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Rare Pairs Ex - Dear Author
May. 29th, 2020 02:29 pmAO3: Panny
Hello, dear author, and thank you so much for writing for me! I have tried to leave you at least a general idea of what I like about each canon and what I might be interested in reading for them. Some canons may have more written than others depending on how much I had to say and how many specific ideas I had (and how much I had to copy over from previous letters), but rest assured that I want all of them desperately and look forward to whatever you create!
If I've left prompts that don't speak to you, don't worry about it! There are plenty of things that I enjoy that I haven't specifically prompted for (and there's a reason that I leave a list of general likes) and I want you to write something that you enjoy and find exciting. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me through the mods. I try to be speedy about replying and never mind clarifying.
As a general note, I'm not especially interested in porn for porn's sake for my M/M ships, but I'm down for sex scenes as a part of character building or for the purposes of relationship development. I'm a lot more keen on something that focuses on the emotions/internal thoughts during the moment than the physical descriptions of the smut in general.
Clickable Table of Contents
➳General Likes
➳General DNWs
➳The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde (Comics): Thomas Adye/Edward Hyde | Henry Jekyll
➳Fire Emblem: Three Houses
➳Sarazanmai: Reo/Mabu
➳Revolutionary Girl Utena➳The Adventure Zone
Potential Prompts:
✎ Tom meets one Dorian Gray, who "seduces him with his philosophy". Hyde hears through the rumour mill that Mr. Gray might know the secret to eternal life (and anyway, a man has to look out for his mates).
✎ Picking up right where canon left off, Tom pursues the case of the mysterious Invisible Man, still dealing with the aftermath of his time with Hyde and the Jack the Ripper case. Hyde, as it turns out, hasn't gone as far as he'd assumed.
✎ In the wake of a series of grave robberies, Tom hears rumours of a monster sighted on city streets. It turns out that Utterson isn't the only ambitious man with an interest in Hyde's formula.
✎ A mysterious murder leads Tom to meet a wealthy man who's recently acquired property in the area and who only ventures out at night. Tom quickly figures out he's in over his head and reaches out to Hyde for help.
✎ In a canon where there are already themes of duality and transformation...what if werewolves? Tom has earned some grudging respect from his colleagues, but they still think he's mad when he insists there's a definitive human element behind a series of apparent animal attacks. When he finds the culprit, even Hyde's serum might have met its match.
✎ Tom, realizing his dreams and ideals were never what he thought they were, makes a different decision at the end of canon and he and Hyde wind up on the run together.
✎ It's been years, but the time has finally arrived when Tom feels he must hunt Hyde down (though maybe he still doesn't know what he'll do when he finds him).
✎ Tom has some interesting thoughts on Hyde's last string of murders in Whitechapel - rationalizing them in a way that borders on admiration on the basis of who the victims are and that they deserve some kind of comeuppance. In trying to force Tom's hand in Utterson's death, Hyde also refers to having had "high hopes" for him and having "brought [Tom] this far". What would it take to push Tom to murder himself? At what point would he be able to rationalize it as righteous violence and make it mesh with his idea of justice? How would Hyde feel once it finally happened? Would he feel proud, amused, relieved to have a kindred spirit? Would he regret it - seeing the last of Tom's idealism snuffed out and perhaps reminding him a little too keenly of Jekyll's own descent to darker urges and what he had to give up to become Hyde?
✎ Groundhog Day time loop shenanigans. I'm totally willing to break my character death DNW for this, provided the final loop comes out with everyone alive.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Fandom-Specific DNW: Non-default/custom names for player characters (i.e. I would only want Byleth to be called Byleth).
Ashe/Felix
This was the support chain that got me to fall in love with Felix (I really love him, for the record). It's so cute! I love Ashe being starry eyed and undeterred in the face of Felix's usual grumpiness. I love the undercurrent that Felix's feelings about Glenn give their conversations--while Felix (true to form) tends to express these things in the least socially graceful/sensitive way possible, his concerns about the idealization of knighthood and Ashe's naivety on the matter are well-founded. I love Felix softening up in their second support and actually being pretty sweet and encouraging Ashe. I love there being this new understanding between them as a result of how Lonato's death has affected Ashe and his viewpoints. I love the shared nostalgia over the book and the implication that Felix maybe wasn't so different from Ashe before losing Glenn. I'm so sad there weren't more conversations for them--I want more!
Potential Prompts:
✎High stakes situations like being stuck behind enemy lines, rescue missions, etc. are great as a general rule, but I especially love it when there's so much contrast in a pairing in terms of personality and skill sets--it's just a really great way to show off what they both bring to the table! Felix has some natural advantages over Ashe when it comes to basic combat ability and tends toward the...pragmatic when it comes to strategy (as far as we learn through supports, anyway). Ashe has some practical skill sets that Felix just wouldn't have access to due to how different their life circumstances are.
✎I love hurt/comfort pretty much always and this pairing is no exception. I'm very fond of the combination of prickliness and vulnerability that Felix sometimes exudes when he attempts to be comforting and how much that's compounded when the other party actually got hurt for him. I also love when Felix's bluntness works to his advantage as the comforter (as it does in their second support convo). However, I also think it'd be interesting to see Ashe in the comforter role--I'm sure Felix would a, erm, gracious comfortee and it would be an opportunity to really dig into some of the reality of the qualities of idealized knighthood that Ashe thinks Felix embodies. So, you know, either or. Or both.
✎A recruited Felix seems to be in kind of a not great place generally (some his endings are really ouch) because for all he says and for all that the things he says are not always precisely wrong, he really does care about his family, his friends (including Dimitri), and his country. Ashe, regardless of recruitment status, will always start off the post-time skip fighting for Faerghus out of a sense of duty and obligation in any route except Crimson Flower. A lot of the decision making on both sides feels influenced by the legacy of someone they lost in one way or another. It's an interesting contrast and potential source of drama.
✎I'm definitely here for more really cute moments in the same vein of their supports. Maybe Ashe builds up a storybook romance in his head (and Felix, unintentionally or intentionally, awkwardly plays into it)? Maybe they go on a mission that feels a little too quest-like for Ashe's nerdy heart? Felix making awkward attempts at courting because he's realized his heart does stupid things when Ashe smiles? Felix helping Ashe with his swordsmanship (which may also be an awkward courting attempt because it is Felix)? Ashe deciding to directly target Felix's softest side (his stomach)? Ashe getting spooked by "ghosts" and Felix getting roped into helping him out?
Ashe/Yuri
Wow, we were so robbed of this support chain! I literally couldn't believe that there was nothing for them outside of that moment in Cindered Shadows where Ashe recognizes Yuri! But even that moment was enough to get me thinking about what great foils they'd make for each other considering where their histories overlap and where they're radically different.
Potential Prompts:
✎In Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, regardless of recruitment status, Ashe feels compelled to fight alongside the Kingdom forces until he's either killed or re-recruited at Aiell. The forces that Ashe has joined up with belong to Count Rowe. The drama potential here has me very 👀👀👀👀
✎Ashe and Yuri recognizing each other in Cindered Shadows suggests that they met at some point before the events of the game. I would be very interested in knowing about the circumstances of this meeting in general. I would also be interested in a canon divergence AU where they got to know each other better than they apparently did (since Ashe stepped on an unintentional landmine by suggesting that Yuri return to Count Rowe).
✎Ashe becomes aware that Yuri is not only still involved in criminal activity, he's something of a well-known underworld kingpin. Considering Ashe's own history and his feelings about it, this could lead to some interesting moments. (Also one of Ashe's dislikes is literally "deception" so 👀) And I mean, Ashe's sweet and he means well, but I don't know how likely Yuri is to take advice from Lonato's kid.
✎Maybe something playing off of these two both having a strong sense of justice and a lot of sympathy for the kind of people who are often looked down on in their society? It doesn't all have to be drama--they have things in common too!
Balthus/Yuri
I liked the Ashen Wolves as soon as I met them and I was already kind of digging this ship from that moment where Balthus asked to see Yuri's "pretty face" and then promptly punched him for being a lying asshole. But what really sold me was their support chain and their paired ending--it's all so good! This pairing is so massively underrated and I would be seriously happy to see something for it set on any route at any point.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-Cindered Shadows: The game essentially treats the DLC route as a separate timeline, but what happens after the story's relatively optimistic endpoint? Considering it seems to take place around Ch. 5, most of the big players in the events of 3H's main story have yet to tip their hands and are presumably still working toward their own goals. How do events play out in the Cindered Shadows route? What happens to Yuri and Balthus (and potentially the other inhabitants of Abyss) when shit hits the fan?
✎In the base game, Byleth & co. never discover Abyss, so what happens to the Ashen Wolves when the Empire marches on Garreg Mach? Where do they go after the war breaks out and the monastery falls into disuse? Particularly since the problems that drove them to seek refuge in Abyss in the first place would still very much be problems.
✎During the 5 year time skip: So, regardless of route or recruitment status, Byleth has disappeared, Garreg Mach has been abandoned, and all the Abyss inhabitants still presumably have reasons to be wary of living too openly in the outside world (given that nobody is ever explicitly pardoned like they are at the end of Cindered Shadows). What happens during these five difficult years?
✎Canon divergence: Balthus is a lot more shrewd and perceptive than he might appear at a glance (sussing out Claude's true identity during their school days is no joke). At some point before Byleth & co. stumble across Abyss, either Aelfric or Yuri slip up just enough for him to realize that something's wrong.
✎Paired ending: Post game stuff! I want to know all about the life and times of the underworld kingpin and his famed bodyguard, the Indomitable King of Grappling! Can be early in this relationship development (Yuri helping Balthus after finding him collapsed in the alley, what makes Yuri ask Balthus to be his bodyguard and what makes Balthus accept?, at what point does Balthus decide that this is something he wants to do for the rest of his life rather than something he was doing just to get back on his feet?) or after they've had some time to settle in to the dynamic and build that fearsome reputation.
Lorenz/Claude
Man, I am so weak for antagonism that develops into genuine mutual respect over a period of many years and these two really bring that dynamic to the table. I knew I was going to love Claude (and I did), but the way that Lorenz stole my heart took me completely by surprise. I am super here for anything where that growing respect between them crosses the line into romantic interest (maybe taking them both by surprise). Give me Lorenz's attempts at courtship, Claude annoying Lorenz because he likes watching him get riled up, working together as forces to be reckoned with during the war, or even winding up as enemies (and feeling much more reluctant about it than either of them would admit) when Lorenz's family sides with the Empire.
Potential Prompts:
✎Spinning off from their paired ending and them meeting again after Claude has become king of Almyra! I'd love to see how their dynamic changes with all the secrets now out and them both having accomplished so much in their time apart.
✎Awkward attempts at courtship. You could have Lorenz chasing after Claude with his usual ineptitude (and maybe some drama over him knowing that it's not what his family would want, but it's what his heart wants) or maybe a little turnabout and Lorenz is flustered and wrong-footed when Claude tries to make his romantic interest very apparent.
✎Trapped behind enemy lines! Working together to escape a dangerous situation! Rescue missions! Always good, but especially for canons like this where the potential is built in and pairings like this where there's such a contrast in their personalities.
✎On a non-Verdant Wind route, Claude and Lorenz encounter each other on the battlefield. This can be as a result of Lorenz reluctantly fulfilling his family obligations by providing the reinforcements the Empire needs to hold the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Or maybe Lorenz has genuinely thrown his lot in with Edelgard or Dimitri. Or it could be during the five in between years while Claude is orchestrating his civil war to keep the Alliance out of the more serious fighting.
✎Lorenz gets really earnestly concerned about the cryptic comments Claude makes in their A support about giving up his position and vanishing--I mean, without the larger context that Claude's still hiding, it sure doesn't sound great! That conversation makes Lorenz realize how much he doesn't want Claude to disappear. Maybe he focuses on the less dire interpretation and just tries to make sure that Claude feels incentivized to stick around. Maybe he gets stuck on the worse thought that occurs to him in that conversation ("Do not tell me you intend to die in this conflict. You cannot shape the future if you do not live to see it!") despite Claude's reassurances and makes a concerted effort to make sure that Claude lives to see the end of the war--even if that means exposing himself to more danger.
Yuri/Claude
I was both amused and delighted by how much Yuri was exactly what fandom assumed Claude was going to be before we met him. He's a character who very much appeals to my interests, but I also really love who Claude turned out to be, so now I'm just happy we have both. Much like my interest in Claude/Hubert, I have a strong interest in situations where characters respect other character's tactics/schemes/game generally. They had like one moment in Cindered Shadows of *appreciative acknowledgement of other person's skill* and I was sold.
Potential Prompts:
✎Yuri and Claude are each working on some independent scheme/endeavour that wind up conflicting. What follows is an escalating attempt to outwit each other. They both find constantly getting foiled and one-upped very frustrating--and kind of hot?
✎Yuri manages to figure out Claude's secret. Maybe he puts enough pieces together himself or maybe he pries enough information from Balthus to fill in the gaps.
✎Yuri's desire to figure out the truth of his origins winds up intersecting with Claude's desire to uncover the truth of Fodlan's history. They end up realizing that they'll get much further by working together.
✎I keep mentioning it for all of these FE ships, but high stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. Especially for two characters as resourceful as these two.
Byleth/Claude
Verdant Wind was such a good time and it breaks my heart every day that Bylad is locked out of the Claude-mance. I really like the respect and growth in this relationship. I like that while Claude isn't as emotionally dependent on Byleth for his mental well-being as the other lords, there's this sense that they need each other because they each bring something valuable to the table when striving for a shared dream. That being said, don't feel beholden to writing Verdant Wind only--there's plenty to be said of a relationship between them developing on another route (especially considering Claude can potentially survive all of them).
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-Verdant Wind: Meeting again post-canon as the ruler of Fodlan and the king of Almyra.
✎Post-Azure Moon/Crimson Flower: Byleth is asked to help make Fodlan's new alliance with Almyra official. Who should he run into at the negotiations but Almyra's new king.
✎In canon, Claude initially intended to try and get his hands on the Sword of the Creator and then gave up once Byleth got it and he realized that he'd never be able to use it. But what if he didn't? Would Claude try to get closer to a Byleth who chose a different house in the hopes of swaying him to his cause and/or getting close enough to get a better look at the sword? If he thought there was a way he could use it, would Claude ever consider finding a way to still take the sword for himself?
✎AU where Byleth doesn't take on a teaching position. Claude already knew something fishy was going on, but the random bandit attack just so happening to target the three most high profile students at Garreg Mach feels a little too convenient. He decides to hire the services of a certain mercenary company as extra insurance.
✎ High stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. These situations also leading to potential hurt/comfort? Very choice.
Yuri/Byleth
I really like Yuri and was super happy to have him added as a bi romance option. I love his dynamic with Byleth, both in their supports and in Cindered Shadows. I was sold on this ship pretty much instantly. Yuri just casually calling Byleth "adorable"? Great, here for it. Yuri deciding to trust Byleth enough to give him the hints he needs to stop Aelfric? Absolutely living for it. Yuri's carefully chosen words and constant double meanings contrasted with Byleth's straightforwardness? Fantastic. Yuri kind of chafing at Byleth's concern in their supports and then slowly warming up as they work together? Love it. Coming to rely on each other once they get past their initial differences? Perfection. Their entire S-support with Yuri being the one to propose and their absolutely fantastic paired ending? <33333333
Potential Prompts:
✎High stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. These situations also leading to potential hurt/comfort? Very choice.
✎AU where Byleth doesn't take on a teaching position. Yuri finds himself in need of a little extra muscle when dealing with certain discrete matters (Aelfric? a rival gang? Count Rowe?) and contracts the services of a certain mercenary company.
✎Post-canon! Crimson Flower post-canon with the historic battle against TWSITD! Or bringing "order to the underworld" once they retire! Post-Azure Moon/Verdant Wind/Silver Snow with apparently immortal Byleth and Yuri! Or branching off Yuri's solo ending where they re-encounter each other after Yuri has become the Underground Lord.
✎Meeting again post-Cindered Shadows. Does Yuri return to the school before Edelgard makes her move or do they not see each other again until after the time skip after Byleth's been presumed dead?
✎Missing scene from where Byleth helps Yuri out between their C and B support conversations.
Edelgard/Rhea
Oh man, I love me some enemies to lovers ships between two women with strong ideological differences who are, nonetheless, far more similar than either of them realize. I don't necessarily need or expect there to be happy endings for these two, but I'm all here for moments of unexpected connection and empathy that make the events of the game even more tragic and difficult than they already are. As a general note, I love both of these characters a lot, in every route. I'm definitely not looking for either of them to get defanged or to Learn the Error of their Ways (and, in fact, would find it very interesting if they caught feelings/felt empathy for each other but remained firm to their convictions and came out the other side as enemies anyway 👀) or anything, but I think it would be interesting for them to have opportunities and/or information and/or just general situations of interaction that weren't available in canon.
Potential Prompts:
✎ AU where Those Who Slither in the Dark force Edelgard's hand and she decides to focus on finding a way to take them down even before she manages to unite the continent and overthrow the church. Obviously, she doesn't have the strength of position or all the information she expected to when finally facing them and they're exceptionally dangerous enemies--so, she has to turn for help where she can and the enemy of my enemy is my friend temporary ally. Maybe TWSITD drop the javelins of light earlier for some reason and there's some urgency in moving on Shambala before they either figure out what they've given away or choose to use the weapons again? Maybe Byleth doesn't escape the dark void Solon sends them to (or at least not right away) and that's the motivator? Maybe they're too successful in their demonic beast experimentation and, well, there's not much point in uniting a continent if there's not a continent left to save? Maybe they figure out that Edelgard is going to be a problem down the line and, well, it was a lot of effort to make her but it might be worth going back to the drawing board if they can't keep this one under their thumb?
✎AU where Edelgard discovers something a little closer to the truth about Nemesis (she is, after all, conspicuously excluded from all of the paralogues that have them meet the other Saints) and that throws what she knows to be true about Rhea into a new light.
✎AU where Rhea becomes aware of TWSITD's influence on the Empire and chooses to intervene. Edelgard's betrayal comes as a particular shock to her because of her Hresvelg lineage, so I imagine she still feels some connection to Wilhelm's kin, even if it's not enough for her to help them out under other circumstances (and there are various reasons why that might be the case). But her hatred for TWSITD and her lingering gratitude to the family might be enough to sway her.
✎There was apparently a point in time where the development team was considering having Edelgard be aware of and able to interfere with Time's Pulse. So, AU where Edelgard becomes aware of alternate timelines and the time travel that's happening in general and that alters her actions and/or her perspective on matters.
✎Cindered Shadows allowed us a more sympathetic view of Rhea's character during the school part of the game (in the base game, she gets played up as pretty shady before the pre-time skip reveals). (Though, I mean, it also reveals that she kept Sitri's body conveniently accessible to visit it, so like, Rhea 👀) Maybe there's an opportunity for something continuing off the end of the DLC, where the base game events are altered by some of the DLC's revelations.
✎AU on Verdant Wind where Claude manages to either persuade Edelgard to join up with him (their dreams are similar, after all) or force her to stand down/take her alive. They rescue Rhea and all the revelations about Fodlan's history follow..
✎In Crimson Flower, there's an advice box question from Edelgard that indicates that she's at least considered what she should do if she found the opportunity to spare Rhea. The two of them talking in that route feels...unlikely at best, but what if that opportunity came up anyway? Or what if Edelgard hadn't been able to hide what really happened to Arianrhod and the danger that TWISTD represented could no longer be ignored--and Rhea found out?
Disco Elysium
Harry/Kim
Canon-Specific DNW: Harry internalizing the Advanced Race Theory thought.
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This game totally blew me away and a big part of why was these characters. *clutches chest* I love them? And, like, half the actions I chose over the course of the game were motivated by my desire to make Kim proud of Harry--both because I wanted Harry to be in a better place (as interesting as it is to let him fuck up) and because just generally I would die for Kim Kitsuragi. There are so many moments that wove their way into my heart--dancing in the church, Kimball, every time Kim's dry sense of humour would peek out while bantering with Harry, dedicating the karaoke to Kim, getting it together long enough to warn Kim during the firefight and Kim watching over Harry while he healed, Lamby, aces high, playing board games, Kim's barely suppressed amusement over Harry's bewildered attraction to the Smoker on the Balcony, Kim defending Harry at the end of the game, all the little fond internal thought moments Harry has about him...just guh. The "Kim truly trusts you" modifier is very important to me.
Potential Prompts:
91 Days
Angelo/Nero
Note: I'm totally down for this relationship being 91 degrees of fucked up and would be okay with situations of dubious consent rearing their head. My preference in that case is that everyone be really into what's happening even if not all the cards are on the table or they're actively terrible to each other/themselves or there are significant power imbalances or there's a lot of guilt/conflicted feelings and not wanting to want the things they want.
Also, mentions of torture happening off-screen would be okay for this canon should it come up--I'm not going to ask that these characters be softened up or anything, or that fic make a point of steering away from things that any of the mafia families might believably do. I just really wouldn't want graphic descriptions or a fic focused on one of my requested characters being tortured or actively engaging in torturing someone else. Mentioning something like Angelo having to participate in torture to maintain his cover or there being the looming threat of being tortured by the Galassias if they're caught? That's fine. Fic where there's a graphic scene of Nero getting Angelo to torture someone as a test of loyalty or revolving around them being tortured after they are caught by the Galassias? Too much for me.
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Oh man, everything about these characters and their relationship is like shipping catnip to me? I love the deception and the drama and the identity porn and the danger and how far over the line they both get pushed by their circumstances. I love the contrast between Nero, our antagonist, often being super likable and easier to sympathize with than we would expect at the start (though, of course, still feeling that he can justify doing some terrible things when required) and Angelo, our protagonist, being a viciously pragmatic anti-hero (at best) who's hard to root for at points. I love the line between Angelo and Avilio blurring as the mask becomes increasingly real and he grows genuinely attached to Nero. I love Angelo being increasingly willing to cross some stark moral lines for the sake of his vengeance (especially since even he doesn't think it was worth it in the end). I love Nero becoming increasingly reliant (both in a mafia subordinate sense and in an emotional connection sense) on "Avilio" as the series progresses. I love the conflict between "I genuinely like and have come to care for this person" and "I hold this person accountable for taking away everything that I loved"--which is a very mutual feeling by the end of the series! Gah, it's so good!
Potential Prompts:
✎ Moments of unexpected tenderness and affection. I'm totally here for Angelo slipping so deeply into his identity as Avilio that he doesn't know which way is up. I'm totally down for the kind of moments that lead to him being unable to kill Nero because he so badly doesn't want to, even after he killed Corteo to keep his revenge plans on track holy shit.
✎ The end of the anime leaves Angelo's fate deliberately ambiguous (yeah, okay, show me the body and I'll accept it, but until then!!!). Assume a scenario where Nero can't bring himself to shoot Angelo either (and man, doesn't that just bring this relationship full circle)--what the fuck do they do now? Neither of them has anything left at the end of the series, they're both stuck in a situation where neither can forgive the other for what they've done nor can they make themselves stop caring about each other...just...where do you even go from here? Not to mention the looming danger of the Galassias hot on their tails!
✎ Nero and Angelo getting into and out of scrapes together. Half the fun of the series is down to the twists and turns it takes, how often the stakes ratchet up when the characters find themselves in danger, how often people get crossed and double crossed. And a lot of what makes that so great is how clever and competent these two are and what kind of ruthlessness they're capable of when the chips are down (even if in some cases taking those ruthless actions hurts them on a personal level). Hell, sometimes the two of them getting into messes is even just fun and really highlights why they come to like each other so much. I love seeing them work together, especially with the underlying tension of Angelo's true goals--how much of what he does is because he's not in the right position to fully carry out his revenge and how much of it is genuinely for Nero's benefit in spite of himself? Even he probably doesn't fully know the answer to that! Situations where Nero winds up looking out for Angelo and Angelo has conflicted feelings about that are also delicious.
✎ What if Angelo's identity came out earlier in the series (he certainly had more than enough close calls)? Especially at a point before he really goes full scorched earth with his revenge plan but after there's been enough time for Nero to have really come to trust him and care for him. Like, no matter when it happens, Angelo's already established himself as a serious threat (Vanno spends most of the series six feet under, after all) and there's no doubt that Nero would see it as a massive betrayal. But as conflicted and hurt as Nero is when the truth is revealed at the end of the series, how would he handle the discovery in a scenario where Angelo hasn't yet taken everything from him? Especially considering his own feelings about That Night?
✎ AU where the Vanetti family's coup took place later, when Angelo was older and had maybe started his induction into mafia life himself. Considering Vincent and Testa were best friends at one point, Nero and Angelo might already know each other really well and even be genuine friends themselves before the Incident in such a universe. And then deception, betrayal, conflicted feelings--how the turntables!
Sarazanmai
Akutsu Mabu/Niiboshi Reo
Note: References can be made to Mabu's...maintenance with the Otter and the associated consent issues, but I'd prefer nothing explicit and that that not be the focus.
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I only recently got around to this show and now this pairing is actively destroying my heart and my life. Ikuhara, how dare you. Everything about their development in the show gets me right in the heart--the willingness to sacrifice for each other, their desperation to be together at all costs (even if it hurts them both and has potentially terrible consequences for other people), what basically amounts to requited unrequited love because of (supernaturally reinforced) misunderstandings in a long term relationship and Reo being only focused on the way things used to be while Mabu keeps trying to find a way to connect with him as they are now (and they keep just...missing each other, come on), aishiteru and Reo's violent breakdown in his grief. And then being reunited at the end and able to heal, finally. <3 I have also read Reo and Mabu: Together they're Sarazanmai and thought it was adorable and charming.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon stuff! These two really went through a lot over the course of the series and all the revelations in episode 10 in particular hit like a tidal wave. And then they both died and came back and as great an experience as the ending was, there wasn't really enough time left for dealing with any fallout or resolution for these two. So, I'd love to know what happens next. How do they deal with everything they went through after Mabu died the first time? How does the truth coming out after Mabu's zombification change their perspectives on the experience? How does their relationship grow and change and heal now that they have this new perspective on each other? They're both very different characters in the anime than they are in Reo and Mabu or on the character blog and we can see a lot of the factors that led to these changes--but what are they like in the aftermath? How many of those changes are permanent and how many new changes emerge?
✎I'd love something filling in the gaps between the end of Reo and Mabu and the beginning of the anime series. We get little flashes such as Mabu's death, the Otter's conscripting the two of them, and some of the breakdown of their relationship, but there's so much to explore still. Raising Sara, working for Keppi in the Kappa Kingdom, the war with the Otters, working for the Otters after Mabu is revived...fluffy, exciting, tragic, I want it all!
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. What about playing up the horror tropes of Mabu "coming back wrong" or otherwise the memory of what they used to have haunting Reo? What if the Otters were aliens, abducting people for dubious purpose and leading toward a full invasion? What about a detective story where Reo and Mabu actually deal with crime instead of using their position as a thin veneer of plausibility to approach desire extraction targets? What about a fairy tale where Mabu's heart has been stolen and the brave Reo has to go on a quest to reclaim it?
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Reo having to duel for Mabu RGU-style? Reo being sent on missions by a spirit to extend Mabu's life a la Penguindrum? Reo and Mabu being childhood friends reunited after many years of separation, only one of them's not human and the human world isn't friendly to them, in an homage to Yuri Kuma? Reo and Mabu had a past life in the moon kingdom that has fated them to be reunited now in the vein of Sailor Moon?
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Kiryuu Touga/Saionji Kyouichi
It seems like fandom generally felt one of two ways about the first chapter of the anniversary manga when it dropped--either "ugh, why is this focusing on Touga and Saionji" or "wow, I'm here for that double gay Utena/Anthy + Touga/Saionji ending". I am very much in that second camp. I've always genuinely enjoyed their dynamic and love seeing them interact with each other way more than I like seeing them interact with any other character. Their dynamic develops so much over the course of the series and (as is typical of Utena) they're one of those pairings that are a complete mess and that messiness appeals to me (I am very much not adverse to seeing them get their acts together at least a little, though). The shared history between them is a huge point of appeal to me too. And then for Touga's final duel, where the two of them have worked out that the strength of the bond between the Rose Bride and the duelist is important and Saionji ends up filling that role for Touga, ugh.
For canon-compliant stuff, I would be especially interested for fanwork set in the post-Ohtori future for these two and seeing how things shake out for them, but I wouldn't be adverse to further standing on motorcycles with their shirts mysteriously coming unbuttoned (seriously, who is the tailor for these uniforms) and flapping like capes behind them.
Potential Prompts:
✎I'd love some exploration of what life after Ohtori looks like for them. Feel free to keep the worldbuilding as weird and esoteric as you want, even after they move into the adult world. Also feel free to draw from some of the unsettling hints of worldbuilding we get from the array of Utena media--like what was up in that flashback/dream in the After the Revolution manga? What happened pre-series that apparently led to so much death and what does it mean for the world outside now? Did those adult versions of Touga and Saionji even really escape Ohtori considering Akio still has power?
✎Given how self-sabotaging Saionji can be and how frustratingly cryptic Touga can be, I think time loops with a specific task (probably romance related) they have to complete to get out are a super fun scenario for them. Stuck repeating the same day until they admit their feelings? Yeah, this could take a while.
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. AU where RGU is actually a Western and all the duels happen in the centre of town at dawn? Horror AU playing up Touga's phantasmagorical nature in Adolescence? High fantasy where the duels revolve around the succession of the throne? Magical realism? Cryptid hunters? Post-apocalyptic dystopia?
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Touga and Saionji being driven by their personal desires to work for the End of the World to extract the desires of other people. Touga being the secret bear hiding among the humans. Touga and Saionji as subjects of the Dark Kingdom? Touga and/or Saionji being manipulated into making a deal with an affable dead-all-along evil mastermind?
Arisugawa Juri/Himemiya Anthy
This is such a fascinating rare pair and I would love to see anything for it! Despite both Anthy and Juri being major characters in all continuities, they barely get any canon interaction. And even when they do, their interactions have very little to do with any particular feelings about each other and more to do with their feelings about themselves. Any scenario in which they are somehow made to spend an extended period of time together and maybe do some re-evaluations of their initial assessments is choice.
Juri is a fascinating, wonderful character and I love that she's such a mess. She has so much pride, but so much insecurity. She's as quick to make assumptions as Utena, but she handles those assumptions very differently. She cares very much about how she presents herself and hoards her feelings in secret. We already know that Anthy's capable of getting under her skin in a very short amount of time, but Juri cares so much about being in control and Anthy always has more control than she's willing to let on. I can also see some interesting tension developing around "miracles".
I adore Anthy Himemiya to her bones. I think that her complexity is part of the reason that she probably deals with the most significant characterization drift across continuities out of the entire cast. We so rarely get treated to what's going on inside her head in the animated continuities and are left to draw conclusions from her relationships and actions, which even then can be wildly open to interpretation. From the brief glimpses we get inside her head (e.g. when Utena and Touga duel for the second time and we actually get treated to a bit of inner monologue), we know that even Anthy sometimes has trouble understanding herself and figuring out where other people's perceptions and expectations end and where "Anthy" begins. This is, of course, entirely the point--that you can't just look at Anthy and assume you understand her by reducing her to simple ideas is a major plot point. She suffers, but she's possessive of that suffering. She's bitter, but she's resistant to change. As bad as her situation is and as much of her life is not really her choice, there are things in which she takes pleasure and pride. There's a level of condescension in her relationships with others and even her affection is often tempered with resentment that takes a while for even Utena to get through. But that affection is genuine and the connections she manages to make matter deeply to her. Anthy's agency is one of the most important aspects of her character to me--how she maintains it, how she chooses to wield it. The moment at the end of the anime when Anthy finally chooses to just...walk away is one of the best feelings that any piece of media has ever given me.
Potential Prompts:
✎AU where Juri wins Anthy in a duel. Maybe it happens before Utena's arrival or maybe Utena isn't conveniently saved by a miracle during one of their in-series duels. I want all of that forced proximity leading to unexpected (and maybe even unwanted) new understandings.
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. AU where RGU is actually a Western and all the duels happen in the centre of town at dawn? High fantasy where the duels revolve around the succession of the throne? Magical realism? Film noir detectives? You know what Utena never has enough of--Mad Max-style post-apocalypse AUs.
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Juri and Anthy as designated partners roped into working for the Otter Kingdom? Yuri Kuma fusion where Juri is a bear hunter, Anthy is a bear? Penguindrum-inspired AU where Anthy and Juri are both trying to extend the lives of their loved ones? Sailor Moon AU of some description?
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Note: I'm fine with references to Sephiran/Altina, but I'd prefer it not be the focus of the fic. I'm fine with the inclusion of Soren and/or Ranulf potentially having feelings for Ike, but I wouldn't want the fic to center around pining over him, Ike to be the focal point of a V-shaped OT3, or for the relationship between those two to be 100% about their relationships with him.
Ranulf/Soren
I think it's the fact that there's so little individual interaction between them in canon (for...obvious reasons) and both of their characters are so heavily attached to Ike that makes me want to split them off and see what dynamic could develop between them if they were forced to give each other a chance. Or, well, Soren would have to be forced and Ranulf could just be along for the ride. I love both of them as characters generally, but I also specifically enjoy how competent they are at what they do and think it's a joy to watch them in action.
Potential Prompts:
✎Stuck behind enemy lines, forced to work together to get out of a dangerous situation, rescue missions, general collaboration during either war with Daein, etc., etc. Please give all of the high stakes and being forced to work together leading to unexpected understanding.
✎Post-canon in a scenario where Ike goes on his journey alone. Ranulf's path forward is clear, but Soren's is not so much. Whatever context you want to use to have them encounter each other again is fine. Maybe Ranulf deliberately seeks Soren out for professional (I can easily see Skrimir expressing an interest in acquiring Soren's tactical prowess once he assumes the throne, even if Soren would be disinclined to accept the offer) or personal reasons (they may not be on explicitly friendly terms and Soren may still not have much love for laguz generally, but by the end of the second game they've known each other a long time and been through a lot).
✎Hurt/comfort is always a good pick, but especially for the fact that I don't think that either one would the other's first choice of comforter. Ranulf is probably better at it and I'm 100% here for Soren receiving all the unexpected tenderness and affection he can take after living so much of his life without it. However, there's something to be said for Soren unexpectedly filling the comforter role in his own Soren way--more than likely focusing on practical solutions and pushing for a solution that fits his own competencies, but I can see Ranulf being touched that he cares regardless.
Soren/Zelgius
So, the thought of this ship is interesting to me because they work so well as foils for each other and have a lot of similarities. Both Branded. Both shunned not only by society, but by their own families and having miserable childhoods as a result. Both latched onto and formed bonds of undying loyalty with the one person who reached out to them with understanding and compassion (and this is where the pining aspect potentially comes into play). Both are impressive strategists in their own ways and accomplish great and terrible things over the course of the war. But they're obviously radically different characters and these differences are really interesting too. Soren's on the designated good guys side because he's unwaveringly loyal to Ike (and the Greil Mercenaries by extension), but he's a huge asshole to everyone and socially ungraceful generally (not that he can't be socially graceful--the strategic flirtation with Aimee shows that he can--he just chooses not to be, even when dealing with someone who could kick his ass), he values pragmatism over honour or morality, he's deeply (if understandably) cynical, and he's physically pretty fragile despite being magically skilled. Zelgius is an absolute unit of a man even without his magic armour, he actually has a strong sense of honour despite having more than a few shady secrets and being one of the most legitimately threatening antagonists in both games, he's actually pretty polite and pleasant when he's not trying to goad someone into fighting him and nobody is stupid enough to insult Sephiran to his face (see most of Zelgius's conversations pre-reveal and the Black Knight's interactions with Micaiah), and he is singularly focused on the goal of finally fighting a worthy opponent and will even risk compromising Sephiran's goals if he thinks he can make it happen.
Potential Prompts:
✎Canon divergence where Zelgius survives RD (lots of other dead guys manage to in the New Game+, I'm sure there's some way he could pull it off a second time). Sephiran returns to Serenes Forest or dies, your choice. Ike goes off on his journey solo. Zelgius has fulfilled his personal mission of finding a worthy opponent and Sephiran no longer needs him either way. As per his solo ending, Soren never uses his tactical talents for anyone but Ike. Maybe they're both still pining over them, but both of these characters are left without the men and the purposes they've dedicated their lives to--and Branded live for a very long time. Somewhere in that aftermath, they encounter one another.
✎AU where Ashnard doesn't literally throw the baby out with the bathwater and keeps Soren around for the possibility that he may one day have a use for him (or just to use him as continued leverage over the dragon royals). A young Zelgius, who is serving the Daein army and still terrified of having his laguz heritage discovered, is obviously smart enough to realize that the whole "Spirit Charmer" cover is nonsense (if Ashnard even bothers with that--honestly, who's going to give him a hard time over having a Branded son and live to tell about it?) and that the prince is a Branded. Staying in the Daein army long term would still be dangerous (unless his strength draws Ashnard's tenuous favour to a degree that it doesn't matter, maybe), but maybe there's something more than idolizing Gawain keeping him interested. Maybe he sticks around, maybe (lonely and desperate for purpose) he's convinced by Almedha to take Soren and get out, maybe they re-encounter each other years later. Note: I'd prefer the characters be closer to their canon ages before anything romantically oriented develops from the relationship (though puppy crushes are certainly fine).
✎Soren and a Zelgius who has yet to tip his hand somehow wind up stuck behind enemy lines together while they're tentative allies in PoR.
✎Soren and a Zelgius who has yet to tip his hand somehow wind up having to work together to get out of a dangerous situation while they're enemies in RD.
✎Soren somehow winds up in a situation where he's forced to work with the Black Knight to get out of a dangerous situation during the timeline of either game, with all of the weight that carries considering what he knows the Black Knight to be responsible for.
✎Almedha somehow manages to correctly identify and track down her son in RD. She's just as determined to get him to assume the Daein throne and accept his birthright as she was with Pelleas (though Soren would be way less receptive). The Black Knight still shows up to help occasionally, but now he's got two squishy mages he might occasionally need to follow around in the dark--and one of them is not especially happy about it.
✎For whatever reason you can devise, Soren follows through on his pragmatic impulse to throw his lot in with Daein rather than help Elincia. Maybe he somehow convinces the Greil Mercs since that was his main hurdle in canon (tough sell but if the circumstances felt a little less like throwing Elincia to the wolves or some of the stronger objecting voices were absent for some reason, maybe it could happen). Maybe it's a ruse of some sort in order to get intel. Maybe Soren's on his own for some reason at this point and decides to hang out there until he can reunite with Ike again.
✎AUs where someone different reached out their hand to either of them. Zelgius felt pretty betrayed when Greil up and left without explanation, but what about in a universe where Zelgius wound up confessing his circumstances to the man he respected above all others or he slipped up enough that Greil realized the truth on his own? Zelgius was already nearing the point he would have had to leave Daein anyway, if Greil had said "hey, we're going to Gallia, nobody can know", Zelgius might have been down. Or what if Soren's wandering and being passed around had taken him to a different part of the world and Ike hadn't been the first person to show him basic decency and not mistreat him because of his brand? Note: I'd prefer the characters be closer to their canon ages before anything romantically oriented develops from the relationship (though puppy crushes are certainly fine).
Sephiran/Zelgius
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.
Potential Prompts:
✎Filling in the gaps between their first meeting and where they are in canon. I'll take anything you want to go for here. Subtle machinations and scheming behind the scenes to pull off Sephiran's long-term goals? Zelgius working his way up in the Begnion military? Little moments that build Zelgius's loyalty to Sephiran over time?
✎Canon divergence where Zelgius lives. Man, everyone gets a redemption arc in New Game+ except Zelgius! I'm being tongue in cheek, but still. And I get it, his death serves an important role in Ike's story and I liked how it was executed. But the joy of fanfic is this doesn't need to necessarily be Ike's story and I also want to see Sephiran and Zelgius both work out how to move on once the events of Radiant Dawn are over. (I don't even necessarily need a redemption arc, for the record, but it would be nice for him to stick around long enough to see the outcome and at least have the potential of having to face his actions with both his and Sephiran's long term goals now resolved)
✎Sephiran's main motivation is wanting to just wipe everything out, including himself. He already has this goal in mind long before he meets and a forms any kind of bond with Zelgius. The only two people he ever had any intention of sparing were Micaiah and Sanaki as his descendants. Was there ever a point where he...felt anything about convincing Zelgius to serve his cause when, one way or another, it was always going to end with Zelgius dead? As horrible as Sephiran's plans were, they came from a place of despair rather than malice and his intentions in reaching out to Zelgius were fueled by empathy and compassion for his circumstances. Did he ever doubt or regret that, as far as he could conceive, there was no other way? Did he think that he was doing the best he could by Zelgius by guiding him to his end this way?
The Adventure Zone
Merle Highchurch/John
The "are you my friend?" conversation still gives me chills--it's one of my absolute favourite moments in The Adventure Zone. That conversation is at the heart of so many of my feelings about this pairing and why I love it so much. However you want to have Merle romance the personification of existential depression, I'm down. This is very much a pairing that I want fix-it fic for, but I'm also open to more tragic or melancholy explorations of their dynamic.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon fix-it where John is revived somehow. He has to deal with his renewed existence, Merle has to deal with what it means that he's in his life again.
✎The entire time during the bond summoning sequence in the final battle, I was kind of expecting Merle to try summoning John. I would be really interested in a canon divergence fic where he does, however that works out and whether it helps or hurts the situation.
✎We already have kind of a pseudo-time loop going on with Merle being reset by the bond engine every time he dies...but what if full on time loop? Every time John kills him, the scenario gets reset and John's usual impulse to escape the conversation actively works against him by keeping him trapped there.
✎The IPRE land on a world where soulmates are a thing--completely author's choice of what soulmate mechanic this world uses and how the crew's soulmates are revealed to them. Merle's soulmate is, natch, John. This complicates their next Parley somewhat. And John, who is above all things dissatisfied and is out to consume the bonds of every world in the hope that it will make things better, is suddenly aware of this immutable bond he somehow has with Merle.
Barclay/Agent Stern
The instant Griffin revealed that they were a thing, I suddenly knew I'd wanted this ship all along? FBI agent searching for Bigfoot unintentionally falls in love with man who turns out to be Bigfoot is so unbelievably my jam. I am so utterly charmed by them that it's hard to go wrong with anything you want to do here, but I do love identity porn in all its forms and boy do they have the potential for that!
Potential Prompts:
✎So, we never got to see much of the actual development of this relationship because the Pine Guard Trio just didn't hang out with Stern all that much, but I'd love fic that fills in the blanks of how they fell for each other and how Barclay kept his secret(s) while he and Stern were living under the same roof.
✎Post-canon stuff! All the cards are on the table, the world is saved, Stern broke a lot of protocols to help Barclay and the trio. All the changes after the finale mean a significant shift in the status quo for both of them. We last see them chillin' in ahot tub hot spring less than six feet apart because they're gay. What's next?
✎All the canon divergence! What if Stern had figured things out at some point before the finale (let's face it--they weren't the most subtle and there were a lot of close calls)? What if Barclay had chosen to intervene when Aubrey almost convinced Stern to help them at the archway? What if he'd revealed himself then or just before? What if Stern, investigating suspicious activity as one does, had gotten too close to one of the hunts? What if Stern, as a normal squishy human when you get down to it, had attracted the attention of one of the abominations that had targeted members of the lodge directly? What if Zeke Owens (who Stern was evidently on good terms with) had told Stern about Ned's attempted confession and something had clicked?
Akuma no Riddle
Haru/Tokaku
Note: If you choose to explore the implications of the Queen Bee ability, I'm fine with acknowledging that anything between this pairing would be dubiously consensual as a result of its use. My preference in that case would be that everybody be really into what's happening, even if there's the nagging uncertainty of if Tokaku really wants it or if she's being influenced by Haru's power.
I'm generally fine with the assassins, well, assassinating people, but I recognize that the series pretty miraculously ensures survival for everyone. If you're going the post-canon route, my character death DNW holds--I'm happy to leave them all with their happy endings. If you choose to go for an AU, I would be open to having even canonical characters die (because, again, assassins), but I would still want Tokaku and Haru to end the story alive.
This ship is so exactly my aesthetic that I still cannot believe it. I'm a huge sucker for "I will protect her" transitioning to "oops, I love her", but oh man, that Queen Bee ability twist near the end really took things up a notch. Tokaku's tortured realization, just as she admits that she's in love with Haru, that all of the decisions that she'd made over the course of the series may not have been her decisions at all--when so much of her character growth had centered around making her own choice (to protect Haru) for the first time in her life. Haru's core of steel becoming even more apparent and her acknowledgement that she loves Tokaku even as Tokaku becomes a very present danger. That deliciously tense confrontation and Tokaku's willingness to endanger Haru's life in order to establish her own autonomy and then the instant regret and despair she feels over her actions. Haru, bleeding on the floor, the girl who promised she'd never cry finally reduced to tears, focused only on saving Tokaku's life (and that that would be what she'd never be able to forgive her for). Haru actually using her Queen Bee ability out of desperation to keep Tokaku by her side. And then the fallout and the brief glimpse we get into their (super hot) older selves, still together. Wow.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon. Again, their older selves are super hot (and the scene I linked above was super cute). I'd love to learn more about what they're up to now and how their relationship has developed. Did Haru end up taking on a leadership role in her clan? If so, what does that look like? If not, what did she end up doing instead?
✎Further exploration of the Queen Bee ability. It was a great twist, but it got dropped in so close to the end and I would love to see more done with it. You could keep it canonical and play with the potential darker implications/fallout of Tokaku choosing to stay with Haru (and claim Haru as her "reward") after that desperate confrontation--it seems that Tokaku's will was ultimately her own throughout the majority of the series, but the horrible ironic twist is that the actions she took to prove that Haru had never Queen Bee'd her, resulted in Haru being forced to Queen Bee her for real. Or what about a canon divergence AU where Tokaku learned about the Queen Bee earlier in the series when other assassins (beyond Nio) were still a threat? Or canon divergence where Tokaku's plan after finding out about Queen Bee wasn't "I have to shoot my girlfriend"? Or what if Tokaku hadn't been able to bring herself to shoot Haru at that critical moment, whether because she had been Queen Bee'd or because she was just not capable? Or what if she decided against it earlier and just had to continue not knowing?
✎I love the Hanabusa fight for a bunch of reasons, but one of the biggest is that it allows Haru to take on a more active role once Tokaku is taken out of the action and really shows off how resourceful she is. Tokaku's wonderful and she's a very talented bodyguard, but Haru survived for a long time without her help and (while it's been somewhat inevitable in the past) she's not especially fond of using people as meat shields. I'd love to see more opportunities for Haru to get them out of bad situations and maybe even protect Tokaku for a change.
✎I'm generally interested in AUs that keep the assassins but remove the school context.
Pretty Deadly (Comics)
Big Alice/Deathface Ginny
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?
Hello, dear author, and thank you so much for writing for me! I have tried to leave you at least a general idea of what I like about each canon and what I might be interested in reading for them. Some canons may have more written than others depending on how much I had to say and how many specific ideas I had (and how much I had to copy over from previous letters), but rest assured that I want all of them desperately and look forward to whatever you create!
If I've left prompts that don't speak to you, don't worry about it! There are plenty of things that I enjoy that I haven't specifically prompted for (and there's a reason that I leave a list of general likes) and I want you to write something that you enjoy and find exciting. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me through the mods. I try to be speedy about replying and never mind clarifying.
As a general note, I'm not especially interested in porn for porn's sake for my M/M ships, but I'm down for sex scenes as a part of character building or for the purposes of relationship development. I'm a lot more keen on something that focuses on the emotions/internal thoughts during the moment than the physical descriptions of the smut in general.
Clickable Table of Contents
➳General Likes
➳General DNWs
➳The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde (Comics): Thomas Adye/Edward Hyde | Henry Jekyll
➳Fire Emblem: Three Houses
➳Disco Elysium: Harry DuBois/Kim Kitsuragi
➳91 Days: Angelo Lagusa/Nero Vanetti➳Sarazanmai: Reo/Mabu
➳Revolutionary Girl Utena➳The Adventure Zone
General Likes: |
♥ 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.
General DNWs: |
✘ 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.
The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde
Tom/Hyde
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.
I would be totally head over heels for something set after the original comic dealing with some other famous literary monsters/villains, especially those drawn from Gothic horror. The sequel hook at the end of the comic teased the Invisible Man as Tom's next case and the cover for the planned sequel comic (which sadly never materialized) confirmed that Dorian Gray exists in this universe and would come into contact with Tom (I was so looking forward to Tom being "seduced by his philosophy"). Either of those options would be fabulous, but don't feel restricted by them - bring in whoever you want.Potential Prompts:
✎ Tom meets one Dorian Gray, who "seduces him with his philosophy". Hyde hears through the rumour mill that Mr. Gray might know the secret to eternal life (and anyway, a man has to look out for his mates).
✎ Picking up right where canon left off, Tom pursues the case of the mysterious Invisible Man, still dealing with the aftermath of his time with Hyde and the Jack the Ripper case. Hyde, as it turns out, hasn't gone as far as he'd assumed.
✎ In the wake of a series of grave robberies, Tom hears rumours of a monster sighted on city streets. It turns out that Utterson isn't the only ambitious man with an interest in Hyde's formula.
✎ A mysterious murder leads Tom to meet a wealthy man who's recently acquired property in the area and who only ventures out at night. Tom quickly figures out he's in over his head and reaches out to Hyde for help.
✎ In a canon where there are already themes of duality and transformation...what if werewolves? Tom has earned some grudging respect from his colleagues, but they still think he's mad when he insists there's a definitive human element behind a series of apparent animal attacks. When he finds the culprit, even Hyde's serum might have met its match.
✎ Tom, realizing his dreams and ideals were never what he thought they were, makes a different decision at the end of canon and he and Hyde wind up on the run together.
✎ It's been years, but the time has finally arrived when Tom feels he must hunt Hyde down (though maybe he still doesn't know what he'll do when he finds him).
✎ Tom has some interesting thoughts on Hyde's last string of murders in Whitechapel - rationalizing them in a way that borders on admiration on the basis of who the victims are and that they deserve some kind of comeuppance. In trying to force Tom's hand in Utterson's death, Hyde also refers to having had "high hopes" for him and having "brought [Tom] this far". What would it take to push Tom to murder himself? At what point would he be able to rationalize it as righteous violence and make it mesh with his idea of justice? How would Hyde feel once it finally happened? Would he feel proud, amused, relieved to have a kindred spirit? Would he regret it - seeing the last of Tom's idealism snuffed out and perhaps reminding him a little too keenly of Jekyll's own descent to darker urges and what he had to give up to become Hyde?
✎ Groundhog Day time loop shenanigans. I'm totally willing to break my character death DNW for this, provided the final loop comes out with everyone alive.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Fandom-Specific DNW: Non-default/custom names for player characters (i.e. I would only want Byleth to be called Byleth).
Ashe/Felix
This was the support chain that got me to fall in love with Felix (I really love him, for the record). It's so cute! I love Ashe being starry eyed and undeterred in the face of Felix's usual grumpiness. I love the undercurrent that Felix's feelings about Glenn give their conversations--while Felix (true to form) tends to express these things in the least socially graceful/sensitive way possible, his concerns about the idealization of knighthood and Ashe's naivety on the matter are well-founded. I love Felix softening up in their second support and actually being pretty sweet and encouraging Ashe. I love there being this new understanding between them as a result of how Lonato's death has affected Ashe and his viewpoints. I love the shared nostalgia over the book and the implication that Felix maybe wasn't so different from Ashe before losing Glenn. I'm so sad there weren't more conversations for them--I want more!
Potential Prompts:
✎High stakes situations like being stuck behind enemy lines, rescue missions, etc. are great as a general rule, but I especially love it when there's so much contrast in a pairing in terms of personality and skill sets--it's just a really great way to show off what they both bring to the table! Felix has some natural advantages over Ashe when it comes to basic combat ability and tends toward the...pragmatic when it comes to strategy (as far as we learn through supports, anyway). Ashe has some practical skill sets that Felix just wouldn't have access to due to how different their life circumstances are.
✎I love hurt/comfort pretty much always and this pairing is no exception. I'm very fond of the combination of prickliness and vulnerability that Felix sometimes exudes when he attempts to be comforting and how much that's compounded when the other party actually got hurt for him. I also love when Felix's bluntness works to his advantage as the comforter (as it does in their second support convo). However, I also think it'd be interesting to see Ashe in the comforter role--I'm sure Felix would a, erm, gracious comfortee and it would be an opportunity to really dig into some of the reality of the qualities of idealized knighthood that Ashe thinks Felix embodies. So, you know, either or. Or both.
✎A recruited Felix seems to be in kind of a not great place generally (some his endings are really ouch) because for all he says and for all that the things he says are not always precisely wrong, he really does care about his family, his friends (including Dimitri), and his country. Ashe, regardless of recruitment status, will always start off the post-time skip fighting for Faerghus out of a sense of duty and obligation in any route except Crimson Flower. A lot of the decision making on both sides feels influenced by the legacy of someone they lost in one way or another. It's an interesting contrast and potential source of drama.
✎I'm definitely here for more really cute moments in the same vein of their supports. Maybe Ashe builds up a storybook romance in his head (and Felix, unintentionally or intentionally, awkwardly plays into it)? Maybe they go on a mission that feels a little too quest-like for Ashe's nerdy heart? Felix making awkward attempts at courting because he's realized his heart does stupid things when Ashe smiles? Felix helping Ashe with his swordsmanship (which may also be an awkward courting attempt because it is Felix)? Ashe deciding to directly target Felix's softest side (his stomach)? Ashe getting spooked by "ghosts" and Felix getting roped into helping him out?
Ashe/Yuri
Wow, we were so robbed of this support chain! I literally couldn't believe that there was nothing for them outside of that moment in Cindered Shadows where Ashe recognizes Yuri! But even that moment was enough to get me thinking about what great foils they'd make for each other considering where their histories overlap and where they're radically different.
Potential Prompts:
✎In Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, regardless of recruitment status, Ashe feels compelled to fight alongside the Kingdom forces until he's either killed or re-recruited at Aiell. The forces that Ashe has joined up with belong to Count Rowe. The drama potential here has me very 👀👀👀👀
✎Ashe and Yuri recognizing each other in Cindered Shadows suggests that they met at some point before the events of the game. I would be very interested in knowing about the circumstances of this meeting in general. I would also be interested in a canon divergence AU where they got to know each other better than they apparently did (since Ashe stepped on an unintentional landmine by suggesting that Yuri return to Count Rowe).
✎Ashe becomes aware that Yuri is not only still involved in criminal activity, he's something of a well-known underworld kingpin. Considering Ashe's own history and his feelings about it, this could lead to some interesting moments. (Also one of Ashe's dislikes is literally "deception" so 👀) And I mean, Ashe's sweet and he means well, but I don't know how likely Yuri is to take advice from Lonato's kid.
✎Maybe something playing off of these two both having a strong sense of justice and a lot of sympathy for the kind of people who are often looked down on in their society? It doesn't all have to be drama--they have things in common too!
Balthus/Yuri
I liked the Ashen Wolves as soon as I met them and I was already kind of digging this ship from that moment where Balthus asked to see Yuri's "pretty face" and then promptly punched him for being a lying asshole. But what really sold me was their support chain and their paired ending--it's all so good! This pairing is so massively underrated and I would be seriously happy to see something for it set on any route at any point.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-Cindered Shadows: The game essentially treats the DLC route as a separate timeline, but what happens after the story's relatively optimistic endpoint? Considering it seems to take place around Ch. 5, most of the big players in the events of 3H's main story have yet to tip their hands and are presumably still working toward their own goals. How do events play out in the Cindered Shadows route? What happens to Yuri and Balthus (and potentially the other inhabitants of Abyss) when shit hits the fan?
✎In the base game, Byleth & co. never discover Abyss, so what happens to the Ashen Wolves when the Empire marches on Garreg Mach? Where do they go after the war breaks out and the monastery falls into disuse? Particularly since the problems that drove them to seek refuge in Abyss in the first place would still very much be problems.
✎During the 5 year time skip: So, regardless of route or recruitment status, Byleth has disappeared, Garreg Mach has been abandoned, and all the Abyss inhabitants still presumably have reasons to be wary of living too openly in the outside world (given that nobody is ever explicitly pardoned like they are at the end of Cindered Shadows). What happens during these five difficult years?
✎Canon divergence: Balthus is a lot more shrewd and perceptive than he might appear at a glance (sussing out Claude's true identity during their school days is no joke). At some point before Byleth & co. stumble across Abyss, either Aelfric or Yuri slip up just enough for him to realize that something's wrong.
✎Paired ending: Post game stuff! I want to know all about the life and times of the underworld kingpin and his famed bodyguard, the Indomitable King of Grappling! Can be early in this relationship development (Yuri helping Balthus after finding him collapsed in the alley, what makes Yuri ask Balthus to be his bodyguard and what makes Balthus accept?, at what point does Balthus decide that this is something he wants to do for the rest of his life rather than something he was doing just to get back on his feet?) or after they've had some time to settle in to the dynamic and build that fearsome reputation.
Lorenz/Claude
Man, I am so weak for antagonism that develops into genuine mutual respect over a period of many years and these two really bring that dynamic to the table. I knew I was going to love Claude (and I did), but the way that Lorenz stole my heart took me completely by surprise. I am super here for anything where that growing respect between them crosses the line into romantic interest (maybe taking them both by surprise). Give me Lorenz's attempts at courtship, Claude annoying Lorenz because he likes watching him get riled up, working together as forces to be reckoned with during the war, or even winding up as enemies (and feeling much more reluctant about it than either of them would admit) when Lorenz's family sides with the Empire.
Potential Prompts:
✎Spinning off from their paired ending and them meeting again after Claude has become king of Almyra! I'd love to see how their dynamic changes with all the secrets now out and them both having accomplished so much in their time apart.
✎Awkward attempts at courtship. You could have Lorenz chasing after Claude with his usual ineptitude (and maybe some drama over him knowing that it's not what his family would want, but it's what his heart wants) or maybe a little turnabout and Lorenz is flustered and wrong-footed when Claude tries to make his romantic interest very apparent.
✎Trapped behind enemy lines! Working together to escape a dangerous situation! Rescue missions! Always good, but especially for canons like this where the potential is built in and pairings like this where there's such a contrast in their personalities.
✎On a non-Verdant Wind route, Claude and Lorenz encounter each other on the battlefield. This can be as a result of Lorenz reluctantly fulfilling his family obligations by providing the reinforcements the Empire needs to hold the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Or maybe Lorenz has genuinely thrown his lot in with Edelgard or Dimitri. Or it could be during the five in between years while Claude is orchestrating his civil war to keep the Alliance out of the more serious fighting.
✎Lorenz gets really earnestly concerned about the cryptic comments Claude makes in their A support about giving up his position and vanishing--I mean, without the larger context that Claude's still hiding, it sure doesn't sound great! That conversation makes Lorenz realize how much he doesn't want Claude to disappear. Maybe he focuses on the less dire interpretation and just tries to make sure that Claude feels incentivized to stick around. Maybe he gets stuck on the worse thought that occurs to him in that conversation ("Do not tell me you intend to die in this conflict. You cannot shape the future if you do not live to see it!") despite Claude's reassurances and makes a concerted effort to make sure that Claude lives to see the end of the war--even if that means exposing himself to more danger.
Yuri/Claude
I was both amused and delighted by how much Yuri was exactly what fandom assumed Claude was going to be before we met him. He's a character who very much appeals to my interests, but I also really love who Claude turned out to be, so now I'm just happy we have both. Much like my interest in Claude/Hubert, I have a strong interest in situations where characters respect other character's tactics/schemes/game generally. They had like one moment in Cindered Shadows of *appreciative acknowledgement of other person's skill* and I was sold.
Potential Prompts:
✎Yuri and Claude are each working on some independent scheme/endeavour that wind up conflicting. What follows is an escalating attempt to outwit each other. They both find constantly getting foiled and one-upped very frustrating--and kind of hot?
✎Yuri manages to figure out Claude's secret. Maybe he puts enough pieces together himself or maybe he pries enough information from Balthus to fill in the gaps.
✎Yuri's desire to figure out the truth of his origins winds up intersecting with Claude's desire to uncover the truth of Fodlan's history. They end up realizing that they'll get much further by working together.
✎I keep mentioning it for all of these FE ships, but high stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. Especially for two characters as resourceful as these two.
Byleth/Claude
Verdant Wind was such a good time and it breaks my heart every day that Bylad is locked out of the Claude-mance. I really like the respect and growth in this relationship. I like that while Claude isn't as emotionally dependent on Byleth for his mental well-being as the other lords, there's this sense that they need each other because they each bring something valuable to the table when striving for a shared dream. That being said, don't feel beholden to writing Verdant Wind only--there's plenty to be said of a relationship between them developing on another route (especially considering Claude can potentially survive all of them).
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-Verdant Wind: Meeting again post-canon as the ruler of Fodlan and the king of Almyra.
✎Post-Azure Moon/Crimson Flower: Byleth is asked to help make Fodlan's new alliance with Almyra official. Who should he run into at the negotiations but Almyra's new king.
✎In canon, Claude initially intended to try and get his hands on the Sword of the Creator and then gave up once Byleth got it and he realized that he'd never be able to use it. But what if he didn't? Would Claude try to get closer to a Byleth who chose a different house in the hopes of swaying him to his cause and/or getting close enough to get a better look at the sword? If he thought there was a way he could use it, would Claude ever consider finding a way to still take the sword for himself?
✎AU where Byleth doesn't take on a teaching position. Claude already knew something fishy was going on, but the random bandit attack just so happening to target the three most high profile students at Garreg Mach feels a little too convenient. He decides to hire the services of a certain mercenary company as extra insurance.
✎ High stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. These situations also leading to potential hurt/comfort? Very choice.
Yuri/Byleth
I really like Yuri and was super happy to have him added as a bi romance option. I love his dynamic with Byleth, both in their supports and in Cindered Shadows. I was sold on this ship pretty much instantly. Yuri just casually calling Byleth "adorable"? Great, here for it. Yuri deciding to trust Byleth enough to give him the hints he needs to stop Aelfric? Absolutely living for it. Yuri's carefully chosen words and constant double meanings contrasted with Byleth's straightforwardness? Fantastic. Yuri kind of chafing at Byleth's concern in their supports and then slowly warming up as they work together? Love it. Coming to rely on each other once they get past their initial differences? Perfection. Their entire S-support with Yuri being the one to propose and their absolutely fantastic paired ending? <33333333
Potential Prompts:
✎High stakes situations like being trapped behind enemy lines, needing to work together to escape a dangerous situation, rescue missions, etc. are super great. These situations also leading to potential hurt/comfort? Very choice.
✎AU where Byleth doesn't take on a teaching position. Yuri finds himself in need of a little extra muscle when dealing with certain discrete matters (Aelfric? a rival gang? Count Rowe?) and contracts the services of a certain mercenary company.
✎Post-canon! Crimson Flower post-canon with the historic battle against TWSITD! Or bringing "order to the underworld" once they retire! Post-Azure Moon/Verdant Wind/Silver Snow with apparently immortal Byleth and Yuri! Or branching off Yuri's solo ending where they re-encounter each other after Yuri has become the Underground Lord.
✎Meeting again post-Cindered Shadows. Does Yuri return to the school before Edelgard makes her move or do they not see each other again until after the time skip after Byleth's been presumed dead?
✎Missing scene from where Byleth helps Yuri out between their C and B support conversations.
Edelgard/Rhea
Oh man, I love me some enemies to lovers ships between two women with strong ideological differences who are, nonetheless, far more similar than either of them realize. I don't necessarily need or expect there to be happy endings for these two, but I'm all here for moments of unexpected connection and empathy that make the events of the game even more tragic and difficult than they already are. As a general note, I love both of these characters a lot, in every route. I'm definitely not looking for either of them to get defanged or to Learn the Error of their Ways (and, in fact, would find it very interesting if they caught feelings/felt empathy for each other but remained firm to their convictions and came out the other side as enemies anyway 👀) or anything, but I think it would be interesting for them to have opportunities and/or information and/or just general situations of interaction that weren't available in canon.
Potential Prompts:
✎ AU where Those Who Slither in the Dark force Edelgard's hand and she decides to focus on finding a way to take them down even before she manages to unite the continent and overthrow the church. Obviously, she doesn't have the strength of position or all the information she expected to when finally facing them and they're exceptionally dangerous enemies--so, she has to turn for help where she can and the enemy of my enemy is my f
✎AU where Edelgard discovers something a little closer to the truth about Nemesis (she is, after all, conspicuously excluded from all of the paralogues that have them meet the other Saints) and that throws what she knows to be true about Rhea into a new light.
✎AU where Rhea becomes aware of TWSITD's influence on the Empire and chooses to intervene. Edelgard's betrayal comes as a particular shock to her because of her Hresvelg lineage, so I imagine she still feels some connection to Wilhelm's kin, even if it's not enough for her to help them out under other circumstances (and there are various reasons why that might be the case). But her hatred for TWSITD and her lingering gratitude to the family might be enough to sway her.
✎There was apparently a point in time where the development team was considering having Edelgard be aware of and able to interfere with Time's Pulse. So, AU where Edelgard becomes aware of alternate timelines and the time travel that's happening in general and that alters her actions and/or her perspective on matters.
✎Cindered Shadows allowed us a more sympathetic view of Rhea's character during the school part of the game (in the base game, she gets played up as pretty shady before the pre-time skip reveals). (Though, I mean, it also reveals that she kept Sitri's body conveniently accessible to visit it, so like, Rhea 👀) Maybe there's an opportunity for something continuing off the end of the DLC, where the base game events are altered by some of the DLC's revelations.
✎AU on Verdant Wind where Claude manages to either persuade Edelgard to join up with him (their dreams are similar, after all) or force her to stand down/take her alive. They rescue Rhea and all the revelations about Fodlan's history follow..
✎In Crimson Flower, there's an advice box question from Edelgard that indicates that she's at least considered what she should do if she found the opportunity to spare Rhea. The two of them talking in that route feels...unlikely at best, but what if that opportunity came up anyway? Or what if Edelgard hadn't been able to hide what really happened to Arianrhod and the danger that TWISTD represented could no longer be ignored--and Rhea found out?
Disco Elysium
Harry/Kim
Canon-Specific DNW: Harry internalizing the Advanced Race Theory thought.
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This game totally blew me away and a big part of why was these characters. *clutches chest* I love them? And, like, half the actions I chose over the course of the game were motivated by my desire to make Kim proud of Harry--both because I wanted Harry to be in a better place (as interesting as it is to let him fuck up) and because just generally I would die for Kim Kitsuragi. There are so many moments that wove their way into my heart--dancing in the church, Kimball, every time Kim's dry sense of humour would peek out while bantering with Harry, dedicating the karaoke to Kim, getting it together long enough to warn Kim during the firefight and Kim watching over Harry while he healed, Lamby, aces high, playing board games, Kim's barely suppressed amusement over Harry's bewildered attraction to the Smoker on the Balcony, Kim defending Harry at the end of the game, all the little fond internal thought moments Harry has about him...just guh. The "Kim truly trusts you" modifier is very important to me.
Potential Prompts:
✎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.
91 Days
Angelo/Nero
Note: I'm totally down for this relationship being 91 degrees of fucked up and would be okay with situations of dubious consent rearing their head. My preference in that case is that everyone be really into what's happening even if not all the cards are on the table or they're actively terrible to each other/themselves or there are significant power imbalances or there's a lot of guilt/conflicted feelings and not wanting to want the things they want.
Also, mentions of torture happening off-screen would be okay for this canon should it come up--I'm not going to ask that these characters be softened up or anything, or that fic make a point of steering away from things that any of the mafia families might believably do. I just really wouldn't want graphic descriptions or a fic focused on one of my requested characters being tortured or actively engaging in torturing someone else. Mentioning something like Angelo having to participate in torture to maintain his cover or there being the looming threat of being tortured by the Galassias if they're caught? That's fine. Fic where there's a graphic scene of Nero getting Angelo to torture someone as a test of loyalty or revolving around them being tortured after they are caught by the Galassias? Too much for me.
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Oh man, everything about these characters and their relationship is like shipping catnip to me? I love the deception and the drama and the identity porn and the danger and how far over the line they both get pushed by their circumstances. I love the contrast between Nero, our antagonist, often being super likable and easier to sympathize with than we would expect at the start (though, of course, still feeling that he can justify doing some terrible things when required) and Angelo, our protagonist, being a viciously pragmatic anti-hero (at best) who's hard to root for at points. I love the line between Angelo and Avilio blurring as the mask becomes increasingly real and he grows genuinely attached to Nero. I love Angelo being increasingly willing to cross some stark moral lines for the sake of his vengeance (especially since even he doesn't think it was worth it in the end). I love Nero becoming increasingly reliant (both in a mafia subordinate sense and in an emotional connection sense) on "Avilio" as the series progresses. I love the conflict between "I genuinely like and have come to care for this person" and "I hold this person accountable for taking away everything that I loved"--which is a very mutual feeling by the end of the series! Gah, it's so good!
Potential Prompts:
✎ Moments of unexpected tenderness and affection. I'm totally here for Angelo slipping so deeply into his identity as Avilio that he doesn't know which way is up. I'm totally down for the kind of moments that lead to him being unable to kill Nero because he so badly doesn't want to, even after he killed Corteo to keep his revenge plans on track holy shit.
✎ The end of the anime leaves Angelo's fate deliberately ambiguous (yeah, okay, show me the body and I'll accept it, but until then!!!). Assume a scenario where Nero can't bring himself to shoot Angelo either (and man, doesn't that just bring this relationship full circle)--what the fuck do they do now? Neither of them has anything left at the end of the series, they're both stuck in a situation where neither can forgive the other for what they've done nor can they make themselves stop caring about each other...just...where do you even go from here? Not to mention the looming danger of the Galassias hot on their tails!
✎ Nero and Angelo getting into and out of scrapes together. Half the fun of the series is down to the twists and turns it takes, how often the stakes ratchet up when the characters find themselves in danger, how often people get crossed and double crossed. And a lot of what makes that so great is how clever and competent these two are and what kind of ruthlessness they're capable of when the chips are down (even if in some cases taking those ruthless actions hurts them on a personal level). Hell, sometimes the two of them getting into messes is even just fun and really highlights why they come to like each other so much. I love seeing them work together, especially with the underlying tension of Angelo's true goals--how much of what he does is because he's not in the right position to fully carry out his revenge and how much of it is genuinely for Nero's benefit in spite of himself? Even he probably doesn't fully know the answer to that! Situations where Nero winds up looking out for Angelo and Angelo has conflicted feelings about that are also delicious.
✎ What if Angelo's identity came out earlier in the series (he certainly had more than enough close calls)? Especially at a point before he really goes full scorched earth with his revenge plan but after there's been enough time for Nero to have really come to trust him and care for him. Like, no matter when it happens, Angelo's already established himself as a serious threat (Vanno spends most of the series six feet under, after all) and there's no doubt that Nero would see it as a massive betrayal. But as conflicted and hurt as Nero is when the truth is revealed at the end of the series, how would he handle the discovery in a scenario where Angelo hasn't yet taken everything from him? Especially considering his own feelings about That Night?
✎ AU where the Vanetti family's coup took place later, when Angelo was older and had maybe started his induction into mafia life himself. Considering Vincent and Testa were best friends at one point, Nero and Angelo might already know each other really well and even be genuine friends themselves before the Incident in such a universe. And then deception, betrayal, conflicted feelings--how the turntables!
Sarazanmai
Akutsu Mabu/Niiboshi Reo
Note: References can be made to Mabu's...maintenance with the Otter and the associated consent issues, but I'd prefer nothing explicit and that that not be the focus.
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I only recently got around to this show and now this pairing is actively destroying my heart and my life. Ikuhara, how dare you. Everything about their development in the show gets me right in the heart--the willingness to sacrifice for each other, their desperation to be together at all costs (even if it hurts them both and has potentially terrible consequences for other people), what basically amounts to requited unrequited love because of (supernaturally reinforced) misunderstandings in a long term relationship and Reo being only focused on the way things used to be while Mabu keeps trying to find a way to connect with him as they are now (and they keep just...missing each other, come on), aishiteru and Reo's violent breakdown in his grief. And then being reunited at the end and able to heal, finally. <3 I have also read Reo and Mabu: Together they're Sarazanmai and thought it was adorable and charming.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon stuff! These two really went through a lot over the course of the series and all the revelations in episode 10 in particular hit like a tidal wave. And then they both died and came back and as great an experience as the ending was, there wasn't really enough time left for dealing with any fallout or resolution for these two. So, I'd love to know what happens next. How do they deal with everything they went through after Mabu died the first time? How does the truth coming out after Mabu's zombification change their perspectives on the experience? How does their relationship grow and change and heal now that they have this new perspective on each other? They're both very different characters in the anime than they are in Reo and Mabu or on the character blog and we can see a lot of the factors that led to these changes--but what are they like in the aftermath? How many of those changes are permanent and how many new changes emerge?
✎I'd love something filling in the gaps between the end of Reo and Mabu and the beginning of the anime series. We get little flashes such as Mabu's death, the Otter's conscripting the two of them, and some of the breakdown of their relationship, but there's so much to explore still. Raising Sara, working for Keppi in the Kappa Kingdom, the war with the Otters, working for the Otters after Mabu is revived...fluffy, exciting, tragic, I want it all!
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. What about playing up the horror tropes of Mabu "coming back wrong" or otherwise the memory of what they used to have haunting Reo? What if the Otters were aliens, abducting people for dubious purpose and leading toward a full invasion? What about a detective story where Reo and Mabu actually deal with crime instead of using their position as a thin veneer of plausibility to approach desire extraction targets? What about a fairy tale where Mabu's heart has been stolen and the brave Reo has to go on a quest to reclaim it?
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Reo having to duel for Mabu RGU-style? Reo being sent on missions by a spirit to extend Mabu's life a la Penguindrum? Reo and Mabu being childhood friends reunited after many years of separation, only one of them's not human and the human world isn't friendly to them, in an homage to Yuri Kuma? Reo and Mabu had a past life in the moon kingdom that has fated them to be reunited now in the vein of Sailor Moon?
Revolutionary Girl Utena
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 these particular pairings (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!Kiryuu Touga/Saionji Kyouichi
It seems like fandom generally felt one of two ways about the first chapter of the anniversary manga when it dropped--either "ugh, why is this focusing on Touga and Saionji" or "wow, I'm here for that double gay Utena/Anthy + Touga/Saionji ending". I am very much in that second camp. I've always genuinely enjoyed their dynamic and love seeing them interact with each other way more than I like seeing them interact with any other character. Their dynamic develops so much over the course of the series and (as is typical of Utena) they're one of those pairings that are a complete mess and that messiness appeals to me (I am very much not adverse to seeing them get their acts together at least a little, though). The shared history between them is a huge point of appeal to me too. And then for Touga's final duel, where the two of them have worked out that the strength of the bond between the Rose Bride and the duelist is important and Saionji ends up filling that role for Touga, ugh.
For canon-compliant stuff, I would be especially interested for fanwork set in the post-Ohtori future for these two and seeing how things shake out for them, but I wouldn't be adverse to further standing on motorcycles with their shirts mysteriously coming unbuttoned (seriously, who is the tailor for these uniforms) and flapping like capes behind them.
Potential Prompts:
✎I'd love some exploration of what life after Ohtori looks like for them. Feel free to keep the worldbuilding as weird and esoteric as you want, even after they move into the adult world. Also feel free to draw from some of the unsettling hints of worldbuilding we get from the array of Utena media--like what was up in that flashback/dream in the After the Revolution manga? What happened pre-series that apparently led to so much death and what does it mean for the world outside now? Did those adult versions of Touga and Saionji even really escape Ohtori considering Akio still has power?
✎Given how self-sabotaging Saionji can be and how frustratingly cryptic Touga can be, I think time loops with a specific task (probably romance related) they have to complete to get out are a super fun scenario for them. Stuck repeating the same day until they admit their feelings? Yeah, this could take a while.
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. AU where RGU is actually a Western and all the duels happen in the centre of town at dawn? Horror AU playing up Touga's phantasmagorical nature in Adolescence? High fantasy where the duels revolve around the succession of the throne? Magical realism? Cryptid hunters? Post-apocalyptic dystopia?
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Touga and Saionji being driven by their personal desires to work for the End of the World to extract the desires of other people. Touga being the secret bear hiding among the humans. Touga and Saionji as subjects of the Dark Kingdom? Touga and/or Saionji being manipulated into making a deal with an affable dead-all-along evil mastermind?
Arisugawa Juri/Himemiya Anthy
This is such a fascinating rare pair and I would love to see anything for it! Despite both Anthy and Juri being major characters in all continuities, they barely get any canon interaction. And even when they do, their interactions have very little to do with any particular feelings about each other and more to do with their feelings about themselves. Any scenario in which they are somehow made to spend an extended period of time together and maybe do some re-evaluations of their initial assessments is choice.
Juri is a fascinating, wonderful character and I love that she's such a mess. She has so much pride, but so much insecurity. She's as quick to make assumptions as Utena, but she handles those assumptions very differently. She cares very much about how she presents herself and hoards her feelings in secret. We already know that Anthy's capable of getting under her skin in a very short amount of time, but Juri cares so much about being in control and Anthy always has more control than she's willing to let on. I can also see some interesting tension developing around "miracles".
I adore Anthy Himemiya to her bones. I think that her complexity is part of the reason that she probably deals with the most significant characterization drift across continuities out of the entire cast. We so rarely get treated to what's going on inside her head in the animated continuities and are left to draw conclusions from her relationships and actions, which even then can be wildly open to interpretation. From the brief glimpses we get inside her head (e.g. when Utena and Touga duel for the second time and we actually get treated to a bit of inner monologue), we know that even Anthy sometimes has trouble understanding herself and figuring out where other people's perceptions and expectations end and where "Anthy" begins. This is, of course, entirely the point--that you can't just look at Anthy and assume you understand her by reducing her to simple ideas is a major plot point. She suffers, but she's possessive of that suffering. She's bitter, but she's resistant to change. As bad as her situation is and as much of her life is not really her choice, there are things in which she takes pleasure and pride. There's a level of condescension in her relationships with others and even her affection is often tempered with resentment that takes a while for even Utena to get through. But that affection is genuine and the connections she manages to make matter deeply to her. Anthy's agency is one of the most important aspects of her character to me--how she maintains it, how she chooses to wield it. The moment at the end of the anime when Anthy finally chooses to just...walk away is one of the best feelings that any piece of media has ever given me.
Potential Prompts:
✎AU where Juri wins Anthy in a duel. Maybe it happens before Utena's arrival or maybe Utena isn't conveniently saved by a miracle during one of their in-series duels. I want all of that forced proximity leading to unexpected (and maybe even unwanted) new understandings.
✎Ikuhara's works always have this layer of genre-awareness and meta context, so I'm absolutely always up for big genre shift AUs, especially if they really play with tropes and lean on the fourth wall a bit. AU where RGU is actually a Western and all the duels happen in the centre of town at dawn? High fantasy where the duels revolve around the succession of the throne? Magical realism? Film noir detectives? You know what Utena never has enough of--Mad Max-style post-apocalypse AUs.
✎I also love fusions between Ikuhara works so if you want to somehow go for that, I'm super down. Juri and Anthy as designated partners roped into working for the Otter Kingdom? Yuri Kuma fusion where Juri is a bear hunter, Anthy is a bear? Penguindrum-inspired AU where Anthy and Juri are both trying to extend the lives of their loved ones? Sailor Moon AU of some description?
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Note: I'm fine with references to Sephiran/Altina, but I'd prefer it not be the focus of the fic. I'm fine with the inclusion of Soren and/or Ranulf potentially having feelings for Ike, but I wouldn't want the fic to center around pining over him, Ike to be the focal point of a V-shaped OT3, or for the relationship between those two to be 100% about their relationships with him.
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.
Ranulf/Soren
I think it's the fact that there's so little individual interaction between them in canon (for...obvious reasons) and both of their characters are so heavily attached to Ike that makes me want to split them off and see what dynamic could develop between them if they were forced to give each other a chance. Or, well, Soren would have to be forced and Ranulf could just be along for the ride. I love both of them as characters generally, but I also specifically enjoy how competent they are at what they do and think it's a joy to watch them in action.
Potential Prompts:
✎Stuck behind enemy lines, forced to work together to get out of a dangerous situation, rescue missions, general collaboration during either war with Daein, etc., etc. Please give all of the high stakes and being forced to work together leading to unexpected understanding.
✎Post-canon in a scenario where Ike goes on his journey alone. Ranulf's path forward is clear, but Soren's is not so much. Whatever context you want to use to have them encounter each other again is fine. Maybe Ranulf deliberately seeks Soren out for professional (I can easily see Skrimir expressing an interest in acquiring Soren's tactical prowess once he assumes the throne, even if Soren would be disinclined to accept the offer) or personal reasons (they may not be on explicitly friendly terms and Soren may still not have much love for laguz generally, but by the end of the second game they've known each other a long time and been through a lot).
✎Hurt/comfort is always a good pick, but especially for the fact that I don't think that either one would the other's first choice of comforter. Ranulf is probably better at it and I'm 100% here for Soren receiving all the unexpected tenderness and affection he can take after living so much of his life without it. However, there's something to be said for Soren unexpectedly filling the comforter role in his own Soren way--more than likely focusing on practical solutions and pushing for a solution that fits his own competencies, but I can see Ranulf being touched that he cares regardless.
Soren/Zelgius
So, the thought of this ship is interesting to me because they work so well as foils for each other and have a lot of similarities. Both Branded. Both shunned not only by society, but by their own families and having miserable childhoods as a result. Both latched onto and formed bonds of undying loyalty with the one person who reached out to them with understanding and compassion (and this is where the pining aspect potentially comes into play). Both are impressive strategists in their own ways and accomplish great and terrible things over the course of the war. But they're obviously radically different characters and these differences are really interesting too. Soren's on the designated good guys side because he's unwaveringly loyal to Ike (and the Greil Mercenaries by extension), but he's a huge asshole to everyone and socially ungraceful generally (not that he can't be socially graceful--the strategic flirtation with Aimee shows that he can--he just chooses not to be, even when dealing with someone who could kick his ass), he values pragmatism over honour or morality, he's deeply (if understandably) cynical, and he's physically pretty fragile despite being magically skilled. Zelgius is an absolute unit of a man even without his magic armour, he actually has a strong sense of honour despite having more than a few shady secrets and being one of the most legitimately threatening antagonists in both games, he's actually pretty polite and pleasant when he's not trying to goad someone into fighting him and nobody is stupid enough to insult Sephiran to his face (see most of Zelgius's conversations pre-reveal and the Black Knight's interactions with Micaiah), and he is singularly focused on the goal of finally fighting a worthy opponent and will even risk compromising Sephiran's goals if he thinks he can make it happen.
Potential Prompts:
✎Canon divergence where Zelgius survives RD (lots of other dead guys manage to in the New Game+, I'm sure there's some way he could pull it off a second time). Sephiran returns to Serenes Forest or dies, your choice. Ike goes off on his journey solo. Zelgius has fulfilled his personal mission of finding a worthy opponent and Sephiran no longer needs him either way. As per his solo ending, Soren never uses his tactical talents for anyone but Ike. Maybe they're both still pining over them, but both of these characters are left without the men and the purposes they've dedicated their lives to--and Branded live for a very long time. Somewhere in that aftermath, they encounter one another.
✎AU where Ashnard doesn't literally throw the baby out with the bathwater and keeps Soren around for the possibility that he may one day have a use for him (or just to use him as continued leverage over the dragon royals). A young Zelgius, who is serving the Daein army and still terrified of having his laguz heritage discovered, is obviously smart enough to realize that the whole "Spirit Charmer" cover is nonsense (if Ashnard even bothers with that--honestly, who's going to give him a hard time over having a Branded son and live to tell about it?) and that the prince is a Branded. Staying in the Daein army long term would still be dangerous (unless his strength draws Ashnard's tenuous favour to a degree that it doesn't matter, maybe), but maybe there's something more than idolizing Gawain keeping him interested. Maybe he sticks around, maybe (lonely and desperate for purpose) he's convinced by Almedha to take Soren and get out, maybe they re-encounter each other years later. Note: I'd prefer the characters be closer to their canon ages before anything romantically oriented develops from the relationship (though puppy crushes are certainly fine).
✎Soren and a Zelgius who has yet to tip his hand somehow wind up stuck behind enemy lines together while they're tentative allies in PoR.
✎Soren and a Zelgius who has yet to tip his hand somehow wind up having to work together to get out of a dangerous situation while they're enemies in RD.
✎Soren somehow winds up in a situation where he's forced to work with the Black Knight to get out of a dangerous situation during the timeline of either game, with all of the weight that carries considering what he knows the Black Knight to be responsible for.
✎Almedha somehow manages to correctly identify and track down her son in RD. She's just as determined to get him to assume the Daein throne and accept his birthright as she was with Pelleas (though Soren would be way less receptive). The Black Knight still shows up to help occasionally, but now he's got two squishy mages he might occasionally need to follow around in the dark--and one of them is not especially happy about it.
✎For whatever reason you can devise, Soren follows through on his pragmatic impulse to throw his lot in with Daein rather than help Elincia. Maybe he somehow convinces the Greil Mercs since that was his main hurdle in canon (tough sell but if the circumstances felt a little less like throwing Elincia to the wolves or some of the stronger objecting voices were absent for some reason, maybe it could happen). Maybe it's a ruse of some sort in order to get intel. Maybe Soren's on his own for some reason at this point and decides to hang out there until he can reunite with Ike again.
✎AUs where someone different reached out their hand to either of them. Zelgius felt pretty betrayed when Greil up and left without explanation, but what about in a universe where Zelgius wound up confessing his circumstances to the man he respected above all others or he slipped up enough that Greil realized the truth on his own? Zelgius was already nearing the point he would have had to leave Daein anyway, if Greil had said "hey, we're going to Gallia, nobody can know", Zelgius might have been down. Or what if Soren's wandering and being passed around had taken him to a different part of the world and Ike hadn't been the first person to show him basic decency and not mistreat him because of his brand? Note: I'd prefer the characters be closer to their canon ages before anything romantically oriented develops from the relationship (though puppy crushes are certainly fine).
Sephiran/Zelgius
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.
Potential Prompts:
✎Filling in the gaps between their first meeting and where they are in canon. I'll take anything you want to go for here. Subtle machinations and scheming behind the scenes to pull off Sephiran's long-term goals? Zelgius working his way up in the Begnion military? Little moments that build Zelgius's loyalty to Sephiran over time?
✎Canon divergence where Zelgius lives. Man, everyone gets a redemption arc in New Game+ except Zelgius! I'm being tongue in cheek, but still. And I get it, his death serves an important role in Ike's story and I liked how it was executed. But the joy of fanfic is this doesn't need to necessarily be Ike's story and I also want to see Sephiran and Zelgius both work out how to move on once the events of Radiant Dawn are over. (I don't even necessarily need a redemption arc, for the record, but it would be nice for him to stick around long enough to see the outcome and at least have the potential of having to face his actions with both his and Sephiran's long term goals now resolved)
✎Sephiran's main motivation is wanting to just wipe everything out, including himself. He already has this goal in mind long before he meets and a forms any kind of bond with Zelgius. The only two people he ever had any intention of sparing were Micaiah and Sanaki as his descendants. Was there ever a point where he...felt anything about convincing Zelgius to serve his cause when, one way or another, it was always going to end with Zelgius dead? As horrible as Sephiran's plans were, they came from a place of despair rather than malice and his intentions in reaching out to Zelgius were fueled by empathy and compassion for his circumstances. Did he ever doubt or regret that, as far as he could conceive, there was no other way? Did he think that he was doing the best he could by Zelgius by guiding him to his end this way?
The Adventure Zone
Merle Highchurch/John
The "are you my friend?" conversation still gives me chills--it's one of my absolute favourite moments in The Adventure Zone. That conversation is at the heart of so many of my feelings about this pairing and why I love it so much. However you want to have Merle romance the personification of existential depression, I'm down. This is very much a pairing that I want fix-it fic for, but I'm also open to more tragic or melancholy explorations of their dynamic.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon fix-it where John is revived somehow. He has to deal with his renewed existence, Merle has to deal with what it means that he's in his life again.
✎The entire time during the bond summoning sequence in the final battle, I was kind of expecting Merle to try summoning John. I would be really interested in a canon divergence fic where he does, however that works out and whether it helps or hurts the situation.
✎We already have kind of a pseudo-time loop going on with Merle being reset by the bond engine every time he dies...but what if full on time loop? Every time John kills him, the scenario gets reset and John's usual impulse to escape the conversation actively works against him by keeping him trapped there.
✎The IPRE land on a world where soulmates are a thing--completely author's choice of what soulmate mechanic this world uses and how the crew's soulmates are revealed to them. Merle's soulmate is, natch, John. This complicates their next Parley somewhat. And John, who is above all things dissatisfied and is out to consume the bonds of every world in the hope that it will make things better, is suddenly aware of this immutable bond he somehow has with Merle.
Barclay/Agent Stern
The instant Griffin revealed that they were a thing, I suddenly knew I'd wanted this ship all along? FBI agent searching for Bigfoot unintentionally falls in love with man who turns out to be Bigfoot is so unbelievably my jam. I am so utterly charmed by them that it's hard to go wrong with anything you want to do here, but I do love identity porn in all its forms and boy do they have the potential for that!
Potential Prompts:
✎So, we never got to see much of the actual development of this relationship because the Pine Guard Trio just didn't hang out with Stern all that much, but I'd love fic that fills in the blanks of how they fell for each other and how Barclay kept his secret(s) while he and Stern were living under the same roof.
✎Post-canon stuff! All the cards are on the table, the world is saved, Stern broke a lot of protocols to help Barclay and the trio. All the changes after the finale mean a significant shift in the status quo for both of them. We last see them chillin' in a
✎All the canon divergence! What if Stern had figured things out at some point before the finale (let's face it--they weren't the most subtle and there were a lot of close calls)? What if Barclay had chosen to intervene when Aubrey almost convinced Stern to help them at the archway? What if he'd revealed himself then or just before? What if Stern, investigating suspicious activity as one does, had gotten too close to one of the hunts? What if Stern, as a normal squishy human when you get down to it, had attracted the attention of one of the abominations that had targeted members of the lodge directly? What if Zeke Owens (who Stern was evidently on good terms with) had told Stern about Ned's attempted confession and something had clicked?
Akuma no Riddle
Haru/Tokaku
Note: If you choose to explore the implications of the Queen Bee ability, I'm fine with acknowledging that anything between this pairing would be dubiously consensual as a result of its use. My preference in that case would be that everybody be really into what's happening, even if there's the nagging uncertainty of if Tokaku really wants it or if she's being influenced by Haru's power.
I'm generally fine with the assassins, well, assassinating people, but I recognize that the series pretty miraculously ensures survival for everyone. If you're going the post-canon route, my character death DNW holds--I'm happy to leave them all with their happy endings. If you choose to go for an AU, I would be open to having even canonical characters die (because, again, assassins), but I would still want Tokaku and Haru to end the story alive.
This ship is so exactly my aesthetic that I still cannot believe it. I'm a huge sucker for "I will protect her" transitioning to "oops, I love her", but oh man, that Queen Bee ability twist near the end really took things up a notch. Tokaku's tortured realization, just as she admits that she's in love with Haru, that all of the decisions that she'd made over the course of the series may not have been her decisions at all--when so much of her character growth had centered around making her own choice (to protect Haru) for the first time in her life. Haru's core of steel becoming even more apparent and her acknowledgement that she loves Tokaku even as Tokaku becomes a very present danger. That deliciously tense confrontation and Tokaku's willingness to endanger Haru's life in order to establish her own autonomy and then the instant regret and despair she feels over her actions. Haru, bleeding on the floor, the girl who promised she'd never cry finally reduced to tears, focused only on saving Tokaku's life (and that that would be what she'd never be able to forgive her for). Haru actually using her Queen Bee ability out of desperation to keep Tokaku by her side. And then the fallout and the brief glimpse we get into their (super hot) older selves, still together. Wow.
Potential Prompts:
✎Post-canon. Again, their older selves are super hot (and the scene I linked above was super cute). I'd love to learn more about what they're up to now and how their relationship has developed. Did Haru end up taking on a leadership role in her clan? If so, what does that look like? If not, what did she end up doing instead?
✎Further exploration of the Queen Bee ability. It was a great twist, but it got dropped in so close to the end and I would love to see more done with it. You could keep it canonical and play with the potential darker implications/fallout of Tokaku choosing to stay with Haru (and claim Haru as her "reward") after that desperate confrontation--it seems that Tokaku's will was ultimately her own throughout the majority of the series, but the horrible ironic twist is that the actions she took to prove that Haru had never Queen Bee'd her, resulted in Haru being forced to Queen Bee her for real. Or what about a canon divergence AU where Tokaku learned about the Queen Bee earlier in the series when other assassins (beyond Nio) were still a threat? Or canon divergence where Tokaku's plan after finding out about Queen Bee wasn't "I have to shoot my girlfriend"? Or what if Tokaku hadn't been able to bring herself to shoot Haru at that critical moment, whether because she had been Queen Bee'd or because she was just not capable? Or what if she decided against it earlier and just had to continue not knowing?
✎I love the Hanabusa fight for a bunch of reasons, but one of the biggest is that it allows Haru to take on a more active role once Tokaku is taken out of the action and really shows off how resourceful she is. Tokaku's wonderful and she's a very talented bodyguard, but Haru survived for a long time without her help and (while it's been somewhat inevitable in the past) she's not especially fond of using people as meat shields. I'd love to see more opportunities for Haru to get them out of bad situations and maybe even protect Tokaku for a change.
✎I'm generally interested in AUs that keep the assassins but remove the school context.
Pretty Deadly (Comics)
Big Alice/Deathface Ginny
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?
