yule log roasting on the open fire

[daken]

hello, writer!

Thank you for offering any of these fandoms.

I'm so excited to see what you come up with! I tried to make this as skim-friendly as possible. The tl;dr of it all is that if you touch on anything I mention liking even slightly, I'll be the happiest of campers ♥

I get...really excited when it comes to letter writing, so below is a page jump so you can hop to whatever fandom we matched on quickly. Please take my note at the top seriously and pick whatever you like and burn the rest of it, honestly.

(LIKES | DISLIKES)
A SINGLE MAN | PARIS JE T'AIME | NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
TENNIS RPF | TERMINATOR SALVATION | THE IMITATION GAME

( quick note )

I’ve tried to break the prompts into a format that works for the less-is-more writer and the more-is-more writer. Feel free to pick and choose aspects of the prompts that you like, and disregard or change whatever doesn’t work for you.

If you come up with an idea that’s similar to a prompt I left below, but not quite on the nose, go for it! If ¾ of a prompt really works for you, but the final ¼ doesn’t, only work with the bit that does! Mixing and matching is also completely fine.

⟿The top level prompt suggestions are general and full ideas. Know what you want to write now? Great!

Not sure what to write? Mind swimming with too many possibilities? Not enough possibilities? The questions and ideas following the top-level are here for you, just in case you need more prompting!

Don't feel like you have to spend a bunch of time on setting up a universe or plot. I already know what 'verse I requested or what situation I've set up in a prompt, so please feel free to jump right in the "middle" of a story/in media res and start right when stuff is getting interesting.

likes!

⟿ I really like strong relationships. I ship all of the characters I nominated and am super into reading about how their relationships work; their dynamics, how they support one another, how they relate to each other, how they interact [pre-, post-, and during-canon when “offscreen”], where their wants and needs mesh up, where they differ; all that interests me immensely. Keep the focus on them and I’m happy, ship or no ship!

⟿ I love when people are equally invested in whatever they’re doing; completing a mission, building a relationship, putting together IKEA furniture! Them putting in the same amount of care and time into what they're doing/building together, and them respecting each other enough not to play games are all stuff that I like.

Rather than miscommunication causing drama, I love it when bluntness and frankness causes that tension instead! Characters saying what they want or what they've done, point blank, and then leaving it to the other character to decide if they can handle that; quiet characters taking their time and really mulling over their choices before telling the other person what they want: It’s all great.

⟿ On the darker side of that coin, I love me some fucked up, unhealthy relationships too. Codependent relationships, dependent personality disorders being exploited by someone with a histrionic personality disorder, obsessive relationships: you can be giving it all to me. I love when a character is willing to literally let the world burn, should the world try to come between them and the person they love (romantically or platonically).

I love them doing questionable things or neglecting themselves in order to make their partner happy. I don't need it sugar coated or spun to make it seem healthy and alright, in fact I love it when the characters know — fully or merely suspecting — that what they're feeling, to the level they're feeling it at, isn't healthy, but they enjoy it so much they wouldn't even think of getting help or trying to back off. Them being equally, fuck-up-ed-ly invested in their relationship is what I live for.

⟿ I love codas, alternate canons, semi-alternate universes, and canon divergences, and/or slight changes to canon. I also love established relationships/friendships, and domesticity. If you want to write me slice-of-life that details their routine or daily life, I'll eat that shit up.

⟿ I actually really like stuff that starts in the "middle"/in medias res of a fic. I don't need a lot of world building, especially if that's not something you're super into doing. If you've decided to take up one of my AU or canon-divergence ideas, I already know the basic background of what's going on so you can go right on ahead with the action of the story.

⟿ When it comes to ratings, anything from G-rated schmoop to NC-17 sexcapades is alright in my book.

⟿ Should you write a sex scene, here’s a list of kinks/scenarios that I like to read:

age regression, age differences, underage, made-them-do-it, a/b/o, water sports (for marking/scenting and/or intimacy; less about being super into pee or humiliation), conditioning, frottage, gentleness, roleplay, rough sex, marking/branding, switching/no set sexual “roles”, possessiveness, power issues, abuse of power, dubcon, semi-public sex, sensory overload, sex addiction/compulsion, silence, d/S that’s focused on taking care/being cared for more than pain/humiliation, size differences and power dynamics — feel free to have the "smaller”/younger/more docile dude be more "dominant”/aggressive member of the relationship—, touching, slavefic, delayed emotional intimacy, captivity.

⟿ Finally, a general list of tropes/scenarios that I will never turn down are:

stuck in isolation together, forced closeness, age gaps, amnesia, viking/tribe/barbarian/pre-history au, android aus, hooker aus, western/rancher/farmer aus, trope inversions & subversions, sex before feelings, d/s that’s focused on taking care/being cared for more than pain/humiliation, soul mates/soul bonds, fake relationships, forced/arranged marriages, bodyswaps, exploring physical disabilities (losing sight/hearing/the ability to a speak).

dislikes!

⟿ Deathfic wherein a character dies and then the story ends; if they’re brought back to life via something supernatural, are reborn, are turned into a cyborg, etc. or the story continues on in the ~afterlife~, then fine!

⟿ Excessive angst wherein the majority of the fic is sadness/miscommunications and a tiny bit at the end is happy/resolution; if from the outside, as an observer, it's sad but the character(s) living that reality as their everyday lives are happy/content/blind to it, then that's fine! I just don't like it when 50% or more of the fic is focused on someone's sadness/angst and how they react or wallow in said angst.

⟿ Pain kink, embarrassment/humiliation (kink or otherwise), painplay/torture kink, cheating/infidelity, high school/university au, matchmaking/meddling friends, crossdressing, noncon/rape, genderswap/always-a-[opposite gender].

⟿ Not a fan of crossovers, but fusions are always cool.

A Terminator Salvation fusion with The Imitation Game, where Marcus and Kyle attend a boarding school together and Marcus befriends to helping the uber-smart Kyle. A Tennis RPF fusion with Paris, Je T'aime, where Rafa walks into a shop and falls head-over-heels in love with Roger, who has no idea what this cute Spanish guy is saying. A A Single Man fusion with Night at the Museum, where Jim and George are exhibits — miniatures, period; maybe George is a wax figure from a Revolutionary War exhibit while Jim is one from WWII — who romance one another every night. I'd read them all!

⟿ I’d like fics best when background pairings are kept to a minimum. Side relationships existing in the background (or canon relationships showing up) are completely fine, but an extended subplot detailing their relationship angst or them getting together will make my eyes glaze over. Also please, no canon sig-others/children in RPF. Handwave it all the way!

⟿ No preference between past and present tense, although I prefer 3^rd-Person Narration well above all others.

A SINGLE MAN (2009)

George & Jim.

Watch on Netflix or Putlocker.

I love the soft quality this film has, even when George is slowly starting to regain his desire to live and things are (visually) becoming more vibrant. Even more than that, though, is that I love how the mood always changes when he remembers the things he did with Jim; I love how even the boring, mundane moments of life were made better when Jim was around, and how they teased and were also so sensual with one another.

A Single Man has always been one of my favorite books, and the film managed to capture everything I loved about it. The easy, back-and-forth domesticity between George and Jim, George's listlessness and sporadic disdain for the at times basic and bigoted section of students he had to teach. How the daily routine he had been so happy with when it was shared with Jim suddenly became lifeless and unbearable without him.

Jim was sure of himself from a young age — he never felt the need to sleep with women, and from the way he went after George the first time they met, he never seemed shy about going after what he wanted, even if it meant possibly risking jail time or worse — and that carried over into everything he did, from enlisting into the military or just bossing George around their house, and it's one of my favorite things about him. George obviously puts up a good front when around strangers, but around Jim he was himself, and all his rough edges seemed to be smoothed by Jim's more malleable personality.

I ship George/Jim but I'm also alright with George/Carlos and George/Kenny, so if you wanted to write a canon-divergent (as in, George doesn't die) AU where he ends up with one of them (and not include Jim or only have Jim mentioned in passing/flashbacks), I'd be alright with that! Or an canon-divergent AU where Jim survives George (and Geroge dies), and Jim ends up with Carlos somehow? I don't know; I'm here for it all.

⟿ The first few days/weeks/months of George and Jim's relationship.

Has George ever had a Great Romance like this? What's it like for him to have Jim move in with him? After seeing all his friends pair up and get married, does George finally feel like he's attainted that since of permanency? Does he feel like maybe their love is even greater a thing because most of his straight friends have their relationships crash and burn, be he and Jim are rock solid thoughout the years?

⟿ Rebirth semi-AU? Maybe George's soul is reborn and he goes through the motions, trying to figure out why he feels so old, and then it all clicks into place when he meets reborn!Jim.

They don't have to remember their past, it can just be an Intense Feeling. Maybe they move in together right away and get married ASAP and all their friends are shocked and think it's too soon, but they don't care?

Or if they do remember their previous lives, they're happy that they actually can be married this time, and George remembers how he was denied the right to come to Jim's funeral because he wasn't "family", so he's ecstatic that they will never have to go through that again?

⟿ We know way more about George's life than we do Jim's, so I'd love to see snapshots of Jim's life over the years: his first crush as a boy, enlisting into the Navy, meeting lovely men in various ports during his leave and having to leave them behind, arriving in Los Angeles, meeting George, dating/courting George, them basically being married.

⟿ General domesticity between George and Jim. We saw what George's morning routine was post-Jim, but what was it like with the two of them puttering around the house? Was it different on a weekday compared to a weekend, or even during summer break when George would be a around all the time?

⟿ Fix-it, of course. Jim doesn't die.

Maybe he walks away from the accident without a scratch, or maybe he's slightly disabled or temporarily injured — broken leg; blind; deaf? He and George learn how to deal with that.

Would George still die? Or would Jim being around mean that someone would be there to call an ambulance, and save his life? Maybe Jim is completely fine, but the heart attack/stroke means that Jim has to take care of him for a little while.

⟿ Alternate First Meeting AUs?

“We’ve never met before, but I live in the apartment next door and I can’t go to work for the next week so could you buy me some groceries and medicine I promise I’ll pay you back" au

“i see you jogging around my block every morning so i guess it’s my fault i accidentally left my curtains open when changing while you passed by” au

"We’re both professors in the same department and it enhances your reputation with the students as a mysterious enigma and my reputation as a stone-cold terror if we pretend to hate each other, plus when we back each other up in departmental meetings everybody’s so surprised they give in right away" au"

“i’m a cab driver and you’re late to a business meeting and you are literally the most demanding pretentious piece of shit i’ve ever had the displeasure of driving but i also kind of want to fuck you in that suit” au

PARIS, JE T'AIME / LE MARAIS (2006)

Elie & Gaspard.

Watch it on Youtube.

Technically what could be considered a five minute fandom (the film is literally six minutes), since this particular short is from a longer film, but it honestly has been haunting me for the last eight fucking years.

There were two really great fics written for it last Yuletide (including my flawless gift!) but I would like more, more, more, please.

I love the overall tone and mood that's established in such a short amount of time. Elie would rather sit quietly and not admit that he has no idea what in the hell it is Gaspard is going on about. Gaspard never lets Elie's silence dissuade him from trying to form a connection. It seems like they're opposites, but I think that Elie's just as much of a romantic as Gaspard, and you can really see that part of his personality shine through when he bails from work to try to track Gaspard down.

I could read 500k sprawling epics about these two — that's how much I've thought about and am invested in this little short movie. I feel like this short film is the audio-visual equivalent of a perfect 1k fic!

I have no preference if you go with Elias’ character’s name being Eli, Elie, or even Elias.

⟿ If you’d care to be literal, a spontaneous soul bond could’ve manifested between the two of them. It guides Elie to Gaspard and you can take it from there!

What are the realities of being stuck to another person, especially a stranger? Is this a super rare thing that never ever happens, or is it a world where soulbonds are the norm? How do they navigate the waters of feeling so utterly and devastatingly connected to this person that they know is perfect for them in theory, but who they’ve only known for five minutes?

If you’ve always wanted to explore soulbond tropes and deconstruct them, or really look into the realities of being stuck to another person, especially a stranger, (I do love my unhealthy relationships, after all!) then I give you free reign. A sweet, domestic take on it is also perfect and wonderful and very much do want.

⟿ If you’d like to make it just be an intense connection between them rather than anything paranormal, I’d love Elie catching up to Gaspard — it can even be days or weeks before they reunite again, maybe when Gaspard comes back to pick up the prints? — and the two of them go on dates; anything really exploring the general progression of their relationship from that first meeting to however you want it to end up!

⟿ I also love, love, love language barriers, so literally anything to do with them getting past their language handicaps.

Elie working on getting his French better while Gaspard stumbles through English? He translates for his boss, but is his English largely work related and so do interpersonal and more daily/slang words trip him up? Maybe them coming up with a Franglish-hybrid language? A complicated system of hand gestures to make up for their shared language failings?

⟿ Seriously, domestic schmoop with Gaspard mooning over Elie while they do the most basic of things by itself or stuck in the middle of these prompts would be great.

⟿ If you want to go in a completely different direction, here is an interview GVS did about the film, where he says that he originally meant for the story to take place in a furniture shop. He also says that his original story ended with Elie confused, wondering what in the hell Gaspard was going on about.

How does that version of Elie feel? Did he go about the rest of his day — his week? — feeling unsettled? When Gaspard comes back to pick up his side table or whatever, does he try to pick up their conversation where they left off? Is Elie so bemused by Gaspard that he asks him out on a date? What’s their relationship like, with Gaspard being so intensely into Elie, while Elie feels things at a much more casual level?

⟿ Another Gus Van Sant film that I love is My Own Private Idaho, and a fusion with that could be very interesting.

If you haven't seen it, I love hookerfic in general and so just going with a complete alternative universe or a slight alternate canon to make that happen would bring a smile to my face.

Maybe Elie and Gaspard have been hookers for a while, with Gaspard longing after Elie, while Elie's not so sure they'll work out? Maybe Gaspard is a john who picks Elie up and falls in love with him right when they meet, and he has to convince Elie to be his?

⟿ Alternate First Meeting fic?

"a hopeless romantic and a single-but-proud meet at a store on valentine’s day. the latter is buying valentine cards ironically, the former buying them sincerely in hopes of getting a date" au

"my friend can’t stop talking about how they want to set me up with their other friend so we start texting each other and they’re hilarious but shy about meeting and ALSO there’s a cute bike delivery guy who brings my mail at work and winks at me whenever i sign for a package" au

"i hired a dog walking company and i’ve never met the person who comes to my apartment but they leave me really cute notes and they give my dog presents and i kind of love them because my dog does and ALSO one of the artists at this gallery opening is hella cute and i want them to paint me like one of their french boys" au

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (MOVIES)

Jedediah & Octavius.

Watch Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian, or Secret of the Tomb on Putlocker. I & III are available on HBOGo/Now.

I love these two idiots. I love that they make a ton of Brokeback Mountain parallels between the two of them, I love that Octavius is very upfront about Jed being his ideal of beauty. I love how even when Larry gave them the chance to finally be free of one another, once and for all, they still stayed right by each other's sides and kept on arguing. I got a really great gift for these two in another exchange, but I'm greedy this year and am double dipping in all fandoms that I've had success, and so here goes nothing!

The way that these two became fast friends after being one another's nemesis for decades is both hilarious and sweet, and I love how in NATM III: Secret of the Tomb Jed found himself super jealous of Lancelot, even though the only reason Octavius found Lancelot attractive in the first place was because of the fact that he's such a dead ringer for Jed that he could've been his brother. (As an aside, Lancelot totally wanted to fuck Nick right? I'm not the only one imagining those vibes? Someone needs to write that fic.)

I also really love that Octavius felt no shame in ~appreciating~ Lancelot's beauty aloud? He didn't even seem to care if somebody realized he had a love for the male body, dude just seemed happy to have a reason to talk about hot blonds with pretty blue eyes in a way that wouldn't instantly seem like a compliment to Jedediah. Also their shared YouTube adventures! Of course they're the type to not only spend hours on there, but comment too, with a possibly shared account, no less. (Do they post videos? Are they fanvids or more like vlogs?)

Most of all, I love that the franchise decided to play with the Macho Cowboy and Stoic Roman trope by highlighting another, more accurate and prevalent aspect of those two eras: there was a lot of man-on-man lovin'. I've always been super into canons and AUs set during the Wild West/Manifest Destiny and Ancient Greco-Roman Antiquity, so their relationship was basically torn right from my dreams. That they were always intended to be read as gay and in love is icing on that particular cake.

If you want to go past AU or Modern AU, don't feel like you have to change their names. I'm fine with an Octavius in the 1800s and a Jedediah in the 8^th century BCE, no questions asked. If you want to make them more period appropriate, that's okay too, but just don't feel like you have to. Although I really like Ancient Rome and the American West, but I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy, so you can be as canon-compliant or handwavey as you so choose; neither will toss me out of the story.

⟿ Western or Roman AU!

If Western: Farm hands who fall in love? Two guys who're shacked up together and tending land together with nobody around for miles? A Brokeback-type situation where they have to work together and fall in love, except instead of going the angsty closeted life route, they decide to make a go after they come down from the mountain!?!

Or, if Roman: Jed as Emperor/Senator Octavius' bodyguard? The two of as lovers in the army; Octavius taking Jed as his concubinus? Maybe Octavius being unofficially-exiled from the army/senate because they found out he was a ~cinaedus, so he goes into the countryside for his own ye olde Manifest Destiny, where he meets country boy Jedediah?

⟿ Soulmates + rebirth trope.

You can do as many different lives lived as you like! Did they first meet as cavemen and that's where their fates tied? Or was their first time in Ancient Rome, and then they finally met again in the Wild West? Third time could be a miniatures and maybe they'll meet again as full-sized humans in the modern day/near feature?

⟿ If you don't want to go the canon-compliant route and history aus aren't your scene, here are a few random scenarios that I think would work with them. However, if you can make any of these work and be canon compliment/a divergent-canon, I am totally here for it.

"i tried to use self-check out when buying lube and it froze hopelessly and you were the employee to come and help me" au

"i hate commitment but my dad’s dying wish is to see me get married and you’re an old family friend i ran into at the airport on my way to visit him so hey let’s get engaged" Fake-dating au

"We’re going on a blind date - but wait a moment, aren’t you that went down on me in a back alley behind a club year ago? … what do you mean “which one”?" au

“No that’s impossible how the fuck did you manage to get it to catch fire?!” Firefighter AU

“sorry i knocked you out in that bar fight last night, but i brought you to the hospital and stuck around ‘til you woke up to apologize” au

TENNIS RPF

Roger & Rafa.

rafa’s various interviews. the true roger: fucking troll edition.

Rafa’s my favorite tennis player. I remember watching his first match in 2002 and being so impressed; you could instantly tell that he was going to become the next big thing — maybe even one of the greatest of all time. Fast forward two years and I was ready to fight people for his honor. But before Rafa, there was Roger. He’s still a player I love, and when Rafa beat him for the first time I got a taste of what would make me the happiest in the tennis realm for all the years follow: Rafa vs. Roger. I can’t lose when the two of them play. As long as the winner goes on to win in the finals I’m in heaven.

I love how much they respect each other, particularly in Rafa’s case. He grew up loving Roger’s tennis and even now that Roger’s in the downslope of his career — not that you can even tell it sometimes, jesus Roger — you couldn’t pay Rafa to say something negative about Roger or his game. Even when Roger’s pissed off at Rafa beating him, he’s still the first to champion Rafa’s career and accomplishments, even if that means talking about his own losses.

They aren’t typical opposites-attract, because neither of them are overly serious; they also aren’t more or less dedicated to the sport than the other. Roger’s slightly more outgoing due to his stronger grasp of English and by way of just being older, but Rafa’s just as prone to smile as he is to buckling down and dedicating himself to his career. They’re complementary people that always seem to love being around one another and bring out the best in each other, even when their goal for particular day is to ruin the other guy’s whole fucking month by beating him.

⟿ I love alternate canons where one of them is still an athlete and the other isn’t!

Is the non-famous one still related to the sport, career-wise? A yoga instructor that the athlete has to work with; a physical trainer added on to the athletes team; a ball boy; a sports journalist; an agent; PR lacky; translator?

Do they meet by fate instead? Does the non-famous one happen to work out at the same gym as the athlete; is he a cashier at the local bodega at the end of the athlete’s block; do they ride the same train every day?

I love hooker/escort fic too, so if the athlete is too busy for a real boyfriend but wants someone to cuddle/release tension with? Yes please. (I got an amazing hookerfic AU and now I feel as if this prompt has The Magic Touch. If you want to write another hooker AU in my honor, please, shove my name on it.)

⟿ Anything based around this joint interview. They’re so flirty and chuckle-y. Rafa slipping into Spanish to complain, Roger acting like he’s the young one by cracking up every five fucking seconds, Rafa’s perfect poker face whenever he isn’t looking at Roger, Roger constantly fucking touching Rafa, “No, no, Rafa, you were perfect! It’s me!”, them both being so fucking sweaty, Rafa’s hair. Were they hanging out in the days/weeks before? Did they hang out after?

Highlight #1: ”Can you imagine if we had to make a film together? It would probably take like five years.”

Something where the ATP or some famous director decides to document Roger and Rafa’s rivalry for a year, maybe two? It takes upwards of five years to come out! Why is that? Is it because Rafa and Roger keep being silly, flirty bastards so they never have enough film to hype up an intense rivalry? Is it so bad that when the documentary eventually does come out, it comes across as a non-fiction romcom more than a sports documentary?

Highlight #2: ”[Roger does his solo in Spanish] “Oh, fantastic.” “I’m fluent in Spanish!”

Life ruiners!!! Rafa was so earnestly impressed and when the camera pans back to him, he looks so shy and embarrassed. Rafa coaching Roger on how to say his lines in Spanish! Language kink?

Highlight #3: The actual point of the ad.

Can’t go wrong with Canadian Swiss Shack trope! There is canon inspiration if you’d like some video of how it would go down. Maybe Rafa finally agrees to Roger’s charity tournament and the snow storm of the century means it’s cancelled and they’re stuck inside Roger’s house all day — and for the days/week after, because flights are cancelled? It’s not so bad.

⟿ I love arranged marriages!

Alternate canon where Rafa’s the prince of Spain, Roger’s the prince of Switzerland, and their fathers marry them off to strengthen the ties between their kingdoms? Sons two traditional but mundane families who planned their marriage before Rafa was even born? One family fell on hard times and the other agreed to help them out, but at an arranged marriage cost?

Does the age gap makes Roger feel strange enough as it is, but at least they have tennis to bond over? Do they still have tennis to bond over?

⟿ Canon divergence where tennis — or alternate canon where the whole world — has some sort of formal d/s system thing going on?

If you’re going to be in the ATP you have to be tested/sorted and maybe they force you to play a set number of doubles games to make sure everyone’s [been doing alright and can get advice from older players/have their innate needs are met]?

Rafa’s paired with Roger to be his mentor, but they’re really bad at fitting into traditional d/s roles? What if Rafa's the 'dom'? Roger went his whole career being incompatible with any dom — and therefore was dom-less — until Rafa showed up; now at [21-23] he suddenly has this [15-17] year old bossing him around?

⟿ Canon divergence where Tomeu is the tennis player and Rafa is his older-brother coach, the same way Toni has always been involved in Rafa’s career?

Does Roger love to play the new kid because he likes to oogle his older brother in the stands? Does he try to poach Rafa away to be his coach instead? (Does it work?) Does Rafa try not to act like he likes Roger’s attentions? Does he flirt right back? Does the media catch on and start to speculate if the forever-bachelor Roger Federer has finally found his match and just might be willing to settle down?

⟿ Bodyswap! With each other? With themselves in a different universe — did they wake up married?

What’s it like to wake up in the body of someone older/younger than you? Playing a different style of tennis? What is this upside down world where Roger Federer starts to fucking kill it on the clay and Rafael Nadal is the grass master?

Are they freaked out to wake up in a universe where everyone talks about them being the worlds greatest sports power couple? Do they roll with it like pros and joke behind the scenes until they get with the program and realize they actually do love each other? How fun are their cuddly, schmoopy couples interviews? How domestic are they on the court when they play doubles?

Or, are they that power couple in a mirrorverse and suddenly they wake up in our universe, where they’re friendly rivals? Do they try to play the part and act platonic? Do they not give a shit and so the whole tennis world scrambles to report on how Roger and Rafa are suddenly kissing in between sets and have been sighted going grocery shopping together?

TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009)

Marcus & Kyle.

Watch on Putlocker.

Do you know what I love just as much as androids? Cyborgs. Wanna know what I love even more than androids/cyborgs? Ones that were programmed to care about only one damn person on earth and will literally do anything to protect them, single-mindedly, including going against their programming when they realize it's not the best thing for that person. And that's why I love me some Marcus.

Whatever Skynet was doing when the selected and "made" Marcus, they certainly did it right, because Kyle was entranced by him from the moment they met. The teenaged Kyle Reese we got in this film was really engaging and fascinating; you could see how they were trying to show bits and pieces of Terminator II era teenaged John Connor, and those parallels were great.

I really enjoyed how reverent John was with Kyle, and how because of the age difference in this film (compared to what they did in Genisys), the roles were reversed and in some ways it was like John was Kyle's dad or older brother. I think that during the time Kyle was on base, they would develop an older brother + younger brother / father + son hybrid-dynamic that would have been interesting to see. Kyle & Star were also a nice surprise; I know the movie didn't frame it this way, but Star really is the only child Kyle will get to raise, considering that he doesn't get to see John grow up and really never gets to appreciate that John is his son while they know one another. Kyle's clearly caring and would make a great dad, so it's great that Star was on the receiving end of that affection and care.

Kyle & Marcus were a great team and their instant connection is something that I love. Marcus was prickly and kept acting like he would leave, and it was obvious that there was no way he was going to bail on Kyle — hot damn, the lengths he went to to protect Kyle were so intense — but eventually it all made sense when the reveal about his programming came out.

I enjoyed the Genisys movie for what it was, but I'm not overly fannish about it. What I do really love it for though, is that it gives us a different John Connor. Sarah knew that a Kyle Reese would be John's dad, but it doesn't have to be Anton Yelchin's Kyle, you get me? Any Tom, Dick, or Jane could have gone back in time and told Sarah their name was Kyle, and things would have played out the exact same.

It's for that reason that I think Genisys had a different John and a different Kyle. Either the Kyle & John in Salvation did something to change their universe's timeline/create a mirrorverse due to timelines splitting, or some guy who they told Sarah was named Kyle Reese or an actual other Kyle Reese (not exactly a unique name) was really John's dad. I mean, he could have just taken back a sperm sample and done the deed. In every other Terminator universe, John got to Kyle in time to make him fall in love, his first love, with Sarah. In Salvation, it would seem that Kyle's first love went to someone else, so John might want to come up with a fallback plan.

I know the above is the general headcanon in fandom, but please feel free to disregard it and replace it with one of your own if you've never subscribed to it! But if you find yourself with any difficulty reconciling why people wouldn't be super freaked out about Anton!Kyle going back in time and siring John (or wouldn't do everything in their power to split up Kyle/Marcus and that's just not a fic you want to write), then feel free to use it as the explanation for why, because I obviously buy it!

This movie basically has everything I enjoy: human/non-human relationships, age gaps, loyalty kink, bodyguard trope, 'made for you', and best of all, a sci-fi setting that is ripe for canon divergences thanks to the very fucking time loops that make Terminator what it is. I'm all about Kyle/Marcus but incest never bothered me none, so if you wanted to work John in there somehow? Make it so. It seems like a waste to have Christian Bale in a movie and not use him.

⟿ Kyle is a bit reckless and clearly thinks with his heart and not his head. What if he went back in time to save Marcus?

How far back would he go? Right before Marcus committed the crime that got him locked up in the first place? To when Marcus was Kyle's age, to save him from getting involved in his brothers shit? Just a few days prior, right before he and Marcus first met?

Regardless of the period, how does Marcus feel about some kid showing up in his life, one who obviously thinks Marcus is the moon and the stars?

How does that change things? Do they stop Skynet and prevent Judgement Day? Does Judgement Day still happen? Does Kyle Prime still find John somehow (sans-Marcus) and go back in time and have that baby with Sarah, while time traveler!Kyle and Marcus lie low and spend their days fighting in the resistance under assumed names?

⟿ Canon divergence where John dies at the end of the film and Kyle (+ Marcus?) have to lead the resistance.

⟿ Canon divergence where Marcus wakes up sooner and has been with Kyle since around the time his dad died?

How does that change their relationship? Are they a well-oiled killing tandem? Is Star their adopted daughter?

⟿ The Terminator creators are really into John Connor as a Jesus parallel. Kyle was obviously one of the believers, but I think that he found his own personal savior — literally, since Marcus was made for him — in Marcus and that became even more clear when he was more worried about Marcus than he ever was John.

I'd love to see an canon-divergence/alternate-canon where there's a fraction in the resistance where some people think that John is humanity's savior, while other people think that Marcus (…which in this case I suppose is Judas?), who straddles the line between man and machine but sides with man, is the one who can stop this, just like he took down the San Francisco Skynet headquarters.

⟿ The original leaked ending for the film was: to have John killed, and his image kept alive by the resistance by grafting his skin onto Marcus' cybernetic body. Marcus would have then murdered Kate, Barnes, Kyle, and Star. Which would have been intense as hell.

Leaving off the murder, the idea that Marcus would literally become John and carry on the resistance is actually really interesting. With John dead, Kyle wouldn't really need to go back in time, because clearly John isn't the savior, Marcus is? So how in the hell does that change things?

⟿ Marcus either doesn't have to give John his heart (there's another donor? John's heart was never damaged?) or he is able to survive without his heart.

Is he still super protective and hovering over Kyle all over the base? Is John Not Okay with Kyle being best friends with a Skynet created cyborg? Do Kyle and John clash over ideologies? Do Marcus and John?

⟿ Prison Alternate Canon. Kyle is born earlier and ends up in prison with Marcus.

Is this a universe where Judgement Day still happens? Does Marcus still become a cyborg? Does Kyle?

If it's an AU with no Terminator threat, how does Kyle end up under Marcus' protection? Does Marcus end up under Kyle's? Is John in prison too? John's such a charismatic force, I could see him being a gang boss; maybe he gets tough guy Marcus to look after his son?

⟿ Skynet kills everyone except Marcus — and Kyle, by extension, because there's no way that Marcus would fail at keeping him safe. What's being the last two people on earth like? Kyle will keep aging; will Marcus?

⟿ Feral Kyle

Kyle had to raise himself from a young age and other adults probably were the last thing from trustworthy, so it would be perfectly reasonable for him to have gone a little wild. If you want him to be 100% wolf boy, his father could have died when Kyle was around toddler age rather than pre-preteen.

I'd love Marcus having to gentle him. Or maybe something inside of Kyle knows that Marcus is his and is very territorial?

If you want to go pre-Judgement Day, maybe Marcus finds Kyle right as or just after shit hits the fan. I'd imagine that Kyle would be more civilized for having Marcus with him, but such a traumatic event might leave him feeling very possessive of Marcus and result in an unhealthy fixation, right? Marcus is his whole world! Does Marcus freak out about it and try to make Kyle look beyond him, or does he actually really love that Kyle is his and he is Kyle's?

⟿ Alternate Canon where Judgement Day happened pre-technology in either the Middle Ages or a period where humans were largely tribes.

Maybe there's a prophesy about how young Prince-King Kyle Reese will find some random woman who will have a son named John, who will be his one true heir — moreso than any bio kid? — and save their kingdom from the Terminator kingdom/clan? Marcus as his hunky older knight? skakdkjh;asdhsdk I don't know. A non-technological take on the Terminator 'verse could be fun!

⟿ And, finally, to keep with the theme that I've got going in the other fandoms: random tropes/aus. Change them any way you like, and if you can figure out a way to make them canon divergences or alternate canons then I will be mega impressed and very interested.

“Sure, you could send a bunch of knights to their deaths by having them compete for my hand in marriage, or like, you know, I could just “marry” my best friend/bodyguard” AU

"So I accidentally peeked at your laundry once and saw your superhero uniform and now I’m trying to play it chill.” Superhero AU

“I’m your roommate and you keep coming home at the ass-crack of dawn exhausted and covered in bruises, are you okay?” Another Superhero AU

AU where Superhero Marcus takes on a villain and almost dies, but random stranger Kyle takes him in and cares for him as he heals. Neither of them pry into the other's real identity. (I'm just now realizing that a superhero AU/canon divergence for this fandom is something I could be Very Into, help.)

Marcus/Kyle was Kyle/Marcus' imaginary friend as a kid. Boy was he surprised when they met in real life.

THE IMITATION GAME (2014)

Christopher & Alan.

Watch on Putlocker.

THESE TWO TRAGIC BASTARDS. They're tragic in the film, they're tragic in real life. Please fix it for me, in any and all ways.

I liked the way that the film portrayed their relationship, but if we you want to be historically accurate, this is a good read. Things of note are that Alan was told ahead of time that Christopher was ill & that although Alan did have the sham engagement, he was upfront/open from the beginning about being gay and that there was never any slight embers of romantic feelings from Joan.

Another good source is this "online scrapbook" which talks about the trip Chris and Alan took to Cambridge together, where Alan says, "I was looking forward as much to spending a week with Chris as to seeing Cambridge". Basically everything about them makes me so Upset. Here are some more sites about the two, in case you need more crap to inspire you.

"“Christopher was the great love of his life,” says [the film's screenwriter Graham] Moore. “He sent letters to Christopher’s family for the rest of his life. He never fell in love again.” Let me die.

⟿ Semi-AU where Christopher lives.

Can be set entirely during their school days. Maybe they're "bachelors who live together" while Alan's teaching/gets asked to work on Enigma? Whatever, I will eat up any 'verse where everybody lives.

⟿ Android AU or canon-divergence/alternate canon.

A future fic set a few hundred years beyond canon, during a different war maybe?

Perhaps once Alan figures out how to make Christopher work, the rest comes really easily to him and he manages to build a primitive android rather quickly with his military pay? (If you don't want to go the full android humanoid body, Christopher can just be his "personality" coded into a computer, sorta like 'Joshua' in the film WarGames.)

I'd sort of love it if (in a future AU or during canon) while Alan was going into work every day and doing the cost/benefit analysis of the day to day war, he'd would return home to android!Christopher, and that's what would make things not seem so horrible? It would be great if having Christopher made it so he didn't need to seek out prostitutes and maybe prevented him from ever having a run in with the police. CAN YOU TELL I JUST WANT THINGS FIXED?!

⟿ Semi-AU where they meet later in life rather than in school?

Maybe they meet working on Enigma? Maybe they meet after the war? Maybe caring, kind Christopher becomes a doctor and instead of Alan being poisoned to death, Christopher saves him? Maybe Christopher can be the carer assigned to give him his anti-gay shots, but Christopher lies about dosing him up and never does? I DON'T KNOW!! Take it anywhere you like.

How is Alan different (considering that he didn't have Christopher to help shape his personality/beliefs in his formative years)? In what new ways does Christopher change/impact him while they're both adults?

⟿ Rebirth trope with bonus age difference.

Christopher is reborn not long after his death; putting a ~13/14 year old age difference between him an Alan. Does Christopher remember his past life? Do the reunite on accident? How does Alan feel about their age difference? How does Christopher?

⟿ Supernatural/OTT explanation for why Christopher wasn't killed by his illness?

Turned into a vampire, werewolf, maybe he did die but has come back as a ghost that only Alan can see?

I've also seen a couple headcanon/theories for fix-its where the Morcom's were doing sketchy political/financial things and for whatever reason or another (death threats, government relocation, I don't know) Christopher's death was faked; Hugh Alexander is Christopher's new identity and so he spots Alan right away when they first meet — it's not like he'd ever forget Alan's name, but it certainly doesn't hurt that Alan's hardly changed!

I think that would be an interesting twist? Either as Christopher!Hugh or possibly fakename!Christopher as the seventh guy on the Enigma team who is surprisingly good at handling/understanding Alan and who is the only one who Alan doesn't have to convince to like him?

thanks for reading!
spock

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! :D

So I watched that clip of Elie and Gaspard and it was lovely, so thank you for the introduction! I know it's kind of a compilation movie, with different directors doing different little vignettes, but do they ever cross over? Like, do characters from one show up in the background of another or something? Or is that it for those two characters? Do you like the rest of the movie or just that part?

[daken]

Hello!

Eeee, welcome to the fandom ♥ I'm glad that you liked it.

There isn't any crossover in terms of recycling actors or the characters knowing one another from scene to scene. The only time they intrude into one another's movies/'verses is as a transition; at the end of Le Marais we see Elie turn the corner a few times and once he's out of his arrondissement — the 4^th — and into the next — the 1^st —, it's a different director's movie with different actors and a singular, different plot, just as the short before it led from the 5^th into the 4^th. So yeah, that's it for them.

Each short feels extremely different, as you would expect, but not just for the reasons you might expect! Yes the different actors and directors and scripts make it different, but the whole point of Paris is to have shorts that personify the arrondissement that it's taking place in.

So in the same way that you might have a favorite part of the city and others that you don't really care for, each short plays into that part of your psyche. Le Marais is such a beautiful part of Paris with such an amazing history for Jewish people, LGBT* people, Chinese (and other asian) immigrants & French-Chinese people, and just those who are into art, and it shows in Le Marais regardless of if a person notices it or not.

There's a reason Le Marais was the one with the same-sex couple, that it was set in a print shop, that their love story was so romanticized and star-crossed and poetic, that both of them were artists, etc. and why those things wouldn't have felt as well-suited to any other short/arrondissement. The setting is half as important as everything else in combined, but it's so subtle that you don't have to know anything about Paris or it's history to pick up on it/feel it. There's just a ~vibe~ about the whole situation that makes you buy into Gaspard's earnestness, because maybe that sort of instant, all-encompassing love that the great artists of yesteryear always went on about actually does exist. It could very well have come off as over the top or purple-prose-y, but the vibe in Le Marais makes it work.

Each section conveys what's going on in that particular arrondissement — what the background characters look like, what the main characters themselves are doing, the backdrop in terms of setting — and I think it plays as much a part on influencing how you react to a short as much as the actor(resses)/plot do.

ANYWAY SORRY FOR THIS TL;DR /o\ I hope it answered your question, kind anon ( ; ___ ; ) I do enjoy the rest of the movie, but I'm not particularly fannish about any of the other sections? Tour Eiffel is probably my second favorite short, because my goodness does it do any amazing job of capturing the whimsy and magicalness of that area, just as much as Le Marais does for it's own, and since it's an area I like, I'm digging what it accomplished.

[(Anonymous)]

It wasn't too long at all! And eeee! I didn't realize they were in the fourth! When I lived in Paris, that's where I always went when I needed a pick me up. My favorite museum was there. And the takeaway Moroccan places on rue de Rosiers. Though the part south of Rivoli and Ile St Louis are even more magical. So, anyway, knowing it's the 4th makes the clip is even more special! :) I'll have to check out the rest of the film and see what was done for my boring old hood (16th).

(Though I have to say, even if the print shop was on the border, he must have run quite a bit to get all the way to the Tuileries. Makes it even more romantic!)

[daken]

When I lived in Paris, that's where I always went when I needed a pick me up. My favorite museum was there. And the takeaway Moroccan places on rue de Rosiers. Though the part south of Rivoli and Ile St Louis are even more magical.

!!! It's fate! But yes, my god, the movie is meant to be set in all the different arrondissement's and it's really fun to see the personalities shine through! I'd definitely recommend you watch the whole thing just for a nostalgia trip. The one for the 16^th is actually really beautiful and slightly heartbreaking ;____; I think it did your old home proud.

(Though I have to say, even if the print shop was on the border, he must have run quite a bit to get all the way to the Tuileries. Makes it even more romantic!)

....Backstory about how Elie was on the USA Olympic Track & Field Team before he retired to France to take up art, to be honest. Gaspard could have been his fanboy; he had his kit and always campaigned for Paris to host the Summer Olympics, and all his friends gave him shit for supporting America but damn it, he knows that he's going to marry that beautiful sprinter one day.