Chocolate Box 2020 Letter

[rudigersmooch]

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Dear Chocolatier,

Thank you so much for offering one of my requested fandoms/ships! I wasn't sure if I'd have time to participate this year but it thankfully looks like I'll be able to, and now I'm just sitting here being excited. :) This letter has a LOT of overlap with other letters I've written for other exchanges (what can I say: I'm consistent) and hopefully you'll find it helpful! I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you come up with for my gift fic; I tried my best to give you an idea of what I like and offer some prompts I'm particularly interested in, but if you need clarification, don't hesitate to ask!

Now, onto the letter! (Note: I'll probably tweak this letter throughout sign-ups, although the fandoms and ships will remain the same.)

AO3 Account: rudigersmooch

General Preferences
       Do Not Wants
       General Things I Enjoy
       Smut Things I Enjoy
Crossover Fandoms
The Meg (2018)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Stargate Atlantis

General Preferences
I'm not going to lie, my DNW list is pretty extensive, but hopefully you find it manageable enough. Some of these are things that seem opt-in to me anyway and I've listed them just in case; if you don't see something on the DNW list, you can safely assume that I don't mind seeing it in fic.

DO NOT WANTS

• unrequested crossovers/fusions/AUs


• non-canonical character death


• non-canonical disease or serious illness fic (cancer, HIV/AIDs, etc.)


• relationships other than the ones requested for this exchange (canon pairings addressed on a per-fandom basis)


• unrequested poly ships or open relationships


• hurt without comfort


• dark!characters


• shovel talks


• character or ship bashing


• Dom/sub


• BDSM


• soulbonds (soulmates are fine, just no telepathic/empathic bonds of any kind)


• daddykink/mommykink/ageplay in general


• trans* or genderswapped characters


• sexualities other than heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or bisexual


• identity headcanons


• a social justice/current event focus of any kind (for example, no long discussions about the importance of consent/age of consent, no discussion of politics and the awfulness therein, etc.)


• rape/non-con


• loss of limbs or eyes/other permanent injuries


• scat


• infidelity


• breakup fic (mentioning breakups for canon pairings is fine)


• non-canonical nicknames or endearments OR non-canonical use of first names

GENERAL THINGS I ENJOY

• pining. There are very few situations where I don't want or like pining.


• everybody lives, or at least the people in the ship do. Don't feel obligated to go this route, though, for pairings where one half of the ship died in canon; I also like a good angsty ending, and I will happily cry my eyes out when the occasion calls for it.


• a whole host of ridiculous romance tropes, including but not limited to: fake dating, arranged marriage, mistaken identity, blind dates gone wrong, jealousy/insecurity due to misunderstandings, temporary telepathy, convenient amnesia, bed sharing, sex pollen, A/B/O, identity kink, secretly pining friends-with-benefits, huddling for warmth, misheard confessions, etc. Whether I like setting change/time period change AUs depends on the fandom, but I'll note that in the fandom-specific sections.


• a ship focus. The romantic ships for these fandoms don't need to be the central focus the entire time (I also like mission fic/case fic that has more of a pre-relationship feel) but I don't really like established relationships where ships get a one-line mention at the end. My favorite type of shipfic in general is first time/get together fic, but really, as long as the ship is noticeably there throughout the story, I'm fine.


• characters who are competent in their respective roles, whether that's a sniper, farmer, werewolf, hunter, ice skater, vampire, whatever.


• characters experiencing same-sex attraction for the first time, especially if the character is over-40 and/or from a time period or setting where this is more plausible. I'm not much a fan of Only Gay For You, but I do like Didn't Realize I Was Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Until I Realized I Had Feelings For You.


• while we're on the subject of first time attraction: also something I love for my alien/human ships. First time that alien found a human attractive, or vice versa? I'm into it.


• age differences leading to guilty "I shouldn't be attracted to this person" feelings from one or both parties, where applicable. I still don't care for power dynamics, but I am all about using an age gap as an excuse for pining/repression.


• mysteries and case fic. I know some people worry about writing mysteries because they think the villain is too obvious/not subtle enough, and I'm here to say that I don't care. I love mysteries whether I guess the ending along the way or not, and I adore case-of-the-week type canons to begin with.


• characters working hard to build trust/earn forgiveness/eventually settling their differences. It's like fictional catnip for me.


• xeno! This is pretty far down the list, considering how much I actually love it, but I really enjoy when creators take aliens and emphasize the less-human elements (in a porn way or not.) I love my lizard/buggy humanoid faves and like the ways they're not human, so by all means, go into detail.


• lots of kissing, especially when there's some contrast with the situation (didn't expect kissing at all during a sex pollening or FWB or fake marriage situation, gentle kissing between enemies, rough kissing during slow sex, etc.) I'm a sap, and I just really like kissing.

SMUT THINGS I ENJOY

• "Cock" for penis, "cunt" for vagina, and "slit" for cloacas, but feel free to use whatever you think is best for the time period/narrating character/your own preference.


• xeno! (cloacas, tentacles, knots, Todd's feeding hand, etc.)


• biting/nibbling/nuzzling. I love nuzzling into throats, it's my favorite.


• hair pulling or petting


• nice wet oral sex (and also rimming)


• partially-clothed sex, either of the "clothes pushed aside in desperation" flavor or the "one character clothed, one not" variety


• first time sex


• rough/desperate sex


• gentle sex


• handjobs/frottage


• tribadism


• nipple play (for female characters)


• anal sex (men or women receiving)


• aliens bottoming


• taller person kneeling at the feet of the standing shorter person, in a sexy using-their-mouth kind of way (oral sex, foot fetish, boot kissing, licking their stomach, whatever and etc.)

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Now: onto specific fandoms!

Crossover Fandoms

General things that should be mentioned: I am ridiculously excited about the potential in all of these ships, and I ridiculously love crossovers! I tried to pare them down compared to my sign-up from 2017 (and I...mostly failed) but the ones I ended up with nonetheless are those that felt semi-plausible to me. All this means is that I think they could easily end up in the same universe somehow (through either sci-fi or magic shenanigans) or they're possibly already in the same universe. I'm fine with you messing with timelines/the space-time continuum as necessary to make them work, and am (mostly) not concerned with which characters end up in which universe. Also: I would prefer no AUs in these crossovers, because half the appeal for me is mushing up canon universes here.

On the subject of Person of Interest crossovers (six possible tags): Person of Interest one of my favorite fandoms, so I have a preference for POVs from their perspective (Harold's, John's, Shaw's, whoever's) and more emphasis given to their show's universe. Time-sharing/multiple POVs is also fine with me, of course; this is more of a "if you're choosing one" sort of deal.

On the subject of White Collar crossovers (two possible tags): I just really like the idea of throwing Neal at other canons. If he's not frustrating someone, he's not being Neal, and these nominated tags are goldmines for that, imo. Besides that, Peter and Neal have a fun dynamic that looks weird as hell to outsiders, and I'm curious to see how other characters handle it.

For ship-specifics:

Harold Finch (Person of Interest) & Alec Hardison (Leverage): Aw yes, it's time for a tech geek off! Hardison the gifted hacker vs Finch the original hacker: who's trying to hack who, and why? The Machine is probably off limits because she would gladly spank that hacking attempt, but maybe Finch is a little too loose about his wi-fi password one day, causing Hardison to pirate it as Team Leverage cruises by. This does not end well, and also Finch will never live it down (Reese, Shaw, Fusco, and Carter must never find out, except they probably do.) Alternately: Hardison somehow finds out the partial-identity of Finch, who was pretty much his hacker hero. It's awkward for everybody.

Harold Finch (Person of Interest) & Nathan Ford (Leverage): NGL, I am terribly amused by the idea of Team Leverage targeting one of Harold's richer cover identities for whatever reason, only for things to go belly up in a funny way when, dammit, there are TWO chessmasters on the scene! I'd prefer for this sort of prompt to have Harold Swan (or whoever) not be an actual badguy (maybe the people recruiting Team Leverage are the bad guys this time, possibly even agents of Control?) and for Harold's secret identity to remain intact. I will also lol forever if it ends with Team Leverage wondering wtf just happened while Finch & crew disappear into the night.

Neal Caffrey (White Collar) & Ben Gates (National Treasure): NGL, I about laughed myself silly when I saw this nominated, because it's a recipe for hilarity. Ben Gates (like all Nic Cage characters) is kind of a drama llama, and having Neal just stroll in somewhere and make off with some treasure of HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE? It would be amazing. And making them work together for some reason would be equally amazing, especially if Peter Burke was there in the background thinking Ben was a crackpot.

Team Machine (Person of Interest) & Temperance Brennan (Bones): Bones is always getting into trouble, that's just life, and I personally believe that her number would've come up dozens of times in the show. Some of them Booth takes care of, obviously, but that doesn't mean Team Machine isn't always on the fringes, aware of the trouble and just out of sight. Maybe one time they show up for the grand rescue and Bones actually meets them, which causes no end of trouble for them when she assumes they're serious criminals, possibly even associates of her father. Shenanigans ensue. (Note: I prefer the early seasons of Bones, or at least the episodes prior to the story doing that B.S. with Zack.)

Team Machine (Person of Interest) & Peter Burke (White Collar): Like the crossover with Bones, I like the idea of Peter Burke being a number that has to be handled delicately because, oh dammit, FBI. I'd especially like this idea, though, if (while doing their usual investigation) they end up poking into some of Neal's secrets and/or initially think that Neal's the threat. How they solve it is up to you.

Team Machine (Person of Interest) & Team Leverage (Leverage): I don't have any specific ideas for this tag, except more of the same mentioned for the other Person of Interest/Leverage tags. I enjoy character interactions in all their forms.

Zack Addy (Bones) & John Reese (Person of Interest): This tag has potential to be really interesting to me, because I was rewatching Bones that other day and realized that Zack would've been in Iraq at the same time Reese was in the CIA doing unfortunate things. There's potential they might've met, or potential that Zack's time as the spoilerspoilerspoiler might've attracted the CIA's attention beyond what we saw in the show. I also just think them interacting could be interesting (and awkward.)


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The Meg (2018)
General things that should be mentioned: I'm scared of both sharks and the ocean, so imagine my surprise when this turned out to be my favorite movie of 2018! I really liked how aware it seemed of the absurdity of the premise while also having actors/characters that gave it their all, and I really enjoyed most of the characters for themselves as well. Jonas being super serious action guy was such a funny contrast to the adorable Meiying, and I love Suyin and Lori and Jaxx. I'm really interested in seeing both some post-movie schenanigans (look, the prehistoric shark explosion needs to be addressed) or something light, and frankly I'd be happy with a lot of different things.

Canon pairings: I really like how ex-Jonas/Lori and Jonas/Suyin were handled in-movie, and if you want to mention Suyin/her ex-husband who sucks, that's fine with me!

For ship-specifics:

Jonas Taylor & Lori: I was so prepared for this movie to have a "divorced exes get back together" subplot or at least a "bitter exes hatesex" subplot, so you have no idea how thrilled I was when they had understandable baggage but also were clearly deciding to move past it (well, once Jonas was revealed to not be crazy about the huge underwater monster.) I'd love to see something more about that potential reconciliation and friendship, especially as they navigate the post-Meg world.

Some ideas:

• A post-canon story navigating relationships with their current love interests (whoever they may be) mixed with some flashbacks of their marriage/divorce. I like the potential contrast and I like flashbacks.


• Post-canon, they actually keep in touch and form a real friendship. Being the mature adults they are, it only weirds them out a little bit.


• Let's address Jonas's poor coping method of drinking and running away to the tropics. Maybe they still have some discussion to be had about that, maybe Lori looked for him or Lori didn't look for him, and maybe their divorce was a lot more/less bitter than it seemed.


• On the angstier front: Lori really didn't want to be crying on her ex's shoulder after all is said and done, but here they are. She lost a lot of friends during that movie and maybe, just maybe, she's ready to hear Jonas talk about what it was like to abandon those men on his movie prologue rescue mission (since no one thought his actual monster concerns were real, after all.)

Jonas Taylor & Meiying Zhang: "Tough action guys interacting with children" might be my favorite movie trope of all time, and this movie delivered so well on both the Tough Guy and Non-Annoying Movie Kid front. I just really liked Meiying, she was adorable and her actress was great, and I appreciate that she and Jonas bonded pretty much immediately. Jonas being good with kids is something I'll hold near and dear to my heart, so I'd love some more interactions between the two.

Some ideas:

• Meiying's favorite game is [X], and she has exhausted everyone in the facility by trying to get them to play it with her pretty much non-stop. Jonas has zero ability to say no, though, and he falls for her "woe is me, the lonely child" face approximately 1000 times.


• Some future fic with Meiying growing to think of Jonas as her friend/father figure would be nice, especially if it follows her into adulthood. You just know that Jonas would be so proud (Suyin too, obviously, but that's not the tag) and I like the idea of her also deciding to do underwater rescues.


• Meiying makes a few friends her own age post-canon, and does exactly zero to discourage their fear of/intimidation by her mother's boyfriend. Jason Statham, everyone.


• On the angstier front: Meiying really doesn't handle her grandfather's death well, and Jonas tries to comfort her, maybe with a story about his own grandparents.

Jonas Taylor/Suyin Zhang OR Jonas Taylor/Suyin Zhang & Meiying Zhang: Jonas/Suyin has got to be the most weirdly cute canon couple I've seen in recent memory, and I love their initial attraction, their "wow you're mostly naked" awkwardness, their battle-forged feelings (or whatever the shark fighting equivalent is), all of it. On top of that, Jonas+Suyin+Meiying just works really well as a unit, and I'd like to see that explored.

Some ideas:

• They get that post-movie vacation, a family vacation, where no giant sharks eat anyone. Nobody wants to go swimming, though.


• The media explodes post-canon, because giant prehistoric shark. Both Jonas and Suyin get thrust into the spotlight, and their dates keep getting crashed by paparazzi. Neither is really sure what to do with this.


• Post-canon, Jonas and Suyin decide to take dating a little slow (maybe they rushed into their previous canon relationships, maybe they just want a breather, whatever) but Meiying is having none of that. Cue all the child get together plots, even while Jonas and Suyin are like "hey, we're already dating, chill."


• If you decide to write smut: Suyin appreciates the hell out of Jonas's muscles, and I appreciate that. How about some slow exploration and a nice relaxing massage, or strength kink that makes them both wild?

Lori/Jaxx Herd: I should probably start by saying that I'm just really thirsty for Jaxx (even though Ruby Rose doesn't really appeal to me outside that role, strangely enough) and one of my favorite things about Jaxx and Lori and the rest of the crew is how much they genuinely seemed to like and care for each other. I'd love some post-canon or pre-canon exploration of their friendship developing into more, or even something set during canon where "giant shark coming to eat us all" prompts a caution-to-the-wind type fling.

Some ideas:

• A rebound and get-back-together story where Lori/Jaxx had a thing immediately post Lori/Jonas's divorce, and neither Lori nor Jaxx really pursues it beyond that. Then it happens AGAIN post-movie in a thank-God-we're-both-alive way, and they start thinking maybe they should actually try this.


• Pining!Jaxx is very convinced Lori and Jonas are going to get back together post-canon, and she's bracing herself for it, unaware that all the time Lori&Jonas are spending together is related to Lori trying to come up with ways to stay together with Jaxx now that their project is over.


• An angstier route: A fundamental flaw of all monster/shark movies is that the deaths happen so quickly that we barely get time to mourn any of the character. Lori and Jaxx both lost a lot of friends during that movie, and I'd like to see them standing together as they deal with that; maybe it brings them closer together or prompts them to reveal feelings they already had, or maybe they're too swamped with survivor guilt to go anything, even though they both want to eventually (hey, I said it was angsty.)


• If you decide to write smut: I really like f/f first time oral in general, but I'm also really into some missionary tribbing for this pairing. The visual is super-hot to me.

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
General things that should be mentioned: I love Star Trek and always will, but until a few years back I thought I was a TOS-er for life. That is apparently NOT THE CASE, and a rewatch of DS9 reminded me how much I loved the show when I was younger (with a new appreciation for shipping, though, I do admit—I was twelve when I watched it the first time.) I like the episode-of-the-week format of the early seasons but I also like the arc format, and I love Cardassians a crazy amount, especially my actual favorites, Damar and Garak. Also, since this is Star Trek, there's so much potential for serious plots or weird-and-wacky tropes, and I'm a big, big fan of tropes also. Go wild, really!

Canon pairings: I'm usually fine with canon pairings being mentioned/breaking up within the fic, and I like Kira/Odo and Kira/Bareil on their own merits, so time spent on those (or ignoring them) is fine with me. For Damar/his first wife, I'd prefer that that relationship be over before Damar/Kira or Damar/Mila needs to happen, but how that is handled is up to you. I generally like stories about people finding love a second time or getting a second chance at it, so it's fine for me if it's included somehow. (As a side note: please don't mention Garak/Ziyal at all.)

For ship-specifics:

Damar/Kira Nerys: I have all the fondness for this pairing because of what it could've been. I have a lot of love for the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers tropes, and it could've been truly excellent between these two, given the animosity and understandable baggage they started out with. (Also, Kira kicked his ass for him, and I like that.) Since the slow build, friendship-developing-during-war-leading-to-more route is a lot to ask of a 300 word minimum, though, I'm mostly interested in snippets of their time together, set either during canon or post-canon (if you write Damar surviving post-canon, that is; you don't have to.)

Some ideas:

• Hatesex. Hey, you don't always need to go the full-feelings route, and they have some issues to work out. Bonus if it's started in part because Kira feels the need to punch Damar in the face again and Damar is trying to see what Dukat even sees in her. "Not you, Damar" is the obvious answer, for the lulz.


• Post-canon, Damar keeps in touch with Kira because they now have a smidge of that battle-forged-friendship-comrades thing going on. It's a very uneasy friendship for everyone involved, and they both refuse to admit that there might be an attraction for literal years, until some sort of political something brings them to the same place again.


• One of them actually saves the other's life during the Dominion War, and it brings conflicted feelings to the front.


• If you decide to write smut: They're both soldiers in pretty peak physical condition, and I rarely have ships like that, so ALL THE ATHLETIC SEX. Holding people down (probably not Kira), lifting people up, much stamina and endurance. "You were supposed to be bad at this" surprise afterglow would also be a win.


• For this pairing in particular: check out my Just Married 2019 letter for more prompts!

Damar/Mila: This is probably my favorite so-rare-it's-nonexistant rarepair, and I couldn't resist nominating/requesting it. I found their little bit of flirtation in season 7 to be super adorable, and I have a tiny, tiny, TINY weakness for older woman/younger man pairings anyway. I think it could've worked.

Some ideas:

• Damar and Mila both survive the canon! AS IT SHOULD'VE BEEN. Damar goes back to thank her for her help and they end up flirting some more (Damar being the most serious flirt) and they decide to start dating, even though Damar half-suspects Garak might kill him for this.


• Awkward flirting becomes more awkward when Damar actually starts doing it on purpose as a way to kill time, and then it becomes genuine attraction and fondness and sex maybe.


• Reuniting in the afterlife. Hey, if the Klingons have an afterlife for people who die in battle, no reason Cardassians can't be invited (and there's a special brand of hilarity with there being a bunch of Cardassians/other species in the Klingon afterlife anyway.)


• If you decide to write smut: My world for whatever sex that happens being essentially Mila eating him alive (in an aggressive older woman way, not a cannibalism way.) Damar can be really obedient when he wants to be, after all. *winkwinknudge*

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Stargate Atlantis
General things that should be mentioned: I'm relatively new to Stargate Atlantis and I didn't actually expect to get into the fandom, so imagine my surprise when I hit season 4 and realized that I love Todd (unnamed for a while) a crazy amount. Alien characters are always my favorites, but I wasn't expecting a fun Wraith (no one ever expects the fun Wraith) and his presence pretty much took the show from entertaining fun to something I love in one fell swoop. I would love anything you could manage for this canon, following my prompts or not, and I'll probably add it to my list of fandoms that I request forever more too.

Canon pairings: I've mentioned elsewhere that I like second chances at love, so if you want to include mentions of or reflections on past John/Nancy, that's fine with me! I don't know if Todd has any past relationships with anyone in the books but I'd rather those not be mentioned if so, just because I'm not familiar with them.

For ship specifics:

John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith: I don't even know where to begin with John/Todd, except that it seems obvious to me that Todd has a thing for him and that John tries really hard not to return said thing, as he is weirded out by said thing. I find their interactions in the canon delightful, and while I haven't read the tie-in novels, I've osmosed that they have more reluctant life-saving and trust in there ((Todd thinking about asking John to kill him, John & Carson putting him in stasis to stop him from starving, John letting Todd go when the opportunity presents itself, etc.) and I like that too.

Special note: While I didn't DNW DADT specifically, I'd prefer stories from this fandom/any in-fic reactions to a John/Todd relationship were a little less "GAYS, in OUR MILITARY???" and a little more "You did what? With Todd?" So, a bit more about the human-Wraith aspects than the two-men ones.

Some ideas:

• I'm a fan of the Gift of Life being just that special when it happens between John/Todd. Todd doesn't seem to take it as casually as other Wraith do, in any case, and maybe a situation comes up where Todd has to use it on Sheppard again, and reveals feelings in the process.


• The Wraith civil war happens, and Todd drops off the grid, maybe even with rumors that his faction is defeated/destroyed. The realization that Todd might actually be dead makes Sheppard realize his feelings.


• The two of them are trapped together, and it's a situation where Todd has a lot of opportunities to feed on Sheppard but doesn't. Instead, he just likes spending time with him.


• If you decide to write smut:I vastly prefer bottom!Todd, but if you don't want to write that, non-penetrative sex is my preference! To that effect, I also really like xeno for this pairing, because I like Todd's alien-ness and could easily see it be expanded out. And on that subject: mutual handjobs! :D


• For this pairing in particular: check out my Unusual Bearings 2019, Just Married 2019, and Pining Exchange 2019 letters for more prompts!

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