Dear Chocolatier 2022 - Now Complete!

[opalmatrix]

Thank you for making me some chocolate!

Have some optional details about what I like and don't like in a story. I hope to add more specifics in the next few days.

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 - 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
  • 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)
  • In-jokes among family members or close friends
  • shopping or planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • food descriptions: "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)
  • senses of smell and touch and memories attached to them
  • warm and oversized bathrobes/dressing gowns or sweaters/jerseys
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • sudden realization of one's feelings for another
  • opposites attracting
  • someone's profile silhouetted against the light
  • kissing the inside of the elbow or the base of the throat
  • drops of water clinging to hair and/or skin
  • whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
  • brushing long hair or riffling fingers through short hair
  • someone gradually waking and smiling when they realize their beloved is there
  • a high-control/driven person being persuaded to slow down and enjoy
  • a stronger partner submitting willingly to the desires of a weaker one

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).

Fandoms and Prompts

I went way overboard on this - sorry. You don't have to use one of these prompts. They're available if you're having trouble deciding what to write.

Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends

I really can't get shippy about these kids: they're buddies, best friends, etc. Also, Natsume's relationship with his guardians is the sweetest thing, and even though they don't know it, they give him the strength that he uses in his encounters with the supernatural.

Natsume has had some lovely little encounters with youkai who wants to be allies: I could get into that too.

Some themes and ideas:

Can you hear me calling from a world away - a lonely voice behind a door?

Just know you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna make this place your home

The story begins in a quiet and dusty museum

A parent's (or step-parent's) love is evergreen

I am memory and stillness, I am lonely in old age; I am not your destination; I am clinging to my ways

When I look up at you looking down, say it was only a dream

Wild Adapter

I love Tokito's nearly pure id (food, videogames, and Kubota!), and how despite his amnesia and messed-up hand, he's actually the less broken of the two. Kubota's nihilism makes you forget how young he really is.

Some themes and ideas:

The truth you might be running from is so small / But it's as big as the promise / The promise of a coming day

Don't make no difference what nobody says / Ain't nobody like to be alone

Kubota considers doing the right thing.

They get caught in a gang warfare incident that for once has nothing to do with the usual suspects.

Role-reversal: Tokito has to rescue/care for Kubota instead.

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.

Meg and Dek are to me, one of CJC's most successful couples. The tender little scene where they get together after Dek is broken out of station hospital by Graff, and Meg is surprised and flattered and worried by Dek's advances, and then she calms him when he starts mourning Cory: "Hush, it's Meg" -- that hit so many of my buttons. And then they have the argument about flying together! They are so *real*. Anything with these two, as long as it ends with happiness or at least contentment.

Dek and Ben have a very special, dysfunctional relationship. To some extent, Dek is Ben's Morality Pet, and Ben is Dek's (canon) Sanity Anchor. If that's your preference, go for it, as long as this doesn't leave Meg and Sal out in the cold or "fridged."

Meg and Sal had only each other for quite a while. Sal makes their loyalty to each other plain when she tells Ben why they left the Shepherds. I'd lovve to knpw something of their past together, pre-canon.

Some possible themes:

Traveling twice the speed of light / It's easy to get burned

I love you for all the worn places, what's smooth, ragged or raw

For every time someone else held you, I love you as you are

I found a picture of you, oh / Those were the happiest days of my life

There you go pulling me right back in, and I know I'm never letting this go

Or Ben finally gets to set foot on a planet (probably Pell, rather than Earth, thing being as they are ... or maybe even Cyteen?) and see an ocean!

Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell

I love Jame's wry and dark sense of humor. Also, her relationships with her mentors are more successful (so far) than her other attempts at intimacy ... Bane comes to mind (am I wrong to think that Bane/Jame is ten thousand times hotter than Torisen/Jame?).

Jame & Sheth - Sheth is a man of iron will and steel conscience. But this is the Kencyrath, and there's a chance he will be broken at some point. He likely knows it. What are his thoughts regarding Jame at this point? I'm not looking for something completely inside his head, like a character study: I'd rather see his actions or hear his words.

A couple of possible themes:

"Who is a witness, who is a warrior? Who denies his urge to break and run?"

"The world is falling apart: he's getting older, and there's a funeral in his heart."

Jame & Tirandys - One of the strongest, most haunting scenes for me in the entire series is near the end of Dark of the Moon, when Jame finds herself half out of her head in the Master's House. She's starting to collapse when she has a very strange conversation with her old teacher, which ends with the stark words "Welcome home, Jame." Give me something from his point of view, leading up to that shattering moment.

A couple of possible themes:

"A shadow from another time is waiting in the night. Something happened long ago, something that will not let go."

"Can you look out the window without your shadow getting in the way?"

Jame/Randiroc -. This is another pairing that's many, many times hotter than Tori/Jame. The way than Radiroc has made himself so much a part of the Rathillien landscape, while Jame always feels herself an intruder, makes the feeling between them even sharper. This can be as sensual/sexual as you wish, either an encounter of spirits alone or a physical tryst.

A couple of possible themes:

"I have traveled the paths of desire, following smoke and remembering fire."

"Chasing shadows, slipping in the magic lantern's light: creatures of the candle in the night light's rite."

"Can't you feel my heart beat fast - I want this to last."