2013 Yuletide Letter
Hello fellow Yuletider! Welcome to my weirdo Yuletide requests. I am equal parts grateful and apologetic to you for agreeing to write one of these fandoms. I am also very sorry for the length of this letter.
Please know right up front that I would cherish fic in any one of these fandoms equally. I like lots of things, from the overly sentimental holiday feel-good fluff to the witty and sarcastic, and even an occasional sprinkling of angst. So regardless of what we matched on, I am excited for you to write me a story.
My general preferences, particularly during Yuletide, are for lighter stories. I'm fine with a little melancholy, but if there can be some hope in the ending, that would be fantastic. I love makeouts, porn, crossovers, AUs, creepy ghost stories, cheesy horror, and worldbuilding.
Dislikes include break-ups, character death, incest, blood, and root canals. Other than that I'll read whatever. I'm not fussed about ratings, so take things wherever you like.
If you're heavily into stalking, you can find me here at AO3 and here at tumblr. This journal is my main fannish and personal journal, and most of it's unlocked. Okay? Okay! On to my requests:
1) Santa Claus: The Movie
Characters: Joe, Cornelia
So I have seen this movie an embarrassing number of times. I was a kid when it was released, and I have shipped Joe and Corny since way back then. I mean, clearly they were meant to be shipped, so I don’t even feel bad about it.
It's streaming on Netflix, and if you don’t have Netflix, the entire thing is on Youtube. I love this movie so much that I would basically be happy with any exploration or continuation of canon. If you feel like aging up Corny and Joe and writing their romance, I would love you forever. If you’d rather tell the story of their year at the North Pole (and, I hope, subsequent adoption by Santa and Mrs. Claus) then I would love that too.
Obviously, given that it’s a Christmas film, if you want to write a holiday-themed fic I will roll around with glee and probably spend the entire day reading and re-reading and then tell all my friends to read it too. But I will do all that even if you set your story in, say, March.
There are plenty of dark themes in this film, which I suppose is typical, considering the time period. The evil uncle, the exploding candy, the badly made toys, the homeless kid, orphans, problematic class distinctions, and, as my mother pointed out to me during a recent rewatch, the fact that Anya and Claus actually froze to death in order to become Santa and Mrs. Claus. I suppose as a kid that fact didn't register, and as an adult I chose not to see it until my mother pointed it out. Thanks for ruining Christmas, Mom!
I kid. My point is that there's plenty of dark stuff going on in this film, but the characters never give up hope, and that's what makes you root for them. So if you want to explore the darkness that would be interesting, but if you want to keep the lightness of the film at the core of your story, that would be great too.
This version of the North Pole is one of my favorites, but we don't really get to see much of it. So if you want to focus on the setting itself, that would be fantastic. I'd love to see Joe and Corny exploring their new home. Feeding the reindeer, toy building shenanigans, hanging out with the elves, Mrs. Claus’ feelings at finally being a mother...I will take any of it, as long as Joe and Corny are there in some way.
I really love this movie an embarrassing amount, so basically you can’t go wrong.
2) Halloweentown
Characters: Any
I nominated Aggie, Marnie, Sophie, and Dylan, but mostly that was just to list some characters. I also nominated the first film in the series, but I am very familiar with all four films, so you can feel free to set your story at any point in the timeline. Or pre-canon. Or post! Whatever strikes your fancy will appeal to me, truthfully.
I do love the Cromwell-Pipers, but please don't feel obligated to use any or all of them even though they're the officially listed characters. If you'd rather write a fic about how Benny ended up spending eternity as a cabbie, that's totally cool with me. 1000 words of the two-headed bus ticket salesman arguing with himself? Bring it. A day in the life of the giant pumpkin? Great. Feel like exploring the reason all the men in Halloweentown seem to be obsessed with the Cromwell witches? I'm down.
If you're more into shippy fic, I am totally fine with that too. I won't read incest, but otherwise anything goes, pretty much. If you want to write about Marnie and Ethan's romance at Witch University, that's great. If you'd rather see her paired with Aneesa, I can totally get behind that. (And frankly, with Lucas Grabeel playing Ethan, I'd be more likely (and delighted!) to buy Ethan/Dylan than Ethan/Marnie.) Another femmeslash possibility I find really interesting is Aggie/Persimmon.
Sophie and Aggie were pretty much offscreen for all of the fourth film. We know they were traveling through time while Sophie developed her powers. Tell me what they were up to! Who did Sophie meet along the way? What times did they visit? I'd love to hear about Halloweentown in different time periods. Also, Sophie appears to be a pretty powerful witch from the very beginning, so if you want to write something Sophie-centric, that would be cool.
Nominated characters aside, what I love most about these movies is the world itself. There's so much about Halloweentown the movie doesn't show us. What's the grocery store like? What kinds of movies/shows do they play in the theater where Aggie has the showdown with Kalabar? Is there a Halloweentown community theater group? Are they gossipy? What's school like for the kids in Halloweentown? Is it like Hogwarts? Did Gwen hate her classes and dream of escaping to the mortal world, or did she just accidentally fall for a human a la Tabitha on Bewitched?
What's the headless shelter like? Where do people go out to eat? What kind of pets do people keep in Halloweentown? What's a typical neighborhood association meeting like? What's the library like? What do the young punks like Luke and his friends get up to when they're causing trouble? What would they sell at a hardware store in Halloweentown? Why do ghosts worry about fitness? Basically I just want to know all about the town, whatever you want to tell me.
The movie only shows us the mostly friendly side of Halloweentown, and Aggie implies that it's more or less just like the mortal world, except with magic. But we can see that there's a darker side to the world, what with all the secret societies and evildoers trying to overpower the Cromwells all the time. So if you want to explore some of the dark edges of Halloweentown, that would be really interesting. There are all kinds of traditionally dark creatures living there, after all. What do the vampires feed on? Do the werewolves ever turn back to their fully human form? Do they have a troll bridge? I love ghost stories, so I'd love to hear about the resident ghosts.
Is the 'evil' portion of Halloweentown a 'don't look at the dog park' situation, or is it more sinister? What about the residents without magic powers? Are they resentful of those who can do magic? We know from the fourth movie that non-magic creatures have to be accommodated at Witch University. Do any of them ever try to stage a rebellion against the magic creatures?
Again, there is a videocam version of this on Youtube, in case you want to refresh your memory. The quality is terrible, but what can you do.
3) 7 Zwerge: Manner Allein Im Wald
Characters: Sunny, Cloudy
This is such a long shot, I know, but this movie is ridiculous and wonderful and I couldn't resist nominating it. It has everything. Adventure! Romance! Hilarious jokes! Seven foot tall dwarves! Nina Hagen and her gorgeous daughter! LOTR references!
The good news is that there is an English dub currently available on Youtube, in case you haven't seen it yet. Prepare to be delighted.
I would dearly love some Sunny/Cloudy slash. It's canon, basically, so I feel as though it should exist. If you are feeling up to it, I'd love to read anything about them. I'm partial to first kisses, schmoopy romance, domesticity, maybe the two of them trying to steal some alone time while the rest of the dwarves are busy not taking a hint.
Clearly they grew up together, since their past trauma involves a school teacher. What brought them to the wood to become dwarves? Did they seek out a female-free environment so they could stay together while still denying their true feelings? Is Cloudy so crabby all the time because he assumes his feelings for Sunny are unrequited? Do they have to have a counseling session with Snow White to work through their issues?
Honestly, if you just wanted to write about what was going through their minds during that moment they shared in the queen's throne room, I would be deliriously happy. Is that the moment Cloudy realizes he's been in love with his best friend all this time? Does he do anything about it? Do they stay with the other dwarves or get a little cottage all to themselves in a neighboring clearing? I just...I want to know everything about them.
If you're not a shipper, I'd love gen based on this universe as well. I love the whole world and all the characters. Modern retellings of fairy tales are kind of a thing for me, and I'd love to know more about this world. Obviously Sunny and Cloudy are my favorites, and if you wanted to write precanon fic about them growing up together, that would be aces. Or if you want to explore Snow White's past, or maybe the trauma that led the eighth dwarf to want to leave behind women and hide in the forest. He's so sweet and pathetic and I want to know more about him.
I haven't seen the second film yet, but I know it references Rumpelstiltskin. Please feel free to use that canon or any other fairy tales that inspire you. I think that could be really fun.
4) Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho
Characters: Leo, Gabriel
This is a short film, 17 minutes long, which is available on Youtube:
Click to view
It's in Portugese, but there are subtitles in several languages so it's easy to follow. It went around tumblr for awhile, so you may be familiar with it already. If so, yay! You already know how super adorable it is. They were filming a full-length version, but I don't know what its current status is. According to the little I've read about it, Leo was planning to spend a year abroad before Gabriel appeared in his life, and the full length film is supposed to deal with their relationship and how it affects Leo's decision to go away. If you want to do something with that, go for it.
It's hard to say what I want from this fandom, because the real answer is "I want All The Things". I want to know what happened the next time Gabriel saw Leo. Obviously when Leo figures out that it's Gabriel who kissed him, he's happy. But once he has time to think about it, I wonder if he'd be a little upset that Gabriel took advantage of his blindness and then ran away.
I want to know how they negotiate a relationship without making Giovana feel too left out. I want to know if they make it beyond high school, if they go off to college and whether or not they manage to keep a relationship going despite all the changes that come with growing up.
If you want to tell their story through emails or texts or whatever, great. If there's some other aspect of canon you'd rather explore, I am a captive (and eager!) audience. If you just want to write porn, that's totally fine with me. I will take anything at all, is basically what I'm saying. Makeouts, studying together, more dumb games of 'Would you rather', Gabriel and Leo dealing with Leo's overprotective mother (which is canon according to the article I read about the longer version of the film). There's so little to the canon, and what there is is so sweet that I just want more and more and more.