Dear Candy Hearts Exchange Writer

[partypaprika]

Dear Candy Hearts Exchange Writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I’ve included some thoughts below on my preferences and fandoms, however these are suggestions and not requirements in any way (although I’d prefer if you didn’t delve into my DNWs). I’ve given some specific prompts, but feel to take a general theme from my general likes if that’s more inspiring!

 

I'm not active on LJ/Dreamwidth anymore, although you're welcome to poke around here. I'm slightly active on tumblr and you can also check out my pinboard. I'm on ao3 as partypaprika.

For Candy Hearts Exchange, I’ve requested Gossip Girl – Dan/Blair, Books of the Raksura – Chime/Moon/Jade and Warchild – Jos Musey/Evan D’Silva.

 

General likes:

-Hurt/comfort
-Conflict
-Slow burn
-Pining and UST
-Sacrifices, especially if characters are making big sacrifices on behalf of someone that they care deeply about
-Angst (ideally ending in a HEA)
-Having dysfunctional relationships
-Enemies being forced (either directly or by circumstances) to work together
-Enemies to lovers
-Opposites attracting or coming to understand each other
-Marriages of convenience, fake dating, etc.
-People being thrown together in wildly unexpected situations
-Magical realism and magical powers
-Time travel, time loops, time do-overs etc.
-Modern royalty AUs
-Secret identities and identity porn
-Reincarnation
-Settings that have a sense of mystery: cemeteries, forests, abandoned temples etc.
-Epistolary and non-linear storytelling
-Canon divergence
-Mythology
-Hidden displays of affection
-Non-traditional media (interactive fiction/art/different ways of story-telling/etc.!)
-Crossovers

DNWs:

-Major character death
-Noncon
-Incest
-Painplay
-Torture
-Humiliation kink
-A/b/o
-Dom/sub
-Mpreg
-Knotting
-Coffee shop AUs
-High school AUs
-Unrequested poly ships

 

Warchild – Karin Lowachee
Jos Musey/Evan D’Silva

I read Warchild this year and was absolutely completely engrossed by how complicated the relationship is between Jos and Evan and how it grows through the book. They are connected by their childhoods and the aftermath of the pirate attack on their ship, even though they’ve been through wildly different experiences during the long period that they were separated. They also have such incredibly different reactions to meeting again and I’m fascinated by how Evan sticks to Jos even when Jos gives Evan nothing to go on.

I know that they both have a lot of trauma and that Jos struggles so much with forming any kind of relationship, but as much as he’s able, he cares deeply about Evan. The moment in Warchild, where they’re in the infirmary and he reaches out to hold Evan’s hand? That was huge for me.

I really love the connection and how Evan is determined to stay with Jos. I’d love to see Jos returning some of that and making Even feel like he is also wanted. Especially in a way that’s more than what Evan’s body can do because Evan so clearly feels like that is so much of his worth to people.

I would love to see more of Jos and Evan being together, in whatever way you see Jos able to be with Evan. I’m open to anything at the level that we get in canon or as explicit as you’d like (barring any of my DNWs).

 

Gossip Girl
Dan Humphrey/Blair Waldorf

I've been into this pairing since that episode in season one where Dan shared with Blair the story about his mother leaving after the photoshoot debacle with Eleanor and Serena. I love how Dan was the only person to really see Blair, for better and worse, for who she truly was. And I loved their slow relationship evolution: from mutual disgust to situational allies to friends and then close confidants.

I love the fact that Dan is so much more mellow and chill (generally) than incredibly high maintenance Blair and he just takes her and her craziness in stride. I’d love to see that explored—how does Dan calm Blair down for a big event or something really important? I’d also love to see Blair looking out for Dan, protecting him, maybe in a way that he just doesn’t get (and that almost goes over his head). Just a moment between them where one is protecting the other would be great.

Canon also ended with them not together so I’d love to either see them further down the line getting together (or back together) or a canon divergent AU where they hadn’t yet gotten together and ultimately do end up together. This could also be played with Blair seeing Dan after not being in contact for quite a while and then seeing him and realizing that she totally has a thing for Humphrey. I’d love to see a scene where Blair goes through the mental struggle of realizing that she is actually into Dan.

I would be very into seeing a secret identity take on their relationship. I also think that there’s so many identity porn ways that you can go with this where one or both of them is using a secret identity (especially with the whole Gossip Girl presence, although you can use any kind of secret identity that you like!) and falling in love through that secret identity. (I love identity porn)

I also love them being friends (or maybe starting out as enemies again) and having to work together or being friends and there being hardcore pining between them. Maybe they start hooking up (or maybe they’re hooking up with other people) and think that they’re on different pages (but they’re not!).

 

 Books of the Raksura
Chime/Moon/Jade

Moon! And Jade and Chime who love him so much. I love how Moon connects to people—especially to Jade and Chime. My heart breaks for him when he thinks that Jade doesn’t want him enough to go after him (and then cheers when she does!). I love how Moon does whatever needs to get the job done, even if he knows that he’s going to socially take a hit for it (or even when he takes the actual hits for it) and how he’d go to the end of the earth for the people he cares about (especially Jade and Chime).

I would love to also see Chime and Jade going to the ends of the earth (literally, metaphorically, emotionally) for Moon and making Moon feel loved. Either during the series or after the events of The Harbors of the Sun.

I would love to see the three of them tackling the Raksura politics together—Chime and Jade doing damage control as Moon goes off and does something incredibly scandalous and wild (for Raksura). I’d also love to see the three of them in a quiet, domestic moment together. Maybe focusing on Chime, who I feel like still struggles with his place. Or making sure that Jade gets a chance to relax and feel like some of her weight is off her shoulders. Or Moon, getting to be valued and loved, because he is so incredibly lovable. There is absolutely no wrong way to go.