Dear Storyteller 2020 (OUAF)

[desertvixen]

So I really love this challenge. It gives me a chance to step outside the sort of thing I normally write, and it gives me the opportunity to get some nice ghost encounter stories and/or a mythology fix.

General: Try not to make everything too dark - some darkness in the progress of the story is fine, but don't end it that way. Bittersweet or slightly creepy "do I want to turn on the lights before I go up" is always good.

I also love crossovers. If you want to smash a few of the prompts together, I would be A-OK with that. I'd also be cool with you dragging in characters from other fandoms (Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys investigate the Ocean-Born Mary house or encounter "Room for One More"? Go for it.)

If you want more about my writing likes/dislikes, check out the "dear Yuletide writer" tag. My general preferences are here.

I'm good with sexual activity that fits with the characters and situation.  Please no extreme violence/gore/cruelty to animals.

On to the specifics:

Ocean-Born Mary (Ghost Story) 

Ocean-Born Mary (Ocean-Born Mary (Ghost Story)), House's Current Owner (Ocean-Born Mary (Ghost Story)), Don Pedro (Ocean-Born Mary (Ghost Story))

I'd be interested in how Mary and Don Pedro meet up again, when he marries her.

But I'd also be interested in how Don Pedro's mother reacts when she about her little namesake. Or maybe she urges her son to go find her.

But I'd also also be interested in a story where people move into Ocean-Born Mary's house and interact with the ghosts... especially if they do the research to find out about the story.

I'd love to see Mary and Don Pedro interact. Perhaps there is a picture of the rare silk dress she is married in - or perhaps there is enough held back to marry Don Pedro in?

The version of the story told in C.B. Colby's Strangely Enough invokes the possibility that Ocean-Born Mary still haunts the place - you can roll with this.  It was my first introduction to the story, and the one that stays with me.

Or maybe a young couple decides to renovate or restore? Do they find the treasure? Does the ghost help?  Feel free to bring in Nancy Drew or Poirot or Miss Marple.

This is a numerous repeat, because I really love it!

 

The Cat Who Became a Queen (Indian folk tale) 

The Prince (The Cat Who Became a Queen), The Cat Who Becomes a Queen (The Cat Who Became A Queen), Mother Cat (The Cat Who Became A Queen)

Was there something special about the mother cat and/or kitten from the start? Does the mother cat live a good (possibly enchanted) life? Does the cat-turned-queen come back to see her mother? I am also interested in how the grateful wives treat the cat afterwards. 

I also saw another request this year about the cat being out and about with the prince that was intriguing.  Or perhaps she still has some cat-like traits?  I’m partial to Siamese cats.

 

Theseus and the Minotaur (Parallel Lives - Plutarch) 

Ariadne (Theseus and the Minotaur), Seven Sacrificial Maidens (Theseus and the Minotaur)

Theseus may be the Hot Young Hero, but he's also kind of stupid and malicious (witness forgetting the black sails are up, and Medea). I'd love to see Ariadne help out the seven maidens rather than the handsome (kind of stupid) prince? Feel free to make the maidens somehow tied to the seven young men - friends/siblings/etc - but interested here in Ariadne helping the maidens out. Maybe she knows one of them?

To go along with some of the other requests, feel free to involve a cat.  I love Ariadne, but Theseus isn't really a huge prize.  I’m good with modern AUs as well – or maybe combine this with the Fall of Atlantis?

Theseus is really NOT a prize, keep that in mind.

 

Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home (Urban Legend) 

Driver (Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home), Dead Girl (Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home), Dead Girl's Mother (Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home)

So, what I'd really like is a true crime take on this urban legend. Does the driver get inspired to solve the hit and run of the girl?

I’ve received some awesome fics for this one in previous years, but I cannot state how much I love the vanishing hitchhiker.  Feel free to involve Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, or Cherry Ames…

Or maybe a podcast about sightings, or a skeptic who runs into the girl? 

Feel free to get inspired by Resurrection Mary as the hitchhi

ker.