AU Exchange Letter

[platinum_firebird]

 Hi! Thanks for taking a look at my letter! 

Links: I'm Burning_Nightingale on AO3


Likes

General

I’m a fan of romance, adventure (especially quests!), casefic, plotty fic, fluff, gen, world-building and character studies. I am happy with any rating and any tone, from fluffy curtain fic down to pretty dark stuff. I usually prefer at least a bittersweet ending, though (unless otherwise specified). I love fics that are realistic and I love stuff that’s tropey as all get out; go wild.

Some themes/tropes I really love include: characters fighting against/changing fate, everything about survival (what it means, how it changes you, the lengths you went to), the pressures and struggles of leadership, two people against the world together, found family anything, harsh/beautiful (or harshly beautiful) physical landscapes, gifts or gestures with intense or very personal meanings, anything where characters just get one another, characters who grapple with becoming evil or doing evil deeds, villains who believe they’re in the right, villains who just don’t care about morality, characters who are determined hope will prevail above all else, characters who really feel the weight of their heritage/someone's legacy and a pressure to live up to that.

I am also very into AUs and fusions, including: fantasy (urban, high, whatever), post-apocalypse, sci-fi/space, superpowers, Pacific Rim fusions, reincarnation, royal/arranged marriage

Relationship Themed Trope Likes

Seemingly Unrequited Pining, Friends to Lovers, Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings, Battle Couple, Everyone Can See It, Like An Old Married Couple

Porn Likes

I really love porn that’s about the characters and centres their relationship. Emotionally charged, desperate, I-need-you-it-can’t-wait sex is fantastic! Sex that’s the culmination of a slow burn and/or a really intense bout of UST is my absolute jam. I’m pretty vanilla when it comes to things like BDSM, so anything beyond blindfolds and tying up wrists is a no-go for me. I’m not really into dom/sub dynamics, but a bit of dirty talk is great. A bit of rough sex – hair-pulling, pushing up against walls, scratching/biting, not being 100% gentle all the time is also very good ;) I'm also always down with xeno and human/non-human sex!

DNWs

Scat + watersports, incest, character-bashing, non-con, lifestyle BDSM relationships, de-aging



Fandoms

Group: Female Revan (SW: KOTOR) & Anakin Skywalker (SWPT)

ALL: Alternate Ending AU,

ALL: Canon Divergence AU,

All: Character deals with a canonical difficult situation better than in canon,

All: Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies,

All: Time Travel Fix-It,

ALL: Time Travel to the Future,

Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side,

SW: Character Haunted By A Force Ghost,

SW: The Republic Never Falls

I just love the idea of Anakin and Revan meeting somehow! I don’t mind if she actually time travels physically into the future or Anakin somehow gets haunted by her Force Ghost. I really like the Grey Jedi/neither really Light or Dark Jedi interpretation of Revan, and I think with her experiences of the Dark and Light sides and balancing them, she could really help Anakin with his troubles. I would love to see an AU where her influence means he doesn’t Fall and become Vader! Maybe she helps him defeat Sidious? Or alternately, if Revan is still Dark, maybe she encourages Anakin to turn Dark and then helps him overthrow Sidious and become the Emperor himself?

Group: Luke Skywalker (SWOT) & Vader (SWOT) & Thrawn (SW: Thrawn) & Eli Vanto (SW: Thrawn)

Group: Luke Skywalker (SWOT)/Eli Vanto (SW: Thrawn)

ALL: Alternate Ending AU

ALL: Canon Character Death Evaded

ALL: Canon Divergence AU

ALL: Enemies forced to work together

ALL: Finding Peace/An End to the War

ALL: On the Run

All: Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

So I loved Thrawn and Vader’s interactions in Alliances, so I would LOVE an AU where Vader lives and goes into hiding in Ascendancy/ends up in Ascendancy somehow. The continuing adventures of Redeemed!Vader and Ascendancy!Thrawn! (And how even when he’s back to being on the Light Side, Vader still lowkey wants to strangle Thrawn). How would Eli react to Vader? And presumably Luke would come with Vader to the Ascendancy? What does he think of it? Do he and Eli get along? What does Luke think of Thrawn? How does Luke explain it all to the people he’s leaving behind, if he does at all? Do they search for him? Do they all try to get away from their pasts by signing up to start building a settlement on some new planet the Chiss have discovered and are beginning to colonise? Also I would love Luke having a slightly inconvenient crush on Eli, and how the other two react to that!

Group: Cere Junda (SW: Fallen Order) & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SWST)

Group: Cal Kestis (SW: Fallen Order)/Luke Skywalker (SWOT)

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

ALL: Canon Divergence AU

ALL: Disastrous Camping Trip AU

ALL: Finding Peace/An End to the War

ALL: Found Family

ALL: Married with cats

All: Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies

SWST: Light Side Ben Solo

I would love to see Cere and Cal surviving into the post-ROTJ era! With Cere and Ben, I feel like given her brush with using the Dark Side, she might be able to help him with his struggle and help him against Snoke. Maybe Cere’s guidance helps Ben avoid the Dark Side altogether - or maybe she teaches him to shut himself off from the Force so that Snoke can’t get to him? I would be interested in Ben intentionally rejecting the Force and perhaps following in either of his parents’ footsteps, and maybe later learning to reopen himself despite his fear of Snoke? Or maybe he feels more comfortable reopening himself to the Force later, when he thinks he can stand up to Snoke? Or maybe he just swears off the Force entirely! I would interested in an exploration of any option.

I am so here for Luke meeting Cal and having an ‘oh no he’s hot’ moment. Maybe the two of them are rebuilding the Jedi Order together, which helps them deal with their trauma from the war? Maybe they (and Cere & Ben) are building the new Jedi Temple on some lost, abandoned, or newly discovered world? Maybe they set up on Bogano, as Cere and Cal originally intended? Maybe they all go on a disastrous camping trip together while they’re scouting locations for the Jedi Temple? I would just love Luke and Cal slowly coming together, maybe with some leftover ‘Jedi shouldn’t date’ guilt on Cal’s side. 

Group: Qi'ra (SW: Solo)/Trilla Suduri | Second Sister (SW: Fallen Order)

Group: Enfys Nest (SW: Solo)/Trilla Suduri | Second Sister (SW: Fallen Order)

ALL: Bounty Hunters AU

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

All: canon character death didn't happen AU

ALL: Character and enemy must work together to save the world

ALL: Enemies forced to work together

ALL: Everyone wakes up amnesiac on a spaceship

ALL: Finding Peace/An End to the War

ALL: Hyperspace test pilot AU

ALL: Requested character(s) are stuck on a deserted island post-apocalypse/post-canon

ALL: Southern Reach Fusion

ALL: Space Outlaws AU

ALL: Space Pirates AU

ALL: Space Smugglers AU

ALL: The Scar AU (China Mieville)

ALL: Trapped Alone on an Alien World

SWOT: The Empire wins

ALL: Annihilation AU

If set in canon, I would love to see something where Trilla doesn’t die, and instead gets away from the Empire to meet one of these girls. Maybe Qi’ra draws her into her crime syndicate? Or Enfys tries to convince her to join her rebels? I would also love AUs where they’re space pirates or hyperspace test pilots in the canon universe even if the events of canon never happened - maybe the Empire never rose? Maybe their lives just took completely different turns? Or maybe Trilla survives and the Empire wins! This could be quite dark if Enfys is her prisoner - maybe she finds herself taking pity on this woman she’s supposed to be torturing? Or maybe she works with Qi’ra to further the Empire’s interests? Or maybe with the Rebels out of the way, the Empire starts cracking down on the crime syndicates? As for an Annihilation/Southern Reach AU, you could make that a complete setting change AU or have the Shimmer/Area X appear somewhere in the Star Wars universe. I’m just down for the complete oddness and weirdness of the original canon! For The Scar AU, who are they on the floating city, and what are their lives like? Do they even come from/live on the city? 

Group: Alexsandr Kallus (SW: Rebels)/Eli Vanto (SW: Thrawn)

ALL: Characters Were In A Relationship But Broke Up Pre-Canon

ALL: Characters who knew one another long ago unexpectedly reunite for an adventure

ALL: Different First Meeting - Mistaken for a Hooker and Goes With It

ALL: Disastrous Camping Trip AU

ALL: Hyperspace test pilot AU

ALL: Space Outlaws AU

ALL: Space Pirates AU

With Pre-Canon here I’m thinking probably Pre-Rebels canon. They both know Yularen, so maybe he introduced them – was he attempting to play matchmaker with two of his protégés? Was it a one-time thing, maybe a hook-up while on Coruscant or on a mission, or maybe they dated for a while and it didn’t work out? I would love to see the two of them reuniting for an adventure with this backstory - maybe dealing with a disastrous camping trip as sniping exes? Or alternately, if they’re space pirates/outlaws/hyperspace pilots, I would be up for them being together or still being grouchy exes. How did they end up in those roles, anyway, and how are they different in personality from how they are in canon? Or for the different first meeting - exactly what situation do they meet in that Kallus mistakes Eli for a hooker, and why does he go along with it? How does that play out later? (Also I highkey ship Eli with Thrawn, so him having broken up with Kallus for Thrawn and/or Kallus’ suspicions about his feelings for Thrawn being a key reason they broke up would be awesome. I also love Kallus/Zeb if you want to incorporate that!)

Group: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SWST)

ALL: Canon Divergence AU

ALL: Character comes into an inheritance with strange conditions

ALL: Different First Meeting - Met Via Matchmaking Service

ALL: Space Smugglers AU

SWST: Ben Solo never joined the Dark Side

SWST: Force Sensitive Armitage Hux

SWST: Light Side Ben Solo

I would love an AU where Ben didn’t turn Dark and the First Order never existed, so Armitage and Ben meet in the Republic somewhere and catch feelings for each other. Maybe Hux’s dad was arrested by the New Republic and he was raised by his mother, or by Maratelle (I imagine those would be very different circumstances!). Maybe Ben swears off using the Force and becomes a bit of a scoundrel like Han, and Hux meets him through some kind of con/escape from authorities/other shenanigans? Or they meet via a matchmaking service, neither knowing exactly who the other is and that they might already know each other? Or Hux is force sensitive, and he comes to train with Luke and meets Ben? Are they rivals in the new Jedi Order? Or maybe they’re both involved in politics? For the coming into a strange inheritance tag, maybe Brendol dies and Armitage inherits something weird, something that either complicates his relationship with Ben or pushes them into meeting for the first time?

Group: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto (SW: Thrawn)

ALL: Annihilation AU

You could make this a complete setting change AU or have the Shimmer/Area X appear somewhere in the Star Wars universe. I’m just down for the complete oddness and weirdness of the original canon!

ALL: Bounty Hunters AU

ALL: Space Pirates AU

Instead of joining an Imperial Academy, Eli ends up becoming a bounty hunter? Or maybe something happens to his family/their business, which means he needs a quick way to make money? How does he meet Thrawn in this instance? Does Thrawn become a bounty hunter/pirate with him, or maybe Imperial!Thrawn is trying to chase down Space Pirate!Eli? Or maybe as an Imperial officer, Thrawn works with Eli the bounty hunter?

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

Maybe post-canon, these two ‘retire’ to start building a new Chiss colony? Or maybe the events of canon never happened, and they’re both looking for a fresh start?

SW: Eli Vanto is Force Sensitive

ALL: Sith AU

I would absolutely love anything with Eli being Force-sensitive. How does he hide it? Why did he still join the Empire if he knew? Does he know exactly what his strange abilities are? How do they get revealed to Thrawn? Maybe they get revealed and Eli has to go on the run? Alternately, Force sensitive Eli was discovered by the Empire and recruited as an Inquisitor, and that’s how he ends up meeting Imperial officer Thrawn? Maybe they become partners like in canon, only Eli is on an equal or maybe even greater level rank-wise than Thrawn, since he’s an Inquisitor. Inquisitor!Eli helping Grand Admiral Thrawn hunt down the Ghost crew during Rebels would be amazing.

ALL: Characters in arranged marriage AU catch feelings

ALL: Future Arranged Spouses are Forbidden To Meet But Able To Study One Another's Hobbies

How do these two end up being in an arranged marriage? Maybe some Empire/Ascendancy alliance thing? Maybe an AU where Lysatra has ties to the Ascendancy, and Eli’s family see this as a way to expand their trading empire? I would love them both dutifully going along with it and unexpectedly catching feelings. Also, I love the idea of them trying to glean information through their hobbies, and how they actually line up with the person they finally meet.

ALL: characters meet earlier than in canon,

ALL: Different First Meeting - Captured by Slavers

ALL: Different First Meeting - Mistaken for a Hooker and Goes With It

All: Space Hooker AU

Maybe in this AU, Chiss are captured as slaves by people in Wild Space? Or Chiss take humans as slaves? You could combine this with the space pirates AU, and maybe space pirate Eli breaks Thrawn and the other Chiss slaves out? I also love the idea of their first meeting being Thrawn mistaking Eli for a hooker - or Eli actually being a hooker, and how he got there!

ALL: Dungeons & Dragons setting

I have no idea what classes or races they’d be, but these two as part of a DnD adventuring party sounds like a recipe for hilarity! 

ALL: Snowed in at a Haunted Hotel

Mystery-solving! I don’t mind whether this happens within the canon universe or in a setting change AU, the key for me here is these two Holmes-and-Watson-ing their way into finding out that the hotel is haunted, and maybe by whom?

Group: Rex/Ahsoka Tano (SW: TCW)

Group: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano (SW: TCW)

Group: Padmé Amidala & Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano (SW: TCW)

Group: Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker (SW: TCW)

ALL: Alignment Swap AU

All the good guys as bad guys and the bad guys as good guys! These characters being Sith/evil while going up against people like Palpatine, who’re now good, would be my absolute jam!

ALL: Annihilation AU

You could make this a complete setting change AU or have the Shimmer/Area X appear somewhere in the Star Wars universe. I’m just down for the complete oddness and weirdness of the original canon!

ALL: Bounty Hunters AU

ALL: Space Pirates AU

ALL: Sky Pirates/Skyfarers AU

These guys as a crew of bounty hunters or space/sky pirates would be amazing. Or some of them are bounty hunters chasing the space pirates, maybe? I would be totally down for Rex and/or Obi-Wan being some kind of galactic law enforcement who get tempted by the others into a life of crime and/or bounty hunting!

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

ALL: Disastrous Camping Trip AU

I love the idea of these guys all moving to some new frontier planet together, bonding through working and surviving together, and all the trials and troubles that setting up a new colony brings. Found family ftw? Also, I’m thinking maybe this disastrous camping trip could happen while they’re exploring the new world?

ALL: Dungeons & Dragons setting

Padmé, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Rex as a DnD adventuring party sounds like absolute gold. What missions do they get sent on? What hijinks do they get up to? I have no preference as to classes/whether some of them are different DnD races, so go wild with that!

ALL: Howl's Moving Castle AU

Honestly Anakin has the right kind of chaotic energy to be Howl, and he’s a Force prodigy in canon, so he’s a magic prodigy here? And Obi-Wan is a very disgruntled Sophie. I could see Ahsoka as Markel, and maybe Padmé is a kind of Witch of the Wastes type figure, except she’s super competent and in the end Anakin and Obi-Wan fall for her too? (I’m mostly familiar with movie-verse, so I’d prefer if you stick to that). 

ALL: Hyperspace test pilot AU

These guys as a hyperspace exploration crew! Where do they go, and what do they find? Do they have some near-misses? Does their hyperdrive malfunction? 

ALL: Ocean's Eleven-esque heist

I would love for this to be in-universe, maybe combined with the space pirates AU? 

Group: Luke Skywalker/Han Solo (SWOT)

ALL: Alternate First Meetings

All: Arranged marriage to prevent extradition or incarceration

ALL: Characters in arranged marriage AU catch feelings

ALL: characters meet earlier than in canon

Maybe Tatooine has a system where you can save someone from execution by marrying them? Luke takes pity on Han and saves him, but now they’re married and he has to explain the whole thing to his aunt and uncle? And he thought he just married this guy to save him, but oh no he’s really hot, and he has his own ship…

ALL: Annihilation AU

You could make this a complete setting change AU or have the Shimmer/Area X appear somewhere in the Star Wars universe. I’m just down for the complete oddness and weirdness of the original canon!

All: Bodyguard AU

I’m here for aaaaall the bodyguard falling for his charge tropes. I’d love to know how Han manages to get hired as a bodyguard and why Luke is in need of guarding. As Vader’s son? As the last Jedi ever? I just love the forbidden relationship aspect and the falling for someone you shouldn’t thing!

ALL: Space Pirates AU

ALL: Sky Pirates/Skyfarers AU

I mean, Han is kinda a space pirate already, but I love the idea of him pulling Luke into it. This could go with the alternate first meetings tag, and maybe Luke runs away with Han to be a space pirate before the events of ANH can happen? Or something similar, but in a non-sci-fi world with sky pirates?

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

I love the idea of these two moving to some new frontier planet and meeting each other, bonding through working and surviving together, and all the trials and troubles that setting up a new colony brings. I could see Luke being eager for adventure and getting it through this instead of joining an Imperial Academy, while Han is just looking for a fresh start, maybe still holding onto some guilt about his past that at first makes him unsure about getting into a relationship with Luke?

ALL: Different First Meeting - Captured by Slavers

ALL: Different First Meeting - Mistaken for a Hooker and Goes With It

All: Space Hooker AU

Maybe Han gets tricked into agreeing to smuggle slaves, and Luke is one of them? They go on the run together when Han lets the slaves go? Or maybe Han mistakes Luke for a hooker on Tatooine and Luke goes with it for whatever reason - maybe he’s feeling like doing something stupid and rebellious? Maybe he just wants to sleep with a hot guy? Or maybe something’s happened to his aunt and uncle and he needs some way to make money now? 

SW: Luke and Leia raised by Darth Vader

How do Luke and Han meet in this AU? Is Han a prisoner or something similar? Maybe he accidentally winds up with something Luke/Vader need, and Luke is trying to convince him to part with the information/location of whatever it is? Or maybe Han manages to stick it out and become an Imperial officer in this AU, and he works with Luke, and they have a forbidden secret relationship? I’m down for Luke maybe wanting to pursue the light side, or being totally dark side in this AU.

Group: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi (Haikyuu!!)

ALL: Annihilation AU

The Shimmer/Area X appears somewhere in Japan? I’m just down for the complete oddness and weirdness of the original canon!

All: Bodyguard AU

I’m here for aaaaall the bodyguard falling for his charge tropes. I’d love to know how Daichi manages to get hired as a bodyguard and why Suga is in need of guarding. I just love the forbidden relationship aspect and the falling for someone you shouldn’t thing!

ALL: Building a settlement on a frontier planet

I love the idea of these two moving to some new frontier planet and meeting each other, bonding through working and surviving together, and all the trials and troubles that setting up a new colony brings. Are they looking for adventure, or maybe a new start?

ALL: Character is a Witcher

Daichi as a Witcher and Suga as a sorcerer? Or maybe both of them as Witchers, either who grew up together, or who come from different schools? I would just love to see how they fit in this world, and maybe some monster-hunting together!

ALL: Dungeons & Dragons setting

These two probably make a pretty good DnD twosome, and maybe they join up with other members of the cast for missions that need a bigger adventuring party? I don’t have any preferences for classes/races for these two, so go wild with that!

ALL: Hyperspace test pilot AU

These guys as a two-man hyperspace exploration crew! Where do they go, and what do they find? Do they have some near-misses? Does their hyperdrive malfunction?

ALL: Japanese Mythology AU

ALL: Youkai AU

Tengu AU? I would love for this to go into the creepy or weird side of Japanese mythology, especially if they’re tengu, given the tengu’s association with war and battle. What is it like, being a mythological creature? Or maybe only one of them is, and they fall in love somehow? 

ALL: Magic Shop AU

I could totally see Suga running the magic shop, and I would love the day-to-day tribulations and troubles and also joys of running the shop - one of which is Daichi finding an excuse to visit, maybe?

ALL: Military Scifi AU

I would love these guys in any kind of military sci-fi AU. Which planets do they come from? Why did they decide to join the military? What positions are they in, and what missions do they go on? Day-to-day life on a big spaceship or at a military installation, either in space or on a strange alien world, would be amazing. 

ALL: Space Pirates AU

I just love everything about this idea. What kind of heists/crimes do they get up to? Are they Robin Hood-style outlaws or are they in it purely for themselves? What’s their ship like? Who do they work with?