the_wavesinger | 'Tis The Season To Be Jolly! [Yuletide Letter]

Dear Yuletide Author,

I'm so very excited for Yuletide this year! This letter is kind of long (as I said, I’m excited!) which is the reason it's late; I'm sorry about that.

If you want to know more about me , I’m

The_Wavesinger,

the-wavesinger and The Wavesinger (Silmarillion Writers’ Guild) on my fannish haunts. You can also find me here on DW, and as

the_wavesinger on LJ, but I don’t frequent those places often. If you want more on my fic preferences (however unlikely that is, after this very long letter!), my fic rec tag on Tumblr and my AO3 bookmarks may be of some use. You may also want to poke through my previous exchange letters.

This letter has a list of DNWs and general likes (+ likes for darker fic and smut likes), and also fandom-specific prompts. However, please don't feel obliged to stick to my prompts—as long as you don't include my DNWs, I'm sure I'll love whatever you like. Also, I have a list of art prompts for the Wrapping Paper Challenge down at the bottom of the ‘general likes’ section of this letter.

The sections for some fandoms are longer than others, but this is not because I want the longer fandoms more than the shorter ones, it's just that I've requested more characters and I've also requested individual characters as well as specific combinations in addition to everyone together for some fandoms. I'd love to get fic for any of my fandoms equally.

Navigation

DNWs
General Likes
Monstrous Regiment – Terry Pratchett
The Perilous Gard – Elizabeth Marie Pope
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Smith of Wootton Major – J.R.R. Tolkien
The Dragonfly Pool – Eva Ibbotson
The Shoes of the Fisherman – Morris West

DNWs:

Gore/guro/vore.
Necrophilia.
Torture of animals. (Humans/humanoids/other sapients being tortured is more than fine!)
Graphic descriptions of nausea/vomiting.
Reader inserts.
Mundane AUs.
Unrequested depowered/non-powered AUs.
Non-femslash A/B/O; femslash for this trope is fine!
Crossovers/fusions between fandoms I haven't asked for. (Crossover within any fandom in my letter or previous exchange letters, along with mythology and folklore, are more than fine!)
AUs with modern settings are no-no’s unless there’s a reasonable canon explanation (eg-: people cursed to be reborn again and again into mortal forms). Even then, please no high school or coffee shop AUs.
Please no age regression, de-ageing, or AUs in which one character is suddenly older than a previously older-than-them character (ageswap?).
Girl!penis. (Trans characters are fine, just please no inexplicable g!p.)
For smut, I'd prefer not to see bloodplay, scat, watersports, age play (including daddy/mommy kink), and any sort of permanent marking/scarring/body modification (scarring and permanent markings outside smut is perfectly fine) unless I've prompted these things for the specific pairing.
H/C fics centering on characters with depression and/or anxiety, and/or characters who self-harm or have eating disorders are not my favourite thing. (All of these things are more than fine in non-H/C fic, but not as things which can be hugged/cuddled better, please.)
Genderswap which makes F/F or M/M canon pairings or F/F or M/M pairings I've requested F/M.
Unrequested relationships as the main focus of a fic (side pairings/non-endgame relationships are fine).
Unrequested parent/child incest.
Smut for underage relationships unless otherwise requested.
Extreme underage (pre-pubertal children) unless otherwise requested.
Anachronistic discussions of sexuality and/or characters lecturing other characters on SJ issues.

General Likes:
Tropes, Genres, and (for fic) Story Elements

Angst. Drama. Politics. Tragedy.
Philosophical ponderings!
I love canon divergence AUs, and For Want Of A Nail and other what-if scenarios. I'd love both longer fic (for fic) and art/ficlets as snapshots of what could have been, all the things that could've happened, but didn't.
Soulmates! Not necessarily soulmate AUs (although that'd be more than fine), but soulmates as in 'I knew you the moment I saw you', or 'I felt you in my soul' or any other version of that—the electric connection is something I adore. Soulmate things I love include in every version of every reality, in another life, fated to be separated again and again.
Regency AUs.
Fake dating within the canon setting.
Arranged marriage within the canon setting.
Time travel and time loops, especially timefuckery where everything is fucked up!
(For femslash only) A/B/O
In-world mythology.
Cultural differences and clashes that occur due to cultural differences.
Worldbuilding in general.
Battle couples!
Lovers to enemies.
Enemies to lovers.
Trope subversions.
I have A Thing for sister/sister, and focusing on the sister aspects of the relationship—how they're alike and how they're different, and just how they're sisters.
Competence porn!
I also adore people being messes and general failboats, because, uh, contradictions?
I have zero problems with fics dealing with misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism etc. I like realism, but not overly-depressing fics or fics centered on issues at the expense of characterization. (I define 'overly-depressing' as continuous angst focusing on Issues and Only Issues.)
All the things that could've happened, but didn't.

Tone, Setting, and Miscellaneous Things

Characters dancing and spending time outdoors.
Characters in situations that shouldn't be funny, but are.
Characters who're comfortable around each other, and who tease and laugh with each other.
Slice-of-life fics and, for relationships, a look at all the quirks/annoyances of cohabitation.
Banter! I feel like I've repeated this a million times in this letter, but I adore banter!
Casual situations and everyday annoyances
Characters playing pranks on each other.
Generally over-the-top things played straight.
Drama interspersed with humor.
Characters sleeping on each other, making out for hours, drinking from the same cup, and generally being adorable!
Characters solving mysteries and going on journeys together!
Bittersweetness.
All the hard questions with no answers, characters trapped in unsolvable dilemmas, loss and grief and moving on.
Gallows humour, and humour in otherwise dark situations generally.
And just humour in general.
And if you want to go in the crack-y direction, I wouldn't mind that as well!
I adore OFCs and textual ghosts, for many, many reasons.
I'm more than fine with most side relationships, unless stated otherwise.
Genderbending! I always love Rule 63'd characters.
Open relationships! Threesomes! Moresomes! Orgies!
Transgender characters would be amazing, as would non-binary characters and just fucking with and/or ignoring traditional gender roles in general.

Character and Relationships Dynamics.

Characters who and relationships which fall just short of the mark, the almost-most-not-quite. I think the closest word to this would be hamartia in its original sense?
Hurt, and not necessarily comfort.
Fucked-up families and messy friendships which really, really aren't good for the characters, but they love each other very much anyway. I don't mind either characters finding ways to move past the fucked-upness and the relationships end up flourishing, or moving past fucked-up-ness and leaving what they don't want behind, but I also don't mind a constant cycle of messing up.
Found families!
Intense friendships which play a central role in the characters' lives.
For longer works, plotty fics are always welcome!
Stoic and/or emotionally incompetent characters
Characters finding ways to come to terms with themselves, with their pasts, and with their loved ones and/or finding their place in the world (think Circle of Life).
Characters who're broken, characters who're tired, characters who're lost, characters who refuse to be found, characters who're hurt over and over again, characters who never ever win, characters who've given up. And characters who love, characters who give, characters who're selfless and kind even after everything they've been through, characters who give their all and then some more to people they love, characters who never give up, characters who keep on hoping and keep on fighting even beyond the bitter end. And characters who're a mixture of both types.
I love characters with flaws and unpleasant qualities! Awesome ladies can be awesome and flawed :).
I like relationships that are fated to end in tragedy, but I also really don't mind a pinch of humor with my angst, if that's your thing.

Stylistic Things

I like all kinds of fic, so go wild—linear narrative, flashbacks, epistolary…whatever you think of is lovely, the more daring the better. I especially adore faux-historical documents and faux academia.
Relatedly, interactive fiction!
Characters teasing and bantering with each other.
I don’t mind any type of POV (including second person!). In fact, POV switches and outside POVs on relationships would be lovely.

Smut Likes/Yuleporn Prompts

I will always want F/F or M/M smut, even if I haven't explicitly requested it! Femsub is preferred for F/M D/s smut, though I'm down for femdom if that's your thing, too.
I prefer a balance between sensuality, emotions, and physical sensations. Anything from playful to creepy is more than fine (although there are a few things I'd prefer not to see, as outlined in the kink DNWs).
Helplessness and humiliation. These are the two main things I love in kinky smut, and everything else derives from there.
Bantering and laughing during sex is lovely, as is gentleness.
And banter between the dom and the sub in D/s scenes (which can edge towards slightly cruel on the dom's part!).
Angry sex/hatesex, smut that gives off vibes of slightly creepy but in a way that can't be pinpointed
Dubcon and emotional manipulation!
Explorations of power dynamics. I especially like service submission, and power dynamics based on the characters' titles/positions! (I do confess to having a kink for honorifics and titles!)
Doms having control over the sub's everyday minutiae (although for short periods of time—24/7/365 high-protocol D/s is a turn-off)
Punishment play, especially unusual forms of discipline! (I don't like erotic spanking in and of itself, but spanking as punishment is great! And whatever interesting punishments you can come up with.)
Corner time, especially kneeling on rice/somehow having to display themselves/after a spanking.
In general, being put on display/having to put themselves on display.
Tickling! Both playful tickling and tickle torture (bondage + tickling = yessss).
Gags and other ways to prevent speech. And weirdly specific, but fingers of one character in the other's mouth.
Groping, especially pulling breasts out of tops (and sometimes letting them just hang there, if you're into humiliation).
Orgasm denial, especially chastity devices.
Fuck-or-die scenarios.
Creative bondage (including predicament bondage. No, strike that, especially predicament bondage, and especially if the predicament is partly psychological).
Similarly, ordering a partner to stay still/hold a certain pose.
Incest kink.
Hairpulling.
Directed masturbation (one character instructing the other how to masturbate).
Dirty talk (including long distance dirty talk).
Navels, inner things, ribs, and kinks for these body parts.
(Not really a like, but I'm afraid my AO3 bookmarks won't say much about my smut likes, because I have a separate account for smutty bookmarks. Sorry.)

Darker Likes/Crueltide Prompts

Dark places and enchantments which entrap people without their knowledge
Getting lost in creepy surroundings
Corruption and decay
Explorations of the darker side of magic (or its equivalent), especially magic that's considered 'good'.
Exploration of the supernatural aspects of the canons.
Nature being eerily alive and dangerous.
Child soldiers, trauma, and really ugly, messy wars.
Characters trapped in vicious cycles.
Characters who think they're 'not good enough' for their partner(s).
Situations where characters are blackmailed/coerced into doing things they don't want to do.
Fucked-up families and friendships and relationships; people codependent to the point of almost-insanity, and far beyond anything healthy.
Looking into messed-up characters' thought processes.
Terrible things being done in the name of good by characters who see themselves as good.
Perversion of the 'good' side of magic to do evil things.
Mindfucks and powerplay.
Torture for the sake of torture, and characters being stoic through torture.
Noncon. I like both works focused on sexy (for fic and art purposes) noncon as well as more seriously-dealt with noncon and noncon aftermath.
Pregnancy due to F/F or M/M noncon.
Badtouch that doesn't lead to noncon, it's just there and creepy. (Especially when coupled with emotional fuckery and mindgames.)
Relationships where one characters is in love, but the other isn't.
Partners doing terrible things to each other.
Characters who hate themselves and lash out at the world and do fucked-up things as a result.
Really, really dark stories which end in the 'everyone dying' sort of tragedy.
AUs where everything goes wrong.
For darkfic especially, I love outsider PoVs—it makes everything 100% more terrible for me.

Genre-Specific Stuff

Action/Adventure: fight scenes between individuals ◈ big battle scenes ◈ going on quests/missions ◈ fighting bad guys together ◈ period-typical/canon-typical weapons ◈ characters being very very good at fighting/tactics/strategy ◈ strategy and tactics in general ◈ movements of large armies ◈ end-of-the world scenarios ◈ high-stakes battles or missions ◈ covert operations ◈ supernatural elements being involved in the mix in canons with supernatural/magical elements ◈ fighting techniques ◈ plotty missionfic
Angst: musings on futility □ hopeless situations and things falling apart □ characters' flaws getting the better of them □ battles being lost □ stuck in situations without support □ forced to deceive loved ones □ unhappy endings □ everything that could go wrong going wrong □ (internalized or otherwise) homophobia □ struggles with religion/faith/belief □ ethical/moral dilemmas □ misunderstandings □ feeling unloved □ being forced to hurt loved ones and do other bad things □ having to compromise on their ideals □ Hobson's choice situations □ betrayals of trust □ star-crossed lovers or the platonic version of this □ the world changing and leaving the characters behind □ things being lost to the ravages of time
in spaaaace ◎ different canon format (eg: musicals –> TV scripts) ◎ tone changes (eg: drama to comedy, tragedy to romance) ◎ crackification ◎ adding magic/supernatural elements to canons ◎ focusing on a different aspect of a story than the canon does
Established Relationship: arguments and fights ○ vicious cycles ○ drama ○ compromising and learning to live together ○ date nights ○ banter and flirting ○ falling into bed together after a long day ○ characters organizing their lives around each other ○ unhealthy, obsessive relationships ○ smut ○ meeting the family ○ acquiring pets and/or kids and/or property
Getting Together: meet-cutes (including canon divergence AUs) ◌ angst about each others' feelings ◌ obstacles that have to be overcome ◌ A is convinced B doesn't like them ◌ characters who haven't met in canon meeting for the first time ◌ fake dating leads to real dating ◌ fucking for the greater good ◌ something makes them do it ◌ enemies to lovers ◌ friends to lovers ◌ soulmate AUs ◌ reincarnation AUs ◌ slow burn ◌ hey I just met you this is crazy ◌ one night stands to lovers ◌ angst over not being allowed to be together ◌ A has been hurt by other people in the past and has to slowly fall for B ◌ unrequited love turning requited ◌ A falls for B, who's been nursing a crush on A since forever
Hurt/Comfort: noncon aftermath ◘ torture aftermath ◘ recovering from an abusive relationship ◘ other kinds of post-abuse trauma ◘ injury aftermath ◘ characters stitching themselves together ◘ partner/other person hurting character and then comforting them ◘ PTSD (in a canon-appropriate way) ◘ contrast between current gentleness and past violence ◘ the comfort not helping with certain instinctual reactions (touch aversion, flinching, hyperawareness, hypersensitivity etc.) ◘ comforter feeling helpless in the face of comfortee's issues ◘ two hurt/fucked-up characters trying to comfort each other ◘ attempts to comfort/make things better backfiring ◘ comfortee refusing to accept comfort
miscommunication ◍ wanting different things in life ◍ wanting different things from each other ◍ betrayal ◍ lying to friends/partners ◍ arguments ◍ blow-ups that have been a long time coming ◍ deliberate miscontsructions ◍ deliberately hurting each other ◍ unintentionally hurting each other
Slice of Life: I love seeing glimpses into character's everyday lives in canon-appropriate ways. I love slice-of-life fics as insight into characters' backstories and histories, as well as as looks into their heads and as ways to figure out what's making them tick, or to make it clear that the characters' everyday lives are immensely atypical/fucked up. I also love these kinds of fic as worldbuilding vehicles.

Wrapping Paper Challenge Prompts

I adore all kinds of jewellery—the more elaborate the better!
And elaborate hairdos! And elaborate clothes! And elaborate makeup!
I do, however, also enjoy seeing characters in their workaday attire, doing everyday things.
Characters with visible height differences from each other!
Elaborate weapons
In-universe art. (Famous portraits, posters for events, propaganda/health-and-safety leaflets, handwritten notes, maps etc.)
In-universe statues and tapestries and architecture
Court settings with pomp and circumstance or everyday life are both things I enjoy seeing.
I also enjoy seeing outdoor settings. Lakes, mountains, spooky forests, bustling cities, rivers, tiny hamlets, cottages, forests...
Specific canon locations (like the Withywindle for Tolkien, the Spirit World for A:tLA etc.)
Studies in opposites
Limited palettes
Non-traditional art mediums would be welcome.
Characters doing things they love together (I know this sounds very pairing-specific, but I'd lovelovelove this for friends and/or parents and children and/or siblings, too).
Ceremonies and events (coronations, balls, feasts, weddings etc.)
Picnics, garden parties, outdoor events, riding, hunting etc.
Characters arguing or debating with each other.
Starlight and warm colors and pastels.
Colour palettes that fit the character (golds and greens for Goldberry in Tolkien, for example, or shades of red for Natasha Romanov in MCU)
Characters passionate with and about each other and about things they love
Seasonal settings (falling leaves or snowed-over land or flower-filled meadows or golden fields etc.)
Characters fighting and having each other's backs, and, for A:TLA, bending!
Bloodied and bruised characters leaning on each other on on the nearest available upright surface after a hard battle
Characters facing each other across the battlefield (especially friends-turned-enemies)
Gift-giving, both literal and metaphorical
Characters reading or writing
Characters in libraries/otherwise surrounded by books
Characters who've fallen asleep (in bed, on a pile of books, sprawled across the sofa, on the floor, on another character—anywhere, any place, any time)
Characters in meetings/teams seated around tables or in lounges
For modern-era canons, airports!
Characters who look messy and/or rumpled and tired and way too fucking busy why is this my life
Characters in a private moment.
Casually intimate gestures, like handholding or hands on shoulders or arms around waists/on shoulders, or just reaching out to adjust the other's clothing
Kneeling and hand-kissing for pairings where I specify loyalty kink, or for gen or shippy combinations which involve a superior and subordinate in a setting where kneeling would work
Forehead kissing!
Tickling and playful tussling
Day-to-day activities (eating, bathing, morning rituals etc.)
Characters being cheesy or tender or dorky or awkward with each other (or all or some of these!).
All the smutty things I've indicated in the smut section! For art especially, a visual focus on power difference (standing/kneeling, clothed/unclothed etc.), looking well-fucked and/or humiliated, straining against bondage, decorative bondage.

Monstrous Regiment – Terry Pratchett

Jack Jackrum
Mildred Froc
Polly “Ozzer” Perks

I don't mind seeing the character individually, together or in the following combinations: Froc and Jackrum, Polly and Jackrum.

I love Polly a lot, and I would be interested in…basically everything about her. I love her relationship with Maladict, romantic or pre-femslash. Post-canon fic about the two of them making their way around the world, maybe? Or slow burn romance? And although I’m not very interested in Blouse/Polly (unless it’s genderswapped-to-femslash Blouse/Polly, which would be amazing with all the components of a military relationship), I do quite like their canon relationship in a gen way, and I’d love to see it explored in either a missing scene in canon or post-canon.

Or I’d love to see Polly with everyone else in the group! Maybe a missing moment in canon, or maybe after the war, them either sticking together or scattering to the winds and reuniting later. Or maybe something set pre-canon, when Polly was still at the inn? I’d love to see a solace-of-life type fic, or Polly briefly meeting one of the others some time ago even if she doesn’t remember it.

Polly and Jackrum’s relationship is one of my favourite in canon, and I don’t mind whether you keep it gen or take it in the romantic direction. I love their interactions and I love Jackrum mentoring Polly (even in the…unusual ways, I think the socks are my favourite moment in canon) and I basically love everything about their relationship. I’d love to see a missing moment while they’re fighting—Jackrum subtly teaching Polly to pretend to be a man, or just teaching her outright how to be a soldier and lead her men, er, women. Or Jackrum and Polly meeting again in the future, and maybe Jackrum still mentors Polly or maybe the roles are reversed? Or maybe Polly going to see Jackrum’s family and also Jackrum?

In general, for Jackrum, I don’t mind whatever you choose for gender. I’m just awkwardly not using pronouns here, but unlike the other characters in the book, I feel like Jackrum’s gender is more up in the air, so whatever you want to do with that would be fine by me.

How did Jackrum begin as a soldier? An origin story would be lovely, with learning to act as a man and fool the commanders and soldiers she meets and works with and under. Is there, at any point, a romance with a fellow soldier or a civilian? How does Jackrum’s family come into being?

Or Jackrum, post-canon, learning to settle into being with family, or meeting some former protégées?

Speaking of protégées! I’d love to see Jackrum mentoring women who try to become soldiers disguised as men through the years, and what happens to those women, and how they interact with Jackrum after they’re no longer working together. Or, I imagine some of these people must have died, and we can see in canon that some of them went to very high places—how does Jackrum deal with both these situations?

General Froc and Jackrum specifically would, I feel, be an interesting relationship to explore. How do Mildred Froc and Jackrum start off, how does their relationship develop, and what happens as Froc rises through the ranks? Do they meet, and in what circumstances? What sort of mentorship does Jackrum give, and does Jackrum keep an eye on Froc even after she’s no longer working with him? Gen or femslash are both good!

I feel like Froc’s career in general would be a very interesting thing to write fic about! Why did she decide to become a soldier? What sort of family did she come from? How does she rise in ranks? How close has it gotten to her secret being discovered? Did she have a female lover at any point, and if so, was that lover a civilian or soldier? What wars did she fight, and what scars does she have? What kind of things has she done to get the power she has?

Once she becomes a General, what sort of politics is she involved in? What sorts of politics is she involved before becoming a General? What exactly does her role as a General entail, and how good is she at it?

We see so little of her in canon, and I was so fascinated by her, so I guess what all my prompts come down to is: who is Mildred Froc, really, as a person?

Post-canon, I can’t imagine that Borogravia’s society would change very quickly. How do Polly and Jackrum and General Froc deal with the progress they make, whether it’s slow or non-existent or backsliding or surprisingly fast? How do they contribute to that progress, and in General Froc’s case especially do they even contribute at all?

What kind of situation, beyond the final part of the book, would be required to get them to meet up again? All-out war? A national crisis? Some sort of commemoration? I’d love to see how the three of them would work together if thrown together, or I’d also love to see uneasy, tense relationships.

Also, in general, I just love logistics and tactics and strategy stuff that’s associated with military settings, so if you want to write wargaming (or peacegaming) go wild.

The book gets pretty dark and gritty in quite a few places, and I love the humour of the book but I also love its grittiness so whatever direction you choose to take your fic (or if you choose to take in both directions!) is good.

I love the whimsy and the humour of Discworld, but I also love how real and colourful and alive it feels, and Monstrous Regiment isn’t an exception to that. So anything about Terry Pratchett’s worldbuilding and the character of the world he’s built would be great. Or worldbuilding in general, because I just really really love worldbuilding, in case you couldn’t already tell.

Even-more-optional-than-other-optional-details crossover prompts: any of the greater Discworld character meeting any of the MR characters! Susan or Granny Weatherwax would be very interesting, I think, but also maybe Vetinari (or any other character really). Or Mulan wandering into their world/one or all of them wandering into that time period in our world. (Femslash or gen, the Disney movie or the poem, it’s all good.) Or I’d be really interested in Polly meeting Mary Malone or Serafina Pekkala.

The Perilous Gard – Elizabeth Marie Pope

Kate Sutton
The Fairy Queen | The Lady in Green

Shippy or gen, whatever you prefer for these two will be good! However, I only requested these two characters and I would prefer to see them interacting with each other, so this section will be shorter than the other sections of my letter, sorry.

Kate and the Lady in Green’s interactions fascinate me—the power play there, but also Kate’s fascination and the Lady’s actions and…just everything about the shifting dynamics of their relationship fascinates me.

Does the Lady observe Kate unseen, either before or while Kate is in her service? Was Kate marked in some way by her encounters with the Lady or for her encounters with the Lady? Or the Lady playing games with Kate, for her own reasons?

Or the ending—what would happen if Kate had taken up the offer? Or maybe post-canon, one of them have to seek out the other for some reason?

Or if you want to write them in a relationship (or even for gen—I feel like this may or may not be relevant) but I love how fey the Lady and her people are, and the sacrifices and dangers they entail, and I love the air of danger of interacting with them. How does that affect Kate, in the perceptions of others? How does the Lady bind Kate to her, and does the Lady bind Kate back? By entering the fairy realm, does Kate herself gain some element of feyness?

I love the atmosphere of this book! I love the otherworldliness and the drawing from legend and how rooted in the countryside and the people this is. I love the tangled-up threads and the mystery of the Lady that isn’t quite unveiled, and how dangerous all the power is.

Crossovers: if you’re so inclined, bringing any kind of Historical RPF into the mix would be interesting, I think. Or a Dark Is Rising crossover, perhaps, with the Lady being of the Wild Magic? Or maybe a crossover with Smith of Wootton Major (which is…basically as opposite as a story about the fair folk can get from The Perilous Gard while still keeping them fay, so I feel like that would be interesting)?

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

Colonel Brandon
Elinor Dashwood

Forewarning: as with the above section, this is going to be shorter than the rest of the fandom sections just because I’m only requesting two characters and I only want to see them together.

Okay, so I have really, really strong feelings about these two. I figured that Marianne would end up with Col. Brandon and Elinor would end up with Edward pretty early on, but I still ended up shipping these two like hell, because I love their camaraderie and their rapport and how much they get each other and Elinor's descriptions of Brandon's good looks and their chemistry and just everything about them. But I’d also like gen about them because of the aforesaid camaraderie and rapport which I love in friendship too.

I'd love basically any sort of canon divergence AU where they end up with each other, whether that's Edward marrying Lucy and Marianne falling for someone else after Willoughby and the two of them growing together, or the two of them realizing that they'd be good together, or anything else.

Infidelity isn't my favourite thing for this pairing, but something set years on when they realize they're both unhappy with their marriages, gravitate to each other, have an oh moment, and sort something out with their respective partners would be great!

If you want to handwave their getting together and create something set in the future that would also be great!

Or if you want to go in the gen direction, that’s also good! I’d love to see the two of them visiting each other after their marriages, just talking and enjoying each other’s companies. Or maybe them introducing their children to each other? Or the two of them leaning on each other’s friendship to get through hard times?

For specific scenes, just anything with the two of them together. Dancing in London, out riding, going on a walk, with any children you might want them to have, the Colonel leaning down to kiss Elinor's hand, Brandon and Elinor earnestly discussing a book or politics with their heads bent together, a rare moment where they're in an argument, all up in each other's faces. And I’d love these scenarios gen or shippy!

Smith of Wootton Major – J. R. R. Tolkien

The Faery Queen
The Faery Queen’s Handmaidens
Warriors Coming Back From the Marches

I'd love to see the characters together or individually.

The warriors coming back from the Dark Marches only appear for the length of one paragraph, but I amfascinated by them. I'm very, very interested in knowing basically anything about them.

Are they inhabitants of Faery, or do they come from another far-away land to the aid of Faery? Are they there of their own will or not? Where are they going to, 'into the echoing hills? What battles are they coming back from? (Do the bearers of the star become elves once they die, and go off to fight on the Dark Marches?)

What does navigating the Sea of Windless Storm and the Unlight entail? What battles did they fight on the Dark Marches, and why do men not know of them? Are the Marches a border between Faery and an even less benevolent land, or between Faery and the human world? Or are they something else? What kind of skills are needed to be an elven warrior, or is it something that's there from birth? Are the elves of Faery born, or do they just...exist, and come into being?

And the feyness of the mariners was very chillingly and beautifully described, and the song that struck fear in Smith's heart, and I'd love to see more of how dangerous they are (both to the mortals and to whatever/whoever they're fighting).

I'd love to see the mariners and the Queen of Faery interacting in any way or form. Do they get her blessings before they go, or report to her after they come back? Has the Queen ever fought in the Dark Marches alongside the warriors? Has she/does she lead them into battle? Or does she oversee her troops from where she is in Faery, because the limits of her power stretch far enough to do so? Or is she unconcerned with the battles of the mariners and the battles in the Dark Marches?

And it's...interesting that the mariners just happened to return at the same time that Smith was at the shore. Was it a coincidence, or did the Queen (or the land of Faery itself) or the mariners have any role in this, to prevent Smith from exploring further along the far edges of Faery? Or are there warriors who are always coming back from the Marches (and maybe time loops/curses)?

And the Queen of Faery—the Queen is a very fascinating character, too, and she's so very enigmatic and interesting, and I'd love to see anything about her, too.

I'd love to see more of how the Queen and Alf/the King communicate, because it's very clear that they do. Does the King travel into Faery from Wootton a lot? Do they have a way to communicate between the human world and Faery? Or do they just know each other that well?

And I'd love to see more of their relationship. Also, on their roles in Faery: do they remain King and Queen forever, from the beginning of Faery to the end? Or are they, like the bearer of the star, roles passed down from one person to another (though of course on a lager scale of time than with the star).

And speaking of the star—did the Queen play any role in its origin? Did she forge it? Imbude it with its power? (Or was it completely unrelated to her, and did the first bearer take her by surprise?)

Or if you're interested in femslash, maybe Nell/the Queen, with Nell being the one who received the star instead of Smith? Or maybe female!Smith/the Queen (and I'd especially love to see the dancing scene with f!Smith)? Or the Queen/her handmaidens! (And gen between the Queen and her handmaidens is of course always welcome.)

Are the handmaidens inhabitants of Faery, or do they come from another far-away land to the aid of the Queen? Are they there of their own will or not? (Does the Queen trap them there with enchantments, or are they paying for some long-ago crime?)

What kind of skills are needed to be an elven handmaiden, or is it something that's there from birth? Are the elves of Faery born, or do they just...exist, and come into being? How does the Queen pick her handmaidens?

Or is the Queen more fay than we seen in the story? Maybe she doesn't intend to, doesn't realize her power and its effects (or maybe she totally intends to), and the handmaidens/Nell become trapped under her power? Maybe they'd want to stay if they could, but they don't have a choice so their wants are a moot point? (Noncon/dubcon service kink, maybe?)

Or maybe the Queen and her handmaidens welcoming the warriors home? Or are the warriors handmaidens, or vice versa (or is there a process by which one becomes the other, under the auspices of the Queen)? Do the warriors and the handmaidens both serve at the pleasure of the Queen (and if so, kinky dubcon sex, maybe)? Or maybe a festival in which all the ranks and roles of Faery are stripped away?

I love the dangers and pitfalls of Faery, and all its immense beauties, too—the Greater and the Lesser Evils, the King's Tree, the Wind. And I love that Faery and all its mysteries are unknowable to mortals and ultimately all we can have is the occasional journeys of the star-bearer and the flower that never dies (but, of course, I want to know more anyway). I love the fey tone of the story, and I love all the wild and dangerous things that aren't wild and dangerous in their nature, but are to mortals, if that makes sense. I love all the things that remain just out of sight, and the things that are different from what they're assumed to be, and generally I just love the tone of this story very, very much.

If you don't mind crossovers, perhaps a HDM crossover where the mariners are coming back from Lord Asriel's war on the Almighty (and/or Xaphania/the Queen)? Or a Dark Is Rising crossover where Faery is the place outside time? Or a crossover with The Silmarillion, with Erendis/the Queen, or where Erendis is the Queen? Or maybe a Leaf by Niggle crossover where Faery lies beyond the Mountains?

The Dragonfly Pool – Eva Ibbotson

Johannes of Bergania
Julia Grantley

Matteo von Tarlenheim
Talitha Hamilton

I'd love to see all four of them together (gen or with the M/M and/or F/F ships), or any of the following combinations: Julia/Tally (or Tally and Julia), Matteo/Johannes, Matteo and Tally, Matteo and Julia and Tally (again, gen or Julia/Tally).

For all four of them together, this would probably have to be an AU (although I'd very much enjoy seeing anything where the four of them all interact together that's canon compliant). Maybe Matteo manages to unravel the assassination plot before it occurs, or the shot goes wild and misses Johannes (maybe Stilton is less competent than in canon), and the children get to meet the King? Maybe grown-up Tally and Julia visit Bergania after the war when its people are voting for their first President, and meet the former King? Maybe the German army invades Bergania, and Johannes has to flee with the aid of the children and of his people? Maybe Johannes sets up a government-in-exile in London, and when he goes down to Delderton to visit Karil and Matteo, Tally talks to him (and drags Julia along)?

I think Johannes and Tally especially would get along very well, because they both have a similar determination and dedication, and they both have iron wills. And I'd love to see what Matteo makes of Julia and Tally becoming closer to Johannes, or even just meeting Johannes—does it remind him of how much time has passed, or dredge up old memories?

I love Tally's admiration of Johannes, and the friendship between Julia and Tally and the two of them going along with each other's mad ideas, and Tally's and Julia's admiration of their teacher, and Matteo's bond with Johannes, so in seeing all four of them together, that's a lot of what does it for me, though I very much wouldn't mind seeing what your view of such a meeting would be.

Matteo/Johannes: I love the tragedy of how they meet again after so many years, but were torn apart mere minutes later. Matteo avoiding Johannes (and all that lost time—did he have regrets, later, after Johannes death?), but Johannes seeing him anyway, how dramatic Johannes was in dragging Matteo out of the crowd, their embrace (like there was no-one else there now that is a shippy moment if I ever saw one), the words they spoke to each other (and I am burningly curious as to what those were), Johannes looking the way he hadn't looked after his wife had died, the friend Johannes loved as a boy, Matteo's 'No!', 'everything' (everything), Matteo's promise, 'the man he had loved beyond all others', Matteo on his knees, just—everything. Everything about that scene. And later—everything about the dragonfly pool scene, too, Matteo's memories and how Karil saw that his father wanted to be with Matteo.

And after—I'd love to see Matteo grieving and trying to deal with Johannes death. We know that Matteo talked to Magda a lot about Johannes—maybe one of those conversations?And Karil—how does Matteo see him, entangled as Karil must be in Matteo's feelings about Johannes? And Matteo maybe finding a lover during/after the war, but everything about that lover reminds him of Johannes, or nothing does, and everything is messy and terrible?

And I very much wouldn't mind seeing a canon divergence AU where Johannes wasn't killed (not shot? Shot, but not fatally?), and they do get to ~~have sex~~ speak to each other later. How do they sort out all the painful things that must lie between them? Do they go back to their individual lives, or do they find a way to stay with each other? What would happen to their relationship during WW2, what with Matteo's work as an intelligence agent (although would that happen if Johannes hadn't died) and Johannes being King?

Or maybe something about their childhoods—I'd love to see Matteo and Johannes doing everything together, maybe including fumbling together as boys? Or the two of them at university, discovering that their care for each other extended beyond friendship? Or dealing with the fact that they can't be together fully, because Johannes is going to have marry (and maybe him actually falling for his wife feels like betrayal to Johannes, and it's very complicated there)? Or Johannes becoming 'cut off', and Matteo's feelings of betrayal at the pamphlet incident and him leaving? Or Johannes' feelings on Matteo leaving, and the two of them learning to live without each other? All the politics and/or angst, really, and the two of them figuring out their relationship together.

Tally and Julia: I'd love either gen or femslash for these two; either way, I love the relationship between them in the book and I'd love to see more.

I love all the hurt/comfort between these two in canon, and, gen or femslash, I'd love to see more. Maybe Tally becomes homesick and Julia comforts her, or maybe Julia loses an audition for a role? Or anything heavier would be fine, too. I'd just love all the H/C, please.

Tally doesn't like Golria Grantley at all (although she doesn't say this out loud for Julia's sake); what does she think of the fact that Golria is kind of sort of reaching out towards her daughter at the end of the book? (She's a very good judge of character; how does that factor into it?)

Maybe something about Julia's career as an actress? She probably didn't get roles fresh out of acting school and was probably rejected at auditions—how does she face these rejections, and does Tally's support help? Does she move to a place with a robust film industry? And does Tally follow her, or do they correspond from a distance? Does she go for stage acting, or does she become a movie star like her mother? And I love the play in the book, and the scene where Julia recites a poem in memory of Johannes, so I'd love to see more of that.

And what does Tally do with her Classics degree? Does she go on do postgraduate work and perhaps become a professor? Does she decide to teach, perhaps come back to Delderton? If you go for the femslash option, does the fact that she and Julia are far away from each other and in pursuit of their own careers become an issue?

The years Julia is at acting school and Tally is at Oxford! Do they write letters to each other? (And if so, I'd love to see those letters.) Do they get together with each other, and with the other Delderton students, in the holidays?

Tally was in London during the school holidays at Delderton, helping to clean up after the bombings during the Blitz—was Julia there, too? Were they involved in the rescue efforts? Had they ever been caught outside in an air raid?

And if you're writing femslash, I love friends to lovers, and I'd love to see the growth of Tally's and Julia's relationship into something romantic. Do they grow together slowly? Is there a sudden moment of realization? Do they get together when they're still in school, or afterwards (perhaps during the visit to Bergania)?

For Julia and Matteo and Tally, or Matteo and Tally, I'd love to see more of Matteo's role as a teacher. I love his teaching style, and I love how much he loves what he's teaching, so I'd love to see more of that. Perhaps an early-morning biology lesson? Or perhaps, just before Matteo's inauguration, they go on an early-morning tramp again for old times' sake?

I'd also love to see Matteo and Tally (and Julia) meeting during, or after, the war. Does Matteo tell them much of what he's done, or does he think it's too much for them, or is he not allowed to, because it's classified? Or maybe them in Bergania, just before Matteo's inauguration, catching up with each other?

And does Matteo work with Tally or Julia as President of Bergania, for fundraising or cultural events? Or do they visit him after his five years are up, and he's settled in the Berganian countryside or gone back to hiking across the world, or maybe become a diplomat and ambassador for Bergania?

Delderton and Bergania are both my favourite things, and I love the atmosphere of both places. I love Delderton for its quirkiness and its unusualness, and I love the grand, sweeping majesty of Bergania. And I love how much hope there is in both places, if that makes sense? Partly, of course, because we see things through Tally's eyes a lot and Tally is very much a hopeful person, but the descriptions of Delderton and Bergania are a lot more rich and vivid than, for example, of London (and I love the contrast).

Totally optional crossover ideas: crossover with anything of Ibbotson's. I especially love The Secret Countess and The Star of Kazan, but these are, of course, completely optional. Or a Dark Is Rising crossover where Tally fins out she's an Old One, or Merriman meets Tally and/or Matteo during the wartime. Or maybe a Chalet School crossover? (Or maybe, and this is a completely, completely optional, a crossover with Agent Carter, with Peggy meeting Matteo during his work for the SOE in the wartime, or meeting Julia and Tally after the war, or maybe Tally being requested for consultancy work at the SSR?)

The Shoes of the Fisherman – Morris West

Jean Télémond
Kamanev
Kiril Lakota

I'd love to see the characters together or in the following combinations: Jean Télémond/Pope Kiril, Pope Kiril/Kamenev (either slash or pre-slash/slashy-but-not-explicit undertones is fine for both of these). I'd also love to see Kiril by himself.

I love Kiril's relationship with Jean Télémond. I love the loyalty and the trust there, and I love the power dynamics, but most of all I love that they both respect each other, and I love the fact that there's so much caught up in the relationship between them. Jean's death was inevitable, but the impotency of their parting and 'even with loving, a man must die alone' utterly broke me. And I love, love, love that final scene with Jean when Kiril has to give him the news of the review board, and then the scene afterwards with Calitri, 'I love him in the spirit and in the flesh'.

I'd love to see basically anything for this, honestly. What would happen if Kiril met Jean before he became the Pope? Or, I'd love to see a gapfiller, a moment between them before the news of the review board. Or perhaps Kiril grieving for Jean. Or, what would happen if Jean was a younger man, closer in age to Kiril?

And Kiril and Kamenev! I love the complex dynamic between them, and I love Kiril's trust in his former torturer, and I love that the trust between them was created in the first place, and I love Kamanev's grudging respect that is said to have become not-so-grudging. There are so many hints at a story there, and I want to know more. I want to see their shared history, and I want to know what went on between them.

I'd love to see Kamanev's torture of Kiril, or perhaps the point at which he began to identify with/respect Kiril, and the same happened to Kiril. Or I'd love to see more of the correspondence between them, or maybe even Kamenev meeting Kiril at some point in the future.

Jean Télémond, Kamenev, and Kiril all in one fic would be very interesting. You can do this as the two loves of Kiril's life, of course, and I'd adore seeing that. I'd also love seeing them actually in one room, too, though this would obviously have to be an AU of some sort (Jean Télémond living to some point beyond canon?). What would Kamenev and Jean Télémond make of each other? What would they make of each other's relationship with Kiril?

Kiril's idealism and his faith are one of my favourite things about this book, how he doubts and wavers but remains steadfast, how he's able to carry on and do what, to him, is the right thing despite his doubts. And I love that he's so very human and he has human flaws and weaknesses, but he's also very aware of his own faults, even if only in hindsight. And I love how wry and self-aware he is, and how he's humble but can also be very commanding if the situation necessitates, and above all I love his empathy.

I'd love to see him before he became Pontiff, back in his country or when he got the news that he was appointed Cardinal. Or I'd love to see more of him meeting the people living in the Vatican, going among the faithful. Or maybe something post-canon, world politics or Vatican politics? Or maybe him with the members of his Council?

I adore the theological discussions in the book, and I love that the characters' faith is tested throughout the book, and I love that Kiril especially struggles with his faith, and any exploration of that would be great. And I love that even when they're steadfast in their beliefs they encounter difficulties convincing others of their beliefs.

I love the loyalty kink and the tests of loyalty and all the powerplays throughout the book, and anything to do with loyalty and power dynamics would be great, honestly. I also love the politics and questions of trust and faith, and anything you do with that would also be great.

I find the Vatican setting very interesting as well. Very much optional, of course, but I'd also love a look at Vatican politics/world politics (and the fact that although it's a work of fiction West absolutely lets what exactly he thinks of world politics of that time shine through is great and I very much approve and love it). I also found the details of Vatican culture and the traditions of Catholicism very well-researched and portrayed, so if you want to go along those lines, that'd also be great.

In particular, the politics are very idealistic because the characters are very idealistic, but they're also very nuanced, and I love that! But I also love the manipulations and go-betweens and cloak-and-daggerness of it all. And I also love the theme of reconciling Catholicism with the modern world (and, in Jean Télémond's case, with science), and how that's not always successful, but also sometimes works.