Yuletide 2024 - Letter
Oct. 8th, 2024 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chibifukurouHi Dear Writer,
Thank you for being a part of my holiday season. Yuletide is the longest running part of my winter holidays. And I appreciate being a part of it.
General DNW: Explicit/On page child abuse; Non-Consensual sexual contact; Kinks outside of those mentioned in a specific fandom prompt;
General Likes: Recovery, Post Canon, Curtain Fic. Neurodiverse/Disabled/Queer folks worked into the worldbuilding (POV characters are welcome if thats where your muse takes you). Gender as a social concept (this can include discussions of sex related expectations inherent to a persons position in the narrative, trans headcanons, gender bending, A/B/O, etc)
General Mixed Bag(if they are your preferred writing type/trope go for it, but please make sure to include canon or prompt noted disability/neurodiversity/gender expression etc): PWPs, Complete AUs,
Nabari No Ou - The very first fandom I wrote long-fic in. I own all the DVDs and still list it as one of my formative narrative pieces. Was pleased to see it made a come back in noms this year. I stopped putting it in Yuletide a few years back for lack of an active fandom.
I love me some gender wonky low affect boys. Finding reasons to push through and keep living because the world has some beautiful things like each other in it.
I'm mostly an Anime canon person. So prompts will be primarily for that. But am fine with anything set in thr manga, its just been a few years since I read it.
Yoite - I'd love his grappling with the choices he made, and how little choice there was to it. Being a weapon was safer/easier, until it wasn't. How do you grapple with that change within yourself? Fixits where stopping using his power lets him live but leave him disabled and how he makes a life as a person would be lovely. But also up for canon compliant.
Miharu - Give me my apathetic/low affect boy who loves too much and plays with gender presentation and will absolutely be motivated by spite and being a troll. In Canon or after. I'd love to see him coming into his own as if not a powerful ninja, one that definitely gets the sneaky and easy to under-estimate part down. Does me want to get more familiar with his parents' history? Or prefer to focus on living forward? If a fix it I'd love to see him and Yoite growing up and growing more differenciated as they move past their trauma. While still not growing apart
Gau - Oh Gau, with his devotion and trauma bottled up tight. We get to see him start to blossom post canon. Fix its are welcome but I'd love a feel for how he changed as he grew into the ninja world and how he sought to change the ninja world as an outsider with a better understanding of what the regular world entailed.
Raiko - Trauma boy of all the trauma boys. Just a trashfire rolling down the highway. Loved but convinced he was unlovable. I don't have a particular time period prompt for him. Of all the characters I think he would have had the hardest time living through the reveal and accepting what he did for a lie. If that is something you feel up to tackling it would be fascinating. But would be equally happy with something set during or pre-canon knowing the fate he's heading towards but finding fulfillment anyway.
General - Slice of life during or after canon. We get to see a little of the day to day life of Gray Wolves and a little of the school life for Miharu's crew. But I'd love to see them in a more detail. Letting us see the care people give each other. I also would love something set in the Miharu and Yoite roadtrip.
Epic NPC Man - this is a bit of a dark horse fandom for me. I came into Viva La Dirt League from their Survival Logic shorts. And then watched Baelins route and loved the play on mute video game characters and weird themed fighting skills. I've continued to watch the newer seasons of Epic NPC man and the back catalog. I'm not super into the general channel lore from their DnD or Bored series so would prefer more of an in universe setting, with humor and nods to the tropes explored. Over a full meta breaking the fourth wall fic.
Baelin - I'm a fishing game weirdo. Always on the lookout for life sims with fishing elements. So while I get that part of the running joke is that the Adventurers find his minigames and fishing dynamics annoying, I'd love to see him interacting with an Adventurer who Min/Maxes with a specialization with fishing. Over the more traditional adventure. Are there special fishing spots in the world, or quests you can only get as a master fisherman.
If you prefer something with In Universe characters only I'd love to see more of an explanation about how Baelin changes post the Baelin's Route era. Does he get to see princess again? Does it change his interactions with the others in Honeywood? Do they worry when he starts taking longer/different routes (I know its harder to write but I would HIGHLY prefer if you kept his speech to that in universe "Mornin, Nice Day for Fishing" , and played with other people understanding him, rather than giving him regular dialog.)
Greg - Greg seems the most fleshed out of the NPCs. Even in shorts where he isn't aware of being in a video game, he notices the inconsistencies of the world. I'd love to get more of a feel for his view of how the world and the adventurers work. Later seasons with his pub are welcome, but also happy with early season where he is a mix of stationary shop keeper. Or a look at the different versions of him that go out on quest lines.
Bodger - An ABSOLUTE troll but not an absolute ass about it like characters such as Baradun. I particularly love the short when he sneaks through the entire forest to beat the Adventurer across. Or tosses his Grandfather's Hammer back in the well. Or handing over intentionally handing over ugly gear. Unlike Greg we don't really see him acting as a quest companion outside of Honeywood or having long interconnected relationship with the Adventurers. How does he see the Adventurers vs his other NPC companions. Did he come by his trollish behavior by himself or was it written in? And what made him start trying to pull tricks like the forest run, when that wasn't programmed in?
Adventurer - See Baelin's entry for what I'd love to see. But I'd also have fun seeing more of the world and game mechanics we see just on the edge of the skits. What does out of game meta and gaming culture look like?
General - If you have a game you play on that you'd love put the character in, I'd be interested to see it, but please keep to character constraints like giving Baelin a different line go defeat. And keeping Bodger and Greg stuck in their own ways as NPCs rather than making them player characters.
Campfire Cooking in Another World - I'm a sucker for wandering adventurer/peddler tropes. It gives you the ability to get a ton of world building in without losing the forward momentum. Mix that with companion collecting and food and this show was basically catnip for me. I've only watched Anime fandom, and have not read the light novels. So you can feel free to bring in characters or elements from further on in canon but prompts will be based on how far we got in the Anime.
Mukouda - Not that bright but with more of a backbone than he or anyone else seems to expect. I'd love more meals, more of a feel for what he cooked in his previous world. And just more good slice of life days, learning the mechanics pf the world around him
Fel - Old and Hungry. And though he doesn't seem to want to admit it, lonely. What was his life like pre-canon? Are there other Fenrir? And if so how did he end up on his own? Also would love his opinion of different hunts and the taste of different meats even before they start getting cooked for him.
Sui - Bloodthirsty slime creature. I love how much he looks up to Fel as a big brother type character. How aware is he at the start before he starts eating other worldly trash? What does he think of the world at large as the only slime we really see able to communicate. Does he have any memories and instincts that come with slime kind?
General - World-building my beloved. Its just such a strange world. How does the summoning ritual assign skills. And why online shop? We don't get much pre-summoning info in universe to explain why online shopping and holy sword would come from the same ritual. What about Mukouda made the ritual work that way. The different guild, we get a feel for Merchant and Hunter and they are handwaved as just the two you see in commerce and swords animes, but since Mukouda is basically Min/Maxing how does that work? Are there other guilds he'd want to get involved with? Does he eventually start a food cart? Or just stick to traveling merchant. Also the Goddesses? How do most people without a Fenrir and magic food get their attention. Fel seems to think there isn't much ritual, but is that because he is old and a beast? Have the humans made more detailed rituals and can they hear directly from the Gods or just know if things are going right from the blessings? What do they think of Mukouda's lackadaisical method of worship. Particularly when he is more blessed than pretty much anybody else in the world. Fel seems to have knowledge of the various sentient beasts, are there more that he runs into on his hunts that Mukouda doesn't know about?
My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 - This anime didn't hit the same insta love on the plot that I had with campfire cooking, but more than made up for it with the found family feels. I can't say no to a character who keeps accidentally adopting someone new every time they turn around. (I'm looking at you reincarnated as a slime). And then once I got further in the absolute bonkers absurdist world building and Min/Maxing dragged me even further in. This joined my list of comfort animes for when I'm not feeling well.
Satou Ryota - As the main POV character in a min/max commerce and swords isekai he plays off a lot of the standard tropes. Poorly treated salary man comes to a new world with weird game mechanic style world building and uses his experience in business and video game logic to game the system. But he also plays against those tropes in a lot of ways. He is a big part of moving the plot forward, but doesn't follow the more traditional look out for yourself and strike out to conquer the world either on purpose or by accident though noble morals. His goal for the money is to look after his family well. He gets stronger in service for that goal. And while he does make other lives like the Princess' better and saves the town by winning the new dungeon or beating the dungeon Master. It remains in his mind and the mind of his family a collaborative goal, where the other characters learn to abuse the game mechanics as well, but in support of their shared goals. I'd love to see an exploration of those differences and how he squares them. Or a look at the other times he visited the world without realizing it, like with child Eve. We never get a reason for his entry into the world, even though the world changes to accommodate his presence by creating a new dungeon. So what might be going on, in the background?
Emily Brown- Emily!!!! We get her backstory a bit from her mom. And the lessons that were instilled into her about hard work and lending a hand whenever. But how did she keep to her morals through the years as a young orphan barely scraping by with only a low vegetable drop rate to fund herself? I love how kind she is with Ryota despite the strange way he entered her life. Willing to explain the rules and offer a weapon. But also caretake after when a lot of anime characters would have seen the weapon and information to get strong was all the info needed. More of Emily getting all the good things and taking care of her patchwork family would be great if you are interested in slice of life.
Eve Callusleader - Eve is such an interesting character. More of a stray cat than the rest of the crew who attach themselves at first meeting. I love she has a catchphrase and obsession with same foods. And how kind and accommodating the others are with her, while still having boundaries. We see that the other bunnywomen act as a pack or team. Are they her family? Or did they take her in independently? What made her go off on her own? And seemingly move to an area that doesn't have any other bunnies? Did child Ryota ever visit her again?
Celeste- Celeste obvious had problems in her past. You don't end up on the edge of society in a unclaimed territory burning trash with a spell thats unsuited for it because things are going well. We also see a rigidity to her thinking that is very different from Ryota and Emily's version of hard work. Where you work to help others and to improve your life. Where she works simply to survive. How does this differing POV effect the family going forward? Is she able to temper their more dangerous optimism? Or get swept up and become more like them? I'd also love more about how magic users work in this world. As the only strict magic user in the main crew, she has weaknesses like the storms that the others don't and the unusual talent got only 3rd level spells without the ability to learn others. She is a great POV character to explore those dynamics.
General- I love dungeon crawling games like Pokemon mystery dungeon which the world building kind of reminds me of. I'd love to see all or most of the family go to new dungeon locations. Or explore more of the stranger mechanics of Drops as only form of resources. If money is a drop like everything else, how did it become a set currency? Are there other money dungeons for other countries with their own currency. We see crafted and cooked goods and how they turn into different monsters as trash then they originally were. What about ghost towns are there monster packs that used to be whole camps and towns wandering the wastes between the dungeons and the town that grow up around them? What kinf of drops would Ryota get from them?
Poker Face - I'm a lover of citizen mystery solver shows and Pokerface is a nice clean version of it. Which isn't surprising coming as it does from Rian Johnson. I particularly like that he used the How Did It version of the genre. I'm a sucker for shows and movies that play with time and POV.
Charlie Cale- Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. She's such a fun character. Kind, believing in the better natures of people, despite the fact that her life keeps getting blown up by different people's schemes and knowing how often people lie. That first episode when she talks about how everybody lies for a large variety of reasons and says it without judgment was so rare for detectives who 'know more than other people'
She is gentle despite her no bullshit personal morals. Another rarity in the genre. I'd love to see more about the people she helped. Either among the casino staff, or those she leaves behind as she travels in canon. Or in mysteries we don't see. If you feel up for a casefic that would be great, or I'd love to see a fix-it where Natalie lives. Whether as another one of the people Charlie left behind or a full Thelma and Lois bi gal pals making their way through canon.
The Fall of the House of Usher-
Arthur Pym- I love me a ruthless character. Not cruel necessarily, but definitely playing by their own rules and morality. Arthur sees Roderick very differently than even his kids do. As a good man, but still a man. Not the near king that the kid's see. He's set his whole life trying not to be leveraged, but still supporting and acting as Roderick's shadow, how does he square that with himself.
We get a little about history, based off the story of the Transglobal Expedition, but he wouldn't have moved straight from that to the Usher's employ. The expedition ended in 82. and they would have just taken ownership of Fortunato. So what was he doing in between and how did that lead him to them. Verna says his immunity is because of them, but she'd already had her eye on him. Did she help guide him there?
After the series, he lets himself be taken, admits to everything. Doesn't try to fight or run, after Verna tells him what his fate is, why make that choice?
Lenore Usher- Lenore/Nevermore. She sees the good in her family, and some of that is being young, but also we see she has made her own moral compass that leads truer than even her mother's who grew up outside of the family. What made her so different from the rest of the Ushers being corrupted by Roderick and the consequences of the deal he made?
Does any part of her still exist in the chatbot? Or stick around to look after her mom, and watch the vents Verna promised come true?
Verna- Verna is similar to Arthur in that she is a being that works by their own morality and her own rules. We see with in the later episodes that she can see the other worlds that are made when she makes a deal. Is that how she picks the people she makes a deal with, based on what they would have been? But if so why save Morella, along with the employees at the party?
The rest of the guests weren't saved, and Morella was brought there as much by Prospero's temptation as the other people.
She never wants the children to make the worst choice but she always leads them down that path anyway. So what rules does she actually follow and why?
Worldbuilding- This is an interesting one. It's technically part of the Mike Flanagan Netflix Verse; but also Edgar Allen Poe. And the fact that outside of Verna all the more fantastical pieces get set through the eyes of Roderick after his diagnosis. Meaning the world is pretty wide open as to which parts are real or not. Most Mike Flanagan Netflix series have ghosts as real, able to communicate if limited by the forms of their death and the people they are attached to, as far as how much contact they can make. Are the Usher's stuck as ghosts because of their supernatural death caused by the deal? Or are they only shadows, figments made to torture Roderick, but not sentient creatures. Verna says she does a lot of deals, and Roderick is only in her top five for people killed which means he's probably 4th or 5th. How wide do these deals spread, and how do they work in a world where souls don't exist? If she only comes up sometimes, where does she live and how the rest of the time?
Thank you for being a part of my holiday season. Yuletide is the longest running part of my winter holidays. And I appreciate being a part of it.
General DNW: Explicit/On page child abuse; Non-Consensual sexual contact; Kinks outside of those mentioned in a specific fandom prompt;
General Likes: Recovery, Post Canon, Curtain Fic. Neurodiverse/Disabled/Queer folks worked into the worldbuilding (POV characters are welcome if thats where your muse takes you). Gender as a social concept (this can include discussions of sex related expectations inherent to a persons position in the narrative, trans headcanons, gender bending, A/B/O, etc)
General Mixed Bag(if they are your preferred writing type/trope go for it, but please make sure to include canon or prompt noted disability/neurodiversity/gender expression etc): PWPs, Complete AUs,
Nabari No Ou - The very first fandom I wrote long-fic in. I own all the DVDs and still list it as one of my formative narrative pieces. Was pleased to see it made a come back in noms this year. I stopped putting it in Yuletide a few years back for lack of an active fandom.
I love me some gender wonky low affect boys. Finding reasons to push through and keep living because the world has some beautiful things like each other in it.
I'm mostly an Anime canon person. So prompts will be primarily for that. But am fine with anything set in thr manga, its just been a few years since I read it.
Yoite - I'd love his grappling with the choices he made, and how little choice there was to it. Being a weapon was safer/easier, until it wasn't. How do you grapple with that change within yourself? Fixits where stopping using his power lets him live but leave him disabled and how he makes a life as a person would be lovely. But also up for canon compliant.
Miharu - Give me my apathetic/low affect boy who loves too much and plays with gender presentation and will absolutely be motivated by spite and being a troll. In Canon or after. I'd love to see him coming into his own as if not a powerful ninja, one that definitely gets the sneaky and easy to under-estimate part down. Does me want to get more familiar with his parents' history? Or prefer to focus on living forward? If a fix it I'd love to see him and Yoite growing up and growing more differenciated as they move past their trauma. While still not growing apart
Gau - Oh Gau, with his devotion and trauma bottled up tight. We get to see him start to blossom post canon. Fix its are welcome but I'd love a feel for how he changed as he grew into the ninja world and how he sought to change the ninja world as an outsider with a better understanding of what the regular world entailed.
Raiko - Trauma boy of all the trauma boys. Just a trashfire rolling down the highway. Loved but convinced he was unlovable. I don't have a particular time period prompt for him. Of all the characters I think he would have had the hardest time living through the reveal and accepting what he did for a lie. If that is something you feel up to tackling it would be fascinating. But would be equally happy with something set during or pre-canon knowing the fate he's heading towards but finding fulfillment anyway.
General - Slice of life during or after canon. We get to see a little of the day to day life of Gray Wolves and a little of the school life for Miharu's crew. But I'd love to see them in a more detail. Letting us see the care people give each other. I also would love something set in the Miharu and Yoite roadtrip.
Epic NPC Man - this is a bit of a dark horse fandom for me. I came into Viva La Dirt League from their Survival Logic shorts. And then watched Baelins route and loved the play on mute video game characters and weird themed fighting skills. I've continued to watch the newer seasons of Epic NPC man and the back catalog. I'm not super into the general channel lore from their DnD or Bored series so would prefer more of an in universe setting, with humor and nods to the tropes explored. Over a full meta breaking the fourth wall fic.
Baelin - I'm a fishing game weirdo. Always on the lookout for life sims with fishing elements. So while I get that part of the running joke is that the Adventurers find his minigames and fishing dynamics annoying, I'd love to see him interacting with an Adventurer who Min/Maxes with a specialization with fishing. Over the more traditional adventure. Are there special fishing spots in the world, or quests you can only get as a master fisherman.
If you prefer something with In Universe characters only I'd love to see more of an explanation about how Baelin changes post the Baelin's Route era. Does he get to see princess again? Does it change his interactions with the others in Honeywood? Do they worry when he starts taking longer/different routes (I know its harder to write but I would HIGHLY prefer if you kept his speech to that in universe "Mornin, Nice Day for Fishing" , and played with other people understanding him, rather than giving him regular dialog.)
Greg - Greg seems the most fleshed out of the NPCs. Even in shorts where he isn't aware of being in a video game, he notices the inconsistencies of the world. I'd love to get more of a feel for his view of how the world and the adventurers work. Later seasons with his pub are welcome, but also happy with early season where he is a mix of stationary shop keeper. Or a look at the different versions of him that go out on quest lines.
Bodger - An ABSOLUTE troll but not an absolute ass about it like characters such as Baradun. I particularly love the short when he sneaks through the entire forest to beat the Adventurer across. Or tosses his Grandfather's Hammer back in the well. Or handing over intentionally handing over ugly gear. Unlike Greg we don't really see him acting as a quest companion outside of Honeywood or having long interconnected relationship with the Adventurers. How does he see the Adventurers vs his other NPC companions. Did he come by his trollish behavior by himself or was it written in? And what made him start trying to pull tricks like the forest run, when that wasn't programmed in?
Adventurer - See Baelin's entry for what I'd love to see. But I'd also have fun seeing more of the world and game mechanics we see just on the edge of the skits. What does out of game meta and gaming culture look like?
General - If you have a game you play on that you'd love put the character in, I'd be interested to see it, but please keep to character constraints like giving Baelin a different line go defeat. And keeping Bodger and Greg stuck in their own ways as NPCs rather than making them player characters.
Campfire Cooking in Another World - I'm a sucker for wandering adventurer/peddler tropes. It gives you the ability to get a ton of world building in without losing the forward momentum. Mix that with companion collecting and food and this show was basically catnip for me. I've only watched Anime fandom, and have not read the light novels. So you can feel free to bring in characters or elements from further on in canon but prompts will be based on how far we got in the Anime.
Mukouda - Not that bright but with more of a backbone than he or anyone else seems to expect. I'd love more meals, more of a feel for what he cooked in his previous world. And just more good slice of life days, learning the mechanics pf the world around him
Fel - Old and Hungry. And though he doesn't seem to want to admit it, lonely. What was his life like pre-canon? Are there other Fenrir? And if so how did he end up on his own? Also would love his opinion of different hunts and the taste of different meats even before they start getting cooked for him.
Sui - Bloodthirsty slime creature. I love how much he looks up to Fel as a big brother type character. How aware is he at the start before he starts eating other worldly trash? What does he think of the world at large as the only slime we really see able to communicate. Does he have any memories and instincts that come with slime kind?
General - World-building my beloved. Its just such a strange world. How does the summoning ritual assign skills. And why online shop? We don't get much pre-summoning info in universe to explain why online shopping and holy sword would come from the same ritual. What about Mukouda made the ritual work that way. The different guild, we get a feel for Merchant and Hunter and they are handwaved as just the two you see in commerce and swords animes, but since Mukouda is basically Min/Maxing how does that work? Are there other guilds he'd want to get involved with? Does he eventually start a food cart? Or just stick to traveling merchant. Also the Goddesses? How do most people without a Fenrir and magic food get their attention. Fel seems to think there isn't much ritual, but is that because he is old and a beast? Have the humans made more detailed rituals and can they hear directly from the Gods or just know if things are going right from the blessings? What do they think of Mukouda's lackadaisical method of worship. Particularly when he is more blessed than pretty much anybody else in the world. Fel seems to have knowledge of the various sentient beasts, are there more that he runs into on his hunts that Mukouda doesn't know about?
My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 - This anime didn't hit the same insta love on the plot that I had with campfire cooking, but more than made up for it with the found family feels. I can't say no to a character who keeps accidentally adopting someone new every time they turn around. (I'm looking at you reincarnated as a slime). And then once I got further in the absolute bonkers absurdist world building and Min/Maxing dragged me even further in. This joined my list of comfort animes for when I'm not feeling well.
Satou Ryota - As the main POV character in a min/max commerce and swords isekai he plays off a lot of the standard tropes. Poorly treated salary man comes to a new world with weird game mechanic style world building and uses his experience in business and video game logic to game the system. But he also plays against those tropes in a lot of ways. He is a big part of moving the plot forward, but doesn't follow the more traditional look out for yourself and strike out to conquer the world either on purpose or by accident though noble morals. His goal for the money is to look after his family well. He gets stronger in service for that goal. And while he does make other lives like the Princess' better and saves the town by winning the new dungeon or beating the dungeon Master. It remains in his mind and the mind of his family a collaborative goal, where the other characters learn to abuse the game mechanics as well, but in support of their shared goals. I'd love to see an exploration of those differences and how he squares them. Or a look at the other times he visited the world without realizing it, like with child Eve. We never get a reason for his entry into the world, even though the world changes to accommodate his presence by creating a new dungeon. So what might be going on, in the background?
Emily Brown- Emily!!!! We get her backstory a bit from her mom. And the lessons that were instilled into her about hard work and lending a hand whenever. But how did she keep to her morals through the years as a young orphan barely scraping by with only a low vegetable drop rate to fund herself? I love how kind she is with Ryota despite the strange way he entered her life. Willing to explain the rules and offer a weapon. But also caretake after when a lot of anime characters would have seen the weapon and information to get strong was all the info needed. More of Emily getting all the good things and taking care of her patchwork family would be great if you are interested in slice of life.
Eve Callusleader - Eve is such an interesting character. More of a stray cat than the rest of the crew who attach themselves at first meeting. I love she has a catchphrase and obsession with same foods. And how kind and accommodating the others are with her, while still having boundaries. We see that the other bunnywomen act as a pack or team. Are they her family? Or did they take her in independently? What made her go off on her own? And seemingly move to an area that doesn't have any other bunnies? Did child Ryota ever visit her again?
Celeste- Celeste obvious had problems in her past. You don't end up on the edge of society in a unclaimed territory burning trash with a spell thats unsuited for it because things are going well. We also see a rigidity to her thinking that is very different from Ryota and Emily's version of hard work. Where you work to help others and to improve your life. Where she works simply to survive. How does this differing POV effect the family going forward? Is she able to temper their more dangerous optimism? Or get swept up and become more like them? I'd also love more about how magic users work in this world. As the only strict magic user in the main crew, she has weaknesses like the storms that the others don't and the unusual talent got only 3rd level spells without the ability to learn others. She is a great POV character to explore those dynamics.
General- I love dungeon crawling games like Pokemon mystery dungeon which the world building kind of reminds me of. I'd love to see all or most of the family go to new dungeon locations. Or explore more of the stranger mechanics of Drops as only form of resources. If money is a drop like everything else, how did it become a set currency? Are there other money dungeons for other countries with their own currency. We see crafted and cooked goods and how they turn into different monsters as trash then they originally were. What about ghost towns are there monster packs that used to be whole camps and towns wandering the wastes between the dungeons and the town that grow up around them? What kinf of drops would Ryota get from them?
Poker Face - I'm a lover of citizen mystery solver shows and Pokerface is a nice clean version of it. Which isn't surprising coming as it does from Rian Johnson. I particularly like that he used the How Did It version of the genre. I'm a sucker for shows and movies that play with time and POV.
Charlie Cale- Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. She's such a fun character. Kind, believing in the better natures of people, despite the fact that her life keeps getting blown up by different people's schemes and knowing how often people lie. That first episode when she talks about how everybody lies for a large variety of reasons and says it without judgment was so rare for detectives who 'know more than other people'
She is gentle despite her no bullshit personal morals. Another rarity in the genre. I'd love to see more about the people she helped. Either among the casino staff, or those she leaves behind as she travels in canon. Or in mysteries we don't see. If you feel up for a casefic that would be great, or I'd love to see a fix-it where Natalie lives. Whether as another one of the people Charlie left behind or a full Thelma and Lois bi gal pals making their way through canon.
The Fall of the House of Usher-
Arthur Pym- I love me a ruthless character. Not cruel necessarily, but definitely playing by their own rules and morality. Arthur sees Roderick very differently than even his kids do. As a good man, but still a man. Not the near king that the kid's see. He's set his whole life trying not to be leveraged, but still supporting and acting as Roderick's shadow, how does he square that with himself.
We get a little about history, based off the story of the Transglobal Expedition, but he wouldn't have moved straight from that to the Usher's employ. The expedition ended in 82. and they would have just taken ownership of Fortunato. So what was he doing in between and how did that lead him to them. Verna says his immunity is because of them, but she'd already had her eye on him. Did she help guide him there?
After the series, he lets himself be taken, admits to everything. Doesn't try to fight or run, after Verna tells him what his fate is, why make that choice?
Lenore Usher- Lenore/Nevermore. She sees the good in her family, and some of that is being young, but also we see she has made her own moral compass that leads truer than even her mother's who grew up outside of the family. What made her so different from the rest of the Ushers being corrupted by Roderick and the consequences of the deal he made?
Does any part of her still exist in the chatbot? Or stick around to look after her mom, and watch the vents Verna promised come true?
Verna- Verna is similar to Arthur in that she is a being that works by their own morality and her own rules. We see with in the later episodes that she can see the other worlds that are made when she makes a deal. Is that how she picks the people she makes a deal with, based on what they would have been? But if so why save Morella, along with the employees at the party?
The rest of the guests weren't saved, and Morella was brought there as much by Prospero's temptation as the other people.
She never wants the children to make the worst choice but she always leads them down that path anyway. So what rules does she actually follow and why?
Worldbuilding- This is an interesting one. It's technically part of the Mike Flanagan Netflix Verse; but also Edgar Allen Poe. And the fact that outside of Verna all the more fantastical pieces get set through the eyes of Roderick after his diagnosis. Meaning the world is pretty wide open as to which parts are real or not. Most Mike Flanagan Netflix series have ghosts as real, able to communicate if limited by the forms of their death and the people they are attached to, as far as how much contact they can make. Are the Usher's stuck as ghosts because of their supernatural death caused by the deal? Or are they only shadows, figments made to torture Roderick, but not sentient creatures. Verna says she does a lot of deals, and Roderick is only in her top five for people killed which means he's probably 4th or 5th. How wide do these deals spread, and how do they work in a world where souls don't exist? If she only comes up sometimes, where does she live and how the rest of the time?