paleomnesis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
paleomnesis) wrote2024-10-11 01:01 am
paleomnesis) wrote2024-10-11 01:01 am
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hello, I'm psychomachia on AO3. Thank you very much for choosing one of my fandoms - I love each and every one of my faves to a ridiculous degree and I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll write! Prompts here are just suggestions - I'm pretty flexible about most things so I hope you feel free to write what makes you inspired. Happy Yuletide!
Also, treats are very welcome!
I've been on a major Cornell Woolrich kick this year, ran across this, and instantly fell in love .While it has been filmed twice, once with DeForest Kelley in his film debut and again in 1956 with Edward G. Robinson, neither has given me the sheer joy that I felt upon reading this novella. It's the story of a mild-mannered guy named Vince who has a dream that he murders a man in an octagonal mirrored room and wakes up to find that he's got scratches on his wrist and a key. Wondering about his sanity, he enlists the help of Cliff, a cop and his brother-in-law. Cliff goes from doubting Vince to thinking he's a cold-blooded killer to saving his life when he tries to kill himself to saving his life again when the real killer, an evil hypnotist named Fleming, tries to get him to drown himself. But everything's fine at the end, Cliff is standing by Vince's side, reassuring him that he'll be there every step of the way, and it ends with the lines “we went in together.”
So yeah, I ship the hell out of Vince and Cliff and the way Cliff just softens towards Vince, keeping him from losing either his mind or his life. It's one of those stories that easily could have had one of the typical grim endings from Woolrich, but because Vince trusts Cliff, listens to him, and keeps trying to unravel the mystery, he's rewarded at the end with a gruff, but caring, detective who's willing to strip his clothes off to save him. I mean, sure, Cliff is married to his sister, but by the end, the only person Cliff has eyes for is Vince and he spends more time in Vince's bedroom than he does in his own. What I'm saying is that Cliff and Vince are adorable together even with the murders and I want more of them solving mysteries and falling in love.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
Oh no, the hypnotism didn't go away when Fleming died and now Vince is worried about what he might do. But Cliff is right there at his side to help him figure out how to break it and to keep him from doing anything stupid. If it involves occupying Vince's attention in bed, well, it's a sacrifice Cliff is willing to make.
Maybe another weird case rears its head and Vince just happens to get entangled in it, which means that Cliff has to worry about him all over again. At least this time he doesn't think he's a murderer, but that doesn't mean Vince isn't going to get himself in over his head and have to be rescued by Cliff (or vice versa?).
I've always loved The Nutcracker ever since I was a little girl and I first danced in it back in the day (sadly, 'twas but a brief foray into the world of ballet though I still retained my love for it long after) and the realization that it was based a book thrilled eight-year-old me. It's funny, though, because as I got older, I realized just how dark the original story was and how much they had to remove to make it a happy ballet for all ages. I mean, this is a story where a sadistic seven-headed mouse king torments a child, there's a whole cycle of revenge involving murder and some fairly gnarly body horror, and you know, Maurice Sendak's illustrations really aren't helping the whole matter.
But also, this is something that I really have a lot of very warm, fond feelings for especially when it comes to the ending. I ship the Nutcracker and Marie a whole bunch, especially with the whole family connection of him really being Drosselmeyer's nephew, which just made younger me squee with delight. I really would love anything with the two of them, whether it's in the “real” world or the fantastical one, and if you want to throw in Drosselmeyer just being all vaguely sinister but ultimately well-intentioned, I wouldn't say no.
DNWs: No animal harm (references to off-screen canonical mouse harm are fine), extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
So in many productions of this, Marie is known as Clara, which canonically is the name of her doll, and this unreasonably fascinated me when I was younger. It inspired this idea that's always stuck with me of some form of gothic clockwork horror, where Marie herself is a creation of Drosselmeyer's, which you know, considering it's Hoffmann, is well within the realms of possiblity.
I'd also be thrilled with anything set after canon – I'd love to know how Marie and the now human Nutcracker dealt with their new lives. The Nutcracker, after all, has quite a bit of adjustment to do now that he's recovered and Marie is quite young when the story concludes, so she's also got some growing up to do. How does that go, especially given that no one but Drosselmeyer believes her about the events that occurred?
I read this series when I was about 12 or so and it did some very formative things to my brain. I mean, the protagonist, Tarod, is this tall, dark, and handsome man who is just so tortured about the fact that he's an insanely powerful sorcerer who can't figure out why he keeps having these strange dreams. And then Yandros, the capricious, shapeshifting lead god of Chaos shows up and is like, oh, I know why, and I'm going to reveal to you as dramatically as possible that you're my twin brother and we have this whole master plan going to defeat Order and rule once more. Also, they have five other brothers, but it's so damn clear who Yandros's favorite is and part of the joy of this series is just watching Yandros becoming increasingly frustrated over the fact that his brother keeps rejecting him because he doesn't remember him and maybe it wasn't the best plan to put your brother's “soul gem” into a ring, dude.
I also really love Tirand and Karuth, the siblings in the later books, and how both of them cope with the concept of Equilibrium when one is naturally inclined towards one side or the other. Karuth is such a fiercely intelligent character that has some terrific interactions with Chaos, Tarod in particular, and Tirand goes from being an utter tool to someone who I genuinely feel for, having grown up and made some very difficult decisions. I will say, however, that both of them are entirely optional, and if you wish to focus on the original trilogy, I'd be completely happy with that!
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine and if you do want to ship either Tirand or Karuth or both with the Chaos Gods, I'd be totally down with that), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
Chronologically, there's a wide swathe of time that can be covered here since they're both gods – how were they first worshiped and what were they seen as? How does that change as time progresses and the battle between Order and Chaos becomes fiercer? And what might happen once that uneasy equilibrium is reached, even after the series ends?
For Karuth and/or Tirand, I'd love to see how Karuth copes with her new responsibilities now that she's High Initiate and how her interactions change with others – new initiates, outside folk, even the Gods. And Tirand, I'm fascinated by how his life might go as well now that he's made an enemy of Order. Does Chaos bail him out of any situations and does he grumpily resent that? I would also say that if you want to do a story where Karuth and Tirand meet up again after they're both dead, I'm totally waving my major character death DNW for that.
Oh, this is such a ridiculous film and I absolutely adore it! I mean, I get why other people look at it and go, what the hell, there's a car chase in Venice, but to me, that just adds to the nonsensical fun of it all. And sure, Alan Moore probably hates it, but to me, that's actually kind of a selling point, because uh, I read the original comic before I watched the movie and yeah, bounced pretty hard off of that. I love that this is just a literary mash-up (I felt the same way when Penny Dreadful showed up as well) and that everyone is just chewing the scenery left and right. There's just so much here and it's gloriously insane and I can't help but not love a movie where the main villain has a factory devoted to “heavily-armed tanks and submarines, flamethrowers, automatic guns, invisible spies, vampiric assassins, and Hyde-like soldiers.”
In particular, I really love the relationship between Allan and Tom – I'm a sucker for father-son relationships, especially those created not by blood but by choice, and the two of them together just do something for me. I'm fine with any level of closeness you'd be comfortable writing here - I'm good with gen and just the two of them bonding over guns and not being dead (yes, please, fix Allan's death), but if you want to have something develop further beyond that into intimacy or romance, I'd be fine with that too.
DNWs: No animal harm (references to hunting are fine), extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
There are so many good pulp novels and weird stories that could still be used and I'd love to see any of them mashed up with this world. Does Lupin show up to bail our heroes out of some scrape they get themselves into (or get them into an entirely different one)? Do they have to save London from the terror wrought by Spring-Heeled Jack? Are there mummies running amok?
I wasn't going to ask for this, I really wasn't. I saw this in the tagset, went “oh, that's an appropriate choice and thought no more about it.” I mean, I do really appreciate this song – the sad yet uplifting tale it tells of a person who was betrayed the previous year and has now determined that they will no longer be subject to the whims of a fickle lover. And it's very catchy in that way that 80s songs are – infuriatingly so to the point that it gets stuck in your head long after it's ended. So yeah, while I'm fond of it, it wasn't something I had thought about that hard.
Until it burrowed in my head and whispered ever so sweet and gentle, “you know, you could ask for a cannibal interpretation of this song.
And here we are.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
I'd also love to see a magical realism take on this – hearts being given and taken as tokens between lovers with perhaps our narrator having to track theirs down, accompanied by a sympathetic stranger or old friend, who becomes more than that?
Creepshow: The Man in the Suitcase (TV 2019)
It's amazing how many things just slip under the radar for years until one day, you're browing around and run across an entire series that you've never seen. And while I loved so many of the stories within Creepshow, I was particularly fond of this dark gem. It's the story of a stoner college kid, Justin, who's failing out of school and unable to get money from his parents, coming back from a trip and accidentally taking the wrong suitcase (or did he?) When he opens it up at his place, it reveals a man contorted and twisted up inside, who produces coins when he's in pain. And he's in quite a bit of it, especially when Justin's ex-girlfriend and roommate enter the picture...
This story's just such a delightfully twisted morality tale and while the ending twist is really not that much of a twist (seriously, it's pretty well telegraphed just who the man is), it's the execution of it that makes it so great. I love how Justin progresses in the story, almost entirely losing himself to the corruption of easy money before he pulls away and does the right thing at the end. And I love that The Man bears no hard feelings for what came before, for the only thing that matters is the final test... which Justin passes.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
I'd also love something set in between when The Man reveals his true nature and when Justin ends up in the hospital. What was he thinking as he ensured everyone earned what was coming to them and how did he arrange it so it would all fall neatly in place?
Also, treats are very welcome!
Nightmare - Cornell Woolrich (Novella)
Cliff Dodge
Vincent Hardy
I've been on a major Cornell Woolrich kick this year, ran across this, and instantly fell in love .While it has been filmed twice, once with DeForest Kelley in his film debut and again in 1956 with Edward G. Robinson, neither has given me the sheer joy that I felt upon reading this novella. It's the story of a mild-mannered guy named Vince who has a dream that he murders a man in an octagonal mirrored room and wakes up to find that he's got scratches on his wrist and a key. Wondering about his sanity, he enlists the help of Cliff, a cop and his brother-in-law. Cliff goes from doubting Vince to thinking he's a cold-blooded killer to saving his life when he tries to kill himself to saving his life again when the real killer, an evil hypnotist named Fleming, tries to get him to drown himself. But everything's fine at the end, Cliff is standing by Vince's side, reassuring him that he'll be there every step of the way, and it ends with the lines “we went in together.”
So yeah, I ship the hell out of Vince and Cliff and the way Cliff just softens towards Vince, keeping him from losing either his mind or his life. It's one of those stories that easily could have had one of the typical grim endings from Woolrich, but because Vince trusts Cliff, listens to him, and keeps trying to unravel the mystery, he's rewarded at the end with a gruff, but caring, detective who's willing to strip his clothes off to save him. I mean, sure, Cliff is married to his sister, but by the end, the only person Cliff has eyes for is Vince and he spends more time in Vince's bedroom than he does in his own. What I'm saying is that Cliff and Vince are adorable together even with the murders and I want more of them solving mysteries and falling in love.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
Vince has to spend a bit more time in jail than either he or Cliff anticipated and when he gets out, he's not doing so well. Naturally, Cliff volunteers to look after him and get him back on his feet. Vince, for his part, is torn between being incredibly grateful and wondering why Cliff seems to be completely unconcerned about his wife (ex?).
Oh no, the hypnotism didn't go away when Fleming died and now Vince is worried about what he might do. But Cliff is right there at his side to help him figure out how to break it and to keep him from doing anything stupid. If it involves occupying Vince's attention in bed, well, it's a sacrifice Cliff is willing to make.
Maybe another weird case rears its head and Vince just happens to get entangled in it, which means that Cliff has to worry about him all over again. At least this time he doesn't think he's a murderer, but that doesn't mean Vince isn't going to get himself in over his head and have to be rescued by Cliff (or vice versa?).
Nußknacker und Mausekönig | Nutcracker and the Mouse King - E. T. A. Hoffmann
Marie Stahlbaum
Nussknacker | Nutcracker
I've always loved The Nutcracker ever since I was a little girl and I first danced in it back in the day (sadly, 'twas but a brief foray into the world of ballet though I still retained my love for it long after) and the realization that it was based a book thrilled eight-year-old me. It's funny, though, because as I got older, I realized just how dark the original story was and how much they had to remove to make it a happy ballet for all ages. I mean, this is a story where a sadistic seven-headed mouse king torments a child, there's a whole cycle of revenge involving murder and some fairly gnarly body horror, and you know, Maurice Sendak's illustrations really aren't helping the whole matter.
But also, this is something that I really have a lot of very warm, fond feelings for especially when it comes to the ending. I ship the Nutcracker and Marie a whole bunch, especially with the whole family connection of him really being Drosselmeyer's nephew, which just made younger me squee with delight. I really would love anything with the two of them, whether it's in the “real” world or the fantastical one, and if you want to throw in Drosselmeyer just being all vaguely sinister but ultimately well-intentioned, I wouldn't say no.
DNWs: No animal harm (references to off-screen canonical mouse harm are fine), extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
Hoffmann's work really translates well to science fiction and I'd love to see what a futuristic interpretation of this might look like – intergalactic travel to fantastic worlds, automata of all shapes and sizes, Drosselmeyer's suspiciously long life (cryogenics? Nanotechnology?).
So in many productions of this, Marie is known as Clara, which canonically is the name of her doll, and this unreasonably fascinated me when I was younger. It inspired this idea that's always stuck with me of some form of gothic clockwork horror, where Marie herself is a creation of Drosselmeyer's, which you know, considering it's Hoffmann, is well within the realms of possiblity.
I'd also be thrilled with anything set after canon – I'd love to know how Marie and the now human Nutcracker dealt with their new lives. The Nutcracker, after all, has quite a bit of adjustment to do now that he's recovered and Marie is quite young when the story concludes, so she's also got some growing up to do. How does that go, especially given that no one but Drosselmeyer believes her about the events that occurred?
The Time Master Series - Louise Cooper
Karuth Piadar [optional]
Tarod (Time Master)
Tirand Lin [optional]
Yandros (Time Master)
I read this series when I was about 12 or so and it did some very formative things to my brain. I mean, the protagonist, Tarod, is this tall, dark, and handsome man who is just so tortured about the fact that he's an insanely powerful sorcerer who can't figure out why he keeps having these strange dreams. And then Yandros, the capricious, shapeshifting lead god of Chaos shows up and is like, oh, I know why, and I'm going to reveal to you as dramatically as possible that you're my twin brother and we have this whole master plan going to defeat Order and rule once more. Also, they have five other brothers, but it's so damn clear who Yandros's favorite is and part of the joy of this series is just watching Yandros becoming increasingly frustrated over the fact that his brother keeps rejecting him because he doesn't remember him and maybe it wasn't the best plan to put your brother's “soul gem” into a ring, dude.
I also really love Tirand and Karuth, the siblings in the later books, and how both of them cope with the concept of Equilibrium when one is naturally inclined towards one side or the other. Karuth is such a fiercely intelligent character that has some terrific interactions with Chaos, Tarod in particular, and Tirand goes from being an utter tool to someone who I genuinely feel for, having grown up and made some very difficult decisions. I will say, however, that both of them are entirely optional, and if you wish to focus on the original trilogy, I'd be completely happy with that!
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine and if you do want to ship either Tirand or Karuth or both with the Chaos Gods, I'd be totally down with that), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
What were some of the times - either human or God - that Tarod got himself into a situation and needed Yandros's help in saving and comforting him after it was over? Or I'd also like something with just the two of them finally reconnecting after the end – they were separated for quite some time and there was a lot of angst to it.
Chronologically, there's a wide swathe of time that can be covered here since they're both gods – how were they first worshiped and what were they seen as? How does that change as time progresses and the battle between Order and Chaos becomes fiercer? And what might happen once that uneasy equilibrium is reached, even after the series ends?
For Karuth and/or Tirand, I'd love to see how Karuth copes with her new responsibilities now that she's High Initiate and how her interactions change with others – new initiates, outside folk, even the Gods. And Tirand, I'm fascinated by how his life might go as well now that he's made an enemy of Order. Does Chaos bail him out of any situations and does he grumpily resent that? I would also say that if you want to do a story where Karuth and Tirand meet up again after they're both dead, I'm totally waving my major character death DNW for that.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Allan Quatermain (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003))
Tom Sawyer (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003))
Oh, this is such a ridiculous film and I absolutely adore it! I mean, I get why other people look at it and go, what the hell, there's a car chase in Venice, but to me, that just adds to the nonsensical fun of it all. And sure, Alan Moore probably hates it, but to me, that's actually kind of a selling point, because uh, I read the original comic before I watched the movie and yeah, bounced pretty hard off of that. I love that this is just a literary mash-up (I felt the same way when Penny Dreadful showed up as well) and that everyone is just chewing the scenery left and right. There's just so much here and it's gloriously insane and I can't help but not love a movie where the main villain has a factory devoted to “heavily-armed tanks and submarines, flamethrowers, automatic guns, invisible spies, vampiric assassins, and Hyde-like soldiers.”
In particular, I really love the relationship between Allan and Tom – I'm a sucker for father-son relationships, especially those created not by blood but by choice, and the two of them together just do something for me. I'm fine with any level of closeness you'd be comfortable writing here - I'm good with gen and just the two of them bonding over guns and not being dead (yes, please, fix Allan's death), but if you want to have something develop further beyond that into intimacy or romance, I'd be fine with that too.
DNWs: No animal harm (references to hunting are fine), extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
So the movie clearly ended on a sequel bait hook with Allan possibly being brought back to life and I'd love to see that continued further. Does Allan come back just the same, only time has passed and he has to come to terms with that, or is he changed and perhaps the remaining League members are tasked with bringing him back?
There are so many good pulp novels and weird stories that could still be used and I'd love to see any of them mashed up with this world. Does Lupin show up to bail our heroes out of some scrape they get themselves into (or get them into an entirely different one)? Do they have to save London from the terror wrought by Spring-Heeled Jack? Are there mummies running amok?
Last Christmas - Wham! (Song)
Narrator (Last Christmas)
Narrator's Former Lover (Last Christmas)
Narrator's New Lover (Last Christmas)
I wasn't going to ask for this, I really wasn't. I saw this in the tagset, went “oh, that's an appropriate choice and thought no more about it.” I mean, I do really appreciate this song – the sad yet uplifting tale it tells of a person who was betrayed the previous year and has now determined that they will no longer be subject to the whims of a fickle lover. And it's very catchy in that way that 80s songs are – infuriatingly so to the point that it gets stuck in your head long after it's ended. So yeah, while I'm fond of it, it wasn't something I had thought about that hard.
Until it burrowed in my head and whispered ever so sweet and gentle, “you know, you could ask for a cannibal interpretation of this song.
And here we are.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
So yeah, maybe our narrator literally gave their lover their heart as a present last year, only to have that lover toss it on the trash pile. It was a rough year - body parts just don't grow on trees, after all, and it takes almost that entire time to grow it back – but in the meantime, they found someone who appreciated their gift and treated it right... with a nice marinade and a fine red wine. Twice bitten, no longer shy.
I'd also love to see a magical realism take on this – hearts being given and taken as tokens between lovers with perhaps our narrator having to track theirs down, accompanied by a sympathetic stranger or old friend, who becomes more than that?
Creepshow: The Man in the Suitcase (TV 2019)
Justin (The Man in the Suitcase)
The Man (The Man in the Suitcase)
It's amazing how many things just slip under the radar for years until one day, you're browing around and run across an entire series that you've never seen. And while I loved so many of the stories within Creepshow, I was particularly fond of this dark gem. It's the story of a stoner college kid, Justin, who's failing out of school and unable to get money from his parents, coming back from a trip and accidentally taking the wrong suitcase (or did he?) When he opens it up at his place, it reveals a man contorted and twisted up inside, who produces coins when he's in pain. And he's in quite a bit of it, especially when Justin's ex-girlfriend and roommate enter the picture...
This story's just such a delightfully twisted morality tale and while the ending twist is really not that much of a twist (seriously, it's pretty well telegraphed just who the man is), it's the execution of it that makes it so great. I love how Justin progresses in the story, almost entirely losing himself to the corruption of easy money before he pulls away and does the right thing at the end. And I love that The Man bears no hard feelings for what came before, for the only thing that matters is the final test... which Justin passes.
DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations/resurrections are fine).
Prompts:
At the end of the episode, The Man promises that whenever Justin needs him, he'll be there. Now I'm fairly sure that Justin would be justifiably wary about summoning him back into his life, so what kind of circumstance might prompt him to do so? Perhaps he's in need of employment and The Man knows just the kind of job for an enterprising young man such as himself?
I'd also love something set in between when The Man reveals his true nature and when Justin ends up in the hospital. What was he thinking as he ensured everyone earned what was coming to them and how did he arrange it so it would all fall neatly in place?