Picture This: Chocolate Box 2021

[narya_flame]

Dear Chocolatier,

Hello and happy 2021! It doesn't seem like two minutes since I was writing last year's letter – and yikes, what a year this has been.

I'm so glad you're going to be making something for me and I'm really excited to see whatever it is you have in mind. These are all art requests, although fic is more than welcome for treats; please rest assured that I am not at all fussy about styles and I'm bound to love whatever you make, as long as you stay out of my DNWs. Usual shebang – don't read anything into the number of characters requested or whether I've asked for a particular fandom before. This year of all years don't read into the length of prompts; I'm seriously lacking in brain power so I haven't given any, beyond a list of likes, but don't worry – I am happy to be surprised.
 

We've all had a rough 12 months so I've made my choices this time with escapism in mind; please draw me something beautiful, magical, fantastical, sweet, bittersweet, mildly creepy, dark-but-cosy, happy-for-now, fluffy, funny, hopeful, uplifting or comforting. Don't feel you have to go out of your way to use my list of likes if they aren't your style or if they don't speak to you (I'm really not picky, they're only there for ideas), and feel free to combine requested fandoms and characters if you're so inspired. Just have fun, and thank you for making me a gift <3
 

 
DNWs 

• Unrequested AU that significantly changes the canon setting (e.g. mermaid AU, omegaverse – canon divergence is fine, as is post-canon exploration)
• Pregnant characters/childbirth/babies (I don't consider Grogu from The Mandalorian to be a baby; to me he's more of a young child, despite the floating cradle)
• Focus on bodily functions and fluids (blood from injuries is OK)
• E-rated art
• Scenes of mourning and sorrow
• Any requested characters dying or already dead (exception where a ghost character has been requested!)
• Anything related to Trump, Brexit or COVID-19

 

Yes, Please!

 
Art Likes 

• Portraits
• Group shots
• Action shots
• Calligraphy/illumination
• Clothing, jewellery and hair
• Close ups of tiny details like stitching, beading, engraving, etc.
• Focus on a part of the body that isn't the face, e.g. a character's fingertips lightly brushing their lover's ear
• Art as character study, or illustrating the dynamics of a relationship
• Comic panels; sets of linked drawings that tell a story
• Depictions of the natural world; tiny characters in vast landscapes
• Facial expressions conveying more than one emotion at once
• Unusual perspectives – through a window, over a gate, down a tunnel, from a distance...
• Limited colour palette; jewel tones; monochrome
• Beams of light; strangely shaped shadows
• Basically anything that plays with colour, light, shadow, space and movement
• Abstract art (could maybe work for Tolkien's Ainur?)
• Craft and sculpture
• Maps, architectural drawings etc.. (tricky for this exchanges as it's relationship focused, but if you can make it work then great!)

 
General Likes 

• Scenery porn
• Weather and seasons
• Animals, either wild or companion
• Worldbuilding details
• Objects and places with special significance – a “sense of history”
• Setting as character
• Ghosts, hauntings (literal and metaphorical) and liminal places
• The supernatural and the uncanny
• Pretty body horror, like flowers growing out of bodies, or being consumed from the inside by starlight
• Dreams bleeding into reality
• Food, drink and celebration
• Pubs and inns; depictions of bonding over a long drinking session
• Music and musical instruments
• Learning a craft
• Battle scenes and/or aftermath
• Storytelling, riddles and poetry
• Myth, folklore and fairytale
• Witchy women; fey and eldritch beings
• Candlelight and starlight
• Roaring fires
• Fog and mist
• Libraries, archives and other knowledge repositories
• Fusions of science and magic
• Shining a light into places canon doesn't show us, or barely touches on – going off the edge of the map

 
Relationship Likes 

• Developing friendships and budding romances
• Banter and teasing
• Bedsharing; huddling for warmth
• “The little things” - light brushes with fingertips, smiles across a room...
• Characters being utterly fascinated by one another (doesn't have to be romantic; could be admiration of craft/skill, or being impressed by someone's intellect, or something else altogether)
• Forehead kisses
• Fierce loyalty and devotion, to the point of one character doing something incredibly stupid to help or save somebody they love
• Fighting back-to-back
• Hurt/comfort
• Situational relationships – enemies having to work together, or people who wouldn't normally be drawn to each other forming a bond through circumstance
• Emotional reunions after long separations
• Friendship developing into romance
• Quiet/domestic moments

 

 Requested Fandoms and Relationships

 

 Arthurian Legend  

• Guinevere/Nimue
• Morgana/Nimue

 British Folklore 

• Cornish Pixie & Original Human Character
• Jenny Greenteeth & the Salisbury Hare

 Castlevania (Netflix) 

• Alucard & Hector
• Alucard/Hector
• Alucard & Sypha & Trevor
• Alucard & Sypha/Trevor
• Alucard/Sypha/Trevor

 The Silmarillion – J. R. R. Tolkien 

• Arien/Uinen
• Celegorm & Elúred & Elurín
• Ecthelion & Elemmakil
• Erendis/Uinen
• Houseless Elf & Original Noldorin Character
• Ilmarë & Tilion
• Ilmarë/Thuringwethil
• Lúthien & the Silmaril

Smith of Wootton Major – J. R. R. Tolkien 

• The Faery King & Smith
• The Faery King/The Faery Queen
• The Faery Queen/Nell
• The Faery Queen/Nell/Original Female Attendants
• The Faery Queen/Original Female Attendants

 

The Mandalorian 

• Ahsoka Tano & Grogu & Luke Skywalker
• Cara Dune/Fennec Shand
• DUM-series pit droids & Peli Motto
• Grogu & R2-D2

 

MCU

• Carol Danvers & Goose & Nick Fury
• Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau & Monica Rambeau
• Clint/Laura/Natasha
• Clint/Laura/Loki/Natasha
• Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff
• Cloak of Levitation & Goose
• Goose & Monica Rambeau & Loki
• Goose & Nick Fury
• Goose & Wong
• Loki & The Ancient One
• Morgan Stark & Nebula
• Okoye/Valkyrie
• Vision/Wanda Maximoff

 

The Chronicles of Narnia – C. S. Lewis

• Aravis & Corin & Shasta
• Caspian & Lucy Pevensie
• Caspian/Ramandu's Daughter
• Jadis/Lady of the Green Kirtle
• Lady of the Green Kirtle & Rilian
• Rilian & the Silver Chair

 

Howl's Moving Castle (Studio Ghibli Film) 

• Calcifer & Heen
• Calcifer & Heen & Howl
• Calcifer & Heen & Howl & Sophie & Turnip Head
• Calcifer & the Castle
• Heen & Howl
• Heen & Turnip Head
• Howl/Sophie
• Howl/Sophie & Turnip Head
• Sophie & Turnip Head
• The Castle & Turnip Head

Crossovers  

• Apollo (Blood of Zeus) & Balrog (Silmarillion)
• Celebrimbor (Silmarillion) & Hector (Castlevania)
• Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who 2005) & Maglor (Silmarillion)
• Fëanor (Silmarillion) & Loki (MCU)
• Goldberry (LotR - JRRT)/Nimue (Arthurian Legend)
• Howl (Howl's Moving Castle) & Maglor (Silmarillion)
• Ilmarë (Silmarillion) & Ramandu's Daughter (Narnia - Books) & Yvaine (Stardust – Gaiman)