Dear Candy Hearts Creator

[carmilla]

Hi! Thank you for making something for me. That automatically means you're awesome :) I promise I am super easy to please. If you want to ignore the contents of this letter and just write whatever first sprang into your head, please do! This also applies to the prompts in my sign up- they're there for if you find it helpful to have a jumping off point, but if you'd rather write a plot that has nothing to do with them I'll be equally delighted to read it. The following is a ramble on me and my tastes for if you like that kind of thing, but it's totally skippable, especially for a low minimum exchange like this one.

I am open to treats, including art treats if anyone happens to feel that way inclined. I promise I comment on art better than I can prompt for it!

AO3 name: Carmilla

General likes

Story/trope likes:

- fairy tales or mythology
- characters telling each other stories
- unreliable narrators
- plot change AUs branching from any point in canon
- setting change AUs: sci fi settings, fantasy settings, BDSMverse, omegaverse, etc.
- fusions: sedoretu, everyone now has a His Dark Materials daemon, everyone is now a Jaeger pilot, etc.
- time travel
- Groundhog Day plots (a character is stuck in a period of time that repeats)
- Peggy Sue plots (a character goes back in time and changes things for the better)
- soul mates
- soul marks
- soul bonding
- people who really enjoy working together
- people who hate working together but grudgingly respect each other
- competence porn (characters being really damn good at just about anything)
- casefic
- identity porn (playing around with the interactions of a character's multiple personas)
- complicated friendships (complicated by jealousy, turbulent history, UST, or anything else)
- complicated rivalries (ditto)
- loyalty kink (one character's biggest drive is their loyalty to another)
- slow burn
- mutual pining
- May/December romances
- December/December romances
- friends to lovers
- enemies to friends to lovers
- arranged marriages
- discussions/negotiations over how a relationship works
- open relationships
- sexual tension, especially when it's resolved happily
- unconventional romantic gestures
- last minute out-of-the-left-field happy endings
- fannish cliches (huddling for warmth, undercover as a couple, One Bed What Do, etc....)

I like all kinds of stories. Just-like-canon plots, wild canon divergences, plotless relationship fluff, PWPs, missing scenes, casefics - they're all great! Lots of different writing styles work for me, from perfectly straightforward prose to just-like-the-source to the more experimental. I'm happy with things like first or second person POV, epistolatory stories, or unusual formats like interactive fiction if that's what you want to write.

I'm always open to canon divergence - 'How the whole universe would change if this one interaction went differently' is one of my favourite plots and I'll happily read a million variations on it. I'm also open to big, setting-changing AUs whether or not I've requested them, with the caveat that for AUs that change the canon setting, my preference is for things that make the world more rather than less 'genre', eg. I enjoy AUs that add magic to a non-magical universe or change a modern setting to a historical or sci fi one, but not the reverse. Please give me characters as mermaids, space aliens or eldritch creatures so obscure I've never even heard of them if that's where your whimsy takes you. For soul mates(/marks/bonding), omegaverse and BDSM universe AUs, I enjoy them both played straight and with a twist (how two omegas make it work in bed, the epic love story of two definitely-not-soulmates, etc). I enjoy fusion-type stories like HDM/daemon AUs, sedoretu AUs or Pacific Rim AUs - if you want to do a fusion with a canon I might not have heard of that's absolutely fine too, provided I don't need to know anything about the canon to read your story.


Smut likes

- discussions/negotiations about sex and/or kink (before, during and/or after it happens)
- sex that is messy and/or awkward but also fun
- sensual details (how things feel, taste, smell etc)
- the opposite of slow burn; that thing where the characters are talking about/doing something totally unrelated and then there's a sudden moment of chemistry and boom! sex is happening right now
- xeno elements, particularly characters figuring out how to have mutually satisfying sex when their erogenous zones/general conception of what sex is are very different
- ritual sex/sex magic
- touch starvation
- phone sex/sexting (or fandom appropriate equivalents)
- partially clothed sex
- threesomes/moresomes
- service topping
- bondage
- temperature play
- nipple play
- spanking/impact play
- cock spanking
- pussy spanking
- breast spanking
- orgasm control (not denial)
- roleplay
- dirty talk
- praise kink
- sex toys
- joyful, enthusiastic submission
- joyful, enthusiastic sadism

If I've requested a romantic pairing and haven't DNW'd sex, you should assume that I'd love to receive explicit fic about them if that's what you want to write. Please don't feel penned in by my likes; I read fairly widely outside my own kinks and pretty much anything will do it for me if you convince me it turns the characters on. I tend to be more focused on the emotional impact - is it a beautiful display of trust? Brain meltingly cathartic? Maddeningly unhelpful in determining whether they're really in love or not? - than the specifics of what they do, even if that's on the rarer/more extreme side. If you get inspired to write me, say, consensual nonconsent, or pet play, or watersports, or heavy pain play, or consentacles, or anything else that doesn't fall under my DNWs, please go ahead and write me the fic of your heart.

I am very happy to read kink without a sexual element, especially Dom/sub, painplay and/or impact play. I think this is great in a platonic context, lovely in a romantic context, and absolutely scorching hot in a context where the characters will eventually get together romantically but haven't yet realised that they want to.

This also seems like the place to note that while I absolutely adore sexual/kink negotiation (seriously, I will gleefully read a whole fic of just the negotiation without the sex afterwards), I like it as something fun and sexy, not something to be ticked off a checklist before the characters are allowed to get it on. I like negotiation to be appropriate to the setting (no Victorians talking about keeping things safe, sane and consensual, please!) and to what the characters are doing (a safeword is a specific safety tool, not a magic spell that makes kinky sex okay when it wasn't before). And if you feel like the characters wouldn't negotiate, by all means, write it that way! I am very happy to read spontaneous, un- or under-negotiated sex or kink provided the characters involved are having a good time.


General dislikes/DNW clarifications

If I've asked for no unhappy endings, I am up for angst or unhappiness during the story; I don't even need things to end on a positive note! I just don't want a very bleak ending without a trace of hope - some ambiguity or bittersweetness makes everything play better for me.

If I've DNW'd noncon I'm still happy with light, cliche-driven dubcon, like sex pollen, heats, or sex to maintain an undercover identity. The key for me is that the characters are really into everything that's happening - provided they are, I don't mind scenarios that would be questionable wrt their ability to consent in real life. A character having sex that they don't actually want is what crosses the line into DNW for me.

I have squicks around characters' former love interests or relationships being brought up if the sole reason is to portray them as not real love or inferior to their current love interest/relationship. I find heavy romantic jealousy or possessiveness a turn off ("I wish you looked at me the way you look at Character X who you hero worship" is fine; "I want to kill everyone else you've ever touched" makes me want to run screaming, unless it's being said by the bad guy). I also like open relationships, OT3s, etc. None of this means I'm unhappy to see characters in exclusive relationships - I love to read monogamous happily ever afters just as much as polyamorous ones.

I don't DNW racism, sexism and various other prejudices; however, I'd always prefer to see them driving a plot point/confrontation/etc. rather than thrown in as set dressing. Likewise I don't mind seeing internalised homophobia, misogyny and the like, but I'd prefer that to be something a character is coping with/improving about slowly over the course of the story rather than a static part of their personality.


British Comedy RPF, Charlie Brooker/David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker/Victoria Coren Mitchell/David Mitchell, Steve Pemberton/Reece Shearsmith, Derren Brown/Reece Shearsmith, Alex Horne/Reece Shearsmith, Greg Davies/Alex Horne/Mike Wozniak, Lily Allen/Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss/Steve Pemberton/Reece Shearsmith

Charlie/David:

I started shipping Brooker/Mitchell back in 2009 and I still have a soft spot a mile wide for them. I love how they yell and needle at each other but they're obviously both having a great time and always on the verge of laughing when they do it. I love them bonding over being non-dancers, 'the people who won't join in'. I love the Charlie told Mumsnet that David had so much raw sexual magnetism that he spent all their time together trying not to jump him (and somewhere deep in my soul I do believe that this is literally true). If you'd like set something back in their heyday I would definitely get a massive nostalgic thrill out of that; on the other hand, something set right now when they're middle aged dads, older and greyer and hotter than ever would also be delightful.

Prompts:
- what was it like for them to reunite on Would I Lie To You?
- one of them confesses to a years-long crush on the other
- trying to make each other laugh, especially when the cameras are rolling
- 'People make mistakes, David!' 'Yes, and for which they must be punished!'
- playing games, especially drinking games
- Charlie writes a role for David on Black Mirror

Charlie/David/Victoria:

The three of them have always had such amazing chemistry with each other and it just makes me happy. I'd be equally thrilled to see something set when they first started working together, something in the present day, something where David and Victoria are married or an AU where that didn't happen. I'm sort of obsessed with how self-deprecating Victoria is (I think she said on Twitter 'oh no, all Charlie's girlfriends are properly beautiful' when someone suggested he fancied her), and I would be very up for the guys just showering her with attention. Her using her bluff-reading poker powers to see right through them would be fun, or to see how attracted they are to each other but somehow miss how attracted they are to her. Any first time for them as a three would make me happy, whether they're all single or any two of them are together already.

Prompts:
- any two of them teaming up to seduce the third
- strip poker
- Charlie and Victoria are David's team on Would I Lie To You?
- Victoria pointing out that Charlie and David are obviously into each other
- Victoria totally missing how much both of them are into her

Reece/Steve:

Pembersmith has eaten my brain for most of this year and I don't see it stopping anytime soon, so really anything at all involving them would make me happy! I love their incredibly enduring friendship and creative partnership (more than thirty years!). I'm obsessed with the way they repeatedly say they never think about performing their material while they're writing it; how *do* they feel, when it's time to perform it and suddenly they're killing each other/mourning each others' deaths/acting out a complaint that the other one has about them? (The bit about gurning at the audience and stealing the laugh in Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room appears to be inspired by Steve complaining about Reece stealing his laugh in Live at Drury Lane.) I love how totally comfortable they are together as performers, how it seems like there's no such thing as going too far for them. And I adore their off-screen dynamic, how Reece needles Steve and Steve bosses Reece around but under it there's obviously an endless well of love for each other and respect for each others' work.

I'll happily read something set in any era from when they met at Bretton Hall to the present day. I'm very up for established relationship fic where they've been together (possibly even married) for ages, but I do love later in life sexual exploration and coming out, so a first time set later in their careers would also make me really happy.

Prompts:
- character bleed - getting together as their characters, being attracted to each other when one or both of them is in costume;
- using their writing or performing to flirt, work out a real life issue they're having or bring up a new kink they want to try
- sharing a hotel room while on tour accidentally or on purpose
- flirting or getting together while they were students at Bretton Hall
- historical AU! maybe they're both Victorian ghost hunters? or I'd love them in basically any historical setting
- supernatural AU! Reece using his interest in magic to cover up actually practicing witchcraft; either or both of them is a supernatural creature

Derren/Reece:

I love how much they have in common - an intense interest in magic and art, and the way that they're both fascinated by mind reading, ghost hunting and the occult while ultimately remaining skeptics. I'm also just obsessed with the way Reece stares at Derren with wonder and adoration whenever he's involved in one of his tricks. It's specifically the admiration that a talented and well-informed amateur has for a first-class professional, and watching Reece light up with it lights me up.

Also, I love the way Derren makes his patter so praise-heavy, especially when he's hypnotising people (he never calls people 'susceptible' to hypnosis; instead they 'have a real talent' for being hypnotised, he picks out the audience members that are 'best' at it, etc.). I'm very into the idea of Reece with a praise kink absolutely melting while Derren hypnotises him for multiple reasons. (I have been gifted a completely amazing fic on this theme very recently, but should it happen to inspire you I definitely want two cakes - I want ALL THE CAKES!)

Prompts:
- bonding over art or obscure magic trivia
- drawing each others' portraits
- Reece desperately needing to touch Derren and check he's alright after his Russian Roulette stunt
- subspace, hypnosis kink and/or praise kink in any configuration

Alex/Reece:

My one wish for Reece's series was 'let him invent some entirely new form of humiliation kink and inflict it on Alex'. And instead he turned out to be the one person on Earth who Alex Horne appears to want to dom. This is far too funny for me to be mad about it! I love Alex gently condescending to him and calling him a 'brave boy', and I love Reece (despite the grumpy exterior) obviously having a whale of a time getting to be undignified and childish and silly. Anything that played with that, or just let them have fun being weird together, would be great to see.

Prompts:
- for some reason, Reece brings out Alex's inner dom
- nonsexual kink, the odder the better
- them doing nonsexual kink but stumbling over something that turns them both on
- roleplaying, playing dressup, and weird in character dirty talk in any configuration

Greg/Alex/Mike

I enjoyed Mike's appearance on the show so much and I really loved how well he matched Greg and Alex's freak (the reveal of the mohawk is still more or less my favourite thing that's ever happened on Taskmaster), while simultaneously remaining really nice. I really enjoy the idea of him as a balancing factor, someone who sort of sits in the midpoint between who Greg is and who Alex is, both as performers and as people. And I think there's a wide variety of ways it would be fun for that to play out in a slash context, whether it's him being invited in to an established Greg/Alex dynamic and seeing how it changes with him there, or him attempting to get them together and being baffled (but pleased) when instead he winds up in bed with both of them.

Prompts:
- Greg is a dom, Alex is a sub, Mike is a switch
- Mike just loves to surprise them both in new ways
- established relationship Greg/Alex inviting Mike for a threesome
- Mike matchmaking for them and not expecting to be caught in the crossfire

Steve/Lily

So, I was listening to Lily's (excellent) post-divorce album, and hearing the lyric 'I'm just a little girl looking for her daddy', and reading that godawful note that David Harbour sent her before 2:22, and I just thought, 'if any woman on Earth deserved to have a really filthy affair with Steve Pemberton, it's her'. So yeah, I just want that. I'd love to see them having fun together and Steve treating her well and maybe looking after her a bit, and/or just being really dirty with her. Them looking sweet together on their interview with Good Morning made me happy, as well as Steve calling her naughty and implying she's writing total filth in her 'confession' during the play!

Prompts:
- what specifically happened to make Steve call Lily 'naughty'?
- daddy!kink
- getting away with touching each other on stage
- Steve making Lily realise she can do better than her marriage
- just them having a really torrid affair, the filthier and more furtive the better

Mark/Steve/Reece

I love how warm and loving but also how inherently complicated their dynamic is - Mark and Steve were best friends first and obviously adore each other, and Mark was the first one to befriend Reece, but it was Reece and Steve who ended up the closest. (Also the way Mark's writing cheerfully objectifies Reece in things like PROBE and the Scott of the Antarctic sketch delights me.) I would be thrilled to see completely angst-free poly and/or kink for them as a three; something crunchier where there's a bit of insecurity or a competitive edge to what's going on would also make me happy.

Prompts:
- anything that plays with how kinky the show is: bondage, piss kink, crossdressing, belt kink....
- at least one of them is really turned on by the Scott of the Antarctic sketch and they all decide to play out what happens next
- Mark and Steve jointly domming Reece
- a little friendly competition over who's the best in bed

DNW:
- noncon
- scat
- vomit in a sexual context
- underage sex involving characters younger than 15
- characters being mocked, humiliated or massively screwing up socially (social awkwardness is fine; consensual humiliation kink is fine)
- onscreen appearances by characters' non-famous partners or family members (references to them are fine)
- requested pairing(s) breaking up or being unhappy together in the long term (having relationship problems is fine)
- infidelity for pairings other than Steve/Lily (consensual nonmonogamy or just no mention of other partners/no partner AUs are fine)
- high levels of jealousy or possessiveness portrayed positively
- character's previous relationships being treated as not real love or as a problem for their current partner
- character death
- permanent injury or disabling illness in the course of the story (disabled characters are fine)
- hurt/no comfort
- Rule 63/always another gender AUs
- unhappy ending


The Limehouse Golem, George Flood/John Kildare

I love this film so much, for its gothic, brooding atmosphere, the fun bits of period detail and appearances by real life figures, and perhaps more than anything because it gave me two gay leads seemingly just for the hell of it. I really enjoy the spiky, respectful and layered relationship that builds between them - how Flood looks up to Kildare and identifies with him, but at the same time really doesn't want to be where he is in twenty years, and how Kildare mentors Flood and expects the best out of him and *totally misses* all that respect and identification unless it's thrown in his face. I love Flood's solid practicality contrasted with Kildare, who seems both more sensitive and more cerebral. I'm fascinated by how Kildare is clearly so lonely and so badly in need of friends but instinctively pushes away Flood's overtures.

And oh goodness, how much do I love the pub scene? Flood just casually making a little bid for intimacy, and how what he thinks is a harmless joke is clearly deeply painful territory for Kildare. It speaks so much to their differing experiences: how Flood has evidently lived the kind of queer life where he feels safe referring to it provided he picks his audience, whereas Kildare very much Has Not. I'm into every level of "I'm on your side" as a coming out statement; including the level where Flood thinks him coming out ought to make them understand each other but for Kildare it's more complicated than that.

Any romantic story for them would be wonderful; I'd particularly love anything that picks up on that contrast between them and shows how they bridge the gap between Flood's openness and Kildare's guardedness and obvious fear of being seen as predatory. If it's your thing I'd also happily read Kildare/Flood/Flood's boyfriend from the end of the film.

Prompts:
- any first time Flood/Kildare
- any get-the-procedural-partners-together trope (I don't know how you'd do, say, undercover as a couple in this setting but I'd love to see it!)
- is there anything that would get Kildare to make the first move on Flood, rather than vice versa?
- Flood setting out to become a bigger part of Kildare's life
- Kildare telling Flood what really happened with the Golem, or just opening up to him about anything
- them working on a low stakes, mundane case
- what they do when the Jack the Ripper case is in progress
- one (or both) of them is haunted by Lizzie's ghost
- supernatural AU: their next grotesque case really doesn't have a logical explanation
- eldritch horror AU/Study in Emerald fusion: Flood and Kildare in a London ruled by the Elder Gods

DNW:
- explicit noncon (offscreen sexual violence as part of a case is fine)
- scat
- vomit in a sexual context
- underage sex involving characters younger than 15
- characters being mocked, humiliated or massively screwing up socially (social awkwardness is fine; consensual humiliation kink is fine)
- requested pairings breaking up or being unhappy together in the long term (having relationship problems is fine)
- infidelity (consensual nonmonogamy is fine)
- high levels of jealousy or possessiveness portrayed positively
- character's previous relationships being treated as not real love or as a problem for their current partner
- requested characters dying (other canon characters or original characters dying is fine)
- permanent injury or disabling illness in the course of the story (disabled characters are fine)
- hurt/no comfort
- modern AUs
- Rule 63/always another gender AUs
- homophobia-free world AUs
- unhappy ending


The Champions, Richard Barrett/Sharron Macready/Craig Stirling

I think this show formed large chunks of my id single-handedly. The spy shennanigans! The martial arts! The guys stoicly enduring a wide variety of torture scenes! The fact that all the leads get all the super powers! And over and above everything else, the way that the three of them are just so incredibly intertwined and mentally up in each others' business all the time. It's so iddy to me that they talk in each others' heads and feel each others' pain, but it's even iddier that the show makes it clear they feel each others' pleasure too.

I'd love to see them getting together as a three. Is it filled with angst and social awkwardness? Is it so easy and natural for them because of their mental bond that they forget they're actually doing something quite unusual? Does Richard's reserve or Sharron's young widowhood hold them back, or is it Craig's megawatt charisma that turns out to be the barrier? Whatever you think, I want to see it!

I'd also enjoy them working together - competence porn would be very appreciated here! Anything that touches on or explores some of the weird, semi-supernatural things the show has going on would be great too.

Prompts:
- using their powers for funny, trivial or kinky purposes
- two of them ganging up to seduce the third
- the three of them being drawn together so naturally they don't even notice it happening
- the opposite, them being so worried about spoiling their working relationship that they're incredibly cautious about anything romantic (but they get there in the end!)
- how the other two cope when one of them goes undercover somewhere dangerous
- hurt/comfort after one of them is captured or tortured
- the three of them on holiday together (is it hard to relax when you're used to jetsetting equaling danger?)

DNW:
- noncon
- scat
- vomit in a sexual context
- underage sex involving characters younger than 15
- embarrassment based comedy
- characters being mocked, humiliated or massively screwing up socially (social awkwardness is fine; consensual humiliation kink is fine)
- requested pairings breaking up or being unhappy together in the long term (having relationship problems is fine)
- infidelity (consensual nonmonogamy is fine)
- high levels of jealousy or possessiveness portrayed positively
- character's previous relationships being treated as not real love or as a problem for their current partner
- requested characters dying (other canon characters or original characters dying is fine)
- permanent injury or disabling illness in the course of the story (disabled characters are fine)
- hurt/no comfort
- modern or mundane AUs
- Rule 63/always another gender AUs
- unhappy ending


The Persuaders!, Brett Sinclair/Danny Wilde

I just adore Brett and Danny and all that ambiguous 70s sexual energy the show is soaked in. I love that they flirt with each other and flirt with women together and separately and go on double dates. I like that they're occasionally competitive with each other but never really *jealous*. I can't get enough of the way they can't stop touching each other for two minutes together. I can absolutely see them as a true-love-and-happily-ever-after type pairing, but I'd also be excited to see something looser and more ambiguous - I just want them to be close and enjoy each other. I'm also open to Brett/Danny/OFC or Brett/Danny/one of the women from the show, especially if it's Prue - I thought she and Brett had delightful chemistry and would run rings around Danny in a way he'd thoroughly enjoy.

Prompts:
- one of them gets arrested and the other one had to clear his name
- they go undercover as Hollywood film stars
- clothes shopping together
- a night on the town
- them trying to teach each other things they both think they're an expert on (drinks mixing, martial arts, manners, flirting....)
- a prank war
- one of them keeps trying to proposition the other, who keeps misunderstanding
- one of them asks the other for seduction advice, planning to use it on him
- a disastrous first date that nevertheless ends happily
- every time they try to confess and/or have sex they get interrupted by a terrorist plot

DNW:
- noncon
- scat
- vomit in a sexual context
- underage sex involving characters younger than 15
- embarrassment based comedy
- characters being mocked, humiliated or massively screwing up socially (social awkwardness is fine; consensual humiliation kink is fine)
- requested pairings breaking up or being unhappy together in the long term (having relationship problems is fine)
- infidelity (consensual nonmonogamy is fine)
- high levels of jealousy or possessiveness portrayed positively
- character's previous relationships being treated as not real love or as a problem for their current partner
- requested characters dying (other canon characters or original characters dying is fine)
- permanent injury or disabling illness in the course of the story (disabled characters are fine)
- hurt/no comfort
- modern or mundane AUs
- Rule 63/always another gender AUs
- unhappy ending


Call Me Madam, Sally Adams/Kenneth Gibson, Sally Adams & Kenneth Gibson

I just love Sally and Ken and their adorable double act. I love that she's older than him and his boss and that he absolutely respects her authority and never tries to undermine her, but their relationship is also so warm and friendly and mutually supportive. It feels like a kind of friendship we almost never get to see and I love it to pieces, and mostly I just want more of it...

... but also I ship them like burning. All the things that make their platonic relationship fun and refreshing would also make them great in a romcom, and I have such a weakness for an age gap romance. I'm fascinated by the very different sort of romantic comedy the film would become if they fell for each other instead of their respective love interests.

So yeah. Ken adoring Sally. Sally looking after Ken. Their whole ride-or-die at first sight thing. I don't mind whether it's romantic or platonic, I just want more of it.

Prompts:
- Sally and Ken helping each other out and/or covering for each other
- Sally's next diplomatic posting after the movie
- them shopping and/or bitching about fashion together
- an AU where they fall in love with each other in Lichtenberg and the very different complications it creates
- them transposed into the plot of another classic musical (or just an iconic scene from one)
- sci fi AU! Sally is Earth's ambassador to planet Lichtenberg, Ken is her right hand man (or maybe android?)

DNW:
- noncon
- scat
- vomit in a sexual context
- underage sex involving characters younger than 15
- embarrassment based comedy
- characters being mocked, humiliated or massively screwing up socially (social awkwardness is fine; consensual humiliation kink is fine)
- requested pairings breaking up or being unhappy together in the long term (having relationship problems is fine)
- infidelity (consensual nonmonogamy is fine)
- high levels of jealousy or possessiveness portrayed positively
- character's previous relationships being treated as not real love or as a problem for their current partner
- requested characters dying (other canon characters or original characters dying is fine)
- permanent injury or disabling illness in the course of the story (disabled characters are fine)
- hurt/no comfort
- modern or mundane AUs
- Rule 63/always another gender AUs
- unhappy ending