May the Fourth 2018 Letter

[perlaret]

Dear Yoda,

First off, thank you very much for your time and effort!

There's a lot here, but of course feel free to put your own spin on things and get creative, and don't feel constrained by what I've included. DNWs aside, I consider this just a resource for you to get a sense of my general tastes and what I might like, but it's in no order of preference and it's definitely not all-encompassing – my heart is not set on any one outcome for any character or ship I requested.

Do Not Wants: major character death, extreme blood and gore, incest, explicit torture, sexualized bodily waste, vore, sexualized violence/abuse/humiliation, rape/noncon, slavery fic, ship and character bashing, underage sex (teenage shenanigans are fine, but I prefer my age gap ships happening when all parties are adults), infidelity/cheating, pregnancy and kid fic, omegaverse, unrequested background ships, Hux (any).

General Likes: worldbuilding, genre and archetype subversions, trope deconstructions, codependency as coping mechanisms, (semi-)functional relationships growing out of complicated – or even fucked-up – history, or relationships undergoing stress and strain due to different worldviews, ships passing in the night/doomed from the start (but we sure tried) relationships, actions having consequences, forgiveness and absolution being two different things, women in power – how good they are with that power being another matter entirely, slow burns, missing scenes, positive/hopeful endings (I don't expect saccharine; I love gut-punchy but I dislike out-and-out tragedy), found families, power struggles and relationship tension, strong but understated emotion, when "I love you" is meant but never actually said. I love canon divergences, alternate timelines where a canon choice/event changes and we explore the resulting outcome, soulmates (see above re: deconstructions), time travel (any flavor), hurt/comfort ('verse ok too), mirrorverses or tripping into the wrong timeline.





Ben Solo | Kylo Ren & Evaan Verlaine

Here's the thing. I love Alderaanians, and I love the idea of these two meeting and interacting. Ben being young and visiting the new Alderaan colony established in the wake of the Princess Leia comic and meeting Evaan – does he like her, or is she just another legacy to overshadow him? Or does the timeline diverge, and when he runs from Luke, he goes to Evaan? AU where Ben is raised as a prince of Alderaan? Or something set in the future, where Supreme Leader Kylo Ren moves into New Alderaan space and comes face-to-face with the Princess-Elect Evaan herself? Time travel that brings them back to the Alderaan of old? Maybe explore what thoughts/feelings Kylo/Ben may have regarding his heritage, especially in light of the Hosnian Cataclysm or any other canon elements, or from Evaan's point of view, how she may feel about new generations of Alderaan, what they have or what they may being missing and how that is embodied in Ben. (Feel free to adjust or develop New Alderaan's government system to your needs, if necessary, irrespective of any language used here!)

Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Terex

Terex and that "freak" Kylo Ren is one of my dreams. I'd love to see Terex, with all of his Empire nostalgia or newfound jadedness with the First Order, up against Kylo and his temperament and what that means for the future of the galaxy.
I could see pre-canon, their first meeting and first takes on each other –
is that just dislike or some other kind of tension – why does Terex think Kylo is a freak, and does Kylo even care? Post-TLJ, Terex interacting with the new Supreme Leader, or reminiscing on the past and how doomed this is from afar? Kylo Ren demanding the aid of the First Order's ex intel agent? Or future fic, some kind of reunion well after their lives have taken them into completely different realms than they started in, dealing with the aftermath of their bad choices (and maybe making new bad choices, together).

If you want to toss in either of them interacting with Poe and/or Leia too, I'm fine with that.

Cardinal & Finn

I love the worldbuilding detail added by the Phasma novel and I'd love to see how Cardinal and Finn may have interacted at some point during Finn's youth in the First Order's Stormtrooper programs. Feel free to expand on that and show ways Cardinal may have had a hand in influencing Finn, for better or worse. I'd also love anything post-novel. Does Cardinal interact at all with the Resistance after his own defection, and what may it be like to see a prior protege follow suit in the future? What impact did that have on each other in the past, and what can they do for each other going forward?

This may be the one prompt I have where some levels of Hux Sr. or Jr. may be necessary for various reasons for your idea, and I am cool with that, I just don't want to read about them extensively.

Chelli Lona Aphra & None

Aphra is probably one of my favorite characters of all time in the extended canon – I love her devil-may-care front, her flashiness and track record of manipulation, her inability to deal honestly with anyone in anything (especially when feelings are involved), and so forth.

I could read more about her family, whether running into her father again, or what her mother was like. I'd enjoy stories about her time studying to be an archaeologist, or how she first got involved in less reputable activities. I'd be interested in missing scenes of her tenure under Vader's "employ" or her dubious adventures with the murderdroids. I'm also fine with you using her romantic escapades with Sana and Tolvan to your leisure.

Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan/Sana Starros

I am super into Aphra with both Sana and Tolvan, so this leads me to the natural next question: What happens when you throw all three into the same together and turn the metaphorical lock?

How would Sana and Tolvan react to each other? Is there mutual interest or jealous or attempts to one-up each other? How much shit is Aphra going to get for this? How many attempts are there going to be on her life before everyone starts getting along (or do they)? How badly are they all going to regret this later?

Evaan Verlaine/Nash Windrider

Seriously. Fuck me up with Alderaan feels. Just – two different people, who responded in two such wholly different ways to the loss of their planet. Evaan fought for the Rebellion and went full-tilt into restoring whatever she could about her home. Nash rationalized and had to buy the Empire's lies to stay alive and successful. How long does that last. Does he ever defect and seek out the Alderaan colony established in the Leia comic, or does he keep doggedly moving forward, moving into the First Order? What would Evaan think of someone like Nash? If they were thrown together, what would happen? I'm good with them either having known each other, or met further down the line post-ANH. Basically, I'm here for some tragic trying-to-cope (with varying success) Alderaanians.

Lando Calrissian/Poe Dameron

I am pretty newly interested in this ship, and I just want to see them playing off each other in various ways. I love the various ways Poe clearly looks up to Rebellion heroes -- how would he take meeting Lando, he who destroyed Death Star #2? What if he got thrown back in time and met him then, or young Lando got thrown forward into the future? Time travel fic for this ship would delight me, but I'm also good with canon age gap romance when Poe is grown up.

Poe Dameron/Terex

Give me foeyay nonsense. I love Poe, and I love to hate Terex. It's a good balance, because I don't care if it's doomed for failure. I'm down to read fic that can be set at any point in the comics, whether you wanna run it from early on oneupmanship to the current "Break free of your programming and save Poe's ass some more buddy (so you can stab him in the back later)." I love the "Poe defies all the odds constantly... but also there are bumps in the road" up against "Terex does not know when to quit – and frankly seems to enjoy losing more and more?"

Listen I will read anything from stupid banter to "I hate your politics but like your butt" to galactic cat&mouse shenanigans to hatesex and back again.

Queen Trios & None

I find Trios's arc to be absolutely fascinating and I would be interested in reading any part of it. Her growth from 'the spare' to her survivalist choices to her coming into her queenship and ambition in her own right is part of what fascinates me. I would enjoy developing the dynamics between her and her family in pre-canon, and after Vader shows up – how does she deal in the aftermath, when no one is looking? What trials does she face on Sho-torun after the threat to her throne wanes?

(I'm a bit behind on the comic and her most recent appearances but I expect I will be caught up by the time reveals come, so feel free to reference anything I haven't mentioned! I'm not worried about spoilers.)

Ransolm Casterfo/Poe Dameron

Listen. Casterfo is alive, and I don't care. So clearly that means that he and Poe are destined to meet. I love the idea of them being thrown together, probably by Leia, Poe with his unwavering ideals up against Ransolm, who used to idealize the Empire until he realized his political party idealized something else entirely, and I want to see how their different personal histories might cause sparks.

I'm super into the idea of the AU where Casterfo escaped/was rescued from the fate promised him at the end of Bloodline and has assisted with the Resistance in some way, even if he remains a skeptic. Did Poe help with that rescue? How did they meet and get started with each other? Do they end up working together or butting heads,
and how do their different approaches complement or cause conflict? What kind of trouble do they cause together, and how do they celebrate when they make it out alive?

Sana Starros & None

I just want all the fic about Sana. I'm interested in her youth on Nar Shadaa, her adventures smuggling and navigating the criminal underworld, and anything exploring her gradual transition to Rebel. Where does she end up post-Endor? In the future? Is there anything that could have gone down different and put Sana on a different path altogether?

I ship Sana with Leia and Aphra, and would love to see her interacting with anyone else from the comics, movies, and so forth.

Shara Bey & Poe Dameron

I have a lot of family feelings about these two, and Poe losing a parent early in life hits me where it hurts. I adore how much Poe reveres his mother and how driven he is by her (and Kes's) legacy. On the other hand, I also care a lot about Shara choosing to fight through Poe's early years and then stop fighting for her family -- all are elements I would enjoy reading about.

Show me Shara teaching Poe how to fly, or thinking about Poe while she's away in the Rebellion. I'd like snippets of the relationship through the years, and how Shara's absence changes things in Poe's life. Before the Awakening references how Poe didn't know the full extent of Shara's heroism until he joined the New Republic Defense Fleet – what must it have been like to learn, and what did it feel like? How and when did he inherit her ring? Does Poe ever fill in the gaps in his memories of Shara with the stories people share about her? Does he ever imagine conversations with his mother through the high and low points in his life?

(My DNW re: character death doesn't apply to this request as far as Shara Bey goes. I don't mind you incorporating references to or minor scenes from her pregnancy so long as it's not the entirety of the fic.)

Suralinda Javos/Jessika Pava

I really enjoyed the recent interactions these two women had in the recent Poe comic arc, specifically the vast differences in their worldviews -
I'd love to see more of Jess's idealism and heroism up against Suralinda's pragmatism and do-it-for-the-story approach.

Do they work alongside each other for another propaganda mission, perhaps, or do their paths cross again when they've (at least temporarily) moved on to other things? Does Suralinda's story-mongering unearth any details regarding the glimpses of Jess's backstory we've seen? Any equipment nerdery they can share? How do their different strengths and weaknesses get them out of trouble, and do they trust each other to drink to it after?