Dear Author: Trick or Treat 2018
Sep. 13th, 2018 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burglebezzlemenHalloween’s one of my favorite holidays, and I’m psyched for this exchange. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
I love all of these characters, and I will be delighted to get a gift for any of them. If I have more prompts for a given character or canon, it just means I had more ideas, not that I want it more.
Also, while I have prompts for all of these characters, I’m also here for something different if you have a different story you’d love to tell about one of the characters I’ve requested (provided it doesn’t run into a DNW). Some of my favorite gifts have been ones I would never have thought to prompt! And I hope you also feel free to mix and match, take part of a prompt and leave the rest, etc.
GENERAL LIKES | DNWs | CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND | HIDDEN LEGACY | MURDERBOT | THE ORVILLE | TAKE TWO | THE X-FILES
General Likes
General dislikes and DNWs
I tend to prefer canon-typical levels of sexual content, which for these canons would mean nothing explicit. That being said, if you need to include a scene that’s a step above fade-to-black for reasons of the plot, I totally get it! I’m just not interested in smut/porn as the main focus of the fic.
My DNWs for these canons:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Maya, Rebecca
I love this show, and I’m so happy we’re getting the final season! I'll be watching when the show comes back, so no worries on spoilers. Or if it's more your speed, please feel free to canon-depart before the ending of last season — I’m interested to see where that all goes in canon, but I’d also totally be down with something that just ignored that bit.
I love gen in this canon, and I love Heather and Valencia and Paula and all of Rebecca's friendships. I really like Maya and Darryl’s friendship, too. For minor characters, I also really enjoy Father Brah. If you’re feeling more of a shippy vibe, I ship Rebecca/Nathaniel. I’d also be into Rebecca/Valencia, especially if it’s canon-departure from earlier in the series. For Maya, Maya/OC of any gender is great. Background Darryl/WhiJo, Valencia/Heather, or Valencia/Beth is great, too.
-Maya as a plucky girl detective! Maybe she decides to look into a small mystery at the office. Or maybe it’s more of a noir mashup — maybe Paula’s the kingpin in some office conspiracy, and Tim and Jim are the sources who won’t go on the record…..
-Rebecca’s cold war with Mrs. Hernandez escalates, and she recruits Maya as an asset. Things go about as well as you’d expect.
-Nathaniel decides to have a Whitefeather & Associates Valentine’s Party (for reasons totally not related to Rebecca Bunch). Maya orders a haunted prom dress off eBay to wear, leading to general hijinks.
-Ridiculous soulmate tropes for any of the noted ships, and I mean the more ridiculous the better. The soulmate-finding goose. Soulmate-or-500-roaches. That kind. And if you want to make it about Rebecca, but make the soulmate-pairing any one of the other ships I mentioned, that could also be fascinating? I’d love seeing Rebecca trying to make sense of soulmate tropes, whether or not she’s the one living through them.
-Fic set in the world of Friendtopia (“our reign will be like Sweet Valley High meets 1984”)
-A state-mandated ghost hunting AU for Rebecca/Nathaniel! Or maybe Heather and Valencia are the ones called, and Rebecca keeps interfering with their jobs because she just wants to help….
-Heather and Rebecca’s creepy murder house ends up actually being haunted. :D And maybe the ghost is a type of person we’d never expect?
-The Hangover would be really fun with in this canon, with pretty much any set of characters. They thought they were going to a totally normal ceramic painting night or something, and end up waking up somewhere weird and having to figure out what happened.
-Maya and Darryl start a podcast together about one of their weird hobbies. Darryl & Maya hunting for the Chupacabra in suburban West Covina while recording themselves could be hilarious.
Hidden Legacy: Grandma Frida, Arabella Baylor, Catalina Baylor
I’m so excited we’re getting more in this world! I love the worldbuilding, and all of the characters.
I know the new novella won’t be out until after reveals, but spoilers for stuff in any excerpts they’ve posted or will post are fine. :D
Either gen or ship would be awesome! If you want to go ship, I’m good with Catalina/Alessandro. I also loved the scene of Arabella and Augustine together in the second book when I re-read recently, so I’d be here for Arabella/Augustine as long as Arabella’s a bit older when they get together, like maybe early-mid 20s? I’m not tied to either of those ships, though, and I’d be open to OC love interests of whatever gender for either Catalina or Arabella. (How would a F/F ship work in this world, especially for a Prime?) For background ships, I’m good with Nevada/Rogan.
One canon-specific DNW note: I don’t ship sistercest in this canon.
I love the worldbuilding in this canon — everything around the powers, Houses, marriages, etc., but also some of the other stuff, like the magic-warped places where things don’t work the way you’d expect. I also love it when a power that seems straightforward gets used in a way you don’t expect, like Cornelius’s ferret heist.
-I love all the background about Herald. A fic revolving around how the emerging House Baylor gets written about in Herald could be amazing, esp. if we get to see how the characters react to all of that!
-On a related note, I love Grandma Frida’s obsession with the social media side of this world, and I especially love the idea of Grandma Frida accidentally becoming House Baylor’s social media expert. Maybe someone from Texas Monthly comes to interview the emerging House Baylor and figures they have an amazing social media consultant, because their social media game is on point… and then finds out the person responsible for that is the 74-year-old grandmother who’s been reading Herald since it’s existed.
-Catalina comes across someone else who’s immune to her powers.
-At school, some kids ask Arabella to look into a local legend/ghost story/whatever with them. She didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into.
-Catalina and/or Arabella get set up on a series of dates with OCs with increasingly strange powers.
-What do urban legends or creepypasta look like in this universe? I would imagine Arabella especially could inspire scary stories… or star in one as the unexpected heroine.
-Or a haunting or cryptid! We know there's some weird stuff in this world. Are hauntings a thing? Maybe Catalina and/or Arabella become convinced that someone's house is haunted/someone has a cursed object.
-Outsider POV from someone suddenly dealing with the Baylors!
-With Victoria in her prison, the Baylor sisters have to travel to her house to deal with things. Or Victoria dies, and the Baylor sisters are left something in her will. Something they want? Something they don’t? Something terrifying?
-Catalina, Arabella, and Grandma Frida surprise Nevada with the bachelorette party she never wanted. Unfortunately, none of them expected that the swanky resort they're celebrating at is hiding a dark secret. Or maybe someone asks them to pose as a bachelorette party to go undercover for a case! Or heck, a scene of Grandma Frida picking out bachelorette party swag would also be amazing. :D
Murderbot: Murderbot
Murderbot! I love this canon, and I love getting to see Murderbot’s side adventures as it pursues its aims.
I will probably be reading Vol. 4 when it comes out, so no worries on spoilers if you want to throw something from that in. Fic set before Vol. 4, or canon departure, or anything else is also great!
-I loved all the Gothic touches in Murderbot Vol. 3 -- the empty station, the thunderstorm on the planet below. It was amazing. I'd love to see another spooky setting transposed into the Murderbot universe. What would a ghost look like to Murderbot? Or could Murderbot's deleted programming come back, somehow?
-I feel like Murderbot would be the WORST POSSIBLE character to have to go undercover as a couple with someone. I don't actually ship Murderbot with anyone or anything romantically, but for a gen fic, I feel like this could be hysterical? Or just push Murderbot out of its comfort zone, which is also fascinating.
-Murderbot telling a ghost story, or trying to invent a ghost story for some reason. What do urban legends (space legends?) look like in the Murderbot universe? Would Murderbot read creepypasta? What if Murderbot catches a ride on a ship that insists on only horror movies?
-We’ve seen a lot of disasters and near disasters caused by corporations in the Murderbot universe. Are there any events more like a natural disaster — bad space weather? Disease? How would Murderbot cope with landing on a station under quarantine for an epidemic?
-Murderbot’s finally on Preservation, and learning how to exist outside of its role as a SecUnit. How would Murderbot deal with something like a cooking class, or writing workshop, or even just something like being asked if it wants to volunteer at a community garden for a day?
The Orville - Claire, Gordon, Alara
Canon-specific DNW: Kelly being involved in Ed's personal life, Claire/Yaphit
I've been surprised by how much I ended up shipping Ed/Alara! I love the fact that Ed's into how strong Alara is. Their whole dynamic together is great. I also really like Gordon/Lamar -- I love bickering best friends ships. For other ships, I'm here for background Bortus/Klyden, and for Claire meeting an original love interest (of whatever gender(s)).
I also love gen in this canon! I'd love more of Claire being a mentor to Alara, or Claire with her boys (and Isaac??), or pretty much any subset of the crew just hanging out. Also, if you’d rather take a teamfic approach with the whole cast rather than focusing on just one of my requested characters, I’m here for that.
A quick note on Kelly: I enjoy Kelly as a character, and I'd be happy to get a gift including her, if that's something you're interested in. I do DNW Kelly being involved in Ed's personal life. So much of what Kelly’s had to do in canon so far revolves around Ed, and I'd rather not see that in fic (Kelly playing yenta to Ed/Alara, Kelly managing Ed's emotions, etc.). I would love to see Kelly being a badass at her job, or bonding with other characters (I love the hints we've gotten about her friendship with Bortus!), or getting into some personal hobby, or getting involved with a new OC love interest. Or just being part of the team!
-The crew stumbles across Spooky Halloween Planet, where the resident sentients are invisible or look like ghosts to human eyes. (Or maybe Alara or Isaac or Bortus is the only one who sees them?) At first they assume the planet is empty, but that doesn’t explain all these perfect structures, or the weird shit that keeps happening….
-Undercover as a couple for a mission for Ed/Alara or Gordon/Lamarr.
-Ed organizes some sort of Halloween event. Lots of 20th century Earth references, because hey, it’s Ed. Things do not go as planned.
-Someone on the Orville is haunted/someone’s faking a haunting. Maybe Gordon and Lamarr try to convince Ed the former captain is haunting his quarters. Maybe Alara’s got some sort of weird Xeleyan haunting going on. Maybe the Orville actually IS being haunted, by the ghosts of their future selves, because [science handwaving reasons]. Or something else!
-Mission fic where the team encounters a ghost ship, or [insert another SF spin on Halloween trope here].
-One of Gordon’s pranks goes wrong in an unexpected way. Or maybe Gordon becomes the focus of a concerted pranking effort by the rest of the crew. Maybe everyone else is competing to see who can prank him the hardest!
-Holodeck episode! I know we got that one Alara-centric episode, which was probably my favorite episode last season, but I’m always here for more holodeck malfunctions. (Or maybe the holodeck knows exactly what it’s doing. Maybe the holodeck is in league with Isaac.)
-Isaac decides that Halloween is illogical, and various people try to explain it to him. Maybe he trick or treats with Claire and her boys, or maybe he decides to play some sort of spooky prank... or maybe he's just really annoying. :D
-Someone’s shape gets shifted (whether that’s an encounter with space werewolves, an accident with a matter transporter beam that’s just in prototype stage because of course the Planetary Union doesn’t have those… yet, other science handwaving, etc.) How do they cope with doing their job in a new shape? Does it change their perspective on things? Do they want to return?
-What kinds of urban legends get passed around the Planetary Union? Have any of our cast ever inadvertantly inspired one of those urban legends? (Fic in the form of in-universe creepypasta would be amazing here, too.)
-The Orville docks at a space station that’s handling some sort of crisis, whether that’s security (Alara), medical (Claire), or an oversupply of beer (Gordon). How would the team respond?
-How would Gordon and Lamarr handle the Orville having a mission to his home planet? Would Gordon fit in there better than Lamarr does? How would Lamarr’s family and friends feel about his new role?
Take Two: Sam
This show has been so much fun! I love Eddie and Sam figuring out how to work together, and the cases have been really great, too.
I ship Eddie/Sam, but I’m also totally here for something focused just on Sam, or fic about Sam pre-Eddie, or fic about Sam working with Monica or Berto. Or maybe Sam and Christine are trapped somewhere during a case, and get to know one another better!
-The obvious prompt here is obvious, but I’d love it: Sam and Eddie get asked to look into a spooooooky case, like a haunting or something that seems paranormal. Totally open to either real-world or paranormal explanations! I loved the X-Files pastiche ep they did, and I am so here for more. :D
-Eddie and Sam have to spend some time outdoors for a case. Either Sam hates it, OR Eddie expects that Sam will hate it, but Sam actually ends up being better at outdoors-y stuff than he is. (“Yeah, I was on the shortlist for Wild before everything happened, I spent a few weeks on the Pacific Coast Trail just researching…”)
-Sam and Eddie get snowed in up in the mountains together while on a case
-Sam becomes convinced her house is haunted, and takes some unconventional steps to get to the bottom of the mystery.
-Sam (and Eddie, or and someone else from the cast) gets trapped somewhere, and must improvise her way out, Macgyver-style
-More about Sam's relationship with her sister! What other terrible things did she do back then? Or maybe her sister gets mixed up in a big story, and needs protection from Sam and Eddie.
-Sam/Eddie, State-Mandated Ghost Hunters
-Canon already went there for The Hangover, and I loved it, but a Waking Up In Vegas/Woke Up Married could be great for Sam/Eddie, if that’s your thing. :D Or undercover as a couple!
The X-Files: Scully
Scully! I love her so much.
This is my only fandom where I’m only requesting treats. I’m still here for spooky stuff, scary stuff, etc., though — I just don’t want an unhappy ending, and I’d rather not see Scully get badly injured. Endings of the typical X-Files “all the evidence was destroyed and nobody will ever believe you” variety are fine. Also, I should probably note that I tend to focus on the case story elements of canon, so fic that relies on detailed knowledge of the larger mytharc may go over my head.
Ship-wise, I ship Mulder/Scully, and I’d also be really happy with Mulder & Scully or just Scully by herself, or Scully gen where Scully teams up with about just about anyone (the Lone Gunmen are always fun!). I also know the IDW Deviations comics, and if you want to write Scully/Samantha Mulder or Scully & Samantha Mulder set in that universe, I would be into that.
-I love casefic, monster of the week, etc. in this canon, including short scenes from longer cases (if that makes sense). If it’s the kind of thing that could have appeared as a case-of-the-week on the show, I’m into it.
-Scully (+others?) investigates an urban legend.
-Mulder (or Sam, if you go with Deviations) talks Scully into doing some cliche Halloween activity to celebrate the holiday. It does not go as planned.
-Mulder/Scully (or Sam/Scully) must go undercover as a couple. :D
-Scully (+Mulder?) gets trapped somewhere during an investigation, and must figure her way out, Macgyver-style
-A little about Scully’s daily life. Scully settling in with her new dog. Finding an unexpected source of Goop-O A-B-C. Buying a nice painting that ends up being haunted or cursed. Just normal things.
-There has to be some forum, somewhere, devoted to discussing the X-Files, right? What kinds of things are they theorizing about Scully? Have any of the posters run into her before, and what does their version of events look like?
I love all of these characters, and I will be delighted to get a gift for any of them. If I have more prompts for a given character or canon, it just means I had more ideas, not that I want it more.
Also, while I have prompts for all of these characters, I’m also here for something different if you have a different story you’d love to tell about one of the characters I’ve requested (provided it doesn’t run into a DNW). Some of my favorite gifts have been ones I would never have thought to prompt! And I hope you also feel free to mix and match, take part of a prompt and leave the rest, etc.
GENERAL LIKES | DNWs | CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND | HIDDEN LEGACY | MURDERBOT | THE ORVILLE | TAKE TWO | THE X-FILES
General Likes
- Slice of life
- Domestic scenes
- Cooking and food
- General shenanigans and hijinkery
- Outdoor activities and the great outdoors
- Get-together fic
- Established relationships
- Characters solving problems
- Small towns, whether heartwarming or creepy
- Ghost stories
- Cryptids
- Cursed objects
- Thrift score/eBay purchase gone wrong
- Someone gets turned into an unusual animal
- The Hangover and/or Waking Up In Vegas and/or accidental marriage plotlines
- Someone is accidentally drugged; someone else takes care of them
- Gothic themes, whether subverted or played straight
- Exploring new places together
- Vacations gone awry
- Groundhog Day/time loop
- Cross-time communication, where something like a journal/letterbox/website/whatever is able to let characters communicate across time
- Alternate universe body swap, where characters from the canon universe we know are swapped or transferred to an alternate universe and have to find their way back
- Stuck in the bathroom/elevator/wherever
- Characters coming up with MacGyver-style solutions to problems
- Trapped/stranded by the weather
- Abandoned houses, whether exploring or fixing them up
- Five Times fic
- Urban legend AUs or fic involving in-universe urban legends
- State-Mandated Ghost Hunting AU
- Undercover as a couple
- Casefic, especially unusual cases
- That fic where the characters have to go to a remote island or resort, possibly while pretending to be a couple, in order to investigate a haunting/why everyone has been invited and someone’s killing them off one-by-one/other mystery here
General dislikes and DNWs
I tend to prefer canon-typical levels of sexual content, which for these canons would mean nothing explicit. That being said, if you need to include a scene that’s a step above fade-to-black for reasons of the plot, I totally get it! I’m just not interested in smut/porn as the main focus of the fic.
My DNWs for these canons:
- Dubcon, noncon, underage, or fic focusing on explicit porn/kink content
- Major character death (although temporary MCD or minor character death in service of a casefic are fine)
- Terminal illness
- Cannibalism
- Animal harm/cruelty
- Ghost cats
- Sistercest in Hidden Legacy
- For The Orville: Kelly being involved in Ed's personal life, Claire/Yaphit
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Maya, Rebecca
I love this show, and I’m so happy we’re getting the final season! I'll be watching when the show comes back, so no worries on spoilers. Or if it's more your speed, please feel free to canon-depart before the ending of last season — I’m interested to see where that all goes in canon, but I’d also totally be down with something that just ignored that bit.
I love gen in this canon, and I love Heather and Valencia and Paula and all of Rebecca's friendships. I really like Maya and Darryl’s friendship, too. For minor characters, I also really enjoy Father Brah. If you’re feeling more of a shippy vibe, I ship Rebecca/Nathaniel. I’d also be into Rebecca/Valencia, especially if it’s canon-departure from earlier in the series. For Maya, Maya/OC of any gender is great. Background Darryl/WhiJo, Valencia/Heather, or Valencia/Beth is great, too.
-Maya as a plucky girl detective! Maybe she decides to look into a small mystery at the office. Or maybe it’s more of a noir mashup — maybe Paula’s the kingpin in some office conspiracy, and Tim and Jim are the sources who won’t go on the record…..
-Rebecca’s cold war with Mrs. Hernandez escalates, and she recruits Maya as an asset. Things go about as well as you’d expect.
-Nathaniel decides to have a Whitefeather & Associates Valentine’s Party (for reasons totally not related to Rebecca Bunch). Maya orders a haunted prom dress off eBay to wear, leading to general hijinks.
-Ridiculous soulmate tropes for any of the noted ships, and I mean the more ridiculous the better. The soulmate-finding goose. Soulmate-or-500-roaches. That kind. And if you want to make it about Rebecca, but make the soulmate-pairing any one of the other ships I mentioned, that could also be fascinating? I’d love seeing Rebecca trying to make sense of soulmate tropes, whether or not she’s the one living through them.
-Fic set in the world of Friendtopia (“our reign will be like Sweet Valley High meets 1984”)
-A state-mandated ghost hunting AU for Rebecca/Nathaniel! Or maybe Heather and Valencia are the ones called, and Rebecca keeps interfering with their jobs because she just wants to help….
-Heather and Rebecca’s creepy murder house ends up actually being haunted. :D And maybe the ghost is a type of person we’d never expect?
-The Hangover would be really fun with in this canon, with pretty much any set of characters. They thought they were going to a totally normal ceramic painting night or something, and end up waking up somewhere weird and having to figure out what happened.
-Maya and Darryl start a podcast together about one of their weird hobbies. Darryl & Maya hunting for the Chupacabra in suburban West Covina while recording themselves could be hilarious.
Hidden Legacy: Grandma Frida, Arabella Baylor, Catalina Baylor
I’m so excited we’re getting more in this world! I love the worldbuilding, and all of the characters.
I know the new novella won’t be out until after reveals, but spoilers for stuff in any excerpts they’ve posted or will post are fine. :D
Either gen or ship would be awesome! If you want to go ship, I’m good with Catalina/Alessandro. I also loved the scene of Arabella and Augustine together in the second book when I re-read recently, so I’d be here for Arabella/Augustine as long as Arabella’s a bit older when they get together, like maybe early-mid 20s? I’m not tied to either of those ships, though, and I’d be open to OC love interests of whatever gender for either Catalina or Arabella. (How would a F/F ship work in this world, especially for a Prime?) For background ships, I’m good with Nevada/Rogan.
One canon-specific DNW note: I don’t ship sistercest in this canon.
I love the worldbuilding in this canon — everything around the powers, Houses, marriages, etc., but also some of the other stuff, like the magic-warped places where things don’t work the way you’d expect. I also love it when a power that seems straightforward gets used in a way you don’t expect, like Cornelius’s ferret heist.
-I love all the background about Herald. A fic revolving around how the emerging House Baylor gets written about in Herald could be amazing, esp. if we get to see how the characters react to all of that!
-On a related note, I love Grandma Frida’s obsession with the social media side of this world, and I especially love the idea of Grandma Frida accidentally becoming House Baylor’s social media expert. Maybe someone from Texas Monthly comes to interview the emerging House Baylor and figures they have an amazing social media consultant, because their social media game is on point… and then finds out the person responsible for that is the 74-year-old grandmother who’s been reading Herald since it’s existed.
-Catalina comes across someone else who’s immune to her powers.
-At school, some kids ask Arabella to look into a local legend/ghost story/whatever with them. She didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into.
-Catalina and/or Arabella get set up on a series of dates with OCs with increasingly strange powers.
-What do urban legends or creepypasta look like in this universe? I would imagine Arabella especially could inspire scary stories… or star in one as the unexpected heroine.
-Or a haunting or cryptid! We know there's some weird stuff in this world. Are hauntings a thing? Maybe Catalina and/or Arabella become convinced that someone's house is haunted/someone has a cursed object.
-Outsider POV from someone suddenly dealing with the Baylors!
-With Victoria in her prison, the Baylor sisters have to travel to her house to deal with things. Or Victoria dies, and the Baylor sisters are left something in her will. Something they want? Something they don’t? Something terrifying?
-Catalina, Arabella, and Grandma Frida surprise Nevada with the bachelorette party she never wanted. Unfortunately, none of them expected that the swanky resort they're celebrating at is hiding a dark secret. Or maybe someone asks them to pose as a bachelorette party to go undercover for a case! Or heck, a scene of Grandma Frida picking out bachelorette party swag would also be amazing. :D
Murderbot: Murderbot
Murderbot! I love this canon, and I love getting to see Murderbot’s side adventures as it pursues its aims.
I will probably be reading Vol. 4 when it comes out, so no worries on spoilers if you want to throw something from that in. Fic set before Vol. 4, or canon departure, or anything else is also great!
-I loved all the Gothic touches in Murderbot Vol. 3 -- the empty station, the thunderstorm on the planet below. It was amazing. I'd love to see another spooky setting transposed into the Murderbot universe. What would a ghost look like to Murderbot? Or could Murderbot's deleted programming come back, somehow?
-I feel like Murderbot would be the WORST POSSIBLE character to have to go undercover as a couple with someone. I don't actually ship Murderbot with anyone or anything romantically, but for a gen fic, I feel like this could be hysterical? Or just push Murderbot out of its comfort zone, which is also fascinating.
-Murderbot telling a ghost story, or trying to invent a ghost story for some reason. What do urban legends (space legends?) look like in the Murderbot universe? Would Murderbot read creepypasta? What if Murderbot catches a ride on a ship that insists on only horror movies?
-We’ve seen a lot of disasters and near disasters caused by corporations in the Murderbot universe. Are there any events more like a natural disaster — bad space weather? Disease? How would Murderbot cope with landing on a station under quarantine for an epidemic?
-Murderbot’s finally on Preservation, and learning how to exist outside of its role as a SecUnit. How would Murderbot deal with something like a cooking class, or writing workshop, or even just something like being asked if it wants to volunteer at a community garden for a day?
The Orville - Claire, Gordon, Alara
Canon-specific DNW: Kelly being involved in Ed's personal life, Claire/Yaphit
I've been surprised by how much I ended up shipping Ed/Alara! I love the fact that Ed's into how strong Alara is. Their whole dynamic together is great. I also really like Gordon/Lamar -- I love bickering best friends ships. For other ships, I'm here for background Bortus/Klyden, and for Claire meeting an original love interest (of whatever gender(s)).
I also love gen in this canon! I'd love more of Claire being a mentor to Alara, or Claire with her boys (and Isaac??), or pretty much any subset of the crew just hanging out. Also, if you’d rather take a teamfic approach with the whole cast rather than focusing on just one of my requested characters, I’m here for that.
A quick note on Kelly: I enjoy Kelly as a character, and I'd be happy to get a gift including her, if that's something you're interested in. I do DNW Kelly being involved in Ed's personal life. So much of what Kelly’s had to do in canon so far revolves around Ed, and I'd rather not see that in fic (Kelly playing yenta to Ed/Alara, Kelly managing Ed's emotions, etc.). I would love to see Kelly being a badass at her job, or bonding with other characters (I love the hints we've gotten about her friendship with Bortus!), or getting into some personal hobby, or getting involved with a new OC love interest. Or just being part of the team!
-The crew stumbles across Spooky Halloween Planet, where the resident sentients are invisible or look like ghosts to human eyes. (Or maybe Alara or Isaac or Bortus is the only one who sees them?) At first they assume the planet is empty, but that doesn’t explain all these perfect structures, or the weird shit that keeps happening….
-Undercover as a couple for a mission for Ed/Alara or Gordon/Lamarr.
-Ed organizes some sort of Halloween event. Lots of 20th century Earth references, because hey, it’s Ed. Things do not go as planned.
-Someone on the Orville is haunted/someone’s faking a haunting. Maybe Gordon and Lamarr try to convince Ed the former captain is haunting his quarters. Maybe Alara’s got some sort of weird Xeleyan haunting going on. Maybe the Orville actually IS being haunted, by the ghosts of their future selves, because [science handwaving reasons]. Or something else!
-Mission fic where the team encounters a ghost ship, or [insert another SF spin on Halloween trope here].
-One of Gordon’s pranks goes wrong in an unexpected way. Or maybe Gordon becomes the focus of a concerted pranking effort by the rest of the crew. Maybe everyone else is competing to see who can prank him the hardest!
-Holodeck episode! I know we got that one Alara-centric episode, which was probably my favorite episode last season, but I’m always here for more holodeck malfunctions. (Or maybe the holodeck knows exactly what it’s doing. Maybe the holodeck is in league with Isaac.)
-Isaac decides that Halloween is illogical, and various people try to explain it to him. Maybe he trick or treats with Claire and her boys, or maybe he decides to play some sort of spooky prank... or maybe he's just really annoying. :D
-Someone’s shape gets shifted (whether that’s an encounter with space werewolves, an accident with a matter transporter beam that’s just in prototype stage because of course the Planetary Union doesn’t have those… yet, other science handwaving, etc.) How do they cope with doing their job in a new shape? Does it change their perspective on things? Do they want to return?
-What kinds of urban legends get passed around the Planetary Union? Have any of our cast ever inadvertantly inspired one of those urban legends? (Fic in the form of in-universe creepypasta would be amazing here, too.)
-The Orville docks at a space station that’s handling some sort of crisis, whether that’s security (Alara), medical (Claire), or an oversupply of beer (Gordon). How would the team respond?
-How would Gordon and Lamarr handle the Orville having a mission to his home planet? Would Gordon fit in there better than Lamarr does? How would Lamarr’s family and friends feel about his new role?
Take Two: Sam
This show has been so much fun! I love Eddie and Sam figuring out how to work together, and the cases have been really great, too.
I ship Eddie/Sam, but I’m also totally here for something focused just on Sam, or fic about Sam pre-Eddie, or fic about Sam working with Monica or Berto. Or maybe Sam and Christine are trapped somewhere during a case, and get to know one another better!
-The obvious prompt here is obvious, but I’d love it: Sam and Eddie get asked to look into a spooooooky case, like a haunting or something that seems paranormal. Totally open to either real-world or paranormal explanations! I loved the X-Files pastiche ep they did, and I am so here for more. :D
-Eddie and Sam have to spend some time outdoors for a case. Either Sam hates it, OR Eddie expects that Sam will hate it, but Sam actually ends up being better at outdoors-y stuff than he is. (“Yeah, I was on the shortlist for Wild before everything happened, I spent a few weeks on the Pacific Coast Trail just researching…”)
-Sam and Eddie get snowed in up in the mountains together while on a case
-Sam becomes convinced her house is haunted, and takes some unconventional steps to get to the bottom of the mystery.
-Sam (and Eddie, or and someone else from the cast) gets trapped somewhere, and must improvise her way out, Macgyver-style
-More about Sam's relationship with her sister! What other terrible things did she do back then? Or maybe her sister gets mixed up in a big story, and needs protection from Sam and Eddie.
-Sam/Eddie, State-Mandated Ghost Hunters
-Canon already went there for The Hangover, and I loved it, but a Waking Up In Vegas/Woke Up Married could be great for Sam/Eddie, if that’s your thing. :D Or undercover as a couple!
The X-Files: Scully
Scully! I love her so much.
This is my only fandom where I’m only requesting treats. I’m still here for spooky stuff, scary stuff, etc., though — I just don’t want an unhappy ending, and I’d rather not see Scully get badly injured. Endings of the typical X-Files “all the evidence was destroyed and nobody will ever believe you” variety are fine. Also, I should probably note that I tend to focus on the case story elements of canon, so fic that relies on detailed knowledge of the larger mytharc may go over my head.
Ship-wise, I ship Mulder/Scully, and I’d also be really happy with Mulder & Scully or just Scully by herself, or Scully gen where Scully teams up with about just about anyone (the Lone Gunmen are always fun!). I also know the IDW Deviations comics, and if you want to write Scully/Samantha Mulder or Scully & Samantha Mulder set in that universe, I would be into that.
-I love casefic, monster of the week, etc. in this canon, including short scenes from longer cases (if that makes sense). If it’s the kind of thing that could have appeared as a case-of-the-week on the show, I’m into it.
-Scully (+others?) investigates an urban legend.
-Mulder (or Sam, if you go with Deviations) talks Scully into doing some cliche Halloween activity to celebrate the holiday. It does not go as planned.
-Mulder/Scully (or Sam/Scully) must go undercover as a couple. :D
-Scully (+Mulder?) gets trapped somewhere during an investigation, and must figure her way out, Macgyver-style
-A little about Scully’s daily life. Scully settling in with her new dog. Finding an unexpected source of Goop-O A-B-C. Buying a nice painting that ends up being haunted or cursed. Just normal things.
-There has to be some forum, somewhere, devoted to discussing the X-Files, right? What kinds of things are they theorizing about Scully? Have any of the posters run into her before, and what does their version of events look like?
