Dear Candy Hearts author
Jan. 6th, 2025 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eye_of_a_catThank you so much for writing for me! I have some overall likes and DNWs below, and then some fandom-specific thoughts and prompts after that. Please only consider prompts and so on as some suggestions, though, and write whatever best calls to you! So long as it avoids my DNWs I am sure I will be happy; I love reading other people's takes on characters and relationships I like.
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; hard noncon as a major plot element (although dubcon e.g. where one partner consents under duress or deceit is 100% fine; I'm happy with the consent being coerced or reluctant, just so long as it's not entirely absent); m/f dynamics portrayed with a heavy emphasis on smaller/shyer/less experienced/submissive woman and bigger/stronger/dominant man; underage; watersports and scat. Where one of the characters is or was in a different canon relationship, DNW the canon partner/relationship being presented as inferior to the fic pairing or canon relationships being broken up (I'm happy with open relationships, angst-ridden infidelity, or canon divergence where the canon partner dies or never existed).
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; first- and second-person POV; epistolary or other non-strictly-narrative formats; ambiguous endings; pregnancy; sibling incest, if angsty; poly ships and open relationships.
Fandoms:
Babylon 5:
(I don’t count it as canon unless it happened on screen, so for things like the novels, JMS’s commentary, etc - feel free to ignore entirely or to use however you want.)
Delenn/Neroon: They spend 3.5 seasons fighting over power, they threaten each other politically and personally, they see in the other one the representation of all they can’t stand about the other one’s caste - but in the end, they trust the other one’s loyalty more than their own side’s. This is so compelling to me! I’d love anything that plays with those ideas of loyalty and history, ‘I can’t stand you and also I recognise myself in you and also I do quite like you despite myself’. Some prompt ideas:
* the first time they met (presumably during the war?)
* they have to write formal letters to each other as part of some Minbari custom
* AU where he doesn’t die in the Starfire wheel
Marcus/Ivanova: I love them both and would like think they could have made it work, but I also love angst and wistfulness so I don’t mind it going there either. This was one of my first ever fandoms .
Prompt ideas:
* Marcus finds out Ivanova’s a telepath (or Ivanova fears he will)
* 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
Delenn & Jeffrey Sinclair: what really fascinates me about their relationship is that to her, he’s both Valen with all that implies (she talks about a vision of Valen appearing to her in childhood!) - and also this alien who doesn’t understand who he is, doesn’t know who she is, and can’t be given most of the information she has.
Prompt ideas:
* they’re already friends of a sort by the start of the show; how does that begin?
* Sinclair telling Delenn about the Jesuit motto ‘Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam’ - all things are done for the greater glory of God - and how she would think about that
* Messages they send each other during Sinclair’s early days on Minbar
Vir Cotto & Londo Mollari: I would not have blamed Vir for giving up on Londo entirely at multiple points throughout the series, and it’s so compelling to me that he *doesn’t*. I would love anything exploring this idea of friendship and faith and being able to see both the best and the worst in someone, whether it’s about war crimes or something more lighthearted.
Prompt ideas:
* Londo thinking about how different he was (or wasn’t) from Vir when he was younger
* Messages they send when Vir’s sent to Minbar for a while
Vir Cotto & Lennier: love them both, love how loyalty means different (and maybe similar) things to both of them, love how they both start off as new aides fully out of their depths and grow and come into their own.
Prompt ideas:
* the idea that they canonically have a regular meeting at a bar to offload about the stress of their jobs is just lovely and I would enjoy anything about that
* Messages they send each other after the end of s5
* Some meeting between them, accidental or planned, after the events at the end of s5.
The Rings of Power:
For TROP I love fic that includes wider Tolkien legendarium stuff, but I'm also absolutely fine if you just want to stick to show canon.
Disa/Durin/Elrond, Disa & Durin & Elrond: I love all three of them, and I’d be happy with anything at any point on the fluff-to-angst continuum for this, whether romantic or platonic
Prompt ideas:
* elf social customs are fine with them having a romantic/sexual relationship but dwarf ones aren’t (or vice versa) - how to keep it secret?
* Elrond apologises for missing their wedding
* post-s2 - meeting again after the fall of Eregion
Disa/Durin: it’s surprisingly rare in genre TV to get an established relationship like this done well and I so loved what we got with them: they genuinely love and respect each other, they disagree on things, they’re balancing big epic world-changing Events alongside domestic amily issues.
Prompt ideas:
* Disa mentions Durin’s brother at the end of s2 and there’s obviously some history there - how does that go when he turns up?
* A story about how they met, beyond the bits they tell Elrond in s1
* Something set in the s2 ep where they visit Eregion - we see Durin seeing right through Annatar, but what else happens in that trip?
Arondir/Bronwyn: 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'.
Prompt ideas:
* Canon divergence for s2 where Bronwyn lives
* Bronwyn's speech to her people at the watchtower reminded me of Elwing before the Third Kinslaying - was Arondir thinking of that too?
Nori/Poppy: adore them, wish they had kissed in s2. For these two I would be happy with fluff or with unrequited pining but would rather avoid tragic or dark endings.
Prompt ideas:
* hurt/comfort: one gets injured at some point in the s2 Rhûn storyline and feelings get confessed unintentionally under the influence of painkiller herbs
* the significance of map-reading and way-finding and what it says about who you are as a person
* some time many years in the future, telling their happy family of adopted hobbit orphans and assorted grandchildren about their adventures.
Elendil/Miriel: love the angst, love the loyalties torn between the person you care for and the principles you care for and the place you care for. Really love that they’re not young idealists encountering love for the first time, that Elendil had a wife and has grown children.
Prompt ideas:
* s1: Miriel decides she should learn more about Elendil if she’s going to trust him with a duty like this
* Something with the importance of touch as communication between them after Miriel loses her sight
Adar/Galadriel: Two of my favourite show characters; I would love anything more about their interactions.
Prompt ideas:
* Adar turns out to be the missing Celeborn (disguised through whichever plotdevice you prefer)
* gapfiller or canon divergence where Galadriel is Adar’s prisoner for longer during s2
* what if Galadriel had captured Adar rather than the other way around in s2?
Adar/Arondir: Would rather not have fluff for this one because what calls to me here is messed-up-ness and darkness and pain, but it doesn’t need to end in outright tragedy. DNW outright noncon but dubcon where one partner consents under duress or deceit is fine (eg agreed to for the sake of a deal, under the influence of drink or drugs or enchantment).
Prompt ideas:
* s2 canon divergence where Bronwyn doesn’t die and Arondir is sent out from Pelargir to negotiate with Adar over territory
* “You have been told many lies. Some run so deep, even the rocks and roots now believe them” - Adar chooses one of those lies to show Arondir the truth of
Adar/Elrond: “You have the beauty of your foremother Melian” is a hell of a thing to say during fraught wartime negotiations. I loved herald Elrond outmanouevring Adar in that tent (both undermining him with his soldiers and then kissing Galadriel in a way Adar looked full-on “???” about); I’d love to read him doing more of that sort of thing. DNW outright noncon but dubcon where one partner consents under duress or deceit is fine (eg agreed to for the sake of a deal, under the influence of drink or drugs or enchantment).
Prompt ideas:
* Adar trades Galadriel for Elrond as his hostage
* The dwarf armies arrive to save the elves as planned, Adar and his armies retreat, and some time later Gil-galad sends Elrond back to make some other kind of deal with him
Celebrimbor & Elrond: so much history! so much tragedy!
Prompt ideas:
* By the end of s1 and the beginning of s2, we see Elrond getting suspicious of what Galadriel’s doing in making the rings; but he’s been working with Celebrimbor for a while by then - did he try to speak to Celebrimbor about Halbrand? Did Celebrimbor start acting differently?
* Fathers and fatherhood: Celebrimbor having more memories of Elrond’s father than Elrond does is fascinating, and I’d love them talking about Celebrimbor’s father, or Elrond’s memories of being brought up by Maglor (& Maedhros).
* Some time in the very distant future, Celebrimbor is released from the Halls of Mandos and Elrond in Valinor gets to meet him again.
Silmarillion:
I love elves, I love tragedy, I love characters dealing with their complicated pasts and guilt and loyalty, I love characters finding love and peace and joy unexpectedly even in the middle of bad circumstances. I will gobble up absolutely anything about Noldor vs. Sindar relationships and cultural misunderstandings therein.
Celebrimbor/Sauron: I love all variations on Sauron planning to seduce Celebrimbor as part of a masterful manipulation with absolutely no feelings involved obviously, and then desperately trying to keep believing it as he falls harder and harder himself.
Prompt ideas:
* Letters sent between them after Annatar leaves Eregion
* Celebrimbor, fed up of council meetings always going the same way: “Stop bickering with Galadriel, or there will be consequences.”
* Celebrimbor finds out more about Annatar’s identity (either all of it or assuming he’s some less important Maia that sided with Morgoth) and is not entirely put off.
Idril/Maeglin: happy or tragic, I’m good with either. (Also I’m good with Idril/Maeglin/Tuor if you want to go there.)
Prompt ideas:
* ‘the histories say this, but here’s what really happened…’ about any part of either of their stories
* Alternative future where the fall of Gondolin goes differently: Maeglin survives and Morgoth gives him Gondolin and Idril as promised
Maedhros/Maglor: I love it when this is after they leave Valinor and when it’s on the darker and messier side with one of them at least feeling very torn about their feelings, although I'm fine with that ending in consensual relatively-happy "let's at least find some joy together amidst all this horror”.
Prompt ideas:
* Maglor trying to console Maedhros after the boats are burned
Beren/Lúthien: the most iconic and romantic love story in all of Tolkien, in which the beautiful heroine wears the skin of her enemy’s vampire lieutenant to break into Evil HQ. Impeccable.
Prompt ideas:
* The Lay of Leithian mirrors Angband and Menegroth, Anfauglith and Doriath: do either Beren or Luthien notice the similarities?
Fëanor/Nerdanel: love the angst of this, the idea that there was a way it could have gone differently but didn’t. I’m especially interested in Nerdanel’s POV on any of their marriage, either before or after Finwë’s death and the rebellion of the Noldor.
Prompt ideas:
* Letters they don’t send each other
* Stories of Feanor as a Pied Piper figure leading away the children of the Noldor
* Fëanor is used to his own family’s dramatics (Fëanor largely is his own family’s dramatics); he hadn’t expected to be caught so off-guard by his in-laws.
Earendil/Elwing: two royal heir refugees finding hope in the middle of tragedy, it's beautiful. Fine with fluff, fine with angst, fine with Sirion or reunions later on.
Prompt ideas:
* What do they remember of where they came from?
* What’s everyday life in Sirion like?
Daeron & Lúthien - I am fascinated by Doriath in general and would love anything about what these two think about it, or any takes on what their relationship was like.
Prompt ideas:
* Daeron creating a whole writing system; what does writing give you? what use would Luthien have for it?
* Lúthien interrogating Daeron about the Noldor after the Mereth Aderthad
Indis/Míriel Serindë - anything at all about them would be wonderful (I’m fine with Finwë being included & with Indis/Miriel/Finwë if you like). Their actions and marriages are so important in other people’s stories, but they don’t get to tell their own.
Prompt ideas:
* tapestries and weaving - what kind of stories you can tell that way, what kind you can’t
* letters they do or don’t send to each other
Aulë/Yavanna - the whole idea of Ainur marriages is fascinating, especially when one of them is creating dwarves who’ll chop down trees and the other one is creating tree-shepherds to guard trees from destructive dwarves.
Prompt ideas:
* what they think about the other’s craft
* Sauron and Melian are both off doing their own thing in Middle-earth - is there some kind of parental-type feeling of responsibility for whatever’s going on there?
Aredhel/Celegorm - I love how much Aredhel refuses to fit within the boundaries and expectations of wherever she’s put, and I would love to see some takes on what Celegorm thinks about that, or what it is about each of them that the other one isdrawn to .
Prompt ideas:
* when Aredhel leaves Nan Elmoth with Maeglin, she goes to Celegorm instead of Turgon
* their first meeting again on Middle-earth, after the first kinslaying and subsequent events.
LOTR:
Happy with anything here including First or Second-Age or with it taking place entirely within the timeline of LOTR and after.
Celeborn & Glorfindel, Celeborn/Glorfindel - I wrote this for a pinch hit a year ago and now I cannot get enough of it. If you’re writing the / version I’m happy with Celeborn having an open marriage or with angsty infidelity or anywhere between the two, but I really like Galadriel so I’d love it if you find a way to mention or include her in the story too.
Prompt ideas:
* we don’t know when/if Glorfindel sailed to Valinor, so maybe he stays behind along with Celeborn when Galadriel sails?
* something comparing Gondolin and Doriath
* “there’s a Balrog in Moria? someone send a message to Rivendell and tell that one guy who killed a Balrog to get over here.”
Celeborn & Thranduil, Celeborn & Elladan & Elrohir - I’m fascinated by what life is like for the elves in the late Third Age and then afterwards
Prompt ideas:
* Something after Elrond and Galadriel and the others sail to Valinor, when Celeborn is mentioned as going to live in Rivendell with the twins
* Forests having a memory
* Restoring Mirkwood to Eryn Lasgalen after Dol Guldur is destroyed
Elrond & Elros - I would love something that explores their life as children together or as adults going their very separate ways
Prompt ideas:
* Elrond visits Numenor
* Letters they write to each other in Elros’s lifetime
Challengers:
Art Donaldson/Tashi Donaldson/Patrick Zweig - They don’t all need to be in the same place at the same time for the story (although it’s great if they are), but what I really love about their dynamic is that all three of them seem to need *both* of the others.
Prompt ideas:
* An in-universe long-form investigative journalism-type article written by someone trying to figure out what’s really going on between the three of them
* Something that deals with the way Art seems to project his resentment for both Tashi and Patrick onto Patrick, and his affection for both of them onto Tashi.
DS9:
Elim Garak & Keiko O’Brien, Elim Garak & Odo, Elim Garak & Kira Nerys, Elim Garak & Molly O'Brien, Elim Garak & Keiko O’Brien & Molly O’Brien, Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien, Kira Nerys & Kirayoshi O'Brien
I don’t have a great deal of detail for any of these, I’d just be happy with any interactions between these characters! Things that particularly interest me about them and about DS9 in general:
* Garak - everything Garak. What he thinks about Cardassia, what he thinks about Cardassia’s history, what he thinks about his own history, how he’s really a very good tailor.
* Bajor and Kira’s relationship to Bajor, to religion, and to her own past; and how that might come out for her through the idea of motherhood
* Keiko and what kind of identity she can maintain for herself on the station - I’m really interested in her spending that time on Bajor (on Bajor! with a young child! working and solo parenting! while Miles complains when they get back that it’s going to cramp his Me Time with Bashir! Miles I love you but oh my God, some perspective please), and what kind of memories she might have of that afterwards.
Ghosts (UK):
Alison & The Captain, The Captain & Robin, The Captain & Mike, Lady Fanny Button & The Captain:
I just love them all and would adore any story about any of them. Bonus points if it’s lighthearted and funny to some extent (can be sad too, especially with the Captain’s and Fanny’s backstories!) and double bonus points if the Captain gets to learn something about Havers that makes him happy.
Baldur's Gate 3:
Astarion/Gale, Astarion/Halsin, Astarion/Wyll, Karlach/Wyll, Halsin & Thaniel
No particular prompts for any of these purely because I ran out of time for the signup, sorry, but I love all these characters and would be happy to read any take you have on them!
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; hard noncon as a major plot element (although dubcon e.g. where one partner consents under duress or deceit is 100% fine; I'm happy with the consent being coerced or reluctant, just so long as it's not entirely absent); m/f dynamics portrayed with a heavy emphasis on smaller/shyer/less experienced/submissive woman and bigger/stronger/dominant man; underage; watersports and scat. Where one of the characters is or was in a different canon relationship, DNW the canon partner/relationship being presented as inferior to the fic pairing or canon relationships being broken up (I'm happy with open relationships, angst-ridden infidelity, or canon divergence where the canon partner dies or never existed).
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; first- and second-person POV; epistolary or other non-strictly-narrative formats; ambiguous endings; pregnancy; sibling incest, if angsty; poly ships and open relationships.
Fandoms:
Babylon 5:
(I don’t count it as canon unless it happened on screen, so for things like the novels, JMS’s commentary, etc - feel free to ignore entirely or to use however you want.)
Delenn/Neroon: They spend 3.5 seasons fighting over power, they threaten each other politically and personally, they see in the other one the representation of all they can’t stand about the other one’s caste - but in the end, they trust the other one’s loyalty more than their own side’s. This is so compelling to me! I’d love anything that plays with those ideas of loyalty and history, ‘I can’t stand you and also I recognise myself in you and also I do quite like you despite myself’. Some prompt ideas:
* the first time they met (presumably during the war?)
* they have to write formal letters to each other as part of some Minbari custom
* AU where he doesn’t die in the Starfire wheel
Marcus/Ivanova: I love them both and would like think they could have made it work, but I also love angst and wistfulness so I don’t mind it going there either. This was one of my first ever fandoms .
Prompt ideas:
* Marcus finds out Ivanova’s a telepath (or Ivanova fears he will)
* 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
Delenn & Jeffrey Sinclair: what really fascinates me about their relationship is that to her, he’s both Valen with all that implies (she talks about a vision of Valen appearing to her in childhood!) - and also this alien who doesn’t understand who he is, doesn’t know who she is, and can’t be given most of the information she has.
Prompt ideas:
* they’re already friends of a sort by the start of the show; how does that begin?
* Sinclair telling Delenn about the Jesuit motto ‘Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam’ - all things are done for the greater glory of God - and how she would think about that
* Messages they send each other during Sinclair’s early days on Minbar
Vir Cotto & Londo Mollari: I would not have blamed Vir for giving up on Londo entirely at multiple points throughout the series, and it’s so compelling to me that he *doesn’t*. I would love anything exploring this idea of friendship and faith and being able to see both the best and the worst in someone, whether it’s about war crimes or something more lighthearted.
Prompt ideas:
* Londo thinking about how different he was (or wasn’t) from Vir when he was younger
* Messages they send when Vir’s sent to Minbar for a while
Vir Cotto & Lennier: love them both, love how loyalty means different (and maybe similar) things to both of them, love how they both start off as new aides fully out of their depths and grow and come into their own.
Prompt ideas:
* the idea that they canonically have a regular meeting at a bar to offload about the stress of their jobs is just lovely and I would enjoy anything about that
* Messages they send each other after the end of s5
* Some meeting between them, accidental or planned, after the events at the end of s5.
The Rings of Power:
For TROP I love fic that includes wider Tolkien legendarium stuff, but I'm also absolutely fine if you just want to stick to show canon.
Disa/Durin/Elrond, Disa & Durin & Elrond: I love all three of them, and I’d be happy with anything at any point on the fluff-to-angst continuum for this, whether romantic or platonic
Prompt ideas:
* elf social customs are fine with them having a romantic/sexual relationship but dwarf ones aren’t (or vice versa) - how to keep it secret?
* Elrond apologises for missing their wedding
* post-s2 - meeting again after the fall of Eregion
Disa/Durin: it’s surprisingly rare in genre TV to get an established relationship like this done well and I so loved what we got with them: they genuinely love and respect each other, they disagree on things, they’re balancing big epic world-changing Events alongside domestic amily issues.
Prompt ideas:
* Disa mentions Durin’s brother at the end of s2 and there’s obviously some history there - how does that go when he turns up?
* A story about how they met, beyond the bits they tell Elrond in s1
* Something set in the s2 ep where they visit Eregion - we see Durin seeing right through Annatar, but what else happens in that trip?
Arondir/Bronwyn: 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'.
Prompt ideas:
* Canon divergence for s2 where Bronwyn lives
* Bronwyn's speech to her people at the watchtower reminded me of Elwing before the Third Kinslaying - was Arondir thinking of that too?
Nori/Poppy: adore them, wish they had kissed in s2. For these two I would be happy with fluff or with unrequited pining but would rather avoid tragic or dark endings.
Prompt ideas:
* hurt/comfort: one gets injured at some point in the s2 Rhûn storyline and feelings get confessed unintentionally under the influence of painkiller herbs
* the significance of map-reading and way-finding and what it says about who you are as a person
* some time many years in the future, telling their happy family of adopted hobbit orphans and assorted grandchildren about their adventures.
Elendil/Miriel: love the angst, love the loyalties torn between the person you care for and the principles you care for and the place you care for. Really love that they’re not young idealists encountering love for the first time, that Elendil had a wife and has grown children.
Prompt ideas:
* s1: Miriel decides she should learn more about Elendil if she’s going to trust him with a duty like this
* Something with the importance of touch as communication between them after Miriel loses her sight
Adar/Galadriel: Two of my favourite show characters; I would love anything more about their interactions.
Prompt ideas:
* Adar turns out to be the missing Celeborn (disguised through whichever plotdevice you prefer)
* gapfiller or canon divergence where Galadriel is Adar’s prisoner for longer during s2
* what if Galadriel had captured Adar rather than the other way around in s2?
Adar/Arondir: Would rather not have fluff for this one because what calls to me here is messed-up-ness and darkness and pain, but it doesn’t need to end in outright tragedy. DNW outright noncon but dubcon where one partner consents under duress or deceit is fine (eg agreed to for the sake of a deal, under the influence of drink or drugs or enchantment).
Prompt ideas:
* s2 canon divergence where Bronwyn doesn’t die and Arondir is sent out from Pelargir to negotiate with Adar over territory
* “You have been told many lies. Some run so deep, even the rocks and roots now believe them” - Adar chooses one of those lies to show Arondir the truth of
Adar/Elrond: “You have the beauty of your foremother Melian” is a hell of a thing to say during fraught wartime negotiations. I loved herald Elrond outmanouevring Adar in that tent (both undermining him with his soldiers and then kissing Galadriel in a way Adar looked full-on “???” about); I’d love to read him doing more of that sort of thing. DNW outright noncon but dubcon where one partner consents under duress or deceit is fine (eg agreed to for the sake of a deal, under the influence of drink or drugs or enchantment).
Prompt ideas:
* Adar trades Galadriel for Elrond as his hostage
* The dwarf armies arrive to save the elves as planned, Adar and his armies retreat, and some time later Gil-galad sends Elrond back to make some other kind of deal with him
Celebrimbor & Elrond: so much history! so much tragedy!
Prompt ideas:
* By the end of s1 and the beginning of s2, we see Elrond getting suspicious of what Galadriel’s doing in making the rings; but he’s been working with Celebrimbor for a while by then - did he try to speak to Celebrimbor about Halbrand? Did Celebrimbor start acting differently?
* Fathers and fatherhood: Celebrimbor having more memories of Elrond’s father than Elrond does is fascinating, and I’d love them talking about Celebrimbor’s father, or Elrond’s memories of being brought up by Maglor (& Maedhros).
* Some time in the very distant future, Celebrimbor is released from the Halls of Mandos and Elrond in Valinor gets to meet him again.
Silmarillion:
I love elves, I love tragedy, I love characters dealing with their complicated pasts and guilt and loyalty, I love characters finding love and peace and joy unexpectedly even in the middle of bad circumstances. I will gobble up absolutely anything about Noldor vs. Sindar relationships and cultural misunderstandings therein.
Celebrimbor/Sauron: I love all variations on Sauron planning to seduce Celebrimbor as part of a masterful manipulation with absolutely no feelings involved obviously, and then desperately trying to keep believing it as he falls harder and harder himself.
Prompt ideas:
* Letters sent between them after Annatar leaves Eregion
* Celebrimbor, fed up of council meetings always going the same way: “Stop bickering with Galadriel, or there will be consequences.”
* Celebrimbor finds out more about Annatar’s identity (either all of it or assuming he’s some less important Maia that sided with Morgoth) and is not entirely put off.
Idril/Maeglin: happy or tragic, I’m good with either. (Also I’m good with Idril/Maeglin/Tuor if you want to go there.)
Prompt ideas:
* ‘the histories say this, but here’s what really happened…’ about any part of either of their stories
* Alternative future where the fall of Gondolin goes differently: Maeglin survives and Morgoth gives him Gondolin and Idril as promised
Maedhros/Maglor: I love it when this is after they leave Valinor and when it’s on the darker and messier side with one of them at least feeling very torn about their feelings, although I'm fine with that ending in consensual relatively-happy "let's at least find some joy together amidst all this horror”.
Prompt ideas:
* Maglor trying to console Maedhros after the boats are burned
Beren/Lúthien: the most iconic and romantic love story in all of Tolkien, in which the beautiful heroine wears the skin of her enemy’s vampire lieutenant to break into Evil HQ. Impeccable.
Prompt ideas:
* The Lay of Leithian mirrors Angband and Menegroth, Anfauglith and Doriath: do either Beren or Luthien notice the similarities?
Fëanor/Nerdanel: love the angst of this, the idea that there was a way it could have gone differently but didn’t. I’m especially interested in Nerdanel’s POV on any of their marriage, either before or after Finwë’s death and the rebellion of the Noldor.
Prompt ideas:
* Letters they don’t send each other
* Stories of Feanor as a Pied Piper figure leading away the children of the Noldor
* Fëanor is used to his own family’s dramatics (Fëanor largely is his own family’s dramatics); he hadn’t expected to be caught so off-guard by his in-laws.
Earendil/Elwing: two royal heir refugees finding hope in the middle of tragedy, it's beautiful. Fine with fluff, fine with angst, fine with Sirion or reunions later on.
Prompt ideas:
* What do they remember of where they came from?
* What’s everyday life in Sirion like?
Daeron & Lúthien - I am fascinated by Doriath in general and would love anything about what these two think about it, or any takes on what their relationship was like.
Prompt ideas:
* Daeron creating a whole writing system; what does writing give you? what use would Luthien have for it?
* Lúthien interrogating Daeron about the Noldor after the Mereth Aderthad
Indis/Míriel Serindë - anything at all about them would be wonderful (I’m fine with Finwë being included & with Indis/Miriel/Finwë if you like). Their actions and marriages are so important in other people’s stories, but they don’t get to tell their own.
Prompt ideas:
* tapestries and weaving - what kind of stories you can tell that way, what kind you can’t
* letters they do or don’t send to each other
Aulë/Yavanna - the whole idea of Ainur marriages is fascinating, especially when one of them is creating dwarves who’ll chop down trees and the other one is creating tree-shepherds to guard trees from destructive dwarves.
Prompt ideas:
* what they think about the other’s craft
* Sauron and Melian are both off doing their own thing in Middle-earth - is there some kind of parental-type feeling of responsibility for whatever’s going on there?
Aredhel/Celegorm - I love how much Aredhel refuses to fit within the boundaries and expectations of wherever she’s put, and I would love to see some takes on what Celegorm thinks about that, or what it is about each of them that the other one isdrawn to .
Prompt ideas:
* when Aredhel leaves Nan Elmoth with Maeglin, she goes to Celegorm instead of Turgon
* their first meeting again on Middle-earth, after the first kinslaying and subsequent events.
LOTR:
Happy with anything here including First or Second-Age or with it taking place entirely within the timeline of LOTR and after.
Celeborn & Glorfindel, Celeborn/Glorfindel - I wrote this for a pinch hit a year ago and now I cannot get enough of it. If you’re writing the / version I’m happy with Celeborn having an open marriage or with angsty infidelity or anywhere between the two, but I really like Galadriel so I’d love it if you find a way to mention or include her in the story too.
Prompt ideas:
* we don’t know when/if Glorfindel sailed to Valinor, so maybe he stays behind along with Celeborn when Galadriel sails?
* something comparing Gondolin and Doriath
* “there’s a Balrog in Moria? someone send a message to Rivendell and tell that one guy who killed a Balrog to get over here.”
Celeborn & Thranduil, Celeborn & Elladan & Elrohir - I’m fascinated by what life is like for the elves in the late Third Age and then afterwards
Prompt ideas:
* Something after Elrond and Galadriel and the others sail to Valinor, when Celeborn is mentioned as going to live in Rivendell with the twins
* Forests having a memory
* Restoring Mirkwood to Eryn Lasgalen after Dol Guldur is destroyed
Elrond & Elros - I would love something that explores their life as children together or as adults going their very separate ways
Prompt ideas:
* Elrond visits Numenor
* Letters they write to each other in Elros’s lifetime
Challengers:
Art Donaldson/Tashi Donaldson/Patrick Zweig - They don’t all need to be in the same place at the same time for the story (although it’s great if they are), but what I really love about their dynamic is that all three of them seem to need *both* of the others.
Prompt ideas:
* An in-universe long-form investigative journalism-type article written by someone trying to figure out what’s really going on between the three of them
* Something that deals with the way Art seems to project his resentment for both Tashi and Patrick onto Patrick, and his affection for both of them onto Tashi.
DS9:
Elim Garak & Keiko O’Brien, Elim Garak & Odo, Elim Garak & Kira Nerys, Elim Garak & Molly O'Brien, Elim Garak & Keiko O’Brien & Molly O’Brien, Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien, Kira Nerys & Kirayoshi O'Brien
I don’t have a great deal of detail for any of these, I’d just be happy with any interactions between these characters! Things that particularly interest me about them and about DS9 in general:
* Garak - everything Garak. What he thinks about Cardassia, what he thinks about Cardassia’s history, what he thinks about his own history, how he’s really a very good tailor.
* Bajor and Kira’s relationship to Bajor, to religion, and to her own past; and how that might come out for her through the idea of motherhood
* Keiko and what kind of identity she can maintain for herself on the station - I’m really interested in her spending that time on Bajor (on Bajor! with a young child! working and solo parenting! while Miles complains when they get back that it’s going to cramp his Me Time with Bashir! Miles I love you but oh my God, some perspective please), and what kind of memories she might have of that afterwards.
Ghosts (UK):
Alison & The Captain, The Captain & Robin, The Captain & Mike, Lady Fanny Button & The Captain:
I just love them all and would adore any story about any of them. Bonus points if it’s lighthearted and funny to some extent (can be sad too, especially with the Captain’s and Fanny’s backstories!) and double bonus points if the Captain gets to learn something about Havers that makes him happy.
Baldur's Gate 3:
Astarion/Gale, Astarion/Halsin, Astarion/Wyll, Karlach/Wyll, Halsin & Thaniel
No particular prompts for any of these purely because I ran out of time for the signup, sorry, but I love all these characters and would be happy to read any take you have on them!
