Dear Yuletide Writer
thank you so much for creating a story for me! I hope you'll enjoy the experience and appreciate the work you're doing - writing a story in a tiny fandom we share is absolutely lovely, and I'm guaranteed to be pleased by your gift, so don't fret. My prompts are just that, prompts, not absolutes; if you have an idea that doesn't fit with any of them, but features (some of) the characters I asked for, I'll love it with added joyful surprise.
General DNWs:
A/B/O - if you want to write a werewolf AU for any of the canons I nominated, be my guest, but I'm really not into this particular type of story -, infantilisation, golden showers.
General likes:
character exploration, characters helping each other recover from trauma, messed up and/or co-dependent family relationships, witty banter, friendship against the odds, the occasional light moment in a darker story or conversely some serious character stuff thrown into a comedy fic.
On to the fandoms.
18th Century CE Frederician RPF
Still the crazy historical fandom of my heart. Here, too, you don’t have to use all the characters requested, it’s an “or” rather than an “and”. I’m game for straightforwqrd historical canon or AU, crack fic or angsty drama. Some possible prompts:
AU: King Friedrich Wilhelm gets mysteriously murdered during his son’s engagement party in the spring of 1733, with multiple stabbing wounds. Visiting Duke Franz Stephan of Lorraine investigates, as the number of suspects is infinite, including the deceased’s wife and oldest son, now the King… aka Murder at Wusterhausen (Express). (If you want someone else in the Poirot role, be my guest, it’s just that I thought Maria Theresia’s future husband was about the only guest at that engagement party all the guests would have to talk to and who was easy going enough to get them to talk. Bonus if you can work in Anne de Laurey, Gundling’s widow, as one of the suspects.
AU: Friedrich Wilhelm and his cousin George II of Britain almost challenged each other to hand-to-hand combat in 1729, but calmer heads prevailed. (Alas.) (You can read the historical quotes here. How about an AU where the duel happens? Choose your victor (both of them killing each other is also fine), go wild! This one has the advantage of happening before the escape atttempt and Katte’s execution, so it would count as a preemptive fix-it as well.
Canon: In 1746, Frederick the recently Great visited the spa at Pyrmont; his entourage included his younger brother Heinrich. Considering Heinrich and Fritz had just been through the Marwitz affair, and were about to get ever more dysfunctional with each other, and considering Fritz actually seems to have listened to Doctor’s orders on th the occasion (meaning that there were no getaway trips from the spa) this must have been something to behold. Give me the glorious fraternal bickering, the spies among the spa guests (who reported on this visit), or, hey, the perspective of pregnant Biche the dog, for whom Friedrich was far more concerned than for most living people. :)
Canon: Lehndorff’s life long passion for Heinrich strikes me as ideal for a “five times…” scenario. Five kisses, for example, from the time Lehndorff first fell in love through their various ups and downs (including the time Lehndorff thought he’d emigrate to Britain, or the time Heinrich returned from the war with massive PTSD) to, say, a gentle old age leave taking after a visit from Lehndorff to Rheinsberg.
The Last Kingdom
Aelswith and her character development are my not so secret favourite aspect of the later seasons, and I would love anything that puts her in the center of a story. That she invited herself to stay with Uthred at Bebbanburg for a while in the show finale is a terrific set up, given their entire history with each other (and Alfred), both for comedy gold or serious character exploration. If you’d rather write something set in earlier seasons, or focus on Aelswith’s relationship with her daughter, it would be lovely as well. Again, can be light or dark, can deal with Aelswith’s guilt re: separating Aethelstan from his mother or how Aelswith feels about Aethelflaed's miserable marriage on the one hand vs Aethelflaed as Lady of Mercia having the chance to truly rule, and not at a man's side. Conversely, how does Aethelflaed see her parents' marriage? Does this, and her viewpoint on her parents as individuals change once she's collecting experiences?
If Aelswith as the central character absolutely does not work for you, and we got matched on Alfred/Uthred or Alfred & Uthred instead: their relationship is my favourite thing about the first three seasons, and “medieval road trip” my favourite trope. Maybe Alfred has a secret meeting to go to for which he needs Uthred, but of course won’t just ask, he’s Alfred, he has to manipulate Uthred into volunteering? Maybe Uhtred finally getting Bebbanburg and ensuring Northumbrian independence for another generation is enough to irritate Alfred into making a ghostly appearance? (And also, he would never admit it, but he’s bored surrounded by saints.) Anything goes.
Becoming Elizabeth
I have mixed feelings about some narrative decisions the show made, but by and large I thought it immensely watchable, and as for what I didn't get, well, that's what fanfic is there fore. This is the first screen fictionalization of Tudor history which really uses the childhood friends backstory between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, which delighted me, and of which I'd love to read more. Now Robert's siblings were cut down to Guildford for the screen (though there's no dialogue explicitly saying they are the only ones, so I suppose the other Dudley siblings could still exist off screen in this 'verse; if you want to use them, cool, if not, I'm fine with on screen family members only as well. But it would be neat to have some compare and contrast for Elizabeth and Robin, growing up in both in the same and vastly different worlds. I also appreciate the way this show uses John Dudley as someone who is ambitious but whose friendship for Edward Seymour was quite real at the start until it became a train wreck, instead of going for the evil Duke cliché. (Nor with Edward Seymour, either.) So, some character exploration of the older Dudley would be very welcome. Both based on show canon only or using some not yet referred to historical stuff (like Henry VIII. having condemned John's father Edmund to death as a cheap populism gesture right at the start of his reign), depending on your own preference.
Lastly, Catherine Parr's characterisation in the series opener was one of the elements I had serious problems with, but later episodes thankfully fleshed her out some more, and I appreciated that how complex and messy her feelings re: Elizabeth became. If you want to dive into their relationship some more, both during the show's time frame and before, I'd love to read it. Or: this version of Catherine really wants to become Regent at the start of the show. What were her plans and ideas of a Regency? What would she have done? AU in which somehow she does become Regent (and does not marry Thomas)?
The Serpent Queen
My latest love, full of complex women. By the time I'm writing this, the first season has not yet finished, but it will be before Yuletide is due, so feel free to use all the canon available. Ideas: Catherine's relatonship to Mathilde intrigues me, since they've known each other longest, from Catherine's days as a powerless girl in a Florentine convent onwards. Mathilde's relationship with the Dauphin seemed both to be an attempt to get an alternate source of income and safety and then some genuine emotion (until he proved himself a jerk again) - did she ever tell Catherine about it, or did she just use the intelligence she'd learned and kept mum otherwise? Catherine met Mathilde as someone else's servant and knows Mathilde's loyalties are not necessarily first to her, yet seems to trust her (in as much as Catherine trusts people) a great deal. Missing scenes between these two at any point of the time canon has covered so far would be great.
Speaking of missing scenes: we hear about Diane's own youth which made her who she is on the show, and once she's decided she's better off with Catherine as Henri's wife than with a more likely princess rival, she's actually helpful at times (and horrid at others). Now I completely understand the time jump between the third and fourth episode, but that means some unexplored territory. I would love another scenario where Catherine and Diane have to team up against a shared enemy. Also: Diane is so sure that the "cast off mistress" scenario will never happen to her - is this because due to the age difference, she simply doesn't expect Henri to not outlive her, or does she bet on young Francis keeping her at court as well if something happens? (As indeed it will.) Does she ever consider to truly win Catherine's friendsihp (as opposed to an alliance of necessity) to plan ahead for such a case? If not, why not?
Lastly: a Catherine character study, at any point in the show's timeline (teenage girl, consort queen or mature regent, I don't care) will always be a thrill for me. I've been waiting for historical fiction which neither demonizes or prettifies her for ages, and so far, this seems to be the canon I've dreamed of. As long as Catherine is smart, increasingly ruthless yet also with vulnerabilities she can't always control, any Catherine centric story will make me happy!
Star Trek: Picard
Agnes Jurati's s2 storyline was probably my unexpected favourite in that season, with her ending up a match in more than one sense for the Borg Queen and revolutionizing the Borg via unforced symbiosis. The time jump to the present in the season finale leaves open a long era for Agnes and the Queen to work out their new existence - anything about this would be lovely. Or, if you feel more comfortable with earlier canon: Agnes processessing her murder of Bruce Maddox, which happened under the influence, yes, but not to a degree where she didn't make the decision. Agnes and Seven, both before and after the Borg Queen shows up. Agnes and Soj on their goodwill-for-synthetic-life tour: what was it like for Agnes, given that Soj was on the one hand the culmination of all she'd ever worked for but on the other, well, Soj is a person, and it's one thing to dream of synthetic life in theory and another to have been there as some synthetic life forms did come close to killing everyone.
Q: basically, give me all the missing/additional scenes! Feel free to speculate as ot the origins of his weakening powers/realisition he would die. While "Therapy for Jean-Luc involving hair-raising dark AUs but also a possible Borg Redemption" was a very Q decision to make, in retrospect, about how to spend his final time, if you're up to it, I would love a "Five things Q didn't do..." type of story where he contemplates other scenarios before ending up with this one. Incidentally, while I do ship Q/Picard, I'd be just as game for a story focusing on him and other cast members, especially Seven, who has actually "met" him on Voyager and has the additional Borg knowledge perspective.
Speaking of Seven: s2 gave me all the Borg angst for her I was missing in s1 when she had to link with the Ex-Bees, but feel free to explore that some more, given the Agnes!Queen situation. Now that a version of the Borg exists where assimilation is not forced - is Seven tempted, despite her new relationship with Rafi? Or, if you want to explore the missing years between the end of Voyager and the start of Picard for Seven: anything from a just one point in time to all those years would make me happy. Or: how does Seven feel about her evil alter ego in the AU she finds herself early in Picard? Does she wonder whether part of the reason she became this woman in the other time line was that she wasn't assimilated by the Borg and then encountered Voyager, and what that says about Annika Hansen?
I hadn't expected Yuletide to offer this fandom, but it does, and this is a delightful surprise for me which I am happy to exploit.
General DNWs:
A/B/O - if you want to write a werewolf AU for any of the canons I nominated, be my guest, but I'm really not into this particular type of story -, infantilisation, golden showers.
General likes:
character exploration, characters helping each other recover from trauma, messed up and/or co-dependent family relationships, witty banter, friendship against the odds, the occasional light moment in a darker story or conversely some serious character stuff thrown into a comedy fic.
On to the fandoms.
18th Century CE Frederician RPF
Still the crazy historical fandom of my heart. Here, too, you don’t have to use all the characters requested, it’s an “or” rather than an “and”. I’m game for straightforwqrd historical canon or AU, crack fic or angsty drama. Some possible prompts:
AU: King Friedrich Wilhelm gets mysteriously murdered during his son’s engagement party in the spring of 1733, with multiple stabbing wounds. Visiting Duke Franz Stephan of Lorraine investigates, as the number of suspects is infinite, including the deceased’s wife and oldest son, now the King… aka Murder at Wusterhausen (Express). (If you want someone else in the Poirot role, be my guest, it’s just that I thought Maria Theresia’s future husband was about the only guest at that engagement party all the guests would have to talk to and who was easy going enough to get them to talk. Bonus if you can work in Anne de Laurey, Gundling’s widow, as one of the suspects.
AU: Friedrich Wilhelm and his cousin George II of Britain almost challenged each other to hand-to-hand combat in 1729, but calmer heads prevailed. (Alas.) (You can read the historical quotes here. How about an AU where the duel happens? Choose your victor (both of them killing each other is also fine), go wild! This one has the advantage of happening before the escape atttempt and Katte’s execution, so it would count as a preemptive fix-it as well.
Canon: In 1746, Frederick the recently Great visited the spa at Pyrmont; his entourage included his younger brother Heinrich. Considering Heinrich and Fritz had just been through the Marwitz affair, and were about to get ever more dysfunctional with each other, and considering Fritz actually seems to have listened to Doctor’s orders on th the occasion (meaning that there were no getaway trips from the spa) this must have been something to behold. Give me the glorious fraternal bickering, the spies among the spa guests (who reported on this visit), or, hey, the perspective of pregnant Biche the dog, for whom Friedrich was far more concerned than for most living people. :)
Canon: Lehndorff’s life long passion for Heinrich strikes me as ideal for a “five times…” scenario. Five kisses, for example, from the time Lehndorff first fell in love through their various ups and downs (including the time Lehndorff thought he’d emigrate to Britain, or the time Heinrich returned from the war with massive PTSD) to, say, a gentle old age leave taking after a visit from Lehndorff to Rheinsberg.
The Last Kingdom
Aelswith and her character development are my not so secret favourite aspect of the later seasons, and I would love anything that puts her in the center of a story. That she invited herself to stay with Uthred at Bebbanburg for a while in the show finale is a terrific set up, given their entire history with each other (and Alfred), both for comedy gold or serious character exploration. If you’d rather write something set in earlier seasons, or focus on Aelswith’s relationship with her daughter, it would be lovely as well. Again, can be light or dark, can deal with Aelswith’s guilt re: separating Aethelstan from his mother or how Aelswith feels about Aethelflaed's miserable marriage on the one hand vs Aethelflaed as Lady of Mercia having the chance to truly rule, and not at a man's side. Conversely, how does Aethelflaed see her parents' marriage? Does this, and her viewpoint on her parents as individuals change once she's collecting experiences?
If Aelswith as the central character absolutely does not work for you, and we got matched on Alfred/Uthred or Alfred & Uthred instead: their relationship is my favourite thing about the first three seasons, and “medieval road trip” my favourite trope. Maybe Alfred has a secret meeting to go to for which he needs Uthred, but of course won’t just ask, he’s Alfred, he has to manipulate Uthred into volunteering? Maybe Uhtred finally getting Bebbanburg and ensuring Northumbrian independence for another generation is enough to irritate Alfred into making a ghostly appearance? (And also, he would never admit it, but he’s bored surrounded by saints.) Anything goes.
Becoming Elizabeth
I have mixed feelings about some narrative decisions the show made, but by and large I thought it immensely watchable, and as for what I didn't get, well, that's what fanfic is there fore. This is the first screen fictionalization of Tudor history which really uses the childhood friends backstory between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, which delighted me, and of which I'd love to read more. Now Robert's siblings were cut down to Guildford for the screen (though there's no dialogue explicitly saying they are the only ones, so I suppose the other Dudley siblings could still exist off screen in this 'verse; if you want to use them, cool, if not, I'm fine with on screen family members only as well. But it would be neat to have some compare and contrast for Elizabeth and Robin, growing up in both in the same and vastly different worlds. I also appreciate the way this show uses John Dudley as someone who is ambitious but whose friendship for Edward Seymour was quite real at the start until it became a train wreck, instead of going for the evil Duke cliché. (Nor with Edward Seymour, either.) So, some character exploration of the older Dudley would be very welcome. Both based on show canon only or using some not yet referred to historical stuff (like Henry VIII. having condemned John's father Edmund to death as a cheap populism gesture right at the start of his reign), depending on your own preference.
Lastly, Catherine Parr's characterisation in the series opener was one of the elements I had serious problems with, but later episodes thankfully fleshed her out some more, and I appreciated that how complex and messy her feelings re: Elizabeth became. If you want to dive into their relationship some more, both during the show's time frame and before, I'd love to read it. Or: this version of Catherine really wants to become Regent at the start of the show. What were her plans and ideas of a Regency? What would she have done? AU in which somehow she does become Regent (and does not marry Thomas)?
The Serpent Queen
My latest love, full of complex women. By the time I'm writing this, the first season has not yet finished, but it will be before Yuletide is due, so feel free to use all the canon available. Ideas: Catherine's relatonship to Mathilde intrigues me, since they've known each other longest, from Catherine's days as a powerless girl in a Florentine convent onwards. Mathilde's relationship with the Dauphin seemed both to be an attempt to get an alternate source of income and safety and then some genuine emotion (until he proved himself a jerk again) - did she ever tell Catherine about it, or did she just use the intelligence she'd learned and kept mum otherwise? Catherine met Mathilde as someone else's servant and knows Mathilde's loyalties are not necessarily first to her, yet seems to trust her (in as much as Catherine trusts people) a great deal. Missing scenes between these two at any point of the time canon has covered so far would be great.
Speaking of missing scenes: we hear about Diane's own youth which made her who she is on the show, and once she's decided she's better off with Catherine as Henri's wife than with a more likely princess rival, she's actually helpful at times (and horrid at others). Now I completely understand the time jump between the third and fourth episode, but that means some unexplored territory. I would love another scenario where Catherine and Diane have to team up against a shared enemy. Also: Diane is so sure that the "cast off mistress" scenario will never happen to her - is this because due to the age difference, she simply doesn't expect Henri to not outlive her, or does she bet on young Francis keeping her at court as well if something happens? (As indeed it will.) Does she ever consider to truly win Catherine's friendsihp (as opposed to an alliance of necessity) to plan ahead for such a case? If not, why not?
Lastly: a Catherine character study, at any point in the show's timeline (teenage girl, consort queen or mature regent, I don't care) will always be a thrill for me. I've been waiting for historical fiction which neither demonizes or prettifies her for ages, and so far, this seems to be the canon I've dreamed of. As long as Catherine is smart, increasingly ruthless yet also with vulnerabilities she can't always control, any Catherine centric story will make me happy!
Star Trek: Picard
Agnes Jurati's s2 storyline was probably my unexpected favourite in that season, with her ending up a match in more than one sense for the Borg Queen and revolutionizing the Borg via unforced symbiosis. The time jump to the present in the season finale leaves open a long era for Agnes and the Queen to work out their new existence - anything about this would be lovely. Or, if you feel more comfortable with earlier canon: Agnes processessing her murder of Bruce Maddox, which happened under the influence, yes, but not to a degree where she didn't make the decision. Agnes and Seven, both before and after the Borg Queen shows up. Agnes and Soj on their goodwill-for-synthetic-life tour: what was it like for Agnes, given that Soj was on the one hand the culmination of all she'd ever worked for but on the other, well, Soj is a person, and it's one thing to dream of synthetic life in theory and another to have been there as some synthetic life forms did come close to killing everyone.
Q: basically, give me all the missing/additional scenes! Feel free to speculate as ot the origins of his weakening powers/realisition he would die. While "Therapy for Jean-Luc involving hair-raising dark AUs but also a possible Borg Redemption" was a very Q decision to make, in retrospect, about how to spend his final time, if you're up to it, I would love a "Five things Q didn't do..." type of story where he contemplates other scenarios before ending up with this one. Incidentally, while I do ship Q/Picard, I'd be just as game for a story focusing on him and other cast members, especially Seven, who has actually "met" him on Voyager and has the additional Borg knowledge perspective.
Speaking of Seven: s2 gave me all the Borg angst for her I was missing in s1 when she had to link with the Ex-Bees, but feel free to explore that some more, given the Agnes!Queen situation. Now that a version of the Borg exists where assimilation is not forced - is Seven tempted, despite her new relationship with Rafi? Or, if you want to explore the missing years between the end of Voyager and the start of Picard for Seven: anything from a just one point in time to all those years would make me happy. Or: how does Seven feel about her evil alter ego in the AU she finds herself early in Picard? Does she wonder whether part of the reason she became this woman in the other time line was that she wasn't assimilated by the Borg and then encountered Voyager, and what that says about Annika Hansen?
I hadn't expected Yuletide to offer this fandom, but it does, and this is a delightful surprise for me which I am happy to exploit.