acequeenking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acequeenking) wrote2021-10-20 10:15 pm
acequeenking) wrote2021-10-20 10:15 pm
Yuletide Letter 2021
Dear Yuletide wassailer,
Thank you for writing for me!
I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create! I consider all prompts optional, but I added some below in case they might be helpful. If you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic on. Please don't feel the need to put every character in here into a story; I generally love every combination of characters I've nominated (or, for fandoms where I've asked for anyone/blank sign-up, I love everyone whose in the tagset)!
Feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. Happy Yuletide!
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
What is it: A paranormal romance series, based on the All Soul's Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. The show has a wider focus on the world around the lovers, while the book concentrates a lot more on the lovers (as it's wholly in their perspective). I'm absolutely in love with the politics of the show between the supernatural world (Vampires, witches, and daemons) and really love how they've expanded the plot into a much larger, more dangerous world. Also I deeply appreciate that this world is just full of really lovely, deep female characters.
I've only seen Season 1 for now, so my prompts focus mainly on Season 1. But I've read all the books and will have seen Season 2 by the time that yuletide is due, so feel free to involve season 2 plots if you wish. I generally do prefer the modern setting of the first season to the 1600 scenes in the second, but I also love the idea of seeing how someone changes through time.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Fubo and on Amazon Prime airing on AMC.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Favorite Ships: Juliette/Diana Bishop, Domenico/Juliette, Gerbert D'Aurilliac//Juliette, Juliette/Satu, Juliette/Ysabeau
God, I love Juliette. I felt bad for her in the books; I was absolutely devastated for her in the show, where she's given so much more time on screen. She's so, so beautiful and so, so manipulated by these powerful people in her life: forced to be under the thumb of Gerbert, manipulated by Domenico, obsessed forever with Matthew who has long moved on -- there's SO MUCH going on in her mind, and she's never NOT manipulated by someone. Yet, clearly, she craves freedom so badly: the scene of her walking out of the church so triumphant in S1 only to immediately go to her doom because she just can't shake Matthew (or all the conditioning Gerbert did to make her crave Matthew) just makes me so sad and I've always wanted more information on her.
Prompts:
* I would love an AU where Juliette doesn't die, but decides to allow everyone to THINK she's dead. Instead, she goes her own way, or at least tries to - what does that look like? How does she manage to live without Gerbert, Domenico, or Matthew? Does she ever try to find them again? What does her life look like now, and does she like it better?
* I'm also fascinated about her past. How did Juliette become a vampire? How did she feel about becoming a vampire? About Gerbert's training methods? Was she obsessive before Gerbert picked her, or was that a side-effect of her training to be Matthew's ideal? What did that training entail?
* How did things go so sour with Matthew, and what did she do when they did? Is being a vampire in love
with someone who doesn't love you easier than it would be as a human -- or is it worse? How come she can never quite get over him - is that a Vampire Thing, or is that a product of Gerbert's manipulation, or is that a problem made in her own mind?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly, I just want all the world-building on what Juliette's position in the Vampire world really is. She seems to be Gerbert's protegee/charge, given freedom at points ("if she is good") and imprisoned at points, and she clearly is both loyal to Gerbert at times and against him at others. What doe she do in his house? What is her role as his "daughter"? What are the rules of vampire siring and children? Can she leave him? Does she want to? What are the rules/politics of interacting with other vamps - Domenico, Ysabeau, etc?
* Crueltide: What's the point of eternal life if you can't spend it with the person you wish to? How does Juliette handle her break-up with Matthew? Does she still think of them frequently? How does she react to Matthew's (or any other lover's) visibly moving on without her?
* Yuleporn: Juliette's obsessive nature probably makes her a pretty amazing lover. I would love to see a lover's perspective on her, and how they feel about that obsessiveness. Is that something that makes her particularly inventive in bed, or is the lover worried that Juliet will one day spurn them?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Ysabeau/Philippe, Ysabeau/Juliette, Ysabeau/Gerbert D'Aurilliac, Ysabeau/Sarah Bishop, Ysabeau/Emily Mather, Ysabeau/Diana Bishop (or any combination thereof)
Ysabeau is really a wonderful character and I'm so excited to see her in the tagset. First, I find her fascinating in that she became a vampire later in life than most: Ysabeau is that oh-so-rare thing, the female middle/elder-aged vampire. She's been a vampire for a VERY long time and yet the details of how she became a vampire are so traumatic that even with that long lifetime, it's hard to believe that she's moved past it. The fact that she has a bloodlust mutation and yet is incredibly gentle and kind is also very fascinating, and honestly I just want to learn more about her life!
Prompts:
* How does Ysabeau's bloodlust manifest itself? Does she ever fall victim to it while eating animals? How do the other vampires treat her? How does she feel about all their children inheriting her bloodlust?
* I would love to see something about Ysabeau's politics. It seems like a lot of her is trying to take a backseat to the men in her family: Phillipe, Matthew, Baldwin -- but she's been alive a long time and surely isn't someone to hesitate about her opinions, and I would love to see her playing the congregation games. How would canon be different if it wasn't Matthew/Baldwin bickering with the Congregation and instead had Ysabeau in the main role? Would her bloodlust cause issues?
* I would love to see something about how she feels about the passage of time; she's been alive for a very long time, and life has changed a lot since the 500s. How does she feel about how things have changed? Has the modern world made it harder to be a vampire hunting for her meals? How does she feel about 20th century innovations like the radio, the television, the internet? How does she feel about how her fellow vampires have changed in that time?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly I just want all the details about Ysabeau's human/early vampire life. How did she get turned into a vampire? How did she come into her own as a vampiress? How did she and Phillip wind up in France, and why did they choose Sept-Tours? How does the community around Sept Tours view the mysterious lady of the castle who literally never seems to age?
* Yuleporn: Ysabeau can't stand not being in control; a lover shows her how it can be pleasurable to give up control, at least for one night.
* IF: I would love to see a couple alternate versions of what might have happened had Ysabeau gone down an alternate path in her life. She has lived so long and made so many vital chocies: what would the modern day look likle if Ysabeau had not married Phillip; if Ysabeau had surrendered to her bloodlust; if Ysabeau had not backed Matthew at some point or another, etc?
[Return to Top of Letter]
I really like the idea of these two getting to meet. Both I think have similar stories -- being saved from a dark fate, either by Gerbert or by Phillip. What turns this sinister, of course, is that Gerbert's rescue really wasn't much of a rescue at all, and Juliette remains trapped by him in a way that Ysabeau does not remained trapped by Phillip. I feel like of all the main characters, Ysabeau would understand Juliette's madness best; there but for the grace of god, of course, went she. I wish they had gotten a chance to interact in canon, but it was not to be.
Gen prompts:
* I'm absolutely fascinated by the idea of Ysabeau rescuing Juliette from her origin story (in the books, in a Cairo brothel, but feel free to change if you'd like). If she had avoided being rescued by Gerbert, had been instead rescued by someone kind and compassionate - and with her vampire children Ysabeau is certainly both kind and compassionate - what would a modern day Juliette look like? How would Ysabeau take her under her wing? How would she feel about her new "daughteR" as she grew as a vampire?
* I really, really wish we got to see these two meet in canon. Maybe Juliette goes to Sept Tours to find Matthew after ditching Gerbert but finds Ysabeau instead? How do they feel about one another? How do they react around one another? Ysabeau has a line in S2 where she mocks Gerbert, asking what he knows of love. What would Ysabeau say to Juliette, who has been so mixed up by the men in her life? Does Ysabeau have pity on Juliette? If so, how does she show it? Are there limits to what she would tell her due to her love for Matthew, and, if so, what would they be?
Romance Prompts:
* I really would love to see a fic where Juliette finds herself following Ysabeau (pre or post-Matthew) instead of staying with Gerbert. She seems like someone who has a bit of a yearning to be loved//to belong, and while Gerbert is quite eager to use this to manipulate Juliette, I feel like Ysabeau would actually be more of the family/lover that Juliette wanted. How would they fall in love? Both of them have known wickedness and loss and manipulation and both have potentially loved and lost too. Also, given how small the vampire clans are, is it weird to wind up dating the mother of the person you were made into a spy for? If there's conflict there, how does it play out?
* One thing that is always fascinating to me about the vampires in Discover of witches is the fact that when they feed, they can see the memories of the person they're feeding on and focus on their own memories (see: Gerbert sucking Juliette's blood in S1E3-ish; Juliette preying on the tourist and thinking of her Matthew in S1E2). I would LOVE to see this being done romantically; vampires feeding on one another to see memories of the past. I feel like this would be particularly useful to Juliette/Ysabeau, who have been in some pretty traumatic events over their incredibly long lives that they would have difficulty sharing with one another.
* Crueltide: Honestly I would love to see an AU where Matthew was killed at some point (with Phillip in WW2?) and these two become a BAMF vampire revenge team in their own right, one that's capable of great justice...and sometimes, some injustices as well. I'd love to see what Juliette's savagery and Ysabeau's bloodlust would look like together: what sort of feedings would they have? Would they able to keep their victims on the downlow or would htey leave a trail of dead witches (and humans?) across the continent/world?
* Yuleporn: I feel like these two have a longing for intimacy and, also, a hesitancy towards being in love with someone. I would love to see them confronting that and getting into bed together and discovering a way to re-learn to enjoy intimacy again.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
What is it: A folk-jazz musical that re-tells the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice in a semi-modern style, with a twist. Departs heavily from classical mythology in that Hades and Persephone (and Eurydice) are given much stronger characterizations in this than they have in the classical version of these stories. In this version, Hades and Persephone are a very long-term couple whose marriage is on the rocks, with world-wide consequences spilling out from it, not least of which is climate change!
Where can I find it: On Broadway and heading across the USA on tour! You can listen to the OBCR of the latest version here. There have been previous versions of the show have also been released, with minor differences: there’s a concept alblum here, and the New York Theater Workshop version had a (truncated, but still good) OCR you can find here. (I’ve listed the YouTube versions since not everyone has access to Apple Music/Spotify/Google Play, but it should be available on pretty much every platform.)
Which version of the cast/show I prefer: I like every version! I don't think there's a single cast here that hasn't killed it, so please feel free to mix and match or make the characters your own original interpretations.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Hades, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Eurydice/Persephone, post-turn Eurydice/Orpheus
I absolutely adore Eurydice. I think what I'm most fascinated by with Eurydice is that she is unquestionably a victim in a lot of ways -- victim to Hades' and Persephone's whims, victim to the Fates, to the winds, to Orpheus' neglect, to starvation -- but she's never JUST a victim. Eurydice makes the best decision she can at the time she has to make it, and she makes the choice most of us would. She's smart and she's capable and she doesn't deserve her fate, ground underneath the heel of poverty, of the whims of gods and men. I really love how Anais Mitchell centers Eurydice as the main character here and the main tragedic figure: it isn't Orpheus who has to deal with being left behind, it's Eurydice.
Prompts:
* I really want to know what happened to Eurydice post-canon and this and the prompt below are both focused on that. There's two ways I think to interpret the ending, and the one I want to focus on here is the time loop ending. Is it truly a time loop? If so, what does Eurydice having the flower signify? Does it work out this time? Is there something different? Is Eurydice aware they're in the time loop and if so, how does she change her behavior? Does she get out this time? If so, why so? Or why not?
* Again, I'm really curious about the ending, but this time I want the ending where Eurydice is doomed to stay in the underworld, and the second couple on top may resemble Eurydice and Orpheus but they are a different mortal couple and not our Eurydice and our Orpheus. If she is trapped in the underworld, what does Hades do with her? Does he take it out on her that her lover failed, or does he understand perhaps better than most her predicament? How does Persephone treat her, when she is there? How does Hermes react to her? Does Orpheus ever find his way back to her, and if so, how does she feel about it?
* I'd also love to see a bit of Eurydice before she got mixed up in the word of gods. She's a runaway - what is she running from? Why did she run? When she fell for Orpheus "in spite of herself" - what has she walked away from in the past? Or who?
* Yulebuilding: I'd love a focus on Eurydice's roll as a worker in Hadestown. What is life like for a worker? Is she alive? Is she dead? Somewhere in-between? What does the workday look like? Do they get sleep or food or is it constant work and, if so, how does that feel?
* Crueltide: One of the other charaters in this tale confronts Eurydice after Orpheus re-dooms her to the underworld. She seeks comfort from them, but their response is not something that she expects.
* Yuleporn: Honestly Eurydice is just so small and I really want to see size kink between her and Hades and/or and Persephone. What is it like to be a mortal with a god (or two)?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Hades, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Hades/Persephone
Hades is fascinating to me because he is such a powerful man (almighty Mr. Hades, the King of the Mines) and yet he is so obviously very insecure about everything that matters most to him. Hades tries to draw power to himself, but in doing so, he only manages to make himself look weaker, and alienates his wife on top of it all. He’s so obviously unable to communicate with Persephone well, but he goes to crazy lengths to try to recapture his wife’s attention – even trying to make his realm look more like his wife’s up-top world, but what he replicates is so obviously what she hates. I’d love to see something that really gets in deep in Hades’ psyche; I don’t have problems if what’s in there is particularly ugly, either, given that it’s pretty obvious in the show that Hades has a lot of issues.
Prompts:
* Hades handling the summer while Persephone isn’t there, pre-canon. What does he do when he’s down below, and she’s up above? Do they have any kind of communication at all? What sort of tasks does he do to fill his days? Does he have much connection with the mortal world at all? Does his behavior during the time she isn’t there change post-Hadestown development?
* How does Hades’ relationship with his realm (and/or other people) change, post-Hadestown? He seems to be a changed man, but is it only for a moment, or does he actually try to change? Post-Rebellion, what does he do with the workers? Does he “send them to the great beyond” as he threatened to do with Orpheus, or does he try to work with them to make their existence in Hadestown more bearable? Or does he simply tear the whole place down? Or is the musical is a straight reboot at the end, with Hades and Persephone forgetting their love as soon as they’ve been reminded of it, without a chance to so much as try (and if so, who is constantly rearranging this loop)?
*One aspect of Hades' character that I am eternally fascinated by is how he casts himself into a fatherly role with his workers, who he calls his children. Does Hades long to be a father? Is he one, through Persephone or someone else? Why does he choose to be referred to as a father, and his workers as his children? If he found a child, would he wind up wanting to adopt it – and what would raising a human child be like for a God? Would that help his marriage, or harm it? Can he or Persephone not have children biologically? Or is his making himself a father figure all just a manipulation game, a way to try to take advantage of people who might want a father figure so badly they’d lean into his desires? How does any of this reflect upon his own relationship with his father (whether you go by an original Hadestown version or the straight mythological version, both are good!)?
* Yulebuilding: I would love to know how the titanmachia played out in the Hadestown universe. What did Hades do to become the king of the underworld? How does he feel about the position he's been placed in? What role does he feel like he plays? How does he feel about the underworld, and how much responsibility does he have for the system that it has?
* Crueltide: Hades can’t break the cycle, but he sure does try. What leads to him giving in and grabbing Persephone early again? How disappointed is she? Can/does he ever mess up to the point where the key players in the cycle decide he’s not worth/impossible to save
* IF: For all Hadestown requests, I'd love to see some exploration of the time-reset idea, where the play resets at the end to essentially replay the beginning, with only Hermes and the Fates really remembering what has happened. How do these resets happen? How does Hades deal with them? Can he break the cycle, and if so, how? I'd love to see some exploration of this repeating-of-a-story, especially if there's any deja vu, or explorations of why they feel the need to take the steps they do.
* Yuleporn: Hades and his office and the things that happen behind closed doors, with either
Eurydice or Persephone. I just want some straight-up office porn here; kinking on getting Hades distracted from his work is just a bonus.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Persephone, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Hades/Persephone
It would have been easy to have Persephone as a background character given the conflict between Hades, Orpheus, and Eurydice (indeed, many versions of this myth write Persephone out!) – Hadestown shows why doing that would be a mistake. Persephone is, I think, the real heart and soul of the show: she’s sympathetic to every character, but she is a complex woman in her own right, and while she might not be happy in her marriage, she’s never a victim. I’m deeply in love with Persephone’s seemingly endless capacity for kindness – interceding on Eurydice’s behalf, after her husband has just taunted her with the girl is a kindness beyond kind – but that capacity is one that’s mixed with her very sharp tongue, and one that she doesn’t hesitate to unleash on people she loves. She’s a woman full of contradictions, basically, is what I’m saying, but what else would she be, goddess of both life and death itself?
Prompts:
* Persephone’s role in Hadestown! How did her husband try to get her involved in his mad idea? She clearly hates it but she’s also the one who offers the workers a brief moment of remembered happiness at her speakeasy. And yet, also, like Hades, she isn’t offering those brief memories of the upside for nothing. What role does she have in Hadestown, in or outside of the speakeasy? Is this role something Hades insists upon her doing, or is it a creation all her own?
* Persephone’s gone half the year, and we know Hades suffers for it, but does Persephone? Does she have a hard time adjusting to living (it) up on top, or is that where she prefers to be? Does Persephone only put up with the Underworld for her husband? Or does she/did she, at some point, truly love it? Does she ever want to stop traveling between them, or is she perfectly happy to do so for eternity, regardless of her husband’s grousing?
* Crueltide: Persephone loves her mom/Hades/Hermes, but she might love the bottle more, and her reliance on chemicals has disastrous effects on her personal life. I'd love to see one moment where Persephone choose the drink over her friends/family/lover, and what the fallout was.
* Yulebuilding: Persephone's role in Hadestown! How does she feel about her role there? Hades seems to clearly expect her to be at his "Why do we Build the Wall" rally and her appearance is not optional. It seems clear to me that he has to rely on her somewhat to support him in hopes of his workers supporting him. How does she feel about that? What is her "job "there", if she has one?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really love Eurydice and Hades interacting; I think they're very much of the same sort of mind, both very practical-minded, to such a ruthless degree. Both of them are in love with people that are dreamers at best and a bit impractical for them at worst: Seph and her half-a-year sojourn away, Orpheus and his obsession with his song. And yet, neither can quite shake the practical needs for the sake of their dream lovers, and both struggle with being unhappy in their relationships as a result of it.
Gen prompts:
* I would really love to see a scene of what happens right after Orpheus fails and Eurydice goes back to Hadestown. We see this happen without Eurydice being collected by anyone, so how does she wind up back there? Does Hades see her when she comes back, and if so, how does he react? What does he do to her? Does he keep her nearby, or bury her deep in the mines/mills?
* I would love to see these two go through a sort of boss/employee (possibly lovers?) to enemies to friends??? sort of relationship. Hades uses Eurydice as a pawn for his wife, and then as a prize for Orpheus; Eurydice is bound to hold it against him. But the funny thing is, well, they're in hell, and if there's one person who understands missing and resenting a lover who isn't there, well -- he's the king of it. But how on earth do Hades and Eurydice find their way past the resentment? Does Hades ever acknowledge he did her a bad turn? Does Eurydice come to forgive him, whether or not he apologizes? What sort of things do they do, as friends?
Romantic prompts:
* I would love to see Hades + Eurydice having a long-term affair, but only in the summers. Maybe she's doing it because she needs the shelter, down there; maybe when she's with him, she can remember more of the man she lost than she would otherwise (or maybe it's the opposite: Hades' hands on her make her forget Orpheus, at least for a little while). I don't know if either of them are exactly happy, because, well, they are in Hades, but I do think in a way, it helps. What sort of comforts do they take in one another? Do either of them feel guilty? Do they ever swear it off, then wind up together again? Is it more emotional as an affair or more physical?
* I would love to see Eurydice scheme to get revenge on Hades, post-canon, for ruining her chances. She decides to take him down by preying on him where he's weakest: his loneliness. Maybe she isn't happy, and maybe she'll never get happy ending...but maybe that doesn't matter, because with her whispering in his ear, seducing him in his weakest moments, well...maybe he won't get his either.
* Yuleporn: Honestly, I really would love to a character study on what Eurydice thinsk its like to have sex with a God. Is it an unnerving experience? Rather fun? Both and neither? What is otherworldly about him? How does he feel about this little mortal girl, come to seek his office and his pleasures?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really love how these two get along so well in act 1, each complimenting the other and dancing together! Persephone offering her advice, and Eurydice getting the courage (and possibly a literal push) into dating Orpheus. And then woof, does it come crashing down in act 2. Does it EVER. I absolutely love the idea of these two and the contrast between those two things: the easy friendship, the rock-and-a-hard-place dilemnas, and the not-so-easy possibilities for what happens after the show ends.
Gen prompts:
* I really like the idea of the show as a time-loop, constantly repeating the same events, hoping that it might turn out better this time. But if that is the case, then how many times have Persephone and Eurydice met? Does Persephone or Eurydice ever smarten up to the cyclical natural of their meetings? If so, how do they react to that? Are either of them horrified at how many times they've met without quite realizing it before?
* I also really like the idea of Persephone trying to help Eurydice, post-canon. Is it Persephone who starts the seasons happening again? Why does Persephone help her? How does she get her out of Hadestown, and does she need to sneak it past Hades, or does he allow her to take her? How does Eurydice feel about the goddess offering to help her -- can she trust her? And if so, does Eurydice feel like she can trust Persephone? Does Eurydice want to come back to life -- or is that even an option? What dose the flower that she gets at the very end of the show meant to mean, in this case?
Romantic prompts:
* I really love the idea of Eurydice and Persephone finding comfort in her, especially in a darker sort of future where Hades and Persephone never quite get back together, and Eurydice and Orpheus -- well. Sure, it's a big of a strange bedfellows situation, but the world is full of strange bedfellows and frankly there's worse people to fall in love with. Eurydice reminds me of Hades in a lot of ways -- she's got that same knife-edged practicality, the hunger to become more than she is, the desperation to hold someone but the simultaneous discomfort at having your soul sitting in someone else's hands. I can't help but think Persephone would see Hades' best traits in Eurydice, and Eurydice I think would like the idea of Persephone being such a romantic; she's not Orpheus, but she's got that same sort of spirit. What would their relationship be like? Would it be an affair or would Seph leave Hades outright for her? How would their relationship start?
* Eurydice seems to be someone who is very practical; I can see her trying to get Persephone to turn to her side, to try to get some protection in the underworld. What if that plan goes a little better than expected, and Persephone winds up falling in love with her? How would Eurydice feel about that? How would Persephone feel, if she finds out later that Eurydice was attempting to use her?
* Yuleporn: Persephone is the goddes of plenty, and I'd love to see explored with orgasms. Just Persephone showing Eurydice who makes the summer sun shine bright, if you know what I mean. I'd also like the same thing I asked for with Hades, which is: what is it like, to be a mortal human, in love/lust with a god?
* Crueltide: What is it like to fall in love with a dead shade? I would love to see some focus on what it's like to love someone who is just a soul? Is it different from loving a god, and if so, how?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I love them, but these two are so complicated. Are they constantly going in cycles of in love/not in love or is their estrangement a very recent development? How does a relationship evolve when Hades and Persephone have known one another for the vast majority of, if not the entirety of their lives, and those lives span millenniums?
Prompts:
* Give them a baby. Pre-canon, post-canon, somehow during canon; adopted little child or Persephone (or, hell, Hades) getting knocked up and winding up having a baby or child or even surly teen to take care of while still dealing with their thousands of issues: yes! I just – I want to see them with a child, and I am not picky. I just want to see what happens to Hades and Persephone when they have to put a new person ahead of all their bullshit (and they have a lot of bullshit to sort through), and how they’d struggle with that. Maybe Hades winds up getting a child/young teen sent down to Hadestown in hopes of a better life and doesn’t have the heart to put the kid on the line (or Persephone stops him)? Persephone and Hades have unprotected sex and Persephone realizes, one summer day, that she’s pregnant? (And if so, oh lord, how does she tell him? Does she tell him?) What’s her pregnancy like, are either of them happy about this baby, does Persephone’s alcoholism become a problem? Just...give them a baby. No matter what scenario you make around it, I swear I will 1000% be into it. This is possibly my favorite trope and I am SO into it.
* Post canon, I’d love to read something about how they try to work things out, whether it’s another go-around in a time-loop where they keep making the same mistakes or, if things don’t reset post-canon, how these two manage, picking up the pieces of their fragile love and trying to fall in love again. How do they act around one another? Do things change? If so, what things? Do they ever fall back on their sniping and if so, how do they feel – is there a sense it’s inevitable, or is one or the other deeply hurt the other has backslid?
* Crueltide: Even when its bad, its better than being alone. Or Hades and Persephone sniping and grousing and generally being really awful about one another, but being 100% unable to and unwilling to cut the thread and find another person (for good) because they are still in love, even if they are 100% wretched to one another.
* Yulebuilding: I want so much worldbuilding about how the time-loop works for them in that interpretation of the ending. Are Hades and Persephone aware of the loop at all? If so, why do they consent to go through what has to be a rather painful period in their lives, over and over again? If they don't remember the events of the previous cycle, do they ever get deju vu or the like they've been through this before? Are there symptoms they have of continually messing up time that they might realize/might not realize, and what might those symptoms be?
* Yuleporn: Honestly I want all kinds of explicit fic for these two. First-time sex where they’re both guarded and getting to know one another? Bad year sex where they use sex to avoid talking to one another? Post-Hadestown sex, where they both are relearning one another's bodies? Persephone domming the shit out of him, or him doing that to her? Messing around on the train? Historical clothes porn set somewhere between the dawn of time and Hadestown? All BIG yesses.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Oh man I love these there so much. I feel like with canon there's so much of an opportunity here for ANGST and MISUNDERSTANDINGS and glorious, glorious sexy power struggles. I love them as friends/frenemies/enemies and I love them as a triad as well. There's just so many interesting dynamics here: Hades balancing his long-loved wife with this new girl, and struggling with his own control issues with both; Eurydice uneasily caught between two gods (and, perhaps, three people, if you include Orpheus); Persephone, here with someone who is both her lover and her competition whenever she is away. There's so much here with these three for things to go so well -- and for things to go really, really bad.
Gen prompts:
* I would really love to see what fall looks like when Persephone returns after Orpheus turns around and Eurydice is back in the underworld. She has to have learned at that point that Orpheus and Eurydice didn't make it -- or did she not learn that, somehow? How does she react to seeing Eurydice down there? what is Eurydice doing? What is Hades doing? Do they decide to keep the girl, or let her go? Are there emotions that get involved here, misunderstandings, or memories that wind up causing turmoil? OR do things settle back into a similar status quo to what they were -- except, of course, for the presence of Eurydice?
* Hades and Persephone navigate a truce that allows Eurydice to keep her memories, but it has unexpected consequences. How do they do this? What might the consequences be? Do those consequences wind up hurting Eurydice, or hurting the gods? Is it really a mercy to keep your memories in death, or does Eurydice wind up hating this "gift"?
Romantic prompts:
* I would love to see how Eurydice would deal with the fact that Hades and Persephone have thousands of years of history that she will never get to learn or experience. I think its always hard as being part of a triad with a married pair in terms of the fact that they will always have a life that doesn't include you, but I imagine that goes double when someone has been married as long as Hades and Persephone and perhaps triple when you have a couple who is SO caught up in each other as Hades and Persephone are. How does Eurydice feel, being the relative newcomer here? Do Hades and Persephone try to usher her into their emotional side of their marriage, or are they more interested in just playing with her physically? Or does one open up emotional support for her, and the other does not? And if so, is there conflict there?
* I really am curious about an outside perspective seeing Eurydice in a triad with these two. Maybe Orpheus, once Orpheus inevitably returns to the underworld as a shade? Does he still recognize the woman he loved and left behind? Does he think she is happy? Maybe the Fates -- do they see her as adding balance to a fraught relationship, or is she just one more trial for Hades and Seph to pass? If the workers, are they jealous of Eurydice? Do they see themselves in her? How do they feel about Hades and Persephone and their interest in this girl? If Hermes, how does he feel about seeing the woman he tried to help Orpheus save up with Hades and Persephone on the veranda? Does he still see her as a hungry young girl? Does he ever try to talk to her about Orpheus?
* Yuleporn: I really want to see an AU where Hades still lures Eurydice down to the underworld, but the plot twist is that she is a present for his bisexual wife. How does Persephone react to this "gift", given willingly both by her husband and by Eurydice? How does Eurydice feel about the possibility of fucking one or both of them? Is Hades content to watch Persephone enjoy her "present", or does he also want in? If so, how do they navigate what is allowable for Eurydice to do, and what is an action that is meant solely for the husband/wife of the pair?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I'm just in love with the world of Hadestown. There's nothing about it that I don't love, really, or want to see more. I'd really love to see other Greek myths set in the Hadestown sort of "don't ask where, brother, don't ask when" sort of Americana-flavored setting.
* Please give me ALL the retellings of any classical myth. I really love how the Hadestown canon tells the classical story but adds all these modern sorts of interpretations and contrasts: Hades, king of not just the dead but the worked-to-death; Persephone, queen of flowers and queen of poisons, alcohol, and wine too; Eurydice, victim and active participant both; Orpheus, too full of faith and yet all too doubtful. I would love, love, LOVE to see this applied to any other classical story (take your pick, I love everything).
* I would also love to see any further fleshing out of this world without incorporating more Greek mythology into it: how do Hades and Persephone's seasonal powers work? What was the world like before they got together? What are the other gods doing while Hades and Persephone are inadvertently causing climate change? What is life like on the surface? What is like for people who go down to Hadestown? Is the whole underworld Hadestown or is it just a part? What happened to the other heroes who happened to travel down to the underworld?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
What is it: Disney's stylized, gospelized, and bowdlerized version of the Hercules story. The characters here are so far removed from Greek mythology that they're pretty much their own thing, and I love what they are. You've got embittered used car salesman Hades, and he's coming here with some serious divorced dad energy. You've got Meg, who is pretty much my favorite disney heroine because she's both deeply practical and absolutely has to be dragged kicking and screaming into love. And you've got a really nice soundtrack, with a vivid and lovely color story - I feel like the character designs in particular are quite lovely.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Disney+ and on a million puffy-sleeved VHS tapes at your local thrift shop.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Hades/Meg, Hades/Hercules/Meg
Oh, I really love this Hades. Yes, he's absolutely NOTHING like the Hades of mythology, but to be honest I love how much this Hades seems to fit the classical story. He's mean as hell and mad as hell that he's been passed over what he thinks he deserves and he has never forgotten the slight of being sent to the underworld. I love how bitter he is and how capable he is in terms of getting his plans 90% complete...only to wind up hoisted by his own petard! Honestly I think he's really fun, and I'm especially interested in what happens to him post-canon.
Prompts:
* I would love to see Hades' origin story here. How did he wind up in the underworld, and why is he so very bitter against the rest of his family? Oddly, why do they not they not seem to be upset with Hades? There's such a dynamic there that I'd be really curious when it started. Are they playing dumb to piss him off further? Has he just always been such a shit show that it's honestly hard to tell that he's actually serious?
* Hades relationship with Meg is so very interesting to me because I can see them as very similar characters. Hades is so bitter and has is unhappy with where he is in life; Meg's clearly had her heart broken before and has opted to live a life based purely on financial obligations, even though she clearly still has emotions that she doesn't allow herself to feel. I'd love to hear about if Meg or Hades influences the other: Does Meg help prove to Hades that he's going about things the right way? Does Meg waiver in her conviction when she sees how deeply unhappy Hades is?
* I would really love to know what happens to Hades post-canon. He's a god, he can't be killed; he will probably get out of the soul-puddle trying to drown him eventually. His main competition chooses to remain mortal and thus eventually falls under his own realm. What Hades does have to do is pick up the pieces, and try to forge either a way to go forward with his plan or a way to make amends after all that he's done. What happens to him? Is there political fall-out from his coup attempt? If not, how does he feel about the fact he's basically stuck in the same place?
* Yulebuilding: I'm absolutely curious about what Hades does as part of his job. What does it mean to be the king of the Underworld in this world? What are his duties? Why does he resent being a king so much? How does he wind up with minions, and what are the minions supposed to do?
* Crueltide: Look, I really want a villain-victorious fic where Hades finally gets everything he wants, he's the king of Olympus, and....then he's not happy. There's all these humans??? and their prayers??? and it's very obnoxious, and also he doesn't like the new minions, and the sun is too bright, and -- and maybe he's no less trapped in his success than he was in his failure. What do you do when you're a god, and your greatest victory just rang bitterly hollow?
* Yuleporn: Hades is gigantic and kind of monstrous in his looks. I really love monstrous lovers + size kink. Please feel free to make him even more eldritch and weird; I like that too. What does it look like when someone winds up in bed with this King of the Dead? ...Does he keep with the puns and the wisecracking?
*IF: I would really love to see an IF of one of Hades' big deals. He seems to try to make a lot of wheeling and dealing, and it doesn't seem to always feel exactly like the people who deal with him get what they want. What sort of deals could you make with the king of the dead? What sort of bad (or good?) ends might come of it?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Hades/Megara, Hades/Hercules/Megara
Meg's one of my favorite Disney heroines: she's smart and sassy and sensual and yet it's very clear that she's been hurt before and that she struggles to not get hurt again. There's a vulnerability to her I find absolutely fascinating and I would love to read more with her. I feel like she's the only Disney heroine who really gets to flirt with the dark side, so to speak, and this adds more fascination to me, because it's very rare to have a potential villain who looks into the abyss and actually walks back. I would really love to see something that goes into how she feels about this choice: does she come to believe she made the right choice with Hercules, years down the line? Or, like her mythological counterpart, is she left to realize that maybe she had it right the first time, when she didn't want to bring emotions into her life?
A note on spin-offs: I'm aware that there is a Hercules animated cartoon that came out around the time the movie did for a couple seasons; I've never seen it and know little about it beyond that it existed, it somehow takes place in the same time frame as the movie (how?), and it memorably had a villian team-up with Jafar in the underworld. If you want to bring in references to or borrow plots from this, however, feel free!
I just found out there's a spin-off book as well; again, I haven't read it, but if you want to add in elements, feel free. :)
Prompts:
* I would love to know what happens to Meg, post-canon. I can't see her as being content to just be Hercule's little wife at home, so what is she doing while he's off on his adventures? Does she go with him? Does she have her own job? If so, what's she doing?
* I really like her interacting with Hades, whether romantically or gen. They're so similar to one another and I'd really love to see Meg's point of view on this god. He's got way more power than her, and yet he's kind of pathetic, and both of them are clearly unhappy. Does seeing how Hades treats his position give Meg some inspiration on how to live her life? Does she envy that he has wealth and stability in a way she never will?
* I really want to know what happens to Meg and Hercules after they eventually lead a happy life together and pass on into the next world. This has fascinated me from the first time that I saw this movie and I still want to know what happens. Hades and Hercules and MEg don't exactly leave things on a good note so uh - what happens next? How do they resolve that? Can you make a bargain with the god of death, or is Hades going to be giving them stupid tasks for eternity? Does Hades use them against one another for his own amusement?
* Yulebuilding: I would love to know Meg's origin story! Where is she from, what's her family life like? How did she wind up getting so hurt? Has she ever been in love before Hercules? How do people treat her, post-canon, as the girlfriend/wife of Hercules, a pretty famous hero with a pretty large merchandise line?
* Crueltide: This is terrible but if Meg were to suffer the same fate as her mythological counterpart (torn apart by Hercules due to a madness inflicted upon him by another God) -- how does her shade feel at the end of all that? Does Hades rib her about it? Does she wind up back in his employ? Does she feel madness at her, or just sadness that things have ended the way they have? Does she have any peace? I'd prefer less focus on her getting ripped apart and more focus on just how you move on from such shocking cruelty...especially when, really, the person who did wasn't even in control of themselves.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really love the idea of Hades and Meg both being burned by past events and finding solace in one another. They're also both champion sass masters, so I would love to see these two become unlikely friends due to it, either as an AU to what actually happens in the movie or as an AU that happens later in time (post Meg's death?). I feel like she's got spunk, and he'd appreciate that, and even understand her better than most due to their similar backgrounds.
Gen prompts:
* I really love the idea of Hades recruiting Meg to work for him in the underworld before she met Herc. How would this have changed Meg's development? Would she have felt less compunction to protect Hercules? What sort of schmoozing would she have done? Would he ever think of her as competition for his throne? What sort of rewards would he have given her, had his scheme to take over everything have worked?
* Hades introduces Meg to Cerberus and some of the other underworld creatures. How does she react? Does she love the animals down there, or is she frightened? Does she earn his respect through her adoption of the supernatural, or is he a little stunned to see her taking to it so well? What about Pain and Panic? The Fates?
Romantic prompts:
* I really love the idea of these two being incredibly bitter but finding solace in one another. I feel like post-canon Hades is so cut out of Olympian society that he probably doesn't get much company among the gods, and the mortals - well, big woop. Everyone who comes to him is a stiff, anyway. But Meg, especially a Meg who dies post-Hercules (especially a Meg who dies as the mythologial Meg did) - well, she's got spunk. She's still got a spark of life to her. And if she's mad as hell at the world, well, who else knows that feeling better? I don't see romance really being on either of their minds but I can see it as something that creeps up on, and maybe surprises, both of them. How does it happen? How do they feel about it?
* Given that they've both been burned before, I think they're both very wary and slow to trust as people.
And their similar constant deflections from vulnerability with humor is a deterrent from getting clsoe to anyone. How do they manage to get past that to form a connection? Is the connection between them physical, or emotional, or something else?
* Yuleporn: I'm eternally curious about fictional depictions of mortals having sex with a god, and here I think it would be even more difficult due to Hades' somewhat less human portrayal here. What is it like to be intimidate with a being that is so far beyond mortal understanding? How do you navigate Hades'....frankly disastrously sharp mouth (in both meanings of the word)? How do you deal with the fact he's sooooo much bigger than she is? Can he change his form at all to suit her or is this going to be a constant uh, stretch? And how do you deal with the fact he seemingly never shuts his mouth?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
What is it: A soap opera on mythological steroids about Persephone, who makes a few bad choices and spends a lot of time getting cornered about them. It has a lot of fun world building, including the underworld and mount olympus being in roughly a modern-ish AU while the human world is in the ancient greek era. It's really quite fun, completely outlandish, and always stylish.
Where can I find it: On Webtoon, for free. Season 1 will be published in book form in November.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Hades/Minthe, Hera/Minthe, Hermes/Minthe, Minthe/Persephone, Minthe/Themis, Minthe/Thanatos
Minthe is one of my favorite characters. She's so complex! I feel for her, because I think how the fandom approaches her is kinda dodgy: she's this girl who was struggling to get ahead, only to have this Prince Charming drop into her lap, and provide her with a job, with clothes, with an apartment, with whatever she wanted -- as long as she was with him. And I think so much of what we see of Minthe is her struggling with basically having to be a sugar baby for this guy, who is a guy who she likes but also is a guy who has power over literally everything about her life: where she lives, where she works, and what she does in her free time. It's easy to see where she would resent him for this and try to exert her own power, which mostly manifests in her being at his beck and call. Once they both kind of resent one another, they've grown apart, there's no easy way for Minthe to extract herself, and I think she's really in a rough situation at the start of the comic. I would really love to see a more sympathetic look at Minthe -- not to erase some of her bad deeds, because girl did legit slap up her bf while calling him the rebirth of his incredibly abusive father -- but to look at her with an eye that's more sympathetic of the fact that's she's made a deal with the devil, and it turns out the devil is nice and all, but he's still holding all her strings -- and, oh yeah, the younger, higher-class intern is all over the man who pays her rent, evaluates her job, etc, and Minthe
isn't wrong to perceive her as a threat...
Prompts:
* I really would love to see a fic absolutely focused on Minthe's slow growing horror that she literally can't get away from Hades: can't make rent without his money, can't get a new job without anyone talking to her boss, can't even talk to her friends without them being like "tell us about your boyfriieennd." How does she deal with the fact that she likes Hades, but she doesn't love him, and she doesn't know how to unwind their lives from one another?
* I would also love to see Minthe's view of the underworld as a whole. Was she born in the underworld? Does she ever get envious of Themis who gets to work on Olympus? Where did she come from? What's her family life like? What sort of jobs has she had in the underworld? How did she meet Themis, anyway? Or Thanatos?
* (SEASON 2 SPOILERS) I would love to see Minthe's struggle to adapt to being a plant. Does she like being a plant or is she horrified at being reliant on Hades and Persephone (or Themis or Hekate or Demeter or whoever) for care? Does she have family out there who need to know about her predicament and what do they think? What's life like, for a plant? Does she still have her human (nymph?) senses?
*Yulebuilding: There's a panel early on where Hera is trash talking Minthe and believes nymphs aren't good enough for the gods. Is this a common attitude among gods? Why are nymphs so looked down upon? Is this part of why Minthe did not want to become queen?
*Yuleporn: Her need is to be in control, and I'd love to see her take that out on someone and fem-dom them. Teaching Persephone her place as the intern? Reminding Hades it's her who holds the strings? Getting back at Hera for calling her nymph trash? She isn't always nice and she's in free-fall a lot when it comes to her emotional situation so I'd love to see her just take absolute control and not allow the other person to do anything that isn't on her say-so.
* IF: I would love to see a bit about Minthe in her plant form. What is she thinking? What is she observing? Is there any way for her to regain her nymph form? If so, how do you do that? Is she happy doing that?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite Ships: Hera/Hades, Minthe, Hera/Persephone
Hera's always been one of my favorites and I love how Lore Olympus presents her: she's not perfect, but she's got her positive sides. I love how powerful she is and how she's living sort of this hellish version of a happily-ever-after, with a husband all too willing to fuck pretty much anyone else, with dubious ideas of consent, and even more dubious ideas of how it rule, and three kids, two of which def don't really get along with her husband and/or her. Shit's complicated! But she holds her head up, works with pride, and I appreciate how she's always working for the best for everyone -- in as much as she decides what is best.
Prompts:
* I would love to see a moment with Hera and her kids. She and Heph seem to have a somewhat stilted relationship, and I'd love to read about how that happened. Is it because Heph doesn't get along with his dad? Is Zeus even really his dad? (He certainly seems to resemble Hades a bit.) What's going on with Ares; why is he so loyal to his mom and so frustrated with his dad? What's going on with Hebe, and how does Hera handle having a relatively young kid during All This Drama?
* Hera clearly has a soft spot for Hades, and I'm curious how widely known their history was/is. Is that part of why she treats Minthe so poorly? Has Zeus ever quite sussed out that his wife was sleeping with his brother? How did he react? How does Persephone treat Hera when she sees her again, after this reveal? How does Demeter feel about Persephone hanging out with Hades or Hera? Does Hekate know and how does she feel about it? Does Hermes, Minthe, or any of the other underworld people know? How do they behave around one another in public? Does Poseidon know, and if so, how does he feel?
* I would really love to see fic about how Hera became the queen of the gods. Were she and Zeus dating before this happened, or was this something that was basically an arranged marriage? Outside of the marriage itself, what do her duties entail? Is Persephone the only "internship" that she's ever done? Or are there others, and if so, what are those like? Who works for her? What sort of other duties do they do? As a goddess of marriage and children, how does she feel about the fact she has a ...well, fractured, to say the least, relationship with her husband and her kids?
* Yulebuilding: Hera's not part of the Rhea/Cronos family in this adaptation, being instead the daughter of Metis. I would really love to hear about her time in the Titanomachy. Why did Metis and Hera decide to join the traitors against Kronos? How did Hera feel about being Kronos "golden traitor"? How pronounced was her relationship with Hades vs Zeus vs Kronos? How did she feel about being the spy in the ranks? What happened to her mother post-Titanomachy? (I know it's implied Zeus ate her, ala Greek mythology proper, but if so wow, how do you LIVE with that when its your own mom? Does Hera even know?)
* IF: I would love to see an IF about Hera that has the same event happening with several ways her life could have gone, if that makes sense. For example, I'd love to see an IF with a standard domestic event occuring that traces two or three paths through said even that Hera could have taken: on her own, with Zeus, with Hebe, with Kronos, with Aprhodite, with Apollo, with Hades, etc (whichever characters up to you). She seems to be someone with a million different possible fates (Kronos' wife/concubine, Hades' wife, Zeus' wife, Metis' advisor, Queen herself?) and I would love to see some small snippet of exploration of how events changed a lot just based on the choices Hera made during the titanomachia.
* Crueltide: I'd really love to see something about Hera's nightmares about Kronos, about being broken in half, about scars that have healed and scars that never will. Hera seems to have so much TRAUMA from the war, and I'd love to see a little sneak peak of that, of what that looks like to her.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really wish we got time with Hades' (former) paramours meeting up. Minthe seems to have a lot of anxiety about Hera and there's flashbacks to their past meetings (or Minthe's imagination of those meetings?) where it's revealed that Hera calls her "nymph trash" and openly treats her with disrespect. Even when Minthe comes up without her actually being around Hera, Hera doesn't seem to like her much: she's critical to Hades in the party in the beginning for Minthe standing him up. And yet, really, I think there's few characters who COULD understand Minthe as well as Hera, because they're in very similar situations: trapped in a relationship with a man who is or was lovely-enough, but not The One, and being with that man has given them a lot of power, and its not easy to hand that back and, honestly, I don't think either one of them want to. Both have messed around on someone else, both seem to struggle with the idea of being replaced -- really, I feel like they have a lot of ground to cover there. And the fact that they have both been Hades' girlfriend, at times, of course, just adds to the awkwardness... but I'm really interested to see where canon could go (can go?) if they have more time.
Gen prompts:
* I would love to see an AU where Minthe applies to work with Hera instead of confronting Seph and Hades when she's upset he's moving on quickly. I feel like Minthe would hate to it, but Hera would probably have more sympathy for her than she might expect. I honestly think that might even get along, which would make Hades at the very least uncomfortable (but too bad for him). What sort of work would she wind up going into? Would moving to Olympus be a hard change? Would she still be friends with Themis, or would she gravitate towards a different social circle?
* I feel like Hera and Minthe have both seen Hades through some pretty difficult times. I would love to see a time where she reached out to Hera about it; maybe how to handle him, or how to handle themselves around them? What sort of advice would Hera give? Did these two ever comisserate with one another over both having liked the same man?
* Hera keeping Minthe, the plant, on her desk while they're waiting for Persephone to undo the curse. How does Hera care for her? Does she find she likes Minthe, the plant? Does she miss Minthe, the person? Or does she stick her in a dark corner where plant! Minthe can only fume at her for neglecting her?
* Yulebuilding: I'd really love to know where the whole "nymph trash" thing comes from. Why did Hera believe this, if this is true? Is it a commonly held belief? Why do the gods look down on the nymphs, is so - has it always been this way, or was there some event that led to this? How does Minthe feel about this -- doe she get this sort of pushback from just Hera, or do lots of gods treat her as less-than for daring to be a nymph instead of a goddess?
Romantic prompts:
* Honestly I would love to see these two get catty around one another, and in that cattiness reveal that behind all of it they really are quite attracted to one another. And oh noes what if they kissed??? And what if they liked it??? But also still somewhat not stand one another except for the snogging, of course.
* Minthe decides to prove Hera wrong about Nymphs, and Hera actually likes her spirit. To her surprise, Hera invites her over, and spends the time making passes at her in front of her husband. How does Minthe react to this? Does Hera actually find her attractive or is she using her as a way to make Zeus jealous? What's Zeus roll in all this? How does it go?
* Yuleporn: Hera and Minthe having aggressive, rough, and sometimes even insulting-one-another sex.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
What is it: A seventies sit-com about Mary Richards, hardworking associate producer, living a single girl life in a big city (the city is Minneapolis), and her coworkers and friends, including: Lou Grant, her hard-working, hard drinking boss, and her neighbor, Rhoda Morgenstern, who lives in the apartment above hers. One thing I really love about the show is that its incredibly natural in how it lets the characters lives change through the show: Rhoda frequently changes jobs and eventually finds herself leaving for New York; Mary gets promoted and struggles with the new issues of the job; Lou struggles in his marriage and eventually divorces, then struggles with his ex-wife re-marrying quickly and figuring out how to date in a dating world that's changed a lot from the last time he was single.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Hulu. It was also released on DVD.
A quick note on spin-offs: No show seems to have produced as many successful spin offs as this one, with Rhoda, Lou, and even Phyllis getting their own shows that all ran for multiple seasons. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the others as neither Rhoda nor Lou Grant nor Phyllis are currently streaming online. I know there's a circa 2000 reunion show that fills in a future for Rhoda and Mary, but again, I haven't seen it (or if I did, I don't remember it). I'd prefer a focus on the original show, instead. And while I don't mind the futures planned for Lou and Rhoda and Mary, with Mary moving to NY and Rhoda moving to Paris and Lou being in LA, I'd also say feel free to disregard all that, and go where you see fit for the characters.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite ships: Lou/Mary, Lou/Rhoda
I've always liked Lou, who is both hard drinking and hard nosed but, secretly, has a jelly soft interior. His romance struggles with his wife, that ultimately ends in their divorce, have alwaty stood out to me as being some of the most interesting episodes. For one thing, Lou is the Old Man of the Mary Tyler Moore show, a world war II vet. His ideas about dating and sex are much, much more traditional than Mary and the others, as his episode where he sleeps with Sue Ann and winds up freaking out over whether he will have to marry her. The idea of divorce is something his parents generation never had to deal with; neither is women wanting a career in the workplace. Lou seems to accept Mary but also struggles with the more ambitious women in teh workplace, and certainly with the idea of his wife in the workplace. He also seems to struggle with dating in general, and often feels a bit out of his time. I really am fascinated by that, especially when his job is always to basically have a pulse on what is "in" and what will "sell."
Prompts:
* I would love to see something about how Lou reacts to getting back into the dating market after being married to Edie for 20+ years. How does he handle the idea of being back on the "meat market"? How does he handle the idea of being divorced, something that would have been majorly taboo to his parents' generation? How do his daughters take it? How do Mary and the other coworkers handle it, since this seems to occur mostly off-screen?
* Honestly, Lou's drinking is interesting but also something that completely would never fly in any office that I've worked in. Did the group of his coworkers ever try to address his drinking? Does Mary get into conflict with him about it and if so, how does she handle it? There's more than one time on the show where he winds up at her apartment, drunk, after work, because he doesn't want to go home. Is this part of why Edie left? Who does he drink with? Does he ever drink with his coworkers and if so how does that affect the group dynamic? Does he ever try to give it up and if so, how does that change the group dynamic?
* I also would love to see Lou's job, beyond just pushing papers around his desk. How does he handle Ted's continuous gaffs with the higher ups? How does he justify his role despite the continual low ratings? How does he handle Mary and his other workers when they're off on some sort of wacky hijink or important workplace issue or whatnot? What keeps Lou in his seat?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite ships:Mary/Rhoda, Lou/Mary
Mary is just such an interesting character to me because she really is the poster child of her generation,. She's a Woman Who is Working for herself, a Single Female in the City, at a time when it wasn't really a trope yet. What really fascinates me about Mary is how the show handles her sexuality: this wasn't on the air that far from the days when Ricky and Lucy had twin beds, and Mary Richards most def fucks. The show riffs on her staying out all night or going out with lots of men, or just waking up to a strange man, and yet she also receives push back for that: when Lou asks her if she knows the feeling of waking up in bed with a stranger and she says yes, he becomes shocked/scolding and she quickly and uncomfortably backpedals and says "she can imagine it." At other points, Sue and Phyllis both give her intense push-back for the crime of not being married; Rhoda too points out that Mary's situation is unusual. Mary really seems to poised at the point of feminism where it was still Putting Up With a Lot of Bullshit, and how her male colleagues treat her is often infuriating and enduring in equal measure. The episodes where Mary discovers racism exists...seem cringy by today's standards, but were fairly unique at the time AFAIK, at a time when feminism being inter-sectional was somewhat out of the mainstream. I'm always fascinated how once Mary gets a promotion, much of the male crew tries to walk all over her -- something that still happens today. Mary's kind of frozen in her time, but so much of what she's putting up with still feels familiar to me, and so much still feels strange, and I'd love to see an exploration of Mary and her times.
* I would love to see Mary's adventures that we don't really get a lot of in the show. What do Mary's trips out into the field as we see in the opening credits look like? What sort of reputation does she have as a producer? What does she do in her free-time? Does she sever struggle to balance "producer" Mary with "personal life" Mary?
* How would Mary -- always practical, but with a pretty strong Emotional Core as well -- react to a supernatural event? I know the show is mostly very much in teh day to day, but I love a good ghost story and what's Christmas without at least one ghost prompt. So: How would Mary react to a ghost? Or some other sort of supernatural feeling/creature?
* I would love to see a character study on Mary after the canon ends and she's (end spoilers?) fired from the jobs she's had for years and years while Ted stays on. How does it feel to be out of work, especially with Murray and Lou also out of work? What sort of jobs does she apply for? Does she find it easy to find a new job, or is it a real struggle? How does she feel about Lou and Murray and Ted now that she no longer sees them on a daily basis -- do they manage to find work at other stations nearby, or are they moving away? What about Mary, is she able to stay in town or move away? How does she feel about that?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly, I'd love to see Mary dealing with some of the issues and big news stories of the 1970s that didn't really get covered on the show. How did Mary feel about black panther coverage, green peace, the vietnam war, three mile island, the gas crunch, etc?
* Crueltide: I would love to see something focusing on Mary's feelings about the rest of the male cast showing interest in her from point to point. Is it awkward to work with Murray or Lou after they've confessed that they have a crush on her? How does Mary manage to ignore that and press on with her work? Do they forget it? Does Mary have to deal with being propositioned by other coworkers? How does she feel about that? And how does she feel when it happens with friends, especially - does it lead to a cooling down of their friendship, or are they able to move past it more easily?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
Favorite ships:Mary/Rhoda, Lou/Rhoda
I really love Rhoda, who is so vivacious and so much in love with life. There's an easy-goingness to Rhoda that I really like and enjoy, and I think it isn't hard to see why Mary would be so taken with her as a friend (or more? I know the show wouldn't go there in the 70s but It Does Make Sense to Me). And yet, despite that easy-going nature and how easy it seems for Rhoda to encourage Mary to fight for what she believes in when Mary she is away, there's a bittersweet to Rhoda: her relationship wit her parents isn't the best, she struggles with views about herself (and tbh, I was stunned to learn that Rhoda is, at points in the show, considered/made fun of for being overweight, which is obviously absolutely fucked up, period, but absolutely disgusting when one is as thin as Valerie Harper) and she struggles with worries that she won't ever amount to anything. It's that dichotomy between being relatively easy-going and then being somewhat negative about herself that I find fascinating about her. It's very interesting to me that the show contrasts Mary and Rhoda's experiences often, and sometimes even highlights how Rhoda has it a lot rougher, working a more blue-collar job and being jewish, which the show points out she is discriminated for in Minneapolis. I've always found her fascinating and I wish I could watch the Rhoda sitcom, which had her get married and divorced in later seasons. I would love to see a post-Divorce AU where Rhoda comes back to Minneapolis, having found and lost love but grown in the process.
* I would love to see something about Rhoda's job. It's hard for me to imagine what Rhoda does as a window dresser and I'd legit love to see what would go into it, especially considering that this would have been during a time when that actually seems to be a fairly large amount of the advertising budget for these places. How did she get into this as a career? Does she see it as a career?
*I would really love to see something about how Rhoda sees Mary's career. Mary is working in a news agency despite not having a lot of qualifications for it, and it's hard not see her career as going anything but well from her. I'd love to see if maybe Rhoda does feel a bit jealous or frustrated about that, and, if so, how that affects their relationship.
*I would love an AU where Rhoda leaves New York and returns to Minneapolis in the latter seasons of the show. How do she and Mary feel, being in their latter 30s/early 40s, and having gone through all that they have? How do they feel about how the world is changing? Has Minneapolis changed, and does it still feel like a town she loves, or does she miss New York and find herself longing to return?
* Yulebuilding: I would really love to see Rhoda and Phyllis' frenemy energy's origins. They seem to already be a bit on the outs before Mary even shows up, and once Mary is there, they very frequently wind up using Mary as a type of peacekeeper between them. Were tihngs always so contentious between them? If so, why so? If this is a recent development, what happened to cause it?
* Yuleporn: Unlike Mary, Rhoda seems to have more issues with her body and her self-esteem, and I would love to see some body worship porn for her with a partner who makes her feel (unexpectedly?) sexy.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I'm always interested in how their relationship seems half-filial, half-collegial, and towards the end of the series even starts to lean towards toward romantic, even going out on a date together in the last season. It seems to fulfill a lot of roles for them both and I'm really interested in seeing how that relationship shifts and changes through time.
Gen Prompts:
* How do Mary and Lou's interest in one another change through time? If they do get into a relationship, does this hurt or help Mary's career?
* What do they do post series, when they're both out of work and looking for a new position, and what sort of shift does that bring to their relationship?
Romantic Prompts:
* How do Mary and Lou's interest in one another change through time? If they do get into a relationship, does this hurt or help Mary's career?Do people whisper she's sleeping with her boss? Does Sue Ann get even more catty about Mary's role in Lou's life? Do Ted or Murray make jokes about it? How do they handle the new and, presumably, unwelcome attention?
* Yuleporn: I'm really fascinated by the silent gen/baby boomer relationship here, especially with how Mary's attitudes about sex are NOT the same at all as Lou's attitudes. A fic that focuses on the differences there -- and how those can clash in their relationship -- could be really interesting. Does Lou want to move things slow, and Mary doesn't understand? Does Mary scandalize him by having more experience than he'd expect? How do they navigate anything like kink, especially in the 1970s?
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really love how Mary and Rhoda have this almost instant friendship, despite the fact that they're very different people! I feel like both push the other out of their shells in some ways: Mary gives Rhoda more confidence in pushing for her new work, and Rhoda helps Mary in her relationships. It's always felt a bit jarring to me that Rhoda's leaving is very, very abrupt on the show, and I always wish we would have seen more on that.
Gen prompts:
* I would love to see the fallout for Mary and Rhoda when Rhoda very abruptly decides she's staying in New York, especially because reading the summary of Rhoda, it sounds like she chose to stay entirely because she wanted to be with a man. It's hard for me to see Mary making the same decision, and hard for me to imagine Mary not being a bit frustrated at having to pick up everything Rhoda might have just left behind. I would love to see the friction this causes: did Mary clean out Rhoda's apartment and pick up her last paycheck? Does Rhoda think Mary is being a bit of a stick in the mud?
* What would have happened had these two ever moved in with one another? Would their very different styles have caused exasperation, or would they work together well? What sort of situations would they get into together?
Romantic prompts:
* I really would love to see the version of this story where Mary and Rhoda wind up falling in love. Not just because I think it would be interesting to see the lesbian love story, or Phyllis' reaction, but also because I think Mary and Rhoda very much compliment one another. How do they get together? Who even broaches the subject? how do they deal with the seventies attitudes re: lesbians?
* I would really love to see these two getting together during a "But there was only one bed!!!!" situation. Maybe they get stuck together during a blizzard and have to hunker down in the house and, well, who else is there to see, Phyllis? Maybe Mary comes to visit Rhoda in New York but oops there's some kind of threat and they have to stay inside? Maybe they get caught in a janitor's closet for two hours at Mary's work and have to talk out their relationship while attempting to lock pick out? Either way, enclosed spaces, no escape from intimacy. :)
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really like how Lou and Rhoda are both sort of interested in the same hobbies and get along well. Lou is about the farthest thing from an artist's soul (and it's clear they don't share any interest in aesthetics), and Rhoda's pretty artistic. Lou's very serious, and Rhoda is generally the sort to deflect with humor. It's easy ot see them as friends or more, despite the age gap, and I'd love something focusing on it.
Gen prompts:
* Lou and Rhoda get really, really into an odd hobby that no one else can understand, for opposite reasons. Why do they get into it? What sort of commentary do they get from the other members of the cast?
* Lou and Rhoda going to a seder together! I can't imagine that it would be anything but non-traditional, but I also think Lou would know a lot of good stories to tell around the table. Whose going to whose family/friends/solo Seder? Who brings the food? Who brings the wine?
Romantic prompts:
* I honestly would really love to see Mary's reaction to Lou and Rhoda dating. Would she be happy about them? Kinda WTF? How would she feel about it? How would they feel about her reaction?
* I would really love to see Lou and Rhoda having a fun night out at the bar. I feel like out of all the cast, they're the two most able to really appreciate having a cosy moment together, and I think Lou would find it romantic to find a woman who could keep up with him in drinks -- even if it wasn't quite something he might have expected.
* Honestly I would love to see something set post-series where, if you pick up Rhoda being divorced from Rhoda, these two hash out for a while on why their marriages ultimately failed.
[Return to Top of Letter]
![]()
I really like these three together, and I kinda love how you have a huge mix of personalities here: Lou, whose very serious and old fashioned, and Rhoda, whose very young and modern, and Mary, who is more similar to Rhoda but not quite so breezy. Rhoda and Lou both have a tendency to pivot to humor when uncomfortable, while Mary gets maudlin -- but on the flip side, Mary seems to be a bit sterner when it comes to her problems than Lou or Rhoda, who both go to Mary for comforting. I really feel like they work as both a friend group and a triad!
Gen prompts:
* Honestly I'd love to see these three hanging out, and how that came about. How do they decide to get together? What sort of event do they go to? Is anyone weirded out by them both going or is everyone comfortable with going together?
* I feel like of all people Lou would struggle the most with this, due to Mary and Rhoda being younger women than he is. How does he handle the fact that it's not a traditional friendly group?
Romantic prompts:
* I feel like with Lou feeling bad for being in a friend group with them both would go double for being in a romantic relationship with them both, even if Mary and Rhoda were both perfectly fine with it. He's so traditional that he can be a stick in the mud soemtimes -- how do they talk him into it? How does he get past worrying if its inappropriate?
* I would love to see Mary or Rhoda's family interacting with these three as a triad. Both of them have rahter complex relationships with their families, and I think it could either go surprisingly well (Mary's father is a great deal older than Mary's mother, after all), or rather terribly -- but either way, I think they'd find strength together as a team.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Thank you for writing for me!
I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create! I consider all prompts optional, but I added some below in case they might be helpful. If you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic on. Please don't feel the need to put every character in here into a story; I generally love every combination of characters I've nominated (or, for fandoms where I've asked for anyone/blank sign-up, I love everyone whose in the tagset)!
Feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. Happy Yuletide!
- 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 / Villain 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
- Eldritch/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 absence 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-Penetrative sex
- Non-verbal communication and quiet intimacy
- Outsider POV
- Penetrative Sex
- Pyrrhic victories
- Physical recovery from injury
- Playing with danger, e.g. 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
- Power play
- Pregnancy, including alien/unusual pregnancy
- Protectiveness
- Redemption being complicated and not easy
- Rule 63/Gender swapping 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/earthquake/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, cloacae, 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)
- A/B/O
- High School/College/Coffee Shop/Mundane AU
- Character Bashing
- Extemely Detailed Descriptions of Gore
- Prepubescent Characters in Sexual Situations
- Scat/Urine/Vomitplay
Likes:
+Genre/Narrative Likes:
+ Favorite Kinks and Tropes:
+ Smut-Specific Likes:
+ Art-Specific Likes:
+Do Not Want:
[Return to Top of Letter]
Fandoms:
A Discovery of Witches Overview:
What is it: A paranormal romance series, based on the All Soul's Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. The show has a wider focus on the world around the lovers, while the book concentrates a lot more on the lovers (as it's wholly in their perspective). I'm absolutely in love with the politics of the show between the supernatural world (Vampires, witches, and daemons) and really love how they've expanded the plot into a much larger, more dangerous world. Also I deeply appreciate that this world is just full of really lovely, deep female characters.
I've only seen Season 1 for now, so my prompts focus mainly on Season 1. But I've read all the books and will have seen Season 2 by the time that yuletide is due, so feel free to involve season 2 plots if you wish. I generally do prefer the modern setting of the first season to the 1600 scenes in the second, but I also love the idea of seeing how someone changes through time.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Fubo and on Amazon Prime airing on AMC.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Juliette Durand:
Favorite Ships: Juliette/Diana Bishop, Domenico/Juliette, Gerbert D'Aurilliac//Juliette, Juliette/Satu, Juliette/Ysabeau
God, I love Juliette. I felt bad for her in the books; I was absolutely devastated for her in the show, where she's given so much more time on screen. She's so, so beautiful and so, so manipulated by these powerful people in her life: forced to be under the thumb of Gerbert, manipulated by Domenico, obsessed forever with Matthew who has long moved on -- there's SO MUCH going on in her mind, and she's never NOT manipulated by someone. Yet, clearly, she craves freedom so badly: the scene of her walking out of the church so triumphant in S1 only to immediately go to her doom because she just can't shake Matthew (or all the conditioning Gerbert did to make her crave Matthew) just makes me so sad and I've always wanted more information on her.
Prompts:
* I would love an AU where Juliette doesn't die, but decides to allow everyone to THINK she's dead. Instead, she goes her own way, or at least tries to - what does that look like? How does she manage to live without Gerbert, Domenico, or Matthew? Does she ever try to find them again? What does her life look like now, and does she like it better?
* I'm also fascinated about her past. How did Juliette become a vampire? How did she feel about becoming a vampire? About Gerbert's training methods? Was she obsessive before Gerbert picked her, or was that a side-effect of her training to be Matthew's ideal? What did that training entail?
* How did things go so sour with Matthew, and what did she do when they did? Is being a vampire in love
with someone who doesn't love you easier than it would be as a human -- or is it worse? How come she can never quite get over him - is that a Vampire Thing, or is that a product of Gerbert's manipulation, or is that a problem made in her own mind?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly, I just want all the world-building on what Juliette's position in the Vampire world really is. She seems to be Gerbert's protegee/charge, given freedom at points ("if she is good") and imprisoned at points, and she clearly is both loyal to Gerbert at times and against him at others. What doe she do in his house? What is her role as his "daughter"? What are the rules of vampire siring and children? Can she leave him? Does she want to? What are the rules/politics of interacting with other vamps - Domenico, Ysabeau, etc?
* Crueltide: What's the point of eternal life if you can't spend it with the person you wish to? How does Juliette handle her break-up with Matthew? Does she still think of them frequently? How does she react to Matthew's (or any other lover's) visibly moving on without her?
* Yuleporn: Juliette's obsessive nature probably makes her a pretty amazing lover. I would love to see a lover's perspective on her, and how they feel about that obsessiveness. Is that something that makes her particularly inventive in bed, or is the lover worried that Juliet will one day spurn them?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Ysabeau de Clermont:
Favorite Ships: Ysabeau/Philippe, Ysabeau/Juliette, Ysabeau/Gerbert D'Aurilliac, Ysabeau/Sarah Bishop, Ysabeau/Emily Mather, Ysabeau/Diana Bishop (or any combination thereof)
Ysabeau is really a wonderful character and I'm so excited to see her in the tagset. First, I find her fascinating in that she became a vampire later in life than most: Ysabeau is that oh-so-rare thing, the female middle/elder-aged vampire. She's been a vampire for a VERY long time and yet the details of how she became a vampire are so traumatic that even with that long lifetime, it's hard to believe that she's moved past it. The fact that she has a bloodlust mutation and yet is incredibly gentle and kind is also very fascinating, and honestly I just want to learn more about her life!
Prompts:
* How does Ysabeau's bloodlust manifest itself? Does she ever fall victim to it while eating animals? How do the other vampires treat her? How does she feel about all their children inheriting her bloodlust?
* I would love to see something about Ysabeau's politics. It seems like a lot of her is trying to take a backseat to the men in her family: Phillipe, Matthew, Baldwin -- but she's been alive a long time and surely isn't someone to hesitate about her opinions, and I would love to see her playing the congregation games. How would canon be different if it wasn't Matthew/Baldwin bickering with the Congregation and instead had Ysabeau in the main role? Would her bloodlust cause issues?
* I would love to see something about how she feels about the passage of time; she's been alive for a very long time, and life has changed a lot since the 500s. How does she feel about how things have changed? Has the modern world made it harder to be a vampire hunting for her meals? How does she feel about 20th century innovations like the radio, the television, the internet? How does she feel about how her fellow vampires have changed in that time?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly I just want all the details about Ysabeau's human/early vampire life. How did she get turned into a vampire? How did she come into her own as a vampiress? How did she and Phillip wind up in France, and why did they choose Sept-Tours? How does the community around Sept Tours view the mysterious lady of the castle who literally never seems to age?
* Yuleporn: Ysabeau can't stand not being in control; a lover shows her how it can be pleasurable to give up control, at least for one night.
* IF: I would love to see a couple alternate versions of what might have happened had Ysabeau gone down an alternate path in her life. She has lived so long and made so many vital chocies: what would the modern day look likle if Ysabeau had not married Phillip; if Ysabeau had surrendered to her bloodlust; if Ysabeau had not backed Matthew at some point or another, etc?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Juliette & Ysabeau
I really like the idea of these two getting to meet. Both I think have similar stories -- being saved from a dark fate, either by Gerbert or by Phillip. What turns this sinister, of course, is that Gerbert's rescue really wasn't much of a rescue at all, and Juliette remains trapped by him in a way that Ysabeau does not remained trapped by Phillip. I feel like of all the main characters, Ysabeau would understand Juliette's madness best; there but for the grace of god, of course, went she. I wish they had gotten a chance to interact in canon, but it was not to be.
Gen prompts:
* I'm absolutely fascinated by the idea of Ysabeau rescuing Juliette from her origin story (in the books, in a Cairo brothel, but feel free to change if you'd like). If she had avoided being rescued by Gerbert, had been instead rescued by someone kind and compassionate - and with her vampire children Ysabeau is certainly both kind and compassionate - what would a modern day Juliette look like? How would Ysabeau take her under her wing? How would she feel about her new "daughteR" as she grew as a vampire?
* I really, really wish we got to see these two meet in canon. Maybe Juliette goes to Sept Tours to find Matthew after ditching Gerbert but finds Ysabeau instead? How do they feel about one another? How do they react around one another? Ysabeau has a line in S2 where she mocks Gerbert, asking what he knows of love. What would Ysabeau say to Juliette, who has been so mixed up by the men in her life? Does Ysabeau have pity on Juliette? If so, how does she show it? Are there limits to what she would tell her due to her love for Matthew, and, if so, what would they be?
Romance Prompts:
* I really would love to see a fic where Juliette finds herself following Ysabeau (pre or post-Matthew) instead of staying with Gerbert. She seems like someone who has a bit of a yearning to be loved//to belong, and while Gerbert is quite eager to use this to manipulate Juliette, I feel like Ysabeau would actually be more of the family/lover that Juliette wanted. How would they fall in love? Both of them have known wickedness and loss and manipulation and both have potentially loved and lost too. Also, given how small the vampire clans are, is it weird to wind up dating the mother of the person you were made into a spy for? If there's conflict there, how does it play out?
* One thing that is always fascinating to me about the vampires in Discover of witches is the fact that when they feed, they can see the memories of the person they're feeding on and focus on their own memories (see: Gerbert sucking Juliette's blood in S1E3-ish; Juliette preying on the tourist and thinking of her Matthew in S1E2). I would LOVE to see this being done romantically; vampires feeding on one another to see memories of the past. I feel like this would be particularly useful to Juliette/Ysabeau, who have been in some pretty traumatic events over their incredibly long lives that they would have difficulty sharing with one another.
* Crueltide: Honestly I would love to see an AU where Matthew was killed at some point (with Phillip in WW2?) and these two become a BAMF vampire revenge team in their own right, one that's capable of great justice...and sometimes, some injustices as well. I'd love to see what Juliette's savagery and Ysabeau's bloodlust would look like together: what sort of feedings would they have? Would they able to keep their victims on the downlow or would htey leave a trail of dead witches (and humans?) across the continent/world?
* Yuleporn: I feel like these two have a longing for intimacy and, also, a hesitancy towards being in love with someone. I would love to see them confronting that and getting into bed together and discovering a way to re-learn to enjoy intimacy again.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hadestown Overview:
What is it: A folk-jazz musical that re-tells the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice in a semi-modern style, with a twist. Departs heavily from classical mythology in that Hades and Persephone (and Eurydice) are given much stronger characterizations in this than they have in the classical version of these stories. In this version, Hades and Persephone are a very long-term couple whose marriage is on the rocks, with world-wide consequences spilling out from it, not least of which is climate change!
Where can I find it: On Broadway and heading across the USA on tour! You can listen to the OBCR of the latest version here. There have been previous versions of the show have also been released, with minor differences: there’s a concept alblum here, and the New York Theater Workshop version had a (truncated, but still good) OCR you can find here. (I’ve listed the YouTube versions since not everyone has access to Apple Music/Spotify/Google Play, but it should be available on pretty much every platform.)
Which version of the cast/show I prefer: I like every version! I don't think there's a single cast here that hasn't killed it, so please feel free to mix and match or make the characters your own original interpretations.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Eurydice:
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Hades, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Eurydice/Persephone, post-turn Eurydice/Orpheus
I absolutely adore Eurydice. I think what I'm most fascinated by with Eurydice is that she is unquestionably a victim in a lot of ways -- victim to Hades' and Persephone's whims, victim to the Fates, to the winds, to Orpheus' neglect, to starvation -- but she's never JUST a victim. Eurydice makes the best decision she can at the time she has to make it, and she makes the choice most of us would. She's smart and she's capable and she doesn't deserve her fate, ground underneath the heel of poverty, of the whims of gods and men. I really love how Anais Mitchell centers Eurydice as the main character here and the main tragedic figure: it isn't Orpheus who has to deal with being left behind, it's Eurydice.
Prompts:
* I really want to know what happened to Eurydice post-canon and this and the prompt below are both focused on that. There's two ways I think to interpret the ending, and the one I want to focus on here is the time loop ending. Is it truly a time loop? If so, what does Eurydice having the flower signify? Does it work out this time? Is there something different? Is Eurydice aware they're in the time loop and if so, how does she change her behavior? Does she get out this time? If so, why so? Or why not?
* Again, I'm really curious about the ending, but this time I want the ending where Eurydice is doomed to stay in the underworld, and the second couple on top may resemble Eurydice and Orpheus but they are a different mortal couple and not our Eurydice and our Orpheus. If she is trapped in the underworld, what does Hades do with her? Does he take it out on her that her lover failed, or does he understand perhaps better than most her predicament? How does Persephone treat her, when she is there? How does Hermes react to her? Does Orpheus ever find his way back to her, and if so, how does she feel about it?
* I'd also love to see a bit of Eurydice before she got mixed up in the word of gods. She's a runaway - what is she running from? Why did she run? When she fell for Orpheus "in spite of herself" - what has she walked away from in the past? Or who?
* Yulebuilding: I'd love a focus on Eurydice's roll as a worker in Hadestown. What is life like for a worker? Is she alive? Is she dead? Somewhere in-between? What does the workday look like? Do they get sleep or food or is it constant work and, if so, how does that feel?
* Crueltide: One of the other charaters in this tale confronts Eurydice after Orpheus re-dooms her to the underworld. She seeks comfort from them, but their response is not something that she expects.
* Yuleporn: Honestly Eurydice is just so small and I really want to see size kink between her and Hades and/or and Persephone. What is it like to be a mortal with a god (or two)?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hades:
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Hades, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Hades/Persephone
Hades is fascinating to me because he is such a powerful man (almighty Mr. Hades, the King of the Mines) and yet he is so obviously very insecure about everything that matters most to him. Hades tries to draw power to himself, but in doing so, he only manages to make himself look weaker, and alienates his wife on top of it all. He’s so obviously unable to communicate with Persephone well, but he goes to crazy lengths to try to recapture his wife’s attention – even trying to make his realm look more like his wife’s up-top world, but what he replicates is so obviously what she hates. I’d love to see something that really gets in deep in Hades’ psyche; I don’t have problems if what’s in there is particularly ugly, either, given that it’s pretty obvious in the show that Hades has a lot of issues.
Prompts:
* Hades handling the summer while Persephone isn’t there, pre-canon. What does he do when he’s down below, and she’s up above? Do they have any kind of communication at all? What sort of tasks does he do to fill his days? Does he have much connection with the mortal world at all? Does his behavior during the time she isn’t there change post-Hadestown development?
* How does Hades’ relationship with his realm (and/or other people) change, post-Hadestown? He seems to be a changed man, but is it only for a moment, or does he actually try to change? Post-Rebellion, what does he do with the workers? Does he “send them to the great beyond” as he threatened to do with Orpheus, or does he try to work with them to make their existence in Hadestown more bearable? Or does he simply tear the whole place down? Or is the musical is a straight reboot at the end, with Hades and Persephone forgetting their love as soon as they’ve been reminded of it, without a chance to so much as try (and if so, who is constantly rearranging this loop)?
*One aspect of Hades' character that I am eternally fascinated by is how he casts himself into a fatherly role with his workers, who he calls his children. Does Hades long to be a father? Is he one, through Persephone or someone else? Why does he choose to be referred to as a father, and his workers as his children? If he found a child, would he wind up wanting to adopt it – and what would raising a human child be like for a God? Would that help his marriage, or harm it? Can he or Persephone not have children biologically? Or is his making himself a father figure all just a manipulation game, a way to try to take advantage of people who might want a father figure so badly they’d lean into his desires? How does any of this reflect upon his own relationship with his father (whether you go by an original Hadestown version or the straight mythological version, both are good!)?
* Yulebuilding: I would love to know how the titanmachia played out in the Hadestown universe. What did Hades do to become the king of the underworld? How does he feel about the position he's been placed in? What role does he feel like he plays? How does he feel about the underworld, and how much responsibility does he have for the system that it has?
* Crueltide: Hades can’t break the cycle, but he sure does try. What leads to him giving in and grabbing Persephone early again? How disappointed is she? Can/does he ever mess up to the point where the key players in the cycle decide he’s not worth/impossible to save
* IF: For all Hadestown requests, I'd love to see some exploration of the time-reset idea, where the play resets at the end to essentially replay the beginning, with only Hermes and the Fates really remembering what has happened. How do these resets happen? How does Hades deal with them? Can he break the cycle, and if so, how? I'd love to see some exploration of this repeating-of-a-story, especially if there's any deja vu, or explorations of why they feel the need to take the steps they do.
* Yuleporn: Hades and his office and the things that happen behind closed doors, with either
Eurydice or Persephone. I just want some straight-up office porn here; kinking on getting Hades distracted from his work is just a bonus.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Persephone:
Favorite Ships: Eurydice/Persephone, Eurydice/Hades/Persephone, Hades/Persephone
It would have been easy to have Persephone as a background character given the conflict between Hades, Orpheus, and Eurydice (indeed, many versions of this myth write Persephone out!) – Hadestown shows why doing that would be a mistake. Persephone is, I think, the real heart and soul of the show: she’s sympathetic to every character, but she is a complex woman in her own right, and while she might not be happy in her marriage, she’s never a victim. I’m deeply in love with Persephone’s seemingly endless capacity for kindness – interceding on Eurydice’s behalf, after her husband has just taunted her with the girl is a kindness beyond kind – but that capacity is one that’s mixed with her very sharp tongue, and one that she doesn’t hesitate to unleash on people she loves. She’s a woman full of contradictions, basically, is what I’m saying, but what else would she be, goddess of both life and death itself?
Prompts:
* Persephone’s role in Hadestown! How did her husband try to get her involved in his mad idea? She clearly hates it but she’s also the one who offers the workers a brief moment of remembered happiness at her speakeasy. And yet, also, like Hades, she isn’t offering those brief memories of the upside for nothing. What role does she have in Hadestown, in or outside of the speakeasy? Is this role something Hades insists upon her doing, or is it a creation all her own?
* Persephone’s gone half the year, and we know Hades suffers for it, but does Persephone? Does she have a hard time adjusting to living (it) up on top, or is that where she prefers to be? Does Persephone only put up with the Underworld for her husband? Or does she/did she, at some point, truly love it? Does she ever want to stop traveling between them, or is she perfectly happy to do so for eternity, regardless of her husband’s grousing?
* Crueltide: Persephone loves her mom/Hades/Hermes, but she might love the bottle more, and her reliance on chemicals has disastrous effects on her personal life. I'd love to see one moment where Persephone choose the drink over her friends/family/lover, and what the fallout was.
* Yulebuilding: Persephone's role in Hadestown! How does she feel about her role there? Hades seems to clearly expect her to be at his "Why do we Build the Wall" rally and her appearance is not optional. It seems clear to me that he has to rely on her somewhat to support him in hopes of his workers supporting him. How does she feel about that? What is her "job "there", if she has one?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Eurydice and Hades:
I really love Eurydice and Hades interacting; I think they're very much of the same sort of mind, both very practical-minded, to such a ruthless degree. Both of them are in love with people that are dreamers at best and a bit impractical for them at worst: Seph and her half-a-year sojourn away, Orpheus and his obsession with his song. And yet, neither can quite shake the practical needs for the sake of their dream lovers, and both struggle with being unhappy in their relationships as a result of it.
Gen prompts:
* I would really love to see a scene of what happens right after Orpheus fails and Eurydice goes back to Hadestown. We see this happen without Eurydice being collected by anyone, so how does she wind up back there? Does Hades see her when she comes back, and if so, how does he react? What does he do to her? Does he keep her nearby, or bury her deep in the mines/mills?
* I would love to see these two go through a sort of boss/employee (possibly lovers?) to enemies to friends??? sort of relationship. Hades uses Eurydice as a pawn for his wife, and then as a prize for Orpheus; Eurydice is bound to hold it against him. But the funny thing is, well, they're in hell, and if there's one person who understands missing and resenting a lover who isn't there, well -- he's the king of it. But how on earth do Hades and Eurydice find their way past the resentment? Does Hades ever acknowledge he did her a bad turn? Does Eurydice come to forgive him, whether or not he apologizes? What sort of things do they do, as friends?
Romantic prompts:
* I would love to see Hades + Eurydice having a long-term affair, but only in the summers. Maybe she's doing it because she needs the shelter, down there; maybe when she's with him, she can remember more of the man she lost than she would otherwise (or maybe it's the opposite: Hades' hands on her make her forget Orpheus, at least for a little while). I don't know if either of them are exactly happy, because, well, they are in Hades, but I do think in a way, it helps. What sort of comforts do they take in one another? Do either of them feel guilty? Do they ever swear it off, then wind up together again? Is it more emotional as an affair or more physical?
* I would love to see Eurydice scheme to get revenge on Hades, post-canon, for ruining her chances. She decides to take him down by preying on him where he's weakest: his loneliness. Maybe she isn't happy, and maybe she'll never get happy ending...but maybe that doesn't matter, because with her whispering in his ear, seducing him in his weakest moments, well...maybe he won't get his either.
* Yuleporn: Honestly, I really would love to a character study on what Eurydice thinsk its like to have sex with a God. Is it an unnerving experience? Rather fun? Both and neither? What is otherworldly about him? How does he feel about this little mortal girl, come to seek his office and his pleasures?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Eurydice and Persephone:
I really love how these two get along so well in act 1, each complimenting the other and dancing together! Persephone offering her advice, and Eurydice getting the courage (and possibly a literal push) into dating Orpheus. And then woof, does it come crashing down in act 2. Does it EVER. I absolutely love the idea of these two and the contrast between those two things: the easy friendship, the rock-and-a-hard-place dilemnas, and the not-so-easy possibilities for what happens after the show ends.
Gen prompts:
* I really like the idea of the show as a time-loop, constantly repeating the same events, hoping that it might turn out better this time. But if that is the case, then how many times have Persephone and Eurydice met? Does Persephone or Eurydice ever smarten up to the cyclical natural of their meetings? If so, how do they react to that? Are either of them horrified at how many times they've met without quite realizing it before?
* I also really like the idea of Persephone trying to help Eurydice, post-canon. Is it Persephone who starts the seasons happening again? Why does Persephone help her? How does she get her out of Hadestown, and does she need to sneak it past Hades, or does he allow her to take her? How does Eurydice feel about the goddess offering to help her -- can she trust her? And if so, does Eurydice feel like she can trust Persephone? Does Eurydice want to come back to life -- or is that even an option? What dose the flower that she gets at the very end of the show meant to mean, in this case?
Romantic prompts:
* I really love the idea of Eurydice and Persephone finding comfort in her, especially in a darker sort of future where Hades and Persephone never quite get back together, and Eurydice and Orpheus -- well. Sure, it's a big of a strange bedfellows situation, but the world is full of strange bedfellows and frankly there's worse people to fall in love with. Eurydice reminds me of Hades in a lot of ways -- she's got that same knife-edged practicality, the hunger to become more than she is, the desperation to hold someone but the simultaneous discomfort at having your soul sitting in someone else's hands. I can't help but think Persephone would see Hades' best traits in Eurydice, and Eurydice I think would like the idea of Persephone being such a romantic; she's not Orpheus, but she's got that same sort of spirit. What would their relationship be like? Would it be an affair or would Seph leave Hades outright for her? How would their relationship start?
* Eurydice seems to be someone who is very practical; I can see her trying to get Persephone to turn to her side, to try to get some protection in the underworld. What if that plan goes a little better than expected, and Persephone winds up falling in love with her? How would Eurydice feel about that? How would Persephone feel, if she finds out later that Eurydice was attempting to use her?
* Yuleporn: Persephone is the goddes of plenty, and I'd love to see explored with orgasms. Just Persephone showing Eurydice who makes the summer sun shine bright, if you know what I mean. I'd also like the same thing I asked for with Hades, which is: what is it like, to be a mortal human, in love/lust with a god?
* Crueltide: What is it like to fall in love with a dead shade? I would love to see some focus on what it's like to love someone who is just a soul? Is it different from loving a god, and if so, how?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hades & Persephone:
I love them, but these two are so complicated. Are they constantly going in cycles of in love/not in love or is their estrangement a very recent development? How does a relationship evolve when Hades and Persephone have known one another for the vast majority of, if not the entirety of their lives, and those lives span millenniums?
Prompts:
* Give them a baby. Pre-canon, post-canon, somehow during canon; adopted little child or Persephone (or, hell, Hades) getting knocked up and winding up having a baby or child or even surly teen to take care of while still dealing with their thousands of issues: yes! I just – I want to see them with a child, and I am not picky. I just want to see what happens to Hades and Persephone when they have to put a new person ahead of all their bullshit (and they have a lot of bullshit to sort through), and how they’d struggle with that. Maybe Hades winds up getting a child/young teen sent down to Hadestown in hopes of a better life and doesn’t have the heart to put the kid on the line (or Persephone stops him)? Persephone and Hades have unprotected sex and Persephone realizes, one summer day, that she’s pregnant? (And if so, oh lord, how does she tell him? Does she tell him?) What’s her pregnancy like, are either of them happy about this baby, does Persephone’s alcoholism become a problem? Just...give them a baby. No matter what scenario you make around it, I swear I will 1000% be into it. This is possibly my favorite trope and I am SO into it.
* Post canon, I’d love to read something about how they try to work things out, whether it’s another go-around in a time-loop where they keep making the same mistakes or, if things don’t reset post-canon, how these two manage, picking up the pieces of their fragile love and trying to fall in love again. How do they act around one another? Do things change? If so, what things? Do they ever fall back on their sniping and if so, how do they feel – is there a sense it’s inevitable, or is one or the other deeply hurt the other has backslid?
* Crueltide: Even when its bad, its better than being alone. Or Hades and Persephone sniping and grousing and generally being really awful about one another, but being 100% unable to and unwilling to cut the thread and find another person (for good) because they are still in love, even if they are 100% wretched to one another.
* Yulebuilding: I want so much worldbuilding about how the time-loop works for them in that interpretation of the ending. Are Hades and Persephone aware of the loop at all? If so, why do they consent to go through what has to be a rather painful period in their lives, over and over again? If they don't remember the events of the previous cycle, do they ever get deju vu or the like they've been through this before? Are there symptoms they have of continually messing up time that they might realize/might not realize, and what might those symptoms be?
* Yuleporn: Honestly I want all kinds of explicit fic for these two. First-time sex where they’re both guarded and getting to know one another? Bad year sex where they use sex to avoid talking to one another? Post-Hadestown sex, where they both are relearning one another's bodies? Persephone domming the shit out of him, or him doing that to her? Messing around on the train? Historical clothes porn set somewhere between the dawn of time and Hadestown? All BIG yesses.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hades & Eurydice & Persephone:
Oh man I love these there so much. I feel like with canon there's so much of an opportunity here for ANGST and MISUNDERSTANDINGS and glorious, glorious sexy power struggles. I love them as friends/frenemies/enemies and I love them as a triad as well. There's just so many interesting dynamics here: Hades balancing his long-loved wife with this new girl, and struggling with his own control issues with both; Eurydice uneasily caught between two gods (and, perhaps, three people, if you include Orpheus); Persephone, here with someone who is both her lover and her competition whenever she is away. There's so much here with these three for things to go so well -- and for things to go really, really bad.
Gen prompts:
* I would really love to see what fall looks like when Persephone returns after Orpheus turns around and Eurydice is back in the underworld. She has to have learned at that point that Orpheus and Eurydice didn't make it -- or did she not learn that, somehow? How does she react to seeing Eurydice down there? what is Eurydice doing? What is Hades doing? Do they decide to keep the girl, or let her go? Are there emotions that get involved here, misunderstandings, or memories that wind up causing turmoil? OR do things settle back into a similar status quo to what they were -- except, of course, for the presence of Eurydice?
* Hades and Persephone navigate a truce that allows Eurydice to keep her memories, but it has unexpected consequences. How do they do this? What might the consequences be? Do those consequences wind up hurting Eurydice, or hurting the gods? Is it really a mercy to keep your memories in death, or does Eurydice wind up hating this "gift"?
Romantic prompts:
* I would love to see how Eurydice would deal with the fact that Hades and Persephone have thousands of years of history that she will never get to learn or experience. I think its always hard as being part of a triad with a married pair in terms of the fact that they will always have a life that doesn't include you, but I imagine that goes double when someone has been married as long as Hades and Persephone and perhaps triple when you have a couple who is SO caught up in each other as Hades and Persephone are. How does Eurydice feel, being the relative newcomer here? Do Hades and Persephone try to usher her into their emotional side of their marriage, or are they more interested in just playing with her physically? Or does one open up emotional support for her, and the other does not? And if so, is there conflict there?
* I really am curious about an outside perspective seeing Eurydice in a triad with these two. Maybe Orpheus, once Orpheus inevitably returns to the underworld as a shade? Does he still recognize the woman he loved and left behind? Does he think she is happy? Maybe the Fates -- do they see her as adding balance to a fraught relationship, or is she just one more trial for Hades and Seph to pass? If the workers, are they jealous of Eurydice? Do they see themselves in her? How do they feel about Hades and Persephone and their interest in this girl? If Hermes, how does he feel about seeing the woman he tried to help Orpheus save up with Hades and Persephone on the veranda? Does he still see her as a hungry young girl? Does he ever try to talk to her about Orpheus?
* Yuleporn: I really want to see an AU where Hades still lures Eurydice down to the underworld, but the plot twist is that she is a present for his bisexual wife. How does Persephone react to this "gift", given willingly both by her husband and by Eurydice? How does Eurydice feel about the possibility of fucking one or both of them? Is Hades content to watch Persephone enjoy her "present", or does he also want in? If so, how do they navigate what is allowable for Eurydice to do, and what is an action that is meant solely for the husband/wife of the pair?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hadestown Worldbuilding:
I'm just in love with the world of Hadestown. There's nothing about it that I don't love, really, or want to see more. I'd really love to see other Greek myths set in the Hadestown sort of "don't ask where, brother, don't ask when" sort of Americana-flavored setting.
* Please give me ALL the retellings of any classical myth. I really love how the Hadestown canon tells the classical story but adds all these modern sorts of interpretations and contrasts: Hades, king of not just the dead but the worked-to-death; Persephone, queen of flowers and queen of poisons, alcohol, and wine too; Eurydice, victim and active participant both; Orpheus, too full of faith and yet all too doubtful. I would love, love, LOVE to see this applied to any other classical story (take your pick, I love everything).
* I would also love to see any further fleshing out of this world without incorporating more Greek mythology into it: how do Hades and Persephone's seasonal powers work? What was the world like before they got together? What are the other gods doing while Hades and Persephone are inadvertently causing climate change? What is life like on the surface? What is like for people who go down to Hadestown? Is the whole underworld Hadestown or is it just a part? What happened to the other heroes who happened to travel down to the underworld?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hercules Overview:
What is it: Disney's stylized, gospelized, and bowdlerized version of the Hercules story. The characters here are so far removed from Greek mythology that they're pretty much their own thing, and I love what they are. You've got embittered used car salesman Hades, and he's coming here with some serious divorced dad energy. You've got Meg, who is pretty much my favorite disney heroine because she's both deeply practical and absolutely has to be dragged kicking and screaming into love. And you've got a really nice soundtrack, with a vivid and lovely color story - I feel like the character designs in particular are quite lovely.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Disney+ and on a million puffy-sleeved VHS tapes at your local thrift shop.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hercules - Hades:
Favorite Ships: Hades/Meg, Hades/Hercules/Meg
Oh, I really love this Hades. Yes, he's absolutely NOTHING like the Hades of mythology, but to be honest I love how much this Hades seems to fit the classical story. He's mean as hell and mad as hell that he's been passed over what he thinks he deserves and he has never forgotten the slight of being sent to the underworld. I love how bitter he is and how capable he is in terms of getting his plans 90% complete...only to wind up hoisted by his own petard! Honestly I think he's really fun, and I'm especially interested in what happens to him post-canon.
Prompts:
* I would love to see Hades' origin story here. How did he wind up in the underworld, and why is he so very bitter against the rest of his family? Oddly, why do they not they not seem to be upset with Hades? There's such a dynamic there that I'd be really curious when it started. Are they playing dumb to piss him off further? Has he just always been such a shit show that it's honestly hard to tell that he's actually serious?
* Hades relationship with Meg is so very interesting to me because I can see them as very similar characters. Hades is so bitter and has is unhappy with where he is in life; Meg's clearly had her heart broken before and has opted to live a life based purely on financial obligations, even though she clearly still has emotions that she doesn't allow herself to feel. I'd love to hear about if Meg or Hades influences the other: Does Meg help prove to Hades that he's going about things the right way? Does Meg waiver in her conviction when she sees how deeply unhappy Hades is?
* I would really love to know what happens to Hades post-canon. He's a god, he can't be killed; he will probably get out of the soul-puddle trying to drown him eventually. His main competition chooses to remain mortal and thus eventually falls under his own realm. What Hades does have to do is pick up the pieces, and try to forge either a way to go forward with his plan or a way to make amends after all that he's done. What happens to him? Is there political fall-out from his coup attempt? If not, how does he feel about the fact he's basically stuck in the same place?
* Yulebuilding: I'm absolutely curious about what Hades does as part of his job. What does it mean to be the king of the Underworld in this world? What are his duties? Why does he resent being a king so much? How does he wind up with minions, and what are the minions supposed to do?
* Crueltide: Look, I really want a villain-victorious fic where Hades finally gets everything he wants, he's the king of Olympus, and....then he's not happy. There's all these humans??? and their prayers??? and it's very obnoxious, and also he doesn't like the new minions, and the sun is too bright, and -- and maybe he's no less trapped in his success than he was in his failure. What do you do when you're a god, and your greatest victory just rang bitterly hollow?
* Yuleporn: Hades is gigantic and kind of monstrous in his looks. I really love monstrous lovers + size kink. Please feel free to make him even more eldritch and weird; I like that too. What does it look like when someone winds up in bed with this King of the Dead? ...Does he keep with the puns and the wisecracking?
*IF: I would really love to see an IF of one of Hades' big deals. He seems to try to make a lot of wheeling and dealing, and it doesn't seem to always feel exactly like the people who deal with him get what they want. What sort of deals could you make with the king of the dead? What sort of bad (or good?) ends might come of it?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hercules - Megara:
Favorite Ships: Hades/Megara, Hades/Hercules/Megara
Meg's one of my favorite Disney heroines: she's smart and sassy and sensual and yet it's very clear that she's been hurt before and that she struggles to not get hurt again. There's a vulnerability to her I find absolutely fascinating and I would love to read more with her. I feel like she's the only Disney heroine who really gets to flirt with the dark side, so to speak, and this adds more fascination to me, because it's very rare to have a potential villain who looks into the abyss and actually walks back. I would really love to see something that goes into how she feels about this choice: does she come to believe she made the right choice with Hercules, years down the line? Or, like her mythological counterpart, is she left to realize that maybe she had it right the first time, when she didn't want to bring emotions into her life?
A note on spin-offs: I'm aware that there is a Hercules animated cartoon that came out around the time the movie did for a couple seasons; I've never seen it and know little about it beyond that it existed, it somehow takes place in the same time frame as the movie (how?), and it memorably had a villian team-up with Jafar in the underworld. If you want to bring in references to or borrow plots from this, however, feel free!
I just found out there's a spin-off book as well; again, I haven't read it, but if you want to add in elements, feel free. :)
Prompts:
* I would love to know what happens to Meg, post-canon. I can't see her as being content to just be Hercule's little wife at home, so what is she doing while he's off on his adventures? Does she go with him? Does she have her own job? If so, what's she doing?
* I really like her interacting with Hades, whether romantically or gen. They're so similar to one another and I'd really love to see Meg's point of view on this god. He's got way more power than her, and yet he's kind of pathetic, and both of them are clearly unhappy. Does seeing how Hades treats his position give Meg some inspiration on how to live her life? Does she envy that he has wealth and stability in a way she never will?
* I really want to know what happens to Meg and Hercules after they eventually lead a happy life together and pass on into the next world. This has fascinated me from the first time that I saw this movie and I still want to know what happens. Hades and Hercules and MEg don't exactly leave things on a good note so uh - what happens next? How do they resolve that? Can you make a bargain with the god of death, or is Hades going to be giving them stupid tasks for eternity? Does Hades use them against one another for his own amusement?
* Yulebuilding: I would love to know Meg's origin story! Where is she from, what's her family life like? How did she wind up getting so hurt? Has she ever been in love before Hercules? How do people treat her, post-canon, as the girlfriend/wife of Hercules, a pretty famous hero with a pretty large merchandise line?
* Crueltide: This is terrible but if Meg were to suffer the same fate as her mythological counterpart (torn apart by Hercules due to a madness inflicted upon him by another God) -- how does her shade feel at the end of all that? Does Hades rib her about it? Does she wind up back in his employ? Does she feel madness at her, or just sadness that things have ended the way they have? Does she have any peace? I'd prefer less focus on her getting ripped apart and more focus on just how you move on from such shocking cruelty...especially when, really, the person who did wasn't even in control of themselves.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hercules - Hades & Megara:
I really love the idea of Hades and Meg both being burned by past events and finding solace in one another. They're also both champion sass masters, so I would love to see these two become unlikely friends due to it, either as an AU to what actually happens in the movie or as an AU that happens later in time (post Meg's death?). I feel like she's got spunk, and he'd appreciate that, and even understand her better than most due to their similar backgrounds.
Gen prompts:
* I really love the idea of Hades recruiting Meg to work for him in the underworld before she met Herc. How would this have changed Meg's development? Would she have felt less compunction to protect Hercules? What sort of schmoozing would she have done? Would he ever think of her as competition for his throne? What sort of rewards would he have given her, had his scheme to take over everything have worked?
* Hades introduces Meg to Cerberus and some of the other underworld creatures. How does she react? Does she love the animals down there, or is she frightened? Does she earn his respect through her adoption of the supernatural, or is he a little stunned to see her taking to it so well? What about Pain and Panic? The Fates?
Romantic prompts:
* I really love the idea of these two being incredibly bitter but finding solace in one another. I feel like post-canon Hades is so cut out of Olympian society that he probably doesn't get much company among the gods, and the mortals - well, big woop. Everyone who comes to him is a stiff, anyway. But Meg, especially a Meg who dies post-Hercules (especially a Meg who dies as the mythologial Meg did) - well, she's got spunk. She's still got a spark of life to her. And if she's mad as hell at the world, well, who else knows that feeling better? I don't see romance really being on either of their minds but I can see it as something that creeps up on, and maybe surprises, both of them. How does it happen? How do they feel about it?
* Given that they've both been burned before, I think they're both very wary and slow to trust as people.
And their similar constant deflections from vulnerability with humor is a deterrent from getting clsoe to anyone. How do they manage to get past that to form a connection? Is the connection between them physical, or emotional, or something else?
* Yuleporn: I'm eternally curious about fictional depictions of mortals having sex with a god, and here I think it would be even more difficult due to Hades' somewhat less human portrayal here. What is it like to be intimidate with a being that is so far beyond mortal understanding? How do you navigate Hades'....frankly disastrously sharp mouth (in both meanings of the word)? How do you deal with the fact he's sooooo much bigger than she is? Can he change his form at all to suit her or is this going to be a constant uh, stretch? And how do you deal with the fact he seemingly never shuts his mouth?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Lore Olympus Overview:
What is it: A soap opera on mythological steroids about Persephone, who makes a few bad choices and spends a lot of time getting cornered about them. It has a lot of fun world building, including the underworld and mount olympus being in roughly a modern-ish AU while the human world is in the ancient greek era. It's really quite fun, completely outlandish, and always stylish.
Where can I find it: On Webtoon, for free. Season 1 will be published in book form in November.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Minthe:
Favorite Ships: Hades/Minthe, Hera/Minthe, Hermes/Minthe, Minthe/Persephone, Minthe/Themis, Minthe/Thanatos
Minthe is one of my favorite characters. She's so complex! I feel for her, because I think how the fandom approaches her is kinda dodgy: she's this girl who was struggling to get ahead, only to have this Prince Charming drop into her lap, and provide her with a job, with clothes, with an apartment, with whatever she wanted -- as long as she was with him. And I think so much of what we see of Minthe is her struggling with basically having to be a sugar baby for this guy, who is a guy who she likes but also is a guy who has power over literally everything about her life: where she lives, where she works, and what she does in her free time. It's easy to see where she would resent him for this and try to exert her own power, which mostly manifests in her being at his beck and call. Once they both kind of resent one another, they've grown apart, there's no easy way for Minthe to extract herself, and I think she's really in a rough situation at the start of the comic. I would really love to see a more sympathetic look at Minthe -- not to erase some of her bad deeds, because girl did legit slap up her bf while calling him the rebirth of his incredibly abusive father -- but to look at her with an eye that's more sympathetic of the fact that's she's made a deal with the devil, and it turns out the devil is nice and all, but he's still holding all her strings -- and, oh yeah, the younger, higher-class intern is all over the man who pays her rent, evaluates her job, etc, and Minthe
isn't wrong to perceive her as a threat...
Prompts:
* I really would love to see a fic absolutely focused on Minthe's slow growing horror that she literally can't get away from Hades: can't make rent without his money, can't get a new job without anyone talking to her boss, can't even talk to her friends without them being like "tell us about your boyfriieennd." How does she deal with the fact that she likes Hades, but she doesn't love him, and she doesn't know how to unwind their lives from one another?
* I would also love to see Minthe's view of the underworld as a whole. Was she born in the underworld? Does she ever get envious of Themis who gets to work on Olympus? Where did she come from? What's her family life like? What sort of jobs has she had in the underworld? How did she meet Themis, anyway? Or Thanatos?
* (SEASON 2 SPOILERS) I would love to see Minthe's struggle to adapt to being a plant. Does she like being a plant or is she horrified at being reliant on Hades and Persephone (or Themis or Hekate or Demeter or whoever) for care? Does she have family out there who need to know about her predicament and what do they think? What's life like, for a plant? Does she still have her human (nymph?) senses?
*Yulebuilding: There's a panel early on where Hera is trash talking Minthe and believes nymphs aren't good enough for the gods. Is this a common attitude among gods? Why are nymphs so looked down upon? Is this part of why Minthe did not want to become queen?
*Yuleporn: Her need is to be in control, and I'd love to see her take that out on someone and fem-dom them. Teaching Persephone her place as the intern? Reminding Hades it's her who holds the strings? Getting back at Hera for calling her nymph trash? She isn't always nice and she's in free-fall a lot when it comes to her emotional situation so I'd love to see her just take absolute control and not allow the other person to do anything that isn't on her say-so.
* IF: I would love to see a bit about Minthe in her plant form. What is she thinking? What is she observing? Is there any way for her to regain her nymph form? If so, how do you do that? Is she happy doing that?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hera:
Favorite Ships: Hera/Hades, Minthe, Hera/Persephone
Hera's always been one of my favorites and I love how Lore Olympus presents her: she's not perfect, but she's got her positive sides. I love how powerful she is and how she's living sort of this hellish version of a happily-ever-after, with a husband all too willing to fuck pretty much anyone else, with dubious ideas of consent, and even more dubious ideas of how it rule, and three kids, two of which def don't really get along with her husband and/or her. Shit's complicated! But she holds her head up, works with pride, and I appreciate how she's always working for the best for everyone -- in as much as she decides what is best.
Prompts:
* I would love to see a moment with Hera and her kids. She and Heph seem to have a somewhat stilted relationship, and I'd love to read about how that happened. Is it because Heph doesn't get along with his dad? Is Zeus even really his dad? (He certainly seems to resemble Hades a bit.) What's going on with Ares; why is he so loyal to his mom and so frustrated with his dad? What's going on with Hebe, and how does Hera handle having a relatively young kid during All This Drama?
* Hera clearly has a soft spot for Hades, and I'm curious how widely known their history was/is. Is that part of why she treats Minthe so poorly? Has Zeus ever quite sussed out that his wife was sleeping with his brother? How did he react? How does Persephone treat Hera when she sees her again, after this reveal? How does Demeter feel about Persephone hanging out with Hades or Hera? Does Hekate know and how does she feel about it? Does Hermes, Minthe, or any of the other underworld people know? How do they behave around one another in public? Does Poseidon know, and if so, how does he feel?
* I would really love to see fic about how Hera became the queen of the gods. Were she and Zeus dating before this happened, or was this something that was basically an arranged marriage? Outside of the marriage itself, what do her duties entail? Is Persephone the only "internship" that she's ever done? Or are there others, and if so, what are those like? Who works for her? What sort of other duties do they do? As a goddess of marriage and children, how does she feel about the fact she has a ...well, fractured, to say the least, relationship with her husband and her kids?
* Yulebuilding: Hera's not part of the Rhea/Cronos family in this adaptation, being instead the daughter of Metis. I would really love to hear about her time in the Titanomachy. Why did Metis and Hera decide to join the traitors against Kronos? How did Hera feel about being Kronos "golden traitor"? How pronounced was her relationship with Hades vs Zeus vs Kronos? How did she feel about being the spy in the ranks? What happened to her mother post-Titanomachy? (I know it's implied Zeus ate her, ala Greek mythology proper, but if so wow, how do you LIVE with that when its your own mom? Does Hera even know?)
* IF: I would love to see an IF about Hera that has the same event happening with several ways her life could have gone, if that makes sense. For example, I'd love to see an IF with a standard domestic event occuring that traces two or three paths through said even that Hera could have taken: on her own, with Zeus, with Hebe, with Kronos, with Aprhodite, with Apollo, with Hades, etc (whichever characters up to you). She seems to be someone with a million different possible fates (Kronos' wife/concubine, Hades' wife, Zeus' wife, Metis' advisor, Queen herself?) and I would love to see some small snippet of exploration of how events changed a lot just based on the choices Hera made during the titanomachia.
* Crueltide: I'd really love to see something about Hera's nightmares about Kronos, about being broken in half, about scars that have healed and scars that never will. Hera seems to have so much TRAUMA from the war, and I'd love to see a little sneak peak of that, of what that looks like to her.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Hera & Minthe:
I really wish we got time with Hades' (former) paramours meeting up. Minthe seems to have a lot of anxiety about Hera and there's flashbacks to their past meetings (or Minthe's imagination of those meetings?) where it's revealed that Hera calls her "nymph trash" and openly treats her with disrespect. Even when Minthe comes up without her actually being around Hera, Hera doesn't seem to like her much: she's critical to Hades in the party in the beginning for Minthe standing him up. And yet, really, I think there's few characters who COULD understand Minthe as well as Hera, because they're in very similar situations: trapped in a relationship with a man who is or was lovely-enough, but not The One, and being with that man has given them a lot of power, and its not easy to hand that back and, honestly, I don't think either one of them want to. Both have messed around on someone else, both seem to struggle with the idea of being replaced -- really, I feel like they have a lot of ground to cover there. And the fact that they have both been Hades' girlfriend, at times, of course, just adds to the awkwardness... but I'm really interested to see where canon could go (can go?) if they have more time.
Gen prompts:
* I would love to see an AU where Minthe applies to work with Hera instead of confronting Seph and Hades when she's upset he's moving on quickly. I feel like Minthe would hate to it, but Hera would probably have more sympathy for her than she might expect. I honestly think that might even get along, which would make Hades at the very least uncomfortable (but too bad for him). What sort of work would she wind up going into? Would moving to Olympus be a hard change? Would she still be friends with Themis, or would she gravitate towards a different social circle?
* I feel like Hera and Minthe have both seen Hades through some pretty difficult times. I would love to see a time where she reached out to Hera about it; maybe how to handle him, or how to handle themselves around them? What sort of advice would Hera give? Did these two ever comisserate with one another over both having liked the same man?
* Hera keeping Minthe, the plant, on her desk while they're waiting for Persephone to undo the curse. How does Hera care for her? Does she find she likes Minthe, the plant? Does she miss Minthe, the person? Or does she stick her in a dark corner where plant! Minthe can only fume at her for neglecting her?
* Yulebuilding: I'd really love to know where the whole "nymph trash" thing comes from. Why did Hera believe this, if this is true? Is it a commonly held belief? Why do the gods look down on the nymphs, is so - has it always been this way, or was there some event that led to this? How does Minthe feel about this -- doe she get this sort of pushback from just Hera, or do lots of gods treat her as less-than for daring to be a nymph instead of a goddess?
Romantic prompts:
* Honestly I would love to see these two get catty around one another, and in that cattiness reveal that behind all of it they really are quite attracted to one another. And oh noes what if they kissed??? And what if they liked it??? But also still somewhat not stand one another except for the snogging, of course.
* Minthe decides to prove Hera wrong about Nymphs, and Hera actually likes her spirit. To her surprise, Hera invites her over, and spends the time making passes at her in front of her husband. How does Minthe react to this? Does Hera actually find her attractive or is she using her as a way to make Zeus jealous? What's Zeus roll in all this? How does it go?
* Yuleporn: Hera and Minthe having aggressive, rough, and sometimes even insulting-one-another sex.
[Return to Top of Letter]
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Overview:
What is it: A seventies sit-com about Mary Richards, hardworking associate producer, living a single girl life in a big city (the city is Minneapolis), and her coworkers and friends, including: Lou Grant, her hard-working, hard drinking boss, and her neighbor, Rhoda Morgenstern, who lives in the apartment above hers. One thing I really love about the show is that its incredibly natural in how it lets the characters lives change through the show: Rhoda frequently changes jobs and eventually finds herself leaving for New York; Mary gets promoted and struggles with the new issues of the job; Lou struggles in his marriage and eventually divorces, then struggles with his ex-wife re-marrying quickly and figuring out how to date in a dating world that's changed a lot from the last time he was single.
Where can I find it: Streaming on Hulu. It was also released on DVD.
A quick note on spin-offs: No show seems to have produced as many successful spin offs as this one, with Rhoda, Lou, and even Phyllis getting their own shows that all ran for multiple seasons. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the others as neither Rhoda nor Lou Grant nor Phyllis are currently streaming online. I know there's a circa 2000 reunion show that fills in a future for Rhoda and Mary, but again, I haven't seen it (or if I did, I don't remember it). I'd prefer a focus on the original show, instead. And while I don't mind the futures planned for Lou and Rhoda and Mary, with Mary moving to NY and Rhoda moving to Paris and Lou being in LA, I'd also say feel free to disregard all that, and go where you see fit for the characters.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Lou Grant:
Favorite ships: Lou/Mary, Lou/Rhoda
I've always liked Lou, who is both hard drinking and hard nosed but, secretly, has a jelly soft interior. His romance struggles with his wife, that ultimately ends in their divorce, have alwaty stood out to me as being some of the most interesting episodes. For one thing, Lou is the Old Man of the Mary Tyler Moore show, a world war II vet. His ideas about dating and sex are much, much more traditional than Mary and the others, as his episode where he sleeps with Sue Ann and winds up freaking out over whether he will have to marry her. The idea of divorce is something his parents generation never had to deal with; neither is women wanting a career in the workplace. Lou seems to accept Mary but also struggles with the more ambitious women in teh workplace, and certainly with the idea of his wife in the workplace. He also seems to struggle with dating in general, and often feels a bit out of his time. I really am fascinated by that, especially when his job is always to basically have a pulse on what is "in" and what will "sell."
Prompts:
* I would love to see something about how Lou reacts to getting back into the dating market after being married to Edie for 20+ years. How does he handle the idea of being back on the "meat market"? How does he handle the idea of being divorced, something that would have been majorly taboo to his parents' generation? How do his daughters take it? How do Mary and the other coworkers handle it, since this seems to occur mostly off-screen?
* Honestly, Lou's drinking is interesting but also something that completely would never fly in any office that I've worked in. Did the group of his coworkers ever try to address his drinking? Does Mary get into conflict with him about it and if so, how does she handle it? There's more than one time on the show where he winds up at her apartment, drunk, after work, because he doesn't want to go home. Is this part of why Edie left? Who does he drink with? Does he ever drink with his coworkers and if so how does that affect the group dynamic? Does he ever try to give it up and if so, how does that change the group dynamic?
* I also would love to see Lou's job, beyond just pushing papers around his desk. How does he handle Ted's continuous gaffs with the higher ups? How does he justify his role despite the continual low ratings? How does he handle Mary and his other workers when they're off on some sort of wacky hijink or important workplace issue or whatnot? What keeps Lou in his seat?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Mary Richards:
Favorite ships:Mary/Rhoda, Lou/Mary
Mary is just such an interesting character to me because she really is the poster child of her generation,. She's a Woman Who is Working for herself, a Single Female in the City, at a time when it wasn't really a trope yet. What really fascinates me about Mary is how the show handles her sexuality: this wasn't on the air that far from the days when Ricky and Lucy had twin beds, and Mary Richards most def fucks. The show riffs on her staying out all night or going out with lots of men, or just waking up to a strange man, and yet she also receives push back for that: when Lou asks her if she knows the feeling of waking up in bed with a stranger and she says yes, he becomes shocked/scolding and she quickly and uncomfortably backpedals and says "she can imagine it." At other points, Sue and Phyllis both give her intense push-back for the crime of not being married; Rhoda too points out that Mary's situation is unusual. Mary really seems to poised at the point of feminism where it was still Putting Up With a Lot of Bullshit, and how her male colleagues treat her is often infuriating and enduring in equal measure. The episodes where Mary discovers racism exists...seem cringy by today's standards, but were fairly unique at the time AFAIK, at a time when feminism being inter-sectional was somewhat out of the mainstream. I'm always fascinated how once Mary gets a promotion, much of the male crew tries to walk all over her -- something that still happens today. Mary's kind of frozen in her time, but so much of what she's putting up with still feels familiar to me, and so much still feels strange, and I'd love to see an exploration of Mary and her times.
* I would love to see Mary's adventures that we don't really get a lot of in the show. What do Mary's trips out into the field as we see in the opening credits look like? What sort of reputation does she have as a producer? What does she do in her free-time? Does she sever struggle to balance "producer" Mary with "personal life" Mary?
* How would Mary -- always practical, but with a pretty strong Emotional Core as well -- react to a supernatural event? I know the show is mostly very much in teh day to day, but I love a good ghost story and what's Christmas without at least one ghost prompt. So: How would Mary react to a ghost? Or some other sort of supernatural feeling/creature?
* I would love to see a character study on Mary after the canon ends and she's (end spoilers?) fired from the jobs she's had for years and years while Ted stays on. How does it feel to be out of work, especially with Murray and Lou also out of work? What sort of jobs does she apply for? Does she find it easy to find a new job, or is it a real struggle? How does she feel about Lou and Murray and Ted now that she no longer sees them on a daily basis -- do they manage to find work at other stations nearby, or are they moving away? What about Mary, is she able to stay in town or move away? How does she feel about that?
* Yulebuilding: Honestly, I'd love to see Mary dealing with some of the issues and big news stories of the 1970s that didn't really get covered on the show. How did Mary feel about black panther coverage, green peace, the vietnam war, three mile island, the gas crunch, etc?
* Crueltide: I would love to see something focusing on Mary's feelings about the rest of the male cast showing interest in her from point to point. Is it awkward to work with Murray or Lou after they've confessed that they have a crush on her? How does Mary manage to ignore that and press on with her work? Do they forget it? Does Mary have to deal with being propositioned by other coworkers? How does she feel about that? And how does she feel when it happens with friends, especially - does it lead to a cooling down of their friendship, or are they able to move past it more easily?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Rhoda Morganstern:
Favorite ships:Mary/Rhoda, Lou/Rhoda
I really love Rhoda, who is so vivacious and so much in love with life. There's an easy-goingness to Rhoda that I really like and enjoy, and I think it isn't hard to see why Mary would be so taken with her as a friend (or more? I know the show wouldn't go there in the 70s but It Does Make Sense to Me). And yet, despite that easy-going nature and how easy it seems for Rhoda to encourage Mary to fight for what she believes in when Mary she is away, there's a bittersweet to Rhoda: her relationship wit her parents isn't the best, she struggles with views about herself (and tbh, I was stunned to learn that Rhoda is, at points in the show, considered/made fun of for being overweight, which is obviously absolutely fucked up, period, but absolutely disgusting when one is as thin as Valerie Harper) and she struggles with worries that she won't ever amount to anything. It's that dichotomy between being relatively easy-going and then being somewhat negative about herself that I find fascinating about her. It's very interesting to me that the show contrasts Mary and Rhoda's experiences often, and sometimes even highlights how Rhoda has it a lot rougher, working a more blue-collar job and being jewish, which the show points out she is discriminated for in Minneapolis. I've always found her fascinating and I wish I could watch the Rhoda sitcom, which had her get married and divorced in later seasons. I would love to see a post-Divorce AU where Rhoda comes back to Minneapolis, having found and lost love but grown in the process.
* I would love to see something about Rhoda's job. It's hard for me to imagine what Rhoda does as a window dresser and I'd legit love to see what would go into it, especially considering that this would have been during a time when that actually seems to be a fairly large amount of the advertising budget for these places. How did she get into this as a career? Does she see it as a career?
*I would really love to see something about how Rhoda sees Mary's career. Mary is working in a news agency despite not having a lot of qualifications for it, and it's hard not see her career as going anything but well from her. I'd love to see if maybe Rhoda does feel a bit jealous or frustrated about that, and, if so, how that affects their relationship.
*I would love an AU where Rhoda leaves New York and returns to Minneapolis in the latter seasons of the show. How do she and Mary feel, being in their latter 30s/early 40s, and having gone through all that they have? How do they feel about how the world is changing? Has Minneapolis changed, and does it still feel like a town she loves, or does she miss New York and find herself longing to return?
* Yulebuilding: I would really love to see Rhoda and Phyllis' frenemy energy's origins. They seem to already be a bit on the outs before Mary even shows up, and once Mary is there, they very frequently wind up using Mary as a type of peacekeeper between them. Were tihngs always so contentious between them? If so, why so? If this is a recent development, what happened to cause it?
* Yuleporn: Unlike Mary, Rhoda seems to have more issues with her body and her self-esteem, and I would love to see some body worship porn for her with a partner who makes her feel (unexpectedly?) sexy.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Mary and Lou:
I'm always interested in how their relationship seems half-filial, half-collegial, and towards the end of the series even starts to lean towards toward romantic, even going out on a date together in the last season. It seems to fulfill a lot of roles for them both and I'm really interested in seeing how that relationship shifts and changes through time.
Gen Prompts:
* How do Mary and Lou's interest in one another change through time? If they do get into a relationship, does this hurt or help Mary's career?
* What do they do post series, when they're both out of work and looking for a new position, and what sort of shift does that bring to their relationship?
Romantic Prompts:
* How do Mary and Lou's interest in one another change through time? If they do get into a relationship, does this hurt or help Mary's career?Do people whisper she's sleeping with her boss? Does Sue Ann get even more catty about Mary's role in Lou's life? Do Ted or Murray make jokes about it? How do they handle the new and, presumably, unwelcome attention?
* Yuleporn: I'm really fascinated by the silent gen/baby boomer relationship here, especially with how Mary's attitudes about sex are NOT the same at all as Lou's attitudes. A fic that focuses on the differences there -- and how those can clash in their relationship -- could be really interesting. Does Lou want to move things slow, and Mary doesn't understand? Does Mary scandalize him by having more experience than he'd expect? How do they navigate anything like kink, especially in the 1970s?
[Return to Top of Letter]
Mary and Rhoda:
I really love how Mary and Rhoda have this almost instant friendship, despite the fact that they're very different people! I feel like both push the other out of their shells in some ways: Mary gives Rhoda more confidence in pushing for her new work, and Rhoda helps Mary in her relationships. It's always felt a bit jarring to me that Rhoda's leaving is very, very abrupt on the show, and I always wish we would have seen more on that.
Gen prompts:
* I would love to see the fallout for Mary and Rhoda when Rhoda very abruptly decides she's staying in New York, especially because reading the summary of Rhoda, it sounds like she chose to stay entirely because she wanted to be with a man. It's hard for me to see Mary making the same decision, and hard for me to imagine Mary not being a bit frustrated at having to pick up everything Rhoda might have just left behind. I would love to see the friction this causes: did Mary clean out Rhoda's apartment and pick up her last paycheck? Does Rhoda think Mary is being a bit of a stick in the mud?
* What would have happened had these two ever moved in with one another? Would their very different styles have caused exasperation, or would they work together well? What sort of situations would they get into together?
Romantic prompts:
* I really would love to see the version of this story where Mary and Rhoda wind up falling in love. Not just because I think it would be interesting to see the lesbian love story, or Phyllis' reaction, but also because I think Mary and Rhoda very much compliment one another. How do they get together? Who even broaches the subject? how do they deal with the seventies attitudes re: lesbians?
* I would really love to see these two getting together during a "But there was only one bed!!!!" situation. Maybe they get stuck together during a blizzard and have to hunker down in the house and, well, who else is there to see, Phyllis? Maybe Mary comes to visit Rhoda in New York but oops there's some kind of threat and they have to stay inside? Maybe they get caught in a janitor's closet for two hours at Mary's work and have to talk out their relationship while attempting to lock pick out? Either way, enclosed spaces, no escape from intimacy. :)
[Return to Top of Letter]
Lou and Rhoda:
I really like how Lou and Rhoda are both sort of interested in the same hobbies and get along well. Lou is about the farthest thing from an artist's soul (and it's clear they don't share any interest in aesthetics), and Rhoda's pretty artistic. Lou's very serious, and Rhoda is generally the sort to deflect with humor. It's easy ot see them as friends or more, despite the age gap, and I'd love something focusing on it.
Gen prompts:
* Lou and Rhoda get really, really into an odd hobby that no one else can understand, for opposite reasons. Why do they get into it? What sort of commentary do they get from the other members of the cast?
* Lou and Rhoda going to a seder together! I can't imagine that it would be anything but non-traditional, but I also think Lou would know a lot of good stories to tell around the table. Whose going to whose family/friends/solo Seder? Who brings the food? Who brings the wine?
Romantic prompts:
* I honestly would really love to see Mary's reaction to Lou and Rhoda dating. Would she be happy about them? Kinda WTF? How would she feel about it? How would they feel about her reaction?
* I would really love to see Lou and Rhoda having a fun night out at the bar. I feel like out of all the cast, they're the two most able to really appreciate having a cosy moment together, and I think Lou would find it romantic to find a woman who could keep up with him in drinks -- even if it wasn't quite something he might have expected.
* Honestly I would love to see something set post-series where, if you pick up Rhoda being divorced from Rhoda, these two hash out for a while on why their marriages ultimately failed.
[Return to Top of Letter]
Lou, Mary, and Rhoda:
I really like these three together, and I kinda love how you have a huge mix of personalities here: Lou, whose very serious and old fashioned, and Rhoda, whose very young and modern, and Mary, who is more similar to Rhoda but not quite so breezy. Rhoda and Lou both have a tendency to pivot to humor when uncomfortable, while Mary gets maudlin -- but on the flip side, Mary seems to be a bit sterner when it comes to her problems than Lou or Rhoda, who both go to Mary for comforting. I really feel like they work as both a friend group and a triad!
Gen prompts:
* Honestly I'd love to see these three hanging out, and how that came about. How do they decide to get together? What sort of event do they go to? Is anyone weirded out by them both going or is everyone comfortable with going together?
* I feel like of all people Lou would struggle the most with this, due to Mary and Rhoda being younger women than he is. How does he handle the fact that it's not a traditional friendly group?
Romantic prompts:
* I feel like with Lou feeling bad for being in a friend group with them both would go double for being in a romantic relationship with them both, even if Mary and Rhoda were both perfectly fine with it. He's so traditional that he can be a stick in the mud soemtimes -- how do they talk him into it? How does he get past worrying if its inappropriate?
* I would love to see Mary or Rhoda's family interacting with these three as a triad. Both of them have rahter complex relationships with their families, and I think it could either go surprisingly well (Mary's father is a great deal older than Mary's mother, after all), or rather terribly -- but either way, I think they'd find strength together as a team.
[Return to Top of Letter]