Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2025-10-13 11:09 am
thefourthvine) wrote2025-10-13 11:09 am
Dear Yuletide 2025 Author
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hi!
I am going to provide you with all the details I can, because that is who I am as a person. Thank you so, so much for writing in one of these fandoms. See you on the 25th!
(And if you're not my writer, thank you for looking at my letter! I am entirely open to treats of any length.)
Likes/DNWs and General Stuff
I love so many things! Here is a small sample:
Between Silk and Cyanide -- Leo Marks, Leo Marks, Forest “Tommy” Yeo-Thomas
Request: I love codebreaking, I love spies, I love extremely competent people working together to do something very difficult, so obviously I love Leo and Tommy. I would be delighted for ship fic at any point in their story. Before Arquebuse, when Leo is absolutely wrecked to see Tommy go? After Arquebuse, when Leo is absolutely thrilled that he’s back? During or around the fight before Marie-Claire, or Tommy’s whole, uh, situation at that point? Or, of course, after he comes back following that final ill-fated drop into France? Or how about after the war, when Tommy returns to France and Leo is writing and they’re both out of the war but with a lot of memories they can’t really discuss with most people? I’d love to see a reunion when they are older and, well, possibly wiser. Hard to say with these guys.
I'd also be fascinated by a they-both-stay-in AU, with or without the pairing. Obviously leaving was the right choice for Leo, and I'm glad he did, and yet -- I'm curious. Or what if Tommy stayed in and Leo left, and later Tommy went to Leo for help?
Additional Information: I love WWII codebreaking stuff, and also the SOE for some reason, so I have read very, very many books on these topics. Leo Marks’s memoir is my surprise favorite of all of them. His feelings, even though he was writing many years after the war, come off of every page, and he knows how to tell a story.
I love that Marks cares so much, I love that he’s basically vibrating with imposter syndrome even as he accomplishes impossible thing after impossible thing, I love that he’s so out of his depth in the politics of the intelligence world, I love how fighty he is even as he calls himself a coward, I love how he trains himself an army of codebreakers at Grendon and forces the SOE to use decent codes very much against their will. I love how much he loves all the spies I love, even though it breaks him. And his relationship with Tommy is -- well. “I had never met anyone I trusted so completely or whose trust I valued more” is how Leo sums it up, and honestly that’s an understatement. Even when he was writing his memoir decades after the war, his hearteyes were absolutely visible in every line he wrote about him. (The part where he says Tommy’s hand is still on his shoulder -- WOW, sir.)
I also love Tommy, with his continental flair (he was a director of Molyneux’s fashion house before the war and stole his yacht during it, and that is style for real) and his fearlessness and dedication and absolutely absurd life. I love how much he cares about winning the war and how completely he throws himself into it. I also love how he acknowledges that Leo is something special in the SOE — a person who, like Tommy, actually cares very deeply about his job AND is extremely good at it — and tries so hard to teach him how to play the game (and also learns a little about codes from him). I love how hurt Tommy is when he realizes Leo kept something from him -- he expected no secrets! From a codebreaker! Which shows that he was emotionally compromised, too.
(By the way, in re: the rest of the spies. Noor is my favorite, but I love Odette and Violette and Alec and Peter and all the rest, and I’m always happy to see more of them! But I’d appreciate it if their appearances in your fic, if any, were kept to their pre-departure selves, because most of them died horribly. So my ideal focus here is definitely codebreaking and the British side of the channel. If you’re looking for other non-spy characters to include, I absolutely adore Vera Atkins and Joan Dodd and Joan Bright and Margaret Jackson.)
To pick up this fandom: The book is a bit pricey, but it is available in both print and ebook forms, and it may be available from your local library as well.
Fandom-specific DNW exceptions: It’s wartime. There are female spies. I know what happened and it’s not like you can change that. Just please don’t dwell on it? Also, people died. Please just don't (permanently) kill anyone who didn't actually die.
blink-182, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge
Request: These are the twice-crowned kings of breakup makeup, so do I even need to say it? Please tell me about the reunion of these dudes, ideally during this current era of blink, ideally romantically and sexually. They’ve been really fucking weird about each other for more than thirty years. They deserve this. (Or, to paraphrase a friend of mine: These two emotional dumbasses should fuck because at this point they deserve each other.)
Some tropes would be absolutely delightful. Amnesia! Bodyswap! Soulbonds! Time travel! Fake dating!
And of course this is one of the s-tier fandoms for pining and mutual pining. I love (eventually resolved) pining, so if you want to pour some in, absolutely, for sure, bring the whole damn bucket. (Kissing someone onstage and hearing him say “I love you, say it back” would be so much worse if you were secretly pining. Just saying.)
Or how about some self-discovery? Apparently Tom sent Mark dick pics while Mark was having chemo. I doubt he’d be feeling well enough to do anything with them at that point, but I’d love a Belated Queer Awakening Caused by Friend’s Supportive Dick Pics story set after Mark got better -- maybe during the tour?
I just really really really want these dudes to a) have an actual useful discussion about their incredibly complicated and emotional history (and to have it with each other, like in the same room and everything, instead of via song lyrics or the press as is their wont during good times and bad) b) get one last chance c) do it right this time. (And also I want them to live happily ever after, true love forever, probably at least one super embarrassing and mushy co-written song kind of thing. You know.)
(I DNW infidelity, but I’m totally fine with them never getting married or them both being divorced or whatever. I also DNW cancer, but Mark had cancer and that is the reason they’re doing it one more time, so mentions of the cancer are fine. Just please don’t make the whole story about it or bring his cancer back.)
Additional information: Last Yuletide, I was casually browsing the app and I happened uponconcave’s letter full of incredible blink-182 prompts, which linked to this Tumblr post. I have had that post open ever since and reread it regularly. It’s basically an intense voyage through three decades of feelings and drama that is somehow even better because it’s between two dudes who once made a music video where the entire concept was “what if we were dicks with our dicks out lol?”
And then some absolute heroes put together a slideshow with a timeline of the three decades of feelings, drama, breakups, makeups, makeouts, and dicks out that is blink-182’s history. (The slide deck is better quality if you’re having a hard time seeing everything.)
Blink-182 scholars and gentlepersons are out there delivering the drama straight into our bloodstream and I thank them for it, because I am a sucker for band drama. I am a sucker for people getting second (or third) chances. I am a sucker for people who have spent decades loving each other a lot and hurting each other a lot finally talking it out and working it out and being happy together. I am a sucker for a resolution that is decades in the making. I had absolutely no chance of resisting, and you know what? I’m glad I didn’t. There is gold in this fandom. I love these two for being dorks, for being dicks, and for the drama.
(They wrote. A love song. Called “I Miss You.” While sitting in separate rooms while the band was moving toward a breakup and Mark and Tom were barely talking. I am just saying: the pining is canon.)
To pick up this fandom: The links above should help! Mark published an autobiography recently, too, and it’s a good read.
Fandom-specific DNW exceptions: Mark had cancer and there's no real way to avoid talking about that, so I'm fine with including it; just please don't bring the cancer back (a scare that proves false is fine).
Blue Prince, Worldbuilding, Simon P. Jones
Request: What the hell is up with the world of Blue Prince? I would love an exploration of the magic, the mystery, and most of all the architecture. (Spoilers follow.)
We know there are other architects in the world, since there’s a magazine for them, and so presumably there are other mansions. Where are they? What are they like? Is there a Deep Architecture major in Corarica? Does every architect get their own mansion, or are some hired out? How did anyone ever discover this? And is every mansion a heap of puzzles, or was Baron Sinclair just weird? (I mean. Obviously he was weird. But is he the only one?)
(It’s a deep cut, but if you want to cross this over with the game Monument Valley, I would love that. Sacred Geometry meets Magical Architecture!)
Basically, I would just love so much worldbuilding. All the worldbuilding. With extra worldbuilding on top.
I would also absolutely love a story about Simon all grown up and preparing to hand on the mansion to the next heir. Does Simon choose the “just hand the heir the keys” route, or does he create a new buttload of puzzles? Or does he come up with a secret third option? How has the mansion changed during Simon’s tenure? What new rooms has he created? What new people live(d) there, and what are their bedrooms like? How have the politics of the larger world changed? Tell me the future, please!
Note: Simon is optional -- I’d love to see him in the story if he fits, but if he doesn’t, no worries at all.
Additional information: Oh my god. My daughter got this game for her birthday from a friend and she kept telling me I had to play it. She was right. It ate our ENTIRE BRAINS this summer. We played together daily and with my wife as often as possible. We talked and theorized when we weren’t playing. We have notes, we have pictures, we have sketches, we have a lore book. This game was the perfect storm for us: it required a ton of puzzle solving from me, a ton of spatial work and decision making from my daughter, and a ton of recordkeeping and indexing from my wife. We absolutely love it. The perfect video game, truly.
I love green rooms and the Kennel the most. (Any room with animals is a room for me!) I also love a lot of the upgrades: the Break Room/Billiard Room, the Cloister and all its many forms, the Corriyard; I’d love to see new upgrades for old rooms. I love the interplay between the servants that you only get glimpses of. I love the act of drafting, the way the random number generator rules just enough that you never know how a run will go. I love how things connect up (and I have a love/hate relationship with the things that don’t, or don’t yet).
Basically, I love this game because it feels like there’s always more, and what I want most from a Yuletide story about it is EVEN MORE. More details! More background! The answers to many of the lingering questions! A look into the future! Just. Just more.
(And if you want to make Simon queer, that would be delightful, but I do prefer gen or teen-rated stuff for this fandom.)
To pick up this canon: I think Let’s Plays would be your best route there. I haven’t watched any, but there are a lot on YouTube, I hear.
Nomads (1986) — Eileen Flax, Veronique Pommier
Request: These women have, by the end of the movie, a relationship that was made for fic, and so I’m hoping for something post-canon. How do things go when you simultaneously remember someone as your new friend made while surviving a terrible ordeal and your beloved wife? What’s it like when you’re on the run with someone you barely know except she also has the memories of the person you knew and loved best in the world?
And there’s also the issue of practical matters. How do they live? Eileen’s ability to practice medicine is going to be somewhat limited, at least at first, since being on the run from supernatural evil tends to inhibit your ability to obtain a license and a job. Does she become a doctor for people with paranormal maladies, or for supernatural people, or just for other people on the run? And what does Veronique, who came to this country hoping for some peaceful downtime and did not at all get that, do after the trauma of the movie?
I would be delighted with ship fic, including as much sex as you want to write, and I would love to see how they get there from where they start. I would be delighted with them turning around and taking the battle to the Nomads. I would be delighted with them encountering a new kind of evil and becoming a two-woman, three-sets-of-memories supernatural detection team. I just want to know how things go after the movie ends for these two. And please please please give them some kind of happily ever after, or the potential for one.
Additional information: For me, this movie is essentially one long prologue to fic. Like, okay, I’m sorry, but Eileen literally has Veronique’s dead husband’s memories and they literally drive off into the sunset together to make a new life. I just ... feel like that needs exploring, you know? I mean, yay Nomads, yay vaguely creepy paranormal whatever, but what of the relationship?
And these are two fascinating women. Veronique takes in a woman who is apparently insane and ranting and who seems to know her dead husband way too well and is incredibly kind to her, even though Niki’s life is, at that point, SUPER not going well. And Eileen is this analytical, problem-solving person who is going to find out what happened and fix this problem even if it, you know, destroys her life and drives her insane. (Also, her first thought when she wakes up in Veronique’s bed is apparently “Wait, did we have sex?” I am just saying. It was not far from Eileen’s mind. And Veronique clearly knew that. The possibility is there.) They are both willing to burn down lives they loved to stay alive, and I believe that means they can build something new in the ashes. I love them both, and want them to find happiness on the other side of their Nomad-Related Life Implosion.
This is technically a horror movie, but a) it’s so non-horrifying that I, a noted wimp, can watch it even after dark (except the deeply creepy abbey/nun sequence, because I am still a wimp) and b) I’m not really here for the horror aspect. I mean, okay, vaguely punkish Nomads acting like people in a gang in a movie, memory stealing, fine, that’s all good. But. Well. It’s not actually my main interest. My interest is in how people survive events this weird, how they make new lives after surviving, and how it all affects them.
I will be happy with any rating you care to write on this one. If you’re going to write a pairing, I’m only really interested in Eileen/Veronique HEA here. (But I am VERY interested in that!)
If you want to pick this up — well, it’s definitely available for rental on Amazon. And there’s also this copy, although I cannot vouch for its quality, on YouTube.
Hi!
I am going to provide you with all the details I can, because that is who I am as a person. Thank you so, so much for writing in one of these fandoms. See you on the 25th!
(And if you're not my writer, thank you for looking at my letter! I am entirely open to treats of any length.)
Likes/DNWs and General Stuff
I love so many things! Here is a small sample:
- Happy endings. (I mean of the everyone lives happily ever after kind. Although I am also a big fan of orgasms.)
- Humor.
- Slow burn romances and slow build sex scenes.
- Action and adventure.
- Mysteries, heists, spies, casefic.
- Snappy dialogue.
- Classic fan fiction tropes, whether played straight or inverted. (Soulbonds! Bodyswap! Arranged marriage! Fake dating! Amnesia! And so on.)
- Families (biological, found, synthetic, hologrammatic, whatever) being good to each other.
- People who have problems with feelings.
- Pining and denial, especially of the I-am-definitely-not-feeling-anything kind.
- Hurt/comfort.
- Worldbuilding.
- AUs that are only a single change from canon, whether that’s “what if Tommy and Leo went on Arquebuse together?” or “what if Tom DeLonge is actually an alien?”
- Every rating. I'm happy to get G up through NC-17, so go with whatever works best for you!
- Animal or child harm or death. These are my dealbreakers; I can't handle them at all.
- Rape.
- The abuse of women. (Fandom modification: Between Silk and Cyanide has female spies. Terrible things genuinely happened to them and no one can change that, so please just avoid dwelling on it.)
- Infidelity. (FULLY here for any kind of arrangement that has the consent of all involved, or for unpartnered AUs.)
- Public humiliation. (Private embarrassment is fine.)
- Zombies and cannibalism.
- Character death or characters with cancer or other non-canon terminal or degenerative diseases. (Fandom modification: One of the guys in blink-182 had cancer and that was integral in their reconciliation, so there’s no way to avoid it there. Just please don’t make the cancer come back or do an entirely cancer-themed story.)
- Christmas. (Non-Christian religious holidays are very welcome.)
- Mommy/Daddy kink.
- Unrequested pairings.
- Unhappy endings.
- Readerfic.
- Mundane AUs.
Between Silk and Cyanide -- Leo Marks, Leo Marks, Forest “Tommy” Yeo-Thomas
Request: I love codebreaking, I love spies, I love extremely competent people working together to do something very difficult, so obviously I love Leo and Tommy. I would be delighted for ship fic at any point in their story. Before Arquebuse, when Leo is absolutely wrecked to see Tommy go? After Arquebuse, when Leo is absolutely thrilled that he’s back? During or around the fight before Marie-Claire, or Tommy’s whole, uh, situation at that point? Or, of course, after he comes back following that final ill-fated drop into France? Or how about after the war, when Tommy returns to France and Leo is writing and they’re both out of the war but with a lot of memories they can’t really discuss with most people? I’d love to see a reunion when they are older and, well, possibly wiser. Hard to say with these guys.
I'd also be fascinated by a they-both-stay-in AU, with or without the pairing. Obviously leaving was the right choice for Leo, and I'm glad he did, and yet -- I'm curious. Or what if Tommy stayed in and Leo left, and later Tommy went to Leo for help?
Additional Information: I love WWII codebreaking stuff, and also the SOE for some reason, so I have read very, very many books on these topics. Leo Marks’s memoir is my surprise favorite of all of them. His feelings, even though he was writing many years after the war, come off of every page, and he knows how to tell a story.
I love that Marks cares so much, I love that he’s basically vibrating with imposter syndrome even as he accomplishes impossible thing after impossible thing, I love that he’s so out of his depth in the politics of the intelligence world, I love how fighty he is even as he calls himself a coward, I love how he trains himself an army of codebreakers at Grendon and forces the SOE to use decent codes very much against their will. I love how much he loves all the spies I love, even though it breaks him. And his relationship with Tommy is -- well. “I had never met anyone I trusted so completely or whose trust I valued more” is how Leo sums it up, and honestly that’s an understatement. Even when he was writing his memoir decades after the war, his hearteyes were absolutely visible in every line he wrote about him. (The part where he says Tommy’s hand is still on his shoulder -- WOW, sir.)
I also love Tommy, with his continental flair (he was a director of Molyneux’s fashion house before the war and stole his yacht during it, and that is style for real) and his fearlessness and dedication and absolutely absurd life. I love how much he cares about winning the war and how completely he throws himself into it. I also love how he acknowledges that Leo is something special in the SOE — a person who, like Tommy, actually cares very deeply about his job AND is extremely good at it — and tries so hard to teach him how to play the game (and also learns a little about codes from him). I love how hurt Tommy is when he realizes Leo kept something from him -- he expected no secrets! From a codebreaker! Which shows that he was emotionally compromised, too.
(By the way, in re: the rest of the spies. Noor is my favorite, but I love Odette and Violette and Alec and Peter and all the rest, and I’m always happy to see more of them! But I’d appreciate it if their appearances in your fic, if any, were kept to their pre-departure selves, because most of them died horribly. So my ideal focus here is definitely codebreaking and the British side of the channel. If you’re looking for other non-spy characters to include, I absolutely adore Vera Atkins and Joan Dodd and Joan Bright and Margaret Jackson.)
To pick up this fandom: The book is a bit pricey, but it is available in both print and ebook forms, and it may be available from your local library as well.
Fandom-specific DNW exceptions: It’s wartime. There are female spies. I know what happened and it’s not like you can change that. Just please don’t dwell on it? Also, people died. Please just don't (permanently) kill anyone who didn't actually die.
blink-182, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge
Request: These are the twice-crowned kings of breakup makeup, so do I even need to say it? Please tell me about the reunion of these dudes, ideally during this current era of blink, ideally romantically and sexually. They’ve been really fucking weird about each other for more than thirty years. They deserve this. (Or, to paraphrase a friend of mine: These two emotional dumbasses should fuck because at this point they deserve each other.)
Some tropes would be absolutely delightful. Amnesia! Bodyswap! Soulbonds! Time travel! Fake dating!
And of course this is one of the s-tier fandoms for pining and mutual pining. I love (eventually resolved) pining, so if you want to pour some in, absolutely, for sure, bring the whole damn bucket. (Kissing someone onstage and hearing him say “I love you, say it back” would be so much worse if you were secretly pining. Just saying.)
Or how about some self-discovery? Apparently Tom sent Mark dick pics while Mark was having chemo. I doubt he’d be feeling well enough to do anything with them at that point, but I’d love a Belated Queer Awakening Caused by Friend’s Supportive Dick Pics story set after Mark got better -- maybe during the tour?
I just really really really want these dudes to a) have an actual useful discussion about their incredibly complicated and emotional history (and to have it with each other, like in the same room and everything, instead of via song lyrics or the press as is their wont during good times and bad) b) get one last chance c) do it right this time. (And also I want them to live happily ever after, true love forever, probably at least one super embarrassing and mushy co-written song kind of thing. You know.)
(I DNW infidelity, but I’m totally fine with them never getting married or them both being divorced or whatever. I also DNW cancer, but Mark had cancer and that is the reason they’re doing it one more time, so mentions of the cancer are fine. Just please don’t make the whole story about it or bring his cancer back.)
Additional information: Last Yuletide, I was casually browsing the app and I happened upon
concave’s letter full of incredible blink-182 prompts, which linked to this Tumblr post. I have had that post open ever since and reread it regularly. It’s basically an intense voyage through three decades of feelings and drama that is somehow even better because it’s between two dudes who once made a music video where the entire concept was “what if we were dicks with our dicks out lol?” And then some absolute heroes put together a slideshow with a timeline of the three decades of feelings, drama, breakups, makeups, makeouts, and dicks out that is blink-182’s history. (The slide deck is better quality if you’re having a hard time seeing everything.)
Blink-182 scholars and gentlepersons are out there delivering the drama straight into our bloodstream and I thank them for it, because I am a sucker for band drama. I am a sucker for people getting second (or third) chances. I am a sucker for people who have spent decades loving each other a lot and hurting each other a lot finally talking it out and working it out and being happy together. I am a sucker for a resolution that is decades in the making. I had absolutely no chance of resisting, and you know what? I’m glad I didn’t. There is gold in this fandom. I love these two for being dorks, for being dicks, and for the drama.
(They wrote. A love song. Called “I Miss You.” While sitting in separate rooms while the band was moving toward a breakup and Mark and Tom were barely talking. I am just saying: the pining is canon.)
To pick up this fandom: The links above should help! Mark published an autobiography recently, too, and it’s a good read.
Fandom-specific DNW exceptions: Mark had cancer and there's no real way to avoid talking about that, so I'm fine with including it; just please don't bring the cancer back (a scare that proves false is fine).
Blue Prince, Worldbuilding, Simon P. Jones
Request: What the hell is up with the world of Blue Prince? I would love an exploration of the magic, the mystery, and most of all the architecture. (Spoilers follow.)
We know there are other architects in the world, since there’s a magazine for them, and so presumably there are other mansions. Where are they? What are they like? Is there a Deep Architecture major in Corarica? Does every architect get their own mansion, or are some hired out? How did anyone ever discover this? And is every mansion a heap of puzzles, or was Baron Sinclair just weird? (I mean. Obviously he was weird. But is he the only one?)
(It’s a deep cut, but if you want to cross this over with the game Monument Valley, I would love that. Sacred Geometry meets Magical Architecture!)
Basically, I would just love so much worldbuilding. All the worldbuilding. With extra worldbuilding on top.
I would also absolutely love a story about Simon all grown up and preparing to hand on the mansion to the next heir. Does Simon choose the “just hand the heir the keys” route, or does he create a new buttload of puzzles? Or does he come up with a secret third option? How has the mansion changed during Simon’s tenure? What new rooms has he created? What new people live(d) there, and what are their bedrooms like? How have the politics of the larger world changed? Tell me the future, please!
Note: Simon is optional -- I’d love to see him in the story if he fits, but if he doesn’t, no worries at all.
Additional information: Oh my god. My daughter got this game for her birthday from a friend and she kept telling me I had to play it. She was right. It ate our ENTIRE BRAINS this summer. We played together daily and with my wife as often as possible. We talked and theorized when we weren’t playing. We have notes, we have pictures, we have sketches, we have a lore book. This game was the perfect storm for us: it required a ton of puzzle solving from me, a ton of spatial work and decision making from my daughter, and a ton of recordkeeping and indexing from my wife. We absolutely love it. The perfect video game, truly.
I love green rooms and the Kennel the most. (Any room with animals is a room for me!) I also love a lot of the upgrades: the Break Room/Billiard Room, the Cloister and all its many forms, the Corriyard; I’d love to see new upgrades for old rooms. I love the interplay between the servants that you only get glimpses of. I love the act of drafting, the way the random number generator rules just enough that you never know how a run will go. I love how things connect up (and I have a love/hate relationship with the things that don’t, or don’t yet).
Basically, I love this game because it feels like there’s always more, and what I want most from a Yuletide story about it is EVEN MORE. More details! More background! The answers to many of the lingering questions! A look into the future! Just. Just more.
(And if you want to make Simon queer, that would be delightful, but I do prefer gen or teen-rated stuff for this fandom.)
To pick up this canon: I think Let’s Plays would be your best route there. I haven’t watched any, but there are a lot on YouTube, I hear.
Nomads (1986) — Eileen Flax, Veronique Pommier
Request: These women have, by the end of the movie, a relationship that was made for fic, and so I’m hoping for something post-canon. How do things go when you simultaneously remember someone as your new friend made while surviving a terrible ordeal and your beloved wife? What’s it like when you’re on the run with someone you barely know except she also has the memories of the person you knew and loved best in the world?
And there’s also the issue of practical matters. How do they live? Eileen’s ability to practice medicine is going to be somewhat limited, at least at first, since being on the run from supernatural evil tends to inhibit your ability to obtain a license and a job. Does she become a doctor for people with paranormal maladies, or for supernatural people, or just for other people on the run? And what does Veronique, who came to this country hoping for some peaceful downtime and did not at all get that, do after the trauma of the movie?
I would be delighted with ship fic, including as much sex as you want to write, and I would love to see how they get there from where they start. I would be delighted with them turning around and taking the battle to the Nomads. I would be delighted with them encountering a new kind of evil and becoming a two-woman, three-sets-of-memories supernatural detection team. I just want to know how things go after the movie ends for these two. And please please please give them some kind of happily ever after, or the potential for one.
Additional information: For me, this movie is essentially one long prologue to fic. Like, okay, I’m sorry, but Eileen literally has Veronique’s dead husband’s memories and they literally drive off into the sunset together to make a new life. I just ... feel like that needs exploring, you know? I mean, yay Nomads, yay vaguely creepy paranormal whatever, but what of the relationship?
And these are two fascinating women. Veronique takes in a woman who is apparently insane and ranting and who seems to know her dead husband way too well and is incredibly kind to her, even though Niki’s life is, at that point, SUPER not going well. And Eileen is this analytical, problem-solving person who is going to find out what happened and fix this problem even if it, you know, destroys her life and drives her insane. (Also, her first thought when she wakes up in Veronique’s bed is apparently “Wait, did we have sex?” I am just saying. It was not far from Eileen’s mind. And Veronique clearly knew that. The possibility is there.) They are both willing to burn down lives they loved to stay alive, and I believe that means they can build something new in the ashes. I love them both, and want them to find happiness on the other side of their Nomad-Related Life Implosion.
This is technically a horror movie, but a) it’s so non-horrifying that I, a noted wimp, can watch it even after dark (except the deeply creepy abbey/nun sequence, because I am still a wimp) and b) I’m not really here for the horror aspect. I mean, okay, vaguely punkish Nomads acting like people in a gang in a movie, memory stealing, fine, that’s all good. But. Well. It’s not actually my main interest. My interest is in how people survive events this weird, how they make new lives after surviving, and how it all affects them.
I will be happy with any rating you care to write on this one. If you’re going to write a pairing, I’m only really interested in Eileen/Veronique HEA here. (But I am VERY interested in that!)
If you want to pick this up — well, it’s definitely available for rental on Amazon. And there’s also this copy, although I cannot vouch for its quality, on YouTube.
no subject
but i'm like THIS CLOSE to clicking the links and going way down this rabbit hole. i mean maybe after i've found things to actually offer/request LOL i'm prob not in a position to play yuletide roulette this year with fandoms i don't really know --
BUT BOY YOU HAVE ME TEMPTED hahahaha i guess i'm just here to tell you that, while i would be unlikely to offer any of these fandoms myself, i am delighted by your requests.
(ok rly i just meant the one request that i read the beginning of and was like I MUST READ MORE but now i'm looking at your others too and i am EXTREMELY curious about this game?? i've never heard of it, but i bet friends who boardgame** more often would know... but i'm esp intrigued bc i love monument valley)
THE VERY BEST OF YULETIDE LUCK TO YOU!!
**ETA: Okay, no idea why I thought this was a board game. Videogame makes much more sense with everything you said, hahahahahaha. But still! Interested! lol
no subject
I also heartily recommend Blue Prince if you like puzzles and roguelikes and exploration! (And taking notes. Lots of notes.)
Good luck finding your Yuletide fandoms!