I Am a Lover of Rarepairs (Dear Rare Pair Fest Author)
Hello, fellow rarepair-loving author! I'll try to keep it brief (never my strong suit) and not gush too much about these pairings even though they are all THE BEST.
In general, the couples I love are ones that I see as being very similar to each other on a deep level - I don't often care for the 'opposites attract' trope. I'm much more of an 'us against the world' kind of girl. I like a good happy ending (who doesn't?), but I also enjoy bittersweet longing and unrequited love and sharp edges. Equality is also really important to me - I enjoy couples where neither party is particularly dominant, and they're both willing to stand up to each other and give as good as they get.
Smut or no smut is good. I'll try to provide both general ideas and specific prompts - my prompts are almost always lyrics, so apologies if you hate those!
Squicks - extreme kinks (body fluids, torture, gore), pregnancy/kidfic, adultery (with the exception of anybody in A Song of Ice and Fire, where everyone is married by someone else's choice and nobody's happy anyhow), character bashing
I've written for many of these pairings (and if I haven't, it doesn't mean I like them any less, just that I've never had the opportunity!), all of which you can find here if you so desire.
Greek Mythology
Hades/Persephone/Apollo: Death, Life, and Light.
These three work for me (in a weird, seasonal way) because of the way Hades and Apollo are in many respects opposites - the obvious dark/light parallel, but also Hades' brooding and melancholy, severe side contrasted with Apollo as a more mercurial, passionate figure. And then there's Persephone, striking a balance between the two, switching from the flowery maiden of springtime to the Queen of the Underworld, from a girl, light and innocent, to a woman with power and heavy responsibility. All the while, neither of them are the whole of who she is; she needs both to make her balance. (This is a highly symbolic threesome for me, if it wasn't obvious!)
What I'd like to see: I prefer a Hades who isn't an outright rapist, and a Persephone who has a true choice in the matter and doesn't hate either Hades or Demeter, but beyond that it's wide open. The threesome works for me whether it's a seasonal thing with basically Hades/Persephone and Persephone/Apollo, or if you bring all three of them together in the same place and time.
Prompts:
-and I am finally seeing/why I was the one worth leaving
-too late, two choices/to stay or to leave
-I'm staring at the asphalt wondering/what's buried underneath (Modern AU)
Aeneas/Cassandra: The Survivor and the Prophet.
This is easily my most crack-pairing as I can't claim any canonical basis for it at all - I just love the idea of the two of them together. For one thing, he's pretty much the only person she can look to and not see a horrible fate awaiting him. He's got to be about the only thing that gives her any hope in the time leading up to the war, knowing that Troy will survive in some form with him. As for his part, I feel like the son of a goddess might find it easier than most to look past her surface 'madness' and see the woman below that, even if he couldn't believe her any more than anyone else.
What I'd like to see: It's pretty much wide open on this one - tragic, doomed, one-sided love, an AU where everybody lives, pre-war fic, a ghostly Cassandra haunting and advising Aeneas through his travels - you name it, I'll love it. I'd prefer no adultery on his part, though.
Prompts:
-'there's nothing we cannot ever fix,' I said/can't stop what's coming, can't stop what is on its way
-and can you see the means without the end/in the random frantic action that we take?
-the dark never enters/but it also never leaves/and the spark that he gave you/is just an ember, all but out
Chronicles of Narnia
Edmund/Susan: The Just and The Gentle.
These two just kill me. They're the outsiders, the betrayers, the outcasts, the dark to their siblings' light, and they never meant to be any of that. All Edmund wants (at first) is for someone to treat him as important, and all Susan ever wants is to keep everyone safe. In terms of ruling Narnia, I can easily see Peter and Lucy taking care of the big, obvious issues that would come up, while Ed and Su end up taking care of the details and the messy bits no one really wants to think about.
Why do I love them specifically? They're so similar. Susan is obviously frustrated with Edmund in LLW, as they all are, but when the Witch claims her right to Ed's life as a traitor, Susan is the one who asks Aslan if there isn't anything that can be done against the Deep Magic. She basically asks god to break his own rules, because to her, family is more important. It's hard for me to not see her eventual 'betrayal' of Narnia in the same light - she'd seen what gaining and losing it so many times had put her and her family through, and she simply wasn't willing to do it again. I think if anyone else would understand that, and share her conflicted feelings on the whole matter, it would be Edmund. He is, of course, bound to Aslan in a way the others aren't quite, through sacrifice and rebirth; but he's also The Just. He and Susan just get each other.
What I'd like to see: Calormene fic is a favorite of mine - I love that whole interlude with them in The Horse and His Boy. Anything with them exploring and having adventures would be fun; on the other hand, introspective angsty fic, either in Narnia or back in England, is also perfect.
Prompts:
- these are the lies that are keeping me honest/keeping the monsters at bay
- maybe you'll leave the light on/just in case I like the dancing/I can remember where I come from
-my memory is cruel/the queen of attention to details/defending intentions if he failed
Aravis/Cor: The Outcasts.
These two are a lot more dissimilar than most of my pairings, coming from such different backgrounds and having very different experiences in life and attitudes towards it, but it's the ways they come together that make them great. The way they slowly become willing to trust each other, and to learn from each other, the way they about each because at first, they haven't got anyone else to care about them, and the way they end up in a place they'll both have to learn to fit into all over again. Also, there's the fact that they're basically shipped by a pair of horses (well, Hwin anyhow, I've never been too sure about Bree. He might have been too self absorbed to ship anybody).
I love their banter! I love that Aravis doesn't hold back just because she's a girl, and Cor doesn't hold back in return just because she's so much higher born and better educated than him. They both argue and snipe, and they're both stubborn and neither one ever wants to give in, and while that may not be the healthiest basis for a relationship, it's sure a lot of fun. On a more serious note, I love that they're both lost and find themselves through one another. They need each other, in a very real way.
What I'd like to see: Fic about them trying to adjust to live in Anvard is always fun - he's gained a family, she's lost hers, they both have to adjust to a totally new culture and climate, and really, the only constant in their lives at that point would be one another. I feel like they'd constantly be sneaking into each other's rooms at night just to tell stories and have the comfort of someone who understood close by.
Prompts:
-so go ahead, push your luck/say what it is you've got to say to me
-all I need is time/to grow up, to grow bored, and to grow wise/but you're so beautiful tonight
-you leaned upon your elbow/and began to speak to me/but you stopped yourself and kissed me/and I grabbed your wrist and told you/'I know, I know, I know/I feel the same as you'
Firefly
Mal/River: The Captain and his Albatross.
Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me? Mal gets River, in a very real, fundamental way, a way that not even Simon always manages. Mal doesn't categorize River as one thing - she's never solely a danger to him, or an innocent in need of protection, or a crazy piece of baggage. She is, as he tells her in Serenity, a person, actual and whole. He's the only one of the crew who sees her this way (and unlike Simon, Mal sees River for who she is in the present, not having any other reference), and that's why, against all common sense, he risks everything he loves for her sake, more than once.
And their understanding goes both ways. In Serenity, when the rest of the crew is horrified by Mal's (admittedly insane) plans, when the rest of them are forming an audience to his 'I aim to misbehave' speech, River is right up there with him, front and center. She doesn't need to be convinced of what he's saying because she knows it as well as he does, because she knows what he's going to say before it comes out of his mouth. But she still likes to hear him say it, because this is the man willing to fight for her, to believe in her, to validate her worth and state of being as a real person.
What I'd like to see: Absolutely anything, really. I love AUs, I love threesomes with Serenity, I love ridiculous adventures where they save each other, I love River angsting about being in love at all and Mal angsting about being in love with her, of all people. I love them being happy and getting shit done! I love Simon punching Mal in the face over it, because that's his mei mei and what does Mal think he's doing? Literally anything where they understand each other and have some sort of connection makes me happy.
Prompts:
-“Madness? It's love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.”
-maybe you and me could be just fine/if we always had a boundary line/if we never had to be defined
- it's not regret/just an unexpected accounting of debts
River/Wash: Pilots!
Crackship ahoy! One of the many casualties of Firefly's short run time is that we don't really have much of anything of these two together. Still, Wash seems more sympathetic than some of the crew to River's situation, and he's such a sweet guy it's hard to imagine him not getting along with her (though it's also hard to imagine him not being made nervous by her - I think Kaylee was the only woman ever on the ship who didn't make Wash nervous in one way or another). And for River, Wash probably would have been a very soothing presence - he doesn't really seem troubled by a violent past like many of the crew, and he's generally a pretty happy, relaxed guy. I feel like they could have had a lot of fun together, flying through the black and making up Jurassic adventures as they went.
What I'd like to see: Obviously the biggest problem with this ship is that Wash is already involved in a perfect ship with Zoe. I can't imagine River/Wash working in a world where Zoe/Wash was a thing, so it would have to be an AU of some sort...one where they were never married, or where Zoe died instead of Wash, or some other random thing. Beyond that, something that touches on their shared love of flying and Serenity, and the way their very specialized talents make them valuable assets to the crew, even if they are both odd in their own ways.
Prompts:
-and dinosaur sex led to nothing/and maybe we will lead to nothing
-In the electrical storm you were running wild/you had a death wish, you were a child
-you laugh as you pass me the night/as if it's too fragile to hold
A Song of Ice and Fire
Warning: Spoilers for all five books will follow.
Jon/Arya: The Wolves.
These two kill me. Even when they're at their lowest points, when they think all the rest of their family is gone, they still think of each other; they still use memories of each other as comfort. Arya constantly thinks about how Jon was always the one who understood her best, and even when she thinks her mother or her other siblings might reject her for the things she's done, she always knows Jon would love her no matter what she's done. And Jon, who guards his honor and does his duty as though his entire world depends on it for the length of five books and through the deaths of most of his family, is finally willing to break his vows in order to save Arya (granted, a false Arya, but he doesn't know that).
I love that in general, they've always had a bond because they were the only two Stark children who physically took after the Stark side of the family. I love that Arya clearly favors Jon, and that Jon supports her desires to be herself by giving her Needle, which basically helps set her entire future course. More than any of the other Stark siblings, they wouldn't be the same without each other.
What I'd like to see: I love 'Arya finally makes it up to the Wall' fic. I also love the idea that Jon would be the one thing (aside from maybe Nymeria) that could pull her back from fully becoming a Faceless Man. AUs are also appreciated; I'm a big believer in R+L=J, so anything with Jon being raised apart from the Starks works for me, as long as he and Arya still have some sort of bond. I'd also love to see Ghost and/or Nymeria brought in somehow.
Prompts:
- no fear, no anger/we are a law unto ourselves
-Vengeance built me hastily/and I dragged the clanging notion I was nobody, nobody
-you're the only thing I ever want anymore
Jaime/Sansa: The Dreamers.
Sansa Stark is my last chance for honor. That says it all, really. No, it doesn't have anything to do with Sansa as a person, but it speaks deeply to a huge part of Jaime's character - his longing for someone to believe in him, for people to trust that he wants to do things for good reasons, for his good intentions to be taken on faith. In short, Jaime's as much of a naive dreamer as any Stark. He can't understand why the world has never turned out the way he wanted, because he's always expected that he was simply entitled to people's trust and faith, that the world wasn't really a terrible place that would look at a king's blood on a man's sword and never question why it was there. So he told himself he didn't care, that he was better than others anyhow, that he'd just do whatever he pleased and damn the consequences, until that backfired on him too and he lost the only things he'd ever defined himself by. I think that now, by ADWD, he's finally started to figure things out.
Sansa's taken a much quicker and more brutal path to a similar place; she believed in dreams and knights and honor, that everyone was as good as her and her parents, or at least no worse than Arya. Though she's shown otherwise pretty quickly, she still tends to cling to her dreams as a mental shield; Sansa never quite sees the whole of what's actually there, just what she needs to see to remain intact. It's only when she gets to the Vale and doesn't need to be in fear for her life and safety every minute that she begins to allow herself to think more about what's behind the surface of things, the why of how things happen. And she never quite stops longing for someone to protect her, to love her and give her back everything she's lost.
So then, Sansa is Jaime's honor, and Jaime is Sansa's savior. But of course they're far more than just symbols; they're real people, complex and incredibly imperfect and not at all what they would expect from each other, which is where all the fun comes in.
What I'd like to see: There are so many great possibilities here. Maybe Jaime finds her in the Vale (with or without a dead Littlefinger). Maybe she ends up ruling the North and he serves her because he can't serve whoever ends up on the Iron Throne. Maybe it's an AU where she's forced to marry him instead of Tyrion. Maybe they end up living at Casterly Rock with Tyrion after the wars. Maybe they run off to Essos together to escape the wars. It's Westeros, anything can happen.
(A note on adultery: This is one pairing where I don't mind it being out in the open, as neither Sansa nor Tyrion ever wanted to be married and both would gladly be rid of the marriage.)
Prompts:
-with the perfect armor/with the perfect dream
- I wonder if I'm allowed just ever to be
- I know no matter what you say/there's some debts you'll never pay
Lyanna/Rhaegar: The Wolf Maid and The Dragon Prince.
Aka the pair who fucked up Westeros but good.
This is one where I just love the epic sense of it. It's a love affair on a grand scale, with prophecy and secret knights and declarations of feelings in the form of symbolic gifts in front of half a kingdom. It's kidnapping - or eloping - leading to tragedy. It's got all the elements of a fabulous story, if nothing else.
And maybe it is an awful, sad, ruined story. Maybe Robert was right and Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and held her prisoner for most of a year and everyone ended up dying for a reason. But I choose to believe otherwise, that these two just had the same fundamental flaw the vast majority of Westrosi nobles do - they were incredibly impulsive and didn't stop to think of the consequences for anyone but themselves until it was far, far too late. In another life, it might have worked out for them - they might have had a chance to be bound by something more than prophecy and fascination. But of course, this is Westeros.
What I'd like to see: A story about their first meeting at Harrenhal would be great, with Rhaegar discovering just who the Knight of the Laughing Tree really was, and how they both handled that. Or something about how they felt when/if Lyanna got pregnant (yes, I'm a R+L=J believer). Or the story of their relationship told from the povs of the people around them - Elia, Ashara, Arthur Dayne, Ned, etc. No Rhaegar as a crazy monster rapist, please - he certainly wasn't perfect, but of everyone we hear comment on him in the books, only Robert ever has anything negative to say about him.
Prompts:
- the world blooms for the last time
-my love invented all of you/oh, look what thoughts can do
-you can't make the snow fall in summer/or make him not want her/not leave her behind
Loras/Renly/Margaery: Horns and Thorns.
Really, these three are just a lot of potential fun. You have charm (Renly), martial ability (Loras), and brains (Margaery). If they'd ever actually gotten to the throne, I think they'd have made quite a ruling team.
Loras is pretty clearly the centerpiece here, as he's devoted to Renly and shown to be incredibly close to his sister as well. In a lot of ways Loras and Margaery are a healthier parallel of Cersei and Jaime - devoted siblings who were raised in (so far as we know) a non-abusive environment, and so ended up loving each other but not entirely codependent.
There are a lot of interesting issues to be explored here; would Loras be jealous of Renly marrying his sister? How would they work out the whole sexual situation, with a king needing an heir but Renly being uninterested in women? In an AU route, would Margaery have eventually grown resentful of her place as the third wheel, or would they all have been content with each other?
What I'd like to see: Something where they all come out fairly happy, and each make use of their own particular talents to create a successful relationship and, potentially, a successful kingdom. Alternatively, a discussion of just how awkward this is for everyone, with their incompatible sexualities (I can definitely see Margaery possibly being a lesbian as well as the boys being obviously gay) and two of them being siblings.
Prompts:
-you wake up in the bed you make/I think you made a big mistake
-leave the rest at arm's length/keep your naked flesh under your favorite dress/when they reach out, don't touch them/don't touch them
-The Tyrells have a pact - if someone hurts one of them, the other will make that person pay. This applies even to Renly.
The Secret Garden
Colin/Mary/(and possibly Dickon!): In the Garden.
Colin and Mary were one of my first ships, way back when I first read this book as a wee fan. I loved the way they distracted each other from all of the things they hated about themselves and their dull, lonely lives. Mary did quite a bit of the work of saving herself before she came upon Colin, but I think it's quite fair to say that she saved him, that she made him care about living for the first time in his life. And he helped prove to her that she wasn't an unloveable little monster, that even the traits about her that were 'bad' - her stubbornness, her temper, her refusal to do as she was told - could in fact be helpful, as they let her match Colin tantrum for tantrum and bring him out of his own shadow.
I love that neither one of them is a wholly sympathetic character. They're both incredibly spoiled, at least early on, and they can both be vindictive and petty when it suits them. And Colin develops an almost amusing sense of preachiness towards the end of the book. But it's these same things that make them human, that keep a story about an ever-so-slightly magical garden from becoming too saccharine. They're interesting because they're not perfect, and they never really will be, whether they're together or not.
Which brings us to Dickon, who practically is perfect. He's the balance to the two of them, their opposite in many ways - cheerful, patient, even tempered, gentle - and it's easy to see why he's the favorite of so many readers. It's easy to believe Dickon would have enough love to go around, and be open minded enough to accept an unusual arrangement! If Colin is the brains of their threesome and Mary the spirit, Dickon is most definitely the heart. I can see him as the go-between for the other two, always soothing them when they fought and reminding them of what was really important in the end. He's the perfect caretaker.
What I'd like to see: If you're writing a Mary/Colin fic, something that keeps them imperfect, with that push and pull way of interacting they had. I'd love to see them exploring Misselthwaite as teens/adults, or traveling to the Continent or India.
If you're including Dickon too - something where all three of them are equally important in the relationship, and one pairing doesn't overshadow everything. Maybe something that includes Dickon's many boisterous siblings, and how they all handle being their own little family together. Anything that includes the garden or the moor is also welcome!
A note: I know it's tempting, what with WWI being right there, but please don't kill anybody. WWI stories with PTSD or hurt/comfort etc are okay, just no death!
Prompts:
-I never need these things/I never need them/it's just you I need/you're my human heat
-and with your soft fingers between my claws/like purity against resolve
-I want to come close, I want to come closer/I held your name inside my mouth/through all the days out wandering
In general, the couples I love are ones that I see as being very similar to each other on a deep level - I don't often care for the 'opposites attract' trope. I'm much more of an 'us against the world' kind of girl. I like a good happy ending (who doesn't?), but I also enjoy bittersweet longing and unrequited love and sharp edges. Equality is also really important to me - I enjoy couples where neither party is particularly dominant, and they're both willing to stand up to each other and give as good as they get.
Smut or no smut is good. I'll try to provide both general ideas and specific prompts - my prompts are almost always lyrics, so apologies if you hate those!
Squicks - extreme kinks (body fluids, torture, gore), pregnancy/kidfic, adultery (with the exception of anybody in A Song of Ice and Fire, where everyone is married by someone else's choice and nobody's happy anyhow), character bashing
I've written for many of these pairings (and if I haven't, it doesn't mean I like them any less, just that I've never had the opportunity!), all of which you can find here if you so desire.
Greek Mythology
Hades/Persephone/Apollo: Death, Life, and Light.
These three work for me (in a weird, seasonal way) because of the way Hades and Apollo are in many respects opposites - the obvious dark/light parallel, but also Hades' brooding and melancholy, severe side contrasted with Apollo as a more mercurial, passionate figure. And then there's Persephone, striking a balance between the two, switching from the flowery maiden of springtime to the Queen of the Underworld, from a girl, light and innocent, to a woman with power and heavy responsibility. All the while, neither of them are the whole of who she is; she needs both to make her balance. (This is a highly symbolic threesome for me, if it wasn't obvious!)
What I'd like to see: I prefer a Hades who isn't an outright rapist, and a Persephone who has a true choice in the matter and doesn't hate either Hades or Demeter, but beyond that it's wide open. The threesome works for me whether it's a seasonal thing with basically Hades/Persephone and Persephone/Apollo, or if you bring all three of them together in the same place and time.
Prompts:
-and I am finally seeing/why I was the one worth leaving
-too late, two choices/to stay or to leave
-I'm staring at the asphalt wondering/what's buried underneath (Modern AU)
Aeneas/Cassandra: The Survivor and the Prophet.
This is easily my most crack-pairing as I can't claim any canonical basis for it at all - I just love the idea of the two of them together. For one thing, he's pretty much the only person she can look to and not see a horrible fate awaiting him. He's got to be about the only thing that gives her any hope in the time leading up to the war, knowing that Troy will survive in some form with him. As for his part, I feel like the son of a goddess might find it easier than most to look past her surface 'madness' and see the woman below that, even if he couldn't believe her any more than anyone else.
What I'd like to see: It's pretty much wide open on this one - tragic, doomed, one-sided love, an AU where everybody lives, pre-war fic, a ghostly Cassandra haunting and advising Aeneas through his travels - you name it, I'll love it. I'd prefer no adultery on his part, though.
Prompts:
-'there's nothing we cannot ever fix,' I said/can't stop what's coming, can't stop what is on its way
-and can you see the means without the end/in the random frantic action that we take?
-the dark never enters/but it also never leaves/and the spark that he gave you/is just an ember, all but out
Chronicles of Narnia
Edmund/Susan: The Just and The Gentle.
These two just kill me. They're the outsiders, the betrayers, the outcasts, the dark to their siblings' light, and they never meant to be any of that. All Edmund wants (at first) is for someone to treat him as important, and all Susan ever wants is to keep everyone safe. In terms of ruling Narnia, I can easily see Peter and Lucy taking care of the big, obvious issues that would come up, while Ed and Su end up taking care of the details and the messy bits no one really wants to think about.
Why do I love them specifically? They're so similar. Susan is obviously frustrated with Edmund in LLW, as they all are, but when the Witch claims her right to Ed's life as a traitor, Susan is the one who asks Aslan if there isn't anything that can be done against the Deep Magic. She basically asks god to break his own rules, because to her, family is more important. It's hard for me to not see her eventual 'betrayal' of Narnia in the same light - she'd seen what gaining and losing it so many times had put her and her family through, and she simply wasn't willing to do it again. I think if anyone else would understand that, and share her conflicted feelings on the whole matter, it would be Edmund. He is, of course, bound to Aslan in a way the others aren't quite, through sacrifice and rebirth; but he's also The Just. He and Susan just get each other.
What I'd like to see: Calormene fic is a favorite of mine - I love that whole interlude with them in The Horse and His Boy. Anything with them exploring and having adventures would be fun; on the other hand, introspective angsty fic, either in Narnia or back in England, is also perfect.
Prompts:
- these are the lies that are keeping me honest/keeping the monsters at bay
- maybe you'll leave the light on/just in case I like the dancing/I can remember where I come from
-my memory is cruel/the queen of attention to details/defending intentions if he failed
Aravis/Cor: The Outcasts.
These two are a lot more dissimilar than most of my pairings, coming from such different backgrounds and having very different experiences in life and attitudes towards it, but it's the ways they come together that make them great. The way they slowly become willing to trust each other, and to learn from each other, the way they about each because at first, they haven't got anyone else to care about them, and the way they end up in a place they'll both have to learn to fit into all over again. Also, there's the fact that they're basically shipped by a pair of horses (well, Hwin anyhow, I've never been too sure about Bree. He might have been too self absorbed to ship anybody).
I love their banter! I love that Aravis doesn't hold back just because she's a girl, and Cor doesn't hold back in return just because she's so much higher born and better educated than him. They both argue and snipe, and they're both stubborn and neither one ever wants to give in, and while that may not be the healthiest basis for a relationship, it's sure a lot of fun. On a more serious note, I love that they're both lost and find themselves through one another. They need each other, in a very real way.
What I'd like to see: Fic about them trying to adjust to live in Anvard is always fun - he's gained a family, she's lost hers, they both have to adjust to a totally new culture and climate, and really, the only constant in their lives at that point would be one another. I feel like they'd constantly be sneaking into each other's rooms at night just to tell stories and have the comfort of someone who understood close by.
Prompts:
-so go ahead, push your luck/say what it is you've got to say to me
-all I need is time/to grow up, to grow bored, and to grow wise/but you're so beautiful tonight
-you leaned upon your elbow/and began to speak to me/but you stopped yourself and kissed me/and I grabbed your wrist and told you/'I know, I know, I know/I feel the same as you'
Firefly
Mal/River: The Captain and his Albatross.
Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me? Mal gets River, in a very real, fundamental way, a way that not even Simon always manages. Mal doesn't categorize River as one thing - she's never solely a danger to him, or an innocent in need of protection, or a crazy piece of baggage. She is, as he tells her in Serenity, a person, actual and whole. He's the only one of the crew who sees her this way (and unlike Simon, Mal sees River for who she is in the present, not having any other reference), and that's why, against all common sense, he risks everything he loves for her sake, more than once.
And their understanding goes both ways. In Serenity, when the rest of the crew is horrified by Mal's (admittedly insane) plans, when the rest of them are forming an audience to his 'I aim to misbehave' speech, River is right up there with him, front and center. She doesn't need to be convinced of what he's saying because she knows it as well as he does, because she knows what he's going to say before it comes out of his mouth. But she still likes to hear him say it, because this is the man willing to fight for her, to believe in her, to validate her worth and state of being as a real person.
What I'd like to see: Absolutely anything, really. I love AUs, I love threesomes with Serenity, I love ridiculous adventures where they save each other, I love River angsting about being in love at all and Mal angsting about being in love with her, of all people. I love them being happy and getting shit done! I love Simon punching Mal in the face over it, because that's his mei mei and what does Mal think he's doing? Literally anything where they understand each other and have some sort of connection makes me happy.
Prompts:
-“Madness? It's love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.”
-maybe you and me could be just fine/if we always had a boundary line/if we never had to be defined
- it's not regret/just an unexpected accounting of debts
River/Wash: Pilots!
Crackship ahoy! One of the many casualties of Firefly's short run time is that we don't really have much of anything of these two together. Still, Wash seems more sympathetic than some of the crew to River's situation, and he's such a sweet guy it's hard to imagine him not getting along with her (though it's also hard to imagine him not being made nervous by her - I think Kaylee was the only woman ever on the ship who didn't make Wash nervous in one way or another). And for River, Wash probably would have been a very soothing presence - he doesn't really seem troubled by a violent past like many of the crew, and he's generally a pretty happy, relaxed guy. I feel like they could have had a lot of fun together, flying through the black and making up Jurassic adventures as they went.
What I'd like to see: Obviously the biggest problem with this ship is that Wash is already involved in a perfect ship with Zoe. I can't imagine River/Wash working in a world where Zoe/Wash was a thing, so it would have to be an AU of some sort...one where they were never married, or where Zoe died instead of Wash, or some other random thing. Beyond that, something that touches on their shared love of flying and Serenity, and the way their very specialized talents make them valuable assets to the crew, even if they are both odd in their own ways.
Prompts:
-and dinosaur sex led to nothing/and maybe we will lead to nothing
-In the electrical storm you were running wild/you had a death wish, you were a child
-you laugh as you pass me the night/as if it's too fragile to hold
A Song of Ice and Fire
Warning: Spoilers for all five books will follow.
Jon/Arya: The Wolves.
These two kill me. Even when they're at their lowest points, when they think all the rest of their family is gone, they still think of each other; they still use memories of each other as comfort. Arya constantly thinks about how Jon was always the one who understood her best, and even when she thinks her mother or her other siblings might reject her for the things she's done, she always knows Jon would love her no matter what she's done. And Jon, who guards his honor and does his duty as though his entire world depends on it for the length of five books and through the deaths of most of his family, is finally willing to break his vows in order to save Arya (granted, a false Arya, but he doesn't know that).
I love that in general, they've always had a bond because they were the only two Stark children who physically took after the Stark side of the family. I love that Arya clearly favors Jon, and that Jon supports her desires to be herself by giving her Needle, which basically helps set her entire future course. More than any of the other Stark siblings, they wouldn't be the same without each other.
What I'd like to see: I love 'Arya finally makes it up to the Wall' fic. I also love the idea that Jon would be the one thing (aside from maybe Nymeria) that could pull her back from fully becoming a Faceless Man. AUs are also appreciated; I'm a big believer in R+L=J, so anything with Jon being raised apart from the Starks works for me, as long as he and Arya still have some sort of bond. I'd also love to see Ghost and/or Nymeria brought in somehow.
Prompts:
- no fear, no anger/we are a law unto ourselves
-Vengeance built me hastily/and I dragged the clanging notion I was nobody, nobody
-you're the only thing I ever want anymore
Jaime/Sansa: The Dreamers.
Sansa Stark is my last chance for honor. That says it all, really. No, it doesn't have anything to do with Sansa as a person, but it speaks deeply to a huge part of Jaime's character - his longing for someone to believe in him, for people to trust that he wants to do things for good reasons, for his good intentions to be taken on faith. In short, Jaime's as much of a naive dreamer as any Stark. He can't understand why the world has never turned out the way he wanted, because he's always expected that he was simply entitled to people's trust and faith, that the world wasn't really a terrible place that would look at a king's blood on a man's sword and never question why it was there. So he told himself he didn't care, that he was better than others anyhow, that he'd just do whatever he pleased and damn the consequences, until that backfired on him too and he lost the only things he'd ever defined himself by. I think that now, by ADWD, he's finally started to figure things out.
Sansa's taken a much quicker and more brutal path to a similar place; she believed in dreams and knights and honor, that everyone was as good as her and her parents, or at least no worse than Arya. Though she's shown otherwise pretty quickly, she still tends to cling to her dreams as a mental shield; Sansa never quite sees the whole of what's actually there, just what she needs to see to remain intact. It's only when she gets to the Vale and doesn't need to be in fear for her life and safety every minute that she begins to allow herself to think more about what's behind the surface of things, the why of how things happen. And she never quite stops longing for someone to protect her, to love her and give her back everything she's lost.
So then, Sansa is Jaime's honor, and Jaime is Sansa's savior. But of course they're far more than just symbols; they're real people, complex and incredibly imperfect and not at all what they would expect from each other, which is where all the fun comes in.
What I'd like to see: There are so many great possibilities here. Maybe Jaime finds her in the Vale (with or without a dead Littlefinger). Maybe she ends up ruling the North and he serves her because he can't serve whoever ends up on the Iron Throne. Maybe it's an AU where she's forced to marry him instead of Tyrion. Maybe they end up living at Casterly Rock with Tyrion after the wars. Maybe they run off to Essos together to escape the wars. It's Westeros, anything can happen.
(A note on adultery: This is one pairing where I don't mind it being out in the open, as neither Sansa nor Tyrion ever wanted to be married and both would gladly be rid of the marriage.)
Prompts:
-with the perfect armor/with the perfect dream
- I wonder if I'm allowed just ever to be
- I know no matter what you say/there's some debts you'll never pay
Lyanna/Rhaegar: The Wolf Maid and The Dragon Prince.
Aka the pair who fucked up Westeros but good.
This is one where I just love the epic sense of it. It's a love affair on a grand scale, with prophecy and secret knights and declarations of feelings in the form of symbolic gifts in front of half a kingdom. It's kidnapping - or eloping - leading to tragedy. It's got all the elements of a fabulous story, if nothing else.
And maybe it is an awful, sad, ruined story. Maybe Robert was right and Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and held her prisoner for most of a year and everyone ended up dying for a reason. But I choose to believe otherwise, that these two just had the same fundamental flaw the vast majority of Westrosi nobles do - they were incredibly impulsive and didn't stop to think of the consequences for anyone but themselves until it was far, far too late. In another life, it might have worked out for them - they might have had a chance to be bound by something more than prophecy and fascination. But of course, this is Westeros.
What I'd like to see: A story about their first meeting at Harrenhal would be great, with Rhaegar discovering just who the Knight of the Laughing Tree really was, and how they both handled that. Or something about how they felt when/if Lyanna got pregnant (yes, I'm a R+L=J believer). Or the story of their relationship told from the povs of the people around them - Elia, Ashara, Arthur Dayne, Ned, etc. No Rhaegar as a crazy monster rapist, please - he certainly wasn't perfect, but of everyone we hear comment on him in the books, only Robert ever has anything negative to say about him.
Prompts:
- the world blooms for the last time
-my love invented all of you/oh, look what thoughts can do
-you can't make the snow fall in summer/or make him not want her/not leave her behind
Loras/Renly/Margaery: Horns and Thorns.
Really, these three are just a lot of potential fun. You have charm (Renly), martial ability (Loras), and brains (Margaery). If they'd ever actually gotten to the throne, I think they'd have made quite a ruling team.
Loras is pretty clearly the centerpiece here, as he's devoted to Renly and shown to be incredibly close to his sister as well. In a lot of ways Loras and Margaery are a healthier parallel of Cersei and Jaime - devoted siblings who were raised in (so far as we know) a non-abusive environment, and so ended up loving each other but not entirely codependent.
There are a lot of interesting issues to be explored here; would Loras be jealous of Renly marrying his sister? How would they work out the whole sexual situation, with a king needing an heir but Renly being uninterested in women? In an AU route, would Margaery have eventually grown resentful of her place as the third wheel, or would they all have been content with each other?
What I'd like to see: Something where they all come out fairly happy, and each make use of their own particular talents to create a successful relationship and, potentially, a successful kingdom. Alternatively, a discussion of just how awkward this is for everyone, with their incompatible sexualities (I can definitely see Margaery possibly being a lesbian as well as the boys being obviously gay) and two of them being siblings.
Prompts:
-you wake up in the bed you make/I think you made a big mistake
-leave the rest at arm's length/keep your naked flesh under your favorite dress/when they reach out, don't touch them/don't touch them
-The Tyrells have a pact - if someone hurts one of them, the other will make that person pay. This applies even to Renly.
The Secret Garden
Colin/Mary/(and possibly Dickon!): In the Garden.
Colin and Mary were one of my first ships, way back when I first read this book as a wee fan. I loved the way they distracted each other from all of the things they hated about themselves and their dull, lonely lives. Mary did quite a bit of the work of saving herself before she came upon Colin, but I think it's quite fair to say that she saved him, that she made him care about living for the first time in his life. And he helped prove to her that she wasn't an unloveable little monster, that even the traits about her that were 'bad' - her stubbornness, her temper, her refusal to do as she was told - could in fact be helpful, as they let her match Colin tantrum for tantrum and bring him out of his own shadow.
I love that neither one of them is a wholly sympathetic character. They're both incredibly spoiled, at least early on, and they can both be vindictive and petty when it suits them. And Colin develops an almost amusing sense of preachiness towards the end of the book. But it's these same things that make them human, that keep a story about an ever-so-slightly magical garden from becoming too saccharine. They're interesting because they're not perfect, and they never really will be, whether they're together or not.
Which brings us to Dickon, who practically is perfect. He's the balance to the two of them, their opposite in many ways - cheerful, patient, even tempered, gentle - and it's easy to see why he's the favorite of so many readers. It's easy to believe Dickon would have enough love to go around, and be open minded enough to accept an unusual arrangement! If Colin is the brains of their threesome and Mary the spirit, Dickon is most definitely the heart. I can see him as the go-between for the other two, always soothing them when they fought and reminding them of what was really important in the end. He's the perfect caretaker.
What I'd like to see: If you're writing a Mary/Colin fic, something that keeps them imperfect, with that push and pull way of interacting they had. I'd love to see them exploring Misselthwaite as teens/adults, or traveling to the Continent or India.
If you're including Dickon too - something where all three of them are equally important in the relationship, and one pairing doesn't overshadow everything. Maybe something that includes Dickon's many boisterous siblings, and how they all handle being their own little family together. Anything that includes the garden or the moor is also welcome!
A note: I know it's tempting, what with WWI being right there, but please don't kill anybody. WWI stories with PTSD or hurt/comfort etc are okay, just no death!
Prompts:
-I never need these things/I never need them/it's just you I need/you're my human heat
-and with your soft fingers between my claws/like purity against resolve
-I want to come close, I want to come closer/I held your name inside my mouth/through all the days out wandering