life is fucking nuts, isn't it?

Hi dear Yuletide match, and anyone doing some letter-surfing,

Open to treats, btw!

I'm throwing a wide net this year, many offers and many requests, largely because I fear that finding a match for most of them will be a little tricky, so wherever it is that we do match, cheers, mystery writer! And if there's anyone out there I haven't matched with, but who any of this resonates with, even if you don't wind up writing about it (though that would be amazing) drop by and say hi! Here or under the same name on ao3 or bluesky -- I would always love to talk about these characters!

Basic DNWs -- generally, brain damage either as a plot point or a joke, though there's a fandom on this list that is an obvious exception, which I'll note. Generally, I don't seek out graphic depictions of sexual assault or major character death in fanworks, but with the exception that if it's in the canon, or you feel it matches the tone of the canon, go for it.

Raising Hope

I would love to hear more about Jimmy and Hope and Sabrina's little family as Hope gets older -- something about Hope's relationship with either of them, and how it shifts as she grows, or her feelings about Lucy, and what it's like starting grade school (or being in high school!) as a serial killer's daughter, would be something I would so love.

Anything about how their relationship as a family intersects (or doesn't) with Sabrina's family over time -- whether Hope ever actually gets to know Sabrina's sister's daughter, or something, would be amazing. And we get a lot about Sabrina's parents as a very specific kind of rich person, but Shelly is also her cousin, where does she fit into that?

I also always had this fantasy that some day Jimmy and Sabrina do a children's book together, which she writes and he illustrates -- if that's a story that catches your fancy, I'd love to hear about it.

Really, anything that gives me the chance to watch these characters grow up beyond the bounds of the show would be amazing.

Deptford Trilogy

This is the obvious one where brain damage content is baked into the shape of the story. Like I said in my DNW list, though, I don't want to edit out or ignore what the story is about. I'd love something about Magnus and Ramsay and Liesl's odd, domestic menage -- I was having visions of a story that takes place during that last section of the second book, with David's visit, but from the point of view of one of the three of them. That bit near the end of World of Wonders where Ramsay explains about how they always have to have serious conversations with the three of them snuggled up in bed together just slew me, and I'd love to hear about more serious conversations they had that way, or how the practice developed.

I'd also love to hear more of Ramsay's thoughts about moving in with Magnus after all of the years of interest and fascination with Mary. Does he ever remind Ramsay of her? Does a part of Ramsay blame Magnus for not reaching back out to her? Do they ever talk about her? And how does Liesl feel about the way Ramsay has sanctified Magnus's mother? Is it strange? Offputting? Or is it why she likes him?

I fell deeply in love with these books very rapidly, and so, as so very often with me, really, I'd mostly just love to hear what you liked about them, through the medium of a story. One of the things that I loved about them is how they're so slipperily and undefinedly queer -- so much of these relationships is about the limitations of normativity, and how the refusal of norms is the only way to develop a true relationship with the divine, so if that's a theme that speaks to you, please have at it.

Bait

What I said in my sign-up:

I never really put "my gift must feature all of my chose characters" because I always want to leave things as much up to the writer as possible, but Shah's relationship with Zulfi and Q really one of the main vectors of my interest in him -- it might be more accurate to say that I would love a gift that either focuses on all three of these characters' dynamic, or any combination of two of them. Mostly I just don't want a completely Shah-centric story that doesn't mention the other two.

My additional thoughts:

I super love Guz Kahn, and also I'm very much an eldest sibling with a lot of the classic baggage that implies, so a focus on Zulfi, while certainly not required, would be adored. That said, I don't need it to be all rough and bad -- something about the times, growing up, when Zufli and Shah and Q were a team would be amazing. On the other hand, something about Zulfi and Q and their memories of their mother, or about the adjustment of moving in with the family after her death, how Shah got into acting and how the other two reacted at various points -- there are so many things I'd love to see, here.

Shetland

What I said in my sign-up:

More details in the letter when I fill it in, but this is kind of an either-or -- either I'm interested in something that delves into Jimmy and Duncan and Cassie's little family unit, or something that focuses in on Ruth, and can absolutely be about her relationship with Tosh or her brother or anyone else! I'd also be super interested in something that links these two things -- say, something post Jimmy and Duncan leaving the show that's about things they hear about Ruth through Cassie and Tosh, and the image of her they get from that? But yeah, more details in the letter soon!

My additional thoughts:

I don't know how much more I have than that! It was such a CHOICE for the show to give us Duncan as the dividing line for why Jimmy has to leave the police force, and his life's work, there is something SO SEXY about your seediest and sketchiest beloved, long-term co-parent/acquaintance/bestie (their relationship is so full of that good good ambiguity) being the reason your realize you cannot live up to your own sense of justice within the bounds of law enforcement, and even now, several seasons later, that's still an emotional dynamic that I just want to roll around in. If you want to get shippy with it be my guest, but absolutely no pressure, it's the undefined intensity of this relationship that gets me going, so I'm not too attached to single reading of the relationship

Ruth seems like the kind of Sad Detective Man (TM) who's going to die in the saddle, law enforcement-wise, so if you were inspired to contrast her with Jimmy, I'd be super there for that, especially since she and Jimmy seem to have kind of the same type when it comes to men -- look at the male love interests she's been given the last few seasons and tell me she wouldn't grab Duncan by the collar and lead him back to her place to blow off some steam after a tough case. That's not a prompt, I don't think, except, um, maybe it is? Lol. I don't specifically ship Ruth and Tosh largely because I think it's so goddamned funny the way they needed to find each other because what they both needed was the chance to have a straight-guy friendship with another woman, which is a kind of soulmatehood that's rarer than just fucking nasty, but if you want to sell me on it, be my guest. I am so scattered here, dear yuletide match, please feel free to seize on any part of this that catches your fancy, and throw the rest back into the sea.

Shadowland

This is another book that I just fell in love with, hook, line, and sinker. I spent my whole first read-through fixating on how doomed first Del, and then Rose, was, and the shadows of Tom's adulthood that we get within the frame story. I spent the second read thinking about the way the Speckle John and Coleman Collins backstory is shot through the whole thing, and how these kids are caught up in structures not of their making. I spent the third successive read-through (I told you I got obsessive, right?) thinking about Rose, as a person who might have been an independent entity to begin with, but certainly hasn't been in quite some time, and the way she has been subsumed by the ghost of Rosa Forte after the fact. Which is all to say that if there's something you feel in your heart that you want to say about this fandom, I want to hear it. If you're interested in a more specific prompt than that, here are some thoughts:

-Tom Flanagan's first magic show as an adult professional
-Bonus for his landing on "Tom Flanagan Nightly" as the name of his act, talk about details that seem innocuous on the first read through but carve my insides out with a rusty spoon on a reread
-The sparrows are following you, Tom (maybe a part of Del lives?)
-Becoming what you hate, Del and Coleman Collins edition - either an AU or just an emotional reflection on the ways Del resembles his uncle
-Rosa Forte of the stages of Europe and the way her songs started to shift once she took up with the magician
-Speckle John didn't know he was making the biggest mistake of his life, when he invited the clearly-traumatized doctor to visit him on the owl throne
-All of these stories are just echoes and archetypes, patterns on the wall -- what does it look like the next time they try to play themselves out?

Kneecap

This is what I said about this movie last year:

I'm obsessed with the way this movie is a myth, is a tall tale in a pub, is an emotional but not literal truth, and I'd love to see a story that wants to dig into that and plays with it a little. The movie is written like it's from Mo Chara's point of view, so maybe a story that looks at what it might look at if one of the others was telling it? JJ says he wanted to be a musician first, at that point when he tries to quit the band -- where does the story start if he's telling it, for example?

I'm also deeply into Georgia as a character, and her and Mo Chara's relationship based on mutual political kink -- if they try to figure out if there's more to it than that, what does that look like?

Really, I became deeply invested in this story very very fast, and if there's anything you've been feeling like writing about it, even if it has nothing to do with anything I've said, I'll probably be very into it just because it's more thoughts about this movie to chew on. I've also gone down a bit of a rabbit hole and listened to most of their interviews and seen the music videos, so if you want to pull any of that in for color/depth, it's all fair game. I had this bizarre vision the other day of the track "Harrow Road" off the new album getting adapted into a sequel movie to this one, so if you feel like getting epic-night-out about it, that's a thought.

And all of that is still true! I'd add that I think you could do a really fun JJ-centric Fight Club AU, and that I think that within the fiction of the movie, it's interesting that it sort of sets up JJ and Moglai as initially sort of in tension with one another, with Mo Chara in the middle, trying to marry these two worlds together. Some kind of exploration of that dynamic could be fun, or something about movie!Moglai's sense that the type of resistance that JJ had until meeting them (in the movie) been peripherally a part of was the kind of resistance that was expected of him, and that he felt a deep ambivalence about.

The Power Fantasy

Did I say in my sign-up that I was really only interested in Jacky Magus stories? The more fool I -- what I am really interested in is the shifting, strange intersection of the trio -- though for most of their shared history they are never all three in the same place at the same time -- of Jacky, Eliza, and Dev, and the strange intimacy of impersonation. Other thoughts:

-Jacky Magus and crafting a place for himself amongst the Atomics -- why?
-It's a lot of responsibility, running a cult. Jacky sees the direction Heavy's force of personality is headed and considers offering him some advice
-What did Etienne know about Jacky Magus?
-What did Valentina know and think about Jacky Magus? Really, we haven't seen much of him interacting with the others and I would like to

Nope

I requested OJ, Emerald and Angel, right? Really, I want to know what comes next for these characters. If Jean Jacket was real, what else is out there? I feel like Angel and Emerald could go on all kinds of internet rabbit holes finding out. Do they wind up Scooby-gang-ing around in a van, looking for more footage? You know the internet -- going viral once is great, you do need the Oprah shot, but once you have it, you also have to keep feeding your celebrity.

Angel -- just had a life-changing adventure with these two siblings that he'll never be able to share with anyone else in the world -- but also, they're siblings, they're kind of a closed unit -- does he actually stay in touch? I'd like to think so, but I can absolutely see there being a rocky negotiation of how and in what way.

Really, I just adore this movie, and would love to see these characters either have another adventure, or take a little quiet reflection time to recover from this one -- or try to do one and wind up in the other. This is another "anything you want to do with these characters will make my day, as long as you care as much about these very specific characters as I do," you know? Other thoughts:

-Em and Angel talking about how weird it is to go on dating/hookup apps now that they're internet-famous for alien siting
-Do they get new horses, after the dust settles? Who winds up with Jupe's park?
-What kind of financial payout can you actually get for the Oprah shot? How many people actually believe they saw an alien?

Thanks, Mystery writer! Happy Yuletide!

eta: I'm seeing a lot of letters this year specifying that they welcome treats -- I always thought that kind of went without saying, but if anyone is looking for that, yeah, anyone who feels inspired by my prompts, I'd love a treat!

Hi, Yuletide writer!

Optional details are optional, please feel free to disregard as much of what's below as you like -- I mostly just filled it out for inspiration, if you're looking for some, but if there's a story that it's already in your heart to write, please do that, I'll love it!

My only real DNW is stories that are heavily focused on brain damage or head trauma -- mentions or background incidents are fine, but I would love not to read any vivid descriptions. I also tend to like stories that have endings ranging from happy to bittersweet -- I don't usually go seeking out things that end relentlessly badly for people, though I don't need a happy-ever-after, either, you know?

If you want any more details about what I like/am into, my Ao3 account is a good guide. And I said this once and got a really fabulous, smash hit, straight-out-of-the-park response, so I'll say it again even though I'm really really not expecting it -- if crossovers, fusions, and AUs are the things that get your engine going, any fandom that you can see I've written or bookmarked is fair game to put in a blender with one of these.

Absolutely no pressure or expectation, but if you are someone who is drawn to writing porn, I have a comment up on Yuleporn with some thoughts about how these prompts might mesh with that HERE.

And finally, before I get into the fandom-specific prompts, thank you, mystery author! I'm very excited to share one of these tiny fandoms with you. <3

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Happy yuletide, mystery writer!

So having covid is going well, both in the sense that I think I've got a fairly mild case of it and in the sense that I definitely still have it, which I do not love. I keep thinking that maybe today is the day when I will break the cycle and actually write something, but no, I keep instead zoning out on incomprehensible internet-scrolling rabbit holes, and then breaking that off to watch TV and knit socks with housemates, because our whole household is Unwell. At least, the last couple of days, I've been getting myself out into the garden to do at least one small gardening task every day and also get some sunshine, so that I don't whither up and blow away with the wind.

But, so, today I had my computer out, faking like maybe I was going to open a document and stick some words in it, and instead I ended up watching a few old favorite vids, including XandraVids's Torchwood vids (found here: https://www.youtube.com/c/XandraVids/videos), which are such perfect thesis statements about what was so great about the show for me, because whatever whatever whatever, I'm sick, I get to indulge in cheesy old fandoms if I want to.

So I watched those, and then I got sidetracked picking out which of the new audio dramas I want but won't buy unless I get the fancy new job I was supposed to interview for this week until it got pushed back for covid, and then I was thinking about the appeal of the show, and of the main ship. Because sometimes I like to play this game with myself where I try to distill down the emotional appeal of something into the most basic "what is the fantasy" -- what are we tapping into, here, that makes this character dynamic tick. And the thing about Torchwood and Jack/Ianto is that it's the opposite of the softer world comic I linked above, it's the "He's Just Not That Into You" the MOVIE climax**, it's the fantasy that those unequal loves, the ones where you want someone so, so much, and they never seem to want you back -- that some day, the balance on those might even out into a happy-ever-after.

But the thing about that is that this is the thesis of the fandom -- it's definitely a stretch to say that the show ever gets close to saying that, and that's what I find so fascinating. It's always interesting when fandom loves a show as much for what they want it to be as for what it is, and it's stranger to realize which times I'm on board for that and which times I'm not. Because in real life, I genuinely fall a lot closer to the asofterworld comic view. To quote a Gilmore Girls commentfic I read in 2010, and which has never left my head ever since, though I've never been able to find it again, "sometimes they just don't love you." and as long as you feel good living with yourself, that's really, really okay. I say this as someone who's fairly comfortably single for something like seven years now, even though theoretically maybe some day I'd like to, like, fall in love again, or something. But sometimes I do still want the fantasy.

Anyway. Here goes the 'trying to post more regularly' thing. Talking this much about myself in a row makes me feel like an egomaniac. Tell me, what are your fandoms that always seem to drift back to relevance inside your head, friends?



**for the uninitiated, the self-help book He's Just Not That Into You urges its readers to stop chasing unattainable guys because if they actually liked you, they would make themselves able to be attained. The romcom titled for the book posits that while this is generally true, if the guy is fuckboy Justin Long the bartender and you are adorable-but-hapless Ginnifer Goodwin, then yeah, maybe one day you actually will be the exception to the rule, and he'll belatedly realize how much he loves and needs you. One wonders whether the book authors cared at all about this undermining of their message, or whether they were too busy enjoying their payout for it to care

OTHER MEDIA I'VE BEEN INTO LATELY:
Abbott Elementary!
-V cute in a sitcom way! Reminds me of early Parks&Rec in the balance between satire of mundane bureaucracy and x-treme silliness!
The Arkadians
-so a tree smashed through my mother's house and long story short I ended up with all of my remaining childhood stuff in my bedroom, and I'm doing a lil walking tour of some of kid!me's old favorites
Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick
-I really love that Jason Pargin is trying to take on the online right-wing radicalization of white guys because, honestly, with our society as sick as it is, someone's got to, and his fan demographics (myself aside) mean that he's well placed to address it. Also he's still hilarious.
Mad Max
-We watched the original last night, it was a TRIP, and also not nearly as dystopia as I was expecting? Felt like a v low-budget precursor to Fast&Furious franchise, which I dig
Once and Future
-Kieron Gillen comic, so already I'm probably on-board, but it takes on "how deeply emotionally important mythologies can feed into damaging ideologies" via "zombie King Arthur gets brought back by facists". Feat. a nightmare-fighting granny and her sweetheart of a buff-ass grandson.

...when posting my yuletide letter reminds me I have a DW! I am pretty sure I made this exact same post last year!

Anyway, one of the weird things about this year is that I started writing a significant amount of fic for Stranger Things, so when I started posting on DW again and saw the listing for at Stranger Things rare pair kink meme over at strarepairkinkmeme, I got all excited. Unfortunately, it looks like the only prompt on it right now is mine, so, uh, if you also have been possessed by this bizarre little juggernaut of a show, maybe drop by? It could be fun.

So my horror-watching buddies and I finally got around to The British Navy Is A Nightmare: Icecapades Edition, a.k.a. The Terror, and strixalba and I had a whole spiral into the fanworks and fandom experience. We were explaining to the rest of Unofficial Horror Club that while tossing links back and forth is a blast, the things we were there for were, to put it mildly, a bit different, and we resolved to put together our significantly different recs lists. Here's mine.

( Tumblr memes and art links )

( Fic recs )

Dear Creator,

I am so excited for this exchange, and if we've matched on either of these two works, I am so excited to see what it is that you loved about it, and how that intersects with what I loved about it!

From my sign-up:

DNWs: Main character death, brain damage or memory loss

Wanted A Gentleman

I would really love any kind of canon-based post-book story about these two characters, and would really really love any kind of groping their way to whatever form of domesticity might work for them. I’d love to see Theo getting to know Peggy, or any of the other people in Martin’s life (and it doesn’t sound like Theo has that many significant personal relationships before the book, but if he does in your brain, I’d love to see the reverse as well). If you happen to be in the mood for a little gentle old-fashioned h/c, I’ve had a little not-quite-idea in the back of my head that the way either of these characters would handle the other being sick could be really interesting.

I also loved Wanted, An Author, and I would really love to see Theo and Martin getting to know John Raven better. If you’re feeling like leaning into the way these books fit together, I’d be delighted to see Martin and Theo getting to know the whole Band Sinister crowd, as long as the focus stays on Martin and Theo.

England Series

I love all three couples we’ve seen so far in this series. Since they’re the most mysterious, I’d be fascinated to see any further take on Jimmy and Bill, and anything about their points of view during Proper English. Or anything from before PE, or anything after — I’m easy, eally, I’d just love to really dig into the FEELINGS of this couple a bit. I also love Bill and Pat’s relationship, and anything about that, either as when they were younger or after the events of PE, would be awesome (in fact, if you wanted to get into Pat telling Bill about the events of Think of England, that’d be so cool, too).

I love Pat and Fen, and would love to read more of any of their adventures, and especially anything that involves them getting further into spying or less governmentally sanctioned mystery-solving hijinx. I’d also love anything domestic for them, especially as they travel — the ways in which they make their own little routines together, even as their environment changes.

And of course, I wouldn’t have jumped on Proper English with all the delight that I did if I didn’t love Daniel and Archie. They’re another couple I’d love to see figuring out a way to have some kind of real, regular life together, one way or another. I’ve enjoyed the couple of stories I’ve seen about Archie’s family so much, and I’d also love to see some kind of glimpse into what Daniel’s family of origin is like, and how or if they’d get along with Archie. And to loop right back around, if you want to do some case fic about Archie and Daniel, and you felt insipired to follow up on the hints that they might actually be in a related line of work to Bill Merton, I would be over the moon for that, too.

Beyond that -- I really just love people talking to each other? And having feelings, and the way writing gives a way to explore the interplay of what people feel and what they say about those feelings? I know I've pretty much included only canon-based prompts above, but if AUs are what you love to write, I also love an alternate universe that does careful or clever things in order to recreate or translate emotional dynamics into different environments, so if that's your jam, go for it, be free, I'll be overjoyed to read what you come up with.

I love a good romance, or I wouldn't be here at this exchange, but I also love gen fic, I love family and found family dynamics, I love stories where friendships are central, and I love the place where romance and friendship intersect.

Anyway, happy a-few-days-after-Valentine's-Day.

xoxo
-pc

So I've mentioned a couple of times that I've been watching a lot of Umbrella Academy cast videos, and it has occurred to me that, instead of just spamming my housemate group chat with endless links and strings of ten exclamation points as reactions, I could put together a post here, and share my color commentary with the world. (you're welcome? I'm sorry???)



These lovely fellows are, of course, some of the stand-out stars of the press-tour junket. They're goofy and sweet and they play off of each other well, and I'm seeing a lot of their stuff get linked and .gifed (though less this interview? which is a DAMN SHAME).

This interview in particular has something a bit telling about it, in the line where the interviewer opens with "How was the role pitched to you," when David starts off his answer with, "well, I needed a job." Because, like, he's definitely not a complete unknown, but he's been sort of an under-the-radar, working actor up until now--in things, but mostly small-ish things where he wasn't the person who ended up promoting them, or walking away with a ton of name recognition. And he seems fairly comfortable in a lot of the promo interviews he does with Robert, but one of the things about Robert Sheehan is that he's one of those dudes who gives the impression of having been born onstage, so not only does he have more practice with this kind of interview, but he's also in his element

(ALSO: fragile china cup of a person, holy shit, thank u for this piece of character work, Robert.)

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(*waves* dear anyone else who still follows me here, hey, hi, how are you? Actual entry to follow in a few days, sorry for the many months of absence, life got very busy)

Dear Yuletide Author,

I assume, since we've matched one one of these fandoms I'm so excited to connect with someone new over, that you are a pretty rad individual. Hello, rad individual! As such, I totally trust that whatever you have in your heart to write about one of these fandoms will be awesome, even if you totally disregard everything else in this letter - optional details are so very optional, these are just a few ideas of some things that catch in my head when I think about them.

As a general thing, I'd request no stories dealing with brain damage, memory loss, or amnesia, but other than that, it's a pretty open playing field.

General things I like: crossovers, close-to-canon AUs, much-further-from-canon AUs that use details from canon in interesting ways, established relationship fic, missing scene fic, fic where people recognize each other's limitations, fic where people have a lot of conversations, reconnection stories, crack pairings involving people who have never met but would probably get along really well if they did, kittens.

Specific fandoms:

Nothing Much To Do

From my sign-up: Okay, so one thing I'll admit straight up is that, as of now, Lovely Little Losers is KILLING ME, and that is definitely informing that request, because I'd love to see an interpretation of what happened between Peter and Balth in that missing time period between the two series, and I would really really love to see them trying to talk things through like grown-ups, and a happy ending for them would make me giddy. On the other hand, I can totally see an interpretation where they don't end up together, since their lack of communication so far is so stunning. As long as they try to work it out in a healthy way, and are secure in their fondness for each other by the end, I'm happy.

If, on the other hand, you're not interested in writing about their dynamics as a couple, one of the things that interested me most from the first series was John and Peter-then-Pedro's relationship, and I'd love to see anything more of that,anything from their childhoods together to trying to work things out after NMTD.

On the third hand entirely, if you felt like writing about both of those things, that would be something I'd be incredibly into as well.

I think that actually basically covers it, except that I feel like I should say that, since the second series is still airing, and I know how hard that can make writing, I totally understand if you feel like the best way to do it is either to pick an episode to work from and go AU with anything that comes out after that, or even ignore the second series entirely and just focus on the first. Whatever works for you, dude.

Cracked After Hours

From my sign-up: There are so many little moments in the series I'd love to see expanded on: the time Michael went to Thanksgiving with Dan's family, how exactly Soren's crush on Susan B. Anthony, at what point between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode and the one where they talk about villains they'd be henchmen for and Katie nods along with the rest of them like she's seen it did she watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and why? Why were they on a camping trip that one time? What would they actually do in a zombie apocalypse? How much coaching did Soren give Dan before that time Dan tried to ask the waitress out in that one episode?

If you choose to go with that last one, I'm totally down for Soren/Dan shipping - really, I'm up for shipping it in any situation. Ditto Michael/Katie, and Katie/Soren when they're doing that thing they do where Soren acts like he's looking for a woman who can make him cry and Katie acts like she'd be happy to be that woman. I'm also interested in any poly-shipping that might catch your fancy in this context. Really, mystery author, I'm interested in just about anything you can throw at me.

Again, I said most of what I meant to, I'm interested in most things about these guys. Other things I particularly like, that maybe you particularly like, too: Dan's insistence on getting the proper pluralization of movie titles, the way there is clearly the makings of an EPIC Marvel vs. DC debate between Soren and Dan one of these days, the way Katie let the restraining order against Michael lapse, Michael's insistence that he is one of the 'normal' ones of them, that weird espionage-like thing going on in the background of the diners, the waitress who doesn't know Soren's name.

The Riches

From my sign-up: Watching this series again recently has been such a delight, and there really isn't much I wouldn't love to read about it - a what-comes-next story for after the series, maybe a pre-series story about the time when Dahlia was in jail, and the way Wayne and the kids had to adjust, even something about Actual Doug Rich's kids--sometimes it gets to me that, as big of a jerk as he is, they may never know what happened to him. Occasionally I think about what it would be like if one of the Malloy kids met one of Doug Rich's kids at some point in the future.

I also just really love the Malloy kids, though, and the way they tease and protect and are there for each other, and I'd be fascinated to see either some of the ways that dynamic developed, or the way it changes, or doesn't change, as they grow up.

Of all of the fandoms I requested, this is probably the one that, if you were in the mood, I would be the most interested in seeing crossovers for, but then I feel weird even saying so because I ALSO don't want to lessen any chance I might have for getting straight-up Riches fic, because I just love this family so MUCH. You know what, if this is the fandom we match on, a) rock on, mystery author, and b) anything you write is going to make me so happy, ANYTHING AT ALL, so, uh, no pressure.

Casson Family

From my sign-up: Really, this is my eternal yuletide fandom, so if this is where we match up, I'm going to be so thrilled. One of the things I love most about these books is the way the family you find and the family you're born with don't have to be mutually exclusive, and the way you still have to choose when it comes to the people you're related to, and how far you're going to let them into your life, as much as you love them. I'd love to see something about the ways different people who have become part of the family at different times over the years navigate that as they get older, or something about the way Caddy and Michael set up their own family, and the ways that that's the same, the ways that it's different, and the way the people in both overlap.

I'm happy to read gen or Caddy/Michael, and I'd be totally interested to read something about Eve and Bill and the ways they must have worked as a couple once. Besides those, though, I'm not that interested in the future pairings with the kids that the narrative is pointing at - Saffy/Sarah and Indigo/Tom both sound a lot more interesting to me than Sarah/Indigo, and I don't really believe that, when Tom and Rose grow up, they'll be interested in each other that way, no offense, Hilary McKay. Which isn't to say I'm requesting any of those pairings, I'd be more than happy with gen-ish shenanigans of all kinds, and like I said, Caddy and Michael and their made-for-each-other-ness warms my icy, icy heart, and mostly, I just hope you write something that makes you as happy as the possibility of matching with someone on this fandom makes me.

Yeah, okay, I think I said it all here, too.


Anyway, happy winter exchange season, mystery author. Thank you in advance, and I'm so excited to see what you come up with!