Dear Yule-goat!

[xparrot]

(Much-belated, ack! Sorry!)

This is my first time doing yuletide, so this is my first whack at a letter. Let's see. Okay, first off, you have to know, I haven't done many fic-exchanges, but I've loved the ones I've done. And I'm absolutely tickled by the idea of somebody writing a fic - a whole fic! For me! Which means that whatever you write, it's going to make me giddy and squeeful.

That being said, if you want to make me extra- super-squeeful, a few hints:

Probably my favorite thing in fanfic is gen friendship: if you write me a gen friendship story, I will love it. If pairings are more your thing, I'm also a-okay with friendship turning into Something More, either hinted at or going all the way. I am a hurt/comfort junky, so you can't go wrong there (my biggest h/c kink is probably "presumed dead"/My Partner's Dead Just Kidding/whichever - when someone is thought dead and then surprise! they're not dead! yay! and then there are hugs - I am a sucker for hugs.) But I also love fluff (I've got a high sap tolerance, though I like it best if it's a bit buried, if it has to be read into) and quiet moments of companionship. And angst and need and co-dependency also can work for me - really, any kind of friendship is awesome!

Things I don't want: an unhappy ending. For me, I tend toward OTP-ish-ness (or OT3, OT4, whatever; I love teams!), so for me "unhappy ending" means my preferred partner/team/whatever are somehow split up (whether through death or a rift or drifting.) I don't care if they're together romantically or not; but I want them to be friends/partners, still. I don't demand a super-happy ending (though I wouldn't mind one either); but there's got to be some hope.

Everything else is negotiable. I'm very hard to squick. I'm not a big fan of graphic violence or detailed erotica, but neither will turn me off a story - I'm just likely to skim those bits. (I have been known to skim PWPs reading for the dialogue. Yes, I am in fact the Worst Slash Fan Ever.) Generally I don't like character death, but if you can make it work with a happy ending, more power to you.

Hmm, is this rambly enough? In case not, some fandom-specifics:


Red Dwarf

I'm new to the show (no, I don't know how I missed it for all these years...) and it's still very shiny and fun for me. I'd love to see something friendshippy with Rimmer & Lister, or with the whole crew. Funny preferably, though a bit of angst would be fine, too (there are definitely some places in the show it could fit...) I haven't actually seen the 9th season yet, but I hopefully will have by Yuletide, so anything episode-related is ace. (Ace Rimmer is ace, too; he cracks me up in all his bombastic bewigged glory.) If you like h/c, and could pull off comfort as well as hurt while still keeping them in char, I'd be just giddy. (Oh, and if you'd like to slash Listy & Rimsy, that's cool; gen or slash, s'all good to me!)


Sapphire & Steel

Sappire & Steel is another new fandom acquisition - I recently developed a Man from UNCLE/David McCallum obsession, so this was a must-see, and then I fell for the series in its own right. It's so very odd and enigmatic. (If you've never seen it, check out this picspam for an intro.)

I've seen all the show, and have heard maybe half of the Big Finish audio plays (they're a great listen on long flights.) My favorite thing about the series is Sapphire & Steel themselves, and their incredibly undefined relationship - are they just co-workers? friends? master and student? lovers? So any story exploring that unexplored bond would fascinate me. I'd probably like it even better if it managed to show the closeness of their connection while not defining it. If you want to bring Silver into the mix, that'd be nifty, too (though if it goes romantic I'd prefer an OT3 to a jealous love triangle.)

My happy-ending requirement doesn't exactly apply here, given the nature of the series; I'd prefer something not too soul-wrenchingly depressing (the first series wasn't really!...er, yeah...), but if that's where your story goes, so be it. On the other hand, if you want to try something lighter...I'd be very curious how it'd be pulled off! (how could one make Steel fluffy? Steel wool???)


The Death Gate Cycle - Hickman & Weis

On the other hand, this fandom is going way back, to my pre-fandom days. I must have read these books half a dozen times in college, but I've never come across fanfic or really any fandom for them. Enemies becoming friends is a huge, huge fiction kink for me, which this series hit hard; Haplo & Alfred are still one of my favorite friendship pairs ever. Also Patryn tattoos are way cool! The magic systems appealed to the vestigial gamer in me.

Following my general trend, what I most want is gen Haplo & Alfred friendshipping, either a moment getting to know each other in the series, or while in the Labyrinth afterward. Any sort of hurt/comfort would make me gibber with glee. I'm not quite sure how I feel about Haplo/Alfred slash - I read the books before I was a slasher, and I liked Haplo & Marit. But I could probably be brought around to it. Or an OT3 has possibilities? But really, gen would be more my style.


The Abyss

The Abyss is another old love, from pre-fandom, pre-college, pre-internet days. I actually discovered it through the novelization, which, being by Orson Scott Card (back before he went all crazy bigot, or at least before he was vocally so), is more Novel than -ization. So, as I was a huge Card fan at the time, I read it before I ever saw the movie. Which is good, because the first version of the movie I did see was the theatrical release, where they cut out a bunch of small delightful life-on-an-underwater-oil-platform moments and also the entire climax WTF. So I had to explain what really happened to my family, and then SciFi (back before they were "SyFy") showed the extended release and I got it on tape, and then it came out on DVD and now I can watch it whenever I want, which is very nice. (Except I think gnine might have it now, actually. Dang it!)

Anyway. The point is, I adore The Abyss, but I've never read fic for it. So I'm kind of at sea *cough* about what I want to ask for. I know I'd love anything with Bud and Lindsey being all married and argumentatively loving (this isn't an exception to the friendship rule, really; I love best-friends married couples like burning, even if they're not gen!) Or something with them with the whole crew...whatever happened to them after the movie. Visiting the aliens' planet? Living on a transformed Earth, or on another world? Does Hippy still have an adorable pet rat? (Oh, that would be a squick - do not do anything bad to the rat! I used to have pet rats and have very fond memories.)


So, there you go...I hope this helps jog the creative juices, if nothing else! And if you already know what you're doing - go ahead with that, and know that whatever you write, I'll enjoy it!

(And now, back to the NaNo - only at the halfway mark, oh dear...)

Comments

[ezazahaz.livejournal.com]

I'm not doing yuletide; I fail at writing on demand. I just wanted to say I love your icon. Somehow I am a fan of that *phrase*, and along with a pretty picture of a creepy creepy Shadow vessel, it just makes me happy. :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks - I realized recently that I had no B5 icons, so it was very important to rectify that!

(your icon - LOLOLOLOLOL XDDD Rod was so ripped off of Ace!)

[ezazahaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) I'd seen RD before SGA, so Rod reminded me of Ace right off the bat...

[snarkydame.livejournal.com]

With you and sholio both talking about the Death Gate Cycle, I found myself eyeing the books at the bookstore -- we finally have the whole set on the shelf! Every other time I thought to look, we were only carrying two or three of them.

I've read them before, but only once, and a long time ago. Now I want to reread them, but I'd be SOOO tempted to carry off all of them (hey, I get an employee discount!) and then sit and read them all, too. And I'm too busy for that!

Grrr. My dilemma, I lay at your feet. *shakes fist*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I want to reread them myself, and I don't know where my copies are! (a lot of my stuff's still in storage from when I went to Japan...) 'tis frustrating...I'm going to have to beg my mom to big through boxes, perhaps.

(Then the question once I get them is whether I read all the way through, or just skip ahead to Fire Sea...)

[snarkydame.livejournal.com]

I do remember LOVING Fire Sea . . .