fe3h rarepair exchange letter

[masumi_hijiri]

hello! 

i like doing letters bc i tend to go on for too long. i like to explain what i rly like abt a ship to give insight into how i see the characters, but that might be just me loving to ramble. (also, i realize it might not bode well for my grammar, punctuation, and spelling to be so off the cuff here, but whatever gets this letter done faster.) i appreciate you taking the time to make anything for me quite frankly! thank you so much!

also, sometimes my request-specific ideas/prompts may conflict with what i list in my general dnws. request exceptions override my general dnws (and i tend to be very explicit if im making one), but still, when in doubt, my general dnws are a good baseline.

you can see the kind of things I've written and bookmarked at sunfish @ ao3. (my fe3h/fandom side acct twitter is @cyrilapologist.)

- shen


general do not wants:

• porn without plot unless i say otherwise
• rape/noncon/dubcon
• sexual assault/abuse (though i'll clarify some stuff below)
• cheating
• explicit underage sex
• incest (this includes step-family)
• au age gaps (that is, making one character significantly older/younger than the other when canon didn't have that)
• excessive gore (some violence is fine, even artistically abstract gore is fine, i'm just not a blood and guts person)
• omegaverse
• scat, bloodplay, really extreme kink if that makes sense?
• coffeeshop aus, soulmate aus, zombie aus, slavery aus, high school aus in canons that don't originally involve high school
• roleswap aus
• 1st person pov
• issue fic (? i don't mind social issues being a factor but i also don't need a trans or polyamory 101 type fic, y'know?)
• tagging background ships
• fe3h-specific DNWs: crest experimentation aus, retainer swaps

general stuff i like:

• epistolary fiction (love me some texts, newspapers, letters, diary entries, chatlogs, etc, etc)
• dealing/coping with past trauma (noting and describing the trauma itself is fine, though not my preferred focus)
• awkwardness, especially if it's relationship talk or first dates or sex
• intimacy expressed through unique, personalized, nontraditional romantic means/cues (the best way i can describe this sort of thing is like when san feeds ashitaka in princess mononoke, or to be really corny, like the "okay?"/"okay" from tfios)
• some (some!!!) internalized homophobia (not deep angst, but i appreciate characters who feel a bit hesitant, anxious, confused and working through it)
• mundane or snapshot stuff (where there's not plot, but characters get to know each other or have a moment)
• established couple life (especially conflicts)
• friendships outside of the ship, such as characters in a ship asking their pals or family for advice. i like characters having lives outside of romance
• future/post-canon (i love seeing characters living their lives several years after the big plot stuff)
• goofy aus like everyone works at a grocery store or whatever
• trans headcanons
• ace headcanons
• illustrated fic

art specific:

• comics, even short ones
• warm and bright colors
• monochrome or limited palettes
• lush environments/settings
• quiet, intimate moments
• anything to do with the ocean or beach or sea creatures
• fun fashion (bright clothes, vintage clothes, kind of ugly but cute clothes, etc. i love 70s and 80s stuff and big sweaters)
• characters being out on dates and holding hands and being happy is always pretty solid

porn specific:

• sex being funny (whether it's someone says something goofy/inappropriate, characters laughing, comedic mishaps, etc.)
• focus on hands
• body worship
• first times (whether it's first time having sex in general, first time together, first time trying something)
• consensual bdsm (not lifestyle, really love negotiation stuff)
• oral sex
• kissing!!! (especially sloppy but affectionate kissing)
• overstimulation (of pleasure, not pain)
• aftercare

general fe3h stuff:

• post-timeskip is my general preference, though im not opposed to pre-ts stuff. no pre-ts porn though please (with one noted exception).
• in terms of routes, i've played all of them except for silver snow. i tend to lean towards default house-routes (so ignatz/cyril ➡️ verdant wind), but if you would prefer a different route, that's fine with me, unless noted otherwise.
• side ships are welcome but too extensive to list out what i like or dislike. i am kind of a felix hater and don't really like ships with too large of a life stage gap. make what you will of that.
• i didnt request any byleth ships, but just as a baseline: i like any gender for byleth. im quite partial to non-binary byleth or any kind of trans hcs for them. however, just cis flavored byleth is fine too.

cyril/ignatz:

• i love their supports so much....they deserved an a support with a paired ending! one where they travel and ignatz lovingly paints the landscapes....and cyril!
• post-timeskip strongly preferred. but a fic that takes place over time and involve pre-ts interactions is fine too. i don't have much of a route preference but vw would fit the best probably?
• what i think is nice about them too is how their personalities can complement each other. their supports are about how cyril tends to have mental tunnel vision but him also being so inclined to speak his mind makes it where they end up talking thoughtfully about art, beauty, the world, and travel. their dynamic has a very gentle push and pull.
• in fic, my preference is for something more cyril-focused (he's my favorite character). working in stuff about his childhood trauma (on top of the war trauma as well), his ambivalence about almyra, whatever hcs you might have. though obviously, the ways in which ignatz falls in love with cyril shouldn't be glossed over too quickly lol.
• and re: cyril and rhea/the church, my feelings are that i think his love of them is fundamental to his character. but i am personally...mixed, at best, on their treatment of him.
• also, it's probably best if hilda/the goneril family  has like, no appearances here.

lorenz/leonie

• AH...MY BELOVEDS. i love their supports so fucking much
• the mutual pining would be fucking batshit. i think it would be great for them to be the kind where leonie goes off as a traveling mercenary while lorenz stays at his house to deal with gloucester duties, and they both just....keep thinking about each other. maybe leonie finally stops by after lorenz's father dies and they reconnect and they realize how much they miss each other. maybe leonie leaves again but this time they send each other letters. augh, the slow burn of it all.
• also stuff about either leonie awkwardly adjusting to high society life would be good.
• this is a ship with Big Genders happening, the t4t energy is off the roof here. if u vibe with this bullet point, go with your heart on gender interpretations.

sylvain/edelgard

• this one's a weird one, sorry *takes a deep breath*
• so okay, in my head, the way i see this ship is like, sylvain flirting with edelgard bc she's pretty and he flirts with everyone. she rolls her eyes at him, but eventually they get partnered up in practice or something. she sees how actually smart he is, both in combat and his schoolwork. he notices the remarks she makes about crests and how elite society is so currently rotten. they end up opening up to each other. not really dating or anything, just becoming friends. and then they sleep together and become weird fwbs. edelgard is surprised to find out the hype around sylvain's dick is true and fair. hubert hates it and wants to poison sylvain's dick (not out of jealousy, he just think sylvain sucks and isn't good enough for her). edelgard and sylvain agree to not let ppl find out, but some do (and ingrid is like what are you doiiiiiiiiiiing???) later down the line, edelgard opens up more about her politics and what she wants the world to become. not her full plan or anything like that, but enough that sylvain starts to really believe in her vision. when edelgard starts the war, he realizes how much he believes in her and ultimately decides to defect, feeling that his previous faith in dimitri was naive. she's surprised by this but oddly pleased by his turn.
• sylvain jose "radicalized by pussy" gautier
• im very sorry for my hyper-specific scenario. you do not have to do all or any of this, but my core feeling is the synergy potential in their crest beliefs is so high plus the comedic potential of Everyone Disliked That around ppl finding out they've fucked. this is my one pre-ts porn exception, but im not rly into porn of them, but more like, sex as a surprising way for them to bond and get to know each other. (maybe edelgard insists he pulls out and he's like "oh damn, a girl who doesn't want my nut?" im sorry. im sorry for typing these things.)
• he should def kiss her magic scars though
• cf route is the default there BUT i am also open to other route tragedy, whether explicit or implied dramatic irony. this is probably the Angstiest ship in my mind.
• an added bonus is if he gets one (but just one) of his friends to also defect to bse too. my preference is either mercedes (for jeritza) or ashe (over christophe and lonato's executions).

adrestian trio

• when i tell u i finished cf and was agonizing over the fact that there's no way to have an adrestian trio ending....lol. i wuv them!!!
• i feel like the edelgard/ferdinand relationship can get a bit lost between edelbert and ferdibert being more popular. so some focus on them in the context of their triad would be nice. (and even, hubert feeling like he would taint or disrupt their relationship, as he sees himself as someone meant to live in the shadows for the sake of those in the daylight.)
• i do love the basic polyamory angst and fretting where everyone worries over the idea of loving two people, keeping up monogamous appearances (esp for politics), debating around children, etc. they're all three people who have very particular ideas around external expectations and the impact of their personal behaviors/choices, so the angsty and comedic stress potential is off the charts.
• each having to consult a friend that's not the other two in order to have some kind of vent. bonus if they accidentally overlap on the friend (dorothea would be a good candidate).
• i also think it would be funny if ferdinand found some old myth abt an old noble or saint or whatever that ended up in a loving triad and went "now wait a minute! :O"
• t4t4t would be deeply appreciated (what genders? i am v fond of transfem hubert, but ferdinand and edelgard can be up to you)
• cf route only please. angst is fine, but i want something that isnt totally tragic for them.

caspar/petra

• when i checked the tag and saw how little fic there was of them, i was genuinely shocked lol. their supports are so meaty and good???
• i love that even though caspar can be kind of a meathead, his supports (and not just with petra) are always about how socially and emotionally aware he actually is, even if he approaches situations with blunt loudness. similar to how petra's cultural differences and awkward verbal phrasing can clash with others, but that doesn't mean she's not observant or thoughtful.
• i am open to both stuff that's more happy/sweet and Big Angst. even stuff where caspar and petra end up on different sides of the war and feel conflicted about each other.
• i would love stuff about caspar feeling nervous about being petra's husband and them talking out their feelings.
• im also very open to meeting in-laws, on both sides. though i am admittedly nervous around petra's dubious writing as a tribal stereotype and would want whoever approaching this ship to keep that in mind. i don't have a specific cultural hc for her/brigid or specific hcs about her family, but i feel the need to address this here at least and ask for sensitivity around approaching them. this also includes that i wouldn't want petra to face microaggressions from caspar's family. angst and bad blood over past war conflicts is one thing, but i don't want petra to have to suffer through bigotry here.
• if you have any insight or knowledge to write petra's fsl (fodlish second language) dialogue and experiences with more...informed nuance and less Haha comedy, go right on ahead.