Dear Trick or Treat Author

[opalmatrix]

Thank you very much for writing for me! Please have fun writing for me: I think stories come out best when it's something the author enjoyed doing.

The Fandoms and Characters

Saiyuki

Even though this is not a "pairing"challenge, you should know that Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo (or Gojyo/Hakkai ... 585) is my bulletproof ship, at all ratings.

That said, I've enjoyed stories about all four of the ikkou, from all of their viewpoints. From the spooky point of view, these guys all have darkness and deaths behind them, but in the end, their companions pull them through.

Some ideas and prompts:

• Modern day AU where Halkkai drags them into some sort of school Halloween festival?
• Before the Journey West, Goku wants to participate in some sort of autumn traditional festival?
• Some haunting by Kanan would be all too seasonal ... or Gojyo's stepmom.
• Theme: No one knows you so well: All the ghosts that still haunt you / Or the secrets you won't tell.
• Theme: Don't mind if I fall apart / There's more room in a broken heart
• Theme: Just like a ghost, you've been haunting my dreams
• Theme: Loneliness will blind you, in between the wrong and the right

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

I'm a huge CJC fan, and Alliance-Union is my favorite of her settings.

Hellburner is my single most favorite book of the set. The foursome of Dek, Ben, Meg, and Sal push all my found-family buttons, with the added spice of the physical relationships. They all have death behind them: most obviously, Cory for Dek and Bird for all of them.

Downbelow Station is a sprawling mess of a book, but I love the jumpcarrier Norway, her captain SIgny Mallory, and her two closest companions, her No. 2 Jurgen Graff and Marine command Di Janz. We actually get to know Graff most in Hellburner, where he's the personnel officer of the Hellburner project.

In Cyteen, with Catlin AC-7892 II and Florian AF-9979 II, I'm all over the child soldier and loyalty tropes. I love the way their personalities start to show through: Florian's inherent gentleness (despite the fact that he would blow up Ari II's enemies without a second though) and good nature, Catlin's stone face hiding the occasional odd twist of humor underneath.

Random ideas:

• On leave somewhere, Ben encounters his first masquerade party.
• Meg and Dek discover Halloween on a station and bring back treats (candy or toys or whatever) to a dubious reception from their team mates
• Meg has recurring nightmares about someone from her past (Bird or some OC), and Dek has to be the strong one for once.
• The Hellburner graduating class gives Graff a surprise party
• How did Graff end up separating from the Gloriana? Does he miss his family and old mentors there?
• Graff brings Signy a special treat, something she hasn't eaten/drunk/seen since she left her childhood home.
• Ari II gets spooked by a story/has a nightmare about Maman; Florian comforts her and then has to explain to Catlin why Ari was freaked out.
• Catlin tells a horrifying story from Green Barracks (this is canon, actually)

Black Lagoon

Most of the time, Revy is a complete psychopath when it comes to others' lives, but she's developing the weirdest little streak of protectiveness and even empathy toward Rock.* Will Revy ever tell him explicitly what she meant when she was saying that they should have "some sort of a ritual" before their next dangerous mission? There was the scene with the little kids and the BB guns in the yakuza arc, too. There's a squishy center in there somewhere.

So: a very silly treat sort of thing might be that Lagoon gets dragged into giving a Halloween party for orphans (I imagine Eda gets involved at some point, and Benny and Balalaika could get dragged in). A more serious one might be Revy realizing that it's almost Halloween and here she is in hot, steamy Thailand (background info I've seen suggests that she's from NYC), and Rock attempts to distract her. Thailand also has a spectacular lantern festival later on in the autumn.

A trick? The whole crew has all sorts of horrible memories, and they're always doing terrible things. But please think of some sort of little twist or kicker at the end.

*In fact, this is vaguely beginning to resemble the relationship between Bet and NG in Cherryh's Rinrunners, except that Revy has nothing resembling military discipline and Rock is a lot less beaten down than NG. Now I find myself wishing for a crossover that exactly five other people in all of fandom would actually appreciate: Bet as a former marine (wouldn't have to be U,S.) who ends up working with Lagoon.

Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee

What would a servitor ghost or scary story be like? Maybe 1491625 freaks Hemiola out with a true story of its missions with Cheris, or Hemiola attempts to divert its new companion with one of Hemiola's own fics. Or maybe Cheris tells a spooky story to Hemiola and 1491625, and after she bunks down, they try to puzzle their way through it.

I'd also be a sucker for "what happened next" for Cheris or Jedao Two. Maybe there's some Mwennin autumn festival or festival of the dead? Or Jedao Two gets reminded of some harvest celebration from his farm days?

I like the sibling interactions with Brezan and Miuzan. Perhaps a trip down memory lane for them with a harvest festival or memorial festival? Or Brezan tries to have a modest little celebration after the events of the story: perhaps, in classical tradition, he disguises himself to participate incognito?

Preferences

I Don't Like:

• Sickly-sweet, coy, cutesy romantic stuff (anything in the "tee-hee-hee, is he looking at me?" category is definitely out)
• Extensive use of epithets, or epithets that don't match the character POV (no one should think of his or her long-time lover as "the green-eyed man," for example): these will throw me right out of a story
• Characters acting out of character, especially if the purpose is to force them into a relationship (doubly bad if that relationship is romantic or sexual)
• By-the-numbers, every-action-described sex (a/k/a Ikea Erotica). Note that actual sex is fine (I love me some sexy stories) — just don't like it when the descriptions turn into a set of exact stage directions.
• Mpreg, rape, forced sex (including sex pollen and fuck-or-die), hatesex. Dubcon is OK, especially the sort when the reluctant partner really wants the other person but is just not quite feeling ready yet or doesn't think se wants it in this particular way but gets off on it anyway.
• Humiliation or betrayal (without a damn good plot reason) of a character by a friend or lover
• A/B/O and related kinks/tropes, incest (unless canon), scat/watersports/emetophilia, tentacles, non-human genitalia.

I Like:

• Strong characterization (including character-appropriate dialog: no earthy, uneducated characters using $50 words)
• Positive emotional payoffs that are well-earned
• Passions that are strong without being mushy/fluffy
• Moments of realization — satori
• Friendships - although I am a romantic person, not every relationship must be romantic (I do like the trope of friends becoming lovers, however)
• Wry and even dark humor in the course of a more serious story
• And I like any of the following "cool bits":
  • hurt-comfort
  • brushing long hair or riffling fingers through short hair
  • warm and oversized bathrobes/dressing gowns or sweaters/jerseys
  • licking honey or something similar off fingers
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • impulsive acts of valor (especially on behalf of the weak or an underdog)
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • someone's profile silhouetted against the light
  • whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • shopping or planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • senses of smell and touch and memories attached to them
  • food descriptions: "food porn"
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • finding in a fight that one's ally feels like a protective wall

I'm quite content with both straight and gay relationships. I do tend to ship the canon relationships, unless it's a character who has had no clear relationships shown in the story. I'm not comfortable with sexual relationships shown in children under the age of, say, 14 or so, and even then it's better in context (teens with other teens or in a societal setting where girls expect to marry by 16-18 anyway).

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Opal's Purely Optional Halloween Game

I've sometimes had fun writing treats and other short pieces by using various types of random generators, either found online and or home made.

If you're struggling for an idea and don't fancy anything I've put in the prompts above, try this: Take one or two of the "cool bits" from my general list of likes/don't likes and a Halloween/autumn element from the list below, and combine them into a story! I've even numbered the Halloween bits 1 through 20, so gamer folks can use a D20 (otherwise, use a spreadsheet or other random number generator). Or just pick one that tickles your creativity.

ghost pumpkin black cat nightmare orange leaves

candy magic bones mask lantern

dead relative/friend bat harvest trick spooky story

haystack moon undead hot drink devil/demon