HISTORIES FICATHON MADNESS 2014
The deadline is passed, and we've heard from anyone who needs extensions, so it's time to post the remaining prompts for Madness! :)
The way this works is pretty simple: all the unused prompts are under the LJ cut, and anyone who feels so inclined can pick one (or more) and write a fic of any length. This includes people who haven't signed up; I've temporarily set the community to "unmoderated" until the reveal on Thursday (SEE UPDATE). To post, go here, and choose "Post to Collection" from the buttons on the right.
NOTE: This will spoil you for which prompt your writer chose to fill. The archive will open on Thursday evening Saturday evening (August 30 at 8:00pm EST), so you have until then.
UPDATE: Owing to some scheduling issues, we're going to need to push back the reveal until the weekend. We hope that's okay with everyone, as this is a very small ficathon and we want to make sure that all participants receive a story. On a happier note, that does mean you have a few extra days to fill any of the prompts for Madness?
angevin2
General things I love: historical details/background, AUs both cracky and not, complicated familial relationships, emotionally awkward sex, premodern sexual fluidity, royal bling, literary references.
Richard II - The AU where the Black Prince lives. How does that work out for everyone? Is he really all that and a bag of chips or is his disastrous regency in Aquitaine a bad sign? How does Richard turn out if he doesn't have to be king when he's only ten? Does he end up having major political differences with his father? Is Joan of Kent as awesome a queen consort as I suspect she'd be? Does John of Gaunt end up being the unsung hero of the reign? This one is history-based as well as Shakespeare-based, but when it comes to things like characterization, ages of characters, that sort of thing, you can go either way.
Richard II - Fic about any of the women in the play! This is very much inspired by the general awesomeness of the actresses in the RSC production, but again, you don't have to have seen it. So, like, anything about the queen and/or either or both of the Duchesses or whatever.
Henry IV and/or Richard II - something involving the Richard/Henry/Hal triangulation. It's only gestured at very vaguely in the plays: Henry worries that Hal is too much like Richard, Hal refers later to his reburial of Richard, and in real life Richard and Hal seem to have been close, which was probably anxiety-inducing for Henry. So I'd love fic that examines these relationships.
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fiftysevenacademics/rapiddescent (AO3)
A. General fiction: Smut, filth, porn of all sorts and pairings-- just no incest, bestiality or some of the creepier paraphilias. Pretty much anything else is OK. Love stories between canonical pairings and non-canonical ones that make sense and can be supported by subtext or historical evidence. Can just be romantic and heartbreaking, don't have to be smutty. Parent/child relationships. Psychological development, like, showing how a character came to have a particular trait.
A. Stories involving characters interacting with animals-- pets, hunting dogs or birds, horses, etc. I've had the idea it would be fun to see a story about a Medieval nobleman who is very into raising hunting dogs and loves his dogs (obviously, I love dogs a lot). Maybe how the animals bring people together or serve as substitutes for people who have let a character down or died, or maybe a shy, awkward character who isn't comfortable at court finds her or his niche working with animals in some way.... Stories about women who work a system that is tilted against them to achieve their goals.
C. Crackfic, horror, stuff involving mythological creatures and/or demons, witches, etc. Not fond of torture though. Not that kind of horror. More like Gothic horror.
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francisabernathy/jaguarcello (AO3)
if that comes to nothing, and i am not expecting much on that front: hal and hotspur, modern-day AU, either politicians or army. that sort of intense rivalry and sex(ual tension), and nobody talks about the future because they are so concerned with the past and the lives they should have led.
richard ii and robert de la pole fucking, really. that is all i want in life. did it happen in real life?? probably, but yes. he is not in the play is he, but does it count?
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gehayi
Henry IV, Part I. Caper fic. Hal just wanted to see if he, Falstaff, Poins and Bardolph could rob the Royal Mail and get away with it. However, part of their loot is a bit more important than mail or money. That's when things get complicated. Bonus points if Mistress Quickly is a criminal mastermind. Extra bonus points for quoting "this is the night mail crossing the border."
Richard II/Thomas of Woodstock. Film noir AU. Trying to solve the murders of Thomas Mowbray and Thomas Lancaster isn't easy. Everyone seems to have a motive. Everyone had the opportunity. And everyone has secrets that could blow the case wide open.
Henry IV Part 2. Superhero AU. Falstaff, who has no superpowers, always wanted the perks of being a hero but none of the responsibility. Hal, whose abilities are starting to kick in, has always wanted superpowers...but isn't too crazy about taking up his father's cape and cowl. Nor does he want to be remembered as an incompetent villain (which is the official line about Richard II, even though everyone knows it's more complicated than that.)
King John. While preparations are being made for the coronation of Prince Henry, a courtier seeks out Philip the Bastard in France and informs him that through some convoluted means, he's actually legitimate and the rightful heir to the throne. (This may or may not be true; it's up to you.)
King John. Arthur, Duke of Brittany, succeeds in escaping without any serious injuries--but now he's alone and impoverished and cut off from all of his allies. What does he do now?
Richard II. Richard of Bordeaux and Henry Bolingbroke in spaaaaaaaace! You can write them, their minions and the members of their factions as humans, humanoid aliens, nonhuman aliens, artificial intelligences, ships and space stations...it's all good.
Richard III. Cecily Neville and Margaret Anjou. Men can fight their battles with swords. For women of noble birth, struggling for the survival of their families, their children and their lives, battles are rarely as straightforward as sword fights. Sometimes the deadliest battles take place without anything that a man would deem a weapon.
Richard III. AU. Someone saves one or both of the Princes in the Tower, getting him/them out either before or after the murder attempt. What happens next? You can go wild with the time and/or genre here--have fun!
Richard II. This one is a gimme in case my person has trouble with the other requests. Any era, any setting, any genre. You can make it gen, het, slash, poly--whatever. You can focus on the main characters (I am a sucker for Richard/Anne, Richard/Robbie and Richard/Aumerle, as well as the problematic relationship between Henry and Richard) or the minor ones (the Duchess of Gloucester, Philippa [Robbie's ex], Langley, even Exton).
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gileonnen
1 Henry IV and/or Henry V fic, gen: Glyndwr and Fluellen. On opposite sides of the struggle for Wales, but both deeply invested in the distinctness of Welsh culture--did they ever meet? What did they think of each other? How did the spectre of Glyndwr shape Fluellen's notion of what it meant to be Welsh?
1 Henry IV fic, not gen at all: Hal/Kate/Hotspur and Boundaries; or, Threesomes Are Hard When Two Parties Are Sworn Enemies. I am totally okay with it if this fic ends as the play did. I am also totally okay with it if this fic is a space AU and Hotspur is a lady and maybe Hal is a lady also. All I really need in order to be satisfied is for it to be clear that these people's problems are not going to get solved if they start sleeping together, and maybe Hotspur's paranoia and secrecy or Kate's threats of spousal violence or Hal's duplicity are going to be dealbreakers even if it doesn't all end with one party bleeding out on the battlefield.
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harkerling/skazka (AO3)
General things I like: weird/complicated familial relationships and formal hierarchies, bittersweetness, loyalty shenanigans. Het, slash, gen, and multi/poly pairings all fine. On a lighter note than most of these prompts, I love awkward family/courtly get-togethers -- holidays both solemn and festive, or both, coronations and weddings, funerals, things the plays suggest but for the most part don't actually show. Political intrigue; historical sex practices; characters sniping at each other; humor -- even if it's dark humor!
- something with Hal as Richard II's ward! Whether during the historical timeframe where they were messing around in Ireland together or in an AU where Hal is in Richard's custody for longer (where Henry doesn't come back for his inheritance so soon, where Henry's defeated and Hal is a hostage all over again, etc.) - I would love to see the two of them interact, and what they make of one another. Or perhaps Hal becoming conscious of how the peril they're in will leave him still more differentiated from his brothers if his father becomes king? (Sibling adventures among various Bolingbroke-spawn would also be terrific -- it's a hell of a time and political climate to be coming of age in.) I'd prefer no Richard/tiny!Hal, but the clusterfuck of complicated political variables and family loyalties there is something I enjoy a great deal.
- I like Henry V best when he's being terrifying, and he doesn't disappoint -- the double-edged sword of his conscious ability to impress people through speech (great, if he's on your side; terrifying, if he's turning those semi-miraculous rhetorical skills on you) is definitely at work in this play. I'd be really interested in something that explores his relationship with Scroop in light of his rebuke of him in 2.2. How does it compare to the way his other friendships have ended? In what respects is his sense of the political necessity of this forged in the fires of his dad's own clusterfuck of a political life, or his predecessor's? I definitely read their relationship as being slashy as hell, and that makes Henry's rebuke of him even more loaded. Henry plays it like he's been a trusting innocent all this while, and that Scroop's abused his goodwill to the point that it can no longer exist -- to what degree is this outrage a tactical maneuver, and what's genuine, even if he's no innocent? Who's practicing on whom here?
- In general: MORE GHOSTS. Take this wherever you will -- metaphorical ghost visitations, spooky visions, guilty consciences, full-on gothic horror ghost AUs or Rebecca de Winter situations where that dead predecessor of yours still casts a long shadow. In 1&2 Henry IV, the guilt of Richard II's deposition still lingers for King Henry; his rebukes of Hal that compare him and Richard have the flavor (to me) of somebody who's definitely projecting his own anxieties. How much of his guilt is related to Richard himself as a person and how much to what he represents? What other ghosts are hanging around for the Wars of the Roses? (For queens as well as for kings.)
- Something with Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester and her ambitions -- what does she resort to before she opts to try sorcery? Is she difficult to persuade, or does she not need to be told twice?
- Alexander Iden fic! (What's up with him? I like his moment with Henry VI a bunch.)
- something that explores the fathers-killing-sons/sons-killing-fathers episode in 3 Henry VI, II.5 -- it's kind of a model of senseless loss and grief, and of the toll of civil war, and is by far the saddest scene in anything I can think of to involve a molehill. It's so self-contained that I'm not sure where a person might take it fic-wise, but it kills me. Who are these men? Both of them face the heavy task of explaining what's happened to their remaining female family members, particularly women -- what can possibly be salvaged from this monstrous loss? (What might this scene look like set in another AU/against the backdrop of a different kind of war?)
- something with tiny York siblings! (Well, presumably teenaged-ish, since Edward seems to have the horn for everyone and everything. I've seen stagings where Richard at least is quite young, since his bitterness hasn't quite crystallized to what it'll be in Richard III and I'm down to see how he got from here to there. Margaret taunting York about him is a hell of a scene and suggests a lot about how his deformity overshadows his other qualities.) I love Clarence and Richard sniping behind Edward's back while he's trying pretty pushily to ~woo Elizabeth, and their sibling dynamic felt pretty genuine to me, even if the sons of York are going to be clashing with one another pretty quickly. Something exploring this and their thoughts on what kingship is like, or should be? Does Richard already know what he's willing to do?
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harryhotspur
Henry IV - Space AU, not sure how this will work, or if it's been done. Maybe something from Hotspur and Hal's points of view, I'll leave it up to the author to decide.
Richard II - Anything that explores the relationship between Henry and Richard pre-play and the effects of this post-play on Henry would be appreciated.
Henry V - 50s era spy au
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icryyoumercy/trafalgarslaw (AO3)
A Henry IV AU where Hotspur survives and somehow Hal ends up having to keep him from doing anything stupid, and also try to make him a somewhat acceptable courtier
Henry IV where Bolingbroke does go on his crusade and leaves Hal and his brothers in charge of the kingdom meanwhile, and then everything goes hilariously wrong. And either Bolingbroke comes back and fixes everything, or he dies, and then … uhm. No idea what happens then. Murder and mayhem, probably
Henry IV, where Glendower does have magic, and somehow, he ends up messing up some spell or another, and it has rather harmless but utterly annoying consequences (something like suddenly, everyone's fingernails grow bright pink, or if you say the wrong word, it starts raining flowercrowns or something)
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kerrypolka/redletters(AO3)
1. Margaret, my forever character! I've been reading a bit about her father Rene - maybe something about her youth with her arty book nerd dad and awesome grandmother? Since Shakespeare ages her up in 1 Henry VI I'm fine with her spending her teens/early twenties in France with her family (or not! whatever works for you!). And/or Margaret/Suffolk, my forever pairing. Something set before Margaret goes to England? I'm always interested by that mention of the tournament in Tours, and the fact that they would have gone through a whole proxy wedding together before setting off for the shitshow across the channel.
2. Joan is great. Something about the way she deliberately takes on religious iconography while knowingly doing demon stuff (literally demon stuff!), and how energetic and ends-justifying-the-means-y she is. Also, if you've read "The Maid and the Queen" (which is a great book!), I was really delighted to find out that one of her key patrons was Margaret's grandmother Yolande of Aragon - maybe this belongs in the Margaret prompt but I just found that so interesting.
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lareinenoire
Henry VI plays - AU. Richard of York survives the battle of Wakefield (or, for that matter, he never leaves the castle and the battle never happens). What happens to him and to his sons? Does Henry live out his reign in peace? My money's on no, since Margaret is involved. But tell me what happens! But if you'd rather not do that, how about some Yorkist family hijinks? I love stories where siblings behave like siblings, and in the few scenes where they're not actively trying to kill one another, the York boys totally do this. I'd love to see them together before it all goes to hell in a handbasket, but I'm also a fan of funtimes with Edward and Richard in exile (even if Shakespeare only leaves them there for half a scene).
King John - Modern casino AU. The Bastard is a woman. (Yes, I saw the RSC production from 2012 that did basically that and I want fic about it.) Or just write me Bastard fic, for that matter. Bonus points for hanging out with Eleanor and/or Blanche.
Richard III - The companion production to the 2012 King John had a very odd moment where Anne (who played the Bastard) and Catesby (who played John) were clearly having a great time in the background while Richard was quarrelling with Buckingham after being crowned king. After Buckingham stormed off, Richard glanced back and both Catesby and Anne jumped apart guiltily, which of course made me automatically start shipping Anne/Catesby despite having absolutely no basis in canon for it. So, if you want to write me Anne/Catesby, I would love it. Or if you just want to write me fic about Catesby, that is also great! When did he decide to make the allegiance shift from Hastings to Richard? What does he really think of Richard? Historical Catesby survived the battle of Bosworth and died two years later at Stoke Field. Shakespeare also doesn't mention him among the dead (in fact, a number of Richard's followers aren't mentioned by name, but we won't get into that). Maybe he lives? If he does, what happens to him?
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lilliburlero
General: I can’t think of any circumstances under which I wouldn’t be grateful that someone has taken the time to write a story gratis to my prompts, so please be assured of my appreciation. I have lived a sheltered life and so have few things that I just can’t face reading about. I’m happy with explicit sexual content and gen alike. Rape, dubcon and underage sex won’t bother me, as long as they have a broadly canonical justification. Graphic violence and character deaths are also fine, because Histories fandom. I like AUs in which a strong sense of character is maintained, but if that criterion is fulfilled all the wackiness and crackiness is welcomed. I also love crossovers, particularly with other medieval and early modern texts.
All the Falstaff fic, please; anything and everything!
I love fic about the Celtic fringes to the histories: Glendower, his daughter, Jamy, Macmorris, Fluellen.
I love the working- and middle-class characters in the histories: the Eastcheap mob in H4, the Gloucestershire crowd in H42, the captains and soldiers in H5 especially. Fic about them would be a big hit.
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likeadeuce
In general : AU's, alternate timelines, and general silliness are always okay, though I'd be just as happy with in-period canon-compliant fics if that suits your fancy. (Canon-compliant Hotspur-werewolf is TOTALLY possible.) Also I'm listing some ships but if you can think of a ship I'm probably okay with it (no incest closer than first cousins though! I don't think first cousins even counts as incest in this context).
Second Tetralogy
Falstaff and Shallow lament the good old days, which probably weren't all that good. Something that deals with them as young men (either flashback/memory or set in the past; bonus if they cross paths with Henry IV or Richard).
Hotspur crosses paths with the Boar's Head gang. Snark and drunken hijinks ensue.
Richard III
Richard III/Buckingham. How did it go so wrong?
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madamedarque
(RII) Richard/anyone. I know this is super-vague, but I literally ship him with everyone and would be happy with [insert Richard-centric pairing here involving angst and power plays] of your choice, of any rating. So I thought I would put this here, in case the other prompts don't work for you. ;)
(H6) Margaret/Suffolk, academia au. I would enjoy this whatever you do with it, I'm sure! If it's an American academia au, I can see Margaret as a high-flying and ambitious assistant professor and Suffolk as a senior colleague/mentor.
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medeia
Prompts - in general, AUs, various permutations of relationships whether het, slash or gen would all be brilliant.
Richard II: all and anything Aumerle, particularly anything about his relationship with York or Bolingbroke post-play. Or possibly an AU where the Epiphany Uprising is successful.
Henry VI/Richard III: Margaret of Anjou, between plays.
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runecestershire/Rune_Vanyarin(AO3)
(Richard II) A spooky ghost story where Mowbray and/or Aumerle have a run-in Gloucester's ghost.
(Henry VI) Margaret's thought process right around the time she does in York (before, during, after, or any combination) where she goes all supervillain.
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shinobi93
Hal punching the Lord Chief Justice, or another of his exploits from The Famous Victories of Henry V (such as the eyelet hole cloak), written into the universe of Shakespeare's plays (as an actual scene rather than a reference).
Any of the histories (or multiple of them) as an AU where they play a competitive game - laser tag, bowling, board games even - and at least some of them probably take it far too seriously.
Did Fenton from The Merry Wives of Windsor really hang out with "the wild Prince and Poins"? Would there be missing tavern scenes with him in, or robbery scenes etc, or was he more of an onlooker, giving a different point of view? Alternatively, what would any of the already anachronistic tavern scenes from Henry IV (or other Falstaff scenes, e.g. those with Justice Shallow) look like with any other early modern comic characters involved? (crack ships could appear)
Kate Percy being awesome. Either canon or AU, shippy or not (bonus points for always-a-girl!Hotspur as well, but not at all required).
Richard II AU set in an ill-fated holiday/vacation, where everyone falls out and things don't work out so well for the trip's apparent leader.
Failing that, anything Hal/Poins will always be appreciated, canon or AU.
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speakmefair
Hotspur/Douglas
Richard II fic. ANYTHING WITH AUMERLE. References to Robert de Vere loved and adored.
If writing Richard II fic, I'd love it if the importance of the women in Richard's life, whether dead or living, was mentioned.
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the_alchemist
'Crossovers with other early modern texts are permissible.' I'd love to see a crossover between the Henry VIs and/or Richard III, and either Love's Labours Lost or Midsummer Night's Dream (I've read one of the latter before and loved it, but still want more). Specific ideas?
- Various 1st tetralogy characters are wandering around the woods on Midsummer night for their own complex and mostly nefarious reasons, and there are fairies, and there is chaos of a tragical, comical and/or pastoral nature.
- Jack Cade turns up and organises either the rude mechanicals or Costard et al into rebellion against the nobs. (Bonus points if it's successful.)
- The basic premise of LLL (x characters of one gender have a vow of chastity, having forgotten that some very important characters of the other gender are supposed to be visiting them) but with some histories characters (no idea whether that would work, but I'm throwing it out there just in case.)
Hurt/comfort. Involving Richard III. I have no idea how many times I've asked for this in exchanges, but I can never (never!) get enough.
The way this works is pretty simple: all the unused prompts are under the LJ cut, and anyone who feels so inclined can pick one (or more) and write a fic of any length. This includes people who haven't signed up; I've temporarily set the community to "unmoderated" until the reveal on Thursday (SEE UPDATE). To post, go here, and choose "Post to Collection" from the buttons on the right.
NOTE: This will spoil you for which prompt your writer chose to fill. The archive will open on Thursday evening Saturday evening (August 30 at 8:00pm EST), so you have until then.
UPDATE: Owing to some scheduling issues, we're going to need to push back the reveal until the weekend. We hope that's okay with everyone, as this is a very small ficathon and we want to make sure that all participants receive a story. On a happier note, that does mean you have a few extra days to fill any of the prompts for Madness?
angevin2
General things I love: historical details/background, AUs both cracky and not, complicated familial relationships, emotionally awkward sex, premodern sexual fluidity, royal bling, literary references.
Richard II - The AU where the Black Prince lives. How does that work out for everyone? Is he really all that and a bag of chips or is his disastrous regency in Aquitaine a bad sign? How does Richard turn out if he doesn't have to be king when he's only ten? Does he end up having major political differences with his father? Is Joan of Kent as awesome a queen consort as I suspect she'd be? Does John of Gaunt end up being the unsung hero of the reign? This one is history-based as well as Shakespeare-based, but when it comes to things like characterization, ages of characters, that sort of thing, you can go either way.
Richard II - Fic about any of the women in the play! This is very much inspired by the general awesomeness of the actresses in the RSC production, but again, you don't have to have seen it. So, like, anything about the queen and/or either or both of the Duchesses or whatever.
Henry IV and/or Richard II - something involving the Richard/Henry/Hal triangulation. It's only gestured at very vaguely in the plays: Henry worries that Hal is too much like Richard, Hal refers later to his reburial of Richard, and in real life Richard and Hal seem to have been close, which was probably anxiety-inducing for Henry. So I'd love fic that examines these relationships.
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fiftysevenacademics/rapiddescent (AO3)
A. General fiction: Smut, filth, porn of all sorts and pairings-- just no incest, bestiality or some of the creepier paraphilias. Pretty much anything else is OK. Love stories between canonical pairings and non-canonical ones that make sense and can be supported by subtext or historical evidence. Can just be romantic and heartbreaking, don't have to be smutty. Parent/child relationships. Psychological development, like, showing how a character came to have a particular trait.
A. Stories involving characters interacting with animals-- pets, hunting dogs or birds, horses, etc. I've had the idea it would be fun to see a story about a Medieval nobleman who is very into raising hunting dogs and loves his dogs (obviously, I love dogs a lot). Maybe how the animals bring people together or serve as substitutes for people who have let a character down or died, or maybe a shy, awkward character who isn't comfortable at court finds her or his niche working with animals in some way.... Stories about women who work a system that is tilted against them to achieve their goals.
C. Crackfic, horror, stuff involving mythological creatures and/or demons, witches, etc. Not fond of torture though. Not that kind of horror. More like Gothic horror.
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francisabernathy/jaguarcello (AO3)
if that comes to nothing, and i am not expecting much on that front: hal and hotspur, modern-day AU, either politicians or army. that sort of intense rivalry and sex(ual tension), and nobody talks about the future because they are so concerned with the past and the lives they should have led.
richard ii and robert de la pole fucking, really. that is all i want in life. did it happen in real life?? probably, but yes. he is not in the play is he, but does it count?
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gehayi
Henry IV, Part I. Caper fic. Hal just wanted to see if he, Falstaff, Poins and Bardolph could rob the Royal Mail and get away with it. However, part of their loot is a bit more important than mail or money. That's when things get complicated. Bonus points if Mistress Quickly is a criminal mastermind. Extra bonus points for quoting "this is the night mail crossing the border."
Richard II/Thomas of Woodstock. Film noir AU. Trying to solve the murders of Thomas Mowbray and Thomas Lancaster isn't easy. Everyone seems to have a motive. Everyone had the opportunity. And everyone has secrets that could blow the case wide open.
Henry IV Part 2. Superhero AU. Falstaff, who has no superpowers, always wanted the perks of being a hero but none of the responsibility. Hal, whose abilities are starting to kick in, has always wanted superpowers...but isn't too crazy about taking up his father's cape and cowl. Nor does he want to be remembered as an incompetent villain (which is the official line about Richard II, even though everyone knows it's more complicated than that.)
King John. While preparations are being made for the coronation of Prince Henry, a courtier seeks out Philip the Bastard in France and informs him that through some convoluted means, he's actually legitimate and the rightful heir to the throne. (This may or may not be true; it's up to you.)
King John. Arthur, Duke of Brittany, succeeds in escaping without any serious injuries--but now he's alone and impoverished and cut off from all of his allies. What does he do now?
Richard II. Richard of Bordeaux and Henry Bolingbroke in spaaaaaaaace! You can write them, their minions and the members of their factions as humans, humanoid aliens, nonhuman aliens, artificial intelligences, ships and space stations...it's all good.
Richard III. Cecily Neville and Margaret Anjou. Men can fight their battles with swords. For women of noble birth, struggling for the survival of their families, their children and their lives, battles are rarely as straightforward as sword fights. Sometimes the deadliest battles take place without anything that a man would deem a weapon.
Richard III. AU. Someone saves one or both of the Princes in the Tower, getting him/them out either before or after the murder attempt. What happens next? You can go wild with the time and/or genre here--have fun!
Richard II. This one is a gimme in case my person has trouble with the other requests. Any era, any setting, any genre. You can make it gen, het, slash, poly--whatever. You can focus on the main characters (I am a sucker for Richard/Anne, Richard/Robbie and Richard/Aumerle, as well as the problematic relationship between Henry and Richard) or the minor ones (the Duchess of Gloucester, Philippa [Robbie's ex], Langley, even Exton).
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gileonnen
1 Henry IV and/or Henry V fic, gen: Glyndwr and Fluellen. On opposite sides of the struggle for Wales, but both deeply invested in the distinctness of Welsh culture--did they ever meet? What did they think of each other? How did the spectre of Glyndwr shape Fluellen's notion of what it meant to be Welsh?
1 Henry IV fic, not gen at all: Hal/Kate/Hotspur and Boundaries; or, Threesomes Are Hard When Two Parties Are Sworn Enemies. I am totally okay with it if this fic ends as the play did. I am also totally okay with it if this fic is a space AU and Hotspur is a lady and maybe Hal is a lady also. All I really need in order to be satisfied is for it to be clear that these people's problems are not going to get solved if they start sleeping together, and maybe Hotspur's paranoia and secrecy or Kate's threats of spousal violence or Hal's duplicity are going to be dealbreakers even if it doesn't all end with one party bleeding out on the battlefield.
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harkerling/skazka (AO3)
General things I like: weird/complicated familial relationships and formal hierarchies, bittersweetness, loyalty shenanigans. Het, slash, gen, and multi/poly pairings all fine. On a lighter note than most of these prompts, I love awkward family/courtly get-togethers -- holidays both solemn and festive, or both, coronations and weddings, funerals, things the plays suggest but for the most part don't actually show. Political intrigue; historical sex practices; characters sniping at each other; humor -- even if it's dark humor!
- something with Hal as Richard II's ward! Whether during the historical timeframe where they were messing around in Ireland together or in an AU where Hal is in Richard's custody for longer (where Henry doesn't come back for his inheritance so soon, where Henry's defeated and Hal is a hostage all over again, etc.) - I would love to see the two of them interact, and what they make of one another. Or perhaps Hal becoming conscious of how the peril they're in will leave him still more differentiated from his brothers if his father becomes king? (Sibling adventures among various Bolingbroke-spawn would also be terrific -- it's a hell of a time and political climate to be coming of age in.) I'd prefer no Richard/tiny!Hal, but the clusterfuck of complicated political variables and family loyalties there is something I enjoy a great deal.
- I like Henry V best when he's being terrifying, and he doesn't disappoint -- the double-edged sword of his conscious ability to impress people through speech (great, if he's on your side; terrifying, if he's turning those semi-miraculous rhetorical skills on you) is definitely at work in this play. I'd be really interested in something that explores his relationship with Scroop in light of his rebuke of him in 2.2. How does it compare to the way his other friendships have ended? In what respects is his sense of the political necessity of this forged in the fires of his dad's own clusterfuck of a political life, or his predecessor's? I definitely read their relationship as being slashy as hell, and that makes Henry's rebuke of him even more loaded. Henry plays it like he's been a trusting innocent all this while, and that Scroop's abused his goodwill to the point that it can no longer exist -- to what degree is this outrage a tactical maneuver, and what's genuine, even if he's no innocent? Who's practicing on whom here?
- In general: MORE GHOSTS. Take this wherever you will -- metaphorical ghost visitations, spooky visions, guilty consciences, full-on gothic horror ghost AUs or Rebecca de Winter situations where that dead predecessor of yours still casts a long shadow. In 1&2 Henry IV, the guilt of Richard II's deposition still lingers for King Henry; his rebukes of Hal that compare him and Richard have the flavor (to me) of somebody who's definitely projecting his own anxieties. How much of his guilt is related to Richard himself as a person and how much to what he represents? What other ghosts are hanging around for the Wars of the Roses? (For queens as well as for kings.)
- Something with Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester and her ambitions -- what does she resort to before she opts to try sorcery? Is she difficult to persuade, or does she not need to be told twice?
- Alexander Iden fic! (What's up with him? I like his moment with Henry VI a bunch.)
- something that explores the fathers-killing-sons/sons-killing-fathers episode in 3 Henry VI, II.5 -- it's kind of a model of senseless loss and grief, and of the toll of civil war, and is by far the saddest scene in anything I can think of to involve a molehill. It's so self-contained that I'm not sure where a person might take it fic-wise, but it kills me. Who are these men? Both of them face the heavy task of explaining what's happened to their remaining female family members, particularly women -- what can possibly be salvaged from this monstrous loss? (What might this scene look like set in another AU/against the backdrop of a different kind of war?)
- something with tiny York siblings! (Well, presumably teenaged-ish, since Edward seems to have the horn for everyone and everything. I've seen stagings where Richard at least is quite young, since his bitterness hasn't quite crystallized to what it'll be in Richard III and I'm down to see how he got from here to there. Margaret taunting York about him is a hell of a scene and suggests a lot about how his deformity overshadows his other qualities.) I love Clarence and Richard sniping behind Edward's back while he's trying pretty pushily to ~woo Elizabeth, and their sibling dynamic felt pretty genuine to me, even if the sons of York are going to be clashing with one another pretty quickly. Something exploring this and their thoughts on what kingship is like, or should be? Does Richard already know what he's willing to do?
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harryhotspur
Henry IV - Space AU, not sure how this will work, or if it's been done. Maybe something from Hotspur and Hal's points of view, I'll leave it up to the author to decide.
Richard II - Anything that explores the relationship between Henry and Richard pre-play and the effects of this post-play on Henry would be appreciated.
Henry V - 50s era spy au
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icryyoumercy/trafalgarslaw (AO3)
A Henry IV AU where Hotspur survives and somehow Hal ends up having to keep him from doing anything stupid, and also try to make him a somewhat acceptable courtier
Henry IV where Bolingbroke does go on his crusade and leaves Hal and his brothers in charge of the kingdom meanwhile, and then everything goes hilariously wrong. And either Bolingbroke comes back and fixes everything, or he dies, and then … uhm. No idea what happens then. Murder and mayhem, probably
Henry IV, where Glendower does have magic, and somehow, he ends up messing up some spell or another, and it has rather harmless but utterly annoying consequences (something like suddenly, everyone's fingernails grow bright pink, or if you say the wrong word, it starts raining flowercrowns or something)
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kerrypolka/redletters(AO3)
1. Margaret, my forever character! I've been reading a bit about her father Rene - maybe something about her youth with her arty book nerd dad and awesome grandmother? Since Shakespeare ages her up in 1 Henry VI I'm fine with her spending her teens/early twenties in France with her family (or not! whatever works for you!). And/or Margaret/Suffolk, my forever pairing. Something set before Margaret goes to England? I'm always interested by that mention of the tournament in Tours, and the fact that they would have gone through a whole proxy wedding together before setting off for the shitshow across the channel.
2. Joan is great. Something about the way she deliberately takes on religious iconography while knowingly doing demon stuff (literally demon stuff!), and how energetic and ends-justifying-the-means-y she is. Also, if you've read "The Maid and the Queen" (which is a great book!), I was really delighted to find out that one of her key patrons was Margaret's grandmother Yolande of Aragon - maybe this belongs in the Margaret prompt but I just found that so interesting.
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lareinenoire
Henry VI plays - AU. Richard of York survives the battle of Wakefield (or, for that matter, he never leaves the castle and the battle never happens). What happens to him and to his sons? Does Henry live out his reign in peace? My money's on no, since Margaret is involved. But tell me what happens! But if you'd rather not do that, how about some Yorkist family hijinks? I love stories where siblings behave like siblings, and in the few scenes where they're not actively trying to kill one another, the York boys totally do this. I'd love to see them together before it all goes to hell in a handbasket, but I'm also a fan of funtimes with Edward and Richard in exile (even if Shakespeare only leaves them there for half a scene).
King John - Modern casino AU. The Bastard is a woman. (Yes, I saw the RSC production from 2012 that did basically that and I want fic about it.) Or just write me Bastard fic, for that matter. Bonus points for hanging out with Eleanor and/or Blanche.
Richard III - The companion production to the 2012 King John had a very odd moment where Anne (who played the Bastard) and Catesby (who played John) were clearly having a great time in the background while Richard was quarrelling with Buckingham after being crowned king. After Buckingham stormed off, Richard glanced back and both Catesby and Anne jumped apart guiltily, which of course made me automatically start shipping Anne/Catesby despite having absolutely no basis in canon for it. So, if you want to write me Anne/Catesby, I would love it. Or if you just want to write me fic about Catesby, that is also great! When did he decide to make the allegiance shift from Hastings to Richard? What does he really think of Richard? Historical Catesby survived the battle of Bosworth and died two years later at Stoke Field. Shakespeare also doesn't mention him among the dead (in fact, a number of Richard's followers aren't mentioned by name, but we won't get into that). Maybe he lives? If he does, what happens to him?
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lilliburlero
General: I can’t think of any circumstances under which I wouldn’t be grateful that someone has taken the time to write a story gratis to my prompts, so please be assured of my appreciation. I have lived a sheltered life and so have few things that I just can’t face reading about. I’m happy with explicit sexual content and gen alike. Rape, dubcon and underage sex won’t bother me, as long as they have a broadly canonical justification. Graphic violence and character deaths are also fine, because Histories fandom. I like AUs in which a strong sense of character is maintained, but if that criterion is fulfilled all the wackiness and crackiness is welcomed. I also love crossovers, particularly with other medieval and early modern texts.
All the Falstaff fic, please; anything and everything!
I love fic about the Celtic fringes to the histories: Glendower, his daughter, Jamy, Macmorris, Fluellen.
I love the working- and middle-class characters in the histories: the Eastcheap mob in H4, the Gloucestershire crowd in H42, the captains and soldiers in H5 especially. Fic about them would be a big hit.
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likeadeuce
In general : AU's, alternate timelines, and general silliness are always okay, though I'd be just as happy with in-period canon-compliant fics if that suits your fancy. (Canon-compliant Hotspur-werewolf is TOTALLY possible.) Also I'm listing some ships but if you can think of a ship I'm probably okay with it (no incest closer than first cousins though! I don't think first cousins even counts as incest in this context).
Second Tetralogy
Falstaff and Shallow lament the good old days, which probably weren't all that good. Something that deals with them as young men (either flashback/memory or set in the past; bonus if they cross paths with Henry IV or Richard).
Hotspur crosses paths with the Boar's Head gang. Snark and drunken hijinks ensue.
Richard III
Richard III/Buckingham. How did it go so wrong?
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madamedarque
(RII) Richard/anyone. I know this is super-vague, but I literally ship him with everyone and would be happy with [insert Richard-centric pairing here involving angst and power plays] of your choice, of any rating. So I thought I would put this here, in case the other prompts don't work for you. ;)
(H6) Margaret/Suffolk, academia au. I would enjoy this whatever you do with it, I'm sure! If it's an American academia au, I can see Margaret as a high-flying and ambitious assistant professor and Suffolk as a senior colleague/mentor.
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medeia
Prompts - in general, AUs, various permutations of relationships whether het, slash or gen would all be brilliant.
Richard II: all and anything Aumerle, particularly anything about his relationship with York or Bolingbroke post-play. Or possibly an AU where the Epiphany Uprising is successful.
Henry VI/Richard III: Margaret of Anjou, between plays.
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runecestershire/Rune_Vanyarin(AO3)
(Richard II) A spooky ghost story where Mowbray and/or Aumerle have a run-in Gloucester's ghost.
(Henry VI) Margaret's thought process right around the time she does in York (before, during, after, or any combination) where she goes all supervillain.
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shinobi93
Hal punching the Lord Chief Justice, or another of his exploits from The Famous Victories of Henry V (such as the eyelet hole cloak), written into the universe of Shakespeare's plays (as an actual scene rather than a reference).
Any of the histories (or multiple of them) as an AU where they play a competitive game - laser tag, bowling, board games even - and at least some of them probably take it far too seriously.
Did Fenton from The Merry Wives of Windsor really hang out with "the wild Prince and Poins"? Would there be missing tavern scenes with him in, or robbery scenes etc, or was he more of an onlooker, giving a different point of view? Alternatively, what would any of the already anachronistic tavern scenes from Henry IV (or other Falstaff scenes, e.g. those with Justice Shallow) look like with any other early modern comic characters involved? (crack ships could appear)
Kate Percy being awesome. Either canon or AU, shippy or not (bonus points for always-a-girl!Hotspur as well, but not at all required).
Richard II AU set in an ill-fated holiday/vacation, where everyone falls out and things don't work out so well for the trip's apparent leader.
Failing that, anything Hal/Poins will always be appreciated, canon or AU.
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speakmefair
Hotspur/Douglas
Richard II fic. ANYTHING WITH AUMERLE. References to Robert de Vere loved and adored.
If writing Richard II fic, I'd love it if the importance of the women in Richard's life, whether dead or living, was mentioned.
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the_alchemist
'Crossovers with other early modern texts are permissible.' I'd love to see a crossover between the Henry VIs and/or Richard III, and either Love's Labours Lost or Midsummer Night's Dream (I've read one of the latter before and loved it, but still want more). Specific ideas?
- Various 1st tetralogy characters are wandering around the woods on Midsummer night for their own complex and mostly nefarious reasons, and there are fairies, and there is chaos of a tragical, comical and/or pastoral nature.
- Jack Cade turns up and organises either the rude mechanicals or Costard et al into rebellion against the nobs. (Bonus points if it's successful.)
- The basic premise of LLL (x characters of one gender have a vow of chastity, having forgotten that some very important characters of the other gender are supposed to be visiting them) but with some histories characters (no idea whether that would work, but I'm throwing it out there just in case.)
Hurt/comfort. Involving Richard III. I have no idea how many times I've asked for this in exchanges, but I can never (never!) get enough.