Good afternoon!

I've searched a few different things, but nothing is coming up regarding what I'm thinking. Perhaps this is something I'd have to custom script?

I'm trying to show and temporarily toggle my pidgin chat window on top when I receive a message. The idea is that I want to see when there's a change, since the Pidgin notification options are terrible. Failing that - is there a way to make my pidgin chat window stay in a corner, and prevent other windows for entering the space?

It would be very difficult, if possible at all to setup a way to send pidgin to the front, if its not sending out some kind of alert itself when a new message arrives. The only thing I could think of would potentially be a script that monitors network traffic, if such a thing is possible.

As for reserving a space for the window. that is definently possible, and here are 4 alternative ways to do it. (each resulting in slightly different effects).

In display fusion: You could use splits and padding, to reserve a small side section of your display. that nothing would maximize over.
Right click the tray icon>Monitor Profiles>Create/Edit Monitor Profile>Splits and padding; then adjust the primary split to 200-300 less than it currently is, and optionally insert another split in the blank space (both have slightly different results)

Without display fusion:
https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/desktopcoral/ does something similar and might be just what you need

and lastly, if both the above seem close, but not quite what you are looking for:
You can use https://www.rainmeter.net/
https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/settings/rainmeter-section/
(search for 'desktop work area' in the second rainmeter link)

The first solution was exactly what I needed - I really appreciate the help!