Characters ♡ The OTP & Pairing Thread ♡ | NEW! Challenge #28: OTP Bingo! (1/15, p. 81, #2025)

Welcome Aboard the Ship of Love!​

This is the place to discuss your favourite pairings and ships—canon or non-canon! Discussions of OC/OC, EC/OC, and EC/EC are all welcome.

Challenges and discussion will both take place! Challenges will give you a chance to write fics for your chosen pairings, and discussions will provide an opportunity to talk about them in depth. Please keep in mind that OCs do have their own thread, so this is not for discussion of individuals.

While set discussion topics are given, any discussion is welcome, provided it follows the guidelines above.

If a pairing has its own thread already, please relegate all discussion there. If discussion of a pairing becomes dominant, it may be moved to another thread. If you would like a pairing to have its own thread, feel free to contact the mods, mavjade and/or Briannakin.

While set discussion topics are given, any discussion is welcome, provided it follows the guidelines above.

Challenges:
Every three months a competitive challenge takes place. The challenge lasts until the beginning of the new one. There is an entry period of 10 weeks and a voting period of 2 weeks, unless otherwise stated. Update January 15, 2020: We will be trying an entry period of 8 weeks for the next several challenges. The voting period will still be 2 weeks, however.

Discussions:
A new discussion topic is posted every now and then. It lasts until the next discussion topic is posted. If you have a suggestion for a challenge or a discussion topic, see the end of this post.

Keep in mind that the discussions should not be limited to one pairing, and must be inclusive of all pairings.

Glossary:

• EC - Established Character
• OC - Original Character
• Ship/'Ship - A romantic pairing between two characters in a fictional series, often one that is supported or portrayed by fans rather than depicted in the series itself.
• Shipper/'Shipper - A person who supports a particular ship.
• Pairing - A couple, essentially.
• OTP - One true pairing, or a person’s favourite pairing.

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Interesting Links:
Who do you ship?
To ship or not to ship

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As of October 19, 2018, this thread is maintained by @Findswoman. It was previously maintained by Ewok Poet (from September 16, 2016). For all questions, suggestions, ideas, fan and hate mail, etc., send the sock a private message, and I will do my best to respond in timely manner. ^_^

This thread was started by Admiral Volshe on October 15th, 2015. The fun lovey-dovey webdings/emoji/emoticons/pictograms/symbols can be accessed on this page.

 

Here is the index of all challenges and discussions in this thread.

Please note: you're welcome to use challenge themes and discussions as prompts whenever and however you want. Let us know if you wrote a story inspired by a previous challenge/discussion, and it will be listed in that index!

❣Discussions❣​

Here is an index of all the discussions in this thread. If you have an idea for one, PM this sock and let me know!

Spoiler: Discussion Index

If there is a discussion currently active, it will be marked with a peach-orange heart-topped exclamation mark (❣). Check the linked post to share your two Imperial credits. Past discussions have been marked with heart-topped exclamation marks in the default board font colour.
❣Discussion #1 (November 10, 2015)—The Romance Genre And Your Pairings
❣Discussion #2 (March 18, 2016)—That "Spark"!
❣Discussion #3 (September 16, 2016)—The First Time I Caught a Glimpse Of You
❣Discussion #4 (October 2, 2016)—To Search or Not to Search?
❣Discussion #5 (October 26, 2016)—The Ghosts That Haunt Our Love
❣Discussion #6 (November 19, 2016)—Funniest Moments!
❣Discussion #7 (January 20, 2017)—Finding Your OTP
❣Discussion #8 (April 8, 2017)—What is mush to you?
❣Discussion #9 (June 25, 2017)—Engagement/Marriage
❣Discussion #10 (August 19, 2017)—EC/EC vs. EC/OC vs OC/OC
❣Discussion #11 (November 20, 2017)—Writing obscure/rare pairings
❣Discussion #12 (April 5, 2019)—The Sequential Passage of Chronological Intervals; or, As Time Goes By
❣Discussion #13 (April 5, 2019)—Top 2–3 OTPs; what about them is easiest/hardest to write; any pairings that deserve more "air time”?
❣Discussion #14 (December 1, 2020)—The More Things Change...
❣

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❣Competitive Challenge Index❣​

The current challenge is marked with a peach-orange sideways heart in a larger size (❥). Check the announcement post to see if you can still take part. The past challenges have been marked with sideways hearts in the default board font colour.

❥Challenge #1—The Unfixable Issues
Announcement (November 22, 2015) | Voting (March 18, 2016) | Results (September 16, 2016)
Winners: Abating Hope by Brianankin and In the Cards, Ch. 5 Pt. 2: You've Been Thinkin', and I've Been Drinkin' by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #2—Romcom...IN SPACE!!!
Announcement (September 18, 2016) | Voting (November 26, 2016) | Results (December 11, 2016)
Winner: Word Gets Around by Briannakin

❥Challenge #3—HOLIDAY LOVE
Announcement (December 12, 2016) | Voting (February 21, 2017) | Results (March 7, 2017)
Winner: Not Your Mother's Life Day by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #4—Romance Quotes
Announcement (March 19, 2017) | Voting (May 28, 2017) | Results (June 11, 2017)
Winner: Love and Other Stupid Poodoo by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #5—Crack!Pairing Fest
Announcement (June 12, 2017) | Voting (August 22, 2017) | Results (September 5, 2017)
Winners: A Steamy Romance by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #6—Fairy Tale...IN SPACE!
Announcement (September 19, 2017) | Voting (November 28, 2017) | Results (December 12, 2017)
Winner: The Princess of Renatasia by Sith-I-5

❥Challenge #7—"We've come through a lot together."
Announcement (December 18, 2017) | Voting (March 11, 2018) | Results (March 26, 2018)
Winners: The Sound of Love by mavjade and Finding Our Way Out by WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

❥Challenge #8—The Couple Game(s)
Announcement (March 29, 2018) | Voting and Index (July 23, 2018) | Results (August 6, 2018)
Winner: And They Lived Happily Ever After by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #9—The Distant Beloved
Announcement and Index (October 29, 2018) | Voting (January 8, 2019) | Results (January 23, 2019)
Winner: Black is the Color by divapilot

❥Challenge #10—Date Nite Gon Rong
Announcement and Index (January 30, 2019) | Voting (April 11, 2019) | Results (April 26, 2019)
Winners: Once Bitten by Jedi_Lover and All That's Unsung by Mira_Jade

❥Challenge #11—Misunderstanding Cleared Up
Announcement and Index (May 3, 2019) | Voting (July 13, 2019) | Results (July 28, 2019)
Winner: Strategic Alliances by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #12—The Landscape of Love
Announcement and Index (July 29, 2019) | Voting (October 8, 2019) | Results (October 23, 2019)
Winners: Hillside Exposé by Carlos Danger and If It Takes Years by Jâd Sphera

❥Challenge #13—City Mouse, Country Mouse
Announcement and Index (November 27, 2019) | Voting (January 23, 2020) | Results (February 7, 2020)
Winners: From Slavery to Aristocracy by Mira Grau and Adalia-Durron and Two Worlds Colliding and Conjoining by devilinthedetails

❥Challenge #14—Love Letter Exchange
Announcement and Index (February 9, 2020) | Voting (April 8) | Results (April 25)
Winner: Messages from a Mos Espa Love Story by devilinthedetails

❥Challenge #15—"Things You Said": All-Dialogue Minifics
Announcement and Index (May 1, 2020) | Voting (June 22) | Results (July 7)
Winners: Unspoken by divapilot and Know This by Name by Mira_Jade

Challenge #16—Milestones
Announcement and Index (July 10, 2020) | Voting (September 7) | Results (September 22)
Winners: First place: Now You’re a Home by Mira_Jade | Second place: And They Lived Happily Ever After, chapter 4 by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #17—Our Song
Announcement and Index (September 23, 2020) | Voting (November 19) | Results (December 4)
Winner: I’m a Believer by Raissa Baiard

❥Challenge #18—5+1
Announcement and Index (December 5, 2020) | Voting (January 31, 2021) | Results (February 15)
Winners: Conversational Mando'a for Beginners by Raissa Baiard, The Courtship of Jacen Solo by Mira Grau, and Yes She Was Counting... by Adalia-Durron

❥Challenge #19—The Return of Romcom… In Space!
Announcement and Index (February 16, 2021) | Voting (April 14) | Results (April 29)
Winner: The Big Date by Gabri_Jade

❥Challenge #20—It’s a Date!
Announcement and Index (May 2) | Voting (July 1) | Results (July 16)
Winner: Those Three Words by ViariSkywalker

❥Challenge #21—Seven Deadly Sins
Announcement and Index (July 18) | Voting (September 13) | Results (September 28)
Winners: Seven Fatal Flaws by devilinthedetails and I May Be Dreaming Awake by Mira_Jade

❥Challenge #22—Our Song + Plot Point Roulette
Announcement and Index (September 28) | Voting (November 24) | Results (December 9)
Winner: All Fools in Love by Mira_Jade

❥Challenge #23—Overcoming Obstacles… Originally
Announcement and Index (December 10, 2021) | Voting (February 5, 2022) | Results (February 20)
Winner: Pull Me Home by Gabri_Jade

❥Challenge 24—Vacation Time!
Announcement and Index (February 21) | Voting (April 19) | Results (May the Fourth)
Winner: Love in the Naboo Lake Country by devilinthedetails

❥Challenge 25—The OTP Thread Challenge of Challenges!
Announcement and Index (May 8) | Voting (July 5) | Results (July 20)
Winner: The Briar and the Rose by Kit'

❥Challenge 26—The Double Date Challenge!
Announcement and Index (August 1) | Voting (September 29) | Results (October 14)
Winners: A Dinner with Friends by Mira Grau and Love Sifus and Ice Sculptures by devilinthedetails

❥Challenge 27—Love Poems by Women Roulette!
Announcement and Index (October 16) | Voting (December 30, 2022) | Results (January 14, 2023)
Winner: Two Were One by devilinthedetails

❥Challenge 28—OTP Bingo!
Announcement and Index (January 15) | Voting (to come) | Results (to come)

❣Non-Competitive Challenge Index❣​

These are always current; therefore there are no pink symbols marking the current challenge. Click on the links to see the index of entries for each.

Elderly Love (March 19, 2017)
OTP Swap Challenge (November 11, 2017)
Happy Endings (September 30, 2020)

❣Drafts For Future Challenges❣​

The below is a collection of ideas for future challenges. Whenever one is used, it will be crossed out. The Captain is always open to suggestions for challenges, so feel free to PM her with your ideas at any time!

Story about different stages of the same relationship
Plot point/event + location roulette
Fairy Tale challenge redux
Pre/Inter/Postlude (fill in missing scenes with an OTP)

 

Can I post? I hope I can post.

I'm just so excited to have somewhere to discuss some of my favorite pairings that have never been 'big' enough for their own threads (even before the move when we had the H/L thread and the A/P thread). I'm talking Bail/Breha (the ship my muse is currently happily stuck on... when I'm not working on papers), Lando/Tendra, and Winter/Tycho (which, for the 2nd two ships, I wish the muse would strike more often; I'm hoping challenges may help with that).

 

Of course!!

I'm excited to see another Bail/Breha fan! Woohoo!

 

Don't forget Revan/Bastila!

Seriously, it's about time we got some KotOR love in this regard.

 

Yay, a place to talk about unpopular ships! Toryuckuss 4EVA~

 

Toryn Farr and Zuckuss...?

 

Yes. They are my OTP. I'll go down with this ship.

Toryn getting an action figure was the greatest thing to happen because now I have my OTP in toy form.

 

Er . . .

Please let this thread remain civil.
Please let the discussions be rational.
Please let the users be tolerant of each others' ships.

And please, please, please let us not dance to the Rabid 'Shipping Tango.

 

Yay, new thread! Just a question before I start talking about my favourite pairings -- I am assuming that it's okay to mention the fics in which they were developed under the new linking-to-fics policy, can mavjade or Briannakin please confirm? I'm thinking here of OC couples or of EC couples that don't appear in canon/Legends, not of relationships that are established in canon.

 

Now I can waffle about Teebo and Latara...FOREVER. The only fictional romance I ever really liked, ever since October 1990. 25 years this month.

Spoiler

*artwork by Katchan00 - and yes, their legs are too long for whatever reason*

 

Yay!

One of my biggest OTP's is Ben Skywalker/Jysella Horn. I mean come on, think about it. The children of Luke/Mara and Corran/Mirax, they'd be perfect for each other or kill each other... maybe both. (This became my OTP before we learned more about Jysella in the FoTJ series. She ended up being older than we guessed, but she's only ten years older, so not creepy so long as he's old enough.)

Also, I'm a big fan of Kell Tainer/Tyria Sarkin but the muse has never really struck for them... yet.

I changed the tag to Characters, since this is like a character thread, it's just all purpose instead of one particular 'ship. So yes, you may.

 

I don't think I really have a OTP anymore. It's just whatever the muse wants. But I do love me some Ben/Jysella. I don't think the age difference is weird, as long as Ben is old enough. I mean, there's an 10 year age gap between H/L, 17 between Lando and Tendra, although Breha doesn't have a canon age, her and Bail can be anywhere from 7 to 17 years apart (I choose the upper end because it works).

Also, I've always loved me some Kam/Tionne, but the muse has never hit anywhere near them.

 

"Because it works"?

 

I have about 7 OTPs. I love so many pairings.

 

Normally I don't go for OTPs, due mostly to my desire to focus on OC-centric fiction (but also because "shipping" has never been a "thing" for me). But Revan and Bastila are just fun to write, plus they compliment each other very nicely despite a significant age gap; he's 38 by the time of KotOR, while she's 25. The whole set of circumstances that surround them are also quite intriguing, and ripe for character development.

 

I was typing that as I was running late for class, but basically, I think it adds dynamic to the whole 'quasi-arranged' royal marriage. I think, if Breha had never felt a sense of duty to Alderaan, she would have never given Bail the time of day, so the major age difference adds to the complexity of their relationship. But that's just my canon. One thing I've found I've really enjoyed about writing Breha and her relationship with Bail is that she is a very flat and underdeveloped character in the few books she has appeared in, so she is a bit of a "blank slate" for anyone who wants to write her, so people have had very different takes on the relationship.

 

That makes more sense...I almost thought that it was something about much older men being hot or whatever.

...

Anyway, not going to brag here because de gustibus non disputandum est, buuut...the sequel of my two current epics has a romantic subplot that is deconstructing the whole idea of romance commonly seen in fan fiction, turning it upside down and inside out and then...who knows what may happen next?

 

Two of my favourite pairings that haven't been mentioned yet:

Bree and Blue (both OCs) in True Blue and The God of Second Chances by divapilot -- the fics are in many way's Bree's coming-of-age story, and I find that the relationship works really well because it's an integral part of her growing up.

I-5YQ and Magash in The Chronicles of I-5YQ by Ewok_Slayer -- a droid in a human replica body and a Dathomiri witch falling for each other is one of those only-in-Star-Wars moments that are just too good to miss, and E_S is writing that masterfully.

 

I've been partial to Talon/Shada, mostly because of how it actually presents Mara. Talon treats Mara as a second in command, no sexual attraction. She's his colleague. But Shada is not just his second in command but she and Talon have a connection. It helps to show that not every woman is there for the romantic relationship.

I haven't seen much of this but the little fanfic that is out there for Kanan/Hera is lovely. They are both strong, empowered characters.

And I second I5 and Magash - so flipping cute in how they both explore this strange thing called attraction! For OCs, Thrawn/Ayesha in the beautiful story by Chyntuck is wonderful. Ayesha brings out the loving, passionate side of our favorite Grand Admiral.

 

I think everybody knows who my favorite canon OTP is. If you don't, look at my icon.

I have to agree that Bree and Blue in True Blue are a cute couple. I love my personal OC couples, especially Mark Tantiss/Kira Starkos and Talon Tantiss and Zylie Karrde. I guess that is why I can't stop writing about them.

 

I manage to function as both a shipper and a naval mine. I'm usually pairing OCs with each other... and then sometimes I kill someone in the relationship for whatever story-based reason. (Don't look at me like that. I'm not G. R. R. Martin. Paranormalities is very light-hearted... in comparison to the rest of the era it's set around)

But that's not to say everyone in Paranormalities dies permanently. So if Will Helms is shipped with someone, it's definitely him that's dying.

 

As far as established characters go, I'm also partial to Lando/Tendra, Breha/Bail and Talon/Shada. I also enjoy Owen/Beru although there is scant fic for them.

There is an EC/OC pairing I love but the fic is unfinished and unposted - the author knows who I mean

 

Kanan/Hera fics are so lovely. I have yet to run into too many of them, but I do try to read them when I do. Yet, I'm not sure if I'll ever write about them. Does anyone else have this, a pairing they love, but never inspired to write anything?

But now this thread is making me want to check out a bunch of fics I sadly don't have time for (grrrrr higher education!).

I've done the odd OC/OC paring, and the odd EC/OC (Hobbie will always end up with a twi-lek in my mind). But one "non-canon" relationship I've gotten attacked by plot bunnies for is Obi-Wan/Beru. I'm not sure why, and I do like Owen/Beru (there's one Owen/Beru fic series that I love that is sadly truncated: A Twin Suns Romance by Alexis_Wingstar, but I can just see so many AU circumstances that would bring those two together. I've referenced this paring in a diary entry, but I've yet to really test the waters for it.

 

Quick question since I don't think a shipping thread exists in NSWFF... are we allowed to talk about any non-SW ships if we have them? And what about OC ships? Can we talk about those, if we have them?