Dear Classic Film Exchange Author
Jul. 17th, 2024 08:50 pmI use the same name everywhere so I am ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.
I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
At the end of the movie, Amelia has accepted her siblings, but she's still a privileged Boston upper-class woman, with no real understanding of the gap between her experience and theirs. And I'd imagine she still has a lot of complicated feelings about the dad who fucked off and left her, but was apparently a great dad to his other three kids he had later. And then there's Lelani, who has such grace and poise for a teenage girl, but who also has some unfair pressures on her. Racism, taking care of/managing her younger siblings, her position as the woman who would be queen if not for colonialism, balancing the Catholicism she's been raised in with the traditions of her people, all of that, and I would love to see more of her. She's young, but she's very intelligent, and very sensitive, and can stand up for herself when she has to. (I love the scene where Amelia mocks her for giving thanks to the goddess of the canyon for the Christmas tree, and Lelani quietly puts her in her place.)
I love the movie, I grew up watching it regularly, but it has problems. For all its progressive (for its day) handling of the situation with the Dedham children, it handled the Asian characters poorly. Also, it was fairly misogynist in its treatment of Amelia. I would absolutely adore fic that handled the issues the film raised (and didn't raise) with more delicacy than was possible in a John Wayne action comedy of the early 1960s. Also, there really isn't much chemistry between Amelia and Gunns in the movie, so if you want to make their romance a major point you're going to have to work to convince me that they're in love, or find other reasons for them to be getting married.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
I'd love pretty much anything with Maggie being smart and determined and Will being caring and growing. What was it that caught Maggie's eye about Will? What was it Will saw in Maggie that he came to care for her? Because in the first half he's just kind of shell-shocked and along for the ride, but by the second half there's a lot of mutual love and respect there, and I'd love to see it grow. Or give me a day-in-the-life about their little shop in the basement, or what they're doing twenty years after the movie ends.
I love this movie, and I love everyone in it except Mr. Hobson and his cronies. Charles Laughton may have been the "star" of the show but it's not about him, not at all. It's about Maggie and her choices, and her figuring out how to get what she wants. Her father may be the ostensible star, but he's the obstacle to the plot, not the one moving it along. Also, if possible, period accuracy is much appreciated. Like, notice how Maggie works within the social structures, instead of trying to tear them down while shouting "death to patriarchy!" I mean, I could see her as a suffragette ... but a 19th century suffragette is a very different beast from a second or third wave feminist, you know?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
This film is incredible, and it always leaves me wondering what happens next? Because they have, under pressure, managed to get both sets of parents to give their blessing. But none of them really know each other--not even John and Joey!--and they're (presumably) going to have to live with each other for the rest of their lives. The Draytons are progressive white people who believe in racial equality in theory, but who only really have experience with Black people as "the help". They're going to make mistakes. There are going to be things that they just don't understand. How are John and Tillie and his parents going to handle this? What's it going to be like for John having biracial children, for his parents having biracial grandchildren, in the 60s and 70s? What are the holidays going to be like? What about Tillie, with such a drastic change in the household she's served for so long? How does it make them feel, and what regrets might they have for "why couldn't things have been different when I was younger"?
Or to take a different tack, I'd love to see the things that went into shaping any of these characters--they're all interesting and nuanced in different ways, and getting backstory for any of them would be interesting.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
The movie implies that everything is fixed once Charlotte is out from under her mother's thumb and Tina has someone who actually has the time and attention to pay attention to her. If you know something about psychology and/or surviving abuse and neglect, I would love something about the lingering issues they would both have. (But if you don't feel comfortable with that, don't; I'd rather it not be included than badly done.) Also, I find the movie's insistence that of course every woman needs a man to be happy very annoying. Also the fact that the movie acknowledges just how awful her mother is, and just how much damage she's done to Charlotte (and will continue to do, given half a chance) and nobody ever suggests "gee, you would be better off if you cut contact." I wonder if part of the reason for Charlotte's ambivalence about Elliot has less to do with love for Jerry and more to do with not wanting to be under someone else's control. I mean, her mom is old and will die soon, and at least she knows what living with her is like; I can see Charlotte not wanting to put herself in the power of someone who will live as long as she does and whom she isn't used to, even if he'll probably be better than her mother.
Prompts: what happens next? I'd love to see Charlotte finding other things to do with her money and time (becoming a famous philanthropist! reforming psychiatry and psychology! becoming a noted woodcarver!) and Tina growing up and coming into her own as well. AU ideas: Jerry gets counseling himself and decides to leave his wife and take Tina with him because no amount of respectability is worth what his wife is doing to Tina. Or, maybe his wife is not the sole problem, maybe Jerry is at least as complicit, and he's good at playing the martyr and having lots of affairs ("my wife doesn't understand me!"). How does Charlotte find out and what does she do about it? Or, maybe Charlotte doesn't go home to her mother after the cruise, maybe she lives with Lisa or gets a job and an apartment of her own. Or, maybe her mom throws her out for being too independent. Or, what would have happened if her father had left her money like he did her brothers, instead of trusting her mother to take care of her? What would financial independence have meant for her all these years? Or, Charlotte gets pregnant during the interlude in Rio. What does she do? Does she tell Jerry, or raise the baby completely by herself, or have an abortion?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
For me, this story cries out either for AUs or for post-canon stories. I have received excellent ones in the past, but I am of the "two cakes!" theory and would love more. What if he hadn't recovered his original memories? What if he'd remembered, but hadn't forgotten Paula? What if the baby lived? What if she'd told him the truth, either right away in the interview for secretary or when he started seeing Kitty or when he asked her to marry him? What if they'd gotten caught leaving town and he'd had to go back to the hospital? And if canon stays the same, what happens now that he knows the truth? Is he upset that she knew and didn't tell him? Is Charles the same personality as Smitty? They've both changed and grown a lot over the course of the movie--how does that affect their relationship? Was she expecting that magically everything would go back to the way it was when they were young and in love? Was he expecting that knowing the truth would magically make him feel more whole?
I love this movie for its melodrama, for the luminous Greer Garson, for the way I spend the last half of the movie crying into my hanky and pleading with Paula to just TELL HIM already. I love how deliciously angsty it is, with such a wonderfully happy ending. (This movie is one of the rare exceptions to my avoidance of plots that hinge on people in love being idiots and not talking about it.) But I would also love a good dose of common sense put in somehow.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
The fascinating thing about this story is that it's set in 1910. There's all this scheming to get a crown back in the family, and we-the-audience know that in less than a decade most of the monarchies of Europe are going to crumble. Maybe Prince Albert's nation will be one of the few exceptions! ... but probably not. And if she's married him because of his crown, what's that going to do to their marriage when he hasn't got one? These are not people for whom love/romance is a necessary or expected part of marriage; a solid partnership with mutual goals where you don't dislike your spouse is the ideal for them. But still, knocking out the foundation "we'd be good ruling a country together" would be a big change for anybody.
A few notes on characterization: Albert can be as quirky as you like (maybe he's autistic?) but for me that moment of insight and compassion at the end says everything. He's not as oblivious as he seems, and he does care. Also, the fact that he nudged her to test her reaction before picking up her arm to escort her in and didn't just assume he was entitled says good things about him. As for Alexandra, you can just see her taking that swan metaphor to heart, and while it helped her get through in that moment I wonder about the long-term repercussions of having that as your self-image would be. (Wonder if it's part of Albert's self-image, and that's why he thought of it?) Alexandra's mother is awful, but her brothers are fun and I like her relationship with them. Also, I don't think the movie is intending us to read Albert as gay/bi, but he comes across as maybe so--his closeness to his aide is remarked upon, and he does seem to prefer spending time with Professor Agi than with his prospective bride. There's a lot to play around with.
Prompts:
AU where she does run away with Agi: Talk about a huge life change! What would it be like? How does she adapt? Are they happy together? What does his family think of it? Does her family completely disown her? Or futurefic! Everybody thought it was a stupid thing to do, then WWI happened, and now she's the one with the solid life teaching her family how to live when they've lost even more power and wealth and there aren't any royal relatives around willing to prop them up and possibly marry them. Or where she and Agi have to help Albert figure out what to do now he's no longer Crown Prince/King (threesome, maybe?). Or just Alexandra getting used to living a middle-class life.
Canon Post-WWI: she and Prince Albert have to figure out what to do as former-royals. Or, maybe their royal family keeps the crown by the skin of their teeth, and she's still the swan looking good out on the lake while on solid ground the changes of the 20th Century happen around her. Maybe in the 1930s Dr. Agi has a kid who comes to the palace for something (politician? tutor for the next generation of royals? expert in something or other?) and thinks it's funny how Queen Alexandra shows up so often when he's around and asks questions about his childhood and how his father is--awful lot of attention for someone who was only a tutor for a few years two decades ago.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
General Likes and Dislikes
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
- I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when the characters and/or actors are marginalized. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
- I don't like it when marginalized characters get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
- I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
- I like fluff
- I like angst with a happy ending
- I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
- I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
- I like unreliable narrators.
- I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong.
- I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another instead of sweeping it under the rug.
- Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll enjoy it if you do.
- I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! Or if they canonically have a blind spot in that area, again, it's fine. But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
- I like AUs, but not complete setting AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened.
- I like the concept of sedoretu marriages.
- I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon.
- Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me.
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
Donovan's Reef
At the end of the movie, Amelia has accepted her siblings, but she's still a privileged Boston upper-class woman, with no real understanding of the gap between her experience and theirs. And I'd imagine she still has a lot of complicated feelings about the dad who fucked off and left her, but was apparently a great dad to his other three kids he had later. And then there's Lelani, who has such grace and poise for a teenage girl, but who also has some unfair pressures on her. Racism, taking care of/managing her younger siblings, her position as the woman who would be queen if not for colonialism, balancing the Catholicism she's been raised in with the traditions of her people, all of that, and I would love to see more of her. She's young, but she's very intelligent, and very sensitive, and can stand up for herself when she has to. (I love the scene where Amelia mocks her for giving thanks to the goddess of the canyon for the Christmas tree, and Lelani quietly puts her in her place.)
I love the movie, I grew up watching it regularly, but it has problems. For all its progressive (for its day) handling of the situation with the Dedham children, it handled the Asian characters poorly. Also, it was fairly misogynist in its treatment of Amelia. I would absolutely adore fic that handled the issues the film raised (and didn't raise) with more delicacy than was possible in a John Wayne action comedy of the early 1960s. Also, there really isn't much chemistry between Amelia and Gunns in the movie, so if you want to make their romance a major point you're going to have to work to convince me that they're in love, or find other reasons for them to be getting married.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Hobson's Choice
I'd love pretty much anything with Maggie being smart and determined and Will being caring and growing. What was it that caught Maggie's eye about Will? What was it Will saw in Maggie that he came to care for her? Because in the first half he's just kind of shell-shocked and along for the ride, but by the second half there's a lot of mutual love and respect there, and I'd love to see it grow. Or give me a day-in-the-life about their little shop in the basement, or what they're doing twenty years after the movie ends.
I love this movie, and I love everyone in it except Mr. Hobson and his cronies. Charles Laughton may have been the "star" of the show but it's not about him, not at all. It's about Maggie and her choices, and her figuring out how to get what she wants. Her father may be the ostensible star, but he's the obstacle to the plot, not the one moving it along. Also, if possible, period accuracy is much appreciated. Like, notice how Maggie works within the social structures, instead of trying to tear them down while shouting "death to patriarchy!" I mean, I could see her as a suffragette ... but a 19th century suffragette is a very different beast from a second or third wave feminist, you know?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
This film is incredible, and it always leaves me wondering what happens next? Because they have, under pressure, managed to get both sets of parents to give their blessing. But none of them really know each other--not even John and Joey!--and they're (presumably) going to have to live with each other for the rest of their lives. The Draytons are progressive white people who believe in racial equality in theory, but who only really have experience with Black people as "the help". They're going to make mistakes. There are going to be things that they just don't understand. How are John and Tillie and his parents going to handle this? What's it going to be like for John having biracial children, for his parents having biracial grandchildren, in the 60s and 70s? What are the holidays going to be like? What about Tillie, with such a drastic change in the household she's served for so long? How does it make them feel, and what regrets might they have for "why couldn't things have been different when I was younger"?
Or to take a different tack, I'd love to see the things that went into shaping any of these characters--they're all interesting and nuanced in different ways, and getting backstory for any of them would be interesting.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Now, Voyager
The movie implies that everything is fixed once Charlotte is out from under her mother's thumb and Tina has someone who actually has the time and attention to pay attention to her. If you know something about psychology and/or surviving abuse and neglect, I would love something about the lingering issues they would both have. (But if you don't feel comfortable with that, don't; I'd rather it not be included than badly done.) Also, I find the movie's insistence that of course every woman needs a man to be happy very annoying. Also the fact that the movie acknowledges just how awful her mother is, and just how much damage she's done to Charlotte (and will continue to do, given half a chance) and nobody ever suggests "gee, you would be better off if you cut contact." I wonder if part of the reason for Charlotte's ambivalence about Elliot has less to do with love for Jerry and more to do with not wanting to be under someone else's control. I mean, her mom is old and will die soon, and at least she knows what living with her is like; I can see Charlotte not wanting to put herself in the power of someone who will live as long as she does and whom she isn't used to, even if he'll probably be better than her mother.
Prompts: what happens next? I'd love to see Charlotte finding other things to do with her money and time (becoming a famous philanthropist! reforming psychiatry and psychology! becoming a noted woodcarver!) and Tina growing up and coming into her own as well. AU ideas: Jerry gets counseling himself and decides to leave his wife and take Tina with him because no amount of respectability is worth what his wife is doing to Tina. Or, maybe his wife is not the sole problem, maybe Jerry is at least as complicit, and he's good at playing the martyr and having lots of affairs ("my wife doesn't understand me!"). How does Charlotte find out and what does she do about it? Or, maybe Charlotte doesn't go home to her mother after the cruise, maybe she lives with Lisa or gets a job and an apartment of her own. Or, maybe her mom throws her out for being too independent. Or, what would have happened if her father had left her money like he did her brothers, instead of trusting her mother to take care of her? What would financial independence have meant for her all these years? Or, Charlotte gets pregnant during the interlude in Rio. What does she do? Does she tell Jerry, or raise the baby completely by herself, or have an abortion?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Random Harvest
For me, this story cries out either for AUs or for post-canon stories. I have received excellent ones in the past, but I am of the "two cakes!" theory and would love more. What if he hadn't recovered his original memories? What if he'd remembered, but hadn't forgotten Paula? What if the baby lived? What if she'd told him the truth, either right away in the interview for secretary or when he started seeing Kitty or when he asked her to marry him? What if they'd gotten caught leaving town and he'd had to go back to the hospital? And if canon stays the same, what happens now that he knows the truth? Is he upset that she knew and didn't tell him? Is Charles the same personality as Smitty? They've both changed and grown a lot over the course of the movie--how does that affect their relationship? Was she expecting that magically everything would go back to the way it was when they were young and in love? Was he expecting that knowing the truth would magically make him feel more whole?
I love this movie for its melodrama, for the luminous Greer Garson, for the way I spend the last half of the movie crying into my hanky and pleading with Paula to just TELL HIM already. I love how deliciously angsty it is, with such a wonderfully happy ending. (This movie is one of the rare exceptions to my avoidance of plots that hinge on people in love being idiots and not talking about it.) But I would also love a good dose of common sense put in somehow.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
The Swan
The fascinating thing about this story is that it's set in 1910. There's all this scheming to get a crown back in the family, and we-the-audience know that in less than a decade most of the monarchies of Europe are going to crumble. Maybe Prince Albert's nation will be one of the few exceptions! ... but probably not. And if she's married him because of his crown, what's that going to do to their marriage when he hasn't got one? These are not people for whom love/romance is a necessary or expected part of marriage; a solid partnership with mutual goals where you don't dislike your spouse is the ideal for them. But still, knocking out the foundation "we'd be good ruling a country together" would be a big change for anybody.
A few notes on characterization: Albert can be as quirky as you like (maybe he's autistic?) but for me that moment of insight and compassion at the end says everything. He's not as oblivious as he seems, and he does care. Also, the fact that he nudged her to test her reaction before picking up her arm to escort her in and didn't just assume he was entitled says good things about him. As for Alexandra, you can just see her taking that swan metaphor to heart, and while it helped her get through in that moment I wonder about the long-term repercussions of having that as your self-image would be. (Wonder if it's part of Albert's self-image, and that's why he thought of it?) Alexandra's mother is awful, but her brothers are fun and I like her relationship with them. Also, I don't think the movie is intending us to read Albert as gay/bi, but he comes across as maybe so--his closeness to his aide is remarked upon, and he does seem to prefer spending time with Professor Agi than with his prospective bride. There's a lot to play around with.
Prompts:
AU where she does run away with Agi: Talk about a huge life change! What would it be like? How does she adapt? Are they happy together? What does his family think of it? Does her family completely disown her? Or futurefic! Everybody thought it was a stupid thing to do, then WWI happened, and now she's the one with the solid life teaching her family how to live when they've lost even more power and wealth and there aren't any royal relatives around willing to prop them up and possibly marry them. Or where she and Agi have to help Albert figure out what to do now he's no longer Crown Prince/King (threesome, maybe?). Or just Alexandra getting used to living a middle-class life.
Canon Post-WWI: she and Prince Albert have to figure out what to do as former-royals. Or, maybe their royal family keeps the crown by the skin of their teeth, and she's still the swan looking good out on the lake while on solid ground the changes of the 20th Century happen around her. Maybe in the 1930s Dr. Agi has a kid who comes to the palace for something (politician? tutor for the next generation of royals? expert in something or other?) and thinks it's funny how Queen Alexandra shows up so often when he's around and asks questions about his childhood and how his father is--awful lot of attention for someone who was only a tutor for a few years two decades ago.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
