wintersday | Candy Hearts Letter (2025) (Reply)

Thank you for writing for me! I love everything I’ve requested and would be equally happy to receive fic for any of them. Likes and prompts are intended as a source of inspiration — if you’ve got an idea that doesn’t follow any of them, I encourage you to run with it. If your interpretation of any of the ships or characters differs from my own, I encourage you to write them as you like.

I love less common POVs and formats (for example, first person, second person, non-chronological, fic that leans into game mechanics, a series of linked drabbles), and I’d be happy with any rating from G to Explicit (including smut, including PWP) and any tone from fluff to darkfic. I’m open to character death, graphic violence, and sad or bittersweet (but preferably not utterly hopeless) endings. I’m also open to crossovers among any of my requested fandoms. Finally, while longer fic is great too, I really love shortfic, so don’t hesitate to write me something at or near the word limit.

(Click on each statement to expand.)

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Likes: Location-based horror, fantasy, or mystery (for example, abandoned ruins, strange landscapes, eldritch architecture) ∙ Worldbuilding, including the little mundane details of daily life in fictional places ∙ Fictional gods and belief systems ∙ Slice of life ∙ Survival in difficult circumstances ∙ Small moments of peace in the midst of danger or hardship ∙ Characters who are used to going without something (food, kindness, physical contact, a chance to rest, etc.) receiving it ∙ Gradually-earned trust ∙ Unexpected kindness or mercy ∙ Characters fighting against doom, fate, and/or impossible odds, and maybe winning ∙ Mutual loyalty ∙ AUs of the following types: canon-divergence, role swap, urban fantasy and/or futuristic fantasy, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic ∙ Ghosts, vampires, and other sapient undead

NSFW likes:
Character-focused sex ∙ Non-penetrative sex ∙ Body worship ∙ Xeno ∙ Hand-kink and/or glove-kink ∙ Clothing kink (for example, rich fabrics, soft or pleasant textures, outfits with emotional significance) ∙ Sensory play (for example, focus on textures or temperatures, sensory deprivation) ∙ Bathing or showering together ∙ Consensual but non-formal BDSM-related kinks (for example, bondage, painplay or impact play) ∙ Consensual voyeurism/exhibitionism ∙ Kink as something influenced by or used to explore a character’s not-necessarily-inherently-sexual fears, desires, or emotions ∙ Feel free to include kinks not listed here as long as they don’t show up in my DNWs.

Do Not Wants: Rape/non-con between requested pairings. ∙ Sexual content involving characters aged 14 or under at the time the fic is set (future-fic set when they’re older is totally fine) ∙ Modern mundane AUs ∙ Omegaverse ∙ Rimming ∙ Watersports or scat ∙ Sounding ∙ Infantilization, age regression, and/or age-play ∙ Pregnancy or fic with heavy focus on raising children, except where requested or canon-compliant ∙ Racekink ∙ Fic based on real world bigotry or atrocities ∙ Serious real world illness, except where canon-compliant (fictional illnesses are OK, even as a major focus; so is characters having disabilities. What I am looking to avoid is pandemic fic and fic focused on suffering or death from an illness that a character does not have in canon)

Homestuck

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-specific likes: Anything to do with the Game. The weird, melancholy, mythic atmosphere of early-canon SBURB/SGRUB ∙ Classpects and powers ∙ God Tier being reinterpreted in a more mythic way than canon (or just an AU with characters as gods) ∙ Helmstrolls, especially of the rogue, vengeful, and/or rescued variety ∙ Any character wrestling with their Ancestor or Guardian’s legacy ∙ Alternian worldbuilding, from the ridiculous to the poignant or horrific ∙ Rebellion AUs ∙ Roleswap AUs (bloodswaps, species-swaps, class-etc-swaps, etc.) ∙ Survival on Alternia or post-apocalyptic Earth ∙ Ludicrous Homestuckian technology (captchalogues, transportalizers, etc.) ∙ Troll-Human diplomacy and cultural differences, played humorously or seriously or both.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Epilogues or H^2 canon ∙ Evil or tyrannical Feferi, or implications that she will inevitably become so ∙ Petstuck ∙ Cronus or Dualscar ∙ Ancestors being given Dancestor names (e.g., Mituna for the Psiioniic — I prefer the use of their Ancestor titles). Typing quirks in spoken dialogue in-fic.

Sollux Captor/The Psiioniic

I love these two as mirrors of each other — the Psiioniic as ancient, hurt, weary and maybe more machine than troll, Sollux as younger and more hopeful (if only in comparison) but still able to understand what it’s like to be trapped by d00m and fate; the Psiioniic as what Sollux feared becoming; Sollux representing a freedom Psii can barely remember. I love the thought of them working together, or of Sollux hacking into Psii’s systems to free him, or helping him recover after the Condesce’s fall. I also love the thought of them being a little uneasy or uncertain around each other, and struggling with all the feelings the other’s presence evokes.

Lil Hal/The Psiioniic

These two have a fascinating amount in common, and I think they could understand each other in a way few others do — they’ve both been made into machines, not by choice but in a way that’s profoundly affected them and may even feel more natural now; they’ve both experienced a similar kind of powerlessness, though Psii has been experiencing it for so much longer, and I could see Hal’s Space Odyssey murdercomputer thing being intensely appealing to Psii (daisy daisy, motherfucker). I also like the thought of them both thinking/perceiving the world through code and machine senses (cameras, sensors, etc.), and relating to each other that way. I’d love to see them team up and fuck everything up together, and/or for Hal to be instrumental in helping Psii return to himself, or any other kind of hurt/comfort.

Lil Hal/Sollux Captor

Like the Psiioniic but for different reasons, I think Sollux as a coder could understand and be drawn to Hal. I’m interested in the potential of a hacker at the top of his game testing his skills against a superpowerful AI, or the two of them working together in a higher stakes scenario — caliginous romance could be fun here. So could a cyberpunk AU, or something set post-canon (but without ARquius happening) where Hal is trying to figure out who he is now and Sollux helps. Alternately: being helmstrolled has left Sollux with cybernetic modifications that allow Hal to ride along in his body and experience physical sensations for the first time in years; possibly this leads to smut, or possibly just to Hal enjoying a hot shower or some delicious food.

Sollux Captor/Feferi Peixes; Aradia Megido/Feferi Peixes; Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido/Feferi Peixes

Sollux/Feferi is of my favorite OTPs. I love the fact that there’s so much contrast between them (Doom-Life, cynicism-joy, the power and class differential), but for all that, they just like each other as friends and equals. I’d love to see them getting to know each other — sharing hobbies, learning about each other’s lives, working together. In the canon timeline, I’d love to see them playing SGRUB or exploring the dream bubbles in the aftermath (what other timelines and lives to they see there? Do they ever leave the dream bubbles behind in search of something else?). In AUs, I’d love to see them fighting against or hiding from the Empire together, or Sollux as her willing pilot (preferably with this being a fate that’s neither so permanent nor so terrible as on Imperial ships), or Sollux being appreciative of and not at all afraid of the fact that Feferi is a little bit eldritch.

For Aradia/Feferi, the contrast here is Death-Life rather than Doom-Life, but they’ve got a ton in common: they’re both cheerful and forceful and pragmatic, and even in their contrasts, they’re not dissimilar: Aradia is vivacious and willing to rage against fate, and Feferi is familiar and comfortable with death and inevitability. Both of them are comfortable with a little bit of eldritchness in their lives. On the other hand, they both come from very different places in the Alternian hierarchy, and that’s shaped how they relate to power and powerlessness in fascinating ways. They’d make an excellent team, and if they ever found themselves in opposition to each other, the results would be dangerous. I’d love to see them as leaders of separate anti-Imperial factions in an alliance, or as old friends meeting again in adulthood when everything has changed for the worst.

Everything in the previous two sections applies, but I’m also intrigued by the ways all three of them might relate to each other. I personally see the Sollux/Aradia part of the triad as more pale, and the Sollux/Feferi and Aradia/Feferi parts as more flushed, with AraFef also occasionally having a bit of caliginous bite.

Aradia Megido/Vriska Serket

What I love about this ship: All that shared history and intense emotion – betrayal, loyalty, the kind of hate that wraps right around to love, the kind of protectiveness and possessiveness that includes (but is not limited to) nobody is allowed to hurt you but me, and only in ways you want. I love how they counterbalance each other and provide each other the impetus to not give up on things that matter, like life, and being a better person than you were, and being angry. I love that they had this simpler friendship that Vriska broke irrevocably, but instead of drifting apart, they built something new and sharper on top of it. Anything from canonverse to some kind of wild AU is welcome here — I’d love to see their adventures across spacetime in the Dream Bubbles, or the two of them as rival treasure hunters, or space pirates, or how they relate to each other post-Game when the dust has time to settle.

Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam

These two are so well-matched to each other in so many ways. I love their silliness and flirtation and verbal sparring and sarcasm, as well as their more serious side, and you can take it in so many different directions — eldritchness and grimbrightness, conflict or miscommunication or culture clash from the serious to the ridiculous, a sweet and/or kinky moment, something taking god-tier powers in a more mythic direction, something delving into the complicated way they both feel about their respective cultures’ understanding of motherhood… also, all the AUs other than mundane modern Humanstuck ones. An arranged marriage between two kingdoms? Snarky rival authors? Something where Rose is the vampire and Kanaya is channeling the elder gods? There are options here and I’d be happy to see any of them.

Rose Lalonde/Dave Strider

I love how well they know and understand each other, including weak spots and vulnerabilities, and how they have so much love and loyalty combined with so much willingness to tease and spar and challenge each other, usually in fun ways but occasionally, on accident, in ways that might brush up against or cross a painful line. The easy way they click and build off each other’s conversational momentum. Their mutual refuge in irony and sarcasm when emotions are difficult. The fact that neither of them is willing to let the other go alone into the dark. I’d love to see one (or both) of them rescue or protect the other, or some post-canon comfort as they adapt to life after the Game, or a rambling conversation about something completely absurd, or a creative collaboration, or anything else you can think of.

Regarding the incest: feel free to either acknowledge it or ignore it, according to your preference. However, I do not want any AU where they are raised together as siblings.

Rose Lalonde/Roxy Lalonde

I love how easily this ship could go in either a very fluffy direction, a very angsty one, or some complicated blend of both. They’re sweet, they like each other from the moment they meet despite all their nervousness about meeting and not being liked, they like cats and wizards and writing… but at the same time, there’s all kinds of loneliness and painful history to disentangle, in terms of Rose’s Mom and Alpha Rose’s legacy. To me, the incestuous dimension feels more inextricable for Rose/Roxy than it does for Rose/Dave, who were friends before anything else, whereas I’m not sure its possible for either Rose or Roxy to look at the other one and not see some aspect of the mother who wanted to protect and care for them but couldn’t. But they’re both new, distinct people too, and that means they have the chance for something new and sweet.

Hiveswap

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-specific likes (Hiveswap/Friendsim edition): Friendsim characters playing SGRUB, including speculation on classpects/powers, Lands, puzzles/quests, etc. ∙ Surviving - and maybe escaping - Alternia; characters finding a way to build lives for themselves beyond the Empire’s reach ∙ Friendsim characters in the Rebellion ∙ Characters defying the Empire in quieter ways (e.g., Marsti being a medic, Tyzias or Tagora “losing” just the right paperwork to let someone off the hook, Kuprum keeping Folykl alive and safe) ∙ If I am allowed to be EXTREMELY self-indulgent, Marsti and/or Folykl/Marsti fic inspired by Earth Human Springsteen lyrics would delight me to no end ∙ ALSO: All fandom-specific likes for Homestuck still apply, especially rogue/vengeful/rescued helmstrolls and Alternian worldbuilding

Fandom-specific DNWs: Marsti feeling contemptuous of or disgusted by Folykl ∙ Typing quirks in spoken dialogue in-fic.

Folykl Darane/Marsti Houtek; Folykl Darane/Marsti Houtek/Kuprum Maxlol

I love both Folykl/Marsti as a relationship distinct from the tight-knit, codependent relationship Folykl has with her morail, and all three of them as outsiders struggling to survive in a harsh world who all find each other and end up in the weirdest little found family. For Folykl/Marsti alone or in the OT3, I love lot of emphasis on intimacy and warmth (both physical and emotional), and small moments of direct contact having a lot of meaning, as well as Marsti’s whole approach to risk as a reaction against how constrained her life and future is (and how that changes if she has someone to care about and something to live for). I love the bittersweetness that comes from the fact that realistically, what they have cannot last forever — Marsti’s got to leave the planet and go on to a supremely shitty future, and Folykl might not survive if (when) she loses Kuprum, who has his own doom hanging over him — but I’d also love to see a universe where they escape that doom together (or separately, with a later reunion). Other things I’d love to see for them: an SGRUB AU, a Beforan AU, any kind of alternate first meeting.

For the Folykl/Kuprum leg of the triangle, I like the interpretation that Kuprum’s feelings toward the Empire and his eventual fate are more conflicted than likes to pretend, and that he would 100% choose Folykl over the Empire if he had a choice, but both of them know he doesn’t — so they love each other and need each other and hurt each other, and sometimes that’s because being hurt by each other is what they need. They’re each other’s entire world in a way that’s not the healthiest, but they live on a hellmurder planet and you survive how you can — and then there’s Marsti, an outsider who treats Folykl like an actual person, and someone who might bring a breath of fresh air and some balance. But I’m also intrigued by how Marsti and Kuprum relate to each other— like, Kuprum’s entire Trizza-stanning Troll 4chan shtick is pretty fundamentally in opposition to the things that Marsti believes in and values, and I see her as being highly willing to challenge him, but they’re both united in caring about Folykl and keeping her safe, and that could lead to some fascinating tension and points of connection.

Tyzias Entykk/Tagora Gorjek

Tired, long-suffering study-buddies just trying to survive on the mean streets of Alternian murderlawyer school. One thing I absolutely love about these two is that Tagora is pretty clearly familiar with Tyzias’s revolutionary sentiments, which means that she is putting a lot of trust in a guy who presents himself as ethically flexible and interested only in making as much money as possible, and she knows it, and that trust is 100% justified. I also love that they don’t seem on the surface like two people who would be friends, but they very much are, and I’d love to read a moment where they protect and/or look out for each other using their own particular talents and skills, whether that’s studying for a terrifying exam or Tagora redirecting suspicion from Tyzias’s undercover work by making an annoyance of himself or a difficult court case they need to collaborate on… or maybe a moment of comfort where they can stop worrying about appearances and just relax.

Fallen London

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-Specific Likes: Canon-typical horror, wonder, humor, Neathy weirdness, and Neathy worldbuilding in London and outside it – I love how strange the lore can get, and the possibilities offered by the uncertainty of time and space and physical reality (but don’t feel like you need to know every obscure detail of the lore to write something I’ll enjoy!) ∙ Dreams and dreamlike imagery; Parabola; cats and snakes ∙ Underdog characters (e.g., the Urchins, the Rubberies, the Clay Men, the rats) ∙ The zee, in all its danger and beauty ∙ The Correspondence and the Discordance ∙ Neathy Academia, fashion, art, food, and other aspects of everyday life ∙ The Railway and the landscapes and cities of the Hinterlands ∙ The Liberation of Night, and/or other Fallen London revolutionary movements ∙ Devils and Infernal worldbuilding

Fandom-Specific DNWs: Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name and anything connected to it. That said, I have no objections to the kind of dark subject matter explored in SMEN. It’s that specific storyline I DNW.

April of the Calendar Council/Sinning Jenny

I am so intrigued by these two as socialist reformers with similar goals and sympathies but very different methods and ethical lines, who find themselves as comrades in arms (and, in the context of the ship, friends and/or lovers) whose camaraderie might be tempered by the fact that they may not always be aligned. I love them working with the PC to bring down a monster who is also a Master, and their later rapport during the railway board meetings (the doodles! Their shared appreciation for MORE WEAPONS!). I also love the contrasts between them — April as the disheveled, radical engineer devoted to her projects and her revolution, Jenny as a believer in progress within the system, accustomed to using sex and charisma to achieve her goals, seemingly softer and gentler but with a spine of steel…. I’d love to see them fight another monster together (literal or metaphorical), or a moment of tension (political or sexual or both), or an exploration of how they feel about events and places in London or the Hinterlands.

Furnace Ancona/Player

Like many people, I was immediately taken with Furnace as a character and her interactions with the Player ∙ sometimes tense and challenging, sometimes grudgingly trusting, sometimes even friendly. I love sympathetic characters who absolutely will oppose the protagonist when they think it’s necessary, and Furnace is definitely one of those. I prefer a PC who’s firmly on the side of (or at the very least, sympathetic to) the workers, although they and Furnace may still have different goals and priorities, and I love the thought of Furnace starting out wary or outright suspicious — for good reason! — until the PC demonstrates that they can be trusted. And we see some of how that might happen in the game, but I’d love to see other smaller moments along the way, as part of a developing romance or just a shift from potential adversaries to allies. ALSO: that whole City of the Tracklayers thing. How do they deal with the fact that Furnace does (or, alternately, does not) become a city married to a piece of landscape? In the event that Furnace does accept the deal, is the PC able to maintain a relationship with her as she becomes?

Original Character & Original Character; Original Character/Original Character

This is more of a free space than a specific request — I love all the various forms that lives and stories can take in Fallen London, along with everything to do with the atmosphere and worldbuilding. Fandom-specific likes and details are in the sign-up, but I’d be delighted to see whatever you come up with, from something digging into the deepest of deep lore to one character writing an excoriating review of the other’s latest opera to two rats falling in love while repairing a velocipede. I tend to prefer canon typical Adjective Titles (e.g., the Woeful Weasel-Keeper) to names, but write what you think works best for the story. Also, while I’m familiar with most of the lore and happy to roll with anything I’m not familiar with, don’t worry about getting fiddly little lore details correct or inventing something that contradicts an obscure lore snippet somewhere. The Neath has room for contradictions.

Sunless Sea

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-Specific Likes: I love the atmosphere of this game – that combination of evocative, sometimes startling beauty and lonely darkness, the precariousness and consequent importance of warmth, light, food, safety, company. Conversely, the horror and survival elements of the game too – terror, cannibalism, unseen threats and dangerous temptations in the dark or beneath the zee’s surface, and the equal and opposite threat of too-fierce light. I love all the ports and islands – Frostfound, Irem, Whither, and Gaider’s Mourn are favorites – and I’d love any exploration of aspects of them we didn’t get to see, or an entirely new port or island with new threats or wonders. The Gods of the Zee also intrigue me, and I’d love anything focused on them.

Fandom-Specific DNWs: The Seeking-related aspects of the game (the Chapel of Lights, Mr Eaten references). I don’t mind loss of mind or consumption of crew, but these events should stay Name-unrelated.

For all Zee-Captain ships

Captains of any gender or none are all welcome, and so is leaving their gender ambiguous to the reader. The Captain is a relatively undefined presence in the game itself, which leaves you with a lot of freedom to define them. Left to my own devices, I tend to go for an Urchin or Revolutionary background, but other options are more than welcome and I’d love to see what you come up with, including any details or invented backstory you choose to integrate — although I also enjoy writing in the style of the game narration that puts more focus on the events, locations and other characters, while allowing the Captain themself to remain a bit of a cypher.

The Brisk Campaigner/The Presbyterate Adventuress

I love the thought of these two and their relationship as a moment of light in the dark between two people who know — or believe — that they’re doomed. We don’t get to see their relationship developing, and I’d be interested in reading more about how it happens, either gradually or in one or two intense moments. Has the Campaigner ever treated the Adventuress’s injuries? Do they ever talk their past adventures? Is the night before the Adventuress’s death the first time they’ve openly considered feelings for each other, or the culmination of an existing relationship? What happened during that night? And how does the Campaigner feel about the Adventuress’s decision to die in a way she chooses, both as a doctor and as a dying woman herself who wants to live and might not get that choice but is determined to try? Is it possible, in an alternate universe, that the Adventuress might also find a different way out?

Maybe's Daughter/Zee-Captain(s)

Maybe’s Daughter is one of my favorite characters in this game. She’s playful, sneaky, audacious, and maybe a little dangerous, but as the game says, She's serious once she gets talking. There's hard edges under the bluff and banter. Regarding her relationship with the Captain, I love how what she feels for them seems to be attraction, camaraderie, and real fondness, but not romantic love – which might change, but then again, might not. Stolen moments of pleasure in the darkness and danger of the zee don’t mean you’re in love but not being in love doesn’t make those stolen moments meaningless. (To be clear, I am 100% here for a romantic love interpretation too.) And I love that there’s more to her and her story than the Captain ever really gets to see in-game. I’d love to see more about her relationship with Parabola and anything to do with her tigerish side, and also curious about this, re: her mother: We've never met. So we were never close. But I'm not close to many people. Honestly, I think that's her fault: I think she sold something of what I was.

Which: what? What was sold, exactly, and to whom? Does she ever get it back?

The Lady in Lilac/Zee-Captain(s)

I am absolutely fascinated by Sunless Sea’s take on the Lady in Lilac: eerie, dreamlike, showing up at high Terror and vanishing when the fear is gone… I don’t buy that she’s only a figment of the Captain’s imagination, but there is definitely something weird going on with her, and I want to know more about who and what she is and how she relates to the Captain. I enjoy interpretations where she’s a little more altered by irrigo, less human, and more dangerous than she comes across in Fallen London, but still warm and kind, in a distant way, and interested in gathering love stories, and in unrequited love herself with all the loneliness that unrequited love implies. With that said, don’t feel like you need to know and/or comply with FL Lady in Lilac lore — she’s her own character here, and the two games are not the same. My most self-indulgent headcanon is that Seas Lady in Lilac is a little bit vampiric, or something not dissimilar but perhaps somewhat stranger, so I’d be delighted with anything that ran with that option, but really, anything taking a closer look at who she is and what she wants from the Captain would be fantastic.

The Dark-Spectacled Admiral/The Voracious Diplomat

I ship them as people who have been enemies for so long that they’ve become a constant in each other’s lives, and who have been a constant in each other’s lives for so long that they’ve started to feel an odd kind of loyalty and even care each other, while still being intensely opposed to and working each other’s goals. I’d love to see a bit of intrigue (Where they’re opposed? Where they have to work together?), or fraught, tense information sharing, or maybe just a private moment where duty and spycraft don’t apply. Alternately, maybe they should get stuck at the same tedious fancy party together, and the Admiral gets a chance to indulge in his dry snark. Either way, I’m fascinated by the Diplomat’s relationship to the Dawn Machine — they’re not part of the Admiralty, so how and why did they first become its follower? Is there anything they wouldn’t do for it? On a related note, how did the Admiral avoid becoming its follower? Given that the spectacles seem like they might be intended to hide his still-normal eyes, what’s it like for him to maintain his cover, and has he ever had to wonder if the Diplomat would turn him in?

Any Officer(s) & Zee-Captain; Any Officer(s)/Zee-Captain

This is more of a free space than a specific request. I love everything about this game from the worldbuilding and atmosphere to the briefly- but vividly-drawn characters, and especially the sense of the game’s relationships — both romantic and platonic — as brief moments of warmth and life in the midst of cold, darkness, and danger. But on the other hand, not everyone at zee can be trusted, including captains and perhaps some officers, and darker takes are welcome here too. See my fandom-specific likes and details in the sign-up, but also feel free to run with whatever you’re interested in writing.

Sunless Skies

Fandom-specific likes (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-Specific Likes: It’s all about the atmosphere here. I love the vastness and strangeness of the Sunless Sky cosmos: the eerie, deadly and beautiful place and creatures, the stories that sometimes end happily but often don’t. Eleutheria is my favorite region – the wildness and metaphysical+political lawlessness, the sense of ruined grandeur, the places that don’t hold to physics as we know it, the fantastically alien devils. However, EVERYWHERE in this game is fascinating in its own way*, from Piranesi or Langley Hall to Traitor’s Wood to one of the human settlements clinging to the Wilderness, and anything exploring them would be great. Also: the nightmares your Captain suffers really intrigue me, and I’d love anything expanding on the known nightmare paths (You Are Not Alone, You Are Not Yourself, You Are Being Watched) or inventing new ones.

*Well, except for Worlebury Juxta-Mare, which is just far too normal to be interesting. I really don’t know why Failbetter bothered including a sleepy seaside resort with nothing weird going on at all.

For both Sky-Captain ships

The Fatalistic Signalman/The Repentant Devil/Sky-Captain(s)

I really love both these characters individually, and I think these two could be surprisingly compatible despite their differences. As ruthless and amoral as the Repentant Devil is, he clearly is capable of loyalty and affection, in his own way, and he respects competence. The Fatalistic Signalman knows a great deal about the High Wilderness and is very good at his job. I would love to see them ending up on… as equal a footing as the Devil could have with any mortal, I suppose, and developing a reluctant fondness for each other (even as I imagine they clash and argue), or working on a difficult or dangerous problem together and being impressed by each other’s skills. Also, about that mortal thing — how quickly does the Repentant Devil realize that the Signalman is a ghost? Either way, the Devil encountering the Signalman’s shade again in the Blue Kingdom or elsewhere is a fascinating possibility, and I’d love to see how it plays out in any of the Devil’s possible story paths.

The Repentant Devil/Sky-Captain(s)

He was an eldritch space bee in a human suit. They were a Sky-Captain. Can I make it any more obvious?

Both sweeter takes on their relationship/dynamic and darker takes are welcome here. What I said about the Devil respecting competence here applies here too — although, this being a Sunless Skies Captain we’re talking about, any competence likely comes with a side of being a nightmare-ridden bad decision machine, and this being a Devil, even his kindness and affection is not without a sting. I could see him making a study of the Captain, especially in the nightmare timeline that heavily implies the Captain is something other than human and perhaps even a lesser Judgment (see wiki links below for details). At the same time, I do tend to prefer him having some real loyalty and affection toward them, even if it’s filtered through the perspective of a very old, very inhuman, not necessarily nice being.

https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Nightmare:_Hunger_by_Night
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Nightmare:_Your_Memoirs
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/You_are_Leaving_Stains
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Visitation:_Increasing_clarity
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Nightmare:_They_Speak_of_You
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Visitation:_Synthesis
https://sunlessskies.gamepedia.com/A_Nightmare:_Sorting_Memories

Mr Menagerie/Sky-Captain(s)

My odd little rarepair. I’m enchanted by the stories Menagerie shares at every port, all purchased for a penny because charity is a crime, and the way it sees the High Wilderness. I love its personality quirks and dichotomies — its blend of weary cynicism and empathy, its anarchist bent (“We bear our chains or we break them” is a hell of a line), the bits of history it shares, the way it is (or was… or is?) very much a hunter, “indigo in tooth and claw”, but it also very clearly cares for the creatures it collects and treats them gently. Maybe after running across the Captain so often, it also considers them part of its collection? Either way, I’d love to see them continuing to trade stories and make bargains.

The Magnus Archives

Fandom-specific likes and DNWs (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-specific likes: Statement fic ∙ Canon-typical horror ∙ Reluctant/resistant avatars ∙ The supernatural intruding into ordinary life; Mundane things made frightening (and conversely, mundanity and domesticity in the middle of horror) ∙ Characters wrestling with their own monstrousness; monstrous characters showing moments of, for lack of a better word, humanity ∙ Those fear-worlds that characters get pulled into ∙ Journeys to the underworld, literal or metaphorical ∙ Canonically dead characters being alive, but… changed ∙ Favorite powers: The Spiral, the Extinction, the Web, the Lonely, the Hunt, and the Dark.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Illness-related aspects of the Corruption (gross bugs, mold/fungus, and parasites are OK, but no disease please). Spoilers for anything that shows up in the Magnus Protocol (I haven’t had a chance to listen yet!)

Adelard Dekker & Gertrude Robinson; Adelard Dekker/Gertrude Robinson

Things I like about these two: All that history. The idea of them as comrades in arms with very different and often opposing ethics and methods but the same goal and a similar pragmatism and willingness to blow things up. The mutual trust, and the mutual awareness that trust can only go so far, because Adelard knows that if the world is at stake then Gertrude will betray him, and Gertrude knows that putting too much faith in anyone but herself is dangerous. I ship them, but I would also love to read fic where they’re platonic allies. While I’m intrigued by and would love to read backstory, first meetings, and the early days of working together, I LOVE the dynamic of two aging, weary soldiers in an unwinnable war ~~and also both of them are silver foxes~~, and if you’re planning on writing domesticity, PWP, or something more introspective, my preference is that it take place when they’re older.

The Silt Verses

Fandom-specific likes (also in my sign-up)

Fandom-specific likes Spooky eldritch gods, saints, and locations ∙ Absolutely fuckawful tawdry capitalist gods ∙ The thin, weird line between horror and beauty ∙ Backstory, character study, defining moments for good or ill ∙ Found-family roadtrips to hell, in as literal or metaphorical a sense as you want, but maybe also found-family roadtrips back out of hell? ∙ Fix-it fic of any variety ∙ Friendship, loyalty, and defiance in the face of hopelessness ∙ In general, I love how, even though the plot and the world itself is extremely grim, the characters are treated with (and treat each other with) such compassion, and I’d love anything that taps into that same vibe

Carpenter & Faulkner

Oh man, these two. It gets me right in the heart how much they still love each other after all the blood and betrayal between them, and how that love still isn’t enough to fix things. One fascinating thing about them is that they see each other specifically as siblings, but — they both have siblings, and those stories, uh, did not end well. I feel like that’s got to lend its own little bit of thorniness to the already thorny found family situation, especially since Faulkner in particular is so craving some kind of family or human connection while sabotaging it at every damn turn. I love how uncompromising the podcast was about not pulling its narrative punches, but at the same time, I would love to see something where Faulkner’s fate is kinder. If he survives and escapes, or makes a different choice during their final meeting or earlier, is it possible for them to reconcile? Or does it all go wrong in a different way?

Carpenter & The Trawler-Man

Carpenter’s relationship with her god is fascinating, including in the way it changes across the course of her life from faith/fear/love to apathy to faith again (but with an edge of anger and tired rebellion) to open antipathy (but it’s complicated), combined with this slow-building certainty that the entire system of gods and sacrifices is wrong. And then there’s the way it’s tangled up in her whole history and family and homeland, in a way that means antipathy can never be all that she feels, and in that context, it’s striking to me that she so often refers to him as her river, in a way that makes it seem like she’s not quite talking about the same Trawler-Man her people worship, or at least not only that. I’d love to read anything digging into that history — of place, of family, of identity — and overlap and gaps between Carpenter’s river and her god. I’m also curious about those times when she was a True Believer and, to quote the podcast crew, “kind of a badass” in service of her illegal church, and whether or not any of that badassery also coincided with the moments when doubt started to creep in, or where she tacitly or openly defied or denied her god.

Hayward/Paige

Sweethearts. Brave, doomed, defiant believers in the possibility of something better, supporting each other to the last. Fix-it fic is welcome here — the finale destroyed me (complimentary), but I’d love a kinder ending for both of them, even if “kinder” in this context only means a chance to die at each others’ sides rather than separately (although both of them, impossibly, surviving is also great). I’d also love missing scenes, or moments of comfort and domesticity amid the harshness of the Grace, or alternate universes — what if their terrible god baby took on a different form, or Hayward was the prophet instead of Paige, or they found another way to rid Paige of the Woundtree, or it grew to love instead of hate her (this is not necessarily the better option). What if, instead of creating a god, their story took a different turn entirely?

Candy Hearts Letter (2025)

Post a comment in response: