cahn | Frederick the Great, discussion post 16

We have slowed down a lot, but are still (sporadically) going! And somehow filled up the last post while I wasn't looking!

...I was asked to start a new thread so that STDs could be discussed. Really! :D

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From:

mildred_of_midgard

I feel like a traveler through a desert having arrived at the magical oasis.

cahn and you are the best genie ever.

Aww, what a lovely analogy! <33

I did the numbers on your Fritzian gifts just before the collection opened, and you got:

- 4 treats.
- 37,000+ words. (Just in treats! I had no idea at the time your assignment would add another 20,000 words.)
- 7/10 pairings you nominated.
- 5/5 pairings you nominated and requested.
- 2/5 pairings you nominated but didn't request.
- 2 fics on exactly the same events.
- 1 ~20K-word fic with 5 slash pairings and 1 het pairing.
- Incest!

We were greatly inspired by all your nominated pairings and prompts! We also worked in as many allusions as we could (intentional on my part, I'm not sure about cahn's), to the pairings we didn't write.

I put in as much Fritz/Voltaire as I could without bringing Voltaire onto the page.

"A Family Affair" has an allusion to Heinrich/Marwitz in Fritz's "You do go for the ones with diseases, don't you?"

"You think too much about your brother in bed" was 100% because I knew you were getting a Fritz/Heinrich hateship that you'd requested, and I couldn't resist. Speaking of which, did you pick up on this totally not accidental segue?

No matter where he looked in Rheinsberg, he saw Friedrich. Heinrich knew he could live here fifty years, and renovate every corner and every blade of grass, and Rheinsberg would still have Friedrich's long ago stay imprinted on its soul. There was something about him that was impossible to ignore, no matter how much Heinrich might want to.

Heinrich reached down and adjusted his breeches. Where was that damned Mara? He was so turned on he couldn't think straight.

Cahn missed it until I pointed it out. ;) It's meant to correspond to this passage in "A Family Affair":

Heinrich found himself starting to become aroused. Not again! he thought furiously, but it only made it worse; he should know better by now not to think about old lovers when he was angry, that emotion that was close enough to passion that something in his body could not, apparently, tell the difference when they were placed in juxtaposition.

That idea was one I proposed to cahn as an explanation for why Heinrich goes for dysfunctional boyfriends, and how on earth he would end up fucking Fritz right after AW's death. So I thought it would be hilarious to work a Heinrich/Fritz hateship allusion into my fic, especially as Mara is deliberately keeping Heinrich waiting in order to get him more turned on.

Why, why did Mara get even sexier when he had the upper hand in an argument?

Because your body can't tell the difference between two different kinds of arousal, Heinrich!

Btw, I'm glad unhistorical Heinrich/Mara met with your approval, and the reason it was that instead of canon-consistent Heinrich/Kaphengst was because you said you had no interest in Kaphengst, but...I must admit, writing this fic gave me a whole bunch of Heinrich/Kaphengst headcanons, and the itch to write them. I don't know whether I'll end up writing them, in my current state, but if I do, I promise not to gift the result to you. Know that your wonderfully inspirational prompts started me down a path that makes me happy, though. ;)

Well, after you two kindly wrote their origin story for Christmas, this was the natural follow-up! :)

Soooo...curtain fic at Rheinsberg next time? ;)

Ooh, actually, 1736 is a good year, because it's got:
- Rococo babysitting at Ruppin (which is already on your list).
- The move into Rheinsberg, with all that entails, including having to live with EC, but also curtain fic!
- Mimi burning the Wolff manuscript. At least in January 1737, which implies she was around already in 1736 for all kinds of antics, and authors can bend chronology a little as needed anyway.
- Suhm gets his St. Petersburg assignment in November 1736. Alas, from their letters, it looks like they *don't* get to see each other during Fritz's winter visit to Berlin, so it's possible winter 1735 was the last time they saw each other. Anyway, angst potential, and maybe an incognito visit. ;)

On the subject of Mimi and fic, I wrote to cahn, referring to your "unknown heroics of Seydlitz" subject for the comment where you informed us that Seydlitz was at the meeting of Fritz and Heinrich after AW's death:

Speaking of her titles, slightly tweaked by me, I also think "The Unsung Heroics of Seydlitz" would make a great title, unfortunately, not for your fic, because the emphasis is less on how they didn't kill each other (although that's important!) and more on the sex, which that doesn't capture. However, what I think would make an even beeeetter title, if this fic ever gets written, is "The Unsung Heroics of Mimi the Monkey." :P

I've just decided they're unsung because the pandurs don't want to admit they were defeated by a monkey, and the Prussians don't want to admit they were protected by a monkey, and so everyone agrees IT NEVER HAPPENED. :D

I actually started jotting down some notes that day, but the problem is, I suck at crackfic, so if somebody else wanted to write it, know that I would be an eager reader. :D

From:

selenak

That was one clever segue, and yes, I did get it.

Because your body can't tell the difference between two different kinds of arousal, Heinrich!

Which, delicious fanfiction aside, I think is entirely possible. I mean, obviously not all the time; he was receptive to tenderness as well, and while the Comte being a nice guy might be because Heinrich was old by then and wanting more peace than arguing, I don't think it would have worked if he'd never liked the gentle variation of love before as well. But the biggest turn-on were handsome charismatic jerks.

Know that your wonderfully inspirational prompts started me down a path that makes me happy, though. ;)

That is good to know. And hey, just because I don't ship Heinrich/Kaphengst per se (not because of all the money wasting, it's just that Kaphengst as a person doesn't come across as that interesting to me, doesn't mean I wouldn't read it, especially if a skillful author such as yourself manages to make Kaphengst more dimensional. Sometimes it takes just one particular circumstance. For example, I hadn't seen Mara was much different from Kaphengst (i.e. one more charismatic jerk) but reading that scene from his wife's memoirs where he points out that the Rheinsberg court shouldn't be able to walk on and off during her performance, that's disrespect to the artist, and that's why she should sing inside did make a difference, it made me see him as a person beyond "handsome guy spending first Heinrich's and then Gertrud-Elisabeth's money". Anyway, given the sheer length of the relationship and how much Heinrich was ready to do for him (including postponing the so longed for trip to France!), there clearly must have been something there beyond the obvious.

Soooo...curtain fic at Rheinsberg next time? ;)

Well, I'm toying with the idea of combining curtain fic with babysitting, anyway. Fritz starts out the story in a glorious mood, as he's about to move into Rheinsberg with his beloved (and his wife, but he feels he can cope) and finally live just how he wants, then Mom dumps the brat on him. In addition to everything else, hilarity will be gained by Fritz trying to find some free time with Fredersdorf, with his initial attempt to make EC babysit Heinrich, thus killing two birds with one stone, being spectacularly unsuccessful. BTW, the very first Trier letter from Fritz to Heinrich is dated Rheinsberg, February 3rd 1737, and goes thusly:

My dearest brother,
I am infinitely obliged to you for your memories, and for the cheeses you are kind enough to send me. I would like to have something that could be pleasant to you, in order to show you, my dear brother, that the friendship that I have for you does not yield anything to that which you have for me. You may be sure, my dearest brother.
I am forever with sincere friendship,
My dearest brother,
Your most faithful brother and servant,
Frederic.
Put me, I pray you, very respectfully at the Queen's feet, and assure her from me that no one can be more attached to her than I am.

Now, why would barely 11 years old Heinrich send cheeses to Fritz? My mind irresistably replies: because he robbed the larder while being babysat, and Mom after learning of this made him do something to apologize.

When's the letter to Suhm about the unnamed brother's visit dated again, and does it say Ruppin or Rheinsberg?

Valiant Mimi crackfic: who knows...

From:

mildred_of_midgard

yes, I did get it.

Yay, I hoped you would! It was there for you. ;)

I mean, obviously not all the time; he was receptive to tenderness as well

Agreed! The fact that in a sexual context, anger makes him more aroused doesn't mean it's the *only* thing that arouses him. But it does mean he'd better watch out when thinking about Fritz and his boyfriends at the same time. ;)

doesn't mean I wouldn't read it, especially if a skillful author such as yourself manages to make Kaphengst more dimensional.

Thank you for the compliment. I hope that if I ever do write it, you enjoy it, but I won't gift it to you for an exchange.

Dimensional: Yep, he would have to be mostly an OC, but sometimes my favorite characters to write are where we know just enough to give me a starting point, but not so much I feel intimidated trying to produce something that feels in-character (the reason I still haven't been able to write Voltaire).

he's about to move into Rheinsberg with his beloved (and his wife

Lolsob.

Now, why would barely 11 years old Heinrich send cheeses to Fritz? My mind irresistably replies: because he robbed the larder while being babysat, and Mom after learning of this made him do something to apologize.

AHAHAHAAAA, total headcanon!

When's the letter to Suhm about the unnamed brother's visit dated again, and does it say Ruppin or Rheinsberg?

May 6, 1736, and Ruppin. I suspect that's part of why he was so upset: his early letters to Suhm from Ruppin are full of complaining that he's busy with his regiment and his health all day, and he has no tiiiiiime to stuuuuudyy. So he's going to give up sleep!

If you do write 1736, I strongly suspect this is the year of the great coffee experiment where Fritz drank All the Coffee^TM, got sick, and realized he couldn't do entirely without sleep after all. I actually don't know what the source on that is--probably one of those posthumously published anecdotes of dubious provenance, if we haven't run into it in a real source yet.

But it remains my headcanon that he did this, not least because when I was an arrogant workaholic teenager who didn't want to sleep when I could be studying, I read about Fritz trying to live on coffee. Anyone else, and I would have assumed they were a mere mortal, whose failure didn't necessarily apply to me. (People attempting to give me advice at that age generally ran afoul of this tendency of mine.) But if *Frederick the Great*, whose workaholism, determination, and general larger-than-life-ness 16-yo me respected, couldn't pull it off, I didn't think I could either, and so I put it on the list of things I shouldn't try. Apocryphal or not, your sacrifice was not in vain, Fritz. ;)

But anyway, he definitely tells Suhm that he's going to try to give up some sleep for learning, and Suhm replies that this may not be the best idea Fritz has ever had. March 1736, in case you want to work that in.