regshoe

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing me a fic in one of these lovely small fandoms! I'm

regshoe on AO3. I've said a little bit below about why I love each of the fandoms I've requested, and given a few prompts, but if you have a completely different idea you'd love to write then go ahead—I'll look forward to seeing whatever you come up with!

In general I enjoy stories that explore the characters, settings and worlds of my fandoms—whether that's plotty adventures, quiet character studies, 'slice of life' or 'missing scene' type stories, canon-typical or something completely different. I like both shipfic and gen—three of my requests are for pairs of characters who could well be shipped together, but I'd be equally happy with a fic about platonic relationships. I love fantasy, magic and the supernatural, especially weird, otherworldly fairy-folklorish stuff—two of my requested fandoms are already fantasy and the other two have mundane settings, so if you feel like either further exploring the worlds of the former or adding magical elements to the latter, I'd very much enjoy that.

Some general likes: A strong sense of place, relationships between characters and places, descriptions of nature, historical detail, hurt/comfort, loyalty and conflicts of loyalty, magic and the supernatural in both details and atmosphere, emotional ambivalence, ghosts and hauntings

Do Not Wants: Graphic violence or body horror, explicit sex (implied/fade-to-black is fine), rape, AUs that place the characters in a different setting (canon divergence is fine, as is adding supernatural/fantasy elements to a mundane canon setting)

Lolly Willowes - Sylvia Townsend Warner
Laura Willowes, Vinegar

This book has such a good weird, uncanny creativity in its descriptive writing, as well as in Laura's character. There's a wonderful dark hauntedness beneath the description of mundane life in the early part of the book, and then of course there's the beautiful freedom of the ending, besides the lovely nature descriptions.

The character of Vinegar, Satanic creature of darkness and cute kitten, is an intriguing one! Of course in canon we only get Laura's point of view on who Vinegar is, but I'd love to see something exploring his own feline point of view, his thoughts and motivations. How about a story showing the events of Titus's defeat and Vinegar's role in it from his perspective, or maybe his opinions on the broader witchy life of Great Mop (do any of Laura's witch neighbours have familiars too? Perhaps they meet up and discuss their human companions). How does Vinegar feel about the contrast between his backstory and his present life—is Laura right that 'it missed the Devil, its warm nest in his shaggy flanks, its play with imp companions'?

Alternatively, I would love anything about Laura's new life of freedom and independence ('to have a life of one's own, not an existence doled out to you by others, charitable refuse of their thoughts'... lovely to be with people who prefer their thoughts to yours, lovely to live at your own sweet will). Perhaps a 'slice of life' type fic about Laura's life as a witch with Vinegar alongside her, or perhaps they get into some new adventure together—the book's setting is a fairly vaguely outlined fantasy world, so there's plenty of potential to explore it! Maybe Laura learns how to turn herself into a hare or some other animal, as witches are folklorically supposed to do—I can see her enjoying that kind of magic!—and she and Vinegar go out on nighttime adventures roaming the hills together. What do they find?

Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
Wilhelmina "Bill" Robinson, Clarissa Carter

I love these books for the school story drama, the adventures, the passionate friendships and of course the beautiful setting! Bill and Clarissa are my absolute faves and my OTP. They're so different to begin with, but then they discover their shared interest in horses and just click together, and after that they're so much each other's people, both during their time at school and for their lives afterwards. I'd love any kind of story, shippy or platonic, exploring their characters and relationship further.

Their horse-riding trips out into the countryside together have a lot of fic potential! Perhaps they get into some more fantastic kind of adventure—that dramatic Cornish countryside surely has some doorways to Fairyland and other magical secrets waiting to be discovered by plucky schoolgirls...

What happens during their stays at each other's houses in the hols? (A Christmas holidays story could work well for Yuletide, of course!) How do they get on with each other's families—I can imagine a bit of a culture clash between down-to-earth, forthright Bill and Clarissa's 'Honourable' people. I'm intrigued by Clarissa's background—on the one hand there's an obvious tension between the sort of 'proper young lady' expectations inevitably placed on someone in her position and her own preferences for things like horses and Bill, but there's also how her illness, which perhaps distanced her from some of those expectations (while also, of course, making horse-riding and such tomboyish activities more challenging), might come into that.

I also love their relationship with Miss Peters (who I suspect is also a lesbian—I'm kind of charmed by Blyton's benevolent stereotyping), and if you'd like to include her in a fic that'd be lovely. Perhaps a future fic: maybe Bill and Clarissa, happily established at their riding school, visit Miss Peters at Malory Towers and reminisce about old times, or perhaps she's retired or otherwise gone somewhere else and they write letters telling each other about what's been going on in their lives.

Quatrevingt-treize | Ninety-Three - Victor Hugo
Michelle Fléchard, Housarde ('the vivandière')

This book packs a lot of stuff in! As well as Hugo's sweeping political and philosophical themes, the vivid portrayal of the Revolution and the awful drama of the three central characters, there are some really lovely quiet character moments, and the short-lived friendship between Michelle and the vivandière is my favourite of these. I love Housarde's brash and gentle kindness, and the way that Michelle turns from the terror of her first scene to find some trust and comfort. (And look at this illustration of them together—so sweet!)

I'd love to see anything exploring the tragically brief period they spend together in canon: how about a continuation of the conversation overheard by Lantenac, or Housarde getting to know the children, or the two of them sharing confidences about their pasts (what is Housarde's backstory, anyway—how did she become a vivandière, why doesn't she want to go by her mother's name?). Or perhaps Michelle, later on when she's alone and setting out to look for the children, remembers her friendship with Housarde and takes comfort and courage from the memory.

Alternatively, I would love a canon divergence where Housarde survives! Perhaps, like Michelle, she's only injured instead of killed in Lantenac's attack on the Bonnet Rouge, or perhaps she escapes from the attack and it's her who finds Michelle and nurses her back to health (that would be a lovely opportunity for some hurt/comfort...). Perhaps they go together to look for Michelle's children and the survivors from Housarde's battalion. How would this part of the story go with Housarde there—what happens on their journey, does she play a role in the eventual rescue? How does their relationship develop, and what might their future together be, after they're all reunited?

Travel Light - Naomi Mitchison
Halla, Steinvor

I love the ways in which this book feels like a fairytale—especially the fairytale-ish narrative style, the magic and the vivid descriptions of nature—and the ways in which it's something less simple. I liked Steinvor from her first appearance, as well as her relationship with Halla—both their growing liking for each other and the way that Steinvor keeps popping up as Halla's life changes so dramatically, both the dynamic between them and Halla's understanding of who she is developing with each meeting.

And the ending, of course! I love the revelation of what it means to 'travel light'—reading it for the first time, it was the best combination of unexpected and perfectly fitting. I'd love to see a fic exploring more about how Halla moves through time after the book's ending. It must be a lonely existence in some ways, and Halla has left so many people behind her, but now she has Steinvor to share it with her. How does their relationship develop further, and what do they discover together about the changed and changing world? Steinvor asks Halla at the end to 'come with us for a bit': does Halla stay with the Valkyries for good, or does she eventually choose another road, and how does Steinvor feel about her choice? Or how about exploring the 'magic going away' type changes in the nature of the world suggested at the end of the book—are there still dragons, somewhere, or is there a different kind of magic in the world now?

Then there are the other Valkyries, and the wonderful new horse—do include them if you like! Is Steinvor a typical Valkyrie or the odd one out in terms of personality? I'd be interested to know what the other Valkyries make of Halla, and what they think about Steinvor taking such an interest in her—this could be a good opportunity for an outsider-POV fic. What do the horses argue about?