Candy Hearts letter

[randomling]

Dear Candy Hearts Creator,

Thank you for writing or drawing a thing for me!

First up, my major DNWs, just to cover all my bases: please stay away from incest, major character death, noncon or dubcon, pregnancy (including mpreg) or breeding kink, scat or watersports, bigotry (especially homophobia, transphobia or ableism), toxic masculinity, and compulsory heterosexuality.

Second, the things I like!

*Queer love, especially m/m - I'm queer myself, and I love seeing queer love of all kinds depicted. (This does include m/f pairings where one or both of the partners is bi, pan, trans, ace, aro, etc.)

*Hurt/comfort - preferably heavier on the comfort than the hurt! You can probably get away with a fair amount of hurt as long as there's lots of comfort to make up for it and it's all better in the end.

*Lots of sensory detail, especially on how things feel/tactile sensations.

*Opposites attract/chalk and cheese pairings - I love when people who shouldn't get on, or haven't got on in the past, find unexpected common ground, whether the ultimate ending is sexual/romantic or not.

*Involuntary state changes - for example a character turning into a vampire or werewolf against their will, especially if it feels great and they hate it. (Though as above, please do stay away from all forms of pregnancy.)

*Fun AUs - I love a good Star Trek, SF or fantasy AU, or a modern-day/mundane AU for those canons that aren't.

INDIVIDUAL REQUESTS

England Series - KJ Charles

This is one of my favourite books of all time and Daniel da Silva is probably my favourite book character ever. I adore Archie, Fen and Pat too. I would be happy with nearly anything that involved Archie and Daniel hanging out, whether it's just the two of them, the two of them with Pat and Fen, or just one of them with either Pat or Fen.

As for specific ideas: Canon-compliant fic fillilng in some of the years we don't get to see them would be fantastic. Casefic where the four of them work together would also be wonderful. A small relationship study ficlet would be delightful. Or if you're feeling wilder, some kind of AU would also be delightful - modern day? Put them on a Star Trek science vessel? In a fantasy world? Some kind of wacky time or interdimensional travel that has them cross over with one of my other requests?

Or, of course, something entirely of your own design!

In terms of request-specific DNWs, I should point out that I don't particularly care for the Will Darling adventures and would prefer not to see Will or Kim included in my gift.

The Sandman

I love Dream. I love Hob. I love Death. I'd be delighted with any combination of these three characters! I'd love to see your take on where Dream and Hob take their relationship after the meetings in the show, or whether there were other encounters over the centuries that we didn't see - did Morpheus ever pay a visit to Hob where he didn't introduce himself? Did they meet in Hob's dreams? Did Death ever watch him? Meet with him? What conversations about Hob did she and Dream have? I'd love some exploration of their future or their past.

I'd rather you not AU Dream or Death into ordinary people, as opposed to the anthropomorphic representations they are in canon, but I'd love to see what role they play in an AU where Hob's life is different - maybe he has the same medieval origins, but there's more obvious magic in this world? Maybe he's lived another 500 years, and now he's continuing his relationship with Morpheus as he travels to other solar systems?

Or see where Calliope takes you! (After making appropriate prayers and offerings, of course.)

Final Fantasy XIV

Ahhhhh. The game of my heart. I love this game with all my being. For most pairings, I'd probably favour canon-compliant or canon-divergent over wild AUs with this particular fandom, just because Eorzea is my happy place.

G'raha Tia/Warrior of Light

So. I ship G'raha Tia like burning with Karri Lauram, my Warrior of Light. I do not expect this from someone who doesn't know me! But if you'd like to get to know Karri a bit, my dear friend coinmanatee wrote the fic below for me. It is beautiful and I adore it.

The Poems in Limsa Rhyme (2395 words) by DragonBandit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Characters: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch, Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Additional Tags: Crystal Tower Questline (Final Fantasy XIV), Pining, Tent makeouts, G'raha Tia is a nerd, Specific Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Male miqo'te warrior of light - Freeform
Summary:

The Warrior of Light wears revealing clothing. Raha pines. Conversations are had about the nature of Allag and the perils of adventuring. Raha continues to pine.

Emet-Selch/Hythlodaeus

This is one where you could actually feel free to go wild with an AU. Show me some of their pre-Final Days relationship, the desperate angst of the Final Days, or their reincarnations in modern Eorzea; all of these could be great. But you could also go Extremely Random AU. Anything you like, really!

Urianger/Thancred

I'm especially interested in the way their relationship has developed in the last two expansions - so in and since the First. Since Ryne, they seem more or less inseparable, and I love it because they're such different characters. One of the best chalk and cheese pairings! I'd love any kind of missing or future story, whether it's them getting across each other at the Waking Sands, coming to an understanding on the First, or travelling together post-Endwalker.

Alphinaud/Estinien

Even more chalk and cheese! I love Alphinaud's absolutely unshakeable crush, and Estinien's wry flirtatiousness. (I love the scene where he mistakes Alisaie for Alphinaud so much.) I love all the moments where they don't quite see eye-to-eye, and I'd love to see the points where that friction explodes into an argument, or, y'know, wild making out. (Or sex. As your comfort levels dictate, dear creator!) I'd love to see the points of common ground and how they negotiate some of the sticky bits.

Russian Doll

I have watched this show about five times in the last two months and I love it. I especially love Nadia, and I especially love her relationships with Ruth and Alan. I actually don't mind at all if her friendship with Alan has some kind of sexual element, but I feel fairly strongly that it's not a traditional romantic relationship. I'd love to see any exploration of either (or both!) of these relationships, before, during or after canon. I'd also be happy with more or less any kind of AU, as long as Nadia especially remains herself - independent, iconoclastic and tough. (I'd especially love to see her tearing up the sexism of a historical AU. That would be a sight to see.)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Bashir and Garak has been the ship of my heart for about 25 years. I love these two, and I think I'd love almost anything with them - wild AU? Missing scenes? Canon divergence? Their post-canon relationship? Really. Go wild. True to form, I love the chalk and cheese of this pairing - Julian's tendency to be good-hearted to the point of naivety, Garak's to be watchful to the point of paranoia. How this messes them up, both individually and as a couple, and how they keep finding the middle ground. (Yes, I do love Cardassians. I also love The Wire, because hurt/comfort forever, and Our Man Bashir because it's the most delightful lampoon of Bond and it's trying so hard to be straight that it turns out really gay.)

The Owl House

You may notice from my pairing choices that I kind of like Hunter. Actually I adore Hunter. I'd love to see some more exploration of who he is, especially in relation to the new friendships he's developing, either just with Luz, or with the whole gang of kids. A wild AU could also be fun here! Please note that I've only seen up to the end of Season 2 as of this writing, and I'm not sure if I'll have managed to see the new one by Valentine's Day!

Good Omens

This is another weird one where I don't think I would enjoy an AU all that much. There is so much scope to explore this relationship, which once again matches my "chalk and cheese" thing very nicely. (I'm very predictable.) They're so different and yet so much the same, because they come from opposite sides to approach the same middle ground, and yet that middle ground is wide and complicated and nuanced and they don't agree on all the details. I'd love to see some exploration on how their differing origins and philosophies affect their relationship, or on what kind of relationship it's possible to build, either before or after Armageddon. I just love these two so extremely much.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

I love the team and the relationships between all three of them. I also love the idea of Dirk and Todd building something between the two of them, whether that's traditionally-romantic or not. I feel like Dirk's function in the universe is so vital to his character that I'd rather you didn't change that specific aspect, but the rest I'd be fine with AUing - what does it look like to be "the debug function of the universe" in the Star Trek universe, or a fantasy world where magic users and weird monsters aren't shocking and unexpected, or two hundred years ago? Who are Todd and Farah then? Who is Dirk, and what does his life look like? What changes?

Or something that hints at the future of the Detective Agency we never got to see would also be a delight.

The Umbrella Academy

Well. I love Viktor, Klaus and Five. There's no particularly compelling romantic relationships in this show for me, but I love the complexities of all the family relationships in this show. I'd love to see some explorations of that, especially exploring the relationship between Viktor and Klaus as the queer brothers, between Viktor and Allison during or post-Season 3, or Five and Viktor more or less anytime. I'd also love more or less any kind of AU here, it'd be fun to see some light shed on how these relationships work by moving them somewhere else entirely!

Doctor Who

New Who brought back Ace, and I will be forever grateful, because now I get to request modern-day Ace fic forever. I think it's hard to AU Doctor Who, it's so expansive and all-encompassing, but I'd love to see what Ace has been up to in the intervening time, or what her relationships with Tegan and Yasmin are like after everything. Similarly, her encountering a previous Doctor could be very fun! Just give me some Ace, please!