Hetswap Letter 2018
Dear 
hetswap Author,
Hello and thank you for writing for me! This letter is ridiculously long (sorry!), but I am open to lots of different types of stories, so don't be put off if you prefer short letters. As long as you avoid my DNWs, I'm sure I will love whatever you can come up with for one of these pairings. (Prompts in particular are purely for inspiration, as I'm someone who appreciates them myself - if you already have an idea, just go with that.)
Likes: Humour, missing adventures, hurt/comfort, rescuing each other, fantasy, history, mysteries, ghosts, casefic, crossovers, banter, trope subversion, trapped together tropes, fake marriages/marriage of conveniences, forced to work together, five times, dancing, epistolary, apocalypses, spies, found families, winning through hard times to happy endings, comedy of manners, aliens made them do it, holding onto each other etc. Shipping-wise - I prefer implicit/lead-ins to explicit/graphic scenes - emotions, touch/sensation, first times, historical costumes & undressing, kissing, love conveyed by acts rather than words, balancing each other out.
DNWs: graphic violence/gore, incest, non-canonical rape, graphic porn without plot, over-eating/greed, non-canonical major character death, genderswap, age regression.
Dislikes: pregnancy, kidfic, tragic endings, focus on real medical condictions, issuefic, fusions. I do enjoy some other setting AUs, but for this exchange I'd prefer them only for fandoms/pairings where I've indicated it below (although Five Times AU fic is always an exception).
However, what I like varies a lot according to the fandom and pairing, so please don't worry if any of the below requests/prompts contradicts anything above!
I've requested a mix of longtime favourite pairings and ones where I'd love to see it pulled off just once to see how it would go, but I chose carefully and would be happy with all of these ships, regardless of how much or little I have written about each.
1. Blake's 7
Avon/Servalan
These two have to be one of the best Foe!yay combinations ever. Just give me more of them as they are, and I'll be very happy. I love their interactions, the darkness and deviousness and mutual destructiveness, and how well-matched they are (and aren't).
I am trying to think of specific prompts for them, but really just MORE, anything! I mean, what can you prompt that canon hasn't got to yet? Servalan even bought Avon as a slave that one time. They've plotted, they've kissed, they've killed people, they've gone mad together. I suppose they haven't yet got together and imploded the universe in the process...
* the usual devious plotting (with optional bonus kissing and innuendo)
* situations where they need to work together, at least for a few hours, whether somewhere grim or glamorous.
Dayna Mellany/Del Tarrant
I love them together - Dayna's fierceness (and deeply buried vulnerability) and how dangerous she is, and how well they understand each other - they hardly need to talk when out on missions together. The bit in Ultraworld where aliens actually try to make them do it and they kiss and then Dayna explodes everything is just beautiful. They're a great combination. They'll bring the house down. Literally.
* missions going wrong, having to pose as a couple while on a mission, or missing scenes, snatching time to get together.
* kissing and blowing stuff up, what could be better?
* Post-Gauda-Prime: They both survive and pick up the pieces from S4's various casualties (including their relationship) ...and?
Kiera/Travis
I realise this is a more than usually random pairing, but Kiera (or Keera, Kie-eyre - BF seem to have confirmed Kiera, which works for me, but I don't mind if you prefer another spelling) is the Mutoid with Travis in Duel. She is, however, one of only two people in the entire series that Travis seems to have some kind of personal interest in (that doesn't involve wanting to kill them). So, what is going on there? What exactly is their history? It's definitely a messed up dynamic and I've always wondered about them.
* How does he know her? Who was she? Was she unobtainable to him? Or related to someone else significant? Why/how did she become a Mutoid and why did he want her under his command? (And does he prefer her as a Mutoid?)
* Non Federation AU where things are different, contrasted with the Federation reality.
Honestly, I'd just like to leave this one open for you to play with. I'm curious.
When it comes to B7 in general, I basically love everyone in this messed up, battered old glam rock bar, even that person without a name in the corner, so I've no objection to appearances by anyone else you want to involve in the fic.
2. Crossovers
Ruth Evershed/Eighth Doctor, Ruth Evershed/Twelfth Doctor
I love Ruth Evershed and ship Ruth/Doctor in general but since it would have been silly to request them all, I decided on these two as my current preferences. But just to let you know that if you wished it was a different Doctor, or want to write X Times Ruth Met the Doctor, I would be completely on board. (Well, Thirteen would break the rules of this fest, but other than that...) Basically Ruth seems to be exactly the Doctor's type, and she's one of my favourite characters, so anything you can do here will make me happy.
* Any brief encounters between them at any point - pre-canon, when she's on the run, back on the Grid, an AU where she doesn't die, or maybe he picks up her ghost.
* X Times Ruth met the Doctor.
(I know Nicola Walker is also Liv Chenka now, which is something I forget when talking about Ruth, but Eight may not have met her yet, or he's forgotten, you know how it is with Eight. Or you can reference it if it helps.)
Liz Shaw/Silver
This is a random pairing that has grown into a Thing, but rather a delightful thing: Silver is a strange inhuman Element, possibly even some sort of weird personification of the metal itself. He's a technician who can do stuff that to us mere humans looks a lot more like magic than science. Liz is a top scientist with an attitude who likes to know how things work. They both get involved with weird things to do with time. It's isn't an OTP - I'm not sure you could have one between a human and an 'Element' (or whatever you prefer to call them) - but it's a lovely passing ship, and more of it is always welcome.
* any exploration of elemental weirdness and intimacies that aren't human
* troubles with Time that Silver need's Liz to help fix. (Or some random thing from Liz's lab/outfit, or her teaspoons).
* Liz gets to rescue Silver from weird S&S style trouble.
Missy/The Master (Delgado)
I mean, I don't need to explain myself here. When it comes to self-cest, this has to be the classiest, right? And most wicked but possibly not irredeemable.
* they team up to cause villainy and flirt elegantly. (Well, Delgado Master is elegant. Missy varies).
* they team up and cause trouble for the Doctor/their other selves. (Look, crispy!Master, Simm!Master and goosnake!Master are just not up to their high standards.
* they just enjoy a good night off together somewhere in time and space (but it's hard when you've got arch enemies everywhere).
* he turns up to help after The Doctor Falls
Or maybe something darker - I don't know, whatever you can dream up, really. They're both great, so putting them together surely can't go wrong. (Well, for them, not so much for everyone else in the universe...)
Sixth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
Six and other people's companions, it's a thing! I was thinking of Clara Splinters when I nominated this, but Clara post-canon could also be great, so do what you will. Or during her run, especially in Twelve's era; or even with Twelve around, being appalled: ("Clara, are you flirting with my earlier self? In that coat?") There's also something about Six pausing to be a bit shippy and affectionate as well (in between the quotes and bombast and everything) that always seems to be great.
* Splinter Clara saves him; he saves her
* Post-canon, she's a problem but he can't entirely disapprove. (I'm sure she and Ashildr have a fairly open arrangement...)
Again, as with most of my pairings, I'd just love to see what you can come up with.
3. Daisy Dalrymple Series - Carola Dunn
Daisy Dalrymple/Alec Fletcher
I have recently got into reading these and have got rapidly very fond of Alec and Daisy and would be very happy to have more of the adventures of the Hon. journalist and her incurable tendency to meddle and fall over bodies everywhere she goes and a put-upon middle class Chief Inspector who'd rather a) she didn't fall over bodies and b) wants to solve the mystery by the book and has no hope of achieving either and has stopped minding as he should.
* missing moments from their courtship (the books seem to leave some annoying gaps, and I don't think it's just because I still haven't read all of them). They keep having dates and advancing things without us in the first few books. Please feel free to do us all a service and fill in any of those moments!
* casefic with the usual bonus shippiness/ hurt/comfort etc. (or moments from a case)
* I think an other setting AU could be quite fun, too, if you could think of something that worked for them - provided of course that Daisy still inevitably falls over bodies and Alec still wishes she wouldn't.
* Daisy stumbles over not a body but a ghost/something supernatural. Alec is even more unimpressed...
(It isn't the kind of series where spoilers matter, and I should have read a few more come reveals, but if it helps: I've read nearly all of the first half of the series and a few more up to Fall of a Philanderer, but I'd generally prefer fic set in the first half anyway, if possible, before babies start turning up as well as bodies! But, as I said, spoilers aren't really an issue, so go wherever you need to.)
4. Doctor Who (1963)
Fifth Doctor/Tegan Jovanka
Anything featuring one emotionally repressed 800-year-ish old Time Lord and his stubborn, loyal, tell-it-like-it-is-and-then-some Australian air-stewardess will make me very happy. We all know what it means when two people argue like that in the 1980s. (I once made a manifesto for Five/Tegan, if you want any more of my rambling thoughts.)
* the Doctor and Tegan get stuck in the past/planet with a formal society together without the TARDIS somehow & maybe even have to pretend to be a couple/ trapped in an altered reality where they think they are a couple.
* any hurt/comfort between them is lovely (cf. the Doctor at the end of Snakedance, or the way that Tegan seems to feel that the Doctor is her responsibility when he's in trouble or hurt).
* missing scenes from late S20, early S21. (Suddenly, after The King's Demons, they're both a lot happier and the Doctor keeps taking Tegan everywhere she wants to go. It could just be to annoy Turlough, but still...)
* anything you can think of where they can still be their awkward selves but also be shippy and maybe even kiss or something. Somehow. (Don't worry if you can't, author, they are the most awkward perfect pairing that won't and honestly anything you can do with them will be lovely.)
I'm fine with anyone else being included in the story - I love Nyssa and Turlough too (and don't even hate Adric) and the Master is welcome to contribute his usual villainy, if that's where your Muse takes you.
Sarah Jane Smith/Harry Sullivan
Canon has made this one more difficult, but I still ship it anyhow. They're just so darn adorable together in every way.
* missing adventures/scenes with bonus shippiness/hurt/comfort etc.
* post-Hand of Fear(but pre-sad-New Who canon) meetings, dates etc.
* AUs - canon divergent or other settings where they can have a happy ending and work it out, despite their differences.
Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart/Liz Shaw
I love their interactions in S7 & how they start off almost as if someone invented the X-Files twenty years early, how she winds him up and he tries to remain imperturbable, the respect they have for each other, their combined sheer effectiveness and competence and, as a pairing, their mutual repression/devotion to career or duty.
* any missing S7 scenes/adventures or post-S7 reunions
* any S7 trouble they investigate without the Doctor. (I once wrote a set of these myself, but I still have a huge hankering for them doing their stuff without even needing the Doctor every time, because canon suggests this is the case anyway.)
* As the Brig and Liz don't travel in the TARDIS and are so grounded in one place and time, I'd enjoy some AUs for them - maybe UNIT as an outfit investigating supernatural things with a sceptical Liz called in as adviser, historical settings, golden age crime-solving (with Liz as the brilliant amateur and the Brig the put-upon police inspector).
* or, of course, they do wind up somewhere back in time or elsewhere in the galaxy when the TARDIS is playing up again (or the Doctor is) and have to rely on each other to get out of the fix.
* hurt/comfort in the course of an adventure
* UST, sudden breaking of repression etc etc. Including use of fanfic tropes like alien sex pollen, fake marriage, trapped together. (Brig/Liz + Cliché is usually a winning formula. I think it's partly imagining the world-weary Brigly eyebrow raising that will ensue.)
The Doctor (any Doctor), any other members of UNIT, and the Master, or other such characters are welcome.
Seventh Doctor/Rachel "Ray" Defwydd
A rare one, but I think Seven has an unusual and interesting dynamic with Ray, which is fun, Seven being often a little-shipped Doctor (other than with Ace which just hits some of my nope-buttons, much as I adore them in every other way). And, after all, they do spend the night together in the laundry shed that time...
* Missing scenes/serial coda, something low level, or more trying to make Billy jealous; the Doctor likes it more than he'd admit. Or perhaps he can tell her something personal, sharing broken hearts.
* they meet up again for a moment years after and... well, over to you, dear author. This is a time-travelling show. More dancing? Aliens? Or, heaven forbid, Torchwood? (It is South Wales.)
* AU where he does travel with her, but feelings aren't Seven's thing, not like this. (Probably an AU without Ace, not because I don't love Ace, but because she'd probably just kiss Ray herself instead. Which would also be lovely, but not for Hetswap). Love has never been known for its rationality, after all...
Heidi Scarlioni/Scaroth | Carlos Scarlioni
And just in case you were thinking the previous pairing was odd, I have saved the best for last! No, really, seriously: he's a centuries old splintered alien made out of tentacles disguised as Julian Glover with a knack for sardonic wit and she's a beautiful (?rich girl? aristocrat? pickpocket? what? Do tell, dear author) who's turned on by Art Heists. Together, they steal the Mona Lisa! (Six times. Ish.) Their story deserves to be told! I'm aware this is maybe pure crack involving a villain who wants to destroy the planet, but cracky fic is great (although so is a serious/dark or properly shippy take. Maybe it's more of a tragedy than we knew). If you go for this one, just have fun and feel free to rewatch City of Death as many times as possible, for Actual Research.
* how did they meet? Who/what did the Countess think she had married and how did she not know he was secretly a one-eyed alien made out of tentacles? Do they have a love life anyway? (He seems genuinely quite fond of her; at least he apologises after he shoots her.)
* Other more successful art heists. (I mean, this clearly isn't the first one.) What are her skills, since she seems to help out with some of the actual nicking things. Also more mentions of the impossible treasures he has - which the Countess knows about, so he evidently trusts her to some degree.
(As an aside, Julian Glover on the commentary wants to know if Scaroth's other selves also had love interests. I had a go at that prompt with a Clara Splinter last year which is what got me into thinking about this far too much, and I'd also be happy to hear about that too.)
Oh, and 'Heidi' is I think from the recent novelisation. Feel free to use it or not. I'm sure she is probably a lady of many aliases anyway.
5. Doctor Who (BFA)
Eighth Doctor/Charley Pollard
I adore their dynamic. I don't mind if it's as canon with Charley loving the Doctor in an additional way, or more overtly shippy. I love Eight/Charley fluff, and I love the enduring love and friendship with a side-order of pain that they are in canon. (I remember once reading an interview with India Fisher where she said that, for Charley, in her position, the Doctor is all the family she can have now, her best friend, and only possible lover and her feelings for him encompass all those things.) And I love how perfect a match she is for Eight at that point and that, whatever his feelings are, he still finds it hard not to sacrifice the universe for her. In short, I love the fun and banter and the fluff and the sheer mixed up wrongness and rightness of them.
* missing adventures (esp. in the first 2 seasons)
* reunion fic. I hate that they've never found each other again! I would love that to happen and if you want to go there in your fic, please do.
* they face something surreal and cracky (again)
(I haven't listened to all of Eight's audio adventures (yet) but I'm familiar with Charley's whole arc up to S1 of her spin-off (with a few gaps during the C'rizz period), and have listened to at least some of all the other strands with Eight, so feel free to bring in anything you wish.)
6. Doctor Who (2005)
Tenth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
I was thinking again more of splinter!Clara, but it could be real Clara too. As two people who have high opinions of themselves and never shut up, plus the fact that they both enjoy flirting, I can't help but think it would be fun.
* In The Name of the Doctor, one of the moments we see seems to be Clara in a futuristic setting with Ten - what's that story?
* Random jewel heist when Twelve isn't looking.
* X Times Ten and Clara Flirted
(Or, of course, any other Clara splinters who met Ten anywhere else in time and space, or real Clara - maybe he pops into Coal Hill School in the wrong decade or something. I'm not sure about post-canon Clara because his disapproval could be disastrous, depending on his mood, but if you have an interesting idea, go for it. But probably not as all-out dark as Ten could possibly be in that situation, preferably.)
Emma Grayling/Alec Palmer
I loved these two instantly when I first saw Hide! They hit so many of my buttons in what I like in a pairing, and they spend their time investigating weird supernatural things with science and psychic abilities, what's not to love? (Well, apart from getting told their future, but anyway.) There are a couple of very good stories out there, but I'd love more.
* How they met (with bonus spooky stuff and mutual pining and history)
* more supernatural investigations while navigating a new relationship (bonus hurt/comfort would be fine)
* trying to deal with the aftermath of Hide.
7. Dracula - Bram Stoker
Mina Harker/John Seward
I do like all the canon pairings from the book, but I was also intrigued by this possibility, mainly because of the scene where they first meet and Mina listens to his recorded diary and then says something like, "You must never show your heart to anybody else like that." And then I immediately and inconveniently shipped it like a ton of bricks, comforting myself that at least fanfic would provide, but, dear author, it hasn't until now! And after all, Lucy introduces him by saying she's found someone who would be the perfect man for Mina if she wasn't already engaged, so I'm after an AU where that possibility gets explored;
* Mina meets Dr Seward first, and maybe Lucy match-makes.
* AU where Jonathan doesn't recover from his ordeal, or later dies or something. (Sorry, Jonathan.)
* or even something where the heart/soul sharing via sound recordings turns out to be a whole lot more literal...
(One thing I would prefer is that they aren't vampires in these scenarios. Getting bitten as in canon is fine, but I'd rather they were both still human.)
And then I can go back to shipping canon things and you will have done me and the world a favour, thank you. <3
8. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Gilbert/Iris Henderson
I watched this film a few years ago and discovered it was pretty much everything I like all at once and there is no fic for it at all! So:
* Missing scenes (there's a whole train ride of potential banter, bonus shipping, calming the other passengers and explaining how you stole a train to the officials as an obvious gap)
* the immediate aftermath, Iris and Gilbert having to face all the relatives (well, Iris's relatives - does Gilbert have any left? Who knows? You, dear author), honeymoon shenanigans
* more improbable spy adventures.
I am more than happy to see Miss Froy if you want to include her, and, indeed, any of the other passengers. If there are more spy shenanigans, it would probably only be traditional to have them inconvenience Charters and Caldicott. I realise, obviously, that WWII is just around the corner here, but I'd really prefer not much angst in this fandom - if you go there, which of course you might, just give Gilbert & Iris the best war possible. (Some angst is fine, of course, but it's not a fandom where I want too much of it, or tragic endings. Just banter and adventures and shippiness!)
(If you're looking for an escape hatch for any reason, this film is pretty fun, c. 1hr 30 mins and can usually be found on YT with a bit of poking. You do need to be up for some banter, though.)
9. Spooks | MI5
Jo Portman/Zafar Younis
My refrain for this whole section is probably going to be "do you see how cool/beautiful this ship is and how LITTLE FIC there is and how TRAGIC that is?" but it's never so true as for Zaf and Jo. I love Zaf's humour (and his prettiness, let's be honest and shallow here, Raza Jaffrey, I mean...) and Jo's journey across the seasons, and I love all their interactions in canon. Please make good this lack of fic and make my battered heart happy.
* flat-sharing fluff, hurt/comfort between/after a bad mission, going on a mission together (and maybe being a tight spot), or flirting in the early days on the grid, the scene that got cut where Jo agrees to move in with him, Jo moving in. Do they play spy games like Zoe and Danny? Deal with each other's families? Date other people under fake names? Go undercover in a tea shop or bookshop, with secret messages and love and lies? (Love, Spooks-style, you know how it goes.)
* AUs - canon divergence, other lives they might have lived (and, you know, actually lived) and other setting AUs (supernatural investigators, historical, in space, anything you feel you could translate the grid into).
* But if you want to go the angsty as hell canon version: fine, fine, author, break my heart, it's Spooks, do it. Write LOVE into my flesh with a knife and feed off my pain, why don't you?
(I love everyone in Spooks, but I would prefer not too much Ben in a Zaf/Jo fic. Anyone else is fine, in any of these requests.)
Ruth Evershed/Tom Quinn
I love Ruth & Tom's shifting dynamic across S2 - her gratitude to him and crush on him, the way she effectively runs him in 2.05 while he runs the country.
* Ruth/Tom + apocalypse. (Thanks to 2.5, I am not sure how much of this sort of thing I could get before I stop wanting it, but plenty more seems to be the answer as yet.)
* flirting/pretending to be a couple for a case
* missing scenes, Ruth comforting angsty Tom late S2
* Ruth/Tom in side-scenes through the years (after all, he's the one Harry uses to avenge her)
* any AU you'd like, whether canon divergence or other settings (especially non-mundane if you can work it, but whatever you choose) - maybe some world where they could be together, at least for a while.
Harry Pearce/Juliet Shaw
Last time I looked there was nothing for this pairing that wasn't backgrounded in a Ruth/Harry fic, which really is criminal. It's definitely not an OTP, but a one night stand at the very least is canon. And she's brilliant, amoral and ruthless, and he's Harry Pearce. I also like the fact that she's also one of the few people who can make him flip out a bit - he sometimes leaps to blaming Juliet when it's not true.
* encounters over the years. (In any way you choose to interpret that - after all, I think with some Spooks characters outwitting each other is practically counts as sex anyway.)
* flesh out the hinted at Berlin backstory
* I'm not that keen on the series's later use of Juliet (I prefer the Juliet who may be an amoral Tory but damn well isn't a traitor, thanks), but if you want to explore that aspect, it could make a v good dark post-Ruth fic or AU, so go for it.
* I mostly want canon/canon divergence AUs here, but as I've mentioned, I'm also kind of in love with the idea of magic/supernatural AUs for Spooks, so that could also be fun.
(I should say that I do very much enjoy Ruth/Harry, too! It's just that there are so many marvellous stories for that pairing and I'd love just to have at least one or two out there for these rarer pairings. But you certainly can include it or mention it without any fear of bringing in a NOTP - quite the reverse.)
And with that, I think I've said more than enough for now! But, honestly, I love these fandoms and pairings, so please just have fun - and good luck!
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Please click through to comment. -- Current comments:
hetswap Author,
Hello and thank you for writing for me! This letter is ridiculously long (sorry!), but I am open to lots of different types of stories, so don't be put off if you prefer short letters. As long as you avoid my DNWs, I'm sure I will love whatever you can come up with for one of these pairings. (Prompts in particular are purely for inspiration, as I'm someone who appreciates them myself - if you already have an idea, just go with that.)
Likes: Humour, missing adventures, hurt/comfort, rescuing each other, fantasy, history, mysteries, ghosts, casefic, crossovers, banter, trope subversion, trapped together tropes, fake marriages/marriage of conveniences, forced to work together, five times, dancing, epistolary, apocalypses, spies, found families, winning through hard times to happy endings, comedy of manners, aliens made them do it, holding onto each other etc. Shipping-wise - I prefer implicit/lead-ins to explicit/graphic scenes - emotions, touch/sensation, first times, historical costumes & undressing, kissing, love conveyed by acts rather than words, balancing each other out.
DNWs: graphic violence/gore, incest, non-canonical rape, graphic porn without plot, over-eating/greed, non-canonical major character death, genderswap, age regression.
Dislikes: pregnancy, kidfic, tragic endings, focus on real medical condictions, issuefic, fusions. I do enjoy some other setting AUs, but for this exchange I'd prefer them only for fandoms/pairings where I've indicated it below (although Five Times AU fic is always an exception).
However, what I like varies a lot according to the fandom and pairing, so please don't worry if any of the below requests/prompts contradicts anything above!
I've requested a mix of longtime favourite pairings and ones where I'd love to see it pulled off just once to see how it would go, but I chose carefully and would be happy with all of these ships, regardless of how much or little I have written about each.
1. Blake's 7
Avon/Servalan
These two have to be one of the best Foe!yay combinations ever. Just give me more of them as they are, and I'll be very happy. I love their interactions, the darkness and deviousness and mutual destructiveness, and how well-matched they are (and aren't).
I am trying to think of specific prompts for them, but really just MORE, anything! I mean, what can you prompt that canon hasn't got to yet? Servalan even bought Avon as a slave that one time. They've plotted, they've kissed, they've killed people, they've gone mad together. I suppose they haven't yet got together and imploded the universe in the process...
* the usual devious plotting (with optional bonus kissing and innuendo)
* situations where they need to work together, at least for a few hours, whether somewhere grim or glamorous.
Dayna Mellany/Del Tarrant
I love them together - Dayna's fierceness (and deeply buried vulnerability) and how dangerous she is, and how well they understand each other - they hardly need to talk when out on missions together. The bit in Ultraworld where aliens actually try to make them do it and they kiss and then Dayna explodes everything is just beautiful. They're a great combination. They'll bring the house down. Literally.
* missions going wrong, having to pose as a couple while on a mission, or missing scenes, snatching time to get together.
* kissing and blowing stuff up, what could be better?
* Post-Gauda-Prime: They both survive and pick up the pieces from S4's various casualties (including their relationship) ...and?
Kiera/Travis
I realise this is a more than usually random pairing, but Kiera (or Keera, Kie-eyre - BF seem to have confirmed Kiera, which works for me, but I don't mind if you prefer another spelling) is the Mutoid with Travis in Duel. She is, however, one of only two people in the entire series that Travis seems to have some kind of personal interest in (that doesn't involve wanting to kill them). So, what is going on there? What exactly is their history? It's definitely a messed up dynamic and I've always wondered about them.
* How does he know her? Who was she? Was she unobtainable to him? Or related to someone else significant? Why/how did she become a Mutoid and why did he want her under his command? (And does he prefer her as a Mutoid?)
* Non Federation AU where things are different, contrasted with the Federation reality.
Honestly, I'd just like to leave this one open for you to play with. I'm curious.
When it comes to B7 in general, I basically love everyone in this messed up, battered old glam rock bar, even that person without a name in the corner, so I've no objection to appearances by anyone else you want to involve in the fic.
2. Crossovers
Ruth Evershed/Eighth Doctor, Ruth Evershed/Twelfth Doctor
I love Ruth Evershed and ship Ruth/Doctor in general but since it would have been silly to request them all, I decided on these two as my current preferences. But just to let you know that if you wished it was a different Doctor, or want to write X Times Ruth Met the Doctor, I would be completely on board. (Well, Thirteen would break the rules of this fest, but other than that...) Basically Ruth seems to be exactly the Doctor's type, and she's one of my favourite characters, so anything you can do here will make me happy.
* Any brief encounters between them at any point - pre-canon, when she's on the run, back on the Grid, an AU where she doesn't die, or maybe he picks up her ghost.
* X Times Ruth met the Doctor.
(I know Nicola Walker is also Liv Chenka now, which is something I forget when talking about Ruth, but Eight may not have met her yet, or he's forgotten, you know how it is with Eight. Or you can reference it if it helps.)
Liz Shaw/Silver
This is a random pairing that has grown into a Thing, but rather a delightful thing: Silver is a strange inhuman Element, possibly even some sort of weird personification of the metal itself. He's a technician who can do stuff that to us mere humans looks a lot more like magic than science. Liz is a top scientist with an attitude who likes to know how things work. They both get involved with weird things to do with time. It's isn't an OTP - I'm not sure you could have one between a human and an 'Element' (or whatever you prefer to call them) - but it's a lovely passing ship, and more of it is always welcome.
* any exploration of elemental weirdness and intimacies that aren't human
* troubles with Time that Silver need's Liz to help fix. (Or some random thing from Liz's lab/outfit, or her teaspoons).
* Liz gets to rescue Silver from weird S&S style trouble.
Missy/The Master (Delgado)
I mean, I don't need to explain myself here. When it comes to self-cest, this has to be the classiest, right? And most wicked but possibly not irredeemable.
* they team up to cause villainy and flirt elegantly. (Well, Delgado Master is elegant. Missy varies).
* they team up and cause trouble for the Doctor/their other selves. (Look, crispy!Master, Simm!Master and goosnake!Master are just not up to their high standards.
* they just enjoy a good night off together somewhere in time and space (but it's hard when you've got arch enemies everywhere).
* he turns up to help after The Doctor Falls
Or maybe something darker - I don't know, whatever you can dream up, really. They're both great, so putting them together surely can't go wrong. (Well, for them, not so much for everyone else in the universe...)
Sixth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
Six and other people's companions, it's a thing! I was thinking of Clara Splinters when I nominated this, but Clara post-canon could also be great, so do what you will. Or during her run, especially in Twelve's era; or even with Twelve around, being appalled: ("Clara, are you flirting with my earlier self? In that coat?") There's also something about Six pausing to be a bit shippy and affectionate as well (in between the quotes and bombast and everything) that always seems to be great.
* Splinter Clara saves him; he saves her
* Post-canon, she's a problem but he can't entirely disapprove. (I'm sure she and Ashildr have a fairly open arrangement...)
Again, as with most of my pairings, I'd just love to see what you can come up with.
3. Daisy Dalrymple Series - Carola Dunn
Daisy Dalrymple/Alec Fletcher
I have recently got into reading these and have got rapidly very fond of Alec and Daisy and would be very happy to have more of the adventures of the Hon. journalist and her incurable tendency to meddle and fall over bodies everywhere she goes and a put-upon middle class Chief Inspector who'd rather a) she didn't fall over bodies and b) wants to solve the mystery by the book and has no hope of achieving either and has stopped minding as he should.
* missing moments from their courtship (the books seem to leave some annoying gaps, and I don't think it's just because I still haven't read all of them). They keep having dates and advancing things without us in the first few books. Please feel free to do us all a service and fill in any of those moments!
* casefic with the usual bonus shippiness/ hurt/comfort etc. (or moments from a case)
* I think an other setting AU could be quite fun, too, if you could think of something that worked for them - provided of course that Daisy still inevitably falls over bodies and Alec still wishes she wouldn't.
* Daisy stumbles over not a body but a ghost/something supernatural. Alec is even more unimpressed...
(It isn't the kind of series where spoilers matter, and I should have read a few more come reveals, but if it helps: I've read nearly all of the first half of the series and a few more up to Fall of a Philanderer, but I'd generally prefer fic set in the first half anyway, if possible, before babies start turning up as well as bodies! But, as I said, spoilers aren't really an issue, so go wherever you need to.)
4. Doctor Who (1963)
Fifth Doctor/Tegan Jovanka
Anything featuring one emotionally repressed 800-year-ish old Time Lord and his stubborn, loyal, tell-it-like-it-is-and-then-some Australian air-stewardess will make me very happy. We all know what it means when two people argue like that in the 1980s. (I once made a manifesto for Five/Tegan, if you want any more of my rambling thoughts.)
* the Doctor and Tegan get stuck in the past/planet with a formal society together without the TARDIS somehow & maybe even have to pretend to be a couple/ trapped in an altered reality where they think they are a couple.
* any hurt/comfort between them is lovely (cf. the Doctor at the end of Snakedance, or the way that Tegan seems to feel that the Doctor is her responsibility when he's in trouble or hurt).
* missing scenes from late S20, early S21. (Suddenly, after The King's Demons, they're both a lot happier and the Doctor keeps taking Tegan everywhere she wants to go. It could just be to annoy Turlough, but still...)
* anything you can think of where they can still be their awkward selves but also be shippy and maybe even kiss or something. Somehow. (Don't worry if you can't, author, they are the most awkward perfect pairing that won't and honestly anything you can do with them will be lovely.)
I'm fine with anyone else being included in the story - I love Nyssa and Turlough too (and don't even hate Adric) and the Master is welcome to contribute his usual villainy, if that's where your Muse takes you.
Sarah Jane Smith/Harry Sullivan
Canon has made this one more difficult, but I still ship it anyhow. They're just so darn adorable together in every way.
* missing adventures/scenes with bonus shippiness/hurt/comfort etc.
* post-Hand of Fear(but pre-sad-New Who canon) meetings, dates etc.
* AUs - canon divergent or other settings where they can have a happy ending and work it out, despite their differences.
Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart/Liz Shaw
I love their interactions in S7 & how they start off almost as if someone invented the X-Files twenty years early, how she winds him up and he tries to remain imperturbable, the respect they have for each other, their combined sheer effectiveness and competence and, as a pairing, their mutual repression/devotion to career or duty.
* any missing S7 scenes/adventures or post-S7 reunions
* any S7 trouble they investigate without the Doctor. (I once wrote a set of these myself, but I still have a huge hankering for them doing their stuff without even needing the Doctor every time, because canon suggests this is the case anyway.)
* As the Brig and Liz don't travel in the TARDIS and are so grounded in one place and time, I'd enjoy some AUs for them - maybe UNIT as an outfit investigating supernatural things with a sceptical Liz called in as adviser, historical settings, golden age crime-solving (with Liz as the brilliant amateur and the Brig the put-upon police inspector).
* or, of course, they do wind up somewhere back in time or elsewhere in the galaxy when the TARDIS is playing up again (or the Doctor is) and have to rely on each other to get out of the fix.
* hurt/comfort in the course of an adventure
* UST, sudden breaking of repression etc etc. Including use of fanfic tropes like alien sex pollen, fake marriage, trapped together. (Brig/Liz + Cliché is usually a winning formula. I think it's partly imagining the world-weary Brigly eyebrow raising that will ensue.)
The Doctor (any Doctor), any other members of UNIT, and the Master, or other such characters are welcome.
Seventh Doctor/Rachel "Ray" Defwydd
A rare one, but I think Seven has an unusual and interesting dynamic with Ray, which is fun, Seven being often a little-shipped Doctor (other than with Ace which just hits some of my nope-buttons, much as I adore them in every other way). And, after all, they do spend the night together in the laundry shed that time...
* Missing scenes/serial coda, something low level, or more trying to make Billy jealous; the Doctor likes it more than he'd admit. Or perhaps he can tell her something personal, sharing broken hearts.
* they meet up again for a moment years after and... well, over to you, dear author. This is a time-travelling show. More dancing? Aliens? Or, heaven forbid, Torchwood? (It is South Wales.)
* AU where he does travel with her, but feelings aren't Seven's thing, not like this. (Probably an AU without Ace, not because I don't love Ace, but because she'd probably just kiss Ray herself instead. Which would also be lovely, but not for Hetswap). Love has never been known for its rationality, after all...
Heidi Scarlioni/Scaroth | Carlos Scarlioni
And just in case you were thinking the previous pairing was odd, I have saved the best for last! No, really, seriously: he's a centuries old splintered alien made out of tentacles disguised as Julian Glover with a knack for sardonic wit and she's a beautiful (?rich girl? aristocrat? pickpocket? what? Do tell, dear author) who's turned on by Art Heists. Together, they steal the Mona Lisa! (Six times. Ish.) Their story deserves to be told! I'm aware this is maybe pure crack involving a villain who wants to destroy the planet, but cracky fic is great (although so is a serious/dark or properly shippy take. Maybe it's more of a tragedy than we knew). If you go for this one, just have fun and feel free to rewatch City of Death as many times as possible, for Actual Research.
* how did they meet? Who/what did the Countess think she had married and how did she not know he was secretly a one-eyed alien made out of tentacles? Do they have a love life anyway? (He seems genuinely quite fond of her; at least he apologises after he shoots her.)
* Other more successful art heists. (I mean, this clearly isn't the first one.) What are her skills, since she seems to help out with some of the actual nicking things. Also more mentions of the impossible treasures he has - which the Countess knows about, so he evidently trusts her to some degree.
(As an aside, Julian Glover on the commentary wants to know if Scaroth's other selves also had love interests. I had a go at that prompt with a Clara Splinter last year which is what got me into thinking about this far too much, and I'd also be happy to hear about that too.)
Oh, and 'Heidi' is I think from the recent novelisation. Feel free to use it or not. I'm sure she is probably a lady of many aliases anyway.
5. Doctor Who (BFA)
Eighth Doctor/Charley Pollard
I adore their dynamic. I don't mind if it's as canon with Charley loving the Doctor in an additional way, or more overtly shippy. I love Eight/Charley fluff, and I love the enduring love and friendship with a side-order of pain that they are in canon. (I remember once reading an interview with India Fisher where she said that, for Charley, in her position, the Doctor is all the family she can have now, her best friend, and only possible lover and her feelings for him encompass all those things.) And I love how perfect a match she is for Eight at that point and that, whatever his feelings are, he still finds it hard not to sacrifice the universe for her. In short, I love the fun and banter and the fluff and the sheer mixed up wrongness and rightness of them.
* missing adventures (esp. in the first 2 seasons)
* reunion fic. I hate that they've never found each other again! I would love that to happen and if you want to go there in your fic, please do.
* they face something surreal and cracky (again)
(I haven't listened to all of Eight's audio adventures (yet) but I'm familiar with Charley's whole arc up to S1 of her spin-off (with a few gaps during the C'rizz period), and have listened to at least some of all the other strands with Eight, so feel free to bring in anything you wish.)
6. Doctor Who (2005)
Tenth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
I was thinking again more of splinter!Clara, but it could be real Clara too. As two people who have high opinions of themselves and never shut up, plus the fact that they both enjoy flirting, I can't help but think it would be fun.
* In The Name of the Doctor, one of the moments we see seems to be Clara in a futuristic setting with Ten - what's that story?
* Random jewel heist when Twelve isn't looking.
* X Times Ten and Clara Flirted
(Or, of course, any other Clara splinters who met Ten anywhere else in time and space, or real Clara - maybe he pops into Coal Hill School in the wrong decade or something. I'm not sure about post-canon Clara because his disapproval could be disastrous, depending on his mood, but if you have an interesting idea, go for it. But probably not as all-out dark as Ten could possibly be in that situation, preferably.)
Emma Grayling/Alec Palmer
I loved these two instantly when I first saw Hide! They hit so many of my buttons in what I like in a pairing, and they spend their time investigating weird supernatural things with science and psychic abilities, what's not to love? (Well, apart from getting told their future, but anyway.) There are a couple of very good stories out there, but I'd love more.
* How they met (with bonus spooky stuff and mutual pining and history)
* more supernatural investigations while navigating a new relationship (bonus hurt/comfort would be fine)
* trying to deal with the aftermath of Hide.
7. Dracula - Bram Stoker
Mina Harker/John Seward
I do like all the canon pairings from the book, but I was also intrigued by this possibility, mainly because of the scene where they first meet and Mina listens to his recorded diary and then says something like, "You must never show your heart to anybody else like that." And then I immediately and inconveniently shipped it like a ton of bricks, comforting myself that at least fanfic would provide, but, dear author, it hasn't until now! And after all, Lucy introduces him by saying she's found someone who would be the perfect man for Mina if she wasn't already engaged, so I'm after an AU where that possibility gets explored;
* Mina meets Dr Seward first, and maybe Lucy match-makes.
* AU where Jonathan doesn't recover from his ordeal, or later dies or something. (Sorry, Jonathan.)
* or even something where the heart/soul sharing via sound recordings turns out to be a whole lot more literal...
(One thing I would prefer is that they aren't vampires in these scenarios. Getting bitten as in canon is fine, but I'd rather they were both still human.)
And then I can go back to shipping canon things and you will have done me and the world a favour, thank you. <3
8. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Gilbert/Iris Henderson
I watched this film a few years ago and discovered it was pretty much everything I like all at once and there is no fic for it at all! So:
* Missing scenes (there's a whole train ride of potential banter, bonus shipping, calming the other passengers and explaining how you stole a train to the officials as an obvious gap)
* the immediate aftermath, Iris and Gilbert having to face all the relatives (well, Iris's relatives - does Gilbert have any left? Who knows? You, dear author), honeymoon shenanigans
* more improbable spy adventures.
I am more than happy to see Miss Froy if you want to include her, and, indeed, any of the other passengers. If there are more spy shenanigans, it would probably only be traditional to have them inconvenience Charters and Caldicott. I realise, obviously, that WWII is just around the corner here, but I'd really prefer not much angst in this fandom - if you go there, which of course you might, just give Gilbert & Iris the best war possible. (Some angst is fine, of course, but it's not a fandom where I want too much of it, or tragic endings. Just banter and adventures and shippiness!)
(If you're looking for an escape hatch for any reason, this film is pretty fun, c. 1hr 30 mins and can usually be found on YT with a bit of poking. You do need to be up for some banter, though.)
9. Spooks | MI5
Jo Portman/Zafar Younis
My refrain for this whole section is probably going to be "do you see how cool/beautiful this ship is and how LITTLE FIC there is and how TRAGIC that is?" but it's never so true as for Zaf and Jo. I love Zaf's humour (and his prettiness, let's be honest and shallow here, Raza Jaffrey, I mean...) and Jo's journey across the seasons, and I love all their interactions in canon. Please make good this lack of fic and make my battered heart happy.
* flat-sharing fluff, hurt/comfort between/after a bad mission, going on a mission together (and maybe being a tight spot), or flirting in the early days on the grid, the scene that got cut where Jo agrees to move in with him, Jo moving in. Do they play spy games like Zoe and Danny? Deal with each other's families? Date other people under fake names? Go undercover in a tea shop or bookshop, with secret messages and love and lies? (Love, Spooks-style, you know how it goes.)
* AUs - canon divergence, other lives they might have lived (and, you know, actually lived) and other setting AUs (supernatural investigators, historical, in space, anything you feel you could translate the grid into).
* But if you want to go the angsty as hell canon version: fine, fine, author, break my heart, it's Spooks, do it. Write LOVE into my flesh with a knife and feed off my pain, why don't you?
(I love everyone in Spooks, but I would prefer not too much Ben in a Zaf/Jo fic. Anyone else is fine, in any of these requests.)
Ruth Evershed/Tom Quinn
I love Ruth & Tom's shifting dynamic across S2 - her gratitude to him and crush on him, the way she effectively runs him in 2.05 while he runs the country.
* Ruth/Tom + apocalypse. (Thanks to 2.5, I am not sure how much of this sort of thing I could get before I stop wanting it, but plenty more seems to be the answer as yet.)
* flirting/pretending to be a couple for a case
* missing scenes, Ruth comforting angsty Tom late S2
* Ruth/Tom in side-scenes through the years (after all, he's the one Harry uses to avenge her)
* any AU you'd like, whether canon divergence or other settings (especially non-mundane if you can work it, but whatever you choose) - maybe some world where they could be together, at least for a while.
Harry Pearce/Juliet Shaw
Last time I looked there was nothing for this pairing that wasn't backgrounded in a Ruth/Harry fic, which really is criminal. It's definitely not an OTP, but a one night stand at the very least is canon. And she's brilliant, amoral and ruthless, and he's Harry Pearce. I also like the fact that she's also one of the few people who can make him flip out a bit - he sometimes leaps to blaming Juliet when it's not true.
* encounters over the years. (In any way you choose to interpret that - after all, I think with some Spooks characters outwitting each other is practically counts as sex anyway.)
* flesh out the hinted at Berlin backstory
* I'm not that keen on the series's later use of Juliet (I prefer the Juliet who may be an amoral Tory but damn well isn't a traitor, thanks), but if you want to explore that aspect, it could make a v good dark post-Ruth fic or AU, so go for it.
* I mostly want canon/canon divergence AUs here, but as I've mentioned, I'm also kind of in love with the idea of magic/supernatural AUs for Spooks, so that could also be fun.
(I should say that I do very much enjoy Ruth/Harry, too! It's just that there are so many marvellous stories for that pairing and I'd love just to have at least one or two out there for these rarer pairings. But you certainly can include it or mention it without any fear of bringing in a NOTP - quite the reverse.)
And with that, I think I've said more than enough for now! But, honestly, I love these fandoms and pairings, so please just have fun - and good luck!
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