Fandom Growth 2023

Dear Fandom Growth creator,

Hello and thank you for creating for me! I hope you enjoy the exchange. This letter contains the information from my sign-up and some short ramblings on the canons involved. I hope you'll find it helpful, but please don't feel bound to any of it! Mix-and-match, disregard, whatever helps. I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with!

If you want to see what kind of things I write, find me on AO3 as Arazsya (make sure to log in as currently all my works are archive-locked).

Non-Exhaustive Selection of Likes: whump and hurt/comfort, angst, protectiveness, horror (gothic horror, folk horror, cozy horror, paranormal & supernatural horror, cosmic horror, found footage), urban fantasy, romance, pining, yearning, loyalty, trapping characters in a small space for them to not talk about their feelings in, trapping characters in a small space until they talk about their feelings, characters talking about their feelings while bleeding, fluff, werewolves, dogs! and also cats! especially remaining unhurt!, hostage situations, characters thinking they are too late, huddling for warmth, only one bed, fake dating, stargazing, found family, hurting one character physically to hurt another character emotionally, made-to-listen (like made-to-watch except more remote, like over the phone, through a door or in a recording, so there's absolutely nothing the character can do about it).

DNWs: first/second person perspective (except in case of epistolary), infantilisation, lactation, mpreg, non-canon major character death (of canon characters), omegaverse, onscreen animal cruelty, parental death detail, pregnancy, vore, watersports/scat

Midsomer Murders

Charlie Nelson/Jamie Winter
John Barnaby/Sarah Barnaby/Jamie Winter
John Barnaby & Sarah Barnaby & Jamie Winter
Sarah Barnaby & Jamie Winter
Fleur Perkins & Jamie Winter
Paddy & Jamie Winter
John Barnaby & Charlie Nelson
Charlie Nelson & Kate Wilding
Sykes & None
Paddy & None

Ah, the murder capital of the UK! I've been really enjoying this show lately, as old-fashioned as it can be, with a particular fondness for the newer era. I love the relationship between John Barnaby and his sergeants, as well as between the wider Barnaby family and the sergeants - it all feels so genuinely warm and caring. I love that there are dogs, and such good dogs which are characters to the extent that they are. I love the friendship between Fleur and Winter, and the whole sibling-thing that Nelson and Kate have going on. Admittedly Winter and Nelson have not met in canon but I love the hypothetically possible relationship between them. Happy with case stuff or romantic stuff or platonic stuff - pretty much anything, have at it.

- A dog's perspective on an investigation, when circumstances contrive to the point that they have to go to work with Barnaby.
- S22 implies that Fleur is a bit of a hobby horror writer, and it's been previously established that Winter reads horror (or, Stephen King at least) - I'd love to see something of them interacting on this, like some kind of reading/writing club with just the two of them.
- Winter dogsits while the Barnabys are away.
- The Barnabys' efforts to seduce Winter into poly.
- Nelson returns to Midsomer with a whole heap of trauma he won't (or can't) talk about, and the Barnabys and/or Winter are there to help.
- Unnecessarily spooky case!
- A case goes badly wrong, leaving Barnaby stuck in the middle of nowhere with an injured sergeant.

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Down

Laura Mentorn/Marion Straker
Charlie Dresden & Sam Jansen
Sam Jansen & Marion Straker

A very well-made show and a quick listen, Down follows a crew of five into a newly-discovered Antarctic trench that's been dubbed "The Bottomless Pit", on a mission funded by a corporate entity that cares absolutely nothing for human life. Laura Mentorn is a glorious villain and I'd love to see some more of how she mops up after the disaster, as well as moments from Sam and Marion's recovery.

- advantage is making plans for a new mission into the pit, and Laura wants Marion involved.
- Sam and Marion attempt to go public with what happened on the sub.
- Snatched moments of caring back on the Virgil.
- advantage has a memorial for the lost crew members.

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NCIS: New Orleans

Quentin Carter/Sebastian Lund
Quentin Carter & Tammy Gregorio & Hannah Khoury & Sebastian Lund
Sebastian Lund & Tammy Gregorio
Sebastian Lund & Loretta Wade

This show does so well at the found family elements - I didn't have any romantic ships for it at all until I was sitting there watching Sebastian complain at length to Loretta about newly-arrived Carter and his fancy suits that fit him perfectly, like he's just got his first queer crush and a) hasn't noticed b) has no idea how to deal with it. I love that ship a lot, but also remain very fond of the friendships between Sebastian & Gregorio and Sebastian & Loretta in particular, they're just so solid and genuine. In addition, I really liked the dynamics of the new field team in the later seasons, and wish we'd been able to spend more

- Carter and Sebastian end up fake dating in an undercover scenario.
- In the aftermath of traumatic canon events, Sebastian and Loretta are there for one another.
- The field team are captured by enemies of Pride's.

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Parkdale Haunt

Austin Bird/Owen Hopkinson
Judith Antoni & Claire Sterback
Judith Antoni & None
Judith Antoni & Owen Hopkinson
Judith Antoni & Owen Hopkinson & Claire Sterback
Owen Hopkinson & None

Parkdale Haunt is a fantastic show that makes excellent use of its format, deeply traumatises its lead characters, and contains some of my favourite platonic relationships in media. It's about haunted houses and cults and influencers and toronto real estate and fire and about surviving and becoming yourself and living under a countdown and also Austin Bird is there. What a dick.

- After the events of the show, an isolated and traumatised Owen finds comfort in all the wrong places (Austin Bird with an inconvenient and unsightly crush).
- Claire embraces her heritage and her family home and becomes a monster and a force to be reckoned with in her own right.
- As a part of tormenting Judith and Owen, Claire/Minnie traps them in a time loop.

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Pax Fortuna!

Selwyn Bloodstorm/Alfonso Boyo
Almira Q Appleby & Selwyn Bloodstorm & Alfonso Boyo
Selwyn Bloodstorm & Bluebell & Foxglove

It's terrible people simulator! Admittedly Selwyn, Almira and Alfonso are far from the worst that the series has to offer, but they still have their moments. I love Almira's inventions and Alfonso's absolutely horrifying job in contrast to his rather fussy nature, and Selwyn's everything but in particular his adoption of the two baby kobolds. Would love some shenanigans here.

- Selwyn, Alfonso and Almira attempt to get the kobolds accepted into one of Fortuna's schools.
- Almira finally manages to hit the mainstream with one of her inventions.
- Selwyn's parents come to visit.
- Alfonso's colleagues start to gossip about him and his orc friend.

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Shadows at the Door

Geoffrey Troughton & None

Poor Troughton. The supernatural really did just say fuck that guy in particular. I love seeing him go from the something-of-a-bastard sceptic role to the far less closed-off believer, and especially hearing all the trauma that he picks up along the way. His monologue about being queer yet without pride still leaves fault lines all through my heart. He suffers so nicely.

- A quiet moment on Irving's bench.
- A student puts him onto another allegedly haunted house.
- Troughton is adopted by an entirely un-supernatural stray cat.

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Victoriocity

Aurelia Bell/Clara Entwhistle
Clara Entwhistle & Archibald Fleet

Victoriocity is a joy to listen to, mystery stories full of humour and friendship and then very occasionally it drops just astronomical amounts of trauma on its characters. Clara and Fleet have this really lovely friendship and I hope they have many murder cases to come. Additionally, we've not had much of her, but I'm quite zoomy over Aurelia Bell's immediate interest in Clara (she wants to show her off!) and would love to see that go somewhere, especially if it means we get more Beth Eyre in the show.

- as director of The London Museum of Other Nations' Antiquities, Aurelia insists that Clara write an article covering one of the Museum's new exhibitions. Which would all be entirely doable, except once she arrives, Aurelia seems far more interested in spending quality time together than in letting Clara have some quiet to write.
- Clara and Fleet investigate a haunting.
- After an injury on a case, Fleet has to go for repairs.

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Wake of Corrosion

Professor Ryan/Elliot Taylor

This show has been doing so well at putting its characters in the trauma microwave and refusing to let them out, and I've been especially into this ship after S3. They've both got this tendency to wander into dangerous situations for Knowledge (TM), and I feel like Ryan to some extent imprinted on the brothers and their story as a way to cope with not just the changed world but the loss of his family. Then Elliot saved his life chasing after one of the monsters that previously the only way to survive had been "run away from Immediately" and hit it with a stick for him. On Elliot's side of things, he'd heard the broadcast - Ryan representing hope and safety and a stable point in a world that had fallen down around him. Then, when they meet, Ryan is the one friendly face in the world, probably the first person who's not actively been a danger to Elliot, let alone kind to him, since he lost Roman. When Elliot fights back against the changed world for the first time, it's for Ryan. Ryan thinks the best of him when he's decided he's a monster. Nothing will convince me they weren't holding hands all through the sequence trapped in the dark room. Naturally, I think they should have angst and pining and every kind of wilderness sex from ill-advised to sex pollened to comforting.

- After or during the events of the S3 finale, a bit of comfort is probably in order.
- During their travels through the wilderness, they encounter some form of apocalypse sex pollen.
- Niyah tries to use Elliot to force Ryan to let her control the broadcast.

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