Yuletide 2023
Oct. 20th, 2023 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewrongkindofpceta: I'm seeing a lot of letters this year specifying that they welcome treats -- I always thought that kind of went without saying, but if anyone is looking for that, yeah, anyone who feels inspired by my prompts, I'd love a treat!
Hi, Yuletide writer!
Optional details are optional, please feel free to disregard as much of what's below as you like -- I mostly just filled it out for inspiration, if you're looking for some, but if there's a story that it's already in your heart to write, please do that, I'll love it!
My only real DNW is stories that are heavily focused on brain damage or head trauma -- mentions or background incidents are fine, but I would love not to read any vivid descriptions. I also tend to like stories that have endings ranging from happy to bittersweet -- I don't usually go seeking out things that end relentlessly badly for people, though I don't need a happy-ever-after, either, you know?
If you want any more details about what I like/am into, my Ao3 account is a good guide. And I said this once and got a really fabulous, smash hit, straight-out-of-the-park response, so I'll say it again even though I'm really really not expecting it -- if crossovers, fusions, and AUs are the things that get your engine going, any fandom that you can see I've written or bookmarked is fair game to put in a blender with one of these.
Absolutely no pressure or expectation, but if you are someone who is drawn to writing porn, I have a comment up on Yuleporn with some thoughts about how these prompts might mesh with that HERE.
And finally, before I get into the fandom-specific prompts, thank you, mystery author! I'm very excited to share one of these tiny fandoms with you. <3
Kushiel's Legacy,
Characters: Maslin de Lombelon, Sidonie de la Courcel, Imriel de la Courcel, Dorelei mab Breidaia
Let's be perfectly honest here: I didn't actually love the last book in this series. That said, I'm happy for everything that happened in it to have happened if you want (except for my alternative prompt which I'll list below, for obvious reasons). What I want, though, is something that digs in to some of the unrealized possibilities of the Imriel/Sidonie/Maslin dynamic. I totally get why they didn't try it over the course of the books -- things were much too complicated emotionally for all of them already -- but what if, a few years down the line, Maslin is at court again, and sparks fly? He and Imriel did some serious bonding up there in the snowy vengeance quest of Kushiel's Justice, is it so wrong that I think maybe some day they'd like to hook up about it? Sidonie would definitely be down, I think.
I don't just mean this prompt in a sexy way, though -- if you're feeling that, please feel free, but if it's more of an outside-POV, here is the political reality of how they make it work kind of story (something from the point of view of one of Sidonie's guardsmen springs to mind) I'd be so down for that, too. Or just a series of moments between the three of them, if that's more your jam.
If you're not into the Maslin of it all, I'd love to see Sidonie interacting more with the various members of House Montreve, now that her relationship with Imriel is more solid, or if you want to go another way entirely, we could get into the Dorelei of it all.
Dorelei absolutely got a raw deal out of these books, and while I don't necessarily mind that for the books, which definitely have always had a pleasingly soap-operatic element, I'd love to see a version of the story where things go differently for her. A version of this story where she and Imriel and Sidonie and Sidonie's someday consort find a way to make it work? If you're feeling the pull towards that, I'd love that. But if you like Dorelei but that idea isn't striking your fancy, I also have a much weirder one.
The weirder idea is, what if, while Imri is off in Tiberium, when Maslin is still smarting with the infuriating knowledge that he's caught up in the middle of a grand love story that isn't his, he spends a little time with this foreign royal, Drustan's kinswoman -- either by chance, when accompanying she and Sidonie on an outing, or on purpose, to try to make Sidonie jealous, and somehow, they hit it off?
Just a stray thought that I had, but if you wanted to run with it, I'd be so delighted.
Man Like Mobeen
Characters: Mobeen Deen, Officer Harper, Aqsa Deen, Naveed
Okay, so I watched this show for the first time in February, and it ripped through my entire brain. It's one of those things where I love so many different things about it that if you wrote me just about anything, it would be exactly what I wanted. If we matched on this show I am shocked and DELIGHTED. I'll add a few optional details for inspiration, though.
It's a little embarrassing to admit it, but my favorite character is definitely just the main character. Mobeen is just so good, strong and ridiculous and fucked up and trying so hard -- I love him madly. Luckily, everyone else in the show tends to love him madly, too, so there's lots of space for emotional-displacement-as-art there. Mobeen and Aqsa's relationship gets me right in the guts every time and in every way, so anything you might want to do that focuses on that would give me life. Anything about Mobeen trying to figure out being out of prison again, making a life for himself now that Aqsa is grown up and doesn't need looking after the same way anymore, and how they navigate that relationship now, would be fabulous.
(I fully believe that the cliffhanger at the end of the final season gets resolved, all's-well-that-ends-well-style, though if the thing you're inspired to do is write the action story of how it gets resolved, that's fabulous, too. But if you don't want to take something that plotty on, I'm happy to take it as read.)
The show, especially in the last season, has totally leaned in to shipping Mobeen and Harper for us, and to be quite frank, I'm down for that, too, as long as we're all up for recognizing some of the fucked up ways Harper has acted towards Mobeen in the past. That bit in the last season where they give that guy a kind of joint counseling session? My heart. There's something there, either bromantially or without the "b", and that's all I have to say about that.
(That's a lie. There's so much more I could say, so much of how they're both versions of each other that they could have been, in other lives, and at first that makes them wary and angry with each other, and in the end it creates that weird, spiky tenderness. And then also they're different from each other in that way where, when one of them reveals a vulnerability, it really does surprise the other, because they both have a tendency to believe one another when they're putting on an invulnerable front. It's just good, okay?)
Finally, for a last character, I added Naveed, because my god, the palpable, touchable, tasteable (and it tastes like pain au chocolat, I'll bet you) sense of hubris in him is just irresistible and awful, and if you find it in your heart to write a character study of Nav the failed gangster who never got to be any good at Latin in school, or at playing tough when trying to take up the reigns of his father's business, I'll love you forever. I also felt like the SPOILER about a relative of his in s5 really recast an image of what his childhood was like in a fascinating way, if you want to get into that.
Reservation Dogs
Characters: Willie Jack, Cheese, Officer Big, Kenny Boy
One thing I love about this show is how much of an ensemble it really is, and how much space all of the secondary characters get, but it does still have its protagonists, and while I adore Bear and Elora, I'd love to see Willie Jack and Cheese get a little bit more space to shine. If you wanted to do something about the two of them together -- a buddy adventure, or something -- I'd love that, or if you're more drawn to a character study of either one of them, that's awesome, too. I'd love to see something a little ways into the future about them as they grow up, and what some of the choices they make next are. One thing I love about the show is how it expands generationally every season, and I just have such extreme someday-mentor vibes about both Cheese and Willie Jack, so anything about either of them looking out for someone younger would definitely be something I'd be into. Anything about either one of them thinking about gender or sexuality, too, would be rad, if that's somewhere you're inspired to go with it.
Or, if you want to go another way entirely, I would be so here for another Kenny Boy and Big Excellent Adventure -- both of their relationship with both the community and the way the law works on and around the community is fascinating to me, and also they are just such a funny odd-couple.
Happy yuletide, mystery writer!
Hi, Yuletide writer!
Optional details are optional, please feel free to disregard as much of what's below as you like -- I mostly just filled it out for inspiration, if you're looking for some, but if there's a story that it's already in your heart to write, please do that, I'll love it!
My only real DNW is stories that are heavily focused on brain damage or head trauma -- mentions or background incidents are fine, but I would love not to read any vivid descriptions. I also tend to like stories that have endings ranging from happy to bittersweet -- I don't usually go seeking out things that end relentlessly badly for people, though I don't need a happy-ever-after, either, you know?
If you want any more details about what I like/am into, my Ao3 account is a good guide. And I said this once and got a really fabulous, smash hit, straight-out-of-the-park response, so I'll say it again even though I'm really really not expecting it -- if crossovers, fusions, and AUs are the things that get your engine going, any fandom that you can see I've written or bookmarked is fair game to put in a blender with one of these.
Absolutely no pressure or expectation, but if you are someone who is drawn to writing porn, I have a comment up on Yuleporn with some thoughts about how these prompts might mesh with that HERE.
And finally, before I get into the fandom-specific prompts, thank you, mystery author! I'm very excited to share one of these tiny fandoms with you. <3
Kushiel's Legacy,
Characters: Maslin de Lombelon, Sidonie de la Courcel, Imriel de la Courcel, Dorelei mab Breidaia
Let's be perfectly honest here: I didn't actually love the last book in this series. That said, I'm happy for everything that happened in it to have happened if you want (except for my alternative prompt which I'll list below, for obvious reasons). What I want, though, is something that digs in to some of the unrealized possibilities of the Imriel/Sidonie/Maslin dynamic. I totally get why they didn't try it over the course of the books -- things were much too complicated emotionally for all of them already -- but what if, a few years down the line, Maslin is at court again, and sparks fly? He and Imriel did some serious bonding up there in the snowy vengeance quest of Kushiel's Justice, is it so wrong that I think maybe some day they'd like to hook up about it? Sidonie would definitely be down, I think.
I don't just mean this prompt in a sexy way, though -- if you're feeling that, please feel free, but if it's more of an outside-POV, here is the political reality of how they make it work kind of story (something from the point of view of one of Sidonie's guardsmen springs to mind) I'd be so down for that, too. Or just a series of moments between the three of them, if that's more your jam.
If you're not into the Maslin of it all, I'd love to see Sidonie interacting more with the various members of House Montreve, now that her relationship with Imriel is more solid, or if you want to go another way entirely, we could get into the Dorelei of it all.
Dorelei absolutely got a raw deal out of these books, and while I don't necessarily mind that for the books, which definitely have always had a pleasingly soap-operatic element, I'd love to see a version of the story where things go differently for her. A version of this story where she and Imriel and Sidonie and Sidonie's someday consort find a way to make it work? If you're feeling the pull towards that, I'd love that. But if you like Dorelei but that idea isn't striking your fancy, I also have a much weirder one.
The weirder idea is, what if, while Imri is off in Tiberium, when Maslin is still smarting with the infuriating knowledge that he's caught up in the middle of a grand love story that isn't his, he spends a little time with this foreign royal, Drustan's kinswoman -- either by chance, when accompanying she and Sidonie on an outing, or on purpose, to try to make Sidonie jealous, and somehow, they hit it off?
Just a stray thought that I had, but if you wanted to run with it, I'd be so delighted.
Man Like Mobeen
Characters: Mobeen Deen, Officer Harper, Aqsa Deen, Naveed
Okay, so I watched this show for the first time in February, and it ripped through my entire brain. It's one of those things where I love so many different things about it that if you wrote me just about anything, it would be exactly what I wanted. If we matched on this show I am shocked and DELIGHTED. I'll add a few optional details for inspiration, though.
It's a little embarrassing to admit it, but my favorite character is definitely just the main character. Mobeen is just so good, strong and ridiculous and fucked up and trying so hard -- I love him madly. Luckily, everyone else in the show tends to love him madly, too, so there's lots of space for emotional-displacement-as-art there. Mobeen and Aqsa's relationship gets me right in the guts every time and in every way, so anything you might want to do that focuses on that would give me life. Anything about Mobeen trying to figure out being out of prison again, making a life for himself now that Aqsa is grown up and doesn't need looking after the same way anymore, and how they navigate that relationship now, would be fabulous.
(I fully believe that the cliffhanger at the end of the final season gets resolved, all's-well-that-ends-well-style, though if the thing you're inspired to do is write the action story of how it gets resolved, that's fabulous, too. But if you don't want to take something that plotty on, I'm happy to take it as read.)
The show, especially in the last season, has totally leaned in to shipping Mobeen and Harper for us, and to be quite frank, I'm down for that, too, as long as we're all up for recognizing some of the fucked up ways Harper has acted towards Mobeen in the past. That bit in the last season where they give that guy a kind of joint counseling session? My heart. There's something there, either bromantially or without the "b", and that's all I have to say about that.
(That's a lie. There's so much more I could say, so much of how they're both versions of each other that they could have been, in other lives, and at first that makes them wary and angry with each other, and in the end it creates that weird, spiky tenderness. And then also they're different from each other in that way where, when one of them reveals a vulnerability, it really does surprise the other, because they both have a tendency to believe one another when they're putting on an invulnerable front. It's just good, okay?)
Finally, for a last character, I added Naveed, because my god, the palpable, touchable, tasteable (and it tastes like pain au chocolat, I'll bet you) sense of hubris in him is just irresistible and awful, and if you find it in your heart to write a character study of Nav the failed gangster who never got to be any good at Latin in school, or at playing tough when trying to take up the reigns of his father's business, I'll love you forever. I also felt like the SPOILER about a relative of his in s5 really recast an image of what his childhood was like in a fascinating way, if you want to get into that.
Reservation Dogs
Characters: Willie Jack, Cheese, Officer Big, Kenny Boy
One thing I love about this show is how much of an ensemble it really is, and how much space all of the secondary characters get, but it does still have its protagonists, and while I adore Bear and Elora, I'd love to see Willie Jack and Cheese get a little bit more space to shine. If you wanted to do something about the two of them together -- a buddy adventure, or something -- I'd love that, or if you're more drawn to a character study of either one of them, that's awesome, too. I'd love to see something a little ways into the future about them as they grow up, and what some of the choices they make next are. One thing I love about the show is how it expands generationally every season, and I just have such extreme someday-mentor vibes about both Cheese and Willie Jack, so anything about either of them looking out for someone younger would definitely be something I'd be into. Anything about either one of them thinking about gender or sexuality, too, would be rad, if that's somewhere you're inspired to go with it.
Or, if you want to go another way entirely, I would be so here for another Kenny Boy and Big Excellent Adventure -- both of their relationship with both the community and the way the law works on and around the community is fascinating to me, and also they are just such a funny odd-couple.
Happy yuletide, mystery writer!
