therapeutic thump

Hi, Gorgeous!

This is my letter for Gen Freeform Exchange 2021. I hope it's helpful.

Let me say first off - thanks! I think you're nifty to write me a fic in a fandom we share! Above all, if you have a good time writing the story, that will shine through, and I guarantee that I'll enjoy it too.

General stuff:
*For this challenge, I'd prefer to have the characters as they are in canon and for the canons themselves to be stable - no AUs that rejigger existing canon or crossovers this time around, please.
*I don't really enjoy unremittingly dark fic, and I don't want anything with a terribly unhappy ending.
*I swoon for humor. I'm impressed by world-building, and I love seeing those little details that tell me you've thought about the realities of the place you're depicting. I adore quietly sorrowful stories.
*I think of myself as easy to please and have requested only characters and canons that I absolutely love, which I'm hoping makes your job a little easier.
*I'm so excited to read your fic!

Do Not Wants:
I do not want fic that includes: death, loss of bodily control, body modification, loss of mental soundness, larger destinies that erase choice and free will, pain/pain-play, humiliation, or a very unhappy ending, please. Also, please no Reader/You insert-fic, and please don't treat any canon or character as a joke.

(I tend to do a lot of clickety-clicking once I have my assignment, but in case you'd rather just have a couple of straightforward links to figure me out, here is my master fic list (stories are listed in the order in which I wrote them within each fandom) and here I am on AO3 under the name innie. I don't have a tumblr or twitter or a current lj - I'm just on dw and AO3.)

Now on to the details, since I think I'm more likely to get a story that hits all of my buttons if I tell you what my buttons are for these fandoms. I would be deliriously happy with a fic for any of these requests (listed alphabetically and not in desired order)!


Better Off Ted
Lem Hewitt & Phil Myman
Ted Crisp & Rose Crisp
Ted Crisp & Veronica Palmer
Action/Adventure, Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, baking together, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters A & B must collaborate on school/work project, Characters Being Competent Together, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, cooking together, Game Night, Slice of Work Life

I've been rewatching sitcoms in these long days of isolation, and this show was one of the best things I've seen. I love Ted and I love Veronica and think they are hilarious together. I adore how Ted tries to accommodate Veronica's flexible morality, how blunt she is, and how well they treat each other. Seeing them in the office or trying to raise Rose would be great. I like Linda (except in a romantic-with-Ted context) and love Lem and Phil (viva Lem!), so throw those cats and kittens in the mix if you like.


Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette
Mehitabel Parr & Gordeny Fisher
Mildmay Foxe & Cardenio Richey
Mildmay Foxe & Felix Harrowgate
Mildmay Foxe & Mehitabel Parr
A & B have an honest and completely frank discussion about difficult subject, Action/Adventure, Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters Being Competent Together, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, Game Night, Holding Hands, The Intimacy of Brushing/Braiding/Washing Another Person's Hair, Late Night Conversations, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Bathing, platonic declarations of love, Protectiveness

Mildmay is one of my favorite literary characters ever; he fits right into my sweet spot of alpha characters who are happy to set aside their alphaness so that someone else can take the lead (see also Dr. John Watson, Zoe from Firefly, Eggsy Unwin, and Dean Winchester) and because they have other, equally important (usually domestic) priorities. Mildmay's storytelling skills are another favorite aspect of his character; I love the keen intelligence he displays in telling his tales. And I'd very much like to see Mehitabel, navigating all the complications of her life, mentoring Gordeny, recognizing that acting is another way of being storyteller like Mildmay.


GLOW
Cherry Bang & Carmen Wade
Cherry Bang & Sam Sylvia
Justine Biagi & Ruth Wilder
Justine Biagi & Sam Sylvia
Ruth Wilder & Debbie Eagan
Sam Sylvia & Ruth Wilder
Sebastian "Bash" Howard & Carmen Wade
Sheila the She-Wolf & Ruth Wilder
A & B have an honest and completely frank discussion about difficult subject, Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, Characters A & B must collaborate on school/work project, Characters Being Competent Together, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, Exploring The Questionable Life Choices That Got Character Into This Mess, Families of Choice, Game Night, Late Night Conversations, Platonic Bathing, Protectiveness, Slice of Work Life

I just binged this whole series and was blown away by all of the stories that were told. If I have one complaint, it's that the show created some awesome female characters of color and left them in the background, so I'd be especially interested in more about Cherry and Carmen. I was invested in so many of these ladies by the end of the run, and just wish we'd gotten more of them.


Lucifer (TV)
Candy Morningstar & Ella Lopez
Candy Morningstar & Lucifer Morningstar
Dan Espinoza & Linda Martin
Dan Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Dan Espinoza & Mazikeen
Ella Lopez & Lucifer Morningstar
Trixie Espinoza & Mazikeen
Linda Martin & Lucifer Morningstar
Linda Martin & Mazikeen
Mazikeen & Lucifer Morningstar
Michael & Lucifer Morningstar
Action/Adventure, Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, baking together, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters Being Competent Together, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, cooking together, Exploring The Questionable Life Choices That Got Character Into This Mess, Families of Choice, Game Night, Holding Hands, The Intimacy of Brushing/Braiding/Washing Another Person's Hair, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Bathing, platonic declarations of love, Protectiveness, Wing Grooming

I adore so many of the platonic relationships on this show and how they don't feel interchangeable - they're all specific and detailed and bear some weight. I'd be as pleased to read one of Lucifer's sessions with Dr. Linda as I would watching Dan and Maze work together to bring somebody down. Just show me what each pair appreciates about the other.


Miranda
Miranda Hart & Clive
Miranda Hart & Gary Preston
Miranda Hart & Penny Hart
Miranda Hart & Stevie Sutton
Miranda Hart & Tilly
Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, cooking together, Exploring The Questionable Life Choices That Got Character Into This Mess, Families of Choice, Game Night, Holding Hands, Late Night Conversations, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty, Platonic Bathing, platonic declarations of love

I would love to see Miranda being herself and having fun with any of these other characters, even if it's her mother, who could soften a bit (without losing her terrible catchphrases!) and recognize that she's got a happy child. I feel like Tilly would be a scream and Clive would have entirely too much fun watching Miranda try to extricate herself from some plot gone awry. And I relish how Stevie walks the line between enabling and refusing Miranda. Much as I love the pairing of Miranda with Gary, I do equally appreciate that they've been friends for so long, real friends, who understand things about each other that no one else gets.


The Musketeers (2014)
Aramis & Athos & d'Artagnan & Porthos
Aramis & Porthos
Porthos du Vallon & Constance Bonacieux
Action/Adventure, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters Being Competent Together, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, Families of Choice, Late Night Conversations, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Bathing, Protectiveness

I was reminded all over again of how much of a romp this show was and remembered how much I enjoyed watching our four leading men function as a team. I definitely played favorites on this show, and Porthos and Constance were it for me, so I'd particularly love to see them have some side adventure together.


New Girl
Cece Parekh & Jessica Day
Cece Parekh & Winston Bishop
Jessica Day & Winston Bishop
Winston Bishop & Nick Miller
Winston Bishop & Nick Miller & Schmidt
Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, baking together, Canon-typical shenanigans, Caper Fic, Characters A & B must collaborate on school/work project, Characters Teaching Each Other New Skills, Exploring The Questionable Life Choices That Got Character Into This Mess, Families of Choice, Game Night, Holding Hands, The Intimacy of Brushing/Braiding/Washing Another Person's Hair, Late Night Conversations, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty

I miss this show's bananapants craziness, so much of which centered on Winnie the Bish. His relationship with Cece was the one that meant the most to me (I genuinely teared up along with the pair of them when they were calling each other "babe" and talking about being each other's best girl/best guy in the finale). But the more long-standing relationships of the girls together and the boys together definitely had their charms as well - the shenanigans are basically a given.


Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart
Linda Martin & Philippe de Valmy
Linda Martin & William Blake
Raoul de Valmy & Philippe de Valmy
A & B have an honest and completely frank discussion about difficult subject, Awkward and Unconventional Gestures of Friendship, Holding Hands, Loyalty - Gestures of Loyalty, Male-Female Friendship, Protectiveness


I was so touched, reading this, by Philippe's bravery, and want to see him happy. Of course, that can only happen after the events of the novel and I'm equally interested in a story set during the novel (or even before, if we're talking about Philippe & Raoul). Linda's narration is sharp and funny and the tone of it seemed exactly right for this sort of book, but I'd be glad to read a different narrator's take on things.


So that's it! Thank you again for working on something for me, and happy writing!

All the best,
kunju