weakinteraction (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
weakinteraction) wrote2018-04-20 08:40 pm
weakinteraction) wrote2018-04-20 08:40 pm
Entry tags:
Night on Fic Mountain Dear Creator Letter
Hi! Thanks for creating for me. This is my first time signing up for this exchange -- in previous years, I've always been too busy over the summer. I'm getting quite excited!
My username is weakinteraction on AO3 as well, and I'm requesting both fic and art for all 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 if we matched on a single character or a worldbuilding tag, or as a background pairing in a work for a relationship tag we matched on. (In general, I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.)
Tropes-wise, I am particularly fond of time travel, canon-divergent AUs, people with issues relating to identity (in the sense of things like secret identities and amnesia) and telepathy. In terms of relationship dynamics, I like all sorts of things but particularly: 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 epistolatory 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.)
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 (eg: the 16 Ways team in some sort of post-apocalyptic scenario, Aphra and Sana facing off with lightsabers in Jedi training, Squirrel Girl: Agent of SHIELD and her handler Nancy, etc.). 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 (e.g. something for TNG having an LCARS interface around it) 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.
DNWs
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye
The "canon" story that comes out in the Datalinks quotes and wonders videos implies a war where the Gaians eventually completely overrun the Spartans with mind worms, and I would definitely be up for darkfic along those lines if the inspiration strikes you. In general, the screaming pain sphere thing that captured leaders get put in when you defeat a faction and all the "swear a pact to serve me" stuff if you let them capitulate has quite strong BDSM-y overtones to me. But each time you play a game you get a brand new history of planet, and I don't consider the "canon" version any more or less valid than any other possibility. So I'd also be up for something similar with the tables turned and Santiago winning, or a grand alliance between the Gaians and the Spartans, cemented by the union of the two leaders, or arguments in the planetary council leading to hatesex, or anything else that occurs to you.
This is also one fandom where I am particularly keen on worldbuilding; if you're thinking of going down that route, my Worldbuildingex letter might help (though you shouldn't feel constrained to explore the particular worldbuilding elements I requested there, by any means). If you're going down this route, I really don't mind at all if the shippiness boils down to just a very slender amount of framing of the things they learn about Planet.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Doreen Green/Nancy Whitehead
I love everything about this comic: the little "alt-text" bits, the computer science nerdery, the explorations of obscure corners of the Marvel universe, Doreen's determined optimism about finding common ground with supervillains ... Anything that captures one or more of those aspects of canon would make me very happy.
Ship-wise, I have a fluctuating level of belief that canon might go there eventually (which reached its peak when Mole Man accused Nancy of being in love with Doreen, faded a little bit for a while, but is now back in full force having read Newsarama's interview with them about Erica leaving). But get together wise, I could definitely buy this as mutual pining that neither realises is requited.
A slightly more specific prompt: Nancy sometimes feels a bit left out without superpowers/is keen on the idea of having a robot body -- what if she gets either/both of those? And an exceptionally random crossover idea: if you know Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics, I would be very much up for the USG characters encountering T-Rex and co.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics) - Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan, Chelli Lona Aphra/Sana Starros
Aphra rapidly became my new Star Wars fave when I belatedly started reading the Darth Vader comics. I love how spiky she is, her hidden depths, her ability to bullshit her way through pretty much any situation, and her reluctant moments of something approaching morality. And I love, love, love the enemies-with-benefits-to-maybe-more dynamic she's got going on with Tolvan in canon at the moment.
Some prompts: Reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up. One or other of them getting the upper hand (Tolvan blackmailing and/or capturing Aphra seems like a fairly obvious option, but I think Aphra's work with Vader must have given her some sort of insight into how to mess around with the Imperial hierarchy). Ending up on the run together. How they both adjust after RotJ. Some sort of exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics, and I also love that she's a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
On the Aphra/Sana side of things: Give me them at each other's throats (in any sense). Give me them forced to work together and hating every minute of it. Give me backstory: their good times that were never really that good (or were they?). Give me bitterness and resentment and angst and betrayal and unhealthiness and obsession and all that good stuff.
Prompts: Aphra trying to puzzle out why Sana seems to have thrown her lot in with the Rebels. Sana realising that her feelings are more complicated than she wants to admit. Aphra trying to keep Sana secret from Vader (and maybe failing). Wagers and forfeits. Or if you're going into their backstory, any sort of smuggling/archaeological hijinks. (Aphra going playing in Legends worldbuilding is A-OK with me.) Were they always so hardbitten and cynical?
Machineries of Empire - Ajewen Cheris
This is my first time requesting this canon since catching up with Raven Stratagem (I don't know whether it still merits spoiler warnings or not, but it's not long since I finished it so: warning -- there are implicit RS spoilers in this section) so there's a mixture here of old and new ideas. I do find myself craving something Cheris-centric in particular, but you're more than welcome to include other characters, either from the nominated tags or not.
I really like the way Cheris being a Kel is both central to her character and how it develops, and yet it seems so unlikely: she's from a group that rarely joins factions at all, her mathematical ability is strong enough that the Nirai tried to poach her, she's far more creative than the average Kel (which both serves her well and gets her into trouble ...)
Prompts: Anything exploring one of Cheris's relationships, either a canonical one or with an ofc. Anything about her links with the servitors. (More generally, as with SMAC above, this is a canon where I'd definitely be fine with a very thin veneer of Cheris story that existed to show off your ideas about the factions or how calendrical mechanics works, etc. And finally: Raven Stratagem obviously gets a lot of its effect from withholding Cheris and Jedao as POV characters, but that did leave me wanting even a glimpse of Cheris's side of things ...
16 Ways To Kill A Vampire At McDonald's - Lucy, Claire, Luke, Maggie
Note: You can play the game online for free here. (Takes an hour or two to get all the endings.)
I love the fun tone of this canon, and especially the way that Everything Is True in relation to vampires. The way it makes you inhabit Lucy's relationship dynamics works really nicely for me, too, with her feelings becoming clear in the slight disconnect between the player and her, with her occasionally resisting/outright refusing to use certain options.
I nominated/requested the characters here but am definitely interested in any and all possible ships between them (as well as stuff focused on one character in particular), including/especially the poly ones.
Prompts: More vampire hunting shenanigans for Lucy, Maggie and Luke. The game portrays an atypical experience, what does a more typical one look like? Exactly how bad at it were they when they first got started? Or do they find themselves having to deal with other supernatural creatures, and having to learn a bunch of new lore? (Possibly leading to a group sex saves the day type situation?) Lucy/Maggie/Luke OT3 (it's never quite made explicit in the game that that's what's going on, as far as I can tell, but it seems pretty heavily implied to me), or any subpairing of that. Claire going to find Lucy, as implied by the extra ending.
Sapphire & Steel - Sapphire, Steel
Feel free to include Lead, Silver, or anyone else you care to invent, but I would definitely like one or both of the main two to be present.
I'm really up for pretty much anything here, especially if it captures the compelling creepiness of canon. (I can still instantly scare the crap out of myself by remembering "Burn every photograph of you, never have another taken"). I do ship Sapphire/Steel, though in what I suppose could be described as an austere sort of way -- they're forces of nature with an important job to do first and foremost. As with several of my other prompts, worldbuilding is great: anything expanding on the opening narration or what the heck is actually going on very welcome.
Prompts: pre-canon -- their first assignment together? had they had other partners previously? what did they make of each other? canon-adjacent -- what if something goes terribly wrong and they end up having to call in a transuranic despite life being present? or gonzo sf with an assignment in a realm with completely different physical laws to ours? post-canon -- either still stuck or finally finding a way out of the trap. Or just assume that's happened and give them a rematch with the Shape in the modern world of ubiquitous smartphones and omnipresent surveillance cameras ...
My username is weakinteraction on AO3 as well, and I'm requesting both fic and art for all 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 if we matched on a single character or a worldbuilding tag, or as a background pairing in a work for a relationship tag we matched on. (In general, I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.)
Tropes-wise, I am particularly fond of time travel, canon-divergent AUs, people with issues relating to identity (in the sense of things like secret identities and amnesia) and telepathy. In terms of relationship dynamics, I like all sorts of things but particularly: 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 epistolatory 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.)
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 (eg: the 16 Ways team in some sort of post-apocalyptic scenario, Aphra and Sana facing off with lightsabers in Jedi training, Squirrel Girl: Agent of SHIELD and her handler Nancy, etc.). 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 (e.g. something for TNG having an LCARS interface around it) 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.
DNWs
- extremely fluffy fluff so that essentially all that happens is the characters exchange endearments you'd never hear them use in canon
- character bashing (these are all canons where I like the rest of the characters too)
- any kind of AU apart from canon-divergent
- pregnancy/kidfic (I don't mind occasional appearances by canonical children, but please don't focus on them to the exclusion of all else)
- major character death (exceptions: deaths that happened in canon, but even there I'd prefer not to have a huge focus on characters grieving afterwards or similar; or deaths happening offscreen if a lot of time has passed since the time the character was around in canon, i.e. you don't have to make everyone immortal if you're writing futurefic; also this doesn't apply to apocalyptic canon-divergent AUs, because an apocalypse that everyone happens to survive doesn't really make sense)
- violent non-con (I'm fine with sf/fantasy type noncon like mind control for pairings it would suit, or dubcon of various stripes)
- as far as porn goes, I am generally fine with most stuff; the only things I'd ask you to avoid are breathplay, watersports, bloodplay, vore, scat, and emetophilia.
- incest and under-16s having sex (none of these pairings are anywhere near fitting the bill for either of these, but please no background incest pairings or revealing characters to have been related all along or anything like that)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye
The "canon" story that comes out in the Datalinks quotes and wonders videos implies a war where the Gaians eventually completely overrun the Spartans with mind worms, and I would definitely be up for darkfic along those lines if the inspiration strikes you. In general, the screaming pain sphere thing that captured leaders get put in when you defeat a faction and all the "swear a pact to serve me" stuff if you let them capitulate has quite strong BDSM-y overtones to me. But each time you play a game you get a brand new history of planet, and I don't consider the "canon" version any more or less valid than any other possibility. So I'd also be up for something similar with the tables turned and Santiago winning, or a grand alliance between the Gaians and the Spartans, cemented by the union of the two leaders, or arguments in the planetary council leading to hatesex, or anything else that occurs to you.
This is also one fandom where I am particularly keen on worldbuilding; if you're thinking of going down that route, my Worldbuildingex letter might help (though you shouldn't feel constrained to explore the particular worldbuilding elements I requested there, by any means). If you're going down this route, I really don't mind at all if the shippiness boils down to just a very slender amount of framing of the things they learn about Planet.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Doreen Green/Nancy Whitehead
I love everything about this comic: the little "alt-text" bits, the computer science nerdery, the explorations of obscure corners of the Marvel universe, Doreen's determined optimism about finding common ground with supervillains ... Anything that captures one or more of those aspects of canon would make me very happy.
Ship-wise, I have a fluctuating level of belief that canon might go there eventually (which reached its peak when Mole Man accused Nancy of being in love with Doreen, faded a little bit for a while, but is now back in full force having read Newsarama's interview with them about Erica leaving). But get together wise, I could definitely buy this as mutual pining that neither realises is requited.
A slightly more specific prompt: Nancy sometimes feels a bit left out without superpowers/is keen on the idea of having a robot body -- what if she gets either/both of those? And an exceptionally random crossover idea: if you know Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics, I would be very much up for the USG characters encountering T-Rex and co.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics) - Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan, Chelli Lona Aphra/Sana Starros
Aphra rapidly became my new Star Wars fave when I belatedly started reading the Darth Vader comics. I love how spiky she is, her hidden depths, her ability to bullshit her way through pretty much any situation, and her reluctant moments of something approaching morality. And I love, love, love the enemies-with-benefits-to-maybe-more dynamic she's got going on with Tolvan in canon at the moment.
Some prompts: Reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up. One or other of them getting the upper hand (Tolvan blackmailing and/or capturing Aphra seems like a fairly obvious option, but I think Aphra's work with Vader must have given her some sort of insight into how to mess around with the Imperial hierarchy). Ending up on the run together. How they both adjust after RotJ. Some sort of exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics, and I also love that she's a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
On the Aphra/Sana side of things: Give me them at each other's throats (in any sense). Give me them forced to work together and hating every minute of it. Give me backstory: their good times that were never really that good (or were they?). Give me bitterness and resentment and angst and betrayal and unhealthiness and obsession and all that good stuff.
Prompts: Aphra trying to puzzle out why Sana seems to have thrown her lot in with the Rebels. Sana realising that her feelings are more complicated than she wants to admit. Aphra trying to keep Sana secret from Vader (and maybe failing). Wagers and forfeits. Or if you're going into their backstory, any sort of smuggling/archaeological hijinks. (Aphra going playing in Legends worldbuilding is A-OK with me.) Were they always so hardbitten and cynical?
Machineries of Empire - Ajewen Cheris
This is my first time requesting this canon since catching up with Raven Stratagem (I don't know whether it still merits spoiler warnings or not, but it's not long since I finished it so: warning -- there are implicit RS spoilers in this section) so there's a mixture here of old and new ideas. I do find myself craving something Cheris-centric in particular, but you're more than welcome to include other characters, either from the nominated tags or not.
I really like the way Cheris being a Kel is both central to her character and how it develops, and yet it seems so unlikely: she's from a group that rarely joins factions at all, her mathematical ability is strong enough that the Nirai tried to poach her, she's far more creative than the average Kel (which both serves her well and gets her into trouble ...)
Prompts: Anything exploring one of Cheris's relationships, either a canonical one or with an ofc. Anything about her links with the servitors. (More generally, as with SMAC above, this is a canon where I'd definitely be fine with a very thin veneer of Cheris story that existed to show off your ideas about the factions or how calendrical mechanics works, etc. And finally: Raven Stratagem obviously gets a lot of its effect from withholding Cheris and Jedao as POV characters, but that did leave me wanting even a glimpse of Cheris's side of things ...
16 Ways To Kill A Vampire At McDonald's - Lucy, Claire, Luke, Maggie
Note: You can play the game online for free here. (Takes an hour or two to get all the endings.)
I love the fun tone of this canon, and especially the way that Everything Is True in relation to vampires. The way it makes you inhabit Lucy's relationship dynamics works really nicely for me, too, with her feelings becoming clear in the slight disconnect between the player and her, with her occasionally resisting/outright refusing to use certain options.
I nominated/requested the characters here but am definitely interested in any and all possible ships between them (as well as stuff focused on one character in particular), including/especially the poly ones.
Prompts: More vampire hunting shenanigans for Lucy, Maggie and Luke. The game portrays an atypical experience, what does a more typical one look like? Exactly how bad at it were they when they first got started? Or do they find themselves having to deal with other supernatural creatures, and having to learn a bunch of new lore? (Possibly leading to a group sex saves the day type situation?) Lucy/Maggie/Luke OT3 (it's never quite made explicit in the game that that's what's going on, as far as I can tell, but it seems pretty heavily implied to me), or any subpairing of that. Claire going to find Lucy, as implied by the extra ending.
Sapphire & Steel - Sapphire, Steel
Feel free to include Lead, Silver, or anyone else you care to invent, but I would definitely like one or both of the main two to be present.
I'm really up for pretty much anything here, especially if it captures the compelling creepiness of canon. (I can still instantly scare the crap out of myself by remembering "Burn every photograph of you, never have another taken"). I do ship Sapphire/Steel, though in what I suppose could be described as an austere sort of way -- they're forces of nature with an important job to do first and foremost. As with several of my other prompts, worldbuilding is great: anything expanding on the opening narration or what the heck is actually going on very welcome.
Prompts: pre-canon -- their first assignment together? had they had other partners previously? what did they make of each other? canon-adjacent -- what if something goes terribly wrong and they end up having to call in a transuranic despite life being present? or gonzo sf with an assignment in a realm with completely different physical laws to ours? post-canon -- either still stuck or finally finding a way out of the trap. Or just assume that's happened and give them a rematch with the Shape in the modern world of ubiquitous smartphones and omnipresent surveillance cameras ...