Chocolate Box 2017 Letter
Jan. 2nd, 2017 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tlvopThank you so much for writing a fic for me!
AO3: TLvop
I would be more than happy with any of this combos of characters in any of these fandoms! Parts are copy/pasted, parts have been written on the fly. This journal is pretty much just exchange letters, so go snoop as you'd like!
I'm a pretty easy recipient, and I like a ton of things, but I'm totally fine with you ignoring my prompts or only picking/choosing as long as you avoid my triggers (listed before the cut). Please write whatever strikes your fancy! And if writing my fic causes you any level of Not Fun Stress, please don't feel you're doing poorly by me if you default -- your mental health > this fanfic. <3
Also, the fandoms are listed alphabetically -- not by desire to get them! I pruned my list to only things I'd be delighted by :). My fandom prompts and notes are often spoiler-y, so... heads-up?
Triggers
I have a sensitive non-con/dub-con/childhood sexual abuse trigger. So as to be less scary, I've listed what's a-okay before what really isn't.
What I can read and do mostly enjoy -- Early "fade to black"s and kissing are generally fine, especially in relationships that are already established in the fic's timeline or are known to be happily established in canon if you're writing a prequel. Also, sexually explicit talk between characters with no likely sexual interest in each other doesn't spike my anxiety. That's weird, maybe, but one of my canons is Riddick so I figured I'd clarify!
What will set me off -- "On-screen" sexual encounters; dirty talk; sexual threats; discussion of non-con/dub-con/childhood sexual abuse. Any threats of those taking place. And of those actually taking place. Discussed incest. On-screen incest. Under-18 sexual relationships in focus. Cross-generational (like "I knew you when you were a child " not purely age difference) ships. please believe me on this -- someone during yuletide pointed out I've liked and written some fic that muddle into some of these territories, but me writing it / friends I trust who give me thorough warnings over IM =/= gift fic from an anon :)
ALSO -- I would appreciate a warning for suicide if it comes up at all. I can handle it if I'm not surprised.
General:
DNW: Discussion, especially in depth or critical of real-life religion (including atheism) and current US politics. Bashing of canon characters (breakups of canon ships generally best handled with "yeah they broke up some time ago. /shrug???")
General Likes: Dogs, robots, AIs, world-building, cute flirting between couples, situations that reveal things about characters, stories that feel very grounded in the world they’re in, thoughtful friendships, and just as much I like characters who (if it is IC) just totally bomb the feelings game so hard. Happy stories, bittersweet stories, surprisingly sad stories, thoughtful stories, ridiculous romps, casefic, day-in-the-life, all-the-days-in-a-life ... all that good stuff. I also am totally cool with any person, tense, or style you choose to tell the fic in. I prefer the person/tense stay consistent unless you're switching between well-delineated sections, so my brain stays minimally confused :).
General Dislikes: Interpersonal tension between characters without established reasons in the plot; characters presented as being “just evil” without logic (it doesn’t have to be GOOD logic, just that the bad character is internally consistent and a person)
Fandom Specific -- all of these are from my sign-up.
Agent Carter: Ana Jarvis & Jack Thompson; Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis; Ana Jarvis & Peggy Carter; Ana Jarvis & Edwin Jarvis & Peggy Carter
I love Ana Jarvis because she's so insightful, quick-witted, and manages to be both cheery and deeply considerate/realistic at the same time. I would honestly love to see her interactions with any character in this series, but specifically those nominated (of course!).
Jack Thompson: What I love about Jack is how normal he is. Usually there are villains and heroes and anti-heroes in media, whereas Jack is just a deeply flawed normal human being. He wants to be the good guy, but he doesn't want to deal with the everyday mundane aspects of consistently being good -- he'd rather let his morals slide on the small stuff, and sacrifice his life on the big stuff so he still looks like a "hero". It's basically how everyone in the real world does life! And I love him for it.
Edwin Jarvis: What I love about Jarvis is that he is so intensely loyal, even though he often doesn't get the real stakes of what is going on. He's friendly, but he falls into default "modes" where he sometimes has no real grasp of what's going on if it's not within his current mode. (Like when he doesn't notice jokes, because he is being Very Serious, or when he doesn't notice seriousness because he is busy being The Coolest Spy.) I love how conscientious he tries to be, almost moreso because he has to work at it.
Peggy Carter: I guess it would be a bit simplistic to say "I LOVE PEGGY CARTER'S EVERYTHING," but she is by far my favorite character in the MCU. I love her confidence, and the righteousness of her anger even when it's triggered too fast and she goes too far. She's a blazing torch, and she gets caught up almost in her own mythos. I love her ability to see people for who they are, and her willingness to be proven wrong (but never to lose). Peggy Carter is a force of nature, and as such is sometimes awkward in normal human social interaction -- I love that about her, too. I do ship Peggy/Sousa, I'm just not interested (for this exchange!) on the pairing as the focus of a fic :).
Ana Jarvis & Jack Thompson: This could be anything, from an AU where Jack lives to a hidden scene during the series. I'd love to see these two interact -- Ana Jarvis on a mission! Jack being forced to learn how to bake! Ana and Jack get tea, for reasons, and it's just a very interesting time!
Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis: Oh gosh I just, these two are the cutest human beings on the planet, and I know I've said that about a few ships this year, but I love how mutually doting they are on each other despite having personalities that from the outside look contradictory (but clearly are complementary, from the inside). I'd love anything about these two, from stories during the War to post-canon fic to conversations between them from season 1, to really anything. I love how many things are stable patterns in their relationship, and how much they prize domesticity as an act of showing love. <3 <3 <3. (I'd totally be cool with fic of them on a case, too.)
Ana Jarvis & Peggy Carter: Oh, I love how much Ana baffles Peggy, and also how clearly they like each other almost immediately. Ana is so quick to be Peggy's cheerleader and confidante, like a natural older sister, and Peggy seems kind of surprised and pleased to have found her. Anything from dancing lessons, to Peggy teaching Ana how to shoot or practical self-defense (vs. whatever she and Jarvis were practicing), to ... I am running out of ideas, but I would literally love anything with these two bouncing off of each other. I feel they could get into interesting trouble!
Ana Jarvis & Edwin Jarvis & Peggy Carter: I kind of feel like either Ana & Edwin would be a very polite hurricane tearing Peggy down some surprising social path, or Peggy & Jarvis would be a surprisingly competent spy hurricane that has accidentally picked up an Ana along their Pursuing A Case path. Since I haven't discussed them, I love Peggy & Jarvis's friendship and the mix between petty arguments (and serious arguments) and unwavering loyalty they have for each other -- their relationship seems almost tightly familial in nature, and I think neither of them (but especially Peggy) has admitted to themselves until late season 2 how much they rely on each other being around. I would love anything with the three of them -- case fic, casual bike rides, exploring a city, anything.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dahl & Boss Johns; Jack|Kyra & Riddick
Dahl: I love Dahl's competence and confidence. She knows exactly what she is capable of, and exactly how far she's willing to let anyone step before she intervenes. But she doesn't hold back once she's decided to commit -- not in fights, not in loyalty, not in crazy adventures. She's great.
Boss Johns: Johns is such a quiet, thoughtful man, clearly dealing with a lot of grief and hardship. I appreciate his loyalty to the mercenaries he employs, and his attempts to be decent even to Riddick (who he thinks murdered his son, instead of -- well, murdering his son, but for a good reason). He seems closer to a bounty hunter than a merc, someone who has an actual stake in cleaning up the universe.
Jack: I love Jack's inquisitiveness about the world, and how they are both super willing to engage in everything and also STILL A CHILD STUCK ON A TERRIFYING PLANET. I'm incredibly fond of Jack's interactions with Riddick, Shazza, and Carolyn Fry specifically -- the trade-off between Jack being treated like an equal and still clearly being a kid. I love how Jack's focus on Riddick during the movie is a mixture between "well, clearly he's the one who knows how to survive" practicality and a certain amount of awed hero worship.
Kyra: I know Jack and Kyra are the same person! But in some ways, Kyra seems to be Jack's future in the Darkest Timeline, so I'm talking about her as her own person. Her life deeply upsets me, but it seems clear that her focus on Riddick has gone from hero-worship to a kind of necessity to survive. She's shaped herself into who she is in order to survive, but especially in order to survive like Riddick would-- as a lone outsider. We don't know why she was placed on the worst prison in the system, and much of her internal motivations remain a total mystery.
Riddick: What I liked about Riddick is that he is genuinely the bad guy he claims to be. Except... he might not have a morality, but he has a bit of a code, after Pitch Black. Even before it, to an extent. The fact that Riddick is never the hero, never even the anti-hero, but occasionally aligned with the side of good really fascinates me about him. It's also interesting to watch his face, and the frequency with which he's quietly amused (even if sometimes he fails to reveal why). I also appreciate the fact that he doesn't seem to fear death, and seems to always consider it a potential outcome of his plans and accept that (it's potentiality). He'll fight the whole way down, but hey, people die.
Dahl & Boss Johns: I love their relationship -- I especially love this sense that Johns has never asked for Dahl's loyalty, but Dahl would follow him anywhere he asked. How long have they been working together? Did they serve in a military at some point? They seem very competent & trusting of one another (the whole team does). A different mission or a quiet moment or something directly from the third movie -- it all works, here :).
Jack | Kyra & Riddick: I am more interested in Jack & Riddick than in Kyra & Riddick (including AUs where Jack grows up to be someone other than Kyra -- what happened in canon makes me so sad/frustrated), but I would be interested in seeing Kyra & Riddick's relationship after the second movie if she survived -- how would her survival effect Riddick's relationship with the Necromongers? Would she take off on her own, or remain as a trusted ally?
For Jack & Riddick, I would love anything from the period of time just after Pitch Black (I don't know the non-movie canon, so feel free to make anything up) to an AU where they end up staying together, or Jack actually manages to find Riddick when they go looking. I'm okay with Jack having any gender identity (I find he/she/they pronouns the easiest to understand in written works), but please do not make that the focus of the story.
Crossover Fandom (Agents of SHIELD/Pacific Rim): Melinda May (Agents of SHIELD)/Herc Hansen (Pacific Rim)
Melinda May: What I love most about Melinda May is that she seems to be forced to intervene if something has gone wrong that she could fix, especially if someone has asked. And doing so over, and over again -- being the only person who can and will jump into the worst situations -- has worn her down, and she knows it, and she protects her sanity with ferocity. I love that she is willing to spend herself, but only how she wishes, and only for the causes she chooses, and that she is willing to walk away when she must. She has some really great relationships in canon, so please don't bash anyone (even Ward -- he's rotten, but he's rotten enough I'd almost rather he didn't come up unless he must! I did love their Season 1 relationship while it lasted).
Herc Hansen: I love Herc's quietly workmanlike attitude -- he does what must be done, because it must be done, and he does it without complaining -- because what use does complaining serve? He's self-confident, and perceptive about people (who aren't related to him), and clearly tired by his job and his relationships. He's the most decorated Jaeger pilot ever, as well, which means he's likely pretty good at handling PR (especially as it doesn't seem Chuck has created any great scandals). Speaking of Chuck -- I suspect Herc wasn't the best father, but always in the way of just assuming Chuck could manage himself/would be okay/that pre-teen anger meant he should be left alone. I don't subscribe to fandom where he is abusive. Chuck is also my favorite character in Pacific Rim due to my ridiculous fondness for perfectionistic jerks, so while he is a perfectionistic jerk and you can totally feel free not to write him (feel free to let him die, too!) please do not either bash him or play the card of "Herc really mourns Pentecost's death, and Chuck's never comes up" -- that's his son.
Pairing: I think Herc Hansen and Melinda May would be an amazing couple, mostly because they're both highly pragmatic people who are focused on fixing/saving the world. Herc is more emotionally sensitive than Melinda allows herself to be, but that seems to be (in canon) the sort of guy she falls for? I could just see them as a very quiet, very dedicated (to each other, but moreso to the mission) couple -- and I would be fascinated in however you would interpret that in whatever universe you decide to created! I'd be happy for them to work together in any capacity, either with Melinda being a trainer for Jaeger pilots at the academy, to if you want to mess with ages (as she's in her mid-late 40s when Kaiju attack if you keep the normal dates, which would be old to start piloting) making them drift partners. She could also do accounting for the PPDC, or Herc could be one of SHIELD's higher-level R&D folks or a strategist or... anything :). Any point in the timeline of the AU would work, and anything from domesticity (though -- not super fluff, I think) to intense adventure/case fic.
Crossover thoughts: I'm most interested in this as "Pacific Rim happens in the Avengers Universe" -- either set at the very beginning, when the Avengers and new SHIELD are panicking, or set during Pacific Rim. Your call on whether or not Thor and the rest of the multiverse are cut off from Earth during the attack. HOWEVER, if you want to run this crossover a different way -- either by making Melinda somehow else part of the Pacific Rim world, or Herc somehow else part of the AoS world -- I would be delighted to read it!!
And since it's a 300-word minimum, there's no need to set up the crossover if you don't want to, just act like it's normal and I'll be fine :D
AO3: TLvop
I would be more than happy with any of this combos of characters in any of these fandoms! Parts are copy/pasted, parts have been written on the fly. This journal is pretty much just exchange letters, so go snoop as you'd like!
I'm a pretty easy recipient, and I like a ton of things, but I'm totally fine with you ignoring my prompts or only picking/choosing as long as you avoid my triggers (listed before the cut). Please write whatever strikes your fancy! And if writing my fic causes you any level of Not Fun Stress, please don't feel you're doing poorly by me if you default -- your mental health > this fanfic. <3
Also, the fandoms are listed alphabetically -- not by desire to get them! I pruned my list to only things I'd be delighted by :). My fandom prompts and notes are often spoiler-y, so... heads-up?
Triggers
I have a sensitive non-con/dub-con/childhood sexual abuse trigger. So as to be less scary, I've listed what's a-okay before what really isn't.
What I can read and do mostly enjoy -- Early "fade to black"s and kissing are generally fine, especially in relationships that are already established in the fic's timeline or are known to be happily established in canon if you're writing a prequel. Also, sexually explicit talk between characters with no likely sexual interest in each other doesn't spike my anxiety. That's weird, maybe, but one of my canons is Riddick so I figured I'd clarify!
What will set me off -- "On-screen" sexual encounters; dirty talk; sexual threats; discussion of non-con/dub-con/childhood sexual abuse. Any threats of those taking place. And of those actually taking place. Discussed incest. On-screen incest. Under-18 sexual relationships in focus. Cross-generational (like "I knew you when you were a child " not purely age difference) ships. please believe me on this -- someone during yuletide pointed out I've liked and written some fic that muddle into some of these territories, but me writing it / friends I trust who give me thorough warnings over IM =/= gift fic from an anon :)
ALSO -- I would appreciate a warning for suicide if it comes up at all. I can handle it if I'm not surprised.
General:
DNW: Discussion, especially in depth or critical of real-life religion (including atheism) and current US politics. Bashing of canon characters (breakups of canon ships generally best handled with "yeah they broke up some time ago. /shrug???")
General Likes: Dogs, robots, AIs, world-building, cute flirting between couples, situations that reveal things about characters, stories that feel very grounded in the world they’re in, thoughtful friendships, and just as much I like characters who (if it is IC) just totally bomb the feelings game so hard. Happy stories, bittersweet stories, surprisingly sad stories, thoughtful stories, ridiculous romps, casefic, day-in-the-life, all-the-days-in-a-life ... all that good stuff. I also am totally cool with any person, tense, or style you choose to tell the fic in. I prefer the person/tense stay consistent unless you're switching between well-delineated sections, so my brain stays minimally confused :).
General Dislikes: Interpersonal tension between characters without established reasons in the plot; characters presented as being “just evil” without logic (it doesn’t have to be GOOD logic, just that the bad character is internally consistent and a person)
Fandom Specific -- all of these are from my sign-up.
Agent Carter: Ana Jarvis & Jack Thompson; Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis; Ana Jarvis & Peggy Carter; Ana Jarvis & Edwin Jarvis & Peggy Carter
I love Ana Jarvis because she's so insightful, quick-witted, and manages to be both cheery and deeply considerate/realistic at the same time. I would honestly love to see her interactions with any character in this series, but specifically those nominated (of course!).
Jack Thompson: What I love about Jack is how normal he is. Usually there are villains and heroes and anti-heroes in media, whereas Jack is just a deeply flawed normal human being. He wants to be the good guy, but he doesn't want to deal with the everyday mundane aspects of consistently being good -- he'd rather let his morals slide on the small stuff, and sacrifice his life on the big stuff so he still looks like a "hero". It's basically how everyone in the real world does life! And I love him for it.
Edwin Jarvis: What I love about Jarvis is that he is so intensely loyal, even though he often doesn't get the real stakes of what is going on. He's friendly, but he falls into default "modes" where he sometimes has no real grasp of what's going on if it's not within his current mode. (Like when he doesn't notice jokes, because he is being Very Serious, or when he doesn't notice seriousness because he is busy being The Coolest Spy.) I love how conscientious he tries to be, almost moreso because he has to work at it.
Peggy Carter: I guess it would be a bit simplistic to say "I LOVE PEGGY CARTER'S EVERYTHING," but she is by far my favorite character in the MCU. I love her confidence, and the righteousness of her anger even when it's triggered too fast and she goes too far. She's a blazing torch, and she gets caught up almost in her own mythos. I love her ability to see people for who they are, and her willingness to be proven wrong (but never to lose). Peggy Carter is a force of nature, and as such is sometimes awkward in normal human social interaction -- I love that about her, too. I do ship Peggy/Sousa, I'm just not interested (for this exchange!) on the pairing as the focus of a fic :).
Ana Jarvis & Jack Thompson: This could be anything, from an AU where Jack lives to a hidden scene during the series. I'd love to see these two interact -- Ana Jarvis on a mission! Jack being forced to learn how to bake! Ana and Jack get tea, for reasons, and it's just a very interesting time!
Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis: Oh gosh I just, these two are the cutest human beings on the planet, and I know I've said that about a few ships this year, but I love how mutually doting they are on each other despite having personalities that from the outside look contradictory (but clearly are complementary, from the inside). I'd love anything about these two, from stories during the War to post-canon fic to conversations between them from season 1, to really anything. I love how many things are stable patterns in their relationship, and how much they prize domesticity as an act of showing love. <3 <3 <3. (I'd totally be cool with fic of them on a case, too.)
Ana Jarvis & Peggy Carter: Oh, I love how much Ana baffles Peggy, and also how clearly they like each other almost immediately. Ana is so quick to be Peggy's cheerleader and confidante, like a natural older sister, and Peggy seems kind of surprised and pleased to have found her. Anything from dancing lessons, to Peggy teaching Ana how to shoot or practical self-defense (vs. whatever she and Jarvis were practicing), to ... I am running out of ideas, but I would literally love anything with these two bouncing off of each other. I feel they could get into interesting trouble!
Ana Jarvis & Edwin Jarvis & Peggy Carter: I kind of feel like either Ana & Edwin would be a very polite hurricane tearing Peggy down some surprising social path, or Peggy & Jarvis would be a surprisingly competent spy hurricane that has accidentally picked up an Ana along their Pursuing A Case path. Since I haven't discussed them, I love Peggy & Jarvis's friendship and the mix between petty arguments (and serious arguments) and unwavering loyalty they have for each other -- their relationship seems almost tightly familial in nature, and I think neither of them (but especially Peggy) has admitted to themselves until late season 2 how much they rely on each other being around. I would love anything with the three of them -- case fic, casual bike rides, exploring a city, anything.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dahl & Boss Johns; Jack|Kyra & Riddick
Dahl: I love Dahl's competence and confidence. She knows exactly what she is capable of, and exactly how far she's willing to let anyone step before she intervenes. But she doesn't hold back once she's decided to commit -- not in fights, not in loyalty, not in crazy adventures. She's great.
Boss Johns: Johns is such a quiet, thoughtful man, clearly dealing with a lot of grief and hardship. I appreciate his loyalty to the mercenaries he employs, and his attempts to be decent even to Riddick (who he thinks murdered his son, instead of -- well, murdering his son, but for a good reason). He seems closer to a bounty hunter than a merc, someone who has an actual stake in cleaning up the universe.
Jack: I love Jack's inquisitiveness about the world, and how they are both super willing to engage in everything and also STILL A CHILD STUCK ON A TERRIFYING PLANET. I'm incredibly fond of Jack's interactions with Riddick, Shazza, and Carolyn Fry specifically -- the trade-off between Jack being treated like an equal and still clearly being a kid. I love how Jack's focus on Riddick during the movie is a mixture between "well, clearly he's the one who knows how to survive" practicality and a certain amount of awed hero worship.
Kyra: I know Jack and Kyra are the same person! But in some ways, Kyra seems to be Jack's future in the Darkest Timeline, so I'm talking about her as her own person. Her life deeply upsets me, but it seems clear that her focus on Riddick has gone from hero-worship to a kind of necessity to survive. She's shaped herself into who she is in order to survive, but especially in order to survive like Riddick would-- as a lone outsider. We don't know why she was placed on the worst prison in the system, and much of her internal motivations remain a total mystery.
Riddick: What I liked about Riddick is that he is genuinely the bad guy he claims to be. Except... he might not have a morality, but he has a bit of a code, after Pitch Black. Even before it, to an extent. The fact that Riddick is never the hero, never even the anti-hero, but occasionally aligned with the side of good really fascinates me about him. It's also interesting to watch his face, and the frequency with which he's quietly amused (even if sometimes he fails to reveal why). I also appreciate the fact that he doesn't seem to fear death, and seems to always consider it a potential outcome of his plans and accept that (it's potentiality). He'll fight the whole way down, but hey, people die.
Dahl & Boss Johns: I love their relationship -- I especially love this sense that Johns has never asked for Dahl's loyalty, but Dahl would follow him anywhere he asked. How long have they been working together? Did they serve in a military at some point? They seem very competent & trusting of one another (the whole team does). A different mission or a quiet moment or something directly from the third movie -- it all works, here :).
Jack | Kyra & Riddick: I am more interested in Jack & Riddick than in Kyra & Riddick (including AUs where Jack grows up to be someone other than Kyra -- what happened in canon makes me so sad/frustrated), but I would be interested in seeing Kyra & Riddick's relationship after the second movie if she survived -- how would her survival effect Riddick's relationship with the Necromongers? Would she take off on her own, or remain as a trusted ally?
For Jack & Riddick, I would love anything from the period of time just after Pitch Black (I don't know the non-movie canon, so feel free to make anything up) to an AU where they end up staying together, or Jack actually manages to find Riddick when they go looking. I'm okay with Jack having any gender identity (I find he/she/they pronouns the easiest to understand in written works), but please do not make that the focus of the story.
Crossover Fandom (Agents of SHIELD/Pacific Rim): Melinda May (Agents of SHIELD)/Herc Hansen (Pacific Rim)
Melinda May: What I love most about Melinda May is that she seems to be forced to intervene if something has gone wrong that she could fix, especially if someone has asked. And doing so over, and over again -- being the only person who can and will jump into the worst situations -- has worn her down, and she knows it, and she protects her sanity with ferocity. I love that she is willing to spend herself, but only how she wishes, and only for the causes she chooses, and that she is willing to walk away when she must. She has some really great relationships in canon, so please don't bash anyone (even Ward -- he's rotten, but he's rotten enough I'd almost rather he didn't come up unless he must! I did love their Season 1 relationship while it lasted).
Herc Hansen: I love Herc's quietly workmanlike attitude -- he does what must be done, because it must be done, and he does it without complaining -- because what use does complaining serve? He's self-confident, and perceptive about people (who aren't related to him), and clearly tired by his job and his relationships. He's the most decorated Jaeger pilot ever, as well, which means he's likely pretty good at handling PR (especially as it doesn't seem Chuck has created any great scandals). Speaking of Chuck -- I suspect Herc wasn't the best father, but always in the way of just assuming Chuck could manage himself/would be okay/that pre-teen anger meant he should be left alone. I don't subscribe to fandom where he is abusive. Chuck is also my favorite character in Pacific Rim due to my ridiculous fondness for perfectionistic jerks, so while he is a perfectionistic jerk and you can totally feel free not to write him (feel free to let him die, too!) please do not either bash him or play the card of "Herc really mourns Pentecost's death, and Chuck's never comes up" -- that's his son.
Pairing: I think Herc Hansen and Melinda May would be an amazing couple, mostly because they're both highly pragmatic people who are focused on fixing/saving the world. Herc is more emotionally sensitive than Melinda allows herself to be, but that seems to be (in canon) the sort of guy she falls for? I could just see them as a very quiet, very dedicated (to each other, but moreso to the mission) couple -- and I would be fascinated in however you would interpret that in whatever universe you decide to created! I'd be happy for them to work together in any capacity, either with Melinda being a trainer for Jaeger pilots at the academy, to if you want to mess with ages (as she's in her mid-late 40s when Kaiju attack if you keep the normal dates, which would be old to start piloting) making them drift partners. She could also do accounting for the PPDC, or Herc could be one of SHIELD's higher-level R&D folks or a strategist or... anything :). Any point in the timeline of the AU would work, and anything from domesticity (though -- not super fluff, I think) to intense adventure/case fic.
Crossover thoughts: I'm most interested in this as "Pacific Rim happens in the Avengers Universe" -- either set at the very beginning, when the Avengers and new SHIELD are panicking, or set during Pacific Rim. Your call on whether or not Thor and the rest of the multiverse are cut off from Earth during the attack. HOWEVER, if you want to run this crossover a different way -- either by making Melinda somehow else part of the Pacific Rim world, or Herc somehow else part of the AoS world -- I would be delighted to read it!!
And since it's a 300-word minimum, there's no need to set up the crossover if you don't want to, just act like it's normal and I'll be fine :D