บ้านหลอน ON SALE | Peaceful Property
(Peach, Home)

How the turn tables. A few weeks ago for Trick or Treat I praised this series for being a funny little ghostbusters show and said I could “ship anything.” Which, to be clear, it is. When it’s not stamping on my heart. And I—! Well, no, I only ship Peach and Home and I’m in danger of making that my whole personality, but what of that?

I also find it very funny that I prompted for any of the main four being dead, and canon delivered. Twice. I’d be down for a hat trick though. Or…

• • This show has major potential for any configuration of "ghosts made them do it." What's "it"? Dealer's choice! I'm here for the creepy, the cheesy, the smutty, the ridiculous, the kind of romantic but oh no what if the other person is just going along with what the ghost wants… Or go serious introspection, this canon is secretly load-bearing. Seeing each other in someone else’s story is like, Peaceful Property’s whole thing and I am there for more of it.


• • Like I said, canon gift wrapped Home as a ghost for me, but we could still spend longer on that. I don’t care if this is a new problem (these boys show a major talent for near-death experiences!) or an AU where Home doesn’t stop haunting Peach to go talk with grandpa, both have serious potential. So does Peach being the one temporarily back on the other side and trying to poltergeist his way to Home’s attention.


• • That brief and beautiful moment between “wait for me, I have to talk to my family” and the first viral video dropping! You cannot convince me that Peach didn’t think he was about to get asked out, and I am there for any exploration on this.


• • We’ve had an arc about Peach getting over his trauma, but, like! Ghosts are still upsetting. Here for the boys coping with that. Case of the week, anyone?


• • Pangpang and her audience are the funniest and I love the outsider view. If you gave me a story that was nothing but comments on her feed, I would be so happy.


• • Finally, if you happen to have watched Be My Favorite too (or, if you haven’t, my pitch is coming up later in this post…) — we have a CANONICAL crossover, what? I know it’s an easter egg, but can you imagine if it wasn’t? I would take either Peach or Home using this power OR all my best boys meeting up, whatever inspires you.

Dreamboy
(Dane, Luke)

I rediscovered Dreamboy on the day that word of the cancellation popped up, and realized I really slept on this show after episode one. So I went in knowing that I was going to love it, and that it was already gone. Maybe that’s the right mindset for Dreamboy, because I’ve been fixated ever since. I don't think I will ever find another podcast with such fabulous narration, eerie magic realism, and so damn gorgeously (hilariously!) scored.

• • Start with all those loose ends. Pick any one of them and run with it for a yuletide story and I'll be happy. What's in the deed to the zoo? What happens now that all the lights in pepper heights have been replaced? Why is Cora's basement pregnant? Will Luke ever get his backpack away from the Schmalenbergers?


• • I picked "any" character, and I really would be happy with a character study, backstory, or future fic that is just Dane or just Luke, if you think their wolrds diverge from here. That being said, I don't really want the last Dreamboy encounter to be the end of their story. I'd love to see what happens to them now that they don't have a couple of horny fish urging them to hook up (or . . . don't they . . . ? Maybe the fish want dates? Who's to say??)


• • I also LOVE knowing that Jupiter's Lifeless Moons was based on Disaster Transport. I have watched this episode of Defunctland an embarrassing number of times, it's the train wreck I can't look away from. (If you don't want to watch a whole youtube video, fair, but may I at least recommend listening to this earworm of a song?) If you did nothing more than write about all the horrible things Dane has experienced running that ride, I would still be happy.


• • Finally: I know this is a long shot but let's go for an Interactive Fiction request. Want to send me on a journey through the Zoo? Awesome! I would have so much fun. Alternatively, but closely related: music is so much a part of the Dreamboy experience that if you'd like to get weird and write me a song, link me a background score for your story, or anything like that, I would love it.

บทกวีของปีแสง | Be My Favorite
(Kawi, Pisaeng)

• • I love how vague the time travel mechanic is. I don’t think Kwai can possibly remember everything from every timeline, but I fully believe he knows more than what we see! What’s living with that jumble like? Specifically: knowing Pisaeng too well when he probably shouldn’t. Doesn't have to be physical, but certainly could be. Or: do these other Kawis and their lives still exist? What do they remember? Was our Kawi like going fully out of body for them? Are there other ways of crossing the timelines?.


• • I really like the way music weaves its way through this show and I am down for a million interpretations of that. Kawi writing songs that won’t come out right? Or if you go early canon, maybe… they’re too right? Maybe he doesn’t even notice what he’s saying, but Pisaeng does? And speaking of! It’s easy to forget that Pisaeng is musical too. I bet he has opinions on things like rhythm and vocals. The two of them listening to the songs Kawi wrote - at home, working the lyrics though, or in a club, critiquing the final product? Bonus: this works equally well in popstar OR final timeline.


• • Pisaeng is very whipped and I appreciate that about him. Write me moments when he gives in to Kawi on ridiculous things!


• • Kawi actually has a lot of emotional sincerity (if not... maturity...) once he becomes aware of an issue. I'd like to see him carrying Pisaeng once in a while.


• • Blanket statement: I love Pear and don't want any fics about her suffering for the sake of it (ie: no bashing please), but I feel like there was a high chance of at least emotional infidelity in all of our other timelines, and I would actually like to hear about that. Also: Final timeline Kawi beating himself over things he did-but-didn’t do? A treat.


• • In the popstar timeline: Please bring Pisaeng on tour, I want vacations for them so much. (This can tie in with the prompt above as an opportunity for cheating to happen, but it doesn't have to.)


• • In the runaway groom timeline, aka where they’ve been best friends for years without actually taking the next step: What does that look like? What’s Kawi done to keep Pisaeng holding a torch and genuinely unsure if this is just friendship or not? (Same as above re: cheating.)


• • In the final timeline: We start the show with Kawi being angry and judgemental, and Pisaeng being scared and lonely. Obviously a lot of their change and growth happens right on screen… but I’d also like to see them dealing with that in their shared future. Making things right, forming a community, taking their found-friendships to the level of found-family as they all grow up, being out and going to the gay bar properly! Any of that!


• • Oh and hey, now I can just straight up prompt for wedding fic too. Love that for these boys.


• • Finally, if you happen to have watched Peaceful Property (or, if you haven’t, my pitch is up there, join me!) — we have a CANONICAL crossover, what? I know it’s an easter egg, but can you imagine if it wasn’t? I would take either Kawi and Piseang in a supernatural situation, Peaceful Property style OR all my best boys meeting up, whatever inspires you. Caveat - this is not a request to permanently kill anyone who isn’t already dead.

Dickinson
(Emily, Sue)

I'm in love with the style of this show: the approachable modern voices and straight up anachronisms, coupled with the lushness of the setting and the poetry. And then there's Emily and Sue, the beating heart of it. All the ways that they understand each other, the obvious gravitational pull of the relationship even as they both struggle to be true to themselves. We’ve come a long way forward in time since I first wrote this blurb post-season 1, but I still want to believe that the fictional versions of these two women could and should make this work.

• • Words are so much a part of this relationship, and I would love to see them incorporated. Any kind of epistolary fiction is welcome, prose or poetry, or poetry-in-progress. Describing the ridiculous ways Emily has found to send he letters through the years would also be fun. Maybe with puzzles and games for Sue? Maybe just ridiculous sneaking around the homesteads?


• • If that's not your style, sketching a moment when Emily and Sue found comfort nested together would also be lovely. This could be romantic, or a mental exercise, or the kind of high-jinks we saw in Volcanoes (by which I mean the girls exploring everything and anything they shouldn't, but if you want to write me crossdressing then yes please that too.)


• • I would prefer that you not throw the girls’ relationships with Austin back into crash-and-burn territory. But, if you wish to include him at all, I’d be very interested in seeing them settle into a functional group later in life. Emily was never going to be there for babies… but I could see her being a very good Wine Aunt.


• • Lean into the weirdness of this show and make Emily and Sue’s continued life even wilder. Emily stops leaving her room but starts astral projecting next door? The girls on a double-date with Death and the historical personage of your choice (or another nobody, that’s fine too.) Getting witchy in a more intimate setting? All excellent.


• • Not really a prompt, but I mentioned I loved the anachronisms, many of which are music-based. Finding a way to express that in fic would be killer.

연애 지상주의 구역 | Love For Love's Sake
(Cha Yeowoon, Tae Myungha, Sunbae/The Creator)

• • So let’s start fluffy. Tae Myungha had a couple of slips in canon, which the people around him mostly rolled with, but I am absolutely down for the comedy of this older guy (who really isn’t even that old! Way to be jaded, bruh!) not acting his supposed age. Or let him give in and roll with the second-time-around, or maybe experience something else that he missed, no matter how small?


• • I am also so curious about how Cha Yeowoon experiences all of this beyond what we see in canon. His whole existence is open to interpretation imo - you can take this as his a real life history prompt, or run wild with the idea that he’s fictional - how tropey was Sunbae’s original backstory for this high-school world? Or blur the lines and explore him as a Tae Myungha or a Sunbae stand-in, what does that feels like to live?


• • Speaking of backstory - what’s our Sunbae’s? Was he ever a person? If so, what was his relationship with Tae Myungha really like? Or is he an real but omniscient presence pulling the strings and assisting on the road to self-actualization? Or the friend Tae Myunha wanted and never had? Very down for some Get Loved, Idiot, here.


• • ON WHICH NOTE. Here comes the pure worldbuilding. The idea of something breaking down is just fascinating, and it doesn’t have to be tragic either (though I will fully understand if that’s what I get!) I find the canon ending bittersweet and lovely, though. I would love any written expansions on that, focused on the “world”, the “game”, as much as any one person.


• • Or convince me that everything was real! I so so want to believe in the magic of this ending - whether it stems from The Creator’s love, or maybe reality was never the layer we thought it was anyway, or go all in on the conceit of alternate universes, or magic powers — it’s all fair game. Which, yes, this is me asking for a fix it. Because for all my big talk, I want these boys to be happy forever too.

Dickinson

I'm in love with the style of this show: the approachable modern voices and straight up anachronisms, coupled with the lushness of the setting and the poetry. And that soundtrack? Hilarious and amazing.

Notes on Fanart

Words are so much a part of Emily's relationships, and I would love to see them incorporated into your art! Whether it's a sea of surging phrases around the characters, your own interpretation of one of Emily's puzzle-like letters, or a visual rendering of a poem, a current song you find fitting, or even a specific emotion, I'm here for it.

I also love how Emily's dream worlds bleed into (and become?) reality, especially around Death. (I also love Death's sense of fashion and how Emily rises to meet it. Any/all characters decked out very much appreciated!)

(Emily/Sue)

• • Any kind of epistolary fiction is welcome: prose, poetry, or poetry-in-progress. Describing the ridiculous ways Emily has found to send her letters through the years would also be fun. Maybe with puzzles and games for Sue? Maybe just ridiculous sneaking around the homesteads? As mentioned, this would also be a great prompt to express through art.


• • Sketch (literally or with words) a moment when Emily and Sue found comfort nested together. This could be romance, or a mental exercise, or the kind of high-jinks we saw in Volcanoes (by which I mean the girls exploring everything and anything they shouldn't, but if you want to write me crossdressing then yes please that too.)


• • For this canon, I’m obviously lifting my standard infidelity DNW, but I would prefer that you not throw the girls’ relationships with Austin back into crash-and-burn territory. In fact, if you decide to include him at all, I’d be much more interested in seeing them settle into a functional group later in life.


• • Lean into the weirdness of this show and make Emily and Sue’s continued life even wilder. Emily stops leaving her room but starts astral projecting next door? The girls on a double-date with Death and the historical personage of your choice (or another nobody, that’s fine too.) Getting witchy in a more intimate setting? All excellent.


• • Not really a prompt, but I mentioned I loved the anachronisms, many of which are music-based. Finding a way to express that in fic would be killer.

(Emily & Death)

• • Fuck yes, carriage rides! Emily appreciating Death's work like nobody else, Death totally showing off but also showing up with the hard truths. I love these two and their ride while other people are dying relationship.
  


• • I am cribbing from the Emily/Sue section but again: The girls on a double-date with Death and the historical personage of your choice (or another nobody, that’s fine too.)


• • Emily haunts Death for once instead of the other way around.


• • A seance ties Death somewhere. Could be the homestead, could be a neighbor's house. Maybe Emily has to fix things, or just keep from looking more unhinged than usual.

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm, Focus on Homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum, Focus on Heterosexual Relationships for Emily or Sue (Austin semi-excepted as per the prompts. For Emily, I trust her in s2 when she says she's never been in love with a man, so I'm not vetoing Ben or mentions - just don't make it romantic), Alternate Universe Settings

เขา...ไม่ใช่ผม | Not Me

I love this show as a work of protest and a thesis for change. I love this show as a ridiculously over the top drama about psychic twin bonds and terrible parkour. I contain multitudes. So does Not Me.

Notes on Fanart

One of my favorite things about NM is the sheer amount of queer/protest art it manages to pack into each episode. I would love to see a fanwork in any one of the visual styles we see in the show (Namo or Dan's style but used as portraiture/storytelling, Yok's work as-is, graffiti generally.) Or something that calls back to Eugene's work in more subtle ways -- writing on skin, use of masks, something with a great sense of motion.

I've also requested exactly one relationship, so you know I'm here for just some good old fashioned shippy stuff. Or fake IG posts! Or weird little mascot guys!

(Black/Eugene/Gram)

Ok, this might need some explaining.

Eugene really is the best girl, she deserves all the boys even though she makes it very clear she doesn't need them. I was actually extremely charmed by her relationship with Gram -- first friendship, then courtship. He's such a sweetheart!

At the same time, I don't buy that Gram didn't have feelings for Black. That study session? Come on. At the very least they were toeing the line into attraction, though it's hard to say if Gram realized it, and obviously we don't actually see much of how Black used to be around Gram. There's a lot of room to play around with that backstory.

And then there's Black, who pushed everyone away, friends and lovers alike. I love him as he is: driven, hurt, and just a terrible asshole about it, but I can't help but think that he needs Gene and Gram more than he knows. That goodbye scene right before the secondhand drowning was just so emotional, not matter how hard he tried to cut himself off from his feelings. And Gene loved him back!

Basically, I don't buy any of these three staying away from each other.

• • If you want to take my little manifesto up there (oops) and write out what happened next, I will love you.


• • But given this is a drabble exchange, I'm also very down for handwaving how these three get together and just showing a slice-of-life moment. What is a relationship like with these three very different personalities? A date? An argument? Living together? Sex? Patching Black up after he’s done something reckless and/or tried to freeze them out? Anything's good, as long as we don’t end on angst.


• • Black and Gram finally letting Gene in on the full details of one of their acts of protest before it happens -- maybe she even joins in?


• • Or reverse this. Have her draw them into her world of protest art, as spectators or actual participants. Maybe one of them has a hidden talent for it? Or maybe they're both just really, really terrible and should go back to lighting things on fire.


• • We already have inexplicable twin bonds. Allow me to suggest: inexplicable partner bonds. I haven’t requested Sean/White but they’re very welcome to tag along on this adventure (or any other, for that matter. There are no characters I dislike.)

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm, Focus on Homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum, Vee Relationship (ie: I don't want Gram and Black to love/date Gene and not each other here!), Alternate Universe Settings

The Kingdoms

Natasha Pulley will always have my number, and once I finally read this book, The Kingdoms was no exception. Relationships made nebulous because of a shifting timeline, coupled with an unbreakable loyalty that the entire world tilting on its axis can’t change is absolute catnip to me.

Notes on Fanart

So many good styles and themes here. Classic portraiture, sketches done on deck when the other party wasn't looking, marginalia, photos and any other exciting new ways of setting down an image, new tattoos. The way details in any of these might fade or shift with time(lines).

I've also really struck by that visual of the locals taking photos in the face of oncoming winter. While there's nowhere where this totally makes sense to have happened within our story, I kind of don't care? Freeze them in time all the same.

(Kite/Jem|Joe)

• • As is so often the case, I really do just want more. We got some of that relationship development before Jem became Joe, but I will always take a missing scene. Likewise, post-canon happiness would be a balm.


• • Moments in the time between Joe stepping off the train and the lighthouse when the other’s shadow loomed large, for either of them. Maybe not all reactions to the discordant timelines are moments of perfect clarity? Maybe the others are just too instinctive to notice. And for Kite, who knows exactly who he’s missing, this would be all the places in his (their) lives that Jem should be but is not. ETA that for this prompt I would consider the absence of the other to count as including him in the story, so no harm no foul re: exchange rules.


• • I feel like the whole concept of the lighthouse itself being a space where the “walls” between timelines are thin was so interesting and then didn’t really go anywhere. Are there other such places? Could a conversation, unwitting or otherwise, have happened?


• • Joe just wants to be a dad so badly that I will make an entire separate prompt indicating that you could let him. I don't know what curtainsfic looks like in this universe but I'll take it.


• • I mentioned new tattoos above and I will do so again here. For either or both of
  them.

บทกวีของปีแสง | Be My Favorite

This show has so much heart. I expected a silly little romcom, and I got it, but I wasn’t expecting how human everyone would feel. BMF tackles topics from social anxiety to marriage equality to children of divorce to the hurt people cause by being politically liberal but socially conservative ("it's fine with ME if you're gay, I just worry how hard it would be on you to come out" struck me to the BONE.) This was, as they say, not on my bingo card. But I felt for every single character and I cheered for their ultimate happy ending.

I want to add that I’ve gotten some great fic for some of these prompts very recently. I’m keeping them in rotation because I’m always thirsty for more different spins!

Notes on Fanart

If I recall correctly we see Kawi's doodles and. They're terrible. I am genuinely OK with getting an excerpt from his notebook in exactly that style, if you wanted to go for it! Otherwise, this is a canon where I don't get a strong sense of art styles/themes that might be appropriate, but I am very here for cute content, as well as just general shippiness for the boys, in whatever your preferred medium/look might be.

(Kawi/Pisaeng)

• • I love how vague the time travel mechanic is. I don’t think Kwai can possibly remember everything from every timeline, but I fully believe he knows more than what we see! What’s living with that jumble like? Specifically: knowing Pisaeng too well when he probably shouldn’t. Doesn't have to be physical, but certainly could be.


• • Blanket statement: I love Pear and don't want any fics about her suffering, but I feel like there was a high chance of at least emotional infidelity in all of our other timelines, and I would actually like to hear about it.


• • Popstar timeline: Please bring Pisaeng on tour, I want vacations for them so much. (This can tie in with the prompt above, but it doesn't have to.)


• • The runaway groom timeline, where they’ve been best friends for years. What does that look like? What’s Kawi done to keep Pisaeng holding a torch and genuinely unsure if this is just friendship or not? (Same as above re: cheating.)


• • Final timeline: We start the show with Kawi being angry and judgemental, and Pisaeng being scared and lonely. Obviously a lot of their change and growth happens right on screen… but I’d also like to see them dealing with that in their shared future. Making things right, forming a community, taking their found-friendships to the level of found-family as they all grow up, being out and going to the gay bar properly! Any of that!


• • Final timeline: It’s easy to forget that Pisaeng is musical too. I bet he has opinions on things like rhythm and vocals. The two of them listening to the songs Kawi wrote lyrics to - at home or in a club. (Actually, this would probably work with Kawi as a singer too, now I think about it.)


• • Any timeline: Pisaeng is very whipped and I appreciate that about him. Write me moments when he gives in to Kawi on ridiculous things!


• • Any timeline: Kawi actually has a lot of emotional sincerity (if not... maturity...) once he becomes aware of an issue. I'd like to see him carrying Pisaeng once in a while.

(Pisaeng & Pear)

• • I admit that I don't have as many prompts for these two, but I love how close they are, how much they clearly care about each other and read each other even when no one else does. I would like to see them taking care of each other in any timeline


• • I'm also really curious to see someone's take on how they got so close in the first place! Yes, they're family friends, but there's clearly a kinship there too


• • And while this is probably stretching the rules a bit, Kawi and Pisaeng's final timeline relationship through Pear's eyes, and perhaps leading to her own growth and happiness, would also be lovely. (To reiterate, I don't really want Pear's POV on other timelines -- too much angst for me!)

Cyrano de Bergerac: In a Free Adaptation (Cyrano de Bergerac/Christian de Neuvillette/Roxane)

My word, this adaptation. I love it so much - the speed of its pacing, the wild energy, the absolutely glorious dialogue, all the changes to the story that empower Roxane in ways I always wished the original would. (I'm not requesting Roxane/de Guiche, but I deeply appreciate that this play neither wholly reforms him, nor shames Roxane for associating with him anyway, on her terms and to keep her independence in every way possible.) And then there's the fact that they make Cyrano/Christian explicitly, physically textual - another rewrite I've always wanted, but a tragedy all the same.

So I am unabashedly asking: if you're up for it, fix that part too. I understand why the play still needs to end in sadness, but oh it left me burning for a true fix-it. My kingdom for anyone to write me a different ending to that kiss. If that feels like a lot to take on - fair! I will also accept an out of context moment for these three AFTER the fix, or a moment during the courtship when everything felt right - where without knowing it, these three were in balance.

I am lifting my standard DNW re: focus on homophobia, because it is so clearly a part of Christian's worldview. I'll also add that by DNW-ing self-harm, I'm talking about immediate physical hurt-- Christian and Cyrano both clearly put themselves in dangerous situations because they think they deserve it, and I'm down for that, though I'd prefer this be a starting point and not an end.

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm as a depressive symptom (self-harm for external reasons is OK), Alternate Universe Settings

Dreamboy (Dane/Luke)

So, I went into Dreamboy post cancellation: knowing that I was going to love it, and that it was already gone. And I found the experience to still be completely and utterly worthwhile. I don't think I will ever find another podcast with such fabulous narration, eerie magic realism, and so damn gorgeously (hilariously!) scored.

But all the same— man! All those loose ends. What's in the deed to the zoo? What happens now that all the lights in pepper heights have been replaced? Why is Cora's basement pregnant? Will Luke ever get his backpack away from the Schmalenbergers?

As for Dane and Luke . . . I really don't want the last Dreamboy encounter to be the end of their story. I'd love to see what happens to them now that they don't have a couple of horny fish urging them to hook up (or . . . don't they . . . ? Maybe the fish want dates? Who's to say??) Follow Dane back to NY - have Luke visit him or move in. Transcribe me one of Luke's Instagram lives (if he does those. If IG lets them stay up.) Write me a song about them! Anything goes, I just want more.

DNW: Rape/Noncon*, Non-Canonical Character Death**, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings, Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum

*I do want to note that I am totally fine with undernegotiated kink and the characters being fascinated with/exploring the boundaries of pain and what a person can physically take, in line with the canon story. I'm also lifting my ban on self-harm, for obvious reasons, but please treat it the way canon does.

**I mean, unless we're talking ancient history...... really ancient.

Sleep No More

My usual opening spiel: The McKittrick Hotel is a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. It's also one of my favorite places in the world. I am so glad we have it back.

I'm attempting to practice restraint only allowing myself to add as many pairings as I can write specific prompts for, but I love everyone in this dark hotel. Feel free to reference any characters or 'ships your heart desires. Part of the great fun of SNM as a fandom is that the show is a framework that invites so much speculation, and I’d enjoy spending time in any character’s head.

Finally, I'm lifting my typical ban on AUs for this canon. Turns out I really enjoy it when people throw these characters into strange new worlds. Maybe what we are seeing is just one iteration of the hotel, but it could exist in any time at all?

(catherine campbell | danvers/lady macduff)

I think that the Rebecca story, with all of its extremely sapphic overtones, comes through most strongly in Catherine Campbell, and in this case: when she's leading Lady Macduff astray. She is Ms Danvers to me, always, with all the creepy sublimated sex appeal that implies. I would love an exploration of her relationship with Lady Macduff— how did she choose her for a victim? Convenience, or hatred, or fascination? Does she have a pregnancy kink, or does that part of Lady Macduff repel her? And Lady Macduff? Is it just the drugs she's after, or does she feel Danvers' allure too?

Finally-- though this may be a stretch, is there any point when Danvers pities the lady? Under other circumstances, might she have saved her?

(Sexy Witch/Lady Macduff)

I will not lie, nominating this pairing was prompted by one specific moment. After she kisses her husband at the banquet table, Lady Macduff rises to embrace the witch- the woman who seduced the father of her child -instead. I feel as if that could be so many things. A desire, an acknowledgement, a mirror (and we know how Lady Macduff feels about those), a trap, a sliver of forgiveness... I would love to hear someone else's take on this.

Alternatively, Sexy seems very much aligned to the candy shop. Are she and Lady Macduff ever there at the same time. Or - Lady Macduff seems plagued from the start. Could that be this witch's fault?

(nurse shaw/lady macbeth)

In a funny way these two are the mirror inverse of Danvers and Lady Macduff, aren't they? Here you have a caretaker who, for all that she's plagued and cursed, seems to genuinely feel for their charge and is trying to do right by her. I would love a story about Lady M through Nurse Shaw's eyes, before or after she's taken away from the banquet. Another moment that's really struck me lately: some Nurses really seem to make their dance on the bed either a very sensual thing, and/or a conflict where the resolution seems to be reaching for the patient chart next to the bed. Knowing this is/was/will be Lady M's bed makes that very interesting...

Note that Nurse Shaw is now played by people of both gender-presentations, and I like both! Go with whichever variation speaks to you. If she's female-presenting, I do have one additional prompt... There are hints that these two were schoolgirls together (if you've seen certain 1:1s) - and that is a twist that fascinates me. If you want to explore this, then what was SNM's Lady M like as a girl, before Macbeth? Does she remember Christian Shaw?

(J. Fulton & Agnes Naismith)

The one pairing in this show I do not ship - because Agnes doesn't! But they've always been two of my favorite characters for the everyman/outsider appeal. I'd love to see either or both of them used as foils for the supernatural. In over their heads, perhaps? I also appreciate that both have an air of the quiet, the practical, and maybe even the competent (well. sometimes. maybe more Agnes.) I would like to have Agnes win for once. Or see Fulton's charms and protections have an actual effect.

Finally, a friend of mine walked out absolutely convinced that Agnes must be Fulton's girlfriend. While that doesn't exactly line up, it did start me thinking about how... oddly familiar they really are with the insides of each other's rooms, and why that might be. Spoilers ahead, but I am just waiting for someone to explain why the mortuary connects to Grace's bedroom.

If you want to combine any of this with the next set of prompts, I'm all for it.

(bargarran/j. fulton)

These two characters are so down to interpretation that I would be happy with any combination, though I do enjoy a good opposites attract moment. But truly. Fulton can be anything from supercilious to earnest, Taxi can be harried to downright sociopathic. I will love this regardless.

Some recent thoughts: I absolutely love the new shrines the graveyard(? they remind me a lot of the stations of the cross that Punchdrunk had for The Third Day, but I cannot find a word for them...) All full of candles and tiny religious scenes and, occasionally, bones and blessings and curses. and I would like these two to meet there. Maybe because the usual timing of the night is out of joint, or simply on another occasion.

Another place I'd like these two to meet? The back of Bargarran's shop. Whether you think that 1:1 is a murder, a confession, or a desperate attempt to make someone complicit in whatever he's been up to, good or ill- I'm there for someone being Fulton and not an audience member

I also really enjoy it whenever Bargarran communicates through taxidermy. It's definitely his love/hate language and I encourage him. One of my favorite Fulton/Taxi interactions was when Bargarran somehow turned his pre-fitting into a glorious parody of Fulton's fabric dance with Agnes. Love a Taxi who's enjoying himself a little too much.

(banquo/macbeth)

Maybe it's me, maybe it's the show, but recently I've definitely gotten the impression that Banquo, at least, is more than a little in love with his friend (was Lost Luggage always such a pining dance? And the leadup so intimate?) I'd love for someone to explore this. Make it unrequited or not. Some Macbeths are also very touchy, even leading up to the murder. (Or especially leading up to the murder - and there's a conflict of interests for you!) A haunting would also be much appreciated.

(Boy/Porter)

Kind of my doomed OTP, if I'm honest. Boy and Porter clearly have such a history. I like it when they hate each other, when they hurt each other, when they want each other. I believe they secretly still love each other. Some Porters want to be Boy Witch, while others seem to wish he were still "the boy" from the past. Some Boys want to give in and take comfort from the Porter. Some are just straight up sadomasochistic together. So many interpretations! I adore them all and would be happy with a story that casts them in any light.

I would be interested to hear their history-- is "Is That All There Is" true fact, or is the song just a convenient tool? I love everything that was hinted at in this playbill, semi-canonical though it be, and want to share the inspiration. Or, you know. Just give these poor men a moment to pretend they could be anything other than what they are.


DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm as a depressive symptom (self-harm for external reasons is OK), Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum

The Maid of Llanwellyn - The Poozies (The Maid/Female Singer, Female Singer/The Three Hens)

You can listen to this song here, on youtube.

This is such a lovely, dreamy piece, with so much feeling and romance in its orchestration -- but that's not what makes it shine for me. A female singer (who may or may not consider themselves one of "our proud fellas," the phrasing is certainly ambiguous) who sounds so deeply in love with the sweet maid? Yes, please. I just want something soft and lovely for these two. Expand on the song, tell me how they fell in love, or tell me what happens next. Worldbuild as much as you like. I am absolutely down for a trans, butch, or femme read of the main character/singer, whatever feels best to you. However, I am keeping my restriction on homophobia, period-typical or not. I am happy to see Rich Owen as a rival, but not for that reason!

I've also nominated the hens from the song, with the thought that this could be a puss-in-boots kind of story. Something about that phrasing "I have by me" just makes me think of them as magical guides! Though I suppose they could just be a sympathetic avian ear.

I'm lifting my ban on AU settings here. Go wild - the song's not focused on that, really.

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm as a depressive symptom (self-harm for external reasons is OK), Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum

The CRAZY BONEZ SKELETON Collection
(Any Characters. Nominees include the skeleton Octopus, Spider, Raven Mouse, and Kitty)

I adore these silly plastic halloween bones in all their anatomically incorrect glory. So many invertebrates! So much cartilage and whiskers! Somehow, it's all bone now? A friend of mine posited that these are clearly not skeletons but rather carved bones, which raises so many more questions than it answers.

I received a wonderful madness treat last Yule, but would love more! So I put it to you, dear author. How, and why, and by whom were any of these creatures made? Perhaps you might even tackle the most glaring question: out of whose bones?

Starter prompts (feel free to go you own way):

• A lonely necromancer builds a new friend.


• Saints or Witches bones are given mobility. Perhaps they watch over a congregation in the form of a churchmouse, or serve as a familiar? (Maybe this is actually quite horrific for them?)


• Each of Skeleton Octopus' legs is someone else's spine, and they all have their own opinions on what to do with their new un-life.


• A spy with unfinished business comes back in a most unassuming form. Maybe some spy v. spy? Cat and Mouse, as it were?


• Students of dark magic have no idea how anatomy works, 30/100 F- please see me after class

Dickinson
(Any Characters. Nominees include Emily, Sue, Vinnie, and Death)

I'm in love with the style of this show: the approachable modern feel of the characters and the straight up anachronisms, coupled with the lushness of the setting and the poetry. And that soundtrack? Hilarious and amazing.

Starter prompts (feel free to go you own way):

• Any of these characters are haunted. Even Death. (Especially Death.)


• Halloween pranks


• Costumes - particularly of the gender-bending variety


• Another successful seance at the Dickinson residence


• Emily and Sue get witchy in a more intimate setting


• Death visits the other Dickinson sister for a chat. Tea party optional. Performance art optional.

Sleep No More
(Malcolm, Fulton, Lady Macduff, Bargarran)

• Fulton is always a little bit cursed, but I recently saw a take where his hands had literally, physically stopped obeying him - they'd shake whenever he held a needle or scissors. I love this, please run with it.


• Several Malcolm performers have taken to anointing the back of their own neck with a dropper full of . . . something after the ball. What? Why?


• Lady Macduff bows to Duncan's ghost. What other spirits does she see?


• Possibly related, but then again maybe not: Lady Macduff's thing with mirrors


• One of my favorite additions to the show post-reopening is Bargarran's drawing of the squirrelodile (head and torso of a squirrel, body of a crocodile) and his apparent plans for an entire emporium of such namesmooshed horrorterrors. Make it so. Bonus points for a reaction from any of his neighbors.


• Or if you'd like to take this more seriously - there's an implication that all the taxidermy in the building is a little bit alive, and Bargarran knows it. Possibly they're spies for Hecate. What rituals are necessary? (And does this involve any of his neighbors?)
  
• What's the story behind the climbing vines in the Macduff bedroom?


• Bargarran and a character of your choice play the tool game


• Any two characters exchange charms and/or prophesies


• Any two characters have a dance - just because I enjoy all the thrills and threats that intimacy can entail (The partner does not have to be someone I've selected, and in fact I'm going to especially plug Lady Macduff and Campbell Danvers here. Maybe Moonlight Becomes You goes a little differently?)


• . . . seriously though, haunted space hotel.

BONUS: Crossovers

If you know Dickinson and Sleep No More, first off - I would love to be your friend. Secondly - it is canon that Emily either time-travels or just has ridiculously lucid and accurate dreams of the future. Emily has been to Boston. Sleep No More began its time in the US in Boston. You see where I am going. (Bonus points if the Eel in the Bathtub puts in an appearance.)

If you know Sleep No More and are willing to foray into the ridiculous.... I mean, the taxidermy is right there. The Crazy Bonez are right there. Have at.

The CRAZY BONEZ SKELETON Collection
(Any Characters. Nominees include the skeleton Octopus, Spider, Mouse, and Kitty)

I love these silly plastic halloween bones in all their anatomically incorrect glory. So many invertebrates! So much cartilage and whiskers! And yet, somehow, it's all bone now? A friend of mine posited that these are clearly not skeletons but rather carved bones, which raises so many more questions than it answers. And so I put it to you, dear author. How, and why, and by whom were any of these creatures made? Perhaps you might even tackle the most glaring question: out of whose bones?

A few starter prompts:

A lonely necromancer builds a new friend.
Saint's bones are given mobility and watch over a congregation in the form of a churchmouse.
Each of Skeleton Octopus' legs is someone else's spine, and they all have their own opinions on what to do with their new un-life.
A spy with unfinished business comes back in a most unassuming form.
Students of dark magic have no idea how anatomy works, 30/100 F- please see me after class

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Focus on Suicidal Ideation

Greater Boston
(Leon Stamatis, Michael Tate)

Greater Boston is such a charmingly surreal story, because it's not wholly unrealistic. It just takes reality and tips it about ten degrees on its axis, then watches as everything slowly slides sideways into singing telegrammorism and cheese robots. Then we hit maximum velocity and crash through the fourth wall.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Leon is one of my favorite characters. Particularly in his role last season. If you only want to write about him, feel free to explore the limits of his... narrative abilities, as it were. Or dive into his lifetime! Leon the highschooler with a perfect game plan for college enrollment? Leon realizing he's past due to hit that next big life milestone-- whatever it may be --and whether he's actually ready for it or not? Of course feel free to bring in family and friends. They're the things that make him tick (almost perfectly on time, but still not always in sync.) I also especially love how Louisa described Leon and dancing and would love to hear more about his relationship with art in general.

And then there's Michael, who honestly in my opinion is the heart and soul of the podcast. He's a perfect mix of hilarious and sometimes too-real quirks, but also genuine human growth. If you only want to write about him, one of my favorite recent tangents has been his letters from his deathbed(well. death-floor) - if you wanted to write another, pick any character and have at... though a letter from Michael to Michael might be the most interesting thing of all. Alternatively, I'd love to know where he's living now and how else he might be spending some of his insurance money when he's not funding the free press. Gotta get rid of the rest of it somehow, right?

If you're open to writing about these two together-- well. First of all, all due respect to word of god in the context of canon but I absolutely do ship this, particularly as a could have been, could still be but now one of us is stuck in 500 cheese robots way. But I'm also very down for explorations of their friendship and history together beyond the absolutely beautiful anecdotes we've gotten in canon.

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Sleep No More
(Any Characters. Nominees include J. Fulton, Agnes Naismith, Bargarran, Hecate)

My usual opening spiel: The McKittrick Hotel is a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. It's also one of my favorite places in the world and I miss it terribly.

Part of the great fun of SNM as a fandom is that the show is a framework that invites so much speculation, and I’d enjoy spending time in any character’s head. I'm also yearning for a return to all things immersive and would be very open to any kind of interactive or experimental fictions. Finally, I'm lifting my standard "No AUs" DNW. Keep the atmosphere of the original, but if you want haunted spaceships or a fantastical inn to be your location of choice . . . what the hell. I'm curious what might happen when this particular Macbeth story meets something other than straight-up Hitchcock. In short -- if there’s a story you want to tell, please do!

If you’re looking for inspiration, read on.

Fulton and Agnes have always been two of my favorite characters for the everyman/outsider appeal. I'd love to see either or both of them used as foils for the supernatural. In over their heads, perhaps? But I also appreciate that both have an air of the quiet, the practical, and maybe even the competent (well. sometimes. maybe more Agnes.) I would like to have Agnes win for once. Or see Fulton's charms and protections have an actual effect.

On the flip side, since Fulton is a character so open to interpretation: this is a man with deep roots in town. Someone who might have seen Hecate's witchcraft take hold. Perhaps even someone who might have opened the door for her, with all his whiter witchery? An exploration of his past, with or without other characters, would be fascinating.

As for Hecate herself, I'd love a story entirely aligned to her perspective. Is she human, or a true goddess of witchcraft? What rituals does she have that we don't see? Does she control this world, or does she only revel in it? Speaking of reveling, she's also a highly seductive figure. What is a conversation with the woman in red even like for any of the others in town?

And then there's Bargarran who is maybe the ultimate "up for interpretation" man in the cast. Write me a Hitchcockian story about a child murderer? Something supernatural, full of bones and unclean offerings to powers he may or may not understand? A tale of seething jealousy? (For lost normalcy? Because he's into his tight-wound neighbor? Because no one will ever taxidermy him and make him the eyes and ears of a vengeful coven? You tell me.) Speaking of, the back of his shop is just overrun with witches. Is there a creeping horror to that, or are they just a nuisance?

As always, feel free to pull from any of my previous signups for this fandom as well. There are... maybe a lot of them by now. And if you’re wondering whether I ship a certain combination of characters: yes.


DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Referencing the real-world status of the show (ie: please don't write me a story about how the audience/ghosts have disappeared. My heart couldn't take it)

Dickinson

(Emily/Sue)

One of my favorite watches of the past year. I am in love with the style of this show: the approachable modern feel of the characters and the straight up anachronisms, coupled with the lushness of the setting and the poetry. And that soundtrack? Hilarious and amazing.

And then there's Emily and Sue, the beating heart of the production and the thing that made it something more than an experiment in format. I love the ways that they understand each other, the obvious gravitational pull of the relationship even as they both struggle to be true to themselves. I want to believe that the fictional versions of these two women could and should make this relationship work.

Fanart

Words are so much a part of this relationship, and I would love to see them incorporated into your art! Whether it's a sea of surging phrases around the characters, your own interpretation of one of Emily's puzzle-like letters, or a visual rendering of a poem, a current song you find fitting, or even a specific emotion, I'm here for it.

Fanfiction

As mentioned above, I love the letters between these two and would relish any kind of epistolary fiction. If that's not your style, then sketching a moment when Emily and Sue found comfort nested together would also be lovely. This could be romantic, a mental exercise, or the kind of highjinx we saw in Volcanoes (by which I mean the girls exploring everything and anything they shouldn't, but if you want to write me crossdressing then yes please that too.)

I will be frank, though, and say that I'm not really interested in a story that's more focused on the external relationships in their lives (death a la Wiz Khalifa maybe excepted.)

As with art style, narrative tone is a difficult thing and I don't want to hem you in too much. But if you have any ideas about how to nod to the show's unique brand of era-blending, feel free!

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Midsummer Night's Dream (Bridge Theatre 2019)

(Demetrius/Helena/Hermia/Lysander, Helena/Hermia, or Demetrius/Lysander)

Fanfiction

I apologize, author, but I do not have a separate blurb for all of the pairings for this fandom. Basically I've been invested in the idea of the young lovers being all kinds of queer for each other for a very long time, and Bridge Theater gave me everything I could have wanted and then some. The foemance! The feeling that Helena and Hermia might have a history! The utter confusion on the part of these dumb boys! The very very physical attraction brought on by our flower! And then there's the way everyone acted during the mechanical's play.... by the end of it I was convinced these four were on their way to a poly relationship. However, if a love square is a bit much for you and you'd rather focus on two of them in a past or future relationship, that is completely fine.

I also just absolutely loved the hints that this Athens is a straight up dystopia, and would revel in any world-building that may have inspired. Just how structured is this society? Is it a regular thing to keep your partner under glass, or is Hippolyta just a war criminal? If the latter, what's it been like living through (and finding love in the middle of) this war?

Also while I didn't request Oberon/Titania, their dual roles are so, so interesting. I'd love a take where any or all of the four young lovers also had "fairy" counterparts or an exploration of what that really means.

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Sleep No More

For my general thoughts on the canon, please see my other recent sign-up letters in this journal. I have done this write-up . . . a lot . . . so suffice it to say this show has been my love for a good long time now, and I miss it terribly.

As per last year, I told myself that I was only allowed to add as many pairings as I could write specific requests for. So I'm going to tackle relationship dynamics and fanfiction prompts first, and follow up with a few fanart additions.

(Bargarran/Fulton)

Been a while since I requested this one! I have special a soft spot for Fulton as our everyman character and love the idea of Bargarran pulling him to stranger happenings by hook (which is to say, terrible and potentially murderous moments, fine with you going dark here!) or by crook (which is to say... terrible but somehow oddly charming taxidermy and mockery? One of my favorite Fulton/Taxi interactions was when Bargarran somehow turned his pre-fitting into a glorious parody of Fulton's fabric dance with Agnes. Love a Taxi who's enjoying himself a little too much.) These two characters are so down to interpretation that I would be happy with any combination, though I do enjoy a good opposites attract moment. But truly. Fulton can be anything from supercilious to earnest, Taxi can be harried to downright sociopathic. I will love this regardless.

(Macduff/Sexy Witch/Speaks)

I think this is the first time I've nominated a set of characters who don't actually have a single group scene together in canon. But I absolutely love Sexy with both of these fools, dominating the hell out of them -- her relationship with Macduff is a careful seduction, while what she has with Speaks is either something more honest? Or something less important? (It's all about perspective here.) I think about the scene where Sexy picks a member of the audience to take with her, and it is certainly in part to rile Speaks up . . . I'd be interested in a similar dynamic but with all canon characters. Alternatively, give me a prequel! What does a night at the bar look like when these three are involved? If your favored interpretation of Speaks is someone with more agency or, say, someone more seductive, I'd be into that too.

(Catherine Campbell | Danvers/Lady Macduff)

I think that the Rebecca story, with all of its extremely sapphic overtones, comes through most strongly in Catherine Campbell, and in this case in leading Lady Macduff astray. She is Ms Danvers to me, always, with all the creepy sublimated sex appeal that implies. I would love an exploration of her relationship with Lady Macduff— how did she choose her for a victim? Convenience, or hatred, or fascination? Does she have a pregnancy kink, or does that part of Lady Macduff repel her? And Lady Macduff? Is it just the drugs she's after, or does she feel Danvers' allure too? Finally-- though this may be a stretch, is there any point when Danvers pities the lady? Under other circumstances, might she have saved her?

(Agnes/Hecate)

The scene between Agnes and Hecate was one of my first loves in SNM. I would close almost every show with it. These two feel like complimentary contrasts: fair and dark, ingenue and femme fatal, lost and knowing. But there's a surprising strength in Agnes, a steel spine. While I'd be happy with a one-sided seduction story, I could see Agnes flipping the script, or even-- well, perhaps not winning a second round, but at least drawing blood. And then what?

I also wonder what that moment on high street would feel like in a more naturalistic world, or that final offer of a drink. I would like to know what Agnes remembers in the morning . . .

(Malcolm/Boy Witch)

I once saw a take on Malcom that made me feel as if he were deeply closeted, sneaking out for assignations with Boy Witch in the woods, and trying desperately to hide the whole thing from his father and the rest of the party. I am extremely into this interpretation and want to know more. Alternatively, if you aren't feeling this, tension in the ballroom would also fit the bill nicely.

(Bald/Sexy)

I think Bald and Sexy share a sympathy beyond the rest of the coven. There's so often a feeling of aftercare to their meeting in the woods, their ritual in the powder room. I would love to see that explored. What is the backstory for either or both of these characters, and how has her sister-witch helped her to overcome it (if negative) or realize and revel in it (if positive)? Is there joy in it? Loss? Revenge? I can see these two sharing confessions (doubts? fears? kinks?) with each other that no one else would ever understand, whether in some private space or out on the ballroom floor.

I also enjoy speculating about the more meta side of things in terms of how the characters perceive their audience and who is aware that they’re stuck in a looping story. In this context, or when it comes to their fellow residents, I feel that exhibitionism will never be out of place for witches.

(Boy/Porter)

Kind of my doomed OTP, if I'm honest. Boy and Porter clearly have such a history. I like it when they hate each other, when they hurt each other, when they want each other. I believe they secretly still love each other. Some Porters want to be Boy Witch, while others seem to wish he were still "the boy" from the past. Some Boys want to give in and take comfort from the Porter. Some are just straight up sadomasochistic together. So many interpretations! I adore them all and would be happy with a story that casts them in any light.

I would be interested to hear their history-- is "Is That All There Is" true fact, or is the song just a convenient tool? I love everything that was hinted at playbill, semi-canonical though it be, and want to share the inspiration. Or, you know. Just give these poor men a moment to pretend they could be anything other than what they are.

Fanart
For art, I honestly just love seeing what struck fellow fans while they were in the show! The whole thing is so cinematic that any moment could become a gorgeous still. But if you would like to take any of my thoughts above and distill them down to imagery, that would be wonderful as well.

I never want to dictate style to an artist, but noir posters, old photographs, creepy spilled tea or salt rorschach tests all come to mind. Mixed-media could be incredible, as could black and white video (or "video") footage.

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation

For this canon, please note that I'm fine with (and would even look forward to seeing!) a power imbalance. Any character being tricked or coerced into sex and/or a relationship is OK, but I would ask that everyone give enthusiastic consent in the moment. I will still approve if they realize that was a terrible idea after the fact . . .

A Final Note: For this canon I am lifting my standard "No AUs" DNW. Keep the atmosphere of the original, please! But if you want haunted spaceships or a fantastical inn to be your location of choice for these characters . . . what the hell. I'm curious what might happen when this particular Macbeth story meets something other than straight-up Hitchcock. Heck, transpose it back to one of the time periods referenced by the show itself! Could be interesting.

Then She Fell

Another Immersive love of mine. This one officially closed in 2020, and I am feeling deeply nostalgic for the world of Kingsland Ward, so clearly not Wonderland, and yet a wonderment all the same; an exploration of the chambers of the heart. More than anything, I want a return to that atmosphere. If you've been to TSF, I think you'll know what I mean. The love of minutia, liminal moments, poetry that doesn't go anywhere. The gentlest haunting. It is a good night for ghosts.

Again, I'm going to tackle specific dynamics and fanfiction prompts first, and follow up with a few fanart additions.

Finally, I should note that I would be extremely happy to see you weave more than one of these relationships into a single story. Both because I'm happy to multiship, but also, I think that the conflict between all the characters and what they want is a big part of the canon.

(White Rabbit/White Queen)

Have I cried watching these two hold hands until the Rabbit falls asleep? Yes. It's an incredibly tender moment. But what are the participants truly thinking? Is this a singular moment of solace for these two, or are they the longstanding "secret kept." Is the Queen herself the girl who falls in love backwards, and how did that story go?

Alternatively, I've always gotten the sense that Rabbit works for the Red Queen and not the White. If so, what does that mean for them?

(White Rabbit/Red Queen)

An inverse to the above. I've never seen anything tender about this relationship— but is that true? I like this relationship sharp, but it doesn't follow that it's meaningless. Alternatively, explore whether the Queen is simply venting her appetites on the Rabbit, or is there something that she wants from him— some task, or favor?

It's also made pretty explicit that the Red Queen is Alice's mother in the "real" world (though in context of TSF it seems to to me it's all layers of story, not actual history.) But if you wanted to suss out who Rabbit might be in 1865 and how his story informs what we see in Kingsland ward, I'm very interested. (This goes for all the characters, really!)

(Hatter/Red Queen/White Queen)

Gonna be honest this one mostly comes down to thinking that Hatter and the queens clearly have some tension to sort out after that tea party! However if that is not your (bread and) jam I would also be down for a more comfortable, gossipy tea-table romance, or something set in the bedroom with the writing nook-- Hatter and White Queen both frequent it, after all. Bedtime stories for all, perhaps? Or go super silly and make the queens patrons of Hatter's shop.

Also need to note that I have no preference as to Hatter's gender.

(Hatter/Alice)

Love Hatter's jealousy of Alice, even if I don't think it's fully deserved. I am open to whatever you want to make of this, be it a genuine meeting of hearts or Hatter using Alice to get back at Lewis. You could write me Hatter setting Alice on fire — or deciding that they shouldn't and maybe they can take the boat out by themselves. Hatter warning Alice about the dangers of first love, while finding a second one for themselves? Alice as a new shop assistant?

And just to restate-- I have no preference as to Hatter's gender.

(Lewis/Alice)

Ok, I have to admit I have some qualms about asking for this one and would ask that you not take this pairing over PG-13 if you want to make me happy. There's a certain level of weirdness here due to the characters' real-world counterparts that I would prefer to avoid. However, I see Kingsland's Alice as a little older, more in control of her own life and choices, and a distinct person (character? concept?), not just her namesake. To that end, I hope you can avoid putting too much 1865 history into your story should you choose to write this pairing.

That being said, I love TSF Alice and Lewis too much to abstain entirely. Their staircase scene is so beautiful. I love the idea of Alice whispering through the bannister to Lewis the way she does to some of us later. Likewise, the letters! They're heartbreaking, which is honestly how I like this pairing. And the letter room? One of the most beautiful places in the world.

Of everyone in the ward, these two seem the most ghostlike to me. If so, how long have they been haunting this place, and how could they find peace? By letting go? Reconciling? Falling in love as their new selves?

(Alice/Alice)

And of course . . . saving the best of all Alice pairings for last. Why are there two Alices? What's the dichotomy here: older/younger? Wild/tamed? Start of love/end of love? or is it simply that Alice has been staring in the mirror too long and yet she hardly knows herself? The mirror scenes are so evocative, and especially the one that happens upstairs . . . such a sensory experience, and so exploratory. It's a linchpin of Alice's relationship with Alice for me. (I hope this is vague enough. If you know you know.)

(Alice & The Red Queen)

My one explicitly not-a-ship request. I do think it's pretty definite, baseed on the text of TSF, that Alice and the Red Queen are mother and daughter. I would love an exploration fo that relationship. Perhaps the Red Queen finally communicating her hopes and fears to Alice directly, instead of through a mirror to strangers? Or go dark-- give me one of the other of them bringing the other to Kingsland Ward to stay. This is Chocolate Box, so I do want th relationship to be loving . . . but love can be a pretty messy thing.

Fanart
As with SNM, when it comes to art I honestly just love seeing what struck fellow fans while they were in the show! The whole thing is so atmospheric that any moment could become a gorgeous still. But if you would like to take any of my thoughts above and distill them down to imagery, that would be wonderful as well.

I never want to dictate style to an artist, but medical journals, old photographs, the original John Tenniel illustrations filtered through a new lens, and of course miniatures and dolls all come to mind.

minor revisions made 1/7/20 to clarify requests and hopefully eradicate the worst of my typos

舞蹈风暴 Dance Smash: Painted Skin 2 Choreography

(Woman in Red/Woman in Blue)

If you haven't seen this, check it out here. It's under three minutes and a gorgeous dance in its own right.

For fic: While I'm aware that the choreography was based on a specific scene from a movie, I think that the piece itself invites all kinds of interpretations. I could see these women as having a long, tense past. Or maybe they've just met. Perhaps they're living in a traditional horror story or a table-turning empowerment fantasy. (I could also, most definitely, see them as creepy backstabbing incestuous sisters. Or a closeted girl picked up by a knowing seductress.)

As for the setting, go wild or keep it simple! I have no restrictions for you at all, but definitely don't feel constrained by the visual style. If these two give you an interstellar vibe, or you feel a fairy-tale elegance or a modern, creepy, who knows what's going on next door chill, I am down for it.

For art: The motion and contrast of the costumes is beautiful and evocative, and I'd love to see that captured. I'd also be excited for some visual world-building in the vein of what I described above-- give them a setting!

DNW: Rape, Focus on Suicidal Ideation.

For this canon, please note that I'm fine with (and would even look forward to seeing!) a power imbalance. Either or both women being tricked or coerced into sex and/or a relationship is OK, however I would ask that all characters give enthusiastic consent in the moment. It's fine if they realize that was a terrible idea after the fact, though . . .

Sleep No More

I told myself that I was only allowed to add as many pairings as I could write specific requests for. Let's see how this goes. (For my more general thoughts on the canon, please see my other recent sign-up letters in this journal.)

(Agnes/Hecate)

The scene between Agnes and Hecate was one of my first loves in SNM-- I would close almost every show with it. These two feel like complimentary contrasts: fair and dark, ingenue and femme fatal, lost and knowing.

But there's a surprising strength in Agnes, a steel spine. While I'd be happy with a one-sided seduction story, I could see Agnes flipping the script, or even-- well, perhaps not winning a second round, but at least drawing blood. And then what?

I also wonder what that moment on high street would feel like in a more naturalistic world, or that final offer of a drink. I would like to know what Agnes remembers in the morning . . .

(Bald/Boy/Sexy - or Bald&Boy&Sexy)

I love the witches because they feel like a force of nature within the hotel, a well-oiled machine that runs on promise and punishment, but spending time with any of them reveals very distinct personalities. I would love to hear about how that relationship functions outside of the night we see— are they a twisted supportive family, do they play petty games with the town and keep score? Have they kept up the pretense of being strangers until just now? Are they the avenging spirits of Paisley, or something more modern than that?

I also enjoy speculating about the more meta side of things in terms of how the characters perceive their audience and who is aware that they’re stuck in a looping story. In this context, or when it comes to their fellow residents, I feel that exhibitionism will never be out of place for these three.

(Bald/Sexy)

First of all, see above. But I do think Bald and Sexy share a sympathy beyond what Boy can understand. There's so often a feeling of aftercare to their meeting in the woods, their ritual in the powder room. I would love to see them sharing confessions (doubts? fears? kinks?) with each other that no one else would ever understand, whether in some private space or out on the ballroom floor.

Besides, let's face it, sometimes men are unnecessary.

(Catherine Campbell/Lady Macbeth)

I . . . really should have just written her in as Ms. Danvers, this is so odd.

In any case! Whatever her name, I see so many Danvers/Rebecca parallels in Catherine and Lady Macbeth. How exactly is Catherine seduced into helping drug Duncan (and perhaps Lady Macduff as well-- was she acting on orders, or not? And whose?) Does Lady Macbeth rely on her, or does she use her . . . or is Lady M herself being used by our most unobtrusive witch?

Other questions include: Who wore the lace nightgown? Has Catherine ever experienced that moment of luxury? Has she ever turned the tables on Lady M as well?

(Boy/Porter)

Kind of my doomed OTP, if I'm honest. Boy and Porter clearly have such a history. I like it when they hate each other, when they hurt each other, when they want each other. I believe they secretly still love each other. Some Porters want to be Boy Witch, while others seem to wish he were still "the boy" from the past. Some Boys want to give in and take comfort from the Porter. Some are just straight up sadomasochistic together. So many interpretations-- I adore them all and would be happy with a story that casts them in any light.

I would love to hear about their history-- is "Is That All There Is" true fact, or is the song just a convenient tool? I love everything that was hinted at playbill, semi-canonical though it be, and want to share the inspiration. Or, you know. Just give these poor men a moment to pretend they could be anything other than what they are.

(Malcolm/Boy Witch)

I recently saw a take on Malcom that made me feel as if he were deeply closeted, sneaking out for assignations with Boy Witch in the woods, and trying desperately to hide the whole thing from his father and the rest of the party. I am deeply into this interpretation and want to know more.

(Bargarran/Speakeasy)

The Taxidermist and the Speakeasy Bartender may have minimal interactions, but sometimes they seem to be having a lot of fun. I've seen everything from jokes to stolen kisses to rubbing noses like deranged cats. This is a weird one, but I'm just so charmed by the idea of these two men, probably utterly warped by the town they live in, enjoying the heck out of the little things. Like dead birds and bone sculptures.

On a more serious note: the back of Taxi's shop and Speakeasy's entire bar is just overrun with witches. Is there a creeping horror to that, or are they just a nuisance? (OK, so maybe not entirely serious . . . but go full horror with either of them if you want. They lend themselves to it.)

(general notes)

For Art, I honestly just love seeing what struck fellow fans while they were in the show! The whole thing is so cinematic that any moment could become a gorgeous still.

DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

For this canon, please note that I'm fine with (and would even look forward to seeing!) a power imbalance. Any character being tricked or coerced into sex and/or a relationship is OK, however I would ask that everyone give enthusiastic consent in the moment. It's alright if they realize that was a terrible idea after the fact, though . . .

Be More Chill

(Christine Canigula/Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell)

I saw BMC shortly before it closed. While I expected to walk out laughing, I didn't plan to be so invested in Michael's happiness! Jeremy and Christine are adorable together, but if two geeks are good, then three is better.

I would prefer to avoid too much navel-gazing wrt sexuality, but I would love a fun get-together story or a scene from a future established relationship-- senior year, cool in college or beyond.

For art: School play poster, yearbook photos, regrettable fashion choices, multimedia stories... go wild!

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Sleep No More (any character)

The McKittrick Hotel is one of my favorite places in the world, a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. I've put up more specific prompts for past exchanges, and you're welcome to go look at any and all of them, but I'm leaving things more or less no holds barred this year because to be honest, it's the fandom speculation that makes this experience for me. I would love to hear or see your interpretation of the events of the show, the character's histories, or even their futures.

A few things that have especially struck me this year:

• A friend of mine walked out absolutely convinced that Agnes must be Fulton's girlfriend. While that doesn't exactly line up, it did start me thinking about how . . . oddly familiar they really are with the insides of each other's rooms, and why that might be.

• There's a current Boy Witch whose performance is absolutely inhuman to me, and I love it. While I didn't actually nominate "bag of demons wearing Boy Witch like a fancy suit," as a separate character, I am so here for it.

• I love the new(ish) Nurse 1:1 and what it might say about her past. I'm aware this is vague, but if you happen to have had it and want to explore a little bit of boarding school history . . .

• For art specifically: noir posters, old photographs, or creepy spilled tea or salt rorschach tests all come to mind. I never want to dictate style to an artist, but hopefully this and the prompts above help! And again, just an interpretation of what YOU saw would be lovely.

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death/Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Ordeal By Innocence (any character)

I just recently watched this miniseries for the first time, and I am so here for all the dynamics of a found/forced-family. I would love to see any combination of the kids looking out for each other, at any age. But I'd also be open for an exploration of more romantic adult relationships, portrayed as healthy OR terribly not. I'm here for anything up to five-somes, and anything down to a lonesome character study. To add to this, Arthur's POV as an outsider and how he might be dragged into the family post-story could also be fascinating. Or, since Christie did love a bit of the supernatural, you could always make it a ghost story . . .

For art specifically: family photos or other keepsakes like a mixed-media scrapbook, hidden tattoos, and stolen moments come to mind. I never want to dictate style to an artist, but hopefully this and the prompts above help!

DNW: Rape/Noncon (I'm ok with coercion for this fandom but would prefer it end with everyone on board), Non-Canonical Character Death (suicidal ideation ok here, though I would prefer it not be the sole focus of the work), Alternate Universe Settings

Ghost Quartet (rose, pearl, soldier, Scheherazade)

I adore the structure of Ghost Quartet with its half-baked stories, past lives out of order, anachronisms, and the shift between magic realism and real magic . . . but my soft spot is for the girls.

Leaving this one pretty open too. Tell me another life story or delve into the details of a specific timeline (such as the soldier and Scheherazade.) Work some of the kind of magic we can't see on stage, and bring multiple iterations of the same character together to talk things out. Or tell a future story-- what's next for Rose or Pearl, together or apart?

For art specifically: fairy tale illustrations are the obvious go-to, but I think it could be fun to try something in the style of whatever place and time the characters are currently in, in a moment of your choice-- canonical or new. I never want to dictate style to an artist, but hopefully this and the prompts above help!

DNW: Rape/Noncon, Non-Canonical Character Death/Suicidal Ideation, Alternate Universe Settings

Joyous Yule in October, Author! Here are some additional details, which I'm afraid I am writing up much too late at night. Please excuse any rambling or typos.

Favorite Tropes

Please Avoid

Series

The Fire Rose

This is the only Mercedes Lackey book I still read at least once a year. There's something very special about the combination of passionate characters, plush details, and a history of magic hidden just alongside the world we know. Rose is one of my favorite heroines, and I always enjoy revisiting her rocky road to happiness and love.

I've always felt a bit cheated because the book glosses over Jason and Rose's weeks as master and apprentice before she attempts her first summoning. As apt a pupil as she may be, I'm sure that not everything ran smoothly. And this is just when Jason is learning to navigate a partnership too. (Not to mention the details of their falling in love.)

Alternatively, I would love to hear what comes next. Do they travel as planned? Find other ways for Jason to be a part of the outside world? What other business or academic ventures or causes might the two of them become interested in?

This is the point when I confess that while I've read some of the other books in this series, they never really made an impression. And if I recall correctly, were not terribly faithful to the original concept of Elemental Mastery as put forward in FR. Feel free to do as much worldbuilding as you would like, if magick is something you're interested in. I would be delighted, and I'm never going to fact check you.

The Bedlam Stacks

I've included Raphael and both of the Tremaynes as requested characters, but am officially giving you license to only write about Raphael with Merrick or Harry, if one relationship appeals to you more than the other.

Pulley's writing is fabulous but she also keeps her characters deliberately opaque. Filling in the gaps will always be appreciated, or retelling a bit of the story from Raphael's point of view. At what moment did Merrick become a person to him, and not just Harry's grandson?

Raphael and Harry's appear together so briefly in the book (although the after-effects of their time together are of course a constant presence) so I'd love any scene from that growing relationship. Especially if you feel like you can get into Harry's head at all. What was the rest of his life like? Was his grooming of Merrick's father to go back in his place a deliberate choice?

Or if you like Merrick better, post-canon continuations would be lovely. Give me clever work-arounds to that long list of human and markayuq rules of engagement. Or show me Raphael and Merrick returning to Bedlam after all, or going further afield, maybe to Merrick's estate. (What would Saint Thomas think about all this, I wonder?)

The storybook Merrick grew up with is another detail that has stuck with me. What would he think of it if he read it again after meeting Raphael?

Sleep No More

The McKittrick Hotel is a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. It's also one of my favorite places in the world. Haunting its halls has brought me a lot of happiness and catharsis over the past few years, and it's residents feel very real to me.

Any nominated character or group of characters is acceptable here, so feel free to focus on whoever you like best. Also, because of the unique nature of this show some of my requests do fall into spoiler territory. I'll be blacking them out for you to read at your discretion.

I love the idea of any combination of characters "becoming the audience" for each other, or interacting outside of their loops-- or even breaking each other off of their intended paths. I can't help but think that if these characters were able to share their one-on-one moments with each other something good might come of it. Imagine Lady Macduff and Fulton trading blessings, or bestowing a charm on the Porter. Imagine if Porter was able to give his ring to Lady Macduff. Fulton has his charms and crosses and wards, while Bargarran seems to live to break charms and curses alike. Could they ever work together? (And yes, I may have selected these characters because they're the ones I have the most empathy for. I admit, I want to see them find a little peace. I am willing to somewhat wave my DNW-ing angsty material though-- it's so much a part of this show. But I would prefer that you end on some kind of moderately peaceful note.)

Or just have Porter get someone drunk during the party and sheet dance. That would be excellent too.