Hi! ♥

Firstly, for all of these requests, I would be delighted with any story about these characters and there's no idea I have my heart set on, so please write whatever works for you because I am 1000% sure I will love it. All this is just here for inspiration, and free feel to disregard all of it if you already have something else in mind!

I'm afterism on AO3.

Things I Like:

Fics of all ratings, magical realism, silliness, adventure, case fic, ghost stories (with real ghosts or just overactive imaginations), science and pseudoscience and the Indiana Jones style of archaeology, terrible jokes (and good jokes), competency, fantasy & urban fantasy, myths and legends and fairytales, apocalypse and post-apocalypse fic, swordfights, distinctive/atmospheric settings, epistolary fic, roadtrip fic, domesticity, slices of life and anything that reveals character.

Also; people acquiring pets, loyalty kink, moral ambiguity, first times, getting together rather than established relationship, threesomes as a solution to love triangles, power imbalances, mind control, shameless tropes (groundhog day! fake dating! bodyswap! sudden telepathy! we must share body heat to survive!), cross-dressing, first times, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, happy or hopeful endings.

I love seeing characters showing affection in their own unique way, relationships being important and intense and not necessarily romantic, relationships that are physically intimate before becoming emotionally intimate, relationships that only make sense to the people involved, and love being anything but straightforward.

I celebrate Christmas in a secular way, so I would be very happy to read festive fic for any of these fandoms if that's where your inspiration takes you! (Friday's Child or Gentleman's Guide would be particularly great for Christmas fic, I think!)

Porn is very welcome but is not required at all. Vanilla sex and smut that focuses entirely on what the characters are thinking and feeling is always lovely. If you want to write kinks, my favourites include verbal/honour bondage, light bondage, femdom, d/s elements that aren't painstakingly negotiated and both characters are conveniently into, sex pollen, desperation leading to frottage & sex with clothes on. Please avoid maledom/femsub, anything to do with collars, necks/breathing being impeded in any way, bloodplay, and bodily fluids that aren't commonly involved in sex.

DNW

Non-con, serious illnesses, permanent main character death, animal cruelty or death, bleak and hopeless endings, unrequested crossovers.

Fandoms

Bedazzled (1967)

Stanley Moon, George Spiggott
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a film starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, about a man who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for seven wishes, which in theory he uses to woo the woman of his dreams but mostly he just becomes accidental BFFs with the Devil. (IMDB)

Anything in the spirit of the film would be perfect! Maybe something post-canon, with Stanley moving on with his life and George continuing to be a constant chaotic force within it, or George finds someone new to trick and likes to bring Stanley along for the ride, regardless of how Stanley feels about it. I'd love to see more of the club - maybe Stanley decides to do George a favour and go work for him there, to be his only employee that's both competent and actually likes him? I do love the discussions on God and angels and hierarchy, if you wanted to write them just talking about heaven and hell for the whole fic. Or, something set during the film - you could expand on any of the realities that Stanley's wishes created, or explore what other wishes Stanley might have made if he'd been nudged in another direction.

I have received one fantastic fic for this film in Yuletide, but I'm greedy and I want more. Gen would of course be lovely, but if you're tempted by Stanley/George then here are some thoughts: it could be a temptation, a curiosity, friends helping out friends, a twist to a wish that turns out surprisingly well for the both of them, somehow it's Lust's fault, somehow it's Envy's fault, Stanley realises he has genuine feelings, George realises he has genuine feelings and acts accordingly/terribly - anything. (Also, I've been recently reminded how much I love fake dating, and I would love it for these two -- but this film is set in the 1960s, so it would be more than fine if George looks like a girl to everyone except Stanley when they're in public.)

The Dahlias Poetry Club - Debbie Balboa

Any (The Doctor's Wife, The Founder, The Golden Girl, The Society Lady)
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a collection of character designs posted together on tumblr here, and separately on instagram, with a bit more story on each character: The Society Lady, The Founder, The Golden Girl, The Doctor's Wife, The New Member

I just want to know know more about these women! Show me a glimpse of their lives and I will be delighted. Here's a few totally optional prompts to explore:
- What came first, the poetry club or the murders? Is the club a support group, or a bragging contest, or something else?
- Who and why do they kill? Rivals, ex-lovers, men who hurt women, bad tradesmen, total strangers? What drove each of them to their first kill, and how many more have there been?
- My favourite thing about the art is the glamour of the 1920s (those clothes!!) vs the blood and horror (those expressions!!). Do some of them enjoy killing for the sake of it (or the aesthetic), and others do it because it must be done?

I'm not specifically looking for poetry fic, but if you want to write their poems then I will gladly read it!

Fandom-specifc DNW: Outsider POV. Anything focused on capture, imprisonment or punishment (although mentions of the fear of such is fine).

Since nominating, Debbie Balboa has posted another character study - a haunting! I LOVE ghost stories, so explore that if you do too! The ghost looks similar to the woman: are they sisters? lovers? friends turned enemies?

Femslash would be lovely if you want to pair up any of the club members, or have them having female lovers!

(Even more completely optional!) The New Member prompts - how did she join? Did she somehow get the impression it was open membership, and just turn up one day? What happens when she accidentally kills someone? Does she call on one of her new friends for help, and finds they don't react like she expected them to? Does one of the other club members catch her trying to get rid of the body?

Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer

Hero Wantage, Gilbert Ringwood, George Wrotham, Ferdinand Fakenham
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: It's a Regency romance novel about five idiots and the six braincells they share between them (I love them all dearly). Wikipedia explains it more fairly.

I was so charmed by this circle of friends, and I just want to spend more time with them (and Sherry!). I am especially fond of Hero, and the way Sherry's friends swiftly treated her as though she was a favourite sister. Anything with them just being together would delight me - maybe a day from Hero and Sherry's first honeymoon in Leicestershire (when everyone else came along too)? Or, post-canon, Hero and Sherry move into Sheringham House (bringing along everyone else, naturally), and someone becomes convinced there's a ghost? Hero's pregnant and Sherry's friends are, as ever, far too involved?

I do ship Gil/Ferdy, if you want to focus on their relationship! Getting together, after years of quiet pining? They've been together for ages but have always hidden it, but suddenly they are discovered and their friends are wonderful (and probably annoying) about it? I don't want a close look at homophobia in Regency England, but anything else with them being together would be lovely.

Fandom-specific DNW: serious gambling and debts (low-stakes games between friends are fine, however!)

The moment where Sherry took Hero to the Covent Garden Masquerade and Hero pointed out particularly pretty women to him - I read it as Hero being obliviously bisexual and thinking that of course everyone has a bit of muslin on the side, how could you not when women are so pretty?? I'm not even sure what I want from it, but if you want to pair Hero with a woman (with Sherry's blessing or involvement) then I would be delighted :D

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder - Lutvak/Freedman

Sibella Hallward, Phoebe D'Ysquith
If you're unfamiliar with the fandom but curious: it's a black comedy musical about a man who discovers he's ninth in line to an earldom, and decides to bump off the eight in his way. cough cough

I was so delighted by these two teaming up at the end, and I just want more of them figuring each other out and working together (and maybe, eventually, realising that sharing Monty doesn't have to mean separately). I love Sibella's vanity and ambition and worldliness, and how clever and straightforward and tenderhearted Phoebe can be. Perhaps Phoebe feels she needs some help now that she's spending more time in London society, and turns to Sibella? Perhaps Sibella is widowed and comes to stay at Highhurst? Maybe there's a ghost in the castle, and Monty's trying to throw a party, and Phoebe and Sibella end up ghost hunting together? (I am not necessarily looking for serious fic here! Something light-hearted or as darkly comic as the musical would be lovely.)

I do ship Sibella/Phoebe and Monty/Sibella/Phoebe, but as long as Phoebe and Sibella are spending time together I will be delighted. Feel free to include as much or as little of Monty as you like!

Fandom-specific DNW: Lionel (feel free to have him dead before the fic begins or travelling somewhere far away!), anything to do with pregnancy or kids.

Again, these are all just thoughts I'm throwing at you in the hope that it might help spark something, but please don't feel limited by any of it! Thank you so much for signing up for this exchange, and if you love any of these fandoms then I already love you. ♥♥♥

Yuletide 2020!