#non-senshi au

[random-mailbox]

Random-Mailbox's Favorite Sailor Moon Fics - Week 10 - Non-Senshi AU

Thank you @beej88 for allowing me to use her absolutely amazing art for this post 😘

Non-Senshi AU is one of my favourite tropes in @floraone 's matrix, HOWEVER, I had to balance adding stories to this post as well as keeping some in my back pocket to be used for the upcoming weeks. So if you are not seeing a story that you absolutely love, do not worry - you will most likely see it somewhere in these series. This theme was chosen by @areptiledysfunction1107.

As always, my apologies in advance for spoiling some of these for you (Fic Titles are linked to either FFN or AO3 entries).

Pass the Syrup, Please - @wishwars

Mamoru runs into a grown-up Usagi at the hotel he is staying at while interviewing for a new position. His plan is to try and comeback to Tokyo, having spent many years away due both school and work. This leads to a long weekend-worth of reconnecting with old friends, crossing paths, hurt feelings, and realizations for both.

just an instant gut reaction - Hariboo

A fun Dance themed AU where Mamoru is desperate to find a new partner for his showcase after Ami ends up on crutches. Minako is too busy with her own performance, Rei is a singing major, so who could they be talking about that could help him?

The Heatwave - @reiokiscorner

Usagi has just finished high school and is trying to make the best of her last days of freedom with her best friends before she starts in the photography faculty at the university. Except she is filled with self-doubt, it is crazy hot, and Mamoru is (shockingly) not being very helpful with his snide comments. I really hope that we get that Epilogue someday that @reiokiscorner talked about in her chapter notes. (Side note: this story has actually inspired me to take a photography class with how amazing the technical side of it was written out! I am starting to making progress, right @areptiledysfunction1107​?)

Hikari 27 - @uglygreenjacket

Usagi meets a handsome stranger on a train back home after visiting Makoto to help her set up her new bakery in Osaka. Making a snap decision, she decides that she needs to try and see him again and with Ami’s help finds where he is giving his lecture. This kicks off a tale about train stations, brief visits, and miscommunication that may lead to heartbreak unless Mamoru figures out how to open up.

A (Blind) Date with Destiny! - @daikon1

Minako (a friend Usagi met in university) sets her up on a blind date with Mamoru, without realizing that the two knew each other years ago. Both decide that this is the perfect opportunity to try and make new first impressions on the one person they still can't stop thinking about years later, as they proceed to pretend that they do not actually know each other. It is one of my favourite stories to re-read when I need something light-hearted with a happy ending.

took a faithful leap / i carry you in my heart - tosca1390

These stories are parts 1 and 2 of a Political AU with Usagi running for office on an anti-corruption platform and Mamoru meeting her at the hospital he works at with Ami, and getting pulled into her orbit. We get to watch as our favourite duo figures out a precarious balance of being together in spite of their circumstances.

Next week I am going to cover a few of the currently in progress multi-chapters that have been updated in the last 12 months that I keep hoping to see new entries posted up for, which is technically part 2 to my Unfinished Stories post from September.

Sex Positivity

Established Relationships

Groundhog Day

Darker Stories

Potions 🧪

Reveals

👻Halloween🎃

Wrong Perceptions

[chocolaspring]

Shining Moon

Tsukino Hikaru was a perfectly normal boy, just starting his second year of high school. He was perfectly normal, until confronted by a talking cat who told him he was a warrior.

Taking upon the mantle of Warrior Moon, his duty is to defeat monsters, find his allies, and secure the safety of the prince…if the enemy doesn’t find him first. Like out of a story, the fate of his world depends on it.

But Hikaru quickly learns that being a warrior, being a hero, is nothing like the fairytales and stories he heard as a child.

Life is no fairytale.

As much as there is glory, there is also pain and bloodshed - and not all of it belongs to the enemy. Enemies are not always easily defeated, and sometimes innocent people can not be saved.

--------

^ I made this cover on Canva and am ridiculously proud of how it turned out.

[penny-anna]

Dungeon Meshi modern AU where the gang were gonna do an escape room together but Fallin got sick at the last minute & the tickets were non-refundable so they went without her only to find the escape room needed a minimum of 4 people. They were going to go home but then they got talking to Senshi outside and he's like oh I'll come escape with you.

He turns out to be no good at solving the puzzles but has an inexplicable volume of snacks on his person so when they get stuck they just have a picnic.

[unkat]

More drabbles on the Chilaios ems au. (please see Psiroller's beautiful Stop Smoking, We Love You!)

Takes place after Chilchuck's bad call and talk with Laios.

Rating: M for content, nothing spicy yet

contains non-graphic discussions of pregnancy complications, death of children, cancer; backstory things

----------

When Chilchuck returns to the station after his long weekend and hike with Laios, the sense of dread he had about losing his job has abated, but his guilt over the meeting and anxiety of how his coworkers might react still lingers. He puts his uniform next to his bunk and hovers in the room as he builds up energy to go back into the main areas.

As he steps back into the living room, the whole crew is piled in front of the TV watching some show; no chairs available for him to join in quietly. His palms sweat as all eyes turn on him, leaving him at the mercy of the jury of his peers. Trapped by his employment contract to interact with the men he hasn't spoken to in days after rolling his eyes and scoffing at them for debriefing a call.

Plenty of reason to cause a scene in a lull between the action.

Laios gives a smile from the far seat on the sofa, looking up from his work phone. Someone else speaks to Chilchuck before Laios can open his mouth.

"I saved you the best seat in the house." Isaiah remarks and pats his lap, making no move to shift. Chilchuck can see Laios tense as he tries to decide if he needs to intervene. But this is something he can handle himself.

He saunters over and drops into his lap, shifting a little until he is comfortable. "Thanks, sweetheart." He winks and the other guys jeer at the two of them. He stretches out, and drops his feet onto Dan and head onto Laios. "You really know how to make a guy feel at home, please don't let me interrupt your show."

Dan snickers and grabs his legs to make sure Chilchuck doesn't fall off. He can see Laios covering his mouth with his hand as his chest shakes and he looks away from the rest of the room. Isaiah plays along, "Anything for you, gorgeous." And he pats his stomach before settling back into his seat. The tension that was in the room before has dissipated and the lull returns as they continue to watch King of the Hill. Chilchuck turns his head to see and his hair flops into his face. Laios tucks it away before he can do anything about it.

They make eye contact before Laios has to look away, grin still trying to get onto his face, not that Chilchuck is any better at this point.

Almost at the end of the program, the radio goes off. "Dispatch to Station 9, house fire at address 589 South Pierre Creek Road. Sounds like a backyard barbeque getting out of hand, and the neighbors want it checked out. No injuries reported."

Dan sighs and keys up his radio, "Station 9 to Dispatch, we copy your call for address 589 South Pierre Creek, we will notify you when we are en route."

Chilchuck lifts his legs vertically to let him get up, and Isaiah uses them as a handle to tip him further back and stand up himself. "Sorry gorgeous, but I need to drive the engine."

Chilchuck flops back onto the couch. "Listen, I do more medical only calls than you, I'm doing my job here!"

It gets a few chortles as they leave to gear up. A few minutes later, Isaiah get on the radio as the sirens start and fade into the distance.

It's only him, Senshi, and Laios still in the room after they are gone. Chilchuck looks up at Laios, still not moving from his position laying in his lap. "Hey. Can I talk to you about something?"

Laios looks down at him. "Sure. Do you want to go to the office?"

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Nah, it's not related to this job. It's something someone told me might be good for me to talk about." He shuts his eyes.

"Back when I first started, I was thinkin' about being an EMT for a couple of years before going to paramedic school."

"But then…is this about you not driving?"

"Shut up. Yeah." Chilchuck chuckles. "My work partner and I had a deal, she wanted to keep going with the EMT driving stuff and I had already crashed the truck twice-- never with a patient in the back, stupid shit like backing into a pylon and getting stuck over the curb. I got banished to the passenger's seat, but it worked for us. Gave me practice doing patient care, writing reports, all that shit."

His brows furrow. "I had only just started working when my wife told me she was pregnant, and we got married. We found out we were having twins and I saved all my PTO, all my sick time, talked about taking a leave of absence with my chief, all that stuff. We had a c-section scheduled for 37 weeks, which is pretty good for twins. Pregnancy was rough for her, and it was tough-- it was a high-risk pregnancy, and they were keeping an eye on their size the whole time."

He waves his hand. "There was something called twin-to-twin transfusion that we kept worrying about. Their placentas were too close, and they started getting connected." He meshes his hands together as an example. "The doc hadn't ever seen it like that before, it's only supposed to happen with identical twins who share the same one. Mei was getting bigger than Fler and the docs kept saying it was just something we had to keep an eye on, something we had to watch, come back in two weeks, my schedule isn't available then, Chil can you take a couple hours off to come with me?"

He sighs.

"I was doin' all sorts of overtime with my partner, offering to stay late a couple extra hours to make up for it. And I had other guys who I went through orientation with who were willing to let me ride along without having to do too much driving. We did nights as first on scene emergency BLS, transported if it was BLS appropriate, waited for the paramedic otherwise."

"We were at 29 weeks with the girls, a month and a half out from being a new dad, when we got a call for active labor in our zone. Dispatch asked me if I wanted off the call, because of my wife, and I said are you fuckin' crazy? This is practice for the real deal, send me in."

The room is quiet. Chilchuck speaks again. "We got on scene, and baby was already on his way out. They had been going for a water birth with a midwife, who called us. We had backup coming, but I radioed that in--if the midwife is calling, that means something went wrong."

Laios brushes his fingers through his hair. "They hadn't cut the cord yet, but he was going blue and wasn't crying. I am the medical guy, so I was the one who suctioned his nose and mouth, turned him upside down and slapped him on the back trying to get him to breathe. Then we bagged him, on oxygen, notified dispatch and the medical director. She said to transport. We were less than ten minutes from the nearest women's hospital and waiting for the paramedic wasn't going to make a difference."

He can't speak and Laios says nothing, continuing to pet his hair. Chilchuck opens his eyes. "I was doin' everything they taught us in school, the stuff we always joked would never happen, two finger CPR and pediatric AED and everything. I didn't know if I did something wrong or not. But I lost pulses quick, and the hospital couldn't get them back."

Laios lets him go quiet. "I'm so sorry."

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Don't be. You didn't even know me."

"No, I mean I wish you didn't have to go through that. I'm feel sad for you."

Chilchuck huffs a laugh. "Thanks."

He exhales, relaxing into Laios. "They had another call while we had a smoke outside the hospital, and asked me if I could take it. My crew chief called after it went out and asked me if I needed to come back to the station instead. I said duty calls, we're on it."

He laughs. "Nobody asked if I needed to talk to anyone, I just want home and went to sleep. Afterwards, I didn't know what to say to my wife about it-- I watched someone else's baby die and now I thought our babies were gonna die? So I sat on it, but I was gonna tell her. Then she went into labor two days later, and I had to leave work."

Laios pauses. "How old were they?"

"Twenty-nine weeks and three days. They were so small, less than half the size of the one from my call. It left my heart in my mouth, holding them in my hands, I thought they were going to stop breathing the whole time. Their lungs weren't fully developed either, they had to be tube fed, and they had vision problems."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "All my planning, my saving of my PTO, it was was for nothing, you know? I took a few days off to stay with my wife, we'd go to the NICU in the morning, stay there until it was time to do home, sleep, and do it again. Then I couldn't handle it anymore."

"I went back to work. We brought women to the hospital all the time, but I never told my wife we were there. I felt like I was gonna contaminate them, and bringing money in made sense when she suddenly wasn't working for an extra month. Mei came home after seven weeks, and Fler after nine. Those two weeks was the worst time, cause she had to go back and forth to the NICU to bring milk to Fler while taking care of Mei."

Laios hums his understanding and encouragement. "Did you get some days off then?"

He opens his eyes again. "I didn't offer to take days off, and she didn't ask. We weren't really talking then."

Laios swallows. "That sounds awful."

Chilchuck laughs. "I don't think she ever forgave me for leaving them like that."

Chilchuck goes quiet, throat bobbing as he swallows, opens his mouth, shuts it again, and shrugs, face flushing in embarrassment. Laios keeps his hand in his hair. "You know, I didn't get into EMS right out of high school. I worked at a mechanic's shop where this side of the county brought their trucks for a couple of years. I'd learned a bit from my dad, fixing our car and tractor, but there was a lot of learning I ended up doing on the job."

He smiles softly. "Nothing like Falin. She was good in school, but really good at biology. You know, she was trying to go to med school and cried when she saw an open heart surgery, not because it was scary but because she thought it was so beautiful?"

He looks down at Chilchuck who nods back, listening. "She came out here to go to school, giving up a position at John Hopkins because she wanted to be closer to me, and make connections at Regional. I'd moved out here as soon as I graduated, bought and slept in my car for a couple of months before I could get a job and afford an apartment. I don't regret it, but it was pretty stupid."

He laughs looking to the side, almost wistful. "When she was getting bloodwork done, as a part of her yearly school physical, they found that she had really high, like really high white blood cell counts along with abnormal weight loss. She called me at work and said she had just started an oncology seminar and these were cancer symptoms, that she might have some kind of blood cancer."

"She was so proud of herself for the self-diagnosis, and I was the one freaking out on company time. So, I told my boss it was a family emergency and left. While I was there, I saw the same trucks we would get in the shop at the hospital. It planted the idea in me, you know, that I could do a job I liked rather than one that just put a roof over my head. And maybe I could get some kind of insurance for Falin and I."

He smiles. "So I enrolled in community college EMT classes, got a student loan, and struggled my way through all the classroom bullshit, until I could get on the road. Everything got a lot easier after that for me, but Falin had to take a medical leave halfway through the semester because she was too sick to do her studies. She stayed with me at first, and I would drive her to her appointments and take care of things around the house. Until we went to one of her chemotherapy appointments, and they said she should stay for a couple of nights, to monitor bloodwork. She didn't stay at home much after that."

Chilchuck carefully grabs Laios' hand from its spot tangled in his hair and squeezes it. Laios squeezes back. "That's when I got my job, pretty much. I got my national license and kept pushing ahead, claimed Falin as a dependent on my insurance plan, and worked. I was doing the same thing you were. Bringing people to Regional, thinking I would go see my sister, and realizing I just didn't get the time, and after a point, I wasn't allowed in the same room as her, especially during a shift. Her immune system was too weak, and I was exposed to too many sick people."

Laios rubs his thumb against Chilchuck’s, more of a nervous tick than intentional contact. Chilchuck lets him, opening his mouth to speak.

"She's doin’ better now. What changed?" Laios squeezes his hand.

"She needed a stem cell transplant."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Uh. It's a part of what brought Marcille out here. I saw her on Falin's facebook and saw she worked at a cancer research lab, and I emailed her. We talked."

"And you helped her?"

"Sorta. I was the donor for Falin. Marcille kept talking about our HLAs, protein testing, immunity, medications, experimental therapies. It started going over my head, and she had these medical journals as sources that were. Just. I didn't get it, even when she tried to make it easier. All I cared about was if she could help, what they needed from me. She's amazing, Marcille-- she got Falin and I into clinical trials and took over talking to the oncology team. I don't know what we would have done without her."

Laios gaze wanders off to one of the corners of the room and he goes quiet, the smile having drifted away, replaced by a furrow between his brows. Chilchuck lifts and drops his head back into his thigh. "It all worked out?"

Laios looks back at him and the corners of his mouth perk back up. "Yeah, she's doing better now. And with Marcille here, I don't even hear if there are any problems because she is right there with Falin, and they take care of it. Falin moved in with her after she recovered. Marcille lived closer to the medical school and they were always really close."

"That's good."

"Mhm." Laios lets a moment pass. "I still was worried for a while afterwards. I ended up using the EAP too after Senshi said it might be a good idea to talk to someone about it. I was having dreams and waking up freaking out that she wasn't there, calling her and Marcille way too much. Things are a lot better now."

Chilchuck is the one to squeeze his hand. Laios' smile grows and he squeezes back. "Things work out. They have to."

Chilchuck gives an affirmative hum in response. They should probably move and work on other things, but there is an ease in tension that Chilchuck never realized he had carried into the station, had been carrying for many years alone and coiled in his chest.

He closes his eyes, and Laios does not ask him to move, does not try to slide away, does not untangle their hands. Chilchuck can feel his breath, a silent fond laugh, against his face and can't help it when the corners of his own mouth twitch upwards.

Glossary *BLS=Basic Life Support. Referring to training that is for Emergency Medical Technicians only. BLS trucks have x2 EMTs and no paramedics. *CPR and AED= cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator. Used when someone's heart has stopped. *NICU= Neonatal Intensive Care Unit *EAP= Employee Assistance Program. usually provides some sort of counseling/mental health coverage.

[thyandrawrites]

I see fans often bring up biologist!laios but I feel like senshi is another underrated fellow nerd, right beside him, if not even more dedicated.

Headcanon that in a modern AU people would taste his cooking and assume he has a Michelin star, but then it turns out he not only has a biology degree but he works in a non profit dedicated to wildlife preservation. And he's just. A foodie on the side. Nevermind that every time he vlogs a recipe on youtube he blows up and publishers keep trying to get him contracted for a cookbook. Who has time for that when Karen the elf keeps advocating for outdoor cats on her facebook echo chamber

[fourteengpc]

I keep seeing people talking about dungeon meshi modern aus so these are my takes:

Senshi is an old hippie an outspoken advocate of clean local foods, monster-based and non, and runs the best food truck in the city. It is also, though, hilariously illegal, so he only shows up at odd times and places because he's in this for the passion anyway, not for profit

Laios is a schmuck college student (bio/zoology, he loves the content but is bad at academics and test taking U_U) who often works for Senshi in exchange for food. (As broke as he is, this is an excellent deal) Falin is also a student, (still magic? some kind of science? magitek??) and Marcille is her classmate/girlfriend. She occasionally gets dragged on Laios and Falin's mushroom-hunting hikes, fighting for her life by the end of it bc occasionally one of the siblings will just bound off into the woods like an excited dog and come back covered in dirt and bugs Chilchuck is the local business owner who puts up with these people loitering around his shop-- often talks a big game about kicking them out but rarely actually does anything more than hitting Laios with plastic bottles

Izutsumi, as per canon, is a stray cat that Senshi adopted

[prismatoxic]

happy pride month! for fun, the various queer identities in ptk (these aren't always my default headcanons for canon dunmeshi, often just the ones i like specifically for this AU):

chilchuck: trans man, bi laios: gay falin: pan marcille: bi with a preference for women shuro: bi but socially pressured by his family for so long that he sort of suppresses it namari: lesbian izutsumi: ???? (ace lesbian maybe) senshi: really does not have strong feelings on any of it

jaylark: trans woman, bi meijack: lesbian (considering her also being ace) flertom: bi with a preference for men puckpatti: questioning her gender in a transmasc direction, pan

and for the characters we haven't seen yet (and who i may or may not actually have the space to include in the fic, lmao, but there may be a kabumisu spinoff down the road):

kabru: trans man, gay rin: bi daya: bi ace holm: non-binary (he/him, they/them), pan mickbell: agender (he/him generally, but also he doesn't especially care), gay kuro: nobody really knows (but the truth is he's in love with mickbell and that's all he personally cares about)

mithrun: demi (this was true even before the brain injury, but nobody knew because he was such a charmer which obviously meant he wanted to fuck everybody) pattadol: aroace cithis: lesbian otta: lesbian fleki: honestly who fucking knows. like in theory pan but also she's not putting a label on it lycion: pan with a preference for men

and i know what you're thinking. "wait, does that mean only the touden parents are cishet?" NOPE! but they're religious fundamentalists so they're not about to confront those demons

[ofowlsdinosaursanddragons]

I had a VERY non-canonical Au idea floating around where Kabru and a few others became chimeras and Senshi, Chilchuck, Falin (her also being a chimera), took care of them.

[mobblespsycho100]

roles for all the characters in my Urban Fantasy Dunmeshi AU (Curses & Coffins) so far... (so some peeps aren't mentioned but they still exist i prommy i did not forget abt izutsumi my beloved catgirl izutsumi)

Laios: part time vampire hunter, he usually volunteers at the local library. Working for Thistle for the vague promise of getting turned into a werewolf with magic somehow

Toshiro: exorcist (slash yokai hunter) of the Nakamoto Clan. Afflicted with a mysterious non-hereditary blood curse that makes him a demon / monster magnet

Kabru: pro vampire hunter who's been trained in all the ways of vampire hunting ever since he was a kid. Recently turned vampire which is giving him 100 complexes

Chilchuck: Grave Digger Union Representative

Senshi: Bartender or chef at a local fantasy resto place...

Falin: spirit medium / exorcist ! also does necromancy and healing sometimes

Marcille: Necromancer extraordinaire and a magic scholar

Rin: demigod who's just so cool and has storm related powers. hunts monsters sometimes

Namari: runs a blacksmithing place. also a werewolf (still a dwarf just . werewolf also)

Thistle: mad mage who runs a store with magic knicknacks and such. currently looking for a way to mass produce immortality elixirs for his younger brother Delgal and his family (he has a big family). Employing Laios to hunt vampires because he needs their fangs for stuff (mad science experiments)

The Canaries: Renowned vampire hunters but they also track down other monsters. mostly just there idk anythign

[alevolpe]

How do you feel about Usagi becoming Neo Queen Serenity? Do you like it or do you think it would be better if she didn`t? Do you think she would be a good ruler?

Crystal Tokyo is not my “happily ever after” ending and it’s not my go to for sure. I feel like it can work, but it has to be in the right circumstances. First of all, it’s not a “good ending” and I would not try to frame it a s such.

The ideal “good ending” in my mind is the girls being free from their burden of being senshi, but in my AU, that’s not really possible without a “hard reset” to say. It’s loosely based on a hc I’ve talked about briefly here, but the girls don’t get to just choose to stop transforming and live regular lives. The ultimate goal of the sailor crystals is to have their hosts live as senshi and actually use the powers that form provides, if they choose to live as humans, then what is the point.

Crystal Tokyo can work in the context of “destiny is inevitable, but let’s try to do the best with what we have”. It’s a bitter sweet ending, but again, I feel like it could work.

Here’s my conditions:

Crystal Tokyo is NOT the capital of the world! That is just ridiculous and that’s where I kind of draw the line tbh. Doesn’t matter how omniscient Serenity is, she cannot govern the whole world without it being a genuinely and utter disturbing reality to the level of ‘I have no mouth and I must scream’. CT is a city-state, much like the Vatican is. It has minor influences in politics and the area around them, but for the most part they kind of just stand as an independent city-state and do their own thing.

As stated prior, it’s not a “happy ending” and it would never be framed as such. The future is a terrifying perspective and if everything around them is pushing them to think that CT is the one and only safe option for them then they’ll take it.

No one is “immortal” or has extended lifespans. Usagi and the senshi do, but that comes with the “perks” of being a senshi, it’s not a gift given by the Silver Crystal. (Sorry Mamo..)

Usagi will eventually loose herself in the Silver Crystal and the role of Neo Queen Serenity. It’s something she feels coming and knows will be an inevitability, almost like her mother before her, so she makes sure to evenly split her power among her 4 guardians to ensure a “checks and balances system”. They keep each other sane and the future safe from repeating hard mistakes of the past.

Haruka and Michiru are NOT a part of CT. They refuse and instead opt to live a normal life (due to some hcs revolving them and Pluto, they have the choice to live as regular people, unlike the inners). Usagi has granted them and the others a choice, there’s no animosity between them and Usagi, not so much among the inners toward them tho, to varying degrees. Hotaru gets taken in and adopted by the inners instead, since she doesn’t have a choice about becoming a senshi.

The public opinion toward Crystal Tokyo is not all positive. Doesn’t matter how much love and work the senshi put into their image, decisions and rulings, the public will never be cool with what are basically non-humans to them installing an empire within their planet. Conspiracy theories and attempts at revolutions are rampant among CT, that is why is very rare for the senshi and even less the Queen to leave the Palace.

I do feel like Usagi would try her absolute best at being a great and benevolent leader, but unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that. Most everyone starts with good intentions, but failed diplomatic attempt, after failed diplomatic attempt after attempted assassination, the girls’ heart and will turns ever so bitter and cynical, not Usagi tho, til her last moment of consciousness she strives to remain the best person she could be, she’s just aware she can’t openly be so anymore or she’ll risk her own life. Choosing to live her later life mostly in the quiet of the palace, the senshi being her voice that will be heard to the outside.

There’s a certain feel of ‘doomed destiny’ with CT, this is them accepting that the “moon monarchy’’ is inevitable and is meant to happen. It’s basically a defeat on their part, they lose their individuality and dreams for the future and surrender to this cycle that was meant to be all along.

All the girls have grown out of the more cheerful and optimistic selves, having witnessed the inescapable reality of their own destiny and have been hardened by the crueler aspects of humanity. It’s a bit of a bummer, but it’s not all the “everything is terrible ending”. The girls still have each other, they are still themselves, even if hardened by their surroundings. They still love each other and they basically live for each other at this point, aspects of each other leaving permanent stains that remind themselves of the goods of the world and what they are striving to achieve. There’s still good in the world, it’s just sometimes harder to find.

[bonelessmatcha]

i wanna make a fanfic for dungeon meshi but kui ryoko covered pretty much covered all the themes i like when writing fanfic ideas.

The implications of bad tropes like "evil" sentient races? Orc tribe here; respectfully portrayed refugees/genocide targets, not stupid or unreasonable yet not perfect, (understandably) suspicious yet slowly accepting of the main crew (who was legally obligated to kill them), unique culture heavily based on the environment that kept them alive, on good terms with Senshi.

The implications of character flaws portrayed as a joke? Already addressed in canon and side stories; miscommunication strains relationships, violence can still be traumatizing when you think you're desensitized, consequences can come from both good and bad intentions, and some of the flaws themselves only make sense to exist with the worldbuilding.

Patching holes in worldbuilding? What holes? We got ecosystems, big and small cultural differences, the implications of massive lifespan differences, regional differences in environment and classification, repeated behaviors more common in specific races as a result of sociocultural circumstances, cuisine-

Giving some love to a minor character that isn't treated well by the author? Pretty sure Kui Ryoko cares about all of them already, just about every major or minor antagonist is written in a sympathetic or semi-sympathetic way.

AU? whoops here's a semi-canon Modern AU and Genderswap AU.

If I tried to insert an OC, all the circumstances coming with the worldbuilding would just push them away from most of the canon characters, especially if they're non-humantallman.

(...OCs and AUs are still probably possible, just don't have any immediate ideas coming up.)

[random-mailbox]

Random-Mailbox's Favorite Sailor Moon Fics - College AU

I am back this week with some College AU stories! You can check out the previous 52 weeks of recs at the end of this Crystal Tokyo post (link).

As always, my apologies in advance for spoiling some of these for you (Fic Titles are linked to either FFN or AO3 entries).

Party On Campus - Luvdarain5

A bit of OG anime characterization on aged up Serena and Darien. Amy and Serena get invited to a college party by Zoi, which goes swimmingly until it doesn't.

i send you a sign, send you a signal - @hellomomo

Usagi decides to take a 300-level Emotion and Motivation Psychology class, solely because Mamoru mentioned he would be in it, making her term project on "goals" - getting Mamoru to fall in love with her (and writing a paper about it).

Wish You Would - @idesofnovember

Usagi slipped into a college party for the food, claiming to know the host's roommate TO the host's roommate, launching a sequence of exchanges that will drive Mamoru to seriously consider what he wants.

Better Than Dreaming - @wishwars

Returning a textbook Mamoru left behind at her library table should be quite simple. Except Usagi may have gotten more than she bargained for by going inside after hearing sounds emanating from his dorm room.

Stuff Tippy Wrote -- Sailor Moon edition: Chapter 5: right hand, yellow /Chapter 6: The day after Twister - @tiptoe39

At a college party, Usagi gets pushed into playing Twister by Rei and Minako against the one person who has been poking fun at her (no matter how cute he looks when he actually smiles!). 

And we are lucky to get a peek at the day after too! Where Usagi and Mamoru try to figure what happened and what's next.

Summer's Day - Please, more like Moonlight- @midnightdrops

Starting with a disclaimer: this story is amazing BUT it is not complete - Dr @midnightdrops has an outline for the remaining chapters already completed but is currently drowning in work. 

In this non-senshi College AU, Mamoru tries to figure out how he is feeling about his polar-opposite girlfriend, while external forces work on ripping them apart. 

The Secrets We Bear - Tumblr Snippets -  @lilliebellfanfics

This link is to some of the shorts that were published for Dendy Week 2022 (are part of a larger story that @lilliebellfanfics is working on) but are amazing as stand-alone chapters, exploring Mamoru navigating his new powers, university life and priorities. 

And last but not least, you should explore @caelenath 's musings in her Mamoru in College tag here on Tumblr - amazing little snippets in there!

That's it for now! I will do another fic list post soon. In the meantime, you should explore some of the prior lists and all the amazing content coming from the @senshixshitennouweeks!

[holmsister]

My most ambitious labru fic idea is actually a modern au in which the ancient sites of the dungeons have become the epicenter of a mysterious parasytical illness. The ancient archaeological sites are being closed off and its discovered the dungeons have partially "reactivated". Dungeons are like super ancients and the stories of monsters inside are widely considered legends but water is running inside again, there's suddenly an influx of mana (<unclear how this works yet I have to think it), and new lower levels are being generated, so at this point the idea of monsters isn't off the table. A squad is formed to explore the Melini dungeon:

laios is a biologist specialised in parasites because I think that's the closest to how you'd get to that immediately feeling of revulsion people get in canon when he says that he loves monsters. The illness is cause by a parasite that was born in the dungeon but the way it spreads is unclear, so they call him to lead the team as a foremost expert.

Falin is a biologist specialised in bugs but she's also got a degree in medicine so she gets onboard as the team's medic

Marcille is a genius biochemist/magic expert

Senshi is a wildlife survival expert (since they suspect there might be a need for that)

Chilchuck is one of the workers who was digging the original site - not an archaelogist mind you, a mason - who ends up joining the team because he knows the inside of the dungeon before the "reactivation" really well

Kabru is an historian who specialised in dungeons before they "reactivated" - hes had a lifelong obsession with them. His request to join the study group is rejected so he fakes elven state credentials to be allowed on site but he still isn't allowed on the team that actually goes inside the dungeon

The labru part comes in when in an attempt to join an expedition in the dungeon despite being caught in his lie kabru falls in the dungeon alone and laios on impulse follows him. Meanwhile the Canaries intervene and lock the dungeon to anybody non-elven so kabru and laios are locked in there alone.

Theres a lot of worldbuilding involved and it would also need to be very very long (like i would need to have the laios team do several expeditions in the dungeon etc) to work so I'm pretty sure I'll never write it but it's objectively such a cool idea

[shinneth]

The Sailor Moon AU born from my saltiness towards the manga

Read this for context. tl;dr: basically my love for Sailor Moon's 90s anime and 2003 tokusatsu has only grown over the years, while my feelings for Crystal remained at pure hatred whilst my feelings for the original manga has taken a sharp decrease.

In other words, I seem to work backwards from most other Sailor Moon fans.

Over a year ago, I had written out a hypothetical of how Sailor Moon's manga would play out if Naoko Takeuchi rejected the Super Sentai concept and made Usagi a (mostly) solo hero, sort of in the vein of Sailor V but much less fun with even more tragedy. I guess you could say it's a Sailor Moon but with more of a Kamen Rider motif?

Either way, I never released it anywhere until now. Mind you, it's not really a story so much as it is a gathering of ideas for a story...

THE SAILOR MOON MINIMAL SENSHI AU

One nagging sentiment I felt while rereading the manga is how it so often felt like Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibi-Usa were the only characters who mattered, and on several occasions the only characters who were able to get anything done. Even on the rare occasions where other characters got a chapter named after them, oftentimes the Moon Family still had more pages dedicated to them, and/or the non-Moon Family character's power-up ultimately became more of a battery to beef up Usagi and the character development was often minimal and inconsequential.

Crystal amplified that feeling many times over, but it was disheartening to realize one aspect of the source material it did justice was marginalizing the rest of the main cast. If I were to look at this in a super-cynical light, I'd hypothesize the likelihood that Naoko never wanted a big cast, or even the Core 5 team. If she did care about the non-Moon Family characters, perhaps it was out of obligation.

I'm willing to bet that the main reason Naoko Takeuchi bloated out her cast was due to mandates from TOEI hoping for more toy sales if more heroic Sailor Senshi existed. But that's just my headcanon on what must have been a nightmare production behind the scenes.

So it made me wonder about how the manga would have been if it “trimmed the fat”, so to speak. For all of Usagi’s protestations about how she “can’t use mist, fire, or lightning” to be useful… well, let’s face it: she already had a higher kill count than all of her friends even that early on in the story. Mamoru often had little episodes later on in the manga where he felt oh-so useless and powerless even though he’s killed monsters/notable antagonists plenty of times AND regularly takes part in killing off the main antagonists WITH Sailor Moon (while her friends were benched, even when they weren’t ragdolled into submission).

So, how much would really change in the manga if Sailor Moon was largely by herself with very few allies who could help her in battle? I can easily picture Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter being snipped from the story entirely.

Believe me, it KILLS me to say that. Mercury was my favorite since the beginning. But if I'm being honest with myself, it'd only take a few tweaks of the story beats to make Sailor Moon's first three allies completely superfluous.

For story purposes, Sailor V/Venus would have to stay in since she does play a vital role as a princess decoy, but otherwise… what if she lost her power entirely after the reveal of the true Princess Serenity? Or dies soon after? Without a team to lead, Minako wouldn’t serve much of a purpose. Heck, in this AU she wouldn't necessarily even need to wield Venus' power (since so few other planet powers are getting represented here) so much as a bootlegged copy of Moon Power.

We have a canon example in the Black Moon arc of how Venus was just “there” for much of it, even when she didn’t have to contend with her three teammates for spotlight/exposure. Hell, I recall her complaining in the manga that she’s bored and frustrated because she can’t do anything.

Luna and/or Artemis can easily substitute the exposition given by Venus.

Chibi-Usa would stay on and become Chibi-Moon; as previously stated, she’s a consistently focused-on character in the manga. In fact, she's highly integral to 3 out of the 5 story arcs. Definitely enough to the point where most of the manga would have to be changed if she was denied Senshi-ship.

Sailor Pluto… is tricky, but not impossible to write around. She’s heavily tied in with Chibi-Usa’s backstory and character growth. As Chibi-Usa’s friend and Time Gate guard, that much would stay the same. I would argue that Pluto needn’t be a Senshi to serve either role (she’s succeeding her father Chronos iirc, and Takeuchi is firm in her stance that men can’t be Senshi). So it can be arranged that she can maintain her duty as plain ol' Setsuna. It's heavily implied in the manga that she's not a reincarnation like the other Senshi were... at least, prior to her canon death. It wouldn't be too crazy to say Setsuna has beyond-mortal powers that give her extended life even without being a Senshi.

Hell, Queen Serenity basically enlists this child to duty saying "Here's all these awesome powers that you're not only not allowed to ever use, but if you DO use them, it'll end up killing you!" - Setsuna shouldn't need her powers to guard the Time Keys, and we've seen the Talismans can be held in civilian form. Though I'd argue her Garnet Rod needn't be a proper Talisman if she isn't to transform; it'd just be her means of self-defense.

Perhaps she never gets revived/reincarnated after her death? Because her connection to Chibi-Usa greatly diminishes from Infinity (and beyond).

The rest of the Outer Senshi… well. If one tweaks the Talisman prerequisite for the Holy Grail, such as make it LESS than three needed…

That’s all you need to cut Sailor Neptune and Pluto out entirely of the manga for sure. As much as I love Michiru, I can’t deny she is the epitome of “just there” in the manga. Pretty sure no one’s gonna contest this.

Even her relationship with Haruka is a side-note compared to Haruka’s constant pining/angsting over Usagi. I just kept getting this sense of Michiru being Haruka’s silver medal.

Haruka and Hotaru are the hardest ones to write around for this concept. That much I will admit.

But, one running theme for this AU is that, Moon and Chibi-Moon aside, no one else can wield the power of a Sailor Senshi indefinitely. Well, technically Mamoru is still there representing Earth, but only so much as he's able to in his canon iteration due to that pesky Y chromosome. I slated for Minako to permanently lose her power, and possibly even die for it once her narrative purpose was fulfilled.

Even if Setsuna remained a Senshi in this revision, it’s a similar outcome for her. In a best-case scenario for the latter, a reincarnated Setsuna likely would have no memory of her lonely past life and possibly come off as an entirely different person from who Chibi-Usa knew. She'd finally be able to live out a normal life no longer bound to duty and that's about as happy an end I could imagine for her.

(And hey, that’s all the more impetus for Chibi-Usa being drawn to Hotaru!)

Going back to Hotaru, then, her being a cyborg in this iteration of the story lends well to a tweak in the narrative: Pharaoh 90 attempting to artificially replicate the Moons’ Senshi powers, possibly referencing the means in which Minako was temporarily able to wield her power, to create a Sailor Senshi exclusively to realize its desires. One might say it's a perversion of the Moon Power itself.

But tampering with this dangerous power ends up corrupting Hotaru, of course, and retaining how Hotaru becomes Mistress 9 works nicely with this tweak. A Silver Crystal could sustain her powers without destroying her, or at least that's the running theory.

Whether or not Hotaru becomes a Sailor Senshi proper… I’m 50/50 on that. Mostly due to Saturn’s canon role as cleanup duty following the fall of the Silver Millennium. If any non-Moon Senshi were to exist for the long haul, it should be Saturn. Their powers are polar opposites, so it’d be a neat yin-yang deal, with Saturn still being dormant until an equalizer is needed.

Although I'd probably not call her Sailor Saturn, as it is arbitrary to include some planets (Venus, Saturn, Uranus) but not others. In general, I think the names of the non-Moon Senshi that have to be kept because removing them would completely upend the story would have to be a little more generalized than that. The Moon is often paired with the Sun and the Star(s), so that might be a safe bet. Even though the Sun itself is literally a star-

Anyway, keep Hotaru's rebirth a thing, but possibly end her role in the story once she becomes babby. So that Chibi-Usa, as canon manga mandates, seeks horse-boy as her rebound.

Alternatively, we could stay the course of the “Moon only” team narrative and have Sailor Saturn be little more than an artificial Senshi, not unlike the kinds we see all over the place in Stars. Between Dr. Tomoe, Kaolinite, and Pharaoh 90, I can buy them creating what is essentially a bootleg Senshi. Heck, that might even be the intended evil purpose of the Holy Grail once Uranus unlocks it with her Talisman.

Speaking of Haruka... Honestly, as far as the manga goes, she can single-handedly represent the Outer Senshi and their credo by herself.

But in the context of this AU, that doesn’t amount to much, lol. Honestly, I’m picturing Haruka as a darker counterpart of Minako. A temp Senshi at best, but one who’s using her powers for morally questionable reasons. This can range from romantic rival… (with no Michiru in the AU, that at least partially makes Haruka less awful - I’d nix the non-consensual kiss on Usagi, but in the spirit of a manga LITTERED with suchlike kisses, it’d probably need to stay as-is)

…. to embittered and vengeful foe who fully recalls her past life and blames Usagi+Mamoru for their failings. It was kind of a shit deal for the Outers to be permanently stuck in their post in the outer solar system, never getting to enjoy any of what they're dedicating their lives to serving. Perhaps she now perceives the practices of Queen Serenity as morally dubious at best - and tyrannical at worst, now believing, maybe, that the Dark Kingdom was RIGHT to end the Silver Millennium. And irony ahoy, Haruka - like Minako - can tap into her former life’s power. Make her take up Michiru’s role as the one who awakened as a Senshi on her own thanks to her Talisman.

Hell, one can have Haruka play both sides during Infinity. Tomoe can use his twisted science to amplify the "Uranus" powers to bypass the limitations of Venus’ powers. Probably at a deadly cost down the road.

As for the prerequisites for Super Sailor Moon? The whole “all Senshi aligned + grail” deal? Well… y’know, the Cutie Moon Rod came into existence as a trial run of how UsaMamo’s love is so potent that they don’t even need to do a WooHoo to procreate shit. Do that again, just add the actual product of future WooHooing. Chibi-Usa is familiar with the Holy Grail prior to its creation. Not a stretch. As far as this AU is concerned, Moon, Chibi-Moon, and Tuxedo Mask are the only "valid" Senshi to begin with.

Despite the amount of non-Moon Senshi chapters in Dream, I don’t see much changing in a setting where only two Moons and a Mask are fighting. For pretty much every arc, Usagi gets the lion’s share of killing blows. Mamoru and Chibi-Usa canonly have several as well - so what’s a few several more?

After all, the manga’s focus was always first and foremost on Miracle Romance. More often than not, when other characters got panel time, Usagi, Mamoru, and/or Chibi-Usa were the topics of discussion.

At the end of the day, the antagonists of Dream are squarely focused on screwing over the Moon family; the other Senshi were mere chess pieces for them to knock over. And they only became an actual threat when they literally handed over their newfound powers over to beef up Super Sailor Moon to Eternal Sailor Moon, so... there you go.

And for those few times Usagi was just hanging out with gal pals at school? Well, that’s what Naru is for. Hell, add Yumiko+Kuri too; they might end up with some degree of characterization! Usagi never not had the benefit of company during downtime! There just... tends not to be a lot of that in the manga; that's all.

Really, the biggest question in handling Dream is wtf to do about the Amazoness Quartet, considering they eventually become Senshi themselves - namely the equivalent of Inners for Chibi-Moon to have in the future. Since Usagi wouldn't have Inners in this AU, it stands to reason the Quartet are likely not gonna be redeemed and likely one-shotted much like their Trio predecessors.

As for Stars...? Well, it's basically this entire AU but dialed up to 20. The running theme of this arc is fake Senshi running around parading as the real deal while they kill, conquer, and pillage for their tyrant, who'd be the culmination of all the worst aspect of not just past antagonists, but past attempted would-be Senshi like Minako, Haruka, and Hotaru who would all either be permanently powerless at best or dead at worst.

But a worst-case scenario just might make them come back for one last go, and this time, there's be no blurred lines or moral greys: if Venus, Saturn, and/or Uranus made a return in this iteration Stars, that would be their permadeath. Unless, you know, this series still ended with Usagi yeeting herself into an automatic happy ending. And even then it's a big maybe. It'd be in Galaxia's hands, and you know Galaxia don't give a damn.

Chibi-Chibi/Chibi-Chibi Moon would still be a thing, as would Sailor Cosmos, obviously, since they're technically a form of Usagi and all. Their stories would largely be the same, I'd imagine.

I honestly can't think of where I'd put the Starlights and Sailor Kakyuu as good guys in this AU, though. I think the only way to make them work in the story and not be killed as quickly as possible like the Sailor Animamates is to have them allied with Galaxia and be functionally identical to Animamates (aka they're all fakers), but function as undercover agents to identify the holder of the Milky Way's strongest Sailor Crystal (Usagi's), find her weaknesses and the best ways to corner her, then coordinate a strike.

Alternatively, pull inspiration from the 90s anime where they ARE legit Senshi (they just come from another galaxy and all, so it wouldn't break the AU if they're more just reflections of the minimized Sailor Team) - but make them willingly surrender their Sailor Crystals in exchange for bracelets that will keep them alive, so long as they do whatever Galaxia says. Then they become reflections of Usagi and her family, and even perhaps make analogies between the three Starlights and what Venus, Uranus, and Saturn tried and failed to be for Sailor Moon.

The other elephant in the room is whether or not Mamoru gets killed off in the very first scene of this arc like he does in canon. It's a no-brainer that he'd have to die by Galaxia's hand eventually. Usagi just won't have nearly as many buffers to block her PTSD and be in total denial like she did in canon. Naturally, Chibi-Usa will be even less effectual than canon since she won't have her own personal underlings to pretend she's BFFs with and add firepower, so if only to balance that out (since the Sailor Quartet are literally the only ones who didn't die at any point in canon), Mamoru might be allowed to live a bit longer and make his love-forged bond with Usagi not quite so easily broken. But it will still break by force, one way or another.

Of course, because Galaxia's intent will still be to break Usagi, no one's getting spared at this point in the story. All of Usagi's normal civilian friends will end up biting it one way or another throughout the arc. Stars is clearly meant to be a depressing af climax to the series - at least that'll kinda deter people from hounding the mangaka into yet another arc for money's sake.

Usagi would ultimately jump into the Galaxy Cauldron at the end, though I imagine it'd be somewhat a different experience than how it was in the manga, given most of her friends don't exist in this AU, and the few that do either left/died on bad terms, or fucked off entirely without remembering Usagi or her family at all.

Maybe, if we're being generous, Usagi reunites and the temp/fake Senshi she encounters here actually make amends and promise to work for a better future? There's a lot of variables here.

It'd still end in a wedding because this is the Miracle Romance Supremacy AU, after all. Guess it depends on your mileage whether or not the ending is worth it.

So yeah, that's the long and short of the really fucked up AU I thought up inside my head because friendship and comradery always came off so hollow in the manga to me. Especially with ~Miracle Romance~ being so infuriatingly inflexible in the manga.

Hope you got some sort of entertainment value out of that. Highly doubt I'd write this proper - it wouldn't be worth the backlash, and I'm not nearly invested enough in UsaMamo to do this concept justice.

Feel free to leave your thoughts or whatever.

[jennyandvastraflint]

wip prompt title meme

Thank you so much for the tag @theglasscat

Prompt: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Okay, let's see... I'm gonna split these into Paternoster Gang and non-Paternoster Gang btw, because all the other ones together are not nearly as long as the first list... Noting the fandom in brackets for the non-Paternoster Gang ones.

Non-Paternoster Gang:

Thasmin Starry Night Osgood x Kate Hologram 4 Suvira Fairytale AU Beauty and the Beast (Legend of Korra) Outer Senshi Lonely Soldiers (Sailor Moon) Hicsqueak Non-magical AU (The Worst Witch 2017) J7 One - Aftermath (Star Trek Voyager)

Paternoster Gang:

Turn Loose the Mermaids (@capybaraonabicycle I can already hear you asking about that oneeee XD) Demons run, souls linger The Madame, the Maid, and the Mistress Once a sewer rat always a sewer rat Family Matters to discuss (working title...) Paternoster Gang and Bloomsbury Bunch Mamma Mia Shenanigans Holiday in the North The Great Kitchen Flood

Oh god, and I really have to find that many people to tag... Okay I'll tag the average of both (=7) and then anyone else who wants to can do it! @capybaraonabicycle @casualscribbler @smaugonfire @jennyvastraflint @heathtrash @accidentallyadorable @pookachuka

[usamamoweek]

Meet the Creators - Wishwars

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

@wishwars- can find stories on AO3 or FFN (links in platform names)

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Garlic mashed <3

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

I started reading SM fanfiction in 2014 and writing it in 2016. How time flies!

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

I write fanfic (while being in awe of those who also create things with their hands)

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

This was the very first fandom I was ever a part of, and I'm still just so amazed not only by the creativity of its fans, but also their generosity. There is also just something about the enduring message of love that exists in SM that makes me feel so happy and full inside when I get the chance to contribute in some way to the world it created!

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

While I write other side relationships, UsaMamo is my OTP, so I always feature them at the center of my stories.

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

Their relationship and the tropes it supports have followed me into many of my other fandoms--a sunny personality that actually also has a lot of trauma to work through and the seemingly dark, brooding personality that secretly has a big heart--and I can't get enough of it! They just fit so well together!

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

I have a lot of WIPs in folders on my computer that I never publish... in part because I have fics I have published that I want to actually finish and if I start too many, I won't finish any...

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

I love to read one-shots and while I have written a few, I often get drawn more to chaptered fics, which give me more space to tell the stories I want to.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

I basically always write non-senshi fics, and I'm not actually sure why... I think I just really like focusing in on the emotional aspect of their characterizations in AUs without having to also keep up with the added details of their other lives. I also quite enjoy writing fics where they aren't already in a relationship--it's the pining angst that really gets me!

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

Maybe someday I could try writing a fic that does have them as senshi. I've read so many that I love, and it could be a fun challenge!