Femslash Ex 2017 Dear Creator

[tigerlily]

Dear Creator,

Firstly, I am so sorry at how late this ended up being! I hope it’s still of use to you.

As for general things: these canons have a lot of angst, so I don’t mind some of that, especially for the ships that seem to call for it. That said, I’d rather not have anything completely bleak, although please do push the limit for some of these ships, if you want. I like filling in canon, canon divergence, what if AUs, role reversal AUs, continuations, crossovers, and fusions. Feel free to do a complete AU—high fantasy AUs, space AUs, apocalypse AUs, ghost AUs--but please not the coffee shop variety. I’m not into A/B/O, gore, vore, a lot of focus on bodily fluids and excretions, maiming, mutilation, extreme violence, cannibalism, body horror, major character death (unless it’s canon, but even then I’d rather it wasn’t the focus), torture (aside from the mental/emotional kind), or character bashing of anyone. Preferably no noncon, but again, you can push it for some foeyay ships. I don’t mind bloodplay or breathplay. I’m not quite looking for porn though, unless it’s character-study porn. Character studies, plot-heaviness, emotional stuff, fun stuff—all cherished.

For Star Wars, I would love anything in a broad range, from canon gap-filling to canon divergence to AUs. Hera and Ahsoka seem to have had the longest relationship of any listed here. I definitely want to know how that came about; also, after reading the Ahsoka novel I see some parallels between them, as leaders trying to organize people in resistance, when those people aren’t always entirely on board with doing that, or with how they’re going about it. For Ahsoka and Sabine, I’m also a bit of a sucker for the dynamic of a younger woman being intrigued by an older one, so it’d be great to see a little of the admiration and maybe frustration too, since Sabine doesn’t like things being held back from her. This has much potential to be an f/f version of the m/f “is this mysterious and attractive dude who keeps doing stuff trustworthy or what” romance, which is one of my favorite tropes, as someone who loved gothic romance. Padmé and Ahsoka is another younger/older dynamic, and Ahsoka’s such a curious person; she definitely wouldn’t mind learning more from her, and Padmé would provide a safe space for Ahsoka to be able to live and react like a person, not just as a proper Jedi, in a way Anakin can’t fully provide because he’s trying to maintain a proper master and Padawan relationship even if he’s doing it differently from how Obi Wan trained him. I also think Padmé would actively want to teach her, just to make sure she has a more nuanced understanding of politics and the galaxy than her master. Feel free to include or not include Anakin, as you wish; just treat him and the women’s relationships with him kindly, as I love him and his relationship with Ahsoka especially. Polyamory is totally an option here if you’re interested in that. Then there’s Ahsoka and Asajj, the third dynamic with a significant age difference, this time with added moral conflict! I love the idea of these women forming a kind of bond despite their differences; sort of like a Batman and Catwoman relationship. I’d like to see them negotiate that when interacting, developing a kind of respect and empathy for each other even if they never come to identify with the values and views of the other. Now for the bonus ships! Kaeden and Ahsoka are so very cute. I love how Kaeden idolizes Ahsoka and her badassery, and I love how Ahsoka is so baffled by Kaeden’s confession but still aware of, and pondering, the little intimacies like Kaeden sitting on the bed. It’d be sweet to see them meet up again, whether because they’re both working with the Rebellion together often, or because Ahsoka just knows where she is and visits sometimes, like it’s her hideaway of joy in the galaxy. Lastly—I love Jyn and Ahsoka. They both had very different lives, and yet there are parallels—both shaped by war, both learning to be wary of trust, both having deep issues with the most important male figures in their lives. Ahsoka too had a time of staying undercover, just surviving, even if she couldn’t help helping people as she ran across them. What if she is the Fulcrum Jyn meets, instead of Cassian?

For crossovers: yay, I love them. Elizabeth Bennet with Mary Crawford is compelling, with them seeming so similar, while being so different underneath. It’d be interesting to see Elizabeth sort of fall into a similar trap as she did with Wickham, in being beguiled by charm and social adeptness. So would seeing Mary come to be intrigued by Elizabeth’s combination of both of those traits with a genuinely good character. Then, Elizabeth Swann with Anne Elliott! What if Swann had been Anne’s rejected suitor instead of Wentworth? Whether as a pirate or a sailor with a hard road ahead of her? And/or what if Elizabeth is, like Will, cursed unless Anne is true in her love and, like Wentworth, fears this is not the case? I’d be happy with sea adventures or with Anne being Elizabeth’s anchor to land. Or something in between, if you prefer. Now, Diana and Luthien: what a mythological mashup! The warrior princess and the princess. It’s a great setup of archetypes. They could share the ages together, being immortal. They are both willing to go out into the world and face hardship for a worthy goal, with love being key to their motivation. What if there’s a sort of reverse of what happened in the movie, with Luthien being the one to defy what she’s told to follow Diana, inspired by her? Then there’s the bonus ships. Ahsoka and Diana are both these young women who start out so eager, even pushing against their mentor figures, to fight and to do what they think is worth doing, worth risking themselves for. They both end up quite disillusioned and even lost, but step up in the middle of a vast conflict, no matter how terrible things are. What if the Paradise Island is a planet, and the endless war is the Clone Wars? Or what if Ahsoka’s disappearance in Malachor leads to her coming to Diana somehow? Next, Ahsoka and Buffy. Lively, snarky women who can’t help helping people even when their lives are a ruin and their identities are lost. The Ahsoka novel is very much her “Anne” episode. What if Buffy’s the Chosen One training Ahsoka, or Ahsoka has a mystical experience on Malachor that puts her in contact with Buffy, like with dreams or mirrors? The third bonus ship is Xena with Diana Prince. Twice the warrior princess! They come from such different places—literally and figuratively—but arrive on the battlefield for the sake of a good cause in the end. Diana being half-god, particularly Zeus’ daughter, adds an interesting layer given Xena’s fraught relationship with gods. What if Diana, not Hercules, inspired Xena’s turn to redemption?

Now the Buffyverse. Buffy and all the women! I was so sad she and Kendra had to part when they were finally bonding. I’d love more of their friendly rivalry, and coming to develop an empathy for each other despite their radically different upbringings. Kendra could have a safe space to conceive of herself as more than a traditional Slayer, and Buffy could have a sort of role model she wants to compete with (she may be untraditional but she does want to succeed at every aspect of being the Slayer.) Speaking of friendly rivalry, there’s Cordelia and Buffy. That one’s a little meaner sometimes, as mean is part of Cordelia’s self-chosen role. Still, there’s an empathy and a willingness to respect each other there, which comes out when one is really in need and no one else seems to be providing. What if Buffy had kept trying and been more successful at normality? Or what if Cordelia had found out from the start and been more understanding; say, if Buffy had had to save her life first instead of Willow’s? Moving down the spectrum towards outright hostility, Darla/Buffy! Vicious little blondes with a good sense of humor and similar taste in men. Darla’s fascination with Angel’s attraction could lead her down the rabbit hole. What if Darla had come to town instead of—or with—Drusilla? Or if she’d been the soulless vampire who got chipped? Or! She and Angel (sans soul) go after and try to turn Buffy? Heading over to less fraught (differently fraught?) waters, let’s look at Buffy and Willow. They tend to support each other 100%, and inspire each other on the path of fighting evil. It’s seeing Willow traumatized that pushes Buffy to her first sacrificial death, and it’s Willow who drives her resurrection from the second. They both resent how the other depends on them, even as they resolve to always come through. There’s so much intensity in this dynamic, for good and bad. What if Vampire Willow turns Wish Buffy? Our Buffy? What if Willow/Buffy/Vampire Willow? Or Buffy moves Willow to realize she’s a lesbian (the canon version with Tara mirrors Buffy/Willow’s first encounters, I think)? Or they rebuild their relationship after season six (and seven?) into something quite different? Now, Buffy and Tara. Tara’s the only one who can tell Buffy isn’t in her body. Buffy sticks up for her in front of her family when she needs it, despite not knowing her very well, and Tara in turn reaches out when Buffy needs empathy on the day of her mother’s death. She doesn’t talk over Buffy’s pain or anything, just offers. Buffy is completely fine with Willow prioritizing saving Tara over the need to defeat Glory and protect Dawn. And of course, they start to really build a friendship apart from Willow in season six, where big strong Buffy actually leans on Tara for a safe space and protection. What if they met before Tara could meet Willow? Or something happens with the resurrection and Willow is gone, and they get together in the resulting messiness? Or Tara just doesn’t die, and the get together with Willow doesn’t work out because there’s too little trust, and the friendship with Buffy blooms? Finally, Satsu and Buffy. I haven’t read the comics after season nine, which was still a long time after I stopped enjoying them. But one thing that does stick with me is these two. They have an older/younger woman dynamic, where Satsu is fascinated by this intriguing person who’s also kind of a role model, and Buffy is delighted by the adoration of an incredibly cool person. Give me a happy ending for these two. They’re my sweet badwrong (in the workplace sense) couple. What if Buffy never ends the relationship? Or if they meet in different circumstances?

Moving to Xena, the live-action women-centric ur-show of my life! Xena and Callisto are what foeyay dreams are made of. Xena made Callisto, and their history drives them together, makes them feel a need to be responsible for the other, or to hurt the other, respectively. Callisto needs Xena, built her identity on her, and for Xena she represents everything that must be atoned for. So Xena needs something from her too. This seems a recipe for bittersweetness as best. Give me AUs, give me canon fillers. Let’s just ignore that she was reborn as Xena’s daughter. Then there’s Xena/Lao Ma. I loved watching Xena fall in love with her. I think she has a bit of a tendency to depend on women, perhaps; she wanted to live her life in service to Lao Ma, similarly to how later she’ll want to live her life with Gabrielle’s vision of her in mind. And Lao Ma in turn wanted a partner to help her reshape the world in a better way. What if that had worked out? Or if Lao Ma had lived to meet Xena again, once she was on her redemptive path? Thirdly, Xena/Gabrielle, the heart of the show. I love watching these women push and pull and inspire each other. How Gabrielle wants to be like her, Xena wants to be like Gabrielle, and both of those drives, to be better, partly for themselves and partly for each other, cause them to mirror each other as the series goes on. What if Xena had stayed in that realm where she never became a warlord, and Gabrielle lost her innocence? Give them more adventures, give them chances to find each other in different lives, reincarnations or AUs.

On to Once Upon a Time. Anastasia and Jabberwocky had some quite awful interactions, and they interest me. The way Jabberwocky can see the worst parts of you, the fear and the weakness that drives you. I’d love for them to meet again. The tension. What if Anastasia needs her? With the Jabberwocky needing her freedom to wander and terrorize, and the conflict, especially if Anastasia’s trying to be good. There could be quite the conflict of interest. Next, Mulan/Ruby. I would have sworn that they were the couple getting set up. They’re both kind of lost, with the people they love outside family, Aurora and Snow, getting entangled in their own separate lives. What if they are the ones that end up together, having their adventures only to find what they’re looking for in each other? What if they keep traveling, even across worlds, and occasionally stop by their homes (I’d love to see Granny and I’d love to see Mulan’s friends and family.) Now, Emma ships! Both Emma and Elsa led isolated, emotionally unfulfilling lives because of their parents’ attempts to do the right thing. They both have a high degree of selflessness, of goodness with a reserve, a distance, born of a fear at letting their emotions rise up—but they can’t help that rising. They needed a family. I love seeing them recognize that in each other, to the point of just offering what the other needs without any qualms or fear. They open up with no resistance. What if they keep in contact via mirror? What if they met as Misthaven and Arendelle royalty in an AU? Then, Emma and Red/Ruby. I loved the burgeoning friendship they had in the first season. Emma gave Ruby what she needed, a way to find her place in the world and learn more about herself as a person. Ruby gave Emma someone to mentor, to encourage and nurture. There’s something of the older/younger woman dynamic that keeps sprouting in this letter, no matter what the actual ages of these women. What if Ruby had come with Emma and Snow during their Enchanted Forest trip? Also, there’s Ruby’s mixed feelings over getting her old memories back. That could be interesting to mix with Emma’s mixed feelings on being the cursebreaker with this new family and people who see her as a Savior. On the foeyay side of things, Emma and Zelena have some interesting parallels. Both feeling unwanted, only in Zelena’s case it was actually true. Both growing up in unhappy homes (or lack thereof, as was Emma’s case much of the time.) What if Emma had gone back to the Enchanted Forest—not knowing about the curse and the loophole until it was too late? And she’d met Zelena while in her grief, with Zelena seeing an opportunity in this once enemy of her sister’s? In keeping with the foeyay theme, I added a bonus ship in Emma with Ingrid, whom she knew as Sarah. I wanted so much more of them. Ingrid was so important to Emma’s early life, her need for family twisted, and then Emma suffering because this person she loved needed her in a way she couldn’t give, in a way that hurt and used her. What if Ingrid hadn’t been able to erase Emma’s memories, so that relationship would give its complications to the season one story? How would that affect Emma’s relationships with Henry, Snow, and Regina then? Or if Ingrid had lived, and in the rush of love after the return of her memories she and Emma built a different relationship?

For the last fandom, Heartless. I loved how the morally ambiguous, resourceful Sofie became soft with Emilie, in a way she hadn’t been able to be except with her brother. Her world expanded, despite her need to see it as predators versus prey, despite the curse. There’s this Beauty and the Beast element to it. How does this develop after the show ends? How Sofie conceive of it, particularly considering her relationship to her brother, formerly all she had, especially as that relationship seems to grow more distance by the finale? She did what she warned him against doing, only to find a happiness in it she didn’t think she could have.

Thank you so much for writing me a story! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!