lezridax

GENERAL/ALL FANDOMS

General Likes:

• Kind of a gimme with a "marriage" challenge, I suppose, but I'm a big fan anyway of stuff that focuses on relationship milestones: love confessions, getting-together, first kiss, first time having sex, first time sleeping over, telling friends, moving in together, and obviously marriage proposal and wedding, etc. (Does not necessarily have to be in that or any particular order.) 
• I love a lot of the fandom cliches, particularly Only One Bed, fake dating turned real, and friends to lovers. Can never get enough of those.
• I’m a big fan of reading about characters in a relationship growing as people together, discovering new sides to themselves, figuring out how to live or raise kids together, etc.
• I like soulmate AUs a LOT so long as the characters still get some chance to develop feelings organically, whether or not they are already aware of their soulmate status. Stuff where they find out before they are in love and kind of fight it at first, but end up getting to know and falling for the person anyway — that stuff is great. Love it, can’t get enough, and I think this goes really well with the "marriage" focus of this challenge. 
• Falling in love with someone you'd never expect.
• Outside character perspectives and reactions
• Introspection/character study
• Partners doing cultural things together like attending concerts, going to museums. reading books together, sharing the classics of their own culture (if there's a cultural difference there), etc. I particularly love characters going to symphonies or to the opera. BUT beware that my IRL job is as a music professor, and it throws me out of the story if the characters are talking about the background, history, theory, etc. behind a piece of music or musician and get it wrong (unless you’re doing it on purpose to show the character’s ignorance). So make sure you truly know your shit if you go there, or just don’t have them discuss historical/biographical/stylistic details of music.
• Alien or fantasy cultures that are very different from any modern/historical human Earth cultures, as opposed to analogues for some real-world country or time period. (The exception is if they're already analogues; for instance, I'm totally down with making Fódlan or Westerosi culture even more like medieval/early modern Europe.) I really like how sci-fi and fantasy give us the potential to go truly wild with exploring the diversity in cultural values, art, lifestyles, social mores, etc. and I love when fanfiction opens my mind further there in how it plays with the parts of worldbuilding that canon forgot!
• Some things I really like for smut fic: Oral sex, especially cunnilingus or rimming. Strap-ons. Motorboating, nipple play (no clamps though), boobs/chest focus. Marking including/especially scent-marking but also stuff like leaving scars.

General DNWs:

• ABO/Omegaverse of any kind
• Ace/aro/demisexual/demiromantic headcanons
• Animal death/abuse/harm
• Breathplay or other potentially life-threatening kink
• Child sexual abuse, including in backstories (unless it is canonical. Note that a character having been abused as a child in some other way does not mean that "child sexual abuse" is canonical, and it's a huge personal pet peeve for me when people assume that that must be going on if any other kind of child abuse is going on. But I'll spare you the rant....)
• Daddy kink
• Detailed violence/torture/gore
• Extreme underage (i.e. younger than the age when teens typically start having consensual sex. Use your best judgment here; my hard line is no preteens and younger.)
• Feederism or other weight-fetishization
• Focus on feminine grooming rituals (like doing each other’s hair or makeup) in F/F
• Genital mutilation (such as sounding)
• Issuefic. Feel free to give your characters strong opinions and explore fraught issues, but the key word there is explore; I don't want to feel like I'm being lectured to or taught a lesson.
  
• Jewish or Muslim characters with uncircumcised penises
• Lifestyle BDSM (exception: Faisal/Lawrence in A Dangerous Man)
• Men domming women
• Mpreg-specific: butt babies or surprise-uteruses. (Try to make it somewhat plausible to whatever fictional universe you’re in, e.g. unusual alien/monster biology, detachable artificial wombs, etc.)
• Negative/stigmatizing discussion of abortion
• Pre-relationship/UST that never resolves
• Pregnancy in a female character (unless in the background) 
• Rape/non-con
• Shit/piss/vomit
• “Soulmate AUs” where the main couple are not actually soulmates
• Unrequested poly
• Using feminizing terms for male characters

DNW except where noted for specific fandoms:

• Abusive relationships
• Big power differentials among members of the main couple
• Cheating on the main couple
• Trans/non-binary headcanons in the main couple
• Whump/darkfic/HNC
  

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

Ships Requested:

Bashir/Garak and Damar/Kira

I really really like Garashir, which is my OTP, and where I check the tag around daily for new fics. I absolutely love marriage-related fic with them, so I knew I was going to request them right away, and I love some of the Garashir fics that have come out of past versions of this exchange. I’ve also been getting more into Damar/Kira lately, so I requested that too since there really isn’t enough of in this fandom and I want to read more! While I prefer keeping things romantic and happy-ending-focused with Garashir (though some angst along the way is fine, so long as it’s resolved), with the other ship, I can take heavier angst, including stories that deal with Damar’s canonical death. That being said, I also love “Damar Lives” AUs! And I think given the nature of this challenge, where marriage is a possibility, those might fit better, but I’m up for whatever you come with for that ship!

Fandom-Specific Likes:

• Alien biology that is different from human biology (especially with regard to cum/genitals), including making them "more alien" than in canon. This includes mpreg that follows said alien biology, so long as it doesn’t violate the DNWs. (In the case of these ships, yes I’m all for Cardassian males being able to get pregnant. You don’t have to go into a detailed biological explanation about how, unless you want to, of course; I could certainly see it as in-character for someone like Bashir to do that….)
• Alien cultural differences, especially in how they show affection, relationship and marital norms. 
• Characters adjusting to living on their partner's different planet. 
• Worldbuilding of alien cultures or future Earth, both in the macro and micro. History, religion or lack thereof, cultural stuff like music and art and literature, and especially, everyday life. Not so much that it is a distraction from the main relationship-focused plot, but I love little details that make these worlds feel lived-in. As per the "general likes" section, I prefer alien cultures being as "alien" as possible, and especially Bajoran religion being its own weird thing (their gods are real, after all!) rather than an analogue to a specific Earth religious tradition.
• Political drama focused on alien cultures: especially Cardassia, but a post-canon Kira/Damar that focuses on Kira figuring out what her political role is on Bajor would also be really juicy. With Garashir, you could look at Julian adjusting to being a political spouse on an alien planet, especially if Garak ends up in some high-ranking role that makes outsiders or even people who knew him pre-DS9 wonder about Julian's loyalties to the Federation; or Garak as a politician figuring out what kind of society he wants to help build, just how different it's going to be from the Cardassia before the war, what do they want to keep and what can they leave behind. I also love anything with either couple that lets their respective worldviews rub up against each other: Garashir's clashing ones, but also how they might come to understand each others' opinions over time and maybe adopt some of the other's views (as long as it stays IC, like you don't have Julian suddenly become a fan of dictatorship); and perhaps Damar and Kira realizing that even if they're devoted to different worlds with a fraught history behind them, they share a lot of similarities in how they feel about those worlds.
• I love Garak and Bashir’s book club. Feel free to write stuff that has them discuss books. I am up for whatever you choose to have them discuss as long it makes sense for two lit nerds to still be talking about 350 years from now (like don’t have them discussing YA or Fifty Shades or w/e lol) but if you want some specific ideas: I especially enjoy it when people have them reading books from Africa, Asia, Latin America or Eastern Europe. And of course, go to town with whatever you invent for Cardassian or other alien literature. Literary allusions that connect to the overall story or its themes are also great!
• Any of the ships you don't pick in the background of the main one. Some other ships I enjoy seeing in the background: Jadzia/Kira, Jadzia/Lenara, Odo/Quark, Jadzia/Benjamin, Ezri/Lenara, Grilka/Quark, Natima Lang/Quark, Kira/Natima, Kira/Cretak, Miles/Keiko, Rom/Leeta, Jake/Ziyal, Benjamin/Kasidy. But anything that isn’t “DNW” works.
• Post-canon and "fix its" 
• Sick fic especially for Garashir (with either one being the sick one) 
• Holosuite roleplaying
• Bottom Garak
• Dommy Kira
• Julian and Jadzia as friends
• Enemies-to-lovers in Kira/Damar

Additional prompts you can take or leave:

• Garashir: Julian has a jealousy-induced epiphany as a result of Garak's growing friendship with Ziyal. You can figure out how this works in with the "marriage" thing, but maybe impulsive proposals happen? Maybe they end up getting married to throw her off Garak's scent, so to speak, and then they fall in love that they want to stay married.
  
• Garashir: Marriage to piss off Julian's parents that gets more serious over time as they open up more to their mutual feelings
• Garashir: Julian is trying to date other people but they notice that he keeps canceling dates to hang out with Garak. Date says something sarcastic like "if you like him so much why don't you marry him" and Julian realizes his feelings when he goes "not a bad idea...." and it somehow eventually results in marriage
• Garashir: Julian as Cardassian political spouse, as mentioned above, especially good if he's First Gentleman but even with Garak in a smaller role. I had this idea for a while of a Julian and Leeta reunion when Garak as head of the Cardassian Union is meeting with Grand Nagus Rom for whatever reason, either at Garashir's Cardassian residence or Rom and Leeta's on Ferenginar, with Julian and Leeta reflecting on how far each of them have come, and what it's like to adjust to an alien culture while also thrust into such an important, public role. Idk if I'm going to write that so feel free to take that idea if you like it, though make sure to include some Garashir loving as well :)
• Garashir: Marriage during the war as some means to protect one another -- for instance, to give Julian a next-of-kin/representative if he’s incapacitated/etc. who is not his parents, or to give Garak protection by/legitimacy with the Federation. And then of course, real feelings ensure from their "marriage of convenience" :) (or were already there, but they’re forced to acknowledge them now)
• Garashir: Marriage to get Julian Cardassian citizenship while living there OR marriage to get Garak Federation citizenship when he's about to be kicked off the station for it -- been done before, but love seeing fresh takes on it because it's so good!
• Either ship: Flash-forward/vision (possibly via orb or something, or soulmate-AU-facilitated) of them being happily married years later, right after they meet each other
• Garashir: Similar idea but they've been friends for a while, and either one or both figure out that they actually really want that to happen, which leads to an eventual relationship
• Damar/Kira: Damar Lives scenario where they're both political leaders after the war and feelings blossom and they have to figure out what to do about this -- which eventually results in following their feelings and getting married in spite of how it looks politically
  
• Damar/Kira: Damar Lives, alternately, they end up getting married as a symbolic gesture of friendship between Bajor and Cardassia, and feelings slowly grow out of it later
• Damar/Kira: Impulsive marriage happened for whatever reasons when they were in the Cardassian resistance together. Maybe they hooked up and wanted to do it before they died; maybe they did it for reasons of damage control if one of them died (like the Garashir possibilities above). But Damar lives here, and now they have to navigate the fact that their marriage is still in effect after the war. There are feelings between them but shit’s complicated!

Fandom-Specific DNWs:

• Any plot involving Kira having to “get over” her feelings about the Cardassian occupation (processing, sure, gaining a more nuanced understand of Cardassians or their culture, sure — I love that kind of stuff — but don’t suggest that what happened to her or Bajor wasn’t that bad, or that her initial feelings about Cardassians were unjustified, etc. Basically just don’t do apologetics for or downplay the Cardassian occupation of Bajor)
• AUs that change the setting or central relationship significantly (e.g. canon divergence is fine, all-human or modern-day AUs are not. In terms of the "relationship" part, no age swaps, gender changes, etc. EXCEPT fem!Damar is OK)
• Autistic headcanons for characters other than Bashir, Odo, Rom or Ezri. Also, don’t make it the main focus of the story, please. 
• Dom Garak
• Garak or Bashir in endgame relationships with people other than each other, even in background
• Kira in endgame F/M relationships other than Kira/Damar, even in background
• Misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or socioeconomic class systems being part of non-Earth cultures unless they are in alpha canon (e.g. Ferengi misogyny). You can have their society have other prejudices, be creative! (Note: I'll be honest that the relevant examples of this I see most in fanfiction that bug me are: 1. Cardassia having a hierarchical socioeconomic class system, such as references to Garak being "service class," 2. either Cardassia or Bajor having fundamentalist-Christian-style misogyny, hang-ups about abortion and birth control, etc. Please don't do either of those. Cardassia's medical field and Bajoran religion are dominated by women! They're oppressive but in different ways, and I find that a lot more interesting in sci-fi.)
• Non-canonical Major Character Death (MCD)
• Orientalist depictions of Bashir. (Basically: I would prefer not to have something that focuses heavily on his ethnic/cultural/religious heritage unless you’re very knowledgeable about whatever you choose – i.e. are from that culture yourself, or have a related academic background or something of that nature. If that’s the case, go ahead! I’ve just seen too many fics go really wrong with this, into Aladdin-esque territory, in a way that makes me feel a bit uneasy every time it comes up. I didn't put this in the DNWs on the challenge since it's not very enforceable and can also be misinterpreted, but wanted to talk about it here.)
• Racism/colonialism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or (non-canonical) ableism still existing on 24th-century Earth
• Sad/ambiguous/unhappy endings with Garashir: including breakups, never-getting-together or UST
• Trans/non-binary headcanons for major characters other than Dax or Odo
• All the “DNWs except where noted” apply here.
  

LEGEND OF GALACTIC HEROES

Ships Requested:

Kircheis/Reinhard, Reinhard/Yang, Annerose/Hilda

You can go relatively canon-compliant in terms of the social mores of their world OR you can do a world that is more accepting of same-sex marriage. I could easily see a situation where whatever laws there might be against it in the Empire are lifted to allow for a Reinhard/Yang alliance marriage. You can also do various points along that scale: for instance, a society where same-sex marriage is legal but socially, opposite-sex marriages are still favored, particularly for Empire nobles who are expected to put aside their feelings for the sake of siring heirs.

With Rein/Kir I'm more into the "friends to lovers" types of ideas, them expecting to marry a woman one day but falling in love with and realizing they'd rather marry each other, and either doing that officially if it's possible or in an unofficial partnership that they personally view as a "marriage."

With Reinhard/Yang I'm more into the slowly falling in love with spouse, growing to love each other, fake/arranged/political marriage turns real etc. I really like the idea of them getting into a political marriage in order to better unite the galaxy after the war ends, or maybe ending the war that way. But I could also just see there being very strong attraction when they meet that leads to one of them freely proposing that idea, and then it grows into something deeper over time. I love exploring how they are each other's foils.

With Annerose/Hilda I'm up for whatever, honestly! I think there are a lot of interesting places where you can use a relationship between them -- either an actual marriage or, similar to ReinKir above, a marriage-like partnership -- to explore what it would be like to be a queer woman in that kind of society, and the differences in what that means for someone with a lot of relative power like Hilda vs. someone who has been sexually abused by men from an early age like Annerose.

• AUs that change the setting or central relationship significantly (for example: some plot divergence is fine, but no modern AUs, mundane AUs, etc. In terms of the "relationship" part, no age swaps, gender changes, etc.)
• Autistic headcanons for characters in the main ship
• Explicit physical abuse. Emotional/mental abuse and manipulation OK
• Major Character Death
• Trans/non-binary headcanons for characters in the main ship
• Unrelenting misery (I don't mind darker takes on Rhaenicent, but I'm not interested in a fic that's nothing but "Character X suffers")
• Woobification. I like these people for their faults!
• The "DNWs except where noted" apply except that I'm okay with some mild darker stuff, but as mentioned before, don't want it to be primarily dark, and I think for this challenge I'd prefer a somewhat lighter taken on Rhaenicent than usual. Also, re: cheating: I'm ok with infidelity that is forced on them by society (e.g. they're forced to marry men because of their social positions), but not emotional infidelity, not stuff that suggests that Alicent and/or Rhaenyra have stronger romantic/sexual feelings for people other than each other.

• Autistic headcanons for characters in the main ship
• Age swaps/de-aging
• Incest
• Trans/non-binary headcanons
• Woobification. I like these characters for their faults!
• The "DNWs except where noted" all apply here except for the cheating one, although again, similar caveat to the Rhaenicent one where I don't want the cheating to be a result of Stewy or Kendall being genuinely more into someone other than each other. But say, Kendall being in denial with how serious things have gotten with Stewy while screwing women... go ahead!