Fic In A Box 2025 Letter
Aug. 18th, 2025 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saiditallbeforeDear Creator,
I'm sure I'll like whatever you make for me, so just have fun! I know there are some characters/pairings that have more prompts than others, but that just means I had a lot of ideas for those (or had a past letter to copy & paste from). If I requested a character, I would be happy to see just about anything for them!
I’m![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
saiditallbefore on AO3.
Things I like:
Smut Likes:
Art-specific likes + notes:
Here are a few extra art likes:
DNWs:
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
Charlie Cale (Poker Face) in DCU
I love Charlie and her particular brand of no-bullshit. I would love to see her in the DCU, dealing with their mobs and accidentally crossing C- or D-list villains when she stumbles into their schemes. The more out there the DC characters, the more fun I think this would be.
Talia al Ghul (DC Comics)/Natasha Romanov (MCU)
I just really think these two would get each other-- Natasha understands walking in the more morally gray areas, even if she is now more of a straightforward superhero. And Talia has a great deal of respect for people with strong moral compasses, even those that don't align with her own. Besides, Talia (at least, when she's not being villainized) is a lot more complicated than a straightforward villain; she's a woman who wants to make the world better, who believes that her ends justify the means. I'm imagining something where Natasha ends up in the DC universe after Endgame, but maybe you have your own ideas-- I'd love to see whatever you come up with!
Marta Cabrera (Knives Out)/Charlie Cale (Poker Face TV)
Marta can't lie and Charlie can't be lied to; I think they'd both find that really refreshing! I love the idea of them meeting by chance-- maybe Charlie is working at some kind of event that Marta got invited to? Or Marta is still working as a nurse and she runs into Charlie that way? Solving murders together would be fun but is optional!
Breanna Casey (Leverage)/Mia Dearden (DC Comics)
I absolutely adore Mia and I'm so glad she's back in continuity! <3 She's so resilient, and a complicated combination of tough and fragile, and she's so determined to make the most of her life. I love her so much. And Breanna!!! She's this great mix of jaded about the world and really really earnest. I love that she has her own technical skills separate from Hardison's, and I love that part of what brought her into the Leverage crew was her admiration of Hardison and wanting to do the kind of thing he does but in her own way. I also love seeing her become more confident and get better at all parts of the con as time goes on, and how her relationships with each member of the crew deepen.
I just think they'd be interesting together! Breanna isn't quite a vigilante, but I think she and Mia have similar senses of justice. And while their backgrounds aren't the same (Mia's childhood was a lot rougher), I think they would definitely understand where the other is coming from. Maybe the Leverage crew crosses paths with some of the Arrowfam, only to realize they're targeting the same person, and Mia and Breanna end up working together? Maybe Mia and Breanna meet as civilians and each realize there's more to the other later?
Eve Baird (The Librarians)/Dinah Lance (DC Comics)
I love Dinah; she's everything. I love her with the Arrowfam, love her with the JSA, love her with the Birds of Prey, love her on her own. She's a badass martial artist who just happens to have superpowers; she can be prickly and difficult, but she also cares really deeply and she's very protective of the people she cares about. I find it so fascinating that she's a little bit afraid of her own capabilities-- she knows all too well that she's capable of killing people, but that's not the kind of person she wants to be.
Eve is another character who is just so good at what she does! She's a fighter and she's sometimes out of her depth with the magic stuff, but she's great at learning on the job. She's not what I would call a nurturing character, but she is a protective one, and she will do everything in her power to keep the people under her protection-- whether that be the Librarians or civilians or someone else-- from getting hurt.
Maybe some magical shenanigans lead to Eve ending up in the DC universe? Or maybe the two universes were always one, however you decide that works. Maybe something Dinah is investigating with the Birds of Prey leads her into contact with Eve and the Librarians. I just think they'd be a really fun (and hot!) duo!
Cassandra Cillian (The Librarians)/Zatanna Zatara (DC Comics)
I think the two of them would be cute together! Cassandra would be really interested in Zatanna's brand of magic, and I think it would be really cool for her to be involved with a magician who is interested in helping people rather than taking over the world or whatever. And I think it would be great for Zatanna to have a slightly less dysfunctional relationship for once. I also think it would be really cool to see them work together-- maybe they find out they're working on the same case and end up collaborating?
Rachel Elizabeth Dare (Percy Jackson)/Connor Hawke (DC Comics)
I just think these two would vibe well together! They have a similar sense of justice and they care very deeply about similar things. I'd love to see the two of them get caught up in either godly or superhero problems (or both!) and figure out very quickly that the other person is very used to this kind of thing. Or maybe something where each of them is convinced that the other is one of their few totally normal friends, removed from the craziness in their lives, and then they discover the truth.
I haven't read anything past the Heroes of Olympus series, so please don't include any PJO canon past that.
El Higgins (Scholomance) & Murderbot (Murderbot)
I love El so so so much. She's prickly and she's angry and she doesn't like most people, and she has the power to destroy entire civilizations at her fingertips, and she still chooses— constantly chooses, at each juncture— to do good. She's not nice, but she's kind. And I love her journey from hating the system but accepting it as the way things are to actively turning it on its head.
I have so many feelings about her-- about how she has the powers to destroy anything and everything at her fingertips and every single day she chooses not to do that. About how she's angry and unforgiving and not particularly nice, but she's still so capable of kindness, and how she's so cynical about how the world works and she still saves it with the powers of love and friendship (with a little bit of incredible violence backing those up).
I just think El and Murderbot have a lot in common-- saving people while also kind of hating people, not understanding why people want to be their friends, feeling like a monster but choosing to do the right thing anyway-- and I think it would be very fun to see them interact.
Chelli Lona Aphra (Star Wars)/River Song (Doctor Who)
I absolutely adore Aphra. I love how amoral and self-serving she is, even when she's perfectly aware that she's only hurting herself in the long term. I love how smart she is, and how those smarts get her both into and out of trouble. Like Mar-Mas Voor says, she always looks after herself, she always betrays people, and she always feels guilty afterward. I also really love River Song-- she's charming and adventurous and also willing to shoot first and ask questions later. And they're both SPACE ARCHAEOLOGISTS! They could be rivals, or work together, or meet on a dig (which one or both of them would almost certainly be at illicitly)! The possibilities are endless!
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
If you're looking for more of my thoughts, my DC comics tag on tumblr is here.
Fandom-specific notes: Please do not write Cass as using ASL or as only using broken English.
I've also included links to reading guides/reading orders where I have them, if you need them.
Stephanie Brown
Steph!!!! I love her. I love her anger, I love her determination, I love her refusal to give up, I love her sense of hope. I love her as Spoiler, as Robin, as Batgirl. She's such an interesting character and I think a lot of fandom is missing out by reducing her to solely the quirky comedic character. I'd love to see more of her relationship with her mother: Stephanie has spent so long feeling the need to take care of Crystal (between Crystal's addiction and Stephanie becoming Spoiler because of her father), but Crystal has tried her best to be a good mother, even if she's often fallen short, and they both love each other deeply despite everything. I'd also love to see her friendship with Cass, or with other heroes around her own age. I'd also be really into an AU where either Helena Bertinelli or Dinah Lance are able to mentor Steph more in her Spoiler days.
It's fine if other members of the Batfam play a part in the story, but please keep the focus on Steph herself. Similarly, I'm fine with you including the events of War Games or alluding to them (they're super important to Steph's character), but I'd prefer if the entire fic wasn't focused on the War Games storyline.
Reading Guide
Mia Dearden
I absolutely adore Mia and I'm so glad she's back in continuity! <3 She's so resilient, and a complicated combination of tough and fragile, and she's so determined to make the most of her life. I love her so much. I'd love to see anything focusing on her with any of the rest of the Arrowfam (especially Ollie, Connor, or Roy). I'd also love something with her and the Teen Titans-- we didn't get very much of her on the team, but I think you could come up with some more adventures for them if you wanted! I also really liked the team up of Mia & Sienna & Emiko & Cissie from the recent Green Arrow run, and I wish we'd gotten more of that-- I think you could have a lot of fun with them teaming up again in the future.
Reading Guide, but particularly Green Arrow (2001)
Lian Harper
I am absolutely obsessed with teen Lian. We know a little bit about how she's been living for the years she was separated from her family, but I'd love to see more about how it effected her now that they're reunited. I'd also just love to see more of her and Jade and their complicated relationship, and what that looks like as Jade dips in and out of Lian's life, or Lian (re)connecting with the larger superhero community and making some friends around her own age, or just some more of Lian and Roy, with or without the rest of the Arrowfam.
Reading Guide
Sin Lance
I really enjoy the direction BOP (2023) has been taking Sin's character, and I'd love more exploration of that. How does she feel about her deal with Megaera, or about her place on the team? You could also explore some of the complexities of her and Dinah's relationship-- they love each other, but they've also spent a lot of Sin's life apart. I'd also be interested in her bonding with Cass over their similar experiences, or in seeing more of Sin training with Cass and Barda. Or if you want to write Sin with any of the rest of the Arrowfam, I'd love that, too; I would love whoever you want to include, if you go that direction, but I think it would be particularly fun to see her and present-day Lian interact, or her and Emiko.
Reading Guide, but particularly Birds of Prey (2023)
Sandra Woosan
Aka Ming-Yue Wu aka Lady Shiva. She's such a complex character: I love that she's acknowledged by everyone as one of the best martial artists in the world, and that she uses her skill to seek out more and harder challenges for herself. She's not interested in being a hero, although she will occasionally work with them if it benefits her or she thinks it's interesting. I actually like the way that Brombal has managed to reconcile her various backstories in the current Batgirl run, but I'm good with any reading that doesn't turn Shiva into an outright villain/Dragon Lady. I'd love to see her interacting with Cass (more on that below), Dinah, or Sin, especially, as I think they all have the potential for some very complex relationships.
If you want to write Shiva/Dinah, I really love their dynamic and have a mini ship manifesto and reading list for them here and here.
Reading Guide/Suggestions 1 & 2
Xanthe Zhou
I love Spirit World and am on a quest to get everyone I know to read it. The whole story is gorgeous, but I especially love Xanthe (of course). I really love their resilience and it's just so much fun to watch them do magic and navigate the spirit world. And in general, I'd love to see more of the spirit world and its other residents, and Xanthe's relationships with them! I'd also love to see them and Constantine ending up on more magical adventures-- they had a fun dynamic, and it was fun to see both of them again recently in BoP. (Maybe include Zatanna, too, if you want to include three completely different types of magic users XD)
I have more thoughts about Xanthe in this meta here.
Helena Bertinelli/Renee Montoya
I really love Renee as The Question! I really love her relentless pursuit of answers and criminals and her complicated relationship with her own morals. I also really like when she interacts with other heroes-- she's a little bit of an outsider to the broader hero community, so she has a slightly different perspective than they do sometimes.
As for Helena, I love her relentless pursuit of vengeance and justice and how she's sometimes not sure whether Huntress or Helena is the mask. Her origin stories differ slightly, but they mostly come down to the same broad strokes; I'm really interested in how she relates to her family legacy. The things she loves about her childhood memories and the things she hates about them, and how driven she is to destroy the mob now.
And I really love the two of them together: they work together well, they've got an easy dynamic with each other, they have complicated relationships with Gotham's other heroes, and they have morals that are often shades of gray. I just think they're great.
Cassandra Cain & Sandra Woosan
See above for a lot of my thoughts on Lady Shiva, but as for Cass? I absolutely love her solid moral core, how she will save everyone even if it kills her, how a part of her will always be that child who is covered in blood and filled with guilt for taking a life. She isn't always the most eloquent in words, but she's an exceptional fighter-- and she loves fighting, despite everything. She's a character who is almost completely uninterested in a civilian life; having a real name is important to her, but she is Batgirl.
I'm really fascinated by their dynamic. Shiva isn't a mother and Cass isn't a daughter-- except that they are, they're inextricably tied together and they can't escape each other. Whatever version of their relationship you go with, it's messy and toxic and even when they're alike it doesn't mean they see eye-to-eye. I just want more of them working together for whatever reason and either working through their issues or making those issues worse.
Cassandra Cain/Xanthe Zhou
I love Spirit World and am on a quest to get everyone I know to read it. The whole story is gorgeous, but I especially love Xanthe (of course). I really love their resilience and it's just so much fun to watch them do magic and navigate the spirit world. And in general, I'd love to see more of the spirit world and its other residents, and Xanthe's relationships with them! I'd also love to see them and Constantine ending up on more magical adventures-- they had a fun dynamic, and it was fun to see both of them again recently in BoP. I also really loved their dynamic with Cass, and would love to see more Gotham adventures with the two of them, or more of Cass in the Spirit World.
Beatriz da Costa/Sigrid Nansen
I love Bea so much; she's ridiculous and over the top and she tries very hard to act like she doesn't care about anything, under that tough shell she cares so deeply. (She actually has the longest tenure of any JLI member!) And I love her relationship with Sigrid as a dysfunctional and toxic way of dealing with her grief after Tora's death.
Sigrid is also fascinating to me for her own sake: she's so insecure and she's never quite managed to be good enough on her own before, and now she's trying to fit into a dead woman's shoes. And she's never quite sure if Bea is seeing her or seeing Tora when they're interacting, and she's sort of leaning into being more like Tora... it's dysfunctional femslash at its best.
(For Sigrid, I'm only interested in her preboot incarnation, not in their more recent appearances, although if you want to make them nonbinary without retconning their original backstory, I'm cool with that.)
Beatriz da Costa/Tora Olafsdotter
My literal ice goddess! Tora is so fascinating to me, because she tends to get underestimated by everyone, even her friends and teammates, because she's openly emotional and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she's a lot tougher than most of them give her credit for, and I love that. I think her relationships with the rest of the JLI are really interesting because Tora is probably the one person that gets along best with everyone on the team, but in interpersonal situations she can fade into the background unless she makes a point of making herself be heard-- which sometimes means people, even Bea, mistake her for being a pushover.
If you're familiar with it, I think it could also be fun to set something in the Justice League 3000 timeline, about the centuries they spent apart, or their reunion, or creating some closure for Justice League 3001.
For more thoughts, I have a mini ship manifesto here.
Reading Guide
Mia Dearden & Roy Harper
I love the relationship Mia and Roy have, even if a lot of it is by implication. She takes his old hero name, he gives her his old quiver. Roy sees himself in her when she gets diagnosed with HIV. Mia is the one who was babysitting Lian when she was killed and not only does Roy blame her but she blames herself. I'd love to see more of the two of them spending time together, in or out of costume. Working together on archery, or hanging out together, or giving Ollie a hard time, or anything... I'd love it.
Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen
I love Dinah; she's everything. I love her with the Arrowfam, love her with the JSA, love her with the Birds of Prey, love her on her own. She's a badass martial artist who just happens to have superpowers; she can be prickly and difficult, but she also cares really deeply and she's very protective of the people she cares about. I find it so fascinating that she's a little bit afraid of her own capabilities-- she knows all too well that she's capable of killing people, but that's not the kind of person she wants to be.
I also really love Ollie. He's earnest and awkward and cares so much, and he's stubborn and fucks up and fails the people he cares about. He's deeply flawed but he always tries to do better, and that's one of the things I love. I also really love him and Dinah together. They're not always good for each other, but they also deeply love each other and are always drawn back together. I love the "superhero domestic" vibe, when they're doing superhero stuff and talking about deeply mundane things or similar. I also love that Dinah is a better fighter and Ollie knows and loves that.
Reading Guide
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
Canon-specific notes: Although I do also read comics, I do prefer for adaptations to stand on their own. I'd rather see your own ideas based solely on this movie than a retelling of a comics plotline.
Lois Lane (Superman 2025)
Woman of all time for real. I love how relentless she is when she's going after something she wants or believes in. I love how vicious she is as a journalist even with the man she's dating, and how she was totally willing to go spelunking in a pocket dimension to find Superman. She's unhinged in the best ways and I love her.
Eve Teschmacher (Superman 2025)
I'm literally obsessed with her. People around her are quick to write her off as shallow, but she's instrumental in taking down Lex. She's also just really sweet, even to characters like Ultraman who can't/won't appreciate it. I'd love to see more of her after the movie: how she feels after having been imprisoned in a pocket dimension and then rescued by Superman, what she does now that she's free of Lex, and just more about her as a person.
I'm ambivalent on Eve/Jimmy as a ship, although I'm fine with them if I get the vibe that Jimmy is equally into her.
Clark Kent/Lois Lane (Superman 2025)
I love that this movie is set at the three month mark in their relationship, still fairly early in their relationship, but long enough that they've been dating and gotten to know each other in that context and are having their first semi-serious fights. I really loved Clark's avoidant tendencies coming into conflict with Lois's more confrontational tendencies, and I loved Lois claiming she wasn't quite sure what she felt about Clark even as she embarked on a rescue mission to a pocket dimension. They're such a good team, too, and I just love seeing them together.
Kendra Saunders/Kara Zor-El (Superman 2025)
We didn't get very much of these two in the movie, but what we did get of each of them was very suggestive of their personalities! Look, I just think they would be neat. I'd love to see whatever you come up with for them.
💖💖💖
I'm sure I'll like whatever you make for me, so just have fun! I know there are some characters/pairings that have more prompts than others, but that just means I had a lot of ideas for those (or had a past letter to copy & paste from). If I requested a character, I would be happy to see just about anything for them!
I’m
Things I like:
- Competency
- Outsider POV
- Hurt/Comfort
- Friends-to-Lovers
- Enemies-to-Lovers
- Families of Choice
- Angst with a happy ending
- Pretend dating or secretly dating
- Casefic
- Porn with plot
- Happy or happy-for-now endings
- Heists (ex: Leverage, Ocean’s 11)
- Language barriers
- Timeloops
- Loyalty kink
- Time travel, dimension travel/dimension hopping
- Stranded together/forced to work together
- Arranged marriage/political marriage/marriage of convenience
- Fpreg (especially in conjunction with arranged marriage, etc.)
- Ghost sex
- Non-mundane AUs (ex: Regency, dragon riders, fantasy, state-mandated ghost hunters)
- Stargazing
- Kissing in the rain
- People without superpowers/special abilities kicking ass alongside people who do have powers/abilities
- Genderbending male characters to female (of the "always a girl" variety)
Smut Likes:
- Bondage
- Phone sex
- Dom/sub
- Cunnilingus
- Pain mixed with pleasure (intentional or unintentional)
- Orgasm denial
- Hate sex
- Object insertion (vaginal only)
- Nipple play
- Spanking
- Vaginal fisting
Art-specific likes + notes:
Here are a few extra art likes:
- Costume porn
- Fake comic covers/movie posters/etc.
- Kissing
- Quiet moments alone or with loved ones
- Moments from canon
- Other shippy moments
- Character portraits
- Anything from my likes/smut likes
- Maps
DNWs:
- Unrequested on-screen character death
- Unprompted crossovers or fusions
- Levels of violence that are graphic or extreme beyond canon
- Unrequested non-con (dub-con or non-con in requested scenarios is A-OK)
- Brainwashing/mental horror/fucking around inside people's minds
- Focus on unrequested pairings
- Breathplay
- Anal sex
- Homophobia
- Focus on the breakup of canon relationships (please just say it didn't work out or it never happened; don't make a Big Thing about it)
- Putting nuclear family labels ("mom"/"dad"/"child"/etc) on found family relationships
Crossover Fandom
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
Charlie Cale (Poker Face) in DCU
I love Charlie and her particular brand of no-bullshit. I would love to see her in the DCU, dealing with their mobs and accidentally crossing C- or D-list villains when she stumbles into their schemes. The more out there the DC characters, the more fun I think this would be.
Talia al Ghul (DC Comics)/Natasha Romanov (MCU)
I just really think these two would get each other-- Natasha understands walking in the more morally gray areas, even if she is now more of a straightforward superhero. And Talia has a great deal of respect for people with strong moral compasses, even those that don't align with her own. Besides, Talia (at least, when she's not being villainized) is a lot more complicated than a straightforward villain; she's a woman who wants to make the world better, who believes that her ends justify the means. I'm imagining something where Natasha ends up in the DC universe after Endgame, but maybe you have your own ideas-- I'd love to see whatever you come up with!
Marta Cabrera (Knives Out)/Charlie Cale (Poker Face TV)
Marta can't lie and Charlie can't be lied to; I think they'd both find that really refreshing! I love the idea of them meeting by chance-- maybe Charlie is working at some kind of event that Marta got invited to? Or Marta is still working as a nurse and she runs into Charlie that way? Solving murders together would be fun but is optional!
Breanna Casey (Leverage)/Mia Dearden (DC Comics)
I absolutely adore Mia and I'm so glad she's back in continuity! <3 She's so resilient, and a complicated combination of tough and fragile, and she's so determined to make the most of her life. I love her so much. And Breanna!!! She's this great mix of jaded about the world and really really earnest. I love that she has her own technical skills separate from Hardison's, and I love that part of what brought her into the Leverage crew was her admiration of Hardison and wanting to do the kind of thing he does but in her own way. I also love seeing her become more confident and get better at all parts of the con as time goes on, and how her relationships with each member of the crew deepen.
I just think they'd be interesting together! Breanna isn't quite a vigilante, but I think she and Mia have similar senses of justice. And while their backgrounds aren't the same (Mia's childhood was a lot rougher), I think they would definitely understand where the other is coming from. Maybe the Leverage crew crosses paths with some of the Arrowfam, only to realize they're targeting the same person, and Mia and Breanna end up working together? Maybe Mia and Breanna meet as civilians and each realize there's more to the other later?
Eve Baird (The Librarians)/Dinah Lance (DC Comics)
I love Dinah; she's everything. I love her with the Arrowfam, love her with the JSA, love her with the Birds of Prey, love her on her own. She's a badass martial artist who just happens to have superpowers; she can be prickly and difficult, but she also cares really deeply and she's very protective of the people she cares about. I find it so fascinating that she's a little bit afraid of her own capabilities-- she knows all too well that she's capable of killing people, but that's not the kind of person she wants to be.
Eve is another character who is just so good at what she does! She's a fighter and she's sometimes out of her depth with the magic stuff, but she's great at learning on the job. She's not what I would call a nurturing character, but she is a protective one, and she will do everything in her power to keep the people under her protection-- whether that be the Librarians or civilians or someone else-- from getting hurt.
Maybe some magical shenanigans lead to Eve ending up in the DC universe? Or maybe the two universes were always one, however you decide that works. Maybe something Dinah is investigating with the Birds of Prey leads her into contact with Eve and the Librarians. I just think they'd be a really fun (and hot!) duo!
Cassandra Cillian (The Librarians)/Zatanna Zatara (DC Comics)
I think the two of them would be cute together! Cassandra would be really interested in Zatanna's brand of magic, and I think it would be really cool for her to be involved with a magician who is interested in helping people rather than taking over the world or whatever. And I think it would be great for Zatanna to have a slightly less dysfunctional relationship for once. I also think it would be really cool to see them work together-- maybe they find out they're working on the same case and end up collaborating?
Rachel Elizabeth Dare (Percy Jackson)/Connor Hawke (DC Comics)
I just think these two would vibe well together! They have a similar sense of justice and they care very deeply about similar things. I'd love to see the two of them get caught up in either godly or superhero problems (or both!) and figure out very quickly that the other person is very used to this kind of thing. Or maybe something where each of them is convinced that the other is one of their few totally normal friends, removed from the craziness in their lives, and then they discover the truth.
I haven't read anything past the Heroes of Olympus series, so please don't include any PJO canon past that.
El Higgins (Scholomance) & Murderbot (Murderbot)
I love El so so so much. She's prickly and she's angry and she doesn't like most people, and she has the power to destroy entire civilizations at her fingertips, and she still chooses— constantly chooses, at each juncture— to do good. She's not nice, but she's kind. And I love her journey from hating the system but accepting it as the way things are to actively turning it on its head.
I have so many feelings about her-- about how she has the powers to destroy anything and everything at her fingertips and every single day she chooses not to do that. About how she's angry and unforgiving and not particularly nice, but she's still so capable of kindness, and how she's so cynical about how the world works and she still saves it with the powers of love and friendship (with a little bit of incredible violence backing those up).
I just think El and Murderbot have a lot in common-- saving people while also kind of hating people, not understanding why people want to be their friends, feeling like a monster but choosing to do the right thing anyway-- and I think it would be very fun to see them interact.
Chelli Lona Aphra (Star Wars)/River Song (Doctor Who)
I absolutely adore Aphra. I love how amoral and self-serving she is, even when she's perfectly aware that she's only hurting herself in the long term. I love how smart she is, and how those smarts get her both into and out of trouble. Like Mar-Mas Voor says, she always looks after herself, she always betrays people, and she always feels guilty afterward. I also really love River Song-- she's charming and adventurous and also willing to shoot first and ask questions later. And they're both SPACE ARCHAEOLOGISTS! They could be rivals, or work together, or meet on a dig (which one or both of them would almost certainly be at illicitly)! The possibilities are endless!
DCU (Comics)
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
If you're looking for more of my thoughts, my DC comics tag on tumblr is here.
Fandom-specific notes: Please do not write Cass as using ASL or as only using broken English.
I've also included links to reading guides/reading orders where I have them, if you need them.
Stephanie Brown
Steph!!!! I love her. I love her anger, I love her determination, I love her refusal to give up, I love her sense of hope. I love her as Spoiler, as Robin, as Batgirl. She's such an interesting character and I think a lot of fandom is missing out by reducing her to solely the quirky comedic character. I'd love to see more of her relationship with her mother: Stephanie has spent so long feeling the need to take care of Crystal (between Crystal's addiction and Stephanie becoming Spoiler because of her father), but Crystal has tried her best to be a good mother, even if she's often fallen short, and they both love each other deeply despite everything. I'd also love to see her friendship with Cass, or with other heroes around her own age. I'd also be really into an AU where either Helena Bertinelli or Dinah Lance are able to mentor Steph more in her Spoiler days.
It's fine if other members of the Batfam play a part in the story, but please keep the focus on Steph herself. Similarly, I'm fine with you including the events of War Games or alluding to them (they're super important to Steph's character), but I'd prefer if the entire fic wasn't focused on the War Games storyline.
Reading Guide
Mia Dearden
I absolutely adore Mia and I'm so glad she's back in continuity! <3 She's so resilient, and a complicated combination of tough and fragile, and she's so determined to make the most of her life. I love her so much. I'd love to see anything focusing on her with any of the rest of the Arrowfam (especially Ollie, Connor, or Roy). I'd also love something with her and the Teen Titans-- we didn't get very much of her on the team, but I think you could come up with some more adventures for them if you wanted! I also really liked the team up of Mia & Sienna & Emiko & Cissie from the recent Green Arrow run, and I wish we'd gotten more of that-- I think you could have a lot of fun with them teaming up again in the future.
Reading Guide, but particularly Green Arrow (2001)
Lian Harper
I am absolutely obsessed with teen Lian. We know a little bit about how she's been living for the years she was separated from her family, but I'd love to see more about how it effected her now that they're reunited. I'd also just love to see more of her and Jade and their complicated relationship, and what that looks like as Jade dips in and out of Lian's life, or Lian (re)connecting with the larger superhero community and making some friends around her own age, or just some more of Lian and Roy, with or without the rest of the Arrowfam.
Reading Guide
Sin Lance
I really enjoy the direction BOP (2023) has been taking Sin's character, and I'd love more exploration of that. How does she feel about her deal with Megaera, or about her place on the team? You could also explore some of the complexities of her and Dinah's relationship-- they love each other, but they've also spent a lot of Sin's life apart. I'd also be interested in her bonding with Cass over their similar experiences, or in seeing more of Sin training with Cass and Barda. Or if you want to write Sin with any of the rest of the Arrowfam, I'd love that, too; I would love whoever you want to include, if you go that direction, but I think it would be particularly fun to see her and present-day Lian interact, or her and Emiko.
Reading Guide, but particularly Birds of Prey (2023)
Sandra Woosan
Aka Ming-Yue Wu aka Lady Shiva. She's such a complex character: I love that she's acknowledged by everyone as one of the best martial artists in the world, and that she uses her skill to seek out more and harder challenges for herself. She's not interested in being a hero, although she will occasionally work with them if it benefits her or she thinks it's interesting. I actually like the way that Brombal has managed to reconcile her various backstories in the current Batgirl run, but I'm good with any reading that doesn't turn Shiva into an outright villain/Dragon Lady. I'd love to see her interacting with Cass (more on that below), Dinah, or Sin, especially, as I think they all have the potential for some very complex relationships.
If you want to write Shiva/Dinah, I really love their dynamic and have a mini ship manifesto and reading list for them here and here.
Reading Guide/Suggestions 1 & 2
Xanthe Zhou
I love Spirit World and am on a quest to get everyone I know to read it. The whole story is gorgeous, but I especially love Xanthe (of course). I really love their resilience and it's just so much fun to watch them do magic and navigate the spirit world. And in general, I'd love to see more of the spirit world and its other residents, and Xanthe's relationships with them! I'd also love to see them and Constantine ending up on more magical adventures-- they had a fun dynamic, and it was fun to see both of them again recently in BoP. (Maybe include Zatanna, too, if you want to include three completely different types of magic users XD)
I have more thoughts about Xanthe in this meta here.
Helena Bertinelli/Renee Montoya
I really love Renee as The Question! I really love her relentless pursuit of answers and criminals and her complicated relationship with her own morals. I also really like when she interacts with other heroes-- she's a little bit of an outsider to the broader hero community, so she has a slightly different perspective than they do sometimes.
As for Helena, I love her relentless pursuit of vengeance and justice and how she's sometimes not sure whether Huntress or Helena is the mask. Her origin stories differ slightly, but they mostly come down to the same broad strokes; I'm really interested in how she relates to her family legacy. The things she loves about her childhood memories and the things she hates about them, and how driven she is to destroy the mob now.
And I really love the two of them together: they work together well, they've got an easy dynamic with each other, they have complicated relationships with Gotham's other heroes, and they have morals that are often shades of gray. I just think they're great.
Cassandra Cain & Sandra Woosan
See above for a lot of my thoughts on Lady Shiva, but as for Cass? I absolutely love her solid moral core, how she will save everyone even if it kills her, how a part of her will always be that child who is covered in blood and filled with guilt for taking a life. She isn't always the most eloquent in words, but she's an exceptional fighter-- and she loves fighting, despite everything. She's a character who is almost completely uninterested in a civilian life; having a real name is important to her, but she is Batgirl.
I'm really fascinated by their dynamic. Shiva isn't a mother and Cass isn't a daughter-- except that they are, they're inextricably tied together and they can't escape each other. Whatever version of their relationship you go with, it's messy and toxic and even when they're alike it doesn't mean they see eye-to-eye. I just want more of them working together for whatever reason and either working through their issues or making those issues worse.
Cassandra Cain/Xanthe Zhou
I love Spirit World and am on a quest to get everyone I know to read it. The whole story is gorgeous, but I especially love Xanthe (of course). I really love their resilience and it's just so much fun to watch them do magic and navigate the spirit world. And in general, I'd love to see more of the spirit world and its other residents, and Xanthe's relationships with them! I'd also love to see them and Constantine ending up on more magical adventures-- they had a fun dynamic, and it was fun to see both of them again recently in BoP. I also really loved their dynamic with Cass, and would love to see more Gotham adventures with the two of them, or more of Cass in the Spirit World.
Beatriz da Costa/Sigrid Nansen
I love Bea so much; she's ridiculous and over the top and she tries very hard to act like she doesn't care about anything, under that tough shell she cares so deeply. (She actually has the longest tenure of any JLI member!) And I love her relationship with Sigrid as a dysfunctional and toxic way of dealing with her grief after Tora's death.
Sigrid is also fascinating to me for her own sake: she's so insecure and she's never quite managed to be good enough on her own before, and now she's trying to fit into a dead woman's shoes. And she's never quite sure if Bea is seeing her or seeing Tora when they're interacting, and she's sort of leaning into being more like Tora... it's dysfunctional femslash at its best.
(For Sigrid, I'm only interested in her preboot incarnation, not in their more recent appearances, although if you want to make them nonbinary without retconning their original backstory, I'm cool with that.)
Beatriz da Costa/Tora Olafsdotter
My literal ice goddess! Tora is so fascinating to me, because she tends to get underestimated by everyone, even her friends and teammates, because she's openly emotional and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she's a lot tougher than most of them give her credit for, and I love that. I think her relationships with the rest of the JLI are really interesting because Tora is probably the one person that gets along best with everyone on the team, but in interpersonal situations she can fade into the background unless she makes a point of making herself be heard-- which sometimes means people, even Bea, mistake her for being a pushover.
If you're familiar with it, I think it could also be fun to set something in the Justice League 3000 timeline, about the centuries they spent apart, or their reunion, or creating some closure for Justice League 3001.
For more thoughts, I have a mini ship manifesto here.
Reading Guide
Mia Dearden & Roy Harper
I love the relationship Mia and Roy have, even if a lot of it is by implication. She takes his old hero name, he gives her his old quiver. Roy sees himself in her when she gets diagnosed with HIV. Mia is the one who was babysitting Lian when she was killed and not only does Roy blame her but she blames herself. I'd love to see more of the two of them spending time together, in or out of costume. Working together on archery, or hanging out together, or giving Ollie a hard time, or anything... I'd love it.
Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen
I love Dinah; she's everything. I love her with the Arrowfam, love her with the JSA, love her with the Birds of Prey, love her on her own. She's a badass martial artist who just happens to have superpowers; she can be prickly and difficult, but she also cares really deeply and she's very protective of the people she cares about. I find it so fascinating that she's a little bit afraid of her own capabilities-- she knows all too well that she's capable of killing people, but that's not the kind of person she wants to be.
I also really love Ollie. He's earnest and awkward and cares so much, and he's stubborn and fucks up and fails the people he cares about. He's deeply flawed but he always tries to do better, and that's one of the things I love. I also really love him and Dinah together. They're not always good for each other, but they also deeply love each other and are always drawn back together. I love the "superhero domestic" vibe, when they're doing superhero stuff and talking about deeply mundane things or similar. I also love that Dinah is a better fighter and Ollie knows and loves that.
Reading Guide
Superman (2025)
Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting
Canon-specific notes: Although I do also read comics, I do prefer for adaptations to stand on their own. I'd rather see your own ideas based solely on this movie than a retelling of a comics plotline.
Lois Lane (Superman 2025)
Woman of all time for real. I love how relentless she is when she's going after something she wants or believes in. I love how vicious she is as a journalist even with the man she's dating, and how she was totally willing to go spelunking in a pocket dimension to find Superman. She's unhinged in the best ways and I love her.
Eve Teschmacher (Superman 2025)
I'm literally obsessed with her. People around her are quick to write her off as shallow, but she's instrumental in taking down Lex. She's also just really sweet, even to characters like Ultraman who can't/won't appreciate it. I'd love to see more of her after the movie: how she feels after having been imprisoned in a pocket dimension and then rescued by Superman, what she does now that she's free of Lex, and just more about her as a person.
I'm ambivalent on Eve/Jimmy as a ship, although I'm fine with them if I get the vibe that Jimmy is equally into her.
Clark Kent/Lois Lane (Superman 2025)
I love that this movie is set at the three month mark in their relationship, still fairly early in their relationship, but long enough that they've been dating and gotten to know each other in that context and are having their first semi-serious fights. I really loved Clark's avoidant tendencies coming into conflict with Lois's more confrontational tendencies, and I loved Lois claiming she wasn't quite sure what she felt about Clark even as she embarked on a rescue mission to a pocket dimension. They're such a good team, too, and I just love seeing them together.
Kendra Saunders/Kara Zor-El (Superman 2025)
We didn't get very much of these two in the movie, but what we did get of each of them was very suggestive of their personalities! Look, I just think they would be neat. I'd love to see whatever you come up with for them.
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