Chocolate Box 2020
Dear Chocolatier,
Happy new year! Thanks for offering to write for me, and for reading this letter. As I prefer to err on the side of too much than not enough detail, I will provide as much as I can. Let me start with the fandoms I’m requesting, and then I’ll move on to general preferences.
(Note: All these prompts contain canon spoilers.)
The Goblin Emperor | Vatican Miracle Examiner | Kushiel’s Legacy | General Preferences
Fandoms
The Goblin Emperor
Fanworks: Either fanfic or fanart.
Ship: Thara Celehar/Aina Shulivar. Pious, loyal, and emotionally vulnerable iron-woobie cleric with supernatural powers who’s been shamed for his sexuality, and brilliant, zealous, murderous revolutionary with a Rasputin-like charm. Okay, sure, they met only once in canon and Thara saw right through Shulivar, whose zeal blinded him to everything. But suppose Shulivar became a Curneise leader because he can pick up on little things … such as something being off about this new zhornu who just sits quietly and listens. Maybe Thara finds him hot if disturbing, which he obviously isn’t going to write Maia about.
Maybe Shulivar picks up on that… or maybe he finds Thara attractive without caring if it’s reciprocal. Does he proposition Thara, who has been so lonely and horny since Evru was executed? Or, perhaps, under the guise of confiding even greater secrets in him, does he lead Thara to one of the Stone Tree’s smallest inner rooms, one that was set aside for trysts, and proceed to noncon/dubcon him? Does he threaten Thara with further public shame, physical danger, or danger to those he serves in order to keep him quiet? If it’s either consensual or dubcon, does Thara stay in Amalo and keep coming back to Shulivar for more of that sweet, sweet extremist dick - perhaps while they’re both on duty, in hidden corners of the airship hangar? I’d also be okay with something set in the Nevennamire before Shulivar’s execution.
Vatican Miracle Examiner
Fanworks: Fanfic or fanart.
Ships:
Julia Michael Borge/Hiraga Josef Kou. Dubcon or noncon for this one, set at any time from the second arc of the anime (or the manga equivalent) through post-canon. Bonus points if you can work Julia’s self-flagellation in there somehow. Maybe he somehow persuades Hiraga to flog him? (If you’ve ever seen the manga panels, Hiraga’s pretty muscular under that cassock, if not as much so as Roberto…)
Lauren di Luca/Roberto Nicholas. Certain fanworks (you know who you are) have sold me on the notion of Roberto appearing in Lauren’s jackoff fantasies, much to Lauren’s chagrin. In Lauren’s head, Roberto, being tall, broad-shouldered, and supercilious, is a lot more dominant and willing to use his strength than he is IRL. Anything that involves imaginary!Roberto holding Lauren down and having his way with him or disciplining him would be great.
Kushiel’s Legacy
Fanworks: Fanfic only.
Ships:
Balthasar Shahrizai/Thierry de la Courcel. Even though the third trilogy is my least favorite, it features my favorite Shahrizai, Balthasar. He’s as shamelessly lascivious as his ancestors, but he’s also brave, loyal, clever, and hardy, willing to follow his Prince away from the decadent courts of the City of Elua to a new continent, and - once they run afoul of Raphaël de Mereliot - able to toil in the fields alongside him.
I would love fic of Balthasar and Thierry doing just that in rags, under a blazing sun. Though Thierry outranks Balthasar, I’d love to see Balthasar giving him moral support as they plot to overthrow Raphaël - and sexual comfort, too. Particularly role reversal, with Balthasar dominating Thierry. Praise kink would be lovely here. If you want to have them menaced by giant ants, that’s fine, but no giant ants in the porn, thanks. :)
Alcuin nó Delaunay/Anafiel Delaunay. I would prefer it set before that tragic evening, chock-full of UST, and focused on Delaunay’s scholarly training of Alcuin. Languages, history, geography, poetry, anything that Alcuin studied and was good at, with Delaunay taking pride in his accomplishments and Alcuin feeling flattered at this pride. If the fic is set during/after Alcuin’s virgin assignation, feel free to work in his unsuitedness for sex work and his resentment that he has to do so, which would complicate his crush on Delaunay. Alternatively, I’d be fine with a scene of one of them masturbating to thoughts of the other - especially Alcuin, complete with feelings of confusion and conflict. If you can't write smut, I am okay with non-explicit UST.
Imriel de la Courcel/Maslin de Lombelon. One of the best hateships imaginable. Or, if you prefer, a ship based in mutual respect after both of them have matured a bit (and especially after Imriel shocks Maslin with the details of his captivity and asks, “Still jealous?”). Since Imriel’s Shahrizai dominance is central to his character, Maslin should be the sub he takes in hand. Whether Maslin is an angry but horny spitfire being chastised for his bad attitude or a loyal d’Angeline submitting to his lord depends on when in canon you set the fic.General Preferences
What I like/would be fine with
Thank you for reading. I look forward to your fic! :)
My AO3 handle is Island_of_Reil.
This entry was originally posted at https://island-of-reil.dreamwidth.org/21156.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Happy new year! Thanks for offering to write for me, and for reading this letter. As I prefer to err on the side of too much than not enough detail, I will provide as much as I can. Let me start with the fandoms I’m requesting, and then I’ll move on to general preferences.
(Note: All these prompts contain canon spoilers.)
The Goblin Emperor | Vatican Miracle Examiner | Kushiel’s Legacy | General Preferences
Fandoms
The Goblin Emperor
Fanworks: Either fanfic or fanart.
Ship: Thara Celehar/Aina Shulivar. Pious, loyal, and emotionally vulnerable iron-woobie cleric with supernatural powers who’s been shamed for his sexuality, and brilliant, zealous, murderous revolutionary with a Rasputin-like charm. Okay, sure, they met only once in canon and Thara saw right through Shulivar, whose zeal blinded him to everything. But suppose Shulivar became a Curneise leader because he can pick up on little things … such as something being off about this new zhornu who just sits quietly and listens. Maybe Thara finds him hot if disturbing, which he obviously isn’t going to write Maia about.
Maybe Shulivar picks up on that… or maybe he finds Thara attractive without caring if it’s reciprocal. Does he proposition Thara, who has been so lonely and horny since Evru was executed? Or, perhaps, under the guise of confiding even greater secrets in him, does he lead Thara to one of the Stone Tree’s smallest inner rooms, one that was set aside for trysts, and proceed to noncon/dubcon him? Does he threaten Thara with further public shame, physical danger, or danger to those he serves in order to keep him quiet? If it’s either consensual or dubcon, does Thara stay in Amalo and keep coming back to Shulivar for more of that sweet, sweet extremist dick - perhaps while they’re both on duty, in hidden corners of the airship hangar? I’d also be okay with something set in the Nevennamire before Shulivar’s execution.
Vatican Miracle Examiner
Fanworks: Fanfic or fanart.
Ships:
Julia Michael Borge/Hiraga Josef Kou. Dubcon or noncon for this one, set at any time from the second arc of the anime (or the manga equivalent) through post-canon. Bonus points if you can work Julia’s self-flagellation in there somehow. Maybe he somehow persuades Hiraga to flog him? (If you’ve ever seen the manga panels, Hiraga’s pretty muscular under that cassock, if not as much so as Roberto…)
Lauren di Luca/Roberto Nicholas. Certain fanworks (you know who you are) have sold me on the notion of Roberto appearing in Lauren’s jackoff fantasies, much to Lauren’s chagrin. In Lauren’s head, Roberto, being tall, broad-shouldered, and supercilious, is a lot more dominant and willing to use his strength than he is IRL. Anything that involves imaginary!Roberto holding Lauren down and having his way with him or disciplining him would be great.
Kushiel’s Legacy
Fanworks: Fanfic only.
Ships:
Balthasar Shahrizai/Thierry de la Courcel. Even though the third trilogy is my least favorite, it features my favorite Shahrizai, Balthasar. He’s as shamelessly lascivious as his ancestors, but he’s also brave, loyal, clever, and hardy, willing to follow his Prince away from the decadent courts of the City of Elua to a new continent, and - once they run afoul of Raphaël de Mereliot - able to toil in the fields alongside him.
I would love fic of Balthasar and Thierry doing just that in rags, under a blazing sun. Though Thierry outranks Balthasar, I’d love to see Balthasar giving him moral support as they plot to overthrow Raphaël - and sexual comfort, too. Particularly role reversal, with Balthasar dominating Thierry. Praise kink would be lovely here. If you want to have them menaced by giant ants, that’s fine, but no giant ants in the porn, thanks. :)
Alcuin nó Delaunay/Anafiel Delaunay. I would prefer it set before that tragic evening, chock-full of UST, and focused on Delaunay’s scholarly training of Alcuin. Languages, history, geography, poetry, anything that Alcuin studied and was good at, with Delaunay taking pride in his accomplishments and Alcuin feeling flattered at this pride. If the fic is set during/after Alcuin’s virgin assignation, feel free to work in his unsuitedness for sex work and his resentment that he has to do so, which would complicate his crush on Delaunay. Alternatively, I’d be fine with a scene of one of them masturbating to thoughts of the other - especially Alcuin, complete with feelings of confusion and conflict. If you can't write smut, I am okay with non-explicit UST.
Imriel de la Courcel/Maslin de Lombelon. One of the best hateships imaginable. Or, if you prefer, a ship based in mutual respect after both of them have matured a bit (and especially after Imriel shocks Maslin with the details of his captivity and asks, “Still jealous?”). Since Imriel’s Shahrizai dominance is central to his character, Maslin should be the sub he takes in hand. Whether Maslin is an angry but horny spitfire being chastised for his bad attitude or a loyal d’Angeline submitting to his lord depends on when in canon you set the fic.General Preferences
What I like/would be fine with
- Either party topping or bottoming in anal sex. I generally prefer penetration as dominance in noncon and would also prefer it for Balthasar/Thierry, but I’m not overly picky about it.
- Sexual explicitness.
- Loyalty. Yeeeeeessssss, please. Oaths of fealty, blood oaths, standing by one’s friend or loved one when everyone else has turned against them, fighting back to back, returning to the scene of battle to save the other, knowingly sacrificing one’s life for the other. This would obviously be most relevant to the Kushielverse ships, but Thara being conflicted due to his loyalty to Maia would also work well.
- Leaders being good at leadership. Reciprocating the loyalty of their subordinate(s), in ways described in the previous bullet point. Trusting their judgment and encouraging them to trust their own. Making sure they have what they need in order to get their jobs done. Treating them not as equals in rank, but as equals in humanity (substitute whatever species here works for you). Holding them accountable when they fuck up, fairly but not too leniently, because the leader doesn’t want it to happen again.
- “Competence porn” - not in a Mary Sue-ish way (e.g., Ayla in the Clan of the Cave Bear books), but in a natural and realistic kind of way.
- Moral greyness/ambiguity in situations and characters. My favorite characters are morally ambiguous but sympathetic overall. I also like basically good characters with rough or snarky exteriors, or at least those who have spines and who lose their tempers ever so often. I’m not so much into cartoonish villains who are into being bad for the sake of being bad, or “hard men making hard choices.” I’d rather read about evil done out of apathy, self-interest, emotional dysfunction, revenge, desperation, despair, and other all-too-human things. At the other extreme, I’m not into flawless goody-two-shoes types. Characters are like diamonds in that flaws are what make them interesting.
- Darkfic. “Grimdark” in the Warhammer 40K sense is too much. But I am fine with injury, death, and damnation where appropriate to the canon; exploration of harrowing issues so long as it's done tastefully; or even noncanonical death of a canon character if it is not gratuitous and is handled well.
- Endings that are happy, sad, or ambiguous, so long as they’re fitting for the story.
- Atmospherics. I love rich descriptions of anything, especially of nature, but also of towns and cities, clothing, food, etc. Small details are always welcome.
- Pastiche, if you enjoy writing it, is welcome for the Kushielverse ships.
- Research. If you’ve got knowledge of historical details, language, etc. that’s relevant to any of these prompts, and you can work it into the fic without it feeling superfluous, please feel free to. Again, small details are always welcome. If you genuinely love doing research, do so to your heart’s content, but please do not feel obligated to bury yourself in it in order to write a story. Especially not for this exchange.
- Intricate plottiness, the machinery of politics, and political intrigue - if they fit the canon and, again, if you feel up to it.
- Magical worldbuilding, politics, and/or schools of thought.
- Tattoos, especially magical or spiritual ones.
- Character study, within the context of a shipfic.
- Love/hate relationships.
- Pining and UST.
- Second-person narration.
- A little purpleness in the prose. “Purple” tends to be in the mind of the beholder anyway. If your style is stripped-down and tight, that’s fine too, but I don’t want writers to worry about using “too many” adjectives or adverbs.
- Character bashing or slut-shaming by the author.
- Silly misunderstandings that the characters could clear up with a little communication, but don’t.
- Heavy use of epithets, such as “The taller man then leaned down and kissed the blond boy.” Names and pronouns are usually enough.
- Tropes, kinks, headcanons, and other things that are hard nopes for me:
- Shota/loli
- Hardcore gore, torture, or mutilation. Floggings are about my limit, and even then I don’t want the character whipped to death or nearly to death. (Passing mentions of the other things are fine.)
- Trans or nonbinary headcanons for cis canon characters
- Asexuality
- Noncanonical disabilities, especially psychiatric or neurological ones
- Watersports, scat, or vomit play
- Infantilism
- De-aging
- Arranged marriage
- Time loops/“Groundhog Day”
- Kidfic
- Curtainfic
- Unrequested noncanonical ships
- Tropes, kinks, and headcanons that I like in some fics but am not seeking in this exchange:
- AUs other than canon divergence
- Crossovers/fusions
- Slavefic (outside of Balthasar and Thierry slaving for Raphaël)
- Incest
- Bestiality
- Rule 34/gender changes
- Polyamory
- Daddy or mommy kink
- A/B/O or other mpreg
- Tentacles
- Xenophilia
- Noncon/dubcon. Okay for the TGE and VME ships, not for the Kushielverse ships.
- Public humiliation/embarrassment: Same as above.
- Consensual BDSM is kind of inherent to Balthasar/Thierry and Imriel/Maslin, as Balthasar and Imriel are Shahrizai. I could see dubcon BDSM working for the VME ships or Thara/Aina. I would not like BDSM at all for Delaunay/Alcuin.
- Fluff and domesticity. In general, a little bit goes a looooong way for me. Although fluff + porn is okay.
- Humor: I think a fic with an overall comic tone would be okay for Roberto/Lauren. For the other prompts, a little humor in an otherwise serious fic is fine but I’m not seeking a humorous story per se. I’m not a huge fan of “witty banter,” either, because oftentimes it feels forced rather than organic.
- Hurt/comfort. I’m not all that big on pure whump, but OTOH I don’t want a character to be fussed over for getting a paper cut, especially if they’re tough and stoic in canon.
- Angst, so long as it’s age- and situation-appropriate. Conflict-related angst, existential angst, depression, and even (some) manpain are all fine, but adults acting like emo teenagers, not so much.
- Infidelity. I don’t have a particular thing for it, but a lot of people list it as a squick. I thought I would specify that I’m okay with it. All I ask is that the cheater realizes it’s unethical and deals with guilt at some level. I don’t like love being used as a justification for it.
- Discussion of social issues. They’re inherent in any world with human or humanoid characters, and I like it when fic addresses them in a natural way that serves both characters and plot. But I can’t read preachy issuefic - especially if it’s wildly anachronistic (e.g., use of words like “heteronormative” in a historical or quasi-historical canon). Character X stopping the action to lecture Character Y on Issue ABC is just not my bag, sorry.
Thank you for reading. I look forward to your fic! :)
My AO3 handle is Island_of_Reil.
This entry was originally posted at https://island-of-reil.dreamwidth.org/21156.html. Please comment there using OpenID.