FFFX Exchange (the 10K one)

[aurilly]

Hello, dear writer! I am psyched for this. Especially for exchanges with really long minimums like this, what I want most is something YOU are having fun writing. So, please don't feel like you need to stick to the specific prompts. Feel free to write your own idea for these pairings instead, maybe trying to incorporate one of the general likes? As long as there's a happy/hopeful ending, I'm sure I'll love it. Thank you! I'm aurilly on AO3 as well.

Here are anchor links to the different sections:
• Original Work - Age of Sail Portal Fantasy
• MCU/Wodehouse Crossover - Loki & Bertie
• Lymond Chronicles - Francis/Christian
• Narnia - Emeth/Tirian
• Oz - Polychrome/Button-Bright
• MCU/Narnia Crossover - Bucky/Edmund
• MCU/Witcher (TV) Crossover - Bucky/Geralt
• Psmith - Psmith/Mike

General Notes
I'm often interested in watching characters deal with what comes after a prompted premise than I am in the premise itself. What I'm most interested in is what happens next-- the dynamics they forge, the adventures they have, the things they learn, their teamwork, how they get together, etc. Not the set-up. For example, I don't particularly care how characters who don't canonically know each other get to the same place and meet, or why the characters who do canonically know one another got into this situation. Feel free to skip past that to start in media res, in the middle of the mission or after canonical have become friends. Basically, stories that end shortly after the introductions make me sad.


Things I Always Love
• Devoted Odd Couples: enjoying one another's company; laughing at one another; fond exasperation; friends to lovers (including for characters who never met in canon; you can skip the initial meeting to start the story when they’re already friends, so you can focus on the 'to lovers' part)

• Adventures: fish out of water; exploring new territory; finding out about magic; complementary skill sets; badassery; laughing in the face of danger or absurdity; the pen is mightier than the sword (but I also really love swords)

• Historical or Fantasy Settings: SWORDS!; also crossbows; carriages (and sex therein); knighting; tournaments; balls; forced to share a horse; camping; rowdy taverns

• Reunions: assuming characters have a past together (ex. cousins, long-lost school chums, briefly visited the other world as a child, etc) and starting the story when they reunite in the present; not immediately recognizing old acquaintances due to canon-inspired plot reasons; still getting along despite having grown or changed

• Crossovers: applying skills/knowledge from one world to another world's problems; characters coming up with logical but incorrect theories about what's going on before discovering the truth; contrasting or reconciling differences in how a concept manifests across canons (ex. immortality, magic, realm hopping, time shenanigans); magic or plot point in one canon has roots in another (ex. The Doom in GoT vomited up Valyrian steel that magically made it to Earth, known here as vibranium, or the mysterious guy who smuggled baby Shasta to Calormen was actually Bucky)

• Not Originally Sexual Bondage: I prefer restraint when it, at least initially, occurs for plot reasons. A ties B to the bed for sexy fun? Not my thing. A ties B to the bed to keep B from hurting himself while possessed? Yes! Whether or not it then turns sexy in the story (it certainly can!), it's already sexy to me. Examples... tied or chained up for a ritual or because of imprisonment; stoicism and nobility while bound, stripped, whipped, jeered at, or nonconsensually touched; captives find ways to kiss and touch despite being bound; strong character submits or pretends to be unable to break out of bonds for reasons

• Hurt/Comfort: external force/person makes A hurt B; forced to watch loved one endure something awful; stoic character trying to joke their way through pain or hide wounds; shame about desires or how badly they want it; comforter is hiding their own hurt; bedside vigils; patching up loved one's wounds; helping one another through an awful ordeal; fainting; "I thought you were dead!"

• Loyalty & Self-Sacrifice: taking the rap for loved one; jumping in front of a bullet; sacrificing career, safety, reputation or happiness for loved one (but it turns out okay in the end!); volunteering to be beaten, humiliated, tortured, fucked, etc to spare loved one or to secure some benefit for them; trying to keep sacrifice or hurt secret from loved one, either out of shame or because A doesn't want B to feel beholden/guilty or because A doesn’t want B to know the extent of A's feelings; B finding out anyway

• Sexy Times: I have no top/bottom preferences in m/m. This letter is so long, so I left general porn likes HERE; they're applicable to any ship, not just the ones there. There's a more detailed version HERE (but the first one is enough, don't worry).

• Clothing Porn: suits, leather, armour, uniforms, boots, breeches; admiring how good (or ridiculous) love interest looks in the above; not sure how to get these weird clothes off; neckties and the many uses thereof

• External Force/Party Makes Them Have Sex: for cultural or initiation rites, to cast a spell, bad guys made them do it, etc. I'll take these for the flimsiest of reasons, so handwave away or even skip the set-up. I like dubcon tropes with an ultimately happy ending--where at least one of them is awkward, angsty, pining and/or guilt-ridden during the sex, and they realize only during or afterwards that feelings are requited. Or they develop feelings during the ordeal. I also love stories that focus more on the awkward aftermath and getting together.


Do Not Wants
*These are the same as in my signup, but with a little more explanation on some. The category headers and organization don't mean much; I'm just trying to loosely group to reduce scrolling.

• Death & Endings: permanent death of requested characters; afterlives; bleak endings; as-if-it-never-happened erasure endings (ex. "it was all a dream" or events of fic are permanently mind-wiped away)
• Sex-Related: D/s dynamics; underage/overage sex or romance; sex involving characters under 17; anything related to heats, ruts or omegaverse; "cum"/"cumming"; pregnancy; condoms (I'll assume the sex does not result in pregnancy or STDs)
• Sexuality & Gender Headcanons: characters written as ace, aro, or demi; gender identity headcanons
• Ship-Related: pre-relationship fic that ends before they kiss/get together; non-canon romantic ships, unless prompted (however, mentions of backstory relationships with OCs are fine); conflicting requested ships (ex. A/B and A/C in same fic), unless prompted; non-canonical nicknames (ex. "Stevie"); shovel talks; adultery or open relationships; poly/threesomes; yentas and matchmakers; fated love; dark dynamics within requested ships; age differences of 10+ years within requested ships (see crossover request sections for ideas on how to handle this)
• Writing-Related: 1st & 2nd person POV (exception for Bertie. 1st person); phonetically spelled dialogue (my brain genuinely struggles to process it)
• Crossover-Related: unprompted crossovers of more than two canons at a time; fourth wall breakage (ex. World A characters know World B as fiction); crossover fics where the main characters remain unaware of each others' backgrounds or magic (the reveal doesn't have to happen 'on-screen', but please don't let it end with everyone thinking everyone else is normal, in a 'ships passing in the night' kind of way)
• Other: fusions; setting change AUs**; goofy crack (but crack taken seriously is fine!)

**A Note on setting change AUs: I welcome invented mechanisms, like portals, to get characters from one world to another. I also welcome the addition of supernatural elements to a canon (ex. selkies exist, someone's mom was a fairy, time loops are possible, Stonehenge is a magical place, some Greek myths were real, etc.). Shifting timelines within a late 19th/early 20th century range is also fine! My DNW for setting change AUs is meant to cover scenarios where the supernatural elements that form a canon's premise are wholly removed, or a requested character's pre-canon backstory beats are wholly unrecognizable (ex. Bucky as a born and bred Narnian instead of an early 20th century Brooklynite), or a canon is moved into a wildly different location or time period (ex. 21st century, space, pirates).


Original Works - Portal Fantasies
Pairing: Fantasy World Pirate/18th-century British Naval Captain Who Sailed Through a Portal

I love portal fantasies. I love Age of Sail. So, I figured combining them would be doubly delicious! I’ll love anything that has actual make-outs (or more!) and a happy/hopeful ending. The only things I wouldn’t be excited about are 1) something set largely in our world or 2) a fantasy world that is technologically much more advanced than the Earth guy’s time period (but magical advancements are fine!) or 3) an alternate/mirror universe of our world (I’m looking for a totally other place, in the way that Middle Earth and Narnia are other places).

I’m open to the sailor from our world being something lower than a captain; is he just a midshipman or a lieutenant, young and still training, but very bright? You could also make him French instead of British, if you want. He could also be from the 19th century! The setup of why the captain was near a portal and how/why it works are the least interesting aspects to me, so please don’t get hung up on the moment of transport or explanations for it. Feel free to skip over all that and start the story when he’s already in the other world, handwaving the logistics. What I’m here for is romance and adventures in the other place!

I’m open to a wide variety of fantasy worlds. Is it one with mages or curses or magical creatures or a black market for spells? Or is it kind of steampunky? Medieval-ish? Arabian Nights-ish? Baroque Venice-ish? Something other inspiration? Go wild! Is there a war on over there? Do the MCs undertake a quest, perform a weird ritual, fight monsters, or rescue each other from capture or sirens? Or is it more slice of life? Is this the Earth guy’s first time here, or is he realizing that that weird memory from his childhood wasn’t just a dream?

Do the two ships and crews get into an altercation? Is it a meet-ugly that slowly leads to working together and love? Or did the captain’s ship go through the portal after a big battle, heavily damaged and with only a couple of sailors left alive? Or was the captain in a rowboat escaping something, so he’s the only one to go through? Or did he not so much “sail” through the portal as “swim” through after falling off his ship in a storm? Does he get rescued/captured by the pirate? Does he realize he’s in another world immediately, or does it take a bit? What clues him in?

What does the pirate make of all this? Is he good at piracy, or kind of hapless? Is he a former legitimate captain who turned to piracy after a tragedy, or because the authorities are corrupt? Or was he forced into piracy at a young age? Does he dream of leaving this life of skullduggery and going into chartered accountancy? Or is he a cold-hearted mercenary who develops a singular weakness for the noble-hearted captain? Does the pirate corrupt the captain? Or does the captain have a naughty streak that he’s simply lacked an opportunity to flex until now? Or does the captain give the pirate a new and noble purpose? Or do they not change each other but fall in love anyway, with all the angst and work that entails? Does the captain stay forever, or is it a bittersweet thing where he has to go back, but... IDK. Anything!

Random Age of Sail setting details I love: canons; ropes and rigging; cabins and hammocks; white linen, big hats and brass telescopes; turning the big wheel; supplies running out; watching the stars from the bird’s nest; beset by storms; false flag operations; walking the plank; sword between the teeth; boarding parties; stranded on deserted islands; sheer terror before or during a sea battle; the only one who knows how to swim; trying to find privacy on the crowded ship; seasickness; slowly winning the respect of the non-officer men; people falling off the ship at night under dramatic circumstances and being presumed dead except they’re not; rampage of rescue; the grumbling cook; bawdy port taverns


MCU/Wodehouse Crossover
Pairing: Loki & Bertie Wooster

As long as they come to genuinely like about one another (even if it’s begrudgingly on Loki’s side), I’ll love anything. If you want to write it as ship instead of gen, go ahead! I’m good with either. Thor is also welcome to come along, if you want. If you want to write Thor/Loki, that’s cool, too.

What is their dynamic like? What are Loki's (and Thor's) reactions to Wodehouse characters? Like, is he having trouble deciding if they're stupid, or are they so unpredictably zany that he takes them for dangerous savants? What are Bertie's reactions/thoughts on the existence of gods and magic and whatnot (he must find out!!)? Is the Wodehouse world unexpectedly what Loki needs to be happier and learn some life lessons? If writing Loki/Bertie, it could be a fling that amicably ends or forever love (if the latter, please mention a way to solve the lifespan issues).

I really want the focus on Bertie+Asgardian(s), and secondarily Asgardians+Drones guys or aunts. My favorite parts of these stories are the scenes focused on my beloved Bertie with his pals, or trying on his own to deal with aunts, girls he doesn't want, authority figures, etc (but this time not on his own! this time with Loki (and maybe Thor!). So, Jeeves can appear, but he doesn't have to. I love everyone from Wodehouse’s books; Psmith, Mike, and Uncle Fred are also welcome.

I would like something set in the early to mid-20th century, during Wodehouse canon times. I’m not into fics where Loki spends most of the fic shapeshifted into someone else or in Jotun form. DNW Infinity War or Endgame canon, or any hint of Bertie or Jeeves ever having more than platonic feelings for one another. I don't want Jeeves breaking Loki/Bertie up. If you want to write 1st person Bertie POV, go ahead. However, I’ll be just as happy with someone else's perspective or some kind of omniscient voice; I've always wanted to read someone else's take on Bertie and his world (but in 3rd person, please, if it's not from Bertie's POV).

— How can Loki (and Thor) help Bertie in the crisis of the week? Are the aunts or Sir Roderick or the Basset almost too formidable opponents, even for Loki's schemes? Or does his god of chaos-ness help him understand them? How does he finally prevail and how does it help them get together?

— If writing Thor/Loki, how does Bertie process the incest? Does he not realize they are brothers at first? Or not realize they are lovers? Or does Bertie help them get together? Has one been pining and Bertie almost accidentally sorts them out?

— Loki (and Thor) as Bertie's guest at the Drones Club or at someone's country estate. Do they help Bertie finally get back at Tuppy for dunking him in the pool? Do they want to steal Anatole away to Asgard? Do Bertie's friends or family love his new friend(s), or have misgivings about him for entirely the wrong reasons, or...?

— Loki (and Thor) and Bertie scheming at Goodwood or at the boat races, or some other ridiculous Wodehouse-style plot you make up. Or maybe Loki and Thor are here because of some MCU space-style dilemma; how does Bertie try to help? Are their combined plans better than their individual efforts, or doubly disastrous?

— Bertie and Loki at Blandings! Imposters! Fucking in the yew alley! Do Clarence, Constance or the Empress take an ill-advised shine to Loki? But Baxter suspects! Are they there to steal a magical thingy that is Loki's ticket home? Something else?

— Are Thor and Loki country members of the Drones Club? Meaning, they don't have a full membership because they visit only intermittently. But when they do stop by, everyone celebrates, because fun and chaos are about to happen. How did Bertie become their special bestie? What are parties like when they are there?

— Or start it when it's time for Loki to return home. He wants to take his friend/lover Bertie with him. Did Bertie know before what/who Loki is? Or not, and this is how he finds out? What are his reactions to Asgard and the characters there? What are their reactions to him? Did he learn about Norse mythology at school, or is this all new to him?

— Random ideas for getting Loki and Thor into the Wodehouse world, in case you’re stuck: Loki falls off the Bifrost and into ~1930s London (just pretend Thor 1 happened back then), onto Bertie's roof or the garden at Brinkley Court or something. Or maybe he (and Thor?) visited Earth back then for fun or a project and got stranded here for awhile? Was Thor banished together to this time period? Thor and Loki banished together? Do Bertie or Aunt Dahlia take him/them in? Anything! (But seriously, I don't care how/why they get there there; feel free to start later, after they've met Bertie.)


Lymond Chronicles
Pairing: Francis/Christian

I yearn for a canon divergence AU about Francis and Christian unambiguously getting together -- with actual makeouts, or more! -- and being okay after the first book. “The Game of Kings” is far and away my favorite, and the only one I reread. Francis is so much more insouciant and FUN in it, while still being deliciously anguished and badass. And they have so much fun together. I love their secret visits and correspondence and music. They conspire so dangerously, but at the same time, she's the only person he seems to relax around. I love how her blindness never stops her from being ridiculously capable. I love the way he understands how she wants to be treated, and quietly helps her get what she wants out of life. I love the way she is largely over his shit and keeps up with his erudite banter. I love their equal amounts of self-sacrificing love for one another. Lots of longing and denial and cleverness and OTT angst would be great. I'm fine diverging hard from the later books, or simply using random bits of them to inspire scenarios that Francis/Christian can get together in.

All that said, I'm going to ask for a bit of hard mode. I've received and read a few fics that are "fix-its", like, focused on the time period where she died and showing how it could have gone differently. And I've loved them!! But that itch is kinda scratched now. What I would really like is something that starts weeks or months later, not focused on or mentioning her 'near-death' episode at all. Maybe she recovered, maybe she never had an accident at all… I don't care. What I want are the adventures and stuff she has with Francis later on.

This is one of my ultimate lifelong OTPs, so I need them to be unquestionably endgame and have a happy ending. Instead of bashing or hurting Tom, please pretend their engagement amicably ends/ended, or the pairing never existed at all. As long as he's over it, it’s okay to reference past Francis/Lady Lennox or random women he fucked before Game of Kings. No hints of other Francis pairings, please. Canon ships that don't involve Francis or Christian are fine to include in the background.

— Missions: More reputation-saving quests or diplomatic hijinks? Basically, any kind of canon-typical plot, but with the two of them working together while getting together. Perhaps the Queen Mother sends him/them on a mission to England or France? Undercover as a couple in France or London? Captured and abused by Lady Lennox, or a sultan, or any of the myriad people Francis has probably pissed off throughout the series, or pirates, or a rival mercenary gang, or just a straight up madman?

— Undercover as a Couple: I love how such tropes push relationships forward and help them learn new things about each other--both delightful and irritating. I also adore the awkward sexual situations engendered (and resolved, please!). You can handwave the set-up to get right to the good stuff.

— Magic: I always love "like canon except magic apparently exists". Maybe Johnnie Bullo's work wasn't a con, or druids, or selkies, or they stumble into Avalon, or find Excalibur, or randomly magical streams, or the fair folk get up to some mischief, or a holy relic turns out to have real power, or there's a haunted castle, or some unexplained something leaves one of them with superpowers. Or you could pretend the books exist within the Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (book version) world; does the Raven King show up? Does the Gentleman kidnap one of them? Something else along those lines? ... IDK. Anything. Francis and Christian dealing with the ensuing adventure while also dealing with their feelings.

— The books skipped over the first year of Francis's reinstatement into Scottish high society. Tell me more about how that went. What if they'd gotten the formal reintroduction they had wished for? What adventures did they have during that period between the first and second books? You could even pretend the whole France thing never happened and extend that time for adventures.

— Time Loops: I love individual journeys of self-discovery, as well as self-help adventures in which people learn life lessons, overcome some baggage, figure out priorities, etc. This trope is amazing for all that! I don't really care how/why it starts or stops; feel free to handwave or leave things unexplained. I also don’t care which character is in the loop (or maybe both!). Depending on whether it would be in-character for the character at hand, I enjoy a variety of reactions and loop iterations—from wacky, to “give no fucks”, to suicidal, to darkest timeline, to erroneously thinking it’s over, etc. Or you could focus more on the aftermath, as the character transitions back to normal with the memories of all the other ways it could have gone. This trope gets a little creepy for me when it’s solely focused on making someone fall in love with you, or where character B is treated simply as character A's oblivious reward. However, as long as the loop person has other goals/projects, I'll be ecstatic. Or maybe find a way for the non-loop person to have agency?


Narnia
Pairing: Emeth/Tirian

Tirian has such human flaws, and he started off as a hot mess of a king, but he means so well, and is quite resourceful and clever when you rouse him out of his decadence. Emeth should win a prize for the level of admiration and affection he was able to inspire in so few pages. I loved the conflict he faced between his reason, his duty, his devotion, and his desire to prove himself. I think they’re perfect for one another—brave, noble warriors (and all-around lovely guys) who could come to respect and love one another despite their differences.

I would like them to fall in love in life and have a hopeful ending that assumes the world continues. I have a weakness for forbidden/secret relationships and 'honour and nobility know no sides' and 'love across enemy lines'. This ship has so much potential for both! One of the things I love about this series is everyone's competency, earnestness, and courage when it counts, but also their flaws, fears, and crankiness.

You could keep Jill and Eustace, or make a divergence where they didn’t come during TLB… whatever works! The end of Narnia, train crash, and afterlife are my biggest DNWs. Please let it be clear that everyone will get to live out their lives. I don't need a fix-it (i.e. a fic focused on how their canon death was averted that day). I prefer to pretend it just never came up! I'm not at all invested in the religious allegory elements.

— What if they had met in Narnia while Emeth was undercover as a merchant, and their love changes the course of the story?

— Canon divergence where Calormen conquered Narnia, but no apocalypse. Tirian as war trophy, slave, or sacrifice to Tash? Tirian being kingly and stoic while tied up and beaten was very, um, interesting to me as a child; as long as there's subsequent comfort from Emeth and a hopeful ending, you can whump him as hard as you like, including with noncon (perpetrated by a third party!). What makes Emeth decide to help Tirian? How do they fall in love? Do they run away together? Anything!

— Tirian in a Groundhog Day loop in which he, with Emeth's help, goes through some kind of personal growth? It could be something that leads to the apocalypse not happening, or it could be set in a divergence where none of it was an issue and you make up a day and problem that he loops through.

— We saw the beginning of Emeth's disillusionment. I'd love a canon divergence where he deserts to help Tirian and Narnia. Does he see Tirian tied to the tree and free him, only for both of them to be captured, possibly without Eustace and Jill ever arriving? How horrible is their captivity (hopefully very)? Are they kept in a dank tower cell? Or in Tirian's own castle? Are they beaten or humiliated in some way? Cold and wet and hungry yet stoically noble and finding out commonalities and falling in love? Or did they not get captured at all? What happens in that case?

— What if, instead of the world ending, Tirian & Co ran away to the mountains and started a resistance to the Calormene occupation, like they talked about doing at one point? I love espionage, desperate missions, angsty last stands, people bonding while struggling to survive in nature, etc. It could be set while they’re still setting it all up. Or you could start it later on, when the resistance has grown strong enough to start making moves. When/why does Emeth end up joining them? Did he defect due to his side’s lack of honor, or because Tirian blows the horn and summons him (from not super far away)? Or something else? How does Emeth fit in? In this divergence, had they met and liked each other before, or are they meeting for the first time now? How do they get together? How do they make strides in the pro-Narnia project? Does Puzzle (the darling!) somehow end up saving the day? Do Emeth and Tirian go on a quest to the magic garden place? Anything!

— Maybe Tirian is given to Emeth as a war prisoner or war trophy (with Emeth as kind and noble jailer, please!), or to someone horrible and Emeth rescues him? Or maybe it’s Narnia that wins the war, and Emeth who ends up as (kind and noble!) Tirian’s prisoner? Angst because crushing on your prisoner might not be honorable? How do they get past that? Or, if you want to go to a more fucked-up place… Do Calormene or Narnian traditions require a conquering soldier to fuck his war trophy, or require the Narnian king to fuck one of the conquered soldiers as a symbol of victory? Are they already in love by the time the ritual happens or do they fall for each other afterwards? Something else? Lots of hurt/comfort and stoicism, please!

— Optional themes to incorporate into any of the above…. Do the two countries have different views about same-sex romance? It doesn't have to be "Calormen=repressed, Narnia=free love" (though it could); maybe Calormen has a complicated Ancient Greek-style culture, or Narnia's never shaken its Victorian influences. Some other take? Separately, does Tirian’s star heritage give him some sort of magic?


Oz – L Frank Baum
Pairing: Polychrome/Button-Bright

Canon Notes: Button-Bright and Polychrome appear together in Road to Oz and Sky Island. Button-Bright also stars in The Scarecrow of Oz, and Polly stars in Tik-Tok of Oz. They have smaller roles in other books, too, but 'Road to Oz' and 'Sky Island', and, to a lesser, 'Scarecrow' and 'Tik-Tok', are all you'd need for this request.

These darlings! They're both always getting lost! Polly is such an ethereal delight with a quietly regal core, understated power, and great diplomacy. She’s very sweet, but not a pushover. Button-Bright is so unflappable, friendly, and practical, so brave and with such a good heart. I love how they both take life as it comes, with relative good cheer (but are not above crying when things really suck). I like them best when they're more active protagonists. For example, I loved Button-Bright's cleverer, more mature characterization and Polly's assertive take-chargeness in 'Sky Island' and later books; I wasn't as much of a fan of them (Button-Bright especially) in 'Road to Oz'.

If you write them as pre- or early-teens, please keep it super innocent--hand-holding, first crushes, confused feelings, cute kisses, sweet gestures, huddling for warmth, innocently awkward attempts at comfort... But if you're aging them up to 17+, you can go as hot and heavy as you like.

Incorporating worldbuilding about literally any place or concept in the books, or culture clashes between life in the sky, Oz, or USA would be amazing, if it fits. You could keep it whimsical, go way angstier than the books, tackle canon concepts more seriously, or go all-in on the darkness lurking under the surface (there were some seriously messed-up implications played very casually in these books). I’m not someone who needs pastiche, especially if you’re writing something darker or with more grown-up themes than the source material, so please don’t feel like you have to do it.

I only know the Baum books, so please keep it to canon from those. There are so many inconsistencies in the books, so don't stress about canon compliance. I'm fond of everyone (except Scraps, sorry), so anyone is welcome to appear in the background. However, bonus points for more rarely written characters such as Trot, Cap'n Bill, Ojo, the Ork, or Tik-Tok, instead of focusing on Ozma or Dorothy (I love them, but they already get so much attention in canon and fic).

— Does Button-Bright not even realize that what he feels is a crush? Or is it Polly who has been crushing on oblivious Button Bright? Is love between a sky fairy and a dopey American kid frowned upon? Or is everyone happy for them?

— Exploring any place on the map of Fairyland together! Separately, there’s a lot of talk of Polly being a ‘powerful sky fairy’, but we don’t see her doing much; tell me more about her powers!

— I loved Polly's parting promise in 'Sky Island' to always look out for Button-Bright. That's when I decided I shipped it. Tell me about a time when she made good on that promise, and how it led to more than friendship.

— Does Button-Bright visit Polly on the rainbow? Does he get so lost that he ends up there? Or is he running away from something and hops onto the rainbow? Or does Polly actively recruit him for help with a problem in the sky? How can he help (or mess things up further)? I'd love to imagine more about the sky fairies, their sky palaces, the Rain King and his brother the Rainbow, Polly’s relationship with her sisters, and, just generally, Polly’s life as the Rainbow’s reckless, misfit daughter. What does Button-Bright make of it? How do feelings come out?

— Button-Bright gets so lost that he (and somehow Polly) ends up back in our world. What happens next? Is it a short visit, or do they stay long enough to grow up a bit? How does Polly like or adapt to our world? Are there magical issues to deal with? Did Button-Bright's family even know they were gone? Did Polly’s family notice (it makes me a little sad how long it takes her dad to notice she’s gone and come back for her)? How do they work together, have feelings, and get back to fairyland?

— Polly and Button-Bright are the only ones who can save their friends from the latest peril. How do they work together to do it and how does it lead to feelings revealed? Does he accidentally (or knowingly) do something valiant that makes her swoon? Does she do something that makes even oblivious Button-Bright realize how much she cares? Or captured or stranded together; forced proximity, and working together to rescue themselves, leading to feelings.

— I'd love an exploration of the carefree pros and melancholy cons of immortal childhood. Button-Bright stopped aging once he moved to Oz. Does Polly, who's thousands of years old (but appears the same age as where he gets stuck at), help Button-Bright adjust?

— What if something (a spell, a fruit they shouldn't have eaten, it doesn't matter) has left them both temporarily aged up to late teens? What happens next? Suddenly experiencing hormones? Gaining new perspectives? Changes in their dynamics with other characters? Wistfulness if/when they get de-aged again?

— Sometimes trying to make sense of inconsistencies in canon lead to interesting premises. For example, why did Polly not recognize Shaggy Man when they met again in Tik-Tok of Oz? Or dig into any other inconsistency you want!

— We don’t know what was up with Button-Bright between the end of Sky Island and the beginning of Scarecrow of Oz. Was Polly involved? What adventure did they have that led to him being stuck in that popcorn snowdrift in the Land of Mo? Or, think up a canon divergence that results in him leaving Earth but ending up somewhere else instead!


MCU/Narnia Crossover
Pairing: Bucky/Edmund

I want them to love each other as much as I love them, and to have adventures, and be competent, and unambiguously get together, with actual makeouts (or more!). What aspects of their angsty backgrounds can they pep talk each other through? How can their experiences and skill sets help or complement each other or help during an adventure? There's delicious potential for angsty separations and happy ending reunions in this ship, too, if you want. I would especially love if Bucky could go to Narnia (or the Wood, or some other world, IDK), even if it's only very briefly, and even if it's only a mentioned-in-passing backstory element.

Edmund being a kid and Bucky being a soldier during WWII is too situationally intrinsic to both characters for my usual timeline adjustment approach. However, I’d be thrilled to ignore or break the timelines to make it work in other ways. For example, post-TWS Bucky traveling to the Golden Age or any other point in Narnian history works for me, no explanation required! Travel between the realms is already so untethered and random that I would go along with anything. Or maybe at the end of Endgame, Bucky time travels to the 50s/60s when Edmund is grown up again, either as the initial premise of the story or as the happy ending epilogue. Basically, do whatever you need to avoid an age discrepancy ending and I'll roll with it. (It's okay if adult!Bucky temporarily hangs out with kid!Edmund at some point, as long as he has no sexual or romantic urges about the kid, and the happy ending is with grown-up Ed).

I love all the Narnia protagonists' competency, earnestness, and courage when it counts, but also their flaws, fears, and crankiness. I especially love that being redeemed into a just warrior king didn’t entirely cure Edmund of being a cranky, sarcastic little shit. I like stories about Bucky trying to move on and build a new life, and finding healing through adventures or helping other people--not ones where he's brainwashed or pathetic for most of it. I have a pet peeve about fics where Bucky (and Steve) say "ain't" and sound like characters from a 1930s gangster movie. I'd like them to sound like they do in canon, where they speak as 'correctly' as, say, Howard or Bruce do. Cursing is fine, though.

I love Golden Age fics and fics that diverge from canon (as wildly as you like!) at any point before the closing chapters of the Last Battle. I also love fics set in a divergence where TLB's ending never happened. Basically, the end of Narnia, train crash, and afterlife are my biggest DNWs. Please let it be clear that everyone will get to live out their lives. I don't need a fix-it (i.e. a fic focused on how their canon death was averted that day). I prefer to pretend it just never came up! I'm not at all invested in the religious allegory elements.

— Edmund in the Future: The story starts when grown up again Edmund (and maybe also Lucy? I love her!) returns from going on adventures with the rings. However, because of handwavey inter-realm time shenanigans, the rings have dropped him off decades after he left, and now he's stuck in the future… Whoops!

— Or maybe it's a canon divergence where the Pevensies return from the Golden Age as adults years after they left instead of deaging to kids at the moment they'd left? Does Ed rescue Bucky from Hydra (possibly earlier than in canon?), or is it post-TWS? Or even post-Endgame? Out of time together, hurt/comfort, etc. Is Hydra after one or both, or is it more slice of life?

— Traveling with Rings: Hydra sends the Winter Soldier to the Professor's childhood home to get the rings on the same day that Edmund goes, resulting in them going to other realms instead of Edmund dying. Exploring the Wood, or deserted Charn, or Asgard, or back to Narnia, or GoT's Westeros, or the Witcher (TV) world, or a world you make up? How does the adventure help cure Bucky, and how do they end up falling in love?

— Canon-Setting Spies: I enjoy the fanon that Edmund grows up and becomes a spy. Does he get partnered with the Asset, is like, "gah, this poor guy" and run away with him? Or do they go on a spy mission while Bucky's in Narnia? I love all kinds of undercover tropes, and espionage, and illicit affairs, etc. How does the adventure bring out feelings?

— Bucky In Golden Age Narnia: Maybe someone blows the horn, summoning Bucky? Or the Tesseract or Bifrost takes him there? Or he fell off the train and into Narnia? Or some other way, or leave it unexplained, I don't care. Getting together while dealing with giants, or during some annual tournament in Archenland? Helping Edmund get rid of the remaining werewolves or hags from the Witch’s reign? Sea voyage adventures on the Splendour Hyaline? Outwitting Calormene spies, implementing educational policies, the Rabadash situation? Something else? Does he appear in Tashbaan during HHB an Edmund secretly integrates him into his entourage? Is it a divergence where the Pevensies ruled for longer? Or do Bucky and Edmund reunite later back in our world?

— Reunions: Does Bucky encounter the Pevensies while they’re still rather young (whether by visiting Narnia during ‘Prince Caspian’, VoDT, early on during the Golden Age, or they met in England during WWII); nothing shippy happens then, but it does when they reunite once Edmund is an adult and Bucky basically hasn’t aged? Or maybe he first gets to know them when they're grown-up during the Golden Age, and the reunion is when they're grown-up again?

— Characters Who Bridge Worlds: Maybe some of the mythical figures that exist in both Narnia and Earth (i.e. Bacchus, Father Christmas) help them meet or reunite, either here or there? In a non-matchmaking way, please. Ex. maybe Edmund and Lucy join Bacchus's immortal crew and meet Bucky in the future. Or maybe Edmund's been missing his disappeared old love, and Father Christmas gives him a gift that helps him track down and heal the Winter Soldier? Or anything else you come up with!

— Bucky As Another Friend of Narnia: Maybe they never met before, but Bucky went to Narnia (or had some Narnia-related experience) during a time when the Pevensies weren’t there. Ex, he was the one who brought the Knife to Ramandu's island, or helped Trumpkin with a problem in Narnia while Caspian was at sea, or helped older!Corin keep score against the bear, or was around when they carved the words Jill fell into, or was around during the White Witch's rise (but did something that kept the situation from turning out even worse than it did in canon), or helped in the dragon slaying that resulted in the Lone Islands becoming Narnian, or… Or maybe the Pevensies were around at this time! IDK. Anyway, the real point is that later on, he meets adult Edmund, either years later back in our world, and/or at the tail end of this Narnian adventure (if the Pevensies were around at that time); how do they figure out their Narnian and Earth connection while also falling for one another? You can include the flashbacks, or just focus on the reunions!


MCU/Witcher (TV) Crossover
Pairing: Bucky/Geralt

I desperately want Bucky to go to the Witcher world (I’m vastly less interested in fic set in our world). What kinds of character development or healing does Bucky get from this whole experience? How can Bucky's skills or experiences be useful in this world? What do Witcher characters make of him and the idea of other worlds? The realm travel mechanics are the least interesting aspect of this to me; feel free to start with him already there, no explanations for how he got there needed.

I love these two (hot) stoic woobie badasses. They have quite a lot in common--being taken and modified, turned into super strong killing machines, retaining the goodness at their cores, being looked at as monsters even though they aren't really, their bluntness and dry sarcasm, etc. I think some of the commonalities, taken together with the wild differences that being from different worlds entails, would make for a fascinating duo! I think Geralt would be so fascinated, and possibly happy to have someone equally badass at his side? Or would he be wary at first, before getting to know Bucky? Is Bucky the closest potential friend with 'shared life experiences' that Geralt has ever encountered? They would be SO HOT fighting monsters or whatever together. How do they pep talk (for Geralt's definition of 'pep talk', lol) each other out of their baggage? Can Bucky get drunk off the liquor in this place? Sexy bathing scenes? I'm up for anything!

I like stories about Bucky trying to move on and build a new life, and finding healing through adventures or helping other people--not ones where he's brainwashed or pathetic for most of it. I have a pet peeve about fics where Bucky (and Steve) say "ain't" and sound like characters from a 1930s gangster movie. I'd like them to sound like they do in canon, where they speak as 'correctly' as, say, Howard or Bruce do. Cursing is fine, though.

It can be forever true love with Bucky being stuck in the Witcher world forever and not minding it, or it can be a bittersweet thing where Bucky goes home at the end, but they both fondly remember their time together. I just want them to really like each other, be a bit comforted by one another, be badass together, and have very muscular makeouts (or more!).

You could set it at any point or canon divergence in Geralt's life, or imagine what comes after S1. I am only familiar with the TV show, not the books or games, so please don't spoil me on things that are likely to happen in S2. However, feel free to use place names or bits of history or monsters I don't know for 'case of the week'-type stuff. I like Jaskier, so he can be around, or not, as you like, but please keep anything with him and Geralt gen. I similarly like Yennefer (though I DNW any mention about her quest for fertility), but don't want Geralt/Yennefer; please pretend they amicably ended before the fic started or were never a thing. Honestly, all the characters are really interesting!

— Maybe someone captured poor, confused, recently arrived Bucky, or reactivated him with magic, and then Geralt rescues him? Or maybe Bucky rescues Geralt from something!

— Maybe people in a town think poor, confused, recently arrived Bucky is some sort of monster and want Geralt to kill him, but Geralt ends up dating him instead?

— Does Geralt let Bucky tag along with him (at least as long as it takes to get to a sorcerer or something who might be able to help Bucky get back home)? What adventures or slice of life episodes do they have along the way?

— Is Bucky's arrival due to more Law of Surprise shenanigans, and he is bound to Geralt? Or maybe Mousesack did magic to summon a hero for Calanthe (she's so cool!), and accidentally brought Bucky? Has he been living in Calanthe's court since before the story started, and then Geralt stops by?

— I love the potential for arbitrary magic here, so feel free to make up reasons for random tropes played totally seriously that could get Bucky and Geralt to make out (or more!). Like, fuck or die, or undercover as a couple, or...

— I love all those post-TWS fics about Bucky acquiring random children while on the run and finding healing through taking care of them; the promise of that trope with Geralt&Ciri was the reason I started watching. Does it turn into a 'My Two Dads' kind of scenario (but without Ciri playing matchmaker, please, per the general DNW) as these two broken loners figure out how to take care of this little princess? And/or does Bucky find Dara again (I had a lot of feeling about his and Ciri's friendship)?


Psmith
Pairing: Psmith/Mike

I love how they are such an odd couple, but understand one another so well. I love their loyalty and what generous, self-sacrificing heroes they both are, while also being total little shits. Psmith's dialogue! Mike's pragmatism! I love it all. You could set it when they're at Sedleigh, the bank, Cambridge, NYC, post-Cambridge, in a wild canon divergence… Anything!

I want anything where they unambiguously get together, with actual makeouts--or more! DNW any hint that they will ever be with anyone else in the future; please set it before they met their wives and/or pretend they never did. I’ve requested them so many times that, at this point, I have endless prompts. But feel free to write whatever you want, even if there isn’t a prompt for it.

— Canon Divergence: What if either or both of their fathers had not gone bankrupt? What if they'd stayed with the bank? What if the plan for Mike to manage Psmith's estates had happened? What if...? What does a getting-together story look like in this divergence? Is it friends with benefits, or does one actually court the other? Or, same as the above, but getting together within a canon-ish scenario, like during boat race weekend at Cambridge, or while visiting one another's families between terms, or…

— Like Canon, Except More Gothic: I love this genre (but retaining happy endings and a sense of humour). Weird stuff happening around the archeological ruins near the school/university? Something eerie about their apartment building? Mirrors not working how mirrors should? Learning alchemy at school? Or any gothic trope or idea that tickles your imagination! How does this creeptastic or atmospheric adventure get them together and show off how well they work together?

— Condition-Ridden Inheritance: Set after one or both of their father's has lost his money, as in canon. Which one has a distant relative die? Or is the inheritance from a non-relative? If so, why? What are the stipulations? Is it something they have to do once they have the money/stuff, or is it a quest they have to undertake in order to claim it? Make it as wacky or angsty or anything as you like! If it leads to angst, do they decide to give up the money? Or does it facilitate them living their best lives (and what does that look like?)? Or does it give them a challenge to overcome together?

— Ritual Sex: Maybe it's part of a team or society club initiation, like some sort of rite of passage? Ideally (for me, not for the characters), this is their awkward first time together, before they've confessed their feelings. Or maybe the experience helps at least one of them to realize they like the other? I like it to feel angsty and fraught in the moment (no pre-arranged discussions of consent, please), and they find out only later that they were both into it and get together.

— Time Loops: I don’t care which one is in the loop (or maybe both!). I also don't care how/why it starts or stops; feel free to handwave or leave things unexplained. Does the loop focus on a quotidian time (ex. redoing a day at Sedleigh, or on the ship voyage to New York, or a normal day during the bank period, or Cambridge Boat Races day) or something super dramatic (ex. NYC gangsters, WWI battles).

— WWI: The boys meeting at boarding school is usually sacrosanct to me, but something about the army's strict rules, complicated hierarchies to navigate, all-male forced proximity, ragging potential, etc, creates a similar environment—only with even more opportunities for whump, action, and angst. You could also keep them having met at Sedleigh, as in canon, and go on to fight in the war. Either way! Fighting together, espionage missions, winning a key battle through impertinent ragging, unexpected application of cricket talents, writing for The Wipers Times, the REAL story behind the Angels of Mons… Meeting or reuniting during training, in the trenches, as prisoners… Do they have special skills or jobs? Mike the accidental war hero, keeping one another warm in their trench, making out in a bombed out Belgian village, the desperation of war causing them to reveal long-secret pining, Psmith going behind enemy lines to rescue Mike…

— Random Acquisition of Superpowers: I don’t care which of them gets it or how/why it happens, so feel free to skip that or leave it unexplained. It would just be fun to see how they react, in a world where having superpowers is not supposed to be a thing. What kind of angst or hurt or confusion does the power cause? How does the other help him through this weird time? Is it fun and awesome, or awkward and awful? What uses do they find for the power? Do they accidentally hurt each other (hurt/comfort and angst!)? Or do they improve their lot with it? How does this premise help them get together? Any superpower would be great, from traditional ones to something super random and seemingly useless.

— Like Canon but With Slavery: In the same way that fic writers add A/B/O or soulmates to a canon-ish setting, how about slavery? Or, instead of adding slavery to Edwardian England, you could write this as a crossover with Narnia (like, some portal spits them out in the Lone Islands), or a GoT crossover (a portal takes them to Essos). Either way, it's a great excuse for whump, hurt/comfort, and loyalty. Does Psmith secretly take Mike's chores, beatings and/or sex duties to spare him? Or vice versa? Are they forced to watch one another be abused? Forced to put on a show? What breaks them (if anything)? Does the trauma get them to finally act on their feelings? Or does Psmith arrange things so that life as slaves is actually pretty good, no rape or beatings, just lots of cricket? How do they escape? Or do they get revenge on their master(s)? Or do they organize a Socialist revolution? Some wholly other direction you want to take this? I'll love anything!! Lots of OCs are (obviously) welcome; if you're doing the crossovers, it's fine if the other canon's characters don't appear, though they can if you want. No body modification, branding, or permanent damage please.

— Non-Con and/or Whump Perpetrated by a Third Party/Force: Are they forced to have sex, or watch one another be nonconned, or submit to torture? Are the perpetrators boarding school bullies, evil masters, NYC gangsters, random magic, or is it a canon divergence in which they fought in WWI? Another angle is voluntarily submitting to horrible things for the other one’s sake. Like, one really wants to join a club, or needs money, or owes gambling debt to a bookie or something, IDK, and the only way the other can help is by letting a gross perv or trash party have their way with him. Or A learns that B traded getting nonconned or whumped for B's release from captivity or something. What I'm here for is stoicism, self-sacrifice, hurt/comfort and/or feelings revealed. Psmith's tragic bon mots, Mike's repressed despair or bubbling anger, etc. Tender looks exchanged, falling into one another's arms, aftercare, bandages, bathing, kisses, declarations... That sort of thing.

— Crossovers: Prompts for Psmith/Mike crossed with Good Omens, My Family & Other Animals, Penny Dreadful, or Atlantis are HERE. Crossovers with Narnia are HERE. Crossovers with Frank from David Blaize are HERE.