seikasoter | Recent Entries

Dear Author,

Welcome to the exchange, be you old or new! It's great that this keeps running, and I'm especially personally grateful that there are still people who match with me on the very particular things that interest me about these games which have meant so much to me for so long. Bon chance!

Some general preferences

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you - do not want:

Unless I prompt otherwise, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like this series not just for the characters but also for the specific journey everyone's going through, so it's difficult for me to get into something which would upend that. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.

Smut preferences

I don't tend to directly prompt for smut, given the risk of making an author uncomfortable, but I am pretty much always glad to accept it.

Yes, please:

Breastplay
Hypnosis and mind control
"Too good to say no"-style CNC or noncon.
Alternatively, very soft and encouraging domme.
Mommy kink

No, thank you - do not want:

Anal
Blood, vomit, scat/piss.
Choking.
Snuff generally.
Breeding kink.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual intersex/trans women are fine.
Beastiality.

I'm

Dear Author,

This is a new exchange for me (I was looking to see if chocbox was going on and naturally candy hearts came up), and I didn't get to nom, but there were some great ships already in here, and I'm absolutely looking forward to whatever you put out. All the best!

(Treats are welcome for any request)

Some general preferences

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

Unless I prompt otherwise, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like these series not just for their characters but also for the specific journey everyone's going through, so it's difficult for me to get into something which would upend that. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.

Smut preferences

I don't tend to directly prompt for smut, given the risk of making an author uncomfortable, but I am pretty much always glad to accept it.

Yes, please

Breastplay
Hypnosis and mind control
"Too good to say no"-style CNC or noncon.
Alternatively, very soft and encouraging domme.

No, thank you

Anal
Blood, vomit, scat/piss.
Choking.
Snuff generally.
Breeding kink.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual intersex/trans women are fine.
Beastiality.

I'm

Exploring the Labyrinth of Time, especially as the duet kicks in. Ranka and Sheryl's feelings, the way they're communicating despite everything. Any kind of shippy post-LoT followup too, especially with Sheryl waking up.
The post-credits Wings of Goodbye scene where Sheryl does seem to have woken up and has a concert with Ranka!
Ranka's thoughts at the Universal Bunny scene in False Songstress, when she's blushing up a storm as the Black and White Sheryls kiss. (Sheryl/Ranka/Sheryl is also a valid ship!)
A peaceful AU where Ranka and Sheryl just happen to meet as part of their music careers and fall in love.
A cute date some time in or after the Frontier timeline. The scene ~8:00 in Labyrinth of Time with Sheryl and Ranka loving life, in clothes covered in hearts and rainbow colours, killed me and I would love to see more of them going out together to have fun.

Prefer no cheating on Alto: give the ladies their flowers, and let flyboy enjoy his Valkyrie (or Brera or Michael or Ozma or whoever else according to your taste).

Buffyverse
Willow/Buffy

The two girls who were with each other right from the beginning to the very end. Through the laughter and the tears, through life and death (and pulling one of them back "against all the laws of nature" from death to life), through love and conflict and even bitter emnity. And "I kind of love you".

This is a pairing for which I also have great nostalgic adoration, so I'm going to be pretty happy with whatever I get. (I'll express a preference for something relatively positive, but that's not an absolute).

If however, you would prefer prompts, then a quick array includes:

Willow developing an innocent kind of crush on Buffy over S1-2 and dealing with feelings she doesn't quite understand yet;
Willow getting (even more) jealous of Faith's flirting with Buffy in S3 (optionally, Faith just starts flirting with Willow too);
Willow starts to explore her sexuality with Buffy in S4 rather than Tara (and Buffy has to work her own sexuality out too);
trying to rebuild together - as established lovers or while falling in love - post S7. (You might just ignore Kennedy's S7 existence instead of spending time and space on writing her out: use a bit of fanfic fiat there);
any-season case 'fic where a dangerous situation or monster or Willow's magic going wrong/right forces them to confront or confess their feelings. (Sex pollen optional).

I haven't kept up with any post-show material (barring Angel S5, insofar as that counts), so the comics and so forth won't really ring a bell with me. You're welcome to draw on them, if you'd really like, but it's not likely to land particularly effectively.

Prefer no cheating on Tara.

Mass Effect
Tali/F!Shepard

I felt this ship surprisingly hard when my first game of ME2 rolled around and was honestly surprised it didn't go all the way, given both how much of the male romance was left in their interactions and even what replaced the more overt romantic scenes. I'd like something probably more in that timeframe then.

Tali in ME2 has a lot to deal with when it comes to Shepard. Shepard in ME1 was a saviour, mentor, superior, leader, hero, friend, perhaps crush. In ME2, she adds to that powerful mix a dose of bizarre resurrection - but at the hands of Cerberus, and just as Tali's starting to stand on her own as a leader herself.

I'd like to see Tali trying to cope with this odd cocktail, perhaps working up her confidence over time, both as she continues to grow herself and as she starts getting to know Shepard more completely. Going from a kind of distant, unattainable crush, to a closer and more genuine emotional connexion.

Dear Author,

Merry Yuletide and the best of the exchange to you! I'm very happy to have matched with you, and look forward to seeing what you've got in store!

Some general preferences

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like these series not just for their characters but also for the specific journey everyone's going through, so it's difficult for me to get into something which would upend that. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

I'm

Dear Author,

Continuing to bring my classic aura of grumpy grognard to the exchange this year, albeit with a mostly refreshed slate of prompts. I'm very glad for anyone who's matched with me on this increasingly eclectic series of requests, so I wish you all the best and look forward to whatever you produce!

Some general preferences

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like BG not just for their characters but also for the specific journey everyone's going through here, so it's difficult for me to get into something which would upend that. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Specific no-thank-yous for this exchange
I haven't played the BGEEs beyond the first one's truly awful release state, so characters and situations from them (including SoD) will pass me by. Heroes of Baldur's Gate/Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villainy were not to my taste, and I'd rather their takes on the characters/history were not included. I'm also reserving judgement on BG3 until I might someday play it, while holding something of a grudge for it co-opting the Bhaalspawn Saga's name, so I won't twig to anything from that either. I haven't prompted for anything from them, but just in case. In short, nothing post-2001, please.

I'm

There will obviously be strong feelings on both sides when it comes to him and Sarevok. Can they understand each other, these two half-dead men brought back to life for a greater purpose? Does the memory of Tamoko bring them together or drive them apart?

The reactions of those who were directly betrayed by Yoshimo (Charname, the rescue party), those who saw him mostly as either helpful or else pitiful (Imoen, from Chateau Irenicus to basically throwing himself on the party's swords under a geas), and maybe even those who'd never known him but have to cope with his story and everyone else's emotional reactions (say, those who were recruited after Spellhold).

The last act. When he finally is released again by his god. Or ... is it his god? Does Charname intervene, one way or another? Is it as a mortal making a request of Ilmater, or is it as a god, perhaps more forcefully?

Edwina
I'm going to show my age here a bit, but ... just the Ranma 1/2 trans fanfic classic? Turn the genderbending a little more sincere and a little less comic. Get transformed by magical accident, get extremely touchy about it because society has ingrained into you a bit too much chauvinism and attachment to your rod, but gradually find yourself seeing things from another perspective, casting off assumptions, taking comfort in the new form that there wasn't in the old form, and refusing to turn back. (If you want to bring back some comedy, I personally think it would be very funny for Viconia to respond an awful lot better to the uncertain f!Edwin than to vanilla Edwin's terrible attempts at seduction via "erotic onslaught").

Relationship Prompts

Aerie/Haer'Dalis
If you take your time with this one in the game, it will always explode, one way or another. But the difference in the way it blows up is what I'd like to look at here.

If you take your time in SoA, Aerie will decide - after seeing everything Irenicus has wrought - that she needs to step up and be more proactive about fighting evil. Haer'Dalis rejoices over the fading of her innocence and her closer relationship with destruction, which causes her to snap at him that she's not an object lesson in his philosophy and he's clearly not a good match for her new course. Haer'Dalis is sanguine about the matter, seeing it as more or less just another ending, and another proof of the Doomguard's truth. (This conversation makes Aerie "hardened", and it gives her a new voiceset when you transition to ToB).

Conversely, if you don't trigger this argument, you have to wait for Aerie to harden until after the sack of Saradush and the destruction there. It does always happen, regardless of Haer'Dalis being in the party or not, and regardless of their romance status - but if she is romancing him, it again leads to their breakup. He considers the sack of Saradush a wonderful thing, and hearing that is what prompts Aerie to realise that they're fundamentally incompatible, that she wants to go out and stop this, where he adores it. This time, Haer'Dalis is more upset, trying to win her back and calling her his "love". He still is glad to see her hardened, but it's much more resigned than in the SoA version.

So ... I'd like to see something about the development between, towards, and around, and after these two points, whichever you decide to use.

Haer'Dalis as he observes Aerie's gradual progress in self-esteem and initiative and will to fight;
him slowly finding her more lovely and more entropic as this continues, and also knowing that this makes the eventual loss all the more inevitable, and beginning to actively mourn its loss in a way he wouldn't have before;
Aerie on her side as she makes these gains in confidence and conviction both thanks to Haer'Dalis and opposite him, and similarly perhaps starting to twig to their differences.
The way people see Aerie, differently, perhaps, and especially if she finds this determination in herself in SoA, rather than clinging on to a gentler character until the fall of Saradush.
The sharp point as the relationship finally disintegrates, from one or both sides, actually in their heads rather than just getting their dialogue.
The aftermath, with all the jagged edges and relief and regret and near-backtracking that break-ups can bring.

Request set 2: 'fic or art, unleash the crack

Safana/Skie
Horrifically self-referential, but ... when I wrote To Follow And To Lead last year, I ended up finding I shipped this, because they're so similar, but just different enough. Both rich daughters who wanted to run away from overprotective fathers for adventure - but Safana found someone to steal her away, and Skie was seduced into it by Eldoth. Happy to see anything like Safana replacing Eldoth as Skie's original seducer, Safana taking Skie under her wing before or after Eldoth is dealt with and giving her a lesson in proactivity, both meeting later in life and comparing their similar stories. Also, because I find this very amusing, anything to do with Safana as a marriage candidate for Skie - because if you charm Duke Entar (as with Safana's innate ability), then despite his alleged overprotectiveness, he makes a broad hint at Skie being beautiful and marriageable, with no gender check.

Winthrop/Gorion
Old man yaoi? Old man yaoi.

No, literally, I have no particular excuse for this, I just thought it would be cute if the PC and Imoen's foster parents also got together, and got to see their kids growing up and being friends. Besides copious fluff, maybe you can explore a little the how and why of the two children coming to Candlekeep, and how the PC ended up with Gorion and Imoen with Winthrop. Or maybe, finally, we get to resurrect Gorion at some point after the saga (wish ahoy) and get to see the whole family reunion.

Ulcaster
But actually, what would it feel like if some rumour spread around got you to collect these weird artifacts from weird places, half of which it was a complete matter of luck you stumbled upon or found in time, and you brought them to the ghost of the founder of a great school of magic, and he forged them into a powerful magic sword ... and it was cursed and terrible? What would the PC think, what would the party think, what are their reactions, what do they do to Ulcaster? Enjoy the silliness.

Elminster and/or Volo
These two are pretty much the only two people outside the party who can actually watch us develop over the course of the entire saga, from just after Gorion dies, through Nashkel, through the entry into Baldur's Gate, through the mess with the Harpers in Athkatla, through the Siege of Amkethran, and finally through to very near the end itself, as the last of the Five are falling and ascension draws near.

Either singly or in mutual discussion, I'd just like to see their reactions to the Saga as it plays out, the ups and downs, the comings and goings from the party, the development of Charname, the ever-rising stakes and power involved. It's a bit of an excuse to do some freeform selling on your Charname, and the way your party went through the games.

If you'd like, you might make this epistolary, patterned off their interactions in the BG manual (or various other tabletop media, like Volo's Guide to All Things Magical).

Dear Author,

The Exchange continues, and I'm glad to rejoin it once more. If you're new, welcome; if you're returning, I'm glad to see you again. I've been playing these games since pretty much release year, when I was five, so they're near and dear to my heart, and I'm delighted that our fandom continues to march its way ever onward.

Some general preferences

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

Specific no-thank-yous for this exchange
I haven't played the BGEEs beyond the first one's truly awful release state, so characters and situations from them (including SoD) will pass me by. Heroes of Baldur's Gate/Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villainy were not to my taste, and I'd rather their takes on the characters/history were not included. I'm also reserving judgement on BG3 (which vague word of mouth is telling me is still quite unfinished anyway) while holding something of a grudge for it co-opting the Bhaalspawn Saga's name, so I won't twig to anything from that either. I haven't prompted for anything from them, but just in case.

I'm

Generally, Dynaheir observing Charname as the target of her mission, and Charname's development. Her changing feelings, astonishment at Charname rising above their blood, or despair as they sink into it.

How, or when, does she realise Charname is actually a Bhaalspawn? Does it take until Gorion's letter? Does she see it straight away, somehow? (There are some certain ways, it seems, to identify a Bhaalspawn - Sarevok twigged to you in Candlekeep on his early visit there). Is it maybe the dreams that she sees as a clue? (Good time for some hurt/comfort).

How does Charname find out Dynaheir? Is there a confession of sorts once she's worked it out, and found she trusts Charname? Does it happen, as in vanilla, through a spell? What reaction does Dynaheir have to that?

So ... is this a dajemma, to which the Wychlaren have attached a secondary special mission? Or is that entirely a cover, and Dynaheir's already been out? Does the same go for Minsc? In either case, Dynaheir is presumably pretty young. It'd be interesting to factor that in, and her relatively close age to the similarly youthful Charname.

On the same note, the dajemma in modern Rashemen is ... not really a noble quest for adulthood, so much as a gap year: an excuse to go around outside Rashemen, see new places, get drunk, and hook up with strangers. (See Spellbound: Campaign Guide p71). Again, whether Dynaheir and Minsc are on dajemma or not, do they play up to this? Do they take their mission very seriously, but kind of long for a more usual and carefree journey?

I would be happy with either platonic or romantic relationship between Dynaheir and Charname.

Anomen
I believe this is kind of a minority opinion, but I really quite like "failed"/CN Anomen. The way he finally reacts to freedom from a strict life of duty that he's clearly struggled with and resented is fascinating and often joyous. "I long to laugh and do as I like...and, by Helm, I shall!" His changed lovetalks also seem so much more unrestrained and genuine. "My...my life is full of chaos, now, and I wish for there to be one thing that is permanent. So I offer my heart to you, along with my service and my companionship;" "You are a beautiful woman, <CHARNAME>...full of a life that I have always desired. I wish to experience new things, now that I am free...and I wish to be closer to you."

So:

Anomen just exploring his new freedom outside the order, indulging in luxuries (food, wine, fighting not for duty but because he wants to, women) that he hasn't been able to before. If you're feeling raunchy, a casually romanced - or not romanced at all - Charname accompanying him as he discovers some carnal pleasures (with a grateful rescuee before Charname joins in? bawdy tavern wench? courtesan?) might be fun.

Or, a more contemplative exploration of the way a chaotic Anomen sees Charname (romanced or otherwise) as his example and guide in a new life that he revels in but still doesn't quite yet understand. Meanwhile, Charname's chaotic dialogue options lightly suggest she leads by example where she bothers to lead him at all, just doing what she wants and hoping he'll see that he's now able to do the same. It fascinates me.

Or, well, Anomen says it himself. Helm never rejected him, not after failing his Test, not after bypassing the law to kill the wrong man. Why? What's the deeper secret here? What in Anomen is still worthy of his god? (This might be the one for those less directly enamoured of CN Anomen).

(A note, if you're like me and tend to use dialogue tools to look up scenes for writing the characters: there's a lot of inconsistency in the triggers that control LN/CN dialogue. Some use AnomenIsNotKnight, others !Alignment("Anomen",MASK_GOOD) or Alignment("Anomen",CHAOTIC_NEUTRAL) or the like. Alignment("Anomen" catches most of the purely alignment-based triggers, whatever they're trying to key off).

Viconia
Interested in looking at her faith for this go around.

Menzoberranzan is essentially monotheistic - how much of a shock was it to go from there to the very polytheistic surface Realms, where everyone except dedicated priests will call on a whole pantheon according to the needs of the moment? Did she have expectations of inquisitions and calls of heresy as soon as someone called on two gods? How did she come to grips with this entirely new paradigm?
How did she end up learning about and deciding to worship Shar in particular?
Likewise in respect of her chosen surface goddess: if she changes from NE to TN, what does that do to her relationship with Shar? It's notable that Shar offers relief from the pain of loss, not by restitution of any kind, but by numbness. It is forbidden to seek to better one's lot, even if one came to Shar through abject misery. If the relationship with CHARNAME gives her a measure of hope and healing ...
Or, if she becomes CHARNAME's first priestess upon their ascension as she once promises, what is that like for her? (And, indeed, what's it like for CHARNAME?)

Relationship Prompts

Aerie/Haer'Dalis
If you take your time with this one in the game, it will always explode, one way or another. But the difference in the way it blows up is what I'd like to look at here.

So ... I'd like to see something about the development between, towards, and around, and after these two points, whichever you decide to use.

Haer'Dalis as he observes Aerie's gradual progress in self-esteem and initiative and will to fight;
him slowly finding her more lovely and more entropic as this continues, and also knowing that this makes the eventual loss all the more inevitable, and beginning to actively mourn its loss in a way he wouldn't have before;
Aerie on her side as she makes these gains in confidence and conviction both thanks to Haer'Dalis and opposite him, and similarly perhaps starting to twig to their differences.
The way people see Aerie, differently, perhaps, and especially if she finds this determination in herself in SoA, rather than clinging on to a gentler character until the fall of Saradush.
The sharp point as the relationship finally disintegrates, from one or both sides, actually in their heads rather than just getting their dialogue.
The aftermath, with all the jagged edges and relief and regret and near-backtracking that break-ups can bring.

Dear Author,

Welp. Written a fair bit of smut for exchanges, but this is my first purposeful mature one. I hope the modifications to my usual letter template and prompt styles prove helpful, and you find something you'll enjoy writing about. All the best for the nights ahead!

Preferences for this exchange (i.e. kinks)

Would like:

breastplay
grinding
massage
exhibitionism
feels-to-good-to-say-no dubcon/noncon
mind control

DNW:

vore, snuff
anal, scat, watersports
impregnation/breeding kink
A/B/O and like dynamics
creature/monster sex
pet play
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though straps, toys, and actual trans women are fine.

I'm

Dear Author,

The Exchange continues, and I'm glad to rejoin it for a second year. If you're new, welcome; if you're returning, I'm glad to see you again. I've been playing these games since pretty much release year, when I was five, so they're near and dear to my heart, and I'm delighted that our fandom continues to march its way ever onward.

Some general preferences

Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

There will obviously be strong feelings on both sides when it comes to him and Sarevok. Can they understand each other, these two half-dead men brought back to life for a greater purpose? Does the memory of Tamoko bring them together or drive them apart?

The reactions of those who were directly betrayed by Yoshimo (Charname, the rescue party), those who saw him mostly as either helpful or else pitiful (Imoen, from Chateau Irenicus to basically throwing himself on the party's swords under a geas), and maybe even those who'd never known him but have to cope with his story and everyone else's emotional reactions (say, those who were recruited after Spellhold).

The last act. When he finally is released again by his god. Or ... is it his god? Does Charname intervene, one way or another? Is it as a mortal making a request of Ilmater, or is it as a god, perhaps more forcefully?

Dynaheir
"I am Dynaheir, a witch of Rasheman. I and my comrade Minsc have been sent by the Wychalarn to determine if the prophecies of Alaundo are true. We search for the spawn of Bhaal."

Dynaheir's charmed dialogue, well, says a lot about her character you wouldn't really get another way. (And can rather give the game away if you try it early). I'd be interested in some exploration of this.

Generally, Dynaheir observing Charname as the target of her mission, and Charname's development. Her changing feelings, astonishment at Charname rising above their blood, or despair as they sink into it.

How, or when, does she realise Charname is actually a Bhaalspawn? Does it take until Gorion's letter? Does she see it straight away, somehow? (There are some certain ways, it seems, to identify a Bhaalspawn - Sarevok twigged to you in Candlekeep on his early visit there). Is it maybe the dreams that she sees as a clue? (Good time for some hurt/comfort).

How does Charname find out Dynaheir? Is there a confession of sorts once she's worked it out, and found she trusts Charname? Does it happen, as in vanilla, through a spell? What reaction does Dynaheir have to that?

So ... is this a dajemma, to which the Wychlaren have attached a secondary special mission? Or is that entirely a cover, and Dynaheir's already been out? Does the same go for Minsc? In either case, Dynaheir is presumably pretty young. It'd be interesting to factor that in, and her relatively close age to the similarly youthful Charname.

On the same note, the dajemma in modern Rashemen is ... not really a noble quest for adulthood, so much as a gap year: an excuse to go around outside Rashemen, see new places, get drunk, and hook up with strangers. (See Spellbound: Campaign Guide p71). Again, whether Dynaheir and Minsc are on dajemma or not, do they play up to this? Do they take their mission very seriously, but kind of long for a more usual and carefree journey?

I would be happy with either platonic or romantic relationship between Dynaheir and Charname.

Sarevok

I generally favour the BGI account of Sarevok's childhood (primarily from his diary) rather than the ToB retcons. I think there's room to explore him growing up in a clearly terrible household, with a mother either raped by or willingly giving herself to Bhaal, and a suspicious, jealous, and cruel Rieltar who reacts awfully to what he thinks is "unfaithfulness". The way this then opens him up to the influence of Bhaal as it seeks him out in his dreams, his own determination to move forward and seek out priests of the dead god (and Winski Perorate) to unlock his power, the competing influences of Tamoko (a bright spot?) and Cythandria...

Or, a reaction to an account by Charname of Yoshimo and all that happened to Tamoko's brother as a result of his search for her killer. Is there regret? Is that one of the first steps for Sarevok toward turning away from the cruelties he'd immersed himself in before his death? Is it one of the last ones?

Or, some kind of diachronic look at Sarevok's relationship to Charname over time: first finding out about them; evaluating them while he's undercover at Candlekeep; catching them on the road as Gorion tries to flee, but seeing them escape behind a torrent of spells; increasing frustration as they foil his plans; eventual respect as seen by the final confrontation in BGI; resentment at their life and their power in ToB, while still holding his scraps of knowledge over them; and whatever end you think is appropriate, whether it's backstabbing or supporting godhood or supporting mortality.

Elminster and/or Volo

These two are pretty much the only two people outside the party who can actually watch us develop over the course of the entire saga, from just after Gorion dies, through Nashkel, through the entry into Baldur's Gate, through the mess with the Harpers in Athkatla, through the Siege of Amkethran, and finally through to very near the end itself, as the last of the Five are falling and ascension draws near.

Either singly or in mutual discussion, I'd just like to see their reactions to the Saga as it plays out, the ups and downs, the comings and goings from the party, the development of Charname, the ever-rising stakes and power involved. It's a bit of an excuse to do some freeform selling on your Charname, and the way your party went through the games.

Relationship Prompts

Imoen/Female Charname
I think this relationship can go all sorts of ways, and I basically love all of them. Among the possibilities:

childhood friends: the two of them as they grow up together in Candlekeep, the hints of a connexion between them, silly and sheltered teenage girlfriends in a fortress with basically no other kids;

hurt/comfort: Imoen looking after a distraught Charname for the first day and night in the wilderness after Gorion's death, or after a breakdown at the FAI; Charname trying so hard to get through to the dazed and confused Imoen in Spellhold; their more conscious reunion after Irenicus has left Charname soulless too, and they're dumped bleeding physically and spiritually into Bodhi's maze; Imoen trying to help Charname when she's taken her soul back from Bodhi, but Charname is still struggling with Irenicus' theft...

happily ever after: the pair of them released from the wars and the personal torments of their blood, and either finally beginning a relationship or being able to enjoy and explore it far more than they could before.

Dear Chocolatier,
And I finish my sign-up one minute before the deadline. Been a bit of an interesting few days lately.

That aside, welcome to this letter! Thank you for matching with me and thank you for your future writing efforts! This year with yet more extensive quoting from the originals, in an effort to not force people to play extremely long and wordy games. I hope it's helpful!

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

I'd love some exploration of this post-game concept, whether it's discussions between the Spirit Monk and Silk Fox in the palace, pillow talk/smut after their "play", someone visited by the Foxes, an attendant who discovers somehow what the Empress and her consort are doing ...

I'd prefer to lean on the more "true" Closed Fist dialogue from the Spirit Monk and Silk Fox along that taint-the-Dragon path, where the Monk challenges the right of the gods to decide that mortals can suffer for their natural order, and Silk Fox says that the Dragon's power could be used for the benefit of the whole empire. Rather than the pettier and more psychotic options you can also take.

After the death of Sun Li, the Princess and [FullName] assumed control. They quickly crushed any opposition to the partnership they formed, and turned a chaotic and fractured land into an economic and military powerhouse. Anyone that threatened the stability of their Empire awakened a fury not even the gods could contain. It became dangerous to speak against them even in the lowliest of taverns, and Sun Lian and [FullName] were often amused that, despite the power they could command, their enemies were often more afraid of the shadowy Silk Fox that could now somehow be in two places at once. Even at their height of their power they made time for such games they both enjoyed.

Princess Sun Lian was praised for helping save the Empire, and with [FullName] close at hand she was soon appointed Empress. It became apparent, however, that she still held the same disdain for the bonds imposed by her position. [FullName] had pushed her to revel in the traits she showed as Silk Fox, and now that freedom seemed further away than ever. She withdrew, much as her father had done, and soon even an audience in the palace was a rare event. In truth, she was spending much of her time in the streets of the Imperial City, hiding her face once more. Her rule was prosperous enough, but it was never more than a game to her and [FullName].

Water Dragon: Rebirth can only come when my essence is free. To defeat your Master, you must stop the power he draws from me. Soon he will be too strong, even for you.

Spirit Monk: I will do what is necessary to restore the order of things.

WD: Your Master abuses the amulet he took from you. His brother did not have that luxury, so he needed to draw my essence slowly. The toll on his body was grave. Your Master does not have to be so cautious. The amulet is not a source of power, but it *is* a focus. He partakes of energy that mortals were never meant to hold. He laps at it greedily, expecting your return. You must destroy the source of that power. You must destroy my body. When he falls, all that is mine will then rejoin my spirit. Rebirth.

SM: If Li is using the amulet I no longer need, could I control the power too?

Silk Fox: Interesting. This power could be used to strengthen the Empire instead of one man.

WD: Beware what you say, for you are still mortal and open to the same weaknesses he and his brothers displayed!

SM: In Dirge, blood in the fountains suppressed your power without destroying it.

WD: It seems that you learned your lessons in the spirit realm a little too well. Yes, blood from your mortal companions *could* be used to poison my body. The energy flowing to Sun Li would be disrupted, making him vulnerable. Defeat him and my power would remain trapped in this body for you to use. You could claim his place, become a god. As the blood poison waned, your power would surpass his and eventually consume my very being. But the water that flows from me now sustains the Empire. If you poison my body, you poison wherever that water flows. You would taint the heart of the Empire.

SM: A human should decide human destiny, no matter the cost.

SF: Using this power for the good of all would justify any means.

[Other companion interjections.]

SM: It is my decision alone whether I take this path or not!

SF: And you have earned that right. I am with you.

Parahumans ('fic)
Lisa &/ Taylor - Lisa, I think, gets a bit of a bad rap in the fandom. Yeah, she could have been more creatively conceived than "author's infodump mouthpiece"; no, she's not at all nice to people she's on the wrong side of. But she tries very hard to be caring with people she does like, and it's not something that I think necessarily comes naturally to her: at least by the point of canon, when she's gone through her early life, her trigger, the powers that make it hard-to-impossible for her to ignore everyone's bad points, and then been screwed over by Coil.

So I'd like to see some writing that develops what we see of Lisa as the girl who, despite everything, takes Taylor in, gives her her own place (both physically and in a team who will actually be her friends), and who tries to help Skitter bear up under everything that has been and will be piled on her over the course of the novel. Taylor, of course, tries to repay her in turn: killing Coil, trying to rescue Lisa from her purposelessness after his death, trying to help her remember that she's more than just her power. In some ways, they both try to make each other a bit more human, and that's a crucial thing in their world. It also hits my buttons, because I'm a terrible sucker for mutually supportive relationships, with attraction running alongside a deep friendship.

For something a bit more on the "established" rather than "developing" side, this relationship - or, perhaps, this universe as a whole - is also entirely ripe for a pure H/C scenario. Maybe Taylor has (per usual) got too close to the action as a squishy non-Brute, or Lisa's dealing with a Thinker migraine (the first time Taylor's around for a really bad one?)

Independent of this being 'shippy or not, do feel free to either run with Lisa's power-enforced quasi-asexuality from canon or dismiss its admitted clumsiness, at your preference.

Buffyverse ('fic)
Buffy/Willow - The two girls who were with each other right from the beginning to the very end. Through the laughter and the tears, through life and death (and pulling one of them back "against all the laws of nature" from death to life), through love and conflict and even bitter emnity. And "I kind of love you".

This is a pairing for which I also have great nostalgic adoration, so I'm going to be pretty happy with whatever I get. (I'll express a preference for something relatively positive, but that's not an absolute).

If however, you would prefer prompts, then a quick array includes: Willow developing an innocent kind of crush on Buffy over S1-2 and dealing with feelings she doesn't quite understand yet; Willow getting (even more) jealous of Faith's flirting with Buffy in S3 (optionally, Faith just starts flirting with Willow too); Willow starts to explore her sexuality with Buffy in S4 rather than Tara (and Buffy has to work her own sexuality out too); trying to rebuild together - as established lovers or while falling in love - post S7. (You might just ignore Kennedy's S7 existence instead of spending time and space on writing her out: use a bit of fanfic fiat there).

I haven't kept up with any post-show material (barring Angel S5), so the comics and so forth won't really ring a bell with me. You're welcome to draw on them, if you'd really like, but it's not likely to land particularly effectively.

Planescape: Torment ('fic)

I'm aware that PS:T is a long game, and not necessarily one that everyone will have replayed lately, so I've included some quotes from the dialogue to jog memories and creative thoughts.

Grace &/ Annah - These two have a fascinating dynamic. Whenever Grace tries to talk to Annah - and she tries it a lot - Annah completely shuts her down. She doesn't trust her, she continually harps on her nature as a fiend (despite Annah's own blood, which says something interesting), and she is blatantly and violently jealous of the slightest possibility that TNO might be interested in the succubus. Conversely, Grace is kindly, protective, and complimentary towards this young, angry, offensive Hive rat, above anyone else we see in the game. She stands up to bloody Vhailor for her!

Possibilities: As Grace once suggests, what if she'd found Annah when she was younger - before Pharod, or perhaps a little after his adoption? What would Annah be like after time at the Brothel and how would her relationship with Grace develop? What if Grace and Annah met without the lure of Torment on TNO, and without jealousy driving a deeper wedge between them? Could they help each other with their own torments even so? On the way with TNO, how would Annah react to Grace standing in front of the incarnate Executioner's Axe that is Vhailor for her - could this change her feelings towards Grace and make her see her in a new light? Or what could happen between them after everything is over and they finally stumble out of the Fortress of Regrets, with Nameless gone to his fate?

"Hey, don't let the fiendling get to you, Grace. She's just not as pretty as she'd like to be."

"No, she's not pretty. But she might easily be beautiful."

"She is strong and capable, and she is quite passionate. I almost wish I had met her long ago and asked her to come to the Brothel... perhaps things might have been different." Grace studies you for a moment. "What do you think of her?"

"Stop your questioning, Vhailor." Fall-From-Grace's words are spoken without the slightest hint of a threat, but somehow, they feel dangerous. "This is not a court, and you will not place her on trial in my presence. Leave her alone."

*She has committed INJUSTICES. I will PUNISH her.*

"To do so, Vhailor, you must go through me. I will not allow her to be harmed."

Grace &/ TNO - This is by all means the more understated of the romances, barely one at all until the finale, and overshadowed by Deionarra and Ravel as well as Annah. But Grace's last goodbye is one of the most powerful parts of the game for me, and brings out her sheer dedication. Annah's romance is maybe more real, relatable, but Grace's is more Planar, more rooted in concepts and beliefs and story-telling. (Where TNO's most comprehensive answer to "what may change the nature of a man?" is so often given as belief, Grace calls it love).

You might flesh out TNO and Grace's developing relationship - friendly or romantic - on their journey. (A discussion of their contrasting thoughts on belief and love might actually make for an interesting setpiece to hang some writing on). I'd also enjoy seeing the the fulfilment of Grace's final promise in the Fortress of Regrets.

I CANNOT REMAIN HERE FOR MUCH LONGER. MY PUNISHMENT CALLS, AND FATE AND TIME SHALL SOON BE HERE. I WILL RETURN YOU TO SIGIL, IF YOU WISH.

"That is not my wish." Fall-From-Grace reaches forward, and her hand lightly touches your arm. There is a slight tingling sensation, barely felt, then she takes it away. "I *will* find you again, no matter where in the Lower Planes you will be - just as you shall be able to find me."

IT MAY BE A LONG TIME. WHERE I AM BOUND, TIME IS NOT MEASURED IN YEARS. AND THE CRIMES I HAVE COMMITTED ARE STRONGER THAN ANY CAGE.

"No cage shall separate us, and no Plane shall divide us." Fall-From-Grace's face becomes like stone. "Keep thinking of me, and we shall meet again."

I SHALL NOT FORGET ALL YOU SACRIFICED FOR ME.

She shakes her head. "Just do not forget me."

TIME LAYS WASTE TO ALL THINGS. BUT I SHALL FIGHT IT AS LONG AS I CAN.

"Time is not your enemy. Forever is."

"Because love would not allow it - and it can bend even the strongest to its will." Fall-From-Grace voice is soft, questioning. "Does it not, Ravel?"

"I would say this - love may move the Planes themselves when it is strong and true, and there is nothing truer in all of my experiences that the truth about one *feels* about another."

"Before you seek to guard others from your feelings, know this - love is powerful, so powerful that it found its way into Ravel's twisted black heart and its touch caused her to value another more than herself. Do you not know the *strength* required to change a heart such as Ravel's? For all the pain it may have caused, I think there is something to be said for the good it has created."

Dear Yuletide Author,
My first Yuletide! I ... hope I get everything right here? Oh dear.

Some general preferences
Yes, please:

extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon;
unbreakable friendships;
teamwork;
standing battered but triumphant;
character introspection;
a touch of the bittersweet.

No, thank you:

In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though.
Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out.
What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating: from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes - vore, scat, et al. - are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut. Hypnosis, feels-too-good-to-say-no, and in general dubcon of that nature (with apparent but not necessarily proper enthusiastic consent) get bonus points in porn.

I'm

Worldbuilding

I think everyone who's into Exalted's setting has developed their little (or very big) headcanons about parts of the world. Just cut loose, honestly. Give me what you've got.

(If you do want more specific prompts, here's a shovelful):

Tell me about an island you think floats in the Western sea, or a character who escaped the Tidemothers by some trickery. Tell me your take on the Lintha.

Write me an extract from an Imperial history book about the rising of the Realm; and/or contrast it with an Outcaste version of the story.

Recount a Lunar poem about their efforts in the war against the Dragonblooded, or about the encroaching Wyld, or how one of her Exalted thinks about Luna herself. (Special "I am a 1e super-grognard" prompt: is she really a Celestine, or something else?)

What's it like as you approach each of the Poles?

How did your setting find out about the Alchemicals, if it wasn't the Locust War/Locust Crusade?

How does it feel for a Solar, a Lunar, a Sidereal, a Dragonblooded, and an Abyssal to take their Second Breath?
Write some sutras in the classic Sidereal style for a new Sid Martial Art. (Actual Martial Arts description or mechanics not necessary). "There Once Was A Maiden ..."
Rip something you don't like out of canon and replace it with your preferred idea.

Additional inspiration sources: two rather old forum threads in the spirit of Exalted worldbuilding.

Emelan
Briar, Daja, Sandry, Tris

(You're good to write any one or any combination of these characters: it doesn't have to be the full Circle. I'm keeping my prompt to that, just because I'd run out of space otherwise, but this is not one where I strictly care about the AND matching).

The Circle - Whenever I prompt with these four together, I'm very open-ended, because it's the dynamic that I love about them, these family and friends and an inextricable Circle, and the plots which serve to show it off are sorta incidental to me.

So, yeah, literally anything that has the Circle eventually being that concerted, loving whole. Domestic, action-y, drama, according to your choice. This is one where I'd like to encourage the author to come up with their own plot and service it according to their own preferences, rather than follow my whims.

That said, because it's also a touch mean to just demand that of someone, a couple of seeds if you want them:

More days at Discipline, learning about their magic, learning about themselves, learning about each other. Possibly all at once: the way they're bound together by Sandry's thread post-The Magic in the Weaving/Sandry's Book has always been a fascinating point for me.

Or, the Circle in middle age: a weird un-related family no-one would believe are un-related if it weren't for their looks, who teach kid students in Discipline, or help govern Emelan in the Summersea Citadel, or just are a cheerfully terrifying bunch of great mages in their own little house whom no potential enemy ever wants to cross.

Or, The Circle scattered across the world as when they Opened, but now with the magical power and knowledge to keep their bond open, communicating advice, sarcasm, and love even while they're apart.

Get shippy if you like.

Baldur's Gate
Anomen

Specific DNWs: EEs-only content, BG3, Heroes of Baldur's Gate/Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villainy.

I believe this is kind of a minority opinion, but I really quite like "failed"/CN Anomen. The way he finally reacts to freedom from a strict life of duty that he's clearly struggled with and resented is fascinating and often joyous.

"I long to laugh and do as I like...and, by Helm, I shall!"

His changed lovetalks also seem so much more unrestrained and genuine.

"My...my life is full of chaos, now, and I wish for there to be one thing that is permanent. So I offer my heart to you, along with my service and my companionship."

"You are a beautiful woman, <CHARNAME>...full of a life that I have always desired. I wish to experience new things, now that I am free...and I wish to be closer to you."

So:

Anomen just exploring his new freedom outside the order, indulging in luxuries (food, wine, fighting not for duty but because he wants to, women) that he hasn't been able to before. If you're feeling raunchy, a casually romanced - or not romanced at all - Charname accompanying him as he discovers some carnal pleasures (with a grateful rescuee before Charname joins in? bawdy tavern wench? courtesan?) might be fun.
Or, a more contemplative exploration of the way a chaotic Anomen sees Charname (romanced or otherwise) as his example and guide in a new life that he revels in but still doesn't quite yet understand. Meanwhile, Charname's chaotic dialogue options lightly suggest she leads by example where she bothers to lead him at all, just doing what she wants and hoping he'll see that he's now able to do the same. It fascinates me.
Or, well, Anomen says it himself. Helm never rejected him, not after failing his Test, not after bypassing the law to kill the wrong man. Why? What's the deeper secret here? What in Anomen is still worthy of his god? (This might be the one for those less directly enamoured of CN Anomen).

Warframe
Operator

As ever with massive multiplayer games that try to incorporate personal story, you end up in a bit of a conundrum. How much of this has actually happened to other players, in storyline? Does it really make sense for these events to happen to other people too?

I'd love to see you playing with that, with Tenno awoken from the Second Dream carefully scoping out any other Tenno that have also done so, and feeling terrible relief at seeing each other again, outside their Warframes; or knowing they're the only only one in the squad who has awoken, and trying to keep it from them, because the secret can't get out; or trying to work out how they ought actually to wake the other Tenno; or feeling desperately lonely because, in fact, only one Tenno (the player) ever did go through it and the rest are all sleepers still dreaming of and as their Warframes.

Otherwise, I'd also enjoy an Operator pining after their missing Lotus, the guardian/commander/mother taken from them by another (awful) family, and growing determined to get her back. (Scenes of the operator and/or their warframes ripping through Sentients in this cause would also be a welcome addition). The moment in the Sacrifice when the Operator begged Ordis "I'd like to hear her" and then could ask for the line where Lotus tells us "My child... so beautiful to behold. How do you feel?" broke my heart.

Dear ToT Author,
I'm already more than halfway impressed you matched my requests at all, because I went very self-indulgent on this round. I thank you so much for matching with me and for tolerating my ramblings. I hope you're inspired, and most of all I hope you have fun!

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Seika on AO3, and I have my works, my previous gifts, and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even contradictory ones - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.

Warframe ('fic, treat)
Lotus - Obviously, there's a certain amount of difficulty understanding exactly what went on with Lotus in the past right now, given she's ... not such a reliable source, especially while seemingly controlled by her """family""". I'd be very interested in a little glimpse at how you think her involvement in the Old War went down, a more direct interpretation and account than the game's given us. Did she really get caught by the Orokin and reprogrammed? Is that a lie the Sentients are just telling her to control her? Did she genuinely just come to care for the Tenno as the other family/victims of the Orokin, and the children she couldn't have?

Another direction might be the long Sleep-Without-Dream that Lotus arranged for the Tenno after the Old War had ended: the concealment of Lua in the Void, Warframes going into stasis, and the gradual loss of memories of being Operators. Why did Lotus think this was necessary? How great an effort was it to arrange everything? Presumably it was done with Tenno consent - what was the conversation like? Was she sad as she left her children to sleep without being able to talk to them, having to wait by herself for whatever event might need the Tenno once more?

Lotus & Operator - Okay, look. I am really sad for my Operator right now, and quite sad for Lotus, and I would really like them both to be happy again. The moment in the Sacrifice when the Operator begged Ordis "I'd like to hear her" and then could ask for the line where Lotus tells us "My child... so beautiful to behold. How do you feel?" broke my heart.

Screw the Orokin and screw the Sentients. I want Space Mum and Space Child (Soldier) to be back together in their extremely unhealthy co-dependent relationship. You might just portray a moment of tenderness between them at some point in their relationship, or you might outright portray the Lotus' recovery. That could be an active rescue of her from the Sentients and Ballas, completely with some righteous Tenno fury; it could be just the aftermath of that battle, as we reassure her that we're back and she's no longer under their control; or it could be in the time afterwards as she has to readjust to her freedom and her free will, and tentatively tries to rebuild the relationship (which, of course, the Operator never gave up on).

For the L&O prompt, please fluff and maybe some hurt/comfort, not anything too bitter: I really want this one to turn out positively. (And have a terrible feeling canon won't give me my wish).

The Authority ('fic, trick or treat)
Jenny/Shen - Jenny and Shen in the Secret History have a rather sweet, casual, almost domestic relationship. They will tease each other acidly, Shen giving as good as she gets to Jenny, in a way the other members of the team don't usually hit back. But Jenny also shows about as vulnerable a side to Shen as we ever get to see from her, at least when she's not very drunk, and Shen is gentle in her comforting. You might just show more of that; or you might show it came about in the first place.

Jenny/Angie - Angie plays off Jenny in a bit of a different way. Jenny's cynical, beaten down, worn out, and trying to truck on through it all to do good despite that. Angie's new to the game, more open and cheerful, and even a bit more scared, of the situations the Authority gets into and of what it does to solve them. And still, there's a lot alike in them too. Perhaps most of all, Jenny often lights up thinking about her age of "Scientific Romance" and the positives of the future, and that's Angie in a nutshell. I'd like to see how they play off each other, how they make their relationship work.

Other possibilities for Angie: Jenny's first reaction to her time-travelling is to hope that they're not lesbians together. Why did Jenny's mind just happen to jump there, I wonder? What did Angie do to convince her it wouldn't be such a bad relationship? If you like, you could even get future-Angie stuck in 1919 and build something in that time period. Instead, for another angle, what kind of emotions does Angie bring up in Jenny as a successor to the old Engineer, the one who ran with The High and seemed, like him, to be one of the group with genuinely good intentions? What does that mean to her?

A final prompt (trending more to the trick than the treat of the above two) that could apply to both: not having gone much past the first run, I've never seen these two really mourning Jenny - either Shen as a comrade of some years, or Angela as part of her team for a few hectic months (even if they technically met eighty-odd years ago). I think there's a lot of poignancy to be drawn out here.

Planescape: Torment ('fic, trick or treat)

(I've included some text quotes from the game here, since it's not always easy or reliable to get them to pop up yourself)

Annah - A fun little ficlet here could just be Annah's PoV when she first sees this absurd berk with a million questions coming up to her in the Hive: a berk, at that, whom she's pretty sure she remembers handing off to the Dusties...

A bit more of an in-depth, weird prompt: Grace once suggests she'd have been interested in adopting Annah if she'd found her on the streets, and bringing her at the Brothel. (Grace in generally is enormously protective of and kind towards Annah, to a surprising degree). Still, honestly, Annah has a major dislike for Grace, and continually harps on about her treachery and her fiendish nature (which is, obviously, ironic). So how would she react to this crazy, chaste succubus trying to adopt her? What would she be like at the Brothel, brought there either at a pretty young age or as a more awkward kind of teenager? What kind of chaos would she cause? How would she develop and grow up? Maybe how would she react to TNO if he later happened around?

"Hey, don't let the fiendling get to you, Grace. She's just not as pretty as she'd like to be."
"No, she's not pretty. But she might easily be beautiful."

"She is strong and capable, and she is quite passionate. I almost wish I had met her long ago and asked her to come to the Brothel... perhaps things might have been different." Grace studies you for a moment. "What do you think of her?"

Fall-From-Grace - TNO, classically, says the key to all the planes, the key to "what can change the nature of a man?", and the key to any hope for his redemption, is 'belief'. Grace? Grace says it's love.

"Because love would not allow it - and it can bend even the strongest to its will." Fall-From-Grace voice is soft, questioning. "Does it not, Ravel?"

"I would say this - love may move the Planes themselves when it is strong and true, and there is nothing truer in all of my experiences that the truth about one *feels* about another."

"Before you seek to guard others from your feelings, know this - love is powerful, so powerful that it found its way into Ravel's twisted black heart and its touch caused her to value another more than herself. Do you not know the *strength* required to change a heart such as Ravel's? For all the pain it may have caused, I think there is something to be said for the good it has created."

So how, really, did she come to think that? One can understand a succubus having some second thoughts about the raw evil of tanar'ri practices after her backstory, but ... how did she come to so revere love itself? Or, given that she believes this so strongly, why set up a Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts? How does she see the debate, curiosity, and interchange of ideas she fosters there nurture more love across the Planes?

Or, you could write about the fulfilment of Grace's final promise to The Nameless/Transcendent One at the very end of the game.

I CANNOT REMAIN HERE FOR MUCH LONGER. MY PUNISHMENT CALLS, AND FATE AND TIME SHALL SOON BE HERE. I WILL RETURN YOU TO SIGIL, IF YOU WISH.
"That is not my wish." Fall-From-Grace reaches forward, and her hand lightly touches your arm. There is a slight tingling sensation, barely felt, then she takes it away. "I *will* find you again, no matter where in the Lower Planes you will be - just as you shall be able to find me."
IT MAY BE A LONG TIME. WHERE I AM BOUND, TIME IS NOT MEASURED IN YEARS. AND THE CRIMES I HAVE COMMITTED ARE STRONGER THAN ANY CAGE.
"No cage shall separate us, and no Plane shall divide us." Fall-From-Grace's face becomes like stone. "Keep thinking of me, and we shall meet again."
I SHALL NOT FORGET ALL YOU SACRIFICED FOR ME.
She shakes her head. "Just do not forget me."
TIME LAYS WASTE TO ALL THINGS. BUT I SHALL FIGHT IT AS LONG AS I CAN.
"Time is not your enemy. Forever is."

When, where, how do they reunite? What memories remain, in either of them? What has passed over that time, or over that forever, for them both?

League of Legends ('fic, trick or treat)
Illaoi - The obvious, predominant (very bad, if you'll excuse me saying so) event here is Rise of the Sentinels. Illaoi is a priestess of motion, change, life and basically everything that isn't an undead psycho trying to resurrect his wife. She drives back the black mist from all of Bilgewater by the invocation of her god, purifies the damned souls within.

So where the fuck was she meant to be and what was she meant to be doing in RoS? Especially while Bilgewater again got a Harrowing dropped on it?

IDK, gimme a big, cool fight scene against the wraiths or the Ruined or Viego; or gimme some interactions with the Sentinels in her rather hilarious and straightforward way; or just give her something interesting to do amidst this cataclysm.

Alternatively, if we don't want to touch that with a ten-foot pole, Illaoi once promised she would test Miss Fortune as she'd tested Gangplank. What did that look like? What did she see of Sarah in that test? How did she think of her by comparison to GP? What was the aftermath like? (Did she then compare them ... in bed?)

Diana/Leona - again, obviously, the easyish way to go here is Diana as a Sentinel fighting a potentially ruined Leo. You might replace Atreus at the peak of Mount Targon with Leona, see how Leona reacts a little differently to Viego and to the subsequent corruption, how Diana reacts to that in turn, have a nice fight between them; you could follow Diana's thoughts of Leona as she remains corrupted through the rest of the event; you could then parcel off Diana and Leona having a second fight at the climax of the event, with Diana desperate to break through to Leo, and finally a happy(?) reunion.

Other possibilities: Leona coming across Diana's slowly rebuilding enclaves of Lunari on Mount Targon after the ruination, and seeing Diana making progress there; character piece on the actual Aspects of Sun and Moon, and how they feel about their hosts being once - and possibly future - lovers.

Baldur's Gate ('fic, trick or treat)
General note: I don't play the EEs, so anything to do with them will fly over my head.

Viconia - I'd be interested to see some expansion on Viconia's cut content for BGII. In Ust Natha, she was meant to betray the party to the drow (specifically the minor house Jae'llat, who ended up as part of the Jarlaxle plotline), before recognising that House DeVir had fallen and no longer offered any protection for her, and so coming back to rescue everyone from being sacrificed to Lolth (and help kill the Jae'llat Matron Mother who was the only one who knew about the party being surfacers). Various characters get to react to the betrayal and repentance, Viconia can show off some of her normal defiance and sullenness around things not going her way. (A deep friendship romance might also put a different spin on this, with CHARNAME being more shocked or more understanding).

I will also say that I'm a pretty big fan of Viconia's BGI characterisation, where she's a little more naïve about the surface world and a little more open to people who'll actually show her kindness. A little 'fic showing the progression as she starts to find her place among the party and extend some trust would be sweet.

Imoen/Female Charname - I think this relationship can go all sorts of ways, and I basically love all of them. Among the possibilities:

- childhood friends: the two of them as they grow up together in Candlekeep, the hints of a connexion between them, silly and sheltered teenage girlfriends in a fortress with basically no other kids;

- hurt/comfort: Imoen looking after a distraught Charname for the first day and night in the wilderness after Gorion's death, or after a breakdown at the FAI; Charname trying so hard to get through to the dazed and confused Imoen in Spellhold; their more conscious reunion after Irenicus has left Charname soulless too, and they're dumped bleeding physically and spiritually into Bodhi's maze; Imoen trying to help Charname when she's taken her soul back from Bodhi, but Charname is still struggling with Irenicus' theft...

- happily ever after: the pair of them released from the wars and the personal torments of their blood, and either finally beginning a relationship or being able to enjoy and explore it far more than they could before.

Dear Author,

Oh dear, a new exchange for me. Well, hopefully you and I both enjoy my dipping my toes in these fresh waters. I've been playing these games since pretty much release year, when I was five, so they're pretty near and dear to my heart, and I'm delighted that our fandom continues to march its way ever onward.

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

Specific no-thank-yous for this exchange
I haven't played the BGEEs beyond the first one's truly awful release state, so characters and situations from them (including SoD) will pass me by. I'm also reserving judgement on BG3 (which vague word of mouth is telling me is still quite unfinished anyway) while holding something of a grudge for it co-opting the Bhaalspawn Saga's name, so I won't twig to anything from that either. I haven't prompted for anything from them, but just in case.

I'm

There will obviously be strong feelings on both sides when it comes to him and Sarevok. Can they understand each other, these two half-dead men brought back to life for a greater purpose? Does the memory of Tamoko bring them together or drive them apart?

The reactions of those who were directly betrayed by Yoshimo (Charname, the rescue party), those who saw him mostly as either helpful or else pitiful (Imoen, from Chateau Irenicus to basically throwing himself on the party's swords under a geas), and maybe even those who'd never known him but have to cope with his story and everyone else's emotional reactions (say, those who were recruited after Spellhold).

The last act. When he finally is released again by his god. Or ... is it his god? Does Charname intervene, one way or another? Does she do it as a mortal making a request of Ilmater, or does she do it as a god, perhaps more forcefully?

Anomen
I believe this is kind of a minority opinion, but I really quite like "failed"/CN Anomen. The way he finally reacts to freedom from a strict life of duty that he's clearly struggled with and resented is fascinating and often joyous. "I long to laugh and do as I like...and, by Helm, I shall!" His changed lovetalks also seem so much more unrestrained and genuine. "My...my life is full of chaos, now, and I wish for there to be one thing that is permanent. So I offer my heart to you, along with my service and my companionship;" "You are a beautiful woman, <CHARNAME>...full of a life that I have always desired. I wish to experience new things, now that I am free...and I wish to be closer to you."

So:

Anomen just exploring his new freedom outside the order, indulging in luxuries (food, wine, fighting not for duty but because he wants to, women) that he hasn't been able to before. If you're feeling raunchy, a casually romanced - or not romanced at all - Charname accompanying him as he discovers some carnal pleasures (with a grateful rescuee before Charname joins in? bawdy tavern wench? courtesan?) might be fun.

Or, a more contemplative exploration of the way a chaotic Anomen sees Charname (romanced or otherwise) as his example and guide in a new life that he revels in but still doesn't quite yet understand. Meanwhile, Charname's chaotic dialogue options lightly suggest she leads by example where she bothers to lead him at all, just doing what she wants and hoping he'll see that he's now able to do the same. It fascinates me.

Or, well, Anomen says it himself. Helm never rejected him, not after failing his Test, not after bypassing the law to kill the wrong man. Why? What's the deeper secret here? What in Anomen is still worthy of his god? (This might be the one for those less directly enamoured of CN Anomen).

I generally favour the BGI account of Sarevok's childhood (primarily from his diary) rather than the ToB retcons. I think there's room to explore him growing up in a clearly terrible household, with a mother either raped by or willingly giving herself to Bhaal, and a suspicious, jealous, and cruel Rieltar who reacts awfully to what he thinks is "unfaithfulness". The way this then opens him up to the influence of Bhaal as it seeks him out in his dreams, his own determination to move forward and seek out priests of the dead god (and Winski Perorate) to unlock his power, the competing influences of Tamoko (a bright spot?) and Cythandria...

Or, a reaction to an account by Charname of Yoshimo and all that happened to Tamoko's brother as a result of his search for her killer. Is there regret? Is that one of the first steps for Sarevok toward turning away from the cruelties he'd immersed himself in before his death? Is it one of the last ones?

Or, some kind of diachronic look at Sarevok's relationship to Charname over time: first finding out about them; evaluating them while he's undercover at Candlekeep; catching them on the road as Gorion tries to flee, but seeing them escape behind a torrent of spells; increasing frustration as they foil his plans; eventual respect as seen by the final confrontation in BGI; resentment at their life and their power in ToB, while still holding his scraps of knowledge over them; and whatever end you think is appropriate, whether it's backstabbing or supporting godhood or supporting mortality.

Relationship Prompts

Imoen/Female Charname
I think this relationship can go all sorts of ways, and I basically love all of them. Among the possibilities:

childhood friends: the two of them as they grow up together in Candlekeep, the hints of a connexion between them, silly and sheltered teenage girlfriends in a fortress with basically no other kids;

hurt/comfort: Imoen looking after a distraught Charname for the first day and night in the wilderness after Gorion's death, or after a breakdown at the FAI; Charname trying so hard to get through to the dazed and confused Imoen in Spellhold; their more conscious reunion after Irenicus has left Charname soulless too, and they're dumped bleeding physically and spiritually into Bodhi's maze; Imoen trying to help Charname when she's taken her soul back from Bodhi, but Charname is still struggling with Irenicus' theft...

happily ever after: the pair of them released from the wars and the personal torments of their blood, and either finally beginning a relationship or being able to enjoy and explore it far more than they could before.

Dear Chocolatier,
Welcome to another year of obscure fandoms and extremely long rants on my favourite characterisation and relationship dynamics, extending far beyond the length of any actual 'fic that I'll write or will get written for me. I thank you so much for matching with me and for tolerating me. I hope you're inspired, and most of all I hope you have fun!

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Or, how did she feel when Charname laid down their divinity too and they could return to the world as two siblings untainted and unguided by prophecy? (Alternatively, perhaps, how did she feel at Charname’s ascension? Charname was “strange among their kin” for their soul’s reaction to the taint, and is heavily implied to have a much more significant part of Bhaal’s essence than Imoen. Is there relief, in a way, that Charname has been able to live up to the weighty destiny that’s always seemed to be laid on their shoulders and which has frankly scared Imoen? A gladness that Imoen’s helped see them through to something that she’s felt could be coming for some time now? Certainly there’ll be a pain at parting, but coming out a victor in the Bhaalspawn War and becoming a deity is still a triumph in no uncertain terms).

Female Charname/Imoen - the above, plus gay shippiness? Like, innocent teenage romance (and pranks) at Candlekeep, heavily flavoured with dramatic irony by our knowledge of the future; or, injecting a kiss into some hurt/comfort; or Imoen feeling relieved at the person whom she loves giving up the taint of murder, and looking forward to their lives together. Or, honestly, anything else: I'm pretty starved for this 'ship.

Planescape: Torment ('fic)

I'm aware that PS:T is a long game, and not necessarily one that everyone will have replayed lately, so I've included some quotes from the dialogue to jog memories and creative thoughts.

"Hey, don't let the fiendling get to you, Grace. She's just not as pretty as she'd like to be."

"No, she's not pretty. But she might easily be beautiful."

*She has committed INJUSTICES. I will PUNISH her.*

"To do so, Vhailor, you must go through me. I will not allow her to be harmed."

I CANNOT REMAIN HERE FOR MUCH LONGER. MY PUNISHMENT CALLS, AND FATE AND TIME SHALL SOON BE HERE. I WILL RETURN YOU TO SIGIL, IF YOU WISH.

IT MAY BE A LONG TIME. WHERE I AM BOUND, TIME IS NOT MEASURED IN YEARS. AND THE CRIMES I HAVE COMMITTED ARE STRONGER THAN ANY CAGE.

"No cage shall separate us, and no Plane shall divide us." Fall-From-Grace's face becomes like stone. "Keep thinking of me, and we shall meet again."

I SHALL NOT FORGET ALL YOU SACRIFICED FOR ME.

She shakes her head. "Just do not forget me."

TIME LAYS WASTE TO ALL THINGS. BUT I SHALL FIGHT IT AS LONG AS I CAN.

"Time is not your enemy. Forever is."

"Because love would not allow it - and it can bend even the strongest to its will." Fall-From-Grace voice is soft, questioning. "Does it not, Ravel?"

"I would say this - love may move the Planes themselves when it is strong and true, and there is nothing truer in all of my experiences that the truth about one *feels* about another."

Dear Chocolatier,
Welcome to this year's mix of unalloyed fangirl nostalgia and a new game, just for variety. With an excess of gayess. I kind of ought to get a handle on myself, but I enjoy some pure indulgence in my fandom activity sometimes. I love that you find some of the same things interesting that I do, and I wish you all the best in your writing!

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things - notable exception in the Dishonored category this year - but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Seika on AO3, and I have my works, my previous gifts, and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even contradictory ones - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.

This is all the more true for the Chocolate Box challenge, which has a lower word limit and is meant to be less pressurised than some other exchanges. Please do stay relaxed, and pick and choose as selectively as you like, rather than trying to deal with everything I've thrown out there for some of these fandoms.

Emelan
The Circle - Whenever I prompt with these four together, I'm very open-ended, because it's the dynamic that I love about them, these family and friends and an inextricable Circle, and the plots which serve to show it off are sorta incidental to me.

So, yeah, literally anything that has the Circle eventually being that concerted, loving whole. Domestic, action-y, drama, according to your choice. This is one where I'd like to encourage the author to come up with their own plot and service it according to their own preferences, rather than follow my whims.

That said, because it's also a touch mean to just demand that of someone, a couple of seeds if you want them - the Circle in middle age: a weird un-related family no-one would believe are un-related if it weren't for their looks, who teach kid students in Discipline, or help govern Emelan in the Summersea Citadel, or just are a cheerfully terrifying bunch of great mages in their own little house whom no potential enemy ever wants to cross. The Circle scattered across the world as when they Opened, but now with the magical power and knowledge to keep their bond open, communicating advice, sarcasm, and love even while they're apart

Daja & Briar - Not that any of the Circle are impractical, per se, since that's rather the point of ambient mages, but these two are usually the most grounded and the most direct, with not a lot of compunction about dealing out a few raps with their fists, and I enjoy the dynamic that draws out of them. Some mini-case 'fic could work here, just the two of them working together on something that requires a bit of their ready-to-rumble attitude to life.

Tris & Sandry - On the flip side, here we have Vedris' all-but-heir and one of the most powerfully dangerous mages in the world. A little meditation on their various struggles to deal with this - Tris clearly hates it and is focused to a perhaps unhealthy degree on studying a Lightsbridge to get away; Sandry almost seems in denial about what her uncle's setting her up for - and how each advises the other might work here. Alternatively, commiserations between the two over what Daja and Briar keep getting up to seems like it has some amusing legs.

Tris & Daja - All of the Circle probably have their ways to help Tris feel calmer and more centred when she needs it. With Daja, I think there's something about forging - even if Tris is unlikely to get too involved herself - that could help: the rhythm of the hammer that you can gradually let fade into the background, and the heat and the steam that are also a part of Tris' dominion over natural forces. Daja giving Tris some space, and how Tris feel about that. You could also elaborate a bit more on their middle-class merchant vs. Trader interactions - friction it brought up a lot early and then occasionally later in their relationship, how they learnt to let that slide along more smoothly, ways in which they both come to share and enjoy their different backgrounds.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Faith &/ Buffy - These two always managed to portray a tremendous sense of connexion with each other, for good and ill, and that's really what I'd like to see here. Could be some expansions or changes to their times in Season Three - perhaps case 'fic where it's just them instead of the whole gang; or maybe there's no sudden shock to the system like Finch's death and Buffy keeps following Faith down the "Bad Girls" rabbit hole. Some deeper exploration of what's going on in their heads for This Year's Girl/Who Are You, which might have a more shippy ending if you're taking the / part of this prompt. Classic "Faith gets busted out of prison to be the Slayer after Buffy dies, and then helps her deal with Season Six". Or bonding moments during/after Season Seven, the two older Slayers feeling perhaps set apart from the other girls by their experience and by their mutual history together: the baby Slayers might be Potentials, or might have been empowered by Willow, but that's a long way from the Chosen Two.

Willow/Buffy - The two girls who were with each other right from the beginning to the very end. Through the laughter and the tears, through life and death (and pulling one of them back "against all the laws of nature" from death to life), through love and conflict and even bitter emnity. And "I kind of love you".

This is a pairing for which I also have great nostalgic adoration, so I'm going to be pretty happy with whatever I get. (I'll express a preference for something relatively positive, but that's not an absolute).

If however, you would prefer prompts, then a quick array includes: Willow developing an innocent kind of crush on Buffy over S1-2 and dealing with feelings she doesn't quite understand yet; Willow getting (even more) jealous of Faith's flirting with Buffy in S3 (optionally, Faith just starts flirting with Willow too); Willow starts to explore her sexuality with Buffy in S4 rather than Tara (and Buffy has to work her own sexuality out too); trying to rebuild together - as established lovers or while falling in love - post S7. (You might just ignore Kennedy's S7 existence instead of spending time and space on writing her out: use a bit of fanfic fiat there).

I haven't kept up with any post-show material (barring Angel S5), so the comics and so forth won't really ring a bell with me. You're welcome to draw on them, if you'd really like, but it's not likely to land particularly effectively.

The Authority
Fair warning, I'm assuming the fandom tag here to mean the original run. While I'm thinking about reading the Wildstorm reboot in the wake of this exchange, I certainly won't have finished it by the time requests are out. If you were expecting Jenny Mei and her counterparts, I'm sure I'll enjoy what you come up with, but afraid I haven't got much to give you by way of prompts. I'll have to trust you to come up with something, perhaps aided by my thoughts on the older versions. (A further note even on the older versions: I go through the original Ellis stories and his Stormwatch stuff a lot, but tended to bounce around the one-shots and special editions - e.g. Secret History, Kev, Scorched Earth - instead of keeping up with the main line after that. I'm assuming that's not a problem with these pairings, but just a warning that some stuff will fly past me if you reference the later runs too deeply. If nothing else, I'm happily aware that Apollo and Midnighter got married and adopted Jenny Quantum, so that much isn't gonna stun me).

Jenny/Shen - Jenny and Shen in the Secret History have a rather sweet, casual, almost domestic relationship. They will tease each other acidly, Shen giving as good as she gets to Jenny, in a way the other members of the team don't usually hit back. But Jenny also shows about as vulnerable a side to Shen as we ever get to see from her, at least when she's not very drunk, and Shen is gentle in her comforting. You might just show more of that; or you might show it came about in the first place.

Jenny/Angie - Angie plays off Jenny in a bit of a different way. Jenny's cynical, beaten down, worn out, and trying to truck on through it all to do good despite that. Angie's new to the game, more open and cheerful, and even a bit more scared, of the situations the Authority gets into and of what it does to solve them. And still, there's a lot alike in them too. Perhaps most of all, Jenny often lights up thinking about her age of "Scientific Romance" and the positives of the future, and that's Angie in a nutshell. I'd like to see how they play off each other, how they make their relationship work.

Other possibilities for Angie: Jenny's first reaction to her time-travelling is to hope that they're not lesbians together. Why did Jenny's mind just happen to jump there, I wonder? What did Angie do to convince her it wouldn't be such a bad relationship? If you like, you could even get future-Angie stuck in 1919 and build something in that time period. Instead, for another angle, what kind of emotions does Angie bring up in Jenny as a successor to the old Engineer, the one who ran with The High and seemed, like him, to be one of the group with genuinely good intentions? What does that mean to her?

A final prompt that could apply to both: not having gone much past the first run, I've never seen these two really mourning Jenny - either Shen as a comrade of some years, or Angela as part of her team for a few hectic months (even if they technically met eighty-odd years ago). I think there's a lot of poignancy to be drawn out here.

Dishonored

Billie/Delilah - I think the obvious one to go for here is how Delilah and Billie came into contact, and the seduction (more or less literally, according to taste) of Billie into her scheme. (Possible ancillaries: Who sought who out? Was Billie just a little stunned seeing Delilah and her handsomeness after some rounds of go-betweens? Was Delilah annoyed at her own rising eagerness to see what was underneath Billie's Whaler mask?)

Another option might be if Billie were successful in Knife of Dunwall - does Delilah bring her in closer afterwards, using her and the Whalers, making her part of the inner circle like, say, Breanna Ashworth? Does she set up a link with Billie like Daud had with his assassins, either renewing Billie's familiar powers (perhaps fading in the wake of Daud's death) or inducting her as a witch with quite a different skillset? (I can imagine Delilah being very seductive or surprisingly straightforward and pleasant when it comes to teaching Billie witchcraft). With Delilah having free rein to go after Emily with Billie's collaboration, what happens there?

You might also think about the betrayal that both of these characters are steeped in. Whatever the scenario these two are in, does Delilah keep leading Billie on, teasing, hinting at deeper feelings, until she finally thinks she's had all the use out of Billie she needs and discards her ungently? Does Billie eventually have an inconvenient attack of regret or conscience and stab Delilah in the back, yet another act of treachery against Delilah from one whom she'd started to feel something?

Emily/Delilah - "Sweet girl. Over time, you'll come to love me." Oooh dear. There's clearly the question of what happens if Emily doesn't escape at the beginning of D2. What does Delilah have in mind for her? Does she want the former Empress as a plaything, and how does she turn her into that? When Emily meets her in the Void during her dreams on the Dreadful Wale, Delilah still seems to want to justify herself to Emily - while Delilah clearly enjoys her headgames, there's also a longing for affection in her, especially from her family. Could they connect through similar dreams? What happens if Delilah manages to complete the ritual of The World As It Should Be? Is Emily the first to "sing my songs and lick my flesh: worship me!"? (Delilah has the best disturbing lines).

Conversely, does an Emily (of a kinder or crueller stripe) have anything in mind for a spared Deliah? One, perhaps, stripped of her powers by Emily's crafted corrupt bonecharm that turns Delilah's ritual upside-down, rather than imprisoned in her painting. How does she relate to the woman who usurped her, killed her friends, turned her father to stone, and made her life a misery? How on earth does Delilah react in turn, and - being as persistent as she is - what does she try to keep herself alive, well, and once more edging at least closer if not back onto the Throne of the Isles?

(If you want a kinder way out, you're perfectly welcome to go for some AU with its divergence a long way back from canon, perhaps resulting in a far less crazed Deliah who might possibly conceive of a somewhat healthy relationship).

Both these pairings clearly have dubious and unhealthy potential in their dynamics of consent. I prompted them, so I'm not gonna shy away from that: I have seen the dead dove label, and I am eating that dove. But, conversely, please don't take it any further than you yourself feel comfortable with.

Dear Chocolatier,
I was pretty restrained on my requests, so you've matched to me on a really narrow range. I love that you find some of the same things interesting that I do, and I wish you all the best.

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes (vore, scat, et al.) are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Thom laughed. "I have the Gift. That's enough for me."

"I wonder. It doesn't seem as if it would be enough." She remembered what the Goddess had said about learning to love. Thom would have a lonely life without love or friendship. She at least had friends. Was it possible she had learned to love, as well?'
In the Hand of the Goddess, Chapter 8

Poor Thom. He was arrogant and reckless and sometimes cold, yes, but he was also clever and brave, and did so much for Alanna without which she couldn't have made it through. I'd love to see him get a bit of a happier ending, and his time with Jon seems like a good place to start.

You might begin it early, right at the end of ItHotG, when he comes to court to protect Jon magically, and how he adapts to being in the midst of things with his Mastery instead of the cold reception he had at the Mithran cloisters. You might have him deal with Jon when he comes back from breaking up with Alanna in the desert, and helping Jon be less of an idiot about it than he was in canon.

Or you might take it later, with a relationship already somewhat established. Maybe during Lioness Rampant, when he's more secure having a relationship with Jon, and therefore is less goaded by Delia, and so events run more toward trying to stop Roger's circle instead of worrying about the man himself. Or maybe he still falls for it, but remembers his lover and builds up a safeguard, or else Jon himself sees the signs more quickly and is able to help Thom. Perhaps you write even later, about Jon as King and Thom as his very crabby but beloved adviser. How public is that relationship? Perhaps you'd also consider Thayet in this scenario. Did she still marry Jon? Does she know about Thom? Do she and Jon perhaps serve as each other's beards, Thayet maybe being in a relationship with Alanna or Buri?

Mass Effect

Female Shepard/Tali - I felt this ship surprisingly hard when my first game of ME2 rolled around and was honestly surprised it didn't go all the way, given both how much of the male romance was left in their interactions and even what replaced the more overt romantic scenes. I'd like something probably more in that timeframe then.

Tali in ME2 has a lot to deal with when it comes to Shepard. Shepard in ME1 was a saviour, mentor, superior, leader, hero, friend, perhaps crush. In ME2, she adds to that powerful mix a dose of bizarre resurrection - but at the hands of Cerberus, and just as Tali's starting to stand on her own as a leader herself.

I'd like to see Tali trying to cope with this odd cocktail, perhaps working up her confidence over time, both as she continues to grow herself and as she starts getting to know Shepard more completely. Going from a a kind of distant, unattainable crush, to a closer and more genuine emotional connexion.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Fate/Nanoha - I'm requesting this mostly on the grounds of nostalgia for a show and pairing whose heyday has long since passed. But they've been adorable ever since the two of them exchanged ribbons and blushed at the end of S1, through Fate's determined defence of Nanoha when Vita was beating her down, and into their one-bed apartment and mutual adoption of a child. Really, I'd be happy with 'fic based on any of these stages of their relationship: an innocent and sweet pair of puppy-crushes, which all the adults are probably cooing over; realising exactly what they mean to each other as they begin to grow up; and that apparently very domestic and settled partnership while they're still surprisingly young adults, even as their professional lives involve vast amounts of danger, and even more vast laser beams. (If you chose the last one, perhaps you might write about what new dynamics the sudden introduction of Vivio brings to their relationship, and how they deal with it).

I'm not familiar with the sound stages, Force/Vivid, or the games, so while you're welcome to use details from them, a certain amount will end up being lost on me.

Greek & Roman Mythology
To quickly get some unpleasant business out of the way, I have some issues with Miller's The Song of Achilles, and with the ideas it's spread through certain circles about what the actual Classical traditions (and especially the specific Iliadic traditions) were in various regards. (A longer and more sourced post on the particular matter of Akhilleus and Patroklos' relationship is here, if you want to understand my mindset in a bit more detail). Therefore, a specific DNW for this fandom, which I'm borrowing from what I saw in another request, is the use of TSOA as a basis in characters' personalities or basic relationships.

Akhilleus/Briseis(/Patroklos) - Writing out Briseis frustrates me a lot, so I'd really like to see her brought out here. Is she really Akhilleus' "heart's beloved", or is that mostly a strategem of rhetoric and offended pride he's using against Agamemnon? Does she reciprocate in any way (she needn't - I have no requirement for this relationship to be two-sided), or does she really just hate this guy for all he'd done? Does she find him attractive despite her loathing? Does she hate the fact that he seems to think his being attractive should be good enough for her? Does she gradually warm up to him as she gets to know him and he seems serious about taking her as a wife rather than a slave? Does the argument with Agamemnon and Akhilleus' actions in its wake precipitate a change in Briseis' feelings towards him? Or does it strengthen something that was already there? Or does it actually check the development of their relationship because she thinks his actions are dishonourable and cruel even in spite of the fact he's doing it for her?

If you include Patroklos, what do you make of the fact that Briseis is one of the chief mourners at his funeral? What about the fact that she's going to do very much the same at Akhilleus' funeral, according to the Posthomerica tradition in the previous link, and the idea that Briseis ends up as an (apparently?) very sincere mourner for both of these men who were once her captors? If you'd prefer to stick with the Iliad and disregard the Posthomerica/the rest of the Cyclic poems, do you read Briseis' speech about Patroklos as maybe indicating a fondness for him? Do we get a kind of weird romantic set up where Akhilleus is in love with Briseis but she's in love with his subordinate and cousin? Does that get resolved or is there only pining until they die? Do both Akhilleus and Patroklos desire Briseis, but not each other (or not each other until this point?) Are they just a happy poly family? (And do they get a happy poly family ending, or is that still interrupted by the brutalities of war?

Helen & Aphrodite - Woooow, I love their meeting in Book 3. Helen essentially tells the goddess Aphrodite, "Go fuck Paris and go fuck yourself." Aphrodite tells Helen that she really does still love and care for her - but she can withdraw that love, and it will be a cruel and dangerous thing for her. Helen is terrified by the goddess she just stood up to and submits; but then she verbally flays Paris instead when she finds him.
So what does this all mean? Has Helen always resented Aphrodite and her blessing of beauty? Would she, like the Akhilleus of the Odyssey, prefer a humble and peaceful life to glory that comes paired with suffering? Or is this conflict more recent? Did it develop while Paris was eloping with her (or kidnapping her, if you'd prefer that relationship to have been unwilling from the start)? Did it come later into the War? How often does Aphrodite do this kind of thing to Helen? Is their shared assumption that the Trojan women would turn on Helen with Aphrodite's favour and beauty on her correct, or could they see further than that? What about the Trojan men, and the Greeks come to give her back to her husband?

As some of the prompts among this chaotic and disparate array might have suggested to you, I'm quite happy for you to drop my "bittersweet" preference for this fandom, and go right into full tragedy if that's where the muse takes you.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Willow/Buffy - The two girls who were with each other right from the beginning to the very end. Through the laughter and the tears, through life and death (and pulling one of them back "against all the laws of nature" from death to life), through love and conflict and even bitter emnity. And "I kind of love you".

This is a pairing for which I also have great nostalgic adoration, so I'm going to be pretty happy with whatever I get. (I'll express a preference for something relatively positive, but that's not an absolute).

If however, you would prefer prompts, then a quick array includes: Willow developing an innocent kind of crush on Buffy over S1-2 and dealing with feelings she doesn't quite understand yet; Willow getting (even more) jealous of Faith's flirting with Buffy in S3 (optionally, Faith just starts flirting with Willow too); Willow starts to explore her sexuality with Buffy in S4 rather than Tara (and Buffy has to work her own sexuality out too); trying to rebuild together - as established lovers or while falling in love- post S7. (You might just ignore Kennedy's S7 existence instead of spending time and space on writing her out: use a bit of fanfic fiat there).

I haven't kept up with any post-show material (barring Angel S5), so the comics and so forth won't really ring a bell with me. You're welcome to draw on them, if you'd really like, but it's not likely to land particularly effectively.

Dear FEx Author,
I swear, this exchange keeps growing in size. What a mad number of fandoms and 'ships to choose from. Very glad to match with you in the midst of all that, and I'm sure I'll love what you come up with.

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' - that is, sticking a penis on a cis woman for the sake of making sure there's dick involved in sex - is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally don't stray too far toward the sexy side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I can definitively say I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Seika on AO3, and I have my works and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even contradictory ones - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.

Emelan
Daja/Sandry - As ever with Emelan, I'm pretty happy just to get to read more of this, so go wild.

Suggestions include: a contrast between Daja's rougher trade and Sandry's more delicate one, and an affirmation that they're equal nevertheless; an exploration of their roles as the two outright craftswomen of the Circle; an AU where Briar and Tris didn't end up at Winding Circle, and it's just Daja and Sandry.

This last one would obviously draw heavily on that wonderful scene in The Magic in the Weaving where they're first introduced, and Sandry gets up on her high horse and slaps down the other noble girls for being rude to Daja. Do they still end up at Discipline if this happens, or do they have to deal with being in the general initiate dorms? You might write little vignettes showing how their relationship develops in either case, from childhood and friendship to adulthood and romance. The events of canon are very much tailored to the full four mages of the Circle, so you might want to alter them, although I'd certainly be impressed if you decided to see what happened if all the outside events remained exactly the same.

League of Legends
Diana/Leona, Lux/Jinx, Illaoi/Miss Fortune

Diana/Leona - I'm interested particularly in the way some of the new lore begins to bear on Diana and Leona's relationship, with them now not merely being blessed by Sun and Moon, but now actually harbouring Aspects of these great and terrible powers in themselves. What, perhaps, does it mean for them if they find that they don't agree with the quasi-gods within them? (Consider how Pantheon's former self has been totally taken over by his Aspect). Interestingly, we now seem to have a reverse of the old lore: before, Leona and Diana had previously seemed okay with each other but were set against each other because of their faiths. Now Leona and Diana have personal problems with each other over the Solari elders' deaths, but their gods are apparently best buds and they've both been told that.

And, without the League, how do these two meet again, given Leona's seeking Diana and Diana's running from the Rakkor? How do they react to each other if they meet? Do they debate, do they fight, do they do start on one and move to the other, do they do both continuously? What even is their relationship at all?

That said, an old lore approach to their conflict, which frankly had plenty of its own unanswered questions given the total lack of organisation, is perfectly acceptable too. Let's see the heretic and the paladin butting heads, Diana's fury fighting with her old admiration for Leona, Leona's simple faith in the sun shaken if she ever takes in what Diana says about the Lunari's history.

Lux/Jinx - Star Guardian time! The trailer set up the classic Magical Girls scenario in about every way it could, and the special interactions hammer it home really hard. "Lux even makes boring beautiful!" So run with that and give me Jinx as that independence-seeking rival who says she can't stand the team's no-fun attitude, and that the leader is the softest and weakest of all, but who actually still wants precious friendship in the end and is totally into Lux (and her short skirt). Silly, cliché fun.

Illaoi/Miss Fortune - Frankly, I’m very much down for some really filthy smut with this pair. (Tentacles not even necessary). I mean, have you seen them? Hello, sailors. On the other hand, I can also see this as quite a tentative exploratory pairing: Illaoi’s wandering independence, fierce advocacy of Nagakabouros, and propensity for testing the strength of people’s spirits must cause a lot of headaches for the new top dog of Bilgewater, and yet I think they’d both find a lot to appreciate in each other too.

You might consider the clash between Illaoi's native Serpent Isles culture and the Bilgewater foreigners; a second Harrowing (or more - Harrowing after Harrowing over time and how MF and Illaoi develop as they fight together?) drawing on Shadow and Fortune; or working with the plot threads that remain loose, especially GP's desire for revenge on MF, and Illaoi's connexions to them both.

For reference, given what a mess League lore has been up until Universe launched: Bilgewater, the Burning Tides story, the Burning Tides event site, Shadow and Fortune (where they actually meet!), MF bio (and short story), and Illaoi's bio (and short story).

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Fate/Nanoha - I'm requesting this mostly on the grounds of nostalgia for a show and pairing whose heyday has long since passed. But they've been adorable ever since the two of them exchanged ribbons and blushed at the end of S1, through Fate's determined defence of Nanoha when Vita was beating her down, and into their one-bed apartment and mutual adoption of a child. Really, I'd be happy with 'fic based on any of these stages of their relationship: an innocent and sweet pair of puppy-crushes, which all the adults are probably cooing over; realising exactly what they mean to each other as they begin to grow up; and that apparently very domestic and settled partnership while they're still surprisingly young adults, even as their professional lives involve vast amounts of danger, and even more vast laser beams. (If you chose the last one, perhaps you might write about what new dynamics the sudden introduction of Vivio brings to their relationship, and how they deal with it).

I'm not familiar with the sound stages, Force/Vivid, or the games, so while you're welcome to use details from them, a certain amount will end up being lost on me.

Parahumans
Lisa/Taylor - Lisa, I think, gets a bit of a bad rap in the fandom. Yeah, she could have been more creatively conceived than "author's infodump mouthpiece"; no, she's not at all nice to people she's on the wrong side of. But she tries very hard to be caring with people she does like, and it's not something that I think necessarily comes naturally to her: at least by the point of canon, when she's gone through her early life, her trigger, the powers that make it hard-to-impossible for her to ignore everyone's bad points, and then been screwed over by Coil.

So I'd like to see some more development of Lisa as the girl who, despite everything, takes Taylor in, gives her her own place (both physically and in a team who will actually be her friends), and who tries to help Skitter bear up under everything that has been and will be piled on her over the course of the novel. Taylor, of course, tries to repay her in turn: killing Coil, trying to rescue Lisa from her purposelessness after his death, trying to help her remember that she's more than just her power. In some ways, they both try to make each other a bit more human, and that's a crucial thing in their world. It also hits my buttons, because I'm a terrible sucker for mutually supportive relationships, with attraction running alongside a deep friendship.

For something a bit more on the "established" rather than "developing" side, this relationship - or, perhaps, this universe as a whole - is also entirely ripe for a pure H/C scenario. Maybe Taylor has (per usual) got too close to the action as a squishy non-Brute, or Lisa's dealing with a Thinker migraine (the first time Taylor's around for a really bad one?)

Do feel free to either run with Lisa's enforced quasi-asexuality from canon or dismiss it, at your preference.

Dear NPT Author,

Bleed me, the third year of doing this. Writing 'fic regularly, albeit sparsely. Mad, mad world. In any case, welcome to my typical, stupidly long letter. I'm very glad to have matched with someone (especially as I, uh, forgot to do my nominations this time around and so am relying on other people's), and I'm looking forward tremendously to reading whatever you write.

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally land on the more chaste side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I have no objection to smut.

I'm

Seika on AO3, and I have my works and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even sometimes contradictory - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.

League of Legends
Diana/Leona - I'm interested particularly in the way some of the new lore begins to bear on Diana and Leona's relationship, with them now not merely being blessed by Sun and Moon, but now actually harbouring Aspects of these great and terrible powers in themselves. What, perhaps, does it mean for them if they find that they don't agree with the quasi-gods within them? (Consider how Pantheon's former self has been totally taken over by his Aspect). Interestingly, we now seem to have a reverse of the old lore: before, Leona and Diana had previously seemed okay with each other but were set against each other because of their faiths. Now Leona and Diana have personal problems with each other over the Solari elders' deaths, but their gods are apparently best buds and they've both been told that.

And, without the League, how do these two meet again, given Leona's seeking Diana and Diana's running from the Rakkor? How do they react to each other if they meet? Do they debate, do they fight, do they do start on one and move to the other, do they do both continuously? What even is their relationship at all?

That said, an old lore approach to their conflict, which frankly had plenty of its own unanswered questions given the total lack of organisation, is perfectly acceptable too. Let's see the heretic and the paladin butting heads, Diana's fury fighting with her old admiration for Leona, Leona's simple faith in the sun shaken if she ever takes in what Diana says about the Lunari's history.

Lux/Jinx - Star Guardian time! The trailer set up the pure Magical Girl classic in about every way it could, and the special interactions hammer it home really hard. "Lux even makes boring beautiful!" So run with that and give me Jinx as that independence-seeking rival who says she can't stand the team's no-fun attitude, and that the leader is the softest and weakest of all, but who actually still wants precious friendship in the end and is totally into Lux (and her short skirt). Silly, cliché fun.

Mass Effect
Female Shepard/Samantha Traynor - I'm very into Sam & Shepard's supportive dynamic. They don't quite hold each other up as they stagger across a battlefield, like some of the others do: each of them (tries) to help out with some problem the other almost can't imagine having. The Reapers in many ways seem to be beyond Sam (and she certainly knows she's not directly fighting them), and she's often caught up in the difficulty adapting to frontline habits and disciplines away from her old desk post; Shepard is a long long way into her career as a marine (albeit surprisingly young in absolute terms), but has ended up as the tip of the spear against the Old Machines, and needs someone who'll help her bear up under that and see things other than the horrors of the war.
I feel Shepard can run on raw bloody-mindedness forever by the point of ME3, but Sam tries to stop her just driving on without a care for herself, tries to relax her and stop her becoming a battered automaton. She's perhaps the love interest who looks beyond the Reapers the most, to a life after them.
I suppose therefore I'm looking for a tender moment or moments between them, maybe in the gaps of canon, where that kind of dynamic comes out in force, each helping the other bear up. Could be flavoured by hurt-comfort, raw fluff, or humour.
(I'm also not at all above some shower smut, or Sam trying a more intimate sort of relaxation - perhaps beginning with a massage ...)

Female Shepard/Tali - I felt this ship surprisingly hard when my first game of ME2 rolled around and was honestly surprised it didn't go all the way, given both how much of the male romance was left in their interactions and even what replaced the more overt romantic scenes. I'd like something probably more in that timeframe then.
Tali in ME2 has a lot to deal with when it comes to Shepard. Shepard in ME1 was a saviour, mentor, superior, leader, hero, friend, perhaps crush. In ME2, she adds to that powerful mix a dose of bizarre resurrection - but at the hands of Cerberus, and just as Tali's starting to stand on her own as a leader herself.
I'd like to see Tali trying to cope with this odd cocktail, perhaps working up her confidence over time, both as she continues to grow herself and as she starts getting to know Shepard more completely. Going from a a kind of distant, unattainable crush, to a closer and more genuine emotional connexion.

The Chronicles of Narnia
The Pevensies - I have a love for two particular scenarios when dealing with this family, and however much I read, it's never enough. Take your pick, or pick 'n mix.
First, when they've just been crowned and Aslan's left. What the hell do they do? They're kids, albeit now tested, who have just won a war and been handed a country for it. A country that's been buried in winter for decades, a country whose citizens were encouraged to inform on each other, a country recovering from tyranny and civil war that have divided its people.
How do they manage it, and how do they support each other through it? What particular challenges do they face, and how do they fight through them? How do Pete and Su and Ed and Lu become High King Peter the Magnificent and Queen Susan the Gentle and King Edmund the Just and Queen Lucy the Valiant? And how do they do it as a

Dear FEx Creator,

Hi! This is a pretty huge exchange, which kinda scares me, but I guess it means that if we matched on something in the midst of all this, that's a good sign. I look forward to whatever you come up with.

My usual apologies for how long this is.

Some general preferences

Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Seriousgore or fetishes are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally land on the more chaste side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I have no objection to smut.

I'm Seika on AO3, and I have my works and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. I'm very happy for you to remember that, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. That's why my prompts often throw out a scattershot of questions and instances at you, even sometimes contradictory - you're free to pick up as many or as few threads as you'd like. If a single phrase inspires you, I'll be content.

Fandom Specifics

Magic: the Gathering

Chandra/Nissa, Chandra/Liliana, Chandra/Nissa/Liliana

Chandra/Nissa -Who knows what the developments will be as the story progresses between now and the deadline, but I'd be glad to see these two either as part of the Gatewatch or on their own after Bolas scattered it. Really, I'd just like to encourage Chandra and Nissa's relationship to move apace. Wizards may have got their main plots finally moving along, after years of glacial incrementation, but apparently they're still stuck in the old rut when it comes to character interaction. It could be the moment - or a series of moments - as they begin to overcome their difficulties and finally admit to love; or a point of contemplation and togetherness afterwards as they're bedding down into romance; or even just an adventure finally together as partners.

Chandra/Liliana - As for this one, I'd like to see something based on the ideas of the early Kaladesh story "Torch of Defiance", and their interactions there. (Whether you actually stick to that particular scenario or try something similar elsewhere and elsewhen is up to you).

Liliana whispers in the ear of a reluctantly grinning Chandra; art by Mark Winters

'Chandra's own grin came unbidden. "Liliana, you're two centuries older than me. Exactly which of us is supposed to be the responsible one?"

"Let me tell you a secret." Liliana cupped a hand playfully near Chandra's ear. "There doesn't have to be a responsible one."'

Chandra/Nissa/Liliana - In that this has less canon basis than either of the other two, and is not at all likely to happen, then I'd just be interested in your take on however this might come about. That said, if you want a prompt, I can see Liliana in an established relationship with Chandra nonetheless encouraging her desire for Nissa with some amusement, perhaps at first so Chandra doesn’t realise and then starting to get much more blatant about her teasing when she’s figured out. Chandra is eventually persuaded to invite Nissa in.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

F!Ryder/Cora Harper

I'm very sorry for indulging stereotypes, but STOP BEING SO SODDING ADMIRING ABOUT ASARI WHILE STILL PRETENDING YOU'RE STRAIGHT. Actually, take that in or out of character. I can totally see lategame Ryder, having finally got her feet under her, just snapping at the million times she's heard Cora sigh over the asari, and demanding to know if Cora genuinely hasn't noticed she likes breasts or if Ryder's just aren't good enough. (Funny is fine, but let's not make this strangely speciesist, please).

Alternatively, I'm just pretty hungry for some F!Ryder/Cora, so I'll take a quick unticking of the gender flag in Cora's romance, and seeing that at least be a possibility - even if it comes later than M!Ryder's - without a sudden inflexion point for it.

League of Legends

Diana/Leona, Lux/Jinx, Illaoi/Miss Fortune

Diana/Leona - I'm interested particularly in the way some of the new lore begins to bear on Diana and Leona's relationship, with them now not merely being blessed by Sun and Moon, but now actually harbouring Aspects of these great and terrible powers in themselves. What, perhaps, does it mean for them if they find that they don't agree with the quasi-gods within them? (Consider how Pantheon's former self has been totally taken over by his Aspect). Interestingly, we now seem to have a reverse of the old lore: before, Leona and Diana had previously seemed okay with each other but were set against each other because of their faiths. Now Leona and Diana have personal problems with each other over the Solari elders' deaths, but their gods are apparently best buds and they've both been told that.

And, without the League, how do these two meet again, given Leona's seeking Diana and Diana's running from the Rakkor? How do they react to each other if they meet? Do they debate, do they fight, do they do start on one and move to the other, do they do both continuously? What even is their relationship at all?

That said, an old lore approach to their conflict, which frankly had plenty of its own unanswered questions given the total lack of organisation, is perfectly acceptable too. Let's see the heretic and the paladin butting heads, Diana's fury fighting with her old admiration for Leona, Leona's simple faith in the sun shaken if she ever takes in what Diana says about the Lunari's history.

Lux/Jinx - Star Guardian time! The trailer set up the pure Magical Girl classic in about every way it could, and the special interactions hammer it home really hard. "Lux even makes boring beautiful!" So run with that and give me Jinx as that independence-seeking rival who says she can't stand the team's no-fun attitude, and that the leader is the softest and weakest of all, but who actually still wants precious friendship in the end and is totally into Lux (and her short skirt). Silly, cliché fun.

Illaoi/Miss Fortune - Frankly, I’m very much down for some really filthy smut with this pair. (Tentacles not even necessary). I mean, have you seen them? Hello, sailors.

On the other hand, I can also see this as quite a tentative exploratory pairing: Illaoi’s wandering independence, fierce advocacy of Nagakabouros, and propensity for testing the strength of people’s spirits must cause a lot of headaches for the new top dog of Bilgewater, and yet I think they’d both find a lot to appreciate in each other too. You might consider Illaoi fending off the Harrowing around Bilgewater, the clash between her native Serpent Isles culture and the Bilgewater foreigners, or even working with the plot set up about her providing aid to Gangplank when he's trying to take revenge on MF. (Perhaps she also tests MF and finds her just as worthy, and so reverses course. All is motion).

For reference, given what a mess League lore has been up until Universe launched: Bilgewater, the Burning Tides story, the Burning Tides event site, MF bio (and short story), and Illaoi's bio (and short story).

Tomb Raider

Sam Nishimura/Lara Croft

Surprise, I'm also annoyed by Sam disappearing from Rise, being continuously squirrelled away in the comics, and apparently being weirdly retconned in the movie. Like, I dunno, it seems everyone else who was interested in this dynamic from TR 2013. So, frankly, I just want something which isn't that.

Talk to me about Yamatai and how Sam sees Lara being beaten and burnt and crushed for her but always rushing back. Talk to me about exhaustion and grief and anger weighing on Lara until the single focus of Sam is all that can get her to lift another step. Talk to me about that time when sun finally shone through the clouds on the two of them re-united. Talk to me about Lara carrying Sam down that mountain in a white dress, with flowers in her hair, and whether they laughed at it or cried or were just silent, together.

Talk to me about a post-Yamatai in which Lara and Sam go on together. Maybe Sam still has troubles with Himiko's soul insidiously poking at the cracks created by Matthias' half-complete ritual, but for sod's sake, let's have Lara stay by her side and fight for her again. Maybe Lara's still struggling with the fall-out of becoming the vaunted 'Survivor', that angry demi-goddess whom the Solarii and Oni saw cutting them down by the end, but let's have Sam stick with her and help her learn about being safe again. Maybe Rise still happens, but this time Sam appears in something other than, like, one journal entry.

Gimme something, people, please.

Dear NPT Author,

Good luck, for whatever got you matched with me! (I'm scared of how many fandoms I'm the sole nominator for this time around, so I appreciate that we share some of the same taste. Good on you, and thank you).

As ever, apologies for the length.

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.
No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. What I understand specifically by 'futa' or 'G!P' is not my kink, though actual trans women are fine.

Rating – from General to Explicit, it's fine. Whatever feels right for your inspiration and story. Serious gore or fetishes are a turn off, but I can handle most of what you’re throwing at me. My prompts generally land on the more chaste side of things but, if you’re going unprompted or just feel like it fits your story, I have no objection to smut.

I'm Seika on AO3, and I have my works and some of my bookmarks public, often with notes on them, so you can glance through those if you're inclined to keep researching my bad taste.

Fandom Specifics

Magic: the Gathering
Chandra/Nissa, Chandra/Liliana

Chandra/Nissa - I'm writing this as the AKH story is still coming out, so who knows what the developments will be, but let's say just I'd like to encourage Chandra and Nissa's relationship to move apace. Wizards may have got their main plots finally moving along, after years of glacial incrementation, but apparently they're still stuck in the old rut when it comes to character interaction. It could be the moment - or a series of moments - as they begin to overcome their difficulties and finally admit to love; or a point of contemplation and togetherness afterwards as they're bedding down into romance; or even just an adventure finally together as partners.

Chandra/Liliana - As for this one, I'd like to see something based on the ideas of the early Kaladesh story "Torch of Defiance", and their interactions there. (Whether you actually stick to that particular scenario or try something similar elsewhere and elsewhen is up to you).

Liliana whispers in the ear of a reluctantly grinning Chandra; art by Mark Winters

Liliana whispers in the ear of a reluctantly grinning Chandra; art by Mark Winters

'Chandra's own grin came unbidden. "Liliana, you're two centuries older than me. Exactly which of us is supposed to be the responsible one?"

"Let me tell you a secret." Liliana cupped a hand playfully near Chandra's ear. "There doesn't have to be a responsible one."'

I'm not really looking for Chandra going full black mage, necromanctic mass-murderer, but a sense of Liliana trying to work on that headlong, head-first, impulsiveness of Chandra. Drawing it out, guiding it towards a kind of live-in-the-moment hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure, some heedless and selfish fun, instead of Chandra's more purely Red instincts. (I can see this going pretty smutty or with a surprisingly minimal degree of physicality between them - maybe it culminates in Chandra at last daring to kiss Lili. But you write it however you want).

Secret special option - If you're feeling up for the full Jund trio in whatever fashion you'd like to explore, I won't object to that either.

Mass Effect: Andromeda
F!Ryder/Cora Harper

I'm very sorry for indulging stereotypes, but STOP BEING SO SODDING ADMIRING ABOUT ASARI WHILE STILL PRETENDING YOU'RE STRAIGHT. Actually, take that in or out of character. I can totally see lategame Ryder, having finally got her feet under her, just snapping at the million times she's heard Cora sigh over the asari, and demanding to know if Cora genuinely hasn't noticed she likes breasts or if Ryder's just aren't good enough. (Funny is fine, but let's not make this strangely speciesist, please).

Alternatively, I'm just pretty hungry for some F!Ryder/Cora, so I'll take a quick unticking of the gender flag in Cora's romance, and seeing that at least be a possibility - even if it comes later than M!Ryder's - without a sudden inflexion point for it.

League of Legends
Diana & Leona, Diana/Leona, Jax, Lux/Jinx

Diana & Leona, Diana/Leona - I'm interested particularly in the way some of the new lore begins to bear on Diana and Leona's relationship, with them now not merely being blessed by Sun and Moon, but now actually harbouring Aspects of these great and terrible powers in themselves. What, perhaps, does it mean for them if they find that they don't agree with the quasi-gods within them? (Consider how Pantheon's former self has been totally taken over by his Aspect). Interestingly, we now seem to have a reverse of the old lore: before, Leona and Diana had previously seemed okay with each other but were set against each other because of their faiths. Now Leona and Diana have personal problems with each other over the Solari elders' deaths, but their gods are apparently best buds and they've both been told that.

And, without the League, how do these two meet again, given Leona's seeking Diana and Diana's running from the Rakkor? How do they react to each other if they meet? Do they debate, do they fight, do they do start on one and move to the other, do they do both continuously? What even is their relationship at all?

That said, an old lore approach to their conflict, which frankly had plenty of its own unanswered questions given the total lack of organisation, is perfectly acceptable too. Let's see the heretic and the paladin butting heads, Diana's fury fighting with her old admiration for Leona, Leona's simple faith in the sun shaken if she ever takes in what Diana says about the Lunari's history.

Ship/gen entirely up to you.

Jax - Jax. Jaaaaaaax. Okay, so I adore this character. On the one hand, he's pretty simple - a dude who likes to fight and is very, very, very good at it. On the other, he's covered from head-to-foot, including the (three-fingered) hands; has forgotten his own skin colour because he's been in that state for so long; and is now from Icathia.

Icathia is a contemporary of old Shurima, the ancient, buried empire Nasus, Renekton, Xerath and Azir were from. Nasus might have been fatally cursed by 'evil magics' cast by an Icathian 'cult-leader'. Renekton's giant axe, which he uses as a crocodilian demi-god, was once wielded by one of their warrior-kings. The ruins of Icathian cities are where Kassadin and Malzahar had their visions of the Void, setting the courses of the lives as Walker and Prophet. Icathia is mysterious, powerful, and long-dead. And apparently Jax is from it. And he's trying to find warriors good enough to fight the Void "monsters from beyond", just as Nasus says "monsters" killed his friend as Icathia fell.

TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS GUY.

What did Icathia use to be like in its glory days? What was Jax's life like then - was he a warrior, was he something else? What happened when Icathia fell? How did he escape? How did he change, then, and in the apparent millennia which have followed? What great heroes has he rejected in all the years he's been looking, since he still travels alone? If you've got a favourite champion you think is worthy of it, will you tell me how Jax finally finds them acceptable as a warrior against the Void? (Bonus points for someone like Poppy or Trist, where it seems funny but you can also say, "Yeah, I do see that.") Tell me something about Jax.

Lux/Jinx - Star Guardian time! The trailer set up the pure Magical Girl classic in about every way it could, and the special interactions hammer it home really hard. "Lux even makes boring beautiful!" So run with that and give me Jinx as that independence-seeking rival who says she can't stand the team's no-fun attitude, and that the leader is the softest and weakest of all, but who actually still wants precious friendship in the end and is totally into Lux (and her short skirt). Silly, cliché fun.

Tomb Raider
Sam Nishimura/Lara Croft

Surprise, I'm also annoyed by Sam disappearing from Rise, being continuously squirrelled away in the comics, and apparently being weirdly retconned in the movie. Like, I dunno, it seems everyone else who was interested in this dynamic from TR 2013. So, frankly, I just want something which isn't that.

Talk to me about Yamatai and how Sam sees Lara being beaten and burnt and crushed for her but always rushing back. Talk to me about exhaustion and grief and anger weighing on Lara until the single focus of Sam is all that can get her to lift another step. Talk to me about that time when sun finally shone through the clouds on the two of them re-united. Talk to me about Lara carrying Sam down that mountain in a white dress, with flowers in her hair, and whether they laughed at it or cried or were just silent, together.

Talk to me about a post-Yamatai in which Lara and Sam go on together. Maybe Sam still has troubles with Himiko's soul insidiously poking at the cracks created by Matthias' half-complete ritual, but for sod's sake, let's have Lara stay by her side and fight for her again. Maybe Lara's still struggling with the fall-out of becoming the vaunted 'Survivor', that angry demi-goddess whom the Solarii and Oni saw cutting them down by the end, but let's have Sam stick with her and help her learn about being safe again. Maybe Rise still happens, but this time Sam appears in something other than, like, one journal entry.

Gimme something, people, please.

Emelan
Tris & Daja & Sandry & Briar, Tris/Daja/Sandry/Briar

Whenever I prompt with these four, I'm very open-ended, because it's the dynamic that I love about them, these family and friends and an inextricable Circle, and the plots which serve to show it off are sorta incidental to me.

So, yeah, literally anything that has the Circle eventually being that concerted, loving whole. Domestic, action-y, drama, according to your choice. This is one where I'd like to encourage the author to come up with their own plot and service it according to their own preferences, rather than follow my whims.

That said, because it's also mean to just demand that of someone, some seeds if you want them: the Circle are really bad at dealing with each other's romances, whether inside or outside the group (eventual poly-ship optional but entirely accepted). The Circle in middle age: a weird un-related family no-one would believe are un-related if it weren't for their looks, who teach kid students in Discipline, or help govern Emelan in the Summersea Citadel, or just are a cheerfully terrifying bunch of great mages in their own little house whom no potential enemy ever wants to cross. The Circle scattered across the world as when they Opened, but now with the magical power and knowledge to keep their bond open, communicating advice, sarcasm, and love even while they're apart.

Fate/Stay Night
Artoria/Rin

I'd like a scenario where Rin is actually acting as Artoria's Master. Maybe it's post-UBW Good End, and there's some cute fluff happening during their daily lives in Fuyuki. Maybe, if you'd rather a little more tension, action, and conflict, you could show me snippets of a Grail War where Rin actually managed to grab her coveted Saber somehow. (Like, she passes Tokiomi's clock test as the Tōsaka goof-up trait miraculously fails to kick in, and Shirō doesn't get an Avalon-reserved spot for whatever reason). Whether you choose these options or another, I'd also kind of like to see Rin's reaction to Saber in a suit, per Zero, if only for a short while. She's terribly adoring of Saber when she gets knightly, and generally tsundere about her beauty, so I'd love to see how she takes Artoria in elegant modern fashion.

Dear author,

Hello! May your Hallowe'en be as fun or scary as you want it to be! (I'm good at commitment, can you tell?)

Some general preferences
Yes, please – extra/missing scenes which fit the gaps of canon; unbreakable friendships; teamwork; standing battered but triumphant; character introspection; a touch of the bittersweet; any other characters you want to add that I haven’t already discussed or nominated.
No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. G!P is not my kink.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional: the "only" constraints are the fandom, characters, medium, and trick/treat choice, which you've all seen already on the AO3 form. I am very happy for you to remember that all this is optional, and to take advantage of it: please don't strain anything trying to fit your writing into my ideas. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you.

Trick or Treat specifics
I feel doubtful that I'll get extra gifts, seeing that my requests are for obscure enough fandoms that I'll probably have a hard enough time being matched. Nevertheless, if anyone feels like throwing extra gifts my way that ignore the trick/treat preferences and medium, I'd be delighted to receive them.

Now, with apologies for the length ...

Fandom Specifics

Magic: the Gathering
Chandra, Nissa, Jace, Gideon
If you’re so inclined, I’d like to do some shipping here: Wizards have been very good lately about offering up queer themes in their work, from Alesha to the Innistrad foresters Hal and Alena, but I'd like to see that capitalised upon a bit more in the main cast. Chandra and Nissa’s confused puppy-love has been coming out strongly since Homesick, and Jace’s regard for Gideon doesn’t exactly look platonic either (“And Gideon with his broad shoulders and ready smile, and—”). A treat on one or other or both relationships would be much appreciated, whether it’s them getting together or what they do when they are together.

Otherwise, some single-character prompts:
Chandra – Chandra isn’t often seen with natural fire. I’d quite like to think about that: say she finds a plane where a wildfire is raging over some vast stretch of deserted land. What does she see in it; what does she admire about it? Alternatively, how about something on her hair catching fire – finding out that this was a persistent thing it was going to do, learning to try to control it, something funny that happened when she failed.

Nissa – Nissa was, to put it mildly, not happy with Innistrad’s soul and mana: harsh and dark even before Nahiri twisted it and Emrakul fouled it. So what are the sorts of planes where Nissa finds their soul beautiful? How are they different from Zendikar, which she first loved, e.g. without the ever-present anger of the Roil? See for example the Kaladesh card Attune with Aether, which was spoiled hours after I wrote this prompt.

Jace – Something Guildpact-y: maybe one of those days when Jace gets to do something that really makes all the headaches of ruling an entire plane worth it. Or Lavinia low-key trolling him over his responsibilities in that Azorius way, like when she arranged all his stacks of paperwork into a maze he had to navigate after he came back from Zendikar. All in the name of making sure the Living Guildpact can efficiently attend to his duties, obviously.

Gideon – Days with the Irregulars, back when he was Kytheon. A time when they could forget their circumstances and just laugh, and Kytheon felt the pressure lifted from his shoulders just for a little while.

Baldur’s Gate
Imoen
Imoen – Something pre- or post-Bhaalspawn War, I think. What’s your take on Imoen first coming to Candlekeep and meeting CHARNAME, for example, and beginning to see that she might be able to make a home there with Gorion and Winthrop and this other kid with whom she feels a strange kind of connexion?
Or, how did she feel when CHARNAME laid down their divinity too and they could return to the world as two siblings untainted and unguided by prophecy? (Alternatively, perhaps, how did she feel at CHARNAME’s ascension, bearing in mind that this is a treat? CHARNAME was “strange among their kin” for their soul’s reaction to the taint, and is heavily implied to have a much more significant part of Bhaal’s essence than Imoen. Is there relief, in a way, that CHARNAME has been able to live up to the weighty destiny that’s always seemed to be laid on their shoulders and which has frankly scared Imoen? A gladness that Imoen’s helped see them through to something that she’s felt could be coming for some time now? Certainly there’ll be a pain at parting, but coming out a victor in the Bhaalspawn War and becoming a deity is still a triumph in no uncertain terms).

Emelan
Rizu, Daja

Rizu – In which Rizu falls rather harder for this strange visitor to the court – and how strange! A Trader (and yet a craftswoman), a practitioner of strange magics even Ishabal and Quen are wary of, a grower of living metal, an adopted-sister to a great noblewoman of the realm (and neither she nor Sandry ever seem totally aware of this, at least not in a way Rizu recognises). But she falls all the same, and when Daja asks her to leave, she says yes. What’s that like in the moment? What’s it like in that terrifying time before they leave and she has to think over all she’s giving up? What’s it like when they’re hurrying to the border and being harried by Berenene’s hounds? What’s it like when Namorn’s protections are raised against them and the Circle are trying to break through? What’s it like trying to fit in Emelan, so far from home? And what’s it like when she finds the moment that not only makes it worth all that, but cements her decision to stay.

Daja – if Rizu isn’t in the picture, then what’s it like for Daja after Namorn, in terms of relationships? Whom does she start the healing process with after Rizu turned out not to be all she hoped? Whom does she explore her new-found sexuality with? What terribly embarrassing wisdom does Lark (or, gods forbid, Rosethorn) share?

Neverwinter Nights
Kaelyn the Dove, Safiya, The Founder

Kaelyn -

What was the Fourth Crusade like? (If Akachi’s was the first, Kaelyn’s the second, and the Spirit-Eater’s the third). For a trick, tell me the story of Kaelyn’s wings turning black. What made that first feather emerge or change from white to black? (When the Third Crusade ended with the Wall yet intact?) When did she see it – did she find out by herself, or did someone else spot it and tell her? What other notes of betrayal and despair in the depths of the Planes – hiding from the gods and gathering dubious allies and mounting her raids – darkened her wings? When did she lose her last white feather?
For a treat, tell me why she goes on anyway. Tell me about the souls in the Wall who scream and cry in the gods’ instrument of torment, but who still somehow know that they have a rescuer out there who could come for them, a champion who wants to protect them, a crusader who values even the Faithless. An angel.

Safiya/The Founder
(I use these characters as a catch-all for the group, the four fragments of Akachi's lover, since Nefris and Lienna apparently aren’t canonical on AO3 presently).
This prompt could probably go trick or treat either way: say something about the division of the Founder into her parts: the aged remnant, Headmistress (powerful and mothering) Nefris, curious Lienna, innocent Safiya. How did the Founder come to the decision? How did she come to accomplish it, given all the horrific foul-ups we see in the Academy over soul division and replication? Were there revelations as the parts of her soul were branched off, and did she change anything in her plan between the creation of the earlier fragments (born together as the Coven’s description of ‘twins’ suggest? One after the other?) and then Safiya? What’s left in the Founder after they’re divided: has she lost her drive to Nefris, her curiosity to Lienna, her past to Safiya? Is the only way she can feel them through the links in their soul? Or are they reflections of something still in her, just sharpened by their independence?

Dear NPT Author,

Hi?

Hi.

This is my first time on one of these exchanges, as that tentative little opening might have suggested, so we’ll start out with the reassurance that I am going to be incredibly hyped over having something written for me. No matter what you do with it. You don’t have a low bar to clear: there’s no bar at all.

Some general preferences

No, thank you – In general, a lot of the common plug-and-play AUs which significantly alter the background of the setting (e.g. ABO, D/s, vampires/werewolves, Hogwarts/school, daemons, total de-powering rather than just backgrounding supernatural elements) – I like a lot of these series not just for their characters but also for their worlds and the effect those worlds then have on their characters. If you’re hit really hard by a generic modern AU, that’s something I can take though. Character bashing: a villainous story role is fine; it’s when the author is clearly frustrated with a character and taking it out on them that I tune out. G!P is not my kink.

Obviously, by the terms of the exchange, everything here is optional. Still, where I’ve thrown out some more detailed prompts below, I’ve marked them as extra-optional because that’s precisely what they are. I'm trying to help spark off some thoughts if you aren't immediately seized by one, not to confine you. Don’t strain something trying to fit your writing into my ideas, please.

Now, with apologies for the length ...

Fandom specifics

Emelan

Daja, Briar, Sandry, Tris

Overview: Broadly, I’m going to be happy with whatever I get from these four, because I love the Circle dearly. While I won’t object to the characters going through a little angst along the way, I would definitely prefer this one to at least end on a happy and fluffy note.

Extra-optional prompt: I was interested in the idea from Daja’s Book/The Fire in the Forging of the Circle’s powers bleeding into one another, and was kind of sad that it actually got straightened out. Working with that would make me happy, whether you want to go with events around the time that their powers are canonically mixing, pretend that this never got neatly fixed and they had to work with it, or just imagine that there’s a resurgence of the phenomenon somewhere down the line for whatever reason.

Shipping: Go mad with gen or whatever set of ships you like, including the full foursome.

Fate/Stay Night

Artoria, Guinevere

Overview: We haven’t got a whole lot on these two and their relationship: the major narrative sources in English right now are this chapter from Fate/Zero, this scene from Hollow Ataraxia, and this extract from the Garden of Avalon book. There’s also Guinevere’s entry from the Fate/Zero encyclopaedia, but it conflicts somewhat with Garden of Avalon (thus getting trumped both by latest release and by Nasu > Urobuchi) and might be a bit too confining, so feel free to ignore as much of it as you want. That is, of course, all just the canon background, so please do deviate and alter outcomes as your 'fic demands. Basically, there's a good deal of room for exploring and interpreting Artoria and Guinevere's relationship, and I'd just like to see what you come up with, whether it's joy or pain.

Extra-optional prompts: Maybe you just want to show a day in the life of Camelot’s royal couple, attending to their business. Maybe you want to write up the wedding described in that Hollow scene in more detail. Maybe you want to deal with the revelation of Artoria’s gender and the resulting fallout: whether Guinevere was told early that her wedding was to a secret woman and so was expecting it to be childless and likely loveless; or she found out on the wedding night; or Artoria somehow put it off for a time until she felt secure in telling her Queen the truth – or it ended up getting found out by accident. (I would appreciate eliding the canon idea that Merlin enchanted Artoria with a set of male genitalia because it’s pretty ???. Exclude it or just gloss over it as you wish).
If you’re not interested in going full Nasuverse Arthuriana, then Artoria reminiscing to one of her Grail War Masters about her wife/marriage sounds fun too. If you’re more on the Zero side of the fandom, there’s your opening to use Kiritsugu or Iri and the Fourth War's scenario.

Shipping: It seems reasonably clear from Garden of Avalon that Artoria and Guinevere had come to love each other at least platonically by the time Camelot fell, but I’d certainly like a hint of romantic/sexual attraction from one party to another as well. Whether you want to have Guinevere pining after her apparently emotionless husband, Artoria’s detachment being tested by her lovely bride, or actual mutual romance – eventually revealed and requited or not – is up to you. (If you really feel like it, Lancelot is around for extra relationship complications and there’s fair grounds for him being in love with Artoria as well as Guinevere).

Other notes: I would prefer the focus to stay on Artoria and Guinevere. Lancelot is obviously likely (though by no means certain) to have his part in anything related to the two of them, but I’d rather the camera was mainly centred on the King and Queen here, and less on whatever craziness Sir du Lac is up to.

FFXIII

Lightning, Vanille

Overview: I don’t know whether I like Lightning and Vanille’s relationship in-game, so much as I like all the potential I see in it. At any rate, there’s definitely something that grabs me about Lightning interacting with another shade-of-red-haired little sister figure, and everything else that comes along with Vanille.

Extra-optional prompts: On Lightning’s side, to what degree might Lightning have seen Serah in Vanille? How did that change as time went on? How long did Lightning take to get an inkling (if she ever did before that blew up) that Vanille wasn’t letting on about everything, that she wasn’t as innocent and carefree as she was trying to be?

On Vanille’s side, how far did she compare Lightning and Fang – these two big sisters who nonetheless seem so very opposite at first? Vanille herself fought a war, however briefly: does she have any particular reaction to or reservation about Light being a member of the Guardian Corps?

I by no means expect you to try to answer all of those questions, or even pass over them, but they’re an indication of what I think has interest and potential. Points of comparison and of contrast for the characters.

Shipping: I’d prefer this being romantic, but gen’s fine too.

Other notes: Whether you’d like to put this somewhere in XIII or after it is up to you, but I’ll warn you that I haven’t got around to more than the very beginnings of XIII-2 or LR, so if you involve stuff from there I’m probably going to be lost. I’m not a spoiler-hound, so feel free to use elements from as you like, but be aware that they might not land properly.

Greek & Roman Mythology

Artemis, Apollo

Overview: Leto’s children interact curiously little in Greek myth, so I’d like to see a little more of them as a unit, whether actually doing something together or just one/another/both contemplating each other and their sibling relationship. If you want a start, Pindar’s take on the Koronis episode is one of the times the two do come together, so you might receive and react to that in your writing, or create your own version. (That's in his Third Pythian Ode, which has a reasonable translation here, albeit one you should definitely edit line breaks into to make it actually readable if you’re looking over it; Theoi has some alternative versions of the myth here).
Being Greek or Roman is fine by me, if you feel more comfortable with Diana than Artemis.

Extra-optional prompts: Certain ways in which Apollo is described in the Iliad have led to a theory that Helios was originally the sole Greek sun god, and that Apollo – the ‘lord of the silver bow’ who ‘came on like the night’ – was as much the moon god as his sister was the moon goddess. Over time, people found it more satisfying to assign Apollo to the Sun instead – the duality of the twins moving from being near-copies to mirrors – and Helios was gradually forced to budge over in favour of the more popular god. This may or may not hold much water, but it interests me and I’d encourage you to think about it. Maybe you’d like to present it as truth; maybe you’d like to portray some kind of divine transition by Apollo from Moon to Sun; maybe it’s simple a ‘could have been’.

Shipping: Artemis is a staunch virgin but, remembering that, do pretty much as you like with the gods.

Other notes: I am a Classicist by trade, so I’ll appreciate nods to the original epics and hymns and so forth particularly. Getting too modern with the interpretation will make it harder for me to connect with.
As an example, it's impossible for us to avoid condemning Zeus as a philandering rapist from the body of myths we have. (The same indeed goes for most of the gods). Nevertheless, Greek thought mostly stretched to him as a just lord of the heavens, wise in council, protector of travellers, and so on, with his misdemeanours backgrounded or somehow confined to a long-gone past. When Sextus Empiricus poses the question "How could a god be evil?", he expects an immediate answer of "They can't". Thus, if you're going to involve humans in a historical context, I'd prefer their interpretation of divine events to broadly match that, rather than trying to anachronistically moralise over the king of the gods (up to the point at which Christians appear and start pointing fingers, at any rate). On the other hand, if this is kept purely mythological, then you can certainly feel free to assume we're still in that disappeared past, and be as scathing as you please.

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Seika

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