syrena_of_the_lake

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Thank you in advance, mystery writer. I included a few prompts in each request for inspiration only; please don't feel bound to them if you have other ideas. Please know I will be thrilled to read your story, and I'm excited to see what direction you take :-)

Things I like:

Witty banter
Competent, complex, multi-dimensional characters
Friendship, found family, friends-to-lovers, slow burn
Plot, adventures, space duels, intrigue, mysteries and spy stories
Thoughtful, complex, introspective, issues that aren’t black-and-white
Humor, whether subtle or snarky or slapstick
Gentle, compassionate storytelling
Nature, especially lakes, woods, mountain, prairies, and the night sky
I prefer het and usually ship canon pairings; gen is also great.
Drama, humor, adventure, intrigue, espionage, suspense, mystery, thriller... so many genres! I also like explorations of grief and healing, though in general I can only take so much angst. I do prefer happy endings to tragedy, but I also have a soft spot for ambiguity and bittersweet.
A strong sense of place. The differences between places, the little things that set someplace apart or bind people together even across languages and cultures... Whether you want to delve into worldbuilding or just give me a glimpse, I'll love it.
Talking animals and mythological creatures, especially those with little screen time. Wolves and crows are particular favorites, but I’d love any horses, gryphons, small woodland creatures, chickadees, birds of prey or oddball fauna you want to populate your story! Narnian platypus? Kangaroo-verse? Go for it!
Sirens. See also: my username. (The Lorelei, Greek bird-women, mermaid-like, feral or sensual — any mythology or interpretation you like!)
Language, linguistics, things lost in translation, the power of words
I do enjoy AUs that hold true to both the spirit and setting of the original — canon compliant or divergent “what ifs” are wonderful, and I hold a special place in my heart for Everyone Lives, Nobody Dies (or Everyone Lives, Nobody Leaves). I’m not usually a fan of mundane coffeeshop-style AUs.
Rthverse and other stories with gloriously diverse characters, rich full lives in both Narnia and Spare Oom, filled with faith and hope but not dogma, intellectually enriching, and all the tapestry of creation in both worlds.
World War II spy stories
Crossovers and fusions: I love them! I enjoy having all my favorite characters get together and explore new worlds and dynamics, with or without the conceit of magic rings and the Wood between Worlds. This year’s tagset is particularly replete with fandom fusion possibilities!

Things I don't like:

Noncon, dubcon, incest, underage, abuse, gore, torture
Character bashing; completely helpless, clueless, cruel or dark characterization of Aslan, Pevensies or other Friends of Narnia (More nuanced critique is all well and good!) – with the obvious exception of my Dark AU prompt where I've asked for Jadis' POV
Real-world, present-day politics. (Politics of other times, places and worlds — great! But please no in-your-face corollaries with current events. I’ve had enough of the news right now.)
Darkfic, unmitigated tragedy or excessive angst. If your story is sad, I'd request at least a ray of sunshine amid the clouds. (Again, with the exception of my Jadis Dark AU request.)

Plot bunny fodder for specific prompts:

Tell me a behind-the-scenes story of minor characters (canon or OC). I’d love to see a talking animal, naiad or dryad playing a big role, if one that goes unnoticed. I have no particular ideas for plot — it could be an expanded moment from canon or something during the Golden Age. But I’d love to see an under-appreciated small animal shine, or see the effort that went into a big canon event, everyday small dramas set among big events, and animals or creatures we don’t see much in canon. I love spies and espionage, artists and artisans, and a strong sense of place and tie to the land or water. Have fun worldbuilding! Canon or original characters welcome! (I only listed OFC and OMC but NB also welcome - I just ran out of tag room.)
- Show me some nonhuman Narnian artists or artisans. Is there a renaissance of Narnian literature during the Golden Age, or an influx of foreign scholars come to study Narnian oral histories? What do Narnian royal portraits look like, and are they only painted by beings with proper hands, or are there elephant-trunk rock paintings or squirrel-tail-brush impressionist paintings? What nonhuman artforms are new to the Pevensies? Do birds make artwork out of twig-sculptures and feathers, or help dwarves make new pigments using colors only birds can see? Do small animals make ephemeral snow-print murals? Do flying horses trample patterns in the dirt or fields that can only be seen from the air? Can a member of one species apprentice to another to learn an art they aren’t traditionally suited for? Or show me Merfolk weavings, Dwarves’ intricate metalworking, or any kind of crafting or artistry unique to Narnia.
- During the Witch’s winter, an old skunk codger is getting senile, all their neighbors have different ways of dealing with the smelly results. I can imagine many different ways that Narnians might act as caregivers (some with better results than others). Also, frostbite on one’s nose becomes a mixed blessing, and couldn’t Aslan have waited to melt things until the skunk’s family had moved to the fringes of the wood
- Gryphon culture: are they predators or scavengers? What is a gryphon aerie like? If you like movie-verse, what was the gryphons’ reaction to the Pevensie’s idea of using aerial bombing against the Witch? How did that strategy session play out?
- Show me the POV of one of Edmund’s rescuers during LWW or one of the sailors or Narnian retinue during the escape from Tashbaan. Did the Narnians argue among themselves about their rulers’ wisdom? Did one of the bizarre-to-Edmund creatures give him some parental advice he’d been craving? Did one of the sailors infiltrate the Calormene court to bring rumors and intel back to Sallowpad?
Police procedural AU (with credit to @queenlucythevaliant for the idea): trope-y fun. Bree & Hwin buddy-cop flick where no one seems to notice or care that they are horses, or a beleaguered policeman trying to figure out WTF happened in London the day Jadis was in town, or Polly and Digory playing multi-dimensional detectives. Have fun with it!
- Bree & Hwin: any scenario you want, the tropier the better! Road trip bickering and whickering on a diplomatic mission until even Cor and Aravis can’t stand it? NCIS (Narnian/Calormene Investigative Service) procedural with an Undercover PI (Pony Investigator)? American Old West? Explorers or archaeologists? Canon-compliant or wild AU or anything in between. Queenlucythevaliant’s original prompt that inspired my request: “Bree and Hwin as mismatched partners in a buddy cop movie. Bree is overconfident and Hwin is over-cautious. Hwin does lots of tedious police work without complaint and then gets irritated when Bree just charges in guns blazing (bc we all know Bree likes his action scenes). Bree is a suave, James Bond-type undercover while Hwin is more unassuming and can blend in anywhere. They are both still talking horses. This is a non-issue.”
- Police procedural set during Magician’s Nephew the day Jadis was in London. A policeman tries to solve an increasingly inexplicable series of crimes and may or may not get coshed on the head for his troubles. They could either be a bumbling Clouseau type (“Now then, what’s all this?”) or a shrewd detective, but their competence has no bearing on the results, because magic defies the laws of physics and the laws of England alike. (A note: please keep this lighthearted — I’m not looking for real-world allegory or political commentary on the police as an institution. I just want someone trailing around London after Jadis going WTF?) @queenlucythevaliant: “A police procedural set during/after The Magician’s Nephew where some poor, beleaguered detective tries to figure out what was going on the day Jadis was in London. He interviews the Ketterleys’ housemaid at some point. He never actually gets any answers.”
- Digory and Polly become partners in (detecting) crime, either unraveling magical mysteries around England or hopping into other pools in the Wood between Worlds. Either way, let there be sleuthing and otherworldly, inexplicable happenings. Maybe Digory learns to describe the most magical of events in impenetrable, mundane terms to satisfy the press or police or curious passers-by. Maybe Polly builds a network of confidential informants or clandestine magic-users. Maybe they even make use of Uncle Andrew’s dodgy friends?
Modern!Narnia AU: Have fun with your modern work woes in a Narnian setting. Give me all the intra-office correspondence, OSHA violation notices, conference call hijinks, remote work miscommunications, and corporate jargon in modern Narnia.
- Is your coworker an absentminded squirrel always rushing around and forgetting everything? Do you have increasingly over-polite email exchanges with your diplomatic counterpart because you refuse to take the blame for a misunderstanding that wasn’t your fault, and you’ll make the other party understand if you have to send a whole murder of ravens to recite your rebuttal in chorus? Do the buzzards constantly spout buzzwords? Does your raccoon boss always chase the latest shiny objects but never finish anything? Does the one office-being with opposable thumbs always get stuck with secretarial work? Do the carnivores leave bones in the communal compost, against all company regulations? Does the IT department spend all its time troubleshooting starspells and correcting misinterpretations of centaur horoscopes? Does working retail make you want to leap over the counter and bite the head off the next person to ask a stupid question?
- Bonus for anything involving Customer Service Wolf! https://customerservicewolf.
- Inspired by @rheaswriting: Do you ever think about how “do not cite the deep magic to me witch. I was there when it was written” is basically the fantasy equivalent of “I have personally explained the process to you Deborah”: https://twitter.com/rheaswriting/status/1412806411478835207?s=20
Show me a mythology that Jadis has built for her followers (or even herself) — or a dark AU — where Aslan is the all-devouring Lion and Jadis is valiantly holding him at bay. In her version, Jadis tries to freeze and preserve (in stone or ice) what would otherwise be consumed by the blistering jaws of summer. If you want to combine this with the Susan & Jadis idea, more power t
- As Aslan once said to Jill: "I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.”
- And as Edmund once thought: ““Because,” he said to himself, “all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn't true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she'll be better than that awful Aslan!”
Crossovers are still my jam. I love all these worlds and will be delighted to see how you mash any two (or more?) of them together! These ships all seem so natural: themes of justice, bravery and healing, warriors who fight for peace and for their people… I’d love to see any or all of it.
- Lord of the Rings: I love the idea of Healer-Rulers LucyAragorn and warriors PeterEowyn who seek peaceful lives, building and growing things. (For that matter — Eowyn & Susan could have an interesting dynamic, the different ways the fight the gilded cage the world has prescribed for them. Or Lucy & Eowyn simply being the awesome, badass warrior women they are.)
  Star Wars: If you’ve always hankered for Narnians in space or Jedi in Narnia, I’ll be there with bells on! In addition to Susan/Obi-Wan, which Rthstewart made me ship wholeheartedly, feel free to bring in anyone you like from the Original, Sequel or Prequel trilogies; EU Legends - Thrawn (by Timothy Zahn); EU Legends - X-wing series (Stackpole and Allston); Rogue One; or Rebels. Or replace them with any characters from the Chronicles of Narnia and see what changes!
  Game of Thrones: One big caveat is that I haven’t read the books and have only seen seasons 1-6. I haven’t been completely able to avoid spoilers, though, so I have a very vague idea of what happens to Dany. But I would love to see Danaerys and Edmund together. How do they influence each other’s deeply held ideals of justice? How would one’s presence affect the course of events? How would Edmund’s experience with dragons affect Eustace’s arc? I would also be more than happy to see Peter/Brienne. How do they navigate the monarch/knight/lover dynamic? What is it like going on campaign with them?