Yuletide 2022

[thewreckofapoet]

Dear Yuletide Author:

Great to have you here, and super excited to read about whichever mutual fandom we have! I am Bevita on AO3. Last year was my first time doing Yuletide ever, and notwithstanding getting a new, demanding job this year, I have decided to sign up again this year, cause I had that much fun. I received a Disco Elysium fic that was absolutely delightful, and was able to write a Law & Order fic and pinch-hit this "Piano Man" inspired one. Not to mention a lot of the wonderfully creative stories I've seen the community write. I'm ready to see what we all can come up with this year!

I'll just recap what I said last year: my taste in fic tend towards the humorous. I love wit, whimsy, and wordplay. I'm tickled by meta-references and fourth-wall breaking. I adore surreal humor and patently absurd situations that a lone person points out while everyone else goes about their day. I also like fluffy and "slice of life" fics where people are just being normal. Bonus points if there's a juxtaposition of a fearsome, elegant, staid, or stodgy, etc. character and something utterly mundane or even silly (e.g., Tywin Lannister coffeeshop AU, Cthulhu prepping for a date, Darth Vader doing karaoke, or something like that).

That doesn't mean I don't like more serious fics, of course. As far as romance goes, I tend to prefer a slow burn. I like my sexual tension like I like my actual sex: sulky and belligerent. I am totally more about sexual frustration than consummation, though I will say there is nothing better than a satisfying end to a hard-fought courtship/flirtation. I certainly don't mind smut, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. (I also have a bad habit of not finishing the smut I start out to write, so this could just be my frustration talking.) If you are struck by inspiration and want to write a sexual scene in your fic, by all means, write it.

Above all, however, I adore thoughtful world-building! I love well-researched, immersive fic where the writer has really shown their work and enthusiastically engaged with the source material. I'm inspired by Tolkien and Kurosawa. I want answers to questions like, What kind of infrastructure does Middle Earth have? Has the Federation of Planets ever imposed trade embargoes on Cardassia? Shouldn't Luke Skywalker have grown up in better conditions considering that moisture would probably be priceless on a desert planet?

That being said, I know how hard it is to toil on a story, so I am sure that I will love and appreciate whatever it is you come up with!

General DNWs: fat-shaming, slut-shaming, racist/fascist/eugenicist apologia, situations where a naked person is paraded around for someone's amusement, sexual or otherwise (if they're naked by choice in an attempt to amuse other people, that's fine), child or animal abuse, dead children in general (references to children who have passed in canon are fine; just don't linger)

1. House of the Dragon

Alicent Hightower
Larys Strong

or

Alicent Hightower
Rhaenyra Targaryen

For Alicent + Larys:

So, that scene.

You know the one.

Since that episode aired, all I keep thinking of is: how did it even get to that point? How do you even broach such a topic to the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? It's clearly an established thing by the time we see it, but there had to have been an instance where Larys first proposed it. There's just no polite or subtle way to do it! DId Larys do it in his unctuous, innuendo-laden way, or was he actually pretty straightforward about it? Did he decide he just wanted to see someone in the Red Keep's feet and decided that Alicent's feet were likely prettier than Otto's? Did he reverse engineer the situation so that he could specifically see Alicent's feet? How did Alicent react? What was her inner monologue through all of this? Is she resigned to forever being an object of sexual gratification for really gross dudes, or does she maybe feel that when her son is finally king, Larys will be first for the headsman's block? I WANT TO KNOW!!!

You can make this as darkly funny, or as darkly dark, as you want. (I'd obviously prefer the former.)

DNW: Rape.

Ableist/sexist/prudish attitudes that would be typical for the setting, as revealed through the inner monologue of the character, are fine and even expected, but I really DNW anything that suggests that Larys as a deviant because he is disabled/has a foot fetish. I know that seems like a fine line but it's all about execution.

For Alicent + Rhaenyra:

These two were so obviously hot for each other.

My ideal scenario would be a fic where we could fast-forward to the end of Alicent's life, when she's reminiscing about all that she's lost... and she reveals that one of the losses that breaks her heart the most is Rhaenyra. I'd love flashbacks to when they were girls/young women, maybe starting when Alicent was first brought to court and they start out as friends. I kind of imagine that at some point they'd develop kind of a schoolgirl-type romance, though whether the feeling was requited or one-sided on Alicent's part, I'll leave up to you (though I tend to imagine it's requited but unspoken).

DNW: Anything that implies that the "Brothel Queens" rumor was true.

2. 1776 (1972 musical)

John Dickinson
James Wilson

I requested this last year and after watching American Repertory Theater's production of 1776 this year, I'm trying it again. Watch that climactic scene where John Hancock polls the Pennsylvania delegation. The intimacy inherent in calling each other by their first names, the heartfelt entreaties to each other, the hurt and betrayal on Dickinson’s face as Wilson votes against him. These two were totally banging.

I would love an angsty fic that explores both the beginning of their relationship, and their relationship in aftermath of Wilson's vote. Whether they break up or stay together and work through it, or stay together but it's never the same between them - I'd love to read about any of these scenarios.

3. Jacob Have I Loved

Sara Louise Bradshaw
McCall "Call" Purnell

So lowkey, this was my OTP when I was a wee young girl, and I was furious when they didn't end up together in the end. It was only after getting older and noticing that Call was actually kind of an annoying shit who negged Louise all the time (despite ostensibly being her best friend) that I realized it would have never worked out. I want a fic that explores what happens when both of them go their separate ways - Call marrying Caroline, Louise marrying Joseph - and they get together for some kind of family gathering on Rass Island after the Captain or Grandma Bradshaw dies or something. (I did always kind of wonder how Call and Caroline found the time to actually date, why he chose to correspond with her throughout the war, and why he decided that she "needed" him after she went to Juilliard, so I'd dig any elaboration on that.) Do any feelings linger? Were any feelings ever present in the first place? Is he content with his hot opera singer wife, does he feel a stir of jealousy when he sees that Louise has become an independent, strong, and dynamic woman in a loving marriage, or perhaps both? Is Louise now free of jealousy, or is she still coping with the trauma of being the Un-Favorite in her family?

Alternatively, you could do an AU where they do end up together, and what that relationship looks like.

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Mandatory:
Zero Moustafa
Agatha

Optional:
Gustave H.
Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis

I want a fic predominantly centered around Zero and Agatha's romance. I'd love it if you could write about that brief, happy year and a half they spent as a married couple. Or you could write about the courtship, leading up to the murder mystery that drives the movie's plot. It would be great if you could somehow work in Gustave H. or Dmitri into the story, though it's by no means a requirement. Bonus points if we get more about both their backgrounds, like how Zero became a refugee, and how he chose Zubrowka as his adopted homeland (if he chose it). Or how Agatha came to work at Mendl's and became such an artist with pastry.

5. Fire and Blood

Any combination of the following characters:

Rhaena Targaryen (Aenys's daughter)

or:

Aegon III Targaryen
Jaehaera Targaryen

or:

Jacaerys Velaryon

For the Rhaena fic: I'd like an exploration on how Rhaena and Elissa became romantically involved and the kind of adventures they went on together, either on dragonback or on her ship. Jaehaerys I seems to suggest at the end of Rhaena's life that she really died when her first husband (Prince Aegon) did, but did he really believe that, or was he just covering for his sister's love with Elissa? How did she feel about Aegon, anyway? To what extent where Rhaena's preferences an open secret? We know all that Androw was bearding her, but was he just that gullible/willfully ignorant or so besotted that he didn't care? How much did Elissa try to play the mom to Aerea? Was their relationship always tempestuous or did it only deteriorate in the lead-up to Elissa's disappearance? Finally, were they in kind of a polycule with the rest of Rhaena's favorites, like Samantha Stokeworth and Alayne Royce, or nah? Also, what did Rhaena think of Jaehaerys's woes with his headstrong daughters? (I like to imagining she was laughing her ass off the entire time, and that it was the one thing that brought her joy in her otherwise tragic later life, though I think she'd passed by the time the worst of it [e.g., Saera, Viserra] happened).

For the Aegon III + Jaehaera fic: To the extent possible, I'd just like a fic of these two being kids and forming an odd bond/friendship, despite the fact that the respective branches of their families slaughtered each other. It doesn't have to be shiny and happy, but at least just give them a break from their parade of horribles! You could even do a modern AU where, you know, people actually receive therapy. Or an AU where Jaehaera survives and they are allowed to grow up together.

DNW: Graphic references to the Blood & Cheese incident; sexual activity between these kids, or characters suggesting that it happen.

For the Jacaerys fic: I cannot get enough of the Strong Boys! For this fic, sibling and parent interactions would be great. Possible themes to explore: show!Jace has bastard angst because he knows that Harwin's his dad, but does this Jace know? Does he figure he just takes after Grandma Rhaenys (who's a brunette in this continuity)? How was it growing up with his uncles the TargTowers? Does he get along with his stepdads Laenor/Daemon, or is he kind of low-key scornful of both (with book!Laenor being an effete aristocrat and Daemon being the power-hungry murderer who married his mom scant months after his putative father died)? Does he even want to be heir to the throne? I'd love some Jacaerys/Baela, and some insight on how he feels about marrying his free-spirited cousin/stepsister.

DNW for this fandom in general: Mushroom; that gross in-universe book A Caution for Young Girls. Also, see the above entry for House of the Dragon.

6. American Girls series - Samantha

Samantha Parkington

I'd love snapshots of Samantha's life as she grows up! The books take place in 1904, and at that point she's about 10 years old, which means she's about 20 when World War I starts, 26 when women get the right to vote, and in her mid-30s during the Great Depression. I'm imagining a Samantha who drops out of Vassar to be a Red Cross volunteer nurse in Ypres, or uses her vast inheritance to support Eastern European refugee children coming to New York, or follows the footsteps of her Aunt Cornelia and campaigns for women's suffrage, maybe even getting arrested in the process. Maybe she's influenced by Jessie's experience to become an activist for Civil Rights, or by Nellie's family's experience to become a disciple of Emma Goldman. Maybe she marries Eddie Ryland and lives a respectable bougie life in New York, or ends up running away with Nellie to Italy. Maybe she runs away with both of them, and damn what everyone thinks! The possibilities are endless.

DNW: The "white savior" trope played straight.