anabelissima

Hello, dear Yuletide writer! I'm Anabel. (This is the first year I've moved over to Dreamwidth -- for all my past exchange letters you can find me on LJ.) I'm so psyched that you have offered one of my fandoms! You are Good People.

What I most love to read about is people who are happy, or in the process of becoming happy. This could mean having adventures, or falling in love, or being fulfilled in their career, or snuggling in bed with their partner, or fighting sky-pirates from outer space. Or perhaps all of these things in the same fic! This doesn’t necessarily mean unrelieved fluff – I’m a big fan of plot, smut, and adventures as well – but a focus on a character’s melancholy inner doubts (for instance), or on infidelity and betrayal and pain, wouldn’t appeal to me.

DNWs: eye injury, vomiting, infidelity, noncon and/or dubcon, death of a requested character, child or animal harm, underage (under 16), people being cornered and yelled at (they can be yelled at as long as they would be able to escape if they want/needed to), women being victimized by men without being able to fight back, women being denied agency, 'father-daughter' age gaps in relationships (a ~7+ age gap for m/f ships, if the older character is a man).

General note: Any and all prompts in this letter, whether general or fandom-specific, are only ideas! If nothing here inspires you, please feel free to use your own ideas. As long as you don't hit a DNW, I seriously will not mind.

Mini-challenges: I am participating in Yuleporn (porn), Wrapping Paper (art), Season's Treatings (holiday fic -- I asked for Hanukkah and Christmas), Two for One (crossovers), and Cheftide (cooking/baking fic). I have specific prompts for those mini-challenges in the linked challenge comments, but you are also more than welcome to use any of my general or fandom prompts as jumping-off points for a mini-challenge, or to create your own! I love how creative everyone has been with the mini-challenges this year, both new and old. :)

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Most of my prompts are general prompts/kinks/themes/situations/etc. that I will find interesting in any fandom, but I have some fandom-specific thoughts as well. :)

GENERAL PROMPTS:

Friends-to-lovers
A woman realizing that she likes women (please nobody under 16)
Hijinks
Mysteries (of any size & depth)
Witness/outsider POV
Royalty having to think about balancing their duty to the kingdom with their personal happiness. Fine for them to pick personal happiness though! (I love happy endings, but bittersweet happy is ok. Please no completely unhappy endings.)
Five-times fic
Chubby and/or fat people, with their size treated respectfully and (if focused on in porn) joyfully
Going on a journey together! Both the fun parts (picnics! snuggling for warmth!) and the inconvenient parts (ants at picnics! someone comes down with a cold! someone breaks an ankle and they are stranded until rescue arrives, and various confessions of love/criminality/background/etc. are made in the meantime!)
Falling in love with a rogue (particularly if you are a monarch)
Gentleness, patience, and/or sweetness being attribute(s) that attract one person to another
Women as competent, kick-ass rulers
Queenship/kingship/aristocracy and the ramifications thereof
Giving a lover symbolic jewelry
Secret identities
Soulmates, whether played straight, subverted, or complicated in some way
Otherness and outsider status
Happy, fluffy first-time (first-time for a particular ship, first-time as in losing virginity, first-time for any particular sex act
Twist endings (I love The Queen's Thief series, for example)
People falling in love who don't share a language and have to communicate in other ways
People from different cultures falling in love
People making food together; detailed descriptions of delicious food welcome but not required
A person having a nightmare and being comforted by their lover afterwards
Same-sex lovers who are 'hiding in plain sight' in a non-accepting society (whether they're pretty blatant and the society 'pretends' not to notice, or whether they're truly excellent at hiding & it amuses them to pull the wool over everybody's eyes)
Canon-divergence AUs

SMUT LIKES:

Most important: that everyone is having a helluva good time and fully consenting.
Couples who are friends as well as lovers. Friendly banter, cuddling, just the general sense that both really like each other as well as wanting to tear each other’s clothes off.
People who can't stay quiet during sex; dirty talk, moaning, little cut-off noises, reverent invocation of the lover’s name, distracted chattering, all of it!
Women taking the lead in bed, anywhere on the spectrum between just In Charge to all the way femdom.
Morning cuddles and/or sex.
One partner reading to the other one in bed, which eventually gets abandoned in favor of sex.
Eager cunnilingus – a giver who is not only super into it for their partner’s sake, but super turned on by the experience of giving it.
Multiple orgasms, including but not limited to the point of exhaustion. Also orgasm imbalance – aka one partner gets a lot, the other only gets the one – as long as all parties enjoy this dynamic. And orgasm delay, particularly for a male partner – being turned-on all day, and just having to wait, and probably interact with other people and pretend to be normal, and then eventually finally get back to the bedroom…
Both penetrative and not-penetrative sex! Sex for me definitely doesn’t have to include penetration. I also enjoy that too, but a less-conventional progression in bed is always something I’ll like.
One partner deliberately turning on the other partner in public, especially if there's a reason they can't immediately get alone together and down to business. The teasing and heightened anticipation = A+.
Being turned on in public because a) they were interrupted earlier and couldn’t finish what they started, or b) they’re retaining a sex toy and are 1000% aware at all times.
Strong people and athletic prowess, and that strength being a big turn-on in bed.
Wall sex.
Bathing together, and/or bathing one’s lover.
Undressing one’s lover after a ball or fancy event; could also lead to urgent, half-clothed sex, which I also greatly enjoy.
A male character earning his red wings.
Face-sitting.
Lingerie (for all genders!)
Crossdressing in general, particularly in historical canons where it’s taboo.
Bodyswap for a day.
Begging and/or worship, particularly when done by a man.
Butch/femme dynamic in f/f pairings.
Hurt/comfort, with the “hurt” only minor and the focus on the comfort. “Sprained ankle” side of the spectrum, definitely not “brutal beating” side.
Guys getting spanked and being super into it. (Women getting spanked is a turn-off for me though!)
Happiness and laughter – in general, and also during sex.
Sex that doesn’t go as planned/sexual mishaps (preferably ones that don’t have any exceptional or lasting effects, and with everything eventually ending happily)
Tipsy sex in an established relationship
Reunion sex
Characters being walked in on during sex (treated comically, no angst/violence/etc.
Historical sex-toys; strap-ons, double-dildos, a ‘horse’ to ride, anal beads, butt plugs, etc.
Sex pollen strikes an established relationship and leads to blissed-out and/or frantic sex that makes them laugh about it afterwards.
“Nowadays-Vanilla sex things” being treated as transgressive and the transgression kinked on; I’m not actually into many seriously transgressive things, but I love the dynamic of pushing taboos, if that makes sense. In the historical eras and cultures of my canons, even things like cunnilingus or non-missionary positions might be “transgressive” according to their contemporary social norms (and/or according to an inexperienced character). I love the dynamic of one or both of the characters feeling Super Daring at pushing the boundaries/disobeying a taboo, and (whatever the taboo is) being an amazing experience for both.
“Missing porn scenes”. Any missing scenes from a canon that were actually porn interludes.

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Here are the fandoms and characters I'm requesting for Yuletide:

Emma (2020) – Emma Woodhouse, George Knightley
West Side Story (1961) – Anita, Bernardo
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) – Tzeitel, Motel Kamzoil
12th Century CE English Royalty RPF – Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II
17th Century CE Stuart Dynasty RPF – George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham, James VI & I

Fandom #1:
Emma (2020)
(My Requested Characters: Emma Woodhouse, George Knightley)

For so long, Emma has been by far my least favorite Jane Austen book. I love the others, but I just couldn’t connect with Emma. A large part of it was the large age gap in the Emma/Knightley relationship, which combined with the dynamic of the ship (where Knightley constantly scolds and treats Emma like a child), just totally turned me off. The Garai/Miller adaptation came the closest, as I love Garai, but still, the ship didn’t work for me.

But finally an adaptation came along where the ship works for me, and I'm super excited about that! (It helps that they basically deleted the age gap, lmao, or at least made it 95% more ignorable. I am okay with the age gap in this one, as it feels more like an 'older-brother' kind of gap rather than a 'father' gap, which is a huge DNW for me. I would still not enjoy the smaller age gap being heavily focused or kinked on, but it doesn't bother me as presented in the movie.) Emma will never be my favorite Austen, but this adaptation has raised it by leagues in my estimation. :)

As you might expect from the above, I totally ship this Emma & Knightley, and would love to read a story about them! Furthermore, I love the playful, bubbly tone of this adaptation, and if you like it too I’d enjoy seeing it continued.

In addition to my general prompts, here are a few canon-specific ones:

Outsider-POV on Emma/Knightley! That screen totally did not block the sound of them making out. Mr. Woodhouse knows very well what is happening. What does he think?
How long do Emma & Knightley keep their engagement a secret? Are they very good at keeping a secret? Or is it “five times the footmen and Mr. Woodhouse almost walk in on Emma & Knightley, and one time they do”?
What does everyone think of Emma & Knightley’s engagement once it’s announced?
Emma & Knightley’s honeymoon, with as many of my general smut prompts as you want to include. :D
Emma taking the lead in bed. You know that Cordelia poster with Johnny Flynn that's been making the rounds? Feel free to take inspiration from that, with Emma in place of the Woman! I think Emma being in charge in bed would be both a) IC and b) very hot.
Emma wants to give up matchmaking for good, but she finds herself gradually slipping back into the habit. She tries to at least be careful. (With Knightley involved or not involved, as you please. Just no Knightley scolding, please, that gets tiresome.)
Emma and Knightley get really good at sneaking away for Shenanigans while living with her father. It’s all about establishing plausible deniability, because Mr. Woodhouse is actually pretty perceptive.
Even though they’re living with her father, Emma & Knightley are at Donwell Abbey very frequently. It’s not a long walk, after all, and they christen every room together.
Some scandal happens with the Eltons, and Emma & Knightley react to it.
Any of your own happy/funny plotbunnies about Emma and Knightley!

~*~

Fandom #2:
West Side Story (1961)
(My Requested Characters: Anita, Bernardo)

While I have nothing against Maria & Tony, the couple that I personally felt sizzled with chemistry and sexual dynamism was Anita & Bernardo. There’s an attraction, intimacy, and companionship between them that just makes me grin! They tease each other, and play with each other, and flirt up a storm, but there’s a comfort-level between them that makes me 100% sure that after “America” is over, they’re falling into bed with fireworks going. I read them as a long-term couple, probably engaged with the wedding imminent, and I majorly ship them.

I would love a story that (temporarily or permanently) yeeted the tragedy of the movie in favor of focusing in on Anita & Bernardo. For this fandom I am 100% on board with a happy-ending canon-divergence AU (I know, I know, Shakespeare turning over in his grave), but I am also fine with a temporarily-happy story that doesn’t change canon.

Fandom DNW: Please don’t include the attempted rape, or references to it.

In addition to my general prompts, here are some canon-specific ones:

Bernardo is only wounded in the fight. Anita helps Maria & Tony escape together for a new life, then marries Bernardo once he’s recovered. (Probably doesn’t tell him about helping his little sister run away, though.)
How did Bernardo propose? Were he and Anita an arranged match like Chino & Maria? Or did they fall in love naturally?
Anita and Bernardo fall into bed together after “America”.
Bernardo talks a big talk and has a big swagger, but it’s Anita who’s really in charge. (Either in the bedroom, or out of it!)
The fight doesn’t happen, and over time Bernardo becomes reconciled to Tony & Maria being together. I’m not sure how this would happen, haha – maybe Tony saves Bernardo’s life somehow? Or Anita’s? Or Bernardo and Anita’s child’s? Maybe Chino falls in love with someone else? Maybe becoming a husband, or becoming a father, changes Bernardo’s perspective? Maybe Maria’s sadness wears him down over time?
Anita and Bernardo’s wedding.
Anita and Bernardo reprise “America” when they’re old and gray. How have their lives gone? What’s changed about how they see America? Is it still the same? Are they still the same? Do their grandchildren see it the same way?
Any of your own happy/funny plotbunnies about Anita and Bernardo!

~*~

Fandom #3:
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
(My Requested Characters: Tzeitel, Motel Kamzoil)

I love the Fiddler on the Roof movie, and although I love Tevye’s whole family, Tzeitel and Motel are hands-down my favorites. I just adore them. “Miracle of Miracles” is my favorite song and scene from the movie, and their wedding is beautiful (ugh the ending is so sad), and their baby and sewing machine are so CUTE.

For this fandom I would love to read a story about a happy time or episode in their lives!

Fandom DNW: Premarital sex, I just don't see Tzeitel and Motel going for that. A premarital kiss, on the other hand, could be VERY daring and sexy. :) And I am 1000% in favor of marital sex for them!

In addition to my general prompts, here are some canon-specific ones:

How did Tzeitel and Motel first fall in love? They seem to have been childhood neighbors/friends – when did they first realize they felt something more for each other?
The day they gave each other their pledge.
Tzeitel and/or Motel’s perspective on the day Tevye approved their engagement.
Five times Tzeitel was afraid of the matchmaker, and one time she met her without fear.
Five times Motel was afraid of Reb Tevye, and one time he met him without fear.
Tzeitel and Motel sharing their dreams for the future with each other.
Tzeitel and Motel on their wedding day: before, during, after.
Tzeitel and Motel’s first Sabbath together as husband and wife.
Tzeitel, Motel, and how they deal with Tzeitel’s family after their marriage. And particularly after they give Tevye and Golde a grandson to dote on!
Tzeitel and Motel’s perspectives on any of the events of the movie. Like, what do they think of Hodel and Perchik’s relationship? Chava and Fyedka’s? Hodel leaving for Siberia? (How often are Tzeitel and Hodel able to write to each other? What do they write?) Everyone having to leave Anatevka?
Unlike Tevye, Motel doesn’t forbid Tzeitel to maintain a relationship with Chava after she marries Fyedka.
Tzeitel, Motel, and their family make it to America at last and rejoin Tzeitel’s family.
Tzeitel tells her granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, about her love story.
Any of your own happy/funny/sweet plotbunnies about Tzeitel and Motel!

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Fandom #5:
12th Century CE English Royalty RPF
(My Requested Characters: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II)

I’ve always thought Eleanor of Aquitaine may be one of the most badass women in history. For this fandom I would love to read a story about a happy time or episode in her life.

[I waive my infidelity DNW for Eleanor while she's still married to Louis, but no infidelity by Eleanor or Henry after they marry, please; also I still DNW infidelity angst.]

In addition to my general prompts, here are a few canon-specific ones:

Anything about the way Eleanor and Henry met! Whether that’s the moment Eleanor first saw Henry and thought he was uncommonly good-looking, or if there was a palpable sexual tension between them from the beginning, or if he made a flirty comment under his breath and she heard it, or if an outside observer saw them and went whooooa at the way they looked at each other, or…basically anything you can think of! I feel like sparks must have flown.
The first time Eleanor and Henry slept together. (A. When was it & how it did happen, and B. How was it – after a married lifetime of sleeping with a living saint, is Henry a Revelation? Or is he mostly enthusiasm but she thinks she can train him? I find the age gap hot.)
The conversation Eleanor and Henry have when she decides to steal herself from France and marry to please herself and start an empire. It had to have happened, and it happened right under Louis’s nose. What did they say??
The first time Eleanor tells her ladies exactly what’s happening, and that they’re not really going to a nunnery to withdraw from the world.
Eleanor and Henry’s wedding!
How Eleanor feels when she gives birth to her first son, after so long of being maligned at the French Court for (among other things) not providing an heir.
Eleanor getting to be young and carefree in a way she never fully got to be at the French court.
How does Eleanor get along with Henry’s mother?
AU where Maude won England and is the ruling Queen, and Henry is the heir but kicking his heels. Does he end up starting a war in France instead, when he tries to expand their French domains? Steal the French Queen and start a civil war? Start the civil war before meeting the French Queen, but then falls in love/lust with her and marries her after he defeats her husband?
AU where Henry and Eleanor’s sons aren’t as precocious and stabby, and the family stays together longer without descending into interfamilial warfare. Maybe there’s earlier Crusading to bleed off some Angevin warlike spirits.
Family Christmas while Eleanor and Henry’s children are small.
SMUT (see smut prompts)
Eleanor (and Henry if you like) solves a mystery
Adjustments Eleanor has to make, when changing from French Queen to English Queen
Eleanor would just like to set the record straight on a few things. What are they?
Any of your own happy/funny plotbunnies about Eleanor & Henry!

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Fandom #6:
17th Century CE Stuart Dynasty RPF
(My Requested Characters: James VI and I, George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham)

Yes, this is the “Local King Cannot Stop Promoting His Boyfriend” ship. :D

Basically for this fandom I’d love to read all the happy fun fic about a king and his handsome boyfriend (Buckingham was literally called “the handsomest-bodied man in all England” by a contemporary – not James I, though he presumably thought so too), who didn’t care what anybody thought about them, were totally in love, and even built a passage linking their bedrooms together. (The better to avoid any pesky dudes-in-waiting!) [I waive my infidelity DNW for James/Buckingham, but I still DNW infidelity angst; their wives understanding & being ok would be awesome, but if that's too OOC/unbelievable for you just no focus on that please.]

In addition to my general prompts, here are a few canon-specific ones:

Anything about the ‘constant promotions’ thing, whether serious (James is so in love, he can’t resist giving Buckingham more and more power and influence, damn the jealousy of other nobles!) or funny (‘you’re giving me another title, James? Why not just another blowjob?’)
AU in which marrying a guy is fine, it’s just the fact that Buckingham is the son of a minor gentleman and not a foreign prince that causes James headaches with the rest of the nobility. (But he doesn’t care, he’s still going to marry him.)
I’m also a big fan of historical marriages during periods where homosexuality was illegal. Just because it wasn’t public and ‘blessed by God’ doesn’t mean that James and Buckingham pledging themselves to each other wouldn’t have meant something to them. So anything in which they have a personal/private marriage would be great.
A fic about the way they met! (Apparently Buckingham ‘caught James’s eye’ at a hunt when he was twenty-one.) How did he catch James’s eye? Just by being drop-dead gorgeous? Was he funny/witty as well? Did he flirt with the king?
Given that Buckingham stayed in power after James died, because he was friends with James’s son Charles I, how did that relationship go during James’s lifetime? Did Charles know that James and Buckingham were lovers? (Did he care?) Obviously if he did know he didn’t freak out, since he didn’t denounce Buckingham or even have him removed from power once James died. (In fact Buckingham was the only man of James’s court to keep his position under Charles.)
Buckingham loved to sit for portraits. Fic of James being impatient at this and flirting with him/trying to persuade him to skive off his sitting early would be great.
Anything with flirting in public in a homophobic society is my jam. Did they maintain plausible deniability? Were they pretty shameless, daring the nobles to do anything about it because James was King, soooo…
I absolutely love James’s declaration to the Privy Council: “You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George.” Anything about this/set on this day/what Buckingham said when he heard about it/etc. would be great!
Any of your own happy/funny plotbunnies about James/Buckingham!

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Thank you again, dear author! ♥