eye_of_a_cat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2024-08-02 07:06 pm
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2024-08-02 07:06 pm
Dear pine4pine 2024 Writer
Thank you so much for writing for me! I have some overall likes and DNWs below, and then some fandom-specific preferences and prompts after that. Please only consider those prompts and so on as suggestions, though, and write whatever best calls to you! I don't really have any nOTPs for these fandoms and I'm more than fine with multiple relationships in the same story, so feel free to include whatever background ships you want as long as they avoid my DNWs!
Treats always welcome.
General likes: Angst, complicated feelings, stories that dive into a character and what motivates them, questions of loyalty and of how the past affects the present, 5+1s, canon divergence, missing scenes, parenthood (prefer if it’s about the emotional feels of the adult characters rather than cute kid things, worldbuilding in fantasy/sci-fi fandoms, and established relationships being complicated. Happy with any degree of smut from ‘none at all’ to ‘E-rated’.
General DNWs: AUs other than canon divergence; omegaverse; traumatic birth or pregnancy loss; noncon as a major plot element (dubcon is fine); m/f dynamics portrayed with a heavy emphasis on smaller/shyer/less experienced/submissive woman and bigger/stronger/dominant man; underage; watersports and scat. For pairings that go against canon relationships, I usually like the canon relationship too and would prefer canon partners not be bashed or existing marriages split up (although canon-divergence where they don't get together/one dies is fine) - happy with open relationships, happy with angst-ridden infidelity.
Things often DNWed that I like and would be happy to see included: Infidelity, preferably in the sense of overlapping pairings and feelings for multiple people (not if it’s infidelity to get one ship out of the way); first- and second-person POV; epistolary or other non-strictly-narrative formats; ambiguous endings; pregnancy; sibling incest, if angsty; poly ships and open relationships (happy or tragic).
Fandoms:
Acolyte: We didn't get lots of time of Osha and Jecki together, but I'm intrigued by where that could have gone. Happy here with something set during the canon timeline in which we get someone's point of view on the interactions we did see, or a gapfiller scene we didn't see, or a canon divergence where something else gets to happen - Jecki lives? time travel? Osha never left in the first place? Or just, things went differently earlier and now they have to pretend to be married while they're undercover?
I'm particularly interested in their different takes on the Jedi order, the feel of belonging vs. not belonging, the idea of remembering your childhood elsewhere for Osha vs. presumably not for Jecki; but I am not that bothered about how canon-compliant it is or isn't with wider Star Wars canon and Jedi ideas of attachment.
Alias: Jack and Irina, I love them so. Would be happy with pretty much anything for them that avoids my DNWs. I'd love to hear Jack's thoughts on his marriage (either at the time or in retrospect); how he feels about Irina as opposed to Laura Bristow; some kind of 5+1 'Five questions Jack Bristow never asked his wife, and one he did" setup; or any kind of canon-divergence you want to play around with.
I would prefer this not go too much in the direction of fluff because one of the main things I love about them is the hate/love/betrayal/respect maelstrom of conflicted feelings, but I have nothing against them ending up happy together, or not, as you prefer.
Babylon 5: Marcus/Ivanova - I am cool with tragedy or fluff, required or not; I love them both and would like think they could have made it work, but I also love angst and wistfulness. Ideas: Everybody Lives! canon divergent AU; time-travel where one of them goes back in time somehow to change something; Marcus finds out Ivanova's a telepath; Ivanova worries that Marcus is going to find out; they have some kind of conversation about what Marcus was like before he reinvented himself from corporate mining guy to floppy-haired death-wish Ranger; they discuss past loves; Marcus just gazes after her wistfully and wonders.
Delenn in any requested pairing - I adore her and her complicated principled devoted repentant-war-criminal ways. Would love to read fics exploring anything about how different characters see different parts of her, or how she views her history and her future. If it's in a setting where Sheridan exists: I'm cool with infidelity or Minbari poly relationships or them not getting together in the first place, wherever you want to go, but please don't bash him - this man and his unbeatably sunny outlook single-handedly cured me of ship wars.
Delenn/Lennier - I love his devotion, I love that he sees a part of her and her past that she doesn't show Sheridan, I lovethat he must have all sorts of conflicted feelings about his own past and what his people did (and he mentions he has family who died on the Black Star!). Happy with requited or not; if requited, happy with that being in a way that’s ultimately happy or in a way that’s very messed up or anything in between.
Delenn/Neroon - I love that he's her counterpart in a lot of ways, that they have a lot in common like their devotion to their people and they recognise that in each other. I love that his objections to her and what she's doing are uncharitable but not entirely incorrect! Canon divergence where he survives in s4, or they’re sent back in time by a thing for a reason, or have to work together in some way to get out of a tricky situation that isn’t on the scale of a planetary civil war.
LOTR:
For all of these I'd be happy with anything drawing on or set at different points in the wider Tolkien legendarium, but I would also be absolutely fine with just LOTR-era or with no references to the wider canon.
Celeborn/Galadriel - I love that they clearly have a very long and old marriage, and also that they clearly aren't always on the same page about things and that there's this note of sorrow always there in the background - "may your doom be other than mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end". Maybe they could be thinking of or communicating with each other during some time when they're separated by circumstances; or even 'we have been in six straight weeks of meetings and even though you're sat across the table from me I miss you'? Or there is some dramatic crisis, canon-divergence or otherwise, that they have to get through?
Celeborn/Galadriel/Glorfindel - I love the idea of Glorfindel quietly finding himself more and more obsessed with their marriage, not sure which one of them he wants the most or whether it's their relationship itself he's craving, and either being quietly and guiltily torn up about it or having it be revealed somehow (maybe he gets drunk and tells them? Maybe Galadriel sees him and what he's thinking in her Mirror?) and him being happily invited to join them.
Elrond/Celebrían: Fine with this being Elrond being sad about losing her from a distance, fine with a happy (or happy-but-angsty?) reunion in Valinor, fine with some darker setup where Sauron is tricking Elrond into thinking Celebrían has returned to him, fine with pre-LOTR of them getting together or slice of life in Rivendell; but for all of them I would really like it if there were scenes featuring Celebrían herself as a character, even if that's in flashback (so I'm happy if the entire thing is from Elrond's POV, I'd just like that POV to include at least one mention/description of her doing things, interacting with people, even just eating breakfast, etc., not just Elrond thinking more generally that he misses her).
The Rings of Power:
For all of these I'd be happy with anything drawing on or set at different points in the wider Tolkien legendarium, but I would also be absolutely fine with just TROP and no references to that wider canon.
Thondir/Galadriel - We didn't see a lot of them together, but from what we did it seemed to me that he cared about her, respected her, and really was worried about what she was doing and what it was doing to her soldiers. Maybe his feelings could gradually turn from student-mentor to more along the way; maybe a story set in Valinor after she leaps from the boat where he's telling her friends/family there about what happened; maybe something pre-series where she tells him about her past or her presumed-dead husband? I can't think of any prompts for this where it's requited, but I am open to reading that too if you can!
Galadriel/Halbrand - He can be Sauron for this or human Halbrand, or a canon-divergence AU where he's Sauron but <i>thinks</i> he's human Halbrand - open to anything! I am a sucker for gap-filler stories from their ride to Eregion or in Númenor, and I love the idea that he's fascinated by her hair. Maybe his POV where he's pining unrequitedly from a distance; or more active mindpalace or mindwipe scenario where he's tricking her into thinking they're already together; or him letting her do whatever she wants to him because he's so far gone for her, or a scenario where he starts off deliberately trying to seduce her to manipulate her and ends up catching feelings.
Arondir/Bronwyn - requited in canon and I'd be happy with that, but also happy with a fic that's just one of them pining after the other before that happens and assuming their feelings aren't returned, or canon-divergence where Adar and co. turn up earlier? or don't turn up at all, and they write to each other after Arondir is called back? Or Arondir's injured and for whatever reason it's the human healer who is caring for him? I do like the mortal/immortal tragedy and guilt of it, but I also adore that they're both fairly ordinary people with jobs and duties so when we meet them it's less 'epic tragic forbidden love story' and more 'coworker elf rolling his eyes at having to pretend he can't see this happening'. If you're into wider Tolkien stuff then one thing Bronwyn's speech to her people at the watchtower reminded me of was Elwing before the Third Kinslaying, and I would love a fic where Arondir was thinking of that too.
Disa/Durin/Elrond - I love all three of them! I absolutely could see them making it work as an established relationship (of a sort - maybe keeping this hidden from Gil-galad and Durin's father could be something they have to deal with?) or as a one-off thing, but I am also happy with it being unrequited and just wistfully longed for by one or two or three of them as well.
Silmarillion:
Ossë/Mairon, Eönwë/Mairon - here for both of them I can see Mairon's feelings being all tangled up with jealousy and resentment and regret. Maybe something set in the earlier days when he's spying for Morgoth while still pretending to be loyal to Aulë? Or what he's thinking later on in Middle-earth about losing Ossë to Uinen coming to drag him back to the Valar (and that Uinen came to get him at Aulë's plea - bet that stung); or that encounter with Eonwe at the end of the War of Wrath; or some later confrontation with Ossë around the Akallabeth, and how Sauron effectively drowned the island Ossë raised from the sea? (If you want to add Mairon/Melkor as background for any of this, that's cool too.)
Galadriel/Celeborn/Nenya - I just love the idea of a sentient Nenya having its own thoughts and feelings - and maybe these could include desire or jealousy or possessiveness or longing. But I'd be equally happy with a less sentient Nenya and a story that's more around Celeborn's feelings about Galadriel's connections to it, or Galadriel showing him how its magic can be part of their sex life.
Fingon/Maedhros - all the angst forever and always. Overall I'm more interested in them in Middle-earth than in Valinor (although I'm also open to pre-Exile fic!). Ideas: both their POVs on some previous incident while they're separated after Alqualonde? Feelings unexpectedly overtaking them both after Maedhros's rescue? Some darker and messier 'I'll let you/him do what you want to me because it's the closest I'll get to you' setup?
Maedhros/Maglor - For this I would prefer it on the darker and messier side and for Maglor to feel very torn about his feelings, although I'm equally fine with that ending in consensual relatively-happy "let's at least find some joy together amidst all this horror" or for some bleaker setup, like Maglor trying to console Maedhros after the boats are burned or after Thangorodrim and realising his own feelings aren't what he thought they were, or Morgoth or Sauron learning about Maglor's feelings and using them against him.
Annatar/Celebrimbor - one dynamic I'd love here is definitely Sauron intending it as manipulation and then realising too late that he's caught feelings; and being anything from privately horrified about this to actively messing with his mind to make him believe they're already in a relationship. Or maybe Celebrimbor could learn more about who Annatar is (whether that's learning he worked for Morgoth, or learning he's actually Sauron) and find himself not entirely put off by that?
Glorfindel/Celeborn - happy with this in First Age or after Glorfindel's reincarnated and sent back, or in a canon divergence where that doesn't happen. Really I'd be happy with anything for these two so long as it doesn't bash Galadriel (guilt-ridden infidelity or an open relationship are fine but not stories where she's the bad guy or the lesser partner). I love Doriath Celeborn in particular, and I'm fascinated by Noldor-Sindar divides, or Gondolin-Doriath ones, or the idea that the Sindar have some very different practices and beliefs around sex and marriage to the Noldor.
Treats always welcome.
General likes: Angst, complicated feelings, stories that dive into a character and what motivates them, questions of loyalty and of how the past affects the present, 5+1s, canon divergence, missing scenes, parenthood (prefer if it’s about the emotional feels of the adult characters rather than cute kid things, worldbuilding in fantasy/sci-fi fandoms, and established relationships being complicated. Happy with any degree of smut from ‘none at all’ to ‘E-rated’.
General DNWs: AUs other than canon divergence; omegaverse; traumatic birth or pregnancy loss; noncon as a major plot element (dubcon is fine); m/f dynamics portrayed with a heavy emphasis on smaller/shyer/less experienced/submissive woman and bigger/stronger/dominant man; underage; watersports and scat. For pairings that go against canon relationships, I usually like the canon relationship too and would prefer canon partners not be bashed or existing marriages split up (although canon-divergence where they don't get together/one dies is fine) - happy with open relationships, happy with angst-ridden infidelity.
Things often DNWed that I like and would be happy to see included: Infidelity, preferably in the sense of overlapping pairings and feelings for multiple people (not if it’s infidelity to get one ship out of the way); first- and second-person POV; epistolary or other non-strictly-narrative formats; ambiguous endings; pregnancy; sibling incest, if angsty; poly ships and open relationships (happy or tragic).
Fandoms:
Acolyte: We didn't get lots of time of Osha and Jecki together, but I'm intrigued by where that could have gone. Happy here with something set during the canon timeline in which we get someone's point of view on the interactions we did see, or a gapfiller scene we didn't see, or a canon divergence where something else gets to happen - Jecki lives? time travel? Osha never left in the first place? Or just, things went differently earlier and now they have to pretend to be married while they're undercover?
I'm particularly interested in their different takes on the Jedi order, the feel of belonging vs. not belonging, the idea of remembering your childhood elsewhere for Osha vs. presumably not for Jecki; but I am not that bothered about how canon-compliant it is or isn't with wider Star Wars canon and Jedi ideas of attachment.
Alias: Jack and Irina, I love them so. Would be happy with pretty much anything for them that avoids my DNWs. I'd love to hear Jack's thoughts on his marriage (either at the time or in retrospect); how he feels about Irina as opposed to Laura Bristow; some kind of 5+1 'Five questions Jack Bristow never asked his wife, and one he did" setup; or any kind of canon-divergence you want to play around with.
I would prefer this not go too much in the direction of fluff because one of the main things I love about them is the hate/love/betrayal/respect maelstrom of conflicted feelings, but I have nothing against them ending up happy together, or not, as you prefer.
Babylon 5: Marcus/Ivanova - I am cool with tragedy or fluff, required or not; I love them both and would like think they could have made it work, but I also love angst and wistfulness. Ideas: Everybody Lives! canon divergent AU; time-travel where one of them goes back in time somehow to change something; Marcus finds out Ivanova's a telepath; Ivanova worries that Marcus is going to find out; they have some kind of conversation about what Marcus was like before he reinvented himself from corporate mining guy to floppy-haired death-wish Ranger; they discuss past loves; Marcus just gazes after her wistfully and wonders.
Delenn in any requested pairing - I adore her and her complicated principled devoted repentant-war-criminal ways. Would love to read fics exploring anything about how different characters see different parts of her, or how she views her history and her future. If it's in a setting where Sheridan exists: I'm cool with infidelity or Minbari poly relationships or them not getting together in the first place, wherever you want to go, but please don't bash him - this man and his unbeatably sunny outlook single-handedly cured me of ship wars.
Delenn/Lennier - I love his devotion, I love that he sees a part of her and her past that she doesn't show Sheridan, I lovethat he must have all sorts of conflicted feelings about his own past and what his people did (and he mentions he has family who died on the Black Star!). Happy with requited or not; if requited, happy with that being in a way that’s ultimately happy or in a way that’s very messed up or anything in between.
Delenn/Neroon - I love that he's her counterpart in a lot of ways, that they have a lot in common like their devotion to their people and they recognise that in each other. I love that his objections to her and what she's doing are uncharitable but not entirely incorrect! Canon divergence where he survives in s4, or they’re sent back in time by a thing for a reason, or have to work together in some way to get out of a tricky situation that isn’t on the scale of a planetary civil war.
LOTR:
For all of these I'd be happy with anything drawing on or set at different points in the wider Tolkien legendarium, but I would also be absolutely fine with just LOTR-era or with no references to the wider canon.
Celeborn/Galadriel - I love that they clearly have a very long and old marriage, and also that they clearly aren't always on the same page about things and that there's this note of sorrow always there in the background - "may your doom be other than mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end". Maybe they could be thinking of or communicating with each other during some time when they're separated by circumstances; or even 'we have been in six straight weeks of meetings and even though you're sat across the table from me I miss you'? Or there is some dramatic crisis, canon-divergence or otherwise, that they have to get through?
Celeborn/Galadriel/Glorfindel - I love the idea of Glorfindel quietly finding himself more and more obsessed with their marriage, not sure which one of them he wants the most or whether it's their relationship itself he's craving, and either being quietly and guiltily torn up about it or having it be revealed somehow (maybe he gets drunk and tells them? Maybe Galadriel sees him and what he's thinking in her Mirror?) and him being happily invited to join them.
Elrond/Celebrían: Fine with this being Elrond being sad about losing her from a distance, fine with a happy (or happy-but-angsty?) reunion in Valinor, fine with some darker setup where Sauron is tricking Elrond into thinking Celebrían has returned to him, fine with pre-LOTR of them getting together or slice of life in Rivendell; but for all of them I would really like it if there were scenes featuring Celebrían herself as a character, even if that's in flashback (so I'm happy if the entire thing is from Elrond's POV, I'd just like that POV to include at least one mention/description of her doing things, interacting with people, even just eating breakfast, etc., not just Elrond thinking more generally that he misses her).
The Rings of Power:
For all of these I'd be happy with anything drawing on or set at different points in the wider Tolkien legendarium, but I would also be absolutely fine with just TROP and no references to that wider canon.
Thondir/Galadriel - We didn't see a lot of them together, but from what we did it seemed to me that he cared about her, respected her, and really was worried about what she was doing and what it was doing to her soldiers. Maybe his feelings could gradually turn from student-mentor to more along the way; maybe a story set in Valinor after she leaps from the boat where he's telling her friends/family there about what happened; maybe something pre-series where she tells him about her past or her presumed-dead husband? I can't think of any prompts for this where it's requited, but I am open to reading that too if you can!
Galadriel/Halbrand - He can be Sauron for this or human Halbrand, or a canon-divergence AU where he's Sauron but <i>thinks</i> he's human Halbrand - open to anything! I am a sucker for gap-filler stories from their ride to Eregion or in Númenor, and I love the idea that he's fascinated by her hair. Maybe his POV where he's pining unrequitedly from a distance; or more active mindpalace or mindwipe scenario where he's tricking her into thinking they're already together; or him letting her do whatever she wants to him because he's so far gone for her, or a scenario where he starts off deliberately trying to seduce her to manipulate her and ends up catching feelings.
Arondir/Bronwyn - requited in canon and I'd be happy with that, but also happy with a fic that's just one of them pining after the other before that happens and assuming their feelings aren't returned, or canon-divergence where Adar and co. turn up earlier? or don't turn up at all, and they write to each other after Arondir is called back? Or Arondir's injured and for whatever reason it's the human healer who is caring for him? I do like the mortal/immortal tragedy and guilt of it, but I also adore that they're both fairly ordinary people with jobs and duties so when we meet them it's less 'epic tragic forbidden love story' and more 'coworker elf rolling his eyes at having to pretend he can't see this happening'. If you're into wider Tolkien stuff then one thing Bronwyn's speech to her people at the watchtower reminded me of was Elwing before the Third Kinslaying, and I would love a fic where Arondir was thinking of that too.
Disa/Durin/Elrond - I love all three of them! I absolutely could see them making it work as an established relationship (of a sort - maybe keeping this hidden from Gil-galad and Durin's father could be something they have to deal with?) or as a one-off thing, but I am also happy with it being unrequited and just wistfully longed for by one or two or three of them as well.
Silmarillion:
Ossë/Mairon, Eönwë/Mairon - here for both of them I can see Mairon's feelings being all tangled up with jealousy and resentment and regret. Maybe something set in the earlier days when he's spying for Morgoth while still pretending to be loyal to Aulë? Or what he's thinking later on in Middle-earth about losing Ossë to Uinen coming to drag him back to the Valar (and that Uinen came to get him at Aulë's plea - bet that stung); or that encounter with Eonwe at the end of the War of Wrath; or some later confrontation with Ossë around the Akallabeth, and how Sauron effectively drowned the island Ossë raised from the sea? (If you want to add Mairon/Melkor as background for any of this, that's cool too.)
Galadriel/Celeborn/Nenya - I just love the idea of a sentient Nenya having its own thoughts and feelings - and maybe these could include desire or jealousy or possessiveness or longing. But I'd be equally happy with a less sentient Nenya and a story that's more around Celeborn's feelings about Galadriel's connections to it, or Galadriel showing him how its magic can be part of their sex life.
Fingon/Maedhros - all the angst forever and always. Overall I'm more interested in them in Middle-earth than in Valinor (although I'm also open to pre-Exile fic!). Ideas: both their POVs on some previous incident while they're separated after Alqualonde? Feelings unexpectedly overtaking them both after Maedhros's rescue? Some darker and messier 'I'll let you/him do what you want to me because it's the closest I'll get to you' setup?
Maedhros/Maglor - For this I would prefer it on the darker and messier side and for Maglor to feel very torn about his feelings, although I'm equally fine with that ending in consensual relatively-happy "let's at least find some joy together amidst all this horror" or for some bleaker setup, like Maglor trying to console Maedhros after the boats are burned or after Thangorodrim and realising his own feelings aren't what he thought they were, or Morgoth or Sauron learning about Maglor's feelings and using them against him.
Annatar/Celebrimbor - one dynamic I'd love here is definitely Sauron intending it as manipulation and then realising too late that he's caught feelings; and being anything from privately horrified about this to actively messing with his mind to make him believe they're already in a relationship. Or maybe Celebrimbor could learn more about who Annatar is (whether that's learning he worked for Morgoth, or learning he's actually Sauron) and find himself not entirely put off by that?
Glorfindel/Celeborn - happy with this in First Age or after Glorfindel's reincarnated and sent back, or in a canon divergence where that doesn't happen. Really I'd be happy with anything for these two so long as it doesn't bash Galadriel (guilt-ridden infidelity or an open relationship are fine but not stories where she's the bad guy or the lesser partner). I love Doriath Celeborn in particular, and I'm fascinated by Noldor-Sindar divides, or Gondolin-Doriath ones, or the idea that the Sindar have some very different practices and beliefs around sex and marriage to the Noldor.