opalmatrix | Dear Confectioner (2026) (Reply)

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

Chanur Series - C. J. Cherryh

Pyanfar Chanur & Jik (Keia Nomesteturjai)

"I love you like kin," they said to each other, across the boundary of being different species, when they were gambling with their lives. Bring them back together one more time, maybe for some secret mission together, or just catching up after not seeing each other for a long time.

Possible Themes

It feels good to be known so well: I can't hide from you like I hide from myself

I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, because you're there for me too.

When we die and float away into the night, the Milky Way, you'll hear me call: I'll say your name

The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior (Goblin Emperor)

Let’s just assume that Olgarezh never left the capital to come to Amalo, and that the Clenverada never became such a threat that it was vital that Celehar had such a protector. Iäna was with Thara when he needed a refuge from the dirty politics of Amalo's clerical world, when he needed someone to guide him around the demimonde, or to help him burgle an office, or to comfort him when he lost his ability to speak with the dead. I need to have the promise of this relationship fulfilled. Give me little bits of time snatched between opera performances and Thara’s new duties for the Archprelate, glimpses of an already-beautiful relationship deepening and expanding.

Possible Themes

I will not let anything take away what's standing in front of me

I want to live with you even when we're ghosts, because you were always there when I needed you most

There’s a room of shadows that gets so dark, brother: it’s easy for two people to lose each other

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

Bishop Beartongue/Istvhan (The Saint of Steel)

How did Istvhan become the man whom Clara was able to love? Was it when he realized he could do something for the Bishop, who had done so much for him and his brothers and sisters?

Possible Themes

No one's around to judge me; I can't see clearly when you're gone

I hold you in my arms, yeah, that's when it starts; I seek faith in your kiss and comfort in your heart

Nothing you confess could make me love you less

Let the moment free you now and leave it all behind you / I'll know where you've gone: let the world go on

Witch King - Martha Wells

Bashasa Calis/Kaiisteron (Witch King)

This is being such a slow, glacially slow burn. How many times have Bashasa’s responsibilities interrupted just when he’s about to say or do something about that burn, often after touching Kai? Bashasa even loves Kai when he’s changed bodies! (Or maybe the change in bodies was needed for Bashasa to realize what he was feeling?) And Kai, so powerful and so very broken. I’m holding onto my hope that we’ll eventually get some canon, on-the-page Bashasa/Kaiisteron: at least sweetness and physical affection, if not actual smut. In the meantime, please give my your take on how it could finally happen, or a snatched moment when they’ve already established this aspect of their relationship.

Possible Themes

Who can explain the thunder and rain, but there's something in the air

Hand to hand, skin on skin / I bеgin to heal again / Rush of blood, fill me up / I am here now, let me in

And from the rain, comes a river running wild that will create an empire for you / an empire for two

Promise to take me with you, promise to let me go: all the world is waiting to see

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

Alixtra (Chalion) & Penric kin Jurald (Chalion Saga)

Taking charge of Alixtra and her demon solved Pen’s problem at the time, and of course he would want to do the right thing by them. But how did it feel to Alixtra? How did the training go at first? Give me an incident or scene or something more that bridges the distance between the newly accepted Alixtra and the woman who could help Pen unravel the mysteries in “Know of Shadows.

Possible Themes

Finally feel my mind open: now I'm waking up / And I'll show you I can change

When it's dark, there's a light I'll shine / And if you're lost I'm right behind, 'cause we walk the same line

If you don't grow, you'll calcify, but you're too scared to try; but things, they change

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

Paul Dekker/Meg Kady

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.

Possible Themes

Everything that drowns me makes me want to fly

My arms belong around you, oh – so take a bite, I want to know

The fuse is burning, shut out the lights / The fuse is burning; come on, let me do you right

Sal Aboujib & Meg Kady

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 either something of their past together, pre-canon, like how they met, how they became besties – or that fraught time between the end of Heavy Time and when Meg and Sal show up at the Hellburner project in the second book.

Possible Themes

Tell me all the things you know, list of every book you read; maybe we could meet again

I'm a little bit sheltered, I'm a little bit scared, I'm a little bit nervous: I'm going nowhere

Home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there

Sal Aboujib & Paul Dekker & Meg Kady & Ben Pollard

This bunch of misfits becomes an unstoppable force when they come together and figure out how to be a team. The fact that they accept each other – even Ben accepts Dek at the end – is a big part of it. I’m not so into the idea of them being a polycule beyond the “We’re exhausted, we trust each other, we’ll be warmer together, let's fall asleep in a puppy pile”-type of situation, but hints of it won’t flip me out. Here, I’m thinking, “put them in a Situation, let them work it out in a way that shows their dynamics, then let them chill contentedly together, because that’s the only way they feel whole now.”