Dear Storyteller

[desertvixen]

My general preferences are here.

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. Go for it.)


My blanket DNW are nominated character death, cruelty/death to animals/children, extreme/graphic/sexual violence.

 

 

 

 

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))

 

 

For this one I'm obviously okay with characters being dead and ghostified, but don't need to dwell on how they got that way. In one version of the story it talks about Don Pedro getting killed by cutlass – I’m okay with that/Mary finding him as he is dying, but not super graphic or Cyrano level death speeches.

 

I'd be interested in how Mary and Don Pedro meet up again, when he marries her. Normally I request the mother as well, but I've decided that I'm not that interested in a story focused on her. I'd be down for Don Pedro telling Mary about how his mother reacted to her/told him 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?  Or perhaps a shawl or something similar that she;s kept with her over the years.

 

 

The version of the story told in C.B. Colby's Strangely Enough invokes the possibility that Ocean-Born Mary still haunts the place – I really like 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?  I especially like this idea if they are restoring.  Maybe the ghost shows them where to look?  Don Pedro as a ghost is good too. 

 

 

 

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 KIng's Wives (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.

 

 

 

Perhaps she still has some cat-like traits?  Naps in the sun?  Bats at strings?  I’m partial to Siamese cats (not the right ethnicity I know) but maybe some sort of similar temple cats? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kupti and Imani (Punjabi Fairy Tale) 

 

 

 

Subbar Khan (Kupti and Imani), Imani (Kupti and Imani)

 

So I love the vibe and humor these two have between them.

I just found this story last year in one of the Lang Fairy Books and I love it. Subhar Khan is sexy and funny. I would love some future adventures, or maybe one of the nights that he stays late and plays chess (because I feel like he doesn’t just stay late to “play chess”…). I don’t need Kupti in the story.

 

Banter and late nights and patience?  Or if you felt like going AU I would be totally in for a Regency AU.

 

 

 

Queen Anait (Armenian Fairy Tale) 

 

 

 

Anait | Anahit (Queen Anait) Vachagan | Vatchagan (Queen Anait) Vachagan's Mother The Queen (Queen Anait)

 

So I love the whole message in the rug, clever queen leading her people to save the king, and I love their banter. Tell me more!

 

I would also be down for a situation where Anait has an encounter with Vachagan's mother's ghost.

 

I don’t really have more to add, but I love their vibe.  Perhaps a visiting royal remarks on their fine rugs and tapestries and demands to know where they got them – perhaps they use their weaving talents to get their children some spouses?

 

I’d also be down for a Regency AU.