Chocolate Box exchange: dear Chocolatier
Jan. 5th, 2019 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorindaDear Chocolatier,
Thank you so much for writing or making art for me! \o/
Some of my general preferences:
* Happy or at least hopeful endings. That doesn't rule out bittersweet or melancholy or dark tones, and needn't be fluffy...in fact, I don't really find fluff comforting in general, for some reason. But I'm just not in a headspace for hopeless/tragic stuff. As I wrote to a friend recently, I thrive on a universe where hurts are comforted and tenderness prevails and the characters end up having each other's back, no matter how hard the circumstances.
* You can have sex in your story or art if you like, or not, any level of explicit or not--whatever suits the work best. I do prefer sex to have underpinnings to it, emotions, needs, etc.--something deeper than just sex for its own sake.
Some of the tropes and approaches I enjoy (alphabetically):
bathing/washing
communicating between the lines
dressing and/or undressing the other
extreme competence (with honest weakness)
first time (as opposed to an established relationship)
huddling for warmth
hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional)
me-and-you-against-the-world
nurturing via food/drink/warmth
pretend or mistaken for couple
protectiveness
rescue
sharing a bed or other cozy space--sleeping bag, boxcar, who knows
stranded somewhere (idyllic or non-)
suffering/sacrificing for the other
tending wounds
trust--especially trust being discovered, and/or trust being tested
uncovering a secret
undercover as or mistaken for rentboy
words that camouflage deeper/unspoken meanings
worry
Thoughts on my specific fandom requests--alphabetical, except ignoring the 'The', because that's how alphabetization should work! :D :
THE EXORCIST (TV):
Marcus/Tomas, Marcus/Peter
The Exorcist universe is a much darker place than Tomas realized, with a strange battleground underlying all of daily life, and he's really risen to the challenge, demonstrating his vocation with his compassion, his self-sacrifice, his adaptability. But he was a man of friendship and community and family, with a social role, a sister, a nephew...and now he's torn away from the beloved ordinariness of all that, and all he has on his side is Marcus, who never had any of those ordinary things.
Marcus is both hard and soft, so angry but so loving, powerful but vulnerable, and so very wounded. I love how up in Tomas' space he is, both his living space and his own personal space, with his intense, reaching gaze and also with his body and hands. It seems like he doesn't know how to turn it off, no matter what "it" is--he's a warrior for the light, burning himself out.
I also love Peter, with his own wounds but also a gentle, nurturing stability and a place in the ordinary world that Marcus doesn't (and feels he cannot) have. I love how they connect so quickly and end up opening up to each other, in this private darkness with just the two of them, somehow feeling safe together. I love how at first Peter reaches out to kiss Marcus, but then later Marcus reaches out unhesitatingly to him--it feels freighted with meaning. And I love how hungry Marcus is, though that of course is also a sad and painful thing.
PERSON OF INTEREST:
Harold/John, Harold/Nathan, Harold/John & Bear
I love seasons 1 & 2 the most. You can see some of my reactions as it aired in my person of interest tag, as well as links to some fantastic PoI vids.
Harold and John are so different on the surface, but time and circumstance have done so many of the same things to them--they're left wounded, damaged, on the fringes of society, with personal shells of titanium and yet a complete disregard for other people's boundaries. But they end up building such incredible loyalty and trust, such communication, such a bond, and such care.
They become so protective--as when each has a chance to rescue the other, and the rescued one at first tries to keep the rescuer from coming to save him, to keep the rescuer out of danger. The smallest thing can say volumes between them: a meal, a name, a key, a walk outside. John brings in Bear as sort of an Offshift John, who bonds with Harold and will eat anyone who threatens to harm him...but who also ends up being a warm and nurtured part of the family, with baths and playdates. ♥
I like past Harold/Nathan--it does give Harold additional angst, of course, but now John's there to help him handle it. The moment in the series when drugged-Harold smiled to John, "Good night, Nathan," made me explode. :D
(Feel free not to have to grapple with the series ending or similar plotty events. Unless you have a fix-it idea, which would of course be welcome!)
THE STING (1973):
Henry/Johnny
Henry and Johnny are the battle-worn veteran and the promoted minor-leaguer intensely eager to get in the game, whose competence and skill and risk-taking brings a little sweet justice into a hard world. They’re mentor and mentored, but also well on the way to equal partners by the end of the movie--I enjoy Henry teaching and Johnny learning, but also Johnny opening Henry's eyes or otherwise keeping him on his toes.
Henry’s more of a realist, what with everything he’s seen and lost, and he’s a worrier--up all night before the sting, giving Johnny a secret bodyguard, taking on so much responsibility and feeling it heavy on his shoulders. Johnny’s more of a risk junkie, and until the end of the movie feels he has to keep aloof and look after himself (guilt over Luther?), but oh, the look on his face when he first sees Henry (and Henry's worried faaaace) after the bodyguard reveal. Now he knows he has someone who feels so deeply about him, and he certainly seems to have deep feelings of his own in return.
I love the whole con-artist milieu, and feel free to include other characters if you want—I especially love Kid Twist, but they're all great, as is that feeling of the far-flung network of skilled grifters who network like one big shady extended family.
Have fun with it, and thanks again!
Thank you so much for writing or making art for me! \o/
Some of my general preferences:
* Happy or at least hopeful endings. That doesn't rule out bittersweet or melancholy or dark tones, and needn't be fluffy...in fact, I don't really find fluff comforting in general, for some reason. But I'm just not in a headspace for hopeless/tragic stuff. As I wrote to a friend recently, I thrive on a universe where hurts are comforted and tenderness prevails and the characters end up having each other's back, no matter how hard the circumstances.
* You can have sex in your story or art if you like, or not, any level of explicit or not--whatever suits the work best. I do prefer sex to have underpinnings to it, emotions, needs, etc.--something deeper than just sex for its own sake.
Some of the tropes and approaches I enjoy (alphabetically):
bathing/washing
communicating between the lines
dressing and/or undressing the other
extreme competence (with honest weakness)
first time (as opposed to an established relationship)
huddling for warmth
hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional)
me-and-you-against-the-world
nurturing via food/drink/warmth
pretend or mistaken for couple
protectiveness
rescue
sharing a bed or other cozy space--sleeping bag, boxcar, who knows
stranded somewhere (idyllic or non-)
suffering/sacrificing for the other
tending wounds
trust--especially trust being discovered, and/or trust being tested
uncovering a secret
undercover as or mistaken for rentboy
words that camouflage deeper/unspoken meanings
worry
Thoughts on my specific fandom requests--alphabetical, except ignoring the 'The', because that's how alphabetization should work! :D :
THE EXORCIST (TV):
Marcus/Tomas, Marcus/Peter
The Exorcist universe is a much darker place than Tomas realized, with a strange battleground underlying all of daily life, and he's really risen to the challenge, demonstrating his vocation with his compassion, his self-sacrifice, his adaptability. But he was a man of friendship and community and family, with a social role, a sister, a nephew...and now he's torn away from the beloved ordinariness of all that, and all he has on his side is Marcus, who never had any of those ordinary things.
Marcus is both hard and soft, so angry but so loving, powerful but vulnerable, and so very wounded. I love how up in Tomas' space he is, both his living space and his own personal space, with his intense, reaching gaze and also with his body and hands. It seems like he doesn't know how to turn it off, no matter what "it" is--he's a warrior for the light, burning himself out.
I also love Peter, with his own wounds but also a gentle, nurturing stability and a place in the ordinary world that Marcus doesn't (and feels he cannot) have. I love how they connect so quickly and end up opening up to each other, in this private darkness with just the two of them, somehow feeling safe together. I love how at first Peter reaches out to kiss Marcus, but then later Marcus reaches out unhesitatingly to him--it feels freighted with meaning. And I love how hungry Marcus is, though that of course is also a sad and painful thing.
PERSON OF INTEREST:
Harold/John, Harold/Nathan, Harold/John & Bear
I love seasons 1 & 2 the most. You can see some of my reactions as it aired in my person of interest tag, as well as links to some fantastic PoI vids.
Harold and John are so different on the surface, but time and circumstance have done so many of the same things to them--they're left wounded, damaged, on the fringes of society, with personal shells of titanium and yet a complete disregard for other people's boundaries. But they end up building such incredible loyalty and trust, such communication, such a bond, and such care.
They become so protective--as when each has a chance to rescue the other, and the rescued one at first tries to keep the rescuer from coming to save him, to keep the rescuer out of danger. The smallest thing can say volumes between them: a meal, a name, a key, a walk outside. John brings in Bear as sort of an Offshift John, who bonds with Harold and will eat anyone who threatens to harm him...but who also ends up being a warm and nurtured part of the family, with baths and playdates. ♥
I like past Harold/Nathan--it does give Harold additional angst, of course, but now John's there to help him handle it. The moment in the series when drugged-Harold smiled to John, "Good night, Nathan," made me explode. :D
(Feel free not to have to grapple with the series ending or similar plotty events. Unless you have a fix-it idea, which would of course be welcome!)
THE STING (1973):
Henry/Johnny
Henry and Johnny are the battle-worn veteran and the promoted minor-leaguer intensely eager to get in the game, whose competence and skill and risk-taking brings a little sweet justice into a hard world. They’re mentor and mentored, but also well on the way to equal partners by the end of the movie--I enjoy Henry teaching and Johnny learning, but also Johnny opening Henry's eyes or otherwise keeping him on his toes.
Henry’s more of a realist, what with everything he’s seen and lost, and he’s a worrier--up all night before the sting, giving Johnny a secret bodyguard, taking on so much responsibility and feeling it heavy on his shoulders. Johnny’s more of a risk junkie, and until the end of the movie feels he has to keep aloof and look after himself (guilt over Luther?), but oh, the look on his face when he first sees Henry (and Henry's worried faaaace) after the bodyguard reveal. Now he knows he has someone who feels so deeply about him, and he certainly seems to have deep feelings of his own in return.
I love the whole con-artist milieu, and feel free to include other characters if you want—I especially love Kid Twist, but they're all great, as is that feeling of the far-flung network of skilled grifters who network like one big shady extended family.
Have fun with it, and thanks again!
no subject
Date: 2019-01-07 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-07 01:33 pm (UTC)