darkest night letter
General wants/don't wants:
So this is a darker-fic exchange, which means I had to cut a sizable portion of my usual letter.
Think more Hitchcock, less Saw when it comes to violence. I would prefer no graphic violence and gore. Instead, I'd love a story that makes me think twice about climbing the stairs without turning ALL the lights on first. I'm also into shiny veneers that hide dark secrets. I've selected the "skeletons in the closet" tag and you MAY take that literally, if it works for you. I'm also down for characters dealing with things using black humor. Tinges of hope at the end are generally good. I'd prefer to avoid dubcon/non-con in general (one request in here does address you ignoring that one), definitely no graphic sexual violence. Also, be nice to the animals. Those always bother me more. Feel free to kill people off as needed.
I love urban legends and phantom hitchhikers and Return to Glennascaul. I'm always down for dysfunctional families and relationships.
I generally prefer het or gen. Explicit sex can be good, see the block of DNW tags for things I'm not into. I generally don't get into kink in stories, but feel free to have people get down.
I'm a fan of AU, but prefer canon-divergence or "what-if" scenarios, rather than "all the characters are at boarding school together" types. (Unless, of course, the characters are already together at boarding school together...)
I am a huge fan of "seemingly unrelated group of people trapped somewhere and discover they a) have something in common and b) can't just leave" - see Clue, see And Then There Were None. Please feel free to get soap opera-ish! Half-siblings no one knew about! Illegitimate siblings you thought were just family friends! Psycho-half-siblings who want to kill you and take your life over! Convenient accidents! Crazy wills and marriages of convenience! And unsolved mysteries (in general OR the show) rock my world.
Tags I am OK with (even if I didn't specifically request them): Aftermath of Violence, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Alternate Universe - Mortal Kombat, Alternate Universe - Pandemic, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Be Careful What You Wish For, Betrayal, Blackmail, blood will tell, Bodies in the basement, The caller is in the house, came back wrong, Castaways in Time, Character Death, Divorce, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, Folklore, Gaslighting, Ghosts, gothic horror, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hitchhiking, Implied Creepiness, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Moral Dilemmas, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Obsessive Behavior, Outliving Friends and Family, Parallel Universe, Phantom Hitchhiker, Poison, Post-Apocalypse, Rape Aftermath, Return to Glennascaul, Revenge, Revenge Backfire, Revenge Seduction, Revenge Sex, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Rocks Fall Everyone Dies, Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, Skeletons In The Closet, Things no one talks about, Threats, Time Loop, Time Travel Fix-It Gone Wrong, Unavoidable fate, Unhealthy Relationships, unsolved mystery, Urban Legends, Verbal Abuse, Voyeurism
Tags I am NOT OK with: Accidental Incest, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Saw Movies Fusion, Bestiality, Blood Kink, Bloodplay, Body Horror, Body Modification, Breathplay, Brother/Sister Incest, Buried Alive, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Castration, Cock & Ball Torture, Cock Stuffing, Coma Sex, Decapitation, Disembowelment, Dom Ignores Sub Saying Safeword, Extremely Underage, Forced to Commit Rape, Forced To Harm Loved One, Fuck Or Die, Gang Rape, Genital Mutilation, Genocide, Human Sacrifice, Incest, Knifeplay, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Experimentation, Monster Rape, Necrophilia, Nipple Torture, Non Consensual Mpreg, Sadomasochism, Scat, Sex in the Blood of their Enemies, Sex Pollen, Sex Post-Castration, Sexual Slavery, Slavery, Snuff, Stuffing, Tentacle Rape, Tricked into D/S, Turned Into a Werewolf, Underage Prostitution, Underage Sex, Vampirism, Virgin Sacrifice, Vivisection, Vomiting, Vore, Wound Fucking, Zombies
Onto the requests!
1. Wait Until Helen Comes - Mary Downing Hahn
Rose Simmons, Mr. Simmons, Mr. Simmons' Sister, Helen Harper
Ghosts, Nightmares, Unsolved Mysteries, Phantom Hitchhiker
One of the first really creepy books I ever read, and it's stuck. In this one, the cemetery caretaker (Mr. Simmons) tells Molly that his sister believes their cousin Rose was lured to her death in Harper Pond. Tell me that story - why was Rose one of the young, friendless girls the ghost preyed on? Or what happens to the other little girls Helen lures into the pond? She says they go away. Maybe Rose becomes a phantom hitchhiker?
2. The Bobbsey Twins - Laura Lee Hope
Mary Bobbsey, Nan Bobbsey, Richard Bobbsey, Nellie Parks
AU-Hunger Games setting, AU-Serial Killers, Blackmail, Bodies in the Basement, The Caller is in the House, Gaslighting, Ghosts, Revenge, Skeletons in the Closet, Urban Legends, Phantom Hitchhiker, Return to Glennascaul
So, the Bobbseys are just too good and perfect. While I want the story to focus mostly on the ladies, feel free to make Richard Bobbsey the big bad and them the victims/valiant fighters. AU-Serial Killers would be great with Dad as serial killer (the lumberyard has a lakefront and probably a woodchipper). If you've read Agatha Christie's short "Philomel College", feel free to riff off that. Maybe Mr. Bobbsey is a bigamist, or has some SECRET that he's trying to hide. Or maybe he just gaslights his wife for fun.
Or maybe they're both blackmailers (this is the only scenario where I'm really into Mary Bobbsey as criminal) - maybe he uses her sexually to set people up?
Or the whole family could be stalked by a serial killer.
If you go with the Hunger Games tag, feel free to drag in Danny Rugg.
I love Urban Legends (phantom hitchhikers, massacre on college campus, caller is in the house...) Maybe when Nan and Nellie go to college, they're on one of the massacre campuses (I'd like at least one of them to survive, pref both, if you go this route). Or maybe Nan and Nellie are babysitting and start getting calls...
Or maybe the girls encounter a real ghost? Maybe a phantom hitchhiker gets picked up by the Bobbseys?
PLEASE no younger twins! I really dislike them.
3. Ever After High
Raven Queen, Duchess Swan, Milton Grimm, Baba Yaga, Lizzie Hearts
AU-Canon Divergence, Be Careful What You Wish For, Betrayal, Folklore, Mirror Universe, Nightmares, Parallel Universes, Phantom Hitchhiker, Revenge, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Time Travel Fix-It Gone Wrong, Urban Legends
Is Milton Grimm really only concerned about everyone's good? Or is there a darker motive? Especially how he keeps trying to turn Raven and Duchess bad or on each other... How desperate is he? There's a few tags that play in on that one. I'm tracking the whole plot line in the Selfors book that Grimm is trying to have Duchess take Raven's assigned slot. Swapping their storylines could be good. Grimm definitely strikes me as a "road to hell is paved with good intentions"/doing what he KNOWS (not) is best for everyone, whether they like it or not.
Do characters from urban legends show up? Maybe they have their own school, much EAH?
Running into characters from a paralell universe where Raven didn't refuse to sign could be good as well. Especially since she has to sign up for her mother's lived story (at least that was my takeaway) and not how it should have been.
4. Perry Mason (TV)
Della Street, Perry Mason, Arthur Tragg, Hamilton Burger
AU-Serial Killers, Betrayal, Blackmail, Bodies in the basement, ghosts, Phantom Hitchhiker, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Revenge, revenge seduction, urban legends, attempted kidnapping, kidnapping, skeletons in the closet
I'm kind of thinking case gone wrong (maybe Perry finds himself defending a serial killer). Clients - betrayal and blackmail - go well. Bodies in the basement can be literal - maybe Della finds one at a house party? (Maybe one that Perry is attending as well... feel free to go for compromising situation because those two are so clearly doing it.)
If you go the ghost route, the old story of murderers being haunted by the ghost of their victims would be good - there's a Dickens story about the juror being able to see the ghost as well that's great. Feel free to take skeletons in the closet literally.
I'd love a focus on Della. She'd make a good kidnapping victim. I ship Perry/Della, so you can shade that in or not as you like.
5. Jem and the Holograms
Jerrica Benton, Kimber Benton, Eric Raymond, Mary "Stormer" Phillips, Rory "Riot" Llewelyn
AU - Canon Divergent, Betrayal, revenge sex, revenge seduction, revenge, revenge backfire, kidnapping, castaways in time, blackmail, ghosts
Not quite sure but Eric Raymond won't stop at much...
Castaways in time could be a good AU riff off the time machine episode.
And revenge sex/seduction could go so many ways with this group. A friend of mine and I used to discuss the fact that being as Eric's a record promoter in the 80s, he has plenty of access to drugs and sex. Maybe he tries to seduce Kimber as revenge? Maybe he always hires call girls who remind him of Jerrica?
You do NOT have to include everyone if a character doesn't work, but I definitely want Jerrica.
6. MCU
group: Bucky & Steve & Natasha, group: Steve and Bucky, group: Steve and Natasha and Sam, group: Steve and Natasha
AU-Mortal Kombat, Castaways in time, Ghosts, Paralell Universe, Phantom Hitchhiker, urban legends, unwanted mind reading, outliving friends and family, unsolved mysteries
I'm really here for the AU-Mortal Kombat tag. Feel free to cross with actual MK (I have a guilty pleasure relationship with the first movie) or just the general idea... Or an unwanted mind-reading thing like TNG's "Attached" for Natasha and Steve. But the tags I have are all good.
So this is a darker-fic exchange, which means I had to cut a sizable portion of my usual letter.
Think more Hitchcock, less Saw when it comes to violence. I would prefer no graphic violence and gore. Instead, I'd love a story that makes me think twice about climbing the stairs without turning ALL the lights on first. I'm also into shiny veneers that hide dark secrets. I've selected the "skeletons in the closet" tag and you MAY take that literally, if it works for you. I'm also down for characters dealing with things using black humor. Tinges of hope at the end are generally good. I'd prefer to avoid dubcon/non-con in general (one request in here does address you ignoring that one), definitely no graphic sexual violence. Also, be nice to the animals. Those always bother me more. Feel free to kill people off as needed.
I love urban legends and phantom hitchhikers and Return to Glennascaul. I'm always down for dysfunctional families and relationships.
I generally prefer het or gen. Explicit sex can be good, see the block of DNW tags for things I'm not into. I generally don't get into kink in stories, but feel free to have people get down.
I'm a fan of AU, but prefer canon-divergence or "what-if" scenarios, rather than "all the characters are at boarding school together" types. (Unless, of course, the characters are already together at boarding school together...)
I am a huge fan of "seemingly unrelated group of people trapped somewhere and discover they a) have something in common and b) can't just leave" - see Clue, see And Then There Were None. Please feel free to get soap opera-ish! Half-siblings no one knew about! Illegitimate siblings you thought were just family friends! Psycho-half-siblings who want to kill you and take your life over! Convenient accidents! Crazy wills and marriages of convenience! And unsolved mysteries (in general OR the show) rock my world.
Tags I am OK with (even if I didn't specifically request them): Aftermath of Violence, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Alternate Universe - Mortal Kombat, Alternate Universe - Pandemic, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Be Careful What You Wish For, Betrayal, Blackmail, blood will tell, Bodies in the basement, The caller is in the house, came back wrong, Castaways in Time, Character Death, Divorce, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, Folklore, Gaslighting, Ghosts, gothic horror, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hitchhiking, Implied Creepiness, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Moral Dilemmas, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Obsessive Behavior, Outliving Friends and Family, Parallel Universe, Phantom Hitchhiker, Poison, Post-Apocalypse, Rape Aftermath, Return to Glennascaul, Revenge, Revenge Backfire, Revenge Seduction, Revenge Sex, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Rocks Fall Everyone Dies, Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, Skeletons In The Closet, Things no one talks about, Threats, Time Loop, Time Travel Fix-It Gone Wrong, Unavoidable fate, Unhealthy Relationships, unsolved mystery, Urban Legends, Verbal Abuse, Voyeurism
Tags I am NOT OK with: Accidental Incest, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Saw Movies Fusion, Bestiality, Blood Kink, Bloodplay, Body Horror, Body Modification, Breathplay, Brother/Sister Incest, Buried Alive, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Castration, Cock & Ball Torture, Cock Stuffing, Coma Sex, Decapitation, Disembowelment, Dom Ignores Sub Saying Safeword, Extremely Underage, Forced to Commit Rape, Forced To Harm Loved One, Fuck Or Die, Gang Rape, Genital Mutilation, Genocide, Human Sacrifice, Incest, Knifeplay, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Experimentation, Monster Rape, Necrophilia, Nipple Torture, Non Consensual Mpreg, Sadomasochism, Scat, Sex in the Blood of their Enemies, Sex Pollen, Sex Post-Castration, Sexual Slavery, Slavery, Snuff, Stuffing, Tentacle Rape, Tricked into D/S, Turned Into a Werewolf, Underage Prostitution, Underage Sex, Vampirism, Virgin Sacrifice, Vivisection, Vomiting, Vore, Wound Fucking, Zombies
Onto the requests!
1. Wait Until Helen Comes - Mary Downing Hahn
Rose Simmons, Mr. Simmons, Mr. Simmons' Sister, Helen Harper
Ghosts, Nightmares, Unsolved Mysteries, Phantom Hitchhiker
One of the first really creepy books I ever read, and it's stuck. In this one, the cemetery caretaker (Mr. Simmons) tells Molly that his sister believes their cousin Rose was lured to her death in Harper Pond. Tell me that story - why was Rose one of the young, friendless girls the ghost preyed on? Or what happens to the other little girls Helen lures into the pond? She says they go away. Maybe Rose becomes a phantom hitchhiker?
2. The Bobbsey Twins - Laura Lee Hope
Mary Bobbsey, Nan Bobbsey, Richard Bobbsey, Nellie Parks
AU-Hunger Games setting, AU-Serial Killers, Blackmail, Bodies in the Basement, The Caller is in the House, Gaslighting, Ghosts, Revenge, Skeletons in the Closet, Urban Legends, Phantom Hitchhiker, Return to Glennascaul
So, the Bobbseys are just too good and perfect. While I want the story to focus mostly on the ladies, feel free to make Richard Bobbsey the big bad and them the victims/valiant fighters. AU-Serial Killers would be great with Dad as serial killer (the lumberyard has a lakefront and probably a woodchipper). If you've read Agatha Christie's short "Philomel College", feel free to riff off that. Maybe Mr. Bobbsey is a bigamist, or has some SECRET that he's trying to hide. Or maybe he just gaslights his wife for fun.
Or maybe they're both blackmailers (this is the only scenario where I'm really into Mary Bobbsey as criminal) - maybe he uses her sexually to set people up?
Or the whole family could be stalked by a serial killer.
If you go with the Hunger Games tag, feel free to drag in Danny Rugg.
I love Urban Legends (phantom hitchhikers, massacre on college campus, caller is in the house...) Maybe when Nan and Nellie go to college, they're on one of the massacre campuses (I'd like at least one of them to survive, pref both, if you go this route). Or maybe Nan and Nellie are babysitting and start getting calls...
Or maybe the girls encounter a real ghost? Maybe a phantom hitchhiker gets picked up by the Bobbseys?
PLEASE no younger twins! I really dislike them.
3. Ever After High
Raven Queen, Duchess Swan, Milton Grimm, Baba Yaga, Lizzie Hearts
AU-Canon Divergence, Be Careful What You Wish For, Betrayal, Folklore, Mirror Universe, Nightmares, Parallel Universes, Phantom Hitchhiker, Revenge, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Time Travel Fix-It Gone Wrong, Urban Legends
Is Milton Grimm really only concerned about everyone's good? Or is there a darker motive? Especially how he keeps trying to turn Raven and Duchess bad or on each other... How desperate is he? There's a few tags that play in on that one. I'm tracking the whole plot line in the Selfors book that Grimm is trying to have Duchess take Raven's assigned slot. Swapping their storylines could be good. Grimm definitely strikes me as a "road to hell is paved with good intentions"/doing what he KNOWS (not) is best for everyone, whether they like it or not.
Do characters from urban legends show up? Maybe they have their own school, much EAH?
Running into characters from a paralell universe where Raven didn't refuse to sign could be good as well. Especially since she has to sign up for her mother's lived story (at least that was my takeaway) and not how it should have been.
4. Perry Mason (TV)
Della Street, Perry Mason, Arthur Tragg, Hamilton Burger
AU-Serial Killers, Betrayal, Blackmail, Bodies in the basement, ghosts, Phantom Hitchhiker, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Revenge, revenge seduction, urban legends, attempted kidnapping, kidnapping, skeletons in the closet
I'm kind of thinking case gone wrong (maybe Perry finds himself defending a serial killer). Clients - betrayal and blackmail - go well. Bodies in the basement can be literal - maybe Della finds one at a house party? (Maybe one that Perry is attending as well... feel free to go for compromising situation because those two are so clearly doing it.)
If you go the ghost route, the old story of murderers being haunted by the ghost of their victims would be good - there's a Dickens story about the juror being able to see the ghost as well that's great. Feel free to take skeletons in the closet literally.
I'd love a focus on Della. She'd make a good kidnapping victim. I ship Perry/Della, so you can shade that in or not as you like.
5. Jem and the Holograms
Jerrica Benton, Kimber Benton, Eric Raymond, Mary "Stormer" Phillips, Rory "Riot" Llewelyn
AU - Canon Divergent, Betrayal, revenge sex, revenge seduction, revenge, revenge backfire, kidnapping, castaways in time, blackmail, ghosts
Not quite sure but Eric Raymond won't stop at much...
Castaways in time could be a good AU riff off the time machine episode.
And revenge sex/seduction could go so many ways with this group. A friend of mine and I used to discuss the fact that being as Eric's a record promoter in the 80s, he has plenty of access to drugs and sex. Maybe he tries to seduce Kimber as revenge? Maybe he always hires call girls who remind him of Jerrica?
You do NOT have to include everyone if a character doesn't work, but I definitely want Jerrica.
6. MCU
group: Bucky & Steve & Natasha, group: Steve and Bucky, group: Steve and Natasha and Sam, group: Steve and Natasha
AU-Mortal Kombat, Castaways in time, Ghosts, Paralell Universe, Phantom Hitchhiker, urban legends, unwanted mind reading, outliving friends and family, unsolved mysteries
I'm really here for the AU-Mortal Kombat tag. Feel free to cross with actual MK (I have a guilty pleasure relationship with the first movie) or just the general idea... Or an unwanted mind-reading thing like TNG's "Attached" for Natasha and Steve. But the tags I have are all good.