#auroulette2023

[astriiformes]

AU Roulette Challenge

What is AU Roulette? A casual fic-writing challenge encouraging authors to play around with different types of alternate universe stories, which will be randomly assigned to each participant regardless of the fandom they sign up with. The goal of the challenge is to encourage creativity and get authors to write fics with premises they might not otherwise have considered, with varying difficulty levels of participation for writers of all experience levels.

How does it work? Writers will be able to sign up with their fandom of choice starting Monday, July 31st. Sign-ups will run for one week, at the end of which each participant will be assigned three AUs from a masterlist using a random number generator. Each author will then have the choice of completing the challenge on easy (writing one of the AUs), medium (writing two of the AUs) or hard mode (writing all three AUs). Any fic exceeding a 500-word minimum will be considered a completion, so long as it employs the AU premise. The fic-writing period of the challenge will run for a month. Fics can be posted at any point during this time, and authors will have the option of having them added to an Ao3 collection for the challenge if they desire. They can also be posted to tumblr using the tag #AUroulette2023.

What kind of AUs will be included in the challenge? The AU Roulette challenge will focus largely on popular, staple AU types with broad applicability to any fandom or relationship type. For example, a possible result might be something like a Time Travel AU (encompassing all the possible subsets, such as fix-it time travel, time loops, or other tropes under the same umbrella), but more restrictive AU types like a Soulmate AU that make assumptions about the author's interpretation of character relationships in canon have been intentionally kept off the AU masterlist. The official list of AUs will be kept under wraps until assignments are given, but will have over 30 different prompts to ensure authors receive a good variety of options, and if you have suggestions or concerns about what AUs are being included, feel free to reach out.

What if I get an AU type that doesn't work for the canon I chose? Limited re-rolls will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. For example, if you signed up to write fic for His Dark Materials and ended up getting a Daemon AU, your result would automatically be re-rolled. Similarly, if you were writing for a different fandom entirely but were unfamiliar with what a Daemon AU entailed and wanted to write something you didn't have to research the premise of, I would likely approve a re-roll (However, you would be free to give it a try! My goal is for this challenge to be accessible to people with all levels of familiarity with fic tropes, so you are also welcome to reach out and ask about your assignment).

You are also encouraged to be as creative as you want with your interpretation of your assigned AUs, which may help with making them fit. The goal of this challenge is to encourage weird, creative fanfic, not to have every author who rolls the same result write cookie-cutter versions of the same types of stories. If you were to get a Coffee Shop AU, for example, there is no requirement that the coffee shop in question be a real-world 21st-century Earth Starbucks. In fact, deviating from the mold is highly encouraged. So long as you can make a case that you filled the loose premise of your AU type, you will get credit for having completed it.

Can I participate if I am not a writer? AU Roulette is a fanfic writing challenge, so official sign-ups are for those interested in writing (regardless of skill level or experience writing AUs). However, if you are interested in the challenge but not in writing fic for it, consider having a look at the #AUroulette2023 tag or the official AU Roulette 2023 collection on Ao3 once authors have begun posting their stories. If one of them really speaks to you, it might be a nice gesture to draw a piece of art, make a playlist, or create some other fanwork inspired by the fic and share it -- in which case you would also be more than welcome to use the official tag!

(Authors are of course also welcome to do this for their or other participants' stories, too.)

How do I sign up? I will be reblogging this same post with a link to a Google form for sign-ups on Monday, July 31st! Watch this space and feel free to send me any questions you have about the challenge!

Looking forward to seeing the AUs everyone creates!

[anistarrose]

Angus McDonald and the Shop Teacher’s Secret

squeaking in under the wire for AU Roulette 2023! this was for the prompt "urban fantasy"

Angus was eight when he first read about changelings — in a book that he checked out from the library out of boredom, really. Boredom and disappointment, when he saw the new Caleb Cleveland wasn’t in yet. But what he read within, the descriptions of the fae children that swapped out for humans, well…

They were familiar. In a way that scared him at first, but over the years, began to excite him more and more — because maybe, just maybe, Angus could be like this for a reason.

Most obviously, he acts older than his age, and people notice, with some finding it unnerving. He can lie, but finds it so much easier to imply something false by omission. He’s mildly allergic to nickel, which isn’t quite the same as being repelled by cold iron, but that might just be a trait that varies among individual fae!

His parents are dead and his grandpa doesn’t remember enough to care for him anymore, so he has no one to ask stories about his birth, or early childhood — to ask if he acted more like a human, once — and he certainly does not remember every living in a faerie world, but the evidence is compelling nonetheless.

Most compelling of all — the thought that there might be more people out there who are like him. Who would like him, and actually treat him as one of their own.

And he’s starting to suspect, actually, that one of those people might be his middle school shop teacher.

(keep reading on ao3!)

[specialagentartemis]

Wolf 359 historical AUs I would/will/want to write for AU Roulette if I can summon the time & energy:

Nineteenth Century Whalers. Captain Minkowski is captain of the whaling ship Hephaestus but the ship's figurehead is an image of the goddess Hera and also she can talk don't question it. It is a shitty ship and shitty crew and shitty job. There are only three of them because reasons. They are chasing a mystical White Whale for their boss back in Boston which they aren't even sure exists. They find Lovelace marooned on an island; the captain of the previous crew sent after the Whale by Mr. Cutter. She has 19th Century Novel Trauma Amnesia. She can't remember what happened to her. (What happened to her was her whole crew died and the whale rammed and destroyed her ship and she was swallowed by the whale and spent an undisclosed amount of time in the belly of the whale before being ejected Changed.)

1200s BCE Aegean. Captain Minkowski is once again the captain of a ship, a like, knockoff Argo with the rejected Argonauts trying to find some mystical artifact like the Golden Fleece (the Golden Apples that grant eternal life?) for her wanax. It's part of her mandatory military service the way Late Helladic Mycaenean city-states would do. For Eiffel it's a punishment and he does not want to go on this quest at All. Their boat can talk because magic and they named it the Hera after the queen of the gods as a blatant attempt to curry favor with a powerful goddess for protection. Lovelace has once again been shipwrecked, betrayed by the wanax and the gods and Very Angry about it.

Western. I don't know enough about Westerns to construct a plot but Minkowski is one of the Eastern European immigrants they sent to Texas to try to build up the white population and Lovelace is the daughter of a well-off Black family from New York so what is she doing in Texas and Hera is Eiffel's talking horse that he stole. Or maybe she stole him. They disagree. Cutter is probably trying to single handedly annex and become emperor of Mexico.

[fandomsnstuff]

This is for that au roulette thing i reblogged uhh yesterday

AU: Community theatre

Barry's in hell. He died in a horrific car crash and everything that's happened in the last hour has been the universe punishing him for stealing Alex J's cupcake on the last day of 3rd grade. This is the only explanation.

It couldn't possibly be because he's smitten for a very pretty girl he's known only since he forced himself to socialise and volunteered to do lights at the city theatre. How long has it been? Three weeks? Twenty years? Fifteen minutes? 

But she caught him singing to himself and convinced him to sing to her for real. Then when the guy playing the titular character turned out to be an absolute jerkwad, he was shoved into an audition room and now he's sitting in a chair trying not to cringe as Taako paper machés half his face. 

Why they decided to do Phantom of the Opera, Barry will never understand. Their funding is about 20 dollars and a paperclip, but the things Magnus can rig up with some plywood and a quick trip to Home Depot are truly magical. 

The dressing room door opens and in the mirror he sees Lup come up behind him, very obviously suppressing a smile. 

"You're laughing at me," he deadpans.

"No I'm not!" She looks offended at the notion. "It just looks silly before the mask is painted." 

He chances a look at himself, and she's not wrong. There's some glue-water dripping down his chin, he has a makeshift cotton-ball-and-medical-tape eyepatch, and there's a full colour Garfield comic across his forehead. "I can't believe I agreed to this." 

"You'll do great." 

He resists the urge to shake his head as Taako puts another strip of paper on his face. Moving too much is what got him stuck with Garfield. "I haven't been on a stage since I was thirteen. I'm a backstage kind of guy."

"Who can sing like a leading man." 

His face flushes, and even with his half vision he can see Taako roll his eyes. "I'm just glad Greg's finally fucked off," he says. "That guy was getting way too into it." 

Barry frowns. "Really? How?" 

Taako snorts. "You know that guy who played the joker who left, like, gross shit on people's doorsteps?" 

"Nnnnno? I'm not really a celebrities kinda guy." 

Taako covers up the Garfield strip with the last of the newspaper (probably because he knows Lucretia would throw a paintbrush at him if she had to cover a full colour comic with the theatre's mediocre paint) and starts washing his hands. "Well some dude was being a freak about playing the joker cause he's "method" and Greg was also being a freak." 

"It was like he was trying to be the phantom of this theatre," Lup says, "but he didn't seem to realise it doesn't work when we all know he's doing it." 

"Well, I, uh," Barry clears his throat, "I promise I won't be a freak? But, you know, who's gonna do lights now? I mean I-" 

"Magnus," Taako says, flicking the water off his hands. 

"He couldn't take over the phantom?" 

Taako barks a laugh. "Trust me, you do not want to hear Maggie sing." 

"He's not that bad," Lup defends.

"He's not that good either. He's better off sticking to Shakespeare and woodworking." 

Barry's eyebrows raise. "Shakespeare?" 

"Face," Taako scolds. Barry drops his surprise back to neutral. "But yeah, the guy can't sing for shit, and he won't be acting in any blockbusters any time soon, but jeezums can he recite a soliloquy." 

"I can actually understand ol' Willy Shakes when Magnus does it," Lup says. "He was Macbeth last year." 

"Oh, I remember that!" Barry says, "my mom and I came, and afterwards she kept saying how-" 

He's cut off by loud, thundering steps out in the hallway. Somewhere outside the door a booming voice shouts, "TO BE, OR NOT TO BE," the door's thrown open and reveals Magnus, "THAT is the question." 

The three of them stare at him, bewildered. He smiles, "I heard someone say Shakespeare?"

[bakageta]

For @astriiformes's AU Roulette! The prompt was Fairytale and the fic ended up being not so much a literal fairytale AU as a metaphorical one where everyone is happy and gets along and Sleeper and Toxin get in petty discussions in the middle of the night like the shithead siblings they are. Also they talk about fairytales.

"Why do you look like that?" Sleeper asked from their perch on the back of their father's couch, imperious and cat shaped.

Like what? Toxin responded in the chemo-signal language of symbiotes.

"Like a pile of spaghetti."

Toxin was spread over Eddie’s coffee table, a mass of burgundy tendrils squirming and tapping against anything he could reach without having to touch the carpet. He wasn’t bothering with anything so complex as a mouth or eyespots. Sleeper wondered if it was because he couldn’t or because he didn’t want to before deciding that they didn’t really care about the answer.

What’s that?

“Pasta? Long, thin pasta in a tomato sauce? Surely you've at least seen it?"

A sense of amusement exuded from Toxin and a green-tongued grin split his mass. "Of course I've heard of spaghetti, and don't call me Shirley."

Sleeper winced at the subpar wordplay. Their tail tip twitched irritably. "I cannot wait until your host takes you back to South Africa."

Toxin only laughed obnoxiously. "Did gramps ever tell you any stories, Uncle Sleeps?"

"Never call me that."

"Sure," Toxin lied. He also made eyespots, specifically so he could stare expectantly at Sleeper. They could feel the weight on their plasma. “Jubulile’s parents told her folktales and fairytales and stories. Pops never did anything but try to kill me.”

“My other parent shared sense memories with me while I was at Alchemax,” Sleeper said when it became apparent that Toxin wasn’t going to leave them alone. “Father shared music and made sure Dr Steven knew which songs I liked best for when he wasn’t in the lab.”

“But no stories?” Toxin appeared to be trying to make legs, four of them connected to a shape much larger than Sleeper’s own but still covered in tendrils.

“No.” If Sleeper was curt, maybe Toxin would stop pestering them.

"That's kinda sad." Toxin was wriggling around on the table now like he was figuring out how to make a spine. "I mean not as sad as my dad trying to kill and eat me, but still."

“It isn’t sad at all.”

“Nah, it’s sad.” Toxin rolled onto his feet and shook like a dog until he had a be-snouted head and tendrilled tail. He looked like a four-legged muppet or a mop turned into an animal.

"It isn't."

"Yeeeah," Toxin's grin was wide. "Except it is."

"Fine." Sleeper jumped to the floor. Father's bedroom, the one he shared with their other parent and Flash Thompson, was just down the hallway. The lack of fairytale story could easily be rectified and then Toxin wouldn't be able to make any more comments.

Toxin followed clumsily, amusement radiating outwards from him.

The door was closed but not locked and there weren't any noises except for habitual breathing. Sleeper opened the door just enough to slip in, ignoring Toxin barreling in behind them, darted across the room, and leapt silently onto their father's bed, landing directly on his chest and knocking the breath from his lungs. 

Their father woke with a gasp. He sprang into a seated position, clutching Sleeper to his chest. "What’s wr–" Toxin bowled father over in his uncoordinated scramble onto the bed as he followed Sleeper. 

"Wha's happening?" Flash yawned, woken up by Toxin's jostling. 

"Father never told me any fairytales when I was just-spawned and Toxin says that's sad. I need to hear a story so he'll stop," Sleeper explained, reasonably. 

"I didn't–"

"That is kinda sad," Flash agreed. 

"Told you so!" Toxin yelled from the foot of the bed. 

"We listened to music together!" Their father protested. He settled Sleeper in his lap as he sat up again and their other parent cradled them in its tired mass.

"Still kinda sad."

"What am I supposed to do about that, Flash? I can't just go back in time and tell them a fairytale!"

Flash raised a challenging eyebrow. Toxin crept closer.

“I don’t really know any fairy tales,” their father said. “I always considered them too juvenile.”

“You expect me to believe you don’t know any stories?” Flash challenged. “You’re a damn reporter!”

“Exactly! I’m an investigative journalist, not a- a literature teacher! I–” father cut himself off. The frustration Sleeper had been sensing from their father cleared. He must have remembered something. “How about a tale of kingship, murder, and revenge?”

Sleeper knew enough about human children to realize that the story their father was offering them probably wasn’t meant for children. They also knew enough to realize that they’d probably prefer the story their father was offering over any true fairy tale. 

“That sounds ideal.” They purred, their other parent clinging and sharing feelings of interest and warmth. Their father’s hand settled on top of them.

Toxin edged close enough to rest his chin on their father’s leg, slow and cautious. Father ruffled Toxin’s tendrils with his free hand and their other parent extended tendrils to him. There was no hesitation in either of them. Sleeper decided that even if Toxin was insufferable, he could stay.

“Hundreds of years ago, in Scotland, when kings were common and wars were fought with blades, two generals sought shelter from a storm within an isolated shelter,” Father began. "Three weird sisters– witches most likely –welcomed them with prophecy. ‘All hail, Macbeth!’ shouted the first sister–”

“You’re telling them Macbeth?” Flash asked, bemused.

“Shut up, Thompson.” Toxin craned his head unnaturally to shoot a Look at father’s human partner. “Nobody asked you.”

Their father chuckled softly at Flash’s flummoxed expression and continued the story.

[eighthdoctor]

Five Times Adjunct Professor Jaina Proudmoore Made Unwise Decisions Involving The Local Mafia And One Time She Learned Absolutely Nothing And Continued To Do That

or the 5+1 academia/mafia au we...yeah no i don't know where this came from either. blame @astriiformes for the challenge.

[kreauxlighe]

NEW FIC! OUTLAW STAR OF THE 31ST CENTURY!

Fandom: MP100 Rating: T Summary: Reigen Arataka, outlaw, and his band of outlaws-in-training take on a simple job picking up a suitcase and then delivering said suitcase. The money is really good. Like. REALLY good. Which probably isn't a red flag.

This is a fun lil thing i did for the 2023 AU Roulette challenge! i wasn't able to post it on time because Life but i still really really like it and want to share it with yall 😊

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Winds Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 811 Chapter: 1 of 7 Warnings: None

“You’re allowed to take a holiday too, you know,” Laura says. She’s sitting across the pub table from Robbie, tan and relaxed, having just returned from ten days in Crete. Outside, rain is falling steadily, rivulets sliding down the window behind Laura’s head, the street beyond a watery blur.

“Might be nice to see the sun again,” Robbie says. He saw plenty of sun in the Virgin Islands—too much at times—but after two years he’d rather gotten used to it. Six months and an entire winter back in Oxford and the grey and the wet are weighing on him more than he expected. It’s technically spring now, but the weather hasn’t caught up with the calendar. Not that Oxford spring necessarily heralds sunshine and warmth anyway.

“Plenty of sun in Crete,” Laura says, tapping her finger on the edge of her glass. “Italy as well. Flights are cheap right now. Lago di Garda maybe?”

Robbie hums noncommittally. Though, Italy doesn’t sound terrible right at this moment.

“Val visited the lake with her family when she was a child, she always talked about going back. Used to tell the children bedtime stories about it,” Robbie says, and it doesn’t sting quite as much saying her name, it’s a happy memory, the stories she told and how much the children loved them. “Ancient creatures that live at the bottom of the lake and protect the entire valley from harm, lemons and olives that grow all winter long, enchanted winds with healing powers.”

“Maybe you should give it a go, then.”

The Names of All the Winds on Ao3

[lilbittymonster]

An Owl In Limsa

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Warrior of Light/Estinien Wyrmblood Characters: Estinien Wyrmblood, Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Tataru Taru, Alberic Bale, Y'shtola Rhul, Original Characters Additional Tags: Modern AU, Urban Fantasy, astriiformes's AU Roulette Challenge 2023, Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drinking Summary:

A mysterious stranger enters the headquarters of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Limsa Lominsa branch, in search of a missing person and relic. He neglects, however, to specify what to do with both once they are found.

Alternatively; what if the Warrior of Light decided to help Estinien's escape from Ishgard instead of hinder it?

[yell0wsalt]

New Fic: Blooming

Rating: G

Pairing: Lin Beifong/Tenzin

Word Count: 1,186

Summary: Tenzin works at his family's bakery. There's a customer one day that catches his eye.

full fic below:

It was the way she looked when she walked in his family’s bakery.

The way her face pinched in concentration, scoping out all the options they had to offer.

The way she leaned into his stupid jokes.

“Could I get two loaves of bread, please?”

“Sure, I’ve got just what you knead.”

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head in mirth. “That was so stale.”

“You think so? I think I can dough better.”

“Not bad, not bad. Throw in another loaf with my order. It’s the yeast I could do for you making me laugh.”

When their fingers brushed passing off the several loaves of bread to her, the leap in his chest was too strong to ignore.

Her shy smile in response. She peeked over her shoulder for a final glance and nod goodbye before turning the corner out of sight with her goods.

It was then he realized how he needed to see her again.

His reverie was broken by tempered snickers coming from his brother and sister who have been sitting off to the side on break, watching the interaction unfold.

“Looks like someone fancies a Beifong,” Bumi teased. 

Kya clapped her hands and stared off to the distance dreamily. “Oh, how I can hear the wedding chapel bells already!”

He rushed over to them in a panic.

“You know who she is? Tell me!” Grasping Bumi by his collar to pull him in with a forceful grip.

“Easy, Tenzin. Relax,” pushing his grip to the side. He smoothed the wrinkles in his shirt. “That’s Miss Lin Beifong. She’s one of the hostesses at the Flying Boar Tavern owned by her mother.”

“Lin Beifong of the Flying Boar Tavern,” speaking slowly, savoring the taste of her name on his lips. Tenzin smiled quietly to himself. He liked it. 

Raising a curious brow, Bumi leaned into Kya’s ear. “Looks like Tenz has got it bad already.”

A fervent nod and hum in agreement.

“Are you thinking about going to see her?” Kya asked.

His face flushed a bright pink. “See her?”

Bumi stood from his chair for a playful nudge before wrapping a strong arm around Tenzin’s shoulder. “Yeah! Why not? Go over to her tavern, profess your undying love, follow the fancy courtship dance and song, you know.” 

Bright pink deepened to a heated red. “I- I can’t do that, are you out of your mind?!”

A casual shrug of his shoulders. “I mean, sure, why not? But you don't know when she’s going to come back again, or if she even will. Take a chance, Tenzin, she’ll appreciate the initiative.” 

Take a chance, Tenzin. Thoughts drifted to her– Lin– once more and he steeled his nerves.

“You might be onto something, Bumi.” He puffed his chest, amping up his courage. “Yeah, I can do this.”

****

Stepping into The Flying Boar Tavern, the confident pep tak he gave himself earlier in the day was left at the door, and he deflated being completely out of his element.

Around a small stage where live music played, patrons swayed side to side jovially, obnoxiously singing out of tune in their drunken stupors.

Tenzin gave them a wide berth and tried to scope the rest of the scene in search of Lin.

She has to be at the bar table in the back, right?

Realizing the barrier between there and where he stood was the masses wreaking of sweat and alcohol, he blanched. Nevertheless, he had to take a chance, so he took his first step forward.

****

Too long was he jostled around like a limp ragdoll by random patrons in his journey to the back of the tavern, but by the grace of a higher power, he made it. Weary from the ordeal, he took an open seat and hung his head, letting out a breath of relief.

“Looks like you’ve had a day.”

The familiar voice snapped him from his weary state and eyes floated to hers. Lin.

Green eyes sparkled with interest. “Hey, it’s you from the bakery earlier today!”

He brought a hand to the back of his neck, bearing a sheepish grin. “Yeah, my brother recommended I check out this place, so here I am.”

“Here you are.”

A long pause as they stared at each other.

“You know you’re supposed to place an order, right?” Eyes crinkled delightfully.

“Yeah, right, I’ll take uhhhh whatever you have on tap?”

She raised a dubious brow. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Half a minute later, she dropped off a pint of ale in front of him.

“Here you go, ummm…,” trailing off in a question.

“Tenzin,” he supplied.

Lips curved to an easy smile. “Tenzin. Lin, by the way.”

“Thank you, Lin.”

Gingerly, he brought the mug to his face and caught his reflection in the drink before taking a sip.

He fruitlessly tried to fight the bitter grimace on his face.

“Not much of a drinker, are you?” eyes playfully focused on his reaction, she smirked.

A dry laugh to himself. “That obvious?”

“Maybe.”

Tenzin tried to take another sip, but his spine stiffened in rejection.

“You know–” a hand reached for his to gently bring down the mug. “You don’t have to keep at it if you don’t like it,” she chuckled.

He choked out a thanks.

“I have water or barley tea, too, if you’d like.”

“I’ll have tea if you don’t mind.”

“Coming right up.”

****

“Be honest with me.”

Tenzin’s eyes flitted up to reach hers after finishing a sip of his tea. “Hm?”

Elbows propped up on the table, Lin rested her head in one of her hands. “Clearly you don’t have a taste for alcohol. Why would you stop by a tavern of all places? And mine by chance when there are several other places around town that may be better suited to your tastes?”

Tenzin began to open his mouth to formulate a response.

“Listen, I think you like me, and to be honest I like you, too,” she continued.

Immediately his jaw snapped shut, cutting off what he had planned to say, settling for a, “you do?”

She nodded. 

“Because you’re right. I like you as well. You’re quite perceptive, Lin.”

“I get that a lot. But you’re also an easy read.”

He huffed a laugh. “So, what do you say about me taking you on a date?”

“I–”

A shout from the opposite side of the table cut her off. “Lin! What the hell have you been doing all this time? I’m not paying you to sit around and pick up on the customers. Not our business!”

Lin bristled in embarrassment; her face turned a bright pink. “Mom! That’s not– ugh, no mind.” She rolled her eyes at the interruption before bringing her attention back to Tenzin.

“Looks like I have to get back to work, but I’d love that. How about we meet at the town center midday on the morrow.”

He nodded in confirmation. “I’ll be there.”

“Perfect. Until then, Tenzin.” Lin swiftly left to return to other customers.

Watching her leave, Tenzin smiled dumbly to himself. It’s a date.

[mismagireve]

Eberron was a strange place.  Very different from Earth.  Very different from Cybertron. But there were still similarities to be found, if one looked for them. A purpose-built, disenfranchised people, failed by their leadership, being called to the banner of a charismatic warlord? Ha.

it's been so long since i published a thing that i forgot to link my entry for #auroulette2023!

i have brainrot for optimus and soundwave in eberron.

[astriiformes]

IDK if you did mention this or I'm making it up, but I feel like you said you'd post the actual list you picked from for the AU roulette challenge at least partway through the month? (I didn't make the signups on time :') and probably would've procrastinated anyway oops, so I've been curious)

Thanks!

No, you remembered right! I was hanging onto it for a while in case anyone wanted to make requests for a second fandom, but I never actually got any secondary prompt requests, so i decided to wait until the end of the challenge instead.

My AU list was as follows:

1 - Pacific Rim/mecha 2 - Star Wars/space opera 3 - Roleswap 4 - Superhero 5 - Vampire 6 - DnD/fantasy 7 - Star Trek/space exploration 8 - Post-apocalypse 9 - Fairytale 10 - High seas 11 - Time travel 12 - Western 13 - Daemon 14 - Mythology 15 - Coffee shop 16 - College/academia 17 - Community theater 18 - Summer camp 19 - Ghost/cryptid hunters 20 - Secret agent 21 - Sherlock Holmes/detective 22 - Cyberpunk 23 - Medieval/Renaissance 24 - 1920s/Prohibition 25 - Road trip 26 - Your job 27 - Indiana Jones/archaeologist 28 - Heist 29 - Your favorite historical era 30 - Band/musicians 31 - Farm/ranch 32 - Lovecraftian/cosmic horror 33 - Urban fantasy 34 - Roller derby 35 - Shakespeare/classic lit

If I ever run the challenge again, I would probably keep some of the same AUs on the master list just because I chose classics for a reason, but I might randomize which ones stay in and which ones get replace just for an extra layer of roulette.

[shadowen]

Summary:

Nile isn’t sure what she expected self-professed “demonologists” to look like, but the two guys sitting across from her are definitely not it.

Notes:

Written for AU Roulette 2023. The prompt was "Urban Fantasy", so I developed more of the Demonologist AU I've been noodling, with sincere gratitude and apologies to the memory of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Additional thanks to @nimblermortal for the beta! Will I write more of this story? Who can tell. For now, enjoy.

[tmae3114]

*skids through the door and SLAMS this fic down on the table* IT'S STILL THE TENTH OF SEPTEMBER SOMEWHERE, TECHNICALLY I MADE THE DEADLINE

DRAGONFABLE PACIFIC RIM AU! ENJOY!

[timelessmulder]

Five Pulses in Time

The Postie's little family has fallen apart. Gone their separate ways. Died. Some are doing better than others. Daemon AU

hey did you know. did you know that getting a daemon au for a series where the kick off involves souls in machines let me be fucked up about it? (:

[bakageta]

Sliding in under the wire, here's my final fic for the AU roulette! This one is a Vampire AU. I went with emotional vampirisim, because there's already enough threats of cannibalism in canon. I have vague ideas about how things happen differently in this AU and I might end up writing more for it later. @kitausuret, I wrote about ya boi again!

Their patrol was wrapping up when Venom caught the scent of the most deliciously complex and tangled depression. It was the kind of deep darkness that ate people up. The kind of thing they tried to save people from, at least for a little while. It made their mouth water.

Whoever gave off that intangible aroma was just below them, at street level, huddled in a bus shelter. Eddie thought it was odd. The bus had pulled away from that stop a minute ago at most, surely the person hadn’t just missed it? The flavor profile they detected was all wrong for that. More bitter and resentful than angry and frustrated. 

Venom slipped to the ground in a nearby alleyway, and Eddie Brock approached the bus shelter. By the time he reached cover he was damp from the misting drizzle that hadn’t affected him at all as Venom.

“Hell. Did I just miss the bus?” Eddie asked as he shook himself off as much as he could without getting the other person wet. As best he could, Eddie put on the persona of an inoffensive every guy who just happened to be more than 6 feet tall and built like a brick shithouse.

"Yeah." The person was bulky, strawberry blonde, and resigned to conversation. He was also, Eddie noted belatedly, sitting in a wheelchair and not on the shelter's bench. The man would probably be more wary, he assumed, which would make it harder to lull him.

"You miss it too?"

The man snorted. "The wheelchair lift was busted."

"That’s awful." Eddie sat in the middle of the three seat bench and draped his arms across the back rest. His left hand was as close to the other man as he could get while not looking like anything more than a big guy taking up space. Hopefully his other would be able to reach.

"It's life." The man shrugged. 

"Doesn't mean it's okay." Eddie gestured widely with his far hand. “But it’s not really something guys like us can solve on our own.” For a moment, Eddie thought about mentioning the work he did at the F.E.A.S.T. center before thinking better of it. It would definitely come across as patronizing. “I’m Eddie.”

“Flash,” the man said, and his challenging stare made Eddie realize that Flash was probably his name.

“Flash,” Eddie confirmed. Some of the tightness at the corners of Flash’s eyes relaxed. “Do you mind if I practice a monologue? I’m working on my delivery for a community play.”

“Sure, better than awkward silence or small talk.” Flash shrugged. 

"True." Eddie slid into the monologue, one he was actually working on, and built slowly in dramatics. Less than a minute in, Flash was being lulled. It seemed he had assumed wrongly. Eddie hadn't even needed to draw on the harmonics of Venom’s voice to get him into the distracted state of mind that would let them feed on his emotions without Flash noticing what, exactly, they were doing. 

His other reached out from Eddie’s hand and bridged the gap between them. The moment dark alien flesh touched Flash, his emotions opened to them  completely. His depression was a wide bowl of thick, cold soup before them. It was refreshingly tangy and sour, different than their usual fare of criminal terror, innocent discomfort, and the sincere gratitude of those Eddie helped. They swallowed saliva, as Eddie’s body reacted physically to the psychic meal in front of them. 

Wildly, Eddie thought that if more people were like Flash then he wouldn't need his other to sate the hunger their symbiosis had burdened him with. The symbiote prickled complex guilt-apology-resentment-fear at him and he apologized to it as it started lapping up Flash’s depression. Chunks of the man's anger, hate, and bitterness caught on their currently metaphorical teeth like the meat and vegetables of a stew. 

Tangy fear ran down their throat. Flash had somehow woken up. 

"Stuh– stop!"

They did. Eddie went so far as to move to the furthest corner of the bench to his symbiote’s disgruntlement. That had never happened to Eddie in the time he’d been with his other. Flash wasn’t quite backed into the corner opposite him, but his hands were poised over the wheels of his chair ready to charge past Eddie. 

"What the hell was that?"

Eddie also wanted to know. Flash should have been out for as long as they needed him to be while they ate his depression. 

Good match. The symbiote communicated with rare words. Compatible. Want. Like. Love?

Darling? Eddie prompted. Emotions ebbed into his mind: they were his other's from when it first tasted him. It felt the same way now. Apparently the symbiote who'd turned him into an emotional vampire had a type. 

It squirmed but made no denials. 

"–you okay?" Flash had rolled closer to them for some unknown reason. "I just wanna know what you did, I feel… not better. But less like shit."

"I– we–" Eddie raised his left hand still covered in the symbiote's writhing feeding tentacles. It took the opportunity to wave at Flash with several. "We were eating your depression. It's not permanent. It'll be back, but it's easier to do something about it when you're not drowning."

"Can it be permanent?" Flash had looked away from them, up the street where neon lights blinked in the wet night. There were a few shops. A few bars, too.

"Not." Eddie swallowed roughly "Not if you want to keep feeling other things."

"That sucks."

"Yeah." 

The next bus was still at least five minutes out, but it wasn't like Eddie and his other needed to wait for it. He turned to leave, symbiote resisting his motion like cold molasses in his muscles, when Flash called out, “You aren’t waiting for the bus?”

“No.” Then, with a nudge from the symbiote, Eddie rolled his eyes and his shoulders and Venom stepped into the rain. “We have other ways of getting home.”

Flash’s eyes widened, almost like he recognized them. Surprise and curiosity radiated from him. It wasn’t the reaction Eddie had expected. The symbiote, however, was smug and pleased at being proven right.

“If you’re not waiting for the bus then what about the play? Is that real?”

“It is.” They confirmed.

“When is it?” Flash rolled to the edge of the bus shelter. “I need to get out of the house more anyway.”

“Next Saturday, at the F.E.A.S.T. Center gymnasium. The doors open at six pm, if we remember correctly.”

“I’ll see you there, then,” Flash said with a grin. “We will look forward to it.” Venom said as they slung up and away, Flash’s grin mirrored on their own face.