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blindmadness) wrote2019-11-03 03:23 pm
blindmadness) wrote2019-11-03 03:23 pm
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Dear Yuletide Author,
Hello hello, dearest author, and welcome to my letter! ♥ Let's get this out of the way early on: I absolutely love Yuletide, and it is my dearest wish to have everyone have as enjoyable and fun of an experience with it as I do. So if you get an idea you're really excited about and it doesn't quite fit with any of prompts below... look, follow your heart!! I think my requests are pretty flexible this year, and above all, what I really enjoy reading are stories that someone clearly really loved writing. So what I want to receive is a story you feel passionately about and that you had a great time writing. Everything else is secondary!
Now, having said that, let's get to the secondary content, shall we? :")
Broadly speaking, the things usually I want out of Yuletide are character- rather than plot-driven stories (not that the two can't happily coexist, of course, but my favorite stories tend to follow an emotional arc or a relationship development rather than characters dealing with an external conflict or a really intricate plot) with happy or at least hopeful endings (I'm fine with a more bittersweet hinting-at-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel type ambiguity, but would strongly prefer more overt happiness, and I really and truly do not want any serious or lasting tragedy involved).
My major DNWs are needles (I have a huge phobia and would deeply rather no mention of them at all, but if it does come up, please please please keep it brief and be sure to clearly warn for me!) and serious issues beyond those explored in canon (e.g., racism, homophobia, character death, serious assault/injury, etc. etc.). By which I mean, say, there's quite a bit of fantastic racism in Carnival Row that certainly can't be sidestepped too much, so while I wouldn't want that to be too much of a focus, I'm fine with not having it entirely brushed over; on the other hand, any kind of homophobia and/or racism in a John Mulaney/Tan France story would definitely not be my jam!
More specifically, here are some overall likes and dislikes:
Likes: banter, UST/pining/slow burn, first kisses/makeouts that don't immediately lead to sex (either by design or by accidental interruption), gross fluffy ridiculous romcom-y tropes, people being very competent at what they do (and other people, ahem, enjoying it), little canon easter eggs, found families, intricate tangles of relationships among large groups of people, cute animals, puns, and the general concept of hope and humanity's essential goodness triumphing over darkness and existential despair!
Dislikes: misogyny in m/m relationships/demonization of female characters for the sake of m/m, misogynistic dirty talk (e.g., "slut"/"whore"), noncon/dubcon, infidelity, excessive jealousy/possessiveness, excessive kinky elements, A/B/O, mpreg, daddy kink, first- or second-person POV, and contrived miscommunication conflicts that could be resolved with a single, simple statement of clarification!
Some additional resources in terms of things I like: my trope and kink sorters (feel free not to take the rankings on those too seriously; the first seven or so on both lists are pretty solidly interchangeable as Favorite Things To Read). I... basically have no public fannish presence anymore and I'm so sorry about that, but here's my AO3 and my liveblog Twitter, which will almost certainly be of no use to you, ha, but if you want to see me yell about stuff as I read/watch it--! :")
SO having said all that-- let's get to the fandoms!! (Should go without saying, but SPOILERS BELOW! SPOILERS BELOW! IF YOU HAVEN'T CONSUMED THE FANDOMS BELOW, DON'T READ ANY FURTHER!)
Elemental Blessings Series - Sharon Shinn
• Corene
Corene's adventures in Cozique, or wherever else she ends up after that! I mostly want, here, to see her life after Jeweled Fire. Does she end up being the ambassador she hoped to become, and does she go elsewhere after Cozique? Does she end up falling in love with another country and staying there? How does her first visit back to Welce (or her permanent homecoming) go? How have things changed between her and the rest of her family? Just absolutely anything with her after the last time we saw her, so brimming with newfound maturity and purpose; I'd love to see where that takes her.
(I am perfectly fine with including her canon romance with Foley, if that's your jam, but it's not my favorite relationship, so if you're down to have her kissing ladies -- Melissande in particular, or someone new -- or men who aren't Foley, or both, or neither, I'd be even happier with that!)
NB: just realized I said "Malinqua" in my sign-up/the initial version of this letter where I meant "Cozique," WOMP WOMP. It's fixed here now, at least, sob.
The Elemental Blessings series is one of my favorites by Sharon Shinn, who is my favorite author, and Jeweled Fire is my favorite book in the series, so of course I have to request Corene! I just adore seeing her come into her own -- she's a wonderful character, complex and savvy and kind and just wanting to be loved for who she is, since she's so good at seeing the truth in others and appreciating it. I love the mix of political and interpersonal intrigue in the book, the interplay of small personal relationships amidst a broader, more complex canvas; I love the characters so, so much (I wish I'd thought to nominate Melissande!!) and how much they all like each other. I love the very hopeful note it ends on, and how open-ended it leaves us as to what happens with Corene next...
...so what I most want is for you to fill in those gaps! She goes to Cozique next, so tell me about how that goes. We know from Unquiet Land that she's passing information back to Darien, so maybe an epistolary tale of what she conveys to him (and potentially his responses)? Or the adventures of her in the Coziquela court; what do they think of her? Does Melissande's friendship help integrate her or does she face friction because of it? Does she like it so much she decides to stay or does she travel elsewhere -- and where does she end up? Does she ever come home to Welce, and how does that go? How have things changed in the way that she relates to her family and friends, and can she find a true place there again? (I've only requested Corene because I want her to be the focus here, but please feel more than free to include cameos from any other characters, nominated or not. I love everyone in this canon pretty much equally.) I'd prefer no AUs here, but if you can think of a really cool alternate setting through which to retell the events of Jeweled Fire, I could definitely be into that!
As I said in my sign-up, I completely understand if you're into Corene/Foley -- it's canon, after all! -- but this is one of only a small handful of instances where the main ship of a Sharon Shinn book just does not do it for me at all. So while I will definitely be fine with a version of Corene's future that does include Foley as a central part of it, what would really delight me is a version of her future in which she decided she does enjoy kissing women, after all. (Corene/Melissande is extremely my jam, so if you want to absolutely make my Yuletide, lead me there!!) I'm completely fine with OCs of any gender or variety for Corene to potentially be involved with, too, and I'm also completely fine with no romance in this story at all. (And if you do have her kiss anybody, I'm fine with content at any level of explicit following it!) Honestly, follow your heart on this one; mostly I just want Corene to be having the adventures that she deserves, being the wonderful badass that she is.
Carnival Row (TV)
• Jonah Breakspear, Sophie Longerbane, Tourmaline Larou
This is very much an "or" request: while you're more than welcome to write about all three characters in a single fic, I'm mostly requesting Jonah&Sophie or Tourmaline!
For the former: WOW, what a wonderful fucked-up couple. Fill in the gaps for me on Jonah's childhood or Sophie's formation and execution of her master plan; give me some canon-time porn or missing scenes. Show me what comes next for these two siblings/lovers! Honestly, absolutely anything involving the complicated and terrible and awesome banter between the two of them, Sophie being amazing and terrifying and Jonah kind of alarmed by how into all of it he is. (I'm also perfectly fine with a focus on either of them individually, if the incest isn't your jam, or even something about Jonah and Philo meeting, because I find that prospect so intriguing!)
For the latter: Tourmaline was definitely my favorite character on the show, and I'd love to see literally anything with her!! Where does she come from? How did she and Vignette meet (and date)? What has her life on the Row been like -- how did she and Philo reconnect? What were her interactions with Jonah like? (Feel free to, if you do write about all three of them, pull an OT3 situation here.) I definitely also ship her and Vignette, so show me what happens if they never broke things off, or if Vignette and Philo didn't work out the second time around. Or anything that happens to her after the end of canon! Honestly, again, anything Tourmaline-centric would bring me so much joy, because I can't get enough of her.
This is probably my most open-ended request all around, because WOW what an absolutely bonkers, incredibly open-ended canon!! I've referred to it as the gritty historical cop drama version of Jupiter Ascending, in that the worldbuilding is so crammed to the gills with interesting details, there's no possible way the show could have had time to explore all of them. In my viewing experience, it was kind of a mess, but a mess I couldn't get enough of, a mess that roped me in and refused to let me go. I absolutely cannot wait for season two, because WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. (This canon is wild enough, and has enough room for exploration, that in this particular case, I definitely don't want an AU.)
As I said above, this is very much an "or" request; ideally I'd like fic about Jonah&Sophie OR fic about Tourmaline. If you'd like to combine them, though, I'm certainly not going to object -- it'd be really fun to see how the three of them interact (and I'd be VERY interested to see how any kind of relationship between the three of them would go)! I'm also completely fine with the involvement of other characters (especially Philo with my former request and Vignette with my latter); I've only requested these three because they're the ones I'd most want to see centered in fic, but I am definitely down to read about anyone else alongside them, too.
For Jonah&Sophie: WOW, what an amazing, fucked-up couple. I latched onto Jonah pretty early on the show (what a delightful charismatic dumbass!), and I adored Sophie from the minute we first saw her. Everything about their interaction is gold for me -- a brilliant, terrifying, somewhat amoral, powerful woman, and a man who can't outmaneuver her and is kind of terrified by how into her he is -- and the reveal that not only were they SIBLINGS but SOPHIE KNEW AND DIDN'T CARE.... y'all, I LOVE siblingcest, especially the kind with really complicated emotions, so this shit is absolute catnip to me. (I assume if you've offered the two of them, you're down with the incest angle, but if you'd prefer to reframe their interactions as gen or retcon them as not siblings, that's okay too! I love their dynamic regardless.)
So honestly, I just want to see more of them together. What were their childhoods like, if you'd prefer a more single-character focus? What was Jonah's kidnapping like? How did Sophie engineer her master plan? Are there any missing moments between them in canon that we don't get to see? WHERE THE FUCK DO THEY GO FROM HERE, AFTER THOSE LAST BLISTERING CANON SCENES?? There's SO MUCH to explore, especially in future fic, so I'm down for absolutely anything involving the two of them (including porn, because DANG are they hot together). I'm also fine with including Philo here -- I'd LOVE to see him and Jonah meeting (and I'm also very much here for either Philo/Jonah or Philo/Jonah/Sophie).
For Tourmaline: oh, I LOVE her. I knew from almost the beginning that she'd be my favorite -- a sarcastic teal-haired bisexual poet fae!! The dream!!! -- and I am just fascinated by every aspect of her life. Where is she from? What was her life like before she and Vignette met? What was her life like between losing Vignette and the start of the show? How did she and Philo reconnect? (I'm not going to make anyone actually write Tourmaline's poetry, but if you wanted to take a stab at it...) I also really, really love her and Vignette together, so I'd love seeing their past relationship or them together in canon-era. (Or Philo/Vignette/Tourmaline!) I hate to sound like a broken record here, but I am just so fascinated by these characters and this canon is so full of possibilities -- I'm just going to say, again, that anything Tourmaline-centered here would make me really happy. Feel free to go nuts.
Miracle Workers (TV)
• Craig, Eliza, Sanjay, Rosie
I love this ragtag group of unlikely angelic allies, and I would read any number of words about any number of adventures they might engage in, be they mundane (a day in the life of Heaven, Inc. after Earth is saved) or epic (turns out they have to save the world, again!). Post-canon fic would delight me most, but I'd also love to see missing scenes from the show or more highlights from any of their backstories (I'd most love ensemble fic here, but I love all four of these dweebs pretty equally, so focusing on any single one or combination of them would also be totally cool!). Something that embraces that funny, irreverent, absurd, lowkey subtly nihilistic tone of the show that I so enjoyed would work best for me here, regardless of content.
I would also most love it if this were shippy -- particularly in an OT4 or Craig/Eliza/Sanjay direction, but I'm totally fine with Craig/Sanjay and Eliza/Rosie as well. (Would prefer gen over standalone Craig/Eliza or Sanjay/Eliza, though!) Craig and Sanjay are DEFINITELY bitter exes, and the dynamic of Sanjay and Eliza needing Craig to steady their destructive impulses, and all three of them needing Rosie to make sure they know what they're doing... [chef's kiss] It's MADE for fun poly dynamics, so please feel more than free to explore that here!
I was really surprised by how much I loved this show, and I'm downright disappointed more people haven't heard of it -- it's so short and so perfect! And it has such Good Omens/Good Place vibes!! I absolutely love the tone of the show -- often nihilistic and bleak and emphatic of your smallness in the grand scheme of the universe, but ultimately optimistic about the power of your ability to affect change, even in the smallest ways, and celebratory of each victory, regardless of its scope, and embracing teamwork and how differences make us stronger together. And endlessly, relentlessly hilarious, even if my laughter is often tinged with horror. And hopeful, despite that! It was one of the loveliest surprises of this year, and I truly wish more people had watched it. (And we're getting a second season soon, so now is the best time for everyone to get into it!!)
My absolute favorite part of the show, apart from the tone, was the slow unfurling of the relationships between the four angels. First the contrast of Craig and Eliza, then the addition of Craig's history and Eliza's affinity with Sanjay, then Rosie's competence as contrasted with the other three disasters... it's such an amazing build, and there's so much story potential in all of those interactions between all of them. So I'd love to see that! What comes next for these four? Is it smooth sailing from here on or is there going to be more disasters on Earth that they need to handle? I'm fine with either quiet moments or wacky shenanigans, embracing that irreverent but ultimately uplifting tone of the show in full. (Would prefer no AUs here, unless you want to pull some canon divergence... honestly, the show is so "for want of a nail" to begin with, I'd love to see pretty much any variation of what could have been! EVEN IF IT MEANS EARTH BLOWS UP, TBH.) And the four of them came together in really bizarre and unusual circumstances; how do they all work together in day to day life? Do they still choose to work together? Do they stay fire-forged friends or does it take time for them to figure out how to work together and hang out together when things aren't so dire?
What I also want to see most here is some poly romance between the angels -- either OT4 or OT3 with Sanjay/Craig/Eliza would be my ideal, but I'm also down for Sanjay/Craig and Eliza/Rosie (and would prefer no Craig/Eliza or Sanjay/Eliza on their own! I love their dynamics amidst the others, but it's just... SUCH obvious het, and it's so clear everyone should be in love!). Craig and Sanjay are obviously bitter exes, and the episodes in which Sanjay convinces Craig to come back and Eliza convinces Rosie to join them both have SUCH romantic energy, and I really want to see all of them together, bringing that lovely cooperation fully into some flirty energy. (I'm very okay with porn here, too!) Gen routes are totally fine, too; what I most want is to see the amazing dynamic this ragtag bunch of angels has in the show translated into more adventures, whatever that may entail.
Dressing Funny RPF
• John Mulaney, Tan France
Honestly, absolutely anything with these two funny, charming (if in very different ways!), delightful men would truly make my Yuletide; I love how much they flirt in this video, and I love everything about their dynamic and how much fun it would be as a ship. Show me the version in which their flirtation culminates with banging in a dressing room, or if they start dating afterward, or if they're ALREADY dating and trying to tone it down for the camera! Show me the AU in which they meet in some other setting or via John coming on Queer Eye or Tan coming to one of John's shows! Or ANY kind of AU, honestly-- college/high school? Hogwarts? high fantasy? space?? I feel like both of them would be SO MUCH FUN in a variety of wacky settings. Truly, as long as their fun bantering dynamic is preserved here, GO NUTS.
I'm sure everyone who's a Yuletide veteran has moments when they consume a specific small piece of media and just feel a warm glow inside thinking "yes... this is going to be my five-minute fandom this year." And that is absolutely what happened to me when I watched this video, because OH MY GOODNESS, HAVE TWO MEN EVEN FLIRTED SO BLATANTLY YOU JUST WANTED TO CRY?? I was just incredulous about it halfway in, and I could have rattled off a dozen prompts well before the video was over. I was in, and I couldn't wait for Yuletide to let me talk about it more, and NOW IS THAT TIME, FRIENDS, AND I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED.
So -- really, I just want to see something COME of all of the flirting that goes down in this video (pun intended, ho ho ho)! Either in the context of the video itself -- dressing room sex is one of my bulletproof kinks, so what if Tan seduced John mid-clothing-change?? -- or something else; what if John was the subject of an episode of Queer Eye? (WHAT would the rest of the Fab Five make of him??) What if Tan came to one of John's shows, knowing nothing about him, and ended up completely charmed? What if they met at an awards show or just had a totally mundane meet-cute? (I'm completely fine, in any of these situations, with John either already knowing he's queer or having a Queer Awakening of some kind, as long as there's no homophobia involved, internalized or otherwise! I also don't love cheating, so please retcon their spouses out of existence or have them be broken up prior to the fic.)
I'm also completely fine with transplanting them into any kind of AU setting, be it mundane -- high school or college AU? theater actor AU? what's the weirdest but most plausible job these two could both have?? -- or fantastical -- Hogwarts AU? high fantasy AU? honestly, go wild here, I am down for ANYTHING. All I really want is to see these two hilarious, charming, delightful men fall in love, regardless of where such a thing takes place. (Feel free to extensively consult my trope and kink sorter for this prompt especially, as I am fine with ANY level of romcom-y bullshit or explicit content for these two.)
Now, having said that, let's get to the secondary content, shall we? :")
Broadly speaking, the things usually I want out of Yuletide are character- rather than plot-driven stories (not that the two can't happily coexist, of course, but my favorite stories tend to follow an emotional arc or a relationship development rather than characters dealing with an external conflict or a really intricate plot) with happy or at least hopeful endings (I'm fine with a more bittersweet hinting-at-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel type ambiguity, but would strongly prefer more overt happiness, and I really and truly do not want any serious or lasting tragedy involved).
My major DNWs are needles (I have a huge phobia and would deeply rather no mention of them at all, but if it does come up, please please please keep it brief and be sure to clearly warn for me!) and serious issues beyond those explored in canon (e.g., racism, homophobia, character death, serious assault/injury, etc. etc.). By which I mean, say, there's quite a bit of fantastic racism in Carnival Row that certainly can't be sidestepped too much, so while I wouldn't want that to be too much of a focus, I'm fine with not having it entirely brushed over; on the other hand, any kind of homophobia and/or racism in a John Mulaney/Tan France story would definitely not be my jam!
More specifically, here are some overall likes and dislikes:
Likes: banter, UST/pining/slow burn, first kisses/makeouts that don't immediately lead to sex (either by design or by accidental interruption), gross fluffy ridiculous romcom-y tropes, people being very competent at what they do (and other people, ahem, enjoying it), little canon easter eggs, found families, intricate tangles of relationships among large groups of people, cute animals, puns, and the general concept of hope and humanity's essential goodness triumphing over darkness and existential despair!
Dislikes: misogyny in m/m relationships/demonization of female characters for the sake of m/m, misogynistic dirty talk (e.g., "slut"/"whore"), noncon/dubcon, infidelity, excessive jealousy/possessiveness, excessive kinky elements, A/B/O, mpreg, daddy kink, first- or second-person POV, and contrived miscommunication conflicts that could be resolved with a single, simple statement of clarification!
Some additional resources in terms of things I like: my trope and kink sorters (feel free not to take the rankings on those too seriously; the first seven or so on both lists are pretty solidly interchangeable as Favorite Things To Read). I... basically have no public fannish presence anymore and I'm so sorry about that, but here's my AO3 and my liveblog Twitter, which will almost certainly be of no use to you, ha, but if you want to see me yell about stuff as I read/watch it--! :")
SO having said all that-- let's get to the fandoms!! (Should go without saying, but SPOILERS BELOW! SPOILERS BELOW! IF YOU HAVEN'T CONSUMED THE FANDOMS BELOW, DON'T READ ANY FURTHER!)
Elemental Blessings Series - Sharon Shinn
• Corene
Corene's adventures in Cozique, or wherever else she ends up after that! I mostly want, here, to see her life after Jeweled Fire. Does she end up being the ambassador she hoped to become, and does she go elsewhere after Cozique? Does she end up falling in love with another country and staying there? How does her first visit back to Welce (or her permanent homecoming) go? How have things changed between her and the rest of her family? Just absolutely anything with her after the last time we saw her, so brimming with newfound maturity and purpose; I'd love to see where that takes her.
(I am perfectly fine with including her canon romance with Foley, if that's your jam, but it's not my favorite relationship, so if you're down to have her kissing ladies -- Melissande in particular, or someone new -- or men who aren't Foley, or both, or neither, I'd be even happier with that!)
NB: just realized I said "Malinqua" in my sign-up/the initial version of this letter where I meant "Cozique," WOMP WOMP. It's fixed here now, at least, sob.
The Elemental Blessings series is one of my favorites by Sharon Shinn, who is my favorite author, and Jeweled Fire is my favorite book in the series, so of course I have to request Corene! I just adore seeing her come into her own -- she's a wonderful character, complex and savvy and kind and just wanting to be loved for who she is, since she's so good at seeing the truth in others and appreciating it. I love the mix of political and interpersonal intrigue in the book, the interplay of small personal relationships amidst a broader, more complex canvas; I love the characters so, so much (I wish I'd thought to nominate Melissande!!) and how much they all like each other. I love the very hopeful note it ends on, and how open-ended it leaves us as to what happens with Corene next...
...so what I most want is for you to fill in those gaps! She goes to Cozique next, so tell me about how that goes. We know from Unquiet Land that she's passing information back to Darien, so maybe an epistolary tale of what she conveys to him (and potentially his responses)? Or the adventures of her in the Coziquela court; what do they think of her? Does Melissande's friendship help integrate her or does she face friction because of it? Does she like it so much she decides to stay or does she travel elsewhere -- and where does she end up? Does she ever come home to Welce, and how does that go? How have things changed in the way that she relates to her family and friends, and can she find a true place there again? (I've only requested Corene because I want her to be the focus here, but please feel more than free to include cameos from any other characters, nominated or not. I love everyone in this canon pretty much equally.) I'd prefer no AUs here, but if you can think of a really cool alternate setting through which to retell the events of Jeweled Fire, I could definitely be into that!
As I said in my sign-up, I completely understand if you're into Corene/Foley -- it's canon, after all! -- but this is one of only a small handful of instances where the main ship of a Sharon Shinn book just does not do it for me at all. So while I will definitely be fine with a version of Corene's future that does include Foley as a central part of it, what would really delight me is a version of her future in which she decided she does enjoy kissing women, after all. (Corene/Melissande is extremely my jam, so if you want to absolutely make my Yuletide, lead me there!!) I'm completely fine with OCs of any gender or variety for Corene to potentially be involved with, too, and I'm also completely fine with no romance in this story at all. (And if you do have her kiss anybody, I'm fine with content at any level of explicit following it!) Honestly, follow your heart on this one; mostly I just want Corene to be having the adventures that she deserves, being the wonderful badass that she is.
Carnival Row (TV)
• Jonah Breakspear, Sophie Longerbane, Tourmaline Larou
This is very much an "or" request: while you're more than welcome to write about all three characters in a single fic, I'm mostly requesting Jonah&Sophie or Tourmaline!
For the former: WOW, what a wonderful fucked-up couple. Fill in the gaps for me on Jonah's childhood or Sophie's formation and execution of her master plan; give me some canon-time porn or missing scenes. Show me what comes next for these two siblings/lovers! Honestly, absolutely anything involving the complicated and terrible and awesome banter between the two of them, Sophie being amazing and terrifying and Jonah kind of alarmed by how into all of it he is. (I'm also perfectly fine with a focus on either of them individually, if the incest isn't your jam, or even something about Jonah and Philo meeting, because I find that prospect so intriguing!)
For the latter: Tourmaline was definitely my favorite character on the show, and I'd love to see literally anything with her!! Where does she come from? How did she and Vignette meet (and date)? What has her life on the Row been like -- how did she and Philo reconnect? What were her interactions with Jonah like? (Feel free to, if you do write about all three of them, pull an OT3 situation here.) I definitely also ship her and Vignette, so show me what happens if they never broke things off, or if Vignette and Philo didn't work out the second time around. Or anything that happens to her after the end of canon! Honestly, again, anything Tourmaline-centric would bring me so much joy, because I can't get enough of her.
This is probably my most open-ended request all around, because WOW what an absolutely bonkers, incredibly open-ended canon!! I've referred to it as the gritty historical cop drama version of Jupiter Ascending, in that the worldbuilding is so crammed to the gills with interesting details, there's no possible way the show could have had time to explore all of them. In my viewing experience, it was kind of a mess, but a mess I couldn't get enough of, a mess that roped me in and refused to let me go. I absolutely cannot wait for season two, because WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. (This canon is wild enough, and has enough room for exploration, that in this particular case, I definitely don't want an AU.)
As I said above, this is very much an "or" request; ideally I'd like fic about Jonah&Sophie OR fic about Tourmaline. If you'd like to combine them, though, I'm certainly not going to object -- it'd be really fun to see how the three of them interact (and I'd be VERY interested to see how any kind of relationship between the three of them would go)! I'm also completely fine with the involvement of other characters (especially Philo with my former request and Vignette with my latter); I've only requested these three because they're the ones I'd most want to see centered in fic, but I am definitely down to read about anyone else alongside them, too.
For Jonah&Sophie: WOW, what an amazing, fucked-up couple. I latched onto Jonah pretty early on the show (what a delightful charismatic dumbass!), and I adored Sophie from the minute we first saw her. Everything about their interaction is gold for me -- a brilliant, terrifying, somewhat amoral, powerful woman, and a man who can't outmaneuver her and is kind of terrified by how into her he is -- and the reveal that not only were they SIBLINGS but SOPHIE KNEW AND DIDN'T CARE.... y'all, I LOVE siblingcest, especially the kind with really complicated emotions, so this shit is absolute catnip to me. (I assume if you've offered the two of them, you're down with the incest angle, but if you'd prefer to reframe their interactions as gen or retcon them as not siblings, that's okay too! I love their dynamic regardless.)
So honestly, I just want to see more of them together. What were their childhoods like, if you'd prefer a more single-character focus? What was Jonah's kidnapping like? How did Sophie engineer her master plan? Are there any missing moments between them in canon that we don't get to see? WHERE THE FUCK DO THEY GO FROM HERE, AFTER THOSE LAST BLISTERING CANON SCENES?? There's SO MUCH to explore, especially in future fic, so I'm down for absolutely anything involving the two of them (including porn, because DANG are they hot together). I'm also fine with including Philo here -- I'd LOVE to see him and Jonah meeting (and I'm also very much here for either Philo/Jonah or Philo/Jonah/Sophie).
For Tourmaline: oh, I LOVE her. I knew from almost the beginning that she'd be my favorite -- a sarcastic teal-haired bisexual poet fae!! The dream!!! -- and I am just fascinated by every aspect of her life. Where is she from? What was her life like before she and Vignette met? What was her life like between losing Vignette and the start of the show? How did she and Philo reconnect? (I'm not going to make anyone actually write Tourmaline's poetry, but if you wanted to take a stab at it...) I also really, really love her and Vignette together, so I'd love seeing their past relationship or them together in canon-era. (Or Philo/Vignette/Tourmaline!) I hate to sound like a broken record here, but I am just so fascinated by these characters and this canon is so full of possibilities -- I'm just going to say, again, that anything Tourmaline-centered here would make me really happy. Feel free to go nuts.
Miracle Workers (TV)
• Craig, Eliza, Sanjay, Rosie
I love this ragtag group of unlikely angelic allies, and I would read any number of words about any number of adventures they might engage in, be they mundane (a day in the life of Heaven, Inc. after Earth is saved) or epic (turns out they have to save the world, again!). Post-canon fic would delight me most, but I'd also love to see missing scenes from the show or more highlights from any of their backstories (I'd most love ensemble fic here, but I love all four of these dweebs pretty equally, so focusing on any single one or combination of them would also be totally cool!). Something that embraces that funny, irreverent, absurd, lowkey subtly nihilistic tone of the show that I so enjoyed would work best for me here, regardless of content.
I would also most love it if this were shippy -- particularly in an OT4 or Craig/Eliza/Sanjay direction, but I'm totally fine with Craig/Sanjay and Eliza/Rosie as well. (Would prefer gen over standalone Craig/Eliza or Sanjay/Eliza, though!) Craig and Sanjay are DEFINITELY bitter exes, and the dynamic of Sanjay and Eliza needing Craig to steady their destructive impulses, and all three of them needing Rosie to make sure they know what they're doing... [chef's kiss] It's MADE for fun poly dynamics, so please feel more than free to explore that here!
I was really surprised by how much I loved this show, and I'm downright disappointed more people haven't heard of it -- it's so short and so perfect! And it has such Good Omens/Good Place vibes!! I absolutely love the tone of the show -- often nihilistic and bleak and emphatic of your smallness in the grand scheme of the universe, but ultimately optimistic about the power of your ability to affect change, even in the smallest ways, and celebratory of each victory, regardless of its scope, and embracing teamwork and how differences make us stronger together. And endlessly, relentlessly hilarious, even if my laughter is often tinged with horror. And hopeful, despite that! It was one of the loveliest surprises of this year, and I truly wish more people had watched it. (And we're getting a second season soon, so now is the best time for everyone to get into it!!)
My absolute favorite part of the show, apart from the tone, was the slow unfurling of the relationships between the four angels. First the contrast of Craig and Eliza, then the addition of Craig's history and Eliza's affinity with Sanjay, then Rosie's competence as contrasted with the other three disasters... it's such an amazing build, and there's so much story potential in all of those interactions between all of them. So I'd love to see that! What comes next for these four? Is it smooth sailing from here on or is there going to be more disasters on Earth that they need to handle? I'm fine with either quiet moments or wacky shenanigans, embracing that irreverent but ultimately uplifting tone of the show in full. (Would prefer no AUs here, unless you want to pull some canon divergence... honestly, the show is so "for want of a nail" to begin with, I'd love to see pretty much any variation of what could have been! EVEN IF IT MEANS EARTH BLOWS UP, TBH.) And the four of them came together in really bizarre and unusual circumstances; how do they all work together in day to day life? Do they still choose to work together? Do they stay fire-forged friends or does it take time for them to figure out how to work together and hang out together when things aren't so dire?
What I also want to see most here is some poly romance between the angels -- either OT4 or OT3 with Sanjay/Craig/Eliza would be my ideal, but I'm also down for Sanjay/Craig and Eliza/Rosie (and would prefer no Craig/Eliza or Sanjay/Eliza on their own! I love their dynamics amidst the others, but it's just... SUCH obvious het, and it's so clear everyone should be in love!). Craig and Sanjay are obviously bitter exes, and the episodes in which Sanjay convinces Craig to come back and Eliza convinces Rosie to join them both have SUCH romantic energy, and I really want to see all of them together, bringing that lovely cooperation fully into some flirty energy. (I'm very okay with porn here, too!) Gen routes are totally fine, too; what I most want is to see the amazing dynamic this ragtag bunch of angels has in the show translated into more adventures, whatever that may entail.
Dressing Funny RPF
• John Mulaney, Tan France
Honestly, absolutely anything with these two funny, charming (if in very different ways!), delightful men would truly make my Yuletide; I love how much they flirt in this video, and I love everything about their dynamic and how much fun it would be as a ship. Show me the version in which their flirtation culminates with banging in a dressing room, or if they start dating afterward, or if they're ALREADY dating and trying to tone it down for the camera! Show me the AU in which they meet in some other setting or via John coming on Queer Eye or Tan coming to one of John's shows! Or ANY kind of AU, honestly-- college/high school? Hogwarts? high fantasy? space?? I feel like both of them would be SO MUCH FUN in a variety of wacky settings. Truly, as long as their fun bantering dynamic is preserved here, GO NUTS.
I'm sure everyone who's a Yuletide veteran has moments when they consume a specific small piece of media and just feel a warm glow inside thinking "yes... this is going to be my five-minute fandom this year." And that is absolutely what happened to me when I watched this video, because OH MY GOODNESS, HAVE TWO MEN EVEN FLIRTED SO BLATANTLY YOU JUST WANTED TO CRY?? I was just incredulous about it halfway in, and I could have rattled off a dozen prompts well before the video was over. I was in, and I couldn't wait for Yuletide to let me talk about it more, and NOW IS THAT TIME, FRIENDS, AND I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED.
So -- really, I just want to see something COME of all of the flirting that goes down in this video (pun intended, ho ho ho)! Either in the context of the video itself -- dressing room sex is one of my bulletproof kinks, so what if Tan seduced John mid-clothing-change?? -- or something else; what if John was the subject of an episode of Queer Eye? (WHAT would the rest of the Fab Five make of him??) What if Tan came to one of John's shows, knowing nothing about him, and ended up completely charmed? What if they met at an awards show or just had a totally mundane meet-cute? (I'm completely fine, in any of these situations, with John either already knowing he's queer or having a Queer Awakening of some kind, as long as there's no homophobia involved, internalized or otherwise! I also don't love cheating, so please retcon their spouses out of existence or have them be broken up prior to the fic.)
I'm also completely fine with transplanting them into any kind of AU setting, be it mundane -- high school or college AU? theater actor AU? what's the weirdest but most plausible job these two could both have?? -- or fantastical -- Hogwarts AU? high fantasy AU? honestly, go wild here, I am down for ANYTHING. All I really want is to see these two hilarious, charming, delightful men fall in love, regardless of where such a thing takes place. (Feel free to extensively consult my trope and kink sorter for this prompt especially, as I am fine with ANY level of romcom-y bullshit or explicit content for these two.)