Dear Yuletide Author (2022) - NOW COMPLETE

[opalmatrix]

Thank you for writing me a story for Yuletide! My biggest request is no tragedies, no darkness unless followed by light. I have a rough time emotionally when the days are short, and I think we could all use a little light and brightness these days. But, contrariwise, I am a definite believer in the idea that tensions or even pain make a sweet ending better, so go for salt caramel or even black licorice rather than cotton candy.

Have some optional details about what I like and don't like in a story.

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":
  • For Yuletide, wintery/solstice seasonal details where possible but not overtly religious except if it goes with the canon (so the real winter holiday in Japan is New Year's, although Christmas as a non-religious festival has showed up in large cities)
  • hurt-comfort
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • senses of smell and touch and memories attached to them
  • old-fashioned sections of town with narrow streets and alleyways and odd shops
  • whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • 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"
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • a study or library as a refuge against the outside world
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • snark, whether on the part of the narrator or from a character (this should not be *mean*, just apt and funny)
  • 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
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right

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

きのう何食べた? | Kinou Nani Tabeta? | What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Manga)

Of course I want slice of life! And food. Hurt/comfort, perhaps? Maybe one of the partners gets sick, and the other has to care for him? Or another holiday of some sort, celebrated with friends? Or they take a vacation together? Something a little more intimate would be nice too. I have to say that I miss the spicy Yoshinaga of Ichigenme: The First Class Is Civil Law and her other early yaoi manga.

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

I'm fascinated with the concept of the Bastard as a god and how he manifests in the world as the patron of not only Ista and Penric, but the mother of the orphan girls (whom I would love to see again as secondary characters) and the various other saints we have seen. I'm fascinated with Desdemona, who is in many ways a multi-part all-female hivemind. What does life (such as it is) look like from her viewpoint now? What was it like when she first woke up in Penric's mind.

Additional missions or incidents for Pen and Des: anything of that sort that adds to our understanding of the actions of the Bastard in the world would be appreciated. And perhaps a bit from the god's viewpoint as well?

For Ista and Illvin: life on their mission, either "slice of life" or a specific plotty incident: more demon-foiling and -devouring, corruption in the clergy of other gods, something poignant with some Roknari near the border where both sides learn something, etc.

とんがり帽子のアトリエ | Tongari Boushi no Atelier | Witch Hat Atelier (Manga)

The delicacy and sweetness of the story masks some very real darkness about how the magic system and the government attempting to control it work. With this in mind: pre-canon with Olruggio (who is just the sort of character I love in an m/m scenario) and Qifrey, either actual m/m or just friends in a rather prickly relationship. Or something a little poignant, a side story, with obsessed, driven Agott and sweet and powerful but clueless Coco. Perhaps Coco's homesickness during some traditional festival time makes Agott face either happy or sad/angry memories about her own family during such occasions, or anything you can think of that causes a ratcheting up and then release of tensions between the two of them.

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. I'm a huge fan of Meg Kady, former shuttle pilot and (to hear her tell it), smuggler, former radical who smells revolution stirring again and yet falls in with the military for her own reasons: friendship and loyalty, perhaps even love at long last.

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*.

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. 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 love to know 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, things being as they are, with the Mazianni and all ... or maybe even Cyteen?) and see an ocean!

The People - Zenna Henderson

I'd eat up "what ever happened to ..." about any of them, including those who are children during the series. Or even bring in some new characters. Or world building: how are the People faring with keeping their differences secret in these days of international databases, the WWW, satellite surveillance, and so on?

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

The coda to Paladin's Hope takes place years after the main action. That's plenty of time for scores of side-stories: how Galen and Piper actually get married, more about the burgeoning understanding between the White Rat's adopted paladins and the knolls, something about the paladins who haven't seen much book action (Judith, Wren Shane, Marcus), and indeed, anything you can think of. If nothing else, throw a thing or two from my Cool Bits list together with some characters and see what happens!