dear yulegoat [finished]

[tielan]

Once more unto the fic, dear goat!

I'm really tired but I will do my best to get something up so you get an idea of what I'm looking for.

Likes
- Happy Endings.
- People who respect each other, even if they don't like each other.
- Female characters with their own identity and independence.
- Male characters who are more invested in the relationship than their partner.
- Relationships that are (mostly) functional.
- Kind and thoughtful interactions between characters working together.
- Respectful romantic relationships.
- Romances set in the middle of adventure and drama.
- Slices of life as they argue or conflict with each other before finding resolution - and not just "one party is right" but both parties accepting each other, flaws and all.

DNW
- non-consensual
- cheating
- pairings I didn't ask for
- torture
- humiliation as humour

--

Note: if anywhere in my exchange sign-up, you feel I've set up a conflicting set of parameters (eg. said 'Any' characters and then been too specific in my prompts), please be kind and grant me the benefit of the doubt. All these are ideas and suggestions, and while I'd love to see what you made of them, I will be equally glad of whatever you are able to write so long as it doesn't contravene my DNWs.


Dragon Star - Melanie Rawn
Pol
Sionell
Jihan
Aldiara

What I love about this canon
I loved the strength and cleverness of the 'hero' women in this world. Sioned, Tobin, Feylin, Sionell... The way they were friends and supported each other, even when they weren't always in accord. I loved that Sionell 'got over' Pol as a young woman, but still cared about him as a friend and supported and befriended Meiglan. I loved that they did what they could with what they had - Aldiara dealing with the prejudice against sorcerers while also working to rescue Rohannon, and hiding that she was a girl. I love the glimpses of the future that we see in Jihan - a High Princess in her own right, born and raised to it - and a sorcerer besides.

I would like a post-war story about these characters. You can include all of them, or just focus on one. You can weave them together in a single story, or you can focus on a specific situation. It can be about their relationships with each other, the politics of the Princedoms, the magical politics of the Princedoms, or something else entirely (although another full-bore external threat might be a bit much).

My preferences for pairings are Pol/Sionell, Jihan/Jahnev (of Tiglath, ie. Sionell's middle son), Aldiara/Rohannon, but if the pairings aren't your thing, then just keep them single, please.

Merryl of the Stones - Brian Caswell
Megan Ellison |Merryl
Emlyn Rowan

This is my 'way out there, I do not expect anyone else has ever read this book' option.

What I love about this canon

I read it back when I was a teenager (back when the book was first published) and one of the things I always remembered was when Merryl makes the decision to return to Megan's time - that she's Megan as well as Merryl, and that the world that she's going to inhabit going forward needs magic.

What does her magic look like in the modern world? How is Emlyn a part of her life (yes, I ship them), and how have they restored the magic and mystery and wonder of the world together in the years since?

--

Ship Series - Anne McCaffrey
Hypatia Cade
Alex Joli-Chanteu

What I love about this canon
Tia and Alex are my favourite B&B about of all the shellperson stories that I've read (and I've read all of them, I think, including the downright awful SM Stirling "sequel" The Ship Avenged). I think it's mostly their personalities and the broad range of characters they interact with, and the fact that they clearly have fun and like each other, although it probably helped significantly that Tia was a softperson until she was eight and has loving and emotionally functional parents. (There was a serious dearth of good parents in fiction for a while.)

Something about their further and on-going adventures in space, perhaps? Encountering other brain-and-brawn ships. Or even a 'meeting the family' situation, whether the Braddon-Cades or the Joli-Chanteus.

--

Enchanted (Disney Movies)
Nancy Tremaine
Edward

What I love about this canon
Someone once said the biggest disappointment of this movie was that they had Idina Menzel in the cast and she didn't sing a note! I like to think of Nancy discovering her 'voice' (so to speak) once she's in the kingdom with Edward. Falling in love! A great romance! Suddenly discovering that she breaks into song in unexpected places! What if Nancy finds herself taming all the...uh...less 'princessey' beasts of the forest? Do the people of Edward's realm (accustomed to a Queen) keep directing their inquiries to the Queen rather than the King?

Make it as delightful and/or wacky as you like.

I haven't seen the sequel (Disenchanted?) and haven't spoilered myself, so you don't have to take any of what happens in that going forward.

--
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Jupiter Jones
Caine Wise

What I love about this canon
The unadulterated campiness of it. A romp through alien worlds and space empires and humans interbred with animals. Honestly, the Wachowskis excel at throwing all the craziness into a single mix and coming out with a fantastic story from it (cf. The Matrix) but I don't know that I'd trust them with the next installment.

...and then they fight SPACE CAPITALISM!

(Yes, I've always wanted that story; no, I don't expect you to write it.)

Anything post-movie, related to Jupiter and Caine, their relationship (the power imbalance!), how Jupiter starts taking her place out in the universe (yes, there's been a few stories, but the rule of MOAR CAKE applies here), and I will not say 'no' if you decide to go about fighting space capitalism.

Elenium/Tamuli Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Danae
Talen

What I love about this canon
The idea of an immortal goddess 'growing up' is a fascinating one. Aphrael is at once the 'child-goddess' but the misty Aphrael that Sparhawk sees in the mirror is an adult with an eternity of experience behind her. Yet she's never "grown up human" before (well, most gods tend not to have done).

I want to see her hit adolescence. Screw Eddings and his "eighteen year old girls with all the worldliness and psychology of thirty-three" writing. I want Danae to realise that her understanding of being a growing human is completely not up to the task of actually being a growing human. Hormones! Mental states! The limitations of a human brain in growth phase! Anything else you can think of which I haven't the mental space to conceive!

Also: I've never liked the idea that Talen might just fall into Danae's arms (or that Danae might fall into his). Sure, she's chosen her man, and I like the pairing. But I'd like to see them work for it. So, the actual development of a relationship between them? Also, can we skip the "woman is pursuer/man is pursued" trope, please? Another one overdone by Eddings.

--

Ultimately, these are ideas. Work with them as best you can, or go off-spec and just include the characters that we've matched on in whatever epic idea you've conceived.

Thank you so much for writing for me, and Happy Yuletide!