Dear Yuletide Writer!
Oct. 20th, 2025 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorinda(Reposting this...accidentally deleted it!)
Hello, Writer! However you ended up writing something for me, I thank you--I'm glad and grateful. ♥
A note about treats, in case it's relevant: yes, I am all for them!
(Also, let me say that you'll notice it's very common for me to ask for some of the same fandoms from year to year. If you've written for me previously, please do not ever think this is because I don't still love your gift! I do--it's just that I am still-and-always in the mood for more of these characters and I love them so much. And I am greedy. :D)
If you already have something in mind you think I'll like, go ahead and write it! I want you to enjoy yourself.
If more information about my preferences would help and inspire you, then here's some:
Some of my preferences
SOME OF MY PREFERENCES:
* Hopeful/happy endings. Melancholy/bittersweet tones can work too, just not hopeless/grim please.
* Shipping, if possible. Not mandatory--Optional Details Are Optional--but if you're willing, please pair the characters up romantically/sexually (sublimated/barely-repressed romance/sex also works). Sex, if any, can be on or offscreen, whatever suits the story. If you're not shipping them, please have their connection be at least as intense as it is in canon.
I'm interested in dynamics like:
Discovery, realization
Breaking through fears and repression and damaging levels of self-denial/self-control
Reaching out, finding refuge
Stumbling/falling, only to find they are safely caught/can catch each other
Those tiny moments of intensity and connection, both emotional and physical
* Some tropes and approaches I particularly enjoy:
Trust
Loyalty
Worry
Protectiveness
Hurt/Comfort
Pining (eventually requited)
Tenderness, especially when unexpected
Angst (with a happy/hopeful resolution)
Uncovering a secret
A shell cracking to reveal vulnerability beneath
Physical care like tending wounds/washing/etc.
Nurturing with food/drink/warmth
Expressing deepest feelings with ordinary words (like, I love when there's some seemingly-innocuous phrase that they both know is actually a powerful declaration) and ordinary objects that become symbolic/meaningful
* Classic frameworks are always welcome! Including though not limited to:
Bedsharing
Huddling for warmth
Pretend couple
Discovering they became a couple without realizing
Undercover as a rentboy
Mistaken for a couple, including mistaken for sugar daddy/trade
Rescues
Suffering/sacrificing for the other
Stranded somewhere
Etc.
One jumps in the way of the other getting hurt? (Especially if the saved one is then mad about it?) One gets attacked and the other rises in wrath, GET BACK HE IS MINE? One awkwardly expresses the depth of his feelings with a painstakingly fried egg on toast? A desire to impress him, an effort to figure out how to be silently vulnerable with him, a need for him that he hadn't understood until now or had hidden while pining? Yes plz.
Big drama is good, quiet subtlety is good. ♥
Here are my signups, in alphabetical order: Hot Fuzz (2007), KeixYaku (TV), Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout, The Sting (1973)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I am in love with Nicholas and Danny, and even more, both of them together. They bring each other to life, they make each other better, they wear their hearts on their sleeves (even if it takes Nicholas a little while--seeing him belatedly realize just how deeply he feels for Danny is an eternal treat).
The relationship between Nicholas and Danny is the absolute heart and engine of the story, with both of them changing and stepping out of their previous boxes, toward each other. And it's the synthesis of the best part of their native languages (ethical/dedicated community service + flexible/sweet cinematic creativity) that wins the day and ties them together. I totally ship them, and the movie does too. ♥
I love the movie's masterful command of tropes (plus Danny's command of them, and how he patiently educates Nicholas), and the way Danny is both the Buddy and the Lover. Danny loves the same things I love in action films, beyond awesome action sequences--the way the action can pare the characters down to their essentials and bond them deeply together, or unearth an explosion of intense feelings (shooting a gun in the air and going AAAAAAA! ;___; ).
I'm fine with any level of realism/surrealism, from a more realistic tone like 'Danny's dad being in prison is deeply affecting him' or similar, to an utterly cinematic tone that follows "the rule of cool" (or what the Leverage showrunner called "the Fun Train") with no one batting an eye.
The stereotypical West Country village atmosphere is delightful, but don't let that stop you if you'd rather have them travel somewhere, to the big city or beyond.
We know Danny is well versed in movie tropes, and we see how those affect the shape of the story and the Nicholas/Danny dynamic and all. But what is his relationship with TV narratives, and would any of those tropes come to the fore now after the resolution of canon's dramatic slashy-action-movie vibe?
I'd love something post-canon, whether it's slice of life, another case, a cozy whodunit, an action-adventure, something warm and domestic, a series of movie nights, whatever moves you. It doesn't have to be a comedy, if that's not your thing--I enjoy sincerity as much as parody/satire.
Happy/hopeful ending please!
DNW: No negative focus on Danny's weight/size, please (especially not the 'being close to death/in the hospital made him thinner and that's good!' thing, oof). He's lovely just as he is.
KeixYaku
Hanabusa Shirou, Kunishita Ichirou
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I love the passionate, intense tropiness of this show--I mean, it has criminal/cop, fight club, undercover, childhood trauma, fever/caretaking, there was only one blanket, torture/rescue, rentboy, "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!", and more. ♥
I love Shirou so much! Driven and aggressive, but also sensitive and lonely. So competent! So seductive! A short king, a powerhouse, a sugar fiend, explosively emotional, an angsty abandoned canon-bi boy. Also such a sharp dresser.
I love Ichirou, who gets in way over his head. Skilled and focused, but awkward and isolated--and speaking of abandoned boys! Under his attempt at shaping himself into a by-the-book rule-follower, he's still a hot mess.
I love Rion, controlled and courageous, able to suffer (and even more, able to let those she loves suffer) for the greater good--and I love the way Shirou and Ichirou both look up to her with a junior's devotion. Feel free to include her in the story if you want--they're such a family/team now ♥--though I'd like it to be primarily about Shirou and Ichirou, or Shirou himself if you want to do a Shirou-focused backstory.
Some thoughts:
* More tropes? It's very well-suited to all the classics, singly or in bunches.
* Shirou & Ichirou growing closer together? Domesticity? And how are they handling the aftermath of the show's events? I especially wonder about Shirou...he drastically reshaped himself & his entire life, as if he expected to burn up in a blaze of vengeful glory, but now Rion is right here. What's that like? What's his motivation now?
* I liked the complexities of Shirou's relationship with the prime minister. It turns out to be deeper than just rentboy/intel-gathering. Both of them seemed to find something in it that touches a wound in the soul--son issues, daddy issues.
* Ichirou's virginity. He seems to be wound up tight about it--how might he go about losing it to Shirou? What would Shirou feel about that?
* Ichirou's helpless attraction to the forbidden in general, as symbolized by his fascination with Shirou's full-back tattoo. Hot!
* When being tortured, Shirou refers to the many prominent people he's slept with, how "they've had all kinds of interests", and how some of them liked to hurt him. I'd be interested to hear more about any of that--how did he get started in that side of things, how did he use it to advance in the organization, how did he feel about it? Was the part about being hurt true, was it to psych out the torturers, was it a little of both...? And how does Ichirou feel about it, if Shirou trusts him with more and more of his checkered history?
* Case work? The show didn't wrap everything up... Or, another side case that comes up in the meantime?
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout
Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe, Saul Panzer
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I listed Archie, Wolfe, and Saul, but you don't have to include all three in your story--the selection is entirely up to you.
I love zooming in and dialing up the intensity along any line of the dynamics (and I feel some degree of shippy about all of it [including sublimated/barely repressed shippiness] but if you don't of course that's fine, just please do dial that intensity up):
Wolfe/Archie: their history together, the King/Lionheart feeling, the way they both have the most detailed awareness of and knowledge of each other. Archie being this complicated bundle of roles--insisting on his wisecracking independence while being intensely grounded in fealty, protectiveness, and obedience. Wolfe having purposely repressed a powerful romanticism inside a life of rationality, control, and sensory delight.
Archie/Saul: Archie ranks Saul above himself both privately and publicly, without a twinge, at all times--this is not something he does with anyone else, even Wolfe, and Archie has a very healthy ego. And yet he and Saul get along so well both in the job and outside it! They joke, they flirt, they trust each other and team up like a dream. Saul is easily underestimated, extraordinarily skilled, and also very gentle and kind (like the bit in Over My Dead Body where he has uncovered the true origins of Madame Zorka, and reassures her that he didn't scare her mom while doing so). What's it like to be him? (nb: I don't take any mentions of wife/children seriously--whenever we're at Saul's place he lives there alone, so I take those rare mentions as being a joke, rhetorical, or code.)
Wolfe/Saul: we get glimpses of them having their own independent dynamic, whether it's Saul having a drink in the office with Wolfe and explaining how the Irish sweepstakes works, them carrying the conversation during a meal, or Wolfe disappearing for hours in A Family Affair and it turns out he was over at Saul's talking intimately about his fears for Archie. We see Saul being openly worried about Wolfe, and given command of the brownstone during the events of Black Mountain. And both of them like to cook!
I also love the idea of any of these dynamics triangulating about the third person--Wolfe and Archie sharing their profound admiration for Saul; Saul comforting or mentoring Archie about the challenges of living/working/dealing with Wolfe; Saul doing ditto for Wolfe about Archie.
Rituals: the world of the brownstone! Certain times for certain activities-- predictability-- this sense of a warm and stable place. Including rituals of bickering, which has its own functions--an engine to keep Wolfe moving, a bulwark against vulnerability (e.g. bickering as coded emotion), etc.
Also rituals outside of the brownstone--Rusterman's, the poker games at Saul's, Archie loving to take walks, dance, go to ball games. This fandom is IDEAL for writing about food--and not just haute cuisine, either, it's just as loving toward a good diner meal or something cooked together over at Saul's place (he grows chives in a windowbox!).
Disruption: some of my favorite re-reads are ones that show how strong the rituals are, by showing what it takes to break them and how much the breaking means. Wolfe rescuing Archie in League of Frightened Men-- everything being upended during WWII-- the elaborate events of In the Best Families (would love to see more about Saul during that storyline!)-- leaping together out of the comfort zone in The Black Mountain-- of course the climax of A Family Affair-- and more.
Happy/hopeful ending please!
DNW: No wife/children for Saul, please.
The Sting (1973)
Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Inspirational (and educational!) links from a menswear blog, using plenty of screencaps:
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/12/31/the-sting-newman-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2016/08/11/sting-redford-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/08/19/sting-redford-gray-suit/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/10/the-sting-brown-pinstripe/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/28/sting-newman-brn-plaid/
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I love Henry's knowledge and competence, his history and status, his close and loyal inner circle. I love how protective and worried he gets, how he bears such weight on his shoulders. I love Johnny's eagerness to get involved and to learn, his neediness and hunger, even his risky-carelessness. The way he runs like a deer, the way his eyes glow across a crowded room.
Special mention to the way Henry and Johnny look in strap undershirts. Also: Henry's hat.
I love how their partnership changes, from awkward and uncertain to close and trusting, with barely-repressed emotional undertones. But there's that communication issue under the surface--Johnny keeping so many secrets, Henry aware he's hiding things and pleading with him to speak up ("You can't play your friends like marks, Hooker."). They depend on nuanced and wordless connection on the job, but backstage and onstage are different things, to Henry (even though he can still read Johnny either way). In the end he skips to the part where he discovered Johnny's secrets and protected him, but what's the aftereffect? Has Johnny learned to trust him more? Or is it going to take more time and effort?
What do they do after the end of the movie? Does Johnny get impatient? Does Henry teach him new things? How different are the world of the quick street-hustling Short Con and the high-stakes Big Con, and what's it like for Johnny in this new world?
How was Henry taught his trade back in the day, and does it still work? Why didn't Henry have an apprentice already? Did he before, did it go badly, or is Johnny a surprise exception?
What if something goes wrong? Relying on the grifter community--or, those times and places when all they have to rely on is each other. And what about Johnny being protective of Henry for a change?
A closeup on the Henry/Johnny relationship is great, but I also am totally into the whole parallel grifter society beneath the surface of the regular world, sort of a mixture of a huge extended family and an experienced repertory theater company. So if you want, feel free to paint a larger picture.
A new con, large or small, is welcome, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to. I’m also into the time between jobs (or offstage during a job), long train trips or fancy hotels or rides hitched in a dusty jalopy, risk-junkies on the road together.
I love the physical details of the time. Train travel is so very of the period--as high-end passengers, Pullman cars, sleepers, etc.-- or suddenly having to ride the rails, in a boxcar, buried in straw, staying in Hoovervilles along the way, the intimacies of the road. Ocean liners, thumbing rides, other kinds of travel, where the journey is the whole point. Luxury suites, enormous bathtubs--or a little cold-water flat, a creaky Murphy bed folding down from the wall. The movie only shows them in cities...what about small towns, the countryside, someplace rural or rougher?
If it becomes relevant, I ask that the good guys’ cons be against deserving targets--fitting the Robin Hoodish tone of the movie, where you go after the well-heeled and greedy, using their own greed to trap them. The con as reparative justice.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Thanks again for writing for me--I appreciate it! *\o/*
Hello, Writer! However you ended up writing something for me, I thank you--I'm glad and grateful. ♥
A note about treats, in case it's relevant: yes, I am all for them!
(Also, let me say that you'll notice it's very common for me to ask for some of the same fandoms from year to year. If you've written for me previously, please do not ever think this is because I don't still love your gift! I do--it's just that I am still-and-always in the mood for more of these characters and I love them so much. And I am greedy. :D)
If you already have something in mind you think I'll like, go ahead and write it! I want you to enjoy yourself.
If more information about my preferences would help and inspire you, then here's some:
Some of my preferences
SOME OF MY PREFERENCES:
* Hopeful/happy endings. Melancholy/bittersweet tones can work too, just not hopeless/grim please.
* Shipping, if possible. Not mandatory--Optional Details Are Optional--but if you're willing, please pair the characters up romantically/sexually (sublimated/barely-repressed romance/sex also works). Sex, if any, can be on or offscreen, whatever suits the story. If you're not shipping them, please have their connection be at least as intense as it is in canon.
I'm interested in dynamics like:
Discovery, realization
Breaking through fears and repression and damaging levels of self-denial/self-control
Reaching out, finding refuge
Stumbling/falling, only to find they are safely caught/can catch each other
Those tiny moments of intensity and connection, both emotional and physical
* Some tropes and approaches I particularly enjoy:
Trust
Loyalty
Worry
Protectiveness
Hurt/Comfort
Pining (eventually requited)
Tenderness, especially when unexpected
Angst (with a happy/hopeful resolution)
Uncovering a secret
A shell cracking to reveal vulnerability beneath
Physical care like tending wounds/washing/etc.
Nurturing with food/drink/warmth
Expressing deepest feelings with ordinary words (like, I love when there's some seemingly-innocuous phrase that they both know is actually a powerful declaration) and ordinary objects that become symbolic/meaningful
* Classic frameworks are always welcome! Including though not limited to:
Bedsharing
Huddling for warmth
Pretend couple
Discovering they became a couple without realizing
Undercover as a rentboy
Mistaken for a couple, including mistaken for sugar daddy/trade
Rescues
Suffering/sacrificing for the other
Stranded somewhere
Etc.
One jumps in the way of the other getting hurt? (Especially if the saved one is then mad about it?) One gets attacked and the other rises in wrath, GET BACK HE IS MINE? One awkwardly expresses the depth of his feelings with a painstakingly fried egg on toast? A desire to impress him, an effort to figure out how to be silently vulnerable with him, a need for him that he hadn't understood until now or had hidden while pining? Yes plz.
Big drama is good, quiet subtlety is good. ♥
Here are my signups, in alphabetical order: Hot Fuzz (2007), KeixYaku (TV), Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout, The Sting (1973)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I am in love with Nicholas and Danny, and even more, both of them together. They bring each other to life, they make each other better, they wear their hearts on their sleeves (even if it takes Nicholas a little while--seeing him belatedly realize just how deeply he feels for Danny is an eternal treat).
The relationship between Nicholas and Danny is the absolute heart and engine of the story, with both of them changing and stepping out of their previous boxes, toward each other. And it's the synthesis of the best part of their native languages (ethical/dedicated community service + flexible/sweet cinematic creativity) that wins the day and ties them together. I totally ship them, and the movie does too. ♥
I love the movie's masterful command of tropes (plus Danny's command of them, and how he patiently educates Nicholas), and the way Danny is both the Buddy and the Lover. Danny loves the same things I love in action films, beyond awesome action sequences--the way the action can pare the characters down to their essentials and bond them deeply together, or unearth an explosion of intense feelings (shooting a gun in the air and going AAAAAAA! ;___; ).
I'm fine with any level of realism/surrealism, from a more realistic tone like 'Danny's dad being in prison is deeply affecting him' or similar, to an utterly cinematic tone that follows "the rule of cool" (or what the Leverage showrunner called "the Fun Train") with no one batting an eye.
The stereotypical West Country village atmosphere is delightful, but don't let that stop you if you'd rather have them travel somewhere, to the big city or beyond.
We know Danny is well versed in movie tropes, and we see how those affect the shape of the story and the Nicholas/Danny dynamic and all. But what is his relationship with TV narratives, and would any of those tropes come to the fore now after the resolution of canon's dramatic slashy-action-movie vibe?
I'd love something post-canon, whether it's slice of life, another case, a cozy whodunit, an action-adventure, something warm and domestic, a series of movie nights, whatever moves you. It doesn't have to be a comedy, if that's not your thing--I enjoy sincerity as much as parody/satire.
Happy/hopeful ending please!
DNW: No negative focus on Danny's weight/size, please (especially not the 'being close to death/in the hospital made him thinner and that's good!' thing, oof). He's lovely just as he is.
KeixYaku
Hanabusa Shirou, Kunishita Ichirou
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I love the passionate, intense tropiness of this show--I mean, it has criminal/cop, fight club, undercover, childhood trauma, fever/caretaking, there was only one blanket, torture/rescue, rentboy, "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!", and more. ♥
I love Shirou so much! Driven and aggressive, but also sensitive and lonely. So competent! So seductive! A short king, a powerhouse, a sugar fiend, explosively emotional, an angsty abandoned canon-bi boy. Also such a sharp dresser.
I love Ichirou, who gets in way over his head. Skilled and focused, but awkward and isolated--and speaking of abandoned boys! Under his attempt at shaping himself into a by-the-book rule-follower, he's still a hot mess.
I love Rion, controlled and courageous, able to suffer (and even more, able to let those she loves suffer) for the greater good--and I love the way Shirou and Ichirou both look up to her with a junior's devotion. Feel free to include her in the story if you want--they're such a family/team now ♥--though I'd like it to be primarily about Shirou and Ichirou, or Shirou himself if you want to do a Shirou-focused backstory.
Some thoughts:
* More tropes? It's very well-suited to all the classics, singly or in bunches.
* Shirou & Ichirou growing closer together? Domesticity? And how are they handling the aftermath of the show's events? I especially wonder about Shirou...he drastically reshaped himself & his entire life, as if he expected to burn up in a blaze of vengeful glory, but now Rion is right here. What's that like? What's his motivation now?
* I liked the complexities of Shirou's relationship with the prime minister. It turns out to be deeper than just rentboy/intel-gathering. Both of them seemed to find something in it that touches a wound in the soul--son issues, daddy issues.
* Ichirou's virginity. He seems to be wound up tight about it--how might he go about losing it to Shirou? What would Shirou feel about that?
* Ichirou's helpless attraction to the forbidden in general, as symbolized by his fascination with Shirou's full-back tattoo. Hot!
* When being tortured, Shirou refers to the many prominent people he's slept with, how "they've had all kinds of interests", and how some of them liked to hurt him. I'd be interested to hear more about any of that--how did he get started in that side of things, how did he use it to advance in the organization, how did he feel about it? Was the part about being hurt true, was it to psych out the torturers, was it a little of both...? And how does Ichirou feel about it, if Shirou trusts him with more and more of his checkered history?
* Case work? The show didn't wrap everything up... Or, another side case that comes up in the meantime?
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout
Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe, Saul Panzer
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I listed Archie, Wolfe, and Saul, but you don't have to include all three in your story--the selection is entirely up to you.
I love zooming in and dialing up the intensity along any line of the dynamics (and I feel some degree of shippy about all of it [including sublimated/barely repressed shippiness] but if you don't of course that's fine, just please do dial that intensity up):
Wolfe/Archie: their history together, the King/Lionheart feeling, the way they both have the most detailed awareness of and knowledge of each other. Archie being this complicated bundle of roles--insisting on his wisecracking independence while being intensely grounded in fealty, protectiveness, and obedience. Wolfe having purposely repressed a powerful romanticism inside a life of rationality, control, and sensory delight.
Archie/Saul: Archie ranks Saul above himself both privately and publicly, without a twinge, at all times--this is not something he does with anyone else, even Wolfe, and Archie has a very healthy ego. And yet he and Saul get along so well both in the job and outside it! They joke, they flirt, they trust each other and team up like a dream. Saul is easily underestimated, extraordinarily skilled, and also very gentle and kind (like the bit in Over My Dead Body where he has uncovered the true origins of Madame Zorka, and reassures her that he didn't scare her mom while doing so). What's it like to be him? (nb: I don't take any mentions of wife/children seriously--whenever we're at Saul's place he lives there alone, so I take those rare mentions as being a joke, rhetorical, or code.)
Wolfe/Saul: we get glimpses of them having their own independent dynamic, whether it's Saul having a drink in the office with Wolfe and explaining how the Irish sweepstakes works, them carrying the conversation during a meal, or Wolfe disappearing for hours in A Family Affair and it turns out he was over at Saul's talking intimately about his fears for Archie. We see Saul being openly worried about Wolfe, and given command of the brownstone during the events of Black Mountain. And both of them like to cook!
I also love the idea of any of these dynamics triangulating about the third person--Wolfe and Archie sharing their profound admiration for Saul; Saul comforting or mentoring Archie about the challenges of living/working/dealing with Wolfe; Saul doing ditto for Wolfe about Archie.
Rituals: the world of the brownstone! Certain times for certain activities-- predictability-- this sense of a warm and stable place. Including rituals of bickering, which has its own functions--an engine to keep Wolfe moving, a bulwark against vulnerability (e.g. bickering as coded emotion), etc.
Also rituals outside of the brownstone--Rusterman's, the poker games at Saul's, Archie loving to take walks, dance, go to ball games. This fandom is IDEAL for writing about food--and not just haute cuisine, either, it's just as loving toward a good diner meal or something cooked together over at Saul's place (he grows chives in a windowbox!).
Disruption: some of my favorite re-reads are ones that show how strong the rituals are, by showing what it takes to break them and how much the breaking means. Wolfe rescuing Archie in League of Frightened Men-- everything being upended during WWII-- the elaborate events of In the Best Families (would love to see more about Saul during that storyline!)-- leaping together out of the comfort zone in The Black Mountain-- of course the climax of A Family Affair-- and more.
Happy/hopeful ending please!
DNW: No wife/children for Saul, please.
The Sting (1973)
Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Inspirational (and educational!) links from a menswear blog, using plenty of screencaps:
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/12/31/the-sting-newman-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2016/08/11/sting-redford-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/08/19/sting-redford-gray-suit/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/10/the-sting-brown-pinstripe/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/28/sting-newman-brn-plaid/
My signup:
(In case it's relevant: I happily accept treats!)
I love Henry's knowledge and competence, his history and status, his close and loyal inner circle. I love how protective and worried he gets, how he bears such weight on his shoulders. I love Johnny's eagerness to get involved and to learn, his neediness and hunger, even his risky-carelessness. The way he runs like a deer, the way his eyes glow across a crowded room.
Special mention to the way Henry and Johnny look in strap undershirts. Also: Henry's hat.
I love how their partnership changes, from awkward and uncertain to close and trusting, with barely-repressed emotional undertones. But there's that communication issue under the surface--Johnny keeping so many secrets, Henry aware he's hiding things and pleading with him to speak up ("You can't play your friends like marks, Hooker."). They depend on nuanced and wordless connection on the job, but backstage and onstage are different things, to Henry (even though he can still read Johnny either way). In the end he skips to the part where he discovered Johnny's secrets and protected him, but what's the aftereffect? Has Johnny learned to trust him more? Or is it going to take more time and effort?
What do they do after the end of the movie? Does Johnny get impatient? Does Henry teach him new things? How different are the world of the quick street-hustling Short Con and the high-stakes Big Con, and what's it like for Johnny in this new world?
How was Henry taught his trade back in the day, and does it still work? Why didn't Henry have an apprentice already? Did he before, did it go badly, or is Johnny a surprise exception?
What if something goes wrong? Relying on the grifter community--or, those times and places when all they have to rely on is each other. And what about Johnny being protective of Henry for a change?
A closeup on the Henry/Johnny relationship is great, but I also am totally into the whole parallel grifter society beneath the surface of the regular world, sort of a mixture of a huge extended family and an experienced repertory theater company. So if you want, feel free to paint a larger picture.
A new con, large or small, is welcome, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to. I’m also into the time between jobs (or offstage during a job), long train trips or fancy hotels or rides hitched in a dusty jalopy, risk-junkies on the road together.
I love the physical details of the time. Train travel is so very of the period--as high-end passengers, Pullman cars, sleepers, etc.-- or suddenly having to ride the rails, in a boxcar, buried in straw, staying in Hoovervilles along the way, the intimacies of the road. Ocean liners, thumbing rides, other kinds of travel, where the journey is the whole point. Luxury suites, enormous bathtubs--or a little cold-water flat, a creaky Murphy bed folding down from the wall. The movie only shows them in cities...what about small towns, the countryside, someplace rural or rougher?
If it becomes relevant, I ask that the good guys’ cons be against deserving targets--fitting the Robin Hoodish tone of the movie, where you go after the well-heeled and greedy, using their own greed to trap them. The con as reparative justice.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Thanks again for writing for me--I appreciate it! *\o/*
