The Tradëscan Codex

Yuletide is upon us! I received Lead Me on a Merry Chase, a Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? fic which pairs Player and Carmen. While I was originally thinking of Carmen as an A.I., my Yulewriter had the interesting idea of re-considering the cartoon as more of a MMORPG with Carmen being played by another human--out there somewhere. Plus, the fic takes the chance to do some interesting things with disability, since we never actually see Player walk (or do anything other than sit in front of a computer, really). But most importantly, the fic captures that flirtiness between Player and Carmen which interested me in the pairing in the first place and spin it out into a full femslash relationship.

I wrote two stories of larger than 1,000 words. It's possible I might still write some treats before Madness closes, but at this point I'm beginning to doubt it.

If anyone is interested in guessing which stories I wrote, comments are screened. I may or may not provide prizes to those who correctly guess. If you leave a comment which is not a guess, I'll unscreen it immediately unless you specifically tell me not to.

Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of 12 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The Parent Trap, one of 7 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlein's multiverse, and/or one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.

If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me (let me note that nothing to see here is my incest tag), and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.

I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist. And likewise in The Parent Trap with Annie and Hallie and in Heinlein's novels with Laz and Lor; both sets of twins are constantly getting the better of the adults who surround them, setting up their own "parent traps" so to speak.

This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or on The Parent Trap; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too. (Finding a way too insert gratuitous nudity or close touching into The Parent Trap shouldn't be too difficult. Getting Laz and Lor to wear any clothes at all might be.)

Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Annie/Hallie and Laz/Lor, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.

( more on the parent trap )

( more on where on earth is carmen sandiego )

( very little about r.a.h. )

Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!

Yours in La Mancha,

Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

1. Orson Scott Card -- Ender's Game series. This is the fandom in which the story written for me last year was written, so I'm not sure if I want to request it again. But then I loved that fic so much, and I love Peter and Val so much. But probably not (in which I'd probably go with #6?)

2. The Parent Trap (1998). So I can request Annie/Hallie, of course. Will-to-powery twincest for the win! I nominated and requested this last year as well.

3. Robert A. Heinlein -- World-as-Myth multiverse. With an eye to request Laz/Lor. Also a repeat from last year.

4. Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? Yet another repeat, this time hoping to request Carmen/Player, which was the only non-'cesty request I made last year--and depending on whether I decide to request Ender's Game again, it may be again. But, really! Carmen/Player!

5. I already forget what this one was. I think I nominated George Bernard Shaw -- Pygmalion again, maybe? Last year I nominated it thinking that I might request Eliza/Clara, but then I didn't.

6. Unable to think of anything else, I made a sixth nomination, a fandom none of you would ever be able to guess, and certainly not Ari. (Last year I think I nominated My Summer of Love in this slot?)

Here are twenty-five favorite characters from twenty-five different shows, in no particular order.

1. Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenbeg) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Fred Burkle (Amy Acker) from Angel
Bonus! Drusilla (Juliet Landau) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
3. River Tam (Summer Glau) from Firefly

Is there really anything else to be said about the above?

4. Player (Justin Shenkarow, Jeffrey Tucker, Joanie Pleasant) from Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? ( Commentary )
5. Dr. Olga Vukavitch (Justina Vail) from Seven Days ( Commentary )
6. Morgan Matthews (Lily Nicksay, Lindsay Ridgeway) from Boy Meets World ( Commentary )
7. Capt. Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) from Star Trek: Voyager ( Commentary )
8. Cindy Mackenzie (Tina Majorino) from Veronica Mars ( Commentary )
9. President Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis) in Commander-in-Chief( Commentary )
10. Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) from The West Wing ( Commentary )
11A. Tess Doerner (Summer Glau) from The 4400 ( Commentary )
11B. Maia Skouris née Rutlidge (Conchita Campbell) from The 4400 ( Commentary )
12. Clarissa Darling (Melissa Joan Hart) from Clarissa Explains It All ( Commentary )
13. Alex Mack (Larissa Oleynik) from The Secret World of Alex Mack ( Commentary )
14. Fred Rogers (Himself) from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood ( Commentary )
15. Nona Mecklenberg (Michelle Trachtenberg) from The Adventures of Pete and Pete ( Commentary )
16. Rogue (Lenora Zann) from X-Men (90's cartoon) ( Commentary )
17. Kitty Pryde (Maggie Blue O'Hara) from X-Men Evolution ( Commentary )
18. Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) from The Brady Bunch ( Commentary )
19. Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family ( Commentary )
20. The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant) from Doctor Who ( Commentary )
21. Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelly) from Star Trek: The Original Series ( Commentary )
22. Col. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) from Battlestar Galactica (2003) ( Commentary )
23. Rita Repulsa (Barbara Goodson, Carla Pérez, Machiko Soga) from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers ( Commentary )
24. Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( Commentary )
25. Rory Gilmore (Alexis Beidel) from Gilmore Girls ( Commentary )

Ari wondered what it meant that she guessed that most of my favorites were female. It means that she knows me well, because most of my favorites--all but four, plus the ambiguously-gendered Player--are female. Which is interesting, because many of these relate to early childhood, when my heterosexuality wouldn't have been a factor (right?). I'm not sure what it says that I've always found it easier to identify with (or at least be interested in) female characters than male ones, but I think it's pretty clearly true.