Dear Merry Maker (NOW COMPLETE)

[opalmatrix]

Thank you or writing for me! Here are a lot of optional details about what I like and don't like in a story. There are three sections: General Preferences, Thoughts About Food and Drink, and The Fandoms

General 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 (for more about epithets, see this)
• 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 - link goes to TVTropes). 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 $100 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
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing -or- being in a cool spot on a blistering day
  • licking honey or something similar off fingers
  • drops of water clinging to hair and/or skin
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
  • brushing long hair or riffling fingers through short hair
  • water sounds: rain, a brook, waves
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • In-jokes among family members or close friends
  • shopping or planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • pampering someone with special food or comfort food
  • an open-air market or seaside boardwalk or other place filled with joyful bustle and the smell of good things to eat
  • a teahouse or restaurant on the water
  • food porn
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right
  • snark, whether on the part of the narrator or from a character (this should not be *mean*, just apt and funny)

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).

Thoughts About Food and Drink

I love food, eating, and cooking (although day-to-day cooking can be a chore, especially on weekdays). I know many consider me a fairly adventurous eater (I love sashimi, for example) but I also know that there are plenty of things I don't like to eat (organ meats like liver and kidneys) or can't make myself eat (like whale or the sashimi made from the flesh of still-living fish). But yes, I am a foodie. I know about food, including a fair amount about food outside of my own Jewish-American culture.

I love food as a celebration of life or love. Bring on the seasonal holidays and festivals, food at the seaside or at a fair, picnics, moon-viewing parties, birthdays, the first good meal after a period of privation, the special comfort food when a friend or companion is ill or sad, and by all means, the post-coital snacks.

I hate food as a weapon, whether it's trying to make someone eat something that disgusts them, or being a competitively snooty eater/drinker ("My companion has a limited palate, he can't deal with wines that aren't sweet"), or tempting someone with something they *shouldn't* have for health or taboo reasons, or getting someone intoxicated to take advantage of them.

I love the way tastes and smells evoke memories or emotions,

I'm not much of a drinker, and I don't like extremely drunken shenanigans, but a small amount of an intoxicant as a way to take the edge off reluctance or reticence is a trope I can appreciate. And in fandoms where I indicate that "sour" is a thing, someone getting drunk and a friend getting to the bottom of why might be appreciated.

Finally, I have a pet peeve about out-of-context foods/drinks. I've pretty much given up on Saiyuki (canon or fanon) making sense about this: we've seen the boys drinking coffee in the manga, so I can't get too snooty about their having toast for breakfast in fanfiction (and Minekura has them eating Chinese and Japanese food equally). But the kids in Natsume Yuujinchou shouldn't be eating pizza without some explanation, and although it's fun to imagine Gideon Nav's reaction to a big ol' hamburger, it doesn't go with the canon setting very well. Although I guess an AU might be fun ... .

Enough with the lecturing! On with the fandoms!

The Fandoms

Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends

Madara "Nyanko-sensei" & Natsume Takashi (Natsume Yuujinchou)
Natsume Takashi & None (Natsume Yuujinchou)
Natsume Takashi & Taki Tooru & Tanuma Kaname (Natsume Yuujinchou)

I really can't get shippy about these kids: they're buddies, best friends, etc. Bring on the seasonal celebrations, the school fair, picnics, quiet home celebrations with Natsume's foster-family, and Nyanko-sensei's taste for liquor and pastries. And maybe Natsume has sad memories of past occasions when no one made his special days special with the appropriate treats. I have an especially soft spot for Taki, and I'm growing to like Kaname more and more, especially in the latest volume of the English translation of the manga.

Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)

Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo (Saiyuki)
Kenren Taishou/Tenpou Gensui (Saiyuki)

So actually, there is no anime. I am all about the manga.

Hakkai and Gojyo are My Guys, and I love them both. For them, Hakkai's home-cooked meals and Gojyo's learning to accept them in friendship (and maybe love). Gojyo's gusto for everyday meals and a cold beer, and comfort foods when things are bad: Gojyo doing his best to cook or arrange takeout for a depressed Hakkai, Hakkai pampering Gojyo when he's injured or sick. Or the whole party celebrating a holiday or a victory. And oh, AU is very fine, yes it is.

Kenren and Tenpou can presumably eat what they like in Heaven - when Tenpou remembers to eat! Kenren looking after Tenpou with a special meal that tempts him away from his research, or both of them having something new and tasty on Earth would both be lovely.

The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir

Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Harrowhak Nonagesimus & None (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Jeannemary Chatur & Gideon Nav (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Jeannemary Chatur & Isaac Tettares (Locked Tomb Trilogy)

So, hello! dysfunctional Gideon/Harrow! They never get to do much about the very slashy vibe between them, and man, do they come from a deprived background, although I doubt it would occur to either of them to think of themselves that way. (Gideon's first encounter with green vegetables is vivid in my mind ... .) Did the two of them ever share an illicit treat together as youngsters? Or perhaps one of the canon scenes can be built out with shared food a bit more, especially after one of the horrendous monster encounters, Or does Harrow realize how thin and unpleasant their lives have been, and perhaps let herself indulge in a bit of sensory overload with food at some point?

Jeannemary is so adorable, and I nearly blue-screened right along with Gideon when we lost her. I would love her sharing a special treat with either Gideon or her partner, Isaac. Or perhaps a flashback to Jeannemary and Isaac's childhood, sharing something special, perhaps the day they learn what they are to be to each other.

Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin

Ged & Vetch & Yarrow (Earthsea)
Penthe & None (Earthsea)
Tenar & None (Earthsea)
Ged & Tenar (Earthsea)
Penthe & Tenar (Earthsea)

Earthsea's food situation is very lightly sketched, and I have a feeling that LeGuin felt constrained by the fantasy setting, just as she was originally by the concept that the magician had to be male. Certainly in Always Coming Home, she went after the food question with gusto, complete with recipes! Give me something equally sensual for Earthsea. What did Yarrow feed Ged and Vetch when they came back from the ends of the earth? Ged seemed slightly regretful in the "Wizards are not cooks" scene with Yarrow and her other brother: does Ged ever learn to cook properly? How does Tenar feel about food after being removed from the studied asceticism of the Tombs? Do Penthe and Tenar ever share other treats, aside from the apples? Does Penthe ever become a cook, as she suggested - or a dancing-girl who can easily afford her own treats? And a shared meal between Ged and Tenar at any stage of their relationship would be lovely.

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens - Gaiman & Pratchett)
Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)

Aziraphale likes his comforts, tea and cakes, and such. What about Crowley? When he's tempting mortals to overindulge, does he ever go for it himself? Does he ever suffer the aftereffects? Here comes Aziraphale with comfort food and hangover cures! Crowley fussing over a depressed Aziraphale with goodies would be lovely. (Of course, the entire concept of food comfort with hurt angels/demons is fairly silly, but hey, let's roll with it.)