Fest: Shipswap
Jan. 24th, 2014 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argentum_lsDear Shipswap writer:
Thank you so much for signing up for this exchange and for agreeing to write me a story. I'm so excited about what you're going to do and I'm very much looking forward to see which rarepair you've chosen! For your convenience, I have some info about what I like and dislike. Use what you need to, but don't agonize about stretching the boundaries. If you have any questions, my tumblr has a really lonely ask box with anon turned on. You can also check in with htbthomas, who knows my tastes and knows how to keep a secret.
Likes
Plot. Stories without a conflict and resolution are great (and I’ve written more than a few!), but if you ask me the one thing that will truly make me bounce with joy: it’s plot. My tastes in plot are about as wide open as they can be. I love h/c, drama, angst, friendship, family, schmoop, casefic, humor, and practically everything else, too.
Character exploration and strong characterization. Who the characters are and how these specific characters are going to act and react in a scenario are what drives a story for me.
All kinds of relationships, not just sexual or romantic ones. Two of my favorite relationship dynamics are (pseudo)parent-child and best friend-best friend, so if you would prefer to write a strong friendship rather than a romantic pairing, I'm completely on board with that.
Secrets. The common thread of my fandoms is that at least one of the characters has superpowers (or a superstate) that s/he/they have to keep secret from the world at large. I love secrets. I love seeing them kept and the cost that keeping secrets invariably has. I also love when a decision is made (or circumstances conspire) to bring the secret to light. And I love to watch the fallout. In those cases where an included character is not the secret holder, I'm always interested in the consequences of the secret holding on them.
Real World Grounding. Each of my favorite shows is also set in someplace that more-or-less is the real world, with the obvious exception of the inclusion of the superstate. I like this juxtaposition of people trying to maintain a real world identity while dealing with things that no one else can understand. I tend to lose interest in shows that focus on the supernatural to the exclusion of the real. So, stories that focus on real world problems first and show how the supernatural escalates those problems are my cup of tea.
Favored tropes include: Trapped!, Running Out of Time, Unexpected Allies, Secret Identity, and Friends With Benefits
If you happen to be playing in one of the various bingo games out there and you'd like to double up on a prompt for that with this, let's see it!
Dislikes
PWPs. Sexual activity (e.g. kissing, petting), UST, sexual tension, and romance are always fine, but I would prefer them to be part of the story and not the whole story (anything up through an R-rating is good).
Character assassination and/or bashing.
Torture!porn. Despite my love of h/c, I don’t like torture-for-the-sake-of-torture (e.g. the Saw movies).
AUs of the coffee shop/bakery/mechanic/all!human style. Stories that deviate from canon at a fixed point are fine as long as they stay in the established canon world.
Extreme jealousy. For example: stories where someone mis-overhears something, gets wildly upset, and refuses to address the issue; I’d like to think my favorite characters are more mature than that.
Permanent character maiming or death.
H2O: Just Add Water
Emma Gilbert/Ash Dove
Rikki Chadwick/Zane Bennett
Bella Hartley/Will Benjamin
Cleo Sertori/Lewis McCartney
There is nothing about this where I'm picky. With only a handful of stories on AO3, I can't afford to be. Besides, it's mermaids! Show me the ups and downs of being in a mermaid/human relationship. Show me how relationships that are tested in the normal world by normal concerns (friends who don't like your boyfriend, parents who don't like your girlfriend, going to university, getting a job, moving) are tested all the more when one of the participants isn't always human. Show me how water and full moon fever and ambergris and anything-you-want-to-make-up-about-mermaid-mythology cause problems for our couples, and show me how they make it through (or how they decide that they shouldn't). If you want to write about more than one of the couples, have at it. If not, that's fine, too.
Since we're dealing with mermaids, tail!kink is juuuusssst fine.
Teen Wolf
Bobby Finstock/Melissa McCall
Cora Hale/Lydia Martin
Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura
I think Melissa and Bobby would be terrible together. I also think they'd be hilarious together. I'd love to see Coach in a relationship. What is he like out of the classroom and off the field? Only distantly related, I think Melissa canonically has terrible taste in men, so I can see her getting with the entirely wrong-for-her person. Then again, maybe they'd surprise us. Orny Adams (Coach) once joked on Twitter that his fantasy scene to film would be for Scott to come home one day to find his mom in bed with Coach. So, here I am, helplessly wondering how these two would make it work, and what that would do to Scott. While it's not generally one of my favored tropes, fake!dating to deal with Agent McCall could be a lot of fun with these two.
Cora and Lydia are the two smart-asses. I think their relationship would volatile and heated. I'd love to see how they would come together and what they would do with any obstacles that got in their way. Prompts: Lydia uses her powers to save Cora's life; Spring Break, Costa Rica. It's strange enough to run into someone you thought you'd never see again, and more-so when that someone is on the opposite side of a dead body; Lydia has questions about werewolves, so turns to the only one she knows who isn't interested in trying to protect her from the answers.
Scott and Kira are the cuties. I'm loving their awkward exploration of almost-dating and Kira's awkward attempts to make sense of the new world she's found herself in. Let's see them on an actual date, or more of them trying to work together to solve problems necessary to covering up one or both of their secrets. If you want to poly them with someone else and show how that could work, or why it might not, my favorites are: Stiles (absent what's going on with him in 3B), Isaac, Allison, or Danny.
I am current on season 3B.
The Tomorrow People (2013)
Stephen and Astrid are a friendship that tugs hard on my heartstrings. It's unrequited love on her part, but perhaps it can grow into more. I'd love to know more about what Astrid went through to stick with Stephen while he was breaking out. Let's see more of Astrid getting unwittingly pulled into the TP adventures. Perhaps she is the one who figures out the solution to a TP problem. Perhaps she and Stephen continue to have too much fun with his powers. Perhaps Stephen can help her for once instead of always being the one who needs help. Prompts: Astrid enters the school talent show with a magic act and ropes Stephen into being her magician's assistant; On a particularly difficult babysitting job, Astrid realizes that being friends with a mindreader can solve a lot of communication problems, but what they find out may be the real surprise.
Crossover Ships
Emma Gilbert (H2O: Just Add Water)/Scott McCall (Teen Wolf)
Mermaids and werewolves. Two great tastes that taste, I don't know, kind of fishy together? Yet smell like wet dog? Also, they're both prone to be negatively influenced by the full moon. Emma and Scott are both solid and practical people who had to deal with their life plans being derailed by their superstates. Emma came around to liking hers pretty fast while Scott took more time. In the end, they might just understand each other in a way that few others can. Or, they'd drive each other nuts by being practical in entirely different and incompatible ways.
Also, I'm perfectly fine with tail!kink or werewolf!kink.
Richie Ryan (Highlander)/Stephen Jameson (The Tomorrow People (2013))
Obviously, Richie didn't die and Archangel never happened. With that out of the way, these two would be a clash of secrets in all the best ways. Richie gets targeted by Ultra for the wrong reasons. Richie and Stephen become friends at school and do a really bad job keeping their mutual worlds secret from the other. Stephen gets targeted by a K'Immie who doesn't realize that it's hard to keep a teleporter hostage.
Normally I would be squicked with the age difference (Richie is 40 and Stephen is 17/18), but they look the same age, so if you can make it work, I'll make it work.
If you take on this crossover pairing (Thank you!) and you want to add Astrid in, have at it.
Methos (Highlander)/Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
I wrote this pairing once for a comment fic and ended up becoming fond of it. I'd love to see the shenanigans these two would get up to since both of them function on a much more epic scale than my other pairings. Let's see them on a mission together, or just hanging out over a beer and an antique sword. What would a man who's witnessed the death of many civilizations say to a mercenary like Eliot?
Thank you again for signing up! Above all else, I hope you have fun putting something together.
Thank you so much for signing up for this exchange and for agreeing to write me a story. I'm so excited about what you're going to do and I'm very much looking forward to see which rarepair you've chosen! For your convenience, I have some info about what I like and dislike. Use what you need to, but don't agonize about stretching the boundaries. If you have any questions, my tumblr has a really lonely ask box with anon turned on. You can also check in with htbthomas, who knows my tastes and knows how to keep a secret.
Likes
Favored tropes include: Trapped!, Running Out of Time, Unexpected Allies, Secret Identity, and Friends With Benefits
If you happen to be playing in one of the various bingo games out there and you'd like to double up on a prompt for that with this, let's see it!
Dislikes
H2O: Just Add Water
Emma Gilbert/Ash Dove
Rikki Chadwick/Zane Bennett
Bella Hartley/Will Benjamin
Cleo Sertori/Lewis McCartney
There is nothing about this where I'm picky. With only a handful of stories on AO3, I can't afford to be. Besides, it's mermaids! Show me the ups and downs of being in a mermaid/human relationship. Show me how relationships that are tested in the normal world by normal concerns (friends who don't like your boyfriend, parents who don't like your girlfriend, going to university, getting a job, moving) are tested all the more when one of the participants isn't always human. Show me how water and full moon fever and ambergris and anything-you-want-to-make-up-about-mermaid-mythology cause problems for our couples, and show me how they make it through (or how they decide that they shouldn't). If you want to write about more than one of the couples, have at it. If not, that's fine, too.
Since we're dealing with mermaids, tail!kink is juuuusssst fine.
Teen Wolf
Bobby Finstock/Melissa McCall
Cora Hale/Lydia Martin
Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura
I think Melissa and Bobby would be terrible together. I also think they'd be hilarious together. I'd love to see Coach in a relationship. What is he like out of the classroom and off the field? Only distantly related, I think Melissa canonically has terrible taste in men, so I can see her getting with the entirely wrong-for-her person. Then again, maybe they'd surprise us. Orny Adams (Coach) once joked on Twitter that his fantasy scene to film would be for Scott to come home one day to find his mom in bed with Coach. So, here I am, helplessly wondering how these two would make it work, and what that would do to Scott. While it's not generally one of my favored tropes, fake!dating to deal with Agent McCall could be a lot of fun with these two.
Cora and Lydia are the two smart-asses. I think their relationship would volatile and heated. I'd love to see how they would come together and what they would do with any obstacles that got in their way. Prompts: Lydia uses her powers to save Cora's life; Spring Break, Costa Rica. It's strange enough to run into someone you thought you'd never see again, and more-so when that someone is on the opposite side of a dead body; Lydia has questions about werewolves, so turns to the only one she knows who isn't interested in trying to protect her from the answers.
Scott and Kira are the cuties. I'm loving their awkward exploration of almost-dating and Kira's awkward attempts to make sense of the new world she's found herself in. Let's see them on an actual date, or more of them trying to work together to solve problems necessary to covering up one or both of their secrets. If you want to poly them with someone else and show how that could work, or why it might not, my favorites are: Stiles (absent what's going on with him in 3B), Isaac, Allison, or Danny.
I am current on season 3B.
The Tomorrow People (2013)
Stephen and Astrid are a friendship that tugs hard on my heartstrings. It's unrequited love on her part, but perhaps it can grow into more. I'd love to know more about what Astrid went through to stick with Stephen while he was breaking out. Let's see more of Astrid getting unwittingly pulled into the TP adventures. Perhaps she is the one who figures out the solution to a TP problem. Perhaps she and Stephen continue to have too much fun with his powers. Perhaps Stephen can help her for once instead of always being the one who needs help. Prompts: Astrid enters the school talent show with a magic act and ropes Stephen into being her magician's assistant; On a particularly difficult babysitting job, Astrid realizes that being friends with a mindreader can solve a lot of communication problems, but what they find out may be the real surprise.
Crossover Ships
Emma Gilbert (H2O: Just Add Water)/Scott McCall (Teen Wolf)
Mermaids and werewolves. Two great tastes that taste, I don't know, kind of fishy together? Yet smell like wet dog? Also, they're both prone to be negatively influenced by the full moon. Emma and Scott are both solid and practical people who had to deal with their life plans being derailed by their superstates. Emma came around to liking hers pretty fast while Scott took more time. In the end, they might just understand each other in a way that few others can. Or, they'd drive each other nuts by being practical in entirely different and incompatible ways.
Also, I'm perfectly fine with tail!kink or werewolf!kink.
Richie Ryan (Highlander)/Stephen Jameson (The Tomorrow People (2013))
Obviously, Richie didn't die and Archangel never happened. With that out of the way, these two would be a clash of secrets in all the best ways. Richie gets targeted by Ultra for the wrong reasons. Richie and Stephen become friends at school and do a really bad job keeping their mutual worlds secret from the other. Stephen gets targeted by a K'Immie who doesn't realize that it's hard to keep a teleporter hostage.
Normally I would be squicked with the age difference (Richie is 40 and Stephen is 17/18), but they look the same age, so if you can make it work, I'll make it work.
If you take on this crossover pairing (Thank you!) and you want to add Astrid in, have at it.
Methos (Highlander)/Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
I wrote this pairing once for a comment fic and ended up becoming fond of it. I'd love to see the shenanigans these two would get up to since both of them function on a much more epic scale than my other pairings. Let's see them on a mission together, or just hanging out over a beer and an antique sword. What would a man who's witnessed the death of many civilizations say to a mercenary like Eliot?
Thank you again for signing up! Above all else, I hope you have fun putting something together.
