opalmatrix | Dear Chocolatier 2021 (COMPLETE NOW!) (Reply)

Thank you so much for writing a story for me. Did anyone else notice that Purimgifts and ChocolateBox are on top of each other this year? *cries*

Have some optional details about what I like and don't like in a story, plus some information about my fandoms and their characters.

The Fandoms and Relationships

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

I'm a huge CJC fan, and Alliance-Union is my favorite of her settings. Hellburner is my very favorite book in this setting, but Cyteen is close behind.

I love the Hellburner core team unreservedly; I think they're fun and hot and effective in all sorts of combinations. The team under stress and coming through for each other is wonderful, or something silly, or any new experience together.

I also have a real love for Dekker and Meg together: CJC isn't always great with sex scenes, but the one that starts shortly after Meg shows up at the Hellburner project, and Dek says "Bed, Meg," is lovely, with her acknowledgment that Corey Salazar was there first and that she likes Dek all the better for his attachment to his first partner. So if you want something sweet or hot in the couples direction, that's my preferred pair.

I identify hugely with Graff, mainly in the way he takes responsibility for his people, even when it puts him the hot seat, and stays loyal even when he realizes he can no longer trust his own superiors. I also wonder why he's no longer with the Gloriana, the merchant ship of his birth. CJC has Signy thinking that she spends the night with Graff or Di (or others) when she takes the fancy: this could be actual polyamory, if that's one of your things, rather than an open relationship (no, I didn't list Di). Signy has such issues, I think Graff becomes part of her sanity.

I love Ari II and her two azi. Florian is actually my favorite out of the three of them, for his emotional intelligence, but I also have a soft spot for Catlin, the good soldier, so often out of her depth with flux states. I love the weird growing-up years of this trio. Have some one-word prompts as starting points: homework -or- space -or- book -or- midnight.

A Memory Called Empire

My absolutely favorite thing about this novel is the friendship between Three Seagrass and Twelve Azalea. How often do we get friendship stories between male and female friends in fiction, especially as adults? I want more of these two. Give me pre-canon and/or missing scenes between these two. Have them help each other through tough times, or solve problems or mysteries, and let them be happy together in the end.

Alternatively, Mahit is so earnest and plucky and such a fangirl. I'm most interested in her time in Teixcalaan, but the novel covers most of the time there pretty closely, leaving little room for missing scenes. So perhaps it might need to be a little AU to have a missing scene with her and Three Seagrass? Being a little surprised or shocked by something in Teixcalaan culture, and then coming to appreciate it anyway?

Finally, I'm intrigued by Five Agate. Something pre-canon, showing more of how she became the person we see, or a canon event from her viewpoint, giving us more of her personality and past with Nineteen Adze.

Chronicles of the Kencyrath

The Highborn-Kendar relationship fascinates me. I'd love to see some sort of exploration of it through the eyes of one or more of the Kendar characters. Brier and Shade have both come to appreciate Jame rather unwillingly; I'd love to see them have to cooperate on something, likely involving her. Similarly, Shade and Jame have both fought against the darkness of their early upbringing: I'd love to see them in a situation where one or the other has to fight against her darker impulses and is aided by her companion.

Jame and Tirandys' scene in Dark of the Moon where he poisons her (and she realizes it) was one of my first encounters with the darkness that love can become, and it still resonates with me decades later. I'd love some background to this, something from Jame's years as Tirandys' most brilliant student.

And Tori and Grimly are just pure loving friendship. They have rescued each other before and will do it again, either physically or emotionally.

Murderbot

I love how Amena seems to be identifying with Murderbot and ART as fellow adolescents (especially Murdrbot) and how she seems so much more tuned into Murderbot's psyche than the adults are. Something poignant would be great, or it could all just end up as a slumber party with the three of them sharing favorite media series. Finally, I love the idea of Murderbot starting to realize that his copies are in some sense his siblings and/or children, and I'd like to see him have some sort of adventure/incident with SecUnit 3 that develops both of them.

Saiyuki

Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo (or Gojyo/Hakkai ... 585) is my bulletproof ship, at all ratings. I identify with both characters: Hakkai's constant obfuscation of his underlying anger by being mannerly and harmless-looking, his constant pursuit of expertise in skills, his passive-aggressive means of getting his way, the way Gojyo is the only person who can predictably make him feel anything; and Gojyo's "wounded at the core" nature, brought on by his relationship with his stepmother, his earthy kindness, his simultaneous vulgarity and chivalry, his persistence and endurance. Some prompts you might use: I never learned nothing from playing it safe -or- Don't mind if I fall apart / There's more room in a broken heart.

ヲタクに恋は難しい | Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (Anime)

OK, slight problem here: I was already signed up before I realize this said "anime." I've been reading the manga. We'll just have to deal with it, I guess! The manga has just reached the point where Kou shows up in a feminine outfit to spend the day with Nao. I don't know how the anime is tracking with that and would prefer no spoilers.

This series has just been a treat. I have been a geek girl since pre-adolescence, and so much of this rings true. I love the canon couples and have no desire to mix that up. But even though Naru and Hana mostly hide their otaku nature from their colleagues, they are still so much more confident with their fan-ishness than I was when I was working my first real job.

I also love Nao's unthinking kindness and sunny nature, and how Kou is gradually opening to it like a flower in the spring.

Have the whole four-member senior team get up to shenanigans at a typical manga/anime scenario, like cherry blossom viewing or New Year's (they've already done the onsen!), or give me something romantic with one of the couples (maybe Hana and Kabakura spending a special night after their engagement is official, or hurt-comfort with Naru being sick and Hiro taking care of her). Kou and Nav spending a less-fraught (than the recent canon scene) non-gaming day together, or solving some problem together for the senior crew, would be fun.

Or, you know, any scenario where any of them get to show their stuff.

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
- kissing the inside of the elbow or the base of the throat
- 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
- romantic partners who are both competent
- someone gradually waking and smiling when they realize their beloved is there
- a stronger partner submitting willingly to the desires of a weaker one
- 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
- finding in a fight that one's ally/partner feels like a protective wall
- 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).