Like a dandelion up through the pavement, I persist

• Fic that is largely canon compliant. Canon divergent AUs are great, fic that re-interprets or re-examines canon events with a different lens is also great. I am not especially reverent towards canon and non-canon compliant fic is not a problem, but I do really like fic that rattles the bars of its canonical confines while remaining within them (or stays within them for the most part). See also:
  • Post-canon fic and prequel fic—especially ones that are:
    • Character studies, especially of characters who are sparsely characterised or underutilised in canon.
  • Missing scene fic.
• Fic with a strong ensemble cast.
• Dramatic irony, especially when it’s comedic.
• Witty or otherwise humorous dialogue.
• As you can probably tell from the last two listed likes, I prefer fics with a comedic tone, or at least a comedic tinge (which can be ironic and/or bitter, in fics that skew more towards the dramatic side of the comedy-drama spectrum). I like pretty dry and understated humour, but I am also just a fan of Funny more generally.
• Bittersweet or melancholy fics are also wonderful. I am always a sucker for regret and missed opportunities/wasted time.
• Quiet, domestic stories.
• Exciting, dynamic stories.
• References to queer culture and history. This can be in conjunction with one or more queer ships, but can also be in a gen fic featuring one or more queer characters.
• Pining.
• Polyamory/non-monogamy, very much including forms of non-monogamy other than polyfidelitous triads, such as vee arrangements, polycules or open relationships etc.
• Emotionally intense and tempestuous co-dependent relationships, which can either get healthier over the course of the narrative or remain very much a "don’t try this at home" kind of depiction.
• Kid fic.
• Knitting or other kinds of crafts, especially from authors who are crafters and especially-especially when it includes technical or jargon-y details.
• Speaking of jargon, I love STEM-y things being featured in fic.
• I also love wildly unrealistic and campy fake science escapades.
• Things relating to ageing.
• Stuff about (wanted) pregnancy. Can be along the fluffy side or the kinky side.

• Getting together and/or stuff with a first kiss (I know, how NSFW, lol) or first time having sex. I particularly like if first time sex scenes (and sex scenes generally) aren’t Perfect™ and things are a little awkward in a way that the characters can laugh about.
  • First time bottoming and, more generally, first time doing X sex act or kink and/or characters realising that something they hadn’t given much thought to, or had assumed they wouldn’t be into, is something they’re really into. I’d prefer they go into it with a “Sure, I’ll try anything once” attitude rather than an “I’ll suffer through it for you 😥” attitude.
• Friends with benefits/platonic sex. This can turn into fuckbuddies-to-lovers, but it doesn’t have to. I am particularly partial to a character who wingmans for their fuckbuddy and gets them together with another love interest (whether or not the two friends continue to have platonic sex afterwards is fine either way).
• Non-penetrative sex.
  • Intercrural sex specifically. This can transition into penetrative sex or not.
  • Oral sex of all varieties.
• Virginity kink, even/especially if the fic itself doesn’t buy into the social construction of virginity as a concept.
• Re: the above, I really it like, in general, when a work winks at the idea that kinky elements are just roleplay and not Real. Not for moralistic reasons or anything, I just think it gives a nice atmosphere and feel to the relationship and dynamic between the characters to imagine them being kinky together on purpose, as opposed to fics that play to the kink, but are not explicitly written to portray the characters as kinky, if that makes sense. I've heard this described as diegetic kink, which I think is a fun term for it. I don’t mind if this is not something in play though, and I can definitely tell the difference between id-heavy smutty fan fiction and writing intended to be taken as a strictly literal account of how things are or should be done, if you find it clunky to write in-universe scenes.

• First or second person narration, unless that is canon typical.
• Mundane/modern AUs (e.g. college or coffee shop AUs, etc.)
• Harry Potter AUs/fusions
• Pregnancy related DNWs:
  • Unwanted pregnancy.
  • A character being coerced or tricked into becoming pregnant, even if they come around to the idea and/or are not upset by it (babytrapping from the side of the gestational parent isn’t a problem for me, because it’s a bodily autonomy thing for me mainly and also I’m a hypocrite).
  • Pro-life sentiment/politics endorsed by the narrative.
  • Abortion or miscarriage (re: the apparent contradiction with the last bullet point, for me this is like “there was only one bed” fic where they resolve it with someone sleeping on the couch, because I like pregnancy fic and the kind I seek out start from a premise that the pregnancy is wanted, even if unplanned).
• Dark fic. I’m fine with angsty or bittersweet fic or with stories that are framed as tragedies, but I do not want something that is primary intended to be disturbing, or that is unrelentingly miserable with no reprieve and no catharsis at the end.
• A strong focus on bigotry. You do not have to engage in historical revisionism or erase bigotry that exists in canon or the real world and I do enjoy fic that engages with the broader social contexts of various fandom settings, but I would prefer this wasn’t the primary focus.
• Fetishisation or romanticisation of a marginalised group. For example: race play, fetishisation of trans people, fat fetishism, fetishisation of physically disabled people’s bodies, romanticisation of mental illness, etc. One exception is that I do have a weakness for clueless class privileged characters who are poverty tourists, à la the song Common People, so I will say that I’m generally neutral-to-positive on this one, provided the character whose socioeconomic circumstances are being romanticised explicitly thinks that the poverty tourist is being a privileged dick, regardless of whether they also still have, or want to have, sex and/or a relationship with them.
• Intimate partner violence or other related forms of abuse.

• Non-con
• Consensual non-consent or other rape fantasies.
• 24–7 D/s relationships.
• Master/slave relationships.
• Degradation kink.
• Desperation kink.
• Edging.
• Chastity belts/cages.
• Erotic asphyxiation. Non-erotic choking is okay.
• Heavy pain play. Light impact kink or discomfort from restraints is fine.
• Sadism.
• Sounding.
• Things likely to edge near a hygiene squick.
• Characters consenting to sex they think they won’t like, whether they turn out to be right about this or not.
• Detailed descriptions of sex that is painful or unpleasant.

Requested relationships:

• Kira Darvis & Xenk Yendar
  I really want to see what Kira would think of Xenk. I imagine that she’d be disposed to like him, if only to be contrary to her father, and that he would treat her very seriously in a way that I think she’d appreciate because I don’t think Xenk condescends to children. Or at least no more than he does to everyone else.
• Solo: Themberchaud
  Themberchaud, my beautiful chaotic evil son! I was so worried that they were going to kill him and was extremely relieved when they didn’t manage it.

I'd be very interested to see a fic that includes stuff about his backstory, specifically about his past in Gracklstugh and how he came to escape it and be in Dolblunde by the events of the movie. Is he still allied with the duergar? Does he still do any smithing? Has he retired to sleep on his hoard all day and set fire to people who annoy him? I am equally happy to read a fic that has a blank slate take on the character though!

• Solo: Xenk Yendar
  I am violently in love with Xenk Yendar and would die for him. I love that he is so relentlessly earnest and kind, but also kind of a little stinker (see: him smirking when Edgin whispered that he hated him).

I read him as autistic, but I wouldn't necessarily use our-world terminology given the setting (although, that said, I think with TTRPG settings you can brazen out a Fantasty Costco here and there, so if you wanted to then go wild), so if you were drawn to that kind of reading of the character it might be fun to see him getting into various special interests, or having hyper or hyposensitivity that lead to him being sensory averse or sensory seeking (could be both in different contexts), or an autistic take on his strong sense of justice, etc.

I'm also very interested to read a pre-canon fic about him growing up after fleeing Thay and how he came to be a Paladin. How does he feel about the ways he's been changed by exposure to necromantic magic? Does he dwell on it much? Is he ambivalent when it’s helpful, e.g. his ability to see in the dark? Does he get close enough to others to feel conflicted about his extended lifespan, or is he too alienated as a Thayan to have lost many close friends? Is this something he is now grappling with after meeting the party?

• Edgin Darvis/Xenk Yendar
  I am so here for this ship. I love how wearily defeated Edgin seems to be by Xenk’s Goodness and sincerity. As a cynical son of a bitch with low self esteem whose chief weapon is a cleverness with words, I can think of nothing more disarming and frustrating than handsome, heroic Xenk Yendar who completely refuses to engage in verbal sleight of hand and keeps telling you that you're a good person who will do the right thing. I love this for Edgin.

Something post-canon where they get together would be great. It would be interesting to see how aware they both are of their own feelings and whether or not they are reciprocated. I can very easily see both of them being like "Well, obviously I'm down to clown, but he's not so nothing's going to come of it and that's fine" and then one or both of them casually says this and they are both like. Ah. Or maybe something where they are not entirely sure how to untangle sexual attraction from emotional attachment. Maybe one seems okay but the other is unthinkable, and which is which could differ between them?

• Edgin Darvis & Kira Darvis
  I'd love to read a fic where Edgin and Kira get to know each other again. It could be a little bittersweet with both of them trying not to think too hard about the time lost, or maybe Kira still has some lingering feelings about Edgin leaving her behind that are unresolved. I could see that even after knowing Forge had lied to her it would be hard to just Stop feeling some of the resentment that had become baseline for her. It doesn't have to be sad or fraught though! Something that's purely funny or cute would be very good too.
• Edgin Darvis & Holga Kilgore
  The rare "they're just friends, don't be gross" relationship where I'm fully on board with a strictly platonic reading! I adore Edgin and Holga's devotion to each other and how comfortable they are in being Messes around each other or even mean and prickly. They are certain of each other in a way that can let them take each other for granted sometimes, which is both touching to me and does also make me want to see them remember to be nice, haha. A fic where Edgin is doing the emotional heavy lifting of supporting Holga (maybe after her divorce?) would also be great because he does lean on her a lot in canon.
• Solo: Doric
  As a Fantasy High fan I was so excited when Doric wildshaped into an owlbear for the first time that me and my sister just kept shouting "Hoot, growl! Hoot, growl!" at the screen for the full duration of the scene. I love that she's so powerful and that tonally she's living in an entirely different story to everyone else a lot of the time.

I'm intrigued by how she conceptualises her own identity as a culturally elvish tiefling born to humans who rejected her. She seems very integrated into her community and unconflicted about her place in it, which is not always typical of "between two worlds" characters. If a human relative other than her parents wanted to reconnected, such as a sibling, would she entertain that? Does she have any wood elf step siblings? Who are her peers in the Emerald Enclave growing up? How connected is she to being a tiefling outside of her relationship to her human family of origin and her adopted wood elf family? Does she know any other tieflings?

I tend to read her as a lesbian, but don't feel married to that interpretation if you don't. I would prefer you didn't write shippy fic with her and Simon, although a fic about them trying to make it work and realising that they were better as friends would be cool.

• Doric & Xenk Yendar
  I feel like Doric and Xenk are probably the most earnest characters in the movie and I'd be interested to see how they relate to each other one-on-one. They are also both characters who are, for want of a better way of putting it, from human backgrounds but who are distanced in some way from that. Xenk's was changed by his brush with the beckoning death, Doric is a tiefling whose biological parents are human, and both of them were estranged from their biological parents. Do they think about these parallels? Has one of them but not the other?

Doric mentioned Xenk having helped the Emerald Enclave defeat the Clerics of Talos—was she there at the time, maybe as a child? She said she'd heard of him rather than that she'd met him, but did she maybe see him in passing? Maybe she would have related to his story. Possibly they had a very brief interaction that she doesn't think he'd remember, but then he does.

Fandom specific DNWs:

• Shippy Simon/Doric.

Requested relationships:

• Mary Bennet/Anne de Bourgh
  I have always felt quite sorry for Anne de Bourgh being stuck in Rosings with her mother all the time and not having the opportunity of society beyond visitors, who it doesn't seem like she has much say in either. It also must be a bit of a blow to her ego that, vast fortune aside, her mother seems to think the only person who could be prevailed upon to marry her is her cousin, and only then out of a sense of family duty to his own late mother. Mary, by contrast, sort of shuns the social opportunities she has, which often endears her to modern readers (and it does to me too!) but is a very bad plan from a pragmatic sense for someone due to inherit as little as she is. It's not as dramatic as Lizzie refusing Mr Collins, but Mary won't compromise her happiness for the sake of financial security either, which intrigues me. I think it's not a lot of a stretch to read Mary, with her moralising and lack of social graces and self awareness, as autistic, and Anne is canonically chronically ill, so I'd be interested to see how they would relate to each other as people who are both alienated from others by disability. And in terms of their class differences, would Mary be deferential out of respect for Lady Catherine's rank, like Mr Collins, or would she be awkward and rude? Would Anne enjoy awkward rudeness and a lack of deference as a change of pace?

How would they meet? At Pemberley? Is it likely Mary would be invited to stay with the Collinses and visit Rosings Park? Maybe she would live with the Collinses as a governess? I don't know if she would need to take up paid employement after her elder sisters' marriages, but I think she'd be stubborn enough to not want to depend on their husbands. Maybe if she was employed by the Collinses, she would be more inclined to accept the offer of practising piano in Anne's companion's room than Lizzie had been. Would Anne take this amiss?

I think there are a lot of ways you could throw these characters together and a lot of ways they could react to each other that would be very compelling to read about.

• Catherine "Kitty" Bennet/Georgiana Darcy
  Kitty and Georgiana's post-canon friendship is very sweet and I think it would take on a shippy dynamic very readily. And since Kitty living in Pemberley after her father's death (not that you have to kill Mr Bennet!) would be quite unremarkable, as would Georgiana living with her brother if she remained unmarried, it would be relatively easy for them to live together. Georgiana's wealth would also maybe make a little cheeky lesbianism less socially unforgiveable, à la Anne Lister, and potentially they could perhaps be semi-open about a relationship, or at least more indiscreet than if they were not insulated by class privilege.

Georgiana is such a Good Girl and quite shy compared to Kitty's puckish shamelessness and I'm interested to see how they took to each other so quickly given that they are so different. Georgiana does have a weakness for rogueishness, given Wickham's attempted elopement with her, so I think she would be very taken with Kitty, for all that she did canonically tame Kitty's wilder excesses (in public anyway).

Requested relationships:

• Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori
  It is hard to go wrong with Raleigh/Mako. The deep respect they have for each other and how fascinated they are by each other is endlessly compelling to me. I love all the small things, like how in their Jaeger, Raleigh's fighting stance is different to when he piloted with Yancy, and Mako being surprised that he spoke Japanese.

Beyond sparring, how else does their drift compatibility manifest? I would also love to see how they got to relate to each other outside of the context of drift compatibility after the end of the first movie. How are they different and strange to each other? What does it mean to be drift compatible when there's no more need for Jaegers? Does Mako lean on Raleigh in her grief, or does she think that would be too much to assume once they can't touch each other's minds anymore?

• Solo: Mako Mori
  Mako is very much the heart of Pacific Rim for me and I would love to read a character study about her. Even as she honours them, how much does Mako remember of her parents? Does the worst day she had with them overshadow the rest of her memories, or has she been able to hold on to more? What was her schooling like, moving between Shatterdomes? Has she always wanted to pilot a Jaeger, or did the desire grow more slowly?
• Chuck Hansen & Mako Mori, Chuck Hansen/Mako Mori
  I am grouping the & and / version of this relationship together to avoid redundancy here, and I am equally happy either a gen or a shippy take. I have always wondered about Chuck and Mako's pre-canon relationship to each other. Presumably they ran into each other on and off throughout childhood at various Shatterdomes—were they ever friends? Did they have a falling out or grow apart more slowly over time? Mako ran over to kneel down and pet Max when she saw the Hansens, and given that Max is a often read as a symbol for how Chuck and Herc show each other affection despite outwardly finding it hard, this seems significant to me.

I think it's not at all unlikely that they have had sex, either with or without romantic feelings involved, and that they have some fondness for each other despite Chuck's hostility toward Mako in the movie and their general amnity. If you wanted to write something post-Chuck's death where Mako reckons with her ambivalent feelings about Chuck, I think that would be very interesting to tease out, but I would equally be happy to read a PWP where they have frenemies-with-benefits thing, or a story about them being childhood friends.

• Newton Geizler/Hermann Gottlieb
  I love these guys and their nasty squabbling and sniping that lies over a deeply profound bond. By the time of the movie they are, effectively, the only peers the other has and the stress and their differing perspectives have made that such a fraught and bitter thing.

And yet, they care so deeply for each other! Maybe it is impossible to be honest about how much because they have to be able to work together to fight the Kaiju and if they risked the emotional intimacy of being honest about their feelings then they couldn't do that.

There is also the unavoidable tension of their forced proximity to each other and the fact that they have to work with someone whose metholodologies and hypotheses are completely alien to their instincts, but I think that it's not just a familiarity breeding contempt thing.

Fandom specific DNWs:

• References to Pacfic Rim: Uprising.
• Writing Hermann Gottlieb as married.

Requested relationships:

• Sylvia Bennington/Jack Holden/Michael Kellman/Peter Mitchell
  Whenever I see this movie I mourn the secret queer polyamorous version of it that exists in my head. I would adore to read a fic about Mary's various parents' relationships to each other. You don't have to have everyone/everyone in the exact same way, and I would really like seeing a less neatly squared away take. Maybe Michael is gay, maybe Peter is primarily interested in Sylvia, maybe Jack bedhops, maybe Sylvia dates other people as well.

Given that they are all raising a child together, I imagine that they were all very deliberate about how they got involved with each other and did not want to risk their family bond over evolving their relationships to each other. For Michael and Peter, who have no blood relationship to Mary, I can imagine this was a big factor to consider because a break up going badly could involve losing their daughter, who they have no legal tie to.

Something about their evolving conception of family and how it diverges further and further from the heteronormative nuclear family would be deeply compelling to me.

Feel free to diverge from the sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady, or not according to your own preference.

• Humourous lyrics or ironic pairings of clips with lyrics for a humorous effect
• Character study vids
• Ensemble vids
• Uptempo vids with lots of quick cuts on the beat and a sense of movement
• But also: slower, contemplative vids with long clips
• Vids with a strong narrative/emotional arc
• Music specific likes:
  • Vocal jazz, especially Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Chet Baker (my token white man in this category, lol). I mostly listen to stuff from the 1930s-1960s, but I'd be thrilled to get something set to more contemporary jazz too
  • Great American Songbook singers, i.e. anyone known for singing things composed by Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Rodgers & Hammerstein, etc. but especially Judy Garland
  • Motown, e.g. Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5 and Smokey Robinson
  • Disco, e.g. The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Boney M., Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan and the Village People
  • Rock and pop from the 1960s-1980s, e.g. The Mamas & the Papas, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Cher, The Turtles, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, ABBA and Queen
  • Contemporary pop, e.g. Carly Rae Jepsen, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Mitski, Hayley Kiyoko, Marina (& the Diamonds), Florence + the Machine
  • Contemporary hip hop and R&B, e.g. Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Shea Couleé and Janelle Monáe
  • Pop folk, e.g. Simon & Garfunkel, Sufjan Stevens, Belle and Sebastian, Mumford & Sons and Joni Mitchell
  • Musical theatre e.g. Patti Lupone, Audra McDonald, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel
  • Country, e.g. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Trixie Mattel, Skeeter Davis, Loretta Lyn, Woody Guthrie, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Norah Jones, Lil Nas X, Sheryl Crow and Miley Cyrus

• Vids set to music by Michael Bublé or Taylor Swift
• On-screen suicide
• Footage of rats
• Strobing or sudden bright lights