Dear Shipswap Writer
Likes: fluff, friendship, feminism, people with conflicting ideas and ideologies coming together in spite of (or perhaps because of) it, femmeslash, shenanigans with religion, and happy endings.
DNWs: animal death, incest, rape/noncon, and major character death.
Perfect Creature
Silus/Lilly Squires
OKAY, SO. This movie is an old, old favourite of mine, ever since it came out about . . . nine years ago. (JESUS) I maintain that it is 1. sadly underrated in general, and 2. sadly underrated in fandom, specifically, because it has all the kinks and tropes that we love so much. Vampires! Priest kink! Steampunk! But apart from all the beautiful, iddy trappings, the thing I really love about this movie is the sense of quiet and slow-growing kindness and understanding between the two leads. I love that Lilly is both the world-weary, hard-bitten heroine (and hey, her husband even got fridged!) but she also has an underlying sense of genuine justice and compassion. And she matches up well with Silus, who comes off as consistently confused by how humans actually function in any kind of social setting ("sniffing them is cool, right?") but still a genuine believer in the idea of the Brotherhood as a force for protection. I've always been interested in stories about the clash between faith and reality (for lack of a better word) but in this movie's case, the faith isn't just blind; it's real, and the evidence is right there. And they're questioning anyway!
So, ficwise: anything set after the movie would be great, obviously, since it sets up all kinds of plotty possibilities. But if that's not up your alley, I'd also like stuff set during the movie, maybe in the quiet moments between scenes, showing what the characters are thinking or feeling.
Hair
George Berger/Claude Bukowski
Full disclosure: I'm more familiar with the movie than the musical, because I've never been lucky enough to see the musical live. But if you want to use stage canon, that's totally okay! There aren't that many differences, and there are plenty of bootlegs I can watch on YouTube to familiarize myself.
So, Claude and Berger! Or more specifically, Claude/Berger. The really cool thing about Hair is that it's so driven by the specific people putting it on at any given time- I've watched multiple bootlegs, and they've all stuck to the basic storyline (such as it is) but there are also huge variations in the dialogue, the order of the songs, etc. It's such a collaborative play that it's hard to really classify fic written about as fic- with the constantly-altered book and the audience participation, it's basically owed by everyone in the first place. One of the things that fascinates me the most about Hair is that it's founded on this idea of a group of people who love each other so deeply, and that's why the ending is such a gutpunch- their world crumbles because the society they live in has made war a priority over love. I know this sounds incredibly pretentious, and I don't want to put pressure on you to write a treatise or anything- anything about their relationship, how they view each other, how Berger changes Claude (and maybe how Claude changes Berger as well?) You can go with the stage canon where they're both hippies or the movie canon where Claude sort of stumbles into the Tribe, or maybe somewhere in between.
Strange Empire
Kat Loving/Rebecca Blithely
This show is everything I never knew I needed. Supernaturally-tinged woman-centric Western starring a Metis woman, a black woman, and an autistic woman? And the autistic woman is a DOCTOR? And the Metis woman is a SHERIFF with a HUGE FOUND FAMILY? It's just amazing. I love all the characters on this show. I love the writing on this show. And even though it's pretty dark, and manages to consistently get darker, I love the moments when you see the characters relax and unwind around each other, when they take a break from battling the world they live in.
So, Kat/Rebecca specifically: I started shipping this in the pilot when Kat asked Rebecca about herself and listened to her babble, and then handed her a gun. I love that we consistently see Kat as one of the few people (besides Robin) who genuinely understands Rebecca and gets that even if she can't always express herself perfectly, she's still a good person who deserves respect. I love that ordinarily you'd expect the roles to be reversed- Kat as the stoic, emotionless gunslinger and Rebecca as the compassionate doctor- instead it's Kat who has this deeply loving personality and Rebecca who struggles to connect. I love that they basically adopted each other right off the bat, with Kat befriending Rebecca and offering her the gun and Rebecca being one of the few to defend Kat in "Buckskin Princess" and "The Whiskey Trader."
For fic: missing scenes, found family fluff with Robin and Kelly, standalone adventures- it's all good. I'd especially love to see Rebecca's POV on Kat and her family, or Kat's POV on Rebecca's upbringing, and how they bring these two very different worldviews with them to Janestown.
Brick
Laura Dannon/Brendan Frye
I love film noir, but what I especially love is neo-noir- movies that take the genre and proceed to flip it and twist it and do all kinds of new, hinky things with it. In this movie's case, it's clear that Rian Johnson adores the tradition he's working in (check out this comparison gifset with The Maltese Falcon) and of course, one of the mainstays of the genre is the private eye/femme fatale relationship. I do genuinely think that Laura fell in love with Brendan, and regretted how it all went down- but at the same time, if presented the choice again, I doubt she'd do it differently. Brendan gets involved as a crusade, because he sees himself as fighting on Emily's behalf. Laura gets involved because . . . well firstly because she's bored and it's fun, and then eventually to save her own skin. But even with all this bad blood, the spark between them never goes out, and it seems like Brendan- for all his pedestal-worshipping of Emily as someone who should be "above" it all- wouldn't really work with anyone who wasn't as elbow-deep in it as he is.
So, fic: post-movie stories about them reconnecting over a case. Pre-movie fic of them circling each other around the school. Mid-movie fic about what Laura's thinking while she watches Brendan and tries to fob off the inevitability of him catching on. Anything about how twisty and sharp and complicated their relationship is- because they're both twisty, sharp, complicated people.
DNWs: animal death, incest, rape/noncon, and major character death.
Perfect Creature
Silus/Lilly Squires
OKAY, SO. This movie is an old, old favourite of mine, ever since it came out about . . . nine years ago. (JESUS) I maintain that it is 1. sadly underrated in general, and 2. sadly underrated in fandom, specifically, because it has all the kinks and tropes that we love so much. Vampires! Priest kink! Steampunk! But apart from all the beautiful, iddy trappings, the thing I really love about this movie is the sense of quiet and slow-growing kindness and understanding between the two leads. I love that Lilly is both the world-weary, hard-bitten heroine (and hey, her husband even got fridged!) but she also has an underlying sense of genuine justice and compassion. And she matches up well with Silus, who comes off as consistently confused by how humans actually function in any kind of social setting ("sniffing them is cool, right?") but still a genuine believer in the idea of the Brotherhood as a force for protection. I've always been interested in stories about the clash between faith and reality (for lack of a better word) but in this movie's case, the faith isn't just blind; it's real, and the evidence is right there. And they're questioning anyway!
So, ficwise: anything set after the movie would be great, obviously, since it sets up all kinds of plotty possibilities. But if that's not up your alley, I'd also like stuff set during the movie, maybe in the quiet moments between scenes, showing what the characters are thinking or feeling.
Hair
George Berger/Claude Bukowski
Full disclosure: I'm more familiar with the movie than the musical, because I've never been lucky enough to see the musical live. But if you want to use stage canon, that's totally okay! There aren't that many differences, and there are plenty of bootlegs I can watch on YouTube to familiarize myself.
So, Claude and Berger! Or more specifically, Claude/Berger. The really cool thing about Hair is that it's so driven by the specific people putting it on at any given time- I've watched multiple bootlegs, and they've all stuck to the basic storyline (such as it is) but there are also huge variations in the dialogue, the order of the songs, etc. It's such a collaborative play that it's hard to really classify fic written about as fic- with the constantly-altered book and the audience participation, it's basically owed by everyone in the first place. One of the things that fascinates me the most about Hair is that it's founded on this idea of a group of people who love each other so deeply, and that's why the ending is such a gutpunch- their world crumbles because the society they live in has made war a priority over love. I know this sounds incredibly pretentious, and I don't want to put pressure on you to write a treatise or anything- anything about their relationship, how they view each other, how Berger changes Claude (and maybe how Claude changes Berger as well?) You can go with the stage canon where they're both hippies or the movie canon where Claude sort of stumbles into the Tribe, or maybe somewhere in between.
Strange Empire
Kat Loving/Rebecca Blithely
This show is everything I never knew I needed. Supernaturally-tinged woman-centric Western starring a Metis woman, a black woman, and an autistic woman? And the autistic woman is a DOCTOR? And the Metis woman is a SHERIFF with a HUGE FOUND FAMILY? It's just amazing. I love all the characters on this show. I love the writing on this show. And even though it's pretty dark, and manages to consistently get darker, I love the moments when you see the characters relax and unwind around each other, when they take a break from battling the world they live in.
So, Kat/Rebecca specifically: I started shipping this in the pilot when Kat asked Rebecca about herself and listened to her babble, and then handed her a gun. I love that we consistently see Kat as one of the few people (besides Robin) who genuinely understands Rebecca and gets that even if she can't always express herself perfectly, she's still a good person who deserves respect. I love that ordinarily you'd expect the roles to be reversed- Kat as the stoic, emotionless gunslinger and Rebecca as the compassionate doctor- instead it's Kat who has this deeply loving personality and Rebecca who struggles to connect. I love that they basically adopted each other right off the bat, with Kat befriending Rebecca and offering her the gun and Rebecca being one of the few to defend Kat in "Buckskin Princess" and "The Whiskey Trader."
For fic: missing scenes, found family fluff with Robin and Kelly, standalone adventures- it's all good. I'd especially love to see Rebecca's POV on Kat and her family, or Kat's POV on Rebecca's upbringing, and how they bring these two very different worldviews with them to Janestown.
Brick
Laura Dannon/Brendan Frye
I love film noir, but what I especially love is neo-noir- movies that take the genre and proceed to flip it and twist it and do all kinds of new, hinky things with it. In this movie's case, it's clear that Rian Johnson adores the tradition he's working in (check out this comparison gifset with The Maltese Falcon) and of course, one of the mainstays of the genre is the private eye/femme fatale relationship. I do genuinely think that Laura fell in love with Brendan, and regretted how it all went down- but at the same time, if presented the choice again, I doubt she'd do it differently. Brendan gets involved as a crusade, because he sees himself as fighting on Emily's behalf. Laura gets involved because . . . well firstly because she's bored and it's fun, and then eventually to save her own skin. But even with all this bad blood, the spark between them never goes out, and it seems like Brendan- for all his pedestal-worshipping of Emily as someone who should be "above" it all- wouldn't really work with anyone who wasn't as elbow-deep in it as he is.
So, fic: post-movie stories about them reconnecting over a case. Pre-movie fic of them circling each other around the school. Mid-movie fic about what Laura's thinking while she watches Brendan and tries to fob off the inevitability of him catching on. Anything about how twisty and sharp and complicated their relationship is- because they're both twisty, sharp, complicated people.