Dear Confectioner 2024

[opalmatrix]

Thank you for writing me a story for Candy Hearts!

Have some optional details about what I like and don't like in a story, as well as details about what I like about the individual fandoms and characters.

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
  • whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
  • sudden realization of one's feelings for another
  • kissing the inside of the elbow or the base of the throat
  • drops of water clinging to hair and/or skin
  • warm and oversized bathrobes/dressing gowns or sweaters/jerseys
  • someone's profile silhouetted against the light
  • 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
  • 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
  • licking honey or something similar off fingers
  • finding in a fight that one's ally feels like a protective wall
  • the moon seen through wind-blown branches
  • a high-control/driven person being persuaded to slow down and enjoy

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

Saiyuki: Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo

For me, this is all about the manga. 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.

Possible Themes

I never learned nothing from playing it safe

Don't mind if I fall apart / There's more room in a broken heart.

You take more than just my sanity / you take my reason not to care

Snowfall and kisses

Oh, and AU is fine ... although for a really short treat, canon might be easier/better.

Saiyuki Gaiden: Kenren Taishou/Tenpou Gensui

In so many ways, these two are Gojyo and Hakkai without the angst ... but there is some darkness, because it isn't Minekura without that. So you could either go light, with a sexy little romp (a complete sex scene, or a playful lead-in to one, or a sensual, sleepy aftermath), or darker, with their reunion after the prison scene, as they realize what the stakes are becoming (and have some hurt/comfort), and the sweet fatalism of their last day or so, as they attempt to escape.

Possible Themes

I undress my mind and dare you to follow

Is this the last verse of the song?

Someday we’ll fly and we won't look down

Love language: the curve of a neck

きのう何食べた? | Kinou Nani Tabeta? | What Did You Eat Yesterday?
Kakei Shirou/Yabuki Kenji

I don't really want Shiro's recipes in this. I want focus on their relationship, and I'd love a bit of a return to Yoshinaga sensei's spicy early yaoi manga, like Ichigenme... The First Class is Civil Law. Some inspirational prompts:

Possible Themes

Cake so sweet, make a wish

Like my hands can read your mind

I'm soaking through and through; then you handed me a towel, and all I see is you

Snowfall: memories and sighs

Discworld - Terry Pratchett: Magda "Tonker" Halter/Tilda "Lofty" Tewt

I love the nuances of how their shared past has affected them both so differently. Perhaps something from their early days of freedom, after they've burned down the Girls' Working School, when all they have is each other and they're discovering that's more than enough.

Possible Themes

I better hold on before you blow away

I open up my mouth to give you sweeter sounds, but it's not coming out

Sky, and our hearts' desire

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

Discworld - Terry Pratchett: Polly "Ozzer" Perks & Angua von Uberwald

I enjoyed their encounter in Monstrous Regiment. I'd love to see them working together and learning from each other. Perhaps one has been signed to go to the other's home turf for some diplomatic relations reason.

Possible Themes

Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be

It is never too late to be what you might have been

As you gaze at yourself in the mirror held by another, you will see far more than your flaws.

"Never say that "and moonlight

Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell: Jame of Knorth & Sheth Sharp-tongue

Sheth is a very interesting character. He''s a Kendar with many Highborn characteristics and has clearly risen to his position of trust by acting rather more Highborn than many actual Highborn. I consider that he admires Jame's grit and intelligence but finds her singularly dangerous, but because she's essential under his care he also feels responsible for her and even somewhat protective. I also feel as though Jame is coming to regard him as her new teacher and moral compass - since Torisen has pretty much refused that role. I'm looking for a scene or episode that brings out of each what they feel for each other.

Possible Themes

You're an accident waiting to happen, you're a piece of glass left there on a beach.

What I got, I have earned; what I’m not, I have learned

"I'll do what I was born to do, break what needs to be broken, and then break myself." - from the canon

Break me: blood on snow