eccentric_hat

Thank you so much for writing for me! I'm so excited to read what you come up with, because I love these canons a lot and I'm psyched that someone is going to write fic about one of them!

I am eccentric_hat on AO3 as well as here on DW. I have no triggers and my tastes are broad. Please feel free to write something happy or sad or in between, from any point of view, in any tense. I've prompted a few ships, mostly canon, but I would also be happy with gen for those characters. I happily read fic of every rating, although I'm not really looking for anything E-rated for these particular canons. There are just a few things to avoid: I'm not interested in a fic that is more violent than canon; no gore, incest, or sexual violence. While it's not a hard DNW, I'm also not a huge fan of the members of a ship getting together because other people told them to or because everybody could already tell they were in love--I prefer to see characters making their own decisions.

Here's me rambling a bunch about these canons. I, uh, went on about Greater Boston at some length.

Greater Boston
Characters: any, from nominees Louisa Alvarez, Nica Stamatis, Poletti (aka Gerald/Earthman/Panda Bear/Extinction Event/Dipshit/Freed Friend Poletti), Fox Fossil Jenkins

What it is: It's a speculative fiction podcast taking place in Boston that's about public transit, the interconnectedness of human life, fate and freedom and choices, life and death and afterlife, and trains and tea and cheese. I'm writing this letter while in the middle of a relisten, which is reminding me of just how ambitious and wonderful this story is. I'm a sucker for the show's complex transit politics, deep moral heart, and bonkers relationship to reality. I also love the interconnected nature of the characters, so please feel free to add absolutely any member of the cast to your story. Here are my feelings in particular about the characters I nominated:

Louisa is such a brilliant portrayal of someone who's really competent, who has her shit together and likes to get things done, but is also deeply sad and missing something in her life. I love her relationship with Leon, and I ache over how incomplete it is--at his funeral she says they were still in that grace period where they could have gotten back together and the break-up would have been forgotten, and that's so tender and puts her in such an interesting relationship to the other people in Leon's life. I love her friendship with Michael, how they support and need each other and how they kind of have to invent a way for the two of them to be friends because they're not sure how to pull that off. (I would ship this but the show's been clear about not going in that direction, so far. Louisa's post-Leon boyfriends have been so strange!) I'm a huge fan of her collaborations with Gemma, too, and how they kind of bring out the best in each other and kind of don't (Gemma is working through a lot!!!). I would love a fic that includes Louisa and Leon, Louisa and Michael, Louisa and Gemma, Louisa figuring out her feelings about any of her romantic relationships, or Louisa finding professional satisfaction.

Nica! Hoo boy, Nica Stamatis. Nica is a little like Louisa except without the same level of professional success--the trade at which she excels is fixing sewing machines, which she takes no pride in at all; and of course the work she starts doing instead is awful. I want Nica to get help, badly, but I think the show is getting her there, so I don't need a fic that predicts her future. I'd be interested in sibling fic for her (what's a time when the Stamatis siblings all got along really well, as children or as adults? What's a time when they didn't?). Or a missing-moment kind of scene between her and any other member of the cast--Louisa, Michael, Dimitri, heck maybe Mallory. Or what were her dealings with Oliver like, from her perspective? Or scenes with multiple other people! Go nuts!

Poletti & Fox Fossil: Okay, I know it's an ultra-niche move to nominate Fox Fossil, but the moment I got the idea to request this show for Yuletide was when these two were talking on the phone in season 3 and Dipshit said "I love you" and Fox Fossil sighed and said, "I know you do, baby. I know." He sounded so world-weary, and yet he was definitely the one Poletti wanted to talk to in that moment. I'm really interested in that dynamic, and I'm also curious about the family as a whole and would be happy to see any of them appear. Feel free to use creative license here, as I don't have a super firm idea of what Fox Fossil is like outside of what we've seen in canon.

If you offered Poletti but not Fox Fossil, NO WORRIES, I am fascinated by Poletti in the sense that I hated him and then I started to care about him and he might be one of my favorite characters now so just...backstory? home life? educational background? Just do something interesting with this weirdo.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Characters: Morwen, Telemain

What it is: There's a good chance you've heard of these, though I keep encountering people who read Dealing With Dragons and stopped there. It's a series of middle-grade fantasy novels published in the 1990s and very much still in print; part of the "fractured fairy tale" tradition and gently feminist.

These books were some of my absolute favorites growing up. I reread the series this year and found them to hold up really well. I also was blown away by how much Morwen, a formative character for me, still feels like someone whose advice I need to hear. There's a moment in book 2 when Mendanbar says he's been too busy to call on Kazul, and Morwen tells him, everybody is busy, get over yourself, and I was kind of rocked back on my heels.

I also like Telemain as a tinkerer and a practical sort of nerd. His magical technobabble, I have to say, isn't actually that hard to understand; it's reasonable for him to want to speak precisely about his work.

I legitimately enjoy the interactions these two have in the books, but I do find their courtship to be quite rushed! And while I like Calling on Dragons, it didn't give Morwen a lot of elbow room to pursue her own narrative arc. I'd love for these two to get some story-time of their own: whether that's pre-canon, post-canon, during the gap between books 3 and 4, whatever. I like them as equals, both as friends and as romantic partners, and I'm curious what they do with their time when the main narrative isn't paying attention. Who is Telemain doing business with? Who comes to Morwen for help? Why do they go so long without seeing each other--or is that just something they say to other people?

Joe Pera Talks With You
Characters: any, from nominees Joe Pera, Sarah Conner, and Gene Gibson

This show has no fic-writing fandom as far as I can tell. So let's create one! What it is is an 11-minute live-action comedy on Adult Swim about a middle school choir teacher, whose life dramas include: staging an original musical about Canadian rat control; accidentally putting his house up for sale; growing some beans. If you're not familiar I highly recommend seeking it out. Here's a clip from my favorite episode. It's comfort viewing for me during the pandemic, and very sweetly made.

I enjoy the Joe/Sarah relationship and will happily take just about anything about that, including the prickly bits when Sarah is in survivalist mode and doesn't think Joe can hack it. Digging into their shared background in music could be fun, or exploring Sarah's story. (What would Sarah Conner Talks With You look like?)

I also think Gene is a great, possibly underutilized character. Like Sarah, he brings a little bit of contrast to Joe, but Gene is often weirder; he's the one who tells Joe that he's putting a little bit of his soul into every jack-o-lantern he carves. Gene POV on something happening to him, to the other characters, or just going on in town could be really fun.

Moby Dick
Character: Starbuck

You know what this canon is. The thing is, I have to hang out my shingle for Starbuck fic in case someone out there wants to write it. I relate to him terribly, being likewise an American Quaker living in a violent world and not always having the courage of my convictions. That doesn't mean you can't do mean things to him; that's a normal part of his story, after all. I am always here to read about Starbuck thinking about home or whales or ethics, Starbuck at home living what is supposed to be his actual life, Starbuck on a previous voyage, Starbuck having any kind of human connection with another member of the Pequod (he does so little of that and it breaks my heart). I'm willing to accept more blood for this canon than for the others, just not human dismemberment/cannibalism etc. and still no sexual violence.