simplecoffee | Dear Creator

(Letter is complete as of June 11!)

Hi there! Thank you for creating for me. 💛 I am academicgangster on Tumblr, and simplecoffee on ao3.

So, the thing I love most in fanwork is taking canon character dynamics and just...making them More. Taking them further, exploring their natural progression, usually in a hurt/comfort-y way. I've mentioned the character dynamics and ships I love under each fandom, along with some rambly thoughts and prompts - speaking of which, please feel free to pick, choose, mix, match, play with any, all or even none of said prompts, if that's where the muse takes you. 💛

I love hurt/comfort with all my heart and soul, so most of the prompts here will probably contain it to some degree.

I am a-okay with any kind of exploration of character dynamics - h/c, casefic, fluff fic, angst, missing scenes, outsider POV, outsider POV contrasted with canon characters' POV, getting together fic, established relationship, you name it I love it. I'm also very much okay with or without smut - I enjoy it, but please don't feel pressured to include it or not to include it. If you do feel inclined toward the lovin', I have a preference for a Mature rating over an Explicit rating, but I will likely enjoy whatever rating speaks to you. :D

I'd like to highlight that all my rambling thoughts and prompts are here to give you a Vibe more than anything else. Please feel free to pick, choose and/or play with any, all or none of the prompts - it's the vibe of the character dynamic I that's more important than any extra-specific details.

Navigation

> Likes & DNWs (art likes)

> Mission: Impossible (Movies)
(Requested media: fic, art)
Ethan/Hunley
Ethan/Luther
Ethan/Hunley/Luther
Ethan/Sidorov
Ethan/Sarah Davies; Ethan/Sarah Davies/Jack Harmon
Jane/Zhen

> Days of Thunder (1990)
(Requested media: fic, art)
Claire Lewicki/Cole Trickle

> The Fugitive (Movies)
(Requested media: fic)
Samuel Gerard/Richard Kimble

> Space Cowboys (2000)
(Requested media: fic, art)
William 'Hawk' Hawkins/Sara Holland

> The Shadow (1994)
(Requested media: fic, art)
Lamont Cranston/Margo Lane

> The Hunt for Red October (1990)
(Requested media: fic)
Marko Ramius/Jack Ryan
Bart Mancuso/Jack Ryan
Bart Mancuso/Marko Ramius
Bart Mancuso/Marko Ramius/Jack Ryan

> Top Gun (1986)
(Requested media: fic)
Maverick/Iceman

> War of the Worlds (2005)
(Requested media: fic)
Maverick/Iceman

Likes & DNWs

General likes:

• Character studies
• Hurt/comfort of all stripes
• Exploring the fallout of canon trauma
• Missing scenes, slice-of-life, etc - exploring canon character dynamics/canon traits of known characters
• Touch starvation
• Deep friendships
• Earned trust and casual intimacy (carrying, clothes sharing, characters only allowing touch from people they trust, etc)
• Bonding over shared trauma
• PTSD, illness messing with a character's grip on reality, combat/mission injuries, scars, and injuries acting up, touch starvation, sensory deprivation / sensory overload, characters not believing they deserve comfort or being surprised to receive comfort
• Eventually requited pining
• Worldbuilding
• Outsider POV, especially when contrasted with our characters' POV
• Mission aftermaths
• Smut with Feelings (I don't really need to know what body parts are going where, I love to know how it feels, in the sensory way and/or the emotional way)
• Pain, bittersweetness, sadness, exploring the darker side and implications of canon is great, but I really need some happiness/comfort and hope along with it!

Sexual likes:
D/s overtones. Femdom. Service subs. Subs With Issues. Praise kink. Hands, fingers, touch; touch starvation. Finger-sucking. Aftercare. Tenderness, especially if the person receiving it isn't expecting it, isn't used to it, and it breaks them just a little.
Marking, intentional or no - bruising with lips or teeth; hiding the bruises under clothing. Suit kink. Wrists bound or held down. Honour bondage. Shibari and intricate knotwork. Careful sex / making out when one partner is hurt or ill and feverish (fever sex is, uh, a Thing of mine). Or rough, desperate, life-affirming sex / making out.
There are some fandoms where I love the sex a lot rougher; see the sections under Collateral and Top Gun.

Art likes:

Realistic and sketchy styles, bold lines and rich colours/textures, bold accent colours, creative lighting choices, noir-style art especially for action canons, minimalist styles/silhouettes, characters captured in unaware moments as though they're being photographed without realizing it, art that captures the vibe of canon without necessarily capturing the style of canon; angsty hurt/comfort or warm, gentle, casually intimate moments.

I love kisses of all descriptions, especially at the forehead, temple, hands, throat, or collarbone. I love characters undressing each other, reverently for most pairings, roughly for some (see Collateral and Top Gun). I love seeing characters in partial states of undress rather than seeing them completely naked, especially if there's also a focus on their hands or collarbones or throat. I love seeing characters with love bites, hickeys or bruises; I love characters touching and tracing other characters' scars, especially if it looks like they got distracted while undressing them to do so. I love characters in shibari, especially under dress shirts, or characters' wrists being tied with something luxurious like velvet or ribbon.

I also love h/c focused art - characters undressing their injured/sick partners or taking off their glasses, if they wear them (eg. Hunley, Mancuso, Ethan in MI 1). Characters patching sick/hurt characters up, with stitches or bandages or ice packs, or cleaning scrapes on the hurt character's face or hands. Sick/hurt characters with their hair messed up, perhaps hiding their faces in other characters' chests or shoulders. Hurting characters sitting at other characters' feet to be taken care of with hair stroking or shoulder rubs, or burying their face in the other character's lap. Smaller characters getting carried bridal style when they're not feeling well, maybe clinging to the character carrying them if they're not unconscious. Hands in general, especially if they're scratched or hurt and being taken care of. :D(I'm vaguely not-okay with pink or green as a dominant/background colour, but I love...well, basically every other colour there is. Jewel tones are great! Limited palettes are great! Bold colours are great! Whatever you can think of is great! I love it all. :D Style-wise I would prefer no chibis or overly cartoonish styles; I'm very cool with anything and everything else, including experimental styles!)

General DNWs:
• Mundane/depowered/setting change AUs
• Bleak, hopeless endings (as long as there's hope, bittersweet endings are more than fine!)
• Unrequested crossovers and fusions
• Ethan/Benji, Ethan/Ilsa, Ethan/Brandt
• Any mention of Mission Impossible 2 canon
• Any mention of US Marshals canon
• Death of requested characters (even if they died in canon. Alan Hunley Is Alive That's My Story And I'm Sticking To It)
• Non-canonical death of non-requested characters
• Terminal illness
• Any mention of coronavirus or medical quarantine/medical lockdown situations (trapped together, etc. is a-okay)
• Permanent injury (exceptions: War of the Worlds, and Jack Ryan's canonical past injury in The Hunt for Red October)
• Infected wounds
• Gastrointestinal illness (nausea/vomiting is okay but not as a focus of the work, and not as a result of GI illness - so character getting nauseous or throwing up from a migraine or just severe pain in general, yes; character getting nauseous or throwing up as a result of a severe anxiety attack or PTSD episode, yes; character suffering anything related to food poisoning or GI bugs or overeating and similar, no)
• Pregnancy, menstruation
• Marijuana use or mention of it in any capacity (other intoxicants a-okay)
• Infidelity, including implied infidelity such as characters in a relationship getting 'sexually tempted' by someone outside the relationship. (For Red October, I'd prefer that Jack and Cathy were never married, and amiably co-parent Sally but are not together any more)
• Anyone calling Mav 'Pete' in a positive way (people calling him that as a veiled or direct insult is cool)
• Pulp or radio show canon for The Shadow
• Any engagement with Asian cultures in The Shadow universe, including any focus on the Shiwan Khan plotline (passing mentions of this plotline are okay, but no focus on it please)

Smut/sexual DNWs:
• Noncon or dubcon, except where noted
• humiliation as a kink, except where noted
• pain play for Mission: Impossible and Red October (a-okay for other requests)
• gags of any kind (hand over mouth is okay for dubcon/noncon prompts, but I would like it to trigger the character on the receiving end and for there to be some emotional fallout of it)
• anal, dirty talk, spanking, ageplay, scat, watersports, rimming, emeto, A/B/O, d/s-verse, mommy/daddy kink, maledom/femsub

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Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Media: fic, art
Ethan/Hunley, Ethan/Luther, Ethan/Hunley/Luther, Ethan/Sidorov, Ethan/Sarah Davies, Ethan/Sarah Davies/Jack Harmon, Jane/Zhen

Ethan/Hunley

I love Ethan and Hunley and their odd and beautiful dynamic so much. Hunley spent most of Rogue Nation trying to chase Ethan down, but by the airport scene in Fallout he's clearly at least a little bit in love with him, and it's adorable. They're so different but so complementary! Hunley's so vocal and Ethan so quiet, but equally intense! Ethan's such a ray of sunshine that he apparently converted Hunley from a cynic to an idealist by deciding to trust him! Hunley heaps praise and reassurance on Ethan, while Ethan looks as though he's in physical pain from being told he's worth believing in! Ethan calls Hunley 'sir' and it somehow means all the things! And as always, Ethan is canonically pretty damn touch-starved and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, especially if he's otherwise hurting and overwhelmed.

There's so much unsaid between these two characters, so much unexplored. I'm here for them spending some time together, getting to know each other, becoming affectionate toward each other, especially through adversity. Does Ethan's seniority in the IMF mean that Hunley is his handler? And, therefore, would Hunley be the person Ethan calls for emergency extraction from a solo mission gone wrong - Hunley the one to hear please, sir, I'm sick and alone, bring me home? Would Hunley be the one to hide Ethan in his office and let him get some rest, away from the other government/agency brass who want to interrogate him while he's medically unfit? Hunley the one to lend him a jacket in the cold, all while wishing he could wrap him up in his arms? I'm very much here for Hunley pining for Ethan, perhaps even thinking Ethan's out of his league until, as they grow slowly more intimate, he realizes Ethan likes him back. Does Ethan spend time pining in return, or does he just take a while to realize his feelings; does he reveal said feelings while he's hurt? Is it Hunley, instead, who finally takes the leap and confesses his love while comforting him? Or does he keep quiet because he's worried that Ethan isn't well enough to deal with such a revelation?

I love how deeply Hunley seems to care for Ethan, how soft they already are with each other in Fallout, and I'd love to see how their dynamic evolves once they get together (or, indeed, how it changes between Rogue Nation and Fallout if they got together between the two films, and that was why Fallout had them so gentle with each other.) I'd love to see Ethan seeking Hunley out when he's hurting and needs some tenderness, Hunley so distressed when he's ill or in pain and so badly wanting to help him feel better, and sometimes being able to figure out how on his own, while at other times needing to ask Ethan himself what he needs, or to call up Luther and ask what Ethan needs. How does Hunley cope when Ethan comes home from a mission sick or hurt, not badly enough to need a hospital but definitely badly enough that he could do with a lot of comfort? (How does he cope with knowing that Ethan's gone without help or comfort so often for so many years?) How does he find ways to show Ethan how much he loves and appreciates him? How long does it take for him to learn to read Ethan well enough to figure out when he's really badly hurt or sick and when he's mostly-okay, and the states in between? We know Ethan trusted him professionally at once; how long does it take him to trust him personally, enough to cling to him like he does to Luther, enough to let himself be held? (When is the first time Hunley carries him?) I'm also here for established relationship fic, with both Ethan and Hunley staying professional during mission check-in calls but melting into each other's arms the moment they're off work, Hunley tucking Ethan into his coat to keep him warm, them looking after each other and being quietly domestic together, all that good stuff. 💛

Sensually, I love Ethan and Hunley to both be very into touch and texture, the kind of people to go heavy on the heavy petting, the kind of people to kiss each other senseless. Super into Hunley picking Ethan up while they're making out; also super into him holding Ethan's wrists. I adore submissive!Ethan, and I see him tending a great deal to the very softest side of that - both in the sense of him enjoying being gently held down/tied down and praise kink, and in the sense of needing to be told to accept love and comfort (such as hair brushing or shoulder rubs) and being praised for doing so. I love Hunley as having lots of Dom Tendencies, but being very afraid to break Ethan because he's seen him so hurt and fragile, so Ethan has to convince him he's not that breakable when he's well. I could also see Hunley being overwhelmed that Ethan likes it when he praises him, having to convince himself he's worth the trust Ethan places in him, worth being obeyed by this Very Small Angel all of his own accord. I also see Hunley as having a massive suit kink, so do with that information what you will - maybe show me him absolutely bluescreening when he sees Ethan in a suit for the first time. :D

Art prompts!

(Ethan is left-handed and 5'7" to Hunley's six foot; Hunley's delightfully broad and chubby in addition to being tall)

• Ethan sleeping on a couch under Hunley's suit jacket, maybe with Hunley feeling his forehead.
• Ethan wearing sunglasses and hiding his face against Hunley's chest, maybe even inside his suit jacket or coat.
• Ethan sneaking up on Hunley like this (gif) while Hunley is on the phone or talking into a headset, putting his hands in Hunley's pockets and his forehead against his shoulder.
• Hunley towering gently over Ethan while he kisses him, like Alec Baldwin is doing with Salma Hayek here (still, gif)
• Ethan generally being Smol at 5'7" to Hunley's 6'. He could fit nicely under his chin while hugging him, or have his head cradled against his shoulder. Or stand on tiptoe to kiss him, even. Or look tiny when wearing clothes that belong to him. 💛

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Ethan/Luther

How do I love Ethan and Luther's adoration for each other? Let me count the ways. ("What's up, baby?" "Hey, man.")

These two have known each other since MI: 1, and they've been so deeply fond of each other and loyal to each other ever since. Luther calls Ethan 'baby' twice! He's also the only one apart from Julia, Ethan's canon wife (now ex), who gets to see Ethan truly vulnerable and take care of him when he is; for everyone else in the team, Ethan does his best to be stoic and strong and not reveal much when he's a mess, but Luther's been around long enough to see right through him, and Ethan clearly loves him enough not to mind. I'm pretty sure Luther is the only one of the current team to have seen Ethan cry, and he's canonically the only one to have had Ethan literally cling to him like a lifeline.

So I'm here for all the love and tenderness between them that's built up over the years. I'd love to see the other team members, or even Hunley, realize that Ethan feels responsible for his team and never lets himself be truly vulnerable with them, but can lean into Luther or steal his jacket or just meet his eyes and be immediately, intimately understood. Maybe he even lets Luther look after him in front of the others, if he's feeling really awful, or maybe Luther needs to convince him to take it easy for a bit, and takes care of him in private so he can pretend to be less hurt than he is in front of the team. Maybe Ethan lands up in medical after a mission without Luther, badly injured or delirious with a high fever, and asks for Luther often enough that someone actually goes to find him for him. Maybe tell me about one of the team calling Luther for advice on how to help Ethan when he's hurt. Maybe just tell me about all the little moments of trust and comfort over the years, about Ethan knowing Luther's favourite colours and videogames and Luther knowing how Ethan likes his coffee and just how often they've been holed up in safe houses together with Ethan injured or sick, waiting in each other's arms till the coast was clear to get moving and get on home. About Luther being the only person who can ground Ethan when he's so sick or hurt that he barely remembers the mission or who he's supposed to be playing, the only person who can touch him without him flinching or feverishly trying to reach for a weapon. Or about Luther having been there for Ethan after the miserable, exhausting missions he's been on in canon (say, after Ghost Protocol or Rogue Nation or Fallout, or even all the way back after MI: 1).

I'm also all about the quiet intimacy between them when off-duty, especially after they get together. Luther gently looking after Ethan with lots of touch, because he knows how touch-starved Ethan is and knows what makes him feel better when he's sick; Ethan allowing himself to ask Luther for comfort, even though he still sometimes feels driven to apologize for needing it. Luther knowing Ethan gets migraines a few times a year ever since he had a bomb implanted in his head for a while in MI: III, because he was there with Julia to help him through the immediate aftermath, and knows his tells when he's hurting even if he's trying to hide it from the rest of the team. Ethan letting Luther do little things for him like help him on with a jacket or wash and rub his hair dry, because he trusts him and it feels nice. Luther calling Ethan on his bullshit when he pretends to be feeling better than he is. Ethan trying not to wake Luther when he has a flashback or nightmare (perhaps during the fireworks on the Fourth of July), sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. Both of them kissing each other's scars when they make out, making sure to be gentle if one of them's hurt, or if old injuries are making themselves particularly known.

Sensually, I love Ethan and Luther to be intensely affectionate and reverent, like neither of them believed they'd ever get to touch the other this way, but also playful and not afraid to play rough sometimes. They're very in tune with each other, and I feel like they'd know when one of them was hurting and they needed to be gentle, and when the mood was right to get a little feistier. I love Ethan to be really into touch and luxuriate in it, and Luther to indulge him and realize he likes it too. I also adore submissive!Ethan, and I see him tending a great deal to the very softest side of that - both in the sense of him enjoying being gently held down/tied down and praise kink, and in the sense of needing to be told to accept love and comfort (such as hair brushing or shoulder rubs) and being praised for doing so.

Art prompts!

(Ethan is left-handed and 5'7" to Luther's six foot; Luther is built and powerful and soft as well as being tall)

• Ethan curled up against Luther's shoulder while clutching a cough buddy bear to his chest after Fallout - he broke a few ribs at the end there, and it's going to hurt to breathe for a while.
• Luther bridal-carrying Ethan, any time in the series from MI: 1 to now.
• Luther picking Ethan up for a hug, and Ethan clinging while hugging him back.
• Luther gently undressing Ethan - maybe undoing his cuff or shirt buttons.
• Ethan generally being Smol at 5'7" to Luther's 6'. He could fit nicely under his chin while hugging him, or have his head cradled against his shoulder. Or stand on tiptoe to kiss him, even. Or look tiny when wearing clothes that belong to him. 💛

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Ethan/Hunley/Luther

luther-i-want-to-kiss-your-boyfriend-on-the-mouth.jpg

I love all three of these characters so much, and I love Ethan/Luther and Ethan/Hunley a lot - my readings of both these romantic dynamics influence my reading of how the triad could work.

Luther and Ethan have known each other for over twenty years; there's so much trust between them, so much unspoken intimacy and support between them, ever since the very first film. There's definitely an element of unspoken devotion there, how Luther calls Ethan 'baby', how he's the only person Ethan trusts to see him vulnerable, how they cling to each other for support, how devastated they each look when the other nearly dies in Fallout, how they each seem not to value their own life as much as the other does. There's a long-term-mutual-pining vibe about the two of them, a kind of feeling that each of them thinks they're not good enough for the other, that maybe each of them spent a long while believing their love for the other was unrequited before getting a clue.

Ethan and Hunley, meanwhile, have known each other only since 2015, and Hunley spent most of Rogue Nation trying to chase Ethan down - but by the airport scene in Fallout three years later, he's clearly at least a little bit in love with him, and it's adorable. They're so different but so complementary - Hunley's so vocal and Ethan so quiet but equally intense! Ethan's such a ray of sunshine that he apparently converted Hunley from a cynic to an idealist by deciding to trust him! Hunley heaps praise and reassurance on Ethan, while Ethan looks as though he's in physical pain from being told he's worth believing in! Ethan calls Hunley 'sir' and it somehow means all the things! There's so much unsaid between these two characters, so much unexplored.

We don't get to see Luther and Hunley interact much, and we know that Luther's fiercely protective of Ethan and therefore can't stand Hunley in Rogue Nation, but we do see in Fallout that Hunley deeply adores Ethan, which I think could have won Luther over to his side. And as always, Ethan is canonically pretty damn touch-starved and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, especially if he's otherwise hurting and overwhelmed. These are three very quiet, kind people with a fair amount of self-worth issues between them - though Hunley is professionally skilled at the political and administrative side of intelligence work, my reading of him as a person is based on the deep affection he shows Ethan in Fallout - and so I'd love to see them all slowly getting used to having not just one, but two people who love them so much.

• Luther and Ethan were already together before Rogue Nation, and Luther noticed Hunley pining after Ethan, eventually discussing it with Ethan and deciding to ask him to join them. I'd love to see them getting used to working together, the process of Hunley earning Luther's trust as Secretary (since he had Ethan's immediately, but the others weren't so keen), and Luther's feelings toward Hunley going from 'you adore Ethan, so I approve of you' to 'huh, I think I'm fond of you as a person actually'.

• Alternatively, they all had an awakening after nearly dying in Fallout. From what we see onscreen, Ethan and Hunley have clearly become friends through working together, perhaps over long nights of research in Hunley's office or endless meetings with Erika Sloane, or perhaps through Hunley being Ethan's handler and seeing him vulnerable, hurt and exhausted after missions. I'd love to see them all looking after each other post-Fallout; they're all badly hurt and Ethan will probably take a few weeks to recover, Hunley a few months with how grave his injuries were. I'd love to see them trying to wrap their heads around loving each other and having it acknowledged, having it be official, while also navigating each other's needs while they're healing up.

• In general, I'd love to see Hunley and Luther joining forces to take care of Ethan when he's injured, or protect him from intelligence community brass who want to question him or accuse him when he's already messed up from a mission, or just look after him and keep him warm during the post-mission adrenaline crash. (One or both of them lending him a jacket, or carrying him, would be lovely!)

• I'd also love to see Hunley growing acquainted with the bond there is between Ethan and Luther, how well they know each other without having to say a word. Hunley slowly realizing he's becoming a part of their intimacy, that he too knows both their coffee preferences or knows when Luther's worried and Ethan's hurting and won't admit it, or knows when they've had a particularly bad time on a mission by the way they look when they return for debrief. I'd love to see the learning process, Hunley getting to figure out some things slowly but having to be told others in a crisis - Luther knows what to do when Ethan's hurt or in the middle of a migraine, for instance, and Ethan knows when Luther doesn't like someone or doesn't trust some new technology the CIA's using - and I'd love for both of them to learn Hunley's tells in return, offer him a kind of hot chocolate or scotch he likes when he's had a bad day, and generally surprise him with how fond of him they are.

• I'd also just generally love to see softness and intimacy among all three of them. Sleeping on each other, looking after one another when they're tired or hurt or sick, making out while making sure they all get to feel as loved and wanted as they possibly can. I love Ethan in the submissive role to Luther and Hunley, being gently held down and loved on. (He deals with too much pain in his day job, I think, to ever get off on pain, and Luther and Hunley both read as gentle doms to me.)

Art prompts!

(Ethan is left-handed and 5'7" to Luther and Hunley's six foot, and they're both delightfully broad and soft when compared to him)

• Ethan curled up asleep in Hunley's arms while wearing a jacket that belongs to Luther and is clearly too big for him
• Hunley or Luther patching Ethan up when he's hurt, while the other supports his head or holds his hand
• Ethan and Luther petting Hunley, who's asleep or nearly asleep between them, maybe with Ethan taking off Hunley's glasses
• Any and all kisses, gentle touch, handholding and/or making out is deeply loved 💛

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Ethan/Sidorov

okay so I love Sidorov and his arc so much, I love his grudging (later not so grudging) respect for Ethan, and I love how Ethan tried so hard not to have to hurt him but had to kick his ass anyway, and I love how that's all in a day's work for them both and there are zero hard feelings afterwards. Except possibly in another sense of 'hard feelings', if you know what I mean. 😏

So, I'd love to see what happens the next time they meet after Ghost Protocol. Is it off-duty? A coincidence? A date? Is it on a mission, when Sidorov is investigating suspicious activity and suddenly That Annoyingly Sunshine-Faced American shows up? Or maybe the annoyingly sunshine-faced American is not so sunshine-faced at the moment and Sidorov has to stop him being tortured by his (Sidorov's) own Russian colleagues? Do they run into each other at an airport, or a train station or other transit area, and Ethan is too sick or too badly hurt to be able to conceal it from a fellow agent like Sidorov? Does Ethan seek Sidorov out during the six months he spends on the run tracking the Syndicate in Rogue Nation? Do they swap spy stories, scar stories, love stories? Do they develop a strong and lasting friendship along the way? Do they fall in love along the way?

Art prompts!

(Ethan is left-handed and 5'7" to Sidorov's 5'10")

• Ethan and Sidorov taking a selfie with a calico cat.
• Sidorov patching Ethan up when he's hurt.
• Sidorov petting Ethan while he's buried under a lot of blankets.
• Sidorov bridal-carrying Ethan out of the car park after the final fight in Ghost Protocol.

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Ethan/Sarah Davies; Ethan/Sarah Davies/Jack Harmon

I really like Ethan's dynamic with his original team, before it all went to hell in the first half-hour of MI: 1. For Ethan/Sarah and Ethan/Sarah/Jack, I'm mostly thinking about an exploration of that dynamic set pre-MI:1 - it's easy to read their gentle banter as both Ethan and Jack pining a little bit for Sarah, who's a bit older and more experienced as an agent than they are, and I'd love to see a cute d/s threesome (one-time is just as great as a sustained relationship!) with Sarah telling Ethan and Jack what to do.

For Ethan/Sarah without Jack, please give me all the soft hurt/comfort! I'd love to see their low-key, quiet little team-within-the-team dynamic, see Ethan just absolutely unable to believe Sarah would look twice at him and blush deeply or hide his face when she kisses him. I'd super love to see them on a mission together having each other's backs or looking after each other afterward, perhaps huddling for warmth, or Sarah patching Ethan up when he's injured or wrapping him in blankets/cradling his head in her lap when he's sick or possibly hypothermic as a result of a mission.

Art prompts!

(Ethan and Jack are both left-handed, and they and Sarah are near about the same height - Ethan and Jack are 5'7" and Sarah is 5'6")

• Sarah cradling Ethan's head in her lap and stroking his hair while he's clearly in pain, possibly in a car while their team gets them to safety before his injuries can be treated.
• Sarah wearing Ethan's stupid leather coat from MI:1, possibly while they kiss.
• Ethan and Sarah walking into a party arm in arm, dressed in black tie and possibly both wearing the MI:1 spy glasses (super cool with Sarah dressed in an evening gown, or with her also wearing a tux!)
• Ethan asleep at Sarah's feet with his head resting against her knee while she rubs his back or strokes his hair (very cool with Jack also being asleep next to Ethan, with his head resting against Sarah's other knee).

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Jane Carter/Zhen Lei

I love Jane Carter so much. I especially love that she's kind of socially awkward, very awkward when asked to be femme, and that Ethan has to coach her in the art of artificial seduction near the end of Ghost Protocol. She's very similar to Ethan in a lot of ways - she feels responsible for the safety of the world, is a quiet bean who doesn't much care for Networking™ and social politics, and when we see her onscreen she's dealing with a whole lot of grief - and dealing with it through anger, a lot like Ethan did when he was younger.

By contrast, Zhen is a little more in tune with her feelings. I don't think we know her as well as we know Jane, but we do know she is, while not femme exactly, certainly a lot more comfortable playing the Designated Femme Fatale role on missions, a fair bit more comfortable with social manipulation and the political/administrative side of intelligence work, a lot more emotionally expressive, once had a cat whom she loved, and probably hasn't faced as much grief or loss as Jane has. I'd love them to meet (perhaps through Ethan) and get acquainted, slowly growing fond of each other, with Jane taking a while to open up, and Zhen finding patience and willingness in herself she never knew she had. I'd love them to go on a few missions together, learn to work together and perhaps eventually fall into bed or into each other's laps in a 'thank god we're alive' adrenaline rush. I'd love to see Jane taking the dominant role in bed, taking Zhen apart, perhaps with Zhen expecting she'd have to coax her there too but being surprised and delighted to find that Jane absolutely no longer requires coaxing.

I'd also love to see Zhen looking after Jane after missions, when she's hurt or sick, brushing or braiding her hair, giving her back rubs, perhaps even in a service sub kind of way. D/s or no, I'd adore any kind of love, touch and tenderness between these two.

Art prompts!
(Zhen is 5'7" to Jane's 5'10", but Zhen is probably much more comfortable wearing heels than Jane)

• Zhen brushing or braiding Jane's hair.
• Zhen sitting in Jane's lap to make out with her - either when they're tired, injured and dishevelled in their tactical gear after a mission, or when they're suited up and dapper - or when they're tired, injured and dishevelled in dapper suits after a mission.
• Jane and Zhen walking into a grand event undercover on each other's arms, Jane in a suit and Zhen in an evening gown
• Jane kissing Zhen's wrist or her collarbone, or between her breasts

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Oblivion (2013)
Media: fic, art
Cole/Claire

Soft d/s porn with Cole unquestioningly obeying every word Claire says, with lots of engine noise as the backdrop? Maybe some shibari or sensory deprivation or finger-sucking? Please? :D

I love how much softer and more sensible Cole is in bed than he is on the track, and how honest and emotionally healthy he and Claire are with each other in general. The dynamic I love for them is both of them being very eager to spoil each other rotten, each of them being incredibly gentle and kind toward the other while also sometimes liking it a little bit rough - Claire because she's playful and wants a little extra fun sometimes, and Cole because sometimes gentleness is Too Much and he'd rather be roughed up a bit so he doesn't have to confront the fact that Claire thinks he's worthy of being loved. So like, ranging from rough, quick and dirty to soft, slow, gentle and dirty.

D/s or no, I'm also generally super here for cars, and sexy times involving cars. Cole and Claire making out or making love in the adrenaline high after a race, or during other drivers' practice laps with cars roaring past the room or shed they're in. Heavy petting in Cole's racecar, or on the hood of it. Claire fucking Cole while they're parked somewhere secluded and he's ziptied to the steering wheel. Maybe Claire fucking Cole in a fancy limo they're given all to themselves as a ride to some event, being all gentle and laying his head down on the plush seat and riding him to overstimulation, or until he begs her to get rough with him. (Very into Claire undoing Cole with gentleness, and withholding roughness and pain until he's been good enough to earn it.) Cole fingering Claire or eating her out while he's blindfolded or in shibari, or just tied down or loosely tied round the neck with whatever she could find (ribbon, dressing gown or bathrobe waistband, bow tie on bare skin rather than around a shirt collar...)

Also super into clothing kink with these two (and definitely super into how much taller Claire is than Cole) - I'd love to see Claire wearing a suit when she appears at a formal press event with Cole, and him delightedly undressing her afterwards, inch by inch, item by item of clothing (possibly with her telling him what to take off and exactly how). I'd also love any kind of foreplay through fabric, especially Cole getting Claire wet by rubbing her through her trousers or jeans, stroking her thighs through her clothes, even breathing on her, or a combination of any or all those things.

Art prompts!
(Cole and Claire are both left-handed and she's taller than him at 5'10" to his 5'7")

• Cole and Claire making out on or in a car
• Cole tied down or loosely tied round the neck with whatever Claire could find (ribbon, dressing gown or bathrobe waistband, bow tie on bare skin rather than around a shirt collar...)
• Cole and Claire making out in secret somewhere in or around a press event, away from the cameras, dressed formally (or maybe in various states of undress)

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The Fugitive (Movies)
Media: fic
Samuel Gerard/Richard Kimble

I love literally everything about The Fugitive, from Sam's, well, everything - his deep compassion, his love for his team of marshals whom he calls his 'kids', his love for coffee and doughnuts, his taking exception to words he doesn't like, his constant Sheer Drama - to Cosmo's trust in him while not taking any of his shit - to Richard's desperate determination, how well he and Sam are matched as foils, and how well they're clearly going to get along.
Both Sam and Richard show a marked tendency toward compassion and kindness as their default, helping people when they have no pressing reason to, caring for perfect strangers despite everything. This movie does not show you Thriller Protagonist Dudes pulling some macho shit; this movie shows you people saving people's lives with gentleness and care, handing over ice packs and warm jackets when they're needed, and sometimes smiling like the sun has broken through the clouds.

To that end, I'd love Sam and Richard getting to know each other after the film, and slowly falling in love without realizing it's happening. I'd also love some hurt/comfort focused on Sam, possibly with him showing up injured at Cook County or Chicago Memorial and Richard happening to not be in surgery at the time, so he looks after Sam instead of whoever's on call at the ER. I'm more than game for anything post-movie with these two, from Richard meeting the 'kids' to Sam meeting Richard's friends at the hospital to just Sam and Richard wearing warm clothes in fall and making out in libraries.

I have some more h/c focused Sam/Richard tags and thoughts in my Hurt/Comfort Ex letter, here!

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Space Cowboys (2000)
Media: fic, art
William 'Hawk' Hawkins/Sara Holland

I love these characters and their reverent love for each other so much, and I'm so sad that they had to be so sad! I'd love for Hawk to survive the film, but I'd also love something canon-compliant about their relationship during it - show me Hawk and Sara's first night together, for instance, show me all the foreplay and heavy petting and making love they get up to; or show me Hawk taking Sara around the airfield and talking about his planes, or Sara taking Hawk to her favourite haunts at NASA HQ and talking about her job and science and engineering and Hawk drinking in every word.

If Hawk does get to come safely back to earth in lieu of the film's ending, there is still the matter of the inoperable cancer to deal with. I'd love if it were found to be operable (~medical handwaving! space!!!~), but I'd rather not read/see any focus on the treatment, so if you're having him survive please also gloss over the details of how he managed it, and skip straight to the happily ever after. <3
That said, I'm also very okay with a fic where Hawk spends his last year or two blissfully happy with Sara, and then peacefully passes.

Art prompts!

(Hawk is six foot and Sara is 5'4")

• Hawk reverently undressing Sara when they get home after their first kiss, while she takes off his cowboy hat.
• Hawk and Sara kissing on the hood of a car. I'd love Sara to be wearing glasses!
• Hawk and Sara making out under sheets, with Sara on top - I'd love Hawk kissing her collarbone or her breast.
• Hawk dressed in his usual clothes, kissing Sara, who is wearing his sweater or suit jacket (that's way too big for her) and his cowboy hat.

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The Shadow (1994)
Media: fic, art
Lamont/Margo

I'd love some h/c focused on Lamont, with Margo being able to read his thoughts and taking none of his self-loathing/self-sacrificial bullshit. This canon begs for a delightful mix of vigilante h/c tropes and psychic superpowers h/c tropes and I am weak.

I love that in canon, the Margo/Lamont relationship is both beautifully soft and founded in the very basic tenets of consent: Margo is among the only people Lamont's mind-influencing powers don't work on, and therefore by definition she is at his side solely because she wants to be. This messes with Lamont's head a great deal, since he's an enormous disaster sub with a ton of guilt and self-worth issues and doesn't remotely believe he deserves to be loved.

I'd love to see something that picks up after the film, with established Lamont/Margo dealing with the hazards of the vigilante business - perhaps Margo finding an injured Lamont collapsed on her doorstep and having to look after him, perhaps her hearing his mind call out from miles away when he's hurting or miserable, perhaps them having to find ways to keep up their Socialite Personas for the public, such as Margo sneaking Lamont out of a party with clear We're Going To Make Out signals while he's really staggering from a gunshot wound. All the Noir Detective and Noir Vigilante and Noir Caretaking tropes! I will eat all the tropes up with a spoon!

I'd also love some exploration of the Shadow superpowers and how they work (and how they can go wrong) - perhaps with Lamont losing control of them when he's unconscious while hurt or ill, resulting in things breaking, flying around the room, people accidentally getting mind-controlled into doing odd things, maybe someone getting mildly injured, and Lamont being overwhelmed with guilt and hiding himself away when he's losing control for years until Margo realizes she's the only one who can help. I'd also love to see the effects of Lamont sometimes overusing his powers and working himself to exhaustion - perhaps it gives him migraines or gets him sick, leaving him shaky for a few days afterward, or exhausts him to the point of burnout, and this too has been going on for years before Margo walks into his life and realizes he's a whole idiot who can't sustain this way of working forever. Perhaps his occasional bouts of overusing-powers-sickness have been mistaken as hangovers or other debauchery by his uncle/butler/etc, and he's done nothing to disabuse them of the notion because it suits him for them to assume he's an empty-headed layabout. (Perhaps someone finds him in a gutter one morning too deeply unconscious to make it home, and it makes the tabloids and his uncle gives him a Stern Talking-To that he has to pretend he's taking to heart, while Margo knows the real reason and worries and shows up to domme him into letting her look after him.)

Speaking of Margo domming Lamont into letting her look after him, that's the exact dynamic for them that I love. Margo is super assertive, knows exactly what she wants at all times, is very very sexual and horny on main, and she's also very generous with comfort when Lamont needs it. Lamont, meanwhile, is all haunted and racked with guilt for his past, and afraid he'll hurt her, and also kind of awkward and embarrassed by her boldness; embarrassed to be wanted as much as she wants him. I'd love to see her taking him in hand and showing him how to let go of his guilt and nervousness and place his trust in her - him all reverent and worshipful, her patiently finding out what he needs (even if it's a long-term project, and even if what he needs is pain or bondage - perhaps especially if it is!), and maybe her giving him lots of praise and aftercare as a reward for being good for her. I also think Lamont might, in his self-flagellating way, sometimes go too far in asking for pain, and Margo might have to figure out when those times are, take care of him and reassure him, and figure out how to help him stop doing that.

D/s or no, I love the idea of Margo putting Lamont in shibari while he's sick, perhaps because they've found it helps keep his powers or power-induced sickness/headaches/burnout in check, perhaps as a simple exercise in comforting touch. I love the idea of Lamont just...not being able to deal with tenderness and being loved, especially so when he's ill or hurt, and Margo having to kiss away tears of sensory overstimulation/general overwhelmedness. Lamont just being very used to curling up and riding out illness/injury alone, and Margo refusing to let him do that and giving him lots of gentle touch and kisses, is such a soft spot for me, as is the fact that she can read his mind and hear his distress from miles away, so he literally cannot hide any kind of suffering from her.

Art prompts!

• Margo tying Lamont in intricate shibari knots while he's sick or hurt.
• Margo undressing Lamont from bloodied clothes.
• Lamont kneeling at Margo's feet, somewhat or completely undressed, looking up devotedly at her while she cleans his injured face of blood and grime.
• Margo wrapping a sick, shivering Lamont in one of her jackets (that's clearly feminine and drapey) or one of her giant furs.

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The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Media: fic
Marko Ramius/Jack Ryan
Bart Mancuso/Jack Ryan
Bart Mancuso/Marko Ramius
Bart Mancuso/Marko Ramius/Jack Ryan

I really love the warmth of everything about Red October - how deeply idealistic Jack and Ramius are, how Jack is an experienced analyst who knows a lot about strategy and history but absolutely nothing about operations (but still knows he has to try to get Ramius in alive), how Ramius makes sure to gain the trust of his officers about the terrible risk he's taking in defecting, how Mancuso's whole crew clearly loves and trusts him and admires him while he is so protective of them in return - indeed, how committed to duty Mancuso is, but how ready and willing to step up when Jack proves his orders wrong.

I'm very here for all kinds of softness and hurt/comfort, with Jack or Mancuso as the centre. (Here's my h/c ex writeup on Jack; here's the one for Mancuso.) I just want them to get a whole lot of love and gentleness, whichever ship or the whole triad you choose from the tagset - getting together, established relationship, G-rated caretaking to M- or E-rated loving, everything is wonderful. I'd love to see these characters look after one another, make room for one another in their lives, kiss and pet one another a lot, any time from right post-movie to years later, possibly with Jack getting into politics and eventually becoming the President with First Gentleman Ramius and/or Mancuso at his side.

I have a lot of feelings about the idea that Jack's back injury from the chopper crash might leave him in lasting pain that resurfaces on cold and wet days, and Ramius and/or Mancuso would learn how to help him through it. I also love the thought of Mancuso, as a career submariner, not having had many relationships and not being used to being comforted, and so that he'd be quietly overwhelmed when Jack and/or Ramius hug and pet him when he's exhausted, or when he's older and his hands start to hurt when it gets cold.

While I don't think these characters would get up to d/s shenanigans often - I see them mostly as sweet, intense vanilla - I am kind of destroyed by the soft-but-firm-d/s implications of the scene where Ramius presents Mancuso with the Red October. Ramius has enormous Dom Energy in general, especially with Jack, but that scene got me feeling things about Mancuso, who also has a lot of Dom Energy, being the only person in the world whom Ramius would submit to. This goes double because when we see Mancuso give orders on the Dallas, he gives them softly, gently, and everyone immediately leaps to obey; I'd love to see him have the same command style in the bedroom, especially if Jack is sick or hurt and feeling guilty about it and needs to be told to let himself be taken care of, or conversely, if Bart himself is mildly sick or hurt and needs to convince the others to stop worrying and kiss him already, damnit.

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Top Gun (1986)
Media: fic
Maverick/Iceman

The basic vibe I'm always going for with Mav/Ice requests is masochistic!sub!Mav seeking out pain (in bar fights and the bedroom alike) in an attempt to deal with his massive self-worth issues / feel alive in general. I ship Mav with Ice hard in all kinds of enemies-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, mutually-pining-while-thinking-the-other-hates-them, eventually soft and sweet together ways, especially with neither of them quite being able to believe they have the other's love (or admit that it's love they really want); I also feel like Ice is a little emotionally healthier than Mav, and would be good for him while he's dealing with all the unaddressed trauma he's built up over the years. (Mav: "so you really like me, thought you might have been hate-fucking me all this time kazansky" Ice, horrified and already taking off his clothes: "god mav you're so fucking stupid")

Sexually, I especially love Mav being a way more experienced sub than Ice is as a Dom, while also not having a clue where his own boundaries are, and therefore trying to encourage Ice to hurt him more than Ice is willing to - and then when Ice reluctantly agrees, he realizes that Mav's holding out way beyond the threshold when the pain stops being a turn-on and starts to really hurt, because he thinks he deserves it. I'm very much here for Ice being kind of horrified at how willing Mav is to be hurt, realizing he's had tons of previous partners who didn't bother to make sure he was really into it / make sure he was okay during and afterward, and teaching him a little about what he should expect from a good dom with regard to boundaries and aftercare. Maybe Mav chokes up with pain when he starts to consider safewording, because he should really have safeworded a long time before; maybe he finds himself unable to safeword because he's convinced himself he'd be ~not man enough~ or a bad sub if he did. Maybe he's super willing to try a bunch of different kinks, and doesn't realize he has some serious triggers until Ice (or another Dom) accidentally trips one, and Ice has to pick up the pieces. (I'm cool with this being whatever d/s kink - breathplay, sensory deprivation, predicament bondage - but I'm particularly emotionally destroyed by it being verbal humiliation; hence the exception to my humiliation DNW. With these kinks, I'm very here for Mav being really into it to begin with, but then suddenly realizing he's incredibly not okay, and kind of not being able to admit it, and possibly having an anxiety attack or PTSD episode that he doesn't realize is one.) Hell, maybe Ice accidentally hurts him more than he intended to, and Mav tries to laugh it off or insist he can take it, perhaps even believes Ice meant to hurt him that much, and Ice has to call a halt and patch him up, and help him understand he should only ever be hurt as much as he wants to be. In general, I'm very, very here for a scene ending in Mav crying, him hating himself for it, and Ice point-blank refusing to shame him for it and instead comforting him gently in a way he isn't used to receiving.

I'm also here for Ice having to deal with fallout from Mav's previous not-great relationships, especially with some exploration of how unhealthy the canon Mav/Charlie relationship was. My reading of the Mav/Charlie dynamic is that they started out affectionate, but Charlie grew tired of Mav's earnestness and all his issues pretty quickly, eventually not really caring about his wellbeing or happiness, and perhaps not even about his consent - while Mav, even after they split up, may or may not realize/be in denial that she sometimes coerced or manipulated him in the bedroom as well as outside it. (This specific Mav/Charlie situation is the exception to my dub/noncon DNW for this fandom.) I'd be very here for something that leads from Mav/Charlie breaking up to Mav/Ice getting together, or even just an exploration of the contrast between the two relationships. (In case this line of thought takes your fancy, here are some thoughts about Charlie and Ice, and how their respective relationship and dominance styles work with Mav, and here are some thoughts about Charlie and Mav's relationship incompatibility leading to her essentially sexually assaulting him.)

On a slightly different angsty note, I'd love a Mav/Ice take on Mav's general headspace, both at the time of TG1 and now, in the trailers for TG2. He's got some serious self-worth issues that are evident even outside of the bedroom, and definitely has some PTSD going on in the aftermath of Goose's death; when we last see him in TG1, he's still just barely getting over the grief and shock. I'd love to see something exploring the echoes of that in his life afterwards, because he canonically seems to have had no meaningful emotional support from either Charlie or his friends (let alone external support like professional help). So, PTSD, nightmares, Mav crying in his sleep, asking for Goose when he's too sick to remember Goose is dead, blaming himself for what he went through, being ashamed of needing help/comfort, going quiet when he's hurting, generally not caring about his own wellbeing and not believing he's worthy of comfort.

I also now have 5 entire emotions about older Mav - present-day Mav, whom we see in the new trailers as deeply sad and quiet and, I quote, 'refusing to die'; there are just so many Depression Feelings there. I'd love to hear more about how Mav refuses to die, despite not really knowing why, or about him being ready and willing to sacrifice himself and not knowing how to cope when he lives instead of dying. Maybe tell me about how lonely he's been and how tired he is, and how he copes with it; maybe about how Ice walks back into his life, and how while he can't fix him, he can help him feel a little less alone. Maybe about him getting hurt protecting the new trainees, or working himself into the ground for them, and Ice having to pick up the pieces. Maybe tell me about Ice and the new trainees loving Mav so much they straight-up refuse to let him die for the greater good, and Mav not being able to wrap his head around being wanted and loved.

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War of the Worlds (2005)
Media: fic
Ray Ferrier/OFC
Ray Ferrier/OMC

I enjoy Ray as a character, and I have feelings about what he lived through, and the fact that while the kids have a support system in their mom's family, Ray clearly doesn't fit in there, and seems to have no one who really cares that he's okay. For that reason, a lot of these tags lend themselves to 'comfort from strangers' situations, and a lot lend themselves to 'building community with fellow survivors' situations as well.

I am here for an exploration of Ray's headspace after the film, for him to get some serious comfort after all the horrors he went through, and perhaps an exploration of shared trauma and how it affects people, communities and relationships. Ray has a lot to deal with, and no one to listen - I think he might leave his ex-wife's place after the film in search of someplace he felt more at ease, and end up helping fellow survivors with their relief efforts, and find a partner there. I'd be delighted to read this taking the form of 'finding a cute romantic partner who's also been through terrible things and can help Ray feel less alone', but I'm also aware that trauma survivors seeking out relationships so soon after what they went through can end pretty badly, and I'm definitely down to read that too.

Ray is an exception to my permanent injuries DNW, and I have some permanent injury focused tags and prompts for him.

Ray falls apart.

Whether at Mary Ann's house, or otherwise. I'm eternally frustrated by the fact that no one even invited him in for a glass of water after the absolute hell he's just been through. I'm here for Ray doing his best to keep going, possibly not even realizing how exhausted or hurt or sick he is until the kids are safe, at which point his body completely gives out on him.

Maybe Mary Ann doesn't want him around and he doesn't particularly want to impose on her family, but he blacks out literally right there on their doorstep and has to be hauled inside, and there's immensely awkward caretaking while he's very out of it, embarrassed that they're the ones who have to look after him but too messed up to try and leave. (Maybe he does try to leave and not bother them any more, and promptly passes out another time and has to be hauled back in again. Maybe he succeeds in leaving and gets caught in the rain or cold and gets even sicker. Maybe he finds himself crying in secret, or has to explain away the tears to Mary Ann's husband or a stranger.)

Speaking of strangers, I'm also here for Ray getting comfort from someone else - in fact, comfort from a stranger is more likely to be genuine comfort that really helps him. Maybe he passes out in a train on the way home and wakes up in hospital. Maybe, in the longer term, he starts to process all the awful things he's been through and bond with other survivors - does he even have a home to go back to, after Brooklyn was pretty much destroyed? Does the government put survivors and displaced folk up while deciding how to compensate them for the losses they've faced, so does Ray hole up with other people who've suffered, generally try to help out as much as he can with volunteering and relief work, and the people he finds along the way look after him when he crashes? Does he try to help with the rebuilding efforts, possibly while in no shape to do so, and crash on the job? Is he surprised that people care enough about him to make sure he's okay? I'm not opposed to him finding a cute romantic partner (of whatever gender!) who's also been through terrible things and can help him feel less alone, but I'm also very taken with the thought of this small community of traumatized people coming together to help one of their own when he needs it, and him kind of wondering why they'd even notice him or care about him. That's one of the potential scenarios I'm getting at with the illness, injury, nightmare and PTSD-related tags - something happening to Ray, and a stranger, or the community of strangers he ended up a part of, helping him even when he doesn't want to be a bother and doesn't know why they'd care.

My reading of Ray is that he generally didn't see many people outside of work, and that he's the kind of person who does his utmost to help in any situation that needs it but keeps to himself a lot outside of that, so I'm very here for even the slightest bit of comfort, offered hand or kind word sort of breaking him into several pieces.

Ray falls apart, tries to cope through substances.

Ray has...a lot to deal with, and no one to even listen let alone help. A lot of the altered states tags could be fever or illness related or PTSD related, and I'm super here for that, for someone getting to see how messed up Ray really is, and choosing to stay and look after him instead of leaving him to fend for himself. I'm also here for him trying to deal with the pain by getting as drunk as he can, or accepting a pill that someone gives him, possibly not knowing what he's getting into. (To clarify, I'm not looking for an addiction plotline here, more like a 'very tired, slightly clueless, trying anything once' situation. Though I can see Ray drinking every day, I would rather not see him binge drinking every day.) Also kind of here for someone slipping him something in a drink, either with malicious intent or with benevolent intent (getting him to lighten up or have some fun for once, hoping to stop the nightmares, etc) and that not ending well whatsoever.

Here for someone - as above, a stranger or partner or someone from a community Ray's ended up in - being with him while he's in that messed up altered state, perhaps talking him down from a bad trip or flashback or some kind of delirium, or holding him while he spills sad confessions and talks without a filter, without being able to stop himself talking, about everything that hurts. Very here for all the comfort.

Ray falls apart, tries to cope through ill-advised sex with strangers.

The Above, But More. This is what the sex/BDSM tags are getting at. I'm here for Ray kind of both trying to seek out physical contact, and trying to seek out physical pain to drown out all the mental and emotional pain, and getting those wires so crossed and knotted that he ends up not really knowing which is which. Maybe, because so many people are hurting and everyone deals in different ways, he finds an abundance of people willing to hurt him, and finds that it kind of gets him off, or finds that it's easier to get off to pain than to gentleness he feels he doesn't deserve. Maybe some of these partners aren't in the best of mental places either, and end up hurting him more than he wanted, or he and said partners both kinda forget what safe and sane mean because they have no barometer for it any more, and maybe aftercare kind of isn't a thing and Ray drops hard more than once. Maybe the drop and the pain are the only way he can manage to let himself cry. (Maybe he finally happens to find someone who is really into the aftercare, and it changes his life. Very here for gentleness breaking Ray into pieces here, too.)

Ray tries his best to hold it together, even if he doesn't always succeed, but then additional terrible things happen post-apocalypse to set him back/make him crumble.

These are plot tags for Additional Angst And Pain that could add on to any of the above thoughts to make the darkness even darker, or make for a dark fic on their own. Thunderstorms, for instance, are probably going to be a major trauma trigger not just for Ray but for everyone else who survived the tripods moving through their area; I could see Ray huddling with a fellow traumatized survivor or a bunch of them, one or several of them shaking or crying, just trying to comfort one another as best they can while they weather the storm. Similarly, a broken down car in the middle of nowhere would be an eerie parallel to what Ray experienced in the film - maybe he's alone this time and doesn't deal with it well, or maybe he's with a few other people who are compassionate and help him deal, and he manages to veer back into thinking of cars as places of shelter and comfort. Perhaps either of these is even a trapped with someone in need of medical care situation, with Ray hurt or sick and unable to hide it when in close quarters to others, and the storm being too intense for anyone to try and get him help until it passes.

Relatedly, permanent injury prompts

Violence is also not unlikely in a survivor camp or just in general in a post-apocalypse scenario, and I could see Ray either stepping in to try and defuse things and getting hurt because of it, or just happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be the kind of quiet, awkward, perceived-as-weird person that those looking for violence like to target. The tags for this situation involve impalement or near-impalement - possibly because Ray was being inconvenient for someone who wanted to steal something or hurt someone else and had to be got out of the way, and he ends up being pinned to a surface through the wrist or hand. For both of these I'm interested both in the trauma of the situation itself and in the (likely very long-term) healing afterwards - whether Ray ends up just weaker in that arm, or whether he ends up with chronic pain, and/or ends up losing the use of a hand entirely, I want to see the healing process and someone, or multiple someones, looking after Ray while he's badly hurt and in serious shock on top of everything else they've all been through, and then continuing to look after him as he starts to go through the long process of healing and adjusting to the long-term fallout of the injury.

I didn't get to add a Solitary Confinement tag, but in this particular situation, I would be down for exploring the possibility of it. Perhaps Ray is held as responsible by law enforcement for the violent incident as the actual instigators, and is put in a cell while he's hurt, and possibly someone who witnessed the incident or just someone from the survivor camp makes it their mission to get him freed and then help him heal up afterwards.

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Once again, thank you for creating for me! I hope you have fun doing so; that's what it's all about, after all. 💛