acequeenking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acequeenking) wrote2019-07-12 12:18 am
acequeenking) wrote2019-07-12 12:18 am
Alternate Universe Exchange Letter
Dear Alternate Universe Writer,
Thank you for writing or drawing for me! I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create!
I consider all prompts as optional, but I added some ideas below in case you might find them helpful. Some are longer than others, but all are things I would love to receive! If none of my prompts work for you or you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic/art on, and ignore my prompts entirely.
In fact, feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. I love everything from G-rated gen fic to E-rated smut-bangs, so feel free to go where the spirit moves you. If you are wondering if you can twist prompts/take them in different directions/etc. the answer is always an enthusiastic yes. Whether it be something sad, scary, fun, or just plain weird, as long as it avoids my DNW I am always down to play.
Group: Hades/Persephone (Hadestown): Hades and Persephone seem balanced on a razorblade as to whether they’re staying together or splitting up during the entire show; at the end, even though they stick together, the ending is nebulous: do they make it? Orpheus turns around, and it feels like the story resets, though whether this is a different Orpheus and a different Eurydice, or a straight up rewind, or even just an allegory about any relationship having its ups and down is straight up to interpretation. I’m really curious about how their relationship would have changed if things had been a little bit different; if Orpheus hadn’t looked back, or if other characters had more awareness of different parts of the plot (or perhaps just a slightly different relationship altogether). Their relationship has so much depth to it and I would love to see what happens when you twist the knife just a little bit.
Hadestown: the Fates are Hades/Persephone's Children Trying to Get Mom/Dad back together: You can blamemnemehoshiko for this idea, which, while freely admitted crack, is actually pretty fascinating. The Fates appear to be manipulating the whole show from behind the scenes – what if there was a method to their madness, and that was in order to perform the greatest Parent Trap scenario of them all? How do they feel when Hades goes off-script and decides he’d rather take Eurydice down — is this a gosh dang unfortunate misfire, or is this part of the plan to remind dad just what he’s missing? If they’re Hades and Persephone’s kids, why do they doom Eurydice at the end? Is that part of the reset, or is it just part of their jobs, or something else? If they keep resetting time, why do they do it if Hades and Persephone keep making up every time?
Hadestown: Orpheus' Revolt Succeeds: We all know how Orpheus’ story ends: he looks behind, and in doing so, dooms Eurydice (and, presumably, the workers walkin’ out behind). But what if he didn’t? If Hades allows Orpheus to take Eurydice out, and the workers follow — what is next? Does Hadestown simply get abandoned, torn down and the Old Hades is reborn (or is it reborn as something new, something different)? Do the workers, energized by Hades’ relenting, decide not ot leave but rather to overthrow the boss – and if so, does Hades agree to go, or do they have to fight a God? (If they do, does Persephone come down when she finds out? I can’t imagine her not coming to her husband’s defense when she hears about it — or does she hear about it too late?) Is Hades ultimately proved right if the workers storm him? Assuming he lives (and personally, I’d be shocked if he didn’t because the man is a God) — what does he do after losing the underworld? Does he just go around with Persephone up top? Does he find a new calling? And what is she doing and how is she feeling about losing her queenship? Does it make them closer, or drive them further apart (again)?
Hadestown: Hermes and the Fates aren't the only characters aware they're trapped in a loop: One of the saddest interpretations of the ending that I can think of is the idea that they’re trapped in a loop and time restarts; Hades and Persephone, for all their talk, don’t really get to try again. After working so hard to get back to a point in time where they actually quite like one another, they instantly get torn apart and back at one another’s throats. It’s very sad. We know Hermes and the Fates seem to retain the information on what happens – judging by a few of the comments/actions made during the show. What if Hades and Seph understood, too, that they were trapped in a loop? How long would it take them to realize? How would they react to this? Is there a way they try to change the loop that doesn’t work? How do they figure out how to break the loop – or do they both even want to? (After all, with a straight reboot, Hades sees his wife the entire year — even if she won’t talk to him half the time.)
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Group: Iapetus & Persephone: I’d really love to see how these two would interact. Given that Seph was basically either kidnapped and/or married to his successor as the leader of the underworld, I think they’d have some interesting conversations. After all, both of them have dealt with that heavy burden that is the crown of the dreariest realm, and both are sealed away in parts of it due to things beyond their control. I feel like Persephone can be considered a real wild-card here: is she loyal to Hades? If she is, does she feel pity for the titans, who after all were imprisoned before she was born? Or is she desperately searching for a way out of her yearly trek one way or another, and willing to trust someone who was imprisoned by her father — and likely for good reason (ie siding with her grandfather)? And what if things were different, how would they have met at all?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: I’m very curious how Persephone’s birth would have come to be, in this universe. Is she one of the last of the Olympians, hiding out after the war has lost? Are her parents and/or aunts/uncles alive? Is she alive, if she is meeting Iapetus? Does Iapetus, god of death of all mortal things, complete the job with the last of the immortals? Or is Persephone just one of many footsoldiers — Zeus might have died, but the man certainly sired enough children that the war could go on. Does she still wind up in the underworld? Or does her fate take a vastly different tack?
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: I’d be very curious to see just how this happens with these two. Persephone, Queen of Tartarus, free the titans and travel back in time somehow with Iapetus? If so, how does she wind up in this position? Is she forced here somehow, or is this what she wants? How does she go back in time – Does Cronus somehow trick her there? Or is he willing to send her there, or perhaps even eager? What time do they go to — and how do they each react?
Group: Iapetus & Hades: Similar to Persephone, I think Hades and Iapetus would have a lot to talk about. Given that Hades was, essentially, his successor in the underworld, I’d be very curious what might have happened whether their situation was reversed, or even what it looks like when these two sit down together. Is there a rivalry between them, or do they surprisingly get along considering one supplanted the other? Does Hades ever go to him to advise? Has Hades ever come close to releasing Iapetus and/or the other Titans, and if so — why? What sort of power complex is there between them?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: What happens if the Titans win, and Hades’ side loses? Is he last man standing? Are any of the Olympians (or their children) left, and if so, how did Hades and/or the others escape notice? If the two gods of death (well, minus Thanatos) meet up again, just what happens? Is Iapetus sending him down to Tartarus? Or, perhaps, is Hades already imprisoned there — and if so, does he have any control over it (as he does in “our” timeline)? Or is Hades working with him, as a double agent/enforcer/spy/other-worker? Is Hades haunted by the deaths of others in the war, or is he unphased? What about Iapetus?
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: Somehow, Hades winds up traveling back in time with Iapetus. Did he mean for this to happen, or is this a horrible accident? So he and Iapetus stick together (or are forced to stick together), or do they go their separate ways? Does their future knowledge help shape the war (or whatever earlier event) to their will? Or does it change for the worse? Is either trying desperately to get back to the right time — or do one or both want to stay in the past? What sort of relationship do they have, at any time? Does it grow stronger or weaker as they travel through time?
Rhea (Greek Myth): Rhea is a unique goddess in that she is placed in, by far, the worst position in Greek mythology: as a young mother and queen, she watches her husband devour her children one by one, until eventually she finds it within herself to revolt and winds up starting a war that upends the entire social order. There’s….a lot to unpack there. What kind of relationship does she have with her children — the five swallowed and the one who was not? Are she and Cronus still married/does she still love him, even if he is mad? Does she ever regret the choice she made? Does she wish she acted sooner? If she had a more central role to play — beyond being pushed to the sidelines — what might she do or say?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: I’d love to find out how Rhea would fair if the side she championed didn’t wind up winning the Titanomachy. Would she be executed as a traitor? Pardoned by the King (she is, after all, his queen, and there are few stories of Cronus stepping out on her) but still shunned by the greater godly community? Or would she find a way to convince herself what she did was wrong, and reintegrate? Or perhaps she would only wait to try again — perhaps including taking the
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: Given how Zeus’ reign is not exactly stable, I can see Rhea having some regrets — perhaps in the son who won the draw, or even in choosing her children over her husband? Or perhaps rather in the pain of not being able to know the future, and feeling that if she went back, she could do it “better”? I’d love to see a) how she might go back in time, b) what she thinks she can fix, and c) if she actually succeeds. Is the road to Tartarus paved with good intentions? Does she make things better or worse? Does she wind up being unable to go back into her original timeline, or can she rapidly go back and forth?
Group: Persephone/Hades: Persephone and Hades in Greek myth mostly have a really clear power dynamic in the original tale: Hades is in power, Persephone isn’t. (The roman version, where Venus/Eros stabs Pluto with an arrow in order to make him fall madly in love with Persephone, is a notable exception, but I’m purely talking the Greek perspective here.) I’d love to see that flipped around: what If they were on more equal ground? If Hades didn’t rule the Underworld, what would he be doing, and how would he meet Persephone? Would they still fall in love, and would the story remain similar to the original or would it very different? If Persephone had more power than he did — would that change the dynamic? If so, how? What would she see in him, if their power dynamics were reversed?
Greek Myth: Persephone takes Hades captive: Why would Persephone want to seek out the King of the Dead (if he is so, in this version), and why would she take him captive? Hades seems such a rule-bound character that I can’t see him not being outraged by this, and I also can’t see him having the powerful mama bear coming to his rescue the way Persephone does. How does she entrap him and why? How does he escape that temptation — and does he even want to?
Greek Myth: the realms get divided by right of primogeniture rather than a game: I’m very curious to see how their relationship might have changed if they went from the (then) traditional right for inheritance where the oldest son gets the biggest jewel — in this case, Hades getting Mount Olympus versus the Underworld. What sort o changes would happen? Would they be happier there or sadder? Would they wind up together in the same way, or would Persephone become her uncle’s bride in a different fashion? What other changes might ripple down the line, politically, with Zeus and Poseidon in different realms?
Greek Myth: Hestia/Hera/Demeter become the rulers of the 3 realms: Unfortunately the ancient Greeks didn’t tend to have their female goddesses holding much power; like their human counterparts, they were shown to be capable, sometimes even deadly, but rarely were their stories allowed to overshadow the boys’. Well, given that a) that’s bullshit from a modern perspective and b) I am eternally thirsty for more stories with the goddesses, I’d love to see what might have happened that these three, the eldest three, had become the queens of the heavens/oceans/underworld. Would their reigns be more peaceful or turbulent? What would change with three female deities in charge? What would the boys do? What kind of second-generation changes would occur?
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Group: Circe/Medea: Medea and Circe are both such rejects from their family that it’s easy to see why Circe sees herself in young Medea. However, Medea rejects her and sails along with Jason, despite Circe warning her how it would end. I’d love to see what might have happened had they met under slightly different circumstances (with the Titans in charge) or in slightly different AU’ing of the ending (with them both immortal and thus able to have that loooonnng awaited reunion). They have so much in common — just what do they see in one another? Do they fall in love, or is any romance between them more of the elaborate game that the Gods in Circe appear to play?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: Circe’s father Helios makes no secret of the fact he would have preferred the Titans had won the day, and I’d love to see just how Circe’s life would have been different had this occurred, either via early-coup of Zeus or via Cronus winning the day. How would Circe’s life have been changed? Would she still have been banished? What about Medea? Would they still be the rejected duo of their respective generations? Would they fall in love, or would one manipulate the other in order to try to gain favor with the other gods? (I love how downright petty and cold Miller’s gods are, please go for as heartless as you wanna be!) If so, is the intended target so lonely that they’re willing to be manipulated in order to have some love — or are they playing a game all their own?
ALL: Cursed with Immortality: If Medea and Circe both remained Goddesses and were allowed to meet again, what would happen? Circe tries to warn Medea what happened with Jason — would Medea see that Circe is right, or would Medea still resent Circe? Would they meet from time to time, snipping at one another’s throat? Or would they meet from time to time, and find comfort in one another — or both? I’d just love to see how these two would move together through time, especially given their role as both being rejects, in a way, from other gods.
Group: Circe/Prometheus: I’m always fascinated by the early chapter where Circe disobeys her family by offering pity to Prometheus. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for him to come back into the novel — but, alas, he disappears after that small moment of mercy. What would have happened had things been reversed — would Prometheus show mercy to the Olympians, as Circe showed mercy to him? What might their relationship have become if they’d had more time together?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: If the Titans had won the Titanomachy, what would happen to Prometheus? While he gave fire to the humans, before that he was in the Olympian camp — did giving humans technology wind up being what led the Titans to victory (and thus making him a double agent – perhaps an inadvertent one)? How does he adapt to the Titan society? How does Circe react to this win? It seems she is quite young during the Titanomachy, and her father is clever enough to only pick winners so — how does she develop, in a somehow even higher pressure version of her own world? What is she doing here, and how does she meet Prometheus? How do they become close? Is their romance a legitimate fostering of feelings, or is it a way to play the game of thrones that Olympus seems to be constantly running?
ALL: Cursed with Immortality: Given that Prometheus is doomed to have his liver cut out eternally, I’d love to see if Circe on her farewell tour decided to uh, liberate Prometheus, as she did ((in her own way) with Scylla. How does she free him? Does she go through with her plan to seek death/mortality after freeing him? Does doing this make her an enemy of the gods — and if so, what do you do, eternally on the run from foes who will never die, as you yourselves will never die?
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Thank you for writing or drawing for me! I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create!
I consider all prompts as optional, but I added some ideas below in case you might find them helpful. Some are longer than others, but all are things I would love to receive! If none of my prompts work for you or you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic/art on, and ignore my prompts entirely.
In fact, feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. I love everything from G-rated gen fic to E-rated smut-bangs, so feel free to go where the spirit moves you. If you are wondering if you can twist prompts/take them in different directions/etc. the answer is always an enthusiastic yes. Whether it be something sad, scary, fun, or just plain weird, as long as it avoids my DNW I am always down to play.
- 5 Times/Five Things
- Canon-Divergent AUs e.g. "What if Character A went left instead of right?"
- Darkfic, including bad-guys-win and character death
- Epistolary/Found Documents Fic
- In-World (fiction or nonfiction) articles/stories
- First time(s)/ Last Time(s)
- Hurt/ Comfort
- Metafiction/ Interactive Fiction
- Past Third, Present Third, Second or First Person Perspective(s)
- Third Person Narration/ "Different Points of View" (e.g. Char A observes Char B & Char C)
- Arranged Marriage
- Bad guys win / Villian Victorious
- Body horror
- Came Back Wrong/resurrection tropes
- Changing Sides
- Characters who say "I love you" in their actions without actually saying/being able to say "I Love you" in their words
- Complicated Relationships
- Conflicted Loyalties
- Desperate kisses and embraces
- Domestic scenes
- Doomed relationships
- Dystopias
- Eldrich/Eerie things
- Experienced/Inexperienced partnerships
- Fake Marriage/dating
- Fluff/moments of happiness
- Forbidden/Star-Crossed Relationships
- Gender fluidity/experimentation
- Generational Divide/complications in may/december relationships
- Ghosts or other spooky/supernatural occurrences
- Gods being inhuman/unusual
- Grey Morality
- Hurt/Comfort in pretty much any form
- Irreconcilable differences leading to conflict between lovers (but not an absense of love)
- Jealousy
- Lovers caught on opposite sides of a conflict
- Loyalty Kink
- Lust/UST/Pining
- Mindfuckery - the more twisted the better
- Mission/Case fic
- Misunderstandings
- Myths/legends/cultural traditions
- Non-Canon exploration of Character's Gender
- Non-Penatrative sex
- Non-verbal communication and quiet intimacy
- Outsider POV
- Penatrative Sex
- Phyrric victories
- Physical recovery from injury
- Playing with danger, eg a character being able to hurt another but not doing so (despite them both knowing they could);I also love this being subverted (e.g. known bad-ass A has to be rescued by not-so-badass B)
- Politics
- Possessiveness
- Power differences
- Powerplay
- Pregnancy, including alien/unusual pregnancy
- Protectiveness
- Redemption being complicated and not easy
- Rule 63/Genderswapping from M to F for one or more requested characters
- Relationships bringing out the worst in one another
- Shows of trust and intimacy
- Snippets of long-term relationships at different points in the relationship
- Trapped in a snowstorm/eathquake/etc
- Trust kink
- Unhappy and/or complicated endings
- Unhealthy Relationships and/or Codependency
- Unreliable narrator
- World-building
- Aftercare
- Anal sex
- Bathing
- Body worship
- BDSM
- Blowjob(s)
- Breathplay/Chokeplay
- Cunnilingus
- Dubcon
- First Time/Losing Virginity
- fail!sex or humorous sex
- Fem-Dom
- M!Dom
- Pegging
- Porn with plot/porn as a character exploration
- PiV sex
- Pregnancy/Impregnation kink
- Quickies/Sex in Public Places/Situations
- Ritual(istic) Sex
- Rough sex
- Sex Pollen
- Sex on tables/desks/chairs/other furniture
- Switching/Reversal of top/bottom dynamic
- Shows of total trust
- Size kink
- Slow and tender sex
- Tending to another's scars/cuts/etc
- Voyeurism
- xeno or other kinds of "unusual" sexual organs (I am up for anything here:tentacles, burrs, cloaca, whatever)
- Atmospheric glimpses of a scene
- Costume Redesigns (especially for characters who are clotheshorses)
- Cuddles, kisses, and other displays of affection
- Family/couples/friends portraits or snapshots
- Limited pallets (black and white, two toned, etc)
- Unusual viewpoints (e.g. not seeing someone head-on/three-quarters)
- Views that tell a story by what they hide as much as what they reveal - eg, a smut scene illustrated by two characters' hands and nothing else)
Likes:
+Genre/Narrative Likes:
+ Favorite Kinks and Tropes:
+ Smut-Specific Likes:
+ Art-Specific Likes:
+ Do Not Want:
- A/B/O
- Aged-Up/Aged-Down characters (setting stories in the future/past is fine, just please don't make A magically the same age as/closer in age to B)
- Extremely Underage Characters in Sexual Situations
- High School/College/Coffee Shop/Mundane AU
- Non-Con (Dub-con, even Extreme Dubcon is fine, I just want some sense of consent!)
- Scat/Urine/Vomitplay
Prompts:
Hadestown - Mitchell
Group: Hades/Persephone (Hadestown): Hades and Persephone seem balanced on a razorblade as to whether they’re staying together or splitting up during the entire show; at the end, even though they stick together, the ending is nebulous: do they make it? Orpheus turns around, and it feels like the story resets, though whether this is a different Orpheus and a different Eurydice, or a straight up rewind, or even just an allegory about any relationship having its ups and down is straight up to interpretation. I’m really curious about how their relationship would have changed if things had been a little bit different; if Orpheus hadn’t looked back, or if other characters had more awareness of different parts of the plot (or perhaps just a slightly different relationship altogether). Their relationship has so much depth to it and I would love to see what happens when you twist the knife just a little bit.
Hadestown: the Fates are Hades/Persephone's Children Trying to Get Mom/Dad back together: You can blame
mnemehoshiko for this idea, which, while freely admitted crack, is actually pretty fascinating. The Fates appear to be manipulating the whole show from behind the scenes – what if there was a method to their madness, and that was in order to perform the greatest Parent Trap scenario of them all? How do they feel when Hades goes off-script and decides he’d rather take Eurydice down — is this a gosh dang unfortunate misfire, or is this part of the plan to remind dad just what he’s missing? If they’re Hades and Persephone’s kids, why do they doom Eurydice at the end? Is that part of the reset, or is it just part of their jobs, or something else? If they keep resetting time, why do they do it if Hades and Persephone keep making up every time? Hadestown: Orpheus' Revolt Succeeds: We all know how Orpheus’ story ends: he looks behind, and in doing so, dooms Eurydice (and, presumably, the workers walkin’ out behind). But what if he didn’t? If Hades allows Orpheus to take Eurydice out, and the workers follow — what is next? Does Hadestown simply get abandoned, torn down and the Old Hades is reborn (or is it reborn as something new, something different)? Do the workers, energized by Hades’ relenting, decide not ot leave but rather to overthrow the boss – and if so, does Hades agree to go, or do they have to fight a God? (If they do, does Persephone come down when she finds out? I can’t imagine her not coming to her husband’s defense when she hears about it — or does she hear about it too late?) Is Hades ultimately proved right if the workers storm him? Assuming he lives (and personally, I’d be shocked if he didn’t because the man is a God) — what does he do after losing the underworld? Does he just go around with Persephone up top? Does he find a new calling? And what is she doing and how is she feeling about losing her queenship? Does it make them closer, or drive them further apart (again)?
Hadestown: Hermes and the Fates aren't the only characters aware they're trapped in a loop: One of the saddest interpretations of the ending that I can think of is the idea that they’re trapped in a loop and time restarts; Hades and Persephone, for all their talk, don’t really get to try again. After working so hard to get back to a point in time where they actually quite like one another, they instantly get torn apart and back at one another’s throats. It’s very sad. We know Hermes and the Fates seem to retain the information on what happens – judging by a few of the comments/actions made during the show. What if Hades and Seph understood, too, that they were trapped in a loop? How long would it take them to realize? How would they react to this? Is there a way they try to change the loop that doesn’t work? How do they figure out how to break the loop – or do they both even want to? (After all, with a straight reboot, Hades sees his wife the entire year — even if she won’t talk to him half the time.)
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Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Group: Iapetus & Persephone: I’d really love to see how these two would interact. Given that Seph was basically either kidnapped and/or married to his successor as the leader of the underworld, I think they’d have some interesting conversations. After all, both of them have dealt with that heavy burden that is the crown of the dreariest realm, and both are sealed away in parts of it due to things beyond their control. I feel like Persephone can be considered a real wild-card here: is she loyal to Hades? If she is, does she feel pity for the titans, who after all were imprisoned before she was born? Or is she desperately searching for a way out of her yearly trek one way or another, and willing to trust someone who was imprisoned by her father — and likely for good reason (ie siding with her grandfather)? And what if things were different, how would they have met at all?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: I’m very curious how Persephone’s birth would have come to be, in this universe. Is she one of the last of the Olympians, hiding out after the war has lost? Are her parents and/or aunts/uncles alive? Is she alive, if she is meeting Iapetus? Does Iapetus, god of death of all mortal things, complete the job with the last of the immortals? Or is Persephone just one of many footsoldiers — Zeus might have died, but the man certainly sired enough children that the war could go on. Does she still wind up in the underworld? Or does her fate take a vastly different tack?
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: I’d be very curious to see just how this happens with these two. Persephone, Queen of Tartarus, free the titans and travel back in time somehow with Iapetus? If so, how does she wind up in this position? Is she forced here somehow, or is this what she wants? How does she go back in time – Does Cronus somehow trick her there? Or is he willing to send her there, or perhaps even eager? What time do they go to — and how do they each react?
Group: Iapetus & Hades: Similar to Persephone, I think Hades and Iapetus would have a lot to talk about. Given that Hades was, essentially, his successor in the underworld, I’d be very curious what might have happened whether their situation was reversed, or even what it looks like when these two sit down together. Is there a rivalry between them, or do they surprisingly get along considering one supplanted the other? Does Hades ever go to him to advise? Has Hades ever come close to releasing Iapetus and/or the other Titans, and if so — why? What sort of power complex is there between them?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: What happens if the Titans win, and Hades’ side loses? Is he last man standing? Are any of the Olympians (or their children) left, and if so, how did Hades and/or the others escape notice? If the two gods of death (well, minus Thanatos) meet up again, just what happens? Is Iapetus sending him down to Tartarus? Or, perhaps, is Hades already imprisoned there — and if so, does he have any control over it (as he does in “our” timeline)? Or is Hades working with him, as a double agent/enforcer/spy/other-worker? Is Hades haunted by the deaths of others in the war, or is he unphased? What about Iapetus?
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: Somehow, Hades winds up traveling back in time with Iapetus. Did he mean for this to happen, or is this a horrible accident? So he and Iapetus stick together (or are forced to stick together), or do they go their separate ways? Does their future knowledge help shape the war (or whatever earlier event) to their will? Or does it change for the worse? Is either trying desperately to get back to the right time — or do one or both want to stay in the past? What sort of relationship do they have, at any time? Does it grow stronger or weaker as they travel through time?
Rhea (Greek Myth): Rhea is a unique goddess in that she is placed in, by far, the worst position in Greek mythology: as a young mother and queen, she watches her husband devour her children one by one, until eventually she finds it within herself to revolt and winds up starting a war that upends the entire social order. There’s….a lot to unpack there. What kind of relationship does she have with her children — the five swallowed and the one who was not? Are she and Cronus still married/does she still love him, even if he is mad? Does she ever regret the choice she made? Does she wish she acted sooner? If she had a more central role to play — beyond being pushed to the sidelines — what might she do or say?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: I’d love to find out how Rhea would fair if the side she championed didn’t wind up winning the Titanomachy. Would she be executed as a traitor? Pardoned by the King (she is, after all, his queen, and there are few stories of Cronus stepping out on her) but still shunned by the greater godly community? Or would she find a way to convince herself what she did was wrong, and reintegrate? Or perhaps she would only wait to try again — perhaps including taking the
ALL: Multiple Characters Travel Back in Time: Given how Zeus’ reign is not exactly stable, I can see Rhea having some regrets — perhaps in the son who won the draw, or even in choosing her children over her husband? Or perhaps rather in the pain of not being able to know the future, and feeling that if she went back, she could do it “better”? I’d love to see a) how she might go back in time, b) what she thinks she can fix, and c) if she actually succeeds. Is the road to Tartarus paved with good intentions? Does she make things better or worse? Does she wind up being unable to go back into her original timeline, or can she rapidly go back and forth?
Group: Persephone/Hades: Persephone and Hades in Greek myth mostly have a really clear power dynamic in the original tale: Hades is in power, Persephone isn’t. (The roman version, where Venus/Eros stabs Pluto with an arrow in order to make him fall madly in love with Persephone, is a notable exception, but I’m purely talking the Greek perspective here.) I’d love to see that flipped around: what If they were on more equal ground? If Hades didn’t rule the Underworld, what would he be doing, and how would he meet Persephone? Would they still fall in love, and would the story remain similar to the original or would it very different? If Persephone had more power than he did — would that change the dynamic? If so, how? What would she see in him, if their power dynamics were reversed?
Greek Myth: Persephone takes Hades captive: Why would Persephone want to seek out the King of the Dead (if he is so, in this version), and why would she take him captive? Hades seems such a rule-bound character that I can’t see him not being outraged by this, and I also can’t see him having the powerful mama bear coming to his rescue the way Persephone does. How does she entrap him and why? How does he escape that temptation — and does he even want to?
Greek Myth: the realms get divided by right of primogeniture rather than a game: I’m very curious to see how their relationship might have changed if they went from the (then) traditional right for inheritance where the oldest son gets the biggest jewel — in this case, Hades getting Mount Olympus versus the Underworld. What sort o changes would happen? Would they be happier there or sadder? Would they wind up together in the same way, or would Persephone become her uncle’s bride in a different fashion? What other changes might ripple down the line, politically, with Zeus and Poseidon in different realms?
Greek Myth: Hestia/Hera/Demeter become the rulers of the 3 realms: Unfortunately the ancient Greeks didn’t tend to have their female goddesses holding much power; like their human counterparts, they were shown to be capable, sometimes even deadly, but rarely were their stories allowed to overshadow the boys’. Well, given that a) that’s bullshit from a modern perspective and b) I am eternally thirsty for more stories with the goddesses, I’d love to see what might have happened that these three, the eldest three, had become the queens of the heavens/oceans/underworld. Would their reigns be more peaceful or turbulent? What would change with three female deities in charge? What would the boys do? What kind of second-generation changes would occur?
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Circe - Madeline Miller
Group: Circe/Medea: Medea and Circe are both such rejects from their family that it’s easy to see why Circe sees herself in young Medea. However, Medea rejects her and sails along with Jason, despite Circe warning her how it would end. I’d love to see what might have happened had they met under slightly different circumstances (with the Titans in charge) or in slightly different AU’ing of the ending (with them both immortal and thus able to have that loooonnng awaited reunion). They have so much in common — just what do they see in one another? Do they fall in love, or is any romance between them more of the elaborate game that the Gods in Circe appear to play?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: Circe’s father Helios makes no secret of the fact he would have preferred the Titans had won the day, and I’d love to see just how Circe’s life would have been different had this occurred, either via early-coup of Zeus or via Cronus winning the day. How would Circe’s life have been changed? Would she still have been banished? What about Medea? Would they still be the rejected duo of their respective generations? Would they fall in love, or would one manipulate the other in order to try to gain favor with the other gods? (I love how downright petty and cold Miller’s gods are, please go for as heartless as you wanna be!) If so, is the intended target so lonely that they’re willing to be manipulated in order to have some love — or are they playing a game all their own?
ALL: Cursed with Immortality: If Medea and Circe both remained Goddesses and were allowed to meet again, what would happen? Circe tries to warn Medea what happened with Jason — would Medea see that Circe is right, or would Medea still resent Circe? Would they meet from time to time, snipping at one another’s throat? Or would they meet from time to time, and find comfort in one another — or both? I’d just love to see how these two would move together through time, especially given their role as both being rejects, in a way, from other gods.
Group: Circe/Prometheus: I’m always fascinated by the early chapter where Circe disobeys her family by offering pity to Prometheus. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for him to come back into the novel — but, alas, he disappears after that small moment of mercy. What would have happened had things been reversed — would Prometheus show mercy to the Olympians, as Circe showed mercy to him? What might their relationship have become if they’d had more time together?
Greek Myth: The Titans win the Titanomachy: If the Titans had won the Titanomachy, what would happen to Prometheus? While he gave fire to the humans, before that he was in the Olympian camp — did giving humans technology wind up being what led the Titans to victory (and thus making him a double agent – perhaps an inadvertent one)? How does he adapt to the Titan society? How does Circe react to this win? It seems she is quite young during the Titanomachy, and her father is clever enough to only pick winners so — how does she develop, in a somehow even higher pressure version of her own world? What is she doing here, and how does she meet Prometheus? How do they become close? Is their romance a legitimate fostering of feelings, or is it a way to play the game of thrones that Olympus seems to be constantly running?
ALL: Cursed with Immortality: Given that Prometheus is doomed to have his liver cut out eternally, I’d love to see if Circe on her farewell tour decided to uh, liberate Prometheus, as she did ((in her own way) with Scylla. How does she free him? Does she go through with her plan to seek death/mortality after freeing him? Does doing this make her an enemy of the gods — and if so, what do you do, eternally on the run from foes who will never die, as you yourselves will never die?
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