Dracula fanfic idea free to a good home
Oct. 11th, 2022 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI've been pondering how to resolve how focused Jonathon and Mina are on each other, but also shipping Mina/Lucy, and also thinking about how the the whole thing with Lucy feels like a timeloop story or the bad ending of a "save the character" narrative game.
I think a straightforward retelling as a branching game where you play as Mina figuring out how to save Lucy could be fun. But here's another, odder option that popped into my head.
Some female fan of the book who really didn't like how Lucy died finds herself reborn as Mina as the book begins (don't worry, real!Mina still shows up, I'm getting there). She enjoys being shippy bffs with Lucy but struggles to figure out how to fix anything even with foreknowledge. Especially since she doesn't know shorthand etc, so is in some ways more useless than Mina. MC was like...30ish, never did much with her life or found much point in dating. Maybe Korean since so many of these heroines are, could be funny seeing that cultural contrast (if a Korean or someone who'd done a lot of research wrote it. And this is a hypothetical fanfic! They could!) I like when these sorts of protagonists are old enough to feel the contrast between their life experience and the younger woman they're pretending to be, but young enough I don't find the romance squicky.
And then Jonathon comes back and MC doesn't want to be cruel but she's really not into him and feels uncomfortable playing out someone else's romance, but also what if Mina comes back?? Meanwhile she finds herself having chemistry with all of Lucy's boyfriends harem-isekai style and also having confused UST with Lucy she isn't sure what to feel about. Jonathon quietly figures out something is up and acts like nothing is wrong until he can corner her, all scarily WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MINA.
Meanwhile, Renfield has been acting oddly, and eventually reveals himself to be where Mina's soul ended up. She is so convincing and calm everyone eventually believes her. I'm not sure where Renfield's soul ends up, maybe he shares the body with Mina for a bit then lets her have it.
Between them, they save Lucy. Jonathon and Mina roll with her new body so happily that everyone else ends up rolling with it too. Mina is not sidelined so much (she has a man's body now! She's strong!) and MC and Lucy are in a complicated place wrt the sexism of being left out since they are very much not suited to violence but also MC is like Let Me tell You About Feminism, tells them England has had multiple female Prime Ministers (glossing over the specifics lol) etc. That or MC was like...into martial arts or something and is undeniably useful in a fight.
Mina and Lucy (and maybe MC, if she still gets bitten as "Jonathon's wife") use their connection with Dracula to help, there is also sexy turning-into-a-vampire angst, maybe some more weirdly intimate and scientifically dubious blood transfusions, but it's fine.
You could also have MC be originally a guy, who's fine with the Lucy UST but very confused about all the UST with the dudes, and also rolls with the new body pretty well. The combo of that and Mina!Renfield would definitely mess with Van Helsing's sexist dichotomies :D And MC's irritated internal monologue about how much more the sexism bugs him now would be funny.
I haven't actually read past this point, which is where Dracula Daily is up to right now, but shenanigans ensue. Dracula is defeated, MC ends up in happy polayamorous bliss with Lucy and the three dudes, Mina and Jonathon are married and refuse to see anything wrong with it, the end.
I think a straightforward retelling as a branching game where you play as Mina figuring out how to save Lucy could be fun. But here's another, odder option that popped into my head.
Some female fan of the book who really didn't like how Lucy died finds herself reborn as Mina as the book begins (don't worry, real!Mina still shows up, I'm getting there). She enjoys being shippy bffs with Lucy but struggles to figure out how to fix anything even with foreknowledge. Especially since she doesn't know shorthand etc, so is in some ways more useless than Mina. MC was like...30ish, never did much with her life or found much point in dating. Maybe Korean since so many of these heroines are, could be funny seeing that cultural contrast (if a Korean or someone who'd done a lot of research wrote it. And this is a hypothetical fanfic! They could!) I like when these sorts of protagonists are old enough to feel the contrast between their life experience and the younger woman they're pretending to be, but young enough I don't find the romance squicky.
And then Jonathon comes back and MC doesn't want to be cruel but she's really not into him and feels uncomfortable playing out someone else's romance, but also what if Mina comes back?? Meanwhile she finds herself having chemistry with all of Lucy's boyfriends harem-isekai style and also having confused UST with Lucy she isn't sure what to feel about. Jonathon quietly figures out something is up and acts like nothing is wrong until he can corner her, all scarily WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MINA.
Meanwhile, Renfield has been acting oddly, and eventually reveals himself to be where Mina's soul ended up. She is so convincing and calm everyone eventually believes her. I'm not sure where Renfield's soul ends up, maybe he shares the body with Mina for a bit then lets her have it.
Between them, they save Lucy. Jonathon and Mina roll with her new body so happily that everyone else ends up rolling with it too. Mina is not sidelined so much (she has a man's body now! She's strong!) and MC and Lucy are in a complicated place wrt the sexism of being left out since they are very much not suited to violence but also MC is like Let Me tell You About Feminism, tells them England has had multiple female Prime Ministers (glossing over the specifics lol) etc. That or MC was like...into martial arts or something and is undeniably useful in a fight.
Mina and Lucy (and maybe MC, if she still gets bitten as "Jonathon's wife") use their connection with Dracula to help, there is also sexy turning-into-a-vampire angst, maybe some more weirdly intimate and scientifically dubious blood transfusions, but it's fine.
You could also have MC be originally a guy, who's fine with the Lucy UST but very confused about all the UST with the dudes, and also rolls with the new body pretty well. The combo of that and Mina!Renfield would definitely mess with Van Helsing's sexist dichotomies :D And MC's irritated internal monologue about how much more the sexism bugs him now would be funny.
I haven't actually read past this point, which is where Dracula Daily is up to right now, but shenanigans ensue. Dracula is defeated, MC ends up in happy polayamorous bliss with Lucy and the three dudes, Mina and Jonathon are married and refuse to see anything wrong with it, the end.
