Just Married 2020 Letter
May. 22nd, 2020 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kay_obsessiveDear Just Married Creator,
First of all, thank you so much for making something for me! I love silly marriage tropes and I really love all of these ships I’m requesting, so I’m sure I’ll like anything you make for any of them!
If you’re the journal stalking type, my previous exchange letters can be found here and here, my AO3 account is here, and my tumblr is here. Other than that, I don’t have much of an online presence, but I will try to give you everything you need to know right here.
General Likes/DNWs
Likes: A strong sense of character and character relationships. Characters who know each other better than anyone else, whether they are friends, lovers, colleagues, enemies, or any combination of the above. Trust and loyalty. Competence. Intimate body language. People who have no sense of personal space with each other. Outsider POVs. Interweaving plots. Slice of life. Roadtrips. Mission fic. Future fic. Canon divergence AUs. Supernatural/fantasy/______punk/in space! AUs. Backstory. Interesting worldbuilding details. Undercover as a couple. Friends to lovers. Developing relationships. Culture clashes. People who are bad at communicating finally managing it. Drabbles and drabble sequences.
DNWs: Non-canon permanent major character death. Explicit, onscreen non-con (but I am very okay with the dubcon inherent to certain unwanted marriage tropes). Underage under 15 or so. Parent-child incest. Unrequested crossovers. ‘Modern mundane’/high school/coffee shop-type AUs. Anything A/B/O, dom/sub world AU, soulmates, or soulbonds (canonical supernatural bonds and connections are fine).
Requests
Any elaborations on the freeform tags are just ideas and suggestions, and if you have your own super great idea for any of these you should totally go for it!
Also as a general note, I am okay with pretty much any way of dealing with canon relationships except for unrequested poly – breakups, handwaves, infidelity, died off-screen, completely unmentioned, all fine.
Dishonored
Daud/Billie Lurk
This is one of those relationships that was basically tailor-made for me. Mentor/student, leader and their close subordinate who can get away things others can’t, age gap, complicated issues of trust and loyalty and betrayal and forgiveness – these are a few of my favorite things. I love everything about these two and their messy, complex history with each other. I was doomed basically from Billie’s first line, and it only got better from there.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Travel to an Alternate Universe With an Unexpected Spouse
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress
- Character Volunteers to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment
- Getting Married So You Can't Testify Against Each Other in Court
- Marriage Required to Carry Out Secret Mission
- Marriage to get spouse out of or keep spouse out of jail
- Married as cover but unexpectedly have to consummate it in ritual
- Mistaken For Married
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Pretending to be married while undercover
- Real Wedding Night for Fake Marriage
- Someone/Everyone Thinks They're Married
- Undercover as Married
- Undercover as Married Leads to Unexpected Feelings
I love fake/undercover marriage stuff for any kind of professional partnerships, and scary assassins are no different. Whether it’s early years as part of a job, or later on in life when they’re trying to keep a low profile and move on from their old reputations, or anything else that might require pretending to be married for Reasons. And maybe sometimes it turns out less fake than intended. Also for the alternate universe one it would be fun to do something with Billie’s increasingly shaky hold on the current timeline/worldstate.
Daud/Jessamine Kaldwin
So, this one is a little bit complicated, given that Daud’s hired killing of Jessamine is the inciting incident for the whole series, but I think there’s some interesting potential here. Daud has a clear respect for Jessamine, and her death affects him in a way none of his other victims has. And Jessamine gets the rare opportunity to assess her murderer after her death, and she finds herself a little conflicted about what he deserves, despite her justified anger. And before all of that, they were both prominent, powerful figures running different parts of the same city – who’s to say they never had any dealings with each other in all those years before the murder?
Freeforms:
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress
- Character Volunteers to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment
- Friends/Family/Fans/Foes React To Unexpected Or Contentious Marriage
- Marriage for Protection from Criminal Organization
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Married Someone Pregnant and the Baby Isn't Their's
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Marrying Someone to Investigate Their Past/Crimes
- Permanently Transported To Alternate Universe Where They're Married To Person Who Is Dead In Theirs
- Political marriage where one partner plans to kill their spouse
- Royal Court Reaction to Marriage
- Wedding is Attacked
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
Idk, I just like the idea of antagonistic, powerful people with grudging mutual respect entering into purely practical arrangements – willingly or unwillingly – that get messy with ulterior motives and emotions and stuff. And that ‘transported to alternate universe’ one was just too good to miss. Crank up that guilt.
Doctor Who
Seventh Doctor/Ace McShane
Seven/Ace hit all my mentor/student buttons from the start. I love how there’s a real apprentice-y vibe to their interactions that isn’t there for every Doctor and Companion. I love how that goes a bit dark sometimes, with the Doctor pushing Ace well outside her comfort zone and being willing to hurt her to help her, and with Ace lashing out in response and calling him on his more dickish behavior. On the lighter side, I also just love how comfortable they are with each other, lots of friendly teasing and casual contact.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Engagement - Didn't Know Item Was Traditional Betrothal Gift
- Accidental Marriage
- Accidental Marriage Causes Scandal
- Accidental Marriage due to Misunderstanding the Norms of Another Culture
- accidental proposal
- Alien Artifact Creates Marriage
- Alien Cultural Differences Over Marriage
- Alien Marriage Traditions
- Aliens Make Them Get Married
- Aliens Think They're Married
- Characters Keep "Forgetting" to Annul Accidental Marriage
- Disastrous Wedding Ceremony Everyone Will Gossip About For Years
- Getting Married To Avoid A Diplomatic Incident
- Getting Married to Avoid Otherwise-Likely Marriage to Unbearable Third Party
- Kissing is Considered Marriage on Alien Planet
- Mistaken For Married
- Series of Mishaps Prevent Annulment of Accidental Marriage
So, basically I’m here for all of the alien cultural misunderstandings and mishaps.
Fruits Basket
Honda Tohru/Sohma Akito
I never would have guessed going into this series that Akito would wind up being one of the most fascinating characters to me and that her relationship with Tohru would wind up being one of my favorites, but that’s definitely where I am now. I love how drastically their relationship changes over the series and how profoundly they impact each other, especially considering they really only meet face-to-face a couple of times. They’re both just really flawed and damaged people dealing with it in very different ways.
Freeforms:
- Class conflict in marriage
- Forced Marriage Leads to Genuine Feelings
- Friends/Family/Fans/Foes React To Unexpected Or Contentious Marriage
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
I could see Akito somehow coming to think this is a good idea (or being manipulated into thinking it). If she can’t drive Tohru away without also driving her zodiac members away, why not just bind Tohru to her side as well? That way she can keep everybody in line. Except Tohru is Tohru, and we know the effect she has on people.
Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou/Sohma Momiji
I’ve been intrigued by the idea of this ship for a little while now. Obviously, Kyou and Momiji both love Tohru, and Tohru cares deeply for both of them, but Kyou and Momiji have an interesting dynamic, too. Momiji is one of the most openly friendly of the Sohmas toward Kyou, telling him that he’s going to stop giving up on the cat and pushing him to pursue Tohru, even though he’s a ‘rival’ for her affections. And Kyou is always fairly comfortable interacting with Momiji compared to some of the others, even if he does deliberately push Kyou’s buttons and annoy him sometimes. I think the three of them would probably balance each other out pretty nicely.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Shapeshifter Marriage Due to Unknowing Theft of Animal Skin
- All Agree To Marriage For Both Urgent Practical Reasons And Love - One Doesn’t Realize/Believe This
- Friend Basically Part of the Marriage at This Point
- Friends Marry for Inheritance But Are Really In Love
- Getting Married to Extend Legal Rights/Protections to Partner
- Having To Convince The Person They're Asking That Their Proposal And Feelings Are Genuine
- Historical Marriage Traditions
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
Momiji offering to marry both of them to help get around some old Sohma laws regarding the cat or something along those lines? I could see any one of them being the insecure party with regards to genuine feelings being involved in that kind of situation. And the shapeshifter one just seemed like a fun AU concept for Fruits Basket.
Lackadaisy
Mordecai Heller/Mitzi May
I’m really fascinated by the relationship these two have. They’re on opposing sides of the main conflict of the series and don’t really seem to particularly like each other, but there’s a weird understanding and some kind of trust between them. They seem to know each other really well and clearly know each other’s secrets, and they don’t quite seem to consider each other enemies on a personal level, despite the circumstances.
Freeforms:
- Marriage for Protection from Criminal Organization
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Married Someone Pregnant and the Baby Isn't Their's
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Marrying Pregnant Person So Child (Not Theirs) Will Be Born In Wedlock
- Marrying Someone Pregnant Knowing that the Baby Isn't Theirs To Protect Them Both
- Marrying Someone You Don't Like to Save Them From a Worse Fate
- Political marriage where one partner is under orders to kill their spouse
- Real Wedding Night for Fake Marriage
Some sort of semi-reluctant arrangement – legally binding or just a convincing façade – entered into for practical reasons or out of a sense of obligation to each other after the business with Atlas’s death? Maybe they both think they’re doing the other a favor or protecting them in some way, or maybe there are more sinister motivations.
Mordecai Heller/Nico Savoy/Serafine Savoy
The Savoys slowly dragging Mordecai out of his comfort zone and into their little circle is just a delightful part of this comic for me. It’s hilarious and dark and also kinda weirdly sweet, since they really seem to genuinely like him and want him as part of their world. And he seems surprisingly susceptible to being dragged along by them, whether he likes it or not.
Freeforms:
- Can Only Join Organization by Marrying In
- Honeymoon Heist
- Marriage as part of a con
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Tricked Into Marriage
- Woke Up Married After A Drunk Night
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
I can’t see Mordecai ever going into any of this willingly, but I could see him just kind of dealing with it once it’s happened and the outrage has passed. Or going along with something under the assumption it’s some trickery for a job and not realizing the other two are actually serious about it until it’s too late.
Psychonauts
Sasha Nein/Milla Vodello
Superstar Psychonauts Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello! They don’t actually have a ton of direct interaction in the game itself, but I love the implied relationship between the two. They are psychic secret agents! They go on ridiculous missions together and fight crime - psychic crime! One of these missions involved being undercover in elaborate costumes at a fancy party! They have had at least one clichéd instance of falling down and landing on top of each other in a ~romantic~ pose! I eat this stuff up with a spoon.
Freeforms:
- Characters get married during the mission to not break their cover but then they catch feelings
- Characters Keep "Forgetting" to Annul Accidental Marriage
- Disastrous Wedding Ceremony Everyone Will Gossip About For Years
- Everyone Thought They Were Already Married
- Marriage Required to Carry Out Secret Mission
- Mistaken For Married
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Pretending to be married while undercover
- Proposal attempts keep being thwarted by circumstances
- Secret Marriage
- Secret Marriage Becomes Public
- Series of Mishaps Prevent Annulment of Accidental Marriage
- Someone/Everyone Thinks They're Married
- Undercover as Married
- Undercover as Married Leads to Unexpected Feelings
- Woke Up Married
- Woke Up Married After A Drunk Night
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
Hey, they’ve canonically done full undercover with silly costumes for Psychonauts missions before. Undercover marriage is obviously the next logical step. And I can only imagine all the ways someone could accidentally wind up married in a world with psychic powers. And you know the campers and probably also their coworkers gossip about their relationship.
Well, that about sums it up, I think. Again, thank you so much for creating something for me! If you like prompts, I hope what I gave you is helpful. If you prefer to work without them, I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with. I’m sure whatever you make will be awesome!
First of all, thank you so much for making something for me! I love silly marriage tropes and I really love all of these ships I’m requesting, so I’m sure I’ll like anything you make for any of them!
If you’re the journal stalking type, my previous exchange letters can be found here and here, my AO3 account is here, and my tumblr is here. Other than that, I don’t have much of an online presence, but I will try to give you everything you need to know right here.
General Likes/DNWs
Likes: A strong sense of character and character relationships. Characters who know each other better than anyone else, whether they are friends, lovers, colleagues, enemies, or any combination of the above. Trust and loyalty. Competence. Intimate body language. People who have no sense of personal space with each other. Outsider POVs. Interweaving plots. Slice of life. Roadtrips. Mission fic. Future fic. Canon divergence AUs. Supernatural/fantasy/______punk/in space! AUs. Backstory. Interesting worldbuilding details. Undercover as a couple. Friends to lovers. Developing relationships. Culture clashes. People who are bad at communicating finally managing it. Drabbles and drabble sequences.
DNWs: Non-canon permanent major character death. Explicit, onscreen non-con (but I am very okay with the dubcon inherent to certain unwanted marriage tropes). Underage under 15 or so. Parent-child incest. Unrequested crossovers. ‘Modern mundane’/high school/coffee shop-type AUs. Anything A/B/O, dom/sub world AU, soulmates, or soulbonds (canonical supernatural bonds and connections are fine).
Requests
Any elaborations on the freeform tags are just ideas and suggestions, and if you have your own super great idea for any of these you should totally go for it!
Also as a general note, I am okay with pretty much any way of dealing with canon relationships except for unrequested poly – breakups, handwaves, infidelity, died off-screen, completely unmentioned, all fine.
Dishonored
Daud/Billie Lurk
This is one of those relationships that was basically tailor-made for me. Mentor/student, leader and their close subordinate who can get away things others can’t, age gap, complicated issues of trust and loyalty and betrayal and forgiveness – these are a few of my favorite things. I love everything about these two and their messy, complex history with each other. I was doomed basically from Billie’s first line, and it only got better from there.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Travel to an Alternate Universe With an Unexpected Spouse
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress
- Character Volunteers to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment
- Getting Married So You Can't Testify Against Each Other in Court
- Marriage Required to Carry Out Secret Mission
- Marriage to get spouse out of or keep spouse out of jail
- Married as cover but unexpectedly have to consummate it in ritual
- Mistaken For Married
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Pretending to be married while undercover
- Real Wedding Night for Fake Marriage
- Someone/Everyone Thinks They're Married
- Undercover as Married
- Undercover as Married Leads to Unexpected Feelings
I love fake/undercover marriage stuff for any kind of professional partnerships, and scary assassins are no different. Whether it’s early years as part of a job, or later on in life when they’re trying to keep a low profile and move on from their old reputations, or anything else that might require pretending to be married for Reasons. And maybe sometimes it turns out less fake than intended. Also for the alternate universe one it would be fun to do something with Billie’s increasingly shaky hold on the current timeline/worldstate.
Daud/Jessamine Kaldwin
So, this one is a little bit complicated, given that Daud’s hired killing of Jessamine is the inciting incident for the whole series, but I think there’s some interesting potential here. Daud has a clear respect for Jessamine, and her death affects him in a way none of his other victims has. And Jessamine gets the rare opportunity to assess her murderer after her death, and she finds herself a little conflicted about what he deserves, despite her justified anger. And before all of that, they were both prominent, powerful figures running different parts of the same city – who’s to say they never had any dealings with each other in all those years before the murder?
Freeforms:
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress
- Character Volunteers to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment
- Friends/Family/Fans/Foes React To Unexpected Or Contentious Marriage
- Marriage for Protection from Criminal Organization
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Married Someone Pregnant and the Baby Isn't Their's
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Marrying Someone to Investigate Their Past/Crimes
- Permanently Transported To Alternate Universe Where They're Married To Person Who Is Dead In Theirs
- Political marriage where one partner plans to kill their spouse
- Royal Court Reaction to Marriage
- Wedding is Attacked
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
Idk, I just like the idea of antagonistic, powerful people with grudging mutual respect entering into purely practical arrangements – willingly or unwillingly – that get messy with ulterior motives and emotions and stuff. And that ‘transported to alternate universe’ one was just too good to miss. Crank up that guilt.
Doctor Who
Seventh Doctor/Ace McShane
Seven/Ace hit all my mentor/student buttons from the start. I love how there’s a real apprentice-y vibe to their interactions that isn’t there for every Doctor and Companion. I love how that goes a bit dark sometimes, with the Doctor pushing Ace well outside her comfort zone and being willing to hurt her to help her, and with Ace lashing out in response and calling him on his more dickish behavior. On the lighter side, I also just love how comfortable they are with each other, lots of friendly teasing and casual contact.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Engagement - Didn't Know Item Was Traditional Betrothal Gift
- Accidental Marriage
- Accidental Marriage Causes Scandal
- Accidental Marriage due to Misunderstanding the Norms of Another Culture
- accidental proposal
- Alien Artifact Creates Marriage
- Alien Cultural Differences Over Marriage
- Alien Marriage Traditions
- Aliens Make Them Get Married
- Aliens Think They're Married
- Characters Keep "Forgetting" to Annul Accidental Marriage
- Disastrous Wedding Ceremony Everyone Will Gossip About For Years
- Getting Married To Avoid A Diplomatic Incident
- Getting Married to Avoid Otherwise-Likely Marriage to Unbearable Third Party
- Kissing is Considered Marriage on Alien Planet
- Mistaken For Married
- Series of Mishaps Prevent Annulment of Accidental Marriage
So, basically I’m here for all of the alien cultural misunderstandings and mishaps.
Fruits Basket
Honda Tohru/Sohma Akito
I never would have guessed going into this series that Akito would wind up being one of the most fascinating characters to me and that her relationship with Tohru would wind up being one of my favorites, but that’s definitely where I am now. I love how drastically their relationship changes over the series and how profoundly they impact each other, especially considering they really only meet face-to-face a couple of times. They’re both just really flawed and damaged people dealing with it in very different ways.
Freeforms:
- Class conflict in marriage
- Forced Marriage Leads to Genuine Feelings
- Friends/Family/Fans/Foes React To Unexpected Or Contentious Marriage
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
I could see Akito somehow coming to think this is a good idea (or being manipulated into thinking it). If she can’t drive Tohru away without also driving her zodiac members away, why not just bind Tohru to her side as well? That way she can keep everybody in line. Except Tohru is Tohru, and we know the effect she has on people.
Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou/Sohma Momiji
I’ve been intrigued by the idea of this ship for a little while now. Obviously, Kyou and Momiji both love Tohru, and Tohru cares deeply for both of them, but Kyou and Momiji have an interesting dynamic, too. Momiji is one of the most openly friendly of the Sohmas toward Kyou, telling him that he’s going to stop giving up on the cat and pushing him to pursue Tohru, even though he’s a ‘rival’ for her affections. And Kyou is always fairly comfortable interacting with Momiji compared to some of the others, even if he does deliberately push Kyou’s buttons and annoy him sometimes. I think the three of them would probably balance each other out pretty nicely.
Freeforms:
- Accidental Shapeshifter Marriage Due to Unknowing Theft of Animal Skin
- All Agree To Marriage For Both Urgent Practical Reasons And Love - One Doesn’t Realize/Believe This
- Friend Basically Part of the Marriage at This Point
- Friends Marry for Inheritance But Are Really In Love
- Getting Married to Extend Legal Rights/Protections to Partner
- Having To Convince The Person They're Asking That Their Proposal And Feelings Are Genuine
- Historical Marriage Traditions
- Worldbuilding through Marriage Ceremony
Momiji offering to marry both of them to help get around some old Sohma laws regarding the cat or something along those lines? I could see any one of them being the insecure party with regards to genuine feelings being involved in that kind of situation. And the shapeshifter one just seemed like a fun AU concept for Fruits Basket.
Lackadaisy
Mordecai Heller/Mitzi May
I’m really fascinated by the relationship these two have. They’re on opposing sides of the main conflict of the series and don’t really seem to particularly like each other, but there’s a weird understanding and some kind of trust between them. They seem to know each other really well and clearly know each other’s secrets, and they don’t quite seem to consider each other enemies on a personal level, despite the circumstances.
Freeforms:
- Marriage for Protection from Criminal Organization
- Marriage to keep enemy under your control
- Married Someone Pregnant and the Baby Isn't Their's
- Marrying an Enemy to Keep Them Close
- Marrying Pregnant Person So Child (Not Theirs) Will Be Born In Wedlock
- Marrying Someone Pregnant Knowing that the Baby Isn't Theirs To Protect Them Both
- Marrying Someone You Don't Like to Save Them From a Worse Fate
- Political marriage where one partner is under orders to kill their spouse
- Real Wedding Night for Fake Marriage
Some sort of semi-reluctant arrangement – legally binding or just a convincing façade – entered into for practical reasons or out of a sense of obligation to each other after the business with Atlas’s death? Maybe they both think they’re doing the other a favor or protecting them in some way, or maybe there are more sinister motivations.
Mordecai Heller/Nico Savoy/Serafine Savoy
The Savoys slowly dragging Mordecai out of his comfort zone and into their little circle is just a delightful part of this comic for me. It’s hilarious and dark and also kinda weirdly sweet, since they really seem to genuinely like him and want him as part of their world. And he seems surprisingly susceptible to being dragged along by them, whether he likes it or not.
Freeforms:
- Can Only Join Organization by Marrying In
- Honeymoon Heist
- Marriage as part of a con
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Tricked Into Marriage
- Woke Up Married After A Drunk Night
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
I can’t see Mordecai ever going into any of this willingly, but I could see him just kind of dealing with it once it’s happened and the outrage has passed. Or going along with something under the assumption it’s some trickery for a job and not realizing the other two are actually serious about it until it’s too late.
Psychonauts
Sasha Nein/Milla Vodello
Superstar Psychonauts Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello! They don’t actually have a ton of direct interaction in the game itself, but I love the implied relationship between the two. They are psychic secret agents! They go on ridiculous missions together and fight crime - psychic crime! One of these missions involved being undercover in elaborate costumes at a fancy party! They have had at least one clichéd instance of falling down and landing on top of each other in a ~romantic~ pose! I eat this stuff up with a spoon.
Freeforms:
- Characters get married during the mission to not break their cover but then they catch feelings
- Characters Keep "Forgetting" to Annul Accidental Marriage
- Disastrous Wedding Ceremony Everyone Will Gossip About For Years
- Everyone Thought They Were Already Married
- Marriage Required to Carry Out Secret Mission
- Mistaken For Married
- Pretending to be married to access information
- Pretending to be married while undercover
- Proposal attempts keep being thwarted by circumstances
- Secret Marriage
- Secret Marriage Becomes Public
- Series of Mishaps Prevent Annulment of Accidental Marriage
- Someone/Everyone Thinks They're Married
- Undercover as Married
- Undercover as Married Leads to Unexpected Feelings
- Woke Up Married
- Woke Up Married After A Drunk Night
- Working While on Your Honeymoon
Hey, they’ve canonically done full undercover with silly costumes for Psychonauts missions before. Undercover marriage is obviously the next logical step. And I can only imagine all the ways someone could accidentally wind up married in a world with psychic powers. And you know the campers and probably also their coworkers gossip about their relationship.
Well, that about sums it up, I think. Again, thank you so much for creating something for me! If you like prompts, I hope what I gave you is helpful. If you prefer to work without them, I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with. I’m sure whatever you make will be awesome!
