Dear 2017 Yuletide Creator ...

[jedibuttercup]

It's that time of year again! This will be my twelfth year participating in yuletide; not my first exchange, but definitely the most enduring. I love the whole atmosphere of fannish glee that surrounds the challenge, and the opportunity to play in smaller or newer fandoms. And I also love waiting up to read whatever's been written for me: it adds an extra sparkle to my holiday season. So. Dear Yuletide Creator! I look forward to whatever you gift me with!

As a general overnote, whatever you enjoy writing? I'll probably enjoy reading. I adore action and romance and humor, but I also eat casefic and canon-divergent AUs and worldbuilding up with a spoon; I know that's not much help, but I really am a "many cakes" type of reader. I love characters with layers, and watching them interact is always a good time for me, whatever they're up to. So whatever you add to my fandom, I'm sure I'll be happy to receive. Though I will add some fandom-specific notes below to give you something to go by. :)

I do have a handful of general DNWs, which I'd prefer you avoid: incest, deliberate betrayal of trust between partners, "on-screen" non-consensual sex, bodily waste, permanent death of requested characters, and mundane or A/B/O-style AUs. Any rating is fine (I definitely don't mind some porn in my plot, though I do enjoy gen as well). Angst or h/c is also A-OK, though I prefer more of the comfort than the hurt side of the scale (I am not a Crueltide participant).

If you want to stalk me, this is my main journal. My fic index posts are here: Main Fic List and Buffy-verse Centric. You can also find me on AO3 at jedibuttercup. I am an extremely eclectic writer, mostly gen but with occasional 'ships (including m/f, m/m, f/f, and OT3s) and frequent crossovers, across a very wide variety of fandoms. But don't sweat it; celebrate our mutual small fandom in whatever way pleases you.

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Fandom 1: Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Characters: Elena Santos, Lee Imlay, Michael Nantz

I'm a big fan of apocalypse or alien invasion stories where a small band of heroes saves the day or turns the tide, and this one delivers in spades. It has the Iron Woobie/Sergeant Rock character (a favorite trope of mine) in Michael Nantz; the tough girl who carries her own weight and is essential to saving the day in Santos; a tight POV on the heroes; even the mauve shirts we lose before the movie's half over get at least a thumbnail's worth of characterization and snappy dialogue; it's about as realistic as you get in one of these types of stories; and the whole 'retreat hell' throughline gets me every time. When they're all in that tent at the end crashing from taking down the alien command and control and getting somewhere safe, and Nantz looks around at their expressions and decides nah, ammo up everyone, we're going back in! and they all immediately perk up, that whole forged-in-fire teaminess of it, ungh. Yeah.

So, tell me another story with that team! Some possible prompts:

• What happens after they finish taking back L.A.? That's a bit broad, so a little more elaboration: Is there more action, helping take back other cities? Or something else? Michele, the vet who helps them figure out how to kill the aliens and later takes care of the rescued kids, is also in the tagset - she did have a few sparks with Nantz, so you could go romance here if you like! [And if you do, it's OK to minimize the other characters - they don't all need primary story-focus.] Nantz/Santos could also be interesting - though probably not easy, being military in different branches of the service. Are they all hailed as heroes? Do they help rebuild? Etc.


• If you're more into the sci-fi side, how about some kind of time loop plot! Groundhog Day style, Edge of Tomorrow style, just one reset, whatever - method choice yours. Corporal Imlay seems like the ideal character for this - a hypercompetent secondary character (I think he was the best sniper on the team) but not in charge, leaving room for complications. So what if some kind of alien tech thing blows up and and somehow throws him back in time to just before the invasion? Go wild! (Just don't perma-kill my chosen characters.)


• Along those lines, but not time-loopy: write me a canon-divergent AU! Was one of the other characters who died early one of your favorites? Save them! Or what if the bombing of Santa Monica had actually gone off - would it have worked? Or what if Nantz had retired earlier, and got caught up with the team as a civilian trying to help out? Etc.


• Or a wilder trope: finding your soulmate at the end of the fucking world. Any pairing OK!

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Fandom 2: Independence Day (Movies)
Characters: Constance Spano, David Levinson, Tom Whitmore

As I said with Battle: Los Angeles - I'm a big fan of apocalypse or alien invasion movies where a small band of heroes saves the day or turns the tide, and the original Independence Day is one of the reasons for that preference! I didn't like some of the character choices in the second one, but I did love the further glimpse into that world, the continuation of the fun character interactions + the earnest cheesiness of it all + geeks triumphant, even if the science is dodgy + the whole air of "we can rebuild it better, we have the technology!" of the sequel. Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson is my fave, but I loved him with Constance, and I quite liked President Whitmore and his interactions with them both as well.

So, give me more of those three! A few prompts:

• Show us some of all that rebuilding between the movies! How did they all get where they were when the second one starts? I haven't read the fill-in books, so include details from that or not as you like. Worldbuilding would be great here!


• Write Constance into the second movie somehow, either adding her to the plot or showing what she's up to elsewhere complementing the others. Ideally tweaked so that all three of them survive! (The romantic subplot for David in the movie didn't thrill me, though I liked the female character herself all right. Plus I had a very hard time believing that they'd let Tom do the hero thing at the end, and not just for emotional reasons - how long had it been since he'd even been in a cockpit?!)


• Or just a snapshot of all three interacting! Constance/David + Tom, or Constance/David/Tom, or any other permutation thereof all OK with me here, and I totally don't mind if David's dad or any of the kids are included (Patricia, of course, but any others from the movies or even OCs - it might be interesting to explore how cultural and family dynamics change in the breath between alien invasions).


• And I'd be remiss if I didn't prompt a time travel/canon-divergence AU as a possibility for this one, too, so maybe other characters who were cheated (*cough* The Hillers, Commander Jiang Lao, Dr. Okun's boyfriend, etc.) got dealt a better hand - the sphere could be a great excuse for that. What if after so many other losses the friendly aliens came up with some last-ditch tech thing and might as well deploy it here because things can't possibly get worse? :)

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Fandom 3: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Characters: Arthur, The Mage, Jack's Eye, Wet Stick | Tristan

This one breaks my invasion/apocalypse theme, but don't mistake it for being a tacked-on request - this was my favorite new movie of the year. I've always had a love-hate relationship with the King Arthur mythology; the setting, the heroic plots, the band-of-brothers feel of the Round Table, the lords-and-ladies romantics, and in general the whole epic fantasy feel of it all are very much my jam, but the tragic-ending and betrayal and non-consensual incest parts of it not so much! Which is why I so enjoyed this take on it: it put the magic back into King Arthur after the 2004 movie took it out, and remixed it in fresh ways without hanging Epic Doom over Arthur's head.

All the clever/quippy character interactions, the mix and match with elements from the greater legendarium, the hero's journey arc, the twists on expectations (such as Kay being one of the brothel ladies, and Arthur giving no fucks about chivalry, etc.), the excellent soundtrack, the excellent scenery (human and otherwise) - it was all pretty much MADE FOR ME. I even enjoyed Vortigern's scenery-chewing villainy and fucked up relationships with everyone (I just prefer no Arthur/Vortigern for this exchange).

This fandom, I'd take any two or three characters I prompted, as it might be hard to include all four. I tried to cover a range in the prompts. :)

• More about Arthur growing up in the brothel. I've seen stories where he's the only male in the brothel, but even discounting his friends' living arrangements, we do see bouncers in there too; and I've also seen stories where he only reluctantly puts himself on the menu. But I kind of want pragmatic, one-more-tool-in-his-arsenal Arthur using what sells to bribe Black Legs (Arthur/Jack's Eye!) or Arthur and Wet Stick (and Back Lack) making friends and putting the gang together. Or if another tack appeals to you: Goosefat Bill or other resistance folk taking refuge at the brothel before that last time when Jack's Eye tracked Bill there ... lots of pairing possibilities that could add extra drama later when the resistance kidnaps/rescues Arthur! [I did say no 'on-screen non-con' in my DNWs; but given the character histories, off-screen non-con, or on-screen dubcon or magical influence, etc., are all OK for this or any other prompt for the fandom].


• Arthur as King, applying lessons learned in Londinium to running the kingdom as a whole; competency porn encouraged (not literally, but that could be hot too....) Could involve finding a way to redeem some of the less vile Black Legs as a way to have an armed force not beholden to one of the barons ....? (I mean, they say 'Jack's Eye turned', but for all that a few of the most recognizable girls and most of the money got captured, almost all of Arthur's other people *did* manage to escape out from under Mercia's nose....)


• Arthur and the Mage: for all that they never name her on screen, Arthur has a pretty breathtaking amount of trust in her by the end of the movie; I adore her brusqueness and matter-of-fact use of her abilities and relatively practical sense of style. Bedivere dreamt her coming, so we know she can communicate that way; does she use this for advice/sexytimes/anything else with Arthur during or after the events of the movie? Also, part of her reason for being there has to be to reestablish peace between mages and the rest of the realm - does she take a seat at the Table to help that goal? Does she get along with the others? (Who is she really, Merlin or Nimue or Guinevere or someone else from the wider stable of legends?)


• Speaking of the legends: want to retell one of the other Arthurian legends in this 'verse, starring these versions of the characters? GO FOR IT.

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Fandom 4: Sharknado (Movies)
Characters: Gil Shepard II, Nova Clarke, April Wexler, Finley "Fin" Shepard

Speaking of apocalypse or alien invasion movies where a small band of heroes saves the day or turns the tide... these movies are utter crack, the characters are all pretty wooden, and the plots don't even pretend to make scientific sense, but I watched them all for the cameos and the hilarity and the continual one-upping of the wacky and was not in the least disappointed. Give me anything in the spirit of the series, and I will be thrilled; give me a story that also actually makes sense, and I will be absolutely delighted.

I chose Fin's son Gil as a character in the hopes that if you offered him, you've seen all five movies, too; because the end of that fifth movie is just BEGGING for time travel shenanigans (or crossovers, if you like them too - virtually anything on my AO3 page is fair game). If you do go from there, it might be hard to include April and Nova, so don't feel they all four have to be in there, but I'd appreciate the story ending with them not dead, at least. :)

If that thought doesn't thrill you, though, you can leave out young Gil instead; here are some other prompt possibilities:

• What's the real real story behind why Nova hates sharks? [Something more interesting than what she tells Fin, etc.] Or, tell me more about her and all her acolytes! How are they saving the day in the background while Fin's family is taking up the spotlight? (If you're a femslasher, this would be a great prompt for that. Isn't Fin's cousin one of her secret group ...?)


• Sharks are constantly falling from the sky in this universe; would Nova/Fin/April instead of just Fin/April have been too much to ask for? After-action porny character development could be a lot of fun in this 'verse, set at any point in the series.


• The fifth movie hints there might be some shark god/magical explanation for the wacky weather formations ... so if magic is real, why have they been limiting themselves to chainsaws and explosions all along? If you're going to invoke Indiana Jones artefact comparisons, why not go all in?


• What if the storms had stopped after one of the earlier movies - or pick a time after all of them, presuming the hanging plot thread at the end of the fifth is resolved in a satisfactory fashion. What does rebuilding look like in this universe, when all the heroing is done?

I hope I've given you some things to be thoughtful about, rather than boxing you in or leaving you flailing. Feel free to ignore my prompts altogether if they don't inspire, or mix and match bits of them to your preference. Just have fun writing whatever you're writing, and I'll love it. Thank you again!