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Hi! I’m LittleRaven on AO3. Thank you for coming to look at my requests!
If you’d like to see thoughts, prompts, more likes that can fit in my signup, or all my signup details in bulleted lists, this letter is for you. If you’d prefer going by my signup alone, that’s great too. Either way, I am thrilled you’re here.
Looking forward to what you will create!
Gifts are enabled on AO3, and treats are welcome.
Likes:
Parallels and contrasts between characters and their journeys. Characters looking out for each other and rescuing each other, giving care and emotional support. Especially women receiving care and support, getting their needs made a priority by their loved ones. Canon divergence and role reversals are loved, though I also enjoy other AUs.
More things I enjoy:
- fusions, CYOA, outside pov, story/fragments of story as told in-universe, IF/interactive fiction, illustrated fic, poetry, epistolary, vignettes, character studies, plotty stuff, 5+1 stories, angst, fluff, smut, adventure, characters talking to each other, road trips
- enemies to lovers, friends/lovers to enemies to lovers/friends, pining, worldbuilding, quiet character moments
- bittersweet endings, happy endings, open/ambiguous endings
- quiet and subtle romance, the total opposite of quiet and subtle romance, psychological horror, messy and complicated dynamics, blurring between obligation/need and love, fear/horror/anger mixed with desire/love
- politics, isolation, competitiveness, limited agency, legacy, manipulation, scheming
- Force bonds, Force shenanigans, Force Ghosts, Ahsoka’s fangs, connecting to the force together
- time travel, weird worlds/dimensions, time moves differently, time loops (including those which get reset with death, and where the person in the loop resets it purposefully by dying), time freezing
- undercover, undercover as a couple, mission fic, teaching games
- scars, suspense, compromised sense of self, interpersonal tension, duty versus desire, love/hate, possessiveness, insecurity, secret relationships, secrets
- trust issues, implicit trust, emotional intimacy
- casual displays of affection, shared beds, snuggling, sitting/lying in laps, jumping people, rough kissing, neck kissing, kissing tears, kissing hands (back of or palm), nuzzling, afterglow cuddles, sexy baths, sexy showers, bruises, marks, hair-pulling, face-touching, arms around shoulders/waists, forehead kisses, forehead touching, tied up with own clothes/other's clothes/clothes in general, nuzzling, hand holding, choking, breathplay, bloodplay, biting, scratching, growling, blindfolding, chains
- stories where the woman/women are a significant part of the man/men’s characterization, stories where the woman/women are a significant part of each other’s characterization, characters gathering each other’s backstory a little at a time, investigating each other
- spying, sex and violence paired together, body heat sharing
- loneliness, mutual pining
- dreams, fix-it, parallel universes, parallel universe characters
- us against the world
- ghosts
- rule 63'ing male characters (where they were always a girl)
- learning new skills
- gothic romance
- daemons (His Dark Materials-style)
Horror Likes:
- ghosts
- hostile alternate selves
- loneliness
- suspense
- scars
- time travel, weird worlds/dimensions, time moves differently, time loops (including those which get reset with death, and where the person in the loop resets it purposefully by dying), time freezing
- psychological horror
- isolation
- architecture that wants to keep you
- nature that wants to keep you
- gothic horror
- cosmic horror
- post-apocalypse scenarios
- dreams bleeding into reality
- hauntings
- cursed objects
- possession
Smut Likes:
- character focus in smut, competitive smut, ulterior motives for sex, scars, possessiveness, love/hate, the divine as sex
- cunnilingus, choking, breathplay, bloodplay, biting, scratching, Ahsoka's fangs, growling, blindfolding, chains, rough sex, rough kissing, lap sex, sex on furniture, sex against walls, slow sex, quick sex, gentle sex, neck kissing, kissing tears, kissing hands (back of or palm), nuzzling, afterglow cuddles, underwater sex, sexy baths, sexy showers, desperate sex, bruises, marks, hair-pulling, face-touching, arms around shoulders/waists, eating her out while holding her hand, multiple orgasms, forehead kisses, forehead touching, tied up with own clothes/other's clothes/clothes in general, nuzzling, hand holding, learning new skills, kneeling for cunnilingus and then needing to support her legs as they buckle
- trust issues, implicit trust, emotional intimacy, casual displays of affection
- shared beds, snuggling, jumping people, sitting/lying in laps
- sex and violence paired together, fucking in the same room as your enemies' corpse
- body heat sharing
- dreams
- pining, mutual pining
- ghost sex
- feeling each others' sensations during sex
- Force/magic shenanigans, using magic/the Force for sex, telepathy/Vulcan Mind Meld during on-your-knees cunnilingus
AU Likes:
Canon divergence
Period AUs - Regency (played straight or fantasy/science-fiction, in our world or another), 1920s, Jazz Age, Medieval, Renaissance, Byzantine Empire, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greece
Genres - planetary romance, fairy tale, magical girl, steampunk, pirate, high fantasy, noir
Other Canons - characters having daemons like in the His Dark Materials books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Star Trek, Jupiter Ascending, Silent Hill (2006), Clue, Annihilation (2018), Southern Reach trilogy, 30 Days of Night, The Mummy (1999-2001), Happy Death Day, Pacific Rim, Stardust (film or book)
Art Likes:
General:
any art style, rough sketches and clean line art both, color and composition to set mood, comics, scenery, single and group character poses, cute or actiony or romantic or moody or creepy, character expressions, body language, art of characters as tarot cards, dreams, in-universe art, characters with their loved ones (whether or not they're having a good time), characters with their enemies, characters doing the kind of thing they are good at in canon, lineart, lineless art, black and white/grayscale, bright colors, deep colors, subdued colors, pastel colors, monochrome, color highlights, anything with my AU likes
Poses:
non-explicit poses like characters kissing (on the mouth, the temple, the top of the head, hands, the cheek, etc), holding hands, hugging, carrying each other (princess carry, fireman, piggyback, shoulder rides), and pressing their foreheads together, petting their faces/hair, arms around shoulders/waists
explicit poses involving anything in my smut likes
IF Likes:
I use Windows 10 and Apple mobile devices. Most of my experience is with choice games--for example, like Alabaster, The Book of Guenevere, Affairs of the Court, visual novels like Oxenfree and Cinders, dating sims like Long Live the Queen and Magical Diary , and paper books where you turn to a page for every choice--but I’d be delighted with a parser game too. Puzzles, mazes, and timers aren’t a strength of mine, so I would enjoy a walkthrough if those are present.
DNWs:
- bleak/hopeless endings
- permanently dead requested characters (where they're not even a ghost/vampire) unless they are dead in canon
- mpreg
- detailed gore, detailed description of bodily fluids and excretions, watersports, scat, emetophilia
- noncon (unless requested/prompted)—dubcon is fine, rape (except where otherwise specified), a/b/o, bestiality, oviposition, monster sex, tentacle sex, flowery terms for body parts (love cave, love tunnel), sex without attraction, anal tearing, ass to mouth
- rule 63’ing female characters
- body horror, explicit torture, permanently physically damaging torture, maiming, mutilating (it’s ok to include if it’s canon, but I’d rather not have focus on the physical details of how it happens, how the inside parts of the body look and feel, or how it looks)
- animal harm, animal death
- bashing of characters or ships
- unrequited love (except if prompted, or if it's only unrequited in a characters' head)
- permanent breakups unless prompted
- focus on requested characters in non-canon unrequested/unprompted ships, non-canon unrequested ships, unrequested/unprompted poly/open relationships
- stories where nobody really cares about the woman/women in the ship
- AUs which don't use canon settings (unless prompted/requested/in list of likes)
- underage (17+ is fine, whether you change canon ages or set things when the characters would be 17+)
- ageplay/infantilization; unrequested/unprompted humiliation
- sexuality/gender headcanons
- coronavirus
- incest (unless prompted/requested), selfcest (unless prompted/requested)
- necrophilia
- vore
- insects, arachnids
Black Magician Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
Sonea (Black Magician Trilogy)
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
This trilogy has a sequel trilogy and a standalone prequel. You can use material from the other books, or not, as you wish; I’d be happy with your work either way!
I’d love to know how she went about setting up the hospice at the end of the books! Was she surprised other healers besides Dorrien stepped forward to help? Show me a scene of her learning how much support this project has! The hospice needed to gain the trust of its future patients in the slums, even with Sonea’s involvement; show me how her first patients reacted! I loved the scene of the children crowding around in the epilogue when she headed there; more scenes of people coming just to see her would be lovely.
Also, Lady Vinara’s comment at the end of The Novice, after the match with Regin suggests Sonea has potential to lead the Guild one day. As it stands, the conversation, including Akkarin’s response, is good foreshadowing for how Sonea will replace Akkarin in his more important role as the black magician; still, it does make me think of her potential as High Lady. I’d be interested in seeing an older Sonea taking the role, if attitudes around black magic shift.
Other post-trilogy things could include a particularly difficult case with a patient, dealing with Guild politics, or raising her baby with help from Rothen and Jonna. I like to think of her as challenged—she picked a challenging discipline and chose to serve people the Guild did not usually serve directly—but fulfilled by her choices. If Akkarin doesn’t die, what do their lives look like? Domestically, or in terms of the Guild’s politics. How would the Guild treat her if they had two black magicians instead of one?
If you’ve read the sequel trilogy,
Ship opt-ins: If you want any of Sonea’s canon ships to be part of the work, I’d be good with it! Maybe she explores things with Dorrien during one of his visits, has some fun, and he teaches her birth control. Or the black magic thing doesn’t get discovered for a while, so she and Akkarin develop a relationship there eventually. (Secretly? Before or after her graduation? You decide.) Also, regarding my DNW of unrequited love, I don’t mind Cery’s unrequited feelings for Sonea, or Dorrien’s (eventually) one-sided feelings; don’t worry about having to dodge them.
Pellinor - Alison Croggon
Maerad of Pellinor
Zelika (Pellinor)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
Maerad of Pellinor
I really felt for Maerad as she mourned the loss of her Elemental self. It wasn’t a part of herself she had much chance to explore, and yet it allowed her to connect with Ardina, and find understanding and help when no one else could provide it. It frightened even her dearest loved ones, so that she couldn’t feel comfortable talking about it even at the end of the series—which was an interesting wrinkle in an otherwise happy ending—but according to the appendices, she and Cadvan later contributed to the lore on the Balance with what they learned about the Elementals. So maybe she does talk about it one day? It would be interesting, particularly since so much of the conflict in her journey is rooted in her struggles to see herself, and to communicate her feelings to others, and to be herself without other people fearing that self. Perhaps Cadvan being a Truthteller could play into it? I also love the lore, so a conversation on that, or a document they collaborated on, would interest me too!
According to the appendices, Maerad became a great poet; she did spend the books wishing she had the chance to read and study like Dernhil, so this was a lovely note. It would be good to see a scene from that journey into scholarship, or her developing interest in composing her own poems.
I’d also love just seeing scenes from her travels after the books end! Going to places with Cadvan, seeing Hem and Saliman and Hekibel, feeling at home in Innail, or returning to Murask to spend some time with her father’s family—perhaps to introduce Hem?
If you choose to write both Maerad and Zelika, I’d be intrigued; the thought came into my mind when Hem first told Zelika he had a sister, and it seemed to touch her. They both have that protectiveness towards their younger brothers—which they transferred into caring for unrelated children, before Maerad learned Hem was her brother—and both are described as wild by their male love interests, live with the trauma of having their homes and families destroyed (though Maerad remembers less of it), and have an emotional intensity they don’t always regulate. Would they see similarities in each other? Would Maerad feel protective of Zelika?
Shipwise, all the canon ships are good with me. Show Maerad with Cadvan during their travels, and/or have her process her feelings about Arkan! Include Saliman and Hekibel in the story if they come up!
Zelika (Pellinor)
I was very much drawn in by Zelika, and while I understand her death allows the readers through Hem a chance to see the effects of the war on a more personal level, I’d love to see fic about what it was like through her point of view, whether you keep her canonical death or have her live. It was so interesting that she started to feel the futility of her attempts to join the war effort in Turbansk. What did she experience when she had to visualize that gate in her memory to reach the underground city? Did it help her come to terms with something, even briefly? When she initially refused to become a spy with Hem, was it a struggle? It seemed to me that she had found a shaky sort of peace there, deciding to stay and help with the children, but also that she had survivor’s guilt, which never went away. The wound of her losses wasn’t close to healed when she had that confrontation over the bards of Den Raven; maybe being reminded that she herself had done nothing to further their cause against Sharma’s encroachment renewed her previous determination that she had to Do Something out in the field, and that this might be saving what was left of her family. (And maybe caring for strange children rubbed that in all the more.) But how was she making and processing her decisions? Did she honestly feel she could contribute something as a spy, or even just as a rescuer of her brother, and make peace with the risks?
What if she hadn’t chosen to become a spy, and stayed out of the war effort apart from taking care of the children? Could she have found her way to healing? Or what if she’d chosen to share her intentions with Hem, or if he’d been able to keep her from revealing herself? Would he have tried to help her, and if he did, would Zelika survive the attempt? If they failed, would she undergo an experience like Hem’s once he realized Zelika was dead?
I’d also love a glimpse of Zelika’s past life, sitting by the pool full of fish with her brother for example. Or perhaps her experience with religion, the Light, and the Elementals; she didn’t have Hem’s disbelief of the fact that some people worshipped the Light, and it’s so interesting that the Light and Elementals are regarded differently, and how Turbansk had traditions unbroken by the Silence which came over Annar the first time Sharma came to power.
If you choose to write both Zelika and Maerad, I’d be intrigued; the thought came into my mind when Hem first told Zelika he had a sister, and it seemed to touch her. They both have that protectiveness towards their younger brothers—which they transferred into caring for unrelated children, before Maerad learned Hem was her brother—and both are described as wild by their male love interests, live with the trauma of having their homes and families destroyed (though Maerad remembers less of it), and have an emotional intensity they don’t always regulate. Would they see similarities in each other? Would Maerad feel protective of Zelika?
Shipwise, all the canon ships are good with me.Hem loves Zelika; you can make this requited or not, as you wish. Including ships with other characters is also fine!
Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Casiopea Tun
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
I enjoy Casiopea going from the mortal stuck with this god to increasingly, actively helpful throughout the book, culminating in that climactic sacrificial act. That moment in the sea! The myth-tinged description of her and Hun-Kamé’s farewell! The book-long evocation of Francisco Quevedo! She sacrificed her relationship and herself for the world, and now it’s open to her. What will she do?
I would love to see Casiopea’s further adventures in the world, with Loray or separately. Maybe Loray sticks around with her for a while because he wants to, or he could teach her things, or both! I enjoy their interactions.
I’d also love to see Casiopea using her new abilities, maybe encountering other gods and demons as she travels Mexico and/or the world.
What does she write her mother? Do they ever travel together?
Shipwise, both Casiopea/Hun-Kamé and Casiopea/Loray are good! Maybe both somehow?! Seeing as Hun-Kamé decided to get Loray to help her, perhaps he keeps finding moments when he can influence her life, or Casiopea finds a reason to do the sacrifices to bring him out of the underworld. What if Loray helps her, and it brings all three together? Or he shows her a little pleasure while they’re on the road one day.
Thank you again, and I hope your Yuletide is bright!
If you’d like to see thoughts, prompts, more likes that can fit in my signup, or all my signup details in bulleted lists, this letter is for you. If you’d prefer going by my signup alone, that’s great too. Either way, I am thrilled you’re here.
Looking forward to what you will create!
Gifts are enabled on AO3, and treats are welcome.
Likes:
Parallels and contrasts between characters and their journeys. Characters looking out for each other and rescuing each other, giving care and emotional support. Especially women receiving care and support, getting their needs made a priority by their loved ones. Canon divergence and role reversals are loved, though I also enjoy other AUs.
More things I enjoy:
- fusions, CYOA, outside pov, story/fragments of story as told in-universe, IF/interactive fiction, illustrated fic, poetry, epistolary, vignettes, character studies, plotty stuff, 5+1 stories, angst, fluff, smut, adventure, characters talking to each other, road trips
- enemies to lovers, friends/lovers to enemies to lovers/friends, pining, worldbuilding, quiet character moments
- bittersweet endings, happy endings, open/ambiguous endings
- quiet and subtle romance, the total opposite of quiet and subtle romance, psychological horror, messy and complicated dynamics, blurring between obligation/need and love, fear/horror/anger mixed with desire/love
- politics, isolation, competitiveness, limited agency, legacy, manipulation, scheming
- Force bonds, Force shenanigans, Force Ghosts, Ahsoka’s fangs, connecting to the force together
- time travel, weird worlds/dimensions, time moves differently, time loops (including those which get reset with death, and where the person in the loop resets it purposefully by dying), time freezing
- undercover, undercover as a couple, mission fic, teaching games
- scars, suspense, compromised sense of self, interpersonal tension, duty versus desire, love/hate, possessiveness, insecurity, secret relationships, secrets
- trust issues, implicit trust, emotional intimacy
- casual displays of affection, shared beds, snuggling, sitting/lying in laps, jumping people, rough kissing, neck kissing, kissing tears, kissing hands (back of or palm), nuzzling, afterglow cuddles, sexy baths, sexy showers, bruises, marks, hair-pulling, face-touching, arms around shoulders/waists, forehead kisses, forehead touching, tied up with own clothes/other's clothes/clothes in general, nuzzling, hand holding, choking, breathplay, bloodplay, biting, scratching, growling, blindfolding, chains
- stories where the woman/women are a significant part of the man/men’s characterization, stories where the woman/women are a significant part of each other’s characterization, characters gathering each other’s backstory a little at a time, investigating each other
- spying, sex and violence paired together, body heat sharing
- loneliness, mutual pining
- dreams, fix-it, parallel universes, parallel universe characters
- us against the world
- ghosts
- rule 63'ing male characters (where they were always a girl)
- learning new skills
- gothic romance
- daemons (His Dark Materials-style)
Horror Likes:
- ghosts
- hostile alternate selves
- loneliness
- suspense
- scars
- time travel, weird worlds/dimensions, time moves differently, time loops (including those which get reset with death, and where the person in the loop resets it purposefully by dying), time freezing
- psychological horror
- isolation
- architecture that wants to keep you
- nature that wants to keep you
- gothic horror
- cosmic horror
- post-apocalypse scenarios
- dreams bleeding into reality
- hauntings
- cursed objects
- possession
Smut Likes:
- character focus in smut, competitive smut, ulterior motives for sex, scars, possessiveness, love/hate, the divine as sex
- cunnilingus, choking, breathplay, bloodplay, biting, scratching, Ahsoka's fangs, growling, blindfolding, chains, rough sex, rough kissing, lap sex, sex on furniture, sex against walls, slow sex, quick sex, gentle sex, neck kissing, kissing tears, kissing hands (back of or palm), nuzzling, afterglow cuddles, underwater sex, sexy baths, sexy showers, desperate sex, bruises, marks, hair-pulling, face-touching, arms around shoulders/waists, eating her out while holding her hand, multiple orgasms, forehead kisses, forehead touching, tied up with own clothes/other's clothes/clothes in general, nuzzling, hand holding, learning new skills, kneeling for cunnilingus and then needing to support her legs as they buckle
- trust issues, implicit trust, emotional intimacy, casual displays of affection
- shared beds, snuggling, jumping people, sitting/lying in laps
- sex and violence paired together, fucking in the same room as your enemies' corpse
- body heat sharing
- dreams
- pining, mutual pining
- ghost sex
- feeling each others' sensations during sex
- Force/magic shenanigans, using magic/the Force for sex, telepathy/Vulcan Mind Meld during on-your-knees cunnilingus
AU Likes:
Canon divergence
Period AUs - Regency (played straight or fantasy/science-fiction, in our world or another), 1920s, Jazz Age, Medieval, Renaissance, Byzantine Empire, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greece
Genres - planetary romance, fairy tale, magical girl, steampunk, pirate, high fantasy, noir
Other Canons - characters having daemons like in the His Dark Materials books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Star Trek, Jupiter Ascending, Silent Hill (2006), Clue, Annihilation (2018), Southern Reach trilogy, 30 Days of Night, The Mummy (1999-2001), Happy Death Day, Pacific Rim, Stardust (film or book)
Art Likes:
General:
any art style, rough sketches and clean line art both, color and composition to set mood, comics, scenery, single and group character poses, cute or actiony or romantic or moody or creepy, character expressions, body language, art of characters as tarot cards, dreams, in-universe art, characters with their loved ones (whether or not they're having a good time), characters with their enemies, characters doing the kind of thing they are good at in canon, lineart, lineless art, black and white/grayscale, bright colors, deep colors, subdued colors, pastel colors, monochrome, color highlights, anything with my AU likes
Poses:
non-explicit poses like characters kissing (on the mouth, the temple, the top of the head, hands, the cheek, etc), holding hands, hugging, carrying each other (princess carry, fireman, piggyback, shoulder rides), and pressing their foreheads together, petting their faces/hair, arms around shoulders/waists
explicit poses involving anything in my smut likes
IF Likes:
I use Windows 10 and Apple mobile devices. Most of my experience is with choice games--for example, like Alabaster, The Book of Guenevere, Affairs of the Court, visual novels like Oxenfree and Cinders, dating sims like Long Live the Queen and Magical Diary , and paper books where you turn to a page for every choice--but I’d be delighted with a parser game too. Puzzles, mazes, and timers aren’t a strength of mine, so I would enjoy a walkthrough if those are present.
DNWs:
- bleak/hopeless endings
- permanently dead requested characters (where they're not even a ghost/vampire) unless they are dead in canon
- mpreg
- detailed gore, detailed description of bodily fluids and excretions, watersports, scat, emetophilia
- noncon (unless requested/prompted)—dubcon is fine, rape (except where otherwise specified), a/b/o, bestiality, oviposition, monster sex, tentacle sex, flowery terms for body parts (love cave, love tunnel), sex without attraction, anal tearing, ass to mouth
- rule 63’ing female characters
- body horror, explicit torture, permanently physically damaging torture, maiming, mutilating (it’s ok to include if it’s canon, but I’d rather not have focus on the physical details of how it happens, how the inside parts of the body look and feel, or how it looks)
- animal harm, animal death
- bashing of characters or ships
- unrequited love (except if prompted, or if it's only unrequited in a characters' head)
- permanent breakups unless prompted
- focus on requested characters in non-canon unrequested/unprompted ships, non-canon unrequested ships, unrequested/unprompted poly/open relationships
- stories where nobody really cares about the woman/women in the ship
- AUs which don't use canon settings (unless prompted/requested/in list of likes)
- underage (17+ is fine, whether you change canon ages or set things when the characters would be 17+)
- ageplay/infantilization; unrequested/unprompted humiliation
- sexuality/gender headcanons
- coronavirus
- incest (unless prompted/requested), selfcest (unless prompted/requested)
- necrophilia
- vore
- insects, arachnids
Black Magician Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
Sonea (Black Magician Trilogy)
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
This trilogy has a sequel trilogy and a standalone prequel. You can use material from the other books, or not, as you wish; I’d be happy with your work either way!
I’d love to know how she went about setting up the hospice at the end of the books! Was she surprised other healers besides Dorrien stepped forward to help? Show me a scene of her learning how much support this project has! The hospice needed to gain the trust of its future patients in the slums, even with Sonea’s involvement; show me how her first patients reacted! I loved the scene of the children crowding around in the epilogue when she headed there; more scenes of people coming just to see her would be lovely.
Also, Lady Vinara’s comment at the end of The Novice, after the match with Regin suggests Sonea has potential to lead the Guild one day. As it stands, the conversation, including Akkarin’s response, is good foreshadowing for how Sonea will replace Akkarin in his more important role as the black magician; still, it does make me think of her potential as High Lady. I’d be interested in seeing an older Sonea taking the role, if attitudes around black magic shift.
Other post-trilogy things could include a particularly difficult case with a patient, dealing with Guild politics, or raising her baby with help from Rothen and Jonna. I like to think of her as challenged—she picked a challenging discipline and chose to serve people the Guild did not usually serve directly—but fulfilled by her choices. If Akkarin doesn’t die, what do their lives look like? Domestically, or in terms of the Guild’s politics. How would the Guild treat her if they had two black magicians instead of one?
If you’ve read the sequel trilogy,
sequel spoilers, including a ship opt-in
how about something after that, when she’s begun realizing that she can be less restricted than she thinks, and started to navigate a romantic relationship for the first time in twenty years?Ship opt-ins: If you want any of Sonea’s canon ships to be part of the work, I’d be good with it! Maybe she explores things with Dorrien during one of his visits, has some fun, and he teaches her birth control. Or the black magic thing doesn’t get discovered for a while, so she and Akkarin develop a relationship there eventually. (Secretly? Before or after her graduation? You decide.) Also, regarding my DNW of unrequited love, I don’t mind Cery’s unrequited feelings for Sonea, or Dorrien’s (eventually) one-sided feelings; don’t worry about having to dodge them.
Pellinor - Alison Croggon
Maerad of Pellinor
Zelika (Pellinor)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
Maerad of Pellinor
I really felt for Maerad as she mourned the loss of her Elemental self. It wasn’t a part of herself she had much chance to explore, and yet it allowed her to connect with Ardina, and find understanding and help when no one else could provide it. It frightened even her dearest loved ones, so that she couldn’t feel comfortable talking about it even at the end of the series—which was an interesting wrinkle in an otherwise happy ending—but according to the appendices, she and Cadvan later contributed to the lore on the Balance with what they learned about the Elementals. So maybe she does talk about it one day? It would be interesting, particularly since so much of the conflict in her journey is rooted in her struggles to see herself, and to communicate her feelings to others, and to be herself without other people fearing that self. Perhaps Cadvan being a Truthteller could play into it? I also love the lore, so a conversation on that, or a document they collaborated on, would interest me too!
According to the appendices, Maerad became a great poet; she did spend the books wishing she had the chance to read and study like Dernhil, so this was a lovely note. It would be good to see a scene from that journey into scholarship, or her developing interest in composing her own poems.
I’d also love just seeing scenes from her travels after the books end! Going to places with Cadvan, seeing Hem and Saliman and Hekibel, feeling at home in Innail, or returning to Murask to spend some time with her father’s family—perhaps to introduce Hem?
If you choose to write both Maerad and Zelika, I’d be intrigued; the thought came into my mind when Hem first told Zelika he had a sister, and it seemed to touch her. They both have that protectiveness towards their younger brothers—which they transferred into caring for unrelated children, before Maerad learned Hem was her brother—and both are described as wild by their male love interests, live with the trauma of having their homes and families destroyed (though Maerad remembers less of it), and have an emotional intensity they don’t always regulate. Would they see similarities in each other? Would Maerad feel protective of Zelika?
Shipwise, all the canon ships are good with me. Show Maerad with Cadvan during their travels, and/or have her process her feelings about Arkan! Include Saliman and Hekibel in the story if they come up!
Zelika (Pellinor)
I was very much drawn in by Zelika, and while I understand her death allows the readers through Hem a chance to see the effects of the war on a more personal level, I’d love to see fic about what it was like through her point of view, whether you keep her canonical death or have her live. It was so interesting that she started to feel the futility of her attempts to join the war effort in Turbansk. What did she experience when she had to visualize that gate in her memory to reach the underground city? Did it help her come to terms with something, even briefly? When she initially refused to become a spy with Hem, was it a struggle? It seemed to me that she had found a shaky sort of peace there, deciding to stay and help with the children, but also that she had survivor’s guilt, which never went away. The wound of her losses wasn’t close to healed when she had that confrontation over the bards of Den Raven; maybe being reminded that she herself had done nothing to further their cause against Sharma’s encroachment renewed her previous determination that she had to Do Something out in the field, and that this might be saving what was left of her family. (And maybe caring for strange children rubbed that in all the more.) But how was she making and processing her decisions? Did she honestly feel she could contribute something as a spy, or even just as a rescuer of her brother, and make peace with the risks?
What if she hadn’t chosen to become a spy, and stayed out of the war effort apart from taking care of the children? Could she have found her way to healing? Or what if she’d chosen to share her intentions with Hem, or if he’d been able to keep her from revealing herself? Would he have tried to help her, and if he did, would Zelika survive the attempt? If they failed, would she undergo an experience like Hem’s once he realized Zelika was dead?
I’d also love a glimpse of Zelika’s past life, sitting by the pool full of fish with her brother for example. Or perhaps her experience with religion, the Light, and the Elementals; she didn’t have Hem’s disbelief of the fact that some people worshipped the Light, and it’s so interesting that the Light and Elementals are regarded differently, and how Turbansk had traditions unbroken by the Silence which came over Annar the first time Sharma came to power.
If you choose to write both Zelika and Maerad, I’d be intrigued; the thought came into my mind when Hem first told Zelika he had a sister, and it seemed to touch her. They both have that protectiveness towards their younger brothers—which they transferred into caring for unrelated children, before Maerad learned Hem was her brother—and both are described as wild by their male love interests, live with the trauma of having their homes and families destroyed (though Maerad remembers less of it), and have an emotional intensity they don’t always regulate. Would they see similarities in each other? Would Maerad feel protective of Zelika?
Shipwise, all the canon ships are good with me.Hem loves Zelika; you can make this requited or not, as you wish. Including ships with other characters is also fine!
Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Casiopea Tun
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
I enjoy Casiopea going from the mortal stuck with this god to increasingly, actively helpful throughout the book, culminating in that climactic sacrificial act. That moment in the sea! The myth-tinged description of her and Hun-Kamé’s farewell! The book-long evocation of Francisco Quevedo! She sacrificed her relationship and herself for the world, and now it’s open to her. What will she do?
I would love to see Casiopea’s further adventures in the world, with Loray or separately. Maybe Loray sticks around with her for a while because he wants to, or he could teach her things, or both! I enjoy their interactions.
I’d also love to see Casiopea using her new abilities, maybe encountering other gods and demons as she travels Mexico and/or the world.
What does she write her mother? Do they ever travel together?
Shipwise, both Casiopea/Hun-Kamé and Casiopea/Loray are good! Maybe both somehow?! Seeing as Hun-Kamé decided to get Loray to help her, perhaps he keeps finding moments when he can influence her life, or Casiopea finds a reason to do the sacrifices to bring him out of the underworld. What if Loray helps her, and it brings all three together? Or he shows her a little pleasure while they’re on the road one day.
Thank you again, and I hope your Yuletide is bright!
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