Yuletide letter 2014
Every year I try to find the balance between absolutely spazzing out in this letter, versus trying to contain myself and coming off like I just don't care. But the fact is that each of these characters and their worlds tear my soul out and exist, for me, larger and deeper than my own imagination can go. Which is why I am absolutely certain that whatever moves you is exactly what I want to read.
Of course carte blanche can also be the most horrifying thing ever, so I will ramble on, in case anything I mention proves useful :) As it's all optional I'll pause here to say: thank you, dear Yulegoat, for joining me in these tiny fandom streets, .
I tend to lean towards: Complicated characters and relationships, the angsty and bittersweet. I do ship, and I'll note what when relevant, but I'm fascinated by the spectrum of relationships, and the depths in individual ones that go beyond romance. So I'm curious about the characters listed, whether alone in an introspection piece, or interacting with any other character(s) you'd like to involve. All ratings totally fine :)
I tend to lean away from: Humiliation and incest are squicks for me (except maybe for Penny Dreadful.) I'm not generally into PWP, fluff, non-canon-based slash or AUs, simply because I live very much in the canon worlds and like my fiction to be consistent, but if any of these things are the story you want to tell, go for it!
Being Erica - (any)
I almost put Erica Strange because it feels a bit... strange... to ask for a Being Erica fic without her, but actually I don't care. My soul has become so intertwined with this fandom that write me anything about anyone or anything and I'm good. Whatever sparks you, nominated characters or not.
(I'll admit upfront that Erica/DrT is my OTP. But my OTP at the epic-most scale such that a) either one can be paired with anyone else and that's totally cool but b) I'd rather not see an argument that they mean nothing at all to each other beyond patient/therapist (not that they're necessarily romantic, but there were aspects of friendship and familial love inherent to the show) and c) if Erica is a main character and you could include DrT in some tiny cameo way - like a quote or something, that would be amazing.)
The other thing I feel strongly about is that the Erica we followed is heterosexual. This isn't to say that I wouldn't love an exploration of Erica and Cassidy in a romantic relationship, but I'd prefer to see it in a way that springs organically from canon - like if Erica visits an alternate timeline where she is homosexual/bisexual.
Otherwise, family and friendship. the self and others, looking back and looking forwards and accepting the now are all themes at the heart of the show. So is the redefinition of relationships, whether it's saying goodbye, hello, or understanding that there is always more to the story. And with so many characters to play with, and all the avenues the premise opens up, there are So. Many. Stories. left unexplored.
Ripper Street - (Emily Reid)
So admittedly, I was a fairly casual viewer first season, and I'm not even sure I've seen any of the second season. But apparently I have these extremely strong feelings about Emily Reid. Brutal, never-ending ones. I love her, I adore her, I am incredible not-alright with how the show dispensed with her and all I want is to see her shine. All else is negotiable.
I do love Emily and Edmund. What saddens me most is also what draws me in: all we ever saw of them was the loss, without ever fully grasping what they had lost. Separate, they might be broken yet functional, but we never got to see them through that final break. Instead they (were) still tied together, in ways they'd lost hold of. Their relationship became defined by their individual demons, ever unable to reconnect, to both reach out themselves and to accept the other's proferred hand. There is so much beauty in how they fail, and I'd love to see them succeed, if only for a moment. This is one of the few times a "5 plus 1" fic might be a perfect solution.
If that's not your groove, what I love even more than their disasterous relationship is Emily herself. She go a bad rap in fandom for being passive and weak, but I've always seen her as incredibly strong, walking her own path between a respectable, socially-accepted role in the society and bucking expectation to effect change based on her personal, progressive beliefs. I would love to see more of that dichotomy, letting her be smart and witty and defy convention.
One of my favourite scenes is when she visits Edmund in his office. His expectation, along with the audience's, is that she's there to challenge and criticize him. Yet her purpose, in a quietly certain way, is to alert him that Rose has gone missing. I love this moment, tiny as it is, because it's the whole of who they are individually, and together. Emily, who might have been a policewoman in another time - and perhaps she ends up taking on a case? Against Edmund, who is lost and blinded and somehow can appreciate the strength in every woman EXCEPT his wife. But then they're working together and I kinda want them to be a crime fighting duo. IDEK.
Orphan Black - (Paul Dierden)
While the women in this show are all kinds of awesome and I love them to pieces, I can't shake a curiousity about Paul. He's drawn in sketches, comes and goes, and feels like a perpetual outsider even when he's integral to the action. In whatever form, I want to see more of him.
I think my reaction to every single scene's he's been in has resolved to "wtf?" He's a walking mystery and a walking contradiction, and maybe it's not so surprising that while most of this list is me curious about women, in such a female-driven show my curiousity is about a man.
I want to know what happened to him, what he did, what he's doing, what he's thinking and why. He seems to be emotionally tied to Sarah, much more than she is tied to him, which is beautiful. I'd love to see more of that. I'd love to see him working or talking with any of the clones, especially Helena, because there's I feel like she (or Kira), with their strangely insightful blunt understanding of the world, might be the only ones who would get him to admit things he otherwise never would.
Penny Dreadful - (Vanessa Ives, Sir Malcolm Murray)
This show is all kinds of dark and messed up and I love it. The enmeshed personal demons of Vanessa and Sir Malcolm make for my absolute favourite dynamic, and basically inherently hit every kink I have, in whatever form you view their relationship.
Straight up: I don't think Sir Malcolm is Vanessa's biological father. If you do, that's awesome and this is where my objection to incest gets complicated: I'm 100% behind the psuedosexual relationship, but in the case of biological relation I'd prefer to maintain at least a highly complicated interpretation of any sexual/romantic relationship. If that makes sense. Of course in the case of non-biological relation, I groove them in any way, shape or form, to hell and back. They're individually screwed up, individually hold power, both over the world and over each other. I think their relationship is incredibly layered, and would love to explore any (or every) aspect of that. Which I realize is pretty particular and really really not for everyone so while noting you can go as far as you like, this is also not the only thing I'd love to see.
Because what I really love? Is Vanessa. I love her relationships with all the other characters. I love her veiled relationship to herself. I love her fearlessness, her brutality, her devotion. How she's really not part of the larger world, even though she can walk through it. I want to see her anywhere, doing anything, anytime, with anyone.
Of course carte blanche can also be the most horrifying thing ever, so I will ramble on, in case anything I mention proves useful :) As it's all optional I'll pause here to say: thank you, dear Yulegoat, for joining me in these tiny fandom streets, .
I tend to lean towards: Complicated characters and relationships, the angsty and bittersweet. I do ship, and I'll note what when relevant, but I'm fascinated by the spectrum of relationships, and the depths in individual ones that go beyond romance. So I'm curious about the characters listed, whether alone in an introspection piece, or interacting with any other character(s) you'd like to involve. All ratings totally fine :)
I tend to lean away from: Humiliation and incest are squicks for me (except maybe for Penny Dreadful.) I'm not generally into PWP, fluff, non-canon-based slash or AUs, simply because I live very much in the canon worlds and like my fiction to be consistent, but if any of these things are the story you want to tell, go for it!
Being Erica - (any)
I almost put Erica Strange because it feels a bit... strange... to ask for a Being Erica fic without her, but actually I don't care. My soul has become so intertwined with this fandom that write me anything about anyone or anything and I'm good. Whatever sparks you, nominated characters or not.
(I'll admit upfront that Erica/DrT is my OTP. But my OTP at the epic-most scale such that a) either one can be paired with anyone else and that's totally cool but b) I'd rather not see an argument that they mean nothing at all to each other beyond patient/therapist (not that they're necessarily romantic, but there were aspects of friendship and familial love inherent to the show) and c) if Erica is a main character and you could include DrT in some tiny cameo way - like a quote or something, that would be amazing.)
The other thing I feel strongly about is that the Erica we followed is heterosexual. This isn't to say that I wouldn't love an exploration of Erica and Cassidy in a romantic relationship, but I'd prefer to see it in a way that springs organically from canon - like if Erica visits an alternate timeline where she is homosexual/bisexual.
Otherwise, family and friendship. the self and others, looking back and looking forwards and accepting the now are all themes at the heart of the show. So is the redefinition of relationships, whether it's saying goodbye, hello, or understanding that there is always more to the story. And with so many characters to play with, and all the avenues the premise opens up, there are So. Many. Stories. left unexplored.
Ripper Street - (Emily Reid)
So admittedly, I was a fairly casual viewer first season, and I'm not even sure I've seen any of the second season. But apparently I have these extremely strong feelings about Emily Reid. Brutal, never-ending ones. I love her, I adore her, I am incredible not-alright with how the show dispensed with her and all I want is to see her shine. All else is negotiable.
I do love Emily and Edmund. What saddens me most is also what draws me in: all we ever saw of them was the loss, without ever fully grasping what they had lost. Separate, they might be broken yet functional, but we never got to see them through that final break. Instead they (were) still tied together, in ways they'd lost hold of. Their relationship became defined by their individual demons, ever unable to reconnect, to both reach out themselves and to accept the other's proferred hand. There is so much beauty in how they fail, and I'd love to see them succeed, if only for a moment. This is one of the few times a "5 plus 1" fic might be a perfect solution.
If that's not your groove, what I love even more than their disasterous relationship is Emily herself. She go a bad rap in fandom for being passive and weak, but I've always seen her as incredibly strong, walking her own path between a respectable, socially-accepted role in the society and bucking expectation to effect change based on her personal, progressive beliefs. I would love to see more of that dichotomy, letting her be smart and witty and defy convention.
One of my favourite scenes is when she visits Edmund in his office. His expectation, along with the audience's, is that she's there to challenge and criticize him. Yet her purpose, in a quietly certain way, is to alert him that Rose has gone missing. I love this moment, tiny as it is, because it's the whole of who they are individually, and together. Emily, who might have been a policewoman in another time - and perhaps she ends up taking on a case? Against Edmund, who is lost and blinded and somehow can appreciate the strength in every woman EXCEPT his wife. But then they're working together and I kinda want them to be a crime fighting duo. IDEK.
Orphan Black - (Paul Dierden)
While the women in this show are all kinds of awesome and I love them to pieces, I can't shake a curiousity about Paul. He's drawn in sketches, comes and goes, and feels like a perpetual outsider even when he's integral to the action. In whatever form, I want to see more of him.
I think my reaction to every single scene's he's been in has resolved to "wtf?" He's a walking mystery and a walking contradiction, and maybe it's not so surprising that while most of this list is me curious about women, in such a female-driven show my curiousity is about a man.
I want to know what happened to him, what he did, what he's doing, what he's thinking and why. He seems to be emotionally tied to Sarah, much more than she is tied to him, which is beautiful. I'd love to see more of that. I'd love to see him working or talking with any of the clones, especially Helena, because there's I feel like she (or Kira), with their strangely insightful blunt understanding of the world, might be the only ones who would get him to admit things he otherwise never would.
Penny Dreadful - (Vanessa Ives, Sir Malcolm Murray)
This show is all kinds of dark and messed up and I love it. The enmeshed personal demons of Vanessa and Sir Malcolm make for my absolute favourite dynamic, and basically inherently hit every kink I have, in whatever form you view their relationship.
Straight up: I don't think Sir Malcolm is Vanessa's biological father. If you do, that's awesome and this is where my objection to incest gets complicated: I'm 100% behind the psuedosexual relationship, but in the case of biological relation I'd prefer to maintain at least a highly complicated interpretation of any sexual/romantic relationship. If that makes sense. Of course in the case of non-biological relation, I groove them in any way, shape or form, to hell and back. They're individually screwed up, individually hold power, both over the world and over each other. I think their relationship is incredibly layered, and would love to explore any (or every) aspect of that. Which I realize is pretty particular and really really not for everyone so while noting you can go as far as you like, this is also not the only thing I'd love to see.
Because what I really love? Is Vanessa. I love her relationships with all the other characters. I love her veiled relationship to herself. I love her fearlessness, her brutality, her devotion. How she's really not part of the larger world, even though she can walk through it. I want to see her anywhere, doing anything, anytime, with anyone.