rare femslash exchange 2022 letter

[sugarspankhorn]

dear writer,

thank you so much for wanting to write for me! i absolutely adore rarepairs, and i'm super excited about this exchange. i know whatever you do, i'll love it. a common theme you will also see between my requests is "the secret world of the teenage girl"-- what thoughts go through their heads, what wants are expressed in subtle actions, what goes on behind closed doors? and when all else fails, abide by these words: MAKE IT WEIRD! 

general likes:

• surrealism, dream/nightmare sequences, supernatural elements
• body horror, psych horror, literal and metaphorical hauntings
• unreliable narrator, nonlinear narrative, experimental styles
• non-traditional relationships/romantic expressions, "we know how we feel, so we don't have to say anything", complicated/ill-defined relationships, nuanced dynamics
• canon compliance, missing scenes, canon divergent aus, "what if" aus
• "there was only one bed", being in close quarters Alone
• CHARACTER STUDIES

general do not wants:  non-con (extremely dubious consent is fine), torture, guro, pregnancy/mpreg, character bashing, eating disorders, body dysphoria, suicide, crossovers, abo dynamics, unrequested AUs

kawamura kumi/ tomine kasumi
(alien nine)

i watched the alien nine ova for the first time a few weeks ago, and i'm totally floored by it. the premise is engaging enough to me, but i really love just how fucking weird it gets. kumi and kasumi's relationship is so interesting to me, i'm particularly interested in kasumi as a person. having to shoulder all of this responsibility in all areas of her life and resenting kumi for playing into that, but coming to care for her in earnest. i would really love to see more of their dynamic and frankly just love the world of alien nine! would love to see anything and everything. being a teen is hard but especially when you're in a symbiotic relationship with a parasite and also we were both girls (flushed emoji). 

• character study from kumi's direction-- how does she come to humanize kasumi? see her as her own person instead of someone to lean on? for that matter, does she ever truly get to that point? what does she think about their relationship? 
• character study from kasumi's direction-- when does her view of kumi really shift? when does she start to think of her fondly? how does she feel, wanting something for herself and no one else's sake? 
• what was the deal with that locker room scene? you know the one. 
• first kiss. where is it? how does it affect their relationship? how do they interact from that moment onward?

miki sayaka/shizuki hitomi
(puella magi madoka magica)

these two have been my rarepair for... gosh, since the anime came out. i love how tragic both ends of their relationship is. god it's hard being a teenage girl. hitomi is losing her closest friends because of some unseen force that she'll never be a part of, having already been losing them due to her after-school commitments. sayaka doesn't feel like she can trust hitomi anymore because of her crush on kyousuke and that wedge between them. they really compel me and i want them to be happy together-- if that's even possible. do you think it is? would love to know. 

• sayaka is "the little mermaid" of her story-- what if hitomi was the little mermaid instead? or if hitomi was the "prince"? 
• confusing messy feelings. does hitomi really have a crush on kyousuke or does she just want sayaka back in her life? does sayaka really resent hitomi for confessing to kyousuke, or is she upset that hitomi has a crush at all? messy emotions with no real answers!
• au where hitomi is a magical girl too. how does that change their relationship? does it bring them closer? does it push them apart?
• a confession-- who confesses to who? 
• hitomi character study because i love her. she's pushed away from her closest friends because of her after school obligations-- how does that make her feel about sayaka specifically?

azula/katara 
(avatar the last airbender)

i'm not gonna lie to you, i've never thought about this before and i'm compelled. that's the power of a rarepair exchange tagset!! anyway it sounds fucking insane and i'm in. lots of what-if fic potential here and that's what's really got me drawn to it. katara is one of my favorite characters, she's got such a chip on her shoulder and she's so driven and dedicated-- pushy but ultimately kind. azula is wild and complicated and i really want to see more of her with katara-- it feels like a total mess waiting to happen and i need to watch it. i want to see a trainwreck. i want to see something earnest and heartfelt and then absolutely bonkers within a blink. switch it tf up!!

• ANY AND ALL WHAT-IF FIC! what if azula was the primary villain they continuously ran in with? what if katara had a heartfelt conversation with azula akin to that scene during "the beach"? 
• what would it take for katara to soften up to azula, to see her as a person? what would it take to shatter that feeling? 
• in close quarters with the enemy! what sort of conversation gets struck up when they don't have anywhere to go? 
• what would it look like for azula to have a crush? how does the feeling manifest and how does she handle it? how does someone like her think about love? 
• azula undercover and katara meets her under different pretenses. a glimpse into what another life might look like for them.