Yuletide 2013: Dear Yulegoat letter
Hello, Yuletide author, and happy writing to you! I ramble a lot, so if that's not your style, feel free to just skip to the prompt sections. I do love shipfic above all, but if you can't write shippy fic, no worries! I'd love friendship fic for any of these pairings too, and would rather see that than shipfic written by someone who hated the pairing and had to force themselves into writing it. Mostly I'm just looking for any kind of wonderful bonding fic.
For stalking purposes, my masterlist of fic is here
Ao3
tumblr
Previous Yuletide letters
First off, general likes/dislikes:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, a bittersweet or melancholy mood/ending, happy endings, co-dependent relationships, Us Against the World, found/chosen families, equality in relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is awesome! No smut whatsoever is also cool, go with whatever you're comfortable with.
Things I don't like: Main character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence, rape, whump, woobification, second-person pov, a/b/o, mundane AUs (ie high school, coffeeshop, dental practice, university), baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing.
On to the fandoms!
Black Ships - Jo Graham
*Gull
*Aeneas
What I love about Black Ships:
I love the world. I love the sense of mythical history, the sense of epic adventure, the idea that these people are creating history through their lives. I love the sailing and the traveling aspects of it, all the different places they see and the people they meet along the way. I love the perseverance these people have, their will to keep going even in the face of tragedy and temptation, the sense that they are special, that they have a destiny to fulfill. I love the way different mythologies and traditions are woven in as they visit different places, and the way everything teeters on the line between realistic and magical.
And the characters! I love Aeneas's sense of purpose, the way he hangs on to that - the way he has to hang onto that, whether he really wants to or not. I love that he isn't all-knowing, that he isn't always completely sure of himself; he allows himself to have doubts, to take advice, to lean on the people he loves and trusts, which is part of what makes him such an effective leader. And Gull, who is wonderful and mystical and real, sympathetic but a bit selfish, full of love but not always knowing quite how to express it. She really learns to be a person on their journey, as Aeneas learns to be a leader and Xandros learns to open himself up again. I love that all three of them are in love with each other, and they all know it, and everyone's okay with that.
Basically, I love everything.
Prompts:
First of all, I do ship Gull/Aeneas, so anything shippy about them would make me happy (with or without Xandros; a OT3 is good too)! I'd love to see something that touches on how Gull managed the balance between adviser and oracle to her Prince and being a friend to Neas; they're such different roles, and hard to separate at times in canon. Was there a time she couldn't separate them, and gave advice she knew was wrong as a result? I'd also be interested in a story that takes place after Xandros's death and deals with how things changed between Gull and Aeneas then, or just the different sort of issues they faced running a small kingdom versus those they had on the journey there.
The Almighty Johnsons
*Anders Johnson
*Gaia
(Note: I have seen the entire series; if you haven't, there will be spoilers ahead.)
Why I love The Almighty Johnsons:
It's such an adorable show! And it does a really good job of mixing serious stuff with goofy comedy, and generally keeping a lighthearted tone. The Johnson brothers are such a great example of family - they might not always like each other (in fact, they often don't), but god(s) help any outsider who tries to hurt one of them. I love how this expanded in series 2 and 3 to include the goddesses as well, how Stacey and Michele and Ingrid got folded into the family over time in various ways, until it was hard to imagine any of them apart or hating each other like they had in series 1.
And Anders! I both love and hate Anders at various times - he's tactless, arrogant, incredibly selfish, and his Bragi powers leave him on a very slippery slope - but at the same time, he'll go to enormous lengths to please or help people he loves (going on the quest to find Yggdrasil for his mother in S2, protecting Dawn from Colin in S3), and it becomes increasingly obvious over the course of the series that all he really wants is respect and love (or at least admiration), and pretty much never gets it. This is really exemplified in the S3 finale when he's so worried about how Bragi will be treated in Asgard; he's worried that he'll be a joke, a laughingstock, disrespected, just like Anders has been, over and over. Not that he doesn't deserve it a lot of the time, but it's easy to see how it became a vicious cycle for him.
Gaia I love for very different reasons - she's probably the most normal of all the god-host characters, the one who hates being a goddess not because she doesn't have cool powers or because it means she might die if Axl screws up his quest, but because it takes over her whole life, and forces her to realize the concept of destiny is (for them, at least) a very real thing. I love her rage at that loss of control, which is something we don't really see from the other characters, except Ty. And I love that she was strong enough to try to take back control of her life by flat out removing herself from the situation entirely.
(After all that it might seem odd that I ship them, and yet...I do. The heart wants what it wants, and I love bickering couples who think they hate each other but are forced together anyhow, only to discover that maybe the other person isn't so bad after all.)
Prompts:
I'd love to see anything shippy between them - what if Gaia had stayed in NZ after becoming Idunn, rather than going to London? What exactly was going on in that nightmare AU of Axl's where Anders and Gaia appeared to be married and Axl was...a tree? Or tell me a story of what happened after the S3 finale. Maybe Gaia came back to NZ (where there would actually be people who remembered her) and met up with Anders again - how would that go? Was it really all just Bragi and Idunn or would there be something left there?
A story about Gaia's time in London would also be cool. I'd love to know what she was getting up to there and if Anders ever tried to communicate with her in any way during that time. I'd also love to know how she felt if/when she ever found out that Axl basically killed Anders because of what happened between them. Or maybe Anders hallucinated that Gaia was with him again while he was recovering from that massive blood loss...
I do love all the other characters (except Colin), especially Ty, Dawn, and Michele, so feel free to bring any of them in as well!
Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart
*Linda Martin
*Raoul de Valmy
Why I love Nine Coaches Waiting:
This has been one of my very favorite books for years - I love the growing, creeping tension, Linda's foreboding that something isn't quite right with her employers, the way Philippe so clearly knows it too even if he doesn't have the words to express it. I also love the lush descriptions of the French countryside, the little towns, the flowers and woods and the beautiful Chateau de Valmy. Mary Stewart was wonderful at bringing locations to life and it really shows in this book.
Linda herself is fabulous - calm, practical, and steady on the outside, but inside she's a total romantic, obviously her poet father's daughter. And I love that when danger threatens, she takes charge of the situation herself, and doesn't let her own private concerns overshadow keeping Philippe safe above all. As for Raoul, I blame him entirely for my love of tall, dark, charming and slightly arrogant men. I love that he's got that flippant exterior, but every so often there's flashes of a man underneath who's really fairly lost - one who doesn't know if he's in love because he's never really felt it from anyone before, who's angry at the world because he's been trapped by his own father.
Prompts:
I'd love to see what happened to Linda and Raoul after the story's over. Did they ever come back to Valmy, or did they avoid it entirely? A slice of their life with Philippe down at Raoul's place in Provence would be lovely, or a story about some adventure they had while traveling, or a missing scene from the book - I'd love to see that first date of theirs written out in greater detail. Wedding night fic wouldn't go amiss either, if you wanted to go a smutty route!
Mortal City - Dar Williams (Song)
*The Girl (Mortal City)
*The Guy (Mortal City)
What I love about Mortal City:
He asked, “Why did you move here?”
She said, “For the job; For the job, and I've been so lonely here, so lonely.
There's no one I can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother.”
He smiled and said, “Sometimes at night I walk out by the river.
The city's one big town, the water turns it upside down.
People found this city because they love other people.”
...
He said, “My brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet.
I wish you liked the city.”
She said, “Maybe I do.”
I love these two and their weird, philosophical date. Their discussion of cities is perfect - her comment that 'you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground', the way she so clearly feels disconnected and drifting, not knowing anybody and feeling that the city is a dying thing versus his optimism, the way he points out that cities exist basically because people want to be around each other, whatever their motivations. It's both the best and worst of cities laid out right there, and this could really be any city in the world (well, any city where it snows, at least).
I also love all the realistic details - the guy's quiet brother who introduced them, the spaghetti dinner, her lack of a couch, the way they wrapped themselves up so thickly to stay warm. It adds an adorable, awkward touch to things, which contrasts nicely with the very serious conversation that they get into.
Really is all comes down to that last line - we are not lost in the mortal city. As long as people are able to find each other and remember to be kind to each other, and to have hope, things will be okay. We're all just parts of a whole, but every part has their role to play.
Prompts:
Tell me about the second date they had, or the friendship they developed afterward. It would be interesting to see him take her on a tour of the city, pointing out all his favorite spots, or just sitting and doing some people watching, making up stories for everyone they see walking past. Or maybe they travel to other cities and find differences and similarities between them all. Something that brings the brother in would be cool too - maybe they each give him their version of events, or we see their developing relationship through his eyes.
Greek Mythology
*Aeneas
*Cassandra
What I love about Greek Mythology:
First, I love pretty much any version of Aeneas; he's one of my favorite mythological characters (see my discussion of Black Ships, above). I love his whole 'epic quest/destiny' thing, the way he goes from being a minor prince to the sole leader and basically the entire hope of his all-but-vanished people. He might not be the smartest guy in the room, or always make the best decisions, but he never gives up and it's obviously very hard on him to balance his own personal desires with what he's destined to do and what's best for his people.
And Cassandra, poor darling Cassandra. I love that she stood up to Apollo, and that she never gave up on trying to make people hear her even though she knew it was hopeless; she knew everything would end in disaster and death and yet she must have had some kind of hope, that she kept giving her prophecies even when it made everyone think she was mad.
They're both doomed, in a way - even though Aeneas survives, he isn't exactly in control of his own life and still has to sacrifice and go on even when he doesn't want to, and of course not only does Cassandra suffer horribly in the end, but she sees it coming all along and can do nothing to stop it. It's definitely a crack pairing, but I do like them as a ship - for one thing, he's pretty much the only person she can look to and not see a horrible death awaiting him. He's got to be about the only thing that gives her any hope in the time leading up to the war, knowing that Troy will survive in some form with him. As for his part, I feel like the son of a goddess might find it easier than most to look past her surface 'madness' and see the woman below that, even if he couldn't believe her any more than anyone else.
Prompts:
I'd love to see shipfic for them, but feel free to take a platonic or even psuedo brother-sister take on these prompts if you'd prefer! I'd love pre-war fic, where he's the only one who tries to understand her, or befriends her even though he doesn't believe her at all. Post-war fic where her ghost appears to him and advises him through his adventures and travels works too, or a major AU where the Trojans win the war and everyone lives! If you do write shipfic, a doomed, one-sided, pining thing is okay with me, as is a more requited pairing where they're just trying to enjoy whatever time they have. I'd prefer no adultery on Aeneas's part, though.
***
So, there you have it; I apologize for the extensive tl;dr, but I hope it's been helpful in some way. Please don't feel you have to stick with the prompts I provided - if you have a story you're dying to tell and it involves these characters enjoying each other as people, go for it!
Good luck and happy writing!
For stalking purposes, my masterlist of fic is here
Ao3
tumblr
Previous Yuletide letters
First off, general likes/dislikes:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, a bittersweet or melancholy mood/ending, happy endings, co-dependent relationships, Us Against the World, found/chosen families, equality in relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is awesome! No smut whatsoever is also cool, go with whatever you're comfortable with.
Things I don't like: Main character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence, rape, whump, woobification, second-person pov, a/b/o, mundane AUs (ie high school, coffeeshop, dental practice, university), baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing.
On to the fandoms!
Black Ships - Jo Graham
*Gull
*Aeneas
What I love about Black Ships:
I love the world. I love the sense of mythical history, the sense of epic adventure, the idea that these people are creating history through their lives. I love the sailing and the traveling aspects of it, all the different places they see and the people they meet along the way. I love the perseverance these people have, their will to keep going even in the face of tragedy and temptation, the sense that they are special, that they have a destiny to fulfill. I love the way different mythologies and traditions are woven in as they visit different places, and the way everything teeters on the line between realistic and magical.
And the characters! I love Aeneas's sense of purpose, the way he hangs on to that - the way he has to hang onto that, whether he really wants to or not. I love that he isn't all-knowing, that he isn't always completely sure of himself; he allows himself to have doubts, to take advice, to lean on the people he loves and trusts, which is part of what makes him such an effective leader. And Gull, who is wonderful and mystical and real, sympathetic but a bit selfish, full of love but not always knowing quite how to express it. She really learns to be a person on their journey, as Aeneas learns to be a leader and Xandros learns to open himself up again. I love that all three of them are in love with each other, and they all know it, and everyone's okay with that.
Basically, I love everything.
Prompts:
First of all, I do ship Gull/Aeneas, so anything shippy about them would make me happy (with or without Xandros; a OT3 is good too)! I'd love to see something that touches on how Gull managed the balance between adviser and oracle to her Prince and being a friend to Neas; they're such different roles, and hard to separate at times in canon. Was there a time she couldn't separate them, and gave advice she knew was wrong as a result? I'd also be interested in a story that takes place after Xandros's death and deals with how things changed between Gull and Aeneas then, or just the different sort of issues they faced running a small kingdom versus those they had on the journey there.
The Almighty Johnsons
*Anders Johnson
*Gaia
(Note: I have seen the entire series; if you haven't, there will be spoilers ahead.)
Why I love The Almighty Johnsons:
It's such an adorable show! And it does a really good job of mixing serious stuff with goofy comedy, and generally keeping a lighthearted tone. The Johnson brothers are such a great example of family - they might not always like each other (in fact, they often don't), but god(s) help any outsider who tries to hurt one of them. I love how this expanded in series 2 and 3 to include the goddesses as well, how Stacey and Michele and Ingrid got folded into the family over time in various ways, until it was hard to imagine any of them apart or hating each other like they had in series 1.
And Anders! I both love and hate Anders at various times - he's tactless, arrogant, incredibly selfish, and his Bragi powers leave him on a very slippery slope - but at the same time, he'll go to enormous lengths to please or help people he loves (going on the quest to find Yggdrasil for his mother in S2, protecting Dawn from Colin in S3), and it becomes increasingly obvious over the course of the series that all he really wants is respect and love (or at least admiration), and pretty much never gets it. This is really exemplified in the S3 finale when he's so worried about how Bragi will be treated in Asgard; he's worried that he'll be a joke, a laughingstock, disrespected, just like Anders has been, over and over. Not that he doesn't deserve it a lot of the time, but it's easy to see how it became a vicious cycle for him.
Gaia I love for very different reasons - she's probably the most normal of all the god-host characters, the one who hates being a goddess not because she doesn't have cool powers or because it means she might die if Axl screws up his quest, but because it takes over her whole life, and forces her to realize the concept of destiny is (for them, at least) a very real thing. I love her rage at that loss of control, which is something we don't really see from the other characters, except Ty. And I love that she was strong enough to try to take back control of her life by flat out removing herself from the situation entirely.
(After all that it might seem odd that I ship them, and yet...I do. The heart wants what it wants, and I love bickering couples who think they hate each other but are forced together anyhow, only to discover that maybe the other person isn't so bad after all.)
Prompts:
I'd love to see anything shippy between them - what if Gaia had stayed in NZ after becoming Idunn, rather than going to London? What exactly was going on in that nightmare AU of Axl's where Anders and Gaia appeared to be married and Axl was...a tree? Or tell me a story of what happened after the S3 finale. Maybe Gaia came back to NZ (where there would actually be people who remembered her) and met up with Anders again - how would that go? Was it really all just Bragi and Idunn or would there be something left there?
A story about Gaia's time in London would also be cool. I'd love to know what she was getting up to there and if Anders ever tried to communicate with her in any way during that time. I'd also love to know how she felt if/when she ever found out that Axl basically killed Anders because of what happened between them. Or maybe Anders hallucinated that Gaia was with him again while he was recovering from that massive blood loss...
I do love all the other characters (except Colin), especially Ty, Dawn, and Michele, so feel free to bring any of them in as well!
Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart
*Linda Martin
*Raoul de Valmy
Why I love Nine Coaches Waiting:
This has been one of my very favorite books for years - I love the growing, creeping tension, Linda's foreboding that something isn't quite right with her employers, the way Philippe so clearly knows it too even if he doesn't have the words to express it. I also love the lush descriptions of the French countryside, the little towns, the flowers and woods and the beautiful Chateau de Valmy. Mary Stewart was wonderful at bringing locations to life and it really shows in this book.
Linda herself is fabulous - calm, practical, and steady on the outside, but inside she's a total romantic, obviously her poet father's daughter. And I love that when danger threatens, she takes charge of the situation herself, and doesn't let her own private concerns overshadow keeping Philippe safe above all. As for Raoul, I blame him entirely for my love of tall, dark, charming and slightly arrogant men. I love that he's got that flippant exterior, but every so often there's flashes of a man underneath who's really fairly lost - one who doesn't know if he's in love because he's never really felt it from anyone before, who's angry at the world because he's been trapped by his own father.
Prompts:
I'd love to see what happened to Linda and Raoul after the story's over. Did they ever come back to Valmy, or did they avoid it entirely? A slice of their life with Philippe down at Raoul's place in Provence would be lovely, or a story about some adventure they had while traveling, or a missing scene from the book - I'd love to see that first date of theirs written out in greater detail. Wedding night fic wouldn't go amiss either, if you wanted to go a smutty route!
Mortal City - Dar Williams (Song)
*The Girl (Mortal City)
*The Guy (Mortal City)
What I love about Mortal City:
He asked, “Why did you move here?”
She said, “For the job; For the job, and I've been so lonely here, so lonely.
There's no one I can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother.”
He smiled and said, “Sometimes at night I walk out by the river.
The city's one big town, the water turns it upside down.
People found this city because they love other people.”
...
He said, “My brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet.
I wish you liked the city.”
She said, “Maybe I do.”
I love these two and their weird, philosophical date. Their discussion of cities is perfect - her comment that 'you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground', the way she so clearly feels disconnected and drifting, not knowing anybody and feeling that the city is a dying thing versus his optimism, the way he points out that cities exist basically because people want to be around each other, whatever their motivations. It's both the best and worst of cities laid out right there, and this could really be any city in the world (well, any city where it snows, at least).
I also love all the realistic details - the guy's quiet brother who introduced them, the spaghetti dinner, her lack of a couch, the way they wrapped themselves up so thickly to stay warm. It adds an adorable, awkward touch to things, which contrasts nicely with the very serious conversation that they get into.
Really is all comes down to that last line - we are not lost in the mortal city. As long as people are able to find each other and remember to be kind to each other, and to have hope, things will be okay. We're all just parts of a whole, but every part has their role to play.
Prompts:
Tell me about the second date they had, or the friendship they developed afterward. It would be interesting to see him take her on a tour of the city, pointing out all his favorite spots, or just sitting and doing some people watching, making up stories for everyone they see walking past. Or maybe they travel to other cities and find differences and similarities between them all. Something that brings the brother in would be cool too - maybe they each give him their version of events, or we see their developing relationship through his eyes.
Greek Mythology
*Aeneas
*Cassandra
What I love about Greek Mythology:
First, I love pretty much any version of Aeneas; he's one of my favorite mythological characters (see my discussion of Black Ships, above). I love his whole 'epic quest/destiny' thing, the way he goes from being a minor prince to the sole leader and basically the entire hope of his all-but-vanished people. He might not be the smartest guy in the room, or always make the best decisions, but he never gives up and it's obviously very hard on him to balance his own personal desires with what he's destined to do and what's best for his people.
And Cassandra, poor darling Cassandra. I love that she stood up to Apollo, and that she never gave up on trying to make people hear her even though she knew it was hopeless; she knew everything would end in disaster and death and yet she must have had some kind of hope, that she kept giving her prophecies even when it made everyone think she was mad.
They're both doomed, in a way - even though Aeneas survives, he isn't exactly in control of his own life and still has to sacrifice and go on even when he doesn't want to, and of course not only does Cassandra suffer horribly in the end, but she sees it coming all along and can do nothing to stop it. It's definitely a crack pairing, but I do like them as a ship - for one thing, he's pretty much the only person she can look to and not see a horrible death awaiting him. He's got to be about the only thing that gives her any hope in the time leading up to the war, knowing that Troy will survive in some form with him. As for his part, I feel like the son of a goddess might find it easier than most to look past her surface 'madness' and see the woman below that, even if he couldn't believe her any more than anyone else.
Prompts:
I'd love to see shipfic for them, but feel free to take a platonic or even psuedo brother-sister take on these prompts if you'd prefer! I'd love pre-war fic, where he's the only one who tries to understand her, or befriends her even though he doesn't believe her at all. Post-war fic where her ghost appears to him and advises him through his adventures and travels works too, or a major AU where the Trojans win the war and everyone lives! If you do write shipfic, a doomed, one-sided, pining thing is okay with me, as is a more requited pairing where they're just trying to enjoy whatever time they have. I'd prefer no adultery on Aeneas's part, though.
***
So, there you have it; I apologize for the extensive tl;dr, but I hope it's been helpful in some way. Please don't feel you have to stick with the prompts I provided - if you have a story you're dying to tell and it involves these characters enjoying each other as people, go for it!
Good luck and happy writing!