swrarepairs 2019 letter

[perlaret]

Dear Creator,

Thank you so much for writing for me! I very much look forward to reading whatever you come up with!

I have many different potential prompts for you, but 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 a resource for you to get a sense of my general tastes and what I might like. 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 ship I requested, so please go the distance! Also, just because I might have more to say about one ship than another also is no indication of preference – I will 100% enjoy all of these ships.

Do Not Wants: extreme blood and gore, explicit torture, sexualized bodily waste, vore, sexualized violence/abuse/humiliation, rape/noncon, slavery fic, underage, ship and character bashing, infidelity/cheating, pregnancy fic, omegaverse, earth/mundane AUs, unrequested background ships.


General Likes: worldbuilding, genre and archetype subversions, trope deconstructions, codependency as coping mechanisms, canon timeline divergences, (semi-)functional relationships growing out of complicated history, actions having consequences, accountability for wrongdoing, 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 (especially after angst), found families, power struggles and relationship tension - especially when the obviously stronger/more powerful one is brought low by their feelings for someone smaller/less powerful/more normal/underestimated one, size/height differences, working together after betrayal, strong but understated emotion, when "I love you" is meant but never actually said, pining.

Favorite AU Types and Tropes: canon divergences, alternate timelines where a canon choice/event changes and we explore the resulting outcome, soulmates and Force bonds, time travel, regency or regency-inspired, fake dating, arranged marriages, political matches, royalty AUs, trapped together somewhere, hurt/comfort, mystical fuck-or-die, sex-pollen, reverse sex-pollen where it works on everybody except someone(s) already in love with the pollenated person, identity shenanigans, vampires.

Smut Likes: pinning down, shoving against walls/other surfaces, biting and marking, hair pulling, bloody noses/black eyes as a turn on, sexual tension sublimating into arguments, compromised consent (i.e. sex pollen of the "everyone knows what's happening and decide they don't care" variety), orgasm delay/denial, edging, sex with clothes on, cunnilingus, face fucking, fuck-or-die for mystical reasons, power struggles upended by unexpected intimacy.


The Ships

Chelli Lona Aphra/Sana Starros

BITTER! EXES! I could read this ship in so many scenarios – how they first met and got started, to whatever betrayal of Aphra's caused the rift between them, to Sana's decision that whatever it wants warrants murder, and any sort of situation that could render them as situational allies anew to something more. Murderdroid shenanigans or the looming threat of Vader are a bonus. If they have sex, I'd love something that didn't skew 100% soft/tender – there's enough bitter history between them I'd love to see that come through in something a little rough and tumble. Other ideas:

• Soulmates who just can't quite work things out; situations and Aphra's inability to commit or being emotionally available getting in the way.
• Heists gone wrong, where they team up and everything goes to shit. Having to cram together in a tight space or go incognito would be neat too.

Leia Organa/Evaan Verlaine

I love these two and how much they love their home, their culture, and their people. I love that Evaan's loyalty isn't based on blind trust, and that Leia has someone she can rely on in Evaan. I think it would be interesting to see their personal relationship continue to evolve through war and galactic politics - in the Rebellion era and beyond, or before, if you want to play with the timeline. I love anything that develops New Alderaan, how their different roles would shape out over time.

Suralinda Javos/Jessika Pava

I really enjoyed the 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. Ideas:

• They have to work alongside each other for another propaganda mission, and maybe they have to go undercover to escape scrutiny.
• Suralinda's story-mongering unearths details regarding the glimpses of Jess's backstory, and there's emotional fallout.
• Now that Suralinda is a sometimes member of Black Squadron, how do her and Jess interact after learning about the post-TLJ fallout? Does this screw up any attempts at recruitment? How do their different strengths and weaknesses get them out of trouble, and do they trust each other to drink to it after?

Kes Dameron/L'ulo L'ampar

Given the close family friendship hinted at in the Poe comic, I am super interested in how Kes and L'ulo might have come to know each other during the Rebellion, potentially through L'ulo's friendship with Shara Bey as fellow pilots. I think it would be interesting to see them interacting throughout the years, and then also in the aftermath of Shara's passing, potentially becoming something more. Premises/ideas:

• Five times fic showing their relationship throughout the years, from the Rebellion into the Resistance era.
• L'ulo rejoins the cause, flying for the Resistance, but Kes doesn't take his Pathfinder mantle back. Is there a disagreement there? How do they reconcile? Does Poe complicate that?

Cardinal | Archex/Vi Moradi

The end of the Phasma novel left many questions in my mind, waiting to be answered, and frankly: Black Spire dropped almost every ball in the basket for me. I would love either some serious fix-it fic, or fic that just diverges and sends them on a different mission altogether to explore how two mortal enemies who spared and saved each other, respectively, go on to survive and fight another day. Emphasis on the surviving part. I like anything that retains the emotional tension and difficulty of working together and developing trust. (For clarity's sake: I'm not into issuefic, but I would enjoy reading something subtle that honors Vi being ace without eliminating romance altogether). Other premise ideas:

• They are sent on the Batuu mission but don't crash land. What happens differently?
• Cardinal is healed and refuses to assist the Resistance. Vi is brought back in to convince him otherwise.
• Vi and Cardinal are sent on a different mission to disrupt a First Order supply line and suddenly have a bunch of newly recruited Stormtrooper-to-be kids on their hands. What do they do? Does someone get stabbed with a knitting needle?

Cardinal | Archex/Zade Kalliday

Too serious, gloomy, plays-it-straight dude, up against the exuberant and ridiculous drunk? I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. Archex needs to let his hair down, and Zade is just the guy to pull it for him. I'd love further exploration of the distrust and bitterness Zade understandably feels for the First Order, and what Cardinal represents in that. I'd enjoy an alternate timeline where they meet differently, or a divergence where Black Spire ended differently and they got to work together more - the ups and downs of recruitment and strategy, with attraction developing in-between.

Cardinal/Finn

I am definitely into this in a post-Phasma timeline, and would only want any actual romance or interest to happen with Finn as an adult. I would be super interested to see Finn and Cardinal recognize each other in their post-First Order lives, whatever those may be. Ideas:

• Finn joins the Resistance, but what is Cardinal? Also working against the First Order, as an ally or free agent, or does he become something else?
• AU where Finn didn’t defect in TFA and only later does, when he’s sent on a mission to hunt down who turns out to be someone he remembers... who trained him to be what he is today.
• AU where they’re both still part of the First Order, training cadets together, and something happens that throws both of their loyalties into question.

Poe Dameron/Terex

Garbage 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 later "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 cat and mouse to hatesex and back again.

Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Nash Windrider

Hey look, it's the Disaffected Alderaanian Feelings Club! I find the idea of Nash, who's dedicated his life to the Empire to cope with the trauma of losing his home world, up against Ben, who's rejected his familial identity to be Kylo Ren an interesting possible dynamic. I'm interested in the ideological comparisons, and where they'd get along/potentially find solace, as well as where they'd clash. I'm obviously fine with the canon age gap, but I'm not really into that being a focus/kink of this ship. Ideas:

• I'd love a Nash who became part of the First Order brass in a position to suddenly advise a new Supreme Leader, the son of a royal family he thought he hated.
• Alternatively, you could do some TROS-speculation, see what happens when Kylo Ren stumbles into the Emperor's remnant, and Nash is the representative he encounters.
• I'd also be interested in an AU where Ben is the Prince of New Alderaan and Nash leads the conquest of New Alderaan.

Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Rose Tico

I'm good with either a hypothetical post-redemption, or even conflict-in-progress take on Kylo Ben for this ship -- either way, I think that trust on Rose's side of things would be a long time coming. Basically I have a lot of thoughts as to why this ship appeals to me. Both have so much of their personal lives caught up in this war, and their families motivate them in such vastly different ways, that pitting their different approaches against the other is meaty. Rose is passionate, but thoughtful enough about the realities and politics of war that she is a neat counterpoint to Ben's sheer reckless emotion, where to him this war often seems like mere stage dress for his personal dramas. Feel free to highlight height differences and play off tempers, politics, assumptions, judging, and so on. See also: my general likes about power dynamics. I'd be interested in both serious and fun premises:

• Redeemed(?) Ben experienced in repairing junked up and souped up ships because his dad was not only the owner of the Millennium Falcon but ran a racing team, and Rose facing the horrifying inner workings of the Falcon, but how DARE the ex-Kylo Ren know what to do here when it's her job to fix things!
• AU where Ben is a ship racer and Rose is the team mechanic.
• AU where Kylo Ren comes to Rose's home planet and her hatred of what the First Order is doing there runs up agains an unexpected understanding.
• Maybe Rose and Paige escape their planet and instead of ending up with the Resistance, find refuge New Alderaan... which happens to have one asshole of a prince ruling it.

Finn/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I am a huge sucker for foils! I love the idea of this shop specifically because of how disparate their choices and temperaments tend to be, and how differently they respond to fear — Ben digs in his heels where Finn looks to get out and change, but Finn is also much better at learning from his mistakes and adapting too. I am down for any kind of canon divergence or exploration of canon. I am amenable to the idea of Finn being Force sensitive, but only marginally so in comparison; I think it's interesting when Finn is a match for Ben in different ways. Either way I think Kylo/Ben would find reason to both envy him and be fascinated with him. Other ideas:

• Ben is Prince of New Alderaan and gets captured to manipulate/pressure Leia and the Resistance. Finn is assigned to the block he's imprisoned in.
• Kylo Ren decides to take action and investigate the stormtrooper that keeps catching his attention - why does he keep noticing this man, and what comes of it?
• Finn is committed to the Resistance now and a freak accident or unexpected turn of events puts him in the same place as the recently on-the-run Kylo Ren - maybe after a coup or assassination attempt? They have to rely on each other.

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.

Ransolm Casterfo/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I love the idea of these two guys together. Both of them tend to use appearances to create perceptions - Ransolm with his fancy clothes, Kylo/Ben with his masks. Both are connected in interesting ways around Darth Vader — after all, Casterfo is quite possibly the reason that Ben learned of his family relationship with him. I would love to see them meeting as a result of the fall out of Bloodline, if Ransolm didn’t actually make it to Riosa, or perhaps an AU where Ben is a senator also. Something post-TLJ where Casterfo didn't die and Ben is redeemed, or Ransolm getting further caught up in Centrist politics (genuinely or not) that lead to actually facing the First Order and meeting Kylo? Maybe they are both seeking out an artifact they’re interested in?

Ransolm Casterfo/Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I just love the idea of all these three dudes with possibly complicated connections getting thrown in a room together, possibly due to their connections with Leia, and see what happens. I could see an AU where Kylo/Ben is a senator or a prince, or a situation where they're all in the Resistance because Ransolm got bailed out and Ben came home, or perhaps Ransolm was taken to the First Order instead of Riosa and Poe stumbles across him on a mission.