embraidery

Posting this after chocobox is over so I can link it to someone!

ao3 handle: embraidery

Dear Chocolatier,

I am so excited! I think this exchange is such a cool concept. I haven’t written many of these letters before and I’m not entirely sure how it goes, but I’ll give it a shot!

General Likes

playing with/cutting hair, platonic intimacy, windswept beaches, isolated settings like caves/underground/on a ship (dunno why), there was only one bed, friends to lovers, mutual pining, banter, new crush/relationship energy, fantasy/urban fantasy AUs, mixing spaceships and magic, f/f relationships, writing characters as a different gender, characters playing with gender, mythology and folk tales, embracing the beauty in everyday things, golden light falling over a room, fluff, gift-giving, cuddling, doing ordinary things together (studying, grocery shopping), trans characters, canon-divergent AUs, missing scenes, sensory details that bring the scene to life, winter and autumn, distinct sense of place, chosen/found family, hand kisses, setting change AUs (including space, profession AUs like theatre or baking...whatever inspires you!), unique forms of story including epistolary, nonlinear storytelling, and 2nd person POV

General DNWs (exceptions by fandom)

Sexual content that would be rated above T or a very light M (making out & implication of more is fine if all involved characters are above 18), necrophilia (human/ghost is encouraged, though!), incest, non- and dub-con, age gaps of more than about 10 years if one character is under 25, adults dating teenagers (under 18), relationships between teachers/mentors and students, A/B/O
Someone (women and children especially) not being believed about something because “it isn’t real” when it is. This one is a bit flexible; I’m mostly worried about scenarios where someone discovers that magic is real but no one believes them/tells them that they’re delusional for a huge portion of the story
Also, gaslighting in general
Death of requested characters, major focus on death of any character (using a funeral as a backdrop to bringing everyone together is fine, but grief shouldn’t be the focus), terminal illness
Fatphobia, discussion of weight/loss or dieting, food-related shame
Explicit descriptions of violence/gore/injury; cannibalism
Current events/covid beyond someone needing to have meetings over video call
Heavily religious themes
xReaderfic, kidfic (except for canon kids), pregnancy (except canon, but I don’t think that applies to any of my fandoms)
Themes of any character saying they knew all along that they were perfect for another character/other character would eventually come around to falling in love with them
Illegal drug use other than weed

Tl;dr I’m hoping for any of my gifts to be rated no more than a PG-13 or so, and while they don’t have to be happy, I’m hoping for them to be at least bittersweet!

Now, on to fandoms!

Ancient Greek Religion & Lore

Asterion the Minotaur/Icarus

Character death is fine for this one. Heavily religious themes are also fine (considering the canon!)

I was intrigued to see this nominated! I’m working on a project about a non-cannibalistic Asterion, so it’s very relevant to my interests. I think I’m pretty flexible on this one in terms of tone etc; it’s one of the fandoms I’d be happier with dark!fic for. Asterion can still eat people, though not on screen, please, and if he eats them I’d prefer it to be out of necessity rather than bloodthirstiness. I think this one is rich enough with possibility that I’ll leave it very open. How monster-like is Asterion? In my story, Daedalus was thrown into the labyrinth as punishment for his involvement, so Icarus and Asterion grew up together; what sort of relationship do you imagine them to have, as some of the only creatures in the labyrinth? If Icarus wasn’t thrown into the labyrinth, how would they have met? How much sapience does the labyrinth have? Does it have a hand in their lives?

Anne of Green Gables

Anne Shirley & Philippa Gordon

Paul Irving & Philippa Gordon

Anne Shirley & Paul Irving

AoGG is a perennial favourite! Paul and Phil may seem like an odd combo; I just wrote a modern AU where Paul sometimes visited Anne at Queens and got to hang out with her friends. Phil sort of became his fairy godmother. Any of the two on their own or the three of them together is very welcome! I personally hc them all as various flavours of lgb+. You’re welcome to have cameos from Marilla, Matthew, Diana, Rachel Lynde, Priscilla, Priscilla’s famous aunt, Paul’s grandmother, etc, as relevant.

Fandom-relevant Likes: getting lost in daydreams and imaginings, kindred spirits, lush descriptions of landscapes, Anne getting into scrapes (with happy endings), writing Phil’s Jonas as Joan, mild hurt/comfort, stargazing, spirituality stemming from the wonder of nature

Fandom-specific DNWs: Anne/Gilbert

Bean Trees

Estevan & Mattie & Taylor Greer

Estevan & Taylor Greer

Estevan/Taylor Greer

Bean Trees was one of my favourite books in high school. I loved its found-family theme! I’m happy for more solemn fic for this one because of the book, with a few exceptions explained below.

I think I would like Taylor, Mattie, Estevan, Esperanza, Edna Poppy, Turtle, Lou Ann, and Dwayne Ray in whatever combination makes sense to you, though I’d at least like one of Estevan, Mattie, or Taylor to be in it. I loved them driving out to the desert together and Estevan singing to Esperanza and yodeling as he swam; Estevan and Taylor falling asleep together on the couch; Taylor and Lou Ann hashing out their feelings and eating everything that isn’t nailed down--basically, sweet/silly/serious family and friend adventures! I also think Esperanza’s relationship with Turtle is really interesting, and I’d like to see something about the bond that creates between Esperanza and Taylor.

If you want to write Estevan/Taylor: this is a tricky one for me. I DNW Esperanza treated like an obstacle to the ship, with her just being written out/dying/getting separated from Estevan without any thought given to her as a person and someone Estevan loves. If that means you write a kind of one-sided situation like in the book, where whatever Estevan feels, he restrains himself more than Taylor does, I’m happy with that. Give me all those forbidden love feels! Give me Estevan’s side of the story! He canonically kisses her at the end of the book, though it’s not mentioned where. Forehead? Cheek? Mouth? Give me more detail on that scene, or the one in the boat when Taylor slips and says she’ll miss “you--i mean, both of you”. Maybe write a couple vignettes of times he calls Taylor mi’hija. One idea I had for them was Taylor somehow getting a scholarship to study in Guatemala (or however you get her down there) and meeting young Estevan, studying to become an English teacher...

Chronicles of Narnia

Caspian & Lucy

Caspian/Edmund

Edmund & Lucy

These three are my favourite! Happy for all three to appear together (Caspian/Edmund & Lucy) or separately, and you’re welcome to add other Pevensies and/or Talking Animals to the mix. My favourite book is the Dawn Treader -- I love all the different settings (Goldwater, Coriakin’s island, sea of flowers) and the setting on a boat. Also happy for an AU where the Pevensies and Caspian lived together in Narnia for the longer term, whether that’s because the Pevensies grew up there or because they stayed after Prince Caspian.

Bandits

Joe & Terry

Joe/Terry/Kate

Joe/Kate & Kate/Terry

Joe and Terry are such funny, mismatched friends, and I’m sure I’ll love whatever you write about the way they make it work! Burglaring adventures? Prison escapades? Beach bonfire, either in Oregon or in Mexico?

And I love Kate and their arrangement! I usually prefer Joe/Kate & Kate/Terry, but I’ve also read and enjoyed them all as a triad -- follow your heart. I adore Kate and Terry doing face masks together, and Joe and Kate quoting the same song lyrics, and them dancing in the empty bar with the lights low, and them on the beach…

Harry Potter

Hermione/Viktor

At the moment I’m just into these two! My personal interpretation of Viktor is as a sweet, shy type who gives Hermione the chance to explore her softer side -- sometimes it seems like she has to masc up a bit to keep up with Harry and Ron. Could be interesting to explore their dynamic with Viktor as a woman, and/or through letters -- I thought it was really nice that they kept writing letters after the Goblet of Fire, and I’d love to see how what Viktor means to Hermione changes over the years. Does she ever get much closure? Hermione was never that interested in playing quidditch/flying brooms herself, but maybe Viktor gets her into it with a sweet tandem ride? Or she shows him how to knit a lumpy hat, or he helps her with S.P.E.W...though honestly, a sweaty post-Quidditch makeout in the locker rooms or whatever wouldn’t go astray ;)

I’d also be happy for Harry to make some sort of appearance, probably being kind of confused about it all, but supportive? Probably? I don’t want Ron being all grumpy about it.

New Girl

Jessica Day & Winston Bishop

Jessica Day/Nick Miller

Joan Day/Nick Miller

I’ve just got back into this show (properly, vs seeing snippets of it when my sisters watched it) and oooof, do I have feelings about Jess/Nick. That early season when he hasn’t realised his feelings yet but he literally faces his fears (a haunted house) to save her from pain? Save me!!! Okay, the point is, I love them. Feel free to put any of the housemates/Cece in as appropriate. I love the times when you get to see that ALL of them are really quirky. Like when Jess & Winston stage a robbery together? I would love to see more of their ill-advised shenanigans.

Remember when Jess asked Nick to flirt with her mom and he was like “I think I’m kind of into your mom?” I’d love to see more of Joan showing Nick how to cook, them laughing in the kitchen, or any other light-hearted, flirty scenario! Maybe Joan comes to get Jess for some sort of outing but has to wait on the couch with Nick while Jess figures out her outfit or something.

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Thank you, and I’m excited to read whatever you write!