Dear Yuletide Writer
Oct. 21st, 2015 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lasskickerFirst of all, I'm really excited to read anything in any one of those fandoms so thank you for writing for me, no matter what we matched on! I know that my NXT section is a lot longer than any of the others but that's just because of the number of nominated characters - please don't think that I would be any less delighted with fic for one of my other fandoms!
General
I am down with AUs, especially ones involving sci-fi/fantasy/magical realism, but I'd rather not receive any mundane AUs at this time. I would not like to receive a crossover or fusion, except where I've stated otherwise.
I'd rather not receive any fic about characters celebrating Christmas or other religious festivals, but seasonal activities are cool.
I love: Pretty much all of my OTPs fall under the category of 'two jerks who can't communicate continue to be jerks but put the effort into communicating better with one another, even when it makes them uncomfortable' and people struggling to express themselves but pushing themselves to get it right anyway, because it matters to someone important to them, is a trope I will always love in any romantic or platonic relationship. Themes of control and double-edged relationships. Character growth that comes at a price. Characters who are bad at emotions being forced to not only feel things but confront their feelings. Characters losing everything and just digging in harder and trying to find a way to survive. Worldbuilding. Struggles towards redemption. Fic that experiments with structure and style to create particular effects on the reader. Anything ostensibly set in the canon universe but with some element of magical realism.
I don't want: Permanent character death of the requested character(s); BDSM and soulmate AUs; transgender or asexual headcanons; anything with children apart from the canonical child characters.
Crueltide: I am happy to read dark fic for Utopia, BoJack Horseman, The Thrilling Adventure Hour and NXT but would rather not receive anything too dark for Hilary Tamar - the books deal with murder and death and so on, but in a generally light-hearted sort of way, and I wouldn't want anything which treated the topics more seriously than in canon.
Dark tropes I like include non-con and dub-con, unethical science experiments, guilt and grief, betrayal, psychological horror (especially when the victim begins to doubt their perceptions, or the ambiguity is a part of the narrative too), and the feeling of powerless when someone acts so cruelly or violently that you can't quite understand it because people aren't supposed to behave that way, or the inevitability of some disaster which hasn't quite come into play yet but which you don't know how to stop. Violence, or the threat of violence, and unequal power dynamics. Cults and other situations leading to a loss of individual identity. Mind control. Lackeys, abuse victims or people who have played second fiddle to a stronger personality struggling to figure out who they are as individuals not defined by the more dominant personality.
Porn: I'm happy to receive fic with sex in it if that floats your boat but I'd rather not receive fic where the porn is the whole point unless it's for one of the specific prompts I've left below (NXT: Becky/Sasha, D/s and/or angry sex and/or secret relationships; Thrilling Adventure Hour: Date night chez Doyle). I like to read mind games and seduction with a hint of danger, biting, choking and pain, service and surrender and vulnerability. I love it when characters get off to something that makes them feel ashamed or guilty, or when the threat of humiliation/exposure is used against them.
I'm not into kink negotiation - consensual smut can be awesome, don't get me wrong, but I'm not interested in reading about the discussion side of things - and I don't like pregnancy, body fluids which aren't blood or D/s with the Dom/me in a caretaking role of a submissive who acts much younger.
Utopia
Character(s): Grant Leetham
The most exciting thriller about comic book fandom and government budgets ever made! I love this show's integration of the slightly surreal - Mr Rabbit, all the bright colours and scenery porn - with the chilling violence. I love how genuine all the characters feel, too - Grant and Becky stood out to me as feeling so very understandable, even (especially) when they're not making great decisions. "I'm going to have a fucking bath" and all the fallout from that moment probably wasn't the moment I fell in love with the show (seeing Grant "I work in the city and drive a sports car and fuck supermodels" Leetham was just an 11 year old was probably that moment for me, because he feels so very much like a real kid even as his world is getting turned upside-down) but it was brilliant TV.
For me, a huge part of why I love Utopia is all this tension between who you think you are, who you make other people think you are, and what you're actually capable of. That you still think there are lines that people won't cross, and then someone does exactly that and it takes you a moment to understand what you're seeing because it just won't compute. They're not allowed to do that, surely (but who's gonna stop them? Who can?)
I know I've just requested Grant here, but I'd also love to read these prompts from the perspectives of Becky, Ian, Arby or Wilson, so feel free to write one of those characters instead if you would prefer. Post-finale fic, as the group look at the impending crisis, the plan comes to fruition, or something about Becky & Ian's capture, or something set in far-distant future when it has been solved (some hand-waving is fine if you want to do this) and they all have to deal with their trauma. For Grant in particular, I'd love to see some of the emotional fallout of the school shooting or of that moment when Jessica speaks to him as though he's an equal despite his age - or, on a lighter note, I'd like to see an older Grant grappling with an attraction to men.
Anything about the characters realising what exactly they're capable of when they've become desperate. That moment when Wilson and Lee are on their roadtrip and they both start laughing and then realise what they're doing - who they're laughing with - and then pause just sort of nails the complicated dynamics that made me fall in love with this show: you can't trust anyone, but desperate situations mean you see more of who people really are. A strange kind of intimacy where you know more about someone than anyone else in their life, but where there's still no trust.
I'd also enjoy something about The Utopia Experiment's fandom in particular - what kind of fanworks were they producing? We know Grant was drawing his own comics; did Ian ever try and persuade the others to nominate the comic for Yuletide? Did Wilson and Becky get into long arguments about interpretations of obscure details in canon? What did their fandom wank look like before it was all about who murdered and tortured who? Who was the worst troll?
BoJack Horseman
Character(s): BoJack Horseman, Mr. Peanutbutter, Diane Nguyen
So yeah, the talking horse cartoon has somehow managed to paint the most brutally accurate portrait of depression I've ever seen. Even the title sequence nails what it's like, with BoJack feeling so disconnected from the world. That moment when he's floating in the pool and the sun shines overhead and it looks like such a bright day, but he can only feel a little discomfort and shields his eyes from the sun instead? That wrecks me every time I watch it, but it's just so good at what it does.
My wish for the show is that, one day, BoJack gets a hug and some proper psychological help which doesn't then immediately cause him to turn around and go on a month-long bender to prove how fine he is, totally fine, there's nothing wrong with him, and somehow end up even worse than when he began. But in the meantime I'm loving how funny and weirdly sympathetic and horrible it is to see him continually fail, so either approach would be good!
BoJack/Diane/Mr Peanutbutter is my OT3, but I'm also cool with platonic interaction or unrequited interaction between them as well. I'd really rather not receive any graphic sexual content for the animal characters. I'm convinced that Mr Peanutbutter going in for a big showy kiss with BoJack is partly his jealousy making him imagine that BoJack's kiss with Diane was bigger than it was but also because the two of them have been drawn together for so long that he's always been a little curious, even if he felt that he could never say that out loud.
Conversations about depression, feeling that your best days are already behind you, feeling that you can't feel anything properly any more! Trying to help people that you care about and fucking it horribly. Obligation, and the stuff that you do because you feel that you should. Trying to be less awful than you think you are, and still not being able to manage that. I think BoJack's relationship with Sarah Lynn and Diane's experiences in Cordovia are great parallels, so anything where they talk about that (or drink in awkward silence while thinking about that) would be great.
The gang attend an awards show or a charity benefit of some kind and start a rumour that they're all together. Maybe BoJack thinks that the gossip would help get some attention? Maybe Mr Peanutbutter doesn't see why he wouldn't want to shout from the rooftops about how great it is that there are two people he loves who love him, isn't that great? What would the fallout be, and how would it differ for Diane (seen as a relative unknown who's probably just doing it to get famous? Publicity stunt for her book? Just a slut?) compared to BoJack, who's known for partying hard, and Mr Peanutbutter, who is so appalled at the difference in attitude that, when Diane has explained Hollywood's gender discrimination to him, he tries to organise a political protest?
So, since his drug-fueled memoir-writing binge we know BoJack knows about fanfic, has he ever looked up any for Horsin' Around? Written anyway? Tried to start some kind of fandom community and then got carried away and invented a bunch of sockpuppets so that the two other people who occasionally posted there wouldn't drift away because the comm wasn't active enough, and ended up arguing with everyone and shutting the whole thing down in a fit of pique over shipping wank?
Tell me more about the celebrity gossip from people Mr Peanutbutter and BoJack knew from their careers (they don't have to be actual celebrities) and Diane's reaction to some of the worse incidents. Tell me more about the world - there are talking animals but people are still eating meat and wearing leather and so on, and a lot of the names (Princess Carolyn, Mr Peanutbutter etc.) are clearly more like pet names than human names, so what is it like to be a talking animal or to be in love with one? Was there some kind of animal rights movement that probably passed BoJack by but Diane might have been aware of?
Three-way dates or hanging out as friends. Trying to get to some kind of stable, 'we don't completely suck at this' thing. BoJack getting a hug. Everyone going to talk to some kind of professional. More of Todd and Mr Peanutbutter's attempts at entrepreneurship! Everyone watching another special holiday episode of Horsin' Around!
The Thrilling Adventure Hour
Character(s): Frank and Sadie Doyle
Those merry married mediums are just perfect. I love their relationship - how much they adore one another, how fiercely proud they both are, and how much disdain they have for the outside world which keeps intruding on their days of doing nothing but drinking and being madly in love. I love Sadie's love of adventure, and how Frank is positively gleeful at the thought of seeing her go up against one of their enemies, and their reluctance to do anything involving leaving their apartment at all. I love the humour of the show, I love how much Frank and Sadie adore one another (their love is indeed the best) and I love how little they care about saving the world compared to saving one another.
The biggest mystery of all is how come two people who are so used to blackout drinking that they cannot reliably identify the month still manage to make and keep a regular date night, and all the hints that we have suggest that the two of them are quite happily kinky. Date night fic would be lovely - I've always assumed that Sadie gets her 'Sadistic' pet name from these activities, so anything about her inflicting pain on Frank would be lovely, but I also firmly believe that Frank has the biggest praise kink that ever existed and a few words from Sadie about how proud she is of him, how strong and wonderful he is to take whatever it is she's doing, would just delight him.
Any supernatural being they haven't yet crossed paths with (have they fought dragons? Helped a lost minotaur find his way home? Ridden kelpies to broker peace between fighting groups of water spirits, and then turned around to go home as soon as they discovered that they had mistaken the sort of spirits they were going to find?) showing up at their apartment, or scenes from one of the alternate universes created along the way. Sadie the art thief, missing Frank even when she didn't know she had a Frank to miss, or any of the backstory about how they courted one another and married.
This fandom is also an exception to my DNW religious stories stated above - anything with the Doyles getting caught up in some of the magic of Christmas, more about Frank's past with the church, or riffing on a traditional Christmas story (like The Gift Of The Magi, The Little Match Girl or even The Steadfast Tin-Soldier - I don't mean the Nativity or anything Biblical) would all be most welcome. But I'd also just love to read about the two of them sitting in their apartment, drinking and flirting happily ever after!
Scenes from another case - whether that's one of Hilary's investigations or one of the barristers looking into some legal matter - where they all discuss matters ironically and head off on little tangents and argue about the strangest of details. Maybe someone other than Julia is in some kind of legal trouble? Or maybe Julia's troubles with the Revenue have her seeking sympathy and support from the others? I am not a lawyer, so any legalese just has to sound about right - I won't notice and don't care if you fudge the details. Someone other than Hilary has to investigate a crime, or Hilary is called as a witness in some legal suit?
We know Julia and Selena travel together (in Adonis, Hilary comments on how Selena is convinced that Julia speaks all Romance languages very well because Julia talks some variation of Latin with slurred endings) and after being accused of murder, Julia might well agree to bring someone with her on her next holiday. What could possibly go wrong? And to how many countries will that opinion of their relationship which Selena is resigned to being "widely held" back home have spread?
Hilary's passive-aggression towards the Bursar and their attempts at passing the buck when it comes to exam marking and the like is one of my favourite minor details. More about the perception of Hilary's adventures back at Oxford, or any attention their students pay to the things they say. (Leonidas comes to Hilary for supervisions, after all - how does he react to his portrayal in Hades?)
Cantrip debating Othello in Adonis, when he was trying to make a case for the Major being the killer, made some pretty good points, and he is quick at thinking on his feet when it comes to persuading the newspapers to back down from printing the details about Julia's arrest - I'd love to see him putting his skills to good use, even if he doesn't really get the respect he deserves.
The books have a very loose chronological setting - I like to imagine that Hilary and the others are all, in their own way, timeless and eternal; there has always been a Julia Larwood dropping her briefcase and spilling her tea and there always shall be - so tell me about the Chambers of Now-ish. The advent of the Internet and the ensuing email chains with everyone getting shirty about 'Reply All' etiquette! HR meetings! Someone (Cantrip, probably) goofing off online all day and then beginning a mad dash to get his paperwork in order while Ragwort tuts disapprovingly!
General
I am down with AUs, especially ones involving sci-fi/fantasy/magical realism, but I'd rather not receive any mundane AUs at this time. I would not like to receive a crossover or fusion, except where I've stated otherwise.
I'd rather not receive any fic about characters celebrating Christmas or other religious festivals, but seasonal activities are cool.
I love: Pretty much all of my OTPs fall under the category of 'two jerks who can't communicate continue to be jerks but put the effort into communicating better with one another, even when it makes them uncomfortable' and people struggling to express themselves but pushing themselves to get it right anyway, because it matters to someone important to them, is a trope I will always love in any romantic or platonic relationship. Themes of control and double-edged relationships. Character growth that comes at a price. Characters who are bad at emotions being forced to not only feel things but confront their feelings. Characters losing everything and just digging in harder and trying to find a way to survive. Worldbuilding. Struggles towards redemption. Fic that experiments with structure and style to create particular effects on the reader. Anything ostensibly set in the canon universe but with some element of magical realism.
I don't want: Permanent character death of the requested character(s); BDSM and soulmate AUs; transgender or asexual headcanons; anything with children apart from the canonical child characters.
Crueltide: I am happy to read dark fic for Utopia, BoJack Horseman, The Thrilling Adventure Hour and NXT but would rather not receive anything too dark for Hilary Tamar - the books deal with murder and death and so on, but in a generally light-hearted sort of way, and I wouldn't want anything which treated the topics more seriously than in canon.
Dark tropes I like include non-con and dub-con, unethical science experiments, guilt and grief, betrayal, psychological horror (especially when the victim begins to doubt their perceptions, or the ambiguity is a part of the narrative too), and the feeling of powerless when someone acts so cruelly or violently that you can't quite understand it because people aren't supposed to behave that way, or the inevitability of some disaster which hasn't quite come into play yet but which you don't know how to stop. Violence, or the threat of violence, and unequal power dynamics. Cults and other situations leading to a loss of individual identity. Mind control. Lackeys, abuse victims or people who have played second fiddle to a stronger personality struggling to figure out who they are as individuals not defined by the more dominant personality.
Porn: I'm happy to receive fic with sex in it if that floats your boat but I'd rather not receive fic where the porn is the whole point unless it's for one of the specific prompts I've left below (NXT: Becky/Sasha, D/s and/or angry sex and/or secret relationships; Thrilling Adventure Hour: Date night chez Doyle). I like to read mind games and seduction with a hint of danger, biting, choking and pain, service and surrender and vulnerability. I love it when characters get off to something that makes them feel ashamed or guilty, or when the threat of humiliation/exposure is used against them.
I'm not into kink negotiation - consensual smut can be awesome, don't get me wrong, but I'm not interested in reading about the discussion side of things - and I don't like pregnancy, body fluids which aren't blood or D/s with the Dom/me in a caretaking role of a submissive who acts much younger.
Utopia
Character(s): Grant Leetham
The most exciting thriller about comic book fandom and government budgets ever made! I love this show's integration of the slightly surreal - Mr Rabbit, all the bright colours and scenery porn - with the chilling violence. I love how genuine all the characters feel, too - Grant and Becky stood out to me as feeling so very understandable, even (especially) when they're not making great decisions. "I'm going to have a fucking bath" and all the fallout from that moment probably wasn't the moment I fell in love with the show (seeing Grant "I work in the city and drive a sports car and fuck supermodels" Leetham was just an 11 year old was probably that moment for me, because he feels so very much like a real kid even as his world is getting turned upside-down) but it was brilliant TV.
For me, a huge part of why I love Utopia is all this tension between who you think you are, who you make other people think you are, and what you're actually capable of. That you still think there are lines that people won't cross, and then someone does exactly that and it takes you a moment to understand what you're seeing because it just won't compute. They're not allowed to do that, surely (but who's gonna stop them? Who can?)
I know I've just requested Grant here, but I'd also love to read these prompts from the perspectives of Becky, Ian, Arby or Wilson, so feel free to write one of those characters instead if you would prefer. Post-finale fic, as the group look at the impending crisis, the plan comes to fruition, or something about Becky & Ian's capture, or something set in far-distant future when it has been solved (some hand-waving is fine if you want to do this) and they all have to deal with their trauma. For Grant in particular, I'd love to see some of the emotional fallout of the school shooting or of that moment when Jessica speaks to him as though he's an equal despite his age - or, on a lighter note, I'd like to see an older Grant grappling with an attraction to men.
Anything about the characters realising what exactly they're capable of when they've become desperate. That moment when Wilson and Lee are on their roadtrip and they both start laughing and then realise what they're doing - who they're laughing with - and then pause just sort of nails the complicated dynamics that made me fall in love with this show: you can't trust anyone, but desperate situations mean you see more of who people really are. A strange kind of intimacy where you know more about someone than anyone else in their life, but where there's still no trust.
I'd also enjoy something about The Utopia Experiment's fandom in particular - what kind of fanworks were they producing? We know Grant was drawing his own comics; did Ian ever try and persuade the others to nominate the comic for Yuletide? Did Wilson and Becky get into long arguments about interpretations of obscure details in canon? What did their fandom wank look like before it was all about who murdered and tortured who? Who was the worst troll?
BoJack Horseman
Character(s): BoJack Horseman, Mr. Peanutbutter, Diane Nguyen
So yeah, the talking horse cartoon has somehow managed to paint the most brutally accurate portrait of depression I've ever seen. Even the title sequence nails what it's like, with BoJack feeling so disconnected from the world. That moment when he's floating in the pool and the sun shines overhead and it looks like such a bright day, but he can only feel a little discomfort and shields his eyes from the sun instead? That wrecks me every time I watch it, but it's just so good at what it does.
My wish for the show is that, one day, BoJack gets a hug and some proper psychological help which doesn't then immediately cause him to turn around and go on a month-long bender to prove how fine he is, totally fine, there's nothing wrong with him, and somehow end up even worse than when he began. But in the meantime I'm loving how funny and weirdly sympathetic and horrible it is to see him continually fail, so either approach would be good!
BoJack/Diane/Mr Peanutbutter is my OT3, but I'm also cool with platonic interaction or unrequited interaction between them as well. I'd really rather not receive any graphic sexual content for the animal characters. I'm convinced that Mr Peanutbutter going in for a big showy kiss with BoJack is partly his jealousy making him imagine that BoJack's kiss with Diane was bigger than it was but also because the two of them have been drawn together for so long that he's always been a little curious, even if he felt that he could never say that out loud.
Conversations about depression, feeling that your best days are already behind you, feeling that you can't feel anything properly any more! Trying to help people that you care about and fucking it horribly. Obligation, and the stuff that you do because you feel that you should. Trying to be less awful than you think you are, and still not being able to manage that. I think BoJack's relationship with Sarah Lynn and Diane's experiences in Cordovia are great parallels, so anything where they talk about that (or drink in awkward silence while thinking about that) would be great.
The gang attend an awards show or a charity benefit of some kind and start a rumour that they're all together. Maybe BoJack thinks that the gossip would help get some attention? Maybe Mr Peanutbutter doesn't see why he wouldn't want to shout from the rooftops about how great it is that there are two people he loves who love him, isn't that great? What would the fallout be, and how would it differ for Diane (seen as a relative unknown who's probably just doing it to get famous? Publicity stunt for her book? Just a slut?) compared to BoJack, who's known for partying hard, and Mr Peanutbutter, who is so appalled at the difference in attitude that, when Diane has explained Hollywood's gender discrimination to him, he tries to organise a political protest?
So, since his drug-fueled memoir-writing binge we know BoJack knows about fanfic, has he ever looked up any for Horsin' Around? Written anyway? Tried to start some kind of fandom community and then got carried away and invented a bunch of sockpuppets so that the two other people who occasionally posted there wouldn't drift away because the comm wasn't active enough, and ended up arguing with everyone and shutting the whole thing down in a fit of pique over shipping wank?
Tell me more about the celebrity gossip from people Mr Peanutbutter and BoJack knew from their careers (they don't have to be actual celebrities) and Diane's reaction to some of the worse incidents. Tell me more about the world - there are talking animals but people are still eating meat and wearing leather and so on, and a lot of the names (Princess Carolyn, Mr Peanutbutter etc.) are clearly more like pet names than human names, so what is it like to be a talking animal or to be in love with one? Was there some kind of animal rights movement that probably passed BoJack by but Diane might have been aware of?
Three-way dates or hanging out as friends. Trying to get to some kind of stable, 'we don't completely suck at this' thing. BoJack getting a hug. Everyone going to talk to some kind of professional. More of Todd and Mr Peanutbutter's attempts at entrepreneurship! Everyone watching another special holiday episode of Horsin' Around!
The Thrilling Adventure Hour
Character(s): Frank and Sadie Doyle
Those merry married mediums are just perfect. I love their relationship - how much they adore one another, how fiercely proud they both are, and how much disdain they have for the outside world which keeps intruding on their days of doing nothing but drinking and being madly in love. I love Sadie's love of adventure, and how Frank is positively gleeful at the thought of seeing her go up against one of their enemies, and their reluctance to do anything involving leaving their apartment at all. I love the humour of the show, I love how much Frank and Sadie adore one another (their love is indeed the best) and I love how little they care about saving the world compared to saving one another.
The biggest mystery of all is how come two people who are so used to blackout drinking that they cannot reliably identify the month still manage to make and keep a regular date night, and all the hints that we have suggest that the two of them are quite happily kinky. Date night fic would be lovely - I've always assumed that Sadie gets her 'Sadistic' pet name from these activities, so anything about her inflicting pain on Frank would be lovely, but I also firmly believe that Frank has the biggest praise kink that ever existed and a few words from Sadie about how proud she is of him, how strong and wonderful he is to take whatever it is she's doing, would just delight him.
Any supernatural being they haven't yet crossed paths with (have they fought dragons? Helped a lost minotaur find his way home? Ridden kelpies to broker peace between fighting groups of water spirits, and then turned around to go home as soon as they discovered that they had mistaken the sort of spirits they were going to find?) showing up at their apartment, or scenes from one of the alternate universes created along the way. Sadie the art thief, missing Frank even when she didn't know she had a Frank to miss, or any of the backstory about how they courted one another and married.
This fandom is also an exception to my DNW religious stories stated above - anything with the Doyles getting caught up in some of the magic of Christmas, more about Frank's past with the church, or riffing on a traditional Christmas story (like The Gift Of The Magi, The Little Match Girl or even The Steadfast Tin-Soldier - I don't mean the Nativity or anything Biblical) would all be most welcome. But I'd also just love to read about the two of them sitting in their apartment, drinking and flirting happily ever after!
Hilary Tamar Mysteries
Character(s): Any
Scenes from another case - whether that's one of Hilary's investigations or one of the barristers looking into some legal matter - where they all discuss matters ironically and head off on little tangents and argue about the strangest of details. Maybe someone other than Julia is in some kind of legal trouble? Or maybe Julia's troubles with the Revenue have her seeking sympathy and support from the others? I am not a lawyer, so any legalese just has to sound about right - I won't notice and don't care if you fudge the details. Someone other than Hilary has to investigate a crime, or Hilary is called as a witness in some legal suit?
We know Julia and Selena travel together (in Adonis, Hilary comments on how Selena is convinced that Julia speaks all Romance languages very well because Julia talks some variation of Latin with slurred endings) and after being accused of murder, Julia might well agree to bring someone with her on her next holiday. What could possibly go wrong? And to how many countries will that opinion of their relationship which Selena is resigned to being "widely held" back home have spread?
Hilary's passive-aggression towards the Bursar and their attempts at passing the buck when it comes to exam marking and the like is one of my favourite minor details. More about the perception of Hilary's adventures back at Oxford, or any attention their students pay to the things they say. (Leonidas comes to Hilary for supervisions, after all - how does he react to his portrayal in Hades?)
Cantrip debating Othello in Adonis, when he was trying to make a case for the Major being the killer, made some pretty good points, and he is quick at thinking on his feet when it comes to persuading the newspapers to back down from printing the details about Julia's arrest - I'd love to see him putting his skills to good use, even if he doesn't really get the respect he deserves.
The books have a very loose chronological setting - I like to imagine that Hilary and the others are all, in their own way, timeless and eternal; there has always been a Julia Larwood dropping her briefcase and spilling her tea and there always shall be - so tell me about the Chambers of Now-ish. The advent of the Internet and the ensuing email chains with everyone getting shirty about 'Reply All' etiquette! HR meetings! Someone (Cantrip, probably) goofing off online all day and then beginning a mad dash to get his paperwork in order while Ragwort tuts disapprovingly!
NXT
Character(s): Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks
My favourite soap opera! I am constantly delighted by almost everything that comes out of NXT, and I absolutely love the Four Horsewomen. I love their talent and drive, the stories of friendship and grudging respect and betrayal, I love how deeply they all care about their industry. I love how different they all are, too, with their own motivations and reactions and styles, even when they share the same goal of being the women's champion. Literally every word of this roundtable has me marking out, especially:
"SASHA: [in an Irish accent]"
and
"WWE.COM: Becky, you had a character initially –
Character(s): Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks
My favourite soap opera! I am constantly delighted by almost everything that comes out of NXT, and I absolutely love the Four Horsewomen. I love their talent and drive, the stories of friendship and grudging respect and betrayal, I love how deeply they all care about their industry. I love how different they all are, too, with their own motivations and reactions and styles, even when they share the same goal of being the women's champion. Literally every word of this roundtable has me marking out, especially:
"SASHA: [in an Irish accent]"
and
"WWE.COM: Becky, you had a character initially –
BECKY: Oh, stop it.
SASHA: I liked the jig dance!"
and
"CHARLOTTE: Yeah, you wanna say, “Follow that!”
and
"CHARLOTTE: Yeah, you wanna say, “Follow that!”
WWE.COM: Have you ever said that?
CHARLOTTE: Ummm, maybe mentally. Not out loud. [Pauses] OK, yeah, after the Fatal 4-Way, I did."
I'm requesting the 4 Horsewomen here but I love so many of the roster that I'd be just as happy to get fic about loads of other combinations of characters too. So if we matched on this fandom, then please feel free to write about one of the other prompts I'm leaving below - in that case, I'm OK with you not writing these four, or not including everyone.
I vastly prefer kayfabe-fic rather than RPF about the performers, although I know the lines are sometimes blurred. I'd rather not read anything based on parts of their real lives which haven't been incorporated into NXT (or the main roster) kayfabe. I ship Bayley with pretty much all of the grumpy heels and Becky with all the women, but I will happily read any pairing and/or polyship involving one or more of the Horsewomen.
I will say that Charlotte's "genetic superiority" schtick doesn't always sit well with me, especially when she's being positioned as a face and she's going up against Sasha, for example. I know that it's meant to be a reference to her dad, that she's not being written as racist, but it does make me feel uncomfortable so while I'm absolutely fine with it coming up in other contexts or if you're writing heel!Charlotte and looking to make me feel uncomfortable, it would throw me out of something fluffier.
Four Horsewomen prompts
How their relationship has changed after spending so long fighting against one another and changing the face of women's wrestling, and/or how they see one another now that Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are on the main roster and Bayley is still in NXT, and/or how they relate to the others in NXT or on the main roster and how the move has changed them. Sasha's been effectively shut out of the top dog position by losing her NXT title and not getting to be No. 1 Contender; Becky just seems excited to be there, cheering Charlotte on, at the moment, but that "least relevant" barb felt like a clear callback to Sasha telling her that she needed to make herself relevant when Becky turned heel; Charlotte has got the Divas title and her dad congratulating her in front of everyone, and Bayley has her title but is the only one not to have graduated from the developmental roster. How do these changes affect their relationships with one another? What kind of reactions are they getting from the main roster and the others in NXT?
An AU where they are the horse(wo)men of the apocalypse - Death, War, Famine and Pestilence.
I'd love to read anything where they talk about how they see their work. One of the details I loved most about Takeover Respect was how Sasha and Bayley both showed the essays they had written about wanting to wrestle when they were kids and now they're living the dream, but Sasha's also had to change a lot about herself to get to the top. And Charlotte loves her dad so much and so clearly wants to make him proud, but that's a hell of a legacy to live up to and not all of it is positive. How does stuff like Ric Flair having once been Triple H's manager and then sledgehammered in the head affect her relationship with Triple H? I'm not looking for something which breaks kayfabe, but something exploring the business end of wrestling as it would seem to their characters.
Anything about any of the rivalry and competition between the four of them as they vie to be the best, or ways in which they've mended fences (and then razed them to the ground all over again).
Any sort of fantasy or sci-fi AU or trope of your choosing. A Tam Lin AU where Charlotte is actually a fairy queen or a Frankenstein-like tale where she was created to be the greatest wrestler. Supervillain mob boss Sasha's plans being foiled by superhero Bayley. The one where they're all magical girls. A road trip to get to their next live show leads them to spend the night in a town menaced by vampires. Time Lady (or other time-traveller, I'm really just after sci-fi or fantasy interpretations of the steampunk gear) Becky. A Lovecraft pastiche in which they're all driven insane and Bayley suplexes Cthulhu. Anything.
Other prompts
Team BAE (Sasha/Becky) femslash! Sasha tempting Becky to the dark side? Becky's insistence that "this isn't a friendship, this is just an alliance" being chipped away by her respect for Sasha's ability and genuine affection? Single entendres about The Boss and the submission specialist/the Submission Sorority v Team Best At Dominating? Actual D/s or angry, angsty power struggles after Becky makes her play for the title or when they're on opposite teams? Secret relationship shenanigans as they sneak around, trying to keep their main roster teams from finding out that they make out with one another sometimes but vehemently denying that there are actual feelings? Awkwardly discovering a kink you didn't know you were into while you're at work, in front of an audience and on camera?
I like to believe that the Vaudevillains approach every aspect of their lives as though they are constantly performing in a variety show from the 1900s and being slightly surprised when nobody else seems to know their cues. Anything about how they spend the rest of the time when they aren't wrestling, or how they relate to their less old-timey coworkers. Why did they choose to ask Blue Pants to help them with their Alexa problem?
I'm requesting the 4 Horsewomen here but I love so many of the roster that I'd be just as happy to get fic about loads of other combinations of characters too. So if we matched on this fandom, then please feel free to write about one of the other prompts I'm leaving below - in that case, I'm OK with you not writing these four, or not including everyone.
I vastly prefer kayfabe-fic rather than RPF about the performers, although I know the lines are sometimes blurred. I'd rather not read anything based on parts of their real lives which haven't been incorporated into NXT (or the main roster) kayfabe. I ship Bayley with pretty much all of the grumpy heels and Becky with all the women, but I will happily read any pairing and/or polyship involving one or more of the Horsewomen.
I will say that Charlotte's "genetic superiority" schtick doesn't always sit well with me, especially when she's being positioned as a face and she's going up against Sasha, for example. I know that it's meant to be a reference to her dad, that she's not being written as racist, but it does make me feel uncomfortable so while I'm absolutely fine with it coming up in other contexts or if you're writing heel!Charlotte and looking to make me feel uncomfortable, it would throw me out of something fluffier.
Four Horsewomen prompts
How their relationship has changed after spending so long fighting against one another and changing the face of women's wrestling, and/or how they see one another now that Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are on the main roster and Bayley is still in NXT, and/or how they relate to the others in NXT or on the main roster and how the move has changed them. Sasha's been effectively shut out of the top dog position by losing her NXT title and not getting to be No. 1 Contender; Becky just seems excited to be there, cheering Charlotte on, at the moment, but that "least relevant" barb felt like a clear callback to Sasha telling her that she needed to make herself relevant when Becky turned heel; Charlotte has got the Divas title and her dad congratulating her in front of everyone, and Bayley has her title but is the only one not to have graduated from the developmental roster. How do these changes affect their relationships with one another? What kind of reactions are they getting from the main roster and the others in NXT?
An AU where they are the horse(wo)men of the apocalypse - Death, War, Famine and Pestilence.
I'd love to read anything where they talk about how they see their work. One of the details I loved most about Takeover Respect was how Sasha and Bayley both showed the essays they had written about wanting to wrestle when they were kids and now they're living the dream, but Sasha's also had to change a lot about herself to get to the top. And Charlotte loves her dad so much and so clearly wants to make him proud, but that's a hell of a legacy to live up to and not all of it is positive. How does stuff like Ric Flair having once been Triple H's manager and then sledgehammered in the head affect her relationship with Triple H? I'm not looking for something which breaks kayfabe, but something exploring the business end of wrestling as it would seem to their characters.
Anything about any of the rivalry and competition between the four of them as they vie to be the best, or ways in which they've mended fences (and then razed them to the ground all over again).
Any sort of fantasy or sci-fi AU or trope of your choosing. A Tam Lin AU where Charlotte is actually a fairy queen or a Frankenstein-like tale where she was created to be the greatest wrestler. Supervillain mob boss Sasha's plans being foiled by superhero Bayley. The one where they're all magical girls. A road trip to get to their next live show leads them to spend the night in a town menaced by vampires. Time Lady (or other time-traveller, I'm really just after sci-fi or fantasy interpretations of the steampunk gear) Becky. A Lovecraft pastiche in which they're all driven insane and Bayley suplexes Cthulhu. Anything.
Other prompts
Team BAE (Sasha/Becky) femslash! Sasha tempting Becky to the dark side? Becky's insistence that "this isn't a friendship, this is just an alliance" being chipped away by her respect for Sasha's ability and genuine affection? Single entendres about The Boss and the submission specialist/the Submission Sorority v Team Best At Dominating? Actual D/s or angry, angsty power struggles after Becky makes her play for the title or when they're on opposite teams? Secret relationship shenanigans as they sneak around, trying to keep their main roster teams from finding out that they make out with one another sometimes but vehemently denying that there are actual feelings? Awkwardly discovering a kink you didn't know you were into while you're at work, in front of an audience and on camera?
I like to believe that the Vaudevillains approach every aspect of their lives as though they are constantly performing in a variety show from the 1900s and being slightly surprised when nobody else seems to know their cues. Anything about how they spend the rest of the time when they aren't wrestling, or how they relate to their less old-timey coworkers. Why did they choose to ask Blue Pants to help them with their Alexa problem?
I've commented elsewhere that my dream winner of Cena's open challenge is Sasha Banks, partly because she's not been involved in the Divas title/collapse of PCB storyline and it could lead to so many interesting angles about what the titles mean and what real change for women's wrestling looks like. I've also wanted Becky to get something more to do for a while especially since Becky's past with Paige has now been made kayfabe-official, so anything which looked at what was going on for these two in particular since Bayley won the NXT title and Charlotte became No. 1 Contender would be brilliant.
Speaking of, Charlotte has that speech about how she found two best friends along the way to getting the Divas title And some of the backstage interviews have left me with the impression that it was Becky who was all "yeah, OK, what Paige said was out of order but I've known her since she was a kid, let me talk to her, everyone makes mistakes and we can give her another chance, can't we?" while Charlotte would have been OK with cutting their losses sooner. But during her celebration, Charlotte's talking about how she was following Paige's lead in coming up from NXT and then she reacts with annoyance and sarcastic clapping while Paige insults her - Paige barely has the chance to turn on Becky (the insult isn't even out of her mouth!) before Charlotte loses her temper and starts shouting all "NO, DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HER, YOU DON'T GET TO TALK TO HER LIKE THAT". I adore characters who start out aloof and then find themselves caring about someone other than themselves and getting oddly protective, but I'd also love to see if Charlotte was reevaluating this 'friendship' thing after Paige turned on them. Tell me about the bonds they forged with NXT alumni and how they change on the main roster!
Kevin Owens' grumpily accepting all the affection Bayley sends his way (but still trying to mentor her in the Ways Of Being A (Near-)Total Asshole) is one of my favourite things about him. Do the two of them hang out? Does she try and cheer him up while he complains at length about how much he hates Sami Zayn, no really, he has nothing to say about Sami [rants for ten hours about Sami's stupid face]? What does he see in Bayley?
Sasha and Bayley have the most incredible chemistry, and the psychology of their recent matches has been top notch. Something which looked at Sasha's comments about life not being a fairytale, or her screaming "You think you're better than me, huh?" while they fight, or the aftermath when you've been so raw and vulnerable and collapsed sobbing in front of everyone would be amazing.
OK, this would honestly break my heart but: feeling alone and left behind in the developmentals, desperate from being targeted by Alexa, Emma and everyone else trying to take her title, angry about all the bullying and meanness, Bayley turns heel. (Alternately, Charlotte turns heel, whether that's due to arrogance at holding the title, frustration with the move to the main roster or with other women, or a similar mix of anger and desperation - it wouldn't break my heart, but I'd still love to see it!) One or more of their friends has to try and stop them before they burn their division to the ground.
Emma's transformation into someone more bitter and hurt just tears at my heartstrings, but I genuinely find Dana hilarious (when she yells "I know the rules!" to the referee is such a perfect character moment) so I kind of want Emma to stay hurt and needing Dana a little while longer. More about their relationship, or how Asuka changes things between them since Emma is a lot more aware of just how dangerous Asuka is than Dana, or anything about them being awful people who aren't so awful towards one another.
Thanks for reading and happy Yuletide!
TJ (kokiyas)
no subject
Date: 2015-12-28 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-29 08:35 pm (UTC)And thanks, I'm glad you like my prompts :) Awards season must be a minefield of depressive slumps and chaos for BoJack and everyone in his life, and I really love how the show deals with those parts of being famous with all the glamour stripped back (but oh, how BoJack *wants* so badly to keep his rose-coloured glasses on about Hollywoo).
I had a great Yuletide all the same, though, and I hope yours went well!