Dear Chocolate Box Author

[calliopes_pen]

Dear Chocolate Box Author,

What follows are my general likes and dislikes, as well as the prompts that I provided. Some of these prompts will be recycled from old Dear Yuletide letters. So are the likes and dislikes. In each fandom you should see more than one prompt. That way, if you didn’t care for one particular one, you have other prompts and pairings.

My likes, as well as my dislikes. My likes: Plot. Victorian horror, gothic romance, gothic horror, horror—psychological or otherwise, slow building suspense, ghost stories, ghosts, haunted houses, demons, werewolves, folklore, mythology, dark and twisted fairy tales, darkfic, Dracula and vampires, Hammer Horror Movies, possession (ghostly or demonic) and exorcisms, mind control, hypnosis, loyalty, character studies, adventure, action, unreliable narrators, missing scenes, séances, devoted friendship and relationships, character development, introspection, AUs, worldbuilding, snark, hurt/comfort, graphic violence, PTSD, eldritch abominations, Stockholm Syndrome, brainwashing, drama, nightmares, sleepwalking, mystery, crossovers, fantasy elements, Faustian bargains/pacts, captivity, slow moving zombies, black magic/rituals/summoning of something, necromancy, graveyards, mounting dread.

Dislikes/Do Not Want To Read List: Cancer. Body horror, when it is outside of the genre of vampirism, ghosts, or the supernatural. PWP or anything explicit, rape, incest, underage, BDSM, humiliation, mpreg, character bashing, bestiality, necrophilia, kidfic, animal abuse, child abuse, cannibalism, fast moving zombies, tentacle porn, sex pollen, RPF.

The fandoms I requested this year are the following: Count Dracula (TV 1977) Dracula (Movies – Hammer), Dracula (TV 1968), and Dracula the Musical - Wildhorn/Black & Hampton.

Count Dracula (TV 1977)
Pairings Nominated This Year That I would Enjoy: Count Dracula & Renfield; Count Dracula/Jonathan Harker; Jonathan Harker/Mina Westenra Harker; Mina Westenra Harker & Renfield; Professor Van Helsing & Jonathan Harker; Professor Van Helsing & Count Dracula; Dr. John Seward & Van Helsing

What if Renfield did as Dracula wanted? What if he hadn’t tried to warn Seward and instead did as Dracula expected and drank from an “initiated human”—meaning Mina, somehow, while Jonathan and Seward were in shouting distance? Mina might do likewise, being in Dracula’s power at that moment from all that was implied. Or maybe it’s her choice.

Does Jonathan notice anything odd about her at all later? Was Mina encouraged to “initiate” Jonathan, turning him and also providing Dracula’s own blood to do so faster? And if he was turned, what would the four of them (since Renfield’s bound to get out of that cell even if they don’t come for him; seriously, the guy’s fantastic at that, so he’s right behind them eventually) manage to do before they were found out?

Other prompts:

-A nice quiet moment of downtime, perhaps with the Frank Finlay!Van Helsing making his patented hot chocolate for Jonathan, and getting out more than he allowed himself to write of in the novel. Perhaps the man suspects something was omitted, and manages to pry it out of the other gentleman. Just to ease both of their worries, would he lace it with holy water? Another idea: perhaps it’s the day after the blood exchange between Mina and Dracula, and it’s his way of being certain that he wasn’t tainted without his knowledge.

-Somehow becoming the Count's disciples, and/or becoming initiated, Jonathan and Mina are completely in the Count's power. They are instructed, with Renfield's presumably reluctant assistance, to stop Van Helsing from meddling in his affairs. However, is Van Helsing already guessing what is afoot?

If there was no biting involved, then neither of them have fangs. Perhaps it is not so obvious in their appearances, but in their mannerisms. How are they different in Van Helsing's presence? Can Van Helsing reach them beyond their control? And is there a strange team up with a fretful Renfield, in order to bring them back towards the light? Renfield did like Mina when she was herself, after all. It stands to reason he wouldn't care for what she (or, by extension, Jonathan) was becoming.

-What if Renfield begged Van Helsing to let him go free of the asylum, hoping he might sway Seward for him? Could he even be calmer about it, and less hysterical than in canon? If he were let go for some reason, would he be spared from being murdered by Dracula? And would he then request to assist everyone with Mina if the blood exchange still happened, given his fondness for her? Would he be allowed to go with the men as they travelled, to aid in keeping Mina safe, or is that a step too far for everyone? Could Van Helsing handle keeping an eye on both a gradually turning Mina and Renfield as they rode?

-Jonathan and Mina, reuniting in the convent. We didn’t get that in the movie, just them arriving home and hearing the news of the deaths of Mina’s mother and Lucy (her sister in this version).

Dracula (Movies – Hammer)
Pairings Nominated This Year That I Would Enjoy: Jonathan Harker & Professor Van Helsing; Dracula/Jonathan Harker; Arthur Holmwood & Jonathan Harker

Dracula stays at Jonathan’s side as he transforms into a vampire. What if they stayed together, and perhaps teamed up for the rest of the film? There are hints of Jonathan/Dracula, based on the creepy way that Jonathan was grinning in Dracula’s coffin. Go with that. Van Helsing wouldn’t put an end to Jonathan’s undead existence, but instead be confronted with two vampires instead of one. What if together, they were able to do more horrors?

And here are a few other prompts:

-What if Jonathan woke fully before he was staked by Van Helsing, and tried to fight back? What if he called out to Dracula, who hadn’t left yet for some reason? What is the result if he was there to hear the cry of the newly turned man? It can either go Jonathan/Dracula, or Dracula/Van Helsing in this one, too.

-In that final fight in Horror of Dracula, there’s a moment where Van Helsing is almost bitten. What if he was? What if he was turned, despite everything? How does he take to being at Dracula’s side? To get the upper hand, there was that instant when Van Helsing leaped upon the tapestry and tore it down. What if Dracula prevented that?

-What if Jonathan wasn’t bitten or turned? What if Dracula found out his purpose for being there, and put him into his power via mesmerism or mysticism? What would he make Jonathan do, to prevent Lucy’s staking? Would he have Jonathan trick someone into thinking Van Helsing was mad to attempt to warn them of something? This one could easily apply to Jonathan and Arthur, or Lucy/Jonathan, in addition to Jonathan/Dracula.

Dracula (TV 1968)
Pairings Nominated This Year That I Would Enjoy: Dracula/Jonathan Harker; John Seward/Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker; John Seward/Lucy Weston/Mina Harker; John Seward/Mina Harker; Jonathan Harker; Mina Harker; Abraham Van Helsing & Dracula; Lucy Weston/Mina Harker

What if Dracula chose to target Jonathan to fulfill his promise after he successfully turned Lucy, instead of going after Mina by way of Lucy? Would Lucy try to tempt Seward instead, to lure him away from the cell so that Dracula could go to Jonathan? Are the others able to reach anything of his old self, to appeal to what’s left of it, or does Jonathan run into Dracula’s arms?

Other prompts:

-What if Lucy’s unconscious cries of pleasure during that bite drew attention? What if Dracula was interrupted in his attack, by Mina? This could fall under Lucy/Mina, or even Seward/Mina, if Mina rushes off to get help from him. Poor guy might faint dead away from the sounds, but you never know! He could try to assist his fiancee!

-This could fall under Abraham Van Helsing & Dracula. How badly might things have gone, if Van Helsing were to be bitten by Dracula, before he could save Mina and Jonathan? Perhaps the Count would like a learned man like the Professor to join his little group? He did try tempting him in the graveyard from what I recall, at the end of the film, but naturally it didn’t work.

Dracula the Musical - Wildhorn/Black & Hampton
Pairings Nominated This Year That I Would Enjoy: Jonathan Harker/Dracula; Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker/Dracula; Mina Harker/Jonathan Harker; Brides of Dracula/Jonathan Harker; Abraham Van Helsing & Jonathan Harker; John Seward & Jonathan Harker

There is a line during Fresh Blood about how Dracula thinks Jonathan and Mina would do his bidding in time and eternal life would only be found through him. He would see terror in the streets of London, through them. What if he implemented this very plan, instead of going to Lucy first?

As an expansion of the above: Basically, what if, after biting Jonathan and draining him during Fresh Blood, Jonathan was transformed instead of just escaping the castle? What if Dracula loosed him on an unsuspecting populace, as a distraction? It would probably factor in with the pairing of Jonathan/Mina/Dracula.

Other prompts:

Seward and Jonathan: Seward checks on Jonathan’s mental state, following the blood exchange with Mina, and everything that went down between them in Zu Ende. (Look at them in the background, during the song; Seward punched him out, and he doesn’t revive until Quincey’s gun misfires!)

Here, I’m going to quote an excerpt of the Dear Yuletide letter I wrote back in 2019, where I reference the punch out, and have another prompt that might fit with this. Given some of the below, the pairing of Abraham Van Helsing & Jonathan Harker could very well factor into the prompt, too.

“Jonathan is randomly punched out by Seward, and doesn’t revive until Quincey’s gun misfires because of something Dracula does. What happened to Jonathan? Was he in hysterics and about to go after Dracula for biting and doing the blood exchange with Mina? Or was he temporarily being used (hell, Van Helsing looked to be possessed during Zu Ende for a few moments when Dracula pulled a vanishing act, until Van Helsing got splashed with holy water; so, it’s feasible) like a puppet, perhaps to do Van Helsing injury when he least anticipated it?”

-Dracula/Jonathan: During Forever Young, Jonathan tears off the crucifix and lets the brides get to him. What if that didn't happen? What if, instead, he tore it off while enthralled, when he was allowing the Count to shave him? It was the only thing holding Dracula back from biting him. What happens next? Does Dracula choose to hold him in his power, keeping him as a pawn after biting him?

My favorite version of Dracula The Musical comes from Graz, and that’s also the easiest one to locate online. You can watch it here in German, with English subtitles; however, if it’s taken down at some point, you can easily find it in chunks in a playlist here. And there is another (possibly the clearest) upload in two parts, with both English and Russian subtitles; to get to the English, turn on closed captioning: Act 1. Act 2.

And for the purpose of aiding you in finding the moments mentioned above, I’m going to list the times for those moments/songs, using the first one I linked you to (which does have a few faulty translations in Life After After at the least; and gets a line of Jonathan’s stuck there for a long time with the rest of the subtitles, letting it just hang out through Deep In The Darkest Night; however, you can see it and then consult the other links).

Dracula shaving Jonathan: 14:45-15:52
Jonathan escaping his room, then going through Forever Young and Fresh Blood: 16:43-24:37. It’s the 20 minute mark when he throws aside his crucifix.
Life After Life (happens at the same time as Jonathan shares his experiences in Transylvania)--though the translation isn’t the best in this particular one: 1:01:47-1:06:12
Jonathan being knocked out, leading to Mina’s seduction, and finally Zu Ende: 1:26:34-1:34:35

I adore Forever Young, Fresh Blood, Life After Life, Deep In The Darkest Night, and Zu Ende most of all (the last one there was nominated separately, along with The Master’s Song, I was pleased to note) in this canon.