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Dear FEx Author ('18)
Aug. 20th, 2018 09:35 amDear 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![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
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.
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
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.
