#aka I decided to write that Fallout AU!

[saradika]

me: ahh TLOU was so good!! I can’t wait to write something for it

my mind: *fixates on writing about a totally different apocalypse*

[gold-rhine]

Inazuma Rewrite part one

This is bullet points rewrite for Inazuma general plot structure, bc I think it had so much potential, but was horrifically scuffed in game. If I keep something from canon unchanged, I’ll just say so without retelling the entire thing to keep the length down, bc it’s gonna be A LOT already.

Some disclaimers: I’m not trying to fix every single problem, just what I see as major structural failures. I will reference my problems, but you can read my explanations on them more in depth in my “inazuma ranting” tag.

This is also not envisioned as free for all fanfic where I can write whatever I want, but aimed to be actually feasible to see in game, bc it’d be unfair and I want to show that Inazuma could be improved in the same constraints that hoyo writers had. So please don’t ask why I didn’t do wildly inconsistent thing that would be cool, but genshin would never actually do.

I’m aiming to retain all relevant lore and achieve basically same worldstate in the end, including character arcs, for the most part, because I presume them to be integral to the larger strategic plotline of the game. Which means I can’t drastically change characterization and major plot beats like the decrees, rebellion, Raiden has to be a sympathetic ally in the end, etc. I’m also trying to keep genshin’s general tone and modus operandi, bc like, target audience includes 13 yolds and I can’t just “make Inazuma good” by turning it into like, a gruesome and complex power struggle of political factions like Fallout New Vegas.

List of main issues I want to address: pacing in general, rebellion pacing especially, lack of impact and continuity of effects of vision loss on people, lack of setup for the stasis vs transience aka ei vs makoto conflict, character arcs: raiden, ayaka, kazuha, kokomi, yoimiya, kujou sara. And more! 

Initially I wanted to make a single post, but it’s already 3k and I’m only up to Raiden’s first duel and I plan to cover post-archon quest content too, like Raiden and Yoi story quests, so I decided to split it up instead of posting like 20k monstrosity. So remember, this is for now mostly a setup.

EDIT: Part 2

Raiden’s motivations\Reasons for vision hunt

Ok, so one of the biggest principal changes is that vision hunt and sakoku decree are active Raiden’s decisions, instead of Fatui’s plot that she’s just passively allowing to happen. Raiden closed the country, but she’s ok with Fatui starting a civil war and selling delusions, bc it doesn’t “affect eternity”, like??? I honestly think that the current plot of her people dying in a civil war meant nothing to her is much worse than her starting vision hunt decree out of misguided plan to ultimately do better for people.

I mean ok, we have to have closed borders to reference Japan’s history, sure, but like, the whole point of isolationist policies like this is to prevent the outsiders’ influence on the country. So she should not be ok with Fatui schemes at any point.  

I mean, if it was fallout new vegas AU, I’d keep it to show that dictator doesn’t not care about foreign powers exploiting it’s people as long as it profits the empire and helps to keep people subjugated, but like. Then raiden can’t be uwu waifu. So we gonna give her good intentions and integrity, but misunderstanding of humanity due to closing herself off instead.

Now to why would she close the country and institute sakoku decree. I want to tie this in with another plotline that is just. Kinda floating at sidelines at the moment, but I think could work nicely in tandem. The Scaramouche destroying Raiden Gokaden, the five schools of weapon smithing, which were canonically highly valued by Raiden.

I’m not gonna recount Scara’s entire plotline, but basically he went on a misguided crusade against Raiden Gokaden and managed to cause fall of 4 out of 5 weapon-smith schools.

Game says that he like, tampered with the schools and covertly led to their ruin, which like?? They never found anyone guilty, like the most prized weapon art smiths of your country fall apart and you’re like oh well, I guess Yashiro commission is just bad at it’s job?

There is a plot point in this story where Isshin weapon smiths, unable to replicate a faulty design that was Raiden’s commission tampered by Scara, were scared of Raiden’s wrath and decided to flee to Snezhnaya. I want to change it to be that there is an event, where ALL weapon schools receive same commission at the same time, and Scara tampers with it.

Just as in canon, scared smiths, but now from 4 schools, not one, are manipulated by Fatui to flee to Snezhnaya, But we add a new NPC, the most talented blade smith who had a vision. Fatui frame him as the ring leader, as if they were running not to save their lives because of the tampered design, impossible to fulfil, but that this was a betrayal because of his ambitions.

After this, Raiden has legitimate cause to feel like her eternity is threatened. She sees weapon art schools, one of the most prized country’s traditions being ruined in a moment because of what she thinks is ambitious hubris of one vision holder, who colluded with outsiders. So she closes Inazuma and declares a vision hunt, to prevent this from ever happening again.

But ironically, in truth it was the fault of not just Fatui, but specifically a puppet without a vision that she herself created and failed to supervise. This brings the main idea of the plotline from “Fatui evil, Raiden passive” to “Solipsist goddess who doesn’t understand humanity tries to protect her people by locking them in stasis and taking their ambitions, but the real case of tragedy was her negligence and lack of empathy all along, and this is what needs to be changed.”

Interlude and plot setup

We start with similar plotline. Traveler tries to go to Inazuma, learns that it’s closed, talks to Inazuman NPC to learn more. Here we’re introduced to the general idea that Inazuma was closed off due to one traitor blade smith with a vision who sold off Raiden Gokaden to Fatui.

We go to Beidou’s tournament, which goes basically the same, we meet Kazuha and watch a beautiful cutscene about his dead friend who challenged Raiden to a duel, and now Kazuha tries to find someone who can reignite his vision. I will actually add changes to Kazuha’s storyline, but it be will later.

then we arrive to Inazuma, go through the same bureaucracy loops with Thoma on Ritou, to show the barriers to outsiders and also to illustrate how Thoma is the best fixer when he manages to drop a fee from 1 mil to like 10 gold by promising to have a dinner with government official.

But we’re cutting the second part of Ritou, with the boring plot about like merchant from Mond scamming people with the local police and then Traveler delivering love letter or whatever. I mean, we can keep this as an optional side quest, if like hoyo thinks the lore about love letter is essential for the Ayato’s quest or smth, but not as an Archon quest.

Instead, we put a part of Yoimiya’s quest there. I think Yoi’s quest is relevant enough to stay in the Archon quest, unlike Ayaka’s, but it’s slapped into a place where it ruins pacing. So instead, we’re cutting it up in parts and inserting it into main storyline.

On Ritou, while doing bureaucracy bullshit, we meet Yoimiya, and play the part of her quest about her helping a guy with a vision to escape from his former best friend, who is now a guard hunting him. It helps to show the rift that vision hunt brings not only with the outsiders, but with inside of the country as well.

Ghost of Makoto\Transience setup

another key point that I think is integral to fixing Inazuma is planting seeds for Makoto’s reveal from the start. I really like the Stasis vs Transience conflict from raiden’s second story quest, where raiden believed in eternity as lack of change, a perfect state maintained until the rest of time, while her twin Makoto believed in eternity as never-ending change, where people’s dreams constantly evolve, nature of them chasing these dreams never changes.

but it feels like it came out of nowhere and raiden just speedruns character development in like an hour, so a lot of people ended up feeling like it was just about Raiden mourning her sister, instead of raiden coming to understand makoto’s belief system and through that unlocking makoto’s final connection and then being able to let go.

so we need to first of all, introduce makoto’s ideas of transience from the start, and also empathize the conflict of them with raiden’s stasis.

and it doesn’t mean we’ll spoil the reveal about the second raiden shogun! we don’t have to ever use makoto’s name, just her title as a raiden and sprinkle her ideas throughout the land. We know hoyo area designers can do that stuff really well (guizhong’s relics being scattered all over liyue, rukkhadevata’s shadow in the aranara quest).

like, it’s strange that Makoto primarily ruled and shaped country by herself while Ei was just a warrior, yet we do not have Makoto’s influence visible. We need to add ideas of transience into fundamentals of Inazuma,

“Transience is the dream of the nation of thunder. We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish, and enjoy the unexpected silence of the dim lamp-lit nights.” - Guide to Transience talent book.

add these ideas all over the place, esp near sakura. And let’s draw player’s attention a couple of times specifically to the internal contradiction of these ideas of transience being integral to inazuma and raiden’s current hatred of change.

like, we need even 13 yolds and twitch streamers to remember this, so lets make paimon say like

“Huh, this shrine to raiden shogun says that eternity is the pursuit of fleeting dreams, but doesn’t raiden shogun fucking hates dreams?? I wonder, what made her change her mind about them to the total opposite!“

this and more subtle puzzles\locations with focus on transience for people who pay more attention will add the much needed setup for makoto’s reveal

Kamisato siblings

ok, first things first, Ayato being absent without any explanation while his little sister is plotting treason and his malewife Thoma is about to be executed on the streets is unacceptable.

like I know it’s marketing or whatever and he’s not being released but we need his model, hoyo. If we 200% CAN’T have his model, we need to come up with solid excuse why he’s not here. Like idk, he’s helping the war refugees or smth

And we need hints at his presence\influence throughout the story. Like oh, here’s group of refugees who were helped by Yashiro commissioner, they are relocating to new homes, I guess Ayato is really busy. Oh, here is Fatui’s camp where everyone is slaughtered and boba tea cups are littered around, I wonder what is up with that.

and also, Ayaka is organizing resistance behind his back, and we never meet him bc Ayaka actively tries to hide traveler from him.

bc like, Ayaka doesn’t have a development arc in archon quest. She’s just kind of there, being perfect. Like in her story quest that hoyo makes you do at gun point, you like, go on a date, learn that she’s lonely and has trouble connecting with people due to the pressure of having to project an image of perfection and societal distance, do an investigation to uncover her late mother’s fox fursona roleplay diary which she used to cope her with own societal pressure. Which like. Ok, sure, but but this wet socks quest is not an archon quest material. It should be just a normal story quest.

no, Ayaka’s real conflict is wanting to prove herself to her brother, bring real difference to the world. This is her ambition, she literally gained her vision while fighting Ayato in a training, she wanted to show him that she’s strong enough to handle responsibility, he named her Shirasagi Himegimi after she won that fight

but during a civil war, watching people suffer, her role as a cultural figurehead is not enough. She wants to help, but she’s afraid to act, because this will undermine Yashiro Commission and her brother worked so hard to build it back up after Raiden Gokaden fall. so she organizes resistance behind her brother’s back in secret, to help, but without compromising Kamisato name

this basically tracks with what happens in game, but we spell it out and expand on this later.

Getting Traveler to help

next, let’s throw out the weird edging introduction where traveler is not allowed to see Ayaka the first time. like??? bro, we’re friends with 2 archons and heads of their governments, you’re not that important. and it can’t be to protect her identity, bc like. You go to Kamisato estate! You’re told who she is! If you wanted to betray her, that would be enough already.

another awkward thing is that Traveler, who agrees to do every stupid quest they meet, suddenly refuses to help the resistance.

I think we should reframe their convo a little, like Traveler says hey I’d love to help, but my primary goal is to get info about my sibling from an Archon, so I don’t want to go against her.

To which Ayaka says oh, I totally get you, you see, I am myself a culture figurehead and a nominal princess and I can’t speak up against the decree, bc that will hurt Yashiro Commission. But I’m not asking you to fight Raiden Shogun in a duel or smth, I’m just asking you to help people with the resistance, which we do totally in secret. No one will know! Also, how are you going to see Raiden? She’s locked up and doesn’t appear in public. But my big brother is a head of the Commission, if anyone can get you an audience, it’s him. So help me help people and I will ask him to help you see Shogun!

she secretly believes that after traveler sees ppl suffering, they will change their mind and help willingly, same as in canon, but she’s more subtle about it

Rebellion connection

my other problem with vision hunt is that the 3 quests they force you to do about meeting people who lost their visions are like. not good. The concept is interesting, but they are just kinda boring and meandering. They lack dramatic impact. They could do better. So we’re not doing these 3 quests rn, but don’t worry about it, we will get to the effects of vision loss

Instead, ayaka sends us to help Yoimiya and we do the same quest we do in archon quest - help her to free someone from prison dungeon. It goes the same, we get to the dude being mistreated by cops, Kujou Sara steps up and lets us go

But then it’s like, we need to get this dude out of Inazuma city. Cops know he escaped! They will just come for him again! There is only one place that will take him and it’s the watatsumi rebels.

Common complaint about Inazuma is that other countries feel like found families and Inazuma doesn’t, bc characters from resistance and rebellion basically don’t interact, and it’s true. And like, we can get them together! Thoma knows Kazuha, Kazuha knows Gorou, Gorou in canon went to recoinsanse missions to Narukami island.

So, Gorou visits the tea house to pick up the Vision Dude, and the gang has the hotpot meet up. Everyone is there (except Kokomi bc ok hoyo, we’re saving up for dramatic battle reveal, and i think her reveal would fuck up banner schedule). Ayaka, Thoma, Yoimiya, Kazuha, Gorou. and Teppei! Who is here bc he was recruited by Gorou. He’s actually from Narukami island, not Watatsumi, and he had nothing to do with visions, but he’s an idealist, he believes in freedom, so he joined rebellion. fun times are had, Ayaka tries to play srs bsns lady host, but breaks into giggling at The Shenanigans, Gorou is overly polite but adorable and apologizes to Ayaka about The Shenanigans in which everyone but him participates, Yoi is a life of party and the Shenanigans and later has to be bodily stopped by Kazuha from organizing fireworks right here, right now, Thoma and Teppei both get sick from eating Ayaka’s nasty cakes that she threw into soup, bc Thoma is just into oral stuff and Teppei is so earnest and eager to prove himself and impress ppl, haha comic relief, look how sweet and funny this guy is and all characters get along so great with him

bc like, I think Teppei has a problem of a) not having enough screen time b)not having any interesting characterization moments to make him stand out 3)not having other playable and already likeable characters interact with him

so this scene can serve not only to bring that “unlikely bunch of people becoming friends and working together” connection to life, but also to endear Teppei to the players

Vision Loss Effects\ Yoimiya and Thoma

ok, next Ayaka asks Traveler to do that one quest about martial arts master losing their vision. I think it’s the one quest from 3 about vision loss with most drama, but the real reason is that it introduces Yae Miko and we need to do this before leaving for the rebellion. Like, in theory, it could be switched to another, better quest that lets us meet Yae Miko, but honestly, this is not one of Inazuma archon quest problems so I can’t be arsed. Feel free to imagine a cooler intro instead.

when we go back to tea house, we learn that Yoimya’s vision has been taken away. She has been recognized in that last prison raid and the guards came for her later, and she didn’t fight bc there were kids and her old father around.

She’s completely changed. Her innate optimism, her belief in people and their dreams has been drained from her like a sunshine from a dark cellar. But she’s still Yoimiya!! She came here to warn you bc she still cares even if she had her own joy taken from her. She tries to smile and reassure you that it’s ok, she’s fine, but her smile is visibly strained, she’s never had to fake it before so she doesn’t know how. She wears a vision, but it’s a fake one, because her pops said that maybe having it here would help and she agreed, tried to pretend for him that it does help, bu. It very obviously doesn’t.

Ayaka is horrified. She apologizes to Yoimiya, tries to think of ways to help her, but Yoi just laughs humorlessly. “It won’t ever touch you, princess.”

She’s immediately disgusted at herself and apologizes, tries to take it back, this isn’t her, she would never say this, and not to her friend! But also, it’s so hard to care now and she can’t remember why it’s so important to care at all.

Ayaka is shaken. Bc it’s true! She is a privileged noble, vision hunt will not come for her! She is playing at the resistance from the safety of anonymity, while people like Yoimiya actually risk themselves and pay the price!

And this is when the news that Thoma was arrested and about to be 100th vision taken at the feet of the statue comes. Tenryou commission truly strikes back.

Ayaka is in uproar. She’s ready to go herself and fight for Thoma, especially after Yoi’s words. She’s sick and tired of being a perfect princess, she can’t allow any more of her friends, her family come to harm because they don’t have her protection. Clearly Thoma being a theatrical execution is a blow specifically against Yashiro commission and Kamisato family in particular, and if Shogun has beef with her, well, she can settle it with HER instead of going after her friends!

Traveler stops her. This is what they want. If Ayaka openly moves against the Shogun, the entire Yashiro commission falls. Even if Ayaka is in the right! No, it’s the Traveler who will go to save Thoma

But traveler needs raiden’s good will for the info, they can’t confront raiden openly, it was the deal from the start!

But at this point traveler has seen too much, the divide in the country, the change and suffering of their own friends, and they can’t allow all of Yashiro commission take the fall.

This is when the Traveler decides to take a stand.

ACT 2

[phoenixtakaramono]

OPERATION BABYLON - PART VI

aka the butchlander sugar baby AU.

We have the first reader interactive poll for this threadfic! I recommend reading the update to the end (with a detailed breakdown of each choice) before making your decision.

Tumblr Navigation (note I have not shared the prologue here with its premise setup; I’ve only started sharing this twitter threadfic on tumblr starting from the 2nd 🔞 scene): I | II | III | IV | V | VI

Update Schedule: weekly/ biweekly

(You can read the rest of the threadfic update here!)

Keep in mind, all of my AU Butchlander threadfics on Twitter are the unpolished first draft versions of what’ll eventually be polished up into long fics on AO3 under the Shock and Awe series. So you may regard this threadfic as an experimental first prototype and exclusive preview whose contents may or may not be changed in the future final draft version. We’re just loosely playing around with ideas and concepts for now!

If you don’t have a Twitter account, screenshots are provided below the line break so you can read this update on Tumblr as well:

A more-in-depth breakdown of the choices:

A) Tell the truth. To avoid suspicion, Billy lays low and comes up with an excuse that he's booked for the whole day plays hard to get. It'll lead to Homelander running into "William out on a date" with another Supe—and a jealous Homelander running interference lol and sabotaging it, potentially leading to a "private tour" at The Seven meeting room and some 🔞 inappropriate office s*x ;) the setting depends if I decide to have it as a Vought HQ gala event or a Capes for Christ baptism

The payoff: a lead into the investigation The con: Billy's relationship with one of his long-time regulars is irreversibly damaged (it'll come bite him in the arse much later in the threadfic)

B) Homelander wants to be his sugar daddy. So Billy wants to test that and see if he can get our caped crusader to unknowingly fund his little CIA operation by exaggerating his rent and monthly overhead costs to tug at the hero's supposed generous philanthropist heartstrings. It'll lead to the sugar baby/daddy relationship being developed more aka a lil à la Pretty Woman-styled "shopping spree" with Homelander raining gifts on Billy's head say bye bye to Billy's CIA-assigned base, potentially leading to a 🔞 scene for "William to show him his gratitude"

The payoff: a bigger base and money for a more in-depth investigation The con: Homelander will lowkey stalk monitor him, so it'll be harder to keep his covert activities a secret from him or sneak out

C) The cute "Waiting for you :)" type of option. Billy doubles down on the act and reforms himself into Homelander's dream lover. It's tooth-rotting romantic fluff and flirty back-and-forth banter between them, but keep in mind what'll happen when Homelander inevitably realizes the "William who's literally almost perfect in every way and is too good to be true" isn't actually real much much much later as a direct consequence of this early choice.

The payoff: a happy Homelander (speedrun gaining his trust and affection by taking our bbg on dates <3) The con: the future fallout (and reconciliation) will be much more dramatic

Choose your poison! You can also vote on Twitter (link to the poll). I will add the final results together, and we’ll see which story route comes out on top.

A/N: A bit of Billy’s POV as we begin to pull back the curtains. How deep does this rabbithole of deception go? Far. Very far. Did y'all see the twist with Popclaw? Didn't expect that, did ya?

I am, by the way, open to ⚠️🔞 reader suggestions~. I make no promises that I’ll write it, but this threadfic is meant as a shameless excuse to write 🔞 butchlander spice, haha, and provide y’all some content during our butchlander drought. I have one reader suggestion thus far, and it involves candle wax. 🕯️

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

PLEASE CLICK A BUTTON

No knowledge of either media is needed. Please. Click a button. Click what sounds cool! You not caring HELPS!

If you WANT knowledge about what you voted for, I've written out a description of each faction down below.

If you know both stories, pick what sounds most interesting to you. Your vote shapes a story!! I'd appreciate a reblog for more votes!

(The top 5 groups will be featured somehow in the fic)

Why am I doing this? Well, I am signing up for the Izzy Hands Bingo! Only issue, I want to use my bingo card to create an AU based around the world of Fallout. I have 1 issue.

I don't want to decide this one choice, as to me, planning any aspect of a fic before a writing challenge defeats a bit of the purpose of the challange. You know? So I'm letting y'all choose Izzy&Ed's background. Their background influences how I write almost everything else. The moral, the main beats of the sotry, the romances, etc. All on THIS choice.

So I am relying on the people who don't know shit about the fallout universe to act as a random dice throw. BUT PLEASE VOTE IF YOU KNOW WHO THESE FACTIONS ARE! This fic is going to be written for those who know nothing about this world, but if you want to see Ed and Izzy with a certain background, VOTE WITH BIAS!

QUICK EXPLANATION OF EACH FACTIONS FROM ME, WITHOUT GOOGLE:

New California Republic: After the world has been destroyed, this group believes on forming another democracy. Taking over small societies, and taxing them in return for protection. Full of modern white collar corruption, this faction is prone to murdering their citizens, or giving them HIGH standards they will fail. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Brotherhood of Steel: God, isn't it cool that the US has such advanced weaponry? Isn't US culture so COOL? What if the US was destroyed, and now there's a faction built around gathering technology of the Pre-bombed world, dead set on taking over the US? Willing to die for a pre world toaster. OH- AND they are a psudeo-Christan/Catholic faction built around following some pre war religious ideas. Including chastity, and following a ridged social ladder. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Raiders (Unfriendly): Why build a new society when you can just kill people and take their shit? Not a faction, but SOME build small settlements. They are the vultures of the wasteland. Murderous vultures. Very close to historical pirates, tbh.

Raiders (Friendly): Groups that usually don't trust any of these fucks as shit goes wrong WAY too often. A few friends that take over a building/farm and chill. They will raid, but often choose abandoned buildings and can rely on trade.

Caravan Merchants: Traders that walk the wasteland trading their items for money. SOMETIMES affiliated with one of these factions, but not always. They just explore, find shit, and sell shit. Actual vultures. Chill bros.

Child of Atom: AKA the radiation monks. THESE GUYS FUCK. Not to bias this vote, but out of all of these, these guys are usually my favorite in game. Imagine if after the nukes that end the world drop, you decide to worship the bomb. The live/stay in water that is toxic and live their lives surrounded by mutated monsters. Children of Atom LOVE radiation of all forms. In the games, half your quests with this cult is spent secretly deactivating their radioactice items without their knowing so these fucks can live another day. This cult is my wild card, I have no idea how I'd write this lol. (Image below just fucks too hard for me not to include it)

Minuteman: Basically Raiders(friendly) + NCR. A bunch of settlements that vow protect each other, but without the taxes of the NCR. Often small factions that promise to step in if their land/property gets attacked.

The Railroad: Robots are better than people, we are willing to die to save synths(robots) Yes, it is based on the underground railroad. They save robots, kidnap them from the institute(described down below), wipe all of their memories and personalities, and abandon them without resources somewhere far from them. You know...when you say it like that, comparing this organization to the REAL underground railroad is a bit fucked up.

The Institute: It goes like this, kidnap someone, copy their memories, and put these memories into a robot body. Many Synths don't know that they are human. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Pre War Ghouls: Congratulations, you survived the nuclear apocalypse! You're reward? Well, you have a chance of being immortal, and a change to turn into a mindless zombie. You live 200+ years and get to watch society rebuild. Only issue, you look like death. Most factions HATE you. You know how Elves are treated in fantasy? That's how ghouls are treated. This path gives Ed/Izzy a SHIT ton of angst as two people that are some of the only people left who remember a life before survival.

Synths: Robot copies of a person. If this is chosen, I am 50/50 on if they themselves know they are synths. If this wins, I will post a second poll on who knows they are/aren't a copy of a living person. Or if they even look human. as some synths, like the guy on the left, don't look human AT ALL.

[To not step in bad water, I have excluded the following 'factions':

*Slavers. In this world, being pulled into slavery is one of the many things that threatens the player chatacer. If a city is taken over by a faction, sometimes people of any race are sold into slavery. I'm not touching this. I'm not making Ed and Izzy into Slavers, or victims of Slavers.

This plot is important to the world and shows how society has fallen back into chattle slavery, I'm not touching it for this fic. In fact, most fallout fans who write fic don't include Slavers or Slavery. These stories that feature slaves predominantly happened in the games fallout 3/new vegas, and often featured women being used as sex slaves. These plots were not picked up in later titles. As this fic is predominantly a survival romance/mystery story, I don't need to add this topic as a narrative tool to build temporary tension. Some narrative tools deserve more respect than others. Especially that of *slavery* (cough cough to the anon who sent me hate about this part, no shit slavery is a thing today....like? This entire post has been summarizing these games. Why would i add a psa about how slavery is still a thing mid post? I swear. Anon on tumblr can be a burden and a curse)

*The Enclave: they believe in social Darwinism, and are generally racist to those outside their faction, and mutated people. (But why did I include the brotherhood? Because power armor. They're assholes, but Izzy and Ed are going to spend this story learning their world view is wrong. Making them Brotherhood members is easy mode plot wise, as they learn to live their lives. Compare this to the Enclave? I can't personally justify fixing an enclave member.)

*Any new Vegas specific groups. I don't want to limit my location to Las Vegas/Nevada. I'm literally going to spin a wheel for a location, and having 'the Kings' be in Missouri doesn't work for me. (If NCR is the most popular I'm fine with it as historical lyrics they spread through a LOT of the wasteland. It excludes like, 20 US States). For the institute/railroad, I'm going to rename the faction but keep the belief of the factions. ]

If you are reading this- THANK YOU FOR INDULGING MY HYPERFIXATIONS lol. I have some lovely ideas for how to combine OFMD and Fallout's humor, and can't wait to dive in!

I would love to hear what you voted for!!

[aka-tua-braindump]

Fanfiction Masterpost

Hi everyone!

I've FINALLY decided to do a big master post of all the fics I've written and the fandoms they are in. Not all of them are posted on tumblr, but I will link them directly in ao3.

Feel free to drop me any ideas or requests. No promises, but I'll let you know if I write it!

If you just want to view all my works on ao3, you can do so HERE.

FALLOUT Fanfiction:

Thou Shall Get Sidetracked by Bullshit Every Time (Even in a Vault) (WIP)

(aka TSGSTBBET(EIAV) lol)

Norm x Reader (Canon-ish AU)

Updated: June 27 2024, Chapter 6

This story follows Reader and Norm through the events of the Fallout TV show. Mostly Canon Compliant, aside from the insertion of Reader character.

The Umbrella Academy Fanfiction:

(most of these are also posted on my TUA sideblog, @tua-braindump)

As I have written quite a few, I will feature what I think are the best ones here! A full list of my TUA fics can be found HERE.

It's Always Fun at Weddings and Parties (One Shot)

AgedUp!FivexReader, Platonic! KlausxReader

Inspired by Prompt #937 (5+1 Things) from @creativepromptsforwriting on Tumblr.

5 times people thought Person A and Person B are dating and 1 time they find out it's actually Person A and Person C.

I Am Not A Child (Even If I May Look Like One) (One Shot)

Gen Fic

Inspired by an exchange with @fiveapocalypse here on tumblr!

After the events of S1, the apocalypse is averted. The Hargreeves are a family again. What else says family outing like a trip to the aquarium?

Today, I did not choose violence (One Shot)

pre-AgedUp!FivexReader (no established romantic relationship)

Part of a series that is inspired by my head-canon, but can be read as a stand alone fic.

Reader goes to the club with Klaus and his siblings to get over her painful breakup. She gets approached by a pushy stranger at the bar, who won't take no for an answer. An unlikely hero comes to her rescue.

These Bright Baubles Light Up My Heart (One Shot)

Gen Fic (implied FivexReader)

Part of the same head-canon as above, but can be read as a stand alone fic.

Reader has been living at the academy for a while and chances upon a Hargreeves Christmas tradition.

(This one didn't get much traction but is a personal fave)

Last but not least,

TUA Build-a-Bear

Okay, this isn't a fic, but it was my most unhinged series on Tumblr, thanks to two other TUA fans who had a conversation about regressed Five having a Build-a-Bear set of his siblings. So obviously, I had to photoshop images of them. Also Bonus! Bad drawing my me of Five dragging them along in a lil' cart.

Supernatural Fanfiction:

Not This Soon (One Shot)

Castiel x Dean Winchester

S15E20 Fix-It for abstractthinking's ask for the tumblr Destiel V-day Exchange 2024.

Cas gets upset that Dean is already dying and does something about it, much to Jack's chagrin.

The End, but Different (One Shot)

Castiel x Dean Winchester

When Dean dies in the final vamp hunt, he goes to heaven, where all his friends and family are waiting to have a party. But where's Cas?

Misunderstandings (One Shot)

Crowley x OC

Sam and Dean rescue someone from Crowley. Instead of being grateful, she's angry.

And if you're crazy enough you can read all my OLD TERRIBLE fanfics on FF.net HERE.

[macabrecabra]

Not OCs, but canon chars from Bionicle (because blorbos are already known and it's easier to work with for me), alternative timeline au (i don't know why I keep doing that, i always do that).

Waaaay before main events, but just before Teridax's first "mistake" tm. That is also before Helryx has to start fixing all that. Everyone is a robot, and love is not official. Teridax is the (soon to be) big bad, who wants respect and to be in control. He is also a Makuta which translates to enigmatic badass guardian race of crazy clever scientists in this fandom's world. Aka very feared even when they were still the good guys. Helryx is the first Toa (warrior-guard robot) to be built for this world and is the equalient of a very angry hobbit empowered with tallness and elemental magic/power. She knows a LOT of stuff and leads the secret organization of "fix shit, keep people alive and stop the universe from falling apart". Both T and H are Tired tm.

Teridax and Helryx in the canon do not meet until the very end of the story and at that point there is no bridging the rift between the two. They are at each other's throats. In this story however, when Helryx is supposed to deal with the fallout of an impending worldwide catastrophy everywhere else and Teridax is planning to put a bloody stop to the reason of said catastrophy at the source, they meet by chance. Before the their intended story twist. And they both meet at their lowest.

There are no big emotions, just soreness and suspicion. At the time Helryx gives the impression of a codeless brigant and Teridax sounds no more than a calculating bastard. A very depressed and disillusioned one at that and that stops Helryx for a moment. They later talk, then the massacre that happened in canon does not come to pass. Because he had a second opinion and was strongarmed to talk with the locals. The two strike an agreement, and Helryx decides to stick around when Teridax is appointed to be the official overseer of the region. And they talk more.

As time and a few other calamities pass behind them, they bicker and come to more agreements. Both have too many secrets. Helryx is abrasive, doesn't follow her intended warrior code, still she has a strong moral compass. Teridax is irritable, meticulously scheming, with the patience of mountains. But he lacked a candid connection that neither feared or revered him. And Helryx appreciates the wanton care that Teridax pours even into the simplest task or conversation. They grow around each other's presence and find comfort in the similarities of their hardships.

They rebuild a city, beat up a dragon and survive a panidemic. Then they kiss (15 years. I waited 15 years to write this). And while they are all love-dovey and domestic, I rock their fucking boat with the baggage they neatly stuffed under the rug. Ding-dong weirdos!! Teridax's first draft of world-mination plan is at the door and Helryx's secret life and trust issues are right behind! Who ordered the pepperoni pizza?

Now that is some juicy relationship building and I actually am a bit familiar with the worldsetting! And nothing wrong with blorbo romances too! I enjoy those a lot myself as a fellow fanfic writer! I really like the build-up you have and the hurt/comfort that is found in this! Gives a lot more depth to the relationship, not just throwing it in "and then they were in love"! It delicious build-up! Most superb and it sounds like you are really invested in this story and characters! Keep it up you!

[walks-the-ages]

Okay so ANYWAYS.

Quantum Leap.

My "this was meant to be a funny shit post but now I'm taking it super seriously" prompt has officially been incorporated into my little daydream Quantum Leap AU+Rewrite+Post Canon Universe.

it's sometime after my rewrite of the whole mess that is Last Dance Before An Execution (through) Shock Theater. (LDBAE-ST)

4x01 just straight up goes off the rails because none of that made sense except for the parts I'm keeping for Future Sam to deal with.

Anyways. During the New Events that happen to replace The Leap Back, Sam starts having very strange dreams and hearing [more] voices-- and the calls not coming from inside the house either, he already checked with the others!

Nope. Instead, he suddenly has spirits communicating with him in his dreams, showing up every night throughout the Leap, trying to ask him something but he can never quite make out what they're saying.

His lack of proof (or actual, meaningful communication) leaves Al skeptical of his claims and tells him they just need to get more sleep in this Leap while they can still can.

The Leap continues in whatever plot I decide at the eventual-maybe time of writing, and it's not until the very end of the Leap, when Sam has been knocked unconscious by the antagonist, that he's able to fully understand the spirits who are reaching out to him.

Al in the outside world is frantically trying to wake Sam up so he can go like, rescue a man who's been cartoonishly tied to some train tracks or something, idk.

Anyways, Sam wakes up, saves the guy, fixes what went wrong, and Leaps.

Weeks go by, as they always do before Ziggy can locate Sam's temporal signature again.

But weeks turn into months.

And suddenly, it's New Years Eve at Project Quantum Leap, only no one feels like celebrating, because Sam is still missing in between Leaps. This is the longest he's ever been "in between" and everyone is starting to get worried.

Then, right as the clock strikes midnight, Ziggy sends out an alert--

She's found Dr. Sam Beckett.

Except his brain wave and vital signs are off the charts, and something is messing with her system and "Admiral, we need you in the Imaging Chamber NOW! We don't know what's happening to Sam but you're the only one who can tell us what's wrong!."

Al, of course, is already sprinting down the corridors to the Imaging Chamber, more than halfway there.

Al bursts into the Imaging Chamber and the new Leap materializes around him as the Chamber powers up and sprawled on a carpeted floor of a bedroom is a young woman, blankets tangled around her legs, pajama suit rumpled, and sobbing.

After the traumatic shit show that was LDBAE-ST, Al has had to take multiple sessions with Dr. Verbena Beeks himself to deal with the fallout of what *Sam* has gone through, (not to mention dealing with the shell shock from the war), so Al is fairly confident he'll be able to help guide his friend through whatever kind of panic or anxiety attack they're having and help them calm down , and usually seeing that Al is there at all is some kind of comfort so he circles around and starts reassuring them he's here --

Only to not get the reaction he was expecting.

"Syl? Sylvi? Veon! Syl vee, vee, veon!" The woman on the floor exclaims and tries to hug him, then looks embarrassed when that fails to work "Vee, sylvi, veon, Syl. Vee Sylve, onn vee Sylvi."

Al just stares, because clearly, this is Sam. But for the life of him, Al can't understand a word coming out of their mouth.

Sam tilts their head in confusion at Al's flabbergasted look, "Sylveon?" They finally enquire.

.

.

[aka Sam Leaps into Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team / Rescue Team DX and lives out not only the entire main storyline but also all of the post game content until he finally passed of old age with his Partner at his side and only then did he Leap back into canon

but he spent more than a human lifetime there and doesn't realize he's speaking Pokespeak lolol.

Don't worry! It's fine! He still knows English he just has to jog his memory of how to speak it.

Oh, and how to walk on two legs again lol.

Also becoming a Pokemon is what unlocks his ability to Leap into earth animals later.

Anyways, Sam is an Eevee in Rescue Team Verse and so is his Partner!

Sam eventually evolves into Sylveon (aka the trans pride Eeveelution)

and his Partner, Eevee, because of Sam's presence in that world, evolves into [REDACTED].

[llitchilitchi]

I will be a little monarch restoration goblin anon then >: 3

I know you wanna focus on the dream team mainly, but is Dream in contact with Punz at all and is still working towards the plan? Similar to that, is Dream still gonna take over the prison and call it his house? How's George gonna react to Dream saying that, since he sees a lot of the damage Dream got from the prison? And Sapnap's reaction too! Since it'd be dependent on how much Dream/George has given him aka how soon Dream says something abt the prison.

ohhhh boi you have no idea how excited I am to slowly but surely introduce Punz into the AU! for now no, he is not in contact with Dream, at least not post prison break, though in the second/third arc of the story (depending on pacing really) the two reunite. I'm still toying with the idea of Punz feeling betrayed by Dream for teaming with George and Sapnap, but with where we are now in the story (before Dream Team make up) the two don't get to interact.

I don't think I mentioned it here, but I have run a poll on my twitter to decide in what order I'll draw certain comics and within the next 5 entries I should give the first glimpse of what Punz is doing during the time of Dream's recovery, and I've planned a few more short comics that follow after. as I've mentioned before to other anons, Punz and Sapnap are "hunting" for Dream while Dream hides in Kinoko - Punz trying to actually find Dream and see if he is well and Sapnap trying to lead everyone away from Kinoko to make sure Dream isn't actually found. (Unfortunately Punz and Sapnap hunting for Dream lost the poll, so it's the comic I will be doing the last out of the presented scenarios.)

I wanna tackle Dream's recovery soon-ish, hopefully, but I struggle with making myself focus on one longer running series of comics at a time, but Dream does feel somewhat trapped and monitored by George and Sapnap. The room he was given is high up so he can't really jump out the window and just disappear into the night, his only way out is the front door and it would be quite difficult for him to up and vanish like that. What I'm trying to say here is, more or less, Dream doesn't really have the opportunity to even go to the mainlands. I still think that including Daedalus arc would be great for many reasons, but tl;dr: I don't plan on Dream actually leaving Kinoko for good, if at all. Since he's not working with Punz at this point and can't reveal to snf that him and Punz are still on good terms, he's content with staying in Kinoko and make that his new base of operation while trying to work with George's royal whims.

Dream doesn't open up about the prison. At all if he can help it really outside of a few snarky comments to test the waters. While George seems to not care at all or brush them under the carpet, Sapnap tends to lash out if the story sounds "too out there" like when Dream brought up Quackity. George has seen a lot of the damage while taking care of Dream but he prefers to write it off as something that happened post dethronement fallout but before prison, however unlikely some of the injuries might be. (This does more or less canonise that all my previous canon-compliant comics where Dream has been branded in prison are not canon for this au).

The "finale" to this arc should cover Dream opening up more, snf learning about the conditions of the prison and their relationship turning from toxic codependency to a little less toxic codependency lmao - basically they learn to trust each other and communicate. I've written a few notes and have a script for Dream talking to Sapnap about certain things. It's far from pretty

[btsslowburnfic]

The Arrangement Ch. 19

Story summary: Desperately in need of money, you answered the questionable ad. AKA-Arranged marriage AU featuring Y/N and Yoongi

Chapter Summary: After the photoshoot you and Yoongi decompress

Previous Chapter here  AN: SO FLUFFY UGH

You slunk back to the elevator and just stood there for a second. What a weird day. You pulled out your phone to double check your work schedule and saw a message from Yoongi.

YG: I ordered pizza.

You smiled. 

YN: Oh yeah? Did you order enough to share? 

YG: *Eyeroll* 

YN: :D Where is this food? Apartment? Studio?

YG: Apartment. Photoshoots wear me out.

You pushed the button for the 18th floor. Other people got on and off as you made your way there; it was the end of the work day for most of the hourly staff. You finally arrived at your stop and headed left.

You opened the door and took off your shoes, immediately noticing the delicious odor of bread and hot cheese filling the air. You had been running around all day and just now realized, other than a few carrots, you hadn't eaten today. 

"Oh my God thank you so much." You declared as you walked into the kitchen. You eyed the box sitting on the counter and looked around for Yoongi. “Helllooooooo?”

“Good. I’m starving.” You saw him rise up like a reanimated corpse from the couch.

“You didn’t have to wait on me.” You reprimanded, even though you thought it was incredibly thoughtful. Yoongi just shrugged and walked into the kitchen.

You opened the box and handed him a plate. 

“I have no idea if you ‘ll like this.” He said as he took some pieces.

“I like food. My favorite food is the food in front of me.” You took the plate over to the table, going back for some water.

Yoongi followed suit, quieter than normal. 

“You ok?” You asked.

“Yeah, just tired. Photoshoots take so much more energy.” He collapsed down into the chair. 

The air was filled for silence for several minutes as the two of you stuffed your faces. Finally, you worked up the nerve to ask, “Sooooooo…...did you know Bongcha was asking you out or are you oblivious?”

Yoongi looked up, shaking the bangs out of his face. “I knew. But what should I say to her? "No I don’t want to go out with you" and ruin her day? Upset her at work? It would make things awkward for both of us. Nah. Just request another stylist for a few months.” 

You pursed your lips together in thought. “Why not just date her though? She’s cute. You guys get along. Why go through this whole elaborate contract scenario?” You gestured to yourself.

Yoongi sighed. Ugh he had been dreading you asking him about the contract. Things had been going so normal. He thought, stupidly, maybe he could just never think about it again. Of course with Namjoon and BPD up his ass he knew that was unlikely. He realized he had been quiet for too long.  “Look, If I actually dated someone I worked with and then it didn't work out, imagine the fallout. The scandal. The wasted time. Plus then I'd have to go on dates and stuff. I'm busy.”  

You rolled your eyes "We went to a diner the other night. And the grocery store." 

Yoongi blinked his eyes and stuffed more food in his mouth. “Not dates.”

You scowled. "You spent all Sunday driving a van and putting up with my family'

Yoongi chewed, taking as much time as possible to think of a response. “Yeah but I did that because I wanted to."

You rolled your eyes, “You're a weirdo "

"Says the girl who signed a contract to marry a guy she didn't know. And who doesn’t eat their pizza crust. Are you 5 years old?"

"Crust is gross. Anyways. I'm a very good judge of character, I will have you know." You pouted at having been admonished over your crust preferences.

"That's true. You could tell Namjoon was an asshole within 30 seconds I bet." He jested. 

"Haha yeah. I could tell he was  rich and full of himself by his demeanor and then when he opened his mouth, he confirmed the asshole part. And, I knew Alice was awesome within like 2 seconds.” 

Yoongi pushed his plate over a bit and interlaced his fingers. Resting his chin on them, he asked, “OK. So what was your first impression of me?” 

You laughed as you recalled sprinting in your work clothes.  “That you were busy. Very busy. And a little bit short on patience, but I thought that's because you were in a hurry.” 

“Sounds about right.” He took a sip of his water. 

“The second time I met you, you were putting on an act for Namjoon. Still not sure why... " You eyed him suspiciously. “You guys have a fucked up dynamic "

"You are right all-around there. Cheers." He lifted his glass in your direction."You did a great job today."

You scoffed, "I literally just pointed at things and handed you stuff.”

“Hey I've been to shoots before, you haven't. Today went much smoother than usual. “

“Really?” You rocked back in your seat.

“Yep.” He stood up and extended his hand." Do you want more? "

"Yes please. Thanks again for ordering. I didn't realize how hungry I was til I got home.” 

“‘Same.” He took the plates to the kitchen and returned with more food. Sitting them down on the table. He pulled his laptop over and looked over some things as you guys sat in silence for a few minutes. You scrolled through your phone, returning some texts from Jimin and your brother. 

"Do you want to go watch something?" he asked, taking you by surprise. 

You raised your eyebrows, “You're not going to work?" 

"I told you, photoshoots wear me out. I'm done for today."

"Yeah sure," you stood up and grabbed the plates. "I'll clean up the leftovers and get changed. Pick whatever."

You travelled up to the loft area about ten minutes later, much more comfortable in your leggings and oversized sweatshirt. 

Yoongi was waiting on the couch, the remote in his hand as he scrolled through the menu. You plopped down on the other end, covering your mouth as you yawned.

“Grab a pillow. You know you’re going to fall asleep.” He said without looking over.

“No I won’t,” You protested through another yawn.

He shot you a look that told you he knew you were full of shit and got up. He returned a minute later, throwing a pillow at the back of your head.

“Hey.”

“You’re welcome.” He sat back down, adjusting himself into a comfortable position.

You grumbled a thank you as you balled the pillow into a couch-compatible shape and leaned up against it. You pulled back for a second. It smelled just like Yoongi. This was his pillow. You looked over, his eyes were still scanning the screen.

“Since you’re going to fall asleep in ten minutes I’m putting on my favorite documentary.” He said matter-of factly.

“I will last more than ten minutes.” You declared. You heard a small snort come out of his mouth as he dimmed the lights and pressed play. You started to watch the movie and tried to pay attention, but your heartbeat was racing. You kept replaying earlier conversations in your head and also smelling the pillow. You felt like a pervert. The man across the couch was completely oblivious. You stared at him for a few seconds and realized that yes, you did like him. Well Shit. You didn’t have too much time to ruminate on this as your eyelids began to grow heavy. Soon you were passed out, just as Yoongi predicted.

Ten minutes into the NBA show he looked over, a knowing smile crept onto his face. You were out.

He took a deep breath. What the fuck was he doing? He tried not to think about it too much. Every time he thought about you and the contract it left him feeling weird. The thought that you were getting paid to like him and to hang out with him, didn’t sit well at all. But he knew there was so much more to it than that. He picked up his notepad and wrote a few lyrics, the movie playing for background noise at this point. 

After several minutes he looked at his writing. Satisfied, he stood up and slipped the notebook into a desk. He didn’t think you would snoop, but better safe than sorry. He looked back at the couch and smirked. He thought it was hilarious you thought you would stay awake when he knew better. He went over to the stuffed animal line and pulled out a Snorlax. Appropriate, he thought as he sat it down on top of your side. He snapped a picture. Sweet revenge. Stretching, he decided to head to bed himself; only slightly lamenting that he had given you his favorite pillow and now he would have to use the flatter one. NEXT CHAPTER

@lidda  @anpanman-sonyeondan   @firefairy1  @cuteipat  @sugaslittlekookies  @janeelizabeth1216 @deeepvibes @gxldenhunny @livelyjay @niniita-ah @bobbyboops @honeysunandsoil @deathkat657 @min-yus​ @or-worse-expelled7​

[terrainofheartfelt]

WIP Tag Game

tagged by @lucbian (thank you!!!)

Rules: List all of your WIPs and tag as many people as the WIPs and whichever fic you (followers/anyone reading this) find interesting, you can ask about it and I'll either tell you about it or post a snippet or both!

okay well, um...there are so many...so many...I'm going by the "most recent" sorting feature on my google docs

Dair Pride & Prejudice AU [working title: (the more you say) the less I know]: I've talked about this one before but, y'all know. Dan as Lizzie, Blair as Darcy, the van der Humphreys as the Bennet Family, romcom shenanagins ensue. I recently got a couple more ideas sparked that I'm excited to plug in, the most fun about writing an au like this is puzzling out which characters can fit into which roles of the original, and there a few that have me really just *does mr. burns "excellent" hand thing*

Postcanon fic (currently titled "Spitefueled jenate endgame fic" in my docs): Blair POV, but centered around Jenny & Nate reconnecting at Derena's engagement party, and how it indirectly serves as a catalyst for Blair getting out of her marriage to chip wiskers. Dair endgame, but not much Dan, mostly Blair pining and making amends with Jenny. musicians!Humphreys are involved. may take a WHILE because there's heavy shit to untangle. I was feeling neutral about this fic idea and then the antis were about and now I'm like "I will write this!" also Dan isn't gossip girl bc the medallion says that's dumb so we're not gonna do that.

Dair - In I know a place where your heart can be safe series (aka the Milo-verse): a pwp oneshot of Dair's honeymoon. Involves extreme sappiness, Italy, and a polaroid camera

And you can have this heart to break - my s4 Date AU, or, the next installment of the work, that is, title will be some Billy Joel lyric lifted from "And So It Goes": this is a Dan x Nate-centric au of s4, which also involves justice for the Blenny friendship, Serenessa, Blair x Raina Thorpe, and none for chip wiskers bye. this is the next "episode" as it were, and will cover Saints & Sinners and the fallout of it. Drama ensues, but there's also lots of himbos-in-love fluff to compensate.

a Dilfs!Date fic: Inspired by these headcanons I wrote, the story of how Dan and Nate Humphrey meet their kids. I burnt myself out on the kid fic a lil bit but this is a sweet sweet one that I want to get back to soon.

series Mouthful of Forevers - next work: such a lot of world to see: the multi-chap sequel to gladly beyond any experience, spanning the next year of Dan & Blair's adventures in Europe together. It starts with their fabulous summer Eurail trip, most notably finally going to Rome together, and having what I've been calling in my head the "post-mortem" talk of why they broke up the first time (and I think it may be one of my favorite things I've ever written), later chapters will include: the Love Letters I shared a long long time ago, Rufus & Lily's 5 year wedding anniversary, Scott's wedding weekend, and Dan's graduation from Oxford (and wherever he decides to move next, wink-wonk).

Untitled Blenny fic (current title in my docs is "blenny fic: hookup at date wedding"): Jenny POV. Dan & Nate invite their close friends and family along to their annual summer beach vacation, during which they're getting married. Jen & Blair reconnect. Includes married!Date fluff, wlw yearning & sexual tension, and of course a teensy dose Alison Humphrey apologism.

tagging (with lots of love but no pressure whatsoever): @strideofpride, @insistonyourcupofstars, @natearchie, @mysteriesofloves

[urbanqhoul]

Coffee For Your Head [Fallout 4- Nick Valentine & John Hancock]

sSOOO

this is is kinda my first attempt at writing short lil fanfiction, I’ve written before for video’s n such but I’m by no means great at it so plz dun stab me I just wanted to write some fluff for my fav ship quq.

This takes place in my prewar AU- aka fallout 4 companions if they existed before the bombs dropped n all that fun stuff

---

“Think ya really need to work on impulse control, kid.” Nick said flatly as he carefully tried to keep John from falling over in his drunken state well they stumbled back home.

“To hell with that...! Those assholes were practically begging for it...” The smaller man grumbled as he almost tripped over his own feet, causing them both to stumble forward before Nick corrected it. 

They’d both had a painfully long week with a particularly bleak case to solve involving a missing spouse. 

It was by no means out of the ordinary but something about this one specifically had stuck with him and he decided to distract his brain from it with a visit to the local pub.

 As always John insisted on tagging along claiming it was “To help him home” afterwards when they both knew full well who was more likely to get passed out drunk. Predictably the night had proceeded with some banter well Hancock sporadically got side tracked by challenging other patrons to drinking games. 

It was during one of these ventures that ended in Hancock roughed up, bruised with a bloody nose followed by getting kicked out of the bar. 

“...You know I’m pretty used to you getting into a tussle or two- But usually it has a reason. Care to tell me why you tried to knock the daylights out of a stranger?” Valentine prompted, raising an eyebrow.

His response was simply an annoyed groan as he wiped blood from his mouth, “Can we just take a fuckin’ bus or something- its too damn cold and I think the cunt fractured my knee…”

Ignoring it then, alright…

“Think they might call the cops if they see you like this, Really don’t need to end the night in the drunk tank with Danse starting us down like a bunch of roaches. Sides we’re almost home.” Nick said tiredly before carefully taking on more of John’s weight to keep him off his bad leg. 

---

“Sign up now and prepare for the futu-”

The television was promptly turned off leaving the only sound in the room, the gentle buzz of the coffee maker, and a snort of irritation from Hancock as he laid flopped over on the couch.

 Nick had just finished tending to his injuries and left him in the kitchen, well he prepared something to combat the inevitable hangover.

“Can’t tell you how sick I am of seeing vault tecs trash everywhere. Like hiding away in a hole in the ground is an amazing alternative and not a slower, more boring death.” He shuffled through the endtable’s drawer before pulling out a thin can of mentats- only to have it promptly snatched away by Nick and replaced with a warm coffee.

“Really looking to just lose every last bit of grey matter you have left tonight aren't you?” The detective chided as he sat next to him, paying no mind to the glare he received before John reluctantly sipped his drink.

After a moment of silence he spoke up again, “...Are you ready to talk about it?”  He asked slowly. “It isn’t like you to pick fights with folks who didn’t earn it.” “He did.”  Came the sharp reply before being cut off by an irritatingly loud slurp as he chugged the rest of the coffee. “Piece of shit- he was talking a load of garbage about you.” John muttered quietly, indignation clear in his tone. “About Winters and...Jen…”

At the mention of his long passed fiance, Nick felt his heart drop into his stomach. A familiar emptiness that came anytime her and the bastard that took her away were brought back to the forefront of his mind. 

John avoided eye contact, gripping the coffee cup with such force it was a wonder it didn’t shatter. “...He went on and on about how you must’ve been so traumatized by everything to have taken up with some street rat druggie. I can deal with that type of shit towards me- it's basically my entire life but using...everything you went through as some petty fucking insult- You don’t deserve that.” 

Nick started to say something before cutting himself off, his half hungover brain trying to process everything he’d said. 

Thanks to the high publicity of the Eddie Winters case, he’d become well known within diamond city. 

Though he took the high road and ignored it, he knew how much people loved to talk about him. About the broken man who’d lost everything trying to catch Winters only for him to get away scot-free. 

It’d been several years since all of this transpired but the moment he was found to be in a relationship with Mayor Mcdonough’s brother- everyone of course started to talk again. 

A stoic old private eye who lost to a crime boss, taking up with a drugged up vigilante was far too ironic for the public to resist. It baffled him how much free time the tabloids had to waste on him, exploiting the tragedy of his past and ‘scandal’ of his present.  

 Hancock had a way of hiding how much things bothered him. Most who were unfamiliar with him would say he was an overly confident arrogant jackass. And well there was a certain truth to that, those who knew him better would find that it was a façade. 

Nick could see it slipping out right now. The brash part of him that was quick to fight a judgmental prick fading away, revealing the hurt man underneath. The part of him that became tough because life didn’t give him any other choice. The part that needed him right now.

Unsure of what to say, Val reached over and pulled him into a tight hug that seemed to have caught him by surprise. 

“...You know I don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks right?” John tensed up before relaxing in his embrace, nuzzling tiredly into his shoulder. “I know...It's just- Feel like I’m makin’ life harder for you. You’ve already gotten more than your fair share of bullshit from the world.”

“Doll they can talk all they want. I’m lucky to have you, Mayhem n’ all~ ” Nick couldn’t help a faint smile when Hancock’s hold on him tightened followed by a snort as he peeked up. “Ya need to give yourself more credit, you’ve been the best thing to happen to me in a long time…” 

“You’re real fuckin’ cheesy you know that?” John teased planting a soft kiss on his neck, “Do me a favor and take me to bed already, I need to sleep for at least the next year. That asshole was a shit fighter but he did manage to get a few decent bruises in on my legs.” He insisted, letting himself fall over into Nick's arms. “Think you just might be lookin’ for an excuse to not walk a few feet.” With a tired chuckle, Nick lifted Hancock up with what seemed like no effort at all.

“Ya know you’re surprisingly strong for being such an old fuck~” 

“Mm, think it might have more to do with you having the body weight of a starving cat, but that's just an educated guess.. “ 

[openheartfanfics]

Newly Added Fics

May 3-7

🎭 Angst  |  🛸 AU  |  ☁ Fluff  |  ♥ NSFW  |  📚 Series

Aurora x F!MC 

A Hand in Friendship - @robintora ☁ i dont think we saw aurora in Donahue's so i was like, why not write it? [1.2] 

Bryce x F!MC 

Friends with Benefits - @angstymarshmallow ☁ [FWB]

Ethan x F!MC

A Hawaiian Prank - @potionsprefect ☁ He thought it was going to be a relaxing break. [3.11] 

Adagio - @utterlyinevitable ♥ She’s decided that it’s time. And it’s more than Ethan could have ever dreamt up. aka their first time.  [Domestic; Ethan’s POV]   

Almost - @alina-yol-ramsey  ☁ Two times Ethan almost said those three words.  [In love] 

Definitely - @terrm9 ☁ Rubbing noses and cuddling.  [Marriage] 

Delaying the Inevitable - @liaromancewriter ☁ Ethan and MC are in the private box at the baseball game…from Ethan’s perspective. [1.5; Ethan’s POV] 

Dolores - @lucy-268 🎭 Charley’s new patient is Ethan’s first patient. [1.4] 

Eta Aquariids - @mm2305  ☁ Ethan and Olivia watch a meteor shower together.

Fallout - @lady-calypso 📚 [mini: wip] The aftermath of accusations.  [3.8; 3.9] 

Part 1  |  Part 2

For You - @starberrybliss 🎭 MC and Ethan talk about what will possibly happen to his future at the hospital and the trial. [3.8] 

Free Pass - @justanotherrookie 🍘♥ Ethan, Tobias and MC threesome

Happily Ever After - @takemyopenheart ☁ Ethan is ready to confess those three words. (Ch. 11 rewrite) [3.11] 

Keep Forever - @estellaelysian ☁ Ethan’s inner most thoughts on her.  [Ethan’s POV; 3.11] 

Lava - @perriewinklenerdie ☁ Ethan joins his kids for a game of The Floor is Lava. [Kids] 

Living The Dream - @the-pale-goddess ☁ If Ethan did take her for granted the way the impostor in OHTY does, she’d definitely pretend to be asleep and then tease him about it in the morning. [3.11] 

Mentor - @starrystarrytrouble ☁ Three times Naveen spoke to Ethan about MC. Feat. Naveen  [1.17; 2.17; 3.11]

Mirani’s Confession - @schnitzelbutterfingers 🎭 Ines’s wedding reception , featuring Zaid’s emotions and lost love, Abby’s advice and Ethan’s promise. Feat. Zaid x Ines [3.11]

Mistakes - @lsvdw-blog 🎭 MC confronts Ethan about standing her up. [Date] 

Nightmares - @bex-la-get 🎭 Natalie experiences nightmares after the attack and turns to Ethan for comfort. [2.12; Trauma; Hurt/Comfort] 

Now, And Forevermore - @tsrookie 📚 [mini: wip] Missing moments at Ines wedding in 3.11

Part 1

POV - @estellaelysian ☁ Ethan’s POV after the vending machine scene.  [Ethan’s POV; 1.1] 

Pua Melia - @stygianflood ☁ When Ethan reveals his feelings, Aparna’s response is far from what he expects. [In Love; 3.11] 

She did make out with Bryce in the observation deck, lol. - @jamespotterthefirst ☁ Years later Ethan tells Lilac there’s cameras in the observation rooms.  [Partnership] 

Slip of the Tongue - @estellaelysian ☁

Steam - @perriewinklenerdie ♥ OH3 Chapter 8 rewrite. Claire finds a way for Ethan to let out his frustrations and get some control back. [3.8] 

The Conference - @utterlyinevitable 📚 [extended: completed]

Becca has been avoiding Ethan like the plague since he came back from the Amazon. However, Dr. Banerji has sent his two mentees to give a keynote speech at Cornell Medical. Back in her homecity both doctor’s are confronted by a bit of the past.

The Party - @takeharryandgo ☁ Ethan changes his mind about attending the interns’ housewarming party. [1.6; Ethan’s POV] 

The Therapist - @bex-la-get 🎭 Natalie and Ethan seek guidance from a therapist. [2.12]

The Signs - @anntoldst0ries ☁ After moments of passion and confessions, Ethan finds himself unable to fall asleep. [3.11; Ethan’s POV] 

Wise Men Say... - @genevievemd ☁ Ethan and Gen dance during Ines’s wedding before sneaking off. [3.11] 

Love Triangle 

Boundary - @togetherwearerapture  Tobias and Elle get to know each other while working on a case. Tobias pushes some boundaries. Feat. Ethan x F!MC x Tobias [3.5] 

Free Pass - @justanotherrookie 🍘♥ Ethan, Tobias and MC threesome

Naveen Banerji 

Mentor - @starrystarrytrouble ☁ Three times Naveen spoke to Ethan about MC. Feat. Ethan x F!MC [1.17; 2.17; 3.11]

Tobias x F!MC

How It All Began - @lucy-268 ☁ Her friends have questions.

Snow - @perriewinklenerdie ☁ Tobias tests the waters while having a drink with Claire.

Zaid x Ines

Mirani’s Confession - @schnitzelbutterfingers 🎭 Ines’s wedding reception , featuring Zaid’s emotions and lost love, Abby’s advice and Ethan’s promise. Feat. Ethan x F!MC [3.11]

[jayonashelf]

Dream SMP Cartoon AU

Has everyone and their dog done some sort of show/actor au in this fandom? Yes. Is a big plot point everyone cares about literary happening tomorrow? Also yes.

So yeah, anyway, imagine TommyInnit as a pg cartoon character.

So the cartoon takes place in a world where the universe is divided into servers - small worlds people can inhabit. 

It’s basically minecraft, only you can’t create a million worlds for your own amusement, because you can’t create worlds at all! You can travel to them. Which means that there are no repeating seeds.

Things like speedrunning or manhunt happen in a designated server that’s kinda glitched to reset every time you kill the ender dragon.

There are no respawns but there is a lot of cartoon violence. The show is basically an action cartoon that slowly morphs into a political drama with multiple character arcs and a lot of angst.

Season 1 is the SMP before Tommy. Season 2 is a bit longer and contains the Disc War and the War for L’Manburg. Season 3 is the L’Manburg Election.

Season 1

The first season is calm and a bit slowpaced. It also doesn’t explore the world outside the Dream SMP, there are mentions of other worlds, of manhunts and speedruns, but we never get to actually see that. 

The main characters are the Dream Team, although Dream is like the Gumball of the show, in which he’s the main out of the main characters.

The first episode opens with them building the community house, so we never get to see how they found this world or where they were before they came here.

The rest of the episodes are adventures of the Dream Team and Co. The most exciting episodes are when someone new joins, because new character! Also, the fandom is very desperate for lore - which sometimes gets brought up when someone comes through the portal. (Other worlds are not shown and the lore is very minimal at this time.)

The last person to join this season is Tommy. He joins in the last episode of the season and plays the role of the annoying antagonist. It’s the season finale and this is the first time Dream uses his admin powers in the series. 

It’s a very dramatic moment and I imagine that in a world where this is a real cartoon there is a shit ton of fanart. Dream bans Tommy but then he changes his mind and lets him back in. 

I want to imagine that Tommy had made a shitty gift that Dream n' Co find. Dream sighs, realizing that Tommy cares but is just complete shit at showing it and so he gives him a second chance. 

(Later Tommy getting exiled is played for laughs and the after-credits scene is him just sulking in a spruce forest.)

Eventually, Tommy learns his lesson (kinda) and the episode ends with everyone in relative peace.

Season 2

The first half of the second season is the Disc War saga. A lot more people join and we get way more hints about the outside world (still nothing is shown though). The POV frequently switches to Tommy and Tubbo and slowly but surely their storyline goes from a B plot to an A plot.

The Disc War is still pretty light in tone, but the episodes become more fast-paced and this is the first overarching plotline we’re introduced to.

There are a lot of filler episodes and one-off characters. (Some of them return later.)

The first time we’re shown a little bit of the outside world is in the episode when we’re introduced to two seemingly one-off characters: Wilbur Soot and Schlatt.

This episode is the second time Dream bans someone. This time he doesn’t retract that decision though.

But before he does this we do get a brief flashback of Tommy hearing stories about a world called SMP Live and although we don’t know it yet, a brief flash of SMP Earth.

The second half of the season starts relatively normally until Wilbur comes back and he and Tommy try to start a drug potion business. 

Then Tommy and Wilbur start L’Manburg. Eret, Tubbo, and Fundy join them, and Wilbur kind of adopts Fundy in a filler episode. (There’s a running gag that Wilbur doesn’t want Fundy to know he’s adopted so he makes up bullshit stories about how Fundy was born - AKA Wilbur fucked a fish.)

Then the War happens and even though there are jokes to lighten the mood, the story starts getting way more serious and angsty. 

Unlike the Disc War, the war for L’Manburg is way more story-based, and even though there is a lot of cool action the real heart of it is the emotional moments.

Tommy continues his character arc - he becomes more mature and in the end even sacrifices his Discs for L'Manburg. 

Tubbo gets more sure of himself.

Fundy starts wanting more and wishes to be respected. (His arc gets way more explored in the 3rd season.)

Eret starts doubting their chances of success and notices how seriously the Dream team is taking this war. We get an entire episode exploring his character and his thoughts on the chances of victory. The episode ends in an open-ended way, but still gives off the feeling of him staying loyal to L'Manburg. (Which makes his betrayal hurt more.)

Wilbur gets increasingly stressed about his role as the leader. There's no episode focused on him but there are episodes about his relationship with others. We get flashes of his old life in a slideshow-like sequence. (of Sky gods and moles, of whale facts and lava.)

The war goes as it did on stream. They are severely outmatched. Eret betrays them. L'Manburg is destroyed. Tommy and Dream duel and Dream shoots Tommy in the leg. 

The war ends with Tommy giving his discs for L'Manburg's independence.

The season ends with Wilbur writing the Declaration of Independence. 

There's a slideshow of what everyone is doing after the war instead of the usual credits. It shows the L'Manburgians rebuilding L'Manburg, Eret being crowned as king, the Dream team relaxing after the war. There are also some shots of future characters like Niki, Jack, Quackity, and Karl.

Season 3

The current, ongoing season. It starts with the fallout of the L’Manburg war. People are still tense. Jack and Niki join L’Manburg in their own separate episodes.

This season a lot more is shown of the outside world. There were hints of someone called Technoblade last seasons but now we find out that he’s the person who beat Dream in a duel.

In one filler episode, it is shown that people from inside the server can communicate with people outside it when Quackity and the Drug Cartel Potion Business side plot is introduced. (Later Quackity joins the sever for real.)

The pet war occurs and is a mini-arc with about four episodes. 

Wilbur and Tommy decide to hold an election. Quackity decides to run against them.

And well, the rest is history.

The show has become pretty dark by this point. 

Dream allows Schlatt a second chance of the server when Tommy begs him to let Schlatt endorse Pog2020. (Dream is starting to doubt that fighting L'manburg was a good idea and after he spends an entire filler episode (Church Prime) with Tommy he reminisces Tommys first time of the server and how he banned him. Maybe Schlatt also deserves a second chance?)

Then Schlatt wins and Wilbur and Tommy are exiled. 

That's when we are introduced to Technoblade. He's standing in a potato farm, crown on his head as he receives Tommy's message.

The episode ends with Techno joining the server.

This season has way more POV's and side plots.

For example, Dreamons are Tubbos and Fundys side plot. (Also Sapnaps now apparently?)

Eret has another episode dedicated to him as he opposes Schlatt and reminisces about L'manburg.

Quckity is seen doubting Schlatt. He is used as comic relief a lot, but there are a lot of serious moments, and emotions hidden behind jokes.

Fundy starts off as a secret spy but slowly becomes loyal to Schlatt.

Niki and her rebellion have a few episodes dedicated to them. We get a few flashbacks to her befriending Eret. The second pet war (with Henry) is also a Niki episode. There are a lot of parallels between Tommy and Fundy. The episode ends with Niki comforting Tommy.

The next episode opens with Wilbur being angry at Tommy for burning down Karls Eifel Tower. 

This season we finally get an episode focusing on Wilbur. It's also an episode that focuses on the world outside the SMP. It shows his encounters with sky gods when he had pushed his admin powers (which he has now lost) too far after SMP Earth. (His 100 player videos are him playing with his powers, his punishment is the lava and water rising videos and the randomizer skyblock.) 

This episode is also the one where Wilbur loses his mind.

The after-credits scene is Tommy telling Tubbo to be careful during the festival and giving away his disc. The music is somber and cuts off abruptly. 

[starrybouquet]

Ma'am pls I need to know about that sg1/pjo thing you so casually mentioned.. like you cant just drop that on us with no explanation >:/

thank you @spacey-iris for waiting so long for this answer!!! And, here we go...

OMG OKAY HEAR ME OUT BECAUSE THIS IS MY FAVORITE FANDOM IDEA I HAVEN'T SPEWED ON THIS BLOG YET

Full disclosure: in middle school I was Percy Jackson OBSESSED. Writing this post is bringing back memories...ahhh, the good old days before Blood of Olympus came out and I swore off HOO forever...

Going through it carefully, I seriously wonder if Rick Riordan was watching Stargate when he started creating this world. It's no wonder I love Stargate now.

Jack O'Neill = Percy Jackson

I mean, c'mon! It couldn't be more perfect! Both of them are smartasses, have decided it's their life work to act dumb even though they're actually smart as hell. Both of them have ADHD and are VERY fidgety. Jack's a lot more tragic than Percy, because he's fifty instead of sixteen. But they act exactly the same, are loyal to a fault, and wayyyyy too humble. Not to mention they both fall in love with blonde geniuses who laugh at their stupid jokes and are driven NUTS by their dumb acts! Totally the same person.

Sam Carter = Annabeth Chase

I mentioned this already a little. But again, could they be more similar?! Both geniuses who are unafraid to show their smarts. Badass in a fight, and ALSO the person who will draw up a plan to save the world. Both have slightly inept fathers and absent mothers. Both are a little confused when it comes to love, and both of them are tomboys. Plus, they look similar? Like, Annabeth could literally be a teenage Sam Carter? Okay. I'm done.

Daniel + Teal'c = Grover + Tyson

This part isn't quite as perfect, but the combination of Daniel and Teal'c still manages to give off the exact same effect as Grover and Tyson? Daniel's got Grover's clumsiness, Grover's penchant for trouble, but Tyson's innocence. Teal'c has Grover's wisdom and the whole "outsider" perspective Grover and/or Tyson often bring, but he also has Tyson's giant-strongman thing going for him. They both love food in the same way Grover and Tyson love food (okay, now I want a fic where Teal'c tries to eat Louis XVI furniture).

Janet = Thalia

You KNOW I'm right. Same no-nonsense attitude, same attitude towards Jack/Percy. Annabeth and Thalia are besties, Janet and Sam are besties. Okay, Thalia is taller. But with her ability to command the infirmary, Ms. Napoleonic Power Monger could totally pass for a child of Zeus, right?

Hammond = Chiron

I think this one is obvious? Very tired mentors/grandpas who never, never get any time off and have to deal with the fallout of ALL the shenanigans. At least Hammond isn't stuck in a wheelchair outside of the SGC.

Miscellaneous thoughts

does that make...Frank Cromwell...Luke Castellan??

I NOW WANT TO MEET JACK'S MOM MORE THAN EVER IT IS A CRIME WE NEVER GOT TO MEET HIS FAMILY

OH MY GOD IS JUNIPER SHA'RE THAT IS HEARTBREAKING

clarisse is totally maybourne

oh my god walter and siler are connor and travis stoll

Chain Reaction = that early part of Sea of Monsters where Chiron is gone and the camp is just NUTS

who from SG-1 is Zoe Nightshade? idk

Percy is about the right age to be Jack's kid. Oh my god Percy could be Charlie.

Does that make Sara equivalent to Rachel?!

Pete just doesn't exist. Because I don't think Annabeth ever dates anyone else? I like this reality

FUCK SILENA IS MAKEPEACE

Bekendorf (i know i am spelling his name incorrectly, i have not cracked the spines on these books for at least five years, cut me some slack) but anyway he could be...someone who dies...hmm...oh i know! kawalsky!

And - quite obviously - there's a lot of personal parallels for me here too. I absolutely HATED how HOO took advantage of the original characters, and then made fun of them/destroyed their characterization (ahem, ANNABETH). I know lots of people loved HOO more, but for me the last two books especially ruined the characters. Not to mention they kept dangling Percy and Annabeth in front of our noses and then made us read about people who were not them. Funnily enough, 5 PJO books + 5 HOO books = 10 books total! Guess what has 10 seasons? That's right, SG-1! And guess what I refuse to acknowledge the last two seasons of, because said seasons destroyed characterization? Oh look, it's Stargate SG-1!

Speaking of that - if I'm running with the parallel then Landry could be Coach Hedge. And Mitchell can be Fucking Jason Grace--huh, that works well. And I think Vala can be Leo - aka the only one I liked of the new characters! :D

GUYS I NEED TO REREAD THIS NOW

I NEED TO WRITE SAM AND JACK'S KID READING PERCY JACKSON

SELF-INDULGENT PERCY JACKSON AU TIME

[magicofthepen]

Having put some amount of thought into similar concepts, I would very much love to hear about “Gallifrey BUT FANTASY”

Send me a WIP doc title (list here) and I’ll talk about it!

Thank you for asking about this one! It’s an idea that’s been slowly coalescing for at least a year and a half now – it’s never quite made it onto the active projects list because it’s a big one, and I keep having other big projects that I want to tackle first. But I love gradually coming back to and building this au, and hopefully I’ll write it eventually?

The general world premise is pretty straightforward: magic replaces both time travel and regeneration, so it’s a magic-based world instead of a tech-based one, and also the ability to do magic is only given to certain Gallifreyans (a Time Lords = mages sort of thing). Also in this world the different temporal powers/planets are different countries/kingdoms/empires. 

The story itself would be a series of three longfics that starts with a very narrow cast and gradually broadens to a more sprawling epic fantasy vibe as the series continues. A quick overview:

Fic 1 is a Romana/Leela Rapunzel AU (inspired by Tangled specifically tbh), ft. Pandora as the Mother Gothel figure. 

Fic 2 is the immediate aftermath of Romana’s return to Gallifrey and the "power struggle over the throne” conflict that emerges between her and Darkel. (Narvin and Brax show up in this one.)

Fic 3 is set some number of years after Fic 2. It’s a “Pandora returns” fic, but narratively it’s more inspired by the Time War. Devastating magical conflict, large cast of characters, but does have a hopeful/happy-ish ending. (Also: Romana/Leela/Narvin endgame.) 

Lots more rambling under the cut: 

Fic 1: Rapunzel AU

This fic is technically Tangled-inspired, but I should disclaim that I haven’t actually seen Tangled in many years, so my memories of it are somewhat vague? But there’s one scene from Tangled that inspired a scene in this fic, plus a certain similar enemies-to-friends-to-lovers vibe going on, and some inspiration for Leela’s backstory (if I’m remembering that movie correctly)? 

Romana is the Rapunzel figure, of course. The heiress stolen away from the kingdom as a very young child, so she doesn’t remember anything before being raised by Pandora. In this story, Pandora’s endgame isn’t to keep her trapped away forever – she’s grooming Romana to be able to possess her when the time is right and take the throne for herself. (Still need to work out a lot of plot details, including how much contact Romana has with the outside world, how Pandora is able to manifest without a body?? (because she’s definitely still a dark spirit of some kind in this world....), the exact nature of magic and magical rituals and how exactly Pandora stealing Romana and raising her benefits her endgame.)

(Also there’s an Etra Prime reference here, with Romana being trapped away from the world for twenty years. In this au, Pandora is also the stand-in for the Daleks – aka who/what Romana is most afraid of and traumatized by.)

Leela’s backstory is a work in progress, so I don’t want to say too much in case I change it, but at the point her life and Romana’s collide, she’s lived in Gallifrey before and it was not a good time. (On a side note: I feel like this fic may be a thinly veiled excuse to give Leela a sword.) 

This fic majorly focuses on Romana and Leela’s relationship arc, aka “extremely sheltered book smart mage who's been cut off from love and connection her whole life” meets “warrior who’s traveled a lot but has never really found a home anywhere and is (probably?) on the run from the Gallifreyan authorities for Reasons.” Short version: their lives collide, Romana gets tangled up in Leela’s plot drama (which is also mostly tbd) and ends up sneaking away from Pandora, they fall in love, just as Romana starts to see how much she’s been used and manipulated her whole life, Pandora tries to tear them apart and use both of them as pawns in her plan. Of course, they defeat her and all ends well (for now).

Fic 2: Struggle for the Throne

For Reasons (that will be uncovered later), the throne of Gallifrey has quite recently become vacant – just in time for Romana and Leela to show up in the capital city (they don’t ever go there in Fic 1). Romana just wanted to see where she was from after finally escaping Pandora, but in this world, Gallifrey has some sort of monarchy/inheritance of power thing going on, and Romana is actually the closest heir to the throne. The next closest is Darkel, who assumed she would take the throne, before Romana suddenly returns from the dead.   

Except Romana didn’t come back to take the throne. That was Pandora’s plan, Romana doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and had no idea that she was walking into a power vacuum situation. But she ends up seeing how very terrible Darkel is, and how very terrible Gallifrey is, and starts genuinely wanting to be in charge so she can Change Things. She sees how terrible Gallifrey is to Leela (and other outsiders and non-mages) and wants to make this place better for her.....but over time gets swept up in the power struggles and the need to court favor with the other royals, which strains her relationship with Leela. 

Meanwhile, Leela’s dealing with returning to Gallifrey, a place where she already feels unwelcome (and probably is in some trouble with the law and needs to clear her name? again, lots of backstory details are tbd). And so she ends up struggling to decide if she really wants to be with Romana, if Romana’s going to end up in charge of this kingdom.....but she also hates Darkel and wants to help defeat her claim to the throne? I think there’s also going to be a plot thread in Fic 1 involving the village Leela was born in, and if so, this fic will also be dealing with the fallout of those events from Fic 1. (Keeping things vague because it’s all pretty up in the air right now.) 

And we finally meet spymaster Narvin, who is a main character from here through the rest of the series! I’m not going to get into his backstory in this au right now (because some things are still tbd, some things I don’t want to spoil), but he is not pleased about this young upstart heiress showing up out of nowhere and getting power handed to her without ever actually living in this kingdom. He doesn’t trust that she’s actually loyal to Gallifrey, especially since rumor has it she was raised and given/taught magic by some dark spirit – which goes against the long-standing Gallifreyan traditions of how magic is granted and taught and raises some major questions about how safe the kingdom would be in her hands. (These are also the prevailing arguments in general for tossing Romana’s claim to the throne.) 

Narvin and Leela also have.....a history. Not a particularly positive one. 

So this fic is also slowburn enemies-to-friends with Narvin + Romana and Narvin + Leela, as they gradually grow to understand and trust each other, and ultimately all work together against Darkel.

Brax is also in this fic? I am quite nervous about Brax being in this fic (I don’t feel qualified to write Brax! I usually avoid writing Brax for that reason!) But he’s the main “well-respected mage from an old family” who actually vouches for Romana and tries to help soothe the fears of the more conservative royals about supporting her claim to the throne. I’d also like to do a version of the “Brax as Romana’s tutor” thing, where he ends up working with her on developing her magic, since she didn’t go through the Academy system and is worried that her magic is tainted by Pandora. There may also end up being an almost-arranged marriage plotline with Romana and Brax, where certain people would be more willing to support Romana’s claim if she married someone respectable (and this is another thing that drives a wedge in Romana and Leela’s relationship). (She ends up turning him down, ultimately.) 

So it’s a fic about characters figuring out what they want in life and figuring out how to communicate better with each other and be better at relationships and friendships, all the while trying to stop Darkel from seizing the throne. 

Fic 3: Magical War

So there’s a significant time skip between Fic 2 and Fic 3 where the characters are going about their lives post-Darkel’s defeat and trying to make Gallifrey a somewhat less terrible place. 

But, however Romana and Leela defeat Pandora in Fic 1, it isn’t permanent. And when Pandora returns, it’s with an army of magical spirits (or something along those lines) that are slowly encroaching on the kingdom and poisoning magic itself (aka the Dogma virus But Fantasy). 

I don’t want to spoil too many of the plot details here, but this fic is a lot of “fantasy twist on specific events in the Gallifrey audios” – it draws some elements from the civil war, some from the Time War (especially because of that whole “Pandora is also Metaphorically the Daleks” thing), plus some other Specific Things from other audios. (Basically, I tossed the Gallifrey audios in a soup and stirred and made it fantasy?) 

Slow skirmishes and terrible attacks on the outskirts of the kingdom keep happening, Pandora’s forces draw closer and closer until they reach the capitol itself – and things go very wrong, and our main characters end up needing to wrest control back from Pandora (which may involve upending the entire system of magic in Gallifrey in the process? again, still figuring out how this fic is going to end – all I know is that unlike the actual audios, it will be a hopeful/happy ending). Lots of personal sacrifices are made, lots of old traumas need to be grappled with. Also re: Narvin/Leela and Narvin/Romana, this is the “friends to lovers” part of the “enemies to friends to lovers” slowburn arc. 

(Probably my biggest writing struggle for this fic is that I don’t really know what Brax’s arc is going to be. I’m not that familiar with Brax (I only know him from the Gallifrey audios), and I’m not strongly invested in his character, so I don’t feel like I’d do a good job writing him? But this is an ensemble fic and I can’t just ignore his character, so. it’s a challenge I don’t yet know how to deal with?)

But overall, one of the reasons I’m quite interested in this fic series is because it gives me the chance to write a version of these characters’ stories where things do get rough, but they do get a happy ending of sorts. (And more specifically, I get to write a version of Romana’s story where her self-sacrificing/suicidal tendencies actually get addressed, and she slowly starts to heal.) 

So that was a lot of rambling and vagueness, but thanks for giving me the excuse to talk about this au! It’s quite a daunting project (I have little experience with longfic and with plotty fic), but I’d really love to tackle it someday! (And I would love to hear about any fantasy aus you’ve developed!!)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Fallout Of Darkness -- A Half-Decent Sum-Up Of The Pre-War Timeline

If you follow my RP tumblr, @thevalicemultiverse, you may have seen this before (barring a few edits I made just now) -- I wrote this up as background for putting Fallout of Darkness into play over there as an RP verse. It’s as good a write-up as I currently have for Alice and particularly Victor’s lives before the bombs fell, so might as well bring it over here for more general consumption! Enjoy!

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Alice Liddell shares most of her backstory with her Londerland Bloodlines counterpart: she’s born in 1984, loses her family to Bumby’s obsession with her sister, hallucinates her way through the horrors of Rutledge and Houndsditch with Wonderland serving as a horrific psychological dreamscape for her to get her sanity back under her, realizes Bumby’s behind all her pain and is a child trafficker, kills him, moves to Los Angeles for a fresh start, and gets illegally Embraced by Malkavian Fish and ends up errand girl to Prince Sebastian LaCroix. In this reality, though, she lives through something much closer to the standard Bloodlines plot (albeit filtered through the “all tech is at least kinda 50s sci-fi” lens of Fallout) – including saving Heather Poe instead of Victor, and finding nothing in the Giovanni basement except regular old zombies. She pushes through all the bullshit of Camarilla vs Anarchs vs Kuei-Jin vs Sabbat, convinces Heather to leave when it transpires she’s being really badly affected by Alice’s Malkavian blood (to the point of luring a guy to the haven and then locking him in the bathroom for Alice to eat), and eventually chooses the independent life, killing Ming-Xiao, letting LaCroix blow up with his tower, and flipping off the Anarchs when they try to recruit her. She flees Los Angeles completely shortly thereafter, and spends most of the rest of the next seventy-odd years on the move around America, avoiding possible reprisals from the Camarilla and watching the world go to hell in a handbasket with resources running out and the war for the last great oil pipeline. She finds shelter in Boston in October 2077, and is sleeping away the day in a presumed-safe building when the bombs drop. While she’s luckily buried in a sunlight-blocking pile of rubble, she’s also staked by a falling beam. . .and remains so for the next two centuries. . .

Victor Van Dort, on the other hand, is born in 2050, to Nell and William Van Dort of Burtonsville. William is in the fish business, and moves his family to the USA when Victor is still just a baby to seek new opportunities. What he and his wife and son get is the New Plague, forcing them to stay in Massachusetts due to quarantine measures. Despite this, William still manages to become a fish cannery mogul, making millions off his automated factories. Victor himself grows up almost entirely confined to the house and gardens, cared for and taught by a variety of robots until he was fourteen and it was deemed safe enough for him to attend a normal high school. The gardens taught him to love nature, but his caretakers taught him to love science and technology – while still a hobbyist lepidopterist, Victor is much more a tinkerer and technician in this world. Having to help fix the family’s Protectron driver, Mayhew, when he falls apart almost right in front of you will do that to a boy! He’s just more comfortable with machines than people – a fact that doesn’t make him popular in school.

In his senior year of high school, Victor is pushed to date Victoria Everglot by his parents, seeing her family’s noble history (some relative way-back-when in England was a Grand Duke) as a good way to improve their own social standings. Victor goes along with it after realizing he likes Victoria herself a fair bit, and the two soon become boyfriend and girlfriend. A few months into the relationship, though, Victor comes across a gravely-injured Emily Merrimack-Cartwell in the park, the victim of an elopement that turned out to be an excuse to rob and murder her. Victor is able to rush her to the hospital in time, and the two become friends in the aftermath. Victoria, noticing that they seem to have a growing attraction, decides she doesn’t want Victor to feel obligated to continue dating her if he’d prefer to be with Emily and actually encourages them to go to prom together. They agree after confirming she’s okay with that, and that she won’t be missing out herself. They start out having a good time together, but midway through Victoria goes to the ladies’ room and doesn’t return. Victor and Emily, concerned, go looking for her and find her being menaced by none other than Emily’s ex Barkis – apparently not satisfied with what he got off Emily, he’s now trying to rob and possibly kidnap Victoria. Victor and Emily take him down and get him carted off to jail, to Victoria’s eternal gratitude. The experience bind them all together as a trio, and – coupled with the discovery that Victoria and Emily feel much the same about each other as they do about Victor – they decide to just all date each other and see where the chips fall.

And then the draft comes and Victor is yanked into military service. He ends up a combat engineer in the Engineer Corps, and is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, aka “Fox Company.” While he makes some friends in fellow soldiers Nate Howard and Sam “Bonejangles” Thatcher, Victor loathes his experiences as a soldier, especially as his unit is protecting the Alaskan Pipeline on the Alaska border and watching as the US annexes Canada. Things come to a head when his commanding officer tries to get him to shoot two Canadian kids who were throwing rocks at their camp – an enraged Victor shoots the officer instead, then gets wrapped up in a sudden enemy attack on said camp (a small company of Chinese infiltrators in stealth suits -- one accidentally decloaked in his surprise over Victor killing his target), spiriting the kids to safety before managing to save the rest of his company via fast fixing of their defenses and rigging up some explosive power armor. The chaos makes it impossible for the upper brass to know for sure Victor killed the officer (though they’re deeply suspicious), and the fact that everyone else is calling him a hero (plus his father being willing to pay good money for his son’s safe return) leads to him going home for good. Having married Victoria while on leave earlier, they take in Emily as a “live-in friend and help around the house” (wink wink), and the three move to the little community of Sanctuary Hills. They have a good couple of years there, culminating in the birth of Victor and Victoria’s son Shaun. Victor, despite his worries about the resource shortages, the war with China, and his own government possibly looking for a way to silence him whenever he makes his opinions about same known, starts thinking that maybe things can be all right for him and his family at least. . .

And then, on October 23rd, 2077, the bombs hit. Victor and his family get to Vault 111 just in time, and are processed and cyronically frozen as per the experiment. However, things go bad with a security staff revolt, and the frozen family is left easy pickings for some mysterious scientists to come in, shoot Victoria, and kidnap Shaun right before Victor’s horrified eyes. When he is revived again, he finds that the life support failed for the rest of the residents (including Emily, whose pod partially thawed her and left her half-rotted), leaving him the sole survivor – apart from his missing son. He escapes the vault and returns to what’s left of Sanctuary Hills, vowing to find Shaun.

Finding Shaun turns out to be more difficult than imagined – the world above is a dangerous place, and Victor is ill-prepared to deal with it. Fortunately, he makes some friends right off the bat – his old Mr. Handy Codsworth; a German Shepherd waiting for him at the local Red Rocket, who is later revealed to be named Dogmeat; and Preston Garvey, last of the Commonwealth Minutemen, whom Victor saves from raiders at the Museum of Freedom in Concord while looking for other signs of life. Victor welcomes Preston and his settlers to live in Sanctuary, and joins up with Preston’s efforts to revive the Minutemen and make it a force for good in the wasteland (being named General by Preston in the process, a move that baffles him and his 2 Charisma). Helping settlers leads him down to Diamond City, where he was told by slightly-psychic Mama Murphy he could find some help. He befriends reporter Piper Wright there, and ends up getting her help to find her missing friend detective Nick Valentine when it transpires he – and with him, Victor’s best hope for finding Shaun – has vanished.

And during their adventures to track down Nick’s precise location, they come across a raider base, are attacked by a raider who yanks a bloody stick out of a pile of rubble – and are introduced to Alice when she bursts from the rubble and sucks the guy dry. Alice hastily informs them that she’s not a threat to them (she was just thirsty after, you know, two centuries of being staked), and they end up trusting her enough to take down the rest of the raiders with her. Victor does his best to explain what’s happened to her, and she does her best to explain her vampiric nature to him. Feeling bad for her, and like he’s finally found a kindred spirit in all this (uh, no pun intended), he invites her to travel with him, switching to a night time schedule to accommodate her. . .at least, until they go to a certain quarry mined by Dunwich Borers to clear out the raiders there. . .