Whatever the mess you are, you're mine.

Dear Chocolatier,

Thank you for writing something for me! This is the first exchange I have participated in since the last ChocolateBox, so forgive me if my letter-writing skills are a bit rusty. The time off might have done me some good, though, in terms of clearing my head and not asking for the exact same things. I'm going to try to write everything from scratch, even if I use my old letters for reference. I am failsafe on AO3. I welcome treats in fic or art form, but I make requests only for fanfic because I know how to analyze those better.

As per usual, optional details are optional. If you already have a fic in mind for what we matched on, have a quick glance at my DNWs and do whatever you want. Use this as a guide only to whatever extent you feel comfortable!

Do Not Wants: graphic gore or torture, breath-play, lifestyle/hardcore BDSM, permanent injury related to sexual activity, noncon, unrequested dubcon, unrequested total-setting-change AUs, how-this-ship-is-so-much-better-than-a-canon/other-one-post-break-up-fic, misogyny/other bigotry

General Likes: hurt/comfort; canon-typical violence; casefic/monster-of-the-week stories; epistolary/journal/log fiction; canon-divergent AU; missing scenes; survival (wilderness, zombie apocalypse, etc.); facing and evading consequences; last stands and long goodbyes; found family; killing / getting revenge against abusers

I like gen or pre-ship/UST fics a lot, but I also welcome smut fics unless I note that I don't want them in a specific fandom. I do prefer a little bit of plot-flavor seasoning with my smut, but it can be just a framing device for how/why/when and as thin as you want if you go this route.

NSFW Likes: hurt/comfort (again); first-times (together or ever); wound-care turns intimate but NOT wound-fucking pls, very LIGHT blood-play if any; ritualistic sex | The Old Ones Made Them Do It, etc.; dealing with the aftermath of Aliens Made Them Do It as it pertains to dubcon even if they kinda liked it; morning after; I-almost-lost-you-and-I-can't-stand-it sex; Covered-in-the-blood-of-our-enemies sex; Awkward-cute-playful sex; Improvisational light-bondage / powerplay / orgasm tease/denial-play / soft BDSM if it makes sense for the characters; In-character sex, whatever that seems to be for the people in question

Fandom Specifics

Fate/Zero

I'm currently in the process of watching Fate/Zero again, and it's hurting me all over again.

Gilgamesh/Arturia Pendragon | Saber

I tend to spell it Artoria, but you can pick either. Just please don't call her Altria or something else bananas like that.

I have this extremely-long WIP about what happens if they both stick around post-canon, so clearly I like that theme. I would also like to know what would happen if, somehow, Gilgamesh had convinced Artoria of the sincerity of his intentions. How would that have affected things? Alternatively, you could do something haunting and dark. Perhaps Artoria feels she has no choice but to cooperate with him for some reason, no matter how much he's genuinely invested in this thing. Perhaps she realizes she has caught Feelings after he is dead; I'm thinking something along the lines of how she kills him in Fate route? Happily-ever-after; they-die-fighting-side-by-side; regrettable sex; crackishly improbably happy AU - any of these would work. I guess the main thing I really like between these two is some theme of perspective-shifting and seeing who the other person is versus what they could be?

Gilgamesh | Archer & Kotomine Kirei

I picked the ampersand, but if you're feeling a slash thing / offered both, then you can choose either side of that fence or some murky area in-between. I don't ship it, as such, but I don't mind it running that direction if it works for your story. If you also only picked the ampersand, that's great too!

I find Zero Kirei infinitely more interesting than his Stay Night counterpart. There is something kind of dreadfully boring to me about him after he slides off the edge into desperate sadism forever, because it feels like even if it is "true to himself" in some existential way, that it sort of ends his story in madness, no matter how much he can fake a sane facade. I would like to see a more complex ending for him, and I kind of feel like Gilgamesh might have preferred that, too. I've gotten caught up in discussions of there being a sort of tease of possible redemption for Kirei in various Fate narratives that never comes to fruition or is ultimately, unequivocally denied. What if it weren't? Is there a different path for Kirei? One of a more grey or liminal nature? Gilgamesh claims that he likes to people-watch in Zero, and there is none he is more interested in watching than Kirei so much that he manipulates him into showing him who he really is. Even if you don't go with an alternative path, I would like to know what their early post-War partnership is like. Is it a partnership or a struggle for control or power? Do they ever fight (probably not physically, of course)?

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

My inner eleven year old cursed me this year.

Yami Bakura/Marik Ishtar

I noticed that there was another tag with Ryou included in this mix. While I'd prefer that it not be full-on polyamory in this case, I am also interested in how Ryou relates to all of this (or even doesn't) if that is of interest to you to write.

I find their partnership interesting because of how different their vantage points are. Yami Bakura is this ancient spirit blended with an unspeakable evil. Marik is a kid who grew up in a tomb, forced into what amounted to a cult that subjected him to isolation, abuse, and horrific scarification. They seem to get along, though, at least to the extent that it is convenient for them. At the end of their canon stint of coexisting, Yami Bakura was down for the count and unaware that Marik had a full-on change of heart in order to defeat his darker side. However, Yami Bakura was also clearly justifiably afraid of Yami Marik. If they met again, how would they relate? How would Yami Bakura respond to having a strange bond with someone when he usually manages to remain detached? If Marik does care for Yami Bakura but it isn't (initially?) reciprocated after everything, how does that make him feel? I would love some gray-area angst that gets better regardless of what point in canon you take it from.

I'm also extremely familiar with the Abridged Series versions of these two and the Marik Plays Bloodlines thing, so if you wanted to take any cues from that, go to town. If you do random slice of life with them would be wonderful.

Bakura Ryou & Mutou Yuugi

I don't put two u's in Yugi by nature, and you don't have to either. If you want to you can, though.

Just... let... Ryou... have friends??? Let him LIVE? As much fun as Yami Bakura is, I find the lack of symbiosis between the two of them so sad for Ryou's sake. And Yugi is like patron saint of friendship, so yeah. I would just like to know more about how they remained friends after those rough, early days (particularly per the manga). I think it would be interesting to see how Yugi deals with having a friend in which he knows also dwells someone who definitely does not have anyone's best interests at heart. It also doesn't make a whole ton of sense that Ryou is so attached to the ring even though he knows bad things happen when it and its Voice are around. Comparison and contrast of how Yugi and Ryou deal with their fellow-indwellers would be cool. Also, I haven't seen DSOD or anything yet, but if you want to you could do something after Yami Bakura and Atem are gone - the good, the bad, and the ugly of the aftermath? Also I would love, like, occult hijinks where Ryou won't leave the gotdam Ouija Board alone even though it only ever causes him #suffering.

Jounouchi Katsuya/Seto Kaiba

Pls don't call him Joey. You can if you MUST, but it hurts me to go back. Unless you do their Abridged Series personas, then you can do whatever you want. You can do those, by the way. You have permission.

I hated this ship when I was younger, but now I really like it? I am interested in how they come from such very different walks of life, and it might even be that they, in a sense, switched places from the time they were little kids. I would like to read about their interactions outside the world of Duel Monsters (if there even is such a thing in their universe). I would like it if they had to interact in the near-future on some professional level. Seto giving Jounouchi a job? Jounouchi helping Kaiba with #StreetSmarts. Maybe Mokuba gets kidnapped again, poor kid. Kaiba brothers familial love is a bonus. The biggest thing I can think of to qualify that I really like about this ship is the idea of them surprising each other with the fact that the other one actually has a heart / a brain. Being in absolute disbelief that they LIKE the other one is fun.

Atem/Thief King Bakura

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FIX FIC

Literally never considered this until I saw the tag, but I'm interested? We know so little about their actual lives before they got wrapped up in the crossfire that would lead to both of them being dead and trapped in magical artifacts for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian Fix Fic? I would just love to see a scene where they are actually in their elements BEFORE and to see how it goes and changes things. It would be interesting to see what would be lost versus what would be gained by them never ending up in the Millennium Ring and Puzzle in the first place. I'm getting bittersweet wibbly feelings about it, so if you wanna write that, please do. If you wanna go crack-fic territory, maybe they could have, like, Millennium Item Mail and communicate over the millennia, intermittently. It could even be a sort of this-was-silly-but-now-it's-sad if you included the theme of how Thief King Bakura's soul was slowly increasingly fused with a fragment of Zorc??? That is a confusing AF canon point so you could play with it. Also I have a headcanon that Thief King Bakura was an Israelite or at least partially one, so if you wanna steal that and work with it go for it.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I love trope-y, meta stuff in this fandom, but I don't have to have it. I'd love anything that gives them some kind of genuinely hopeful resolution, but fics that end in tragedy as long as they aren't the Forever Endgame are also acceptable, given the territory.

Also, unless it is Future Fic where the characters are a bit older, I would prefer if you used fade-to-black for any higher-than-PG-13 stuff for this fandom. If it is post-canon smut is fine, though.

Akemi Homura & Sakura Kyouko

I like Rebellion except for the last 20 minutes. Fix fic would be enjoyable, either by ignoring it or by changing it after the fact. Or you can ignore it.

I really enjoy how it seems like that if Sayaka had an absolutely fixed fate no matter how many times Homura went through the loop, Kyouko was a wildcard. It was even suggested through her interaction with Kyubey that her showing up each time was even a variable. It was also interesting to me that, as a result of that perhaps, early on it seems like there is a sort of Madoka and Sayaka versus Homura and Kyouko dynamic set up that doesn't really go much of anywhere after Sayaka's soul gem gets tossed off the bridge. I would like to know more about whether or not Homura kind of felt reliant on the fact that Kyouko was a variable in an endless series of repetition that seemed set in stone. Was she envious? Grateful? On Kyouko's side of things, how does she feel during one of the loops? How do things go with Homura in a different one? Is she freaked out by how well Homura knows her? Reliance and trust/mistrust are themes I'm interested in here.

Miki Sayaka/Sakura Kyouko

LITERALLY ANYTHING WHERE MY LITTLE PALADIN AND SIREN GET TO LOVE EACH OTHER

I don't remember where it was, but I remember reading something about how PMMM was set up as a sort of focal-point-shifted narrative in addition to being a "deconstruction" of the magical girl narrative. Sayaka is the "Protagonist" in the sense that she is the character who is most enthusiastic about becoming a superhero/magical girl, the most intent on being selfless and brave, and so on. That is why she is doomed in this universe. In conjunction with that, Kyouko is sort of positioned as the person who would have been the Lancer (trope-wise in addition to her weapon) to Sayaka's Protagonist Idealism, if things had gone the way they are Supposed To in this genre. I love how turned-around the dynamics are in PMMM, but I bring it up because I am fascinated with how it feels like in an Ideal World they were meant to be together, best friends and/or lovers, and yet this universe just does not let them have it. Fix-fic, missing scenes, or even a doomed timeline where they were together... for a little while would make me happy. I would especially like to see missing scenes of those idyllic parts of Rebellion, early on, or something where they can actually stay together and win in the terrible situation at the end of Rebellion.

Agents of SHIELD

I have only ever seen AOS through mid-late Season 2. The reason for this is that I rage-quit at the winter hiatus during S2, but I was coaxed back into it by gifs of S4 and stuff my best friend told me. Now I'm working on it, though I'm stalled, but you have full, free permission to use any canon point you like. I don't mind spoilers, as I'm pretty self-spoiled by this point.

Grant Ward & Agents of SHIELD Team

You can save anyone from themselves if you get to them in time... unless your name is Grant Douglas Ward? I think not. :/

As you might guess from the above-blurb, I am quite invested in Ward and his being capable of redemption. I would love anything set during S1 when he is starting to care about them for real. I would also like any canon-divergent AU set at any point after the start of S2 when he is able to genuinely prove himself to them and given a real second chance. There is an intense irony that may or may not be deliberate in the S1 narratives about forgiveness, redemption, and getting to a person in time and in what happens with Ward in the end. I would like something that engages with that in a meta way, even if you stick to canon as it is and do missing scene stuff. For this prompt, you can focus on any one of the characters and have any background ship stuff you feel appropriate.

Skye | Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward

"This guy is childish. He wanted her to notice him... He's not trying to hurt her. He's trying to protect her. He likes her." - Foreshadowing much?

I would like anything set after Skye realizes Ward is HYDRA up to anything that happens in canon prior to his death or any kind of canon-divergent AU you want to give me. The main reason I was willing to give AOS a second chance was the existence of the Framework!SkyeWard thing. This scene where Daisy is so horrified and yet it is a part of a set-up to, apparently, fix her deepest regret (as I understand that arc which I have yet to see) is so interesting and engaging to me and gave me a bit of faith back in what the narrative was even trying to do with them. Maybe it is supposed to be a tragedy and not just an agonizing, cruel red herring. I would like a fic that deals with the fact that Ward is creepy and even downright abusive to Skye|Daisy after HYDRA is activated. I would like a fic that deals with the fact that Skye sort of becomes the very thing she hates in dealing with him after she realizes the truth. I would like a story about healing, from whatever point you choose, with redemption that is worked for, earned, and costs something.

Doctor Who

My forever-fandom that saved me as a teenager. I haven't completed all of S10 yet (missing some stuff in the middle), so I haven't even seen Thirteen, but as long as I live long enough, I will eventually... It is my home I come back to, sooner or later. I'm just still grieving Clara, though, so please indulge/forgive me. The S8/S9 character arcs involving the Doctor, Clara, and Missy still floor and gut me when I think about them. I'm not over it.

Twelfth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald

I'm usually not an explicit shipper of these two as such, but I love their relationship with all my heart, messy codependence and all, so go as hard or tread as lightly as you like. Queer-platonic something or other is fine or fully-consummated relationship as fine as long as it feels true to you. I'll probably never read an explicit-rated fic for them unless it was based on a prompt for me, so if you want to, go for it.

I would like a fic about the beautiful darkness that this relationship took on, whether it keeps established events or changes or "fixes" them. If you go canon-compliant, maybe you could give me a fic about the moment it changed, slipped into something different, something that would consume them both so terribly. If you change established events or extend them, then I would be interested in a fic about what drives them to such lengths. I am also curious about sort of Undead!Clara going around the universe back to the moment of her death the "long way 'round." What if she and the Doctor met again when he still doesn't have a memory of her but should, at least, probably understand that it was her he told her story to on account of the painting? Even if he doesn't feel the memory of whatever they had. How old is Clara then? What happens?

Twelfth Doctor/Missy

I love the theme about how the Doctor probably should've killed the Master | Missy long ago but that he can't because she is the only one who understands him or is even remotely like him, even among their race, but especially after most of them are dead / inaccessible. I also really like the idea that the Gallifreyan society kind of sucked even if it is natural for pre-50th Doctor to miss it.

I love Doctor/Master in all forms, and it's the only thing I've really gone back in Old Who and watched any of at all. I love the immensity and complexity of their relationship, and while it is maybe mildly questionable that they only got full-on shippy and then did some panicked back-pedaling due to realizing their own no-homo-full-homo implications, I still love what we got on-screen as a result. While I still haven't finished S10's middle-bits because I'm a lazy cow, I did see the beginning and the finale events, and it absolutely kills me that through S8, S9, and S10 Missy got to be used so artfully to make a metanarrative point. She did do the right thing in the end, or was trying to, but she did it without hope, without witness, and without reward, and while that is one of the most gutpunchingly beautiful and satisfying things to ever have the Master | Missy do as a redemptive, true act of goodness, it HURTS. Please fix it. Please help. Missing scenes, fix-it, romantic moments, I'll take any of it you've got to give me. I also like the Doctor and Missy as sort of warring parents with extremely different parenting philosophies about Clara, or even Bill, as long as it doesn't overlap with my above-prompt 'cause that'd be weird.