dear yulegoat 2021

[tielan]

Dear Yulegoat,

My AO3 is tielan.

I'm glad that we've been matched, because clearly you have excellent taste in small fandoms and characters! Basically, write what we've matched on and we'll be good; these are just ideas that might give you a nudge if you're a bit stuck on ideas.

Likes:
- female friendships and working relationships
- respectful romantic relationships
- characters showing intimacy/friendship in ways appropriate to them
- slices of life

Do Not Want:
- nominated/major character death
- nominated characters as antagonists
- pairings I didn't ask for

I am okay with not all the characters I requested being in the story.

The length of the sections in this letter is not an indication of how much I want them; I just have more defined ideas about some canons than others. If they don't speak to you, and you can't do them, then please don't feel you have to. Just go with the characters that we've matched on and it will work out.

Requests in no particular order...

Dragon Star Trilogy - Melanie Rawn
Pol, Sionell

I love the worldbuilding of the Princedoms, the sense of the story unfinished, and the possibilities in not only these four but all the other characters that populate the world: where they're going, what they're doing, the feuds and friendships that develop over the years into the future. How does having an openly faradhi/diarmadhi High Prince and his heir change the balance of power among the Princedoms?

I admit I always wanted Pol and Sionell to end up together and was mildly annoyed when they didn't - both in their marriages, and at the end of Skybowl. I would love to see their relationship developed and elaborated upon after the second series, particularly in the context of their interactions with each other (she's basically one of his athr'im now), and in the political state of the world after the Vellant'im have attacked and gone.


S.W.A.T. (2003)
Chris Sanches, Jim Street, Deke Kay, Hondo

I like this movie mostly because of the established and found families in it.

Obviously, there's Jim Street finding his place among the new 'oddball' SWAT officers - Deke and Chris - but there's also Chris and Deke's supportive families, outside of the 'loner' narrative, and Hondo and Velasquez' friendship that clearly extends to golfing together on a day off.

Perhaps write me something about blowing off steam at work and out of work, work colleagues and wobbly boundaries. Or maybe a story about the team doing stuff together (whether mandatory team-building shit, or spending time off-duty backing each other up in life and living) and how they turn it around into mischief/trouble/legend? I am here for all the 'found family feels'.

Bring in the rest of the SWAT team/cop shop as you please, but I'm not into Street/Gamble.


Tokyo Crazy Paradise
Tsukasa, Ryuji

I like this canon because...well, mostly the Tsukasa/Ryuji relationship hit my kinks. Opposite backgrounds, she's not supposed to fall in love with him but she does - and doesn't moon around after him! She decides that if she can't have him, she'll still protect him, and she'll do what's right for him. And that is awesome, IMO. I love stories where (for some reason or another) a character can't be with the one they love, but they're not all sulky and pouty about it: they go out and they act out of love for that person, without expecting the one they love to necessarily reciprocate. Total kink for me!

I'd love to see a story taking them through the next steps in their relationship, something set in the future as they navigate who they are to each other and the world.


Five Hundred Kingdoms
Worldbuilding
- more non-western traditions
- female heroes
- I have a great fondness for the Chinese story of the Herd Boy and the Weaver Girl and the bridge of birds that joins them together - if you can work this story into the 500 Kingdoms, I'll be rapt!

This is the worldbuilding option. I'd like a story based around traditions we haven't seen in the 500 kingdoms books, and most specifically from what we'd consider non-western cultures. There was a lovely glimpse of Japanese mythology in Fortune's Fool and the Djinn obviously comes from the Arabic traditions, but what about Indian/Hindu sagas, or the extensive spirit world of Chinese lore, or what African cultural stories remain to us after colonisation?

My favourite story from the 500 Kingdoms set is The Fairy Godmother, I think in part because Elena was the one making things happen. Although the others were generally pretty good, I feel like the stories laboured a bit towards the end of the series.

Regarding stories and how they're written, I like twists to fairy tales, stories about heroes (particularly female ones) solving problems/saving the day that happen to have a romance in them, and unexpected solutions to problems (which is kind of the challenge of the Tradition in the 500 Kingdoms - particularly in subverting/diverting the stories such as "Ladderlocks").


Elenium/Tamuli - David Eddings
Danae, Talen
- the courtship of Danae/Talen (I'd like Talen pursuing Danae, not just Danae pursuing Talen)
- Danae: life lessons from the women around her
- any character in the Elenian court

I kind of love the crazy politics around the Elenium/Tamuli - the church and the Elenian court - how it seems very male-dominated during the early books, but once Ehlana rises to power, there are women everywhere in the narrative, with their particular skillsets. I love the characters and their OTT-ness, their snarky sense of humor, the way they interact with each other.

Danae and Talen's courtship is something that I'd particularly like to see subverted. The usual 'romance' dynamic that we see in Eddings is the woman chasing the man until she has him, and we see the start of this in the books. I'd like to see that turned on its head as Danae gets older. When does Talen realise that Danae is also Aphrael (does he?) and how does he respond/react? (Also worth noting: he spent a few of his formative years with Flute, who was also Aphrael, does that colour his interactions/expectations with Danae?)


Psy-Changeling - Singh
Sahara Kyriakus, Kaleb Krychek

Look, I have a thing for the 'everyone thinks he's scary, but he only softens for her' dynamic between people (and it doesn't have to be the man is the scary one, either), so these two are kind of adorable in the way they turn up in stories after their own book. I love seeing Sahara make friends all over the place and kind of drag Kaleb in behind her. I also wouldn't mind seeing them interact with Brenna and Judd, or Bowen and Kaia, or both!


All of these are suggestions, not absolutes - something to give you a bit more of an idea of what I might like.

In the end, the brief is to write the characters we've matched on in the fandom we've matched on and to have a good time. Thank you and may your season be blessed and bright!