Space Swap 2021 Letter
Feb. 26th, 2021 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weakinteractionHi. Thanks for looking at my letter; I hope you find it helpful -- however, I would like to lay out very clearly that I'm a very firm believer in ODAO, so if you want to ignore all of it apart from the DNWs (which are all in the AO3 sign up, though I've provided a bit of amplification for some of them here), go right ahead.
My AO3 name is weakinteraction -- same as this dreamwidth account. I'm requesting fic (including IF), art, or vids for all of these fandoms.
General likes
I am up for a wide range of types of fanworks, and equally happy with ratings anywhere on the scale.
I genuinely do equally like all of gen, slash, het and femslash. On the shipping side of things, I don't really have NOTPs in any of these fandoms, so any combination of characters that you're interested in is absolutely fine with me, and I don't have any objection to requested and/or unrequested characters in background pairings. (As a general note, if you are going in a shippy direction I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.)
In terms of tropes and dynamics and so on, I am keen on:
Fic likes: Overall, I am honestly very easy to please; I genuinely like pretty much all types of fic, from humorous vignettes, to angsty introspection, to twisty plotty adventure stories, casefic, slice of life, or digging into the canon's worldbuilding, and all points in between. I do want to make a positive point of the fact that fic-wise I'm always up for non-standard formats, anything from epistolary or verse through to stories presented through documentary evidence, 1st/2nd person, present/future tense, IF, etc. etc. Again, if it works for what you want to do, I'll lap it up. (This is not to say that I don't enjoy reading third person, past tense, because I definitely do! I just don't want you to be put off doing other things if your inspiration takes you in that direction.)
IF likes: I am equally happy with both parser-based and CYOA IF. I'm happy for it to land anywhere on the various axes of "game" vs "simulation" vs "story"; I do enjoy puzzles, as long as they aren't insanely difficult to work out. On the more story-ish end, I do enjoy it when there isn't an obvious "good ending", or at least where it's left open to interpretation whether any particular ending is good or not. On the fanworks end, I do enjoy little details in how things are presented that call back to canon, if that makes sense (e.g. making the interface look like something in-universe), though I realise that's very tricky so it's very much an optional extra!
Art likes: I do like use of light and shade in a picture, and interesting Easter-egg-y type stuff going on in the background (if there is one). An action scene that's a snapshot from an adventure, the characters in the middle of kicking ass. Goofy hijinks when the characters are off-duty. Portrayals of canon-divergent AU versions of the characters very, very welcome if the inspiration strikes you. For shippier stuff, little moments of intimacy: stolen kisses, hurt/comfort type stuff (but please not too much on the hurt front), that sort of thing. (I have no problem receiving NSFW art, fwiw.) I am also definitely up for things like diagrams, maps, etc. In the same Easter-egg-y vein mentioned earlier, things like that presented with in-universe trappings would be lovely. I've provided some specific art prompts where I can think of them, but in cases where I haven't I hope at least some of my more general prompts lend themselves to being illustrated. Also, I am very happy to receive things like complex diagrams of overlapping timelines and schematics of time machines or whatever along those lines, as well as more "traditional" illustrations.
Vid likes: When it comes to vids I like interesting/surprising/amusing juxtapositions (either between one scene and the next or between what's happening and the music), and having fun with pacing (e.g. the cuts getting faster and faster towards the end before slowing down again). I am very broad-minded in my musical taste; I would much rather go with the music you think fits than have a vid shoehorned in to my favourite song if you're not feeling it. And to be honest, my "favourite song" is something which changes on about an hourly basis. That said, if you do want to know, the two places my music collection/Youtube playlist gravitates towards most strongly are British indie circa 1995-1997 (I hesitate to use the term "Britpop" but, yeah, basically Britpop) and female singer-songwriters from the last decade or so. Some general vid prompts: Action (a pairing against the universe? lovers-to-enemies types doing battle?). Longing looks. Sweeping landscapes. (For Star Wars) Canon-style wipe transitions.
DNWs
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Character: Beverly Crusher
I've decided to focus exclusively on my all-time favourite Star Trek character for my TNG request this year. I'm very happy for you to explore whatever aspect of her character/backstory/adventures you like, whether it's during canon (including her time at Starfleet Medical during S2), pre-canon, post-canon*, etc.) Directing plays, going all Quincy on a medical mystery, dealing with an emergency, taking charge on the Bridge, playing poker -- genuinely, anything and everything would be great. (A note on my kidfic DNW here: I have no objection to Wesley appearing, and a fic about the complexities of having a Traveller-like entity as your adult child could actually be really interesting, but I would prefer not to receive a fic that focused solely on Beverly as mother to a child/teenager to the exclusion of all else.)
*do feel free to bring in Picard canon if you want to speculate about what she's been up between Nemesis and the present day of that show, but equally feel free to disregard it entirely
Although I've requested the character tag rather than any ships, I am open to you including ships if you feel inclined to. Trek in general and TNG in particular is probably where my multishipping is the broadest out of any canon I can think of, so any pairing you come up with (apart from Wesley, which would obviously cross my incest DNW) is fine. Having said that, Crusher/Picard is probably my oldest ship; I do love the whole "we want each other but we have reasons for not acting on it" thing. Further back in the timeline (or as an AU), Jean-Luc/Jack/Beverlyis also something I'm keen on. I also ship Beverly with Deanna, though I see that more as a FWB thing, in line with the 24th century in general just being very relaxed, and Betazoids even more so -- perhaps some fun cultural differences stuff there. And I also have a soft spot for Crusher/Riker in a working-out-some-very-confused-feelings post-The-Host way.
Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Relationship: Yuthura Ban/Female Revan
Yuthura is one of my favourite minor NPCs from the series, I like her combination of ruthlessness and vulnerability; she's clearly had a tough life and adapted to that, but responds to having someone actually interested in her for herself. Feel free to explore her backstory if the fancy takes you. I am very much up for any and all possible takes on the dynamics of this ship: amnesiac Revan as eager student of the Dark Side, post-Leviathan Revan as reborn Sith Lord who Yuthura is the first to swear allegiance to, Revan (with memories or without) redeeming Yuthura (esp. if Yuthura is simultaneously corrupting her), etc. One-off exception to my breathplay DNW here: something building on Yuthura's use of Force Choke is very welcome; it may have been a formative moment for my current Revan. (I am reusing this prompt from a while ago and it does in fact still applies to my "current Revan"; RL has meant that I am on the slowest playthrough ever - May the 4th will be the two year anniversary of me starting character creation ...)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Relationship: Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys, Relationship: Mirror Ezri/Mirror Leeta
Jadzia/Kira: I am fascinated with Dax in general, especially the old-young thing she's got going on. All the different versions of Dax seem to have a lot of joie de vivre and openness to new experiences (even Curzon late in his life, from the way they talk about him), in contrast to many common takes on what it would be like to live for a long time. Kira has a lot to explore, too, with a lot of backstory angst but also a kind of determination to enjoy the better life she successfully fought for. Jadzia and Kira quickly establish a strong bond in canon, which I can easily see a relationship building out of (perhaps more along friends-with-benefits lines, or perhaps not).
Mirror Leeta/Mirror Ezri: What happened after the end of "The Emperor's New Cloak", basically? In any or all of the short, medium or long term. (Feel free to bring Mirror Kira back into the mix to complicate things if you're going for the longer term.) In terms of DNWs, I am OK with consent issues in the Mirrorverse that I wouldn't be in Prime, as it's basically baked into the premise.
Jupiter Ascending
Relationship: Jupiter Jones/Caine Wise, Worldbuilding: Bees Recognising Royalty, Worldbuilding: Genetic Engineering
Jupiter/Caine: Fundamentally, they're both such dorks. But also they have each other's backs against overwhelming odds. I very much like the way Jupiter from "What? There are aliens?" to the "OK, I'm a space princess, let's do this" point where she can deal with the weird internal politics of the Abrasax family and go toe-to-toe with Balem. (FWIW, I definitely come down on the side of the ending as Jupiter taking a moment to recalibrate and reconnect with her recently-rescued-from-a-nasty-death family, not her turning her back on being the Queen of Space now; she seems pretty determined to try and stop the harvests in general to me). If you're going down a smutty route, I do usually see this as a femdom pairing but that can definitely include some vigorous topping from the bottom.
Worldbuilding-wise, this film really does it for me on that front in terms of leaving a lot of questions to be answered, but with a sense that there's some sort of general aesthetic going on behind it, even if not an outright completely coherent plan.
Bees Recognising Royalty: I guess there are two different directions this could go: How does it actually work across such a huge species gap? Or what are the societal implications given that it does? (Are there places where you have to be recognised by the local bees to be accepted as part of the aristocracy? Does some sort of trial-by-bees form part of even weirder pre-nuptial arrangements than Jupiter experienced with Titus?)
Genetic Engineering: clearly very commonplace, but what are the underlying principles? What things are/aren't allowed? (If you want to link to Caine's backstory here, feel free.) How are whatever rules exist enforced? How easy is it to do that in such a large galaxy? etc.
Two notes for this fandom:
Diaspora - Greg Egan
Worldbuilding: Adjusting To Alternate Embodiments & Dimensions (Diaspora - Greg Egan), Worldbuilding: The Transmuters (Diaspora - Greg Egan)
Adjusting to Alternate Embodiments & Dimensions: what's life like for the people who settle in U*? Does anyone (e.g. a Bridger) ever transcribe themselves into the many-dimensional Wang's Carpets world and live with the squid and jellyfish creatures?
The Transmuters: I guess this could be either the human-derived characters finally finding out more about them (does anyone ever follow Paolo and Yatima up through the macrospheres after contact was lost?), or deep backstory set entirely within the time when they were active in our universe. When did they realise about the gravitational issues and why did they decide to put in place such a complicated means of leaving a trail? What other things did they get up to (apart from building very baroque statues of themselves)?
My AO3 name is weakinteraction -- same as this dreamwidth account. I'm requesting fic (including IF), art, or vids for all of these fandoms.
General likes
I am up for a wide range of types of fanworks, and equally happy with ratings anywhere on the scale.
I genuinely do equally like all of gen, slash, het and femslash. On the shipping side of things, I don't really have NOTPs in any of these fandoms, so any combination of characters that you're interested in is absolutely fine with me, and I don't have any objection to requested and/or unrequested characters in background pairings. (As a general note, if you are going in a shippy direction I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.)
In terms of tropes and dynamics and so on, I am keen on:
- time travel, in all sorts of different variations
- canon-divergent AUs, whether caused by time travel or otherwise
- people with issues relating to identity (in the sense of things like secret identities and amnesia)
- telepathy
- A whole raft of different relationship dynamics, eg friends-to-lovers, friends-with-benefits, enemies-to-lovers, lovers-to-enemies(-who-are-maybe-occasionally-still-lovers-against-their-better-judgement), loyalty kink, and you-and-me-against-the-universe sorts of situations
- Many (but not quite all) of my favourite characters share traits of being competent and getting on with their jobs/vocations/whatever, particularly in the sense of Doing The Right Thing over their strong personal preferences to do the opposite and/or against a general angsty background.
Fic likes: Overall, I am honestly very easy to please; I genuinely like pretty much all types of fic, from humorous vignettes, to angsty introspection, to twisty plotty adventure stories, casefic, slice of life, or digging into the canon's worldbuilding, and all points in between. I do want to make a positive point of the fact that fic-wise I'm always up for non-standard formats, anything from epistolary or verse through to stories presented through documentary evidence, 1st/2nd person, present/future tense, IF, etc. etc. Again, if it works for what you want to do, I'll lap it up. (This is not to say that I don't enjoy reading third person, past tense, because I definitely do! I just don't want you to be put off doing other things if your inspiration takes you in that direction.)
IF likes: I am equally happy with both parser-based and CYOA IF. I'm happy for it to land anywhere on the various axes of "game" vs "simulation" vs "story"; I do enjoy puzzles, as long as they aren't insanely difficult to work out. On the more story-ish end, I do enjoy it when there isn't an obvious "good ending", or at least where it's left open to interpretation whether any particular ending is good or not. On the fanworks end, I do enjoy little details in how things are presented that call back to canon, if that makes sense (e.g. making the interface look like something in-universe), though I realise that's very tricky so it's very much an optional extra!
Art likes: I do like use of light and shade in a picture, and interesting Easter-egg-y type stuff going on in the background (if there is one). An action scene that's a snapshot from an adventure, the characters in the middle of kicking ass. Goofy hijinks when the characters are off-duty. Portrayals of canon-divergent AU versions of the characters very, very welcome if the inspiration strikes you. For shippier stuff, little moments of intimacy: stolen kisses, hurt/comfort type stuff (but please not too much on the hurt front), that sort of thing. (I have no problem receiving NSFW art, fwiw.) I am also definitely up for things like diagrams, maps, etc. In the same Easter-egg-y vein mentioned earlier, things like that presented with in-universe trappings would be lovely. I've provided some specific art prompts where I can think of them, but in cases where I haven't I hope at least some of my more general prompts lend themselves to being illustrated. Also, I am very happy to receive things like complex diagrams of overlapping timelines and schematics of time machines or whatever along those lines, as well as more "traditional" illustrations.
Vid likes: When it comes to vids I like interesting/surprising/amusing juxtapositions (either between one scene and the next or between what's happening and the music), and having fun with pacing (e.g. the cuts getting faster and faster towards the end before slowing down again). I am very broad-minded in my musical taste; I would much rather go with the music you think fits than have a vid shoehorned in to my favourite song if you're not feeling it. And to be honest, my "favourite song" is something which changes on about an hourly basis. That said, if you do want to know, the two places my music collection/Youtube playlist gravitates towards most strongly are British indie circa 1995-1997 (I hesitate to use the term "Britpop" but, yeah, basically Britpop) and female singer-songwriters from the last decade or so. Some general vid prompts: Action (a pairing against the universe? lovers-to-enemies types doing battle?). Longing looks. Sweeping landscapes. (For Star Wars) Canon-style wipe transitions.
DNWs
- character or ship bashing (in particular, where there are conflicting canon ships for these characters, quietly ignoring them/AU-ing them away/handwaving everyone as being happily poly are all far preferable to me to devoting large chunks of the fic to demonstrating that the canon love interest is The Worst and breaking them up; OTOH, angst where everybody feels bad about it can work just fine)
- non-canon-divergent AUs like coffee shops, A/B/O, etc. (canon-divergent ones, on the other hand, are a big yes)
- pregnancy/kidfic (specifically, what I want to avoid is a gift that focuses on the requested characters as parents above and beyond all else - appearances by canonical children are fine)
- watersports
- scat
- emetophilia
- bloodplay
- breathplay
- vore
- violent non-con (coercion/mind control/etc. are fine)
- incest
- underage (my definition isn't quite the same as AO3's: what I don't want is people under 16 having sex; for characters in the 13-15 range I am OK with it being mentioned that they're sexually active if that's plausible given their canon circumstances, but I wouldn't want it front and centre)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Character: Beverly Crusher
I've decided to focus exclusively on my all-time favourite Star Trek character for my TNG request this year. I'm very happy for you to explore whatever aspect of her character/backstory/adventures you like, whether it's during canon (including her time at Starfleet Medical during S2), pre-canon, post-canon*, etc.) Directing plays, going all Quincy on a medical mystery, dealing with an emergency, taking charge on the Bridge, playing poker -- genuinely, anything and everything would be great. (A note on my kidfic DNW here: I have no objection to Wesley appearing, and a fic about the complexities of having a Traveller-like entity as your adult child could actually be really interesting, but I would prefer not to receive a fic that focused solely on Beverly as mother to a child/teenager to the exclusion of all else.)
*do feel free to bring in Picard canon if you want to speculate about what she's been up between Nemesis and the present day of that show, but equally feel free to disregard it entirely
Although I've requested the character tag rather than any ships, I am open to you including ships if you feel inclined to. Trek in general and TNG in particular is probably where my multishipping is the broadest out of any canon I can think of, so any pairing you come up with (apart from Wesley, which would obviously cross my incest DNW) is fine. Having said that, Crusher/Picard is probably my oldest ship; I do love the whole "we want each other but we have reasons for not acting on it" thing. Further back in the timeline (or as an AU), Jean-Luc/Jack/Beverlyis also something I'm keen on. I also ship Beverly with Deanna, though I see that more as a FWB thing, in line with the 24th century in general just being very relaxed, and Betazoids even more so -- perhaps some fun cultural differences stuff there. And I also have a soft spot for Crusher/Riker in a working-out-some-very-confused-feelings post-The-Host way.
Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Relationship: Yuthura Ban/Female Revan
Yuthura is one of my favourite minor NPCs from the series, I like her combination of ruthlessness and vulnerability; she's clearly had a tough life and adapted to that, but responds to having someone actually interested in her for herself. Feel free to explore her backstory if the fancy takes you. I am very much up for any and all possible takes on the dynamics of this ship: amnesiac Revan as eager student of the Dark Side, post-Leviathan Revan as reborn Sith Lord who Yuthura is the first to swear allegiance to, Revan (with memories or without) redeeming Yuthura (esp. if Yuthura is simultaneously corrupting her), etc. One-off exception to my breathplay DNW here: something building on Yuthura's use of Force Choke is very welcome; it may have been a formative moment for my current Revan. (I am reusing this prompt from a while ago and it does in fact still applies to my "current Revan"; RL has meant that I am on the slowest playthrough ever - May the 4th will be the two year anniversary of me starting character creation ...)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Relationship: Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys, Relationship: Mirror Ezri/Mirror Leeta
Jadzia/Kira: I am fascinated with Dax in general, especially the old-young thing she's got going on. All the different versions of Dax seem to have a lot of joie de vivre and openness to new experiences (even Curzon late in his life, from the way they talk about him), in contrast to many common takes on what it would be like to live for a long time. Kira has a lot to explore, too, with a lot of backstory angst but also a kind of determination to enjoy the better life she successfully fought for. Jadzia and Kira quickly establish a strong bond in canon, which I can easily see a relationship building out of (perhaps more along friends-with-benefits lines, or perhaps not).
Mirror Leeta/Mirror Ezri: What happened after the end of "The Emperor's New Cloak", basically? In any or all of the short, medium or long term. (Feel free to bring Mirror Kira back into the mix to complicate things if you're going for the longer term.) In terms of DNWs, I am OK with consent issues in the Mirrorverse that I wouldn't be in Prime, as it's basically baked into the premise.
Jupiter Ascending
Relationship: Jupiter Jones/Caine Wise, Worldbuilding: Bees Recognising Royalty, Worldbuilding: Genetic Engineering
Jupiter/Caine: Fundamentally, they're both such dorks. But also they have each other's backs against overwhelming odds. I very much like the way Jupiter from "What? There are aliens?" to the "OK, I'm a space princess, let's do this" point where she can deal with the weird internal politics of the Abrasax family and go toe-to-toe with Balem. (FWIW, I definitely come down on the side of the ending as Jupiter taking a moment to recalibrate and reconnect with her recently-rescued-from-a-nasty-death family, not her turning her back on being the Queen of Space now; she seems pretty determined to try and stop the harvests in general to me). If you're going down a smutty route, I do usually see this as a femdom pairing but that can definitely include some vigorous topping from the bottom.
Worldbuilding-wise, this film really does it for me on that front in terms of leaving a lot of questions to be answered, but with a sense that there's some sort of general aesthetic going on behind it, even if not an outright completely coherent plan.
Bees Recognising Royalty: I guess there are two different directions this could go: How does it actually work across such a huge species gap? Or what are the societal implications given that it does? (Are there places where you have to be recognised by the local bees to be accepted as part of the aristocracy? Does some sort of trial-by-bees form part of even weirder pre-nuptial arrangements than Jupiter experienced with Titus?)
Genetic Engineering: clearly very commonplace, but what are the underlying principles? What things are/aren't allowed? (If you want to link to Caine's backstory here, feel free.) How are whatever rules exist enforced? How easy is it to do that in such a large galaxy? etc.
Two notes for this fandom:
- on my incest DNW: I don't object to the Abrasaxen being into Jupiter, if you decide to have them appear, as that's pretty much canon, but would rather Jupiter didn't reciprocate
- I decided to focus on ship and worldbuilding tags for this fandom, but that doesn't mean I don't like the various characters (and in particular, the Apinis are very welcome to appear)
Diaspora - Greg Egan
Worldbuilding: Adjusting To Alternate Embodiments & Dimensions (Diaspora - Greg Egan), Worldbuilding: The Transmuters (Diaspora - Greg Egan)
Adjusting to Alternate Embodiments & Dimensions: what's life like for the people who settle in U*? Does anyone (e.g. a Bridger) ever transcribe themselves into the many-dimensional Wang's Carpets world and live with the squid and jellyfish creatures?
The Transmuters: I guess this could be either the human-derived characters finally finding out more about them (does anyone ever follow Paolo and Yatima up through the macrospheres after contact was lost?), or deep backstory set entirely within the time when they were active in our universe. When did they realise about the gravitational issues and why did they decide to put in place such a complicated means of leaving a trail? What other things did they get up to (apart from building very baroque statues of themselves)?
