I use the same name everywhere so I am ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.
I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
General Likes and Dislikes
Other things to keep in mind:
Please no incest or darkfic. I define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end." I define incest as siblings and/or parents, cousins don't count.
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
Crossovers
I do not care whether these are shippy or gen, I just think these characters and worlds would be interesting together
I have not watched any of the new Star Trek shows, so you can ignore them if you want to
I do not like the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, going AU after the OT is encouraged
Sisko & Picard--I was always disappointed that we only really got that one interaction in the DS9 pilot. There's so much trauma on both sides ... and yet they're both professionals, they're both really good at their jobs. There are all sorts of times and places they might have met for more. Maybe Enterprise does some exploring through the wormhole, and stops off at DS9? Maybe Enterprise is called to assist DS9 in handling some threat? Maybe they worked together during the war? Maybe Enterprise comes to help with some diplomatic thing on Bajor? Maybe after the war, Enterprise gets mixed up in some sort of Rift In The Spacetime Continuum which somehow involves the Prophets, and Sisko is there?
Chakotay/Ro Laren--they were in the Maquis at the same time, and both former Starfleet officers. I would love to see their adventures together against the Cardassians, or a slice-of-life that's just them dealing with the daily realities of life in a resistance movement. Or an AU where Ro is also on Chakotay's ship and gets stuck on Voyager. Or something post-show where Voyager comes back to the Alpha Quadrant and the Maquis were wiped out by the Dominion and they're two of the few survivors.
Data & Seven of Nine--They've got just enough similarities to make the differences really stark. I think they would both appreciate the others' efficiency, and I think Data would find Seven's experiences interesting--especially the fact that she keeps her Borg identity (Seven) rather than returning to her Human name. Were they working together long-distance to help bring Voyager home?
Data & Murderbot--MB would find Data hard to be around, for much the same reasons that it found Miki hard. If this took place after that MB would have a lot of emotions about Miki come up when dealing with Data. I think if Data found himself in/near the CR, he would be happy to help MB escape and/or help ART with its anti-corporate missions and/or PresAux's science missions. If MB found itself in the Federation, it would have much the same reaction it did to PresAux, and also, the Federation might want it to get therapy to deal with its deep trauma. Feel free to bring in any wacky, tropetastic Star Trek plot you want. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Jadzia Dax/Nyota Uhura--possibly there's a time travel thing and they have to solve the mystery to get whichever one is displaced in time back to her own ship. Lots of room for shenanigans and problem solving, whether or not Nyota learns that time travel is involved. (Maybe she and Jadzia have some sort of side quest going on during Trials and Tribble-ations.)
Jadzia/Guinan--I adore Guinan, especially when she's written as a complex woman with trauma of her own, and not just as the Wise Mystic Advisor. I would love to see her and Jadzia working together. Maybe they've met before, in their long lives, and something from the past starts causing problems again and they have to fix it? Maybe there's some problem on DS9 or on Bajor that needs an El-Aurian for some reason--Bajor was a great center of learning and culture before the Cardassian occupation, after all, I bet there were El-Aurians there at least occasionally. Maybe Guinan had been there before the occupation, and had a crucial piece of knowledge that had been forgotten.
Kirk/Leia--Kirk often gets flanderized into some sort of womanzing jock of a frat boy, when actually he's a thoughtful guy who likes philosophy and is more likely for women to approach him than vice versa. I think he would be deeply offended by the Empire, and supportive of at least some parts of the Rebellion, and I think he and Leia would get up to a lot of shenanigans. I don't think SW and ST galaxies are very compatible, but space-time anomalies are your friend.
Kira & Leia--I don't think SW and ST galaxies are very compatible, but space-time anomalies are your friend. If Kira was in the GFFA, she would definitely be in the Rebellion. And she and Leia would have a lot of fun on missions together.
Dick Grayson (DCU) & Bruce Wayne (The Batman)/Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
Bruce Wayne & Alfred Pennyworth (The Batman) & Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
Alfred Pennyworth (The Batman) & Bruce Wayne (The Batman)/Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
I think both The Batman and Superman 2025 have really interesting takes on the characters and the DC universe, and I would LOVE to see how they fit together. Feel free to bring in any comics characters you like to flesh out the world even more.
The Doctor & Ianto--Does Ianto end up traveling with the Doctor after Canary Wharf instead of going to Torchwood? Does the Doctor end up in Cardiff trying to help Torchwood save the day? When Jack is gone, do they need him for something and somehow get in touch with the Doctor (maybe through Martha?) to go looking for him?
Donna Noble/Lando Calrissian--I think Donna would be suspicious of Lando's charm, but also really enjoy him flirting with her, and they'd have a great time together (while the Doctor just wanders around confused in the background). Maybe she saves Cloud City through the power of temping and bureaucracy, maybe she helps him conning some people who really deserve it pre-Cloud City, maybe she helps him on a rebellion mission, maybe they meet on vacation.
Irulan Corrino/Leia Organa--they have really different ideas of what it means to be royalty, and what their job is as daughter of the monarch. Is the Corrino Empire a sector of space in the galaxy? Might there have been a possibility of an alliance marriage with Alderaan? Or did the Rebellion send Leia there on a mission? What would Irulan have thought of the Empire, the Rebellion, etc.? If all this happens after Paul takes her father's throne, how does that affect things? Are the Bene Gesserit another group of Force-users, and is the Empire persecuting them, too?
Martha Jones & Peter Grant--if RoL and DW take place in the same universe, you know Peter's getting called in on all sorts of alien shenanigans, and also, UNIT is getting called in on magic shenanigans. These two probably have each other on speed dial.
Methos & Khonshu & Marc Spector & Steven Grant--this is probably not the first time Methos would have dealt with an Avatar of Khonshu. And what does Khonshu think of Methos' past?
Murderbot & R2-D2--I want to know what Murderbot thinks of R2-D2 (and what R2 thinks of Murderbot). I'd love to see the two of them on an adventure.
Lance Bishop & Murderbot--Were Bishop and MB on the same contract once? Is MB hiding on the ship for some reason (hitching a ride) and has to help them with the xenomorph? Can MB save Bishop?
Murderbot & Computron --What does Murderbot think of Hyperdimension Warp Record? What does Computron think of the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon? I think Computron and Murderbot would find each other deeply weird, but there are a lot of resonances between the way Computron was handled by his creator and the museum, and the way Murderbot was treated by corporates. Both were expected to do high-level work but denied personhood. Also, both love media and learn to deal with humans through it. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Murderbot & Boomer--Both MB and Boomer were programmed to kill/betray humans against their will; both were deeply traumatized by it. Boomer, in the end, betrayed humans voluntarily and joined the "kill them all" faction, I think largely out of despair that anything could change. I think MB and Boomer would have a hard time getting along because their mutual traumas would get in the way. I'd be interested in either MB landing in the Fleet or among Cylons somehow, or the Colonial Fleet ending up in the Preservation Alliance and not knowing how to deal with such a different society. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Bingley/Fanny--There's a bunch of ways they might have met. Maybe he was at school with Edward? Maybe his sisters are friends with Maria? I think a kind, gentle husband would be really good for Fanny.
Norrington/Fanny--Norrington would have been happier in an Austen novel, I think, and Fanny would be happy with such an honorable husband. Maybe they were introduced by her brother?
Fitzwilliam/Fanny--this takes some doing, because Fitzwilliam wants to marry an heiress and Fanny is certianly not that. But he's charming and honorable and they'd do well together.
Peter Grant & Steven Grant--Are Khonshu and the other gods from what Peter would call an allokosmoi? Obviously Peter does not approve of vigilantism, and isn't particularly impressed by gods (he's married to one), so what would happen if the two were investigating the same thing?
Cyndi Mayweather (Archandroid) & Jane 57821 (Dirty Computer)--Does the time-traveling android find herself dodging Cleaners as well as the Time Bureau? Is Cyndi Mayweather a reincarnation of Jane 57821 in some way?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Dukat as a good guy
Rivers of London
The snark! the vivid characters! the worldbuilding! the digressions! the wry-but-pointed social commentary on race and class and bureaucracy! the community and relationship building! Casefic is always welcome, but so is worldbuilding and exploring the demi-monde and magic, or character-focused stuff. I love stories that bring up weird aspects of the demi-monde and magic which Peter then has to deal with. Please no shipping Thomas, I prefer his canon aceness.
I love community-building. Peter goes out there and he gets to know people and builds relationships with them, and that opens up possibilities. There are good reasons things became fragmented, mostly the fault of the old Folly--but I love to see healing and reconciliation and new relationships growing.
Peter's not naïve, he knows how bad the world can get and how much evil can be done by the institutions he is serving, and yet he firmly believes that they can and should do better. I love how he is willing to risk himself to help people. I think Nightingale sees in Peter something he didn't know he was missing: a way to be and do better than the sins of the past he's been carrying around all these years. I think it's great that Nightingale's going to retire from the police to focus on teaching, I think that will allow much better scope for them both to grow, and yet still be working together. (Just in a different capacity.)
I'd love a story about magic becoming public knowledge (the conspiracy theories!) or an AU where it has been all along. Or Ettersberg never happened and the Folly is a large institution and Thomas is one wizard among many. Or Peter is the lone survivor of the old Folly, 100 years old, and Nightingale is the young new apprentice. Or a canon-typical adventure. Or something to do with Thomas participating in Peter's community-building.
Abigail Kamara: I love her as a girl detective/problem solver/apprentice wizard, but would prefer she not end up joining the Met. I like her perspective on magic and things and the way she is building her own connections to the demimonde that don't go through Peter and Nightingale. I love the mutual respect she and Thomas have for one another.
I find Beverly hard to parse in the earlier books. She's enough younger than Peter that the whole "suddenly we're pregnant and expecting kids! and everyone's happy about it!" is weird to me. Bev is in university! I would have expected her to prefer to wait. And then there's the fact that she's a goddess, and a geographical feature, and to some degree a reincarnation of a previous deity. So something exploring that dynamic from her perspective would be interesting.
Mamusu has such a forceful personality, and deeply loves Peter (even if their relationship is complicated). What if something happened to Peter and she had to figure it out with Thomas? What if she were the one who became an apprentice when she was younger, instead of being a janitor? What if the Jazz Vampires had killed Richard instead of just draining him/giving him brain damage leading to addiction? (Would Thomas have offered to let her live for free in the Folly out of guilt for not saving her husband, if he had been around?) Or maybe she leveraged her friendship with Elsie "Hatbox" Winstanley and got a librarian or archivist job instead of cleaning, and somehow that connected with the demi-monde? What if she had some magic training from her own tradition back in Sierra Leone? What if she became friends with the Rivers earlier, before Peter was an apprentice, and they used her as a go-between when dealing with the Folly?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Thomas shipped with anyone
Star Wars OT
My favorite parts of Star Wars includes the PT, the OT, the Zahn trilogy (especially Mara Jade) and the X-Wing books, bits and pieces from the TV shows, Rey, Finn, & Poe as the only contributions from the ST, and an ending where something new and better results after all the pain and trauma. (Or at least something different.) It's not that everything has to be perfect, but I want there to be at least some growth and change. If you are inspired by other corners of the Star Wars universe, feel free to bring them in, but those are my happy places, and I am perfectly fine with completely ignoring the ST or rewriting it.
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Do Leia and Lando work together on political negotiations/shenanigans while Han plays house-husband and swoops in with the Falcon when they need backup? Do Han and Lando go off and make shady business deals and come home to Leia with intelligence she can use politically? Do Lando and Luke go around looking for old Jedi stuff and working together to rebuild the Jedi? Does Lando start up a new operation--maybe mining, maybe something else--or take over an existing one after the war is over, and become a respectable businessman? I was one of the contributors to the "What if Han became Emperor by accident" thread on tumblr a while back, and my contribution was "ooh, Lando would be his Grand Vizier!" and if you want to go that direction that would also be awesome. Also, Weird Jedi Shit is always fun.
Standard Star Wars shenanigans where the fate of the galaxy is at stake and Our Heroes save the day are always welcome. Is there critical knowledge in a hidden holocron they have to find? Is one of the other Hands (or an Inquisitor, or some other evil Force user) making trouble for the New Jedi Order and/or the New Republic? Is the Empire threatening Lando's newest business venture (again)? Is there some situation where Lando's skills as a Respectable Businessman And Administrator are crucial to saving the day?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Kylo Ren
DS9
I love alien culture worldbuilding, boldly going, exploring, wacky science hijinks, time travel, AU shenanigans. I love the hope that we can become better than we are.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into wacky tropes, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want. One of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. If you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration and run with it, that would be awesome.
I'd love something that dove into Bajoran religion, and the more ALIEN it is the better. We've MET the prophets and they have such a fundamentally different perspective on EVERYTHING than us linear creatures. You could lean into the Prophets' timey-wimey non-linearity and what that means for a religion that worships them. Most Earth religions are heavily time-based, with regular repeating festivals that serve a lot of purposes both social and religious--how would that work (or not work) when worshiping beings who see everything happening at once? Or explore the Orbs! What other orbs are there besides Time and Prophecy, and what do they DO? You don't have to have any ritual or belief or ANYTHING to use them, if they have line-of-sight to you they can DO THINGS. Give you visions! Send you time traveling! Whatever it is the others do! No Earth religion has any artifact that is anything like that, and besides wondering what the other orbs even are/do, I'm curious as to how they shaped Bajoran religion, and how it was that the Bajorans ended up worshiping the ones who SENT the orbs instead of the orbs themselves. Especially given that the Prophets mostly ... don't seem to want to be gods or care about being worshiped or what's going on on Bajor or anything. So it's not like they were sending messages with the Orbs about who sent them and why, which leaves a lot of scope for interpretation on the part of the Bajorans who found them.
I'd love to have an investigation into something the Cardassians did while they controlled Bajor, or a scavenger hunt given by the Prophets, or an alien-of-the-week coming through the wormhole, or any canon-typical adventure.
Sisko's position as Emmisary is fascinating, and how it shaped his relationship with Kira, and how he came to be more comfortable with it as the show went on. What was that like for Bajorans? He's an outsider! He doesn't believe in the Prophets! Especially after years of occupation and the Cardassians stealing the Orbs to experiment on, there's got to be more complexity to it than we saw on the show. What was it like for the Bajorans who served on DS9, for whom he was both commanding officer and religious figure. The Federation/Starfleet perspective on that had to be interesting.
I love Ben and Kassidy, and I'd love something about them courting, or something during the war and they're both in danger, or something with Kassidy dealing with the religious stuff after Ben is in the wormhole. I would love it if he came back before the baby is very old.
I haven't read the novels, but I'm interested in the idea that after the show ended Kira eventually became a Vedek and later Kai. In general, Kira's led such an eventful life and things have changed so much during it--and she's been involved in pretty much every big event on Bajor in her lifetime, one way or another. Exploring any of that would be awesome.
I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. What about when Sisko and Jadzia were still getting to know each other? They went from one power dynamic (Ambassador with lots of political power mentors callow youth) to a very different one (Sisko is all grown up, and Dax's superior officer, and with more life experience than Dax's current host). Negotiating that change must have been interesting.
I love Jake, and I love that he is different from his father and his father loves and supports him. Both he and Ziyal have fathers that are larger than life (in very different ways) and I think they'd both benefit from someone who gets that while also being not really caught up in it. I think Ziyal could really benefit from more friends, and I think they could have worked together well during the Dominion occupation of the station. I'd love it if Ziyal could survive.
Miles & Molly--I think Miles would probably be a good father, the kind who spends a lot of time with his kids and is there for them when they need it. I'd love to see this, especially given how few kids there are on the station for Molly to have friends her own age.
I love to hate Dukat. You can use him as a villain, but don't ever forget that he's a manipulative weasel who most often actively chooses to do the worst thing possible. Even if he's doing something good in the moment, the moment is temporary.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Dukat as good guy
Moon Knight
The whole "avatar of a god" thing has so much that could be explored. Who are the gods and how do they see the world and humans? Are the Egyptian gods the only ones who do this? Is being an avatar now different than it used to be? What effect does Mark's Dissociative Identity Disorder have on things? Bonus points if you bring in some actual Egyptian mythology and worldview to flesh out the Marvel version.
And then once you get past the worldbuilding, there is so much interesting stuff in the whole "Marc & Steven" relationship (and Jake! And any other alters they might have!). What things does each realize about themselves now that both know everything and they're talking? How do they learn to make a life together once things have calmed down a bit? Working together to share their body rather than fighting for control of it? And then there's Layla! She's so fascinating, and I love the idea of her as Tawaret's avatar. What does learning about Steven mean for her in the long run? Does she consider herself and Steven good platonic friends? Does she consider him also her husband? What does he think of her? Does he have other romantic or sexual interests, and how would they navigate that?
As for plot, have fun with all the comic book/superhero movie tropes and plot hijinks your heart desires.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Enterprise
What can I say, I just love Vulcans. Trip and T'Pol were hands down my favorite thing about the show. Also, I love the idea of that Enterprise that got thrown back in time and turned into a generation ship, and I would love to see more of them and what happened when they first got thrown back in time, and also what might have happened if Lorian's Enterprise had survived.
A note on worldbuilding: so much of the things we're told about Vulcans in Enterprise makes NO SENSE when compared with ... anything in any other Star Trek show ever. For example, how do you outlaw melds and telepathic contact when YOU NEED TELEPATHIC BONDS TO MATE EVERY SEVEN YEARS?!?!?!?!? You can either ignore the contradictions or lean into them and find explanations for them.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are (but it might take a lot of work). I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
I think Travis and Hoshi got way less screen time than they deserved, and I would love to see more of them. I'd love to see more of how Travis' background growing up on a cargo ship affected him and how he approaches things on Enterprise. I'd love to see what Hoshi does for fun, or a problem where her expertise saves the day. I'd love a story where the senior officers were incapacitated and it's up to Hoshi and/or Travis to save the day.
Prompts: what was life like when Enterprise was stuck back in time just waiting for things to come around so they could attack the Xindi weapon, knowing that Lorian was going to be the only one of them still alive when it happened? Pon Farr and its ramifications: if T'Pol has to go through Pon Farr with Trip how does that affect her relationship with them, both working and personal? (What if she goes through it with Hoshi?!?) What about T'Pol's neurological damage, how does that affect things? Or just normal episode-like shenanigans!
Please ignore the last episode.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, episode: "These are the Voyages ..."
TNG
I love alien culture worldbuilding, boldly going, exploring, wacky science hijinks, time travel, AU shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into wacky tropes, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I haven't watched modern Star Trek, you can bring in stuff from that if you want but feel free to ignore it if you want.
Guinan/Jean-Luc Picard
Guinan is awesome, but please tone down the Magical Negro stereotype--she's not just The Wise Magic Advisor. She's got her own prejudices and traumas. I would love anything that dove into her past or her culture. Picard and Guinan have INCREDIBLE chemistry. Watch Time's Arrow and see the way he LOOKS AT HER. Something with time travel and meeting in the wrong order a la Time's Arrow would be interesting, but so would them hanging out together and being friends. Or an adventure from before they were together on Enterprise. I don't like most of the Picard TV show, but I do appreciate Picard and Guinan's stuff.
I absolutely LOVE Ro Laren, she's such a contrast to the rest of them. I'd be interested in an episode-type story set before she defected to the Maquis, or an AU where she didn't for some reason, or something after the Dominion War when she's no longer a terrorist. Or a role-reversal AU where Bajor is the perfect paradise world that's the founder of the Federation and provides most of the people for Starfleet, and Earth is the one conquered by the Cardassians.
Riker/Ro: the episode where they have amnesia is amazing, I love stories that deal with what happened afterwards. Before that, they have such great conflict, because Riker is trying to manage Ro and not connecting with her, and Ro has Problems With Authority (unless she independently has come to respect the individual, as with Picard). Then they have amnesia and sleep together! And then they try to pretend it never happened.
Geordi was didn't get much character development, but he was a great guy. Professional even in the face of all the wackiness Star Trek could throw at him, very smart, very compassionate. Geordi rarely got a chance to shine, but I always liked him, and aside from that one episode with the genetically engineered society, they didn't do much with his blindness besides "disabilities give you superpowers" with his visor. What are the downsides to it? What, if any, tradeoffs did he have to make, and was it his choice or something his parents decided for him? Does he ever get grief from fellow officers about "what happens if your visor gets knocked off, you'll be blind!" as if not being able to see would make him incompetent? He's the perfect contrast to Ro, and he and Data have that wonderful friendship that is rock solid that I love to see explored and/or transmuted into romance.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
TOS
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions. I have not seen much modern Trek; I don't mind it if you bring in details from there, but I also will be fine if you just stick with TOS and maybe TNG.
My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World) but I also enjoy trying to fit the Star Trek: Enterprise Vulcans with ... everything else we know about Vulcans. One thing I will point out, though, is that while there are a lot of things about Vulcan culture that seem/are sexist, the most powerful Vulcans we see throughout the series are elderly women. I love Pon Farr, but mostly dealing with the implications of it (both before and after) and not the sex part.
Sarek and Amanda (and Spock): they have some messed up family dynamics. OTOH, I don't think TOS means for us to read them as dysfunctional as they seem to modern people, given the changes in how family dynamics and child-rearing is perceived over the last sixty years. And also, "not speaking for 18 years" is less impactful when you consider how long Vulcans live. I'd be interested in anything from S&A being terrible parents to them being decent parents and things just going wrong. I'm also interested in how the larger cultural issues--what other Vulcans thought of their family, the repercussions in Vulcan/Human diplomacy, etc.--affected things. I'd love something at any point in the timeline. Spock as a kid! Spock as an ambassador! Five times Sarek almost called his son! Five times Spock almost called his parents! How Amanda's work as a teacher affected Sarek's work as an ambassador, and vice versa! Feel free to bring in the book-canon that Amanda is a professor and a linguist and worked on the Universal Translator, if you want.
Spock/Saavik or Spock & Saavik. I like either, but if you are going in a shippy direction PLEASE minimize the "he was her caretaker as a child" aspect. On the other hand, if you're going platonic, feel free to lean into any paternal feelings you see there. Either parental or romance, not both in the same story. Also, feel free to bring in canon from The Pandora Principle or ignore it as it strikes your fancy. You could do stuff from her time in the Academy, stuff that draws on her half-Romulan nature, them rebuilding their relationship after Genesis (in whatever way you see their relationship), What If She Got Pregnant On Genesis, established relationship future-fic where she's an admiral and he's an ambassador and together They Save The Federation, whatever you want. Or any kind of canon-typical shenanigans. And of course, wherever there is Spock, Kirk is not far behind.
Kirk & Moreau--I think something where they had to work together and Kirk's experiences in the Mirror Universe became relevant would be really interesting. Or maybe he and Moreau get swapped there again, and he has to explain to her that she has to pretend to be his mistress and all the ways that affects them as they try to survive and get home.
Mirror Moreau was really interesting, and I'd love to see more of her but have no specific prompts or ideas.
Uhura & Chekov & Sulu: For a show that was so hyper-focused on the Big Three, we got some great character moments for the other characters, and I would love to see those fleshed out. I love the idea of them being besties and hanging out and having adventures of their own and keeping the ship together when the Big Three have gotten themselves tied up by the Adversary Of The Week. Or you could explore more of their jobs--what exactly is it that they do besides the stuff we see on screen? (I love the novel Death Count by LA Graf, which is all about those three having an Adventure, and if you've read it and want to use it as a springboard, that would be good too.)
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Voyager
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are.
I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels but I also enjoy trying to fit the Star Trek: Enterprise Vulcans with ... everything else we know about Vulcans. One thing I will point out, though, is that while there are a lot of things about Vulcan culture that seem/are sexist, the most powerful Vulcans we see throughout the series are elderly women. I love Pon Farr, but mostly dealing with the implications of it (both before and after) and not the sex part.
I think Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job of playing Janeway despite the inconsistent writing she was given, and I love the way Tuvok was definitely a Vulcan but also a very different Vulcan than Spock. And I think their friendship was a foundation for both of them, having someone they'd known and trusted for years while so far from home. She's very casual about touching his hands, and he's fine with it.
I have no specific prompts for Kes or Seven, but that does not mean I would love reading about them and Tuvok any less.
Prompts: Day in the life stuff about dealing with the challenges of being so far from home and the top-ranking loyal Starfleet officers. Maybe something set early on dealing with Tuvok's suspicion of the Maquis (and their suspicion of him) and Janeway trying to bring the crew together would be interesting. Pre-series stuff about how they came to be close. Post-series stuff--I mean, it's great, they're both glad to be home, but they've changed and the Federation has changed. (Has Tuvok's wife moved on/remarried?) If you wanted to handle Pon Farr and/or them becoming a couple, I would enjoy that too. Or something dealing with the aftermath of the episode Blood Fever, which I would imagine made Pon Farr and/or Vulcans a really public topic of discussion on the ship. (It's not something that could have been easily hushed up!) Another idea: some Vulcan festival is coming up, and the Vulcans are going to have a hard time celebrating it so far from home, so Tuvok and Janeway have to get creative to figure out how to handle it.
If none of that appeals ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
General Likes and Dislikes
Other things to keep in mind:
- I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when the characters and/or actors are marginalized. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
- I don't like it when marginalized characters get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
- I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
- I like fluff
- I like angst with a happy ending
- I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
- I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
- I like unreliable narrators.
- I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong.
- I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another instead of sweeping it under the rug.
- Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll enjoy it if you do.
- I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! Or if they canonically have a blind spot in that area, again, it's fine. But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
- I like AUs, but not complete setting AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened.
- I like the concept of sedoretu marriages.
- I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon.
- Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me.
Please no incest or darkfic. I define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end." I define incest as siblings and/or parents, cousins don't count.
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
Crossovers
I do not care whether these are shippy or gen, I just think these characters and worlds would be interesting together
I have not watched any of the new Star Trek shows, so you can ignore them if you want to
I do not like the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, going AU after the OT is encouraged
Sisko & Picard--I was always disappointed that we only really got that one interaction in the DS9 pilot. There's so much trauma on both sides ... and yet they're both professionals, they're both really good at their jobs. There are all sorts of times and places they might have met for more. Maybe Enterprise does some exploring through the wormhole, and stops off at DS9? Maybe Enterprise is called to assist DS9 in handling some threat? Maybe they worked together during the war? Maybe Enterprise comes to help with some diplomatic thing on Bajor? Maybe after the war, Enterprise gets mixed up in some sort of Rift In The Spacetime Continuum which somehow involves the Prophets, and Sisko is there?
Chakotay/Ro Laren--they were in the Maquis at the same time, and both former Starfleet officers. I would love to see their adventures together against the Cardassians, or a slice-of-life that's just them dealing with the daily realities of life in a resistance movement. Or an AU where Ro is also on Chakotay's ship and gets stuck on Voyager. Or something post-show where Voyager comes back to the Alpha Quadrant and the Maquis were wiped out by the Dominion and they're two of the few survivors.
Data & Seven of Nine--They've got just enough similarities to make the differences really stark. I think they would both appreciate the others' efficiency, and I think Data would find Seven's experiences interesting--especially the fact that she keeps her Borg identity (Seven) rather than returning to her Human name. Were they working together long-distance to help bring Voyager home?
Data & Murderbot--MB would find Data hard to be around, for much the same reasons that it found Miki hard. If this took place after that MB would have a lot of emotions about Miki come up when dealing with Data. I think if Data found himself in/near the CR, he would be happy to help MB escape and/or help ART with its anti-corporate missions and/or PresAux's science missions. If MB found itself in the Federation, it would have much the same reaction it did to PresAux, and also, the Federation might want it to get therapy to deal with its deep trauma. Feel free to bring in any wacky, tropetastic Star Trek plot you want. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Jadzia Dax/Nyota Uhura--possibly there's a time travel thing and they have to solve the mystery to get whichever one is displaced in time back to her own ship. Lots of room for shenanigans and problem solving, whether or not Nyota learns that time travel is involved. (Maybe she and Jadzia have some sort of side quest going on during Trials and Tribble-ations.)
Jadzia/Guinan--I adore Guinan, especially when she's written as a complex woman with trauma of her own, and not just as the Wise Mystic Advisor. I would love to see her and Jadzia working together. Maybe they've met before, in their long lives, and something from the past starts causing problems again and they have to fix it? Maybe there's some problem on DS9 or on Bajor that needs an El-Aurian for some reason--Bajor was a great center of learning and culture before the Cardassian occupation, after all, I bet there were El-Aurians there at least occasionally. Maybe Guinan had been there before the occupation, and had a crucial piece of knowledge that had been forgotten.
Kirk/Leia--Kirk often gets flanderized into some sort of womanzing jock of a frat boy, when actually he's a thoughtful guy who likes philosophy and is more likely for women to approach him than vice versa. I think he would be deeply offended by the Empire, and supportive of at least some parts of the Rebellion, and I think he and Leia would get up to a lot of shenanigans. I don't think SW and ST galaxies are very compatible, but space-time anomalies are your friend.
Kira & Leia--I don't think SW and ST galaxies are very compatible, but space-time anomalies are your friend. If Kira was in the GFFA, she would definitely be in the Rebellion. And she and Leia would have a lot of fun on missions together.
Dick Grayson (DCU) & Bruce Wayne (The Batman)/Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
Bruce Wayne & Alfred Pennyworth (The Batman) & Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
Alfred Pennyworth (The Batman) & Bruce Wayne (The Batman)/Clark Kent (Superman 2025)
I think both The Batman and Superman 2025 have really interesting takes on the characters and the DC universe, and I would LOVE to see how they fit together. Feel free to bring in any comics characters you like to flesh out the world even more.
The Doctor & Ianto--Does Ianto end up traveling with the Doctor after Canary Wharf instead of going to Torchwood? Does the Doctor end up in Cardiff trying to help Torchwood save the day? When Jack is gone, do they need him for something and somehow get in touch with the Doctor (maybe through Martha?) to go looking for him?
Donna Noble/Lando Calrissian--I think Donna would be suspicious of Lando's charm, but also really enjoy him flirting with her, and they'd have a great time together (while the Doctor just wanders around confused in the background). Maybe she saves Cloud City through the power of temping and bureaucracy, maybe she helps him conning some people who really deserve it pre-Cloud City, maybe she helps him on a rebellion mission, maybe they meet on vacation.
Irulan Corrino/Leia Organa--they have really different ideas of what it means to be royalty, and what their job is as daughter of the monarch. Is the Corrino Empire a sector of space in the galaxy? Might there have been a possibility of an alliance marriage with Alderaan? Or did the Rebellion send Leia there on a mission? What would Irulan have thought of the Empire, the Rebellion, etc.? If all this happens after Paul takes her father's throne, how does that affect things? Are the Bene Gesserit another group of Force-users, and is the Empire persecuting them, too?
Martha Jones & Peter Grant--if RoL and DW take place in the same universe, you know Peter's getting called in on all sorts of alien shenanigans, and also, UNIT is getting called in on magic shenanigans. These two probably have each other on speed dial.
Methos & Khonshu & Marc Spector & Steven Grant--this is probably not the first time Methos would have dealt with an Avatar of Khonshu. And what does Khonshu think of Methos' past?
Murderbot & R2-D2--I want to know what Murderbot thinks of R2-D2 (and what R2 thinks of Murderbot). I'd love to see the two of them on an adventure.
Lance Bishop & Murderbot--Were Bishop and MB on the same contract once? Is MB hiding on the ship for some reason (hitching a ride) and has to help them with the xenomorph? Can MB save Bishop?
Murderbot & Computron --What does Murderbot think of Hyperdimension Warp Record? What does Computron think of the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon? I think Computron and Murderbot would find each other deeply weird, but there are a lot of resonances between the way Computron was handled by his creator and the museum, and the way Murderbot was treated by corporates. Both were expected to do high-level work but denied personhood. Also, both love media and learn to deal with humans through it. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Murderbot & Boomer--Both MB and Boomer were programmed to kill/betray humans against their will; both were deeply traumatized by it. Boomer, in the end, betrayed humans voluntarily and joined the "kill them all" faction, I think largely out of despair that anything could change. I think MB and Boomer would have a hard time getting along because their mutual traumas would get in the way. I'd be interested in either MB landing in the Fleet or among Cylons somehow, or the Colonial Fleet ending up in the Preservation Alliance and not knowing how to deal with such a different society. Please respect MB's pronouns; it's an it.
Bingley/Fanny--There's a bunch of ways they might have met. Maybe he was at school with Edward? Maybe his sisters are friends with Maria? I think a kind, gentle husband would be really good for Fanny.
Norrington/Fanny--Norrington would have been happier in an Austen novel, I think, and Fanny would be happy with such an honorable husband. Maybe they were introduced by her brother?
Fitzwilliam/Fanny--this takes some doing, because Fitzwilliam wants to marry an heiress and Fanny is certianly not that. But he's charming and honorable and they'd do well together.
Peter Grant & Steven Grant--Are Khonshu and the other gods from what Peter would call an allokosmoi? Obviously Peter does not approve of vigilantism, and isn't particularly impressed by gods (he's married to one), so what would happen if the two were investigating the same thing?
Cyndi Mayweather (Archandroid) & Jane 57821 (Dirty Computer)--Does the time-traveling android find herself dodging Cleaners as well as the Time Bureau? Is Cyndi Mayweather a reincarnation of Jane 57821 in some way?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Dukat as a good guy
Rivers of London
The snark! the vivid characters! the worldbuilding! the digressions! the wry-but-pointed social commentary on race and class and bureaucracy! the community and relationship building! Casefic is always welcome, but so is worldbuilding and exploring the demi-monde and magic, or character-focused stuff. I love stories that bring up weird aspects of the demi-monde and magic which Peter then has to deal with. Please no shipping Thomas, I prefer his canon aceness.
I love community-building. Peter goes out there and he gets to know people and builds relationships with them, and that opens up possibilities. There are good reasons things became fragmented, mostly the fault of the old Folly--but I love to see healing and reconciliation and new relationships growing.
Peter's not naïve, he knows how bad the world can get and how much evil can be done by the institutions he is serving, and yet he firmly believes that they can and should do better. I love how he is willing to risk himself to help people. I think Nightingale sees in Peter something he didn't know he was missing: a way to be and do better than the sins of the past he's been carrying around all these years. I think it's great that Nightingale's going to retire from the police to focus on teaching, I think that will allow much better scope for them both to grow, and yet still be working together. (Just in a different capacity.)
I'd love a story about magic becoming public knowledge (the conspiracy theories!) or an AU where it has been all along. Or Ettersberg never happened and the Folly is a large institution and Thomas is one wizard among many. Or Peter is the lone survivor of the old Folly, 100 years old, and Nightingale is the young new apprentice. Or a canon-typical adventure. Or something to do with Thomas participating in Peter's community-building.
Abigail Kamara: I love her as a girl detective/problem solver/apprentice wizard, but would prefer she not end up joining the Met. I like her perspective on magic and things and the way she is building her own connections to the demimonde that don't go through Peter and Nightingale. I love the mutual respect she and Thomas have for one another.
I find Beverly hard to parse in the earlier books. She's enough younger than Peter that the whole "suddenly we're pregnant and expecting kids! and everyone's happy about it!" is weird to me. Bev is in university! I would have expected her to prefer to wait. And then there's the fact that she's a goddess, and a geographical feature, and to some degree a reincarnation of a previous deity. So something exploring that dynamic from her perspective would be interesting.
Mamusu has such a forceful personality, and deeply loves Peter (even if their relationship is complicated). What if something happened to Peter and she had to figure it out with Thomas? What if she were the one who became an apprentice when she was younger, instead of being a janitor? What if the Jazz Vampires had killed Richard instead of just draining him/giving him brain damage leading to addiction? (Would Thomas have offered to let her live for free in the Folly out of guilt for not saving her husband, if he had been around?) Or maybe she leveraged her friendship with Elsie "Hatbox" Winstanley and got a librarian or archivist job instead of cleaning, and somehow that connected with the demi-monde? What if she had some magic training from her own tradition back in Sierra Leone? What if she became friends with the Rivers earlier, before Peter was an apprentice, and they used her as a go-between when dealing with the Folly?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Thomas shipped with anyone
Star Wars OT
My favorite parts of Star Wars includes the PT, the OT, the Zahn trilogy (especially Mara Jade) and the X-Wing books, bits and pieces from the TV shows, Rey, Finn, & Poe as the only contributions from the ST, and an ending where something new and better results after all the pain and trauma. (Or at least something different.) It's not that everything has to be perfect, but I want there to be at least some growth and change. If you are inspired by other corners of the Star Wars universe, feel free to bring them in, but those are my happy places, and I am perfectly fine with completely ignoring the ST or rewriting it.
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Do Leia and Lando work together on political negotiations/shenanigans while Han plays house-husband and swoops in with the Falcon when they need backup? Do Han and Lando go off and make shady business deals and come home to Leia with intelligence she can use politically? Do Lando and Luke go around looking for old Jedi stuff and working together to rebuild the Jedi? Does Lando start up a new operation--maybe mining, maybe something else--or take over an existing one after the war is over, and become a respectable businessman? I was one of the contributors to the "What if Han became Emperor by accident" thread on tumblr a while back, and my contribution was "ooh, Lando would be his Grand Vizier!" and if you want to go that direction that would also be awesome. Also, Weird Jedi Shit is always fun.
Standard Star Wars shenanigans where the fate of the galaxy is at stake and Our Heroes save the day are always welcome. Is there critical knowledge in a hidden holocron they have to find? Is one of the other Hands (or an Inquisitor, or some other evil Force user) making trouble for the New Jedi Order and/or the New Republic? Is the Empire threatening Lando's newest business venture (again)? Is there some situation where Lando's skills as a Respectable Businessman And Administrator are crucial to saving the day?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Kylo Ren
DS9
I love alien culture worldbuilding, boldly going, exploring, wacky science hijinks, time travel, AU shenanigans. I love the hope that we can become better than we are.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into wacky tropes, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want. One of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. If you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration and run with it, that would be awesome.
I'd love something that dove into Bajoran religion, and the more ALIEN it is the better. We've MET the prophets and they have such a fundamentally different perspective on EVERYTHING than us linear creatures. You could lean into the Prophets' timey-wimey non-linearity and what that means for a religion that worships them. Most Earth religions are heavily time-based, with regular repeating festivals that serve a lot of purposes both social and religious--how would that work (or not work) when worshiping beings who see everything happening at once? Or explore the Orbs! What other orbs are there besides Time and Prophecy, and what do they DO? You don't have to have any ritual or belief or ANYTHING to use them, if they have line-of-sight to you they can DO THINGS. Give you visions! Send you time traveling! Whatever it is the others do! No Earth religion has any artifact that is anything like that, and besides wondering what the other orbs even are/do, I'm curious as to how they shaped Bajoran religion, and how it was that the Bajorans ended up worshiping the ones who SENT the orbs instead of the orbs themselves. Especially given that the Prophets mostly ... don't seem to want to be gods or care about being worshiped or what's going on on Bajor or anything. So it's not like they were sending messages with the Orbs about who sent them and why, which leaves a lot of scope for interpretation on the part of the Bajorans who found them.
I'd love to have an investigation into something the Cardassians did while they controlled Bajor, or a scavenger hunt given by the Prophets, or an alien-of-the-week coming through the wormhole, or any canon-typical adventure.
Sisko's position as Emmisary is fascinating, and how it shaped his relationship with Kira, and how he came to be more comfortable with it as the show went on. What was that like for Bajorans? He's an outsider! He doesn't believe in the Prophets! Especially after years of occupation and the Cardassians stealing the Orbs to experiment on, there's got to be more complexity to it than we saw on the show. What was it like for the Bajorans who served on DS9, for whom he was both commanding officer and religious figure. The Federation/Starfleet perspective on that had to be interesting.
I love Ben and Kassidy, and I'd love something about them courting, or something during the war and they're both in danger, or something with Kassidy dealing with the religious stuff after Ben is in the wormhole. I would love it if he came back before the baby is very old.
I haven't read the novels, but I'm interested in the idea that after the show ended Kira eventually became a Vedek and later Kai. In general, Kira's led such an eventful life and things have changed so much during it--and she's been involved in pretty much every big event on Bajor in her lifetime, one way or another. Exploring any of that would be awesome.
I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. What about when Sisko and Jadzia were still getting to know each other? They went from one power dynamic (Ambassador with lots of political power mentors callow youth) to a very different one (Sisko is all grown up, and Dax's superior officer, and with more life experience than Dax's current host). Negotiating that change must have been interesting.
I love Jake, and I love that he is different from his father and his father loves and supports him. Both he and Ziyal have fathers that are larger than life (in very different ways) and I think they'd both benefit from someone who gets that while also being not really caught up in it. I think Ziyal could really benefit from more friends, and I think they could have worked together well during the Dominion occupation of the station. I'd love it if Ziyal could survive.
Miles & Molly--I think Miles would probably be a good father, the kind who spends a lot of time with his kids and is there for them when they need it. I'd love to see this, especially given how few kids there are on the station for Molly to have friends her own age.
I love to hate Dukat. You can use him as a villain, but don't ever forget that he's a manipulative weasel who most often actively chooses to do the worst thing possible. Even if he's doing something good in the moment, the moment is temporary.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Dukat as good guy
Moon Knight
The whole "avatar of a god" thing has so much that could be explored. Who are the gods and how do they see the world and humans? Are the Egyptian gods the only ones who do this? Is being an avatar now different than it used to be? What effect does Mark's Dissociative Identity Disorder have on things? Bonus points if you bring in some actual Egyptian mythology and worldview to flesh out the Marvel version.
And then once you get past the worldbuilding, there is so much interesting stuff in the whole "Marc & Steven" relationship (and Jake! And any other alters they might have!). What things does each realize about themselves now that both know everything and they're talking? How do they learn to make a life together once things have calmed down a bit? Working together to share their body rather than fighting for control of it? And then there's Layla! She's so fascinating, and I love the idea of her as Tawaret's avatar. What does learning about Steven mean for her in the long run? Does she consider herself and Steven good platonic friends? Does she consider him also her husband? What does he think of her? Does he have other romantic or sexual interests, and how would they navigate that?
As for plot, have fun with all the comic book/superhero movie tropes and plot hijinks your heart desires.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Enterprise
What can I say, I just love Vulcans. Trip and T'Pol were hands down my favorite thing about the show. Also, I love the idea of that Enterprise that got thrown back in time and turned into a generation ship, and I would love to see more of them and what happened when they first got thrown back in time, and also what might have happened if Lorian's Enterprise had survived.
A note on worldbuilding: so much of the things we're told about Vulcans in Enterprise makes NO SENSE when compared with ... anything in any other Star Trek show ever. For example, how do you outlaw melds and telepathic contact when YOU NEED TELEPATHIC BONDS TO MATE EVERY SEVEN YEARS?!?!?!?!? You can either ignore the contradictions or lean into them and find explanations for them.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are (but it might take a lot of work). I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
I think Travis and Hoshi got way less screen time than they deserved, and I would love to see more of them. I'd love to see more of how Travis' background growing up on a cargo ship affected him and how he approaches things on Enterprise. I'd love to see what Hoshi does for fun, or a problem where her expertise saves the day. I'd love a story where the senior officers were incapacitated and it's up to Hoshi and/or Travis to save the day.
Prompts: what was life like when Enterprise was stuck back in time just waiting for things to come around so they could attack the Xindi weapon, knowing that Lorian was going to be the only one of them still alive when it happened? Pon Farr and its ramifications: if T'Pol has to go through Pon Farr with Trip how does that affect her relationship with them, both working and personal? (What if she goes through it with Hoshi?!?) What about T'Pol's neurological damage, how does that affect things? Or just normal episode-like shenanigans!
Please ignore the last episode.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, episode: "These are the Voyages ..."
TNG
I love alien culture worldbuilding, boldly going, exploring, wacky science hijinks, time travel, AU shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into wacky tropes, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I haven't watched modern Star Trek, you can bring in stuff from that if you want but feel free to ignore it if you want.
Guinan/Jean-Luc Picard
Guinan is awesome, but please tone down the Magical Negro stereotype--she's not just The Wise Magic Advisor. She's got her own prejudices and traumas. I would love anything that dove into her past or her culture. Picard and Guinan have INCREDIBLE chemistry. Watch Time's Arrow and see the way he LOOKS AT HER. Something with time travel and meeting in the wrong order a la Time's Arrow would be interesting, but so would them hanging out together and being friends. Or an adventure from before they were together on Enterprise. I don't like most of the Picard TV show, but I do appreciate Picard and Guinan's stuff.
I absolutely LOVE Ro Laren, she's such a contrast to the rest of them. I'd be interested in an episode-type story set before she defected to the Maquis, or an AU where she didn't for some reason, or something after the Dominion War when she's no longer a terrorist. Or a role-reversal AU where Bajor is the perfect paradise world that's the founder of the Federation and provides most of the people for Starfleet, and Earth is the one conquered by the Cardassians.
Riker/Ro: the episode where they have amnesia is amazing, I love stories that deal with what happened afterwards. Before that, they have such great conflict, because Riker is trying to manage Ro and not connecting with her, and Ro has Problems With Authority (unless she independently has come to respect the individual, as with Picard). Then they have amnesia and sleep together! And then they try to pretend it never happened.
Geordi was didn't get much character development, but he was a great guy. Professional even in the face of all the wackiness Star Trek could throw at him, very smart, very compassionate. Geordi rarely got a chance to shine, but I always liked him, and aside from that one episode with the genetically engineered society, they didn't do much with his blindness besides "disabilities give you superpowers" with his visor. What are the downsides to it? What, if any, tradeoffs did he have to make, and was it his choice or something his parents decided for him? Does he ever get grief from fellow officers about "what happens if your visor gets knocked off, you'll be blind!" as if not being able to see would make him incompetent? He's the perfect contrast to Ro, and he and Data have that wonderful friendship that is rock solid that I love to see explored and/or transmuted into romance.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
TOS
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions. I have not seen much modern Trek; I don't mind it if you bring in details from there, but I also will be fine if you just stick with TOS and maybe TNG.
My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World) but I also enjoy trying to fit the Star Trek: Enterprise Vulcans with ... everything else we know about Vulcans. One thing I will point out, though, is that while there are a lot of things about Vulcan culture that seem/are sexist, the most powerful Vulcans we see throughout the series are elderly women. I love Pon Farr, but mostly dealing with the implications of it (both before and after) and not the sex part.
Sarek and Amanda (and Spock): they have some messed up family dynamics. OTOH, I don't think TOS means for us to read them as dysfunctional as they seem to modern people, given the changes in how family dynamics and child-rearing is perceived over the last sixty years. And also, "not speaking for 18 years" is less impactful when you consider how long Vulcans live. I'd be interested in anything from S&A being terrible parents to them being decent parents and things just going wrong. I'm also interested in how the larger cultural issues--what other Vulcans thought of their family, the repercussions in Vulcan/Human diplomacy, etc.--affected things. I'd love something at any point in the timeline. Spock as a kid! Spock as an ambassador! Five times Sarek almost called his son! Five times Spock almost called his parents! How Amanda's work as a teacher affected Sarek's work as an ambassador, and vice versa! Feel free to bring in the book-canon that Amanda is a professor and a linguist and worked on the Universal Translator, if you want.
Spock/Saavik or Spock & Saavik. I like either, but if you are going in a shippy direction PLEASE minimize the "he was her caretaker as a child" aspect. On the other hand, if you're going platonic, feel free to lean into any paternal feelings you see there. Either parental or romance, not both in the same story. Also, feel free to bring in canon from The Pandora Principle or ignore it as it strikes your fancy. You could do stuff from her time in the Academy, stuff that draws on her half-Romulan nature, them rebuilding their relationship after Genesis (in whatever way you see their relationship), What If She Got Pregnant On Genesis, established relationship future-fic where she's an admiral and he's an ambassador and together They Save The Federation, whatever you want. Or any kind of canon-typical shenanigans. And of course, wherever there is Spock, Kirk is not far behind.
Kirk & Moreau--I think something where they had to work together and Kirk's experiences in the Mirror Universe became relevant would be really interesting. Or maybe he and Moreau get swapped there again, and he has to explain to her that she has to pretend to be his mistress and all the ways that affects them as they try to survive and get home.
Mirror Moreau was really interesting, and I'd love to see more of her but have no specific prompts or ideas.
Uhura & Chekov & Sulu: For a show that was so hyper-focused on the Big Three, we got some great character moments for the other characters, and I would love to see those fleshed out. I love the idea of them being besties and hanging out and having adventures of their own and keeping the ship together when the Big Three have gotten themselves tied up by the Adversary Of The Week. Or you could explore more of their jobs--what exactly is it that they do besides the stuff we see on screen? (I love the novel Death Count by LA Graf, which is all about those three having an Adventure, and if you've read it and want to use it as a springboard, that would be good too.)
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Voyager
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are.
I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels but I also enjoy trying to fit the Star Trek: Enterprise Vulcans with ... everything else we know about Vulcans. One thing I will point out, though, is that while there are a lot of things about Vulcan culture that seem/are sexist, the most powerful Vulcans we see throughout the series are elderly women. I love Pon Farr, but mostly dealing with the implications of it (both before and after) and not the sex part.
I think Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job of playing Janeway despite the inconsistent writing she was given, and I love the way Tuvok was definitely a Vulcan but also a very different Vulcan than Spock. And I think their friendship was a foundation for both of them, having someone they'd known and trusted for years while so far from home. She's very casual about touching his hands, and he's fine with it.
I have no specific prompts for Kes or Seven, but that does not mean I would love reading about them and Tuvok any less.
Prompts: Day in the life stuff about dealing with the challenges of being so far from home and the top-ranking loyal Starfleet officers. Maybe something set early on dealing with Tuvok's suspicion of the Maquis (and their suspicion of him) and Janeway trying to bring the crew together would be interesting. Pre-series stuff about how they came to be close. Post-series stuff--I mean, it's great, they're both glad to be home, but they've changed and the Federation has changed. (Has Tuvok's wife moved on/remarried?) If you wanted to handle Pon Farr and/or them becoming a couple, I would enjoy that too. Or something dealing with the aftermath of the episode Blood Fever, which I would imagine made Pon Farr and/or Vulcans a really public topic of discussion on the ship. (It's not something that could have been easily hushed up!) Another idea: some Vulcan festival is coming up, and the Vulcans are going to have a hard time celebrating it so far from home, so Tuvok and Janeway have to get creative to figure out how to handle it.
If none of that appeals ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, setting change AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
