Dear Chocolate Box Author!

[eglantiere]

Hi! It's my first time doing this challenge, and I hope me and you are going to have great time in it. I'm happy to have you writing (or drawing) for me and I salute your excellent offering taste \o/ I have some preferences and prompts that might be helpful, but honesty, for these fandom pretty much anything that will bring your pleasure to make goes. Just enjoy yourself.

Here are some general things, carried over from Yuletide:

I like:
- You literally can't go wrong with hurt/comfort. It's my oldest and dearest bulletproof narrative kink, and if you're into it, just be as indulgent as you like. I love physical hurt/comfort, I love emotional hurt/comfort, I love various (AU or canon-compliant) captivity scenarios, I adore nursing-from-wounds-or-sickness stuff, I'm hugely into any opportunity for the characters to showcase their care and love for each other. I love hurt/comfort mostly within the context of the relationship (not necessarily romantic - filial ties, friendship, brothers-in-arms comradeship, whichever fits), as an opening for one character to be hurt and for other to be outraged/terrified/comforting on their behalf.
- Found families, everlasting friendships, us-against-the-world - I love the stories where people keep and find warmth and meaning in each other within the larger universe even when said universe is not generally benevolent. I love people holding each other against the dark.
- Complicated and deep relationship between women - love, friendship, family ties, rivalries, loyalties.
- Hope and kindness - I love, in general, Clair universes, stories where there is, ultimately, meaning and hope instead of just entropy and neverending misery. Sometimes against all odds and sometimes at a great price, but getting there in the end.
- Loyalty - there's pretty much nothing I don't love about loyalty kink in all it forms! From its ritualized forms (royalty AUs, knights, oaths, kneeling, whatever you want) to more mundane of being unquestionably and in all events there for the other person.
- Self-sacrifice and martyrdom - give me people sacrificing themselves for others and suffering for the sake of something greater or somebody they love, and I'm a happy, happy reader.

I would prefer not to read about:
- Character death.
- Infidelity and partner betrayal of any kind.
- Hurt not followed by sufficient comfort; it's a very well-respected genre, but it's definitely not my thing (as for grievous hurt followed by comfort, then yes, see above and go ahead!).
- A/B/O universes and mpreg.
- Grimdark stories and unhappy endings.

I like gen and shipping fics alike, and porny shippy fics are fine as well, but I would prefer not to receive a PWP story, if possible.

If you like stalking the recipient (as I do), my Yuletide letters, gifts and recs are unlocked; my tumblr is egelantier, my book reviews are over at egelantier-reading and my fics and bookmarks are at egelantier.

Onwards to the specific fandoms:

Chronicles of Tornor - Elizabeth Lynn
Ryke/Errel
(fanfiction)

By a weird coincidence I've just finished reading this book last month, and I was struck by how ultimately sad the ending was, and by how comprehensively Errel had missed the point - well, to be fair, it's not like Ryke was any better. Since you're offering this pairing I assume we're on the same page, so please: fix it! Be it an AU twist on the book itself or something that happens after the canon, if you at least make them actually talk about their feelings or lack thereof I would be very very happy.

I have a special soft place in my heart for the loyalty kink, and it was in spade here, so if you choose to do anything with that - more examples of Ryke being loyal to Errel, more Errel actually paying attention to it, maybe Errel being loyal to Ryke in turn, maybe Ryke actually getting in trouble for that and Errel feeling bad about that... Honestly, the main thing that worries me there is that so much happened between Ryke and Errel that might have as not happened at all, conducted through other people and omissions and hints as it was, and just seeing some of it in the open would be a relief.

The Librarians (TV 2014)
Eve Baird & Cassandra Cillian
Eve Baird/Cassandra Cillian
(fanart, fanfiction)

This silly brilliant unrestrained show is very dear to my heart - I adore the found family vibe, the combination of ridiculous fics and quite earnest feelings, the overall commitment to good people doing good things for good causes, the humor. But the main point of my enjoyment is unquestionably Eve Baird. she's protective without being maternal, she's self-assured and decisive without being, you know, Strong Female Character, she's magnificent when she's angry (and she wields her anger unapologetically), and she has this self-sacrificial messianic vibe narratively without an ounce of self-pity or angst about it. the Dorian Grey episode just about killed me - you know, when she says "well, it's my job to die," so matter-of-factly.

And when we're talking relationships, i love her in combination with her team, obviously, and i especially love her and Cassandra - the shift between a bit dismissive protectiveness and actual respect, Cassandra's obvious (and occasionally drunk) adoration, the hints at what-could-be, the flirting. the Loom of Fate alternate universe, obviously: "no, not like a mother at all." So if you want to write something that explores their friendship and comradership, go for it! a duo mission, a casefic, a mystery, a road trip, a classic hurt/comfort scenario a-la "cuddling for warmth' or 'Eve is wounded protecting Cassandra': awesome. If you want to take it into explicitly shipping direction: amazing, go for all of it, do the first time or an established relationship, explore the magician!Cassandra timeline, go all out. This is such a feel-good show for me, it's full of such love, that seriously, anything goes.



Wynonna Earp (TV)
Wynonna Earp/Doc Holliday
Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp
Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp/Doc Holliday

(fanart, fanfiction)

Another dark horse show that I absolutely adore, the one that manages to be so very good with feelings while being so, to put it bluntly, batshit insane. I love Wynonna most of all - I love that she's a "bad girl" but also a huge unapologetic dork, I love how badass and how awkward she is, how much she pretends not to care and how obviously she cares with all her heart and soul, for everybody and everything, how responsible she feels. I think she needs all the hugs in the world, I think she's a really wonderful older sister, and I would love somebody to give her stability and comfort and backup she so clearly needs.

So, relationships! Doc and Wynonna kind of shouldn't work but do, both the weird twisted history of it (if Doc didn't at least pine for Wyatt, I will eat my mouse, I swear) and the fresh desperation of it, the way Doc obviously cares despite himself, the way Wynonna is afraid to rely on him but does, in the end, and he comes through, and will come through, always, the way they kind of make each other better people, however unlikely it is. And on the other side there's Dolls and Wynonna, and the way he gave her respect and structure and purpose she so clearly needed, the way he kind of saved her from the moment he said 'demons' in this parking lot, the way she will take on the entire world for his sake. And of course there is Doc and Dolls, the most unlikely partnership ever but the one that kind of works, because they both care for Wynonna and first for her sake and then for their own they can respect each other and be a team, and they make such wonderful flying sparks - especially after the finale, when Dolls finally let himself go and Doc was so clearly impressed and kinda turned out. The three of them: working so, so well. Give me more of this, please.



琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV)
Lin Shu | Mei Changsu | Su Zhe/Xiao Jingyan
(fanart, fanfiction)

THIS SHOW. I'm so unbelievably in love with it, I saw it two times and I'm angling for a third one, I was devastated by the ending but I respected it, and I love pretty much everybody in this bar, forever. I'm sort of scaling down my requests this time from "everything" to "LS-MCS actually TALKING TO EACH OTHER and possibly HUGGING" and "somebody please let Jingyan be less sad for about fifteen minutes." I feel that out of everybody in the series Jingyan, for all that LS-MCS was so focused on him, got the least possible amount of closure and least amount of honesty; so, if you could go there and fix it, if just a bit, that would be wonderful.

A bit sideways to it, but I'm endlessly fascinated with their relationship between the fall of the Bureau and the final reveal, the way Jingyan's won over and drawn in and becomes really protective almost despite himself. Maybe some kind of hurt/comfort casefic where they're stranded together and Jingyan has to keep LS-MCS alive? Or some minor piece of plotting where he can see LS-MCS at work and participate? Or one of these interludes in the tunnel or during their evening conversations?

I'm also very, very fond of the idea of Jingyan essentially kindapping LS-MCS in the end and bringing him to the palace and begging him to live, sickness or no sickness, and slowly teaching him to love himself just as everybody in his loves him. Honestly, the more indulgent, the better; if this suits your tastes, go all in.

I have some specific preferences for Nirvana in Fire: the setting and the setup are a huge part of the enjoyment for me, so this is the fandom where I'd prefer not to read AUs or canon divergence stories (until it's the finale or post-finale canon divergence; I'm fine with MCS-LS being tragically dead and Jingyan dealing with the fallout, but I would also eagerly welcome all possible fix-it options), or soulbonding AUs and such, and where I'm mostly interested in the present timeline. The same things that worked for me in the show would work for me in fics: hurt/comfort, sarcasm, dramatic irony, plot twists, complicated relationships, friendship and loyalty, people being really reverent with their mothers, determination and self-sacrifice, the way everybody fusses over MCS-LS, the warmth of the household interludes, the whiplash between epic and mundane.



Crossover Fandom
Poe Dameron (TFA) & Johnny Jaqobis (Killjoys)
Edmund Pevensie (Narnia) & Rupert Psmith (Wodehouse)
(fanart, fanfiction)

Okay, I don't know who nominated these two crossovers, but I salute them and congratulate them on their excellent ideas. Poe and Johnny: both dashing, both kind, both leaning towards martyrdom and self-sacrifice, and both saddled with an incredible amount of care for everything. They sure have things to discuss! (And complaints to air). I don't really care about which of their universes it's set in (it can even be a mashup, if this can be managed), I just think it would be incredibly fun to see them interact. Maybe they're on the mission together! Maybe one of them saves the other! Maybe Johnny gives Poe a ride from Jakku! Maybe Poe helps Johnny get it together after Killjoy's S2 finale! Awesome.

As for Edmund and Psmith, this is so brilliant, because I can just imagine Comrade Psmith's talents applied to Narnia - be it the Golden Age Narnia or England!Narnia of Edmund's post-adventure life, or anything in-between. They both share this specific kind of wry practicality, and they can tell amazing stories, and who but Psmith would take in everything Edmund has to tell or show without as much as a raised eyebrow? Now that would be amazing.

And here we go! Whatever you choose to write or draw, you've already made my month just by matching me on these fandoms; best of luck and I hope you have a wonderful time.