07. dear chocolatier 2019
Dec. 29th, 2018 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slowpartsDearest, most treasured Chocolatier,
AAAAAAA, WE MATCHED!
Hello and Happy New Year! It's so nice to meet you, kind of, sort of? I'm Gwen, and I am a sucker for ROMANCE! On AO3 (and most other Internet places), I'm brella! I can't tell you how excited I am that you might be making something for me! For ME! That's so crazy and amazing! Craze-mazing! Are there enough exclamation marks in this paragraph yet I'm not sure!!!!!!
Last year was my first go at Chocolate Box and it was so, so fun. I got to read, write, and receive some wonderful fic, and also to make new friends. What is better than that!!! Most of my experience with request letters still comes from Yuletide, so I'll probably be following the format I usually use for that—and, fair warning, I tend to be thorough to the point of being exhaustive. As in, it is probably going to be... very long, and also probably very emotional. That said, if anything is unclear or you want me to be more specific about something, I'm sure you can go through the mods!chocolateboxmod
Whatever the length and specificity of this letter might lead you to believe, I want to stress that, no matter what you create for me, I guarantee you that I will love it! Not only am I extremely easy to please; I am also known to fill multiple AO3 comment boxes with effusive praise about one miniscule scene where character A lingered in the doorway about to say something to character B but ultimately decided against it. I'm a simple woman. Anyone can tell you that you do not have to work hard to turn me into a blubbering mess.
All that is to say: remember, as always, that the details below, while extensive, are completely optional! I would be thrilled to see you run away with your own idea just as much as I'd love to see you run away with one of mine, so no sweat! I only ask that you avoid my DNWs.
However, if you do want to hear about the things I like... boy howdy do I have good news for you!
REQUESTS
Haikyuu!! | Fire Emblem: Kakusei / Fire Emblem: Awakening | Majo no Takkyuubin / Kiki's Delivery Service | 幽☆遊☆白書 / YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Haikyuu!!
→ Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yachi Hitoka & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi, Tanaka Saeko/Tsukishima Akiteru, Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Majo no Takkyuubin | Kiki's Delivery Service
→ Kiki/Tombo
REQUESTING: Fanfic
I am thoroughly and wholeheartedly fond of Kiki/Tombo—their endearing friendship, their slow and earnest romance, the joy they take in each other's company, that they mutually inspire each other... everything. I would love shipfic, but am also totally fine with platonic gen if you're more comfortable with that.
I would be so interested in reading about Tombo learning about magic from Kiki and Kiki learning about engineering from Tombo. The movie's approach to magic, that it's this versatile and incommunicable feeling that any witch can shape to her liking (like Kiki's mother's specialty in potions, or the "snooty" witch's skill for fortune-telling), is one that's so fascinating to me—how it's tied to the spirit, to creativity, to inner inspiration; how when you lose your faith in yourself, you lose your magic, too, because you are your own magic. By the same token, Kiki is a clever girl and I'm sure she could pick up on Tombo's technical approach to flying well enough, but maybe she gets frustrated with it? Maybe she has trouble seeing the point in going to all this trouble? Maybe she can't understand why ordinary people would put themselves in such danger, as they did with the Spirit of Freedom, just to get into the sky? Or maybe none of this happens—maybe she just has to stifle a laugh at how enthusiastic Tombo is about wrenches.
Hearing the input and advice of some of Kiki's friends—Osono, Ursula, Barsa and Madam, etc.—when she realizes she might, oh dear, like Tombo, is a concept I only just imagined this second and it is... adorable.
What happens when school starts up again? Does Kiki enroll and move her delivery business to part-time, or does she forego it to keep up her business and decide to study independently? If the latter, does she start to feel lonely when all of her new friends are gone for the better part of the day? Does she have trouble with certain subjects and need to ask for Tombo's help? If the former, how does that work out for her; does she miss the delivery service and feel out of place at school, like she did on the beach when Tombo's friends appeared and started chatting with him, reminding her, however unintentionally, that she's still something of an outsider? Does she get embarrassed when it turns out that everyone knows who she is; isn't she that amazing witch who saved Tombo over the summer?
I'm not sure if this is breaking any rules, but Nissin Foods did so much to my heart in 30 seconds that it took me 48 hours to tweet it all out in a fumbling and ecstatic tweet thread that no doubt made nearly all of my mutuals mute me, and I am dying to see more of this tiny universe, since it's probably a one-off set-up designed to sell instant noodles and nothing more. I want to know everything! Kiki and Tombo, friends since childhood—how did that come about? How did she end up being the one to fall for him first in this universe; does he feel the same (OF COURSE HE DOES), and if so, when did he realize it? What is the story behind those brief flashes we saw—her gently fiddling with his hair while he slept in the library, letting him borrow her broom as a prop for his Halloween costume; the two of them eating Cup Noodles on a rooftop as it snows, laughing, warm? Maybe his answer isn't what matters—maybe it's everything that got them there.
In general, anything Kiki/Tombo + my Likes list is guaranteed to fill me with joy. I've wanted good, hearty shipfic of them for so long and request them for exchanges constantly and I'm sure everyone is very annoyed about it by this point, but I DON'T CARE I've loved them since I was six.
幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
→ Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi, Hiei & Yukina, Botan/Kuwabara Shizuru
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi
My big time YYH ship; my favorite pair of controversial demons; my favorite pair of criminals. They know each other so intimately and yet still find ways to bewilder each other.
We didn't get to see them team up in combat as much and that makes me sad. Maybe at a future Dark Tournament the rules introduce tag-teaming and Hiei and Kurama have to go up against a pair of unsuspecting demons? Do they ever have to fight... EACH OTHER?
Mukuro instantly noticing Hiei's big fat crush on Kurama and making a bunch of subtle digs at it is hilarious and perfect. I am so positive that she heckles him about it endlessly.
I don't have many specific prompts for them; I just love them and the way they interact and the moments when the way they talk to and about each other reveals how long they've known each other, how there's so much going on between them that we'll never understand or see.
Botan/Kuwabara Shizuru
This is god-tier ship material and IMHO they are dating and have been since the Dark Tournament. I don't know Sakyo; Shizuru is a lesbian. World-weary menswear model Shizuru and her bubbly grim reaper girlfriend? HOW GREAT IS THAT?
I was always kind of bummed we didn't get a scene with the girls in their hotel room after Genkai's death during the Dark Tournament. Botan was clearly torn asunder, and I'd love to see some hurt/comfort-type scene in which Shizuru and Botan share in their grief. Cathartic crying optional but hmmm encouraged.
As far as premises go this is quite shmoopy but I think very often about Shizuru trying to ask Botan on a date and Botan just not getting it at all, bless her ditzy heart, and Shizuru getting increasingly flustered because she isn't used to people not blushing and stammering when she flirts with them; maybe Botan's out of her league? Alternatively, Botan realizing she has it bad for Shizuru and panicking and trying to avoid her to Make the Feelings for the Mortal go away but it just makes Shizuru pay more attention to her. Botan trying to ask Yusuke or Kuwabara for advice and Kuwabara LOSING IT. Obviously Botan can't live in Human World 100% of the time, but Shizuru moving out and getting her own apartment and being visited regularly by her girlfriend who just breezed in from the River Styx is !!!!!
Hiei & Yukina
This was easily the relationship in the show that fascinated me the most, and to see it fall by the wayside only to hastily get wrapped up in an OVA made me so sad! I'm not looking for one of those grand revelation fics where Yukina discovers in some dramatic way that Hiei is her brother (since hem hem she already knows anyway) but I'm always a sucker for scenarios in which Hiei does something that's like... him telling her, in his own way, without actually saying anything. Remembering her birthday. Always being there whenever she's in trouble. Listening to her stories about Hyouga. That kind of thing.
Hiei and Yukina being the ultra powerful fire-and-ice combatant duo that Demon World respects and fears, thanks. Most interpretations tend to be that Yukina is combat-averse—and I definitely agree, to an extent—but I still remember that line she had during the Dark Tournament where she calmly suggested they kill everyone in the stadium. I will always remember that. Like sister like brother I guess.
I am also fond of, conceptually, Yukina always cheerfully calling Hiei out on his bullshit, Hiei acting gruff and angry about everything but secretly being a big softie when it comes to Yukina, Yukina making Hiei come with her to go grocery shopping since Shizuru and Kazuma are out, Yukina confiding in Hiei about things related to being a demon living among humans because he's the only one who'll really get it, Yukina and Hiei roasting their friends together, etc.
—
That about takes care of my fandom-specific prompts, but it is also worth mentioning, FYI, that because of my unerring adoration for HQ these days I would be very into the most niche Gwen concept ever: volleyball AUs of any of my requested fandoms.
Thank you for writing for me! I can't wait to see what you create!
Warmly,
Gwen
AAAAAAA, WE MATCHED!
Hello and Happy New Year! It's so nice to meet you, kind of, sort of? I'm Gwen, and I am a sucker for ROMANCE! On AO3 (and most other Internet places), I'm brella! I can't tell you how excited I am that you might be making something for me! For ME! That's so crazy and amazing! Craze-mazing! Are there enough exclamation marks in this paragraph yet I'm not sure!!!!!!
Last year was my first go at Chocolate Box and it was so, so fun. I got to read, write, and receive some wonderful fic, and also to make new friends. What is better than that!!! Most of my experience with request letters still comes from Yuletide, so I'll probably be following the format I usually use for that—and, fair warning, I tend to be thorough to the point of being exhaustive. As in, it is probably going to be... very long, and also probably very emotional. That said, if anything is unclear or you want me to be more specific about something, I'm sure you can go through the mods!
chocolateboxmodWhatever the length and specificity of this letter might lead you to believe, I want to stress that, no matter what you create for me, I guarantee you that I will love it! Not only am I extremely easy to please; I am also known to fill multiple AO3 comment boxes with effusive praise about one miniscule scene where character A lingered in the doorway about to say something to character B but ultimately decided against it. I'm a simple woman. Anyone can tell you that you do not have to work hard to turn me into a blubbering mess.
All that is to say: remember, as always, that the details below, while extensive, are completely optional! I would be thrilled to see you run away with your own idea just as much as I'd love to see you run away with one of mine, so no sweat! I only ask that you avoid my DNWs.
However, if you do want to hear about the things I like... boy howdy do I have good news for you!
- I AM INTO (ODAO): slow burn narratives, developing relationships, character studies, relationship studies, the 5 times + 1 time format, nonlinear narratives, interrupted confessions & almost kisses, angst with a happy ending, emotional hurt/comfort, fake/pretend dating leads to feelings, snark and banter, found families, FRIENDSHIPS (especially unlikely ones), friends to lovers, seemingly unrequited pining, expansions of canon, female character-centered pieces, female friendships, unresolved romantic/emotional tension, dramatic hugs (especially dramatic spin hugs), nature imagery
- I AM NOT INTO (DNWs): character death (for any of the characters I requested), heavy or detailed gore (minor injuries and violence OK), incest, marriage/pregnancy fic, established relationship fic (I will specify if there is an exception), non/dubcon, first person POV, character bashing, explicit sexual content (not to say I hate it but I'm very picky so it's easier not to worry about it), angst with no happy ending, actually unrequited love (if it's a ship I requested), high school/college/coffee shop/florist/tattooist AUs, modern AUs, NSFW content of underage characters
REQUESTS
Haikyuu!! | Fire Emblem: Kakusei / Fire Emblem: Awakening | Majo no Takkyuubin / Kiki's Delivery Service | 幽☆遊☆白書 / YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Haikyuu!!
→ Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yachi Hitoka & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi, Tanaka Saeko/Tsukishima Akiteru, Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
I respect the opinions of people who do not believe these two are in love and will be for the rest of their lives, but also these two are in love and will be for the rest of their lives and that is my opinion. I think the thing that appeals to me the most about their relationship, in whatever form it takes, is how they help each other grow—the ways, both subtle and overt, that they drive each other to be better and braver and stronger. HQ is ripe for the Superb Childhood Friends Dynamics but this one has always stood out to me the most. They just enjoy each other so much, and I am here for that.
The Tsukkiyama Zone I am particularly, like, In right now is fic that explores them separating for whatever reason—i.e. going to different schools—and reuniting and realizing that all of the messy feelings they left with are now 10x messier because oh god it's been months and the other one looks so nice, help. I am not so great at the logistics of how this would happen but boy am I great at vividly imagining the Feelings when the reunion happens. A little snapshot of this, or them pining as second-years, or them getting together as third-years, or a confession, or them winning Nationals, I DON'T KNOW, I'm not at all picky!!!
FWIW, this is also one of the few pairings I'm fine with NSFW stuff for, so long as they're not in high school when it's happening.
Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Because if nothing else, I am basic (tm). When it comes to this pair I love messy get-together comedies of errors, agonizing over confessions for years only to have the other be like "huh okay," explorations of their volleyball futures and how they either converge or diverge, and taking into account that they comprise one (1) braincell.
Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei
*inhales deeply* They are almost literally the sun and moon and like you know that's fine. I have no feelings on that. Just kidding I have five million feelings on that. I love seeing the way that these two play off of each other and would especially love to see what their dynamic is like when they're third-years and have been playing together a long time and silently look out for each other on the court and hhhhh. This would also be an excellent ship for Hugs, and for cute LoveCom-esque kisses where Hinata plans it so they're walking down a flight of stairs so he can stand above Tsukishima and kiss him like he's taller.
Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yachi Hitoka & Yamaguchi Tadashi
THE GREATEST GROUP DYNAMIC IN ALL OF HAIKYUU SORRY I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. I would love to read about all of them as third-years (literally never gets old for me) or even the rarer as-second-years! I would love group study dates! I would love seeing characters who don't normally get to play off of each other doing so—Kageyama and Yachi, Yamaguchi and Hinata! I would love to see them supporting each other! Reuniting after or during university! Coming to cheer each other on at games! Future training camp fun times! ENDING UP ON OPPOSING TEAMS WHEN THEY'RE IN COLLEGE?
Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi
Look this is an extremely agonizingly good HQ het and there is practically nothing out there for it and while I am currently in the process of trying to fix that, it can't hurt to ask. These two have the potential to be very, like... Sad But Steady and thinking about them makes my heart hurt. Post-high school getting together or even just inching toward the line between friends and Something More is sure to melt me into a puddle. Seeing how they relate to each other as these two sort of bastions of morale in Karasuno who maybe have their own stuff going on that they don't talk about because they feel like it isn't their place also interests me immensely.
Tanaka Saeko/Tsukishima Akiteru
The other extremely good HQ het except it's not agonizing it's just fun. I find that a lot of fic about them tends to focus on the fact that it would make Tsukishima and Tanaka relatives, which, while a hilarious concept, leaves so much about these two still open. Saeko taking Akiteru for a ride on her motorcycle? Akiteru tagging along to the second summer training camp as a guest coach and getting whisked away on drinking dates with Saeko even though he falls asleep directly in her lap after having two cups of sake? Saeko and Akiteru bonding over how extremely cool they think their younger brothers are? Saeko accidentally running Akiteru over with her motorcycle wait that's just manslaughter
Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Isn't it hilarious how Nishinoya and Tanaka are just literally in love with each other and are too stupid to notice. That's the case for nearly every pairing I've requested here but they just go above and beyond. The two of them as third-years who are driving Ennoshita/Narita/Kinoshita up the wall with their romantic tension and who keep accidentally blushing when they trip and fall on top of each other during practice would be, hm, so much. I love how earnestly they support and admire each other and I love that scene in S1 where Tanaka notices that Nishinoya has a new bruise every time he sees him and bursts into tears over it. I love the notion of the two of them being ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED the other does not return their feelings only to discover that is not the case when the other loudly confesses them on the court at Nationals. They are so loud and big-hearted and perfect for each other.
General HQ likes
All of the Karasuno boys are idiots with no regard for personal safety so like all I'm saying is I would not object to light injuryfic. Nothing permanent, obviously, and not gratuitously angsty, but I always like seeing characters be worried about each other/taking care of each other/quietly but firmly telling each other to look after themselves. I LOVE first-years-as-third-years. I love fics that pay attention to the volleyball aspect and talk about, like, matches and cool moves and stuff on top of the actual human feelings, but also fics that just talk about the feelings are 100000% valid. Karasuno is my bias by a mile, but I absolutely wouldn't object to you bringing in characters from other teams; Tsukishima's dynamic with Bokuto or Hinata's dynamic with Aone or Shimizu's dynamic with Shirofuku, for example, are extremely good and welcome.
Really, though, any of these relationships + any of my ODAO is guaranteed to delight me. HQ is occupying a particularly big space in my heart right now, so the stakes are very low.
Also uh. Fire Emblem AU? Persona 5 AU? HECK yeah.
Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
→ Denis | Donnel/Maribelle, Sort | Stahl/Sumia, Chiki | Tiki/Say'ri
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Denis | Donnel/Maribelle
M-My FE13 het. I marry them to each other every time. It's too bad that their ending COMPLETELY BULLDOZES OVER MARIBELLE'S ARC AND RELEGATES HER TO BEING A FARMER'S WIFE (????). So like first and foremost I'd be very into a canon divergence where that, you know, doesn't happen, and Maribelle becomes a magistrate in Ylisstol and visits her husband at the Farfort in the summer and he listens to all the stories of what she's been doing with rapt, admiring attention. I would love to read about their wedding, about the inevitable pining after she gives him dancing lessons, about learning how they die in the bad timeline (I'm awful), about how they fight in the war (Donnel getting injured and Maribelle having to heal him, hi), about them bonding with future!Brady, anything at all!!! I am starved always for Donnel/Maribelle content, and would be thrilled to read even the tiniest thing from any point in their relationship, at all!!!
Seriously if you write this ship for me I will swear an oath of fealty to you until the day that I die.
Sort | Stahl/Sumia
Augh I don't know I just think they would have been cute! Their personalities just seem very similar—not 100% confident, earnest but a little clumsy, hard-working... since they don't have a support of any kind, this would be something I'd love to see headcanon for. What were they like as new recruits to the Shepherds? Does Sumia make Stahl a flower crown. At some point. Ever. Sorry that I'm so bad at having specifics for them but I just think a support for them would have been very sweet.
Chiki | Tiki/Say'ri
FE13's Most Canon Lesbians, accept no substitutes. I would love to read about what they do after Grima's defeat—travel the world together? Return to Chon'sin? Make a pilgrimage back to the Mila Tree? Slowly fall in love? FE has given me a weak spot for lord/retainer-type ships and it's honestly 100% because of this one, so anything exploring that dynamic, making it excruciatingly painfully romantic, etc., will reduce me to ash in a matter of seconds.
The Tsukkiyama Zone I am particularly, like, In right now is fic that explores them separating for whatever reason—i.e. going to different schools—and reuniting and realizing that all of the messy feelings they left with are now 10x messier because oh god it's been months and the other one looks so nice, help. I am not so great at the logistics of how this would happen but boy am I great at vividly imagining the Feelings when the reunion happens. A little snapshot of this, or them pining as second-years, or them getting together as third-years, or a confession, or them winning Nationals, I DON'T KNOW, I'm not at all picky!!!
FWIW, this is also one of the few pairings I'm fine with NSFW stuff for, so long as they're not in high school when it's happening.
Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Because if nothing else, I am basic (tm). When it comes to this pair I love messy get-together comedies of errors, agonizing over confessions for years only to have the other be like "huh okay," explorations of their volleyball futures and how they either converge or diverge, and taking into account that they comprise one (1) braincell.
Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei
*inhales deeply* They are almost literally the sun and moon and like you know that's fine. I have no feelings on that. Just kidding I have five million feelings on that. I love seeing the way that these two play off of each other and would especially love to see what their dynamic is like when they're third-years and have been playing together a long time and silently look out for each other on the court and hhhhh. This would also be an excellent ship for Hugs, and for cute LoveCom-esque kisses where Hinata plans it so they're walking down a flight of stairs so he can stand above Tsukishima and kiss him like he's taller.
Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yachi Hitoka & Yamaguchi Tadashi
THE GREATEST GROUP DYNAMIC IN ALL OF HAIKYUU SORRY I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. I would love to read about all of them as third-years (literally never gets old for me) or even the rarer as-second-years! I would love group study dates! I would love seeing characters who don't normally get to play off of each other doing so—Kageyama and Yachi, Yamaguchi and Hinata! I would love to see them supporting each other! Reuniting after or during university! Coming to cheer each other on at games! Future training camp fun times! ENDING UP ON OPPOSING TEAMS WHEN THEY'RE IN COLLEGE?
Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi
Look this is an extremely agonizingly good HQ het and there is practically nothing out there for it and while I am currently in the process of trying to fix that, it can't hurt to ask. These two have the potential to be very, like... Sad But Steady and thinking about them makes my heart hurt. Post-high school getting together or even just inching toward the line between friends and Something More is sure to melt me into a puddle. Seeing how they relate to each other as these two sort of bastions of morale in Karasuno who maybe have their own stuff going on that they don't talk about because they feel like it isn't their place also interests me immensely.
Tanaka Saeko/Tsukishima Akiteru
The other extremely good HQ het except it's not agonizing it's just fun. I find that a lot of fic about them tends to focus on the fact that it would make Tsukishima and Tanaka relatives, which, while a hilarious concept, leaves so much about these two still open. Saeko taking Akiteru for a ride on her motorcycle? Akiteru tagging along to the second summer training camp as a guest coach and getting whisked away on drinking dates with Saeko even though he falls asleep directly in her lap after having two cups of sake? Saeko and Akiteru bonding over how extremely cool they think their younger brothers are? Saeko accidentally running Akiteru over with her motorcycle wait that's just manslaughter
Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Isn't it hilarious how Nishinoya and Tanaka are just literally in love with each other and are too stupid to notice. That's the case for nearly every pairing I've requested here but they just go above and beyond. The two of them as third-years who are driving Ennoshita/Narita/Kinoshita up the wall with their romantic tension and who keep accidentally blushing when they trip and fall on top of each other during practice would be, hm, so much. I love how earnestly they support and admire each other and I love that scene in S1 where Tanaka notices that Nishinoya has a new bruise every time he sees him and bursts into tears over it. I love the notion of the two of them being ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED the other does not return their feelings only to discover that is not the case when the other loudly confesses them on the court at Nationals. They are so loud and big-hearted and perfect for each other.
General HQ likes
All of the Karasuno boys are idiots with no regard for personal safety so like all I'm saying is I would not object to light injuryfic. Nothing permanent, obviously, and not gratuitously angsty, but I always like seeing characters be worried about each other/taking care of each other/quietly but firmly telling each other to look after themselves. I LOVE first-years-as-third-years. I love fics that pay attention to the volleyball aspect and talk about, like, matches and cool moves and stuff on top of the actual human feelings, but also fics that just talk about the feelings are 100000% valid. Karasuno is my bias by a mile, but I absolutely wouldn't object to you bringing in characters from other teams; Tsukishima's dynamic with Bokuto or Hinata's dynamic with Aone or Shimizu's dynamic with Shirofuku, for example, are extremely good and welcome.
Really, though, any of these relationships + any of my ODAO is guaranteed to delight me. HQ is occupying a particularly big space in my heart right now, so the stakes are very low.
Also uh. Fire Emblem AU? Persona 5 AU? HECK yeah.
Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
→ Denis | Donnel/Maribelle, Sort | Stahl/Sumia, Chiki | Tiki/Say'ri
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Denis | Donnel/Maribelle
M-My FE13 het. I marry them to each other every time. It's too bad that their ending COMPLETELY BULLDOZES OVER MARIBELLE'S ARC AND RELEGATES HER TO BEING A FARMER'S WIFE (????). So like first and foremost I'd be very into a canon divergence where that, you know, doesn't happen, and Maribelle becomes a magistrate in Ylisstol and visits her husband at the Farfort in the summer and he listens to all the stories of what she's been doing with rapt, admiring attention. I would love to read about their wedding, about the inevitable pining after she gives him dancing lessons, about learning how they die in the bad timeline (I'm awful), about how they fight in the war (Donnel getting injured and Maribelle having to heal him, hi), about them bonding with future!Brady, anything at all!!! I am starved always for Donnel/Maribelle content, and would be thrilled to read even the tiniest thing from any point in their relationship, at all!!!
Seriously if you write this ship for me I will swear an oath of fealty to you until the day that I die.
Sort | Stahl/Sumia
Augh I don't know I just think they would have been cute! Their personalities just seem very similar—not 100% confident, earnest but a little clumsy, hard-working... since they don't have a support of any kind, this would be something I'd love to see headcanon for. What were they like as new recruits to the Shepherds? Does Sumia make Stahl a flower crown. At some point. Ever. Sorry that I'm so bad at having specifics for them but I just think a support for them would have been very sweet.
Chiki | Tiki/Say'ri
FE13's Most Canon Lesbians, accept no substitutes. I would love to read about what they do after Grima's defeat—travel the world together? Return to Chon'sin? Make a pilgrimage back to the Mila Tree? Slowly fall in love? FE has given me a weak spot for lord/retainer-type ships and it's honestly 100% because of this one, so anything exploring that dynamic, making it excruciatingly painfully romantic, etc., will reduce me to ash in a matter of seconds.
Majo no Takkyuubin | Kiki's Delivery Service
→ Kiki/Tombo
REQUESTING: Fanfic
I am thoroughly and wholeheartedly fond of Kiki/Tombo—their endearing friendship, their slow and earnest romance, the joy they take in each other's company, that they mutually inspire each other... everything. I would love shipfic, but am also totally fine with platonic gen if you're more comfortable with that.
I would be so interested in reading about Tombo learning about magic from Kiki and Kiki learning about engineering from Tombo. The movie's approach to magic, that it's this versatile and incommunicable feeling that any witch can shape to her liking (like Kiki's mother's specialty in potions, or the "snooty" witch's skill for fortune-telling), is one that's so fascinating to me—how it's tied to the spirit, to creativity, to inner inspiration; how when you lose your faith in yourself, you lose your magic, too, because you are your own magic. By the same token, Kiki is a clever girl and I'm sure she could pick up on Tombo's technical approach to flying well enough, but maybe she gets frustrated with it? Maybe she has trouble seeing the point in going to all this trouble? Maybe she can't understand why ordinary people would put themselves in such danger, as they did with the Spirit of Freedom, just to get into the sky? Or maybe none of this happens—maybe she just has to stifle a laugh at how enthusiastic Tombo is about wrenches.
Hearing the input and advice of some of Kiki's friends—Osono, Ursula, Barsa and Madam, etc.—when she realizes she might, oh dear, like Tombo, is a concept I only just imagined this second and it is... adorable.
What happens when school starts up again? Does Kiki enroll and move her delivery business to part-time, or does she forego it to keep up her business and decide to study independently? If the latter, does she start to feel lonely when all of her new friends are gone for the better part of the day? Does she have trouble with certain subjects and need to ask for Tombo's help? If the former, how does that work out for her; does she miss the delivery service and feel out of place at school, like she did on the beach when Tombo's friends appeared and started chatting with him, reminding her, however unintentionally, that she's still something of an outsider? Does she get embarrassed when it turns out that everyone knows who she is; isn't she that amazing witch who saved Tombo over the summer?
I'm not sure if this is breaking any rules, but Nissin Foods did so much to my heart in 30 seconds that it took me 48 hours to tweet it all out in a fumbling and ecstatic tweet thread that no doubt made nearly all of my mutuals mute me, and I am dying to see more of this tiny universe, since it's probably a one-off set-up designed to sell instant noodles and nothing more. I want to know everything! Kiki and Tombo, friends since childhood—how did that come about? How did she end up being the one to fall for him first in this universe; does he feel the same (OF COURSE HE DOES), and if so, when did he realize it? What is the story behind those brief flashes we saw—her gently fiddling with his hair while he slept in the library, letting him borrow her broom as a prop for his Halloween costume; the two of them eating Cup Noodles on a rooftop as it snows, laughing, warm? Maybe his answer isn't what matters—maybe it's everything that got them there.
In general, anything Kiki/Tombo + my Likes list is guaranteed to fill me with joy. I've wanted good, hearty shipfic of them for so long and request them for exchanges constantly and I'm sure everyone is very annoyed about it by this point, but I DON'T CARE I've loved them since I was six.
幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
→ Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi, Hiei & Yukina, Botan/Kuwabara Shizuru
REQUESTING: Fanfic
Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi
My big time YYH ship; my favorite pair of controversial demons; my favorite pair of criminals. They know each other so intimately and yet still find ways to bewilder each other.
We didn't get to see them team up in combat as much and that makes me sad. Maybe at a future Dark Tournament the rules introduce tag-teaming and Hiei and Kurama have to go up against a pair of unsuspecting demons? Do they ever have to fight... EACH OTHER?
Mukuro instantly noticing Hiei's big fat crush on Kurama and making a bunch of subtle digs at it is hilarious and perfect. I am so positive that she heckles him about it endlessly.
I don't have many specific prompts for them; I just love them and the way they interact and the moments when the way they talk to and about each other reveals how long they've known each other, how there's so much going on between them that we'll never understand or see.
Botan/Kuwabara Shizuru
This is god-tier ship material and IMHO they are dating and have been since the Dark Tournament. I don't know Sakyo; Shizuru is a lesbian. World-weary menswear model Shizuru and her bubbly grim reaper girlfriend? HOW GREAT IS THAT?
I was always kind of bummed we didn't get a scene with the girls in their hotel room after Genkai's death during the Dark Tournament. Botan was clearly torn asunder, and I'd love to see some hurt/comfort-type scene in which Shizuru and Botan share in their grief. Cathartic crying optional but hmmm encouraged.
As far as premises go this is quite shmoopy but I think very often about Shizuru trying to ask Botan on a date and Botan just not getting it at all, bless her ditzy heart, and Shizuru getting increasingly flustered because she isn't used to people not blushing and stammering when she flirts with them; maybe Botan's out of her league? Alternatively, Botan realizing she has it bad for Shizuru and panicking and trying to avoid her to Make the Feelings for the Mortal go away but it just makes Shizuru pay more attention to her. Botan trying to ask Yusuke or Kuwabara for advice and Kuwabara LOSING IT. Obviously Botan can't live in Human World 100% of the time, but Shizuru moving out and getting her own apartment and being visited regularly by her girlfriend who just breezed in from the River Styx is !!!!!
Hiei & Yukina
This was easily the relationship in the show that fascinated me the most, and to see it fall by the wayside only to hastily get wrapped up in an OVA made me so sad! I'm not looking for one of those grand revelation fics where Yukina discovers in some dramatic way that Hiei is her brother (since hem hem she already knows anyway) but I'm always a sucker for scenarios in which Hiei does something that's like... him telling her, in his own way, without actually saying anything. Remembering her birthday. Always being there whenever she's in trouble. Listening to her stories about Hyouga. That kind of thing.
Hiei and Yukina being the ultra powerful fire-and-ice combatant duo that Demon World respects and fears, thanks. Most interpretations tend to be that Yukina is combat-averse—and I definitely agree, to an extent—but I still remember that line she had during the Dark Tournament where she calmly suggested they kill everyone in the stadium. I will always remember that. Like sister like brother I guess.
I am also fond of, conceptually, Yukina always cheerfully calling Hiei out on his bullshit, Hiei acting gruff and angry about everything but secretly being a big softie when it comes to Yukina, Yukina making Hiei come with her to go grocery shopping since Shizuru and Kazuma are out, Yukina confiding in Hiei about things related to being a demon living among humans because he's the only one who'll really get it, Yukina and Hiei roasting their friends together, etc.
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That about takes care of my fandom-specific prompts, but it is also worth mentioning, FYI, that because of my unerring adoration for HQ these days I would be very into the most niche Gwen concept ever: volleyball AUs of any of my requested fandoms.
Thank you for writing for me! I can't wait to see what you create!
Warmly,
Gwen
