Dear Yuletide Writer 2019
Oct. 30th, 2019 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doranwenI can't believe this is my tenth Yuletide! Whether it's your first or you're a veteran, I hope you have a blast writing for me. I always comment on my gifts and appreciate the hard work my writers do in crafting a story for me, and I know I'll enjoy what you write.
I've tried to help you out by describing what I love about each fandom and/or character, and I've written a few prompts in case you find them useful, but if you come up with something of your own, please write what you think will work best! I've been wonderfully surprised by fics that I never would have thought of in a million years but which were absolutely amazing.
I love characters who are strong as well as characters who are vulnerable, I love characters who have quiet depth, characters with an active inner life, characters who do a lot of thinking and feeling…
I once made up a 101 favorite tropes list (in no particular order), so feel free to make use of those if any of them get your muse going: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
Besides those tropes, here are my general likes:
deep platonic friendship, romantic friendship, asexual romance, found families, apocalyptic fic, hurt/comfort, nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling), self-sacrifice, characters being vulnerable, character redemption, survival fic, positive treatment of religion, characters dealing with trauma, trust building, missing scenes, canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
DNWs: supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.), AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings, noncanonical deathfic or horror, calling an adult "baby" or "darling", mpreg, crackfic, gore (mild violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary), uncensored profanity, first/second person fic
DNW/Caution note: I'm not averse to mentions of sex, but I'd prefer the fic not focus on it or indulge in the physical feelings. Emotional feelings/bonds are what I focus on in any ship. If a prompt requires a mention or implies sex in some way, feel free to include it as necessary as long as the focus of the fic is elsewhere.
If you're crossover-inclined, here's a list of fandoms you could cross with the requested ones (besides, of course, any of my other requests):
1-800-Missing (TV) - love Jess, Brooke, and Sunny so much
Black Sash (TV) - I love Tory
Flood (2007) - love Sam and Rob, and Patricia and Leonard, and I might be slightly shippy with those two pairs…
Gold Diggers (1995) - I love Beth and Jody, and their friendship (which I'm happy turning into a romantic friendship)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Lois and Clark are my favs, though I also enjoy S1 Jimmy (I always picture him in stories I read, rather than the actor from S2+)
Lord of the Rings - books only, please; I prefer canon ships in all respects
The Pretender - Jarod and Miss Parker are my favs and my OTP
Push (2009) - am such a Nick/Cassie fan, and I'm OK with
Rizzoli & Isles (TV) - Jane and Maura are fantastic; I headcanon Jane as asexual and Maura as probably bi
Rookie Blue - S1/S2 are my favs, I am totally team McSwarek (though I don't mind McCollins as an interim relationship, just not endgame), I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly), do what you want with Chris and Traci, love Noelle and Oliver but not a fan of Celery, am ambivalent about Chloe (I like her but not the whole Wes thing) and don't really care for Juliet or Marlo (who would've been much better if they hadn't used the bipolar thing in the way they did)
Smallville - S1-S3 only, am a Clark/Chloe fan and not into Erica Durance's Lois, nor any of the magic stuff that came in S4
Stick It (2006) - I love Haley, lol
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye - Myles and Tara are my favs (I ship them), but I love Sue and Jack too
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) - I'm not sure exactly how you'd cross something like this with any of my requests, but I love the whole idea of it, even (Ellie is my favorite character, with Robyn a close second)
Worldweavers by Alma Alexander - I love this book quartet, and would be happy with either including Thea specifically or just a fusion of the Worldweavers world with whatever canon you're writing
X-Men movieverse - original two films only, please; I ship Scott/Ororo, Logan/Rogue, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, or Kitty/Pete (don't have any OTPs here)
Please don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before. My first real fandom was one where people used to write a dozen versions of the same TV ep, and I loved reading them all. There are never too many versions of the same story, in my opinion. Everyone comes at it differently and I'll enjoy it no matter what!
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Basic premise: Jarra is one of the Handicapped, someone whose immune system can't survive on any of humanity's thousand worlds except for Earth. She's grown up as one of the many Handicapped who were abandoned by their parents, raised as a ward of Earth. She's used to hearing slurs in the media, and she's sick of non-Handicapped thinking she's somehow less than human just because her immune system is faulty. So she's going to find a way to prove it to them… and in the process ends up turning her life upside down and changing the universe.
This is an awesome YA sci-fi trilogy! I love just about everything about it - the premise, the characters… The worldbuilding is fascinating and I found the slang growing on me over time. (I started thinking things like "utter nardle", lol.)
I love the characters in particular, and while Jarra is close to my heart because we see more of her and everything's from her perspective, I really love the others too! Every character I requested is someone that I would love to see more of, so if you've got an idea for any of them, go for it!
Prompts by tag:
Jarra Tell Morrath
For all that we watch her through three books, there's still so much of her life we haven't seen! Anything set before the trilogy (including the novellas about Jarra set pre-trilogy) would be neat - we get glimpses of what life was like in the Residences, but I'd love to see more. Or go for post-Earth Flight - something dealing with Fortuna or tracking down the chimera would be fantastic!
Nia Stone
We don't know all that much about her, but I think it'd be interesting to see more - she's practically an OC, so have fun with it! Backstory fleshing her out would be a great one - how she got into the military, how she ended up working with Colonel Torrek, etc. There's a tidbit about her backstory in the short story collection (see below if you haven't been able to read it and want to know what this backstory is) and I would love to see more about that history if you feel like it.
Riak Torrek
The glimpse we got of Colonel Torrek's backstory in the short story in the Earth 2788 Short Stories collection just tantalized me. That and the line about how he sees Jarra as his granddaughter, in a way - one can connect the dots but I would love to actually see some of that backstory of him with Jarra's grandmother, or see him dealing with the aftermath of the event that killed Jarra's grandmother, or see him interacting with Jarra more in some way.
Jarra Tell Morrath (grandmother)
I'd love to see what this Jarra's life was like - her first encounter with Colonel Torrek, her life as part of a Military clan, experiences during training, etc.
The Matrix (Movies)
I'm not going into the basic premise here because if you don't already know it, I'm not going to spoil you! Just watch the films if you haven't already. ;)
I watched them back around the late 2000s, but after reading a small selection of fics at the time, I drifted away to other fandoms and forgot about it until I got to The Matrix when entering fics in my fic database. Rewatching them has reanimated my love for this fandom, and I think I love Neo/Trinity even more than I did before.
While I love the first film almost wholeheartedly (you'll see prompts that would involve changing some things), I have a complicated relationship with the sequels. There are scenes I love (the freeway chase, some of the Neo/Trinity ones), but the ending for Neo and Trinity is so sad that half the time I pretend the sequels never existed (and I never liked that The One was just a control measure by the machines). I'm happy with you doing the same if you want - but as long as both Neo and Trinity are alive (and together) by the end of the fic, I'm OK with you setting it whenever.
Trinity is the key, to me. She's the character I absolutely adore, and she's vitally important to the whole story. Without her, Neo would not be the One, and without her, everything falls apart. However, some of my prompts would require POVs other than hers and I love outsider POV; as long as she's focused on in the fic in some way, I'll be happy. (I'm also good with a fic where Neo doesn't appear as long as the focus is on their relationship somehow.)
As far as my DNW about sex goes, I don't mind if you refer to these two doing it, just close the door on them, please? Kissing is fine, just focus on the emotions over the physical.
Requested tags:
Thomas Anderson | Neo/Trinity
Trinity & None (The Matrix)
I'd love to see both of them survive at the end of the third film somehow, or maybe an AU of the first film where they're somehow able to save one or more of the crew members who die. (Or maybe they just figure out what Cypher was up to and stop him before he kills half the crew?)
I also love these two together, so if you want to write them developing a relationship (there's a big jump between "we kiss for the first time" and "we're madly in love and together"), or just feeling things out post-film 1, that would be awesome.
If you want to write some angst before getting to the waffy ending, I read a WIP once that pointed out that Trinity was told she would love Neo, but not that he'd love her back. What if there's some doubt? What if he didn't hear her say she loved him and she didn't kiss him right away? How would they sort that all out?
I love hurt/comfort, and there's plenty of possibilities there for these two, either emotional or physical.
If you want to play around with outsider POV, I'd love to see everyone observing how much Neo/Trinity are in love with each other before they realize it/admit it, or even one of them talking to her about it. Would especially be awesome to see an AU where Apoc and Switch survive to give their commentary on the relationship they saw coming a mile away.
And if you're into soulbonds, I could totally see this with these two. (And how would that work with the Matrix? All the awesome worldbuilding here.)
Cybergeddon (Web Series)
Basic premise: FBI Special Agent Chloe Jocelyn (played by Missy Peregrym) is framed for cybercrimes she didn't commit, and has to go on the run to prove her innocence and save the world.
This is like a hacker version of The Fugitive (I'm told it's reminiscent of 24 as well). Missy Peregrym is amazing in this role with a great range - physical, emotional, etc. She sells her character so well and really makes you feel along with her. While I'm not crazy about the Norton ad aspects of the series (and I think they kind of forgot that Linux is a lot better protected than Windows in general), the rest of it is fantastic and well worth watching.
I loved this partly because I'm a bit of a geek myself. While not a hacker, I do run a version of Linux as my main OS on several computers, and I'm not afraid of the command line, or doing things like accessing my home desktop remotely via ssvnc. (For anyone who would try to hack into my computers that way, don't bother - I know how to use hosts.allow.) If all of that is so much mumbo-jumbo to you, don't worry, there are some prompts below that you can write without needing to know a lot of techie stuff.
I just want more of Chloe, really, so all my ideas below follow that in some way:
Early years: We know she was hacking at age 17, what's the story behind that and how that "went away"? How did her relationship with her mother get so bad?
Pre-canon: How'd she get to joining the FBI for cybercrimes work? Or show me how they decided on her becoming Yelena and what she had to go through to pull it off.
Missing scenes: There's an enormous gap between her saving the world and the scene in the new office. Show me some of the aftermath - we see power grids going out, we're told elevators all over fell, and we know planes went down. How much, how bad? I'd love to see Chloe's reaction to all of that, especially since nearly everyone saw her face and probably has figured out she was connected to it in some way. Or show me the conversation between her and Donna regarding Chloe's innocence and what was really happening. There was way too much that happened between her mother's hug and her look at the new office that we didn't see, and I'd love some of that fleshed out!
Post-canon: Show me Chloe taking down Gustov permanently somehow, or her relationship with her mom now, or even a conversation dealing with her having kissed Rabbit. I'm not fond of her relationship with Frank, so I'd be delighted if you felt like changing canon and having her turn down resuming a relationship with him (I don't feel like they're close enough for her to give up her dreams for him). Is she reinstated to the FBI as canon indicates or does she end up on the run again for some reason? Also, given that everyone knows her face (and what a context, too!), how does that affect her life?
I got the awesomest treat for this fandom last year but I love the canon so much I want more!
Where to find canon:
You can find the DVD at the US Amazon. If you can't do Region 1, then try here for an edited-into-single-film version (I didn't do that one! but kudos to the person who did). If you can't do either of those, leave an anonymous comment and let me know which file hoster you need it at (and whether you want the original webisodes + soundtrack in two parts, or one file of the webisodes edited into a single film), and I'll try to get that uploaded right away. (I promise I won't assume that I'm getting this for my gift - I'd just like to get other people into this too!)
Alphas (TV)
Basic premise: This show has been called "X-Men for thinking people", and is a deconstruction of humans with superpowers. (The tagline is "Their abilities make them super. Their actions make them human.") Dr. Lee Rosen (played by David Strathairn) is a therapist who manages a team of Alphas, people who have abilities anyone else might - except dialed up by a thousand into the superpower realm - and each with some kind of downside. They work for the government to identify other Alphas and stop rogue ones, including a terrorist group. The ensemble cast includes Nina Theroux (played by Laura Mennell), a woman with a troubled past and the ability to override willpower, and Rachel Pirzad (played by Azita Ghanizada), a daughter of Iranian immigrants with the ability to intensify any one sense at the cost of the others.
Requested characters: Lee Rosen, Nina Theroux, Rachel Pirzad
Oh man, Alphas. I got hooked on it and watched all 24 episodes in six days. I fell in love with Rachel from her very first scene, and by the third episode I loved Nina just as much or more. Dr. Rosen grew on me over the course of the show, and I really love his character too! But honestly, there's not a main character in Alphas that I don't like, and that's unusual for me! They're just really great. Plus the show doesn't hesitate to play hardball with government mistrust, character deaths, and intense scenes, and is possibly the best show I've seen in terms of how it balances characters and storylines. The only downside, imho, was the terrible cliffhanger Syfy ended it on! (What's with that, Syfy? It's a lousy way to treat fans! Give us a two-hour movie to wrap things up, at least!)
I liked Nina's relationship with Cam, but I also liked that it ended and moved on, and I'm ambivalent about whether they should get back together, as the S2 finale hinted at. I'm also ambivalent about Rachel's relationship with John, and felt it moved a bit fast in Life after Death. I like the tension the last two episodes brought, with the issue of loyalties. You could see the team slowly fracturing into two groups - Lee, Cam, and Nina on the side of "anything it takes", and Bill and Kat (and John, for that matter) on the side of "follow the rules", and Rachel torn in the middle. (Gary is really an independent in all of this.) If you write a fic set during or after those eps, I can't see her splitting away from Lee and Nina, but there would need to be some development of her character in figuring out where she wants to be.
Prompts by character and then possible combinations:
As long as the fic includes at least one of the two requested women, I'd be delighted with fic for any single character that I've requested as well as any possible combination thereof; you do not have to include all of them in the fic!
Nina Theroux
Nina's a fascinating character, and I liked her from the beginning but fell in love with her at the end of Anger Management, the way she reached out to Rachel. And when I got to When Push Comes to Shove, I wanted to hug her so badly. Her power has damaged her relationships with others in so many ways, so many times, and thinking about how having that power affects someone as they grow and mature, particularly with the family she had… you start to realize that emotionally Nina is far less stable than Rachel overall. I would love to see some of Nina's years after she lost Tommy as a friend, or more from when Rosen first encountered her. Or show me missing scenes during the show. Nina might not know the medical things that Rachel does, but she does know the basics of injections, as evidenced when Rosen tells her to give so many CCs to each person under Jonas' influence. Show me how she learns that!
Rachel Pirzad
When I saw Rachel tear up at her dad's words in the pilot, my heart went out to her immediately. I love her vulnerability, her slow progress towards finding her confidence and coming into her own. I'd love to see anything from her years at Langley (where I presume she was just keeping her senses balanced and steering clear of people) to something from the time when she's asked to work with Rosen on his team - that last has to be recent, given her canonical age of 24 in the pilot. Or show me Rachel in missing scenes throughout the show. The writers did get her backstory a little confused—they have a reference to Sam being her "first date" in S1, but in S2 she says she got drunk to sleep with a boyfriend, so pick whichever backstory you like better! (If you don't have a preference, go with S1 - I think it makes more sense with her overall behavior.) One thing we see is that Rachel has a lot of interesting knowledge and skills, from being able to identify "an enzyme found only in Caucasians of Northern European ancestry" in the pilot to knowing how to give shots and recognize drug names (from the pilot Rosen has her prepare injections, and in Need to Know she knows right off that aminorex is a stimulant, something the average person wouldn't know). I'd love to see a fic that goes into how she learns all this.
Lee Rosen & Nina Theroux
I love the relationship these two have. Nina seems to be just about the only team member who calls him Lee, and she treats him as an equal in many ways. At the same time, she defers to him and follows him, especially after When Push Comes to Shove. (I've watched that final scene so many times, it's ridiculous.) Her feelings at being asked to use her pushing ability in Gaslight seem very conflicted, but she seems to recognize the need for it, and switches from "push mostly for my own gain" to "push only as Rosen needs me to". (The deleted scenes in Alphaville are very painful, though, when we see her realize she really is addicted to pushing, and Rosen prioritizes finding Parish over helping her with that. You'll notice she basically steers clear of romantic relationships for the rest of the season, with the exception of the one kiss in God's Eye - I don't think she trusts herself to not damage them, and I think she would eventually realize she shouldn't start things back up with Cam then either.) And later in The Devil Will Drag You Under, she's near tears when she realizes how much responsibility he's taking on himself in the ways he uses his team, for their well-being.
Nina's always the one concerned about Rosen's own well-being, whether it's telling him he needs to get an injury seen to, or being worried about him (did you catch her tone of voice—and later, her face—in Need to Know when she asks Cam, "Why don't you have Lee?"). Before When Push Comes to Shove, Nina acted very suave, polished, and independent, relying on her connections to the other members of the team and her pushing ability to fill the void in her life; after the events of that episode, she cannot use her pushing to compensate as she realizes the damage it has done to everyone, so she clings all the more to the human connections she has. Those being shaky at first with all but Lee, she grows very emotionally dependent on him, I think, and is very attuned to him. He probably has her loyalty more than anyone; Cam follows him at the end of S2 because they have a shared goal, Rachel follows to a point because she's Rosen's protegé, but Nina follows him because of what he means to her, and would follow him anywhere, I think. You'll notice in Need to Know, when Nina's exhausted, he orders Rachel to get the aminorex, and there's really no time for him to have any discussion about it with Nina; he had to have simply said "I'm going to give you this" and she accepted his judgment. So much trust…
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting, to early therapy sessions (Nina does say she was a mess when she first met Rosen and that he helped her a lot), to interactions between them as the team is being formed. Maybe the scene just after the last bit of convo we hear in When Push Comes to Shove? Or moments during the latter arc - such as discussion about using her pushing during Gaslight or beyond, or plotting the events in Need to Know. I see their relationship as platonic, but I've read at least one fic I liked that took it to a romantic dimension, so you could sell me on that. They're both two souls without much of a family and I'd love to see them lean on each other more.
Lee Rosen & Rachel Pirzad
The relationship between these two is really complex. On one hand, Rachel seems to really look up to Dr. Rosen and rely on him to a degree (such as in Wake Up Call when he's probably the only one who could get her to leave her room), but in Never Let Me Go she said sometimes she thought all he cared about was her Alpha ability. I presume she's realized how much he cares for her since, especially when he told her that she was like a daughter to him and that he cared about her more than she would ever know. (And she clearly cares about him, as you see in God's Eye where she tells John she won't leave Rosen, even after he goes beyond where she's comfortable with in Need to Know.) Though did you notice that he held back from reassuring her at the end of Never Let Me Go, preferring instead to remind her of her own strength? I think he's got some issues with being vulnerable (doing it at that one point only so she would survive) - and she's naturally a very vulnerable person. It makes an interesting combination.
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting, to Dr. Rosen helping Rachel past her sensory overload, to an AU ending to Never Let Me Go where he does make himself vulnerable by declaring his affection for her. Or show me S2 Rachel - there's not nearly as many interactions between them but I'd love to see more. How did he convince her to be a part of the kidnap/interrogation plot in Need to Know? Or show a post-finale scene between them (they both have to have lived!) where they discuss her loyalty issues.
Rachel Pirzad & Nina Theroux
The relationship between these two changes so much over the course of the show. S1 Nina is very caring despite doing a good job of pretending to be all cool and not revealing much of her past, and I love the scene at the end of Anger Management where she reaches out to Rachel. She's always offering Rachel a ride, listening to her, encouraging her in her difficulties with her parents, etc. And then you have S2, where she pushes Rachel to stay calm in Wake Up Call - and then pushes for an entirely different reason in When Push Comes to Shove. It was painful to see their relationship in Gaslight, and lovely to see Rachel thawing towards Nina as she recognizes Nina's changed (and that Nina is taking responsibility for the results of her pushing). There are some very interesting undercurrents in Need to Know, though - from Nina's "You called them?", to the way Nina says "When Rachel…" while talking to Bill, to the looks Nina gives Rachel in the elevator and afterwards, and there wasn't time to really deal with that in the few hours that the last two episodes cover. Though I like that when Kat is trying to get a hold of Rachel, Bill says "Nina always knows where she is". I think Nina really cares for Rachel down deep. I'm not entirely sure what Nina's reasoning was for what she pushed Rachel to do in the club in When Push Comes to Shove (was she trying to find the quickest way to hurt Rachel, to force the rejection she was feeling coming anyway? or was there more to it?), but when she's in her right mind, she clearly has a lot of affection for Rachel.
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting to Rachel moving in with Nina, to bonding while roommates, to even Rachel moving back out to her parents' (when did that happen? right after Rosen's speech or further into the eight months?). Or show me some of the rebuilding of their friendship in S2, or even an AU where Rachel tracks Nina down at the end of The Quick and the Dead and gets through to her. Or show me some of the aftermath of the events of Need to Know or post-finale discussion of things. I just love these two and want to see more of them. Still so mad the show ended too soon!
All three
And of course, I would love ensemble fic with all three of them. Maybe the other guys are away on another case and it's down to Rosen and the two women to crack something? Or maybe we're focusing on each of them in turn during some plot. Or write a post-S2 finale fic that follows the trajectories of their stories. Or write something where they're all on the run and working together to stay out of the government's clutches. I love all three of these characters so much and would adore anything about any of them.
Where to find canon:
The US Amazon has Season 1 and Season 2 separately for just under $19 combined, or you can buy them as a set for about the same amount. You may be able to find it on your local Amazon or even the local library, but you won't find this on Netflix, alas!
C-16: FBI
Basic premise: Amanda Reardon (played by Angie Harmon) and another rookie join Criminal Division 16, the Major Case Squad, whose four experienced agents includes Annie Rooney (played by Christine Tucci). The squad tackles cases from kidnappings to mob hits to bank robberies, with arcs following each character through various situations in their life. Amanda, as a newbie, doesn't always do things right, and has a lot of friction with her assigned partner and training agent Jack. Annie is a competent agent who juggles her career with being a single mother to a little boy of about four years old; her messy divorce causes a lot of stress as her ex-husband seeks custody of their son.
I love the show in its entirety pretty much, except for the addition of the romance between Amanda and Scott. That's the only thing I can think of; Scott just isn't one of my favorite characters (though I love when he's being supportive of Annie in the pilot), and I can't buy him in a relationship with any of the others on their team. I also enjoy seeing Annie as a mentoring agent; I think she does a good job with Mal.
It's impossible to pick a single favorite episode, but I love the pilot (there's a lot of really good conversations in the second half, ep #2, from Annie talking to Scott while sitting on the squad car, to John talking to his boss Dennis at the end). I also love the way ep #3 ends (the one about the radio station). I love the scenes where Amanda's dealing with Jack hurt (particularly in the hospital!), and I love how Jack handles her in the episode where she witnesses the shooting.
Prompts by tag:
Annie Rooney:
I love Annie's competence, and the fact that she is trying to be both awesome FBI agent AND mommy—and she struggles, like many women do in her situation. It's not clear-cut; she's good at both (as boss John tells her in one ep), but they both demand so much of her and it's a constant balancing act. I find the realism very fascinating; I haven't seen the like on many shows (when they show women being good at their jobs, they don't usually have a family, or if they do, they don't have a lot of issues trying to do both, and that's just not how it is for a lot of women).
I'd love to see a fic dealing with her being a mom, whether it's a glimpse of her caring for her son (the little she gets to do that) or the custody battle. I'd also love a fic of her being a kicka** agent (I loved it when she figured out who the target was in that one ep and tackled them to save them).
Amanda Reardon:
I love Amanda's earnestness, trying to get it right, be good at what she does, and trying to earn respect from Jack. She witnesses a lot during the show, and I really feel for her in that. I also love her snark; Angie Harmon seems to have been destined to play snarky characters (a decade later, her role of Lindsay in Women's Murder Club and recent role of Jane in Rizzoli & Isles both have lots of snark).
I'd love to see more of Amanda growing as an agent, bonding with Mal, learning from some of the more experienced agents, etc. I'd also love to see some of her backstory, what made her become an FBI agent, her experiences at Quantico, etc. Would rather not see any of her with Scott romantically.
I'd also love to see more of Amanda and Jack coming to an understanding. Whether that be platonic or romantic, I'd be good with it. I tend to find it difficult to imagine seeing Jack being outright romantic in any way (though what on earth was that kiss on the cheek when he was in the hospital? and he did basically admit to his friend Gurdeep that he liked her), but the line between caring friend and hidden love is rather thin, especially from Amanda's POV, and I'd love a fic that skirted that or played with it. Or perhaps a fic from Jack's POV showing his thoughts on Amanda over time - from verging on harassment to respect? I don't have a clue how they'd actually end up *in* a relationship, but I'd love to see you write it!
I'd also love something plotty focusing on either of them, if that's what interests you! So many possibilities for that…
Women's Murder Club (TV)
Basic premise: A small group of friends (three to start, with a fourth working her way in during the first couple episodes) who all work in related fields share information to help each other solve cases. Lindsay Boxer (played by Angie Harmon) is a homicide inspector (aka detective) who works in San Francisco's police department. She's friends with Jill Bernhardt, a deputy district attorney and Claire Washburn, the medical examiner. As the show unfolds, she begins to respect (and maybe even like?) Cindy Thomas (played by Aubrey Dollar), a young reporter who gets assigned to the crime beat. The show is an excellent mix of drama, comedy, and romance, and has a lot of similarities to Rizzoli & Isles.
Requested characters: Lindsay Boxer, Cindy Thomas
I got into Women's Murder Club because I loved watching Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles, and this sounded like a similar role for her. After I saw the video titled "The Best of Women's Murder Club" and read this comment, I was positive I had to see the whole show: "Now it all makes sense. Jane Rizzoli is an extension of Lindsay Boxer. The only difference, they keep butching up Angie Harmon." It is so true. Lindsay is like a milder version of Jane in some ways. But in the ways she's different, I fell in love with her character all over again. Lindsay can actually cry, she hates being vulnerable but she can actually do it and be real with her friends. And that just won me over. (Seriously, make Angie Harmon be all vulnerable and cry in a scene and you have me. Completely.) I love her dedication to her work, the toughness she can bring to the job, but I also love that she can still be human, still be vulnerable, that she doesn't feel like she has to be tough to be respected (Jane Rizzoli, in many ways, hardens herself in order to be respected in her job). I love that she cares about her friends, and that she's torn about her ex but still knows what the right thing is and even respects his fiancée. While Lindsay doesn't always take the best care of herself (or act the most responsibly), it helps that Claire can act as "mom" and give her the lectures she needs but sometimes doesn't accept even from her other friends (something Maura isn't very good at giving Jane in R&I).
Cindy stole my heart because of several reasons. One, she's cute and adorable (I don't usually find redheads fascinating but there's something about Cindy…). Two, she has a delightful personality, bubbly, a little lacking in some common sense now and then, which the others are happy to lecture her about. And three, she has a bravery and courage that is pretty amazing. When she volunteers for the dangerous decoy task in "Father's Day"… that took guts. Real guts. I think Lindsay had to respect her for that. And then with what happens to her in "And The Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free", well… I want to hear more. (I also have to admit, I might not be a sports fan, but I loved Cindy in "Play Through the Pain", especially her interaction with Claire's son.)
Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them fascinating. And by this I don't know whether I want to read a romantic friendship or just a good friendship, or even a sisterly sort of thing… I just know I want Lindsay and Cindy together. WMC is so intertwined that I imagine it's probably easy to include all four women, so as long as the focus is on those two, I don't care if you write me a casefic, a friends-get-together-and-hang-out fic, an AU… you name it! But as for Lindsay and Cindy specifically, I see a bit of hero worship—and maybe a crush of sorts—on Cindy's side, and annoyance that turns to fondness and respect on Lindsay's. What you do with that is up to you. Deep feelings, caring intensely, please-don't-die-on-me, I-don't-know-what-to-do-if-you-weren't-here… I would eat that up. I would also be totally OK with a fic where they're just friends and Cindy's being her usual adorably ridiculous self and Lindsay is wondering if she needs to shoot her. *g*
My views on other characters:
I love Claire's motherliness, particularly with Lindsay, and I can see her totally mothering Cindy. I don't understand Jill very well sometimes so you can leave her out of the fic, or else just keeping her focused on case stuff or being general friends. Best off steering clear of the guys in the women's lives, with the exception of Ed. (You're welcome to pretend Pete never existed, or he left early, etc. if you like.)
For a sample of why I love this canon, this bit of convo still makes me giggle. Watch that Best of WMC video and see what I mean:
Jill: Worst. Liar. Ever!
Lindsay: Don't make me charge you with obstruction!
Cindy: Every time a girl gets a little flustered you start whipping out the charges.
Claire: Please spare us all the pain of watching you try to bluff!
Fun fact: To quote Wikipedia: "In the San Francisco Police Department, inspector is the normal title for a detective, and the investigative branch of the SFPD is called the Bureau of Inspectors, renamed from the Investigations Bureau." (In case anyone's confused by why she's called Inspector Boxer instead of Detective Boxer.)
Fic prompts & ideas (in case you don't have something already):
- I'd love to see more of Lindsay and Cindy regarding the shooting in ep #12. Maybe an alternate ending where Jill isn't the one that stays at the hospital?
- Maybe a fic about Lindsay and Cindy's friendship starting to grow from the beginning. I see a bit of insecurity in Cindy with regards to her friendships with the others.
- Write what happens at the end of ep #13; the show ended with no proper finale, and a bit of a cliffhanger with Lindsay. I'd like to see what happens next.
- Missing scene with the two women? One possibility is right after Cindy was a decoy, or later that day. I'm sure you can come up with more.
- AU—maybe they met years before, mix it up some other way, I love a good AU. :D
- What-ifs. What if Lindsay actually was pregnant? Or what if Cindy got hurt being a decoy? I love AU endings to eps where one variable gets tweaked and suddenly things go in an entirely different direction. As long as the bad guys still get put away somehow, have fun fiddling with variables!
- I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort. I'm quite content for a writer to drop a wall on a character (metaphorically, literally, whatever—any trauma is OK with me, won't squick me out) as long as they can overcome their challenges / heal from it (scars are fine in both physical and emotional senses). That said, although Cindy makes the easier hurt one physically, we got a glimpse of Lindsay hurt emotionally in "To Drag and To Hold". The case got in the way of the rest of it, though. (I wish we'd gotten to see more than Cindy's speech to Lindsay!) Feel free to do whatever you like with that. Trauma that brings characters closer together is fine by me.
Because canon is awesome:
The Best of Women's Murder Club - awesome video that will spoil some things but give you a taste of how awesome WMC is.
Where to find canon:
The show's not available for sale (unless you buy the less-than-professional DVD-Rs from Amazon), but you can find all the eps (including the unaired version of the pilot, which is substantially different from the regular show in some areas so shouldn't be treated as canon for this) on Youtube. Just search for "Women's Murder Club" and you should find them—they're all titled WMC - Season 1 - Episode **.
Happy writing! :D
I've tried to help you out by describing what I love about each fandom and/or character, and I've written a few prompts in case you find them useful, but if you come up with something of your own, please write what you think will work best! I've been wonderfully surprised by fics that I never would have thought of in a million years but which were absolutely amazing.
I love characters who are strong as well as characters who are vulnerable, I love characters who have quiet depth, characters with an active inner life, characters who do a lot of thinking and feeling…
I once made up a 101 favorite tropes list (in no particular order), so feel free to make use of those if any of them get your muse going: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
Besides those tropes, here are my general likes:
deep platonic friendship, romantic friendship, asexual romance, found families, apocalyptic fic, hurt/comfort, nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling), self-sacrifice, characters being vulnerable, character redemption, survival fic, positive treatment of religion, characters dealing with trauma, trust building, missing scenes, canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
DNWs: supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.), AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings, noncanonical deathfic or horror, calling an adult "baby" or "darling", mpreg, crackfic, gore (mild violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary), uncensored profanity, first/second person fic
DNW/Caution note: I'm not averse to mentions of sex, but I'd prefer the fic not focus on it or indulge in the physical feelings. Emotional feelings/bonds are what I focus on in any ship. If a prompt requires a mention or implies sex in some way, feel free to include it as necessary as long as the focus of the fic is elsewhere.
If you're crossover-inclined, here's a list of fandoms you could cross with the requested ones (besides, of course, any of my other requests):
1-800-Missing (TV) - love Jess, Brooke, and Sunny so much
Black Sash (TV) - I love Tory
Flood (2007) - love Sam and Rob, and Patricia and Leonard, and I might be slightly shippy with those two pairs…
Gold Diggers (1995) - I love Beth and Jody, and their friendship (which I'm happy turning into a romantic friendship)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Lois and Clark are my favs, though I also enjoy S1 Jimmy (I always picture him in stories I read, rather than the actor from S2+)
Lord of the Rings - books only, please; I prefer canon ships in all respects
The Pretender - Jarod and Miss Parker are my favs and my OTP
Push (2009) - am such a Nick/Cassie fan, and I'm OK with
Rizzoli & Isles (TV) - Jane and Maura are fantastic; I headcanon Jane as asexual and Maura as probably bi
Rookie Blue - S1/S2 are my favs, I am totally team McSwarek (though I don't mind McCollins as an interim relationship, just not endgame), I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly), do what you want with Chris and Traci, love Noelle and Oliver but not a fan of Celery, am ambivalent about Chloe (I like her but not the whole Wes thing) and don't really care for Juliet or Marlo (who would've been much better if they hadn't used the bipolar thing in the way they did)
Smallville - S1-S3 only, am a Clark/Chloe fan and not into Erica Durance's Lois, nor any of the magic stuff that came in S4
Stick It (2006) - I love Haley, lol
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye - Myles and Tara are my favs (I ship them), but I love Sue and Jack too
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) - I'm not sure exactly how you'd cross something like this with any of my requests, but I love the whole idea of it, even (Ellie is my favorite character, with Robyn a close second)
Worldweavers by Alma Alexander - I love this book quartet, and would be happy with either including Thea specifically or just a fusion of the Worldweavers world with whatever canon you're writing
X-Men movieverse - original two films only, please; I ship Scott/Ororo, Logan/Rogue, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, or Kitty/Pete (don't have any OTPs here)
Please don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before. My first real fandom was one where people used to write a dozen versions of the same TV ep, and I loved reading them all. There are never too many versions of the same story, in my opinion. Everyone comes at it differently and I'll enjoy it no matter what!
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Basic premise: Jarra is one of the Handicapped, someone whose immune system can't survive on any of humanity's thousand worlds except for Earth. She's grown up as one of the many Handicapped who were abandoned by their parents, raised as a ward of Earth. She's used to hearing slurs in the media, and she's sick of non-Handicapped thinking she's somehow less than human just because her immune system is faulty. So she's going to find a way to prove it to them… and in the process ends up turning her life upside down and changing the universe.
This is an awesome YA sci-fi trilogy! I love just about everything about it - the premise, the characters… The worldbuilding is fascinating and I found the slang growing on me over time. (I started thinking things like "utter nardle", lol.)
I love the characters in particular, and while Jarra is close to my heart because we see more of her and everything's from her perspective, I really love the others too! Every character I requested is someone that I would love to see more of, so if you've got an idea for any of them, go for it!
Prompts by tag:
Jarra Tell Morrath
For all that we watch her through three books, there's still so much of her life we haven't seen! Anything set before the trilogy (including the novellas about Jarra set pre-trilogy) would be neat - we get glimpses of what life was like in the Residences, but I'd love to see more. Or go for post-Earth Flight - something dealing with Fortuna or tracking down the chimera would be fantastic!
Nia Stone
We don't know all that much about her, but I think it'd be interesting to see more - she's practically an OC, so have fun with it! Backstory fleshing her out would be a great one - how she got into the military, how she ended up working with Colonel Torrek, etc. There's a tidbit about her backstory in the short story collection (see below if you haven't been able to read it and want to know what this backstory is) and I would love to see more about that history if you feel like it.
Riak Torrek
The glimpse we got of Colonel Torrek's backstory in the short story in the Earth 2788 Short Stories collection just tantalized me. That and the line about how he sees Jarra as his granddaughter, in a way - one can connect the dots but I would love to actually see some of that backstory of him with Jarra's grandmother, or see him dealing with the aftermath of the event that killed Jarra's grandmother, or see him interacting with Jarra more in some way.
Jarra Tell Morrath (grandmother)
I'd love to see what this Jarra's life was like - her first encounter with Colonel Torrek, her life as part of a Military clan, experiences during training, etc.
The Matrix (Movies)
I'm not going into the basic premise here because if you don't already know it, I'm not going to spoil you! Just watch the films if you haven't already. ;)
I watched them back around the late 2000s, but after reading a small selection of fics at the time, I drifted away to other fandoms and forgot about it until I got to The Matrix when entering fics in my fic database. Rewatching them has reanimated my love for this fandom, and I think I love Neo/Trinity even more than I did before.
While I love the first film almost wholeheartedly (you'll see prompts that would involve changing some things), I have a complicated relationship with the sequels. There are scenes I love (the freeway chase, some of the Neo/Trinity ones), but the ending for Neo and Trinity is so sad that half the time I pretend the sequels never existed (and I never liked that The One was just a control measure by the machines). I'm happy with you doing the same if you want - but as long as both Neo and Trinity are alive (and together) by the end of the fic, I'm OK with you setting it whenever.
Trinity is the key, to me. She's the character I absolutely adore, and she's vitally important to the whole story. Without her, Neo would not be the One, and without her, everything falls apart. However, some of my prompts would require POVs other than hers and I love outsider POV; as long as she's focused on in the fic in some way, I'll be happy. (I'm also good with a fic where Neo doesn't appear as long as the focus is on their relationship somehow.)
As far as my DNW about sex goes, I don't mind if you refer to these two doing it, just close the door on them, please? Kissing is fine, just focus on the emotions over the physical.
Requested tags:
Thomas Anderson | Neo/Trinity
Trinity & None (The Matrix)
I'd love to see both of them survive at the end of the third film somehow, or maybe an AU of the first film where they're somehow able to save one or more of the crew members who die. (Or maybe they just figure out what Cypher was up to and stop him before he kills half the crew?)
I also love these two together, so if you want to write them developing a relationship (there's a big jump between "we kiss for the first time" and "we're madly in love and together"), or just feeling things out post-film 1, that would be awesome.
If you want to write some angst before getting to the waffy ending, I read a WIP once that pointed out that Trinity was told she would love Neo, but not that he'd love her back. What if there's some doubt? What if he didn't hear her say she loved him and she didn't kiss him right away? How would they sort that all out?
I love hurt/comfort, and there's plenty of possibilities there for these two, either emotional or physical.
If you want to play around with outsider POV, I'd love to see everyone observing how much Neo/Trinity are in love with each other before they realize it/admit it, or even one of them talking to her about it. Would especially be awesome to see an AU where Apoc and Switch survive to give their commentary on the relationship they saw coming a mile away.
And if you're into soulbonds, I could totally see this with these two. (And how would that work with the Matrix? All the awesome worldbuilding here.)
Cybergeddon (Web Series)
Basic premise: FBI Special Agent Chloe Jocelyn (played by Missy Peregrym) is framed for cybercrimes she didn't commit, and has to go on the run to prove her innocence and save the world.
This is like a hacker version of The Fugitive (I'm told it's reminiscent of 24 as well). Missy Peregrym is amazing in this role with a great range - physical, emotional, etc. She sells her character so well and really makes you feel along with her. While I'm not crazy about the Norton ad aspects of the series (and I think they kind of forgot that Linux is a lot better protected than Windows in general), the rest of it is fantastic and well worth watching.
I loved this partly because I'm a bit of a geek myself. While not a hacker, I do run a version of Linux as my main OS on several computers, and I'm not afraid of the command line, or doing things like accessing my home desktop remotely via ssvnc. (For anyone who would try to hack into my computers that way, don't bother - I know how to use hosts.allow.) If all of that is so much mumbo-jumbo to you, don't worry, there are some prompts below that you can write without needing to know a lot of techie stuff.
I just want more of Chloe, really, so all my ideas below follow that in some way:
Early years: We know she was hacking at age 17, what's the story behind that and how that "went away"? How did her relationship with her mother get so bad?
Pre-canon: How'd she get to joining the FBI for cybercrimes work? Or show me how they decided on her becoming Yelena and what she had to go through to pull it off.
Missing scenes: There's an enormous gap between her saving the world and the scene in the new office. Show me some of the aftermath - we see power grids going out, we're told elevators all over fell, and we know planes went down. How much, how bad? I'd love to see Chloe's reaction to all of that, especially since nearly everyone saw her face and probably has figured out she was connected to it in some way. Or show me the conversation between her and Donna regarding Chloe's innocence and what was really happening. There was way too much that happened between her mother's hug and her look at the new office that we didn't see, and I'd love some of that fleshed out!
Post-canon: Show me Chloe taking down Gustov permanently somehow, or her relationship with her mom now, or even a conversation dealing with her having kissed Rabbit. I'm not fond of her relationship with Frank, so I'd be delighted if you felt like changing canon and having her turn down resuming a relationship with him (I don't feel like they're close enough for her to give up her dreams for him). Is she reinstated to the FBI as canon indicates or does she end up on the run again for some reason? Also, given that everyone knows her face (and what a context, too!), how does that affect her life?
I got the awesomest treat for this fandom last year but I love the canon so much I want more!
Where to find canon:
You can find the DVD at the US Amazon. If you can't do Region 1, then try here for an edited-into-single-film version (I didn't do that one! but kudos to the person who did). If you can't do either of those, leave an anonymous comment and let me know which file hoster you need it at (and whether you want the original webisodes + soundtrack in two parts, or one file of the webisodes edited into a single film), and I'll try to get that uploaded right away. (I promise I won't assume that I'm getting this for my gift - I'd just like to get other people into this too!)
Alphas (TV)
Basic premise: This show has been called "X-Men for thinking people", and is a deconstruction of humans with superpowers. (The tagline is "Their abilities make them super. Their actions make them human.") Dr. Lee Rosen (played by David Strathairn) is a therapist who manages a team of Alphas, people who have abilities anyone else might - except dialed up by a thousand into the superpower realm - and each with some kind of downside. They work for the government to identify other Alphas and stop rogue ones, including a terrorist group. The ensemble cast includes Nina Theroux (played by Laura Mennell), a woman with a troubled past and the ability to override willpower, and Rachel Pirzad (played by Azita Ghanizada), a daughter of Iranian immigrants with the ability to intensify any one sense at the cost of the others.
Requested characters: Lee Rosen, Nina Theroux, Rachel Pirzad
Oh man, Alphas. I got hooked on it and watched all 24 episodes in six days. I fell in love with Rachel from her very first scene, and by the third episode I loved Nina just as much or more. Dr. Rosen grew on me over the course of the show, and I really love his character too! But honestly, there's not a main character in Alphas that I don't like, and that's unusual for me! They're just really great. Plus the show doesn't hesitate to play hardball with government mistrust, character deaths, and intense scenes, and is possibly the best show I've seen in terms of how it balances characters and storylines. The only downside, imho, was the terrible cliffhanger Syfy ended it on! (What's with that, Syfy? It's a lousy way to treat fans! Give us a two-hour movie to wrap things up, at least!)
I liked Nina's relationship with Cam, but I also liked that it ended and moved on, and I'm ambivalent about whether they should get back together, as the S2 finale hinted at. I'm also ambivalent about Rachel's relationship with John, and felt it moved a bit fast in Life after Death. I like the tension the last two episodes brought, with the issue of loyalties. You could see the team slowly fracturing into two groups - Lee, Cam, and Nina on the side of "anything it takes", and Bill and Kat (and John, for that matter) on the side of "follow the rules", and Rachel torn in the middle. (Gary is really an independent in all of this.) If you write a fic set during or after those eps, I can't see her splitting away from Lee and Nina, but there would need to be some development of her character in figuring out where she wants to be.
Prompts by character and then possible combinations:
As long as the fic includes at least one of the two requested women, I'd be delighted with fic for any single character that I've requested as well as any possible combination thereof; you do not have to include all of them in the fic!
Nina Theroux
Nina's a fascinating character, and I liked her from the beginning but fell in love with her at the end of Anger Management, the way she reached out to Rachel. And when I got to When Push Comes to Shove, I wanted to hug her so badly. Her power has damaged her relationships with others in so many ways, so many times, and thinking about how having that power affects someone as they grow and mature, particularly with the family she had… you start to realize that emotionally Nina is far less stable than Rachel overall. I would love to see some of Nina's years after she lost Tommy as a friend, or more from when Rosen first encountered her. Or show me missing scenes during the show. Nina might not know the medical things that Rachel does, but she does know the basics of injections, as evidenced when Rosen tells her to give so many CCs to each person under Jonas' influence. Show me how she learns that!
Rachel Pirzad
When I saw Rachel tear up at her dad's words in the pilot, my heart went out to her immediately. I love her vulnerability, her slow progress towards finding her confidence and coming into her own. I'd love to see anything from her years at Langley (where I presume she was just keeping her senses balanced and steering clear of people) to something from the time when she's asked to work with Rosen on his team - that last has to be recent, given her canonical age of 24 in the pilot. Or show me Rachel in missing scenes throughout the show. The writers did get her backstory a little confused—they have a reference to Sam being her "first date" in S1, but in S2 she says she got drunk to sleep with a boyfriend, so pick whichever backstory you like better! (If you don't have a preference, go with S1 - I think it makes more sense with her overall behavior.) One thing we see is that Rachel has a lot of interesting knowledge and skills, from being able to identify "an enzyme found only in Caucasians of Northern European ancestry" in the pilot to knowing how to give shots and recognize drug names (from the pilot Rosen has her prepare injections, and in Need to Know she knows right off that aminorex is a stimulant, something the average person wouldn't know). I'd love to see a fic that goes into how she learns all this.
Lee Rosen & Nina Theroux
I love the relationship these two have. Nina seems to be just about the only team member who calls him Lee, and she treats him as an equal in many ways. At the same time, she defers to him and follows him, especially after When Push Comes to Shove. (I've watched that final scene so many times, it's ridiculous.) Her feelings at being asked to use her pushing ability in Gaslight seem very conflicted, but she seems to recognize the need for it, and switches from "push mostly for my own gain" to "push only as Rosen needs me to". (The deleted scenes in Alphaville are very painful, though, when we see her realize she really is addicted to pushing, and Rosen prioritizes finding Parish over helping her with that. You'll notice she basically steers clear of romantic relationships for the rest of the season, with the exception of the one kiss in God's Eye - I don't think she trusts herself to not damage them, and I think she would eventually realize she shouldn't start things back up with Cam then either.) And later in The Devil Will Drag You Under, she's near tears when she realizes how much responsibility he's taking on himself in the ways he uses his team, for their well-being.
Nina's always the one concerned about Rosen's own well-being, whether it's telling him he needs to get an injury seen to, or being worried about him (did you catch her tone of voice—and later, her face—in Need to Know when she asks Cam, "Why don't you have Lee?"). Before When Push Comes to Shove, Nina acted very suave, polished, and independent, relying on her connections to the other members of the team and her pushing ability to fill the void in her life; after the events of that episode, she cannot use her pushing to compensate as she realizes the damage it has done to everyone, so she clings all the more to the human connections she has. Those being shaky at first with all but Lee, she grows very emotionally dependent on him, I think, and is very attuned to him. He probably has her loyalty more than anyone; Cam follows him at the end of S2 because they have a shared goal, Rachel follows to a point because she's Rosen's protegé, but Nina follows him because of what he means to her, and would follow him anywhere, I think. You'll notice in Need to Know, when Nina's exhausted, he orders Rachel to get the aminorex, and there's really no time for him to have any discussion about it with Nina; he had to have simply said "I'm going to give you this" and she accepted his judgment. So much trust…
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting, to early therapy sessions (Nina does say she was a mess when she first met Rosen and that he helped her a lot), to interactions between them as the team is being formed. Maybe the scene just after the last bit of convo we hear in When Push Comes to Shove? Or moments during the latter arc - such as discussion about using her pushing during Gaslight or beyond, or plotting the events in Need to Know. I see their relationship as platonic, but I've read at least one fic I liked that took it to a romantic dimension, so you could sell me on that. They're both two souls without much of a family and I'd love to see them lean on each other more.
Lee Rosen & Rachel Pirzad
The relationship between these two is really complex. On one hand, Rachel seems to really look up to Dr. Rosen and rely on him to a degree (such as in Wake Up Call when he's probably the only one who could get her to leave her room), but in Never Let Me Go she said sometimes she thought all he cared about was her Alpha ability. I presume she's realized how much he cares for her since, especially when he told her that she was like a daughter to him and that he cared about her more than she would ever know. (And she clearly cares about him, as you see in God's Eye where she tells John she won't leave Rosen, even after he goes beyond where she's comfortable with in Need to Know.) Though did you notice that he held back from reassuring her at the end of Never Let Me Go, preferring instead to remind her of her own strength? I think he's got some issues with being vulnerable (doing it at that one point only so she would survive) - and she's naturally a very vulnerable person. It makes an interesting combination.
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting, to Dr. Rosen helping Rachel past her sensory overload, to an AU ending to Never Let Me Go where he does make himself vulnerable by declaring his affection for her. Or show me S2 Rachel - there's not nearly as many interactions between them but I'd love to see more. How did he convince her to be a part of the kidnap/interrogation plot in Need to Know? Or show a post-finale scene between them (they both have to have lived!) where they discuss her loyalty issues.
Rachel Pirzad & Nina Theroux
The relationship between these two changes so much over the course of the show. S1 Nina is very caring despite doing a good job of pretending to be all cool and not revealing much of her past, and I love the scene at the end of Anger Management where she reaches out to Rachel. She's always offering Rachel a ride, listening to her, encouraging her in her difficulties with her parents, etc. And then you have S2, where she pushes Rachel to stay calm in Wake Up Call - and then pushes for an entirely different reason in When Push Comes to Shove. It was painful to see their relationship in Gaslight, and lovely to see Rachel thawing towards Nina as she recognizes Nina's changed (and that Nina is taking responsibility for the results of her pushing). There are some very interesting undercurrents in Need to Know, though - from Nina's "You called them?", to the way Nina says "When Rachel…" while talking to Bill, to the looks Nina gives Rachel in the elevator and afterwards, and there wasn't time to really deal with that in the few hours that the last two episodes cover. Though I like that when Kat is trying to get a hold of Rachel, Bill says "Nina always knows where she is". I think Nina really cares for Rachel down deep. I'm not entirely sure what Nina's reasoning was for what she pushed Rachel to do in the club in When Push Comes to Shove (was she trying to find the quickest way to hurt Rachel, to force the rejection she was feeling coming anyway? or was there more to it?), but when she's in her right mind, she clearly has a lot of affection for Rachel.
I'd love to see anything from their first meeting to Rachel moving in with Nina, to bonding while roommates, to even Rachel moving back out to her parents' (when did that happen? right after Rosen's speech or further into the eight months?). Or show me some of the rebuilding of their friendship in S2, or even an AU where Rachel tracks Nina down at the end of The Quick and the Dead and gets through to her. Or show me some of the aftermath of the events of Need to Know or post-finale discussion of things. I just love these two and want to see more of them. Still so mad the show ended too soon!
All three
And of course, I would love ensemble fic with all three of them. Maybe the other guys are away on another case and it's down to Rosen and the two women to crack something? Or maybe we're focusing on each of them in turn during some plot. Or write a post-S2 finale fic that follows the trajectories of their stories. Or write something where they're all on the run and working together to stay out of the government's clutches. I love all three of these characters so much and would adore anything about any of them.
Where to find canon:
The US Amazon has Season 1 and Season 2 separately for just under $19 combined, or you can buy them as a set for about the same amount. You may be able to find it on your local Amazon or even the local library, but you won't find this on Netflix, alas!
C-16: FBI
Basic premise: Amanda Reardon (played by Angie Harmon) and another rookie join Criminal Division 16, the Major Case Squad, whose four experienced agents includes Annie Rooney (played by Christine Tucci). The squad tackles cases from kidnappings to mob hits to bank robberies, with arcs following each character through various situations in their life. Amanda, as a newbie, doesn't always do things right, and has a lot of friction with her assigned partner and training agent Jack. Annie is a competent agent who juggles her career with being a single mother to a little boy of about four years old; her messy divorce causes a lot of stress as her ex-husband seeks custody of their son.
I love the show in its entirety pretty much, except for the addition of the romance between Amanda and Scott. That's the only thing I can think of; Scott just isn't one of my favorite characters (though I love when he's being supportive of Annie in the pilot), and I can't buy him in a relationship with any of the others on their team. I also enjoy seeing Annie as a mentoring agent; I think she does a good job with Mal.
It's impossible to pick a single favorite episode, but I love the pilot (there's a lot of really good conversations in the second half, ep #2, from Annie talking to Scott while sitting on the squad car, to John talking to his boss Dennis at the end). I also love the way ep #3 ends (the one about the radio station). I love the scenes where Amanda's dealing with Jack hurt (particularly in the hospital!), and I love how Jack handles her in the episode where she witnesses the shooting.
Prompts by tag:
Annie Rooney:
I love Annie's competence, and the fact that she is trying to be both awesome FBI agent AND mommy—and she struggles, like many women do in her situation. It's not clear-cut; she's good at both (as boss John tells her in one ep), but they both demand so much of her and it's a constant balancing act. I find the realism very fascinating; I haven't seen the like on many shows (when they show women being good at their jobs, they don't usually have a family, or if they do, they don't have a lot of issues trying to do both, and that's just not how it is for a lot of women).
I'd love to see a fic dealing with her being a mom, whether it's a glimpse of her caring for her son (the little she gets to do that) or the custody battle. I'd also love a fic of her being a kicka** agent (I loved it when she figured out who the target was in that one ep and tackled them to save them).
Amanda Reardon:
I love Amanda's earnestness, trying to get it right, be good at what she does, and trying to earn respect from Jack. She witnesses a lot during the show, and I really feel for her in that. I also love her snark; Angie Harmon seems to have been destined to play snarky characters (a decade later, her role of Lindsay in Women's Murder Club and recent role of Jane in Rizzoli & Isles both have lots of snark).
I'd love to see more of Amanda growing as an agent, bonding with Mal, learning from some of the more experienced agents, etc. I'd also love to see some of her backstory, what made her become an FBI agent, her experiences at Quantico, etc. Would rather not see any of her with Scott romantically.
I'd also love to see more of Amanda and Jack coming to an understanding. Whether that be platonic or romantic, I'd be good with it. I tend to find it difficult to imagine seeing Jack being outright romantic in any way (though what on earth was that kiss on the cheek when he was in the hospital? and he did basically admit to his friend Gurdeep that he liked her), but the line between caring friend and hidden love is rather thin, especially from Amanda's POV, and I'd love a fic that skirted that or played with it. Or perhaps a fic from Jack's POV showing his thoughts on Amanda over time - from verging on harassment to respect? I don't have a clue how they'd actually end up *in* a relationship, but I'd love to see you write it!
I'd also love something plotty focusing on either of them, if that's what interests you! So many possibilities for that…
Women's Murder Club (TV)
Basic premise: A small group of friends (three to start, with a fourth working her way in during the first couple episodes) who all work in related fields share information to help each other solve cases. Lindsay Boxer (played by Angie Harmon) is a homicide inspector (aka detective) who works in San Francisco's police department. She's friends with Jill Bernhardt, a deputy district attorney and Claire Washburn, the medical examiner. As the show unfolds, she begins to respect (and maybe even like?) Cindy Thomas (played by Aubrey Dollar), a young reporter who gets assigned to the crime beat. The show is an excellent mix of drama, comedy, and romance, and has a lot of similarities to Rizzoli & Isles.
Requested characters: Lindsay Boxer, Cindy Thomas
I got into Women's Murder Club because I loved watching Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles, and this sounded like a similar role for her. After I saw the video titled "The Best of Women's Murder Club" and read this comment, I was positive I had to see the whole show: "Now it all makes sense. Jane Rizzoli is an extension of Lindsay Boxer. The only difference, they keep butching up Angie Harmon." It is so true. Lindsay is like a milder version of Jane in some ways. But in the ways she's different, I fell in love with her character all over again. Lindsay can actually cry, she hates being vulnerable but she can actually do it and be real with her friends. And that just won me over. (Seriously, make Angie Harmon be all vulnerable and cry in a scene and you have me. Completely.) I love her dedication to her work, the toughness she can bring to the job, but I also love that she can still be human, still be vulnerable, that she doesn't feel like she has to be tough to be respected (Jane Rizzoli, in many ways, hardens herself in order to be respected in her job). I love that she cares about her friends, and that she's torn about her ex but still knows what the right thing is and even respects his fiancée. While Lindsay doesn't always take the best care of herself (or act the most responsibly), it helps that Claire can act as "mom" and give her the lectures she needs but sometimes doesn't accept even from her other friends (something Maura isn't very good at giving Jane in R&I).
Cindy stole my heart because of several reasons. One, she's cute and adorable (I don't usually find redheads fascinating but there's something about Cindy…). Two, she has a delightful personality, bubbly, a little lacking in some common sense now and then, which the others are happy to lecture her about. And three, she has a bravery and courage that is pretty amazing. When she volunteers for the dangerous decoy task in "Father's Day"… that took guts. Real guts. I think Lindsay had to respect her for that. And then with what happens to her in "And The Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free", well… I want to hear more. (I also have to admit, I might not be a sports fan, but I loved Cindy in "Play Through the Pain", especially her interaction with Claire's son.)
Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them fascinating. And by this I don't know whether I want to read a romantic friendship or just a good friendship, or even a sisterly sort of thing… I just know I want Lindsay and Cindy together. WMC is so intertwined that I imagine it's probably easy to include all four women, so as long as the focus is on those two, I don't care if you write me a casefic, a friends-get-together-and-hang-out fic, an AU… you name it! But as for Lindsay and Cindy specifically, I see a bit of hero worship—and maybe a crush of sorts—on Cindy's side, and annoyance that turns to fondness and respect on Lindsay's. What you do with that is up to you. Deep feelings, caring intensely, please-don't-die-on-me, I-don't-know-what-to-do-if-you-weren't-here… I would eat that up. I would also be totally OK with a fic where they're just friends and Cindy's being her usual adorably ridiculous self and Lindsay is wondering if she needs to shoot her. *g*
My views on other characters:
I love Claire's motherliness, particularly with Lindsay, and I can see her totally mothering Cindy. I don't understand Jill very well sometimes so you can leave her out of the fic, or else just keeping her focused on case stuff or being general friends. Best off steering clear of the guys in the women's lives, with the exception of Ed. (You're welcome to pretend Pete never existed, or he left early, etc. if you like.)
For a sample of why I love this canon, this bit of convo still makes me giggle. Watch that Best of WMC video and see what I mean:
Jill: Worst. Liar. Ever!
Lindsay: Don't make me charge you with obstruction!
Cindy: Every time a girl gets a little flustered you start whipping out the charges.
Claire: Please spare us all the pain of watching you try to bluff!
Fun fact: To quote Wikipedia: "In the San Francisco Police Department, inspector is the normal title for a detective, and the investigative branch of the SFPD is called the Bureau of Inspectors, renamed from the Investigations Bureau." (In case anyone's confused by why she's called Inspector Boxer instead of Detective Boxer.)
Fic prompts & ideas (in case you don't have something already):
- I'd love to see more of Lindsay and Cindy regarding the shooting in ep #12. Maybe an alternate ending where Jill isn't the one that stays at the hospital?
- Maybe a fic about Lindsay and Cindy's friendship starting to grow from the beginning. I see a bit of insecurity in Cindy with regards to her friendships with the others.
- Write what happens at the end of ep #13; the show ended with no proper finale, and a bit of a cliffhanger with Lindsay. I'd like to see what happens next.
- Missing scene with the two women? One possibility is right after Cindy was a decoy, or later that day. I'm sure you can come up with more.
- AU—maybe they met years before, mix it up some other way, I love a good AU. :D
- What-ifs. What if Lindsay actually was pregnant? Or what if Cindy got hurt being a decoy? I love AU endings to eps where one variable gets tweaked and suddenly things go in an entirely different direction. As long as the bad guys still get put away somehow, have fun fiddling with variables!
- I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort. I'm quite content for a writer to drop a wall on a character (metaphorically, literally, whatever—any trauma is OK with me, won't squick me out) as long as they can overcome their challenges / heal from it (scars are fine in both physical and emotional senses). That said, although Cindy makes the easier hurt one physically, we got a glimpse of Lindsay hurt emotionally in "To Drag and To Hold". The case got in the way of the rest of it, though. (I wish we'd gotten to see more than Cindy's speech to Lindsay!) Feel free to do whatever you like with that. Trauma that brings characters closer together is fine by me.
Because canon is awesome:
The Best of Women's Murder Club - awesome video that will spoil some things but give you a taste of how awesome WMC is.
Where to find canon:
The show's not available for sale (unless you buy the less-than-professional DVD-Rs from Amazon), but you can find all the eps (including the unaired version of the pilot, which is substantially different from the regular show in some areas so shouldn't be treated as canon for this) on Youtube. Just search for "Women's Murder Club" and you should find them—they're all titled WMC - Season 1 - Episode **.
Happy writing! :D
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