Chocolate Box Letter 2020

[corvusumbranox]

Chocolate Box Letter 2020

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Hi, Mystery Author, and welcome to my 2020 Chocolate Box Letter (my first time doing this exchange :D). Some of my requests are longer than others, but please don't take this as an indication that I want any fandom more than the others. I really do love them all, and would be thrilled to receive a gift for any of the ships and fandoms here.

For my art requests, I really would love any kind of art, from comic-book style, to atmospheric drawings, to something more stylised. I'd love anything that incorporates the feel of the various canons.

Table of Contents

General Likes, Smut Likes and DNWs
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Zone Blanche｜Black Spot
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (2000)
Thir13en Ghosts
Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie
The Farmer's Curst Wife - Folk ballad

General Likes and DNWs

General Likes

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building and character development. Backstory
• I love horror of all kinds, from quietly understated ghost stories to fucked-up gore. Body horror, folk horror, Lovecraftian horror, and atmospheric ghost stories are particular favourites but ANY kind of horror would be welcome.
• The Closed Circle trope (the most famous example is And Then There Were None) in both horrors and mysteries.
• Case-fic. Give me more of what's in canon, and I'll be happy
• Anything spooky, angsty, grim, gritty. I'm not so keen on anything too fluffy or slice-of-life, unless it's for characters I really, really ship.
• I have absolutely no problem with major character death. For me this translates as I'm good with anything short of a comet crashing into the world at the start of the fic and instantly killing everyone, and even that's okay if you can make it work. I'm also open to introspective fics dealing with one character's reaction to another's death, and in general loss and mourning is a theme I like to see explored. So feel free to rip my heart out.
• I love endings of all kinds, from happy, to bittersweet, to unremittingly bleak, but if I do have a preference, it's probably for bittersweet endings over purely happy endings. But having said that, even tooth-achingly sweet endings have their place and I do love to read them, so if that's the right ending for your fic then please go with that.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Post-apocalyptic scenarios and zombies
• Prequels and post-canon fics
• Epistolary elements or non-linear story-telling. First person or third person POV
• Older characters finding love
• The following aren't specific likes but they do seem to be opt-in so here I am opting in: pregnancy (including pregnancy loss and horror focused on pregnancy); harm to children and animals. I'm also not really interested in MPreg in romance, but when it comes to horror? Hell yes.

Smut Likes

• Consensual sex both gentle and rough
• Fellatio and cunnilingus (especially cunnilingus with fingering)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint, holding a person down or restraining their wrists.
• Dubcon, (when requested).
• Realistically imperfect but still pleasurable sex (e.g. taking factors into account such as age, one party feeling shy or vulnerable etc,)
• Ghost sex
• For vampires, bloodplay and biting
• Threesomes (especially M/M/F)

DNWs

• A/B/O
• Explicit violent rape or rape as a major theme (brief mentions are okay)
• Incest (unless requested)
• Bestiality
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay
• Torture porn (scenes of torture are fine, and you can get pretty explicit; I'd just prefer torture not be the entire focus of the fic)
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested Characters:
- Corvus Umbranox/Millona Umbranox
- Corvus Umbranox/Millona Umbranox/Hieronymus Lex
- Corvus Umbranox/Lucien Lachance
- Female Hero of Kvatch | Champion of Cyrodiil/Martin Septim
- Martin Septim/Sanguine

Art Prompts:
I love the look of the game, the landscapes and how they contrast with other areas, like the darkness of the caves, sewers and the bleak desolation beyond the Oblivion gates. Anything that incorporates the lore, or the architecture of the game. For Martin Septim in particular, I love the look of the Mysterium Xarxes and the gorgeous scenery and architecture at Cloud Ruler Temple, but I'd also be thrilled to see him in Sanguine's realm.

~~

Oblivion is my favourite of the Elder Scrolls games. I love everything about it, its goofy quirks, the scenery and landscape, the quests, and how virtually every quest in the game usually has a little twist or something special about it. Landscape porn, adventure, and any quiet meta nods to the game's goofy moments would be wonderful.

Corvus Umbranox/Millona Umbranox
Corvus Umbranox/Millona Umbranox/Hieronymus Lex

Corvus/Millona is engraved on my heart. I would love a take on their backstories, how they met, how Corvus became the Fox, or how he survived day to day as a nameless ghost who was essentially spying on his wife. Alternatively, something from after the curse was broken, exploring how they went about rebuilding their relationship. A huge art of what appeals to me about Corvus's character is the enforced loneliness of the situation he's put into, so anything dealing with touch-starvation and isolation, whether during the curse, or in its aftermath, will be like catnip to me.

Lex and the way he fits into the Thieves' Guild questline also fascinates me: Corvus doesn't just scheme to get him out of the Imperial City, but also has him sent to Anvil in order to act as Millona's protector during the Oblivion Crisis. I adore the idea that for all Corvus's scheming, it actually backfires and Lex and Millona end up falling in extremely angsty love, which only gets all the more complicated when the curse is broken and Corvus comes back. V-shaped or triad, it's up to you, although I like the complicated mix of loyalties and guilt between Corvus and Lex, which is made all the more delicious by Corvus secretly being Lex's nemesis, so I'd love to see some sort of relationship between them, whether it's romantic or platonic.

Optional Prompts

• Anything that explores day to day life in the Thieves' Guild, whether it takes place before Corvus becomes the Gray Fox, during his tenure, or after the curse has been broken. How does he balance that life with his relationship with Millona?
• Something introspective about how the curse affects Corvus or Millona, or both of them.
• After the curse has been broken and the Fox's cowl has been passed on, something happens to the current Gray Fox and Corvus is forced to wear the cowl again.
• Anything exploring the healing process between Corvus and Millona after the curse has been broken and they can start to rebuild their marriage again.
• Lex may have been relocated to Anvil, but he still hasn't given up on his hunt for the Gray Fox, and this time he's absolutely certain who it is.
• If you were in the mood to write smut, I do love threesomes.

Corvus Umbranox/Lucien Lachance

Man, these two. The Thieves' Guild and the Dark Brotherhood questlines are unquestionably two of the highlights of the game, and I would love to see something of how the two factions and their leaders interact. Do they have an uneasy alliance, or are they at war? I would be thrilled with a story that explores the relationship between Corvus and Lucien and whether they are allies or enemies (I've requested shipfic here, but I'd honestly also be happy with gen). Whatever your take on it is fine, (although I could really get behind some hatesex). I'd also be happy with Lucien as a spectral assassin after his death (ghost sex). I'd particularly love an exploration of the darker side of the Thieves' Guild, because there's no way everyone who belongs to the guild is entirely down with the 'no killing' Robin Hood ethos.

I'm also more amused by them both being voiced by Wes Johnson than I probably ought to be.

(Regarding infidelity, ideally it would be great if we could just pretend that Millona has moved on after x number of years and quite understandably taken a lover, leaving Corvus technically free to do the same (leaving it unmentioned is fine). Angst and guilt on his part over that are welcome.)

Optional Prompts

• Membership of the Dark Brotherhood seems to provide some degree of immunity to the effects of the cowl. After however many years of no one recognising Corvus or knowing his name, Lucien Lachance does, and an uneasy friendship/relationship starts to develop between the two men.
• Someone is murdering members of the Thieves' Guild. Corvus suspects the work of the Brotherhood.
• Something where Corvus and Lucien have known each other for a long time, since they were boys.
• Lucien and Corvus swap bodies and are forced to keep this information hidden from their respective guilds.
• After Lucien's death, Corvus looks back on their complicated relationship
• I would be delighted with something as unexpectedly tropey as 'There's only one bed!' especially if the fic doesn't lose sight of how massively dark and fucked up Lucien is as a character
• Something weird is going on in the Anvil lighthouse

Female Hero of Kvatch/Martin Septim
Martin Septim/Sanguine

Martin is such a wonderful character. I love the potential for internal conflict and introspection, and the backstory that's hinted at but not explored in detail. In game he seems so sad and calm and accepting of his fate, and the relationship that builds up between him and the Hero of Kvatch means that the main quest's ending is genuinely affecting. I would love either adventure or something more introspective for this.

Or alternatively something darker, exploring his relationship with Sanguine, as backstory or during the events of the game. If you were in the mood to write some darker, dubiously consensual smut, then I would absolutely be down for that.

Optional Prompts

• A quiet moment shared with the Hero of Kvatch on his journey to the Imperial City to light the Dragonfires
• Anything exploring his worship of Sanguine
• The end of the main quest is pretty spectacular. I would love to see a knock-down fight between a 50-foot tall Daedric Prince and a dragon captured in a fic.
• An AU where Uriel Septim acknowledged Martin as an heir rather than hiding him away.
• The burden of translating the Mysterium Xarxes

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested Characters:
- Female Dragonborn/General Tullius
- Female Dragonborn/Belrand
- Mercer Frey/Karliah/Gallus Desidenius
- Female Falmer Servant/Male Falmer Servant
- Female Falmer Servant/Female Falmer Servant

Art Prompts:
Scenery porn will always be welcome, whether it's above ground or whatever the opposite of scenery porn would be in Blackreach. The scenery in Skyrim can be stunning, particularly at night when the Northern Lights are in the sky, but I also I really like the claustrophobia of the caves and ruined forts.

~~

I love the Elder Scrolls games: that feeling when you start playing and know that a ridiculous amount of time is going to be sucked up by the game for the foreseeable future. I love the depth of the lore and the history, and I should mention that I'm also a huge Oblivion fan, so I will particularly appreciate any references to events in that game (or its occasional goofy quirks, although Skyrim has plenty of goofy quirks of its own :D).

Screwing with canon events, timelines and quests is all welcome. I especially like it when events don't unfold as in game, and when, while in-game events may take place, it's not necessarily the Dragonborn at the heart of them. Canon-divergent AUs are especially welcome here. Please note that I'd also be happy with an alternate start player character who isn't actually the Dragonborn.

Female Dragonborn/General Tullius

For this pairing, what appeals to me is the dynamic of two older characters with plenty of history and experience, and who just might be starting to get a bit too old for this shit. Having said that, a younger Dragonborn offers up a lot of interesting possibilities too. I'd also like something that explores General Tullius's competency and pits him against a similarly competent Dragonborn who is either very much like him (also an aging veteran of the Great War), or very different (such as a member of the Dark Brotherhood).

Oh, and this is honestly just a suggestion, but if you happen to be looking for a first name for him, my head-canon preference happens to be 'Reman', but PLEASE ignore this if you prefer something else or choose not to give him a first name at all.

Some adventure would be *amazing* here, but this seems like a ship suited for introspection and quieter thoughtful moments.

Optional Prompts

• The Dragonborn and Tullius reminisce about the Great War.
• A Dragonborn who's a little more involved with the Thalmor than General Tullius would like -- a Thalmor double agent, perhaps?
• The eve of the battle for Windhelm (or Solitude -- who says the winning side has to be the one the player character picks?), and they both might die tomorrow
• There's an awkward moment at the Thalmor embassy party
• Anything delving into the lore and history of Solitude or any of the quests revolving around the city, like the Potema questline or the Sheogorath quest.
• The Dragonborn comes seeking revenge for what happened in Helgen
• The Dragonborn isn't really the Dragonborn but a con-artist who gets caught up in the civil war.

Female Dragonborn/Belrand

Yes, him. I know, I know, sometimes my shipping tastes are kind of idiosyncratic, but he's always such an enthusiastic follower that I'd secretly love to see him shipped with a Dragonborn who is, uh, equally battered. Look, I just like the idea of characters who might not necessarily have expected to find love being happy, okay?

Optional Prompts

• Anything exploring Skyrim, the tombs, the frozen wastes, the inns...
• The Dragonborn and Belrand swap tales of their adventures over a shit-ton of mead
• That arsehole mage turns up and challenges Belrand to a duel. The Dragonborn is suitably unimpressed.
• Huddling for warmth.

Mercer Frey/Karliah/Gallus Desidenius Mercer Frey/Brynjolf

In the interests of full disclosure, I am completely team Mercer. It stems pretty much entirely from the differences between the Oblivion Thieves Guild and the Skyrim one, Mercer's interest in the Gray Fox, and an innate distrust of Nocturnal. Because seriously, who the fuck wants to spend the rest of eternity in the Twilight Sepulcher? Probably not Mercer.

For my Nightingale OT3, backstory which fills in what really happened twenty-five years ago would be amazing. I leave the details of the ship and its dynamics entirely up to you. What really drove Mercer to murder Gallus and betray the Guild? Or alternatively a fic about the Guild in happier times. Perhaps the three of them pull off a heist together when they were all still friends, but with some underlying tensions which foreshadow what is to come.

As much as he appeals to me, and as much as the Thieves guild questline leaves me wishing there was a choice to betray Karliah and break the oath to Nocturnal, is a complete and utter amoral bastard, and I am fine with him being written that way.

We get virtually no backstory for him, so I would be thrilled to receive a story exploring that, even if the other two characters take a back seat or are dead.

For the Mercer/Brynjolf ship, I'd love anything: backstory, or something set during the events of canon, or a post-canon fic, whether Mercer is alive or dead.

Optional Prompts

• The Thieves Guild questline from Mercer's point of view (well, part of it). Bonus points for Falmer-related horror.
• Mercer meets with Gallus's ghost in the Sepulcher. Angsty-talk or smut -- how does sex with a ghost work anyway?
• Mercer is a great admirer of the Gray Fox. Is there a reason? And whatever did happen to the Gray Fox's cowl?
• I might have mentioned my like for M/M/F threesomes, in the smut likes section? It's not often I explicitly suggest PWP, but... well, that.
• A Jessica Fletcher type turns up in the Flagon and starts poking around into Gallus's murder, stirring up Mercer's guilt (If it's a thinly veiled Skyrim version of Jessica Fletcher and crack-played-straight, then ALL THE BETTER. I would also accept the Riften Guards' version of Columbo).
• After the events of the questline have been concluded, Brynjolf looks back on his memories of Mercer.
• Mercer's been in a dark mood lately and Brynjolf's concerned about him.

Female Falmer Servant/Male Falmer Servant Female Falmer Servant/Female Falmer Servant

The existence of the Falmer servants raises so many horrific questions: forced breeding, mind-washing, so many people spending their lives enslaved by the Falmer in the bleak desolation of Blackreach. It's so bleak and grim and gritty, and utterly fucking awful, that I would freaking LOVE to see something exploring their lives, whether you delve deep into the grimdark bleakness or keep it all creepily rose-tinted: this is the world they've been born into and they've never known anything else, and it's not like things are all that much better on the surface world, right?

I adore the aesthetics of Blackreach, and The Descent-style vibes I get from the Falmer, so whatever the Blackreach-equivalent of landscape porn is, I'd love that.

Feel free to go extremely dark with this. Consider this a yes please to cannibalism, forced breeding, dubiously consensual monsterfucking…

Optional Prompts

• Love in the time of horror and misery.
• After meeting with an adventurer from the outside world, she's been dreaming about the world above.
• They begin to learn something about the world around them and Dwemer history, perhaps finding out something about the history of their Falmer masters.
• The bleakest slice of life imaginable but presented as if it's perfectly normal.

Zone Blanche | Black Spot

Please note this section contains significant spoilers.

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested ships:
Louis Hermann/Camille Laugier
Léa Steiner/Laurène Weiss (Zone Blanche)
Léa Steiner/Bertrand Steiner/Laurène Weiss
Camille Laugier/Marion Steiner

Art Prompts:
I love the scenery of Villefranche, both of the landscape and all the old ruined buildings that have been left to moulder and rot over the years. And the atmosphere and all the hints of the supernatural: the glowing insects and the nest of snakes and the wolf in the second episode. And the Horned God himself. Anything focusing on the atmosphere of the series will be welcome, but I'd also love something that focuses on the characters, and particularly on the contrasts between them.

~~

This series, set in an isolated French town, is a recent discovery for me and one which I binge-watched because it's so, so good. I love the format, the way the case-of-the-week procedural mysteries are woven in with both the overarching theme of crime and corruption and with the supernatural forces in the forest. I love the way it uses Celtic mythology, the stunning cinematography and scenery, the modern folk-horror (and arboreal horror) vibe, and the way the forest is presented as both an antagonist and something many of the characters have a symbiotic relationship with. Oh, and the characters: aside from a scant handful of exceptions (Roman and Rudy, who I don't mind, but I'm not particularly invested in) there isn't a single character I wouldn't love to read more about.

One of my favourite things about the canon is the way everyone seems to have their own personal relationship with the forest and countryside, so I'd love to see something exploring that. I'd also love to see some scenery porn for this fandom, since the scenery is one of my favourite things about it, and my love for folk horror is particularly relevant here, as is my love for creepy forests and supernatural themes. I love the ambiguity of the supernatural: while the supernatural forces unambiguously exist, often their influence over the various cases of the week are less clear. I really like that, but I would also be happy to see something where the supernatural forces have much more influence.

Louis Hermann/Camille Laugier

I love the contrast between these two: Camille is deceptively fragile in appearance and behaviour, and Hermann's a tough-as-nails woodsman badass with a vulnerable streak, the awkwardness of the age gap, the tenderness between them, the hint of vulnerability that comes from loss and grief, and the mentor/protégé relationship: it's all so messed up and complicated and painfully sweet. And the events of S2E4: that chaste heartbroken forehead kiss. Her expression when she walks away. My freaking heart.

The show is never quite clear just what their relationship is. Personally, I head-canon it as unresolved mutual pining, with Hermann perhaps trying to tell himself that his feelings towards her are fatherly when they're actually nothing of the kind, and which perhaps really did start off as a mentor/protégé relationship but gradually grew into something more.

Optional Prompts

• I almost never request slice-of-life, but I would love it for these two. Show me them hanging out, going on a fishing trip or mushroom-picking, whether it's overtly shippy or keeps the same level of ambiguity as in canon.
• They get that fishing trip to the Caribbean, whether Camille is alive or a ghost, whether real or ambiguous.
• Someone is running a sweepstakes on their relationship: half of Villefranche thinks they're a couple, the other half think she's his lovechild, and no one can agree.
• Camille comes back from the dead (I will literally never get enough of the came-back-wrong trope so have at it).
• Sex-pollen. Either the event itself or the aftermath, and whether it's painfully awkward or leads to them admitting they have feelings for each other or both.

Léa Steiner/Laurène Weiss Léa Steiner/Bertrand Steiner/Laurène Weiss

I'd also absolutely love to see something exploring the love triangle between these three, either on the three of them together or on the relationship between Léa and Laurène. Bertrand fascinates me: his motivations and his relationship with his father, that tangled web of fear and duty and who-the-fuck-knows, and the multiple twists at the end of season 2 had me reeling.

I'd also love to know more about Léa, and her relationship with Laurène, why Laurène barely reacted when Léa came into the station with a very obvious false alibi for her brother: did she have reasons beyond not believing that Simon was responsible? And Léa herself, anything more about her backstory, her miserable relationship with her father, what the relationship was like between the three of them when they were growing up and around Laurène's disappearance, and during their pregnancies.

Optional Prompts

• An AU where it was Léa who was taken by the forest.
• Something exploring what happens after the events of season 2. Does Léa follow through on leaving Bertrand? Does Laurène go on to have a relationship with him, or is she more drawn to Léa?
• Something from when they were young; what were their relationships like before Laurène's disappearance, and how did that affect them?
• I'd love to see an exploration of the time when Lauréne became sheriff and how it affected their relationships. Gérald claimed it was down to him: how true was that, and given the fraught relationships Léa and Bertrand both had with him, how would they have felt about Gérald attempting to buy Lauréne?

Camille Laugier/Marion Steiner

I love Camille's character, and wish we'd seen a bit more of her. I think by now it's probably not a secret that I ship her quite strongly with Hermann, BUT I would also love to see her character outside of his influence. I wish we'd seen more of her in canon -- in season 2, it isn't clear how much we see of her is real and how much is the result of how Hermann sees her and what he thinks might have happened. So I'd love to see more: more of her life, of her motivations and fears, and her relationships with the other female characters.

We see even less of Marion Steiner, but depending on how old Camille is (I headcanon her as being about 23), there's really not that much of a difference in their ages.

Optional Prompts

• A party at the saw-mill, and neither Camille nor Marion feels at ease.
• Their relationships with forest and how they differ.
• Show me Marion's death, and the subsequent aftermath, or Camille's guilt over what happened, whether straight afterwards or throughout the events of season 1.
• Did Marion ever visit Camille the way Camille visited Hermann?

Franck Siriani/Bertrand Steiner

I'm not sure what it says about me that both seasons got me kind of shipping these two harder towards the final episodes of each season. In season 1, it was Bertrand slamming Siriani onto the desk and pinning a letter opener (?) to his throat, and in season 2, well... Either way, I would freaking love to see this antagonistic, fucked-up ship in a fic.

Optional Prompts

• The aftermath of season 2, and Siriani puzzling over the pieces, trying to figure out what happened.
• The two men get trapped somewhere together -- heavy snowfall? Hostage situation? Freakish natural phenomenon exclusive to Villefranche that means they can't go outside? -- and are forced to bond.
• Pure unadulterated hate sex, possibly the result of sex pollen and painfully awkward all round
• Something exploring how neither man seems particularly at home in the forest, and perhaps how they do have something in common after all: they both feel like outsiders in Villefranche.
• After the events of season 1, Siriani has to face up to the possibility that he may have been wrong about Bertrand.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) 2000

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested ships:
Jeff Randall/Jeannie Hurst

Art Prompts:
Anything that incorporates something of the weirdness of the supernatural world or the strange cases they find themselves investigating. Maybe with Marty looking on, because that awkwardness of Jeff being left behind with his best friend's fiancée has a hell of a lot to do with why this appeals to me so much, aside from Jeff being so lovely. I also love the references from the Shining that pop up in a couple of episodes.

~~

Ohhh, this show. I revisited it recently out of curiosity, and aside from a few wobbly bits that really did not age well, it's a delight from start to finish. I love virtually everything about it: Wyvern's terrible poetry (and how the fuck did I manage to forget Tom Baker was in this?), the way Marty and Jeff interact, and most of all the adorable central relationship between Jeff and Jeannie, with all that delicious mutual pining and guilt and very slightly eyebrow-raising consent issues. Oh, and the weirdness of some of the later episodes: the haunted hotel, the folk horror episode where Jeff and Marty are trapped in the village from hell, Marty's useless ghost powers! It's such glorious wonderful nonsense.

It's also fine to include Jeannie/Marty as well, although I'd prefer that Jeff/Jeannie remains the central ship.

Optional Prompts

• Case-fic! Especially if it's something as wonderfully weird and supernatural as some of the cases on the show.
• An 'And Then There Were None' style set-up: an isolated mansion, eldritch horrors in the walls.
• All the guilty flirting, UST, and mutual pining.
• Jeannie learns that Marty's a ghost and finds out he's able to possess Jeff's body. What if she agrees to his suggestion that he do that in order to sleep with her again? Except for the minor complication that Jeff, who was supposed to remain unconscious throughout, keeps remembering.

Thir13en Ghosts

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested ships:
Dennis Rafkin/Kathy Kriticos
Dennis Rafkin/Cyrus Kriticos
Kathy Kriticos/Cyrus Kriticos/Dennis Rafkin
Kathy Kriticos/Cyrus Kriticos

Art Prompts:
I would really really love for some of the clockwork house's stylistic elements to be incorporated here somehow, or perhaps something could be done with the occult drawings of the Black Zodiac? How would the characters I've requested fit into the Black Zodiac? And feel free to incorporate plenty of blood and gore here.

~~

I completely unashamedly love this film and everything about it: the bereaved family who think a sudden bequest from their estranged uncle is going to solve all their financial problems (I mean, good lord, did they actually pay attention to that video will?), the early noughties ghost aesthetic, the ghost-vision goggles, the clockwork workings of the mansion, the closed-circle tropey goodness of the plot, and most of all the characters.

Dennis is virtually everything I adore in a character: touch-starved, self-hating, deeply conflicted, and painfully, agonisingly lonely. Anything that explores his struggles with his psychic abilities, loneliness and inability to touch people is right up my alley and I'm pretty much guaranteed to love it. I ship him with both Cyrus and Kathy, or potentially both at once.

For Kathy, I'd really love to see something that builds on what we see of her character. In canon she has to keep things together for the sake of her grieving father and death-obsessed little brother, but perhaps after she learns about the existence of the occult things change. Maybe she's drawn to occultism despite (or because of) what happened, and finds herself following in Cyrus's footsteps. Or a darker Kathy who's working with Cyrus himself, either in a canon-divergent AU where Cyrus survived or where he's been brought back somehow. Maybe she brought him back thinking she could control him.

Consider my incest DNW waived for Kathy/Cyrus, although I'd prefer if the focus was more on being seduced to the dark side by a than on him technically being a family member. It also isn't clear how old Kathy is in canon, but personally I see her as college-aged in canon, maybe 19-21).

Ghosts are ALWAYS welcome, as is anything exploring the house or Cyrus's particular brand of ridiculously flamboyant occultism. Again, I have no issue with character death and mourning, or blood and gore.

Optional Prompts

• A time-loop set during the events of the film where Dennis keeps dying in a variety of unpleasant ways.
• After the death of her brother and/or father, Kathy returns to the house in order to use its powers for herself. Maybe she finds Dennis there and he tries to stop her.
• Something quieter and sweeter exploring a relationship between Kathy and Dennis where he manages to overcome his difficulties with touching other people and they gradually heal from the experience.
• This could have a happyish ending, or it could be utterly devastatingly bleak, so perhaps at the end it's revealed that they're both dead and trapped in a containment cube and he's been hiding this from her to protect her.
• Architectural horror — something focused around that gloriously OTT clockwork house. Maybe something like that isn’t quite so easy to destroy.
• Dennis and Cyrus and their fucked-up relationship, however you choose to present it: platonic or otherwise. Bonus points for making it vaguely dub-conny and deeply manipulative. Perhaps Cyrus is somehow able to overcome the psychic touching issue with some sort of drug; if you've been desperate for human contact all your life that'd be hard to resist.
• Came-back-wrong: Dennis or Cyrus. Or both.

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested ships:
Dr Carl Bessner/Cornelia Robson

Fandom specific DNW: Any implication in the narrative that Dr Bessner is in any way supportive of the Nazi regime (suspicion on the part of other characters is fine though).

Please note that I am familiar with (and adore) the David Suchet series, and particularly love the episode of Death on the Nile, so if you want to base your fic or artwork on that series, then please feel free to do so.

Art Prompts:
I'd love to see a scene (or a missing scene) from the novel here, such as a quiet moment in Dr Bessner's cabin when they're looking after Simon, or everyone gathered in the saloon, exploring ruins or standing at the side of the boat and watching the scenery go by. Perhaps something that reflects the canon love triangle in some way, or a scene from post-canon where the couple have a family meal with Cornelia's family and the terrible Cousin Marie. Any appearance from Poirot would be appreciated too.

~~

Probably my favourite Agatha Christie novel, with its ingenious central puzzle, and a cast of memorable characters (Salome Otterbourne <3<3<3). And the lovely put-upon Cornelia, in thrall to her terrible Cousin Marie, who finds herself caught up in a love triangle, and rather than accept the proposal from the massively wealthy and titled Mr Ferguson, instead she chooses to marry the Austrian Dr Bessner, who's older and plump and going to whisk her away to Europe to teach her all about neuroses.

I ship them. Oh god, do I ship them, and all the more so for how she has to stand up to her venomous cousin to do it and for the bait-and-switch of Mr Ferguson. Not to mention how utterly sweet Cornelia and Dr Bessner are together -- there's a scene in the book just before the denouement where they keep complimenting each other, and it is the loveliest freaking thing. Most of all I like that it's Cornelia's choice: as Poirot says she's a woman of original mind.

The novel was published in 1937, and is probably set around then as well. I don't mind something post-canon exploring the consequences of the war, but please feel free to shift the setting to earlier in the inter-war period if you wish.

Optional Prompts

• A missing scene from canon. I'd love to see more of what's going on aboard that ship, and their gradually developing understanding while the case is going on in the background. I'll just note that while we see Ferguson's proposal, we never see Dr Bessner's.
• They meet up with Poirot again and get caught up in another case.
• As sweet as I think it is, their relationship has an air of a marriage of convenience of it. And perhaps that's how it starts -- companionship, mutual friendship, and her need to be of use -- but I'd love to see it unexpectedly develop into something more passionate, taking them both by surprise.
• The immediate aftermath of the case after the shock of the ending.
• Cornelia experiencing freedom for the first time.
• Cornelia meets up again with Mr Ferguson once she knows more about who he is. Were there ever any moments when she wondered if she made the right choice?

The Farmer's Curst Wife - Folk Ballad

Requested:
Art/Fanfiction
Requested ships:
The devil/the wife

Art Prompts:
Something incorporating the violence in the song, maybe the wife in hell with a pile of dead demons at her feet? Or the devil approaching her after she's returned from hell and attempting to win her over. I'd also love to see anything that incorporates folk imagery.

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This is the version I'm most familiar with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BeEn5ZKzAo

What appeals to me in this song is just how much of a badass the wife is: there is something so incredibly delightful about how, when the devil drags her down to hell, she proceeds to kick the ever-loving shit out of every single demon she sees, until the little baby demons start screaming, "Take her back! Take her back!" I'm probably not supposed to have come out of the song thinking how amazing she is, but I don't care and I just want more about her, like some character development that goes beyond her being a scolding nag. I would particularly love to see her meeting the devil as an equal at the very least, and perhaps finding a place where she's actually respected rather than being vilified as a shrew.

If you want to go all in on the horror and violence, then please do. The ridiculous violence is mainly what appeals, particularly when it's set to traditional folk music.

Optional Prompts

• Why did the devil choose her to steal away?
• What happens after she escapes from hell? There are quite a few different versions, and I must admit I'm quite partial to the one where she bashes her faithless husband's skull in with the butter stick, but however you choose to end it I'm good.
• I just love the idea of her causing havoc in hell and butchering all the demons. More of that, please.
• A Beauty and the Beast rewrite where she is not even slightly in the devil's power and he is seriously regretting stealing her away, but secretly also fascinated by her.
• After returning her from hell, the devil attempts to court her.

Thanks for reading!