Yuletide, baby!
Dear My Lovely Julbok,
First of all, thank you! I'm really excited about Yuletide, it always brightens the end of my year, so really, I want the biggest take-away from this letter to be that I want you to enjoy writing whatever story it is that you write.
I know I say that now, and then throw a bunch of other info at you, but I promise you I read a *lot* of fic from all corners of the spectrum of what's available. I like the variety.
What *else* do I like? Aren't you glad I've finally decided to answer! (Dude, I apologize. Ever have a migraine? That was last week. It's starting to taper off now, so I thought I'd distract myself.) Well, I prefer happy, or at least hopeful endings, especially at this time of year. Don't ask why, 'cause I don't really know, but I always get wistful around the end of the year, and sad fic only sort of rubs salt in the wound, you know? If I'm braced for it, that's one thing. I do like seasonaly-theamed stuff, if you feel like embracing the snow and glitter. I like pointless, shmoopy fluff. And action-packed mission/mystery/op/case/thing stories. I think I might have officially moved into the category of people who like hurt/comfort fic (probably a long time ago). I adore banter and snark, and people who have each other's backs. I have a thing for competence a mile wide. Especially with weapons or horses, but really it turns out I'm not particular.
I prefer knives over Eskrima sticks, and Sticks over bows, and bows over guns, but guns over nothing; the stick thing has been a long-time love, but Bobbi Morse is pretty kick ass, and I'll admit, my heart really wants to see her and Teyla go at it some day. That's Agents of SHIELD and Stargate: Atlantis for you, if you're not a sci-fi person. Which may answer that burning question in the back of your mind: Do I like crossovers or fusions? The answer is a resounding Hell Yeah! I see crossovers as where the characters from each franchise meet each other, and fusions as where characters from one live in the world of the other. I don't know if the distinction means anything to you, but I'm a language geek, so it sort of does to me. But yes! I love crossovers, fusions, AUs! Distorted timelines, meeting different versions of themselves, stepping into a portal, and BAM! "Welcome to Sunnydale, we hope you enjoy your stay!" or "Who the hell are you, and how did you come through the Stargate?" /"...Land on our transporter pod? Scottie?...Mr. Spock?...Anyone?"/"...fall out of the sky and land on the Tower's newly reconstructed landing pad which *wasn't exactly built for *you*?* Ah, Thor! Good! Him, it was built for--*him*. And me. Me and him. Not...you. Who are you again?" Do you see where I'm going with this? Lovely.
It is in fact Yuletide, so there's no telling what kind of thing we matched on, or what other things we have in common, but if you do feel like writing a crossover, I can try to give you an abreviated list of stuff I'm totally covered in if you wanna go there. I'm not insisting, but I think sometimes people avoid doing that kind of thing because they're like "oh, I don't know if she'll even know the show I know well enough to bother writing it. So if you sorta wanted to write about any of this stuff anyway, and want to weave in the characters we matched on, it's be really awesome. Crossovers really are one of my favorite things. Dammit. Now I have that song in my head.
Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly, Avengers, MCU (let's just call it like it is), Agents of Shield, NCIS: LA (actually, all of them, but I prefer LA, unless you wanna focus on Brodie in NO--She graduated from State, but "I don't 'root.'"--a girl after my own heart. Which is in need of repair afer Ziva left.), Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, *Season 1* of Orphan Black
[Like, why haven't dhampire's looked into cloning? their race *is* dying. Whould Clone!Rose have any kind of connection to Lissa? It *is* all magic, so would that shit clone, too? Or would that only clone if they did cloning the SG-1 way, whole body, as a teen with memories? Maybe then she wouldn't have to feel so bad about having to split her attention and desire about what she really wants to do with her life. One Rose to guard her from far away, another Rose to guard her person. Up close and personal. ;) She can have cake *and* pie.)
Or, hell, What kind of Gate team would Scorpion make? Or how could they help rebuild SHIELD? Would they? If Coulson, May, Skye, and FitzSimmons (you can handwave his nightmare brain damage, not because it's not important, but because I think we missed a lot of cool opportunities to see them recruit, and Scorpion would have been a good stop, and that would have been before we knew how much he was affected. I think the brain trust on the Bus would have a ball with our group of geiunses, and I'd like to see that--just, w/out the sad, is all. Or, if you keep it in, it'd be interesting to see how easily they understand where he's going with his half-finished sentences and things, because for them, half and idea is, like, all they need to see the whole thing fall into place. It'd be interesting to see Happy and Fitz work together. He's just *so* chatty, and she's just *so* not. Maybe Walter tries to counter-recruit after they all save the day? OH, Toby's psych rundown on them all would be epic. And fuckin' painful, man.
What if the Antares mission gets news that something tragic has happened on Earth, and they're not going to have anywhere to land because it's not safe for them, and that info's been kept from them for the last two years? It's time for them to swing back around--if they're going to. So...they don't. They keep going out, and either you go from there with whatever awesome you have on your own (I love stories that take place in contained spaces--no way, no where, to run from your problems) and they end up in the Pegasus Galaxy, and run in to the Atlantis crew/end up in the Uncharted Territories and run into the only damn human in that end of space, his wife, and their ship, their living ship. You know Jen and Zoe would go crazy over *that* particular discovery. I haven't kept up with the Farscape comics, so I don't know the story since the PK wars. But I love the idea of Zoe and Jen doing SPACE!SCIENCE! together (among other things...). If slash isn't your scene, don't work yourself up over it.
Actually, good time to make that point here, all on it's own. I'm aware that two of my requests came with the "I'd love to see them together" tag some people must, you know, sacrifice the blood of virginal misquitoes to the appropriate dieties for in hopes of not seeing those words appear in their assignment sheet. So I'd like to make something clear: If you'd like to write me some great intense romantic relationship that even includes explicit sex between Rose and Lissa or Jen and Zoe, or anyone from Scorpion, I've got fuckin' pom poms out to cheer you on. Hell, I'm planning to spam my own LJ with some pictorial inspiration later. A visual pat on the back for you, if you will. It'll turn out great, and I'm sure I'll love it.
I mean, you *know* the Scorpion crew has researched good moves and how not to be a bore in bed, Lissa and Rose have freakin' telepathy (sorta, shut up I'm making a point) and *vampire feeding* (yes, that's a kink i have, feel free to run with it) they can mix in there, and Zoe and Jen would be having *sex in space*, yo--when they take off their clothes, they're weightless...just, think on that for a moment. Ahem. If you'd like to write about a pairing romantically, that's awesome. Please don't feel pressured to write any rating higher than you feel comfortable with, because, as I said before, I read it all. Sweet domestic shit where they have their own rhythm and move around each other in perfect sync without talking is pretty damn hot, too, so.
HOWEVER. If coupling these people up is not working for you, or something you're not remotely or even vaguely intersted in thinking about, much less writing about, that is *perfectly fine*. I love stories about partners/friends who have been that way for a while. I love that trust there, the loyalty to their own work and to each other is always really inspiring (? i guess that's the right word. yeah, inspiring. and reassuring, that there are people like that out there) to watch. And I like the idea that the two of them work better together than apart, what's that called? Synchonisity? no...Synergy! That's it, synergy. That's what Scorpion as a company has, what Jen and Zoe could get going in the lab on the right project, and What Rose and Lissa have going when it comes to protecting her and the awareness of her well-being and surroundings. I love people working together and everything beging *better* for it, even them. So friends are good, too. Though fanfic may make it seem unlikely, characters don't *actually* have to sleep with everyone in their lives that didn't actively give birth to or father them (and even then, some fandoms, dude...) So while I'd love me some femslash this holiday season (if you even matched on DG or VA), no worries if it's not your thing to write, you know? There's SO much you could write about, I don't want to drag you down on the one detail.]
because I haven't caught up on season 2, Doctor Who, from Nine all the way through, Elementary (though not the end of last season or any of this), Mortal Instruments Series (minus the last book--SPEAKING OF WHICH, I haven't finished Last Sacrifice, either, so if you could avoid details about that, if you're a book reader and writing about Vampire Acadamey, that'd really be appreciated. I sort of know what happens--I picked up Bloodlines out of curiosity, but not the details, not the whole ride), Early parts of Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captian Marvel comics, which are all made of win, and, possibly most importanly and closest to my heart: Lost Girl. Well, Lost Girl and the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe kinda are neck and neck, with the Jossverse just a head behind (and that's only 'cause I've had years to play with it) with the Stargate universe in fourth by half a length (again, time to play), when it comes to universes and shows to plant crossovers in. Though BSG, Star Trek: AOS, and Leverage crossovers always seem to turn into a lot of fun, too. But I mean, Lost Girl has Kenzi, and Tamsin, and Bo, and Dyson, and Lauren! That's fun in a bottle. I mean, maybe a succubus wouldn't be a great volunteer for a seven year mission in space, but there are other options.
I am not, by the way, *expecting* a crossover. It's just, I notice people say they'd like one or like them or whatever, but then don't leave details about what shows they might like to see involved to give the other writer a chance to see if they might be able to do that at all.
This is already way long, so I'm just going to tell you briefly what it is about each show that I love so much.
Scorpion:
I just identify with not being able to communicate with people without it sounding slightly off putting (I'm not a genius, I just comment on things I've noticed, assuming everybody else sees not just the thing I'm pointing out, but the part about it that's ridiculous, or weird, or funny. Most times, they haven't even *seen* what I'm talking about. Also, I have a migraine *every. day.* So when people ask how I am, I basically lie, if not with my words, then with my face--people don't know how to read me) but still having something of value to add to the situation. I appreciate Happy's anger repression system, and Paige's willingness to do everything she can for her son. Walter in turns charms me and drives me nuts by being a pompus jackass. I'm enjoying watching them, with Paige and that dude's help, turn in to real people with better self esteem. My curiosity is piqued as to why Happy hangs around--she's even said she'd be fine if they got shut down. Is it just for the company, being around other people as smart as she is? And how is it that *she's* so functional and they aren't? How the *hell* did they all meet? I find it interesting that she and Toby get paired up to stand by and do a lot of the prep work so often. Is Toby that bad with people? Is she? Anyway, I like stories about underdogs trying to change and become better and make a difference, and the fact that this time the underdogs are geeks is kind of a bonus. And there's this vibe that they're going to do well that I really like, they're going to fix whatever it is, even if it all seems impossible. I liked that one episode where Walter was in jail, and they all turned to Paige almost automatically, and were like "you're our Walter now." It showed both their perception that they knew they needed a leader, and that they knew none of them, personally, were cut out for it. Which was both awesome, and a little bit sad. I like watching them all grow. I don't really ship anyone one the show yet, but I sort of see maybe something between Toby and Happy happening? And Walter and Paige maybe someday? There was supposed to be some episode with something between Toby and Happy, but I haven't seen it yet. Trailers lie all the time
Vampire Academy:
I love a lot about this world. First, just how deep the entire universe is. If you haven't read the books, that's fine, but if you have, you know what I mean. I love that Mead took a different route with vampire mythology from so many other people (and the fact that part of it's Bulgarian is just kinda extra cool--my grandfather moved over when he was little). I love the banter and the general humor, the fact that they don't take themselves, even in life-threatening situations, too seriously. I love the friendship between Rose and Lissa. Even without the bond, I know some people never get to have a friend they're that tight with, but she captures the reality of it really well. And then there's the bond. Let's just say I dig that a whole lot. I'm gonna take a second here to say that even when I started reading the books I was a tiny bit surprised when they stayed as just friends, but I do love me some Dimitri and Christian, so I let those thoughts go. Then I saw the movie, and I was like "now they're just playing with me." Also, I love that Lissa is just as strong and powerful as Rose, they're just strong in different ways. And I sort of love that they each would loathe having to do what the other does all day. Like, there's no way Rose has the patience to be a politician, and no way Lissa really has the ...whatever it takes to hit people and kill strigoi she used to hang out with as moroi, you know? I like watching them both struggle with their identiy issues--the last of the Dragomirs, so she's gonna be on the council whether she likes it or not, and a female dhamphir who's race just keeps growing smaller (seriously, what the hell do the others at school expect her to do? they mock her for wanting to be a guardian, something that's been instilled in her from the get-go as her, like, reason for *being*, but then call her a blood-whore if she shows signs of maybe not wanting to do that? so uncool.) Plus, just in general: vampires, man. That's *always* awesome.
Defying Gravity:
As is being in space. Being in space will always be awesome, whether you're in a Police Public Call Box from the 60's, an Ancient city in another galaxy, or a ginormous spaceship taking a tour in our own, space is always wicked cool. I loved all the background info we got on how the candidates got onboard (or not), and how the training went. I'm a sucker for training stories, in all honesty. I loved that bar they all went to, even if my heart hurts for some of the things that went down there, some of the people that maybe hooked up that shouldn't have, and some of the shit that got said that shouldn't have. I realize the whole pregnancy issue was pretty huge for them, but I sometimes want to ignore it. I sort of adore that Jen and Zoe got to go into space with their best friend. That's like, the only thing that could make going into space better. (well...I suppose the only thing better than that was if it were your *partner* who was your best friend who was going with you, but I think we've covered that). There weren't really that many episodes, but I was beginning to enjoy the slight rift between the crew in the ship and the crew on the ground, and how the ship's crew was asserting their obvious power, even while the ground crew clearly still held on to some--it was an intersting dynamic. Beta did interest me, but I found the crew interactions much more interesting. Like Paula's unexpected friendship with the math guy, and the doctor's decision to use space as a detox center. I love that Jen and Zoe are both geeks at heart, and that Jen's a die-hard Canadian (Paula attempts to hand her a Vote! button over her cereal but Jen waves it off. Jen: I'm Canadian. Paula: Married to an American! Which-- Jen: Whiiich makes him Canadian. She doesn't take the button. Paula moves on.) No, I don't know how I feel about the damn bunny, ok? But they've got expirements to run, and holidays and birthdays to celebrate, and brand-new ship parts that are going to get old at some point, things that are going to break, space walks to take, PTSD from all over the place to deal with, like, *laurndry* to do...how the hell do you take a shower in space, anyway? Do they have the thing spinning so there's artificial gravity somewhere? I don't know. For some reason, everyday life *in space* is fascinating to me. It just seems more interesting when you throw in the complications of a confined space and a lack of resources and gravity.
Okay, so there's all that. Now, believe it or not, I sort of have a favor to ask? It's not a particularly long list, but it's sort of the things in fic I *really* don't want to read about. So if you could maybe not include them in the fic? That'd be so awesome. The stuff: rape/non-con, major character death, mpreg, the kind of sex crap you had to google the first time you read the name for it, and really, lately, I haven't really been feeling the d/s so much (but that's kind of on another list from the others. that's more of a "if you wouldn't mind, thanks," rather than "I'm going to have trouble reading what you wrote.")
...And I think that's all I've got! Have fun! And if you missed it at the top: Thank you so much!!! I'm so excited!!!
First of all, thank you! I'm really excited about Yuletide, it always brightens the end of my year, so really, I want the biggest take-away from this letter to be that I want you to enjoy writing whatever story it is that you write.
I know I say that now, and then throw a bunch of other info at you, but I promise you I read a *lot* of fic from all corners of the spectrum of what's available. I like the variety.
What *else* do I like? Aren't you glad I've finally decided to answer! (Dude, I apologize. Ever have a migraine? That was last week. It's starting to taper off now, so I thought I'd distract myself.) Well, I prefer happy, or at least hopeful endings, especially at this time of year. Don't ask why, 'cause I don't really know, but I always get wistful around the end of the year, and sad fic only sort of rubs salt in the wound, you know? If I'm braced for it, that's one thing. I do like seasonaly-theamed stuff, if you feel like embracing the snow and glitter. I like pointless, shmoopy fluff. And action-packed mission/mystery/op/case/thing stories. I think I might have officially moved into the category of people who like hurt/comfort fic (probably a long time ago). I adore banter and snark, and people who have each other's backs. I have a thing for competence a mile wide. Especially with weapons or horses, but really it turns out I'm not particular.
I prefer knives over Eskrima sticks, and Sticks over bows, and bows over guns, but guns over nothing; the stick thing has been a long-time love, but Bobbi Morse is pretty kick ass, and I'll admit, my heart really wants to see her and Teyla go at it some day. That's Agents of SHIELD and Stargate: Atlantis for you, if you're not a sci-fi person. Which may answer that burning question in the back of your mind: Do I like crossovers or fusions? The answer is a resounding Hell Yeah! I see crossovers as where the characters from each franchise meet each other, and fusions as where characters from one live in the world of the other. I don't know if the distinction means anything to you, but I'm a language geek, so it sort of does to me. But yes! I love crossovers, fusions, AUs! Distorted timelines, meeting different versions of themselves, stepping into a portal, and BAM! "Welcome to Sunnydale, we hope you enjoy your stay!" or "Who the hell are you, and how did you come through the Stargate?" /"...Land on our transporter pod? Scottie?...Mr. Spock?...Anyone?"/"...fall out of the sky and land on the Tower's newly reconstructed landing pad which *wasn't exactly built for *you*?* Ah, Thor! Good! Him, it was built for--*him*. And me. Me and him. Not...you. Who are you again?" Do you see where I'm going with this? Lovely.
It is in fact Yuletide, so there's no telling what kind of thing we matched on, or what other things we have in common, but if you do feel like writing a crossover, I can try to give you an abreviated list of stuff I'm totally covered in if you wanna go there. I'm not insisting, but I think sometimes people avoid doing that kind of thing because they're like "oh, I don't know if she'll even know the show I know well enough to bother writing it. So if you sorta wanted to write about any of this stuff anyway, and want to weave in the characters we matched on, it's be really awesome. Crossovers really are one of my favorite things. Dammit. Now I have that song in my head.
Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly, Avengers, MCU (let's just call it like it is), Agents of Shield, NCIS: LA (actually, all of them, but I prefer LA, unless you wanna focus on Brodie in NO--She graduated from State, but "I don't 'root.'"--a girl after my own heart. Which is in need of repair afer Ziva left.), Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, *Season 1* of Orphan Black
[Like, why haven't dhampire's looked into cloning? their race *is* dying. Whould Clone!Rose have any kind of connection to Lissa? It *is* all magic, so would that shit clone, too? Or would that only clone if they did cloning the SG-1 way, whole body, as a teen with memories? Maybe then she wouldn't have to feel so bad about having to split her attention and desire about what she really wants to do with her life. One Rose to guard her from far away, another Rose to guard her person. Up close and personal. ;) She can have cake *and* pie.)
Or, hell, What kind of Gate team would Scorpion make? Or how could they help rebuild SHIELD? Would they? If Coulson, May, Skye, and FitzSimmons (you can handwave his nightmare brain damage, not because it's not important, but because I think we missed a lot of cool opportunities to see them recruit, and Scorpion would have been a good stop, and that would have been before we knew how much he was affected. I think the brain trust on the Bus would have a ball with our group of geiunses, and I'd like to see that--just, w/out the sad, is all. Or, if you keep it in, it'd be interesting to see how easily they understand where he's going with his half-finished sentences and things, because for them, half and idea is, like, all they need to see the whole thing fall into place. It'd be interesting to see Happy and Fitz work together. He's just *so* chatty, and she's just *so* not. Maybe Walter tries to counter-recruit after they all save the day? OH, Toby's psych rundown on them all would be epic. And fuckin' painful, man.
What if the Antares mission gets news that something tragic has happened on Earth, and they're not going to have anywhere to land because it's not safe for them, and that info's been kept from them for the last two years? It's time for them to swing back around--if they're going to. So...they don't. They keep going out, and either you go from there with whatever awesome you have on your own (I love stories that take place in contained spaces--no way, no where, to run from your problems) and they end up in the Pegasus Galaxy, and run in to the Atlantis crew/end up in the Uncharted Territories and run into the only damn human in that end of space, his wife, and their ship, their living ship. You know Jen and Zoe would go crazy over *that* particular discovery. I haven't kept up with the Farscape comics, so I don't know the story since the PK wars. But I love the idea of Zoe and Jen doing SPACE!SCIENCE! together (among other things...). If slash isn't your scene, don't work yourself up over it.
Actually, good time to make that point here, all on it's own. I'm aware that two of my requests came with the "I'd love to see them together" tag some people must, you know, sacrifice the blood of virginal misquitoes to the appropriate dieties for in hopes of not seeing those words appear in their assignment sheet. So I'd like to make something clear: If you'd like to write me some great intense romantic relationship that even includes explicit sex between Rose and Lissa or Jen and Zoe, or anyone from Scorpion, I've got fuckin' pom poms out to cheer you on. Hell, I'm planning to spam my own LJ with some pictorial inspiration later. A visual pat on the back for you, if you will. It'll turn out great, and I'm sure I'll love it.
I mean, you *know* the Scorpion crew has researched good moves and how not to be a bore in bed, Lissa and Rose have freakin' telepathy (sorta, shut up I'm making a point) and *vampire feeding* (yes, that's a kink i have, feel free to run with it) they can mix in there, and Zoe and Jen would be having *sex in space*, yo--when they take off their clothes, they're weightless...just, think on that for a moment. Ahem. If you'd like to write about a pairing romantically, that's awesome. Please don't feel pressured to write any rating higher than you feel comfortable with, because, as I said before, I read it all. Sweet domestic shit where they have their own rhythm and move around each other in perfect sync without talking is pretty damn hot, too, so.
HOWEVER. If coupling these people up is not working for you, or something you're not remotely or even vaguely intersted in thinking about, much less writing about, that is *perfectly fine*. I love stories about partners/friends who have been that way for a while. I love that trust there, the loyalty to their own work and to each other is always really inspiring (? i guess that's the right word. yeah, inspiring. and reassuring, that there are people like that out there) to watch. And I like the idea that the two of them work better together than apart, what's that called? Synchonisity? no...Synergy! That's it, synergy. That's what Scorpion as a company has, what Jen and Zoe could get going in the lab on the right project, and What Rose and Lissa have going when it comes to protecting her and the awareness of her well-being and surroundings. I love people working together and everything beging *better* for it, even them. So friends are good, too. Though fanfic may make it seem unlikely, characters don't *actually* have to sleep with everyone in their lives that didn't actively give birth to or father them (and even then, some fandoms, dude...) So while I'd love me some femslash this holiday season (if you even matched on DG or VA), no worries if it's not your thing to write, you know? There's SO much you could write about, I don't want to drag you down on the one detail.]
because I haven't caught up on season 2, Doctor Who, from Nine all the way through, Elementary (though not the end of last season or any of this), Mortal Instruments Series (minus the last book--SPEAKING OF WHICH, I haven't finished Last Sacrifice, either, so if you could avoid details about that, if you're a book reader and writing about Vampire Acadamey, that'd really be appreciated. I sort of know what happens--I picked up Bloodlines out of curiosity, but not the details, not the whole ride), Early parts of Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captian Marvel comics, which are all made of win, and, possibly most importanly and closest to my heart: Lost Girl. Well, Lost Girl and the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe kinda are neck and neck, with the Jossverse just a head behind (and that's only 'cause I've had years to play with it) with the Stargate universe in fourth by half a length (again, time to play), when it comes to universes and shows to plant crossovers in. Though BSG, Star Trek: AOS, and Leverage crossovers always seem to turn into a lot of fun, too. But I mean, Lost Girl has Kenzi, and Tamsin, and Bo, and Dyson, and Lauren! That's fun in a bottle. I mean, maybe a succubus wouldn't be a great volunteer for a seven year mission in space, but there are other options.
I am not, by the way, *expecting* a crossover. It's just, I notice people say they'd like one or like them or whatever, but then don't leave details about what shows they might like to see involved to give the other writer a chance to see if they might be able to do that at all.
This is already way long, so I'm just going to tell you briefly what it is about each show that I love so much.
Scorpion:
I just identify with not being able to communicate with people without it sounding slightly off putting (I'm not a genius, I just comment on things I've noticed, assuming everybody else sees not just the thing I'm pointing out, but the part about it that's ridiculous, or weird, or funny. Most times, they haven't even *seen* what I'm talking about. Also, I have a migraine *every. day.* So when people ask how I am, I basically lie, if not with my words, then with my face--people don't know how to read me) but still having something of value to add to the situation. I appreciate Happy's anger repression system, and Paige's willingness to do everything she can for her son. Walter in turns charms me and drives me nuts by being a pompus jackass. I'm enjoying watching them, with Paige and that dude's help, turn in to real people with better self esteem. My curiosity is piqued as to why Happy hangs around--she's even said she'd be fine if they got shut down. Is it just for the company, being around other people as smart as she is? And how is it that *she's* so functional and they aren't? How the *hell* did they all meet? I find it interesting that she and Toby get paired up to stand by and do a lot of the prep work so often. Is Toby that bad with people? Is she? Anyway, I like stories about underdogs trying to change and become better and make a difference, and the fact that this time the underdogs are geeks is kind of a bonus. And there's this vibe that they're going to do well that I really like, they're going to fix whatever it is, even if it all seems impossible. I liked that one episode where Walter was in jail, and they all turned to Paige almost automatically, and were like "you're our Walter now." It showed both their perception that they knew they needed a leader, and that they knew none of them, personally, were cut out for it. Which was both awesome, and a little bit sad. I like watching them all grow. I don't really ship anyone one the show yet, but I sort of see maybe something between Toby and Happy happening? And Walter and Paige maybe someday? There was supposed to be some episode with something between Toby and Happy, but I haven't seen it yet. Trailers lie all the time
Vampire Academy:
I love a lot about this world. First, just how deep the entire universe is. If you haven't read the books, that's fine, but if you have, you know what I mean. I love that Mead took a different route with vampire mythology from so many other people (and the fact that part of it's Bulgarian is just kinda extra cool--my grandfather moved over when he was little). I love the banter and the general humor, the fact that they don't take themselves, even in life-threatening situations, too seriously. I love the friendship between Rose and Lissa. Even without the bond, I know some people never get to have a friend they're that tight with, but she captures the reality of it really well. And then there's the bond. Let's just say I dig that a whole lot. I'm gonna take a second here to say that even when I started reading the books I was a tiny bit surprised when they stayed as just friends, but I do love me some Dimitri and Christian, so I let those thoughts go. Then I saw the movie, and I was like "now they're just playing with me." Also, I love that Lissa is just as strong and powerful as Rose, they're just strong in different ways. And I sort of love that they each would loathe having to do what the other does all day. Like, there's no way Rose has the patience to be a politician, and no way Lissa really has the ...whatever it takes to hit people and kill strigoi she used to hang out with as moroi, you know? I like watching them both struggle with their identiy issues--the last of the Dragomirs, so she's gonna be on the council whether she likes it or not, and a female dhamphir who's race just keeps growing smaller (seriously, what the hell do the others at school expect her to do? they mock her for wanting to be a guardian, something that's been instilled in her from the get-go as her, like, reason for *being*, but then call her a blood-whore if she shows signs of maybe not wanting to do that? so uncool.) Plus, just in general: vampires, man. That's *always* awesome.
Defying Gravity:
As is being in space. Being in space will always be awesome, whether you're in a Police Public Call Box from the 60's, an Ancient city in another galaxy, or a ginormous spaceship taking a tour in our own, space is always wicked cool. I loved all the background info we got on how the candidates got onboard (or not), and how the training went. I'm a sucker for training stories, in all honesty. I loved that bar they all went to, even if my heart hurts for some of the things that went down there, some of the people that maybe hooked up that shouldn't have, and some of the shit that got said that shouldn't have. I realize the whole pregnancy issue was pretty huge for them, but I sometimes want to ignore it. I sort of adore that Jen and Zoe got to go into space with their best friend. That's like, the only thing that could make going into space better. (well...I suppose the only thing better than that was if it were your *partner* who was your best friend who was going with you, but I think we've covered that). There weren't really that many episodes, but I was beginning to enjoy the slight rift between the crew in the ship and the crew on the ground, and how the ship's crew was asserting their obvious power, even while the ground crew clearly still held on to some--it was an intersting dynamic. Beta did interest me, but I found the crew interactions much more interesting. Like Paula's unexpected friendship with the math guy, and the doctor's decision to use space as a detox center. I love that Jen and Zoe are both geeks at heart, and that Jen's a die-hard Canadian (Paula attempts to hand her a Vote! button over her cereal but Jen waves it off. Jen: I'm Canadian. Paula: Married to an American! Which-- Jen: Whiiich makes him Canadian. She doesn't take the button. Paula moves on.) No, I don't know how I feel about the damn bunny, ok? But they've got expirements to run, and holidays and birthdays to celebrate, and brand-new ship parts that are going to get old at some point, things that are going to break, space walks to take, PTSD from all over the place to deal with, like, *laurndry* to do...how the hell do you take a shower in space, anyway? Do they have the thing spinning so there's artificial gravity somewhere? I don't know. For some reason, everyday life *in space* is fascinating to me. It just seems more interesting when you throw in the complications of a confined space and a lack of resources and gravity.
Okay, so there's all that. Now, believe it or not, I sort of have a favor to ask? It's not a particularly long list, but it's sort of the things in fic I *really* don't want to read about. So if you could maybe not include them in the fic? That'd be so awesome. The stuff: rape/non-con, major character death, mpreg, the kind of sex crap you had to google the first time you read the name for it, and really, lately, I haven't really been feeling the d/s so much (but that's kind of on another list from the others. that's more of a "if you wouldn't mind, thanks," rather than "I'm going to have trouble reading what you wrote.")
...And I think that's all I've got! Have fun! And if you missed it at the top: Thank you so much!!! I'm so excited!!!