Yuletide: Letter.

It’s that time again! Requests this year include: In Secret; Inside Llewyn Davis; Mad Men; and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (2011). As always, you can find me at musamihi @ AO3.

Dear Yuletide Writer:

Thank you for offering to write in one of my fandoms! I’d like to start off by stressing that for me, the most important thing is that you enjoy writing your story - if you love what you do, so will I. Please take the following in that spirit. If (aside from a few things I’d really appreciate you avoiding) anything about my tastes and requests makes you uncomfortable, or doesn’t inspire you, or just isn’t your bag - you do you. Honestly, I love being exposed to and trying new things, so if you’re excited about what you’re doing I’m excited to read it, even if it doesn’t fall within the exact parameters of my preferences. Take the bits you like and run with them. HAVE FUN.

Generally speaking, I am easy to please and difficult to offend. If you want to write something shippy, I’d love that - it’s absolutely not required! - and my shipping preferences are generally wide open; I don’t have any OTPs, I am an inveterate multi-shipper, I love my favorite characters in any permutation of pairing/threesome/poly scenarios. Fic that explores friendships or rivalries (rivalries and the relationships between enemies are a particular favorite, whether they shift into something more positive or not) or other kinds of connections or just the interior existence of one character are all amazing. My personal tastes tend toward the angsty/ambiguously-hopeful side of the spectrum, but if you prefer happy endings and a fluffier tone, I love reading that stuff, too; you just don’t have to be afraid that whatever you write will be too dark for me, because it will not. I’m 100% fine with any rating, from gen to explicit sexual content, and with any level of canon-typical violence.

Things I Love (There Are Lots)

• Political and ideological dimensions to characters/stories;
  
• Banter and arguing (whether good-natured or knock-down-drag-out rows);
  
• Characters whose worldviews and personalities perpetually clash even if they love each other to the ends of the earth;
  
• Characters whose worldviews and personalities perpetually clash and they can't fucking stand each other but they just can't resist each other, either;
  
• Non-standard relationships - I love when what characters have together for whatever reason doesn’t fit comfortably within the terms we normally use to describe romance or friendship or whatever;
  
• Hurt/comfort and characters bonding over caring for one another, patching one another up, etc., especially when they might not normally offer to or enjoy doing so (reluctant hurt/comfort full of sniping also very welcome);
  
• Atmosphere and description are always fabulous, particularly in historical/period canons;
  
• Characters that are allowed to keep their flaws and edges are my favorites - if you can articulate why X character is an asshole but we still love them, I will dig that so, so hard.

DNW:

• Detailed depictions of child abuse (mentions of or references to past abuse are fine);
  
• A/B/O dynamics/mpreg;
  
• Any soulmate/soulmark/soulbonding tropes;
  
• Bad things happening to birds. (I know. I just ... I really love birds.)

On to the prompts!

In Secret (2013) - Laurent LeClaire Thérèse Raquin

Part of the appeal of this film (and all of my requests this year, it appears) is the setting and everything that comes along with that - I love the way it looks, the brooding, closed-in atmosphere (with all the gorgeous potential of Paris around it), and the fact that Laurent's a painter, a man who clearly has an appreciation for beauty. I want to roll around in the aesthetic. The other thing that really draws me to this story is - and it's right there in the title - the clandestine nature of it all, the way it's intensely passionate but also absolutely muted. Do they get off on sneaking around? Is it just a matter of necessity, or is it an added spark for them? I obviously have no issues with infidelity, here, and any of the tropes around that you want to toss in would be more than fine - possessiveness, jealousy, Laurent getting just a little too much pleasure from the thought of taking something that isn't his ... it's all gold. If you're interested in the creepy/dark(er) side of things, I'd love to see a little more of Camille's memory/ghost/whatever bleeding into their lives in unsettling ways. Missing scenes from any part of their time together, from when they're just heating up to when they've utterly fallen apart into their own separate miseries, would be lovely. Some prompts, in case they spark something for you:

• The fear of getting caught at home becomes too great (or loses some of its luster); they take it somewhere more interesting.
  
• Laurent's work takes him, somehow, into the upper strata of society.
  
• Post-mortem: death doesn't have to end anything, right? Do they haunt things together? Are they doomed to some kind of Tantalus-esque punishment in the afterlife? Are thy reincarnated in some later period to play this whole thing out all over again?
  
• After their crime is discovered, they go on the run together.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - Llewyn Davis

This is one of my favorite films, and that's in large part because of Llewyn's relationship with his art - I think a lot of us can probably understand how you can love something so much, how you can absolutely need it to be a part of your life, and how you can nevertheless be relentlessly bitter about it - how it can make you so damn tired you kind of wish it wasn't a part of you. There's tragedy in that, but there's also a certain commitment to being true to yourself and a willingness to try to be happy that I find almost noble. I love Llewyn, his prickly exterior and his depth of feeling, his petty self-centeredness and occasional generosity. His relationships with the other people in his movement are fascinating to me - I'd love to see more fully how he fits into that scene, what his reputation is as a man and as an artist, and perhaps how that was different before and after Mike. I'd love to see him interact with pretty much anyone, so please feel free to throw in other characters as you like! His relationship with Mike, whether romantic or not, is always exciting to dig into; the nuances of his relationship with Jean are pretty much left open, and I'd love to see them filled in; really, any direction you want to take him with anyone in the film, or on his own, I'd love to read. (It occurs to me that the setting is right for a crossover with Mad Men, if you're familiar with it, which could be hilarious/heartbreaking.) Some prompts, in case they spark something for you:

• Llewyn goes to Akron; he doesn't go home.
  
• What was Llewyn's time with the Merchant Marine like? What kind of people did he meet? How did he satisfy his need for/love of music? Were there seafaring adventures?
  
• Jean keeps the kid; does Llewyn stand by and watch his child raised by another man? Does it inspire something in him? Does it matter at all?
  
• Christmas in New York can be bleak, especially if you're not into commercialized displays of cheer.

Mad Men - Roger Sterling

This fucking guy. When I started watching this show, I didn't really care for Roger; now, I have so much affection for him it hurts. I don't know what happened. He snuck up on me, and I'm still vaguely affronted by how quickly it happened, and without me noticing. I love his upbeat exterior (and I wonder if it really is entirely exterior - various characters mention that he's miserable, but I'm really not sure Roger knows that most of the time); I love how genuinely, kind of ridiculously proud of himself he is for doing drugs and gaining this new thing the kids are calling insight; I love what a drama queen he is; I also love gin, so we have at least one thing in common. I'd love to see his life with Marie, whose antics seem like either a 100% perfect fit for him, or destined to end in violent flames (and maybe those are the same thing); I adore his relationship with Joan and would be thrilled to read about any stage of it; really, if there are any other characters you'd like to toss him up against, I am totally here for it. There's no one on this show I don't find interesting. His youthful shenanigans, a look at his long relationship with Lucky Strike and Lee Garner Jr. (a bully to whom Roger's obviously pretty used to caving, by now), his happier times with Mona, or with Jane, or any other family members ... I'd be very pleased with anything that looks at this charming, deeply flawed, hot mess of a human. Some prompts, in case they spark something for you:

• Even when Roger should be a fish out of water, he manages to flop his way through. Down in Raleigh, maybe, or just down in the Village (and I wouldn't say no to an Inside Llewyn Davis crossover here, but - obviously this is in no way required).
  
• Adversity is getting stuck in an elevator with bad company and no booze.
  
• Stupid spontaneous adventures with clients. ... Or maybe with Kevin.
  
• Christmas away from home: vacation, or serious drag?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - Jim Prideaux, Bill Haydon

Cold war settings and espionage tropes are some of my very favorite things to read about - I love the grit and moral ambiguity and the ideological systems underpinning it all (which aren’t always embodied perfectly, or at all, in the people who profess to believe in them). This movie made me extremely happy. Bill’s choices in particular are fascinating to me, and I’d love more insight into how he got where he is: how deeply does he believe in the cause that’s led him to betray his friends? Has that changed over the years? Is it something he draws strength and justification from, or at this point is it just one more mundane part of his bureaucratic life? It’s implied that Jim knew, in some way, that Bill was a traitor before he was even captured. What was it that made him put himself in danger for someone he may have suspected was working against him? I’d also love to see something from their early working relationship, when they’re both younger and maybe a little less jaded. Some hurt/comfort back in London would be fantastic, possibly accompanied by domestic bickering; stuck-in-a-safehouse is one of my favorite espionage tropes, too, and any time you want to throw that in there, I will be a happy camper. Anything that catches them with their guard down would be a delight to read. Some prompts, in case they spark something for you:

• AU: Bill is successfully traded back to Moscow; Jim runs into him again, years later.
  
• Bill subtly trying to plant the seeds of communist sympathy.
  
• It shouldn’t be surprising, maybe, that men of their profession can’t quite resist the risk of getting caught.
  
• Celebrating Christmas very, very far from home.