• Renee Montoya & Vic Sage
• Renee Montoya/Elicia Sanchez
• Jason Todd/Vic Sage

• Bruce Wayne (DCEU)/Vic Sage (DCU)
• Clark Kent (DCEU)/Vic Sage (DCU)

♥ Tropey goodness, taken as seriously or as silly as you like.

♥ Protectiveness.

♥ Loyalty.

♥ Conflict.

♥ Hurt/comfort.

♥ Messy, complicated relationships where no one person is necessarily "better" than the other.

♥ Characters who are normally in control very much not being that.

♥ Canon divergence/for want of a nail AUs.

♥ Self-destructive tendencies.

♥ Mind games and mutually dangerous people engaging in cat-and-mouse scenarios.

♥ Badass in distress.

♥ Competency and cleverness

♥ Identity porn and related scenarios.

♥ "Good guys" being driven to do shady, questionable things in the pursuit of their goals/righteous ideals.

♥ Morally bankrupt bad guys falling in love and doing things that screw over their agenda or leave them vulnerable because they care about one particular person.

♥ Emotion-driven desperation.

♥ When two people rest their foreheads together and it's super intimate

♥ Women pinning other women against walls.

♥ Role swaps.

♥ Time loops.

♥ Superheroes.

♥ Fairy tales.

♥ Dragons and/or robots.

♥ Hair ruffling.

✘ Non-canonical (permanent) major character death; character death as part of a Groundhog Day scenario or where the other half of the ship goes on a quest to revive them or etc. is totally fine.

✘ Torture.

✘ Mutilation. Description of/reference to existing canon injuries would be fine. New injuries resulting in a new scar or something would also be fine, particularly considering the type of characters we're dealing with in some of these canons. Canon-typical levels of violence are fine as a general rule.

✘ Issue fic (e.g. fic centered around delivering a moral lesson or having a character learn the error of their ways by being educated about social issues; fic set around commenting on/paralleling real world social issues, power structures, or concepts of identity that don't exist natively in the canon's worldbuilding--"canon typical" is fine, as a rule).

✘ "Ripped from the headlines" plots/stories about contemporary real world events (e.g. COVID).

✘ Terminal illness.

✘ Mundane AUs (e.g. coffee shop, high school, no powers, etc.).

✘ Non-con.

I am kind of devastated that Alexis Hall intended this novel as a standalone and that he (at this point) has no intentions of giving us a follow up because as soon as I finished it all I wanted was a follow up. I wanted more mysteries, more literally out of this world adventures, more Shaharazad Haas, and more of John Wyndham coming out his shell and getting sucked into hijinks (and very lowjinks) in the name of the case and his best friend's whims. And I also really wanted to see John and Lawson get together.

While romance wasn't really the point of The Affair of the Mysterious Letter (or, well, not for our heroes anyways), I have to admit that my mind snagged on author!John's reference to his long suffering husband at the start of the book and I was waiting with desperate interest to find out who it was. Imagine my delight as it became increasingly apparent that the narrative was pointing towards a budding mutual interest with Lawson! While Lawson's appearances are relatively brief, he's so immensely likeable throughout them as the only sane man who is ever in the room (as opposed to John who only thinks he is and gets more and more honest about not being that as the novel goes on) and the dynamic he develops with John, despite the circumstances of their encounters, is completely adorable.

I really, really want post- canon fic showing more of how this dynamic develops, how they encounter each other in the future, how their interests turn from subtly to blatantly romantic, who makes the first move, how do things develop once they're in an established relationship, how does John make the change from the man in the book to the man who wrote the book, and what shenanigans Lawson has to put up with over the years.

Some Potential Prompts:
✎5 times John was arrested + 1 time the shoe was on the other foot and John had to bail Lawson out.

✎More wild case shenanigans during which John bends and breaks the rules of law (and decency) with increasingly less reluctance and Lawson gets dragged in to truly earn that description of "long-suffering".

✎Post-canon romantic moments. Who finally asks who out? What are their dates like? How crazy is the wedding?

✎Shaharazad is asked to consult on a case for the Myrmidons and declines. John, having gained some more detective experience, shows up to help anyway.

✎Lawson wasn't kidding when he said he'd be upset with Shaharazad if she got John killed. When John gets in over his head in another dangerous situation, Lawson decides to intervene to ensure that does not happen in a way that has nothing to do with duty and everything to do with not wanting to lose the nice guy he rather fancies.

✎Despite his distaste for Shaharazad and the way she operates, Lawson gets drawn into helping out one of their cases. Maybe either she or John are involved in the meat of the case themselves--in some way incapacitated, framed for or implicated in something, threatened/blackmailed, etc. and Lawson is moved to help out.

✎Hurt/comfort. Cases gone wrong, patching up injuries, kidnappings and hostage situations, time loops of trauma, the after affects of encounters with eldritch horrors, near misses and close calls, etc.



Burning Roses
Hou Yi/Rosa

Note: While not present for most of the novella, these characters' canon wives and adopted children are obviously very important to who they are and what motivates them. While I'd prefer the focus be on my requested pairing, I have no problem with their feelings for/pining towards/grief over their canonical partners being portrayed as well.

 
I absolutely adored this novella--it's like someone reached into my soul, took a grab bag of things that appeal to me without fail, and then made something beautiful out of it. Hou Yi and Rosa are both wonderfully complicated characters with troubled relationships with their pasts. I love that they found each other and the ways in which they've bonded over the similar shames of their pasts, but I also very deeply love the friction and conflict that results from them realizing how different the choices they've made are. And I love that this conflict, as painful and bitter and compelling as it is, isn't enough to break them because Rosa is with Hou Yi until the end.

While I was happy for them each to have resolutions with their wives and adopted children one way or another in the end and achieve some kind of peace...I have to admit that the longer the story went on, the more I shipped them with each other instead. I'd really love more pre-canon adventures or AUs that get to play in that space where they both feel that they've lost everything (and they both feel that they've earned that loss, whatever form it takes) and all they have is this new bond they've created with each other.

I also really love the fairy tale mashup world that Huang created and would love more exploration of it and more monster hunting (and more complicated moral quandaries around the very concept of "monster").

Some Potential Prompts:

✎More monster hunting! These two work so well together and clearly the fight against the Sunbirds wasn't their first time working as a team--I'd love to see what other challenges they've taken on since they started traveling together. Bonus points for Rosa's conflicted feelings about what it means to be a "monster".

✎Pre-canon. First meetings, traveling together, living together, learning how to work together, telling each other stories, all of the missing scenes!

✎Hurt/comfort, both physical and emotional! Hunts gone wrong, tending to wounds during and after hunts, taking the hit to protect your partner or a bystander, cave-ins, cuddling for warmth when adequate shelter isn't available, pining for your lost wife and taking comfort in your partner instead, dealing with feelings of trauma and guilt, fairy tale curses and their solutions--I want it all!

✎What if Hou Yi had survived the final confrontation with Feng Meng without needing to eat the peach of immortality? What happens next? How does she deal with her survivor's guilt? Does Rosa still reunite with her wife and daughter? If so, what place is there for Hou Yi in her life now?

✎I really want to see more of the world that these characters exist in in general, so I'd love something really worldbuildy that digs into the cultures or mythology or the way magic operates, etc.

Note: Since Vic’s cancer is a major plot point during his time with Renee in 52 and subsequent death, I’m waiving my Terminal Illness DNW here. I don’t expect anyone to have to overlook or handwave that part of canon. However, I’d prefer the fic not center entirely around that element.

I enjoy most Renee/women ships and would be fine with one popping up as a side/background element, even for a competing requested ship. I specifically enjoy Renee/Daria Hernandez, Renee/Kate Kane, Renee/Helena Bertinelli, Renee/Elicia Sanchez  and recent canon has piqued my interest in Renee/Lois Lane, but I'm very open to other possibilities.

I'll admit that in her early appearances, Elicia made more of an impression on me for her impact on Renee's arc than anything to do with herself as a character. And then Greg Rucka dropped his Lois Lane series and it changed everything. I was not expecting Elicia to appear again at all, but I certainly wasn't expecting the execution which involved so many of my diehard shipping weaknesses in one pairing. In her first appearances, Elicia was part of the Religion of Crime's efforts to mold Renee into their new leader by tempting her into "sin" and arguably one of their more successful endeavours--while they were certainly interpreting Renee's actions and motivations pretty liberally, her attraction to and empathy for Elicia definitely made Renee make some heat of the moment choices that she regretted, even if it did not actually convince her that it was a swell idea to become the next leader of their cult. That Elicia genuinely falling in love with Renee was also her own downfall and resulted in her being cursed and turned into the Kiss of Death is a beautiful revelation that really sold me on their dynamic.

Everything to do with the Kiss of Death plot line instantly became my retroactive favourite in light of this reveal. That it was secretly a former lovers turned enemies story all along? That Renee and Elicia were fighting against each other without realizing who it was they were hurting (and trading flirty banter while doing it because Renee can't help herself)? That Elicia took Renee down and only regained her memories and realized what exactly it was that she stood to lose after it was already slipping through her fingers almost past the point of too late? That Elicia, having realized what's happened, commits to an act of dangerous self-sacrifice because after all this time she still loves Renee just as much? That despite all odds, everything works out and the day is saved by the power of love and the two of them now work missions together? It's all so fantastic!

I would super love post-Lois Lane follow up or canon divergence AUs that play in that identity porn-y lovers to enemies to lovers space a little more.

I just think that they could be fascinating together and would love to see what sort of dynamic they might have – the places where they actually understand each other, the places where they absolutely don’t, how well they do or do not work together. I think there’s a part of Vic that would totally go “yeah, I was that angry kid once” and even understand and sympathize with some of Jason’s more violent methodologies – Vic’s very aware that his own hands aren’t clean on that front, that choosing to no longer be the guy who picks fights just because he knows he can win them is an active choice, and the struggle with the desire to commit “justifiable homicide” (out of curiosity, out of vengeance, out of sheer horror at the things people do to each other, even out of just desire) is very personal for him. At the same time, I think there are things that Jason has done or would be willing to do that Vic would flinch away from (especially in the Rucka “where does it end?” era). I also think that there are lines that Vic has toed that Jason would be pretty outraged by – like, there was a hot second where Vic started to buy into a villain speech about why chemically lobotomizing the entire world to end human suffering was a good thing actually (he got over it and was clearly dealing with some trauma because Hub City is the literal worst, but still) and I don’t see Jason not being appalled by that idea. But even beyond philosophizing on the subject of violence, I think there's a lot to play off of for them - a lot of room to either gel or clash on the basis of mutual cleverness, stubborn tendencies, and smartassery.

Do they get along? Do they hate each other? Does Bruce show up to disapprove of them both? I don’t know, but I want to find out!

Canon-Specific DNW: Explicit sexual content. Alluding to the fact that the teenage characters may think about and/or have sex is chill though.

Pretty Deadly
Big Alice/Deathface Ginny

Note: I am 100% okay with violence being included as not just an element, but as a feature. Especially for these two. The fight scene between them in volume 1 is what made the transition from "okay, I'm decently interested" to "I love this comic" for me. Getting to see two women fight as viciously as these two was a treat. And I am not above some scrapping between two halves of a ship, especially for femslash. Love me some (fr)enemy ships. Love me some sexual tension in fighting.
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I'm super fascinated by this series and these two characters in particular. For everything we learn about them, I feel like I have a million more questions and a million things still left unanswered. I'd love to know more about them on a general level (their histories, their roles as reapers, the world they live in) and a personal level (motivations, inner thoughts, desires, personal relationships). Violence is welcome, not just as an element, but as a feature when it comes to these two.

Pretty Deadly is a super fascinating comic, aesthetically and conceptually. I love every part of it and I would be over the moon to see someone take the worldbuilding and characters and play with them or flesh them out a little. Everything about how reapers work has been really neat and the whole detail about reapers with complementary aspects working in pairs from volume 2 is definitely something that you can play with for these two (Vengeance and Cruelty is such an interesting combo).

I was already down for this ship from Alice's introduction--my femslash goggles are strapped tight enough that two women viciously fighting + a degree of implied history is a foolproof recipe. But I was not prepared for Pretty Deadly: The Rat and I still don't know what I did to deserve it. I would have been thrilled enough at learning that Ginny was searching for Alice after her death/losing her physical form in Volume 2. But Alice as Ginny's obsession? Finding Alice as the leverage that the Reaper of Obsession uses to bait and try to trap Ginny? "You're not her. You're not Alice"? Holy smokes that was some good ship fodder!

Potential Prompts:
✎Pick up right where The Rat left off with Ginny trapped in Obsession's realm. How does she get out (if she gets out)? Does she agree to something Obsession wants to get more information about Alice? Does Obsession continue to use Alice's likeness to torment her?

✎What happens when Ginny finally finds Alice? What happens to a reaper after they die? How does Ginny get her back? How does Alice feel about Ginny coming after her--particularly given the grudge that Alice herself is carrying over Ginny's past rejection?

✎More exploration of their partnership as reapers. They were always meant to be a pair, but we only saw them actually working together for a brief time before Alice's death. I would love to see more of the two of them going on reaper missions.

✎Pre-canon, especially with the new clues we've got about their history thanks to The Rat. How did that rejection go down? How has Alice's grudge manifested over the years? Did they ever try to make it work before canon or was Ginny riding solo from the get go? Did they have many run ins like the one in Volume 1?

✎Canon divergence AU around Alice's death in Volume 2. What if she'd survived? What if Ginny had been a position to notice what was happening between her and Johnny Coyote?

✎More worldbuilding, more reapers! Bringing reapers back to the Garden after Sissy takes over, running into reapers (and conflict with reapers) during their travels. What other aspects might there be for reapers and what might they be like (beyond all the very interesting ones we've already seen)? What sort of aspect pairs do these other reapers form when they do? How do these reapers interact with the mortal world?

✎The comic is progressing forward in time through different eras with each volume--what about the eras that came before the start of volume 1? What about the time periods in between the volumes? What about eras that come later than what we've seen?

✎What if Ginny had been the one to "die" in volume 2? Would Alice be as motivated to find her? What lengths would she go to? How would she feel about what happened?

✎I'm totally down for outsider POV! I love the canonical framing of the story told between Butterfly and Bunny (and would definitely be into other animal POV relating their impressions of the characters), but I'd also be really interested in seeing what some mortal characters make of Ginny and Alice? I'm super fascinated by the relationship between the reapers and the mortal world and their impact on it, so anything tapping into that would be baller!

I absolutely loved this novel and all of its worldbuilding and I just really want more of it. Caralee was such a fantastically compelling, morally complicated protagonist and I adore her. But the fantastic thing was that while she was definitely my runaway fave, there wasn't one character in the novel who I wasn't interested in or didn't like, regardless of how much page time they actually got, and that absolutely includes Dell. Especially since we spent so much of the novel not getting what she's about because Cara didn't understand her (though I will cop to calling that she'd at least made a move on Caramenta and had it go sideways long before that reveal) and then she gets to spend the rest of the plot as a constant surprise.

I love that even though so much of their relationship is defined by a place of fundamental and mutual misunderstanding, they genuinely fall in love anyway. I love Cara's determination to keep Dell out of everything that's going on because of a mix of a desire to protect her and an inability to fully trust her even though she wants to take comfort from her so bad. I love that Dell keeps coming through in the clutch anyway and rescuing Cara over and over because she just can't stay away. I love that Cara risks compromising herself over small moments of happiness and opportunities to be really seen by Dell. I love that despite all the hurt she's carrying over Caramenta, Dell is so unwavering and so unable to pull herself away and never misses a single day as Cara's handler (until the reveal at least).

While I've prompted for specific versions of these characters because their dynamic is what I fell in love with, I am absolutely down with other versions also showing up and seeing how different they are and how differently they treat each other given a few degrees of dimensional separation.
 
Some Potential Prompts:

✎Dell's POV from any point during the novel's events. So much of what we get is coloured by Cara's perspective and the information that we have access to. But we know that she got a lot of her assumptions about Dell wrong and I'd be interested in seeing how Dell interprets events based on the information that she has.

✎All the canon divergence! What if Dell has figured out that Caralee was not Caramenta at some earlier point? What if Caralee had learned (or guessed) about what happened between Caramenta and Dell earlier? What if Caralee had given in to one of her impulses to confide in Dell or ask for her help? What if Caralee hadn't been given a choice in the matter and Dell had found out more about what was going on on her own? What if Adam had targeted Dell as the the traitor instead of Jean given that she was the handler for all of Caralee's missions? What if Nelline had somehow also survived the trip back to Earth-0? What if Adranik's body hadn't returned to his original world and had come through with Caralee? What if Caralee had ended up in Maintenance--maybe even at some point before the novel's events and all the personal revelations she had thanks to meeting Adranik?

✎Role reversal AU. So much of these characters' dynamic is defined by their respective roles and circumstances, I'd love to see how things would change with some things flipped around. I'd be particularly interested in handler!Caralee and traverser!Dell, whether or not any of their other circumstances change.

✎If there's one thing that I wanted that I didn't get from canon, it's more of the typical handler/asset dynamic since Caralee's first impulse is to hide what's going on and she's so prone to cutting contact with Dell. I want more situations of forced trust through dependency on the one person who holds your life/ability to return home in their hands. I want more of knowing that you hold someone's life in your hands and having to safely work them through what's happening without the ability to directly interfere. I want more of having a single point of contact to connect you to the world you came from while going into dangerous, unpredictable situations.

✎Post-canon fic and the happiness they carve out for themselves after everything they've been through.

✎5 interactions Cara had with alternate versions of Dell +1 with the real thing.

✎Hurt/comfort. Post-mission wound-tending, comforting through grief or trauma, missions gone wrong in more mundane ways than what Caralee experiences in canon...honestly, I love a lot of both physical and emotional hurt/comfort tropes, so go wild.
 

Note: If you write in a new villain/encounter for our "heroes" to deal with like, say, Dorian Gray as canon had initially intended, I have no problem with there being some attraction or there being something of a M/M/M love triangle (the volume 2 blurb had me hooked with Tom being ~seduced by Dorian's philosophy~, let me tell you). I'm also fine with general characteristic flirtation and lecherous behaviour from Hyde. However, I would prefer just Tom/Hyde endgame.

I would be fine with mentioning Hyde's engagement to Millicent or Tom's relationship with Mary Jane with regard to character background, but I wouldn't want them to be the focus of the fic. If you choose to just gloss over them or they don't come up, I'm fine with that too.

Also, while I know the original comic has a lot of violence against women because, well, Jack the Ripper and I'm fine with there being some female murder victims in fic for it, I'd also prefer that the fic not dwell exclusively on that aspect if it can be avoided.
__________________________________________

Ruthless serial killers developing a soft spot for the naive, stick-in-the-mud detectives they're manipulating! Goody-goodies making increasingly dangerous moral compromises! "But, Tom, we're mates"! Rooftop/air balloon battles! Mind games and pretentious quote matches and disillusionment in idealistic notions about the upper class! What's not to like!

The dynamic between these two pretty much made the comic for me. It's so good. The general back and forth and learning to work together and Tom discovering things about himself that maybe he would have preferred not to. And then that genuine moment of returned friendship (Hyde's goddamn smile when Tom finally agrees that they're mates) just before Tom shoots Hyde in the chest followed by Tom tearing up in relief over having confirmation that Hyde's still alive and then using his serial killer best buddy to threaten people. Right up my alley.

I really like all the development and internal conflict that Tom went through over the course of the comic and would be totally stoked to see further development and potential fallout related to that. Whatever reason you can cook up for Hyde making a return and the two of them having to team up again is totally fine with me. (Has someone come after Hyde? Is Hyde keeping tabs on his good mate Tom? Did Tom finally decide to track Hyde down himself? Does the newest villain have something Hyde's interested in?)
 

Things I love: Tom finding himself in positions to take shadier options and dealing with balancing those impulses with his righteous ideals is always great. Hyde, as smart and powerful as he is, potentially compromising his goals because he's become genuinely fond of Tom is great. Tom getting damsel-in-distressed as per issue 4 and Hyde swooping in to rescue him is great. Hyde calculating and machinating while Tom pieces things together is great. Tom finding ways to surprise Hyde as much as he did when he shot him is great. Tom realizing how deep he's slipping and being discomfited by how easy it is for Hyde to get under his skin is great. Swapping barbs and quotes while no one else around them understands them half as well as they understand each other is great.

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practice in the DCEU. Batman v Superman has proven well enough that Clark is equally incapable of not chasing a story when he feels a wrong is being committed, even if he’s facing push back for his interest. I would love to see these two meet while looking into things and find themselves as unlikely allies against The Wall.

✎Vic Sage crushes on Clark Kent:

Identity porn! I’m stealing some concepts from Veitch here. TV reporter Vic Sage comes to Metropolis to cover a story and the Daily Planet graciously sends someone to meet him. Oh no, it’s Lois Lane Clark Kent – the colleague that Vic has been nursing a long-time, awkward crush on. Or maybe they really are meeting for the first time and Vic falls for Clark’s Smallville charm. Meanwhile, the Question has suspicions that someone’s got it out for Superman and does some investigating of his own. Superman does not particularly like the way the Question does things and would like him to get out of his city, thank you very much.

✎Vic Sage investigates Superman:

Aliens destroy half of Metropolis and then one of them flies around in a cape saving cats from trees and you’re telling me Vic Sage’s not curious as hell about that? Superman suddenly finds himself followed around by a particularly insistent reporter. Meanwhile, Vic’s still very good at getting himself into trouble.

♥ Tropey goodness, taken as seriously or as silly as you like.

♥ Protectiveness.

♥ Loyalty.

♥ Conflict.

♥ Hurt/comfort.

♥ Messy, complicated relationships where no one person is necessarily "better" than the other.

♥ Characters who are normally in control very much not being that.

♥ Canon divergence/for want of a nail AUs.

♥ Self-destructive tendencies.

♥ Mind games and mutually dangerous people engaging in cat-and-mouse scenarios.

♥ Badass in distress.

♥ Competency and cleverness

♥ Identity porn and related scenarios.

♥ "Good guys" being driven to do shady, questionable things in the pursuit of their goals/righteous ideals.

♥ Morally bankrupt bad guys falling in love and doing things that screw over their agenda or leave them vulnerable because they care about one particular person.

♥ Emotion-driven desperation.

♥ When two people rest their foreheads together and it's super intimate.

♥Women pinning other women against walls.

♥ Role swaps.

♥ Time loops.

♥ Superheroes.

♥ Fairy tales.

♥ Dragons and/or robots.

♥ Hair ruffling.

✘ Non-canonical (permanent) major character death; character death as part of a Groundhog Day scenario or where the other half of the ship goes on a quest to revive them or etc. is totally fine.

✘ Torture.

✘ Mutilation. Description of/reference to existing canon injuries would be fine. New injuries resulting in a new scar or something would also be fine, particularly considering the type of characters we're dealing with. Canon-typical levels of violence are fine as a general rule.

✘ Issue fic.

✘ Terminal illness.

✘ Mundane AUs (e.g. coffee shop, high school, no powers, etc.).

✘ Non-con.

Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

I have grown very fond of this grizzled, experienced Bruce Wayne who has already been through a lot, but is only now learning to cope with superhumans on both sides of the hero-villain line. There’s also something to be said for DCEU!Supes having a fairly troubled rise to heroism and going through a lot in a relatively short period of time culminating in dying and then coming out the other end of Justice League as the most hopeful version of the character we’ve seen in this continuity so far. I’m also pretty into just how quickly and intensely the relationship between these two develops both as enemies and then as friends - they know each other for such a short period of time, but the feelings are so much!
 

Prompts:

·       Post-Justice League

I’m always interested in seeing fic exploring what might happen between Bruce and Clark after Justice League. How do things change between them now that Clark’s resurrected – as teammates, as tentative friends, as two people who maybe eventually get out of their own way long enough to become more than friends? What sort of threats do they have to face going forward – as a team, as partners, as individuals? How does the formation of the League and everything they’ve both been through affect their roles as Batman and Superman?

·       Canon Divergence

You can set the divergence at pretty much any point in the DCEU and I will be happy; I am constantly fascinated by different interpretations of how things might have turned out differently for want of a nail. What if they met before Clark became Superman? What if Clark followed his interest in the Bat vigilante directly to Gotham City? What if they somehow encountered one another during or immediately after Black Zero instead of Bruce being left to stew in his guilt/rage for two years? What if the first meeting between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent went differently? What if Bruce figured out who Clark was before the end of Batman v Superman? What if Clark caught on to Luthor sooner? What if Clark survived facing down Doomsday? What if Bruce (temporarily) died instead? What if Clark was resurrected in a different way? What if Clark was resurrected at a different point? The sky’s the limit!

·       Identity Porn

Identity porn is one of my favourite tropes for superhero canons and I’ll never get enough of AUs exploring it for DCEU SuperBat. The messier the crisscross of feelings between identities, the better.

·       Bruce Whump

Hurt/comfort is a diehard favourite of mine and I always love any version of Bruce Wayne getting a good dose of whump, but I especially love DCEU!Bruce whump. I’m open to pretty much any source of potential pain – emotional, physical, magical, spiritual – and I’m equally happy with the target being Bruce Wayne or Batman (or Bruce throwing himself between another target and danger in a fit of self-sacrifice and desperation, as you do). I have a number of my favourite sources of h/c listed in my Hurt/Comfort Ex letter, but don’t feel restricted by those – there are plenty of others that I enjoy!



Helena Bertinelli/Renee Montoya

The DCEU is a constant gift of surprising new dynamics for my long-cherished comics ships. Now, I love Renee and Helena's partnership whenever they team up in the comics (that moment in Pipeline where Helena chokes Renee out because Renee can't sacrifice herself if Helena does it first? That's my whole #aesthetic), but I am also absolutely stoked by how different their partnership is set up to be in the DCEU! Renee meets Helena when she's still a young, relatively unestablished vigilante, who will have to figure what that means for her now that she's finally satisfied her revenge. Renee is older and only just leaving the force, not because she's reached the breaking point after a pile up of horrific events culminating in one of the defining tragedies of her life and leaving her in a position where she neither trusts the Gotham PD to be able to achieve justice nor does she trust herself to know what justice should look anymore, but because she's decided the Gotham PD is bullshit and she's much happier teaming up with Helena and Dinah to take a different path with the Birds of Prey. I'm so fascinated by the idea of what their new dynamic is going to look like and where their paths might lead them now, you really can't go wrong.

Prompts:

Helena trains Renee

So, in the comics, both of these characters are mentored by Vic and get combat training with Richard Dragon as a result (who is the guy for vigilantes to go to when they want to take their ass kicking to the next level, but the important part is that there's a precedent for commonalities in their fighting styles). DCEU!Helena still gets a backstory badass training montage, but while DCEU!Renee is a capable combatant, Helena is clearly on another level. So, Renee gets Helena to help her up her game. If it leads to sexual tension filled sparring, all the better.


Forming the Birds of Prey

I'd love to pick up from their character arcs in canon. At what point do they decide to form the team--whose idea is it, does anyone have any reservations, how do they decide on the name? How does Helena's persona as Huntress develop now that her focus has shifted? How does Renee perceive her own career change? How do they function as a team and is there ever any conflict over how they carry out their brand of justice (up to and including the "do heroes kill" debate)? What are the early days of their team dynamics like? How does the relationship between these two develop first to friends and then to more than friends?


Renee investigating the Crossbow Killer

I was super delighted by the realization that Renee was investigating Helena's kill and I would be totally down for a canon divergence scenario where she wasn't immediately sidetracked by Harley's explosive relationship status update. Helena has a specific idea of who she wants Huntress to be and how she wants people to see her. Renee sees her far more clearly than anyone else before they even meet. I'd love to see Renee working to track her down and Helena working to stay one step ahead. Is it enemies (to tentative allies if they both realize that their best chance of taking down Roman is together?) to lovers? Is it identity porn? Is it slow seduction and increasing steps over the line as Renee, potentially keeping her comic counterpart's fascination with/admiration for vigilantes and predictable reaction to hot ass-kicking women, finds herself increasingly frustrated with her place in the force and agreeing with Helena's idea of justice more than she thought she would?



Dinah Lance/Renee Montoya

I'm going to be saying that I love Rosie Perez's Renee a lot, but Jurnee Smollett-Bell's Dinah was a delight and she has run away with my heart. I think one of the interesting things about the potential dynamic between these two is that while they're all relatively fresh on the scene, Helena is actually the only vigilante with any experience on the team. Dinah and Renee both have a plethora of skills that they can bring to the table, but they've just made the choice to jump on board the superhero train. Whereas Helena has been practicing her "they call me Huntress" into the mirrors for a while now, they still have to explore what this change means for their identities and what it is that they want to do and be. Dinah's mother's history and Dinah's resulting resentment toward the GCPD is also a very interesting angle that I am very much down for leaning into.

Prompts:

Forming the Birds of Prey

I'd love to pick up from their character arcs in canon. At what point do they decide to form the team--whose idea is it, does anyone have any reservations, how do they decide on the name? How does Dinah feel about Black Canary becoming a superhero, especially with how much the use of her powers is wrapped up in her feelings about her mother? How does Renee perceive her own career change? How do they function as a team and is there ever any conflict over how they carry out their brand of justice (up to and including the "do heroes kill" debate)? What are the early days of their team dynamics like? How does the relationship between these two develop first to friends and then to more than friends?


Mission Fic

Early investigations when the Birds of Prey are just getting established, later investigations once their team dynamic has had some time to settle. What kind of cases do they take on? How do they encounter them? What role does each of them play and how do they play off of each other? Tension filled situations like hurt/comfort, trapped in a dangerous situation together, rescue missions, undercover missions, etc. are all encouraged.


Training/Sparring

I'm all about sexual tension filled training sessions while the two of them work to refine their fighting styles and teamwork.



Renee Montoya/Lois Lane

Vic Sage

I tend to lean towards O’Neil or Rucka characterization for Vic, but am generally open to whatever you’re most familiar/comfortable with or interested in writing. I genuinely don’t mind whether you choose to have him somehow take up the Question mantle in the DCEU and function as a vigilante in his own right, have him working as a television reporter whose investigative journalism gets him into all kinds of trouble, have him take up a career as a private investigator, or work him into the setting in some other way.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage vs. Amanda Waller & the Suicide Squad
So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practise in the DCEU. Going up against The Wall, though? Vic’s in for a fight and I’d love to see them try to outwit each other.

·       Vic Sage: Intrepid Reporter

With all the weird and surprising events that occur over the course of the films, there’s no way that Vic can resist sticking his nose in. He’s got questions! Maybe he visits Metropolis in the wake of Black Zero, hoping to meet the last remaining alien. Maybe he pokes around Gotham, hoping to scare up a certain Bat cryptid. Maybe he tries to get a good look at a Parademon. Knowing the way that Vic tends to get himself into hot water, he’s likely to stumble across the DCEU’s plot at one point or another.

·       Vic Sage & the Justice League

How does Vic feel about the sudden surge in vigilantism? Does he meet any of the League members – either during an investigation or while indulging in some vigilante activity of his own?

·       Vic Sage vs. LexCorp

Clark Kent/Vic Sage

Unfortunately, their comic counterparts get precious little interaction. There is the Veitch mini series – and I’ll talk about that in one of my prompts – but that features a fairly unusual interpretation of Vic and the Question, though I did enjoy it as an out of continuity story line (and the art was super great). Even despite the lack of canon support, I’ve always felt that this could be a fun pairing. The DCEU, where Superman is a fairly new part of the popular consciousness, provides a perfect avenue for Vic's driving curiosity to lead them together, resulting in a lot of opportunity for stellar interactions.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage crushes on Clark Kent

Identity porn! I’m stealing some concepts from Veitch here. TV reporter Vic Sage comes to Metropolis to cover a story and the Daily Planet graciously sends someone to meet him. Oh no, it’s Lois Lane Clark Kent – the colleague that Vic has been nursing a long-time, awkward crush on. Or maybe they really are meeting for the first time and Vic falls for Clark’s Smallville charm. Meanwhile, the Question has suspicions that someone’s got it out for Superman and does some investigating of his own. Superman does not particularly like the way the Question does things and would like him to get out of his city, thank you very much.

·       Vic Sage investigates Superman

Aliens destroy half of Metropolis and then one of them flies around in a cape saving cats from trees and you’re telling me Vic Sage’s not curious as hell about that? Superman suddenly finds himself followed around by a particularly insistent reporter. Meanwhile, Vic’s still very good at getting himself into trouble.


Vic Sage and Clark Kent investigate Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad:

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practice in the DCEU. Batman v Superman has proven well enough that Clark is equally incapable of not chasing a story when he feels a wrong is being committed, even if he’s facing push back for his interest. I would love to see these two meet while looking into things and find themselves as unlikely allies against The Wall.

Bruce Wayne/Vic Sage

Here’s another case where the comics versions don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together. At least part of that is for reasons that the comics directly address – while they’re very different characters, there is enough overlap in their skillsets and character archetypes that if Batman’s there and playing both brains and brawn, Vic starts to feel…redundant. That being said, I always thought that they had an interesting dynamic, even if it was mostly defined by grudging respect. Very grudging in Bruce’s case (I think the nicest thing he ever said about Vic was “one of these days, he might actually be competent” – “Mr. Warmth”, indeed). I’d be very interested in seeing how a version of Vic that might theoretically exist in the DCEU would interact with DCEU!Bruce.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage investigates the Gotham Bat

TV reporter Vic Sage puts himself on the tail of Gotham’s most famous cryptid, perhaps spurred on by the Bat’s recent habit of branding criminals. His investigative strategy mostly consists of being places he really shouldn’t be. Occasionally, he might either punch someone in the face or get punched in the face. Bruce is Not Impressed.

·       Vic Sage investigates Wayne Enterprises

Vic is assigned to do a report on WE and then he digs because he can’t not. He develops a sudden interest in the company’s CEO, who may have more going on than it first appears.


Vic Sage investigates Amanda Waller:

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practise in the DCEU. Meanwhile, Waller makes use of every resource at her disposal in an attempt to shake off suspicion – including pressing Bruce to follow through on the promise of “protection” she extracted from him at the end of Suicide Squad.

♥ Tropey goodness, taken as seriously or as silly as you like.

♥ Protectiveness.

♥ Loyalty.

♥ Conflict.

♥ Hurt/comfort.

♥ Messy, complicated relationships where no one person is necessarily "better" than the other.

♥ Characters who are normally in control very much not being that.

♥ Canon divergence/for want of a nail AUs.

♥ Self-destructive tendencies.

♥ Mind games and mutually dangerous people engaging in cat-and-mouse scenarios.

♥ Badass in distress.

♥ Competency and cleverness

♥ Identity porn and related scenarios.

♥ "Good guys" being driven to do shady, questionable things in the pursuit of their goals/righteous ideals.

♥ Morally bankrupt bad guys falling in love and doing things that screw over their agenda or leave them vulnerable because they care about one particular person.

♥ Emotion-driven desperation.

♥ When two people rest their foreheads together and it's super intimate.

♥ Role swaps.

♥ Time loops.

♥ Superheroes.

♥ Fairy tales.

♥ Dragons and/or robots.

♥ Hair ruffling.

✘ Non-canonical (permanent) major character death; character death as part of a Groundhog Day scenario or where the other half of the ship goes on a quest to revive them or etc. is totally fine.

✘ Torture.

✘ Mutilation. Description of/reference to existing canon injuries would be fine. New injuries resulting in a new scar or something would also be fine, particularly considering the type of characters we're dealing with in some of these canons. Canon-typical levels of violence are fine as a general rule.

✘ Issue fic.

✘ Terminal illness.

✘ Mundane AUs (e.g. coffee shop, high school, no powers, etc.).

✘ Non-con.

✘ Age play.

I’m always a little sad that these two don’t get to collaborate more. At least part of that is for reasons that the comics directly address – while they’re very different characters, there is enough overlap in their skill sets and character archetypes that if Batman’s there and playing both brains and brawn, Vic starts to feel…redundant. That being said, I always thought that they had an interesting dynamic, even if it was mostly defined by grudging respect. Very grudging in Bruce’s case (I think the nicest thing he ever said about Vic was “one of these days, he might actually be competent” – “Mr. Warmth”, indeed). In fact, I’d say that the grudginess of that respect is part of the appeal.

I’d be 100% open to something playing off the fact that they do have something of a complicated history – Vic is the only person on Earth who calls Bruce “our friend the Monkey”, after all, and one of a select few who even knows what that could possibly be referencing. I’m also open to either interpretation of whether Bruce showing up to yell at Vic after he got beaten to death/shot in the head/drowned at the start of O’Neil’s run actually happened or if he was hallucinating because of the aforementioned trauma. All that being said, I would also be equally here for something (potentially identity porn-y) where they’re first meeting a little more recently and getting to know each other in brand new and interesting ways.

It’s not just because they’re both reporters…okay, it’s kind of because they’re both reporters. Unfortunately, these two get precious little interaction in the comics. There is the Veitch mini series – and I’ll talk about some of the ideas I totally wouldn’t mind stealing from that encounter – but that features a fairly unusual interpretation of Vic and the Question, though I did enjoy it as an out of continuity story line (and the art was super great). Even despite the lack of canon support, I’ve always felt that this could be a fun pairing – for the extreme contrast between the two characters as much as any fun potential points of connection like both being reporters.

I’d be super into identity porn and seeing how Vic and Clark play off each other vs. Question and Superman (or Vic and Superman or Question and Clark). I’d be totally into something playing off the opening premise of Veitch’s run with Vic Sage travelling to Metropolis ostensibly to collaborate with staff from the Daily Planet on a story (optional: keep the part where he’s been nursing a crush on the colleague he’s meant to meet at the train station, only it’s not Lois, it’s Clark) while the Question starts investigating a potential threat to Superman and skirting the law in a way that Superman is not okay with. That being said, I am 100% open to any other scenario you want to use to bring these two together and have them interact under any of their identities.

I just think that they could be fascinating together and would love to see what sort of dynamic they might have – the places where they actually understand each other, the places where they absolutely don’t, how well they do or do not work together. I think there’s a part of Vic that would totally go “yeah, I was that angry kid once” and even understand and sympathize with some of Jason’s more violent methodologies – Vic’s very aware that his own hands aren’t clean on that front, that choosing to no longer be the guy who picks fights just because he knows he can win them is an active choice, and the struggle with the desire to commit “justifiable homicide” (out of curiosity, out of vengeance, out of sheer horror at the things people do to each other, even out of just desire) is very personal for him. At the same time, I think there are things that Jason has done or would be willing to do that Vic would flinch away from (especially in the Rucka “where does it end?” era). I also think that there are lines that Vic has toed that Jason would be pretty outraged by – like, there was a hot second where Vic started to buy into a villain speech about why chemically lobotomizing the entire world to end human suffering was a good thing actually (he got over it and was clearly dealing with some trauma because Hub City is the literal worst, but still) and I don’t see Jason not being appalled by that idea. But even beyond philosophizing on the subject of violence, I think there's a lot to play off of for them - a lot of room to either gel or clash on the basis of mutual cleverness, stubborn tendencies, and smartassery.

Do they get along? Do they hate each other? Does Bruce show up to disapprove of them both? I don’t know, but I want to find out!

Fandom-Specific DNW: Non-default/custom names for player characters (i.e. I would only want Kyle to be called Kyle, Micah to be called Micah, Lest/Frey to be called Lest/Frey if they make an appearance, etc.)

Note: I tend to lean towards O’Neil or Rucka characterization for Vic, but I am generally open to whatever you’re most familiar/comfortable with or interested in writing.

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practice in the DCEU. Batman v Superman has proven well enough that Clark is equally incapable of not chasing a story when he feels a wrong is being committed, even if he’s facing push back for his interest. I would love to see these two meet while looking into things and find themselves as unlikely allies against The Wall.

✎Vic Sage crushes on Clark Kent:

Identity porn! I’m stealing some concepts from Veitch here. TV reporter Vic Sage comes to Metropolis to cover a story and the Daily Planet graciously sends someone to meet him. Oh no, it’s Lois Lane Clark Kent – the colleague that Vic has been nursing a long-time, awkward crush on. Or maybe they really are meeting for the first time and Vic falls for Clark’s Smallville charm. Meanwhile, the Question has suspicions that someone’s got it out for Superman and does some investigating of his own. Superman does not particularly like the way the Question does things and would like him to get out of his city, thank you very much.

✎Vic Sage investigates Superman:

Aliens destroy half of Metropolis and then one of them flies around in a cape saving cats from trees and you’re telling me Vic Sage’s not curious as hell about that? Superman suddenly finds himself followed around by a particularly insistent reporter. Meanwhile, Vic’s still very good at getting himself into trouble.

Note: If you write in a new villain/encounter for our "heroes" to deal with like, say, Dorian Gray as canon had initially intended, I have no problem with there being some attraction or there being something of a M/M/M love triangle (the volume 2 blurb had me hooked with Tom being ~seduced by Dorian's philosophy~, let me tell you). I'm also fine with general characteristic flirtation and lecherous behaviour from Hyde. However, I would prefer just Tom/Hyde endgame.

I would be fine with mentioning Hyde's engagement to Millicent or Tom's relationship with Mary Jane with regard to character background, but I wouldn't want them to be the focus of the fic. If you choose to just gloss over them or they don't come up, I'm fine with that too.

Also, while I know the original comic has a lot of violence against women because, well, Jack the Ripper and I'm fine with there being some female murder victims in fic for it, I'd also prefer that the fic not dwell exclusively on that aspect if it can be avoided.
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Ruthless serial killers developing a soft spot for the naive, stick-in-the-mud detectives they're manipulating! Goody-goodies making increasingly dangerous moral compromises! "But, Tom, we're mates"! Rooftop/air balloon battles! Mind games and pretentious quote matches and disillusionment in idealistic notions about the upper class! What's not to like!

The dynamic between these two pretty much made the comic for me. It's so good. The general back and forth and learning to work together and Tom discovering things about himself that maybe he would have preferred not to. And then that genuine moment of returned friendship (Hyde's goddamn smile when Tom finally agrees that they're mates) just before Tom shoots Hyde in the chest followed by Tom tearing up in relief over having confirmation that Hyde's still alive and then using his serial killer best buddy to threaten people. Right up my alley.

I really like all the development and internal conflict that Tom went through over the course of the comic and would be totally stoked to see further development and potential fallout related to that. Whatever reason you can cook up for Hyde making a return and the two of them having to team up again is totally fine with me. (Has someone come after Hyde? Is Hyde keeping tabs on his good mate Tom? Did Tom finally decide to track Hyde down himself? Does the newest villain have something Hyde's interested in?)
 

Things I love: Tom finding himself in positions to take shadier options and dealing with balancing those impulses with his righteous ideals is always great. Hyde, as smart and powerful as he is, potentially compromising his goals because he's become genuinely fond of Tom is great. Tom getting damsel-in-distressed as per issue 4 and Hyde swooping in to rescue him is great. Hyde calculating and machinating while Tom pieces things together is great. Tom finding ways to surprise Hyde as much as he did when he shot him is great. Tom realizing how deep he's slipping and being discomfited by how easy it is for Hyde to get under his skin is great. Swapping barbs and quotes while no one else around them understands them half as well as they understand each other is great.

✎We spend the game deeply in Harry's head--this is at least half the appeal of the experience, but it would be really neat to get a better look at Kim's point of view. We get some hints through building up skills like Empathy and Espirit De Corps (and as much as we always have to be wary of blindly trusting what the skills tell us, we're given enough reason to believe they're largely accurate regarding these moments of insight) and we're told that Kim's own Authority skill is off the charts on the odd occasion when he deigns to use it. But, like Harry, he has the potential to go through a lot of personal growth over the course of the game and in a game that's so focused on thoughts and internal monologues by design...I don't know, I'm just really curious!

✎Solving problems and working cases together, just generally. Serious matters dealt with in outrageous ways. Seemingly insignificant matters addressed with grave sincerity. Those unexpected human moments and flashes of brilliance that emerge from Harry's wandering attention span and unorthodox method of doing his job. Kim being the competent, consummate professional who, nonetheless, is not so above it all once you get down to it.

✎Post-canon where Kim joins Harry at Precinct 41. I'd love to see them continuing to work together, how Kim fits into his new placement, and how Harry does after he no longer has that specific case to focus on. As much as I love Harry and want good things for him, I'm definitely open to things not being all that rosy once reality sets in. While it's very possible for Harry to be in a much better place by the end of the game (and, as he tells Dick Mullen and the Mistaken Identity, "[he has] Kim"), his problems don't just disappear over night and we're told that this is a pattern he's been through before and relapsed. I'd absolutely be interested in seeing his new relationship with Kim weather the setbacks it might lead to as well as potentially seeing Harry find a way to push through and better his life little by little.

✎More supernatural elements, creeping cosmic horror, and existential dread! Real cryptids and the reveal in the worldbuilding about the Pale caught me so off-guard and I was so delighted and would love to see more of those aspects brought in. I was also kind of intrigued that Kim is fully in the know about the Pale but draws the line at cryptids and the MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY whereas Harry has lost his memory of these more outlandish aspects of the worldbuilding but is potentially enamoured with and willing to believe in cryptids from the word go.

✎This is true of basically every pairing but time loops. The world of Disco Elysium is just on the edge of weird enough that it's plausible.

Note: References can be made to Akio's general Akio-ness and Touga's backstory (according to some versions of canon), but I'd prefer nothing explicit and that that not be the focus of the fic.

I love and am familiar with all versions of Utena canon (and I do mean that--I would be truly surprised to receive fic primarily based on one of the musicals but hey, I'd get that reference!). The main anime canon is probably my go to for this particular pairing (and I also like the After the Revolution manga a lot), but feel free to use whichever version you want. Or pick and choose details; I absolutely love canon-blending!
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Contrarily, I'd be fine with Soren->Ike pining as an element of the Soren/Zelgius dynamic (and Zelgius->Sephiran pining), but it certainly wouldn't be a required element. I'll talk about my thoughts here more in the relevant section.

This plays right into so many of my narrative kinks. Relationships defined by intense loyalty and gratitude. Honourable, likeable bad guys who, nevertheless, do terrible things. Absolute woobies whose view on the world is defined by their tragic pasts and therefore they can justify those terrible things. Playing both sides and manipulating things behind the scenes, but being incredibly powerful in their own right and willing to take on anyone who steps. Long lived individuals who are not at all happy about it. Just so good.