Pining Letter

[asymptotically]

I'm so sorry that this was a week late! Real life unexpected got incredibly busy this week. If you already had to start before I finished the letter no worries (the initial tl;dr and the prompts probably had all of the basics anyways) and if not then it's up! Probably typo ridden, but up!

Link to AO3: Asymptotical

Thank you for writing for me! <3 There's a lot of rambling here, but if you don't see a prompt you want to write and have an idea that you think I'll like, feel free to go for it! Everything here is a beloved rarepair and pining is my one true kink, so honestly there's 100% chance that I see any of the pairings and go "Someone wrote me XYZ pining!!" and love whatever it is. Anything past that will just increase the love level. (The fact that they're all rare pairs and this is a pining exchange does not make this any less likely to happen. I don't run off of logic, just rarepair squee and angst).

I am totally fine with things staying unresolved for the "eventually requited" requests, as long as there's clues that it's requited even if the viewpoint character isn't picking it up yet.

Some of the requests only had one or the other pining, either due to what was nominated or due to me wanting to freeform for a certain dynamic, but unless I miss something all of those should have at least some musing on the other character pining too. Some are longer than others but if you checked the letter before I finished you know how my week went so I promise that's just a result of rushing and not a reflection on which pairings I like more or less.

I separated out the freeforms that I had more to say that just pointing at them, but I still really love the ones that I didn't elaborate on as well, they were just mostly self explanatory or more "free space" type freeforms.

Table of Contents
General Likes
Dragon Age - Iron Bull
Dragon Age - Dorian
Dragon Age - Hawke/Varric
Dragon Age - Solas
Dragon Age - Cassandra/Josie
Mass Effect Andromeda
Prey
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Arcann
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Andronikos
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Lana
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Theron
Smut Likes
DNWs

(There are 11 request links because two of them had to share freeforms)

 

General Likes

• Emotions and talking.
• Hurt/Comfort (emotional or physical or both)
• Mutual pining.
• Pre-relationship or get-togethers.
• Established relationships dealing with some new disruption.
• Fluff.
• Closing ranks around someone who's usually the responsible one and can't be right now.
• Friendships and relationships beyond just the pairing, especially if they came into it with canon ties.
• Character hiding something that can't be easily fixed (injury, exhaustion, a curse, price of a spell ect), and the aftermath when the hidden thing is revealed.
• Imposter syndrome.
• Stuff that emphasizes how smart or clever or competent the characters are, even if it's just tiny hints in the background.
• Snippets of changing the place that they're spending canon in into something that feels lived in, especially if they're building it or fixing up an old ruin.
• Canon divergence AUs.
• Roleswap AUs
• For games with multiple background options for the player characters, the player character in a prompted pairing being in a companion role while another player character is the [insert title here] this time.
• Fix-its, whether it's just fixing a small thing or if it's straight up Everyone Lives Nobody Dies.
• Post fix-its or canon divergence. As in the fic just handwaves that the thing was already fixed at some point before or just straight up didn't happen and moves on without focusing on it.
• If there's something awkward or embarrassing or ooc in canon that you hate, feel free to ignore it. I'm cool with handwaving away stuff if it'll be more fun to write with that detail changed. Especially if it's something small that ruins something large for you.
• I enjoy non-standard formats (epistolary, notes to self, chatroom, outsider pov, Varric's exaggerated narration with flashbacks to what actually happened, related snippets, ect), so feel free to play around with that sort of thing if you want to!

Dragon Age

General Likes Link
Smut Likes Link

Iron Bull/M!Inquisitor (Lavellan or Trevelyan)

• (The prompts for this are assuming anything after Bull's personal quest goes with the "Charger's live" scenario)
• It's fine to focus on either M!Lavellan, M!Trevelyan, or Bull pining. I just only chose the Inquisitors so I could pick the freeforms this way.
• This whole relationship was basically made for pining. It may have been just my interpretation, but for the entire time that Bull's trying to be both The Iron Bull and a Qunari spy, the Inquisitor seemed to be flirting at a brick wall. And then that quest happens and suddenly the relationship goes sexual reaaaaaal fast. But explicitly casual. Except as soon as the Inquisitor tries to take it to a relationship that goes out the window too. So the whole thing is very weirdly vulnerable because clearly Bull isn't saying what he wants and he's such a good actor that most Inquisitors probably can't see past that easily, especially early on.
• There's also the fact that Bull's whole identity and how he deals with people who might get wrapped up in that is complicated as all heck, especially internally.
•  
• Since I DNWed non-default names, if you want to include first names the defaults are Mahanon Lavellan or Maxwell Trevelyan.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms:
• Conversations with double meanings - I mean, it's Bull. Either spy stuff, or him having to phrase things in ways that aren't exactly true to what he's thinking, or just the Inquisitor not picking up on innuendo at all.
•  
• Character B knows A is pining but pretends to be oblivious - There's a lot of reasons why Bull might do this tied all up with the Qunari stuff or his own identity issues or just being a spy and knowing that the advisors are keeping a close eye on him.
•  
• Character A Pines For Character B Not Realizing It's Requited
  Character A thinks B rejected advances
   - Bull is really good at lying and doesn't necessarily have to say anything to do it. Maybe he deliberately led the Inquisitor to that conclusion. Maybe he's just too subtle for them to pick up on.
•  
• Character B's flirting is too subtle and Character A pines instead of picking up on it - Extension of the above, if you want to go with Bull is still flirting but it's just so different from his normal way of doing things (for whatever reason) that the Inquisitor doesn't pick up on it. Or maybe they're just really dense.
•  
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling - Either of them could so easily be this. Depending on the Inquisitor that could bring up a whole bunch of different stresses, and there's so much in Bull's past that could make it hard for him to recognize genuine emotions of that sort
•  
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for - The different backgrounds for the Inquisitor could come to this in a bunch of different ways, and if it ties in with one of the tropes about them thinking it isn't requited then that could easily feed into that by giving them a good reason not to catch feelings.
•  
• Pining for emotional relationship in a perceived to be physical one - This literally happens in the game midway through the relationship. Except in game you get a quest to make it an emotional relationship whereas in fic they might have to go through a lot of pining and angst first.
•  
• Other Freeforms:
• Hurt/Comfort
• Loyalty
• Pining character has to sit on their crush's lap
  
• Pining while having wounds tended
  
• Pining while tending someone's wounds
  
• Pining while sharing a bath
  
• Pining while sparring
  
• Pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
  
• Guilt over enjoying friendly hugs/physical closeness too much
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  
• Pining While Sleeping on Love Interest's Bed
• pining character A finally makes a move after B almost died
• pining character finally makes a move after they almost died
• Alliance is or might be temporary
• Character A pining because they think a relationship would be inappropriate

Iron Bull/M!Trevelyan/Dorian

• So this can be a lot of the same stuff as above, but I picked the tag and freeforms because Dorian is a disaster who would take a complicated romantic situation and make it five times harder via sheer force of denial and low romantic confidence.
• Can also be pining from Bull or the Inquisitor, I just wanted to pick the tags for Dorian because he's my favorite angsty ball of denial and insecurity.
• Since I DNWed non-default names, if you want to include first names the defaults are Mahanon Lavellan or Maxwell Trevelyan. (Lavellan isn't in the tag but that's just because I ran out of nom space, I'm fine with either!)
• (Just to be super clear, the 'no open relationships' DNW extra applies to this. The thing I'm trying to DNW with that is situations where an established/official emotionally realized couple brings a third in for explictly casual sex that they intend to stay casual, even if their intentions change later. Pretty much anything other than that or V shaped relationships should be fine.)
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Character A pining silently so Characters B & C won't feel guilty for not returning their affections - Whether the other two are in an established realtionship and Dorian is trying to deal silently, or if the other two are just flirting (and possibly also flirting with Dorian with him just not picking up on that or thinking they like each other more than they like him) and Dorian just taps out early and tries to get out of the way.
•  
• Character A Pines For Character B Due To Past Experience - Not Actually Unrequited - The game establishes that Dorian has both not made moves before because he didn't think someone would go for it, and implies that he's had some pretty good reason to assume things won't go an emotional direction. In a threesome that would probably be far worse since he'd have a direct 'rival' for both of his crushes who also happened to be the other crush just to make things extra confusing and depressing for him.
•  
• Character keeps picking fights with object of their pining - Either the fights in canon, or something entirely new that he manages to get into arguments with them about.
•  
• Pining character doused with truth serum - Dorian would hate this so much. Whether he was the one who was truth serumed and it brought some things to light, or he wasn't the truth serumed one and he had to deal with one or both of the other two still flirting outragously with him and having no way to deny what they're saying. Maybe they're all pining disasters, maybe just Dorian is, any way it could be fun.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Not so secret crush
  
• Pining while having wounds tended
  
• Pining while sharing a bath
  
• Pining while sparring
  
• Pining while stranded in the wilderness
  
• Pining while trapped together
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
• Character A Pines For Character B Not Realizing It's Requited
• Character A pines while Character B Thinks They're Already Dating
• Character A thinks B isn't serious about them despite B's heavy flirting and subsequently pines
• Character pines for someone who thinks nothing of undressing casually in front of them
• Everyone thinks they're already in a relationship
• Guilt over enjoying friendly hugs/physical closeness too much
• Pining for emotional relationship in a perceived to be physical one
• Pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
• pining for character in a relationship leads to OT3
• A matchmakes B and C while pining for them both
• A pines for B's praise or approval
• Conversations with double meanings
  
• pining because character(s) worries about ruining their friendship
  
• A thinks B is out of their league
  
• mistaking pining for hatred
  

M!Hawke/Varric

• I am just all about all the loyalty and friendship and trust and history that's tied up with these two, whether it's set during DAII and while they're still figuring each other out or if it's way down the line during or after Inquisition when they have years and years of knowing each other behind them.
• I tend to write prompts with purple Hawke in mind because it's what I usually play, but I'm very much happy to get other personalities too
• I'm fine with Bianca being brought up (I actually think she's really neat!) and Varric is still some level of not over her if you'd like to include her. I'm also fine with just not focusing on that, but I thought it was worth mentioning the ambivalence just to assuage any potential worries.
• Since I DNWed non-default names, if you want to include first names the default is Garrett Hawke.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Pining Character A is Character B's Most Important Person but Wants More - This may as well be the entire theme of this request.
•  
• B is courting A who doesn't realize because it's different from how B flirts with other people - This was mostly with purple Hawke in mind, because purple Hawke can be ridiculous but also Hawke has a lot of really sincere moments... but it's really easy to miss that in the general inanity. It could really apply to any Hawke though, or to Varric if Hawke had only ever seen Varric jokingly flirting and now Varric's trying to actually flirt with them and not getting through.
•  
• Character A thinks B isn't serious about them despite B's heavy flirting and subsequently pines - Whichever of them who is doing the flirting is putting it on really obviously but the other one assumes they're just messing around. Maybe they've been joke flirting for years and now it's serious and they aren't good at making that clear, or maybe they just have been having a very frustrating time for a very long time.
•  
• Character A incorrectly assumes that Character B knows that A is pining for them - There's a couple times in canon where Varric jokes that Hawke isn't their type or is too much for him, and it would be really really easy for Hawke to assume from those that Varric has their number and was letting htem down easy. Or for either of them to just assume that they've known each other so long that the other has to know.
•  
• Everyone thinks they're already in a relationship - They've got such a close relationship and are so in each other's business that it would be really easy for people to assume they're together. Maybe Kirkwallers are making assumptions because you never ever see the two apart and they're always in each other's living spaces. Maybe during Inquisition everyone just assumes that Varric was so protective of Hawke because they're in a relationship (and that Hawke came anyways for the same reason). Maybe some of Isabela's friendfiction got really out of control. Maybe The Tale of the Champion has shippers and between that and rumors, assumptions were made. Or maybe just run of the mill them acting like they're in a relationship and everyone else just goes with the most obvious assumption.
•  
• A is confused about whether their pining is romantic/sexual or platonic - If the pining started after they'd already been friends for awhile and they're trying to figure out if it's actually feelings or just their friendship being so close and comfortable that it's confusing them.
•  
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration - Sort of the opposite of the above, with one of them not realizing the other is pining because they're close enough that the lines are blurred and it's easy to dismiss romantic interest as platonic friendship.
•  
• A pining because they think B is uninterested in romance or relationships - Either Hawke assuming that Varric is still too caught up in Bianca to be interested, or Varric having noticed Hawke not getting into any major relationships and assuming that it's because Hawke isn't a relationship sort of person.
•  
• A pining for B because they think B sees them as family - It would be so easy for either of them to think of the other as family and for that to complicate things for the other one. Especially if they're both pining and one of them is deliberately treating the other like family because they think that's the closest they can get.
•  
• Character pines for someone who thinks nothing of undressing casually in front of them - They're always out on missions and those barriers have to have been eroded pretty quickly, which could lead to all sorts of UST.
•  
• Undercover as a Couple While Pining - They know each other so well that they're the obvious choice for a fake couple. Which might really suck for two people who are pining.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Mutual Pining
  
• Hurt/Comfort
• Loyalty
• Pining character doused with truth serum
  
• Tries to Confess but Keeps Getting Interrupted by Circumstances
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
• Character A Pines For Character B Not Realizing It's Requited
• They Both Think It's Unrequited
• Pining has been going on for a long time
• pining character A finally makes a move after B almost died
• pining character finally makes a move after they almost died
• Pining While Sleeping on Love Interest's Bed
• Character B figures out that Character A has been pining for them for years
• Everyone Knows Except Object Of Affection
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character
• Not so secret crush
• pining after years of friendship pining because character(s) worries about ruining their friendship

Solas/M!Inquisitor (Lavellan or Trevelyan)

• Okay so this disaster. Just, like. Him having to deal with pining that's his own dang fault.
• I'm fine with it being more about the Inquisitor too, as long as it's obvious that Solas has caused himself to be a pining mess. (A lot of these prompts are me being like 'so this mess' but I do like him a lot I swear. He's very fun to be frustrated by and I love the more antagonistic relationships that can result from that.)
• Since I DNWed non-default names, if you want to include first names the defaults are Mahanon Lavellan or Maxwell Trevelyan.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• A pining after betraying B
• A thinks B won't want them because of their past behavior
• Character A pining because they think character B hates them
• - The above three are mostly about Trespasser but could apply mid game as well for a ton of different reasons and dynamics. Solas is absolutely the sort to have decided that he knows what the emotional consequences of his actions are going to be regardless of what the Inquisitor is actually saying. Especially if they never got into an actual relationship during the game so he's got even more ways to convince himself that it's not meant to be or that they aren't actually into him ect. It could easily be during the main game as well, either if they keep arguing and Solas just assumes he's alienating them completely (regardless of if he regrets it or not), or if Solas is predicting how things are going to go once the Inquisitor figures out where the orb came from. Or Solas just feeling more and more guilty of what he's started as he gets to know people.
•  
• Character keeps picking fights with object of their pining - The game lets the Inquisitor get into a surprising amount of arguments with Solas and he has a habit of saying some pretty insensitive things. He can be super smart, but that doesn't necessarily mean that his delivery is winning him any points.
•  
• B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way - Solas knows exactly how wrapped up he is in all of this and it's clear during the game that he doesn't want to start a relationship under false pretenses.
•  
• Character A turns down Character B because Character A is secretly the enemy - I'm not sure how much Solas knows on how far he's going to take things, but it's entirely possible that he figures out early on that chances are if the Inquisitor survives the events of Inquisition they're going to end up on opposing sides of whatever Solas is planning for after he gets the orb. Or maybe not getting the orb changed everything and he's suddenly realizing he's got to do his thing the hard(er) way and that will result in a conflict.
•  
• Pining for Someone Character Keeps Seeing in Dreams - Since it's Solas this gets real complicated really fast. Maybe he's subconsciously creating reflections of the Inquisitor in the fade while he's sleeps, maybe he's consciously doing that, maybe he's accidentally pulling the Inquisitor themself into his dreams, or maybe he's stalking them while they sleep or are in the fade.
•  
• pining character A finally makes a move after B almost died - The Inquisitor almost dies a lot during the game and while all of the companions are hit hard by it, Solas has a whole different level of emotions to deal with. Maybe early on it's not a big deal because he's still distant enough, or maybe he's got complicated emotions about it from the start and it just builds from there with every near miss.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Loyalty
  
• Pining while tending someone's wounds
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  mistaking pining for hatred
  
• pining for someone after bad personal history between them
  
• Character pines for someone who thinks nothing of undressing casually in front of them
  
• Conversations with double meanings
  
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling
  
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
  
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration
  
• A ended the relationship with B but still pines for them
  
• Character A pines from Afar

Cassandra/Josephine

• They're just so cute okay! There's so much courting and silliness and cuteness that could come from this, especially if Cassandra knows that Josephine is betrothed. Cassandra very overtly loves her transitional romance/courting and Josephine is a perfect target for that despite all she tries really hard to be practical. They could be so adorable.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration - They have to work together a lot. Maybe it builds up slow so it just seems like that's how they act around a coworker they're really fond of, or maybe there's some other trigger to them noticing the pining but convincing themself that it isn't pining for some reason or another. Especially on Cass's part since she knows she's not the best at social situations to start with.
•  
• A pining because they think B is in a relationship with someone else - In this case because Cass knows that Josephine is betrothed. (this is an exception to that DNW because it's canon)
•  
• Pining character's feelings are discovered by a third party - Maybe Josephine's fiance (since he seemed entirely happy to step aside for True Love), or maybe someone else in the Inquisition realizes what's going on and tries to either play therapist or matchmake.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Loyalty
  
• Character A pines for B who has fallen asleep on A's shoulder
  
• Character A Pines For Character B Not Realizing It's Requited
  
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
  
• Character apologizes for pining
  
• Character pines for the person they're rescuing
  
• Character pines for their rescuer
  
• Guilt over enjoying friendly hugs/physical closeness too much
  
• Hit With Intense Pining After Being Given Items By Love Interest
  
• Not so secret crush
  
• Revealed Feelings While Mortally Injured/No Hope but Whoops! They Were Rescued Now It's Awkward
  
• A thinks B is out of their league
  
• Tries to Confess but Keeps Getting Interrupted by Circumstances
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character

Mass Effect Andromeda

General Likes Link
Smut Likes Link

Jaal/Liam/Ryder

• I didn't get every pining permutation nommed but I'm fine with anyone being the one whose pining is focused on (I did get All Pining in there so I'm hoping that covers it) and for it to be either all three of them not being in a relationship yet or for any two to be in a relationship before the third one is pulled in.
• I'm fine with either Scott or Sara being the pathfinder regardless of who is in the romance.
• Since I DNWed non-default names, the defaults are Scott or Sara Ryder.
• (Just to be super clear, the 'no open relationships' DNW extra applies to this. The thing I'm trying to DNW with that is situations where an established/official emotionally realized couple brings a third in for explicitly casual sex that they intend to stay casual, even if their intentions change later. Pretty much anything other than that or V shaped relationships should be fine.)
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Alliance is or might be temporary - While they definitely want things to hold steady and are trying to make that, there's no guarantee of that. Especially early on.
•  
• A B and C are each convinced the other two are about to get into a relationship - Between the possible cultural barriers, both Liam and Jaal having few barriers, and all the different ways that Ryder could be, it would be really easy for all of them to read the mutual pining that's going around and make some assumptions on it being two ways instead of three.
•  
• A and B commiserate about their mutual pining for C - Maybe Jaal and Liam about Ryder, especially if Ryder is too stressed about everything to even think about a relationship at that point. Maybe Ryder and Liam about Jaal, because of either cultural barriers or because he's flirting with other people like he does in canon and they're making assumptions based on that
•  
• Group pining for Character A works together to help Character A - Kind of the same theme as the first part of the above prompt. Ryder got thrown into a role they weren't ready for and is under a ton of stress. Maybe they think it's unrequited, maybe they just really don't want to put that on Ryder right now. Or maybe it's after the Archon's ship and Ryder killing themself (even if it was for a very practical reason) has everyone thrown into a different mindset and this is how they're dealing with it.
•  
• Pining Character A doesn’t want to act on requited feelings of Character B due to professionalism - For Ryder, they're stuck in a quasi diplomatic position and also outrank everyone on the ship and are trying really hard to live up to that. For Jaal, he's representing his species directly to someone who has a lot of influence over these weird new people and for all he jumps straight into trusting them, he's definitely got to be aware of all the different ways that his behavior could impact things.
•  
• Possessed/haunted/AI-in-their-head/ect character reluctant to start a relationship because of it - Even if Ryder is totally at easy with SAM in their head, it adds a whole new element to a relationship that they might not be sure of how to handle (or might not be sure how to talk about with the other two)
•  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection - The Tempest is small. They sometimes get time away from each other on shore leave, but the rest of the time it's not like other canons where they can walk off for a bit to get some alone time some night; they're almost always within a very small distance of each other with a bunch of other people, which means very little privacy. And when they are off the Tempest it's usually in the sort of dangerous environments that mean they need to stick even closer than they would be on the ship.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Loyalty
  
• A & B attribute C's flirting to cultural differences
  
• A attributes B & C's flirting to cultural differences
  
• A and B are together but pine for C to join them
  
• Character A pining silently so Characters B & C won't feel guilty for not returning their affections
  
• Character A thinks B isn't serious about them despite B's heavy flirting and subsequently pines
  
• A matchmakes B and C while pining for them both
  
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration
  
• A pining because they think B isn't interested in interspecies relationships
  
• pining character finally makes a move after they almost died
  
• pining character A finally makes a move after B almost died
  
• pining for character in a relationship leads to OT3
  
• A B and C pine obliviously for each other

Prey

General Likes Link
Smut Likes Link

F!Morgan/Mikhaila

•  This whole relationship is such a mess because it starts out in such a weird state (with Mikhaila there under false pretenses) and it ends in an even weirder one (with Morgan lying about why they're breaking up because she's about to go willingly wipe out years worth of memories). And then there's the whole time where Morgan doesn't remember Mikahila and Mikhaila thinks Morgan is being incredibly cold. And then there's the rescue. And the revelation about Mikhaila's dad. There's also that whole gap time between the end of the real version of the events of the game and the start of the game itself where one or both of them might have died, and if Morgan died but not Mikhaila then now Mikhaila is helping create a replacement Morgan out of their worst enemy.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Character A pines over amnesiac Character B  - Mikhaila is pretty smart and might have an idea of what the effects of removing a neuromod are. The game implies that Morgan successfully covers for her complete lack of memory of anyone on the station, but if Mikhaila did figure it out that would be a whole mess of emotions. And even if she didn't, during the game it would come to light very fast and leave her there having to work through what exactly those missing memories meant for her.
•  
• Character with amnesia pining for relationship they can't remember - Morgan knows she used to be in a relationship with Mikhaila, but it's just words on a page. Especially if it's after she tells Mikhaila what happened to her dad, so she doesn't have the memories and even if they both survive she doesn't have the chance either (or thinks she doesn't).
•  
• Character A pining because they think character B hates them - For Morgan, after she tells Mikhaila about her dad. For Mikhaila, maybe Morgan plays up her reason for breaking up with her a bit too much and the resulting coldness (if Mikhaila doesn't realize Morgan's mind was wiped) reinforces the interpretation.
•  
• Character A turns down Character B because Character A is secretly the enemy - Either of them could do this. Mikhaila if she knows there's a chance things are going badly for her dad and doesn't want to get involved with someone who is extra in a position to realize she's there with an ulterior motive. Morgan either between finding out about Mikahila's dad and telling her about it, or canon divergence where Morgan realizes why Mikhaila is on the station before the events of the game and turns her down because she either doesn't want to be used to rescue whoever Mikhaila is there for or because she already killed him and knows how Mikhaila would take that.
•  
• Pining While Sleeping on Love Interest's Bed - Depending on if you play by quest order or explore everything possible before moving on, Mikhaila can be stuck in that office alone for a good chunk of the game. Morgan's got to have a cot or something in there.
• 
  
• Pining for previous personality of character who changed - Morgan's personality definitely changes during the game. Even if it gets nicer, she's still a different person now and not the person that Mikhaila fell for. The whole thing could get extra complicated after Mikhaila finds out about her dad, because Morgan killed him, but also Morgan killed him and that Morgan may as well be dead herself. Which could be extra painful if Mikhaila is still pining for old Morgan despite knowing what old Morgan did and having this new Morgan right in front of her.
•  
• Pining for character who came back wrong - Canon divergenece where Mikhaila is still alive at the end of the game (maybe the operators are just so that only one person's life is at risk? Or maybe it's a different simulation to test the Tython without endangering anyone) and they've got this Tython that is basically Morgan now, but also very very much not Morgan.
  
•  
• Character pines for their rescuer - When Morgan rescues Mikhaila in game is such a good moment from Mikhaila's POV. For Mikhaila her ex is blazing in to save her from certain death and then running off to grab the medicine for the disease that's the stated reason for their breakup and wow can that be a mess of emotions. Especially since Morgan is still acting like she doesn't know her so if Mikhaila hasn't figured out the amnesia yet that adds yet another dynamic to it.
•  
• A ended the relationship with B but still pines for them - Morgan only ends the relationship with Mikhaila because she's about to go into loops that'll cause her to forget her, and doesn't want anyone outside of the project to know that her memory got erased. She could very easily still be head over heels and possibly even hoping to rekindle things once they're done with the loops, especially if she's convinced herself that the memory wipes aren't that big of a deal.
  
•  
• Other Freeforms
  
• Mutual Pining
  
• A pining after betraying B
  
• pining for someone after bad personal history between them
  
• Pining for someone on a different level in the chain of command
  
• Pining has been going on for a long time
  
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling
  
• Pining while having wounds tended
  
• Pining while tending someone's wounds
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  
• B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way
• Character A pining because they think a relationship would be inappropriate

Star Wars: The Old Republic

General Likes Link
Smut Likes Link

Arcann/M!Consular

• There as so many dynamics this can have depending on what point in the story they're at. Whether it's before they even meet, or when Arcann is obsessing over the Consular during those five years, or when Arcann is convincing himself that the Consular is just a meatpuppet for his dad, or if it's between his defeat and him joining the Alliance and the many many different ways you could take his emotional journey there, or if it's after Arcann joins the alliance and is a weird mix of subordinant/ally/former-enemy. And that's all without even taking all the different ways that the Consular's personality and Jediness could come into play.
• I really really love the Consular's Act 1 shield ability (I have a thing with the whole 'power comes with a potentially deadly price' trope).
• I'd rather avoid the "oh no relationships lead to the dark side" Jedi angst. In the base Consular questline there's no alignment penalty for flirting and in at least one romance the Jedi are fully aware of it (Felix's after-marriage letter talks about him having to have relationship therapy type talks with some other Masters) so there's some support for the lines not being quite as firm for the Consular in canon.
• The non-default name DNW doesn't technically apply here since there are no defaults, but I'd prefer sticking to titles or role based epithets if possible (if not, just a really standard seeming name is fine).
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Character A would rather die than admit to having feelings for Character B - When Arcann is still Emperor. That whole situation would be such a mess of jealousy and confusion and attraction. Especially if he was really struggling to tell if the mind controlling the Consular's body really was still the Jedi he'd read up on or if it was his Father putting on an act (he seems to swap who he's talking to a lot during the game)
•  
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration
  Character B's flirting is too subtle and Character A pines instead of picking up on it
   - Jedi aren't exactly super outgoing about this sort of thing, and Arcann doesn't seem to have had much exposure to relationships (which could be for a whole number of reasons). It'd be real easy for either of them to be flirting too subtly while the other is too oblivious to the signs to realize that's what's going on.
•  
• Possessed/haunted/AI-in-their-head/ect character reluctant to start a relationship because of it
  Pining because a third party is interfering with developing relationship
   - Valkorion. I mean technically it could be Lana or someone advising the Consular to keep their distance, but Valkorion goes very hard in the game on trying to make the Consular kill Arcann or just not trust him, and that's without a romance actively happening.
•  
• Pining for Someone Character Keeps Seeing in Dreams
  Psychic link reveals pining is mutual
  - Force shenanigans. Maybe it's the result of an artifact. Maybe the result of Valkorion's affect on them or the aftermath of defeating him. Maybe just general force weirdness.
•  
• pining characters worries about hurting the character they love if they got together - The last person that Arcann really loved was his brother. Who he stabbed. In a very similar fashion to how he's already stabbed the Consular (or maybe he hasn't yet and part of the reason why he's able to be knocked off the platform by Koth or Lana is the shock of that association). He's got some very good reasons to be worried that he'll get out of control again and hurt someone close to him.
  
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling
  
• Alliance is or might be temporary
  
• Character A pining because they think character B hates them
  
• Character keeps picking fights with object of their pining
  
• Mutual Pining
  
• pining for someone after bad personal history between them
  
• pining for the enemy/rival
  
• A thinks B won't want them because of their past behavior
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  
• mistaking pining for hatred
  
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
• A pining because they think B is uninterested in romance or relationships

Andronikos/M!Sith Inquisitor

• Loyalty Kink very against Andronikos' will.
• It'd be really easy for them to get into a nebulous relationship where they're sort of in a something but haven't actually talked anything out.
• The non-default name DNW doesn't technically apply here since there are no defaults, but I'd prefer sticking to titles or role based epithets if possible. Or the canon Darth names (Imperius, Nox, or Occlus.) or Kallig since that's technically the SI's family name too.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
  Character A would rather die than admit to having feelings for Character B
  B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way
  - Andronikos has some hangups. Most of which are pretty reasonable considering his history and the fact that the SI is a literal Dark Lord by the end of things.
•  
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling - The SI has been a slave (potentially for a long time) and then got thrown into the meat grinder that is a Sith apprenticeship. They don't ever mention having any old friends or family or anything, which is partially because of Bioware trying to give us a blank slate but also has some interesting implications if you go with it. It's entirely possible that they've either never had the chance or never had someone they trusted enough to get anywhere close to thinking about that way. Or maybe they're just a meganerd who couldn't see the people for the cool powerful artifacts and it took something really hitting right to pull them up and make them take stock of their emotions.
•  
• Character pines for someone they think is dead - During that five years between SOR and KOTET. Andronikos was the one flying the ship, so there has to be a part of him that regrets not dragging the SI back onto their ship when he had the chance and screw the rest of them. And then the whole mess of hearing about the SI killing Valkorion and supposedly dying to it and the hope that he hasn't and the thought that he must have and then rumors of the Alliance popping up and is it really him? The SI is so wrapped up in force ghosts that his people could easily start looking for signs of him in that realm too.
•  
• Everyone thinks they're already in a relationship - Why would a Dark Lord have a random pirate as his personal pilot and one of his most trusted (if not the absolute most trusted) people? There's no way that the Empire hasn't made a dozen assumptions on that.
•  
• Possessed/haunted/AI-in-their-head/ect character reluctant to start a relationship because of it - The SI has a whole peanut gallery. Depending on their personality this may or may not bother them.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
• Character A thinks B isn't serious about them despite B's heavy flirting and subsequently pines
• Character B's flirting is too subtle and Character A pines instead of picking up on it
• Conversations with double meanings
• Everyone Knows Except Object Of Affection
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character
• Character pines for someone who thinks nothing of undressing casually in front of them
• Mutual Pining
• Psychic link reveals pining is mutual
• Revealed Feelings While Mortally Injured/No Hope but Whoops! They Were Rescued Now It's Awkward
• A thinks B is out of their league
• Tries to Confess but Keeps Getting Interrupted by Circumstances
• Loyalty
• Mixed Signals Confuses Characters On Whether Feelings Are Requited
• pining after years of friendship
• Pining has been going on for a long time
• Character B figures out that Character A has been pining for them for years
• Pining while having wounds tended
• Pining while tending someone's wounds
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection

Lana/F!Smuggler

• Lana is so ridiculously loyal to the Outlander from basically the moment she meets them. Even when the Outlander is a scruffy Captain with a penchant for getting into trouble. Considering that they're on opposite sides and then Lana spends five years trying to rescue the Smuggler and getting more and more convinced that the Smuggler is their only hope, there's a lot of room for pining.
• And on the Smuggler's side they're just a disaster no matter how you play them and that could be a lot of fun.
• The non-default name DNW doesn't technically apply here since there are no defaults, but I'd prefer sticking to titles, role based epithets, or nicknames if possible. Something that sounds like a very obviously made up fake name (like their Ace name in the ship fights) is fine as well.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way - The Smuggler is used to being able to be a suave flirt. Maybe they'd really rather Lana not realize how entirely gone they are. Or maybe they're totally fine with Lana knowing but Lana is trying to be all professional and keep her emotions to herself and not blur lines, especially during SOR.
•  
• Character A thinks B isn't serious about them despite B's heavy flirting and subsequently pines - The Smuggler has so many opportunities to be a flirt that it would be really easy for Lana to not see the difference between their "I am super into you let's get married" flirting and their "Hey you look vaguely compatible and I'm bored" flirting.
•  
• Character B's flirting is too subtle and Character A pines instead of picking up on it - Alternatively, maybe the Smuggler is trying really hard to flirt seriously and because their unserious flirting is so obvious Lana doesn't pick up on it at all. Or maybe Lana is the one flirting but her style of flirting just is too Lana to be obvious.
•  
• Character pines for someone they think is dead - Lana has a lot of faith during those five years, but it would be really easy to doubt. Maybe it's just for moments, maybe a part of her is certain that the Smuggler is dead right until the Smuggler is falling (alive, if poisoned) into her arms.
•  
• Everyone thinks they're already in a relationship - Why would the Republic's darling and the head of Sith Intelligence be so friendly with each other? Because the emperor is trying to destroy the world, obviously, but other people are going to draw some very different conclusions.
•  
• Possessed/haunted/AI-in-their-head/ect character reluctant to start a relationship because of it - The Smuggler doesn't have any experience with this sort of nonsense, and is probably one of the most likely to worry how it might affect other people since they've got no force abilities of their own nor training in this sort of thing to even try to fight back against Valkorion at all. It's just them and their willpower, against a creepy dude who ate a whole planet. Maybe they're just worried about force nonsense, maybe they see enough similarities between Lana and Senya that they're worried Valkorion will slowly turn them into a meatsuit and keep Lana on a string.
•  
• Other Freeforms
• Character B figures out that Character A has been pining for them for years
  
• Character A has never been in love before and so doesn't immediately recognize the feeling
  
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
  
• Character A would rather die than admit to having feelings for Character B
  
• Character pines for someone who thinks nothing of undressing casually in front of them
  
• Conversations with double meanings
  
• Everyone Knows Except Object Of Affection
  
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character
  
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
  
• Mutual Pining
  
• Psychic link reveals pining is mutual
  
• Revealed Feelings While Mortally Injured/No Hope but Whoops! They Were Rescued Now It's Awkward
  
• A thinks B is out of their league
  
• Tries to Confess but Keeps Getting Interrupted by Circumstances
  
• Loyalty
  
• Mixed Signals Confuses Characters On Whether Feelings Are Requited
  
• pining after years of friendship
  
• Pining has been going on for a long time
  
• Pining while having wounds tended
  
• Pining while tending someone's wounds
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
   

M!Sith Warrior/Theron

• Note: I somehow accidentally picked "Psychic link reveals feelings aren't mutual" instead of what I meant to pick which was "Psychic link reveals pining is mutual". Since I only picked "Feelings eventually requited" for this one I'm fairly sure I wouldn't have matched with someone who wanted to write unrequited, but I wanted to mention the freeform mistake here just in case. If you had an idea for the "aren't mutual" version that still fits with "feelings eventually requited" then that's still perfectly fun!
• The non-default name DNW doesn't technically apply here since there are no defaults, but I'd prefer sticking to titles, role based epithets, or using the Wrath part of his title as a name.
•  
• Prompty Freeforms
• Alliance is or might be temporary - Throughout SOR they're really clear that they're going to go back to their respective sides as soon as things are over, which heavily influences the dynamics between them. Or maybe they have to work together before all the Revanite stuff and it's an even more temporary alliance that they're having to figure out how to deal with their emotions within (or how to properly hide said emotions).
•  
• mistaking pining for hatred
  Everyone Thinks They Hate Each Other - They're Pining
  Character A pining because they think character B hates them
  - The game lets them have a pretty friendly relationship, but considering Theron's history and Wrath being Wrath they could so easily have more antagonistic one as well. And then that would just get more and more complicated with every plotline they go through.
•  
• Undercover as a Couple While Pining - This could just be fun, really, regardless of how good or bad Wrath is at the couple part. Maybe the Warrior is fully into it and very very convincingly playing (or just acting like he really wants to with the 'cover' as an excuse) an overprotective boyfriend/husband and it's causing emotional issues for Theron. Or maybe the whole idea is throwing the Warrior for a loop and making him think about things in a different light.
•  
• Character A pines while Character B Thinks They're Already Dating - Technically they broke up after Yavin, but before that they never exactly sat down to outline what their relationship was. And even after that how Sith do things and how Republic spies do things are very very different.
•  
• A ended the relationship with B but still pines for them - Either of them being a mess after Yavin, or Theron being a mess after his fake 'betrayal'.
•  
• Pining character expects to be killed by their crush - With someone like the Wrath of the Empire, Theron would have a really good reason to assume that no matter how things turn out he's going to get killed for 'betraying' the Warrior. Especially if he isn't certain that he'll live to the end of it since the Warrior is probably the last person in the galaxy that a sane person wants hunting them.
•  
• A isn't used to not getting things they want - The Warrior goes through some shit, but at the end of the day he's a prodigy from a respected bloodline. A lot of his Korriban arc is about him having things handed to him, and while he's obviously willing to put in the work and proves himself able to overcome some pretty massive barriers during his storyline, he's still used to things always coming up his way in the end. That could easily rub Theron the wrong way.
•  
• Everyone thinks they're already in a relationship - Especially after their breakup. Maybe the Warrior is a subtle person and 'everyone' is just his closest people. Or maybe he's incredibly unsubtle and it's really everyone. Maybe Theron isn't as subtle as he tries to be either and the SIS is trying to figure out how to use it or Satele is worried.
• s
• Character pines for someone they think is dead - Theron is really good at denial and compartmentalization. There's so much going on after the Warrior disappears that it would be really easy for him to bury himself in that, even though he's helping Lana look for the Warrior too. And even after the Warrior is back, there'd be that trepidation of not wanting to go and have to confront things and being able to convince himself that other things took precedence until he actually really had to go and re-meet someone that he'd convinced himself was gone for good.
  
•  
• Other Freeforms
• A attributes B's flirting to cultural differences
  
• Everyone Knows Except Object Of Affection
  
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character
  
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
  
• Pining for emotional relationship in a perceived to be physical one
  
• Possessed/haunted/AI-in-their-head/ect character reluctant to start a relationship because of it
  
• Psychic link reveals pining is mutual
  
• Revealed Feelings While Mortally Injured/No Hope but Whoops! They Were Rescued Now It's Awkward
  
• Trying to Ignore Feelings While Forced to Work in Close Quarters With Person of Their Affection
  
• Mutual Pining
  
• Pining while having wounds tended
  
• Pining While Sleeping on Love Interest's Bed
  
• Pining while stranded in the wilderness
  
• Pining while tending someone's wounds

Smut Likes/Prompts

• I'm fairly vanilla so if it's really out there and not something mentioned here maybe I'm not the best recip, but I'm not easily squicked by anything that isn't in my DNWs (or directly along those lines) so don't worry too much if it's something borderline. Even most of the stuff in my DNWs is more of a "gonna scrolllllll right past this part" type thing rather than a "gotta backspace out of the fic" type thing.
• Smut for me is mostly about the leadup, the emotions, the skin contact, the conversations during, and how it affects their relationship.
• You can get a little rougher or dubconnyish if you want as long as both characters are really into it.
•  
• Likes/Prompts:
• One part of a threesome pulling back for a few moments during sex and admiring the other two.
• One of them deliberately taking aphrodisiacs (with everyone in the ship aware and consent given ahead of time) as a way to lose control a bit.
• One of them deliberately letting themselves get affected by sex pollen (in order to finish a mission or something) having negotiated ahead of time exactly how they would deal with it.
• Accidental sex pollen or heat incident where no sex happens (just a lot of h/c and doting)
• Attempts at safe, sane and consensual... but can be poorly negotiated on all fronts or just straight up a bad idea but they're into it.
• Arguments leading to sex, continuing during sex, or interrupting sex.
• Attempts at dirty talk leading to emotional conversations or outbursts.
• Serious emotional conversations interrupting sex (or happening during ongoing sex)
• Character's guard goes down enough to mention things during sex that they're too embarrassed to talk about once they aren't turned on.
• Someone going through something really rough, either emotionally or physically, and just really needing to be a pillow princess and get doted on this time.
• One character going uncharacteristically quiet or something mid-sex and the other noticing and stopping to make sure they're alright.
• Very very careful sex with an injured character.
• Body worship of a character who got tied up expecting something very different.
• Sex just triggering a breakdown due to a completely unrelated issue and the affected character trying to get that across to a very concerned/panicked partner.
• H/C leading to makeouts or sex.
• Non-penetrative sex (especially intercrual)
• Gentle breathplay, biting, scratching, bondage, manhandling, one character pining another down, and other things along those lines.
•  
• Bottom Preferences for anal: For these pairings I vaguely prefer Lavellan, Trevelyan (if it's with Bull) Varric, Scott, the Sith Inquisitor, the Consular, and Theron bottoming, but that's just a vague preference that I'm only even mentioning because I know some people get nervous without it being stated. I like switching and I love "person usually on bottom is topping this time" scenarios, so if your preferences are different from mine then feel free to go with what you find hotter! (For the threesomes, I don't have a preference for the characters not mentioned here).
• The above preferences don't apply to blowjobs at all for me. Blowjobs are equal opportunity ground. It doesn't apply to any other sex act or to who is dominant emotionally either.
•  
• Note on Fade To Blacks: If you aren't comfortable (or don't have time for) writing smut but feel like it belongs in the fic, I am totally fine with fade to blacks.

Do Not Wants

• Humiliation.
• Severe social ineptness.
• Planned public declarations of love (outbursts are fine).
• Embarrassing cultural misunderstandings .
• Cheating.
• Suspicion of cheating that isn't immediately shot down.
• Unrequested poly.
• Open relationships (even for poly ships).
• V type relationships for requested poly.
• Misunderstandings centered around thinking someone is in another relationship (unless it's leading to requested poly and the pair they think are in a relationship are both part of the poly ship).
• Unrequested gender/sexuality headcanons.
• Non-canon background or previous relationships for characters the fic is focused on with other named characters or with unnamed characters who appear in the fic.
• Modern AUs.
• Crossovers.
• Non-canon slavery.
• Non-canon permanent maiming/incapacitation.
• Graphic description of wounds.
• Graphic torture.
• Prostitution.
• Non-canon permanent named character death.
• Canon character death resulting from a forced either/or choice.
• Custom Names for Player Characters if default ones exist.
• Noncon, fear of Noncon, or focus on past Noncon.
• Unrequested Dubcon.
• Sex with a sex pollen victim who is unable to give clearheaded consent (unless consent is given ahead of time).
• Drunken or drugged sex. (buzzed is fine)
• Ageplay.
• Underaged.
• Mentor/Mentee. (Except for SVSSS obviously)
• Disciplinary punishment in a sexual context.
• Kissing after throwing up.
• Rimming. Fisting. Sounding. Blowjobs after anal.

• Dragon Age DNW
• Hawke or The Inquisitor taking a hard anti-mage stance.
• Leaving anyone behind in the fade.
• Killing the Chargers.

• Andromeda DNWs
• Anything to do with Kadara, Exiled Colonists, Colonists turned Raiders, the Nexus Uprising, ect. This includes colonists who were exiled but went their own way, mentions of anything involving exile, and any nameless colonists-turned-raiderlike-minons for non-exiled Initiative characters. (EXCEPTION: Canon divergences fixits that solve the Uprising without exiling them or Jien lived scenarios). It's okay to have the effects of it in there (eg: the Krogan Colony or Kandros being head of security), just not direct references to the DNWed stuff.
• The non-Pathfinder twin resenting the Pathfinder twin.

• SWTOR DNWs
• Nadia having a crush on the Consular or Jaesa having a crush on the Warrior.
• A chaotic-evil darksided Sith (or Jaesa). Affable or intimidating darksided is fine, just not "torture and mwhahaha because I feel like it" darksided.
• Darksided Consular (grey or struggling is fine).
• The Consular having solved Act 1 with murder.
• Bad end for Theron
• Failing to rescue a companion at the end of KOTET (unless they're saved as well later).
• The "save two leave one" escape pod thing.