Yuletide 2025!
Oct. 21st, 2025 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacegandalfI am open to interactive fiction and crossovers (see +here for a list of fandoms I'm familiar with and anything I've written or bookmarked except for Hibike! Euphonium, Supergirl and any characters that appear in the Jacket Bar).
General Likes
DNWs
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures (Comics) (Sav Malagán, Officer Rado, Therm Scissorpunch, Raf Thatchburn, Lula Talisola, Zeen Mrala, Ty Yorrick)
Star Wars: The High Republic (Marvel Comics) (Matthea Cathley, Vildar Mac, Tey Sirrek)
Deadloch (TV) (Abby Matsuda, Eddie Redcliffe, Dulcie Collins, Sven Alderman)
Ologies (Podcast) RPF (Alie Ward)
Score: A Hockey Musical (2010) (Moose, Coach Donk)
Yudah Cohen Series - Rebecca Fraimow (Any)
Fallen London | Echo Bazaar (Milton, Bishop of Southwark)
General Likes
- Worldbuilding
- Cultural differences
- Roleswaps
- Fix-its
- Character/relationship studies/genfic
- Canon divergence
- Established relationship
- Getting together
- People finding something soft and/or something that makes them happy even when the world is going to shit
- Hurt/Comfort
- Fake Dating
- Humour
- Tenderness
- Politics
- Plottiness
- Angst
- Fluff
- Mutual Pining
- Outsider POV
- Time travel, time loops
- Queer characters
- Missing scenes
- Found Family
- Unconventional formats
- Comedy of errors
- Crack treated seriously
- Judaism
(Back to Table of Contents)
Do Not Wants
- Unhappy endings
- Major Character Death, unless it's a bad guy
- Noncon
- Omegaverse
- Pregnancy
- Smut (fade to black totally fine)
- Humiliation
- Watersports/scat
- Big age gap (7 years-ish? i'm not going to be a massive stickler on this, it's more a power imbalance that I'm not a fan of)
- Significant power imbalance or mentor/mentee romance/sexual relationship
- Unrequited love
- Incest
- Highschool/college AU
- Permanent amnesia
- Infidelity (polyamory is fine with consent of all parties)
- Readerfic (2nd person is fine as long as it's meant to be a specific character)
- Cancer/other terminal illness
- Suicide (suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts are fine)
- Queer tragedy
- Painful breakups (reference to past breakups is fine)
- Christmas and Christianity
- Covid
- Love triangles that don't end in polyamory
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures (Comics) (Sav Malagán, Officer Rado, Therm Scissorpunch, Raf Thatchburn, Lula Talisola, Zeen Mrala, Ty Yorrick)
The High Republic is a multimedia project of novels and comics that's For The Queers. There are so few heterosexuals in here, it's amazing. They really said "sure, the lesbians didn't get to kiss on screen in Andor but Disney doesn't care about the publishing arm so let's go hog wild" and they sure did! There are three phases, and each of them is set in a different time: Phase I is the early 230s BBY (about 200 years before TPM), Phase II is set in 382 BBY with an entirely different set of characters, and Phase III is set a year after Phase I ended. Phase II is set a hundred and fifty years earlier as an homage to the Prequel Trilogy, and there's lots of stuff it sets up that pays off when you reread Phase I and going into Phase III but that's not really important in The High Republic Adventures, which is the kid/teen-focused comics run. The books and comics are intertwined, but many of the characters in the comics only appear in small parts in one or two books, so I've just requested the comics runs to make it less intimidating, and I'm not expecting my gifter to bring book canon in if they don't want to. The 2021 run is Phase I, the 2022 run is Phase II and the 2023 run is Phase III. While you can definitely read Phase II without any knowledge of Phase I, you really need Phase I knowledge to understand Phase III!
The basic premise of the High Republic: it's the golden age for the Jedi. They're opening a big space station in the Outer Rim so the Jedi can help people out there, and there are lots of different temples open across the galaxy. Unfortunately, there are people out there who hate the Jedi! No Sith here, but in Phase II it's a cult who thinks Jedi are evil for using the Force, and in Phase I and III it's a band of pirates/terrorists called the Nihil who hate the Jedi because they hate the Republic and love committing crimes, which the Jedi try to stop them from doing. The big problem is that both the cult and the Nihil have access to weapons that are uniquely good at killing Jedi, which they use devastatingly effectively.
If you are interested but are worried about how big it all is, I highly recommend the 2022 run of The High Republic Adventures, because it is the most self-contained bit of THR that exists. It's also hilarious. What could go wrong with a Padawan who sneaks away from her master to become a (non-evil) pirate? Dexter Jettster is there! He's in a canonical QPR with Maz Kanata! A pirate and a pirate-hunter are in gay forbidden love! There's THERM SCISSORPUNCH! The handful of issues where they land in the middle of the Battle of Jedha are great because while you don't understand the wider conflict, neither do they!
In the 2021 and 2023 runs, our heroes are a bunch of Padawans (later Knights!) who are on the Starlight Beacon, the cool new space station in the Outer Rim. They have to help deal with an event called the Great Hyperspace Disaster, where chunks of a destroyed ship fall out of hyperspace at almost the speed of light and destroy planets and kill a lot of people. And then in Phase III, they... well, that would be spoilers for Phase III! The two characters I've nominated from this are Zeen Mrala and Lula Talisola. They're canonically baby dykes in love. They're the main characters of their run, and I love their relationship SO much. You don't have to write shippy fic for them if you don't want, but please don't write Krix/Zeen. Krix appearing at all is a DNW.
Ty Yorrick is from Phase I and III, but she has her own miniseries within THRA: The Monster of Temple Peak and Saber for Hire. She left the Jedi as a Padawan and is now a freelance monster hunter. She's a disaster. So I'm going to split my prompts into three: ones about Phase II, ones about Ty Yorrick, and ones about Lula and Zeen. The prompts all contain spoilers, but Phase III spoilers will be kept behind a < details > tag so you have to click on it to read it.
Sav Malagán
From the 2021 run:
- What if Sav hadn't given Qort over to Yoda? What kind of shenanigans would happen?
- Maz has gone to the Takodana Jedi Temple for "caf dates and slumber parties". What happens at those?
- I would love anything about Sav's adventures as a pirate Padawan! What chaos does Sinube bring to Sav's life?
- Perhaps something about Sav's Gender Hats? Technically the High Republic Character Encyclopedia gives her pronouns only as "she/her", but what if she has some Gender going on? She uses a different hat when she's going by he/him as an undercover pirate, and I think there's stuff to explore there!
- How did she get a Kuyo war shield hat in the first place (the big flat one)?
- There's this little mention of Sav and Saya in Escape from Valo (don't worry, the rest of the book isn't relevant):
- That Jedi I told you my grandma fell for on Jedha—Sav Malagán? Nana Saya was ready to leave her group, the Dank Graks, and run away together. But the girl said she couldn’t go with her. Broke Nana’s heart. They became close friends later and finally talked about it, what had happened—something about Jedi not forming powerful attachments, and also my grandma was a war criminal?”
- What happened there? What if they had got together?
- When did Sav decide to settle down on Takodana? What's she up to in Phase III back with the old gang?
- How did he start to fabricate his reputation?
- Does he gain a real reputation after the Battle of Jedha?
- Does he still struggle with anxiety afterwards? Does someone else in the gang help him through it (Rado again or someone else)?
- What was he before he was a pirate?
- Anything about his and Alak's star-crossed romance! How did they fall in love?
- What previous encounters did they have between falling in love and the Battle of Jedha?
- Does Tanteek love Alak? If so, does that cause some awkwardness if Raf is with some of his colleagues and Alak turns up? What other awkwardness ensues when Raf and Alak are with other people and they have to pretend to be not in love?
- How does Raf adjust to becoming a pirate?
- What do Raf's (former) colleagues know about any of this?
- Mission fic with Raf trying to deal with pirates, perhaps?
- Anything about the tiny Officer Rado and his doomed attempts to stop Coromont from committing crimes.
- What was it like when Rado was first assigned?
- How did the gang get used to him/become kind of fond of him (which is how I read it) when it becomes clear that he's not very good at actually reporting anything? Do they realise that he can't report them if he incriminates himself every time so they do it on purpose?
- Why is he still with the pirate gang during Phase III?
- Does Rado save the day at some point (other than of course giving Therm the best pep talk ever)? Does his knowledge of the law come in handy?
I'm doing these prompts together because lots of them are for both, but feel free to write fics that only include one of them! A lot of these prompts relate to their romance because it's canon, but I'm also up for platonic stuff or fic with only one of them!
From the 2021 run:
- Zeen having to hide the Force from Krix and the rest of her community can very easily be read as a metaphor for being in the closet. Is she hiding both her Force sensitivity and her queerness on Trymant IV?
- I am obsessed with Zeen's conviction that she needs to run away so she doesn't get in the way of Lula's destiny to become a Jedi. What if she did try to run away? Would Lula and co. go looking for her? Or just Lula?
- What if they got together earlier?
- What was Zeen's life like before we met her? This can include Krix if you like but no Krix/Zeen please!
- What was Lula's life like before we met her? How close were Lula, Farzala and Qort before they all ended up on the Star Hopper? Why is their training in the 2021 run more communal than with their individual Masters?
Phase III prompts for Lula and Zeen, click to expand:
- What adventures did Lula have between the fall of Starlight Beacon and Zeen finding her?
- How does Lula explain to her fellow Jedi about her decision to leave for Zeen?
- You can write smut for this one if you like! (Do Mikkians have anything fun happening down there?)
- Does Lula talk to people about proposing with other Jedi (other than what we see with her worrying over the bracelet with Qort and Farzala)?
- What makes them decide to be the quintessential baby dykes uhauling across space? Is it because they know people could be killed by the Nihil or the Nameless at any opportunity? Or something else?
- What if Lula tries to make things work with Zeen without leaving the Order?
- What if she had got her memories back, instead of mostly getting them second-hand after the crash? Or perhaps more exploration of her learning to live with her amnesia? I know I DNW'd permanent amnesia but this one is canonical, so feel free to explore it.
- What did Lula get up to between the crash and being rescued? Could she have had a little affair with Nan, perhaps? I think they could kiss. 👀 If she does, does she still send the "I have what the Mikkian wants" message? (This isn't really adultery because she's got amnesia, so it dodges my infidelity DNW.)
- There's plenty of angst potential for Lula to remember an affair with Nan while she's with Zeen — is Zeen hurt by it? I'd prefer if Lula didn't leave Zeen for Nan, but I'm happy to waive my breakups DNW for Nan/Lula breaking up — does Nan know Lula's a Jedi while Lula has lost her memories? Is she just waiting for this to end? Does she try to prevent Lula from finding out?
Ty Yorrick
Monster of Temple Peak:
- Did anyone look for her when she left the Order? Her Master, perhaps? Is there a search party sent out?
- We know she hides from Jedi during the time of the Starlight Beacon. What would happen if one caught her?
- What was Ty like as a Padawan?
- How did Ty cope with being on her own when she left the Order?
- What if Klias hadn't died? If Ty had subdued him in some non-fatal way, and they'd returned to the Jedi?
- Mission fic with (or without!) Drewen, perhaps?
- Does she ever encounter Sav or her crew while roaming the galaxy?
Phase III prompts for Ty Yorrick, click to expand:
- What if she was actually a decent person to Drewen? He doesn't deserve her treatment of him. :(
- What the fuck happened to Cibaba? Why did he join the Nihil? What's his recovery like? (A fic about this doesn't have to include Ty if you don't want to!)
- We know that Ty and Drewen remain at the temple, doing missions for Elzar. Is there any awkwardness there? Does Ty Feel Some Kind Of Way about it? Is there anyone there that she knew from before she left?
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Star Wars: The High Republic (Marvel Comics) (Matthea Cathley, Vildar Mac, Tey Sirrek)
For a basic explanation of the High Republic, see the High Republic Adventures blurb above! Though for some reason, the beginning of THR doesn't explain the Great Hyperspace Disaster at all, so: big chunks of a ship that was travelling through hyperspace fall out of hyperspace and whizz through realspace at almost the speed of light. Anything in their path gets instantly obliterated, which destroys small planets and kills heaps of people. This comic starts after that gets solved. Like THRA, I have requested some characters from Phase II and from Phase I/III. Vildar and Tey get flashbacks in Phase III that are mostly unrelated to the Phase III plot. I'm caught up with all the books and comics. You're free to include stuff from the books, but it's definitely not an obligation! You can definitely write fic just knowing what is in the comics. You don't need to write shippy fic with Vildar and Tey; they're just grouped together because their plots interact.
Vildar Mac and Tey Sirrek
- Vildar is a fucked up little guy. How the hell did he get knighted? He's not at all over a thing that happened when he was four, and doesn't trust himself. As Tey points out, surely those things should have been resolved during his Jedi training?
- What made him decide to avoid the Togrutan front? What if he'd gone there instead?
- What's the Vildar-Matty dynamic like? Has Vildar had a Padawan before?
- I would looove to see more Tey and Matty interaction! I feel like they could get up to all kinds of things that make Vildar go prematurely grey.
- Everyone at Enlightenment laughs and is clearly extremely familiar with Tey pulling the Morichro trick. What made them so familiar with it?
- Why did Tey join the Guardians in the first place?
- What kind of things does Tey achieve on the Convocation?
Phase III prompts for Vildar and Tey, click to expand:
- How do they get together? Who makes the first move?
- What's Matty's reaction to them getting together? Or Oliviah's?
- Are there other moments like the Phase III flashback where Tey has stolen the Hand when Tey feels like he's failed Vildar?
- How do all their coworkers know they're together? I am obsessed with the "trouble at home?" comment one of their colleagues makes.
- Are there other Jedi who have Thoughts And Opinions about their relationship? Does Vildar keep it from other Jedi? If so, how does Tey feel about that?
- Tell me more about them getting married! What was the Council's reaction? Did Vildar have to leave the Order? Why did they get married, since the Vildar of Phase I didn't really seem like a romantic kind of guy? Who asked who?
- Tey says that Vildar taught him how to use the Hand of Siberius for good. How did that work? Did he really steal it after Vildar's death? Why? When? He says in Fear of the Jedi #4 that he was lying about Vildar teaching him to use it for good. What's going on there??? Why does he latch onto it as the thing that fills the void after Vildar dies?
- I think Tey is lying about stealing Vildar's lightsaber, because it really undermines the scene where we find out he's carrying Vildar's lightsaber in THR issue #6. Did Vildar bequeath it to him before he died? Why does it still have the kyber crystal in it? Did some Jedi want to take it back to the Temple? Why does he never use it? If he did steal it, why?
- How did Vildar use the balm of the Luminous on Tey? Why is Tey carrying it when he meets the gang in Phase III?
- Tey knows that Vectors are impossible to fly. Did he try flying Vildar's Vector? What happened?
- Tey has clearly had some experience with children, what with how he comforts the Yacombe child and immediately lets her ride on his shoulders. Does Vildar have any feelings about that?
Please don't write Matthea/Oliviah! I'm just not into it. Please also don't write Matty in a relationship with any male characters.
- What was Matty's padawanship with Leebon like? She clearly knows Jedha really well, so she can't have been stuck at the Convocation — what was she doing instead?
- We know that Matty has "messed around" and "sometimes hadn't even been caught" (Path of Vengeance). Who catches her mid-fooling around? She's clearly been caught multiple times, too, so is it the same person who catches her each time? (I am a firm believer in a headcanon that she gets caught having sex at bars, which is why she's technically banned from Enlightenment, but wherever you want to go with it will be great! You don't have to stick with that.) Happy to waive the smut DNW for this one! (Does Matty or her partner have some fun genitalia happening?)
- Is the messing around always FWB/one night stands or does she have a relationship with someone?
- I would looove to see more Tey and Matty interaction! I feel like they could get up to all kinds of things that make Vildar go prematurely grey.
- What's the Vildar-Matty dynamic like? Has Vildar had a Padawan before?
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Deadloch (TV) (Any)
This is an Australian murder mystery comedy full of lesbians. When a serial killer starts killing people in a Tasmanian town around the time of the Winter Feastival, an occasion that brings many lesbians from the mainland, how will our intrepid heroes find the killer? It manages to be an incredibly gripping murder mystery as well as a comedy, and basically every character is ripe for exploration. And yes, while it's about cops, it's critical of them. I've nominated Eddie, Dulcie, Abby and Sven. Cath doesn't interest me heaps by herself but I'm happy for you to write about her in relation to my nominated characters! Per my DNWs, please don't linger on Dulcie's infidelity! My list of prompts isn't super long, but I will be thrilled if I receive a fic for this fandom! I just don't have heaps of ideas myself. Whatever you come up with will be delightful!
Sven Alderman
- Sven has so many hidden depths. He's fluent in Indonesian! He knows everyone he calls up and their personal lives! I would love to see more hidden depths emerging, or him using the ones we know already.
- Why did he stay in Deadloch when, in his words, he feels like he's about to be hate crimed if he goes to the pub?
- Why did he go into law enforcement if he doesn't really like it?
- What was his experience of life before Dulcie came to town?
Abby Matsuda
- I love Abby so much, she's so perfect and deserves so much better.
- What's her life like after the show? Does she flourish in her new role?
- Does she fall in love with Kate?
- What was her falling out with Sharelle? They seem to have stopped talking when Abby became a police officer. What was their relationship before that?
- Was Abby always this anxious, or was it as a result of some event (by which I mean James, lbr)? Did other people try to convince her James was bad for her and she didn't listen?
Eddie Redcliffe
- Eddie claims she's "done stuff" with women. Does she do any more stuff after the end of the show? With Dulcie and Cath, perhaps?
- What's investigating Bushy's murder like? What's her relationship with her colleagues in Darwin -- does Dulcie defend her against hostility, perhaps?
- I'm also into just some gen bickering! Does Eddie ever actually remember what Dulcie and Cath's names are?
- What's Holly's relationship with Eddie like? What's her reaction to Bushy's murder? What's her reaction to Eddie, Dulcie and Cath turning up on her doorstep?
Dulcie Collins
- What was Dulcie's life in Sydney like? How did she get together with Cath?
- What kind of cases does she work before the show?
- Does she help any of the residents with anything interesting?
- Does her relationship with the town change after they catch the killer? Do relations thaw at all between the New Deadloch residents and the Old Deadloch residents?
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Ologies (Podcast) RPF (Alie Ward)
Unlike the others, this fandom isn't really the kind you can write prompts for! Ologies is a podcast in which the host Alie Ward interviews scientists (with a very broad definition of scientist) about their fields. The defining features (to me) are her very casual and funny style, the sound snippets from movies/tv/whatever (though I think these stop at some point? I'm actually years behind in her catalogue so I'm not sure), and the secret at the end of the credits.
What I'm looking for here is a crossover! It doesn't have to be a fandom I'm familiar with; any fandom is a delight as long as it can be read fandom-blind. Does she interview Pokemon scientists? Necromancers? That guy from Spy Kids who makes the tiny animals? If you want to do some RPF with real scientists, I'm also fine with that! Follow your heart. It doesn't have to be a podcast — it can be whatever makes sense in your canon!
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Score: A Hockey Musical (2010)
When I watched this film a few years ago, I immediately edited my Yuletide signup to include it. It's a Whole Experience and I highly recommend watching it for free on Youtube here! It's 1 hour and 38 minutes of the most baffling thing you will experience today. If "hockey musical" doesn't sell you, there's a glorious promo post here. It inexplicably stars Patrick from Schitt's Creek and Olivia Newton John is his mother. Nelly Furtado is there. I simply cannot express in words How Much this film happens.
- I love my son Moose. We see him go on a whole journey about what intricate rituals you need to construct to touch the skin of other men and I'd love to see something exploring that!
- I also ship Farley/Moose. Does it happen before the whole Farley doesn't fight scandal or after? Is Moose, known Sensitive Guy, already aware/comfortable with his queerness? Or does he have to work through it with Farley?
- What's the conversation like when the Blades have that discussion about violence and refused to let Coach Donk in?
- Does Moose ever meet Farley's parents (as a friend or boyfriend)? How does that go?
- I firmly believe in my heart that Coach Donk and Ace (the grumpy guy in the black toque who totally could have been in the NHL) are secretly married. (It would be hilarious if they're not even trying to hide it, they're just Like That. but deliberately hiding it would also be delicious.) Or any Donk/Ace!
- Donk and/or Ace being queer would be interesting to explore specifically because of the violent masculinity they're both policing in Farley. Queerness Meets The Toxic Masculinity Of Hockey Culture!!
- What previous hockey experience does Donk have? How did he end up coaching here?
- Does Donk struggle with not encouraging violent masculinity?
- A Do Not Want: please don't have Farley and Eve together! Eve deserves someone better. I love her. (Mentions of her crush on Farley are fine.)
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Yudah Cohen Series - Rebecca Fraimow
This is a series of short stories available for free:
“Further Arguments in Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman” by Rebecca Fraimow
Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head Under Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected
Gitl Schneiderman Learns to Live With Her In-Laws
They share a universe that's Jewish with a little magic! Yudah Cohen argues that Bluma should marry him because he could help with her mother who is definitely not a werewolf. It's just so charming and so full of possibility!
- Yudah arriving in Vilna, becoming part of the community, finally free to be who he is. How does that feel?
- Tante Leah -- what's her life as a werewolf like? How did it go with Yudah saying he already knew? Was she planning to confess? Who else knows? Is this just a secret that everyone pretends to keep to avoid making Leah uncomfortable? Does Shaina ever find out?
- Yudah/Bluma -- what's their courtship like? Their marriage? If you wanted to write some smut for this, I'd be happy to receive it, though preferably not PWP. And the baby! What's living in Lodz like? Are there any unexpected surprises with the baby being a quarter demon?
- Shaina -- her life is truly so hard. I'd love to see more of her and Bluma, or her friendship with Gitl, or her visiting Lodz. And when people start making noise about her needing to get married, does she want to or does she perhaps go to Yudah for help on how to avoid that? (She read to me as ace, but I'm happy for whatever interpretation you bring!)
- A legal proceding/some talmud/etc. from this world would be amazing, since we know that demons have brought court cases.
- Gitl and Mirele -- did Gitl love her husband or was it actually Mirele? Or did she love them both? What is her life like with Mirele now that they've run off to the theatre?
- More of Yudah encountering magic -- he's been visited by dybbuks before; how did that go? What other creatures does he encounter?
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Fallen London | Echo Bazaar (Milton, Bishop of Southwark)
Fallen London is a browser-based text rpg with real-time events. The one I'm interested in is Hell is Missing, which is the 2025 Estival. I'm assuming that anyone who matches me with both Milton and the Bishop of Southwark knows the event; if you don't, then... I suppose you're welcome to write some other time that Milton and Southwark have interacted! I don't know of it, but if they have, then that's my bad! Just know that I won't have the background canon knowledge for it. I've also not played Mask of the Rose, so if you want to include stuff from there, you're welcome to (I don't mind spoilers for it), with the caveat that it should be understandable without Mask of the Rose knowledge. Assume I know the basics of Fallen London, the Railway plotline and I guess I also know Evolution and Risen Burgundy but I don't expect those to come up (if you want to put Southwark and Milton in them, however, go for it!). Anything else like exceptional content, previous estivals or mayoral elections, I don't know.
Also, I'm waiving my DNW for smut for this fandom, though I'd prefer it not get much more adventurous than some bondage in terms of kinks, if any. I am also open to Milton having weird genitals going on. Unlike my other fandoms, please include both Milton and Southwark unless I specify otherwise in the prompt. My Christianity DNW basically has to be waived here, but preferably don't make it the focus! Age is also a very nebulous concept in the Neath so I'm waiving the age gap DNW.
Hell is Missing is an event where prisoners from the War of '68 between London and Hell break out of their cells by stealing a law furnace and wreaking general havoc by upending all the laws, not just the ones they need to subvert to escape. A small group of London residents came together to try to fix everything: you, the Implacable Detective, a devil called Milton and the Bishop of Southwark (Reginald Birtwhistle). The Milton and Southwark interactions made me immediately think "oh these two have a history and it should be gay, even if it apparently isn't canonically". You know how it is. Of course, if you don't want to write them in a shippy fashion, you're free to make it platonic! Either way their dynamic is going to be fascinating. The interaction that kicked off my desire was this one:
The Detective is here before you, pen poised over notebook.
Southwark arrives a little after. He hesitates when he sees Milton, gazing out at the city through a shattered pane in the clock face. The Bishop finally prowls to a corner of the belfry, where he can keep an eye on things.
"No 'hello'?" says Milton. "History has tempered you, dear Reginald."
"It has sharpened me, too. I'm not the milksop boy who marched into your den forty years ago."
"I'd hope not. You know yourself far better now. It sits well on you."
"So..." The Detective clears her throat. "You finally have something to share?"
I've collected most of the Southwark and Milton interactions, but I might have missed some. Here are (hopefully!) the most significant ones, starting after that one, under the cut:
Ad quod damnum
"Certain matters came to pass in Hell before its disappearance. As a rule, Hell is no stranger to change. But this particular change took the White City by surprise." He adjusts his tie. "Most of it, at least."He unfolds the tale – longtime prisoners in Hell managed to seize one of the greater law furnaces. "Employing it in rather unintended ways." Creating the predicament the Neath now finds it in – ridden over by a cavalcade of unintended laws.
Voiceless
The Detective clears her throat. "Our strategy is working. By containing the rogue laws—" let it endMilton cocks his head. "There. The unfortunates speak for themselves." no more
The Detective shakes her head. "Wait – that... voice? Feeling. That is the prisoners?" we are sorry
"Collectively, at least. Somewhat confounded by their experience with the furnace, no doubt." we were left behind
"What voice?" says Southwark, his own words trembling. Has he not heard it? "Only what I always hear. The guilty murmurs of those I failed."
An Elegy for Chaos
The Detective flips her notebook closed with a sigh. "So we've finally learned the truth, but to what benefit?"help us
Southwark pales; Milton goes to speak, but Southwark storms off towards the staircase. The heavy tread of his boots echoes up as he descends at speed.
"There are some who may yet benefit," says the devil. "I fear this may be the making of dear Reginald. Or his undoing."
Old wounds
The Detective looks surprised at your question. "He has... history in this regard."Milton picks up the thread. "He was a participant in that ill-advised skirmish shortly after your city fell."
"The '68 campaign," the Detective prompts.
"If you like. We'd number things differently. Reginald was able to walk away, in the end – no small victory on his part. But he blames himself for those of his fellows who he saw captured." He adjusts his tie. "That explains a lot, doesn't it?"
Then you do lots of law hunting and various other carousels, making progress on the plot as you go, and this is a new meeting:
An Invitation to a Council
A meeting is to take place, at no less location than Southwark Cathedral. A council – perhaps his Grace would say 'council of war'?
A Council at Southwark Cathedral
The meeting takes place in the bishop's study at Southwark Cathedral. The Detective sits by the desk; Southwark behind it. An assortment of London devils and clerical types mill around, pointedly avoiding one another. Milton stays on the margin, inspects the relics of creed and of warfare that hang upon the walls.
Held close
"Very gracious of the bishop to invite us. I never thought I'd see the day." You can only hope that there is good news? "I shall leave that to the man himself," he says. "But he has a plan. I expect you will know which parts were his, and where he had help."
Milton gestures to the uniform mounted on the wall. One sleeve is burned. "Do you suppose this is the one he wore? What a thing to be reminded of, every day."
Called to order
The room gradually falls to silence. Southwark girds himself, takes a deep breath, and stands up. "Welcome, everyone. Normally, I'd say a quick prayer before proceedings, but in the circumstances, I shall give that a miss."
Half-hearted laughter from the room at large. A warm, too-loud chuckle from Milton. And teeth-grinding from the Bishop. "The matter I have called you here to discuss is one near and dear to my heart: reaching Hell, and storming its deepest bastions."
The Detective casts you a wry look.
The Distant Walls of Hell
Milton clears his throat. "London's track record in this regard is somewhat lacking. How fortunate that, this time, you shall have help. Still, if you want to storm Hell, you're going to have to catch it first."
The Bishop looks to one of the assembled devils – the Meticulous Jurist. She, however, stays silent, until he calls on her directly. "The b— Our colleagues at the Brass Embassy have a proposal to address that."
A posteriori
A malfunctioning law furnace has perverted the laws enough that Hell is simply not here. Well, what have you been doing these past days but making your own laws? Forge the right law, and you can mandate Hell's presence once more.
"Indeed," says the Jurist. She does a good job of appearing unruffled, but it's you who earned the room's approving nods. "The furnaces at the embassy stand ready."
"Right," says Southwark. "And then we storm Hell, with every soldier we can must—"
"Actually," continues the Jurist, "we have a proposal for that, too."
The Distant Walls of Hell
The Bishop picks up the thread. "Well, it's settled then – we must orchestrate the forging of a law. Then amass as many loyal Londoners as possible – soldiers to take to the field in dreams, to lay low that wretched illusory fortress. And then... we storm Hell itself!"
"I strongly advise," says Milton, lazily, "that you hold to your original objective when you do. Even past its walls, Hell can be fierce."
"Bring them home," says the Bishop. "I am going to bring them home."
Then you journey into the Waswood and reach Marigold Prison. We pick up again with Southwark coming face to face with the prisoners:
The reawakened pain of old wounds
"I am here." His voice cracks, assaulted by the smoke. "I am here," he croaks. He leans bodily into the mouth of the furnace, stretching his hands forward. "By God, I have come. I am here. I am here." The heat turns his tears to steam.
A dozen hands take his. You grasp the Bishop's belt, helping to steady him. Through him, you feel their weight – how long they have abided here in Hell. There is one last disentanglement to be done.
You pluck at the threads, separating self from other from law from lawmaker. You pull. And they all come tumbling out.
The Fires of Law
Southwark surveys each of the dozen in turn. "It's you. It's really you."
The Caged Captain is the first of the veterans to regain her feet. "Reggie?!"
"I'm sorry," says Southwark. "I'm so sorry. None of this would have happened if—"
"Yes. Well." She claps him on the shoulder. "Don't blub, Reggie. Not now. We have a visitor."
"Thank you," says an exasperated voice. "We can finally bring this matter to a conclusion."
A Settling of Accounts
"I am taking them out of here," says the bishop in a low voice. He's eyeing up the leftmost goat-demon. "Whatever you have been doing to them, it ends today."
"Not so. They were fairly taken during conflict, in which, I remind you, they were the aggressor. They are Hell's. And they remain so, even after this metaphysical stunt. They... refactored a devil in the process. It is not yet known whether he can be recovered. They will be catechized about how they were able to achieve this, and then returned to their rightful place here."
Then you find the piece of law glass which makes this small area no longer Hell's domain, so the prisoners can't go back to Hell but they also can't leave where they are, meaning they're still basically imprisoned but no longer being tortured.
Goodbye
They are thankful, if still bemused and a little dazed from the whole experience. You retreat to a respectful distance. The thirteen of them sit on the floor, and you hear laughter. When you glance over, they are smiling – you get the sense they have not done so for some time. Only when it's time to leave are there tears. "No blubbing, Reggie. Good lad."
Pyrrhic
"I keep thinking of them, stranded there. Neither home nor in Hell." Perhaps that was more than could have been hoped for, given the circumstances? "Perhaps. Many are the plans in the mind of man. And devils, I suppose. I will find a way, though. One day, I will bring them home."
Inscrutable as ever
Milton is returning to London, rather than remaining in Hell. "If you recall, I was bound for London even before this mess unfolded. At least I don't have to walk, this time."
One might insinuate that it's in Milton's interests to avoid Hell for the time being, given his involvement in this affair. "As a rule, I don't involve myself in the machinations of Hell's factions." As a rule? "What is it that you imagine? That I secretly foment rebellion within Hell? That I take pity on its prisoners? You may go on imagining these things, if you wish."
So he did not steer you towards the law-glass within the furnace? Encourage you to find it, to make sure it was in your possession at the end? "That would make me party to turning this situation to Hell's disadvantage. This is why I have to be careful with what I say, to whom, and when. Otherwise, people draw all kinds of scurrilous inferences."
He gazes at the hinterlands beyond the train's window. "Just as in falsehoods can be found the essence of truth, I have observed that it is only when things are sufficiently distorted that their true shape can be seen at last. Someone has certainly profited today – it is no easy thing to claim a tranche of Hell's territory."
Those are the only really relevant interactions Southwark and Milton things, I think, but there are more Hell is Missing snippets saved in this journal here.
In terms of ideas, I have a few:
- What was the War of '68 like? If we know, then I've never seen it, so I'd love to see your take on it! For this prompt specifically, feel free not to include both Southwark and Milton, though of course I would also love to read whatever interactions they had during the war, too!
- Is the events of Hell is Missing the first time Southwark and Milton have met since the war? The dialogue certainly implies as such, but feel free to imagine a world where that's not the case!
- Do they meet privately in between the meetings of the group trying to solve the disappearance? Perhaps it involves kissing. Perhaps it involves alcohol. Perhaps it involves Southwark working through some war trauma.
- What about afterwards? Milton and Southwark are both in London, so it's entirely possible they run into each other once Hell has been restored to its rightful place.
- Does Southwark go back to visit the enclave? Feel free not to have Milton in this one!
- Does Milton go back to visit the enclave for some reason? Does the reason relate to Southwark at all? Does Southwark know?
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