allele_apocalypse

Fic in a Box 2021

2021-08-21T02:10:04Z

AO3 handle: Marie_L

A few notes before we start:

I like a lot and am easy to please for exchange gifts. My overriding wish is for my creator to have fun and give me their take on our shared fandom or character, or even just reveal a piece of one of these worlds that I haven’t seen before. I am also not picky on the shipping front; most of my faves operate as fandom bicycles where you can have at it with whomever you want, including background ships, past relationships, or no romance or sex at all. (Relevant to this exchange, that includes Daneel Olivaw, Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, Padmé, Dorian, all Dune characters and all side characters in WandaVision, although I am somewhat attached to Wanda/Vision in that last one, given that Wanda’s grief is the keystone of the show). I don’t have preferences on gender configurations in relationships either. Again...have fun!

DNW: Graphic violence, bodily fluids, underage sex below 14, explicit noncon (references to it and recovery are both fine), porn in a visual medium

General likes:

* Plot-driven fic, including canon divergence AUs and fixits

* Filling in scenes that canon skips over

* Case or mission fic, canon-style adventures

* Epistolary, particularly diaries/journals/sketchbooks, letters/emails/texts, bureaucratic/scientific/academic reports, news/media accounts

* Worldbuilding. Just shamelessly throw all your ideas in there

* Cultural details for fictional groups, including religion, marriage & mating customs, holidays etc.

* Competence… in fact just keep going into hypercompetence

* Forced proximity (Canadian shack, crash landing on planet, kidnapped together etc.)

* Hurt/comfort

* Mutual pining with eventual get-together; slow burn

* Established relationship...but it’s complicated

* Teacher-student and parent-child dynamics (with children old enough to hold a conversation).

* Redemption (especially if the redeemed character has to work for it or face consequences for past actions)

* Time travel

* Psychological manipulation and slow corruption

* Telepathy and other mental superpowers, and their consequences

* People with superpowers discovering/exploring/learning to use their superpowers

* Body horror, or just body weirdness (includes dysphoria)

* Victim resistance

* Trauma aftermath and recovery

* Robots and their alien mental processes and bodies

* Aliens and their alien mental processes, bodies and technology; xeno

* Alien-human or robot-human confused relationships and everybody working it out in good faith

* Science and made-up science

* Genderbending/Rule 63 (particularly canon male to anything else)

* Fictional gender/sex dynamics

* Any trope mentioned in my Id Pro Quo letter (https://allele-apocalypse.dreamwidth.org/2908.html)

Opt-ins for all canons: All nominated art mediums, all nominated illustrated text mediums, maps, in-universe documents, essays of all types, diary/journal/notebook entries, epistolary, field reports, scientific and academic publications, psychological evaluation reports, newspaper article (feel free to get creative about what constitutes a "newspaper" in these SF canons). A few more opt-ins are noted under specific fandoms.

Dune book series – Frank Herbert

Liet-Kynes, Ghanima Atreides & Leto Atreides II, Alia Atreides, Worldlbuilding: Any
Extra opt-ins: In-universe religious texts, Rashomon-style conflicting narratives

The new movie trailer inspired a reread of the first three Dune books. I never make it past God Emperor (the time jump is fatal every time), but the first three books have enough fascinating (if sometimes maddening) ideas stuffed into them to make up for that. I always love the worldbuilding of Dune, but some of the character decisions...eh. With each reread, Herbert’s fatalism becomes more annoying, with major characters (not only Paul) acting like they couldn’t possibly make different decisions lest Something Worse happen, although a galaxy-wide jihad that kills 60 billion (why was this inevitable again?) and getting ruled by a giant enlightened sandworm for millennia both seem pretty bad. Alternate universe plots to the rescue! Or at least alternate universe philosophical meanderings with an SF veneer.

In any case, the pre-born do hold a special fascination. How do Ghanima and Leto avoid the fate of Alia, simply taken over by any one of the infinite personalities inhabiting their heads? It’s implied their relationship is the key when they are younger, their ability to pull one another back from the brink. Alia lacks this relationship, and is abandoned by her mother who, as a Reverend Mother, might have some insight into her mental complexities, and is placed in power as some sort of priestess/God, another bad idea that is portrayed as unavoidable. I’d love any AUs on this, but also would love navalgazing epistolary, especially on the religion of Maud’dib and Alia, or also conflicting narratives or unreliable narrator of Space Feudalism Academicians. (I can’t be the only one who would buy Irulan’s or Harq al-Ada’s books). Likewise, Liet-Kynes is both an interesting character to explore, and also an excuse for ecological worldbuilding. As Arrakis is terraformed, imagine all the reports!

Robot Series – Isaac Asimov

Elijah Bailey & R. Daneel Olivaw, Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw, Worldbuilding: Any
Extra opt-ins: Interactive fiction (I don't care what format)

Another set of books I first read as a youngster, and may have imprinted a little on Daneel as the prototypical android who can pass for human, but also has alien thought processes. Daneel’s ability to wriggle around the Three Laws of Robotics is always fun, although sometimes it can be obvious authorly attempts to get around what is nowadays called the value alignment problem. There’s always a little ghost in Asimov’s machines, no matter how much he (or the characters) protest otherwise, and this is what makes them humanly delightful. Daneel and Elijah have a classic arc: saddled together, one party culturally distrustful of the other, eventually getting around to saving each other’s lives and lifelong devotion, in Daneel’s case going on thousands of years More casefic adventures for these two! Maybe Daneel is left on Earth for reasons (cultural attache? Encourage more emigration?), or one of Elijah’s offworld adventures puts him in demand on another colony planet. Or perhaps Elijah is allowed to become a colonist, against the cultural grain of this particular time period in Asimov’s universe. Any excuse to throw these two together.

Star Wars – All Media Types

Obi-Wan Kenobi (SWPT) & Rey (SWST), Padmé Amidala (SWPT) & Leia Organa (SWOT) & Luke Skywalker (SWOT)

Star Wars – Original Trilogy

Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Leia Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Darth Vader, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, R2-D2 & Darth Vader

Extra opt-ins: Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives

For both the AMT and OT requests, I vaguely had in mind “Prequel characters in later era, only more interaction than in canon.” Essentially I want all the fic where Obi-Wan does a lot more training of younger characters – maybe Obi-Wan lives, maybe the Luke, Leia and even Rey are raised under radically different circumstances; or Padmé doesn’t dramatically die, raises her kids and becomes a leader in the budding or actual rebellion; or Vader captures his kid(s) for real and tries to turn them to the Dark Side (good luck with that); or maybe even R2 saves the galaxy by turning Anakin back (hey, it could happen). Conflicting narratives/shifting POV would be especially interesting along good vs evil or older vs younger era axis. For Vader in particular, I’ve always had a hard time reconciling OT Vader with the Anakin of the Prequels & Clone Wars as “really” the same person. This disjuncture tends to land on the OT/suited Vader side of things, so anything that bridges those character personas would be great.

A note on the sprawling Star Wars canon: You can bring in any other side characters in addition to the nominated ones if you like, for any of my Star Wars nominations. I’m working my way through the various TV series with my kids in universe chronological order, so thus far I’ve consumed all the movies, Clone Wars, Bad Batch, and the Vader and Obi-Wan & Anakin comics; we’ll probably make through Rebels by the time of FiaB reveals. I wouldn’t count on the Mandalorian or Resistance being seen by then, and I don’t know the video games or most of the books or other comics.

Star Wars – Prequel Trilogy

Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Original Jedi Character/Original Jedi Character, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Shmi Skywalker/Original Female Jedi, Worldbuilding: Prequels-Era Jedi Culture

Extra opt-ins: Interactive fiction (I don't care what format), in-universe religious texts, Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives

This is pretty much my open late Jedi worldbuilding nomination, plus Obi-Wan in there as the platonic ideal of a Jedi from this era. Religious or philosophical texts! Field reports and memos! Media reports demonstrating the failing Jedi reputation! Maps and diagrams of the Temple! Choose Your Own Adventure of Jedi exploits! Anakin or other padawan psych reports! Obi-Wan’s Tatooine journal! Lor San Tekka’s reconstruction of the fall the fall of the Jedi and rise of Palpatine from fragmentary evidence! Non-Jedi academic reports of Jedi culture!

I threw in the Shmi/OFJ nomination after seeing it in the tag set; who doesn’t want a better ending for gentle Shmi? Maybe she’s brought somewhere into the Jedi orbit with Anakin instead of being left on Tatooine, or maybe in another universe, the Jedi have a different social structure that doesn’t involve isolating Force-sensitive children from their families.

Almost Human

Dorian & Any DRN Character, Dorian & Any MX-43 Character, Dorian/Any DRN Character, Worldbuilding: Any
Extra opt-ins: Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives, Recursive Fic of Any of the Recip's Works In This Fandom

This show has all the elements I tend to fall for in fic – live action SF crammed with interesting ideas and pretty actors, but also flawed enough to want better, or at least more, stories to be told. Almost Human only lasted half a season, so it left a lot of mysteries unresolved. The basic premise of the show was that in the not too distant (and slightly apocalyptic) future, androids will have been invented with enough sentience to be deployed in the more menial jobs, a category that apparently includes disposable cop partner. One line of androids, the DRNs, have unusual emotional capacity, but this proves to be their downfall as they experience psychological breakdowns on the job, and are subsequently retired from the police force and sold off. The show features one of the last of these “broken” androids (Dorian) paired up with an equally “broken” human (Kennex), who refuses to work alongside the more coldly logical new line of androids, the MX-43s.

Any of the central mysteries of the show would be great to explore in fic. What really happened to the DRNs, and what is their fate during the era of the show’s run? Why were they chosen to be cops in the first place, if they were as unsuited? What makes Dorian so special to keep him around? Why, in a city that’s overpopulated with the underemployed, do they need androids in the first place? Is anyone in this universe ever going to discuss how ethically dubious it is to create a group of fully sentient beings who are legally disposable property? What prevents any of these apparently intelligent robots from self-organizing for their own ends, and what will happen when they do?

I’m down with canon-like case fic of technology gone wrong (going over the Wall is classic, but also what’s outside the city?), or just an exploration of relationships, of what makes certain human beings become so attached to their android counterparts. Dorian is a bit of a fandom bicycle for me, so you can pair him up with anyone you like. I also don’t mind background ships such as Richard/MX-43, so long as the focus is on the DRNs.

WandaVision

Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Worldbuilding: Any
Extra opt-ins: Interactive fiction (I don't care what format), Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives, Fandom Primer

I’ll admit to being a casual observer of the MCU – I think I’ve seen all the movies, but not necessarily in the correct order, so the finer plot points are a jumble – but WandaVision did manage to hit a whole bunch of favorite tropes, including mind control and its horrors, android/human relations, coming to terms with the extent of one’s superpowers, and improbably attractive nerd sidekicks trying to solve a mystery. Plus the actors’ expanded performances sold me on the Wanda/Vision love affair in a way that their seeming 8 minutes of movie screen time could not. So, moar please? This seems like an especially good canon for epistolary field reports, psych profiles, post-event analyses and the like, including from the varied views of Monica, Darcy, Jimmy, Hayward, Westview victim-witnesses, etc. Or for something more straightforward, such as what would have happened if Agatha and White Vision hadn’t been around in the last few episodes, how would have Wanda played out her grief, particularly in light of all the captured townspeople and Vision’s increasing awareness of what was going on? (A story where no one from the outside ever manages to break in until Vision becomes self-aware would be fascinating). Or if Agatha had been more of a benign witch-observer rather than reverting to villain in the middle? Or if the whole thing had just dragged on into more and more sitcoms?

I also included fandom primer, in case there’s a kind person out there who’s willing to give me the complete Marvel history of the characters Wanda Maximoff and/or The Vision, including what I assume is a voluminous comics history. Yeah, I could read a wiki, but that’s boring. Someone else tell the story.

Original Work

Contestant On Dystopian Game Show & Their Teammates, Female Cop Skeptical About Androids/Android Who's Been Assigned as Her Partner, Human man or woman who works in a brothel for aliens/aliens, Jaded Alien Soldier Stationed To Protect Farming World/Cheerful Human Space Sheep Herder, Post-Apocalypse Survivor/Post-Apocalypse Survivor Who's Her Ex-wife, Teenagers Who Are On The Run From The Evil Intergalactic Empire & Same, Worldbuilding: Arcanepunk Society, Worldbuilding: Steampunk Society, Worldbuilding: Matriarchal Steampunk Society, Worldbuilding: Post-Climate Change Apocalyptic World

Extra opt-ins: Interactive fiction (I don't care what format), in-universe religious texts, Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives

I never know what to say about Original Work except to wave vaguely at the already fine prompts (anything would be great, I promise), but here’s some 100% optional thoughts:

* Contestant on Dystopian Game Show – Two elements are appealing here. First, the design of the “game” (give me all the awful details! Bonus for thinly veiled social commentary!), and then the problem-solving aspect as our plucky contestants must escape and/or survive. I’m down for Hunger Games-like societal spectacles, people trapped in puzzles like the Cube movie, or evil versions of actual game shows like the Price is Right,

* Female Cop/Android Cop – I swear I did not nominate this, given it’s the third human/android cop request in this exchange. I think the element I like about this trope is two disparate beings, possibly with conflicting values, forced to work in close proximity and eventually becoming buddies (plus friends to lovers if you want). The cop format naturally lends itself to casefic as easily designed plots, and more excuses to throw the partners in ridiculous situations such as Undercover Android Prostitute/Client or Fake Owner/Servant. If someone wants to use the android angle to introduce a more complicated narrative about police than the usual cop-centered morality, I opt-in to that.

* Man or Woman in Alien Brothel – What it says on the tin: Xeno, with possible humor. CYOA is potentially hilarious here.

* Alien Soldier/Sheep Farmer – Besides the obvious, all the alien planet farming! Also, is this some kind of alien UN cooperative situation for the soldier, or an occupation sort of situation?

* Post-Apocalypse Survivors Who Are Exes & Post-Climate Change Apocalyptic World – Conflict and survival encampments! Modern people being thrown back to per-industrial level technology! Recognizable yet devastated landscapes! Bringing up old fights while under scavenging for survival! Etc.

* Teenagers Running From Intergalactic Evil – The teens could have special abilities or magic genes, or perhaps simply ran away from Evil Secret Program or stole a macguffin. I’m good with unrealistically competent young people too.

* Steampunk, Matriarchal Steampunk, Arcanepunk – Feel free to make the setting somewhere other than Alt-19th Century England. Surely some other cultures – or a made up one – can have fancy clothes and style, non-electric technology, magic with pseudoscientific rules. How about steampunk arboreal elves? An alien interpretation or a complete alt-Earth with different continents and history?

comments

FFFX 2021

2021-08-04T17:50:52Z

Do not want: Graphic violence, bodily fluids, underage sex below 14, explicitly detailed rape (references to it and recovery are both fine), PWP, porn in a visual medium

General likes:

* Plot-driven fic, including canon divergence AUs and fixits

* Character who died in canon lives, and all the downstream consequences of that (in this exchange, this particularly applies to Obi-Wan, Padme Amidala, Anakin/Darth Vader, Catherine Parker, and Hugh Third of Five)

* Filling in scenes that canon skips over

* Case or mission fic, canon-style adventures

* Mentor-student and parent-child relationships. Also kid fic with kids old enough to have their own personalities. Includes healthy relationships or the fucked-up sort.

* Worldbuilding. Just shamelessly throw all your ideas in there

* Cultural details for fictional groups, including religion, marriage & mating customs, holidays etc.

* Competence… in fact just keep going into hypercompetence

* Forced proximity (Canadian shack, crash landing on planet, kidnapped together...whatever)

* Hurt/comfort

* Mutual pining with eventual get-together; slow burn

* Redemption (especially if the redeemed character has to work for it or face consequences for past actions)

* Psychological manipulation and slow corruption

* Telepathy and other mental superpowers

* People with superpowers discovering/exploring/learning to use their superpowers

* Body horror, or just body weirdness (includes dysphoria)

* Victim resistance

* Trauma aftermath and recovery

* Robots and their alien mental processes and bodies

* Aliens and their alien mental processes, bodies and technology; xeno

* Alien-human or robot-human confused relationships and everybody working it out in good faith

* Genderbending/Rule 63 (particularly canon male to anything else)

* Fictional gender/sex dynamics

* Any trope mentioned in the Id Pro Quo letter (https://allele-apocalypse.dreamwidth.org/2908.html)

Almost Human – graphic novel or fic

Dorian, Dorian & Other DRNs

Babylon 5 – graphic novel or fic

Lyta Alexander & Kosh, Kosh

Jeffrey Sinclair, Delenn/Jeffrey Sinclair

Babylon 5 was one of baby’s first fandoms back in the 90s, and by the end was in it primarily for three things: the Vorlons, the Minbari, and the telepaths. The Vorlons are a fantastic alien-alien, and I would be happy with ten thousand words (or lovely art) of navelgazing at the Vorlon homeworld, or an exploration of Kosh’s impenetrable thought processes. Lyta makes a good human observer of the weirdness; it would be fascinating to see what jobs the Vorlons have tasked her with while she was off-station. Or, perhaps she calls upon the Vorlons for help later in the war, or they call upon her for some inscrutable purpose against the Shadows.

Jeffrey Sinclair is one my favorite B5 characters, and I honestly still mourn what could have been if the actor hadn’t been forced to leave the show. Sinclair/Delenn is a bit of a reflection of this, as it’s hard not to believe that Sheridan’s plotlines were originally intended for Sinclair. It would make an interesting AU to explore them having a relationship after Delenn’s transformation, but before his. Even sticking closer to the original story, they could have had a relationship anytime in the first couple of years on the station – when Delenn was still in her spying-and-fascination stage – or after Sinclair is sent to Minbar (someone should show him the ropes, instead of being isolated on an alien world, as in the book). Or, even more of an AU, a story where the Minbari simply kept him prisoner during the war instead of returning him to his ship – what then? I’m also a huge sucker for any story placed after Sinclair travels back in time and transforms into Valen.

The Pretender - fic

Catherine Parker

The background of the Centre and Jarod’s childhood has always been an intriguing aspect of the Pretender, and Catherine Parker was the central figure in the axis between Raines, Mr. Parker, Sydney and Jacob. What exactly was her plan in rescuing the children? Why did the powers that be allow her to rescue several low-level kids, but murder her before reaching Jarod, Angelo and her own daughter? Was she conspiring with Jacob, or trying to convince Sydney that his research was unethical in their “therapy” sessions? Or, for a full AU, what would have happened if she had succeeded in her plans?

Star Trek: Picard – graphic novel or fic

Hugh, Hugh & Seven

Picard & Soji, Picard & Soji & Data

(Note: I’m not holding back the spoilers, in case anyone wanders into this prompt).

This show’s first season suffered from a surfeit of fascinating ideas, so many crammed into a scant ten episodes that none of them are developed properly. We’ve got Romulan refugees and secret android societies and robot terrorist attacks and the Federation settling into moral decay and secret Romulan cults and undercover incesty spies who may be falling for their marks and recovered Borg victims being discriminated against/preyed upon and one of Star Trek’s most iconic character’s consciousness uploaded into a robot body and and… Anyway, it’s a lot of goodness trapped in a breathless unsatisfactory package. Help me, longfic, you’re my only hope!

I’ve focused my nominations on the cyborgs and androids because I find them the most interesting, and also we need to narrow things down here, but if you want to include other ST:PIC characters or romantic entanglement, that’s fine. What I’m going for here is a more in-depth exploration of either the XBs or Soji’s android group, however it may intersect with other characters. What happened to Hugh in between TNG and Picard? How did we get here with the ex-Borg? Under what circumstances do Seven and Hugh meet, and do they get up to adventures? What was Soji’s motivation or purpose in sending herself “undercover” without knowledge of her true nature onto the Borg cube? What can Soji (or her people) teach Picard, or vice versa? How is Data’s consciousness involved in the formation of the android colony, or what how can he help Picard with his transformation? (Some version of “Data Lives” is welcome here).

Star Wars: Prequels – graphic novel or fic

Obi-Wan Kenobi

I’ll take any Obi-Wan centered fic, from any canon era – the prequels seemed the most relevant for nomination purposes, but pre-canon in the Temple or with Qui-Gon (all the Jedi training customs, please...or with Anakin), Clone Wars, the Tatooine period or even original trilogy (see prompts below) would be welcome as well. I’m also fine with a wide variety of shipping angles here, so if you have an Obi-Wan/Obscure Character OTP you’ve been dying to get out there, now’s your chance. (Although if it’s really obscure, give me a heads up with contextual clues and tagging, as I can’t say I have all of the Star Wars universe memorized). Here’s some things I like about Obi-Wan: Loyalty. Pig-headed obsequiousness to The Cause. Superpowers but modest about it. Iron woobie who gets beat up and tortured a lot. (See: the Wild Space novel and every other episode of Clone Wars). Not a terrible teacher but emotional constipation proves to be his downfall (and the Jedi as well?). Deserves a better end.

Anakin Skywalker & Sheev Palpatine

I’ve always felt that one of the most disappointing things about the prequels was that the manipulation and fall of Anakin was crammed into about 1 ¼ movies, instead of the slow psychological burn it should have been. The Clone Wars rectifies this to some degree, but still I want more. All the manipulation, both before and after Mustafar. Sometimes it is frankly difficult to reconcile prequels Anakin, Clone Wars Anakin, and original trilogy Vader as the same person, so I’d adore any attempts to explore that transition. (The Vader comics, which start right after Mustafar, actually have done the best job I’ve seen at pulling all the backstory together into a singular character). One AU that would be interesting is one in which Anakin turns to the Dark Side but isn’t disfigured – would he maintain the Vader persona without the motivating pain, the dehumanization, the physical intimidation of the suit, and with a whole lot more people knowing he’s former Jedi General Anakin Skywalker? Also, Palpatine’s perspective at any point would be fascinating. He’s the archetype of the evil genius pulling the levers behind the scenes. What happens when you succeed at all that, and have all the power you could ever want, ever over your own apprentice? I swear half the reason Palpatine lets the rebels through to Endor in RotJ is to have a little fun for old time’s sake.

Star Wars: Original Trilogy – graphic novel or fic

Obi-Wan & Luke, Obi-Wan & Leia, Vader & Leia

Whether due to an AU where Obi-Wan Lives, time travel or Force Ghost, I would love a story in which Obi-Wan manages to train to Luke and/or Leia, or at least let them know the truth about their history. Obi-Wan’s death in ANH always seems rather plot-driven for Luke’s storyline, rather than organically necessary. So what happens if he escapes, or even kills Vader? How does that change the rebellion? Likewise Vader’s inability to recognize Leia as his daughter even though she’s captured by him twice is unsatisfying, even though it’s understandable in the evolution of the movies (since Lucas hadn’t made that bit up yet). The original trilogy focuses on Vader and Luke’s relationship, but there’s no reason some of that attention couldn’t have been focused on Leia – and as Bail Organa’s daughter, she’s more recognizably linked to Padme than Luke, minus the Skywalker name. Alternatively, what if Leia knows to begin with, how does that change the story?

comments

Id Pro Quo 2021

2021-01-31T22:03:45Z

General likes: Worldbuilding, some kind of plot no matter how flimsy, genderbending canonically male characters, angst & psychological stress, humor, competence & intelligence, hard science, fake science, crack taken seriously, fictional culture/biology/psychology, telepathy and other mental powers, Everyone Is A Badass (even if they are terrible people), complicated relationships, psychological manipulation, moral ambiguity, non- and dubcon (watch for a few specific exceptions), victim resistance, recovery

More kinks and tropes that I enjoy: A/B/O worldbuilding, Aftermath of… (pick a trauma), ___ Made Them Do It, AU: Canon Divergence, AU: Dom/sub, BDSM, Banter, Bondage, Both Captured & Forced to work Together, Breast Worship, Careful Sex with Injured Partner, Comfort Sex, Competence Kink, Consensual Underage Sex, Corruption, Dubcon – Character didn't want it but begins to enjoy it during the act, Enthusiastic Consent, Extremely detailed descriptions of food and culture around food, perceptive Character A is attracted to complicated Character B immediately, First Time, Fisting, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia (and getting over it), Incest, Lactation, Loneliness, Loss of Virginity, Loyalty, Magic, Mating Bonds, Mating Cycles, Medical Experimentation, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath/Recovery, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Non-sentient technology gone wrong, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Overstimulation, Oviposition, Past Rape/Non-con, Pain, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Sex, Psychic Feedback Loop, Rape Recovery, Rescues, Ritual Sex, Rough Sex, Secret Relationship, Self/Mutual Experimentation, Sensation Play, Sex Magic, Sexual Rites of Passage, Sex Slaves Escape Together, Sexual Training, Snowed In, Soul Sex, Stranded Together, Student/Teacher, Time Loops, Whump, Xeno

General DNWs: Underage below 15, complete dehumanization, objectification, humiliation, public use, bodily fluids, an emphasis on graphic violence, mundane AUs, death of nominated characters

Star Wars Prequel Trilogy: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker (SWPT)

Accidental Soulbond

Character A gets off on how well they can fuck Character B

Character A promises to be gentle if B surrenders; B takes them up on it

Corruption – Magically Corrupted Character Purposely Corrupts Lover

Corrupting the hero with compelling moral arguments (and backing them up with dubcon sex)

Dubcon – Conditioning Means Unable to Say No For Sex

Entering someone's dreams/nightmares

Mind Control

Mind Control – Victim pretending to be mind controlled to trick the villain

Noncon - Victim is treated like a lover

oblivious mental conditioning/mind control

Star Wars: Sith AU

DNW for this request: Fluffy romance, significant appearance of post-Mustafar Darth Vader

Star wars Prequel Trilogy: Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi (SWPT)

Character A is aroused by Character B's Display of Competence

Character's Magical Powers Are Kept in Check with Institutionalized Sex Ritual

Characters Have Sex As Part Of Diplomatic Negotiations and/or Relations

Characters have to pretend they're not in a relationship when in public

Deep-delving into all the politics and court dynamics canon barely touched on

Emotionally constipated character realizes they are in love

Getting Together While Pregnant

Hurt/comfort – A is hurt protecting B; B is emotionally devastated while trying to comfort A

If I Must Solve A Dozen Geopolitical Problems Just To Have Sex With You Then I Will

Intricate Courting Rituals Across Cultural Differences

Marriage – Characters Consider Themselves Married Even if in the Eyes of the Law They're Not

Mating Bond

Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery

Pining – Characters try to resist due to religious guilt but still end up together

Psychic/Magical Bond allows Partners to Share Physical Sensations During Sex (Sensory Feedback Loop)

Secret Relationship

Telepathic Bond

Touch-Starved Character Having Overwhelming Tender Long Foreplay First Time Sex

DNW for this request: Noncon between Padme & Obi-Wan

It’s probably clear from the tags that I view Padme/Anakin as the fundamentally fucked up ship, while Padme/Ben get all the secret relationship/forbidden romance/meeting of two powerful people from very different cultures vibes that canon tried to make work for Anakin. Sorry Lucas, you can’t expect me to root for sweet romance in the second act, and have the love interest slaughter the younglings in the third. I am 100% on board with the idea that Anakin was consciously or unconsciously Force-mojoing Padme into love and sex, although I can see many different potential motivations, such as emotional longing and loneliness, obsession, slowly descending corruption, pre-existing evil, or the active machinations of Palpatine cackling from the sidelines. I’m also good with Dark Padme reversals of this dynamic, or scenarios in which corrupted Anakin tries or succeeds in corrupting Padme in turn.

For Padme/Obi-wan, the essence of the ship for me is Jedi-meets-politician and they sooner or later get it on. Everything else about the scenario can be changed. I would love lighthearted fun, or angst/guilt over the oh-so-wrongness of our feelings, or instant attraction that cannot be resisted, or sex pollen that uncovers hidden emotions, or even recovery fic after Anakin (including post-canon and Padme Lives). I do like explorations of fictional cultures and Jedi culture in particular, and how that clashes with the galaxy at large, so feel free to pontificate on all the worldbuilding details (philosophy, clothes, food, Jedi-Senate politics...)

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SWST)

Accidental Soulbond

Accidental Soulbond – distance and lack of touch and regular sex causes characters pain and illness

Bad Guys Capture Ship to Breed Them Because of Super Genes

Characters Captured By Non-Earth Species & Kept as Pets & Bred With Each Other

Dreams – Sharing Dreams

Codependency – Actively Encouraging Each Other's Self-Destructive Tendencies

Dub-Con – Rough Sex Used as Punishment in Training

Dystopic soulmate AU

Enemies to Lovers - Accidental soulbond between enemies

Hate Sex Turns Unexpectedly Tender

Incest – character(s) realize they’re related during sex

Psychic/Magical Bond allows Partners to Share Physical Sensations During Sex (Sensory Feedback Loop)

Seduction to the Dark Side

Telepathic Bond

DNW for this request: Fluffy romance, woobification of either Ren or Rey

The essence of Kylo/Rey for me is this: Two pretty and absurdly overpowered people are mindlinked for ~reasons~, and each tries to convert/corrupt the other to their own worldview. All other details are fun and porn. Unlike Anakin/Padme, Kylo is already on the Dark Side from the beginning, and Rey is equally powerful as him, so the dynamic is much more of a Mutually Assured Destruction struggle between the two of them. I’m pretty fond of scenarios where Rey gets captured (again? Or doesn’t get out quickly?) and Kylo tries (a lot) harder to corrupt her, or where she takes up Kylo’s offer to to conquer the galaxy together and she tries to get them to rule for good, or they are thrown together by external forces and (attempted breeding by Snoke or Palpatine is pretty classic) and must either work together and/or duke it out. A pre-canon AU where Rey is a rival at Luke’s school also would not go amiss. Like the other Star Wars requests, I love all the extraneous worldbuilding details, and I am not a canon-stickler so feel free to make stuff up.

Dark Angel: Solo: Alec McDowell (Dark Angel TV)

Accidental Baby Acquisition – Turns Out the Villains Grew a Baby in a Lab Using Your DNA

Adult or Teenage Character's Childhood Backstory

Aftermath of Non-Consensual Body Modification

BDSM as a way to deal with trauma/mental illness

bondage for the sake of aesthetics/beauty (at least) as much as effectiveness

Brainwashing – Character Recovered from Brainwashing Gets Captured and Brainwashed Again

Character seeks out rough sex as coping mechanism

conflicted horny feelings towards an alternative version of yourself

Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane

Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery

Pregnant through medical experimentation and super protective of the baby

surprise pregnancy reveals true extent of past noncon body modification

Ah Alec, such a beautiful fandom bicycle. Ship him with anyone or no one, so long as banter, emotional immaturity, trauma fallout and superpowers are involved. I would be happy with either light-hearted or humorous stories, or something heavier involving the non-con/aftermath tags, or some darkly humorous combination of the two. For the mpreg prompts, I don’t think Alec would exactly be shocked by whatever his weird body is serving up, but definitely dealing with an actual child may throw him.

The Pretender: Jarod/Miss Parker (The Pretender TV)

A/B/O - alpha dubcons alpha into getting fucked and knotted

A/B/O - Female Alpha doms male omega

Alpha is nonconned until they become an omega

Bad Guys Capture Ship to Breed Them Because of Super Genes

Breeding kink- forced breeding

Character A Thinks they're the Only One Good Enough to Take Character B's Virginity

D/s - under-negotiated or unnegotiated but mutually enjoyed dynamic

Femdom

Masked Ball As An Excuse for Inadvisable Sex

Mpreg

DNW for this request: Fluffy romance, Jarod unilaterally nonconning Miss Parker (mutual or reciprocating abuse is fine), Miss Parker as an omega

This old fandom predates the advent of omegaverse, and – let’s face it – was fairly vanilla to begin with. So, uh, does someone want to be the first? Canon practically hands these breeding storylines to us on a plate, so why not add some fake biology and gender dynamics to it for fun? The dynamic between these two is fairly complicated – childhood friends, adult adversaries, both effectively brainwashed or manipulated by the organization that raised them – and out of this, Miss Parker’s character seems to be the one that people struggle the most with in fic. I think it is sometimes difficult for writers to break out of a binary villain or woobie victim conceptualization for her, but I am fine with a morally gray or ambiguous combination of both. Jarod more straightforwardly has two radically different modes, the his brainwashed Centre self, and post-escape gleefully taunting self, where he is fully complicit in keeping up the chase. I’m fine with stories spanning any of these eras (although age them up to at least 15 for sexualized flashback kid sort of stories), or changing canon with Jarod permanently captured, or both of them taking over the Centre together. Or, if you just want to do a non-heavy Jarod/MP hookup, Masked Ball As An Excuse for Inadvisable Sex would be fabulous.

The Pretender: Solo: Jarod (The Pretender TV)

Accidental Baby Acquisition – Turns Out the Villains Grew a Baby in a Lab Using Your DNA

Alternate Universe – Daemons

BDSM as a way to deal with trauma/mental illness

Comfort Sex

Coming Out - Realization when Meeting Another LGBTQ Person

Deeply Sexually Repressed Character Slowly Becomes Sluttier Over Time

Journey of gay/queer self-discovery

Pregnant through medical experimentation and super protective of the baby

Sex – Touch-Starved Character So Overwhelmed They Don't Know What to Do With Themselves

Solo sex experiments

surprise pregnancy reveals true extent of past noncon body modification

Touch-Starved Character Having Overwhelming Tender Long Foreplay First Time Sex

Mpreg

Jarod is another little black dress character that I can see in a lot of different pairings and settings (and so does canon, lol). Basically what I’d like here is an exploration of themes that inexplicably haven’t been dealt with in fic very often before, such as: What if Jarod actual had to care for a kid by himself (instead of conveniently foisting it off on others), or if that was the motivation to leave the Centre in the first place? Or what if Jarod were gay but still had been forced to do het sims forever, how would he adjust to a different self-identity? Or what if, instead reserving himself sexually, he embarked on a journey of thorough self-discovery with the same enthusiasm as discovering ice cream? What if the universe had daemons, how would that affect Jarod’s life-long loneliness, or his behavior after getting out? Jarod/OC is fine for any of these scenarios.

Star Trek: Picard: Soji Asha/Narek (ST: Picard)

Brainwashing – Character Recovered from Brainwashing Gets Captured and Brainwashed Again

Character A gets off on how well they can fuck Character B

Character A lost character B's trust; trying desperately to get it back

Character A Modified Character B's Body For Character A's Pleasure

Characters Captured By Non-Earth Species & Kept as Pets & Bred With Each Other

Characters' old memories & lives replaced with new ones – effect isn't permanent

Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded

Dubcon – Conditioning Means Unable to Say No For Sex

Dubcon leads to feeling

Enemy uses mindwipe on hero but mindwipe is only partially effective

Hacking Robot/Cyborg/AI Victim to Inhibit Movement

Mind Control

Mind Control – Victim pretending to be mind controlled to trick the villain

Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery

Robot Has Hardware and/or Software Installed To Sleep With Their Partner

Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing

It would hardly be an idfest without a hot android … plus a creepy Romulan spy with deep-rooted android issues? Mmm, yes, bring it on. The writing in canon was a mess, so really the take home situation here is an android who doesn’t remember she’s android until she does, plus a gaslighting Romulan who does know she’s an android and maybe loves her, maybe hates her, maybe doesn’t know what the fuck he ‘s doing. Just run with that and them into any other situation you want. One of the most interesting aspects of this is Soji’s mental state and identity – are you human if you think you are human? What happens when your programming is manipulated, by your own people or by external malevolent forces? How do you recover a relationship once that sense of self is betrayed?

Star Trek: Picard: Hugh | Third of Five & Seven of Nine (ST: Picard), Solo: Hugh | Third of Five (ST: Picard)

all the diaspora feelings

Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded

Hurt/Comfort – Aftermath of Torture

Hurt/Comfort – Character Doesn't Expect Tenderness But Gets It Anyway

Mind Control – Recovery while in high pressure circumstances

Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery

Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing

Touch-Starved – Stoic Character Falls Apart When Someone Touches Them

Recovery from Canon Illness/Injury

DNW for this request: Hugh and Seven as antagonists against each other

All I want for Christmas is deBorging fic, especially the psychological ramifications of having to reform your identity and very consciousness, as well as physical body, to a foreign or dimly recalled sense of self. This could be long or short term, and I’d welcome anything along the timeline here, from Hugh returning to his cube and planting the seeds of individuality, to the Lore era, to the establishment of the idea of xBs in the Federation (Hugh must meet Seven somewhere in there) and through the Borg Reclamation Project, with its touchy Romulan/Federation relationship. The latter is particularly fascinating with how the xBs appear to be establishing their own culture out of individual journeys of reclaiming themselves.

comments

Wayback Exchange 2019

2019-03-02T05:54:47Z

Welcome fellow Waybacker! Sorry for being late with the letters yet, again; by now I shouldn't try to make promises that I cannot keep. On the plus side, I am gentle and non-picky, and love many types of fic and, so don't stress this assignment. We matched on one of my fond fandoms, and if there's something you love about a particular character or pairing within one of these shows, I'll love it too. All prompts and ramblings are strictly optional.

Do Not Want: Graphic violence, underage sex below 14, pure domestic fluff, bodily fluids

Likes:

– Plotty fic

– Resolution of conflicting/hanging plot threads

– Canon divergence AU, particularly the fix-it kind and “what if Y happened instead of X?”

– Worldbuilding

– Science fiction

– Gen and smutty fic equally welcomed. Smut preferences pretty well covered in last year's Smut Swap letter, here.

– Humor and banter

– Angst between characters that is resolved

– Bad guys getting their comeuppance

– Good guys getting pursued by a powerful bad organization and having to escape or connive their way out of it

– Good guys keeping secrets, eventually bringing in other good guys on their secrets. Intimacy created by those secrets.

– Culture, biology and thought processes of aliens and the not-quite standard human

– Intelligence and competence bordering on superpowers. See also: Mental superpowers

– Mental scars from bad childhoods

– Perseverance over adversity

– Pining and repressed attraction acted upon/resolved

– Hurt (especially my faves getting hurt)/comfort

I'm indiscriminate on the shipping front, and am not bothered by background ships.

Babylon 5 – Jeffrey Sinclair & None, Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters, Lyta Alexander/Kosh

These three requests hit upon the three aspects of the B5 universe I always found intriguing: the Minbari, telepaths, and the Vorlons. Sinclair, the human who first becomes a Minbari teacher and later transforms into their messiah, is an excellent thoughtful observer of Minbari culture. In a sense he is there for two great Minbari cultural transformations – from powerful united xenophobes to leaders in the multispecies resistance in the future, and from fractured warrior factions to a rigid but stable peace in the past. What does Sinclair see, and how does his perspective change over time? Anything with the Rangers or with Valen would be be fantastic to explore. Including “To Dream in the City of Sorrows” is fine – or not. I've also always been intrigued by Sinclair's relationship with Delenn, both before the show's timeline and during.

Susan/Talia – I adore this pairing, and mourn how little we got of it. Fix-it opportunity – what happens if Talia wasn't suddenly personality-killed, and the two of them had time to face their demons with Psi Corps? Would Talia give up Susan's secret, or finally reject her Corps indoctrination? Or, on a lighter note, some telepathic smut would be great.

Lyta Alexander/Kosh – If this was ever a romantic pairing thing in the fandom, I'm not aware of it. But maybe it should be, given the weirdness involved. The Vorlons are bioengineers across millennium, and perhaps on some level they are telepathic as well as their creations. Perhaps they are making their “weapons” in their own image. What happened to Lyta when she journeyed to Vorlon space, and was accepted? How did they change her, and how does she feel about it? Lyta/Kosh's ship would be an interesting relationship to explore as well.

Dark Angel – Max Guevara | X5-452/Alec McDowell | X5-494, Max Guevara | X5-452 & Joshua & Alec McDowell | X5-494

I'm fascinated with the transgenics storyline, and although they hit monster-of-the-week too hard in the second season, it still works better for me than Max's missing “family” in season one, largely due to the continued presence of Alec and Joshua, instead of Max brooding alone. Anything past of present with these two or three – What if Max didn't escape so quickly from Manticore? What if her group didn't escape at all the first time, how would that have affected how Manticore raised all the transgenics (including the 'nomalies in the basement)? What if the transgenics had continued to organize themselves in Seattle, but without the public reveal? This show was an inconsistent mess plot-wise, but that just leaves more plot holes for fic writers to play with.

The Pretender – Jarod (the Pretender) & Miss Parker (the Pretender), Jarod (the Pretender)/Miss Parker (the Pretender), Jarod (the Pretender) & Sydney (the Pretender)

Jarod is a weird contradiction, a child-like curiosity and goodwill towards the world … unless you've done evil, in which case Jarod will flick like a switch to give you the justice you deserve. I tend to have less of an interest in Pretend-of-the-week with its revenge-porn tendencies, and more of an interest in Jarod working out his relationship with the Centre and the people who populate it, Miss Parker and Sydney at the forefront. Because both of them seem to have some ambiguity in hunting Jarod down, but neither Parker nor Sydney ever give it up, either. And for Jarod's part, he doesn't let go of the Centre, either, even when doing so would probably be the healthier choice. Why do the characters continue on, even when their oral positions are untenable? Is Miss Parker a villain? Is Sydney? What does Sydney aim to accomplish in aiding Parker in the hunt, but stopping short

I'm also pretty fascinated with the history of Jarod at the Centre before his escape, as either a child or an adult. Why didn't he get out earlier? What psychological bonds held him there, and did Sydney really believe Jarod was better off as a prisoner? What sort of relationship did Miss Parker and Jarod have after their childhood friendship, while she was in Centre security or management?

A bigger what-if that would also be fun to explore: What if Miss Parker was reared with Jarod as one of the red file Pretenders instead of the neglected child of the boss? How would things turn out?

Roswell (1999) – Max Evans/Liz Parker

The new Roswell has brought back memories the old Roswell, particularly the luscious first season with its pitch-perfect pining between Max and Liz. The glorious, glorious piiiiiiiining, sigh. Plus bonus alien secret identity and a government conspiracy to stick a group of teenagers on a dissecting slab, so that creates some tension. This is a fandom where the tropes come to play: Alien biology causing soul bonding, sex pollen, unexpected side effects, unplanned pregnancy. Secrets shared leading to angst and intimacy. Tension between the attachment between members of the pod squad, and your new love. Hurt/comfort where one side can literally expend energy to heal. Or, what happens after the ending of the show, when everyone runs off and gets married? Government is still trying to chase you all down, no? Then what?

I wasn't super keen on the royal four storyline, but if you want to get the Tess relationship in there as background or discuss the implications, I'm fine with it. The baby too. (They gave an alien kid up for adoption? To random unsuspecting humans? The stupid plot points, they burn.) In truth a lot of season two seems to have been wiped from the ol' creaky memory banks, but evil doppelgangers are always fun as well.

The Young Riders – The Kid/Louise "Lou" McCloud, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok/Louise "Lou" McCloud, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok/The Kid/Louise "Lou" McCloud

Honestly, I'd almost forgotten about this show until I saw it in the tag set. But back when it was originally running I had the BIGGEST crush on Lou ever. Some combination of pretty girl running away and dressing as a boy in order to get money to save her little siblings… a catnip combination of secrets and hidden identities and competence. Plus there was the serendipitous bonus of getting into history – this was the first fandom that sparkled an obsession with the real history that made up the background of a show, Any use of that background would be welcome. Having said that, romance would also be great, including the less “safe: choice by her to go with Hickok or both the boys instead Mr. Future Husband The Kid. Hickok's a self-destructive type haunted by his own reputation and depressive tendencies, so what would draw them together? Or all three of them together?

comments

Unusual Bearings 2019

2019-02-28T00:32:47Z

Weird pregnancies?! There are others that like this? I ran across this exchange too late to join up last year, but what an awesome idea. Pregnancy and childbirth are both such terrible mixes of body horror, fear, adrenaline, and endorphin-soaked love and affection. It's awful and alien, even when you volunteer for it. Why not explore that weird alienness with some fic that's a little less close to home?

Do not want: Graphic violence, underage sex below 14, fluff, bodily fluids dwelled upon (mentions OK), abortion carried out (discussion of potential abortion OK), character(s) dying in childbirth.

Likes: Angst, humor, banter, creepy/ambiguous/dubcon psychological dynamics, terrible organizations/authority figures/powerful people forcing other pretty people to do awful things, terrible organizations/powerful people chasing the innocent, resistant victims, irresistible biological drives leading to sex and pregnancy, medical details, science or fake sciencey details, graphic childbirth, lactation, surprise pregnancy, didn't-think-it-was-possible pregnancy, aliens and alien biology, unusual or made-up gender or sexes, animal characteristics or social configurations inspired by animals placed on humans, telepathy and mental powers, people thrown together via soul-bonding or other mental bonds and making the best of it, hurt/comfort, plain old comfort. I like both non-con and consensual sex leading to pregnancy; there will be options for both on a lot of the requests below.

No preferences: Background ships, the exact gender configuration of who gets together (feel free to mix it up in the Original Works, in particular), top/bottom dynamics. I don't mind sex swaps, always-a-dfferent-sex or trans storylines if done in a thoughtful manner.

Alien Nation – Matthew Sikes & George Francisco who is pregnant with Cathy Frankel's child

Alien Biology, Caring for pregnant partner, Childbirth, Non-Human Genitalia, Pregnancy transfered to another carrier

Dark Angel – Max impregnates Alec, Alec impregnated by Manticore, Alec and Max impregnated by Manticore

Accidental Impregnation, Alien Biology, Angst About Pregnancy, Bad Guys Want The Baby, Biological Urge to Get Pregnant, Assigned mating, Body Horror, Body Modification, Breeding Program, Caring for pregnant partner, Childbirth, orced Pregnancy, Getting Together While Pregnant, Heightened Sex Drive, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Pregnant Through Medical Experimentation, Pregnant while on the run/a fugitive, Xeno

Original Works (Alien edition) – Alien Wildlife impregnates Human Space Explorer, Female Tentacle Alien Tree impregnates Women She Lures to Her to Spread Her Seeds, Human Scientist/Pregnant Alien Test Subject, impregnation Involving an Alien Species with More Than Three Genders, Inexperienced Human Midwife & Her First Alien Patient Ever, Non-Mammalian Alien Explorer impregnates Human Adventurer, Tentacle Alien impregnates Man

Accidental Oviposition, Alien Biology, Angst About Pregnancy, Body Horror, Body Modification, Caring for pregnant partner, Childbirth, cross-species fertilisation, Dubious Consent, Forced Cross Species Pregnancy, Eggpreg, Forced Pregnancy, Forced pregnancy by aliens, Heightened Sex Drive, Non-Human Genitalia, Xeno

Original Works (Tech edition) – Alien Tech impregnates Human, Android/pregnant android, Pregnant robot/Pregnant robot, Pregnant Robot/Robot, Female Black Market Biotech/Man Pregnant Via Nonconsensual Experimentation, Human Resistance Fighter/Pregnant Liberated Surrogate Robot, Sentient Living Spaceship impregnates Their Pilot To Create Superior Hybrid Pilots

Angst About Pregnancy, Bad Guys Want The Baby, Body Horror, Body Modification, Breeding Program, Caring for pregnant partner, Childbirth, Dubious Consent, Forced Pregnancy, Graphic Birth Scene(s), Heightened Sex Drive, Mind Control, Non-Human Genitalia, Pregnant Through Medical Experimentation, Pregnant while on the run/a fugitive, Robot/Human Hybrid Children

Roswell New Mexico – Alex Manes impregnates Michael Guerin, Isobel & Max & Michael impregnate Liz, Liz Ortecho impregnates Max Evans, Isobel & Max impregnate Michael

Accidental Oviposition, Alien Biology, Angst About Pregnancy, Baby Has More Than Two Biological Parents, Biological Urge to Get Pregnant, Body Horror, Body Modification, Caring for pregnant partner, Childbirth, cross-species fertilisation, Getting Together While Pregnant, Heightened Sex Drive, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mind Control, Non-Human Heritage Revealed by Pregnancy, Pregnant From A Soulbond, soulbond leads to rut

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy – Rey impregnates Luke Skywalker, Rey impregnates Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker impregnates Kylo Ren

adult mind stuck in fetus, Angst About Pregnancy, Body Horror, Childbirth, Force-Sensitive Pregnancy, Heightened Sex Drive, Mind Control, Nonsexual Magic/Force ritual intercepted by another enemy on purpose, Pregnant by telepathy, Pregnant Through the Force

comments

TuringFest 2018

2018-04-19T17:40:09Z

AO3: Marie_L

Hello there, brave Turing Fest pinch hitter, thanks for picking me up! Late again with the letter, dammit. I hope it is helpful. No matter what you write, I'm always down for the ROBOTS!!!!!

In general, I like plotty fic and smut equally well, worldbuilding details (make it up if canon does not provide!), “sciency” SF, alien biology & cultures (AI/robots count as aliens in my book), cultural clashes, telepathy & other mental powers (and problems resulting from them), angst, humor, and premises taken seriously or pushed to their full conclusion.

For artificial intelligence specifically, I love the tension between human and not human (even if it's an android that appears human), creator vs. the created, unexpected consequences of programming or creator intentions, and the speculative conjecture of “what counts as life, anyway?” What counts as sentience? Does something that seems more human – in bodily form or in thought processes – count as closer to life to us just because it is familiar? What if the other side defines themselves differently? Most of the canons below involve conflict between human creations and the human need for control in some way. I also love AI going off and forming their own culture in new and unexpected ways. Robot rebellion is a good subcategory of this genre, particularly if the AI is being enslaved or exploited (see: Caprica, Blade Runner, Westworld, probably Almost Human if they'd gotten around to it), but you can also imagine circumstances where the robots simply end up going their own way (e.g. Asimov's series, and the moravecs in Olympos.)

On the shipping front I tend to have OTCs instead of OTPs, and then am fine with hooking up my fave with anybody, of any gender, including original characters. So if you want to take a singly nominated character and hook them up with some other canon character (for example Daneel/Elijah Bailey), go for it.

DNWs: No fluff, excessive violence (canon-typical violence is fine), or human bodily fluids (somehow robot gunk is okay).

Almost Human – Dorian, Dorian/John Kennex, Dorian/DRN-494

Ah, Dorian and the tragic fate of the too-emotional DRNs. Since this canon was cut short before it could reconcile its many poorly thought-out contradictions, it opens the door for fic without worrying about pesky canon compliance. Why did the DRNs malfunction… and what's so special about Dorian that he isn't malfunctioning? Why does Dorian – who can obviously think for himself and is not blindly obedient – acquiesce so much to police authority over his body and mind? What's with the human memories and magical Synthetic Soul? This is a canon where AUs are fine, so long as Dorian stays an android, e.g. Robot Hooker AU, or changing the setting to something other than dystopic, or making it more obviously dystopic. Also it would be fun for Turing Fest to do one of those Kennex-is-secretly-a-cyborg stories (perhaps combined with human-soul-downloaded Dorian? Compare and contrast?)

Blade Runner – Rachael & Ana Stelline, Freysa

Another visually pretty canon that makes no sense. The apparent free-will-possessing replicants can't rebel, until they do, and then can't again through some corporate merger, and then do again. They are physically indistinguishable from humans (but not clones!), except for some philosophical zombie eye responses, and the most important feature that separates them from humans is...they can't reproduce themselves? This justifies slavery? Childbirth = !LIFE (?!) Anyway, this brings us to Rachael & Ana. All the fix-its in the world, people. I humbly request to explore the concept of an android who doesn't know she's an android giving birth to another android/human/hybrid person-thingie, and feel free to change anything else. Just make it make sense.

Freysa – In a similar vein… make the android rebellions make sense? Can they or can't they, and what tips the new models over to understand they don't have to be slaves? This is one of those characters that appears on the screen and you go “why isn't she the center of this movie instead of pretty boy over here?” Also, I wouldn't object to a story where Freysa = Rachael (somehow).

Caprica – Tamara Adama, Zoe Graystone/Lacy Rand, U-87

For whatever reason, I have more of a fondness for Caprica than reboot!BSG. Probably because BSG jumped the shark too many times by the end with their hidden mystical Cylons. It's too bad the writers didn't have the Caprican pre-history worked out from the beginning, because the origins of the Cylon genocidal pathologies in a human religious cult… explains a lot. I’d love any stories exploring the various versions of Zoe and her fanaticism, or with Lacy and her fanaticism, and how those core personality nuggets propagate down the mechanical generations to end where BSG begins. What do the Cylons believe, and how do those beliefs change over time, to their murderous end?

Tamara – The VR elements of the show were not as well integrated into the cult elements as they could have been, but the concept of the eternal life via upload is fascinating. So, what happens to Tamara as time goes on, and the AI is progressively leashed, and then finally rebels? Does she die when the servers die? Does she live on in the Cylons, or communicate with them them before the end?

Robot & Foundation series (Asimov) – R. Daneel Olivaw

As far as Daneel is concerned these two series are of a piece, although AO3 separates them. Early and late Daneel to go with early(ish) and late Asimov. After Giskard dies, Daneel establishes a whole secret robot society toiling away for eternity for the good of humanity, as well as they can judge it. In the Foundation prequel books Daneel really gets in direct contact with humans, interfering with galactic government and society in order to bring about Hari Seldon's future history. Again, the theme is early programming (the three laws of robotics in this case, plus Giskard's Zeroth Law) propagating down deep history, far beyond what the original creators could ever have imagined.

I'd love a story anywhere on Daneel's lifespan, that either hints at what will come or what came before, linking Daneel's formative experiences in the Bailey years to the Foundation years. Also anything behind the robot scenes after Giskard's death, either early or late in the timeline, would be fabulous.

Lifecycle of Software Objects (Chiang) – Ana Alvarado/Jax, Marco/Polo, Marco/Human Customer, Xenotherian(s)

This novella, online here, asks a couple of interesting questions. One, what happens if artificial intelligence takes as much time – and just as much human interaction – as biological human childhood to achieve? Who would put in the time and what would be the result? Second, what is the transition point between “child” intelligence and “adult” intelligence, when can a being be considered to have adult rights and responsibilities for their own autonomy? There are also some great bits about the obsolescence of technology, and those AIs it could potentially leave behind. Potential stories could include any continuation where the novella leaves off – does Marco really do the online porn thing – or anything from the AI point of view, since we see everything from Ana's human POV. What is it like to live in a virtual Earth, or be confined when humans move on to other games, to jump back between a mechanical body and VR? What about taking on the forms of the more exotic creatures, such as the Xenotherians?

Illium/Olympos – Mahnmut, Orphu, Mahnmut/Orphu

Right upfront: These two books are undeniable crack. The central plot involves nanobot-infested posthumans who recreate the fall of Troy on Olympus Mons on Mars, with themselves as Gods with full powers. Also, back on Earth in the year 3000 or so, the few original script humans have been curiously neutered, and lead out their artless hedonistic lives – Odysseus injects a bit of hunter manliness at a certain point – for exactly 100 years, until they are beamed to the heavenly space station in the sky and are eaten by Calaban. Yeah. That's the plot.

BUT! There are two great robots. Meanwhile to all of the above, autonomous self-replicating bots known as “moravecs” have been seeded around the outer planets of the solar system, and have been left alone to their own devices for centuries. And when the Mars weirdness begins, the moravecs dispatch two of their own to investigate: Orphu, a giant black hard-shelled deep space robot, and Mahnmut, more of a small ship designed for zipping through the oceans of Io. The two argue about Proust while all the posthuman batshittery is going down. They basically represent the repository of all that is worthwhile in human culture, after human themselves have abandoned it. I am a complete sucker for anything involving autonomous robot societies, especially those that are not androids – not intended to mimic humans at all, but be their own thing, for their own purposes. Any story at involving these two would leave me thrilled.

Westworld – Bernard Lowe, Bernard Lowe/Robert Ford, Maeve Millay

On-going canon, fist pump! (Obviously, this is written after season 1 only, and I'll be watching season 2 as it airs, so any stories in this canon can incorporate the new stuff or ignore it and go completely with s1. I'll leave that up to the writer and your tolerance for canon uncertainty. Neither spoilers nor jossing will bother me.) This series has better writing than most of the others listed here, which actually makes it trickier to do fic, IMO. There's a temptation to strongly adhere to canon when the original is done well, so I'll say it now – I haven't watched this show five times to get the entire timeline straight, and I don't expect any exchange writer to, either. What I like about it is more the exploration of memory vs. emerging self-awareness. When your memories can be altered at will, how can you distinguish reality from not, and true reality from the fantasy you are supposed to project? And if you do break through, how do you maintain a sense of self apart form the artificially induced memories?

Bernard is yet another robot-doesn't-know-he's-a-robot (huh, a theme). The emotional shock of this, the exploration of what happens next to a person who must absorb what kind of person” he or she is, never gets old. Its implied that Bernard, like Dolores, has awoken many times and erased back to naivety. Added, of course, to the fact that he's some kind of copy of Ford's old android-inventing partner, and programs new robots himself, to complete the self-replication loop. Maeve represents the android who has truly broken free, and manages to escape to the outside world (worlds?) and forge her own identity. But even she is chained to the artificial memories implanted in her. What counts as real and what counts as fake? Can free will exist if you have no control over your own mind and body?

comments

Fandom5K 2018

2018-03-26T22:11:39Z

AO3: Marie_L

Hello, fellow 5Ker! I'm pretty psyched to do some longer fic, and hope you are too. In general I have a pretty wide range of interests, including: plotty gen fic and relationship buildup equally well, worldbuilding details (make it up if canon does not provide!), “sciency” SF, alien biology & cultures (robots count as aliens in my book), cultural clashes, telepathy & other mental powers (and problems resulting from them), angst, humor, and premises taken seriously.

On the shipping front I tend to have OTCs instead of OTPs, and then am fine with hooking up my fave with anybody, of any gender, including original characters. I mostly requested individual characters with this in mind, so if your heart really leans towards, say, Dorian/John or Michael/Tilly, go for it, so long as the nominated character remains central. For this one I am asking for no PWPs – on the assumption that this is an exchange where we can indulge in plotty fic requests – but if you want to throw some smut in there with your plot, that's fine too. I'm also good with darkfic, moral ambiguity and bad endings (abusing my faves is also an enthusiastic fic pasttime), although certainly not required.

All prompts for inspiration only, completely optional.

DNWs for this exchange are: (a) no explicit, over-the-top, lovingly described violence, (b) no pure fluff, (c) no PWPs, (d) no mundane AUs (high school, coffee shop, etc.), although you can go pretty far afield with canon divergence. For the underage characters (or close to it, such as Max & Alec), no sex below age 14.

Almost Human – Dorian

AU Canon Divegence, Canon-Style Plot, Mystery/Procedural, SF/Fantasy, Worldbuilding

This is one of those short-lived, highly flawed SF shows that clutter my television viewing history, and happens to star super charismatic and appealing lead characters. The flaws and dangling plot holes somehow make it easier to imagine fic, as you want to explain everything, starring those pretty, pretty actors of course. Here we have robots with a secret tragic history! Dystopian setting! Magical technology including cyborgs and genetic engineering! Did I mention the sentient, oppressed robots with emotional chips that have been rejected for being too human?

* DRN rebellion, resistance or secret societies never get old. Or: MX anti-human rebellion, where Dorian needs to intervene to save the day.

* The Wall is always a great setting for case fic or getting your worldbuilding on. One of the dangling mysteries with the Wall is not only what's over there, but why this side feels the need to broadcast propaganda to prevent the populace from going over there. Anarchist zone? Disease or nanobot infection? Anti-technology zealots? Alien anomaly, Annihilation-like?The place where non-”perfect” bots or people are sent to die (maybe John gets booted over there and Dorian follows)?

* Dorian's background and an explanation for why the police force deleted his old memories. Why the DRNs failed in the first place, and why Dorian is “special” according to Maldonado.

* Dorian ends up slated for deactivation, and he & his friends secretly conspire to keep him alive.

Babylon 5 – Valen, Sinclair, Lennier, Susan Ivanova, Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters

AU Canon Divegence, Canon-Style Plot, Character Development, Fix-It, SF/Fantasy

B5 is an old favorite, having watched it when it was first airing. I'm especially fond of fix-its for this canon, which the the arc plot structure lends itself to. What happens if Sinclair isn't sent to Minbar after season one, but develops the Anla'shok while Commander of Babylon 5? (I'm convinced that JMS' original plan before O'Hare's illness was to have Sinclair carry what eventually became Sheridan's storylines, plus the Ranger stuff. But maybe you have a different idea of how it would go?). What happens to Susan/Talia if Talia doesn't turn evil and end up with her brain in a jar at Psi Corps? Lennier… ugh, somebody just fix the whole thing. Other ideas:

* Ivanova is the one who ends up with enhanced Psi powers from Ironheart – and has to keep it a secret from Psi Corps while learning to live as a telepath. Or maybe Psi Corps does find her.

* Ivanova doesn't leave at the end of the fourth season, but has to deal with the cult in S5. Or she (and Talia?) becomes an Underground ringleader with independent B5 as the center of resistance (i.e. write out Byron).

* Anything about how Minbari!Sinclair really turns into the Valen of legend. Or anything about how Sinclair adjusts to becoming an alien, forever.

* Lennier is kind of my Minbari Everyman (for the religious caste at least), which is why I wasn't fond of the original Ranger storyline, even before the Ending Which Shall Not Be Named. Lennier's desire to go from a religious life of service to a more Warrior-type role needs explaining. But gong with the Anla'shok, Lennier's story in training could be fascinating, as he is one of the rare Minbari who has worked with humans, and could potentially bridge the inevitable Minbari-Human conflicts that arise in the group. Perhaps he even ends up assisting Sinclair adjust to his role as Ranger One, just as he must help Delenn adjust to her part-human status. Come to think of it, Delenn sending Lennier to the Rangers as an emissary between her and Sinclair makes more sense for the character.

Dark Angel –Alec, Max, Alec/Max, Alec & Max

AU Canon Divegence, Darkfic, Fix-It, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, SF/Fantasy, Worldbuilding

One of my favorite canons for genetic engineering hijinks (or darkfic, or both), despite how badly the original show was mucked with. This has a lot of elements I love: the Hero getting chased down by Authorities for unjust and wicked reasons, bad childhoods haunting characters, yet another dystopian environment (for no real reason outside of Manticore, other than cyberpunky aesthetics), beautiful people with mild superpowers, angst over hiding one's True Self from the people around them, cross-species fuckery that lends itself to the exploration of alien vs human. Again, I'm fond of canon divergences that play with the structural flaws of the original, in this case either by putting Max in with Alec at Manticore (she doesn't escape, she's captured earlier) or putting Alec in Max's orbit, but earlier in canon (he's one of the ones that escapes with her instead of Ben, or they send him out to locate her in Season 1).

I also like fixits/canon divergence around the Freak Nation rebellion. Resistance of the oppressed is kind of my jam, but the build-up to it was handled poorly in the show. IMO they failed to sell the audience on either Max being the natural leader of the Nomalies, or why any of the new escapees (including Alec) would trust each other enough to come out in the open in such a vulnerable way. Somebody...rewrite the last half of season 2 for me? All right, that's probably too much to ask, but any story dealing with either the lead-up to FN or post-series finale that sells the mutants as a coherant community would be great.

MCU/Black Panther – Nakia, Shuri

AU Canon Divegence, Canon-Style Plot, Character Development, SF/Fantasy, Worldbuilding

Confession time: Although I've seen most of the MCU movies and enjoyed them (along with Jessica Jones and Luke Cake), I never paid attention to the close details or became especially fannish about any of it until Black Panther. Something about the unabashed Afrofuturism of that movie pushed it over from isn't that nice, a shiny superhero flick I'll forget about in 5 minutes to Holy shit what is this fantastic SF-alternate history fusion thingie?! I still don't really care about Black Panther as a superhero (although T'challa as benign ruler is cool) or much about fight scenes or battles, but I want allll the fic about Wakandan history or politics or how they dealt (or will deal) with the outside world.

I chose Nakia and Shuri as characters because they both represent the interface between Wakanda and the rest of the world. I'd love to see more of Nakia's undercover missions – what are their strategic purpose, besides random acts of do-goodery? What does Wakanda do with the information from its imbedded spies in various other countries? Do they ever subtly interfere in other governments for Wakanda's benefit or to protect their secrecy? And what adventures will Nakia get into once Wakanda's advanced knowledge and rare resources are known to the world?

Shuri is more on the educational end of the Wakandan outreach. I'd love to see more of her as science ambassador, maybe bringing some young African Americans to Wkanda for the first time for some advanced training, or setting up the soon-to-be renouned Wakanda University. Basically, showing off Wakanda's tech to awed outsiders. Or perhaps we could see something of Shuri's education when younger – can all Wakandans become engineers as teenagers if they want to, or is that sort of training reserved for royalty? How do they balance educating their young people at a crazy high level with having to maintain the front that they are a poor underdeveloped country? (Before the events of the movie does anyone from the outside ever visit Wakanda, and what would they be allowed to see?) Is there a Wakandan equivalent of worrying about disruptive tech on their traditional culture(s), and how do they navigate it?

Star Trek: Discovery – Michael Burnham

AU Canon Divegence, Canon-Style Plot, Character Development, SF/Fantasy, Worldbuilding

The first season of Disco was weirdly paced for me, but I still came out of it loving Burnham and wanting to see more. Her, Sarek, Amanda and Spock on Vulcan? Yes, please! Philippa training that emotional constipation out of her bit by bit, and teaching her how to interact and lead her fellow humans? Mmm, yes. Some other ideas:

* Burnham becomes suspicious of Lorca's non-Starfleet behavior, and somehow Stamets in the spore drive gets confirmation that he is not who he says he is before that last series of insane jumps. But how to prove it?

* Burnham meets her Mirror self – either in Mirror!verse (not captain of the mirror!Discovery?) or in Prime (mirror!Discovery doesn't get blown up right away, and still exists when they get back.)

* A planet of the week encounter while Michael is mirror!captain, with all the mental angst while holding it totgether externally.

* Mirror!Saru figures out pretty quick that Burnham is not “herself.” Michael finds a way to bring him back to prime verse.

* Anything at all with Burnham and Mirror!Geourgiou. Or, even better, somehow work in Burham, a very alive prime!Georigiou and her evil emperor version all in one.

* A reworking of the Michael/Ash Tyler betrayal storyline. I'd kind of like to see a version where Ash doesn't flip personalities to fanatic Voq, but gradually realizes that he has these alien memories without assaulting Michael. How would the two of them cope, especially being trapped together in Mirror!verse?

comments

Smut Swap 2018

2018-02-25T00:24:37Z

DNW: Excessive bodily fluids (mentions of blood & semen OK), explicit violence, sexualized death or dead bodies, bestiality (non-sentient animals), bimbofication, biting, gunplay, degrading sex talk, underage below age 14.

All-purpose likes (aka the yes, please! sex act list): Fingering (anal or vaginal), oral sex, anal sex (any gender config), fisting (anal or vaginal), large insertions, double penetration (any variation), toys (incl bad dragon, double ended dildo, improvised etc), sex training, talking during sex, laughter during sex, arguing during sex, pregnancy (m or f), eggpreg, lactation (f or m), nipple/breast play, bondage & restraints, chastity devices, orgasm control, conditioning, unusual or humorous sex positions, foreplay, edgeplay, sensation play, pain kink, substances leading to sexual side effects, sex pollen, piercings, medical kink, and plain ol' PIV.

More general likes, not necessarily all-purpose, and probably obvious from requests: Angst, humor, creepy psychological dynamics, terrible organizations and/or authority figures forcing pretty people to do awful things, resistant victims, resilient recovery without erasing the past, characters exploring power dynamics in whatever way makes sense to them, robots, aliens, humans and robots who may as well be aliens, worldbuilding details about said alienness. The good news: I am not picky about ships (so long as the favored character is involved), gender configurations, or top/bottom dynamics. All prompts and ideas are totally optional. It's smut swap time, lets get iddy, people.

Almost Human – Dorian/Kennex, Dorian/DRN-494
No Archive Warnings Apply: Body Modification, Casual sex leading to feelings, Character's Body Is Considered Government Property, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, Erotic Electrostimulation, Experimentation kink, The Entire Team/Group is in a Poly Relationship, Experienced/Inexperienced, Improvised Sex Toys/Pervertibles, Non-Human Genitalia, Pretending to Be a Sex Robot, robot pregnancy, Robot Sex, Sex as a Teambuilding Exercise, Sex Toys of Unusual Size, Somebody's Genitalia Just Got An Upgrade

My taste for Almost Human porn is simple: all I want is Dorian with either humans or fellow androids getting freaky, with side doses of snark. I'd prefer no outright non-con, although given that Dorian and the other DRNs are literally programmable property, some shade of dubcon is inevitable. But in any case, he's into it! For the “Entire Team/Group is in a Poly Relationship” and “Sex as a Teambuilding Exercise” prompts feel free to bring in any other office characters, such as Richard Paul, the MXs, Maldonado, whomever.

Dark Angel – Ben/Alec, Biggs/Alec, Max/Alec
No Archive Warnings, Non-Con, Underage: Alien Biology, Animal Characteristics, Being Raped As A Part Of Hero Training, Brainwashing, Breeding Program, Casual sex leading to feelings, Cat/Human Hybrids, Character Thinks They're Duty-Bound To Have Sex, Character's Body Is Considered Government Property, Competitive sex, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, The Entire Team/Group is in a Poly Relationship, Experimental Substance Has Weird Sexual Side Effects, Failure to Stud Results in Castration and Being Turned into a Breeder, forced mpreg/male turned into breeder, Forbidden/Secret Relationships, Hermaphroditism, Non-Human Genitalia

Pre- or post-Manticore is welcome here. Maybe Max/Ben never escaped, or were recaptured at an earlier point in training, and subjected to Manticore's creeptastic breeding attempts – which come in many genetically engineered flavors. Maybe Manticore's on the verge of being shut down, and all their homebrewed soldiers are turned into outright science experiments. Maybe Ben lives long enough to encounter Alec after escape, or Alec is sent out to track him down as some sort of loyalty test. Maybe Alec and Biggs had a forbidden thing as teenagers, and hook up again in Seattle. Maybe any of these X5s are not nearly as anatomically human as they appear to be.

Star Trek: Discovery – Burnham/Mirror Georgiou
Non-Con: Abuse of Authority, Brainwashing, Captivity, Enforced Fealty, Forced Orgasm, Forced Submission, Painplay, Sex as an Assertion of Dominance, Mind Games

Emperor Georgiou bossing “Captain Burnham” around in the most pleasant or unpleasant ways. She may or may not know Michael is from an alternate universe, but either way, Michael must play along.

Star Trek: Discovery – Burnham/Georgiou, Burnham/Sarek
No Archive Warnings Apply: BDSM, Character Thinks They're Duty-Bound To Have Sex, Comfort Sex, Competence Kink, Dom/sub, Dubiously Consensual Loyalty Kink, Fealty, First Time, Obedience, Slow/prolonged sex

No outright noncon here, but dubcon power dynamics on the part of Michael's authority figures is fine. Or something sweeter or comforting or melancholic, two people finding each other under completely inappropriate circumstances. I have a hard time imagining canon Burnham arriving on the Shenzhou with much in the way of practical sex experience (abstract knowledge is another story; I'm sure she's read allll the books), having grown up as a human on Vulcan and not even attending Starfleet Academy. And Sarek probably isn't your typical Vulcan romantically, having married a human, even before the uncomfortably intimate mind meld with Michael.

Pretender – Jarod/Miss Parker
No Archive Warnings Apply, Non-Con, Underage: Alpha Bottoming To Another Alpha (Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics), Antagonism Leads to Sex, BDSM role-switching, Breeding Program, Mpreg, forced mpreg/male turned into breeder, Character's Body Is Considered Government Property, Competitive sex, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, Enemies With Benefits, Femdom, Dominance Struggle, Mind Games

For this request I DNW sweet romance or Miss Parker getting pregnant (read too many “and then they live happily ever after and MP cheerfully bears five babies” sorts of fics), or Miss Parker as the primary victim, e.g. no Jarod raping Parker, the end. A counter-rape scenario where they go back and forth is fine, however.

So, I'm up for all kinds of darkfic or kink shenanigans with these two. Maybe Miss Parker figures out early on that poor Jarod in the dungeon will do anything for some human contact. (If they can sneak around the ductwork, they can have sex). Or maybe they channel their antagonistic relationship as adults into blowing off steam – a sexual detente of the hunt. Maybe the Centre has plans for their red files, and Jarod is a willing/unwilling breeder (although you know he'd love being pregnant…). Maybe Miss Parker is put into the Pretender program herself, and they team up to conspire against the Centre, or have no choice but to submit to the amoral wishes of the Centre, or just get really competitive.

Also, a/b/o – be the first to write it for this canon! I do picture them both as alphas, but its easy to imagine the Centre being unhappy with that state of affairs and trying to change or hide Jarod's alphaness for their own convenience. Maybe Parker goes along with the turning, thinking that given his circumstances, Jarod would be better off as an omega (with babies?) anyway.

Pretender – Jarod/OMC
No Archive Warnings Apply: BDSM, Comfort Sex, Experimentation kink, First Time After Abusive Childhood, First Time with a guy, Internalized Homophobia, Kink Exploration, Kink Discovery, Older Virgin/Experienced Younger Partner, Shame in Sexual Desires, Touch-Starved

Counterpoint to above, some nice prompts for Jarod. This is a heavily het fandom, so fic exploring gay or bi!Jarod is hard to come by. But it would be lovely to see Jarod getting it on with some great guy who shows him the ropes (maybe literally?), and doesn't let a little thing like first timer's guilt/angst stop him from fucking an odd but gorgeous fellow. Plus Jarod is just so enthusiastic about everything.

Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy – Luke/Rey, Luke/Kylo, Luke/Rey/Ben
No Archive Warnings Apply, Non-Con, Underage: Abuse of Authority, Accidental Magic During Sex, Comfort Sex, Competence Kink, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, Experimentation kink, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Magical Experimentation, Magical stimulation, Mind Control, Mind Games, Mind Sex, Mind Invasion, Religious Guilt During Sex, Ritual Sex as Rite of Passage, Shame in Sexual Desires

Wide open here, so long as the teacher/student dynamic is involved. Dark or light Luke or Rey are both fine, although I prefer canonesque petulantly dark Ben-Kylo in all his glory. For Luke/Rey, I am fond of post-TFA or canon-divergence from TLJ on the island, where they explore any manner of Force mind or body sex. Bonus: guilty Luke (since Jedi aren't supposed to have relationships) or virgin Luke. Luke/Ben is easiest to see at Luke's training academy, where things first go wrong for Ben – maybe Luke gets closer just to try and see what's going wrong with Ben,, and ends up either sucked in or terribly betrayed. Rey could be another student at the school at the same time in this scenario; perhaps she is the one who sees the problem first, and brings Luke into it. Or Dark Luke, where the whole academy is essentially a fucked up cult for overpowered individuals. OR, for a non-underage scenario, Rey attempts to redeem Kylo any way she can via their Force bond, but Luke is dragged into it along the way.

Original Works (aliens and catpeople edition) --
* Alien Conquerors/Humans Used as Breeders
* Alien Tech/Human
* Non-mammalian Alien Explorer/Human Adventurer
* AI With Shapeshifting Body Of Nanobots/Human Learning To Use Body Infected By Same Nanobots
* Catboy/Male Catboy Breeder * Catgirl/New Owner * Eldritch Abomination In A Human Skinsuit/Human Male Cultist
* Female Human/Egg-laying Monster
* Incompetent Demon Summoner Who Accidentally Opens a Portal in His Body/Large Demon He Must Birth

No Archive Warnings Apply, Non-Con: Alien Biology, Alien Gender/Sexuality, Animal Characteristics, Body Horror, Breeding, Captivity, Cat/Human Hybrids, Impregnation, Interspecies pregnancy, Non-Human Genitalia, Oviposition, Sex With Any Other Species Causes Partial Transformation Into That Species, Xeno, Mindfuck

Weirdness of body or mind encouraged. You can mix up the gender configuartions for these at will. This doesn't need to be noncon – POV humans/aliens/catpeople/AIs just trying to figure their partner out or explore the other would also be great. For the tags without an explicit sexual angle – alien tech/human, AI shapeshifting body nanobots, eldritch, pregnant demon summoner – I do prefer that the subject of tech/pregnancy/Lovecraftian horrors get off on it, at least eventually.

Original Works (intergenerational incest edition) –
* Mother/Daughter
* Mother/Daughter/Mother's Lover
* Stepfather/Stepdaughter
* Widowed Father/Teenage Son
* Father/Daughter
* Father/Daughter/Mother

Non-Con, Underage: Abuse of Authority, BDSM, Brainwashing, Breeding, Consensual Underage Sex, Emotional Manipulation, Experienced/Inexperienced, Forbidden/Secret Relationships, Grooming (Psychological), Impregnation, Lactation Kink, Master/Slave, Obedience, Person Thinks They Can't Say No To Sex, Ritual Sex as Rite of Passage, Sex Cult

Parents manipulating, ordering, or otherwise cajoling youngsters into sex. The relationships can be “consensual” in the minds of their children, or not. Any gender configuration is fine.

comments

Space Swap 2018: Dear Author

2018-02-18T03:32:34Z

AO3: Marie_L

Welcome, fellow spacer! So sorry about how unconscionably late this letter is. Sick kids + being out of town turns out to not equal exchange letter writing time :/

In general, I like plotty fic and smut equally well, worldbuilding details (make it up if canon does not provide!), “sciency” SF, alien biology & cultures, cultural clashes, telepathy & other mental powers (and problems resulting from them), angst, humor, and premises taken seriously. On the shipping front I tend to have OTCs instead of OTPs, and then am fine with hooking up my fave with anybody, of any gender, including original characters. So if your heart really leans towards, say, Bashir/Garek, go for it. I'm also fine with darkfic, moral ambiguity and bad endings (abusing my faves is also an enthusiastic fic pasttime), although certainly not required.

My only DNWs relevant to this exchange are (a) no explicit, over-the-top, lovingly described violence, and (b) no pure fluff. Usually at this point I'd say no mundane AUs either, but those are against both the rules and spirit of Space Swap anyway. Canon divergence is welcome and encouraged.

I'm fond of all of these canons, warts and all, and am very open to any stories of what other people love about them too. I tried to narrow down the tags to aspects or characters I find particularly interesting, but any angle exploring their worlds would be welcome. All prompts are optional suggestions.

Babylon5
Character: Valen
Character: Lennier
Worldbuilding: Minbari Culture
Worldbuilding: Alien Telepath Culture
Relationship: Lyta Alexander/Kosh Naranek
Worldbuilding: Vorlon Homeworld

So much to love about Babylon 5. B5 and DS9 aired concurrently through most of my college years, and were my first fannish experience both with other RL people and online. I always had a particular fascination with the Minbari, and also interrelations between the Vorlons, organic tech, and the “seeding” of telepathy among the various races as future weapons against the Shadows.

Lennier is a wonderful character to explore the ordinary classes of Minbari, at least of the religious caste, plus possibly Ranger training. Beyond the Brennan book, how do humans and Minbari interact in training on Minbar, and how does Lennier – with his unusual knowledge of human culture – bridge the two? What was Lennier life like prior to his assignment on B5, or after while adapting to living among many different species? (Re: Lennier's ending, I'm in the Lennier would never! camp, but it is canon after all. Ignore, keep or canon diverge in whatever way makes sense to you.)

Valen/Sinclair is a fascinating window into ancient Minbari, molding them into the united force we see a thousand years later. He also is a window into the relationship between the Vorlons and their “client” species, both in the future and the past.

Lyta, Kosh, and the Vorlon homeworld – anything here would be amazing. What's it like, to be an assistant to the beings that, in a sense, created you? What's the nature of the relationship between Kosh and Lyta, or Kosh, Lyta and his ship?

Alien Telepaths – Doesn't have to be Minbari (although you can…), but I'd love to see some contrast between the treatment of telepaths in non-human species vs the human fear and control of the Psi Corps.

Hyperion Cantos – Dan Simmons
Character: Aenea
Character: Rachel Weintraub-Moneta
Worldbuilding: Ousters
Worldbuilding: River Tethys
Worldbuilding: Treeships

Simmons as an author as a deserved reputation as capital-P Problematic, but nevertheless the four books in the Hyperion series are pretty much his magnum opus. The worldbuilding especially is fantastic, so I'd love to hear more about how life beyond the Hegemony/Pax is lived, particularly the Ousters' adaptation to space and their construction of living Dyson spheres. The Treeships, it is implied, used the same or a more primitive version of that biotechnology. The River Tethys is an opportunity to visit many more unusual worlds in the Hegemony, just as it is in the last two novels.

Rachel's character is an interesting one on its own, particularly after her lifetime of traveling backwards through time, and on into the unseen third life traveling forwards again. How exactly does she end up to be Moneta? I could never tell if that bit was planned from the beginning or tacked on at the end of the series. And Aenea is actually one of my favorite characters. I always wanted to hear the story from her perspective – what, mentally, she could really see, even as a child-come-prophet.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Character: Julian Bashir
Worldbuilding: Genetic engineering

I was floored by the genetic engineering reveal while originally watching DS9. On the one hand, it seemed an unnecessary plot twist, and didn't necessary jibe with previous canon, such as TNG's Unnatural Selection. On the other hand, it made a fascinating phobia for a utopian society like Star Trek's, which has an ethos of every individual attempting to better themselves, but also followed a horrific war involving so-called “superior” genetically engineered individuals. What's the line between natural and unnatural in a universe where people are routinely ripped apart into subatomic particles and rebuilt on the other end? Where cross-species pregnancies is done as a matter of routine, presumably involving deliberate genetic tinkering to make it work?

Trek routinely depicts genetic engineering – at least when deployed for eugenic purposes – as either catastrophically error-prone or leading to malevolent megalomania, but Julian is an exception to both. What's it like, to be “outed” as some kind of menace to society? How do the other species encountered on DS9 (Cardassians, Bajorans, etc) view it? Are there other non-Federation species that have opposing viewpoints, and what would happen if they wanted to join the Federation?

Star Trek: Discovery
Character: Michael Burnham
Relationship: Michael Burnham/Mirror Philippa Georgiou
Relationship: Michael Burnham/Ash Tyler
Worldbuilding: Adapting to Prime/Mirrorverse
Worldbuilding: Cultural Clash Between Prime and Mirrorverse

Ahhh, Discovery. The latest Trek to deploy engaging characters, actors and premises, and then squander the potential of all of the above by failing to properly develop any of its interesting ideas. Makes more narrative room for fic, I suppose. Burnham is a particular favorite in this show, combining uber competence, emotional constipation and iron woobiedom. I'm pretty down with any pairing involving her – Tilly and prime!Philippa both being popular, for good reason – but here I went for a couple of the darker ships. I tend to imagine Burnham/Mirror Georgiou as dubcony (at the least), what with all the Emperor kneeling and murderous demands of fealty and such. But I can imagine her expressing some latent attraction there too, onto someone who looks like her old captain/parental figure, but isn't.

Michael/Ash was handled terribly by the show, rushing the romance buildup, Ash's breakdown, his mindswitch, and all the emotional fallout for it for both of them...everything. I'd love to see some canon divergence that draws out any of these points and makes it believable for both characters. It would also be great to see stories where Ash doesn't turn out to be Voq, but retains the severe PTSD/rape victim plotline. Or something where Ash does end up retaining Voq's mind, but doesn't snap and try to kill Michael when the memories come. How would the two of them cope, if there wasn't such an obvious betrayal and breaking point?

Adapting and cultural clash between prime/mirror – Wide open here but I can see plenty of angst-filled and/or humorous stories involving our heroes or anti-heroes in the wrong verse. Either version of Lorca at the time of switch would be good, or the whole mirror!Discovery before they get blown to smithereens, or just more of the difficulties impersonating Captains Killy or Burnham.

Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy
Relationship: Luke Skywalker & Rey
Relationship: Luke Skywalker/Rey
Relationship: Kylo Ren/Rey
Worldbuilding: Luke Skywalker's Training Temple

Luke &/ Rey – Hard to go wrong with mentor/student, especially with mind powers. More explicit Force training (which leads to inappropriate feelings?) Compare and contrast to Luke's time with Yoda so many years ago? Compare and contrast to Luke's failure with Ben at his own training temple? (What all happened there, anyway? Before the split second betrayal.)

Kylo/Rey – I'll admit, I was neutral on these two the the first movie, but TLJ sort of sold me on it. Probably the annoyed telepathy across space. Or Rey's endlessly optimistic attempts at redemption, despite having been tortured by Kylo and witnessed his patricide. Some fic suggestions: Rey does try to rule the First Order with Kylo after Snokes' death, only to find out reforming evil empires isn't so easy after all. Rey is successfully delivered to Snokes in TFA… take it from there, darkficcers. Rey (child of nobodies) and Ben (child of definite somebodies) are both at Luke's training temple together, what happens?

comments

Darkest Night

2017-08-12T02:51:47Z

General likes: Power imbalance, mind control & manipulation, medical kink, pain kink, breeding/pregnancy/lactation, victims who fight back mentally and/or physically, victims getting revenge, victims not getting revenge and remaining eternally frustrated or maddened, pretty people suffering prettily, angst over all of the above, victim POV, non-human reactions and perspectives.

DNWs: Body fluids except mild blood or semen mentions, vore/cannibalism, sexualized death (including necrophilia, getting off on murder sprees, etc), underage sex below 14 or equivalent.

All prompts and comments are mere suggestions; feel free to take the tags as open prompts themselves and go where they call you. Apart from the body fluids/dead body squicks above, I am not easily bothered by dark themes. Sexual or non-sexual stories are both welcome. Happy, sad or ambiguous endings are all fine.

Almost Human – Dorian, Dorian & DRN-494

AU – Cop & Prostitute, Being Tortured Triggers Past Memories, Body horror, Brainwashing, Captured by Slavers, Character's Body is Considered Government Property, Character's Memories Were a Dream/Delusion, Fucklibrary, Loss of Soul, Mind Control, Mindwiping, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Sensory Deprivation and Sensory Overload

Androids are the new space aliens to my my mind, creatures that look human but don't necessary think like a human, and are much more prone to mind hacking, glitches and the unexpected consequences of initial programming conditions. The shtick of Almost Human was that the android Dorian (and the other DRNs...perhaps) was supposedly more human than his half-broken cop partner, John Kennex. The show didn't last long enough to explore the contradictions between that notion and the fact that the DRNs were explicitly a slave race killed off once their bugginess outweighed their usefulness. In any case, what we are left with after fourteen frustrating episodes is bare worldbuilding: a rejected line of robots with ambiguous emotions, sentience and free will; legal and encouraged android prostitution; mysterious city-states that exist against a dystopian-authoritarian background; techno-wizardry all over the place; and a central character that's programmed to be a cop and like it, even when that pits him squarely against this society's injustices.

Some ideas for prompts: Dorian's mystery memories – a flaw in his programming, a deliberate hack by criminals/Vaughn/the other DRNs/Rudy. AU in which Dorian is not woken up to be a cop again, or is deactivated after John for some reason, but experiences old memories in his new (horror-filled?) life anyway. In AU Cope and Prostitute and Fucklibrary, the hooker could be Dorian, or Dorian going to see another DRN. Dorian is sent on a mission that requires significant alterations to his mind or body, which he doesn't want to do but is forced to anyway. Dorian becomes aware of some of the “reassignments” of the other DRNs and tries to help them. Dorian loses his Synthetic Soul. An Almost Human-Westworld fusion.

Dark Angel – Max/Alec, Max & Alec

Aftermath of Torture, Body Horror, Brainwashing, Breeding Program, Character's Body is Considered Government Property, Experimentation, Forced Bonding, Forced Pregnancy, Mind Control, Mating Cycle/In Heat, Miscarriage/Stillbirth, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Rough Sex to Stave Off More Violent Urges, Sadism/Masochism, Sexual Relationship as Unhealthy Coping Mechanism, Underage Sex, Xenophilia

Here's another short-lived show with interesting worldbuilding and a maddening lack of follow-through on its premises. (Oh FOX, why do you keep ruining perfectly serviceable SF?) This one's got a lot of tasty fake biology to work with, on top of a secret-organization-chases-protagonist plot and child abuse. I will lap up pretty much anything involving genetic engineering weirdness, xeno weirdness, breeding weirdness, medical experimentation weirdness, and good-looking young people forced to do terrible things to each other or the public at large, and the fallout from any of the above. It does not need to follow canon very closely, since canon by and large made no sense with itself. I do like the way Max and Alec complement each other, with Max as the deprogrammed one looking out for people and ethical values beyond herself (season one is the best Max in characterization), and Alec as the heavily manipulated/mindfucked one who at some point at least learned to look out for himself. Both of these are in stark contrast (to each other and the other programmed soldiers) when they actually are at Manticore together, since Manticore's goal is to train slave-soldiers with no interests of their own.

Some possibilities, many along the lines of Max and Alec at Manticore together: Forced sex training for undercover missions. At puberty, some of the kids exhibit sexual “anomalies” like going into heat, and Manticore decides to test their limits for research purposes. Actually, Manticore testing any of their limits for research purposes. After Max is caught (or is caught earlier), Alec is forced to be involved in her “rehabilitation.” Max and Alec secretly hookup for mutual comfort and stress relief, but unfortunately they have no role models for healthy relationships, so things begin to escalate. Manticore tries a lot harder to make that “breeding partner” thing actually happen (feel free to go into disgusting detail on this one). Variation: Due to genetic engineering shenanigans, Alec can get pregnant too, so mpreg or mutual impregnation.

The Pretender – Jarod

Brainwashing, Breeding, Character's Body is Considered Government Property, Child Abuse, Controlling/Possessive Relationship, Cycle of Escalating Retaliation, Experimentation, Failed Rebellion, Forbidden Love, Forced Drug Addiction, Forced Medical Procedure, Grooming, Insanity, Irresistible Instincts/Urges, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychological Trauma, Rape as Part of Scientific Research, Rough Sex to Stave Off More Violent Urges, Self-Loathing Due to Forbidden Attraction, Shame in Sexual Desires

This old fandom suffers from a shocking lack of dark fic, given the premise of the show. There's plenty of opportunity for Jarod to be abused far more than presented, to be manipulated by Sydney (perhaps evil!Sydney, or even – yes – rapey!Sydney), to be subjected to breeding experiments (practically canon, but not explicit), to snap and go crazy, to lose his core identity in a Pretend, or to suffer all manner of guilt-ridden sexual or behavioral tics as a result of captivity. Both “Cycle of Escalating Retaliation” and “Rough Sex to Stave Off More Violent Urges” could be great with Miss Parker.

Supernatural – Amara/Dean; Lucifer/Sam

Aftermath of Violence, Body Horror, Chronic Pain, Cosmic Horror, Eldritch Abomination, Hallucinations, Human Beings Considered Animals, Laws of Reality Continually Changing, Loss of Control, Mind Break, Mind Control, Mindfuck, Mind Rape, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Sadism/Masochism, Sex as a Form of Punishment, Things Beyond Human Comprehension

Both of these pairings involve overpowered demi-gods (essentially) who become obsessed with a lowly human, and who due to circumstances may end up with only that human mind to play with for eons. Supernatural never had the budget (or sadly, creativity, although they at least tried with Hell in the earlier seasons) to properly show some of these apocalypse-busting creatures in full form, so we have to turn to fic to spell it out. Like, what exactly is Amara really, minus the nonsensical human form? Why did she really glom onto Dean, or what does that relationship mean to her? If she ate Dean's soul, what would happen? If she didn't eat Dean's soul, but destroyed everything but him, her and Chuck, what would happen? What's Lucifer getting out of his evil romping – since, as Anna shows, you can be a fallen angel and not be a dick? What's he do to Sam (in the box, or in the alt-apocalypse, or in the other apocalypse), and why does Sam make it through mentally?

Or, alternatively, you can ignore the grand questions and just torture Sam or Dean in new and innovative ways, while they desperately and futilely try to escape. I'd be good with that.

Westworld –

Robert Ford & Bernard Lowe

Abuse of Authority, Body Horror, Brainwashing, Captivity, Character's Memories Were a Dream/Delusion, Dream Invasion, Mindfuck, Mind Control, Non-Consensual Body Modification

Maeve Millay, Dolores Abernathy/Man in Black

Aftermath of Violence, Aftermath of Torture, Body Horror, Brainwashing, Character's Body is Considered Government Property, Character's Memories Were a Dream/Delusion, Fucklibrary, Mind Control, Mindwiping, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Pimped Out by the Government, Sexual Slavery

Finally an android show that does try to follow through on some of its fucked-up premises -- free will vs mind control, mindwiping vs repeating the same sentient awakening, behavior prediction in creatures that humans created, the dehumanization of bodies created for unlimited sex and violence, but nevertheless experience it as fully the first time as the ten thousandth. Robert & Bernard is one of the few relationships I have a hard time picturing as overtly sexual (although you're welcome to do it if you want to try and sell it…) so I put the more direct hooker-related freeforms on Maeve and Dolores. It's more of Tesseract-esque power play with Robert: creator vs creation vs. a copy of another creator vs. the creation allowed to become a creator in his own right. The one thing I didn't like in this show was the William as MIB reveal, mostly because even with the time difference I couldn't see much continuity between the reasonably empathetic William and rapey/sociopathic MIB. A better exploration of how William transitioned between thinking of Dolores & Co as things to objects to play with (perhaps with repeated loops in which the android's behavior never changes) would make an excellent story.

Other ideas: How and why Robert created Bernard. Robert mindfucks Bernard (or Dolores or Maeve) to see if he can reliably provoke self-awareness, then erases it. Deep exploration or continuation of what was up with Bernard and Dolores. Maeve's revenge in Westworld, the real world or other Worlds. Any of the androids reprogramming themselves, with unexpected consequences. Enlightened!Dolores confronts MIB. Other character (or early William) tries to snap Maeve or Dolores out of their loop by increasingly pushing boundaries. Other character decides to see how far “anything goes” really goes. Early Robert/Arnold experiments on Dolores.

comments

Dear Author: Not Prime Time

2016-04-30T22:54:56Z

Themes I like: Plotty gen. Hard SF. Worldbuilding. Angst. Humor, either by itself or sprinkled into heavier fic. Character studies that reveal something new that canon does not provide. Well-thought out fake science or alternative biology. Aliens and pseudo-aliens such as robots. Competence and intelligence. Smut’s fine (any rating) but totally optional. I generally do not have OTPs/NOTPs or strong preferences on pairings, but if you do, feel free to incorporate them with the nominated characters.

Kinks I like: Pretty much anything with a power differential: D/s (negotiated or not), incest/clonecest, teacher/student, non-con and dubcon (especially where the victim resists to the best of their ability), psychological manipulation.

Do not wants: Fluff & saccharine romance, excessive or graphic violence, bodily fluids, crackfic, character bashing, mundane AUs (canon divergence is fine).

Almost Human (Dorian) –

Dorian interacting with any of the other characters is welcome here. I have a longstanding interest in the history and future of the DRNs. Here we have a group of androids who are clearly Turing-compliant and possess free will, and yet are not only treated as property, for the most part seem to acquiesce to their treatment as property. Do they ever get sick of their status as slaves, and begin to self-organize? There were some deleted scenes on the DVD with Dorian tentatively pestering Rudy about his past, indicating Dorian himself was perhaps not so accepting of the official line. Is this one of things that makes Dorian “special”? What does Maldonado know about it, anyway, and why did she keep him around? Does John ever come to any greater awareness of the android predicament, or does he continue to view Dorian as a quasi-human exception? Romantic Jorian is fine, or not, your choice.

Babylon 5 (Delenn and/or Lennier and/or Neroon) –

Minbari! This alien race always fascinated me from the show, so anything which incorporates their culture or POV – could be the Anla Shok, or the religious caste's rituals, or the warrior caste's insularity, or interactions between any of these groups. (Since “Minbari do not kill Minbari” and they seem to be rather isolationist as a whole, what do the warriors spend all their time doing?) I love all Delenn-Ivanova interactions, and Lennier's quiet devotion (although the jealousy/betrayal storyline left me cold), and Neroon's slow acceptance of humans as equals.

Dark Angel (Max, Alec) –

This show had an enormous amount going for it in terms of its concept and setting. The second season was hit and miss (the biggest miss for me was that they downplayed the dystopian/apocalyptic police state that had been a major plot element in the first season). But second season had a bunch of genetically engineering chimeric supersoldiers raised in captivity and then running around on the loose, and I'm never not gonna love the worldbuilding possibilities there, even the heavy-handed transgenics = race stuff at the end. Max and Alec are fun due to their argumentative smart-ass similarities, only one's been out in the world awhile, while the other was more or less tortured into partially-effective obedience. I do like any conflict over those differences in upbringing, or Alec discovering some new thing he's never had before, or flashbacks to Manticore. In this fandom, heat fic and psuedo-bestiliaty never get old, either.

Orphan Black (Cosima) –

(Note: I haven't seen any of the new season yet, so this will only reflect through season three). If my own personal dorky-cool Mary Sue were in the dictionary, Cosima's picture would be next to the entry. I'd love anything which explores her role as a scientist in an organization which spies on her and her siblings and treats them as literal guinea pigs, even as one of her sisters runs the place. I also love her sisterly interactions with Sarah and Alison on not-always positive terms, and possibly Beth. A romantic story with either of the girlfriends is also fine (or, uh, the other clones). My one request is that if you do Cosima/Delphine, that it address the fucked-up nature of their relationship instead of pure fluff.

The Pretender (Jarod, Sydney) –

Since I'm the only participant who requested/offered this show, I'll assume it was not the one matched on. Some background, though: This show from the 90s involved a genius (Jarod) who was kidnapped as a child by an evil corporation and forced to perform “simulations” up until his escape as an adult. Sydney was his handler/shrink/father figure who ostensibly was working to bring Jarod back – or was he? Sydney obviously loved Jarod but also had conflicting motives for showing that love: the desire to remain an impartial “scientist” (and surviving the Centre himself, in what has to be the most Kafkaesque research environment ever) vs keeping an emotional hold over Jarod. It’s hard to believe a massive amount of psychological conditioning/manipulation wasn't involved in keeping Jarod from running away all those years. Anything set before Jarod's escape would be great, especially with Jarod as an adult. The show had a lot of flashbacks to Jarod as a kid, but comparably fewer as an adult, when Jarod must recognize that he's being manipulated. Or, a story on Sydney's thought process post-escape, how he gradually shifts over from apparently rooting for Jarod's recapture to blatantly helping him escape by the end of the second season, a fact that Jarod's surely aware of.

comments