#fans of rogue and gambit and rogue/gambit truly ask for so little

[annamariedarkholmes]

lmao i feel like i should have been way more excited during the initial relaunch announcements

but it really speaks to how gatekeepy the loudest parts of fandom became and how mistreated certain characters (ie those not part of the chosen pet fav circlejerk on x-tw*tter, which would matter less if it weren’t a vacuum reinforced by the actual x-office) were under outgoing editorial these last five years that even a post-krakoa announcement of my girl finally:

-headlining a flagship

-with an incredible writer and artist team

-a SOUTHERN GOTHIC premise

-the possibility of rogue finally having enjoyable interactions with remy and kurt

-under new editorial (that hasn’t said inflammatory things about said character in interviews afaik)??

still kinda had me like

“cool!!…

…still not pre-ordering. i’ll see for myself in august” 👉👈

and then literally all it took was gail simone’s cbr mini q&a to alleviate everything i was paranoid about

(ie worried that rogue and gambit were only finally getting attention due to corporate knowing they sell/mcu synergy (cough r&g 2.0) while editorial themselves actively hates and sidelines them, that remy might be a punching bag joke once again, that dull - and mostly yt - sausage fest of a proposed line-up, r&g 2.0/uncanny avengers/duggan’s x-men/excalibur fatigue, general saltiness from the inferno exclusion and basic removal from her mothers’ lives)

and basically i now say

bring it!!!!

[ludi-ling]

Reading HoC for the first time, I wanted to ask you how difficult it was to write the emotional/romantic part of Gambit and why did you make him so uncommunicative with Rogue in that aspect and even cold and unfair; because although he shows that he cares about her, he also treats her like an object that only he can use… (just curious not a criticism)

Hi! That's a really great question, with a really complex answer I'll hope I can do justice to!

HoC Gambit was never on the side of the angels - he originally joined the X-Men solely to betray them, so he's always been a shady, amoral asshole who got by on turning off his conscience. He never had his redemption arc before the shit hit the fan and the military attacked the mansion and killed most of the X-Men - although I like to think he eventually would've had one. Rogue would've been the catalyst to that redemption, and ultimately she ends up being so after a lot of heartache (and post-apocalyptic shenanigans).

But by the time they meet again, he's had to do terrible things to survive. He's become colder and more switched off, a person who has nothing left to live for apart from the work he does and the vices that are his lifeline in the time in between. Rogue tears him away from that, and I think he's afraid of the instability she brings into his life. She makes him care about things other than himself, and he has difficulty adjusting to that, because it complicates his life, and challenges him to deal with emotions he's so assiduously switched himself off from. He fears she'll derail his professional life, but also his emotional one. He survived by not caring, because deep down he's a man who feels a LOT, and if he opens those floodgates, he fears it'll overwhelm him, and he'll no longer be able to maintain that finely tuned balance that keeps him afloat.

Did I find it hard to write? Not really. I love writing BAMF Remy, and I love writing his emotional conflict. I guess us writers really do enjoy torturing our characters. 😁

I hope that makes sense! And I just want to say thanks so much for reading and enjoying my stories - it means so much! ❤

EDIT: I just wanted to add to this because you said something about Gambit treating her as an object only he can use, and I totally ignored that. I don't know if you'll see this now, but I'm going to add it anyway because I think it's important. Sorry! 😩

I think Gambit treats her in this way because it's part of his compartmentalisation process. He feels like he has to do that to survive, because she destabilises his professional life so much. So he cordones her off to this one tiny area of his life where he can indulge a little bit, have a little bit of salve for the crap he has to do. But because of that he also psychologically (and emotionally) has to distance himself from her so that he doesn't get attached to her and end up upsetting the equilibrium he's created in his life. So inevitably he ends up objectifying in some way. 'She's that slice of my life, and I won't let her cross over into the rest of it'. The thing is, he can't help himself and allows himself to let her bleed into his other life (because, like, he truly loves her). He allows himself to feel jealous of her precisely because he's objectified her, put her up on this pedestal as someone who is his balm, his solace, someone he's inadvertently allowed to become so emotionally important in his life. He's selfish and an ass about it partly because that's how he is, but also because, I think, he's afraid of losing control of his life, and he doesn't know how to handle loving her without keeping her at arm's length.

I think it's interesting to see how, later in the trilogy, that objectification begins to break down, but because of circumstances he's forced to switch himself off from her again against his will.

Remy's a mess. Ngl. But I LOVE writing complicated, morally grey characters. 😅

[distant-rose]

don't even follow x-men anymore but you've revived my love for rouge and gambit

I’m so glad. I love them. They’re forever my 90s parents and while I’m more than a little pissed off at HOX/POX and Excalibur’s storyline (I have a rage session about everyone being chill with Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse on a daily basis. I have strong opinions about this Hickman run and firmly believe he has truly forgotten the message behind the X-Men/mutants and what they want is not to be seen as superior, but accepted but that’s just me and I’m gonna stop before I get angry), I’m super happy they’re married and being hella cute in the comics. Their relationship is super cute and if you’re interested in them again, I highly recommend reading Rogue & Gambit: Ring of Fire and Mr. & Mrs. X. Pretty much what any Romy fan could ask for.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Caroline au (Shadow King)

N/A: This will be a time skip, but, to address some things, Kitty still lives in Fortress City as suddenly it is so hard to leave...good colleges are here, and she even gets a scholarship, good for Kitty, but, she can´t leave the city....Dagon is not going to let her either his followers...if the cats are so interested in her, sure enough, Kitty must be special. She can leave for a short time, yes, but, she must return or else...

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @sailorstar9 @discordsworld @bamfoftheundead

The nights in Cairo are surprisingly cold and that´s something Kitty learn in first hand as she is putting a jacket to protect herself from the cold. Kitty Pryde may have enjoyed the touristic side of Cairo in the morning, but, at night, she has a mission and this time she wants to add her own spin on this mission.

"Alone?" Jupiter asked in a siamese form and is listening to Kitty´s demands. The girl is no longer a girl, but a woman in her earlier 20 and Jupiter didn´t even notice the time pass by.

"Yes, you and the others trained me, and I did the missions with you all holding my hand, well, you got the picture," Kitty said calmly "but, this time I want to do this mission alone, I´m not a little Kitten anymore, I can do this"

Jupiter sighs and agrees. "Well, of course, you are a good student, and you can deal with this situation alone...don´t mind me if I´m going overprotective mood with you, Kitten, I somehow get fond of you"

Kitty caresses his head gently. "A cat confessing this must be real, and I love you two, Jupiter," she said holding the cat and petting his furry head. "But, I´m an independent and strong woman. Time to be treated as such"

"Of course, so, when the strong and independent woman returns let´s watch Bob Sponge"

" Wouldn´t miss for anything" __________________________________________

If someone deserves to be blamed by this mission, definitely is Xavier, Ororo and the rest of the X-men(Cyclops, Rogue, Jean and Gambit) as Professor X never truly explained nor brief what this mission was truly about.

Jean Grey was possessed by an entity that is far above what the X-men usually fare and while Jean Grey is fighting off bravely, she knows is impossible to truly fight off this creature.

"Ororo?" Jean asked and Storm lower herself to be on Jean´s level(the woman is on the ground trying to fight off this thing)

"Jean, my sister, don´t fight it, instead, just ...embrace it" and Jean sees how Ororo´s eyes are dark and her usually beautiful face is twisted into something sinister. "You all are under me, you are all under the Shadow King´s control"

And Jean didn´t have the strength anymore to fight it off.

__________________________________________ The streets of Cairo at night are so silent, in fact, too silent to be normal and Kitty knows the pattern by heart. "Look, can we skip this? I know you are here, you know I´m here, let´s get this over with" Kitty said with a bit of sass as a strong wind makes it present.

And suddenly, Storm, her favourite X-men, is facing her, of course, that´s not Storm(well, is her body, but, Storm seems to be sharing the body with something else judging by the dark and sinister eyes looking down on Kitty)

"How dare you to even come here?" Shadow King must think she is not a real threat and soon starts to monologue, which, Kitty is thankfully(always get them when they last expect) "You dare to defile IT´s place?"

Kitty is confused by this.

"Is the shirt? Does it scream that I´m a tourist? I thought it was pretty cute" Kitty refers to her pink shirt with the Disney´s princess image. And this question didn´t stop it to continue his tangent.

"Coming here with that disgusting smell, you reek with that fish, you reek with Dagon" and Kitty blinks as she nods pretending to not know what he is talking about(well, not hard as Dagon is something the cats hate as well)

"How dare you be here, you filthy human! The Dark Pharaoh does not need you" And adds "I, the Shadow King, will destroy you and offer your mutilated body and soul as a gift for IT"

(Dark Pharaoh and Dagon are two different things from the same package and that what she knows so far)

"Nice, but, there´s a problem in your plan" Kitty explains amused as the Shadow King is ready to strike, but, if he likes to monologue, he also is the type to let people make their last line.

"Oh, and what is it?"

"I don´t plan to die tonight!" and Kitty punches  Ororo´s body, but, instead of causing any damage to Storm, it only damage Shadow King, and as her fist turns into a soft glow of white. Kitty did again until the Shadow King is completely out of Ororo´s body.

(Kitty holds her body carefully as she guides to the ground and cast the words to lock the Shadow King in his realm)

With the Shadow King gone, it means the other X-men are free from his control. Storm wakes up and Kitty is there to explain what happened and the other X-men want answers and thank for her help.

However, once Rogue gaze upon Kitty for a minute, she immediately recognizes her. "Oh my god! You´re Dazzler´s rival?"

"What? Oh, that" Kitty now remembers of that old tittle and marketing campaign "no, that was a marketing thing and fan speculation, me and Dazzler get along fine, we are both mutants that manage to enter into the music industry...so people already want to pin us against each other"

Rogue is a bit embarrassed(Gambit though she looks cute in that way) for ever believing those rumours. Scott asked if Ororo is alright and the woman replies she is("thanks to Kitty here I´m, Shadow King was using me to be his puppet and control all of you") however, Jean Grey makes the important question.

"How did you defeated the Shadow King?"

"I didn´t...I only purify his energy once he was in Ororo´s body and sent to his realm, sadly, he will return after 1000 years" Kitty explained and somehow Jean is not convinced by that.

"And how you get to know such ability? An indie singer shouldn´t know how to purify something like the Shadow King, not even Professor X knew how to do it"

Kitty blinks and she has enough sanity to know if she tells the real story the X-men will think she is insane, instead, she gave a vague answer. "I got good teachers and I was a good student"

This, for Kitty´s luck, is enough for the X-men, while Jean disagrees there´s something fishy going on.

_______________________________________

The fight between Shadow King and Kitty was watched by afar, in another realm where time and sanity aren´t important. An elderly cat is next to Jupiter as they watch Kitty Pryde talking with the X-men and nod in approving, then, their eyes side with their patron.

"She is worthy" the elderly cat has white fur but tentacles instead of claws "she is a worthy mate for you"

The patron has a blue fuzzy face, golden eyes and a smile full of teeth. And a dark tentacle is caressed the elderly cat as IT is letting the other cats speak, Jupiter is the only to speak.

"You need a mate! Dagon of all the deities has a mate, Death has one too and you? will be the forever alone forever?"  Jupiter said and adds "the woman proves to be your yang!"

Now, IT is speaking highly amused by such reaction from IT´s beloved cats. "Look, she defeated Shadow King, was that impressive for a human? Yes, but to claim that she will be my mate is a bit stretching"

The cats complain saying how Kitty Pryde is his mate and how they are sick of all the deities make the Forever alone joke with IT.

"Oh, but if you want me to grace Miss Pryde..."

"NO!" Jupiter said gazing upon his patron "Or you will be her mate or no deal, she is not an experiment for more of your children. Mate!" and he adds "As much we love and respect you, I also love and care for Kitty, I saw that human grew and I tell you this, or she is or mate or no deal"

"Oh, you never spoke against me in such way" IT seems impressed "if this Kitty Pryde is indeed my mate, she must have caused a hell of good impression on you" the cats nods and IT continues "she faces Shadow King, which is impressive, but, she is still only a human...I´ll keep an eye on her, I promise, but, I want a final test to see if she is truly my mate"

The cats side-eye each other and before they could ask IT replies. "I know you all are fond of her, I promise no harm will come to her in any form if she fails"

"I just want to know ...if she will be really different from the other humans you often sent to me" and speaks directly to Jupiter "And Jupiter, be ready to explain yourself to your dear Kitten" and the Dark Pharaoh gave his famous smile making Jupiter rolls his eyes.

[narwhallove]

Behind the Curtain: Interview with Romy Writer Ludi-Ling

House of Cards actually started out as a random smut scene that burgeoned into something far, far more.

@ludi-ling goes meta in our final interview about her writing process; how the Romy fandom’s changed over the years; alternate universes (AU); and the role of smut for Romy fans. (Spoiler alert, our heroes are hot.)

No surprise that it’s a pleasure interviewing Ludi. I kept sending her more questions (25 total!) because her responses fascinated me and inspired me to ask more. It’s a rare person who writes visceral, startling prose and can also talk about her work with clarity, intelligence, and an affection for her characters that doesn’t occlude good writerly judgment.

The superlatives don’t end there. Anyone who knows the community knows that Ludi is a friend to her readers and to her fellow writers. As we all enter a heady 2019, reading Mr. and Mrs. X together, Ludi is someone to cherish.

If you haven’t read our other interviews, please check out: Part 1 of interviews: X-men Origins Part 2 of interviews: Going Dark

As a scholar of fan studies, do you believe Romy fanfiction fulfills needs that Marvel never can? What needs might those be, for Romy fans?

Certainly I think that fanfic is built on the premise of filling in the gaps, scribbling in the margins (to quote the seminal fan studies scholar, Henry Jenkins!) and fixing perceived wrongs. Comics are unique in that regard because the characters and stories within them continue for years and even decades. Comics continuities are convoluted and complicated, and there is a constant churn of writers working on them. Many fans have followed characters for far longer than the writers, and may know the characters more intimately than the professionals. Comics are full of retcons and contradictory takes on the characters. And I think fanfic is an important medium for allowing fans to “fix” that, to negotiate it. Because of the ongoing nature of comics, and because the futures of the characters are always going to be nebulous and subject to the whims of Marvel and the writers indefinitely, I think it’s going to continue to be important. Romy may be married in the comics, but there will still be plenty to write about—kids, divorce, a reconciliation . . . who knows? ;) 

What do you think Romy readers seek out when they read fanfiction? If it’s wish fulfillment, what kinds of wishes are being fulfilled? If it’s looking for “gaps” that the comics skip over, what have you found to be the most common sorts of gaps?

I think Romy is a very interesting example of the “wish fulfillment” function of fanfiction. Because part of the mystique of that ship (no pun intended) is that they can’t touch, they can’t consummate their relationship . . . And fanfic is a way that fans can get them to touch, to work out that angst. I think that one of the staples of Romy fic is the sexual tension between the two, and how they resolve that; the push and pull between them. Sometimes these take place in epic, superheroic backdrops, sometimes in AUs, where they have no mutant powers and where the tension between them is born from other factors (such as already having significant others, or being enemies, or in illicit lines of work).

What draws you to AUs? Your stories aren’t a case of fanfiction filling what’s “between panels”; you tend to shift characters and relationships to entirely different settings, whether it’s a Strange Days–like world or another genre, like a Southern gothic procedural. Can you talk about AUs and how they play out in your imagination?

What I’ve always liked is world-building. One of my first large-scale writing projects was a fantasy trilogy called The Legend of Elu. Most of the fun I got from that was actually building the world, the kingdoms, the mythology, the theology, the languages, the history of that story. That definitely bled into my fanfic.

Now I tend to write canon stuff as one-shots, and novel-length stuff as AUs, because they give me more space to play with world-building. That was something I realised I enjoyed more when I wrote Threads. Writing all those little worlds in a series of one-shots felt too “small.” HoC was originally an expansion of the Threads tale Touch and Go, but it grew into something else, and since then, I’ve preferred to go the AU route for the longer-form stories. :)

We’re living in peak Romy times—I think we’re still reeling from the wedding! Let’s say you had the power to go back in time and drop a pin into an earlier moment in the Romy timeline that you felt truly represents what Romy means to you (which isn’t the same as when they’re happiest!). When and in what universe? Why this choice?

There are so many iconic moments from Romy’s past, but, for me personally, I always go back to their time in Valle Soleada (in X-Treme X-Men). That’s not because they’re happy per se, but because I think that that period was the perfect example of how great they worked together on every level, and was proof positive that they were a good match. I often say it, but I will say it again here, because it’s the truth, and y’all can fight me to the death over it—if there was a time they would’ve got married and I would’ve bought it 100%, it would’ve been in Valle Soleada.

On Tumblr, it seems a large contingent of Romy fans are women in their 30s who discovered Romy at a tender age, thanks to the animated series. This includes you and me! There are exceptions, of course. What’s it like for you to have been in the fandom from the early aughts? What changes in the fandom have you noticed between 2003 and 2018?

I really joined the fandom at an exciting time for Romy—they’d just got back together properly after all the turmoil of the Trial of Gambit. X-Treme X-Men was a treat for Romy fans, and Claremont wrote such a great dynamic between them. As fans we were all excited and happy and well-fed on all that Romy goodness.

So it was weird (not to mention disappointing) when the 2004 reboot happened, and Marvel did everything they could to tank Romy. Which is one thing, and I can stomach it if [it were] logically and well written, but it was just so terribly done that I think many of us just tapped out of the fandom completely. I’d say 2005–2018 were fallow years for the Romy fandom. Most (if not all) of the fan friends I made at that time completely left the fandom. For myself, as someone who enjoys writing AUs, it was the perfect time to branch out from writing in canon and fitting Romy into my own world.

Who are your influences? What writers do you feel a particular affinity for? Are there writers whom we might be surprised to discover informed your work, but you feel have, despite appearances?

I was heavily influenced by the dark, modern fairytales of Angela Carter about the time that I was writing Queen of Diamonds and Threads. She had a really magical way with words—her prose was lyrical, sensual, and unbelievably rich. She was a huge inspiration, but later I moved away from her tone, firstly because I felt I was doing a poor imitation of her, secondly because it wasn’t really appropriate for the direction I wanted to move my fics in, and lastly because I was becoming self-conscious of my insane verbosity and wanted to pare down my prose. That’s something I’m still working on!

At some point during the writing of House of Cards, I finally got round to reading Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I think it was Douglas Adams who convinced me to move away from Carter’s beautiful but too-flowery prose. I loved the way his narrative just sizzled. I’m bad at capturing that energy—but I do think that from HoC onwards, I’ve tried to learn to be more economical with my words—which is hard for a florid soul like mine. 

Threads—structurally at least—was influenced by Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller, and later, by David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. 

Let’s say you can pair your fiction with other works of art—of all forms, films, paintings, music, etc.—as if you were pairing wines to foods. What other pieces of art might you say go along with yours?

Wow! OK—that’s hard. Threads I’d probably pair with Cloud Atlas (the book, not the film, which I haven’t yet watched). HoC—I don’t know that there’s any one thing I would pair it with, but you can bet a load of post-apocalyptic stuff was thrown into that stew, along with a bit of The Matrix and probably some Inception.

52 Pickup was influenced a lot by Asmus’s Gambit run, cos I really wanted to write a heist fic with Remy and Rogue rather than Remy and Joelle (who I freely admit kicked ass). But if I had to pair it with a piece of media, it’d be with the video game Remember Me, which dealt a lot with themes of how memories inform our identities, and the ethical concerns of having memories essentially become “documents” that are uploaded and shared digitally through the cloud.

This is a good segue to talk about high-low culture. We may not want to believe in a hierarchy of culture, but we can certainly talk about the differences between fanfiction and “regular fiction.” When you read fanfiction, do you approach it differently than you would regular fiction? Are your expectations for form, reading pleasure, or anything else different? If so, how so?

Interesting question! I don’t know whether I approach it differently per se, but I think that readers have different expectations of fanfic. Hopefully we all read “regular fiction” for the same reason we read fanfic—for pleasure. But I don’t think there’s really a binary between regular and fanfiction. I think both exist on a continuum. There is a lot of “regular fiction” (I prefer to call it “profic” or “professional fiction,” because I think that’s where the binary between the two exists) that is actually very close to fanfic, and vice versa. By that I mean that there is plenty of fanfic that is epic in scope, deals with serious themes, and might be considered “classics” if they weren’t fanfiction.

And there is also profic, like romance, that is more similar to fanfic in terms of the kind of functions that it serves. There is an illicit pleasure to reading romance—for example, it’s not the kind of thing you’d openly read in public! There’s a similarity between that and fanfic, and I think, as readers of fanfic, we anticipate some level of illicitness when we approach it—even if the illicitness is only in the format (i.e., it’s fanfiction!), not in the content.

Fun question: What role do you think explicit smut functions in a fic? How do you deal with smut in your work? There’s an interesting moment that’s not in HoC, in which you write about Gambit and Rogue’s first time having sex in his point of view. It’s a separate chapter that exists as its own entity on your fanfiction.net page. Notably, it is much more explicit than the scene in Rogue’s perspective. Can you talk a little bit about this decision?

Well, I do think that fanfic is a safe space for writers to explore their sexuality (and I think that’s a huge part of the reason why fic is looked down upon), and smut plays a significant role in that. And smut certainly plays a part in my own fics. HoC actually started out as a random smut scene that burgeoned into something far, far more. Generally, I do try to make the sex scenes have a purpose in the plot (’cos I’m kind of anal about plot structure!), but in the particular case of Slow Burn and the other HoC vignettes, those are more self-contained one-shots where I could explore things that I couldn’t explore in the main story. So I could indulge in the smut a bit more! And let’s be honest—Gambit’s dark sexuality makes it thrilling to write smut from his perspective—of course his “thoughts” are going to be more explicit! ;)

But I also think that it’s interesting to write their individual perspectives on their sexual encounters, because of that tension between their characters. Rogue is the quintessential virginal Southern Baptist gal who’s inexperienced; whereas Gambit is the sexually aggressive alpha male who’s probably never had a woman turn him down in his life. That makes for a very combustive love affair between the two, and makes it fun to write that love affair (and all the smut in-between) from both their points of view.

[distant-rose]

Ah, don't worry, I won't be offended. I mean, exams, horrible. Oh, and calling me Santa is fine! Glad you're on board with the fic. In my mind, there's still a blank page, so tell me a bit about your preferences! Do you like canon better or an AU? Crack, couple or family fluff or smut? Any specific tropes/characters (as mere side characters anyway, obviously, this is gonna be fully CS) you don't want to see at all? ~CSSS

I’m assuming because you’re messaging me at 10:30, that you’re also in Europe, Santa. Either that or you have one of those jobs that requires you to be up at unholy hours, in which case I apologize. I’m going to warn you right now that this is going to be a giant wall of text. In fact, I’m going to have to cut this bitch because it’s going to clog the dashes of the poor bastards who follow me.

So, my thoughts, hopes, dreams and preferences are under the cut.

As for my preferences (and thank you for actually asking), I don’t mind canon or AU, whichever is easiest for you. When it comes to AUs, however, I’m one of those rare people who is a “eh” on Lt. Duckling with only a few exceptions to that rule. I prefer AUs where the author really knows the subject material really well and I’m kinda just submerge myself in their world. I’m a huge fan of sports and this fandom has been absolutely amazing with their sports au fics. I’m going to with my gut and guess that you’re more likely European, possibly even from the UK? (if so, hello from London *waves*) So hockey and baseball are probably not your fancy but if you’re comfortable with sport, I do love rugby and football (soccer) and if you’re comfortable doing a take on that, you’re welcome to. Just note my team preferences on the side bar. (I love Man Utd but hate Mourinho, he has zero control of that locker room)

I’m good with crack, couple, family or smut really. I prefer feels probably because I’m not sure people get my sense of humor. I guess the only to describe it is Monty Python meets Scrubs meets Animal House. I like taking the piss out of things and being irreverent. So, that’s kind of crack I’m into. As for them as a couple or as a family, I’ve got preferences admittedly. I’m not a huge fan of codependency or Emma being an absolute to bitch to Killian, which is something I’ve see frequently in fics unfortunately. I’m going to be a bit controversial when I say this but I do think we, as a fandom, tend to demean or sideline Emma in favor of making Killian perfect or whatever. Like I love him, but he’s flawed and can be a real bastard at times. In regard to the codependency thing, I prefer my Captain Swan as entities who are self-maintaining and could be successful on their own but have a mutual love and respect for each other. I firmly believe that they’re their own people and Killian is capable of being Killian without Emma and Emma is capable of being Emma without Killian. They don’t need each other, but they love each other and support each and make each other better, not functional.

If there’s anything I can ask for and I don’t mean to offend anyone but I prefer depictions of Emma Swan as more strong and bad ass than vulnerable. She’s not a damsel. She’s a goddamn superhero. She isn’t Lois Lane. She’s Wonder Woman or, better yet, she’s Rogue. If you know comics, I’m more in the camp of Emma and Killian being most similar to Rogue and Gambit or like reverse Batman and Catwoman. Emotionally scarred tough bad asses and the morally ambiguous bastards who love them. But yeah, I prefer my Emma Swan as being a bad ass bitch rather than needing to be saved. I cannot stress that enough. I love Emma Swan goddamn it.

As for Killian, I prefer actual Killian. Like I prefer the smirky, sassy, snarky bastard who puts his heart into everything, is willing to play dirty, often doesn’t think but is an opportunist dick and has habit of trying to do everything on his own asshole that is Captain Killian “Hook” Jones. So, yeah, Killian. Sometimes I feel like I see more Deckhand Hook or Colin in fandom’s depictions of him and it kinda strikes me as wrong. So, yeah, I prefer my Killian saucy, bold and morally ambiguous and less awkward shy Deckhand and Colin-esque.

Sorry I went off on a tangent there, but like I have a lot of preferences and literally no one has actually asked me this question, so I’m going to make the most of it. Like this isn’t me mad, it’s actually me excited.

As for tropes and characters, I’m a long time fan of friends-to-lovers, or even best-friends-to-lovers, probably because I’ve actually seen that shit happen. Firmly believe the best relationships are fostered in friendship so yeah, friends-to-lovers is definitely my kinda of trope. I also love banter. I’m a sarcastic asshole so I love it and will eat that shit up with a spoon. I’m also more into subtle gestures of love and affection rather than grand gestures. It’s the little things that often matter more. So, public declarations are a huge no for me. 

As for characters, I’ve never cared for Neal. I think he’s pretty shit, though not the worst person in the world. Just very self-absorbed and doesn’t ever realize just much he fucked Emma over and the show kinda just glossed it over but giving someone a criminal record, especially in the United States, is one of the worst things you can do but I won’t get into that. I don’t think he’s an abusive murderous asshole but I do think he’s a prick incapable of looking beyond his own wants and desires and never truly comprehends the way his actions effect others, which in some circumstances is even worse. In other words, would prefer not to see him but I acknowledge he’s integral part of Emma’s narrative, so don’t be that kind to him but don’t make him Satan?

The other usual CS villain - Milah. I have no beef with her. I actually don’t understand the beef with her, especially from Hook fans aside from them being insecure about whether Killian would do if he had to choose between them. That’s very much a nonissue for me. As far as I’m concerned, they ran away together, they were in love and now she’s dead. She might have done a horrible thing by her husband and son but she never did anything wrong to Killian, in fact she died for him. That’s my official stance. Anti-Milah depictions aren’t the end all be all to me and in fact a lot of friends and writers have do a lot of anti-Milah stuff in their writing and it hasn’t been a deal breaker for me but I just prefer not to see it.

I’m also not that big of a fan of Rumple, I’m very take it or leave it with him. I’m actually more in the Red Beauty camp in regard to Belle’s partners but I also don’t mind her with Will either. As for characters I would love to see, I would love to see Elsa because aside from Regina (and I even put Regina loosely in this category), she’s kinda Emma’s only canonical friend. I mean even Ruby is more Snow’s friend than Emma’s. So yeah, #GiveEmmaFriends2KForever. I also have a lot of BROTPs for Killian, namely with David, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel and Tiana. (Killian Jones has a Princess Squad, you cannot take this from me.) I don’t think we see enough Killian and Jasmine BROTP, so if you can manage it, I would love to see it. #GiveKillianFriends2KForever

So yeah, sorry for this huge wall of text but I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of opinions. And I’m sorry you got stuck with me for a giftee because I’m particular and have a lot of preferences but I promise as long as just don’t blatantly disregard my base preferences and I don’t know write Killian Jones as a Red Sox player or make Emma a love sick damsel while Killian can do no wrong, I promise I will love whatever you make. But you’re already taking a step in the right direction because you actually asked. So, thank you.