methods, friendly sibling sparring
- unfortunately, post Reek. Lots of hurt/comfort and confiding and trusting in each other at this point, I just want soft interactions between them so bad. Sailing together, maybe ruling together once the war is over. Maybe a little past Throbb, and Theon confiding to Asha about it?
For either of these, feel free to bring in whathever members of the Greyjoy family you feel like. Their dysfunction is like crack to me.
Aeron Greyjoy&Theon Greyjoy
Doubly so about the Greyjoy dysfunction. Bring it on. But this has potential for really good dialogue and slow begrudging mutual respect - there are a lot of parallels between young Aeron and Theon, especially if we go with the theory Euron abused him, sexually or otherwise, and the way Aeron was "reborn" just like Theon. Kidfic is an option here too as well as post canon! Bonus points for Ironborn culture worldbuiling and nice sea imagery/funky sea creatures. The aesthetic of the iron islands is just beautiful.
Jaime Lannister/Ned Stark/Catelyn Stark
These three are so hot. I struggle to prompt actual plot for them because thing is - I just enjoyed their dialogues so much? I adore how Jaime is still so hung up on Catelyn's "shit for honor" remark two whole books later. I love how Jaime feels judged by Ned fifteen-something years later.
I'd also love a situation where Jaime is discharged from the Kingsguard after Aerys' murder and, for any reason (feel free to go in depth about it in fic! I love marriage politics) the marriages don't go as in canon but Catelyn is sent to marry him. Just two extremely reluctant (and in Jaime's case, probably depressed) teenagers having to make this work, culture shock, family dynamics, maybe babies? And in all this, maybe Ned joined the Kingsguard before Brandon's death and now Benjen is the heir, or he's married to Cersei or he's a kingsguard (in Jaime's place!!). Alternative, Jaime has to go to the wall after Aerys' murder and stops at winterfell, or he's sent there by Robert for whatever reason, whatever to get them all in one place. I'm very interested in UST for them, and fraught conversations about their obviously very different ideals that slowly blossom into romance. A scene similar to the bath in Harrenhal where the Starks confront Jaime about Aerys, maybe bringing up Brandon's death, and Jaime break down and reveals it. Any kind of them parenting all three together would MAKE MY DAY. Jaime and the little Starklings is just such an iddy combinatio to me. I'm not particular about how you deal with Cersei, but I'd prefer she not be more abusive or guilty against Jaime than in canon. Maybe she can't handle continuing their relationship while she's queen, maybe she dies young, sad as that would make me, maybe they simply drift apart.
Jaime Lannister/Brandon Stark
This intrigues me so much. Why does Jaime think Brandon is so similar to himself? I don't think they would have managed to meet much in canon. Maybe there was a quick flirt at the tourney of Harrnehal before Jaime was sent away, just enough to leave a strong impression and make Jaime having to watch him die terribly angsty. Or maybe Brandon is held prisoner for a while and Jaime manages to save him, or maybe even more dramatically he murders Aerys in full view of everyone and they run away, extremely traumatized but determined to be together?
If we were villains
Medium Opt-in: In-Universe Screenplay
Medium Opt-In: Costume Design
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
Colin Hyland/Alexander Vass
James Farrow/Oliver Marks
James Farrow/Oliver Marks/Alexander Vass
So, I'm not going to break this one down into ships because this is a cast that I always kinda view as ensemble, but I would love any theatre kid shenanigans! This includes the opt-ins, of course: costume design and casting for these kids doing any Shakespeare play of your choosing, in an alternative universe where the teachers chose different stuff or simply as a, like, pet project they had or post canon. You can go full pretentious here, that's what dark academia is for, I welcome any lenghty philosophical/artistic discussion, just as I welcome extreme offstage drama. Maybe some other jealous students are sabotaging them!
I would be very interested to see how Colin and Alexander's relationship continues post-canon, how Colin deals with the immensity of horror and drama in Alexander's life that he's kinda an external observer to - or did the juniors get up to some equally awful stuff? It's your choice.
It's not in the book, but Rio also said Oliver broke up with his high school gf because she also auditioned for the school but didn't make it - it would be interesting to see how the boys help him through that and everyone's feelings about it. Or of course, interesting theatre exercises, like the one with the animals, that lead to UST and so on...
Othello
Medium Opt-In: Costume Design
Medium Opt-In: Theatre - Shakespearean-style
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
So for the opt ins it's the same situation as r&j: I love AUs so you can totally give me your modern interpretation of the characters just like renaissance costume porn, both for fic and for costume design. The rest I think is self explanatory.
Desdemona&Cassio
Their friendship is so sweet! I love what an insecure, overachieving mess Cassio is under all the poise and perfectionism and it would be very cute to have some backstories on whether they knew each other before the plot started. There are throwaway hints he's married in the play ("a fellow almost damned in a fair wife") so what's that about? Was Desi at the wedding? Do they REALLY not get along that she's never mentioned and he sluts up with Bianca with no problem, or did she like die tragically in childbirth and Iago didn't know? I love hoe protective of him Desdemona is and I love the idea it's mutual.
Desdemona/Othello
What were their first interactions like? According to the play, fucking amazing. I love how Desdemona envies Othello's adventures and told her she wishes she were a man to live such experiences, but also how she comforted him when he told her the worst (seriously there's so much going on? What's this thing that he killed his brother? And he was a slave? Will explaiiiin). They just have such awesome chemistry, and I love the idea that Othello knows Desdemona more than most people in a sense (the "Oh my fair warrior" <3). She's clearly enjoying herself so much as a military wife, and they were so good for each other until they weren't.
I have no preference on whether you leave them with the big age difference the play kinda implies or not: tbh I also like interpreting the line where Othello says he's too old for the pleasure of the flesh as simply irony of how everyone expects him to be a sex fiend, or him being ace. It's the first time I request this so I don't have many prompts, I just want something happy really.
Six of Crows
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Excerpts from a Character's Journal/Notebook/Sketchbook
Medium Opt-In: Theatre - Shakespearean-style
Kaz Brekker/Jesper Fahey/Inej Ghafa/Matthias Helvar/Wylan van Eck/Nina Zenik
Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck
These are pretty self-explanatory, I think. I want to see Kaz's conspiracy boards so much. Again, not going to break down prompts by ship because this is a very ensamble cast to me. One thing is that I didn't read anything by Bardugo beyond this duology, nor do I have any interest in the Grisha trilogy or Kings of Scars, so please not too many connections. I do know of Hanne's existence and I would be happy to see her interact with Matthias and Nina, just please not in the canon situation where she's shipped with Nina and Matthias is dead. Friendship or, why not, poly triad are great.
As for prompts, there is a world of adventures for these kids to have! Whether in Kerch or on a trip - it would be so fun to see them traveling together, maybe filling up poor Colm's farm or visiting each other post ending. For Kanej, the Ordeal of Kaz meeting Inej's parents, maybe they could rope him into doing a magician's act for their circus! Do any of them have kids post-ending? Do Nina and Matthias (I'd really love an AU where he lives, though ofc its not necessary) have success with their activism in Fjerda? I also feel like something we were robbed of is Marya's persepctive on Jesper and her reunion with her son, so that would be a great addition.
Crossover
I don't normally request crossovers and I feel a bit weird about it, but these are pairings that always struck me as logical. Feel free to have a simple snapshot/scene for a comic, if you are unable to get into backstory in the space you have - a conversation or hurt/comfort/cuddling or Juliet helping Cordelia into armor or idk
Juliet Capulet/ Cordelia (King Lear)
Ok, so, this is kinda a spite-response to the various shipping together of unrelated Shakespeare ingenues who don't really have parallels beyond "tragic and romantic", but I love how similar their ethic ad way of expressing love is. One of Juliet's most fascinating traits to me is how good she is as lying and deception - and yet clearly despises it, which is definitely a reflection imho of something that was expected of her. Like, maybe her parents are grooming her to be more of a Lucrezia Borgia figure than just a chaste submissive maiden, at least once she'll be married, but she despises that, she values opennes and passion and sincerity (her snark about how other girls pretend to be shy but she can't do that in the balcony scene is just... such a 13 year old not-like-other-girls mood, bless her) and who embodies that better than Cordelia? They have a very similar way to talk about love, with the fixation on whether it's something that can be counted/divided or not, and I just want dialogue between them so much. Cordelia is herself someone who has a lot of experience of treachery (probably more hands-on, being a princess rather than random barely-nobility) and in my opinion consciously chooses out of pride and her own moral compass to be true, rather than being Too Pure To Lie.
As for real prompts, there's a lot of ways they can come together (in a setting AU or fudging the time these plays are set a bit). Maybe it's after the events of r&j, where Juliet decides to run away, maybe seeking vengeance for Romeo's death, rather than kill herself, and maybe she gets to England, or to France after Cordelia is married, and she decides to stick there and Cordelia teaches her how to fight (I love how she becomes a warrior queen tbh). Or Cordelia is married to Escalus instead of the king of France and they meet at the Capulet party and she becomes kinda of a mentor role for Juliet!
Regarding that, for this one I'm okay with aging up Juliet, since I imagine Cordelia to be a bit older than I imagine Romeo and it can be squicky, but I'm fine with the slightly badwrong version with 14 yo Juliet and late teen/young adult Cordelia as well, as well as Cordelia being younger! Basically whatever you want. I like Romeo and Juliet as a couple, so I'd prefer no bashing/horrible breakups/overall feeling it was a mistake for them, though you can just handwave they never met too, whereas for Cordelia's marriage I'm fine with everything: love, one sided love, friendship, each other's beards etc
Murtagh Morzansson/Sansa Stark
So, this is a crack pairing I galaxy-brained when I was a teenager and it just... works in my mind. There are a lot of parallels between Murtagh's situation and Sansa's: the way they're forced into submission to survive, even when they feel awfully guilty about it, how they were made to betray their own family unwillingly, the contrast with a younger sibling that is more assertive and strongwilled and escaped the pain they're though (though arguably got worse, in poor Arya's case), the envy they have for people they view as still immature and innocent. Arguably, even the Littlefinger situation - Galbatorix does sort of view Murtagh as a replacement for Morzan, and I do love the headcanon that there was something romantic between Morzan and Galbatorix, and so there's kind of an unspoken threat Galbatorix's abuse may turn sexual, even if he doesn't really do it (or maybe he does. I make an exception to the non-con DNW for this one really)
So... prompts. I don't know how you can merge the universes - I thought of merging Galbatorix and Tywin, or possibly having the Lannisters simply be important nobles of Galbatorix's court rather than royalty, or maybe Galbatorix is this universe's perverse version of Daenerys and the story take place after he has taken over from the Lannisters? These are just ideas really, whatever you can think of. And I would love Sansa and Murtagh finding solidarity in each other in their captivity - maybe it's Murtagh who protects Sansa, or maybe Murtagh is taken when Sansa is already at court for a while, and she's the one to tell him to give up resistance for his survival and the good of his little dragon. (Also, Sansa cuddling a baby dragon! Helping Murtagh pick the name!) Just something sweet and supportive, with romance slowly being born from understanding and comfort etc. Same as above, you can just do whatever you want with the ages.
Get out (2017)
Chris Washington/Rod Williams
It just struck me as so romantic, the way this movie ended - kind of like, if Rod was a girl, this totally would be a situation where he represents the nice girl next door as a contrast to the dark horror experience he just had. I fear I don't have many prompts? But just a bit of snuggling and romance and hurt/comfort at the end would be nice, or a more elaborate thing where they plan to take down the cult together - with all the obstacles they would face, both racism and like, in general, not being believed because this is nuts etc.
First of all, consider everything in this letter to be completely optional, especially in the case of special mediums, as I have never received one before and don't know well how to prompt, not to mention I'd be over the moon with everything. Length or amount of prompts has nothing to do with my desire to receive any fandom or pairing, only how much overthinking I have done about them!
Now, here for the general stuff:
Likes
Here is the stuff that REALLY drives me crazy and is 100% guaranteed to enhance my fic if included.
- 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
- 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
Opt ins:
This is not to be interpreted as "tropes I'm meh about'" but rather commonly DNWd stuff I like and doesn't bother me if included in fic, but I'm not asking you to go out of your way to include (nor that you should go out of your way to include likes either, again totally fine with ODAO, but you get me). Feel free to also ask the mods for anything not included here
- Gender/sexuality headcanons. Honestly literally any headcanon you have
- Pretty much anything stylistically (person, tense, 5 +1 fix, song fic for all i know… Just feel free)
- Underage as long as it's over 13 and without like… 10+ age gaps or manipulation
- Torture and violence, though I prefer it not be excessively graphic, but you can trust your judgment, it's not something that will ruin my gift in any case
- Suicide/self harm
- Abuse, as long as it isn't a requested character being the abuser
DNWs
- Rape/noncon (unless said otherwise or canon backstory
- Cheating
- Unrequited love that doesn’t end either with getting together or with the pining character meeting someone else
- 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
Opt-in mediums clarification:
- I just don't have a developed enough taste in music to prompt songs, but I strongly prefer songs with lyrics over instrumentals. Just in case you need any inspiration, feel free to completely ignore: I enjoy musical showtunes, indie, my favorite artists are Aurora, OfMonstersAndMen, Skillet, Laura Marling, Halsey etc. I also prompted some fan music for the specific fandoms
- Probably irrelevant, but I'm Italian! If by some cosmic consequence you are too, feel free to bust out the De Andrè discography etc, especially for r&j.
- I enjoy both videos that tell a story and video that simply explore a theme/character study. Unfortunately I didn't do much nomming so i didn't prompt much in terms of solo characters but it's not necessary to make a video shippy as long as there's some character I requested in there
- I don't have much of a preference in terms of effects used etc. But I do prefer colors over black and white
- When I say Shakespearean-style theatre, I mostly imagine that stuff where Star Wars and ASOIAF scenes are rewritten as if they were a scene from a Shakespeare play, with asides for inner monologue and all. I love them.
- I am very amenable to everything for comics and art likes in general! Again, I prefer having color, and I love focus on expressions and characters and all but really whatever fits your style. I'd be over the moon with anyhing
- AITA posts can be serious or more comedical, based on real events of the plot or some shenanigan you made up, no preference. You can always involve unrequested characters there as commenters etc.
So, I'll be sort of light on prompts because I just don't have a lot of ideas for the opt-ins, but if you need any inspirations my former letters are here, my Tumblr is team-mom-wannabe and my ao3 account amitye. I tried my best but probably didn't take the best look at the various opt-ins so if there's anything that inspires you but haven't requested feel free to contact me!
Romeo and Juliet
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
Medium opt-in: In-Universe Poetry
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Animatic
Medium Opt-In: Song Lyrics - Filk/Parody
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: Remix - Fic Remix of my Fic
Medium Opt-In: Remix - Art Remix of my Fic
Medium Opt-In: Costume design
I love AUs for Shakespearean fandoms, you can truly get wild with that, but for this one I would prefer it keeping some of the high stakes of the feud in mind, even if it's lighthearted. Like, characters are in high school while the plot happens is okay, the feud is between two rival frat parties I'd rather avoid. I'd also prefer no age ups - Juliet being her canon age, Romeo 15-16 and the other boys no older than their late teens.
For a quick explanation of the opt ins: first of all, a lot of them aren't shippy, so feel free to use any combination of the requested characters for them. I'd prefer fanvids to use footage from the 1968 movie or some niche adaptation than the 1996 R+J. Honestly for the music I'd love any old fanvidding staple (If I die young, This is war, Daniel in the Den, Lucy, So cold, you know the genre) but I don't have huge preferences, I trust you. For animatic/filk there is the option of using the Romeo et Juliette musical by Gerard Presgurvic too. For costume design I am absolutely fine with any AU or canon era. Conspiracy boards are in my mind mostly for Bencutio or Tycutio or Tyvolio (or straight up a poly thing, frankly, though I forgot to nominate it) - these boys would totally have conspiracy theories about each other/the third element that they're jealous of, especially influenced by the feud. The rest I think are pretty self-explanatory
Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague
I have such a sweet spot for these stupid babies and would like pretty much anything about them.I'd especially love a modernized version for a comic, showing how things change yet they stay the same. In fic, I'd love some exploration of their personal issues and how they seem to be the only people who truly understand each other in city of people who are cynical at best and murderous at worst - Juliet's family is pretty obviously abusive and a really fascinating clusterfuck of terrible dynamics, but Romeo seems pretty unhappy with his life as well, though he does at least have friends, it's easy to imagine he feels misunderstood and definitely uncomfortable with masculinity and violence expected of him. Otherwise, what if everything goes alright and they manage to get married in front of their families, what drama does it entail? What if instead of killing herself Juliet goes on a vengeful rampage (after all, her mother was planning to poison Romeo - she might very easily blame someone else for his death) ? What if they run away together and go explore Italy and have fun? There's so many possibilities.
Tybalt Capulet/Benvolio Montague
Of these boys, I really love the potential they have as foils. Tybalt is war and Benvolio is peace, but it's more complicated than that - Tybalt obviously thinks Benvolio's peacemaking is just a facade, judging from the opening fight, and I feel like he is right to some extent, at least in the sense that while Benvolio avoids conflict for safety and to avoid trouble with the law he doesn't really feel any more warmly to the Capulets than Tybalt does to the Montagues, which to Tybalt reads as hypocritical. And a lot of Tybalt's fightiness stems from a frankly sad tendency to see literally everything as a danger and threat.
So, I'd love any situation that allows to contrast them - rival gang leaders? they're both in love with Mercutio and having a lowkey pissing contest about it? Some combination of their parents having murdered each other? They both have some job of representing their family for an important occasion and keep sabotaging each other? Some weird BatFam AU where they're sidekicks to the same brooding vigilante (...Escalus?) and also throw down on the regular because their approaches are so different? (They have such a Dick and Jason vibe, good lord).
Mercutio/Tybalt
Ah, the apotheosis of enemies to lovers! I imagine them having a very fraught relationship, with their very clashing personalities and Mercutio's Montague friends, but I'd also like for there to be some genuine affection and protectiveness for each other, purely UST based relationships don't do it for me. I like the idea they truly have fun with all these fights they have, and in some way they can only be themselves with each other, where Mercutio has someone who doesn't go easy on him, compared to his much softer friends and a family that well, is royal, so is probably somewhat restrictive to him, and Tybalt is able to genuinely express his own feelings and be more than his family's sword arm. I like the idea he's both horrified and fascinated by Mercutio's freedom and shamelessness, and Mercutio has such a way to see into people and figure out the things they're hiding. A development of their relationship would be really cute, or maybe a situation where they're exes by the time the events of r&j happen, a getting back together story. One of the two getting kicked out for some misbehavior and only having the other to turn to. Maybe a situation where Mercutio survives the duel (and the stabbing was mostly accidental I suppose) and they have to navigate this mess? In general for them I'm super wild on H/C where the comforter caused the hurt. Bonus points in this one for banter and Mercutio's wild imagination exploited to the maximum potential
Benvolio Montague/ Mercutio
A very sweet relationship compared to the previous ones, but lots of potential all the same. A story of how their relationship evolved (from childhood friends, maybe?) would be really sweet. Maybe Mercutio did date Tybalt when he was younger and there is jealousy and possessivity? In a lot of adaptations that have each family as a gang Mercutio and Benvolio seem to be co-leaders, so maybe some cool heist-fic or anyway something exploring the worldbuilding of the feud and how they face it together?
Something that really intrigues me about them is that dialogue where Mercutio pokes fun at Benvolio for being a violent drunk and in general much more prone to anger than how he acts - and I don't like to think he's joking or talking about himself, Mercutio is really good at seeing under people's masks. So some backstory to that conversation would be nice.
In general they have such a lovely dynamic that fits slow burn friends to lovers or a nice comic perfectly. You're welcome to involve Romeo as much as you wish, trio shenanigans are always lovely! If you go with them being older, or even just more worldly and protective, I think I would enjoy them worrying about their friend's relationship with a Capulet and doing sleuthing about her and so on.
Benvolio Montague/Prince Escalus
This is a guilty pleasure of mine: you can lean on the age difference as much as or little as you want, since most portrayal of Escalus are 40-ish or anyway middle aged, but there have been fairly young ones too and one of the historical figures he might have been based on died at 27 - I would though prefer for Benvolio to be 18-20 if you write this one, rather than underage. My first image for them is post-play, during the long adjustment period that one can imagine follows the end of the feud - how does Benvolio actually feel about, given that he always leaned towards peace but he also has a very huge and very recent reason to not feel peacefully inclined to the Capulets? He might willingly volunteer to help Escalus in his goals (a huge guilty pleasure of mine with them is Buddy Cop AU, modern or adapted to canon era with Benvolio being hired in the prince's guard maybe?) or rather he might go through a phase of depression/rebellion that Escalus kinda has to snap him out of... one way or another. Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be post play: there's a lot of potential in Benvolio sneaking off to sleep with his best friend's uncle on the sly, or even just having a crush for him, maybe unconsciously getting involved into fights because he gets off being yelled at or something.
Solo: Juliet Capulet - Solo: Lady Capulet
Doing these together because I'm also really interested in their relationship, but it's totally okay to have them in a different circumstance!
So, you can find a lot of my thoughts about Juliet down in the crossover section, but I think there are so many fascinating dynamics she's in the middle of! What was her childhood like, given she was obviously a lot closer to the Nurse's family than her own? It's not known when Nurse's daughter died, so maybe they were friends before that, and it's kind of why Juliet doesn't really seem to have any other friends despite having female cousins, because she can't get as close to any other girl? Were she and Tybalt best friends? Something else I find very interesting is her relationship with her mother, who is interesting because, while a lot of adaptations have her as a sort of stepford wife/pageant mom, is actually very interesting because like... she routinely assassinates people? She speaks her mind pretty openly? So it's not just an issue of Lady Capulet wanting a perfect little doll for a daughter, I actually find it interesting that, while 13 year old unmarried Juliet is expected to obey and shut up, she's actually being groomed to be a sort of Lucrezia Borgia-like figure, similar to her mom, except... she could totally be that way (the way she spins words to lie to her mom in Act 3 Scene 5, or how she manipulates Friar Lawrence making him think she's gonna kill herself) but she just hates the way of becoming like that. Since she can see her mom isn't happy or having functional relationships with anyone, and she's rather cold and distant with her, whereas she wants to be able to love and be sincere.
It would also be interesting to see Lady C's past, as a very, very young mother married to a much older man, and the fact so many of her children died, as Lord C says "Earth hath buried all my hopes but she", and of course that's valid with Juliet too, how impactful was it for her? Were they all stillbirths or did any died in infancy/old enough for her to have bonded with? Is this why she's so kind of resigned about Tybalt's death? This got dark.
Also an interesting thing: Lady C's relationship with Tybalt, and her brother (did he die? I feel like it's widespread fanon that he did die and that's why Tybalt is kinda adopted into the Capulet house but also nothing really indicates it in canon so) and how she might project one on the other. I don't like Tybalt/Lady Capulet sexual relationships, but I do love how she cared for him, and I like the thought he found him more compatible than Juliet to her and was kinda more maternal to him
Gotham
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Excerpts from a Character's Journal/Notebook/Sketchbook
Medium Opt In: AmITheAsshole post
Here the opt-ins are pretty self-explanatory, I think, given how canon establishes that conspiracy boards are kinda how baby Bruce copes with things. You can bring on any unrequested characters for the AmITheAsshole post, given how both the relationship here could draw a lot of mileage from the poster being called out en-masse for their poor relationship handling. Feel also free to combine the two into a sad pining teen love triangle! One thing I ask is that you don't make too many parallels/links to other DCU media, both because I'm very fond of these dynamics and am not hugely interested about reading about those characters as adults, and because I'm very new to the DCU fandom still.
Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle
These two are just the death of me, both in their early seasons tender puppy love and in their later teen drama. A bit of adventure/slice of life from their time in the street together would be great, or the background of the whole saga with Selina's mom, maybe with Bruce trying to track her down (excellent conspiracy board material!) and soft hurt/comfort afterwards. And similar instances of Bruce's weird contorted "throwing money at stuff to solve people's problems and maybe THEN I'll deserved to be loved!!" love language. Or maybe in season 1 Bruce does actually get kindapped by the spirit of the goat and Selina for whatever reason is the one to rescue him! I love how much of Selina's looking for a gang is really her looking for a family, and any happy ending of that kind for them would be great.
Selina Kyle/Bridgit Pike
Kidfic! History! They obviously went through so much together. (Incidentally, a song they make me think off if you're inclined in that direction is Run for your life, the Fray) I love how Selina has this mom-friend streak and wants Bridgit to fight for herself - she'd be so miserable she ended up being exploited again like she was by her brothers. I love the idea of her running with the Goddess of fire thing to get close to Bridgit, keeping the show of being her servant up until she trusts her and she can try to bring her real self back. Which is a great long-term fic, but I'd also love a simple scene in that episode in the Arkham secret room, with all the angst of having to talk to her friend as someone she's not, serving her and like soothing her burns and stuff to try to get her trust but her heart is breaking all along.
A Song of Ice and Fire
Medium Opt-In: Fanvid
Medium Opt-In: Song Lyrics - Filk/Parody
Medium Opt-In: Animatic
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
I strongly prefer no setting AUs for this one - I'm just enamored with the politics and aesthetic of Westeros. I'm also significantly more okay with porn in this one, though i' d still prefer no pwp. For fanvids, filk and animatic, in addition to whatever unrelated song that might inspire you I signal you the excellent renditions of in-universe songs (as well as original fan songs) by Karliene and christocakes
Asha Greyjoy & Theon Greyjoy
There are several options here:
- kidfic! Childish adventures in the sea, their relationship with their other brothers - we know so little about Asha's feelings for them, it's such a pity - the way they dealt with the war. They didn't seem to have a terribly peaceful relationship as children, but they clearly loved each other. Bickering and pranks feel very natural, but also mutual comfort and easiness and going through such a scary time together, Asha's feelings about Theon's exile etc
- during canon! Again, fighting, bickering, possible UST due to Asha's questionable methods, friendly sibling sparring
- unfortunately, post Reek. Lots of hurt/comfort and confiding and trusting in each other at this point, I just want soft interactions between them so bad. Sailing together, maybe ruling together once the war is over. Maybe a little past Throbb, and Theon confiding to Asha about it?
For either of these, feel free to bring in whathever members of the Greyjoy family you feel like. Their dysfunction is like crack to me.
Aeron Greyjoy&Theon Greyjoy
Doubly so about the Greyjoy dysfunction. Bring it on. But this has potential for really good dialogue and slow begrudging mutual respect - there are a lot of parallels between young Aeron and Theon, especially if we go with the theory Euron abused him, sexually or otherwise, and the way Aeron was "reborn" just like Theon. Kidfic is an option here too as well as post canon! Bonus points for Ironborn culture worldbuiling and nice sea imagery/funky sea creatures. The aesthetic of the iron islands is just beautiful.
Jaime Lannister/Ned Stark/Catelyn Stark
These three are so hot. I struggle to prompt actual plot for them because thing is - I just enjoyed their dialogues so much? I adore how Jaime is still so hung up on Catelyn's "shit for honor" remark two whole books later. I love how Jaime feels judged by Ned fifteen-something years later.
I'd also love a situation where Jaime is discharged from the Kingsguard after Aerys' murder and, for any reason (feel free to go in depth about it in fic! I love marriage politics) the marriages don't go as in canon but Catelyn is sent to marry him. Just two extremely reluctant (and in Jaime's case, probably depressed) teenagers having to make this work, culture shock, family dynamics, maybe babies? And in all this, maybe Ned joined the Kingsguard before Brandon's death and now Benjen is the heir, or he's married to Cersei or he's a kingsguard (in Jaime's place!!). Alternative, Jaime has to go to the wall after Aerys' murder and stops at winterfell, or he's sent there by Robert for whatever reason, whatever to get them all in one place. I'm very interested in UST for them, and fraught conversations about their obviously very different ideals that slowly blossom into romance. A scene similar to the bath in Harrenhal where the Starks confront Jaime about Aerys, maybe bringing up Brandon's death, and Jaime break down and reveals it. Any kind of them parenting all three together would MAKE MY DAY. Jaime and the little Starklings is just such an iddy combinatio to me. I'm not particular about how you deal with Cersei, but I'd prefer she not be more abusive or guilty against Jaime than in canon. Maybe she can't handle continuing their relationship while she's queen, maybe she dies young, sad as that would make me, maybe they simply drift apart.
Jaime Lannister/Brandon Stark
This intrigues me so much. Why does Jaime think Brandon is so similar to himself? I don't think they would have managed to meet much in canon. Maybe there was a quick flirt at the tourney of Harrnehal before Jaime was sent away, just enough to leave a strong impression and make Jaime having to watch him die terribly angsty. Or maybe Brandon is held prisoner for a while and Jaime manages to save him, or maybe even more dramatically he murders Aerys in full view of everyone and they run away, extremely traumatized but determined to be together?
If we were villains
Medium Opt-in: In-Universe Screenplay
Medium Opt-In: Costume Design
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
Colin Hyland/Alexander Vass
James Farrow/Oliver Marks
James Farrow/Oliver Marks/Alexander Vass
So, I'm not going to break this one down into ships because this is a cast that I always kinda view as ensemble, but I would love any theatre kid shenanigans! This includes the opt-ins, of course: costume design and casting for these kids doing any Shakespeare play of your choosing, in an alternative universe where the teachers chose different stuff or simply as a, like, pet project they had or post canon. You can go full pretentious here, that's what dark academia is for, I welcome any lenghty philosophical/artistic discussion, just as I welcome extreme offstage drama. Maybe some other jealous students are sabotaging them!
I would be very interested to see how Colin and Alexander's relationship continues post-canon, how Colin deals with the immensity of horror and drama in Alexander's life that he's kinda an external observer to - or did the juniors get up to some equally awful stuff? It's your choice.
It's not in the book, but Rio also said Oliver broke up with his high school gf because she also auditioned for the school but didn't make it - it would be interesting to see how the boys help him through that and everyone's feelings about it. Or of course, interesting theatre exercises, like the one with the animals, that lead to UST and so on...
Othello
Medium Opt-In: Costume Design
Medium Opt-In: Theatre - Shakespearean-style
Medium Opt-in: Character Analysis
Medium Opt-In: r/AmITheAsshole Post
Medium Opt-In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry
So for the opt ins it's the same situation as r&j: I love AUs so you can totally give me your modern interpretation of the characters just like renaissance costume porn, both for fic and for costume design. The rest I think is self explanatory.
Desdemona&Cassio
Their friendship is so sweet! I love what an insecure, overachieving mess Cassio is under all the poise and perfectionism and it would be very cute to have some backstories on whether they knew each other before the plot started. There are throwaway hints he's married in the play ("a fellow almost damned in a fair wife") so what's that about? Was Desi at the wedding? Do they REALLY not get along that she's never mentioned and he sluts up with Bianca with no problem, or did she like die tragically in childbirth and Iago didn't know? I love hoe protective of him Desdemona is and I love the idea it's mutual.
Desdemona/Othello
What were their first interactions like? According to the play, fucking amazing. I love how Desdemona envies Othello's adventures and told her she wishes she were a man to live such experiences, but also how she comforted him when he told her the worst (seriously there's so much going on? What's this thing that he killed his brother? And he was a slave? Will explaiiiin). They just have such awesome chemistry, and I love the idea that Othello knows Desdemona more than most people in a sense (the "Oh my fair warrior" <3). She's clearly enjoying herself so much as a military wife, and they were so good for each other until they weren't.
I have no preference on whether you leave them with the big age difference the play kinda implies or not: tbh I also like interpreting the line where Othello says he's too old for the pleasure of the flesh as simply irony of how everyone expects him to be a sex fiend, or him being ace. It's the first time I request this so I don't have many prompts, I just want something happy really.
Six of Crows
Medium Opt-In: Conspiracy Board
Medium Opt-In: Excerpts from a Character's Journal/Notebook/Sketchbook
Medium Opt-In: Theatre - Shakespearean-style
Kaz Brekker/Jesper Fahey/Inej Ghafa/Matthias Helvar/Wylan van Eck/Nina Zenik
Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck
These are pretty self-explanatory, I think. I want to see Kaz's conspiracy boards so much. Again, not going to break down prompts by ship because this is a very ensamble cast to me. One thing is that I didn't read anything by Bardugo beyond this duology, nor do I have any interest in the Grisha trilogy or Kings of Scars, so please not too many connections. I do know of Hanne's existence and I would be happy to see her interact with Matthias and Nina, just please not in the canon situation where she's shipped with Nina and Matthias is dead. Friendship or, why not, poly triad are great.
As for prompts, there is a world of adventures for these kids to have! Whether in Kerch or on a trip - it would be so fun to see them traveling together, maybe filling up poor Colm's farm or visiting each other post ending. For Kanej, the Ordeal of Kaz meeting Inej's parents, maybe they could rope him into doing a magician's act for their circus! Do any of them have kids post-ending? Do Nina and Matthias (I'd really love an AU where he lives, though ofc its not necessary) have success with their activism in Fjerda? I also feel like something we were robbed of is Marya's persepctive on Jesper and her reunion with her son, so that would be a great addition.
Crossover
I don't normally request crossovers and I feel a bit weird about it, but these are pairings that always struck me as logical. Feel free to have a simple snapshot/scene for a comic, if you are unable to get into backstory in the space you have - a conversation or hurt/comfort/cuddling or Juliet helping Cordelia into armor or idk
Juliet Capulet/ Cordelia (King Lear)
Ok, so, this is kinda a spite-response to the various shipping together of unrelated Shakespeare ingenues who don't really have parallels beyond "tragic and romantic", but I love how similar their ethic ad way of expressing love is. One of Juliet's most fascinating traits to me is how good she is as lying and deception - and yet clearly despises it, which is definitely a reflection imho of something that was expected of her. Like, maybe her parents are grooming her to be more of a Lucrezia Borgia figure than just a chaste submissive maiden, at least once she'll be married, but she despises that, she values opennes and passion and sincerity (her snark about how other girls pretend to be shy but she can't do that in the balcony scene is just... such a 13 year old not-like-other-girls mood, bless her) and who embodies that better than Cordelia? They have a very similar way to talk about love, with the fixation on whether it's something that can be counted/divided or not, and I just want dialogue between them so much. Cordelia is herself someone who has a lot of experience of treachery (probably more hands-on, being a princess rather than random barely-nobility) and in my opinion consciously chooses out of pride and her own moral compass to be true, rather than being Too Pure To Lie.
As for real prompts, there's a lot of ways they can come together (in a setting AU or fudging the time these plays are set a bit). Maybe it's after the events of r&j, where Juliet decides to run away, maybe seeking vengeance for Romeo's death, rather than kill herself, and maybe she gets to England, or to France after Cordelia is married, and she decides to stick there and Cordelia teaches her how to fight (I love how she becomes a warrior queen tbh). Or Cordelia is married to Escalus instead of the king of France and they meet at the Capulet party and she becomes kinda of a mentor role for Juliet!
Regarding that, for this one I'm okay with aging up Juliet, since I imagine Cordelia to be a bit older than I imagine Romeo and it can be squicky, but I'm fine with the slightly badwrong version with 14 yo Juliet and late teen/young adult Cordelia as well, as well as Cordelia being younger! Basically whatever you want. I like Romeo and Juliet as a couple, so I'd prefer no bashing/horrible breakups/overall feeling it was a mistake for them, though you can just handwave they never met too, whereas for Cordelia's marriage I'm fine with everything: love, one sided love, friendship, each other's beards etc
Murtagh Morzansson/Sansa Stark
So, this is a crack pairing I galaxy-brained when I was a teenager and it just... works in my mind. There are a lot of parallels between Murtagh's situation and Sansa's: the way they're forced into submission to survive, even when they feel awfully guilty about it, how they were made to betray their own family unwillingly, the contrast with a younger sibling that is more assertive and strongwilled and escaped the pain they're though (though arguably got worse, in poor Arya's case), the envy they have for people they view as still immature and innocent. Arguably, even the Littlefinger situation - Galbatorix does sort of view Murtagh as a replacement for Morzan, and I do love the headcanon that there was something romantic between Morzan and Galbatorix, and so there's kind of an unspoken threat Galbatorix's abuse may turn sexual, even if he doesn't really do it (or maybe he does. I make an exception to the non-con DNW for this one really)
So... prompts. I don't know how you can merge the universes - I thought of merging Galbatorix and Tywin, or possibly having the Lannisters simply be important nobles of Galbatorix's court rather than royalty, or maybe Galbatorix is this universe's perverse version of Daenerys and the story take place after he has taken over from the Lannisters? These are just ideas really, whatever you can think of. And I would love Sansa and Murtagh finding solidarity in each other in their captivity - maybe it's Murtagh who protects Sansa, or maybe Murtagh is taken when Sansa is already at court for a while, and she's the one to tell him to give up resistance for his survival and the good of his little dragon. (Also, Sansa cuddling a baby dragon! Helping Murtagh pick the name!) Just something sweet and supportive, with romance slowly being born from understanding and comfort etc. Same as above, you can just do whatever you want with the ages.
Get out (2017)
Chris Washington/Rod Williams
It just struck me as so romantic, the way this movie ended - kind of like, if Rod was a girl, this totally would be a situation where he represents the nice girl next door as a contrast to the dark horror experience he just had. I fear I don't have many prompts? But just a bit of snuggling and romance and hurt/comfort at the end would be nice, or a more elaborate thing where they plan to take down the cult together - with all the obstacles they would face, both racism and like, in general, not being believed because this is nuts etc.
